The Year of the Rat
by Nico Grey
Chapter 20
I teased at Iggy's mind, attempting to influence him without upsetting or alarming him. I put a few pictures in his head. The private area behind the restrooms. The very private glade in the copse of arborvitae waiting a bit farther out; a place where he could extract his revenge to his heart's content!
I don't know if he had ever seen either place, but in his head he knew about them and decided that the arborvitae was just perfect for what he had in mind. He used the point of the knife to nudge me toward the back of the building.
As I passed Jebby and the rest of the crew, I tried to reach out to him. It wasn't anything we had experimented with yet, making a connection without physical contact, but I needed to communicate with his mind. It was a simple message: 'Get Marco home! Immediately!'
I tried to add some nuance. That he didn't need to worry about me. I had a plan. I had help. But he needed to get himself and Marco away from the danger without delay.
I wasn't certain. I thought I heard him answer back. If he did, he wasn't arguing with me.
Then I was shoved around the side of the building. The bushes appeared in front of me. I tried to find Dylan and let him know that he should meet me in the arborvitae.
I hadn't been expecting it at all when Iggy pulled my hands roughly behind my back and snapped those cuffs around my wrists. I had been feeling confident that I knew his mind. Suddenly, I wasn't certain of anything.
When I tried to get inside Iggy's head, I was confronted with overwhelming rage. When I attempted to force a message on him urging calm, it felt like I was making his anger worse.
I tried to engage his attention with words.
"Where are you taking me?" I had feigned fear more than a few times before in my line of work. I wasn't entirely feigning it this time.
That pimp didn't answer! He just kept the choker collar tight around my neck, while the point of that knife was pressed against my lower back, urging me onward.
Suddenly, this little adventure wasn't going according to plan. I used my mind to call out to Dylan.
At least we were moving in the direction of the arborvitae. Dylan would be waiting. He was a match for any hip-hop-mafia pimp.
The late spring night air was so warm and still. It felt like it was closing in on me. I could feel something dark wrapping itself around my mind. Tendrils of breeze were compressing tiny patches of grass along the path we trod.
I tried to reach out to Iggy's mind one more time. I got nothing back but rage!
We approached the entrance in my copse of trees. Dylan would be waiting. My pulse was beginning to calm.
I never got any warning. Just a sudden surge of rage from the pimp, then one hand yanked my balls down sharply. I felt cold steel thrust between my legs. Then agony!
It was a violent explosion of pain! I could barely remain on my feet. I began to retch. My mind was growing numb. I had become Cowboy Roy's purty little steer. He was probably looking up from hell with that huge, self-satisfied grin on his face.
I must have stood there for more than half a minute, afraid to even glance down, terrified of what I would see, or what I wouldn't see, before I realized that the pain I was feeling wasn't between my legs. It was in my mind. And it was coming from Iggy's mind.
I was feeling something else in my mind. Dylan. He was calling to me.
I glance around, stupefied, and couldn't see anyone. The hip-hop-mafia pimp wasn't anywhere to be seen. Neither was Dylan.
It took a good part of another minute before I could get my bearings. Dylan was inside the arborvitae. He was waiting for me.
And so was Iggy. When I pushed through the entrance in the trees, I found Dylan with Iggy completely under his control. I couldn't see what Dylan was doing to him, but that pimp was radiating waves of pain and terror.
Dylan beckoned to me, indicating the pimp's neck. I didn't understand why he didn't just feed. But he kept encouraging me.
I showed him the hands cuffed behind my back. I needed a key.
Dylan didn't think we had time to look for one. Again, he insisted that I feed.
So I did. And once I started, I needed no more encouragement. I hadn't begun to feel hunger yet, but it had been almost a month since my least hunt.
Hunt? I thought to myself. This had to be the weirdest hunt on record. I had my hands cuffed behind my back, while Dylan was holding my meal in place for me.
If only Disco were here with his camera. The entire scene must have given off a huge S & M vibe. The cuffs. The choker collar. Me butt naked. And Iggy's life slipping away between my jaws.
Yeah, probably a bit beyond S & M.
The first thing we did was find the key for those handcuffs. I felt completely vulnerable until I had my full range of motion back. Then we assessed our situation.
It may not have been the best idea. Dylan thought we needed some time to get our act together. So we dragged Iggy out of the copse of trees and stashed him in some bushes. The slag hunters would find him there.
Then I tried to figure out how I could best slip back to the office for my clothes. Dylan still needed to hunt. And while I might attract a lot of business, greeting potential employers undressed as I was, it was the sort of thing that could bring unwelcome attention. Attention of a kind that we didn't need.
I asked Dylan for ideas. He told me that it wasn't necessary. I wondered if he would loan me his clothes, so I could go retrieve my own. He repeated that it wasn't necessary for me to find him prey. He wouldn't be hunting.
For a moment, that hurt. Dylan always hunted with me. I was surprised that he had already hunted. Maybe it was just a situation that fell into his lap.
Neither, he assured me. He just wasn't hunting. He seemed to be having difficulty getting his words out. He had trouble meeting my eye. Once or twice, he started to fade from view.
Finally, I suggested that we just open up to each other, like we had in the church. He appeared reluctant. But he agreed that it would probably work better than trying to hold a conversation.
He sat in the sparse grass on the floor of the glade, then invited me to sit in his lap. I was still unsettled by my near-catastrophe with Iggy. Dylan's invitation felt comforting.
I sat. He wrapped his arms around me. Then his hands travelled up and down my body, exploring, as if they were trying to imprint an image into memory. Or like he was blind and I was his Braille reader.
His hands spent a lot of time fondling those parts I had almost lost. It was like he needed reassurance that I still had them. He wanted to be certain that life was still there.
I opened my mind to Dylan first; my mind and my body, really. I wanted him to know what I had accomplished with Mike, Jebby and Marco as a result of what he and I had learned together, so I guided him to those memories. But he was free to explore where he wished. I trusted him with everything that belonged to me.
It felt like Dylan was inside my head for a very long time. It was almost like he wanted to soak up all the sights and sounds to store in his memory against the day when he could no longer return. I lost track of the minutes and hours.
Finally, with what I sensed was great reluctance, he withdrew from my mind. His hands still roamed my skin like he was trying to commit every last square millimeter to memory.
He held me silently in his arms when he was done with his exploration. His hands continued their patterns automatically, mapping the contours of my skin. I waited for his mind to open to me.
I didn't understand his hesitance. I had been in his mind before. We had both journeyed there together. It had been a joyful experience.
As I waited patiently, I realized that it wasn't uncertainty that made him reluctant. He had already made the decision. But he was still of two minds, trying to prolong the arrival of the moment, like something irrevocable would follow as soon as he let me in.
I didn't intend to do anything. It was probably a combination of curiosity, concern and perhaps the onset of boredom. But while I waited for Dylan to act, I found myself probing around the surface of his mind. While I was exploring there, it felt like I had created a key that would unlock a door. I could enter Dylan's mind if I wished, whether he was willing or not.
Perhaps he sensed me there. Perhaps he finally decided that the moment couldn't wait any longer. He reached out with his mind and took my hand to guide me inside him.
It was a carefully guided tour at first. I was eager to explore, but I understood that this tour was a necessary first part of the experience. Dylan had a reason for wanting me to go somewhere first.
It felt like I was watching a movie. He led me to the first scene. It was a memory. It appeared recent. I could feel apprehension radiating from him in a steady, nervous flow as we watched it unfold together.
It was a strange movie. Watching it, even from inside Dylan's head, it looked slightly hazy or out of focus.
He was walking behind a group that I recognized as part of his crew. Taryn was there. Dion was there, too. He rarely left Dylan's field of vision. Jenna was also part of the group, along with another girl that I didn't recognize. She had a sort of Goth appearance about her. It was a real vampire look.
The other member of the party surprised me. Jeremy! I hadn't known that he was part of Taryn's crew. When I met him, he had been living on the northern end of the city, in his morgue. I was pretty sure that Taryn and Dylan lived a lot closer to the center of the city. But maybe it did make sense that Jeremy was with them. He had appeared to know Trevor and some of the others fairly well.
I was curious, watching Dylan and his friends travel through the darkened streets of the city. It felt like they had some purpose, like they were on a mission. Occasionally, they conversed with each other in quiet tones. But none of them ever directed any conversation toward Dylan. He just followed silently in their wake.
The scene advanced to the exterior of a large brick building. I couldn't determine from the exterior view, but something in the mood that permeated the movie told me that it was a hospital.
The next few scenes were a bit of a jumble. The group entered the building, moving carefully down corridors, up stairways, into elevators. It didn't make a lot of sense to me, but they seemed to know where they were going.
The lights along the top of the elevator car showed the number "7" when the door opened. The group pushed out into the main corridor. There was a brief conference. Then one of them pointed in a direction and the rest of the group followed.
They stopped in front of a door. There was a sign next to the door that read "723". The group conferred again. Before they could make a decision, the door was flung open and something grabbed Taryn and pulled him into that room!
The others were stunned for a moment. Then they began to react. But before anything more could happen, the door to the room opened again. Taryn was standing next to a blond kid, someone that I recognized as his boyfriend Justin.
Then the movie made even less sense. When the group entered the room, I could see that there was another occupant. He was lying on what was obviously a hospital bed, connected to an array of tube and wires that extended from a half dozen machines clustered around the bed.
The person on the bed was young. I thought it was a boy, but I couldn't be certain. He had no hair. He was barely skin and bones.
Watching a movie with a non-verbal commentary running through it was strange. The kid in the bed was named Richie. I just knew it. He and Justin had been childhood friends.
Justin's reason for being there gradually became obvious. Richie was dying. Justin thought that the only way to help him was to kidnap him. He had a desperate plan. He wanted to bring his friend into darkness with him, so Richie could go on living.
That created an uproar among the crew. They argued. In the end, they disconnected the kid from the machines and prepared to abscond with him.
As they carried Richie from the hospital room and out into the corridor, the movie took a sinister turn. A villain was waiting for them at the far end of the hospital corridor.
He was another kid. He appeared to be about my age, or perhaps a year older. He was wearing black jeans and a black denim jacket, but his shirt was a brilliant white — a brilliant white that was spattered with blood.
The oddest thing about him was that his appearance was so familiar. He had auburn hair, a pale complexion, and ruby-red lips. When I didn't make the connection immediately, the movie made it for me. This was "Rage"... and he was Taryn's little brother.
But while Taryn was gentle, kind and caring, Rage radiated anger and evil intentions.
It was almost impossible for me to follow what happened next. I doubt that Hollywood special effects could have produced this movie.
After an exchange of taunts — apparently that's universal, not just a convention of Hollywood — Rage sprang into action. That action was incredible! Words couldn't do it justice.
Conflict raged from one end of that hospital corridor to the other. It started on the floor, but there were episodes of people fighting on the walls and even on the ceiling! The blows they exchanged were stupendous. The powers that were unleashed were phenomenal.
Taryn had told me a little bit about vampire extras. But I never realized that they could be so incredible. He had told me that my developing extra was very powerful, but I didn't think it could compare to turning the floor into ice, or instantly spreading some sort of fluid that turned a surface into an oil slick, or bursts of raw energy that appeared to originate from the minds of the combatants.
Even more astonishing, while Justin could unleash extraordinary power, Rage met him — and sometimes exceeded him — at every turn. Taryn and his friends were battered and being beaten back. They were struggling to keep Richie safe and to escape from that carnage.
Through it all, Dylan appeared to wander unnoticed and untouched. He found ways to distract Rage when his friends were in trouble, but Rage never turned on him. It was almost like he was visiting a battlefield from some time in the distant future.
But Taryn, Justin and their friends weren't as fortunate. They were delivering amazing blows to Rage, but they were taking even worse in return. Several of the crew tried to pull Richie toward a stairway, intent on escape, while Justin, Dion and Jenna continue to battle Rage.
And then tragedy struck. With Jenna stunned and Justin distracted, Rage turned on Dion. He stuck him with enough force to drive him through a wall. When Dion struggled back to his feet, Rage reached into the wall and ripped a length of metal pipe right out of the plumbing!
He began to batter Dion with that jagged length of pipe. Blow after blow rained down on Dion, driving him into the floor.
And then Rage spun that pipe in his hands, aimed it at Dion, and plunged it toward his body.
Except that Dylan stepped between Rage and Dion to protect his love. And that jagged pipe thrust straight through his beating heart!
As Dylan fell to the floor, the movie actually became clearer. The haze faded. The view shifted to the ceiling. Blood pumped out around the pipe that had pierced his chest.
Before the movie told me, before it even understood itself what had happened, I knew that Dylan was dead.
There were a few simple facts of vampire existence that Jeremy and Taryn had drummed into me. Vampires were almost immortal. They could survive almost anything except direct sunlight and an injury to the heart. That heart wouldn't heal. And without the heart beating and supplying healthy blood to the rest of the vampire's body...
My friend Dylan was dead.
It didn't matter how much Dylan might feed. His heart could no longer move the blood throughout his body. The cells of his body would die a gradual death without food. As the cells of his body died, Dylan himself would die a slow and very painful death.
His hands stopped stroking me and moved upward to my face. They tried to stem the flow of tears. Instead, that flow turned into a gusher.
I thought I had suffered a lot of pain in the almost-thirteen years of my existence. But nothing I had experienced had prepared me for this. I wasn't even permitted the grace of temporary denial; a period when I could at least hope that there had been a mistake; hope that I had misunderstood; that what I thought I knew might not be reality; that maybe there would be a miracle.
All of that was denied me. Being inside Dylan's mind and seeing what had happened, I knew with certainty. There was no other possibility. Dylan was dead.
I wanted to turn in his arms. I wanted to hold him. I wanted to comfort him. But I needed his comfort more than he needed mine.
Comforting me might even have helped comfort Dylan. But the reality, I learned, was that he was prepared for this. He had been injured more than two weeks earlier. He had considered his situation thoroughly. He had prayed about it. He had shared his feelings with Dion and with the rest of his friends. He had more than two weeks to consider his life; how he had lived and what would come next.
He had closure. In body and soul, he was prepared to die.
He had even decided how to die. Rather than wait for the starvation of his body to bring him an agonizing death, he had chosen another option. He would go on a Sun Quest.
He wasn't the first vampire to choose this path. Other vampires, too badly damaged to survive, or too emotionally scarred to live, had determined to see the sun and feel its warmth one final time.
None ever returned to share the experience. No one could say what would happen when a vampire fulfilled that quest. All that was certain was that, when it was over, the vampire was gone.
That was the path that Dylan had chosen. He and all of his friends would gather on the western shore of the lake in three nights. They would share memories. They would celebrate his life until the first hint of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon. Then they would return to darkness and Dylan would meet the sun one final time.
He invited me to be there for his celebration. I couldn't say no, but I was worried that I didn't belong among the rest of his friends. I was very concerned about coming face-to-face with Trevor again for the first time since he turned me. And he would be there.
Dylan hadn't been sorrowful as he shared his news with me. His mood had been wistful, perhaps. But I felt his mood brighten as he turned me in his lap to face him.
"My extra!" he exclaimed. "With your abilities, I'm sure I could share my extra with you!"
I didn't even get it.
"I don't want your extra, Dylan. All I want is you!"
So he explained.
Then I did, too.
He was uncertain when I asked him to make love to me. He thought that should remain something between him and Dion.
But I had spent hours inside his mind. I hadn't pried, but I understood the nature of their relationship, including their sexual relationship.
Dion was the dominant partner. I had no interest in taking the dominant role in any lovemaking between Dylan and me.
Dylan was still uncertain, but he was interested. When I shared the rest of what I was thinking, he was intrigued. He became fully committed to the idea once I explained exactly what I hoped to accomplish
I lay on my back in the center of that glade. It felt like the right place for this ceremony. After everything I had experienced in that glade, that Dylan and I had experienced there together, it was the perfect place.
Dylan was kneeling between my legs. It was only the second time I had seen him fully naked. It made the sex part a bit easier. But it was even more important that there be absolutely no barrier separating us in any way.
When he entered my body, he entered my mind, too. I had asked him to share everything with me. I wanted to absorb every memory, thought, and experience of his life. But I wanted him to share even deeper. I pleaded with him to give me everything that made him who he was; body, mind, and soul. And he did.
There were times when I was so lost in tactile sensations that I was barely aware of my other senses. But when I could open my eyes, I was amazed. Quiet, shy Dylan hadn't faded from sight. In my perception, he became more substantial. He glowed with a sublime intensity. If anyone had accidently entered that glade, they would have thought they were having a religious experience.
I had asked Dylan to perform this ceremony to share himself fully — his being, if you will — with me. But he didn't neglect my physical gratification — and perhaps that was also part of his being. He continued his exploration of my body, both inside and out. And as he gave me the full measure of who he was, he accepted my offer to absorb all that he wished from me and my mind. It was one final sharing between us.
At times I felt like a measuring device; a water meter, perhaps. I measured the steady flow of his mind as he directed its contents it into my mind. I lost track of the number of times he thrust into me, then withdrew, but afterward I could recall the precise number.
The flow never varied as he shared his mind with mine. The pace never changed as he shared his body with mine. The only difference was when I felt his physical essence pulse into me, only to resume his steady pace until he was ready to start pulsing again.
We lay there in that glade for hours, our bodies and minds completely in rhythm, sharing a perfect harmony with each other. When the flow from his mind finally began to slow, I felt a deep sense of loss. The sharing had been incredible. I didn't want it to end.
When Dylan had nothing left to share, he collapsed on top of me. It felt like he was completely drained.
But I didn't feel full; not even close. I just felt... more? I felt somehow bigger. I felt that I had become better.
While Dylan recovered, I gently touched his mind. I wanted to be certain that he was alright. I wanted permission, too.
I sensed his tired grin rather than saw it. My hands slowly began to examine his body. It was something I had never done before. It was one final aspect of our sharing.
Slowly, the sensation of my hands and lips brought renewed energy, first to every inch of his skin, then to every fiber of his body. Eventually, he stilled me with a kiss. It was the perfect end to our ceremony.
Almost.
He cleaned up my release from my stomach, chest and even my face! He absorbed my physical essence into his body. And then he thoughtfully made sure to release what little I had left to offer.
Gradually, we regained our connection with the rest of the world. I did so reluctantly.
But the sun would rise eventually — I hated that thought! — and we needed to return home. I glanced around the copse of trees, looking for my clothes, before I remembered that I had left them in front of the restrooms.
After what we had just done, I have no idea why I felt any modesty. But I mentioned my dilemma to Dylan. He reminded me that I should be able to use his extra. Then he slung his own clothing over his shoulder, reached for my hand, and disappeared.
I didn't have to search at all. Dylan's extra was in my mind, waiting for me. I didn't even need an instruction manual. I had all of Dylan's memories. I had all of him.
Of course, I couldn't see his smile. But I could sense Dylan's satisfaction when I engaged his extra.
He led me by the hand out of the arborvitae. I was surprised when we headed toward Columbus Drive, rather than the restrooms. But it was quite liberating.
We didn't speak aloud as we strolled home. Disembodied voices might have caused some real disturbance for anyone nearby. But we did speak to each other with our minds.
"Will I see you at my Sun Quest?" It was a reminder more than a question.
"I'll be there." He might not see me. I had his extra and there was Trevor to consider. But I would make sure that Dylan knew where I was.
"I wish we had done this more often." It was a wistful note rather than plaintive.
"We will," I promised. "Every day, in our mind."
I pondered that for a while.
"I hope that you will, too. Wherever you may find yourself." I just couldn't bring myself to consider any other possibility.
And I could sense his satisfaction; his shy smile.
"I hope so." He paused in his thoughts for reflection. "Sharing our minds is just so amazing. But I really liked the rest of it, too." There was another shy pause. "That was the first time I ever did that."
I almost lost control of his extra, I was so overcome with emotion. And wouldn't that have been a sight, right there along Columbus Drive!
That announcement was actually rather unexpected. I had been inside Dylan's mind twice before. I had all of his memories now, everything that was him. But the revelation still surprised me. I felt both proud and grateful that I had been able to do that for him.
It had triggered another thought for Dylan.
"Please, Rad. Love Dion when I'm gone."
How could I say 'no'? But I did wonder what Dion would think of that.
I considered the idea. I didn't know Dion well. I worried about whether we could trust him with our secret. But when I looked inside myself, I discovered that at least half of us was certain that we could.
"We will," I assured him.
Dylan appeared to be setting his affairs in order in his mind. I had all of his memories, everything that he was inside of me, but I couldn't always anticipate where his mind would go next.
That made me a little sad. I wondered if we had missed something during our sharing. But it had been thorough. Very thorough. I considered that maybe his mind was like mine. Some days I would think something was important, and some days it would feel less important. Maybe he was in his Tuesday mind and I was still in his Monday mind.
It was an unusual feeling, walking along Columbus Drive completely naked. It was definitely weird. I could feel my balls swinging between my legs, in time to the rhythm of my stride.
I had completely forgotten about what had almost happened to them, earlier in the evening. But I guess they wanted to remind me; to reassure me that they were still there.
There's something about the flow of night air over your balls as you walk. Those sensations actually made for a joyful and liberating experience.
I wondered if Dylan was feeling the same way. I couldn't recall that he had ever been naked in the night — and certainly never like we were, with occasional traffic passing no more than a dozen yards from of us. Dylan was so shy.
But despite the new, hedonistic sensations, I suspected that he had other thoughts on his mind. I couldn't imagine contemplating one's own existence with the certainty that it was just about to end... or at least change in very dramatic ways.
I sought words to offer comfort. I owed him that and so much more.
I had only known Dylan for a year. Our intensely close relationship had started out with a simple act of human kindness. It was such a signal aspect of his character. It was at the core of his identity.
In gradual steps, we had come to know and then care for each other. He shared his candy when I was starving and desperate. He shared his concern when I was feeling alone. He shared knowledge — deeply personal knowledge — when I was new to darkness and needed to learn how to survive. And for months he had been my hunting companion — my moral compass in an activity of questionable morality.
Of course, there had been more. I had never shared myself more fully with anyone. Not even with Mike or Jebby. And he had shared himself more fully with me than with any other.
I couldn't have found words to convey to him how much he meant to me. I hope that my thoughts, our thoughts really, were adequate.
"Have you decided what you will do next, Rad?" he wondered. "I guess your life is going to change."
My life?! What about his life?! But that was Dylan.
I reminded him that it was our life now. What did he think we should do?
That thought surprised him. Then it pleased him.
"I think Jebby will follow you into darkness. He loves you that deeply. He won't ever want to be separated from you."
Dylan sensed a power in Jebby's human mind- similar to what Taryn had noticed in me- that pointed toward powerful vampire abilities.
I didn't know how it would affect Mike and Marco, if Jebby chose darkness.
"They'll follow you, too. If you ask them. They love you."
It was a decision that I never wanted to make for them. Life in darkness comes with a high cost. There are certainly benefits. But I had also sacrificed a lot.
I never was permitted to make my own choice. If Mike or Marco ever faced that decision, I wouldn't let them do it without understanding everything about the choice and with no attempt to influence them.
"You'll make the right choice. You have a good heart, Rad."
This time I was ready for it.
"We have a good heart, Dylan."
I didn't even have to be inside his mind. I could feel the warmth of his smile.
Our mental conversation experienced lulls. At times, Dylan became contemplative and lost in his own thoughts. I could tell by his silence, but also by the way he pulled me into his body. I think he wanted to reassure me with physical closeness when his thoughts were distant. Or maybe he sought to reassure himself with my closeness? I hope that I was able to give him what he needed.
As we turned onto Grand Avenue, I had a strange thought. I wasn't at all sure how Dylan might respond, but it was meaningful to me.
I wasn't a frequent practitioner, but our ceremony in the arborvitae grove wasn't my first experience with butt sex. I knew that it could be messy. The aftermath always was.
"You filled me up pretty good tonight, back there in the grove?"
It wasn't really a question. I knew that he had. I had gone back in my mind and counted thirty-four pulses, over the course of those hours.
I leaned in confidentially, like I was whispering in his ear.
"I didn't leak anything. I absorbed everything you gave me. It's all part of me now."
I hadn't felt the slightest dampness between my legs during the entire walk home. I thought it was pretty amazing.
Dylan must have been amazed, too. And pleased. He reached behind me to pat my bottom. Then he rubbed it affectionately — almost possessively — while we continued our journey. It was just one more intimate connection that we shared.
He joined me in the church chancel when I reached home. It seemed disrespectful to be invisible before the god, so I released Dylan's extra and prostrated myself before the outline of the cross.
Dylan hesitated. But when I felt him beside me and glanced over, he had come before god as he entered the world. He really was beautiful. It was hard for me to focus my devotion on the god.
We lay before the cross, our hands joined. I reached out to Dylan and we joined our minds to share the experience. A faint glow filled the chancel. It was so peaceful.
Before he left, I wanted to plead with Dylan to come visit me again. But I would see him at his Sun Quest. He had friends that needed to be with him in the final days. And really, I knew I would never be parted from him.
We spent a few more moments in communion together in the chancel. Then I walked down the nave with him to the church entrance. When we paused in front of the door, there was no questioning glance or hesitation. We wrapped our arms around each other at the same time, then shared a long, deep kiss. It lingered. We said our goodbyes like experienced lovers.
Dylan slipped into his clothes before he slid out the door and back into the night. As I watched him go, I felt a sense of loss. But I knew that the remedy for that feeling rested securely within me. Really, it was already becoming part of me.
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