Nature or Nurture Ch. 57-59

Wait, was that a little sound? Is he coming to? As he bends over the young Lord to not miss further sounds, that one suddenly comes back to life, grabs his jaws and pulls Vincent closer, kissing him with incredible ardour. Vincent answers the kiss, but he does feel cheated into it, and that causes a bit of anger to flare up in him.

'Why do you goad me, Bosie?' he hears himself say, 'I gave you what you wanted against better judgement, is this how you repay faithful service?'

'You are not my servant! I thought you were my friend!' the young man gasps, stunned by Vincent's humility and reproof.

'Friends horse around, don't they? Just a little kiss can't hurt, can it? Please don't be mad at me, I didn't mean to force you into anything, I just wanted you to hold me a bit and kiss me. I do hurt now, you known.'

That last is said so plaintively, and with such a ravishing innocent look, that Vincent feels his indignation drain away, and he gathers up his friend and gives him a good, solid cuddle and a loving, lingering kiss.

'But nothing more, I mean it. You pay me for my services and they do not include intimacies.'

Bosie is kind of cute when he pouts, and Vincent relents a tiny bit.

'They do include spoiling you a bit when I've hurt you. Do you want me to carry you to a soft seat?'

Now the young lord looks very much ashamed and admits his true intentions.

'No, I don't deserve spoiling. I was trying to work you up to see if I could get you to lose it and take me. I thought it would be very exciting.

That was very wrong, and I'm very ashamed of it. Friends don't do that to one another, except that my friends do. But you're better than that. It was great fun being tossed about, I should have been satisfied with that.'

He is truly honest, this big boy, but despite feeling quite soft, Vincent says severely, 'You couldn't have goaded me into losing control, Bosie, you merely made me feel very embarrassed. And worried, when you didn't get up.

But seriously, baiting me is truly dangerous, and very disrespectful. If I hadn't totally bruised you already, I should do it now, as punishment for your dishonour. I may be an orphan from the streets, I'm still your weapons-master, and as such I deserve your respect. If you cannot esteem me maybe you should find another teacher, one of a better class, that you can truly look up to.'

Lord Douglas bows before Vincent with obvious difficulty and says, a bit humbly, actually, 'You are right, I was disrespectful, and I deserve punishment. Will you please not leave me? I will prove to you that I honour you above anyone else.'

Offering him a hand and pulling him up by it despite causing his pupil to gasp in pain, Vincent replies, 'I'll give you one more chance.'

The lad can't help it if his parents have spoiled him all his life. Actually, Vincent wishes he had had parents of his own to spoil him, instead of having to fight for a piece of bread and a sip of muddy water. No wait, those are Heathcliff's memories, not his own.

Adison was a truly good mother for a few weeks, though it is kind of awkward to think of her that way now. And Cathy's father was a very indulgent, loving parent to him for quite some years, until he died. Again, Heathcliff's memories mixing with his own, very disconcerting. But they are something Vincent will yet become used to, having some kind of past does give a certain depth to the things he experiences.

Bosie is waiting for him, looking very bashful and in quite a lot of pain, but as Vincent helps him back to the house, he perks up quickly, commenting, 'That was truly something, you're even stronger than I thought, I cannot wait to tell my friends, or even better, have you show them.'

When he gets no answer at all, he looks up at Vincent and corrects himself conscientiously, 'It takes some getting used to, respecting one's sword-master, but I plead you to have patience with me. I will learn, what you can teach me is much more important than telling or showing anything to my friends.'

They're inside the house, and Lord Douglas observes, 'I am really starting to hurt now, nothing specific, just an all over muscle-ache. But it was worth it.'

'Better take a bath then,' Vincent says, 'if you stiffen up this quickly it's bad, you won't be able to walk tomorrow. Do you want me to help you? I feel responsible.'

'Thank you so much. It's that way,' Lord Douglas points at yet another hall, one that ends in a nice bathroom with running water.

'If you turn the levers, hot water comes out of the right tap. Do you have a bath? My mother says you have hot water in the practice, is that true?'

'We have a bath, larger than this one, and several showers. And hot water in our kitchen and in our practice. It's very important to a doctor that everything is clean.'

Vincent plugs the bath, then opens the taps.

Behind him, Lord Douglas is already undressing, he doesn't seem the least bit embarrassed to have someone see him naked, but then, Vincent wouldn't hesitate to undress before the young man either. Acting sure familiarizes one with undressing and dressing in front of others. Lord Douglas is very well-built, and beautifully muscled, and Vincent takes a good, appreciative look at him. He seems to have some trouble getting his socks off, he must really be very stiff, and he does look battered, bruises forming almost as they speak.

'Let me help you with those,' Vincent says, and he offers the young man his back to hold on to as he bends over to help him remove his socks. Suppressing an impulse to stroke the nice, firm leg, he lays the socks with the rest of Lord Douglas' clothing.

As he turns around to help him into the bath, he can see Bosie sporting an erection, a bit shame-faced at his own excitement.

'I'm sorry Vincent, your touch turned me on just like that, I couldn't help it,' he explains, a bit embarrassed, 'seeing you move, feeling your strength, it's just so darned overwhelming. You're the best swordsman I ever met and I cannot help but admire you. Please ignore it, I won't come on to you anymore, really.'

'Don't worry, Bosie, I'm a guy too, remember?'

He turns off the taps, 'sometimes it is a bit easy to get excited. Want me to help you in?'

Vincent doesn't even wait for an answer, he just lifts his friend and carefully lowers him into the water, feet first.

'It's probably a bit hot to sit down immediately.'

He never expected to see the young Lord shy and lost for words, but he is now, which is so endearing that he says, 'If you don't think it's teasing you too much, I could give you a massage, to loosen up the worst bits.'

Of course the young man wants to be touched, but he is clearly in doubt whether that is sensible, a sign of some wisdom in a very brash young person. He looks down at his tell-tale, and says humorously, 'Well, I can't fool you anymore, anyhow, so why not get some value out of my shame? It can only help with the muscle-ache, so please. But it'll get your shirt all wet.'

'You sit down and don't worry about getting a little overwrought, or my shirt. I'll just be extra mean next practise, and you'll either hate me or fear me.'

Vincent always wears a laced shirt when teaching Bosie, fancy shirts with high collars are fine for rehearsals, but a laced shirt offers much more freedom to move in. And now, it is easily removed, so he does just that, hanging it over the chair with the young man's clothes, then kneeling behind the bathtub, arms under water to knead some pliancy back into Bosie's abused muscles.

The young man clearly relishes the relief of the warm water, and the relaxing massage, though there are some spots where it is obviously rather painful to have the stiffened muscles kneaded firmly. But Lord Douglas is not a weakling, he can stand a little pain, and he doesn't avoid the strong ministrations of Vincent's elegant hands. In fact, he is enjoying it very much, and Vincent doesn't mind, if he had the inclination he'd just indulge the young man, but though he can admire Lord Douglas' fine shape and prime musculature, he can easily resist any attraction to him, and he will continue to do so.

As he asks, 'And, how are you feeling, a bit looser already?' the young man proves he is just that by turning around and saying, 'much better, thank you so much, Vincent!'

Then his eyes widen in shock, and Vincent says mildly, 'I supposed you had seen a man without shirt before, Bosie.'

'That's not it, Vincent,' the young man replies, 'your chest looks like a battlefield. So many scars! You must have been hurt countless times, and pretty badly, on top of a broken skull.'

Of course, the scars. Vincent never thinks about those anymore, they're just part of him, a reminder of everything he lived through in a little less than a year.

'You've been shot, one, two, no less than three times? That one must have been pretty close.'

Lord Douglas is looking at the scars intently, and concludes, 'I suppose those are knife-cuts, but some of them almost seem like they were made by claws. Vincent, your life must have been pretty intense. I don't even want to know what caused that continuous line straight across and down. I hope it stops before your, well, you know what, for it is going straight towards it. It must have been something like torture, a human did that, and he must have had you unable to resist, for no-one could just walk up to you and inflict such surgically perfect cuts on you.'

Lord Douglas is clearly suppressing an urge to touch the scars, he is a wise young man after all, but be fair, does Vincent feel a bit disappointed himself? Does he want Bosie to trace those scars, to release Vincent's dark side on him, take him over his shoulder and dump him on a bed somewhere? Make love to a man, without Adison present?

Yes.

'You can touch them if you want.'

This cannot be true, did he really say that? That poor boy!

'Are you sure?' Bosie asks, 'I want to, but it seems...rather intimate.'

A hesitant hand come out of the bath, and touches the perfectly round scar of the shot wound on his chest. 'Is the bullet still in there?'

Not shuddering yet, Vincent answers dryly, 'I live with two doctors, remember? My wife put me out and my friend cut my chest open to remove the bullet. I didn't feel a thing, I was sedated. It hurt like hell when I woke up, though, and for days after.'

'And these ragged marks, they look like claws. What caused them?'

'Do you believe in monsters?' Vincent asks matter-of-factly.

'They say there is a monster loose in town, ripping up people, they say it killed every customer and the owner of a seedy bar in the harbour.'

'Do you believe that may be true? That slashing, ripping things exist?'

Vincent is curious what Bosie will answer.

'I think I do, yes. Are you saying a monster did this?'

And he touches the parallel marks of the hideous vampire lord and the marks of the gytrash, the burns that Mrs Poole made are fortunately no longer visible.

'I do. Two monsters in fact, though very different ones.'

'I suppose they looked worse than you when you were done with them?'

That young man really idolizes him, hero worship blinding his eyes to what he is really looking at. To him, Vincent must be ten foot tall.

'They are both dead. I choked the life out of the one, it was my own size though supernaturally strong, the other was a totally different matter, it was bigger than a horse and I had to split its head in two. But frankly, the shot wound came nearest to killing me. I didn't kill the owner of the gun, I was too busy trying to stay alive. Dr Frankenstein's wife got him, then took me home.'

As the handsome young man traces the longest scar, the one of his birth, Vincent does shudder, as always.

'And who got close enough to torture you like this?'

'Dr Frankenstein gave me those marks when he saved me from a fractured skull. The one on my temple, too. It was not torture.'

Waiting for the axe to fall, Vincent closes his eyes, and sure enough, Bosie very gently touches his right temple, where the scar of his birth marks his face in plain sight. All the rest of the scars are hidden from most people, but this one is there for the world to see.

A deep shudder courses through his body, as the young man not only touches the scar, but kisses it as well. No-one has even managed to kiss that scar, his lightning reactions have always beaten them to it.

But now he feels lips on his face, and strong, masculine hands on his hair, and nothing happens.

No dark side to take the initiative, just himself, a little heated, but not enough to make love to a boy who merely admires him, doesn't really love him. The creature proves once again he has excellent judgement.

A little kiss never harmed anyone though, so Vincent turns his face towards his young friend and kisses him on the mouth, a kiss that is answered readily, and lasts for some time. When they are done, Bosie thanks him for the massage and the kiss, and Vincent helps him out of the tub, and into his clothes. After putting his own shirt back on.

'I feel much better, much less stiff,' Lord Douglas says.

'Thank you, Vincent, for everything. I've always wanted an exciting life, but I never realized that meant getting seriously hurt sometimes. I suppose you merely want to be left in peace, after having been hurt so often.

I'll have the carriage readied, will you drink a glass of wine with me in the meantime? Next time you do something dangerous, can I come? Just me, and I assure you, I can take orders.'

'If there is time to warn you, you can come. But I for one am hoping nothing of the sort will happen. As you guessed, I just want to live in peace with my family and friends, playing my role, teaching a little, most exciting thing I want is go to one of those dances in town, or maybe a ride on a fast horse.'

'And you'll have one. I suppose you need to go back to your family now, but we can go for a ride on my hunters any day. Tomorrow?'

'You'll be in pain tomorrow, remember?' Vincent smiles at Bosie's enthusiasm.

'You're right, though I feel fine now. Tomorrow week then?'

Vincent sees no reason not to go riding, frankly, he can't wait.

'Deal.'

In the next weeks, the sitting-room is finished, and every time their work is done, they get very lazy. Only when their friends visit to learn sword-craft do they become active again, and of course Vincent teaches Lord Douglas, but whenever their duties are finished they laze about on their new sofas and talk and read.

Vincent goes riding with Lord Douglas and has a magnificent time. Amazing how many green areas there still are close to a mayor city, and Lord Douglas seems to know them all. Even though Lord Douglas' hunters are even more spirited than Blinkers, Vincent finds his riding skills are still very sharp, and he can keep up easily.

And Victor's dream of experimenting with electricity is taking shape. He has thought up some machines, and ordered parts from Paul, and every day he spends at least an hour but usually longer in his attic, building and testing. There are some weird noises and even weirder smells coming from up there, but since it is his house they all hope he will not set it on fire.