Free Vision Quest by A.F. Henley; Kelly Wyre Page B

set the glass down yet again. He waited for Blaze to sample the wine as well, then followed suit with Blaze's glass. Arik rose, dropped down into the couch beside Blaze and with a circling of arms and a tug, he pulled Blaze onto his lap.
    Arik levelled their gazes. "Your turn."

blaze
    Blaze settled with his legs spread to either side of Arik's. The pajama pants' fabric was soft against Blaze's bare skin, and Arik's hoodie was delicious to squeeze; plush cushion over the hard body beneath it.
    Meeting Arik's eyes, Blaze grasped both of Arik's hands and put them on his legs on the outside of the towel. The skin-to-skin buzzing was too much of a distraction if Blaze was going to tell his story with a lick of cohesion and remember to leave out the parts that might be too much for Arik to handle at this phase of the game. Arik was learning more than most, and he was processing faster than many who'd had longer to do so, but the truth was both Blaze's weapon and biggest bargaining chip. He had to use it wisely in either capacity.
    "Okay," Arik whispered, squeezing Blaze's hips.
    Blaze wasn't sure if that was permission to start, encouragement to get to it, or in response to Blaze not wanting Arik's hands on him. Blaze unhooked the towel, exposing cock and balls, and he smiled with Arik's soft intake of breath. Two could play the distraction card, after all.
    "Want to know more about me, hmm?" Blaze asked.
    "That was the deal," Arik answered.
    Blaze nodded. He fiddled with the toggles that could tighten Arik's hood. "I was born in a village in România. Romania. I'm not sure I could tell you where it was, exactly, even if I had a map. I know it was a long three-day walk to Bucharest, and I know I only made that journey once, and it was after I'd grown into this body, not the body I had when I was a boy."
    "You don't have a hint of an accent," Arik said. "Except when you actually, you know, want to. I guess?"
    "I've spent a lot of time outside my country. So much time that it's not really 'my' country anymore."
    "I really don't see how that's ... You must be one of those men who looks, what, ten years younger than they are?"
    Blaze just smiled, tilted his pelvis, and Arik glanced south. He licked his lips. "Are you a citizen, here, then?" Arik asked.
    Blaze cocked a brow. "This isn't twenty questions, Arik, unless you want me to answer you only in yes or no."
    "Sorry." Arik seemed sheepish. "I'm sorry. Go on."
    "Okay. Let's see. I had a big family. Lots of brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles." Blaze read the question Arik wanted to ask, and he gave the real answer: "They're all dead."
    "I'm sorry," Arik said, clearly stunned.
    Blaze shrugged. "It happens to all of us. But when I was little and everyone lived outside the graveyards, my family taught me things. Animal magic. Curses. Hexes. Potions." Blaze laughed. "I don't remember most of it, truth be told. And most of it wasn't magic at all. It was legend, and it was the shit we used to make money from the people who didn't know what was real and what was fake.
    "Though, sometimes ..." Blaze closed his eyes. "There was a girl, once, who was possessed. Laugh if you want, but I saw her do things no mortal could do on her own. Things no mortal would want to do on her own. And there was a man, another time, who had been stricken with a love curse. He would only care for those who would break his heart the worst, and it would be love that would kill him, in the end."
    "Jesus," Arik muttered. "No wonder he wanted rid of that."
    Blaze gave a little laugh and studied Arik's chin. It was a strong chin. "He didn't come to us to remove the curse," Blaze said quietly. "He came to us to speed it along. He was tired of living under it, and he wanted to find the lover who would kill him."
    "... oh."
    "Mmhm." Blaze regarded Arik, trying to ascertain the man's mood and comfort level. Blaze suspected that as long as he stayed in the past and in the theoretical and kept the current and the