Life in the Oasis Ch 10

Author's Note

This is the next chapter in the final series of the Elysium Trilogy. If you haven't yet, I suggest you read Part 1 and Part 2, although you do not need to have read the previous two parts to be able to enjoy the sex scenes, so don't let the size of this series intimidate you. You are welcome to start here and go back later or simply read the parts you like. If you like what you read here, there's plenty more in the previous two books!

Be aware, this series includes a variety of adult situations, and I do my best to ensure that the tags are correct and comprehensive for each chapter. These stories touch on a variety of sexual subjects, like male and female bisexuality, gay sex, lots of interracial sex, some incest, oodles of group sex, voyeurism and exhibitionism, all set in a near future universe where sex is far more open than in our world. You'll find a lot of the standard tropes turned on their head here, so don't be surprised to have your assumptions challenged!

We have reached the halfway point in Part 3 of the trilogy. I am warning you all right now, that Part 3 may exceed 20 chapters. I am doing my best to land the plane and get the story told by Chapter 20, but I reserve the right to expand things if the final chapters get too unwieldy. I don't want them to balloon up to 30k words like the last few chapters of Part 2 did, so I am happy to give you a few more Chapters rather than much longer reads. Now, this is my preference. You may disagree, and if so, feel free to tell me in the comments.

As I noted last week, the 1983 timeline is coming to an end. There will be a brief 1985 vignette, and then time will shift to 2003 for the flashback section, featuring a young Sally Medici as she returns to the United States to pursue her decades long vendetta in the making. The current timeline will begin to pick up pace as the campaign gets underway and the FBI begins to make progress on their cases.

We're still on a biweekly schedule, and I foresee that being the case for another month or so.

As always, if you like what you've read, give us a vote, leave a comment, and a follow. I do my best to respond to every comment! Thanks for reading!

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Wednesday morning, June 9, 2032

The Elysium, Las Vegas

I put on a pot of coffee, and the four of us sat down around the kitchen island. I know what you are going to say - yes, it was after midnight. And yes, I put on a pot of coffee. It's not that weird that we'd be drinking it so late. And if my hunch was correct, we wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon, anyway. Between me, Avery and Ainsley, we had three certified coffeeholics in the room, and that's how we roll.

I glanced over at the closed door to the spare bedroom. I still thought of it as Claire's bedroom, even though she'd moved out months ago to move in with Ben, my old roommate. I hoped Elijah was having a good time in there. While I had only known him for a short time, I could tell we were going to be good friends. He deserved some pleasure, and I hoped the twins could deliver on their enthusiasm. Elijah was a good kid.

Listen to me, calling somebody else a kid. I'm a kid! And yet here I was, on the cusp of so many tremendous things, and having survived more drama than most people twice my age. I could feel a phantom itch in my shoulder, and I scratched lightly at the puckered scar tissue the assassin's bullet had left there. I'd seen a man gunned down in front of me, shot another, been used as target practice by a legit Russian assassin, poisoned and foiled a kidnapping attempt. Not too bad for 21 and a half.

Now, to be fair, that was the bad stuff. There was just as much, if not more, good stuff. I looked at Avery and Eva fondly, listened as Avery and her mom caught up on a month's worth of small talk while I fixed the coffee, and counted my blessings. And there were many. Very many. Three of them were in this room right now.

"I'm glad you're finally home, Mom," Avery said as we passed around the cream and sugar. I skipped the cream, as I liked mine black with a little sugar. Stop it - I know what you're thinking, and you're right. Yes, that's exactly how I liked my men. I liked my coffee that way first, okay? It's just a coincidence.

Maybe.

"I'm glad, too. It was a long, frustrating trip," Ainsley started. "Nyla is very, very tough when it comes to staffing, and we must have done a hundred interviews. Thank God Cassidy is a shrewd judge of talent, let me tell you, or we'd have been there another month. She plays the blonde bimbo routine very well in front of the cameras, but she's smart as hell and can smell bullshit from a mile away," she said, shaking her head.

"Why so many interviews?" I asked. "This was just a scouting trip, wasn't it? I thought that meant locations, not people."

We're always looking for new locations to keep things interesting. I didn't realize Nyla was talent shopping -- we had plenty here at the hotel. But if we did need actors, I'd have thought she'd want them already in Vegas. Then again, southern California is America's porn capital, so where else would they have gone for new actors?

"Nyla wants us to double our output," Ainsley explained. "We are doing well, but what Reyn and our competitors have over us is decades worth of material. We have less than six months. And given how much longer it takes to do what we do, we need to work on our library or people are going to get bored and start unsubscribing."

"But isn't the value in the new stuff?" Eva asked. She had heavily dosed her coffee with cream and sugar, and I watched as she took a sip, her nose crinkling ever so slightly. She would never admit it, but I think she'd gotten the Romano tea-drinking gene and tolerated coffee only as an excuse to contradict her father. I made a mental note to grab some Earl Grey for her.

"It is, but when somebody is horny and wants to get off, they tend to want something new," Ainsley said.

"Not me," Avery said with a sniff. "Give me Jack and Eva every day for the rest of my life and I will be happy," she told us, sipping her brew.

I looked down into my cup and smiled. That's my girl. After a beat, I looked up at her fondly.

"Love, you are anything but typical," I told her. "But even you like something new every once in a while. Especially if they're royal, right?" She blushed at me, and I squeezed her hand to show I was teasing. She had finally gotten over that hang up, and I was proud of her for it, which she knew. I turned back to Ainsley. "I get it. What's your pace now?"

"We can film two or three scenes a day, depending on the script and the channel. The big productions take far longer, like your Roman orgy last winter. Once the scene is shot, it takes a few days in editing and post-production, then Miles has to handle the audio and that adds another few days," Ainsley said, taking a sip of coffee. "If we are lucky and you've got both me and Nyla working at the same time, we can do three scenes a week from start to finish. That's across all the channels," she noted.

Eva was listening to her closely. I don't think she was as familiar with how the porn side of the company worked, but she seemed interested. "That sounds like a lot," she said.

"We launched with a half dozen scenes for each channel, and we've added maybe that many since the launch. But we have a total of maybe four hundred hours of total content on the site right now. Reyn has over 200,000 hours. And the amateur sites are in the millions," Ainsley concluded.

Avery whistled. "That's a lot of porn!"

"I'm sure you've watched most of it," Eva told her. Avery stuck her tongue out at Eva, who blew a kiss at her. I smiled at them both.

Listening to Ainsley reel off these statistics like an old pro put a lot of things in perspective for me. She'd been a pediatric dentist six months ago. Eva had been ruthlessly trying to secure her father's empire, and Avery had been a reporter chasing stories and ending careers. Now Ainsley was a porn expert and director, Eva was in a three-way relationship with two of her father's biggest competitors, and Avery was about to become a politician. I wasn't the only one whose life had completely changed in less than a year. It was interesting to see how far we'd all come in so short a time.

Eva sipped her coffee again before putting it down in front of her, mostly full. "I still don't get it. The whole point of the new site is that it's new, right?" Eva asked. "So what if Reyn has a bunch of old crap, especially that low res, pre-4k stuff? Does anybody still watch that junk?"

"Hey, if you've never seen it before, it's new to you," Ainsley told her. Eva looked skeptical but didn't argue.

"Some of my favorite stuff is the old stuff!" Avery said, wagging her finger at Eva.

"Yeah, but you're weird," Eva said, biting the end of Avery's wagging finger, causing her to giggle. Despite the hour, the girls were being extra playful with each other. I knew what that meant.

"So how many stars did you end up signing?" I asked. I might have to work with some of these people, after all, and I was curious.

"So far, we signed about two dozen. Most are women, but we did sign three guys," she told me. "I think the twins and Noelle are the best of the lot," she added. "Nyla's schedule will get them moving into the pipeline quickly, but we may need you sooner rather than later, Jack. You girls interested in starring in a few scenes?" Ainsley asked, leering at Eva.

Avery almost choked on her coffee. "Uh, no, Mom. In fact, there's something I need to tell you," she said.

For the next ten minutes Eva and I sat fidgeting while Avery explained her Congressional run to her mother. Ainsley, for her part, listened quietly, sipping her coffee and nodding as she listened. I almost thought she was going to be okay with it until she spoke up.

"Avery, I have only one question," Ainsley began, setting her coffee cup down gently and folding her hands in front of her.

"Of course, Mom. What is it?"

"Are you out of your FUCKING MIND?!?" Ainsley almost shouted, her voice rising in pitch. She went from completely calm to angry in an instant, and it took all of us aback. "Do you have ANY idea what they're going to do to you? To Jack? To Eva? To ME?" Ainsley was clearly upset, and I could see her hands were shaking.

Avery was a little flustered by her mother's outburst, but she recovered quickly. "Mom, Jack and Eva and I have talked about it. We understand what may happen," Avery said. "And we're---"

"You don't have any fucking clue, Avery. They are going to dredge up everything. Everything your father did, your brother, anything they can use to get at you they will use. That Best woman is an animal," Ainsley said. I had to stop myself from snickering, given what the Speaker had been caught doing, and I knew my tittering would have thrown gasoline on this fire. I didn't want Ainsley to think I didn't take what she was saying seriously, because I did -- I'd said the same thing to Avery when she'd told me what she was contemplating.

It was still kinda funny, not gonna lie.

Avery and Ainsley argued back and forth for another twenty minutes as Eva and I watched and listened. Our heads bounced back and forth between mother and daughter like we were watching the finals at Wimbledon. Both of them tried to drag me into the debate, but I was doing my best to stay out of it. The last thing I wanted to do was get in the middle of another mother/daughter fight between these two. The last one had been bad enough. I'd learned my lesson.

At the same time, I couldn't help but remember how that fight had ended. Avery had been livid after her mother's announcement that she wanted to work in front of the camera last January and wanted me to be her first partner, which had led to a major fight and the first actual argument Avery and I ever had. The roles were reversed this time, with Ainsley flipping out and Avery being the (mostly) calm one. Despite how angry Avery had been, she'd eventually come around and the next night, all three of us had ended up in bed together.

The make-up sex was really, really good.

This fight seemed even more explosive, and I felt a stirring in my pants as I hoped the make-up sex would be even better than last time. But that required the argument ending and it didn't seem like this one was going to any time soon.

For every complaint, Avery had an answer. For every answer, Ainsley had a retort. I had to give Avery credit. She had clearly thought about everything since I'd brought it up the other night, and her mother didn't land a single rhetorical punch that Avery wasn't prepared for. At the same time, Ainsley never backed down. It was like watching two majestic deer crash into each other over and over.

I knew Avery would be a good legislator -- she was smart, she did her homework, and she was good on her feet. If anything, this conversation only cemented that fact in my mind. She looked and sounded like she was born to do this.

At one point, the conversation stopped dead as we heard an unmistakable shriek of pleasure from Elijah's bedroom. Eva's eyebrows shot up, and I laughed nervously.

"Sounds like the twins are having a good time in there," Eva said. "I wish we were having as much fun out here," she added under her breath.

I don't know whether it was Eva's comment or our shared amusement at hearing Elijah and the twins at play that defused the situation, but suddenly both Avery and her mother were looking at each other, and Avery reached out and took Ainsley's hand.

"Mom, I know you're scared. I'm scared a bit, too. But if I thought there was another way, I'd take it. I can beat her. Nobody else can. And I lived with the guilt and the shame of Ethan and Dad for a decade. Jack and Eva have helped me get through it. I'll help get you through it. If the Beast wants to use that tragedy against me, I think it'll hurt her more than it hurts me. I have spent my whole life under that shadow. I'm not going to let it control me anymore. And neither should you."

Ainsley shook her head, but I thought I saw the makings of a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

"Avery, I don't like this at all, but you've clearly thought it through. Thanks for humoring me with some good old-fashioned debate," she told her daughter, squeezing her hand. "Reminds me of how things were before ... it all happened. Maybe I'll feel better about this in the morning."

Avery visibly relaxed, as did Eva. I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding and I went and grabbed the coffee pot to refill everybody's cup. Everybody except Eva, who'd barely touched hers.

Ainsley thanked me as I topped off her cup, and she took a sip. "Let's change the subject. Back to porn. You remember a few months back when we talked about me being in front of the camera?" Ainsley said, looking directly at me as she said it.

I swallowed. Oh shit, I thought. Here it comes.

"Yes..." Avery replied, looking at her mother as she waited for the other shoe to drop. Eva's face went from bemused to lost. We'd never talked with her about Avery and her mother and me. It wasn't that we hid it from her, it just never came up. Eva caught my eye, but I gave her a hand motion that told her I'd explain later. She sat back in her chair, cocked her head at Ainsley and waited.

"Well, like I said, we need content," Ainsley continued. She turned to look at Avery. "It won't be my first scene, since I've done a few now, but Nyla still wants one with me and Jack. You said you were good with it in January. Are you still good with it?" Ainsley bit her lip and waited, as Avery sat back heavily in her chair.

We had just ended the last fight, and here we were on the cusp of another one. Great. This is not at all how I wanted this night to end, with Ainsley and Avery going at it hammer and tongs.

Avery blew out her cheeks in exasperation. I waited for the eruption. I think she shocked all of us when, instead of shouting and carrying on, she laughed.

"Is that all? You had me worried, the way you asked that! Of course you can film a scene with Jack. Why would that bother me? You've been together before, after all. Hell, I was going to ask..." Avery said, as she paused, looking around the island at the three of us. My eyebrows shot up. So did Eva's, but clearly not for the same reason. I was surprised Avery was taking this so well, given how she'd reacted the last time the subject of sex between her mother and I came up. For her part, Eva seemed shocked at hearing I'd actually fucked Avery's mom.

I mean, I could understand why. At the same time, Eva knew me well by this point, so it shouldn't have surprised her.

"You were going to ask what?" Ainsley said, leaning in.

"... I was going to ask if you wanted to spend the night with us," Avery replied, and she blushed again. "The three of us."

I looked over at Eva, who mouthed a silent 'WOW' to me. The look of surprise that had been on her face was gone, and a look of unfeigned excitement had replaced it. It was my turn, however, to look surprised.

When Avery, Ainsley and I had gotten together the last time, I thought it was going to be just a one-night (well, and next morning) thing. There had been opportunities for the three of us to play together again - Ainsley had slept in the same bed with us a few more times while we were in DC - but we never had, not the three of us alone.

Was that intentional? Did Avery regret what we'd done with her mother? To be fair, what I had done to her mother? The two of them had never done more than some touching and a kiss on the cheek.

The suggestion that Ainsley and I do a scene together had never materialized for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was everything that had happened to me. Now it was back, and I could not possibly have guessed that Avery was going to be so nonchalant about the whole thing.

But she was.

"Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?" I deadpanned.

"What?" Avery said, looking at me, a small grin forming on her face. "I haven't seen her in a month, and I can't help it. The noises coming out of there," she said, jerking her thumb towards Eli's bedroom, where a steady sound of sex had been audible for quite a while now, "... well, they're making me wet. Sue me," she said. "And since you've been with us before, I thought you might like to stay," she added.

It was Eva's turn to speak up. "Speak for yourself, I've never been with Ainsley!"

Avery looked at Eva and put her hand to her mouth. "Oh, Evie, I'm so sorry. We never told you about that night!"

"No, you most certainly did not," Eva said, her face clouding over. She took on the cold, Ice Queen Eva look that her staff at the Empire Luxe knew so well and that I'd often seen on her face before I saved her from an attempted kidnapping. "And what makes you think I'd even be interested?"

Her nose high in the air, she looked angry and forbidding, and my heart sank. I thought tonight was going to be fun, but Eva's sudden attitude shift took me by surprise. She held that look for a few beats and my apartments were filled with a rare tension. I could see Avery starting to worry that she'd stepped into a minefield, when Eva started to titter, which quickly became full blown laughter.

"You should have seen the look on your face, Ree Ree," she said between giggles. "I had you going! Now tell me about that night and don't leave anything out," she said, a seductive grin on her face.

Relieved, we walked her through our little tryst with Ainsley, including the 'test scene' Ainsley had directed between me and Avery, which had ended with me leaving them both far messier than I'd found them. Eva's smile grew as she listened, especially when I told her how Ainsley woke me up with a blowjob the next morning.

"That story is super hot," she said, licking her lips and twirling her hair while she looked at Avery and me. "I knew you two were a couple of sluts," she said to us with a grin. "But I had no idea Avery got it from her mother!"

"Hey!" Ainsley said, swatting playfully at Eva. "Avery and I both went a decade without getting laid. We gotta make up for lost time. I'd be happy to spend the night with you three, that is ... if you're okay with it, Jack? You've not said a thing since Avery pitched the idea."

All three women turned their heads to look at me.

I looked at them incredulously. "What? Did you think I'd say no?"

We all laughed, and Ainsley looked at the three of us and smiled. "Good. That settles it," she said. "We can't let the twins be the only ones having fun tonight,' she said breathily. She stood up and took her cup to the sink. The others did the same. I was the last to stand, so it was my job to wash up.

"Jack, can you give us a few minutes before you come in?" Avery asked. I smiled and nodded. I could still hear sex sounds emanating from Elijah's room, and I knew the girls could, too. I hoped the sounds were having the same effect on them as on me. Avery gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and then followed her mother and Eva into the bedroom and shut the door. I stared after them, my imagination running wild, fueled by the quiet grunts and shrieks that filled the air.

After a few seconds I woke from my brief reverie, stepped over to the sink and turned the water on. The noise from the tap drowned out the sex soundtrack and I could finally think straight.

I washed my cup and the others in the sink, drying them with a terrycloth towel. While I washed, the sounds from Eli's room lessened and finally stopped. I ordered the lights lower, returning my suite to the near darkness of this early Wednesday morning. With the lights low, I could see the flickering glow of neon from the Strip coming through my windows as it danced across the walls and ceiling. For Vegas, the night was still young, and I thought about all the different things happening below me right now. Fortunes being made and lost, love being made and lost, good times and bad times, thousands of unique stories all unfolding out there. I began to fantasize about what was happening in Elijah's room and behind the closed door of my own.

As I put the last cup away, I heard a small click. When I turned around, I saw the door to our bedroom was now ajar. I took that as my invitation to join the three beautiful women I knew were waiting on the other side of that door.

I dried my hands quickly on my pants and crossed to the bedroom. I opened the door completely -- we never left the doors closed, in case guests wanted to join us, kinky I know -- and stepped into the bedroom.

My eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, and I saw a pile of white robes on the floor in front of our bed. They lay alongside a more colorful pile of clothes that I recognized as the ones Ainsley had been wearing all evening. In the cuck chair, beside the bed, Avery sat watching the action that had already started on the bed. Avery's long legs were spread, her raven hair splayed out behind her, as her gorgeous, big breasts moved slowly up and down with her heavy breathing. Her fingers stroked her vulva and the little pearl that glistened above them. She didn't seem to see me as I walked towards her.

She was watching Eva and her mother on the bed, getting to know each other better. As Eva said, we'd never actually played together before, the four of us. Avery's aversion to anything resembling incest had been steadily eroding over the last few months, especially since she'd fucked Prince Edward and finally gotten over her last sexual mental block. If anything, she was rapidly following my mother down a journey towards absolute hedonism, embracing her inner slut as if she was truly desperate to make up for ten years of lost time. The lost years suddenly hit me - her 28th birthday was in a few weeks. I knew I had better start planning now for it.

But not right now, I mean. Right now, I was going to enjoy myself. I felt like I was the only guy in the Sports Book who hadn't cum to Elijah, Cassidy and the rest of the show, and I wasn't going to miss this opportunity with Ainsley and the girls.

Now, while Avery's incest aversion wasn't what it had been, I didn't think she was anywhere close to accepting what my mother wanted to do with me. To me. And, frankly, neither was I. The more I had thought about it, the more I didn't want to cross that line or get even as close as we'd already been to it. Until now, the law and Avery were my two rock solid excuses, ones that Mom had accepted and hadn't been willing to breach. Looking at the lust in her eyes as she watched her mother with her girlfriend, I caught myself wondering if my belief that she didn't condone Mom's desires was still true. What if Avery was suddenly okay with what Mom wanted? The law change looked like it was going to pass.

If it did, and Avery's views changed ... what was I going to do when all the barriers I'd thrown up between Mom and me vanished? Could I tell her no and stick to it? I had done it before, with law school, but that was different. This was much, much more personal. Could I look into her eyes, tell her no and probably break her heart?

I had no idea. Again, another thing I could -- would -- worry about later. No matter how important that decision was, my reason was being overridden by my cock. Right now, I wanted -- I needed -- to enjoy the night with the girls and Ainsley.

On the bed, Eva sat with her legs spread and knees bent, her back propped up on a pile of pillows. As I watched, Ainsley broke off what had apparently been a long kiss and began to trail her way down Eva's body with her mouth. She flicked her straight black hair behind her as if on command from an unseen director, to give Avery and I the best view of her as she kissed her way down Eva's neck and chest until she reached Eva's breasts. Eva watched, a look of pleasure on her face, as Ainsley sucked her nipples, one after the other, releasing the last one with an audible pop that made the three of us grin.

Ainsley turned to look at me and winked, wiggling her ass in my direction. I looked over at Avery with a question on face. She had finally realized I was there, and gestured for me to come over to her. As she did so she shook her head no to my unvoiced question. I could feel my cock stiffen as I watched the girls, but I guess Ainsley had to wait. I hoped she wouldn't be waiting too long, but I also know that delayed gratification is often far more fun than instant.

Avery continued to toy with her clit, and I moved over next to her. As I got close, she stood up and began to undress me, unbuttoning my shirt and pants, and soon my clothes were added to the growing pile of discards at the foot of the bed. Once I was naked, Avery stroked my cock a few times, then pushed me down onto the cuck chair and sat on top of me. She made sure I still had a good view of her mother and Eva on the bed, but she didn't put my cock inside her. Instead, she sat just behind it, nestling the slowly rising shaft between her pussy lips. She was hot and wet against my skin, and it felt wonderful.

I groaned quietly, wishing my cock was deep inside her instead of being teased like it was. I was so close to her entrance and after a day of constant visual stimulation, including the scene unfolding before me, and I longed to be inside her. I could just see the delicious curve of her breasts from behind and I tried to reach up to grab her breasts from behind, but she swatted my hands away.

"Just watch, Jack," she said, turning to me. "You'll get your turn soon enough," she whispered.

As much as I wanted to rebel, I did what I was told. I put my arms on the armrest of the chair and let Avery take charge. Every once in a while, Avery felt the need to practice her Domme side, always with me, and I always liked to encourage her when she felt that urge. Though I preferred being in control, I liked it when she asserted herself.

Now, there were plenty of benefits to letting her run things, I admit. I could feel her fingers dancing on my cock shaft, massaging the precum that hard started to ooze from the tip into the head of my cock. Soon she was pushing my cock against her while the pair of us watched Eva and her mother on the bed. I could feel her teasing her clit with my shaft and I relished the feeling.

Her mother had just passed Eva's belly button, kissing her mons and finally stopping at the entrance to her sex. With soft caresses and even softer kisses, she spread Eva's pussy open and slowly began to lick her clit, which made Eva shriek and giggle as her tongue found the right spot.

Ainsley grinned up at Eva. "You are delicious, Evie," Ainsley said, using her daughter's nickname for her girlfriend. "No wonder Avery fell so hard for you," she purred.

I licked my lips as I watched the scene. Eva began to pant a bit as Ainsley's tongue worked her clit, and soon the fingers that had been spreading her lips apart began to sink into the wetness between Eva's legs, which caused her eyes to close and her head to roll back slightly in pleasure.

With Eva's eyes still closed, Avery stood up, crossing to the bed and leaving me alone on the cuck chair. I grabbed my dick and began to stroke it while I waited for what was going to happen next.

What was going to happen next?

When Avery, her mother and I had played months ago, Avery had done her best to avoid her mother as much as possible while the two of them played with me. I had been the center of attention. Now, it was Eva. What was Avery going to do? What would Ainsley let her do?

I could feel my heart beating faster as I watched the scene begin to unfold.

It was at times like these, when I saw Avery and her mother so close together, both naked, that I realized how much of Avery's good looks came from her mom. While she definitely had the dark skin, and dark, oval eyes that were a part of her father's heritage, her body was just a rounder, more voluptuous version of her mother's. They both had the same walk, the same way mannerisms, the same lustrous, black hair. Avery's was far longer than her mother's, just like her breasts were far larger, but seeing them together so closely, it was obvious they were related.

Ainsley saw her daughter cross the floor, and she crooked a finger at her, inviting her to join in eating Eva's pussy. Avery did so, her mouth getting achingly close to her mother's, and I thought I might faint.

Ainsley and Avery together? It was like a wet dream. I'd been in these kinds of situations before -- with Nyla, Mom, Miles and Sol, and with the Princesses -- but because I knew how Avery felt about this kind of thing, it made it that much hotter. Just seeing them together, so close, both pleasuring another woman, was hugely erotic. If they actually decided to cross the line and play together? I thought I might explode right there.

They didn't. As Avery's tongue snaked out, agonizingly close to her mother's face, Ainsley pulled her head away and crawled back up to kiss Eva and play with her tits as Avery stayed down between her legs.

Eva's eyes shot open when she realized Avery had replaced her mother between her legs, and she let out a low moan that was cut off by Ainsley's tongue, which was soon dancing in and out of her mouth. I watched, slowly stroking my cock, as Avery licked and nibbled, tickled and tongued Eva's clit, pushing her closer and closer to orgasm. Eva and Ainsley kissed as Ainsley tweaked Eva's nipples.

I could tell Eva was about to cum when she started pounding her fist against bed, her hands open and closing almost reflexively, her breathing getting faster and faster.

"Oh shit, Ree Ree! Don't stop!" Eva cried when Ainsley broke the kiss, looking down to watch as her daughter drove Eva into her first orgasm of the evening.

I looked at the open door to the bedroom, wondering if Elijah and the twins could hear the four of us as we filled the apartment with the same sex sounds they'd been making half an hour ago.

Once Eva had finished, Ainsley replaced her on the bed. Eva stood up and kissed Avery, the two of them hugging tightly, their hands caressing each other, as Ainsley spread her legs and began to play with her clit as she watched the two other women together. Avery and Eva's hugging was less sexual and more loving, and I knew this was Eva's way of telling Avery she loved her. It was her way of thanking Avery for the wonderful feelings. Eva was big on touching. Avery clearly enjoyed it, and the pair were completely ignoring the me and Ainsley. At one point, Ainsley cleared her throat, making Eva and Avery jump. They started like they'd forgotten the Ainsley and I were there.

Avery turned and smiled, her mischievous grin on display for her mother and me, and Eva laughed a little as they turned and climbed into the bed. Eva got down between Ainsley's legs and began to return the favor, her finger trailing through the black patch of pubic hair above Ainsley's slit. Avery got up next to her mother, getting dangerously close but still not actually touching her. She watched as Eva's tongue darted in and out and around her mother's pussy, and then she turned to me and invited me to join the three of them on the bed.

With my hard cock still in my hand, I leapt out of the chair and onto the bed, earning a screech of laughter from all three girls.

I couldn't wait any longer, and I just went for the first open hole that I saw, and that was Ainsley's. Eva moved out of the way as I lined up my cock in front of Ainsley's pussy, and I watched as Avery's eyes narrowed, and her fingers began furiously working her clit as I slid my cock into her mother.

It felt wonderful, the heat and the slickness. I had forgotten how good Ainsley felt. I pushed inch after inch of my manhood into her until my balls rested on her body and then I withdrew. She sucked in a deep breath and then groaned, and I saw Avery look at her and smile. I pushed back in, and then I began to move my cock in and out, faster and faster, until the sounds of my balls slapping against her were louder than her moans.

Eva rubbed my back and chest, began to kiss my neck and nibble on my ear as I fucked Ainsley. Avery watched as I fucked her mother, her breasts jiggling at me seductively as her fingers teased her clit. Ainsley's breasts bounced lewdly at me, and I couldn't help but reach up and grab two fistfuls of them, using them to steady myself as I pounded her pussy as hard as I could.

I couldn't keep that pace for long, but I didn't have to. Ainsley's fingers had snaked down of their own accord, and as I fucked her, she began to rub her clitoris. It wasn't long before I felt her pussy muscles contract sharply on my cock and she let out a little screech, biting it off before it turned into a full-throated scream.

"Oh Jack, if you do that on camera, it will be the hottest scene of the year!" Ainsley said, her voice throaty with desire. "I have never cum that fast from sex," she added.

I looked over at Avery who looked back at me, lust in her eyes.

"My turn?" She said softly.

"Your turn," I nodded back to her.

I withdrew my cock, now covered in her mother's juices, and let the three girls swap positions again. This time there was no real way for Avery and Ainsley not to touch, and I saw her grab her mother's hand to help maneuver her off the bed and to the side. Avery replaced her mother in the center of the bed, as Eva helped rebuild the pillows to prop Avery up. Avery's legs were spread, her pussy glistening with moisture as Eva got on her right and her mother got on her left.

Ainsley, unlike her daughter, seemed to have no qualms about touching. She rested herself against Avery's arms, her breasts dangling down onto them, and I saw Avery look at her askance, wondering exactly what her mother was doing.

Ainsley looked at Avery and smiled. Avery looked back at her mother, a look of shock on her face. Eva hugged herself tightly against Avery's other arm and looked across at Ainsley. She had a look on her face like she was daring Ainsley to do something.

I watched, and so did Avery, as her mother and Eva crossed directly in front of Avery's face and began to kiss. It was one of the sexiest things I'd ever seen. They held the kiss for ten seconds, then twenty, their heads moving slightly as their tongues danced, their lips smacked together, both sets of eyes shut tight.

I backed off the bed a bit, my cock still slippery in my hand from Ainsley's pussy juice. I didn't think I could get any harder, but I felt my cock pulse and it grew slightly as I watched and stroked. Ainsley and Eva were making out, their mouths not even an inch from Avery's face.

Finally, the two of them broke off the kiss with a gasp, and I grinned. Eva turned her head slightly and began to kiss Avery, who closed her eyes. Ainsley pulled back slightly and watched as Avery and Eva kissed, their tongues and lips doing the same thing Eva and Ainsley had been doing just moments before.

And then it happened.

I don't know who made the first move, Avery or her mother. Honestly, I think it was probably Eva. She had broken off the kiss, and I thought I saw her nudging Avery's face ever so slightly towards her mother. As Avery's head turned, Ainsley's face moved in smoothly and soon mother and daughter were kissing.

"Oh wow," I said, softly. Eva had a look of triumph on her face, and she turned to me and raised her eyebrows twice, before looking back at Avery and Ainsley.

I never thought I'd live to see the day.

The kiss didn't last very long. Just a few seconds. But when Avery and Ainsley both pulled away, I could see a look pass between them and knew that something important had just happened. For both of them.

These two women had been traumatized by sex -- Avery's feelings of guilt over her desire for her brother, the belief that her desires had caused her father's disgusting abuse, and her fear of her own sexuality had repressed her for a decade. Since meeting me she'd slowly been trying new things, the safety of our relationship and the magical atmosphere of the Elysium breaking down her barriers and helping her to heal, but the wounds were still there, barely closed.

The same thing had been happening to Ainsley. She'd discovered a new side of herself, reawakening feelings and thoughts that had long lay dormant, crushed by family tragedy.

Both Avery and Ainsley had been on months long journeys, each slowly healing in their own way, each coming to accept who they were and what they wanted, and that there was nothing wrong with them enjoying pleasure with other people.

This moment, this kiss, marked -- at least in my mind -- the moment when I knew both of them had finally healed. The memories of Vikram and Ethan no longer held the two of them back from doing the things they wanted to do. They'd remember -- how could they ever forget? -- but they would no longer be tormented.

"Jack?" Avery said to me, her voice soft as her mother sat back down, resting her breasts on her daughter's arm again, a look of relaxation on her face.

"Yes, babe?" I said, stepping back over to the bed and climbing up, walking towards the three women on my knees.

"Make love to me, Jack," she whispered. "I want to feel you inside me."

She looked so beautiful, so vulnerable, and I knew she had gone about as far as she could go. She wanted me to make her feel safe, to let her know that what she'd just done was okay.

And, as far as I was concerned, it was. I didn't think she needed my approval, but I looked at her, saw the longing in her eyes, and realized she didn't need my approval. She needed me.

And what my girl needs, my girl gets.

I moved in, my body close to hers, and I leaned over and kissed her. It was a soft, sweet kiss, and I closed my eyes and let the warmth of Avery's mouth thrill me. Without even thinking, my hand left my cock and rose to her face, cupping her cheek gently, my thumb caressing her as our tongues touched and explored. I heard Eva sigh happily next to us, and I felt a hand on my cock. I opened my eyes and caught a glimpse of Ainsley as she maneuvered my penis towards her daughter's pussy.

I squeezed my eyes shut and moved my hips, and with Ainsley's help, my cock slid into Avery's vagina. I felt a gasp and then a moan as we continued to kiss.

We made love for a solid ten minutes or so, until I couldn't hold back anymore. I had been overstimulated all night and no amount of baseball statistics was going to stop this orgasm. I stiffened as my pleasure began to build and soon I was pumping my cum deep inside of Avery as she rubbed my back and cooed with pleasure.

There was no dirty talk this time. She just looked up at me with those big brown eyes, nodding slightly as my cock emptied its load deep inside her.

I collapsed on top of her, spent. I felt Eva and Ainsley slide their bodies next to ours, and there wasn't enough caffeine in the city of Las Vegas to keep me awake.

* * *

Monday morning, August 1, 1983

Guardian Angel Cathedral, Las Vegas

Victor Romano stared straight ahead, doing his best to hold his emotions in check. Rage, remorse, disgust and grief all competed for his attention. He finally settled into apathy. He hated everything about what was happening but couldn't afford to let that show on his face.

The soaring architecture of St. Patrick's Cathedral had always lifted his spirits when he attended with his family over the years he lived in New York. Its gothic stone and beautiful stained glass soothed him, even as he quarreled with his father. It was a place of healing and of love, to him.

Victor looked to his right at his father, who was sitting two seats down from him in the front pew with his mother and the rest of his New York family. His father was staring straight ahead, an older, more weathered version of himself.

Behind them sat dozens and dozens of his father's friends and his coworkers, and well-wishers from around Las Vegas, all here to bear witness to the unspeakable tragedy that had befallen him.

The thoughts drifted to St. Patrick's again. If he was to be holding a funeral at all, which he would have given anything to have averted, he wished it would be at St. Patrick's, but this ...

... this wasn't St. Patrick's. It wasn't even close. This was Guardian Angel Cathedral, one of the co-Cathedrals of the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas. It was a gaudy, odd looking, western-American style church, the first church on the Strip, and everything about it vexed him. Where St. Patrick's was glowing, this church was stark and white. Where the blues and reds of the stained glass cast wonderful stippling patterns of light across New York's most famous church, the stained glass and altar piece here were riots of color, done in a post-modern style and Victor couldn't stand anything about it. Yet, this was the most important Catholic church in Las Vegas, and thus the Romano funeral had to be here.

He would have preferred going back to New York and burying his wife in Queens where he'd grown up. But this farce, this spectacle, was Sal Pacelli's idea. Let the entire city see him grieving. Let the Mob know they missed. Gain all the sympathy he could and then strike back as hard as his money and his connections allowed.

Romano listened as Bishop Norman McFarland, the Bishop of Reno-Las Vegas, worked through the mass, one of the primary parts of the Roman Catholic Rite of Christian Burial. It hurt him to do so, but he stared at the art of the altar piece, fixating on one point straight ahead, so he didn't have to look at the two caskets in the front of the church, one large and one small. One held the body of his wife, and the other the body of an unknown baby girl.

This was the second hardest thing he'd ever done. Last week had been the hardest.

Sal Pacelli had worked his magic, and two days after his wife was murdered, Sal, Victor and his daughter Sally had been bundled onto a plane bound for Florence. His daughter had been rechristened Salvena de Medici, the daughter of his cousin Maria and her husband Cosimo de Medici. The couple had gladly accepted Victor's daughter as their own, listening patiently and nodding as Victor and Sal walked them through everything that had happened.

Cosimo had been hesitant, but Maria had quashed any argument out of hand. Their baby boy was two weeks older than Sally, and it wasn't going to tax their household or the staff to add another. The Medicis were secretive and private, and only a handful of household employees, who had been with the family for generations, knew the truth. To the rest of the world Sally was the fraternal twin sister of Cosimo V, the son who had been born just two weeks before. No one questioned it. Victor assured them he'd return often and remain a part of Sally's life, but for now, she was safest in Florence. Leaving Sally in the arms of his cousin and her husband had almost broke him. But he knew it was the right thing to do.

The Bishop droned on, but Victor wasn't listening. His mind was working overtime, going over plans and schemes, reliving the last two weeks, and trying to keep his face placid and calm. He fidgeted slightly in his seat and looked down the row at his mother and father, who were sitting stiffly. He could tell they didn't want to be there, any more than he did. He assumed, however, that they had different reasons than his. This was the first time he'd seen his parents in months.

The church was nearly full. Almost all of Las Vegas had come out to support him. Behind him sat most of the senior leadership of the casinos, with a few notable absences -- Slim Wynnman, for instance, hadn't shown up, but Romano hadn't expected him to, either. He was the most mobbed up of all the casino owners, and he clearly wanted no links or connections between him and Romano. Whether that was because the Mob had killed Romano's family or because they expected Romano to retaliate, Wynnman had made himself scarce and that did not bother Victor one bit.

A few rows behind Romano sat Winston Chesterfield, Sheldon and Rita Weissman. Romano was not surprised to see Chesterfield -- while he was as mobbed up as Wynnman, he was also the Chairman of the Nevada Association of Resorts and Casinos. It would have looked odd had he not been present. But sitting with Weissman and his wife? That was intriguing and even through the cloud of his grief, Romano filed that knowledge away for later.

"Remember your servants, Elizabeth and Sally, whom you have called from this world to yourself..." the Bishop continued, as Victor glanced over at his father, all thoughts of the Mob, Chesterfield, Romano and others banished from his mind. His father, for his part, ignored the looks, focusing on the two caskets. Victor was surprised to see moisture in his eyes.

Victor leaned back and closed his eyes. Those were probably tears of joy. His father should be relieved, after all. The marriage he hadn't approved of was over. Victor was getting a fresh start. The slate had been wiped clean, so far as his father knew. The feeling made Victor so angry, he clenched his jaw so hard he thought he'd break a tooth.

He suddenly felt a hand in his. He was startled for a moment and then realized that Elizabeth's mother had taken his hand. She was sitting next to him as a buffer between him and his parents. She had been weeping quietly, but she'd seen the look he had been giving his father. Elizabeth's father had died when she was very young, so her mother, another Elizabeth who went by Betsy, had become inured to grief. That her daughter and granddaughter would predecease her was something she had accepted as her due, ever since her husband had passed. Grief had been and continued to be her constant companion.

She was a handsome woman, older, with a grief lined, somber face. She wasn't a woman anyone would look at twice, but she had a reassuring look that would have been perfect on a high school principal or a senior nurse. Her husband's death had left her wealthy, and as she'd never had to work, she spent much of her time doing charity projects, reading and raising her daughter.

Victor had liked her, and had appreciated her stoic demeanor, but he never really thought much about her beyond her being his wife's mother. He realized now that the pair had more in common than he'd ever considered. He looked down at the hand that held his. His mother-in-law squeezed his hand, and he returned the squeeze with one of his own. She nodded to him, and oddly enough, he felt a bit of the anger recede.

The mass ended and Victor soon found himself marching out of the church, watching as the caskets were placed into two hearses, and then climbing into a waiting limo with his father, his mother, and Betsy. The group said nothing to each other, not a word, as they followed the two caskets to Woodlawn Cemetery.

The internment was quick. Once it ended, the crowd that had followed from the church all returned to their vehicles and headed south towards the Imperial Hotel, where a post funeral reception awaited them. Romano's mother and Betsy walked back to their limo chatting quietly as Romano and his father stood together, watching as the cemetery staff removed the tarp, the device used to lower the caskets into the ground and the green carpet that surrounded the site. Soon the gravediggers slowly began to shovel earth back into the holes they'd dug just a few hours earlier.

"I'm sorry, son," Michael Romano said quietly. "This is a profound tragedy."

"Is it?" Victor retorted, biting the words off. He hadn't intended to speak, but he hadn't expected even this much from his father. The anger spilled from him. "You got what you wanted. You always get what you want. I'm unmarried with no family. Again. Now you can do with me as you will."

The muscles in his father's jaw worked as he struggled against firing off a retort. He looked down at his feet and then back up. He sighed. "Son, I didn't approve of your marriage. But I don't hate you, and I didn't want this to happen. It is the last thing I'd have wanted to happen," he said quietly. Victor looked at his father, waiting for him to continue.

Victor couldn't help but push it. "Go on, father. Tell me how there's a silver lining to this tragedy, how we can get through it together. How there will be other women, and, in fact, you've got a few you'd like to introduce me to. How vexing it is to me to see you here, lying to my face," he said, bitterness dripping from his voice.

Michael looked at his son with compassion in his eyes. It was such a rare thing for Victor to see from his father that he almost recoiled. His father was not a compassionate man. He was a hard man, a stern man, one who expected to get what he wanted and usually did. It suddenly hit Victor hard how much like his father he'd started to become.

"Son, I know you are grieving, and if it makes you feel better to make me the enemy, then I will gladly take that role. But I want you to know that your mother and I have never wanted anything other than for you to be successful and happy. I expected we'd come to accept your new family in time. I regret we won't get that opportunity. I regret ..." he paused, and Victor saw his father was getting choked up, and he knew instantly that this image would never leave him, no matter how old he grew. This kind of public emotion was unprecedented. Not once in his relationship with his father had he seen anything like it. He never thought Michael Romano had it in him.

His father swallowed and then continued. "... I regret that we never got to meet our granddaughter. We were wrong, son. I understand that now. If you want to come home, you are welcome. We can start a new business, or I can try to get out of the deal and give you the company. Just tell me what you want to do," he concluded.

Victor was stunned. Come home? Back to New York? It was the only thing he'd wanted. If the offer had come two weeks earlier, he'd have gladly dropped everything and accepted. Even after what happened, the word "yes" was almost on his lips. But before he could give voice to the desire, he stopped.

There was a pinprick of shame in the back of his mind, a tiny bit of conscience that started small and began to grow steadily. His father was grieving too, grieving for a granddaughter he'd never met - a granddaughter who was still alive, and Victor knew it. Part of him wanted to assuage his father's grief, telling him that Sally wasn't dead, letting him know that he could still be a part of her life if he chose.

The feeling was almost overwhelming, and he felt his hand rise to take his father's shoulder. Michael stared at his son, an odd look in his eyes. If Michael Romano's behavior had been surprising to his son, his son's behavior now was equally surprising to his father.

Victor's mouth began to form the words, but when he spoke, the words that came out weren't what he'd intended to say at all.

"I wish I could do that, father. I would have liked to stay in New York. I wish I could return. But I can't leave now. Elizabeth is here. And Sally..." he started, but he couldn't lie to his father. He couldn't say she was here, too. Because she wasn't. The body of an unknown, unnamed little girl was here, and his precious Sally was six thousand miles away. Instead of lie, he let the name hang in the air, the implication clear, even if it was a false one.

He paused for a moment, before he continued. "I still have a job to do. I won't leave it half-done," he said, sighing. Another half-truth, another vague statement that Romano would let his father assume referred to his role with the company. Romano fell silent, his brain working as he chose his next words carefully. He couldn't tell his father everything, but he didn't want to slap away this rapprochement, either.

"I owe it to the two people in those graves to stay here and do what I set out to do. I will come back to New York someday, but not until I've succeeded."

Michael nodded at Victor, as if he hadn't expected anything different.

"Son, I'm sorry. Whatever we can do to help you, your mother and I will do. And there will be no more meddling with your love life. You decide what's best for you," he said, looking down at his shoes. He gave his son a small smile. "You're right, by the way. I did have a list of potential suitors for you. I wouldn't have told you that today, even I'm not that big of an asshole. But don't worry. We'll leave you to decide your future. I trust you to do what's right," Michael said.

Victor nodded at his father. This was the most magnanimous he'd ever seen Michael Romano. His father was truly trying, and Victor appreciated it. He owed it to his father to do the same.

As he stood there, he wrestled with the decision over whether to tell his father the truth. He was almost resolved to do so when, after a few more silent minutes, his father turned and walked back to the car, leaving Victor alone by the graveside.

The opportunity had passed. He didn't think he'd get another. His resolve hardened, and he knew it was best his father and mother believed their granddaughter was dead. She'd be safer that way, and her safety was even more important than his parents' feelings. He'd carry this burden alone.

Victor knelt and scooped up a handful of dirt, looking at closely. It was just dirt, the rough sandy soil of Las Vegas. But for the first time, it was something more. It his wife's last home, a place she'd never leave. He resolved not to leave her, either. And if he couldn't leave, the least he could do is clean this town up and make it a place she would be proud to have called home.

"Elizabeth, I promise you. I will make this City a better place. I will make sure Sally grows up safe and learns of you. And I will make sure no one ever forgets the name Romano in this town. I swear it."

He dropped the dirt into the open grave, earning a sympathetic look from one of the gravediggers.

He turned and followed his father to the car.

He'd played his role as best he could. It was time for him to go to work. He had two jobs. One of them was making his company the most powerful casino operation Las Vegas had ever seen.

The other was putting the Mob out of business. He couldn't accomplish one without the other.

And that would be his crusade, once this horrible day was over.

* * *

Wednesday morning, June 9, 2032

The Elysium, Las Vegas

One of the twins, he had no idea which one, closed the door to the bedroom behind them with a loud click. The lights were on, fortunately, as Mr. Fisher -- Jack -- had just showed Elijah where he would be staying. Otherwise, they'd have been groping around in the dark, and with the number of clothes racks in this spare bedroom, they'd have ended up drowning in silk and women's undergarments had the lights not been on. Elijah didn't realize the lights were voice activated.

He had a lot to learn.

The girls were giggling loudly, and it made Elijah smile. He was about to try to stammer out an introduction when the first blonde, the one who had taken him by the hand, began to speak, a torrent of words spilling from her mouth.

"I'm Hailey. She's Hannah. We're twins. We just started working for Elysium Productions, and you got to watch our first scene! How did we do? Was it hot? Did it make you horny? Did you get a boner? What happens if you get a boner in those pants?" She began, and she didn't stop going. Her sister stepped up next to her and watched as Hailey continued peppering him with questions and not giving him time to answer. "Does it hurt? Have you ever busted open a pair of pants with your cock? I bet that would be expensive! I bet you're constantly destroying underwear with it! Can we see it?!"

When Hailey took a breath, Hannah started in on him, too. "The minute I saw you I knew it was you! We heard somebody was having sex in the Sports Book when Ainsley was giving us a tour and we got to see the end of your show when you blew your load all over those two girls. Wow! I've never seen that much jizz! Do you always cum like that? Do you get dehydrated after sex? Have you ever passed out because your cock is so big and all that blood has to go to it to keep it hard? Do you actually get hard or is it just kind of big but soft?"

Elijah's head was swimming. He held his hands up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he stammered, and the twins barely stopped talking, mumbling more questions that Elijah couldn't hear. Neither of them took a step back or made any move to give him some room. In fact, Hannah reached out and took his free arm and rubbed it, as Hailey did the same with the one she was holding. It was as if they were afraid if they stopped touching him he'd disappear. "Girls, I can't even begin to answer your questions because I can't remember what you asked first," he said, shaking his head.

The two girls giggled for a moment. Hannah leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Sorry about that ... Elijah, right? We get excited real easy and then sometimes we can't stop. Been that way since we were kids," Hannah told him.

"But we're not kids anymore!" Hailey said, nodding at him. "We're twenty-three! How old are you?"

Elijah gulped. They were five years older than him, even though that's not at all how they acted. Hell, they were probably college graduates. He fought the urge to lie -- he didn't think the girls would care, and he had a thing about being honest -- and squeaked out an answer. "I just turned eighteen three weeks ago," he said. "Graduated high school two weeks ago," he added. He had no idea why he'd said that, but he did and now it was out there. He winced, as he waited for the girls to laugh at him.

They did, but it wasn't derisive laughter. It was flirty, and Elijah found he actually liked it.

"Wow! We've never been with a younger man before," Hailey said.

"We?" Elijah asked, looking at them. "Do you guys always ... uh ... you know, together?"

Hannah laughed. "Not always! But usually, we do! I mean, Hailey loves to pretend she's me and trick my boyfriends into fucking her and then laughing at them when they freak out. They always assume I'm going to be all mad about it, but how can I be? She looks just like me, so it's not like I have anything to be jealous about," she said, the words tumbling out of her. It made Elijah's head swim how much energy these two had. It seemed boundless.

"The look on their faces! It's SOOOO funny!" Hailey said, laughing. "After a while we just started telling all our boyfriends, and we don't have many, just a couple dozen, that we're a two for one deal. We even tell the girls that too! Nobody has ever turned us down, amazingly enough!"

Elijah smiled. "No, I guess they wouldn't," he said, laughing.

The girls laughed with him. Then they got serious.

"Do you want to be our boyfriend?" Hannah asked, batting her eyes at him.

"We're really fun to play with," Hailey continued, running her hand up his chest and whispering coquettishly.

"And we really, really, really want to see your cock," Hannah said, biting her finger, and staring into Elijah's eyes as she hung off his arm.

"Really, really, really," Hailey added, for extra emphasis. The two were practically in his arms again.

Elijah felt his blood begin to flow south as he realized that his dream might be about to come true a second time in as many days. Granted, the twins weren't Cassidy Cane, but they were apparently porn stars in their own right, and if they had 'dozens of boyfriends' they were clearly well versed sexually. Was it worth trying with other women, after all his failures?

Of course it fucking was. Elijah didn't answer the girls, he just unzipped his pants, undid the clasp at the waist, and tugged down. He was new to the Elysium and hadn't learned yet the hotel's disdain for underwear, so he stood there in his boxers, the head of his enormous cock peeking out the bottom of the left leg.

"Yes!" The twins said together, looking hungrily at Elijah's boxers.

They hastily moved in to help Elijah undress. Once done they turned and began to undress each other. Soon there was a pile of clothes at the foot of the large California King sized bed, and the girls turned to get their first up close looks at Elijah's penis since they'd seen it in the Sports Book yesterday afternoon.

Elijah also got a better look at the twins up close. They didn't have all the porn star makeup on, and they weren't brightly lit, so they looked more normal, more human, than they did down in Noctis. That was just fine by him.

The two girls were flat out adorable. They had cute little dimples in their cheeks, tight bodies with small waists and wide hips, their butts perfect little peaches that Elijah wanted to squeeze, and their breasts were just large enough to fill his hands but not the overly sexualized pair that Cassidy sported, or the rich-woman-on-the-prowl mounds that the doubting redhead had bought.

The girls looked like they could have walked straight out of a college recruitment video or some kind of commercial, for deodorant or pet food or something completely wholesome.

But the look the girls were giving him was anything but wholesome. They were looking at Elijah like he was on the menu, and they were ready to feast.

It wasn't long before the two were on their knees in front of him, pushing him back slowly until he fell onto the bed. His cock dangled down between his legs, semi-erect, but not yet fully all the way there. Neither girl had touched it yet, despite their repeated demands to see it.

Hailey licked her lips and whispered something to Hannah, who giggled and whispered back. Elijah put his hands behind him to prop himself up, while the girls rested their hands on his legs.

Suddenly, they pumped their fists, making a jerk-off motion. After three pumps, Hailey's hand went flat and Hannah's stayed in a fist.

"Ha! That's one!" Hailey said. "Paper beats rock!"

"You always start the same way, Hailey!" Hannah said, pouting. "I should have done scissors!"

After a pause, they did it again, this time with Hailey putting out two fingers like a pair of scissors, and Hannah, again, keeping her hand in a fist.

"HA! Rock beats scissors!" Hannah said. "We're tied! Next one gets first dibs on Elijah's dick!"

Elijah looked at the twins with bemusement as they played rock-paper-scissors to decide who got him first. Yet another thing he never could have predicted would have happened to him today. He got a feeling that this new job was going to be one long unpredictable experience after another.

He had no idea what was coming.

Hannah went with three straight rocks, and lost to Hailey, who went back to paper for the tie-breaker. Hailey squealed in delight and grabbed Elijah's cock with both hands.

"I go first!" She cried and began to massage Elijah's penis, raising it up to face height as she did so. "You look good enough to eat!"

"So do you," Elijah said, quipping back. The girls grinned at him, and he gave them a half-grin in return. He had no idea where that came from. Normally he was horrible at flirting, but for some reason between Cassidy, finally having sex, and now having these two sexpot twins ravishing him, he seemed to have unlocked a hidden charm he hadn't known he possessed. He resolved to think about that later and focused his attention on the two women.

"We're going to have a lot of fun, Elijah," Hannah said, reaching up to caress his balls while her sister stroked the monster cock in her hands. Elijah felt giddy as his cock rose and rose, thickening and hardening in Hailey's hands.

It wasn't long before Hailey opened wide and took Elijah's cockhead in her mouth. Her mouth was not even close to the size of Cassidy's, and she couldn't get much more of him in than that, but her tongue began to swirl and lick, and Elijah threw his head back, the sensations so strong they were almost painful.

He had no idea why he was so sensitive, but every nerve ending in his cock was tingling. Hailey began to suck lightly, her tongue still swirling and the acute feeling lessened. Elijah was able to open his eyes and look down, just in time to see Hannah run her tongue along the shaft of his cock, over her sister's hands and then down to his balls, where she sucked one into her mouth and gently began to tongue it.

His eyes rolled back in his head a second time, the feeling of two mouths and two hands on him almost overwhelming. The girls knew exactly what they were doing, and they'd clearly done this before, as they worked together like a tried-and-true team, expertly working his glans, his shaft and his balls until it felt like there were dozens of hands and lips on him, not just the two pairs.

"If you keep this up, I'm going to blow," Elijah said breathlessly, looking down at the blonde heads bobbing along his nether region.

"Go ahead! We've got plenty of time, and there's something we want to teach you," Hailey said after pulling her mouth off Elijah's cock. Hannah took advantage of Hailey speaking to start sucking Elijah.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that!" Hailey said, slapping her sister on the arm.

Hannah tried to say something in response, but all Elijah heard was a contented gurgle. Hailey began to use her mouth on the rest of Elijah's cock, like her sister had done when she was in control, and he felt her hands on his balls and inside his thighs. He felt a finger begin to work its way towards his asshole, and he was about to tell Hailey to stop.

"Ssshh," Hailey said. "Just relax and let us take care of you. We may be young, but we have a lot to teach you, young man," she said, an edge of humor to her voice. Her eyes danced mischievously at him, as her finger found his anus. He felt a slight bit of trepidation, which he fought down, trying to do his best to be open to whatever it was the girls wanted to show him.

Hannah's tongue danced on his cock as Hailey's finger probed his asshole gently, finally pushing its way up and inside him. The angle was a bit off, so Elijah scooted down a bit more on the bed, giving Hailey more room, and he felt her finger go all the way up inside him, until he felt the rest of her hand on his taint. Hannah's began to suck, as Hailey began to wiggle her finger in his asshole.

Elijah had never felt anything like this before, had no idea why it felt so good, and he was cumming before he could warn the girls it was happening.

"Oh shi--" he began, as he was overwhelmed by an orgasm he hadn't realized was so close, his cock pulsing as he began to shoot into Hannah's mouth. Hannah's eyes went wide in surprise as the first jet hit the back of her throat, and soon she had pulled her mouth off, coughing and spluttering.

"Oh yes! Get it all over us, Elijah!" Hailey said, laughing as her sister got hit in the face with another spurt of cum, causing her to cough and splutter some more. Hailey grabbed Elijah's cock and aimed it at her own face, and being prepared for the next spurt, took it on her open mouth and chin, some hitting her tongue and cheek.

It wasn't the monster load that had covered Cassidy and the doubting redhead yesterday, but it was still an impressive amount of jizz. Hannah recovered from her surprise and was laughing at herself and her sister as the two looked at Elijah with awe and happiness.

"That was awesome!" Hailey said, laughing. "Here, Hannah. Try some!" She quipped, leaning close to her sister and kissing her. The two smeared the remains of Elijah's orgasm on each other, their lips and tongues swirling and cleaning each other up. Some of his cum had dripped down Hannah's chest and Hailey made a point to lick every drop of it off her sister.

Elijah watched dumbfounded as the two sisters made out with each other, swapping his jizz back and forth before finally swallowing it.

"That was amazing!" He gushed. "I've had some blowjobs before, but that was even better than Cassidy!"

"That's the best compliment we've ever gotten," Hailey said, grinning up at him.

"Now it's your turn to return the favor," Hannah told him.

Elijah looked at them askance. "Uh... how?"

Hailey thought he was kidding and laughed. "How do you think?" She asked, teasingly.

Elijah got quiet. The girls looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to make a move, but he didn't. The confidence that had gotten him through the last two sessions was starting to fade, as Elijah realized he had no idea what they were asking of him.

"We went down on you, so now..." Hannah continued. Elijah just looked at them.

"Uh ..." He realized they must want him to go down on them. He'd never done that before, never seen it done in a porno either. He didn't watch a lot of porn anyway, and all the ones he had seen, the men were being serviced, not the other way around. He had no idea what they wanted him to do.

He sighed. "I don't know how," he admitted, looking sheepish. "I'm still pretty new at all this, and nobody has ever asked me to go ... down? Most of the time they're too busy staring at my cock to do much of anything. I'm sorry, girls. I guess I'm just not that good at this..." he said, deflating.

Elijah realized his sexual knowledge was completing lacking in a variety of ways. His brother hadn't taught him a thing, and he wasn't a big porn watcher. He'd been so caught up in worrying about his size that all the other things people did with each other in the bedroom had escaped him. It also struck him that other than his first experience -- if you could call it that -- with Bunny, he'd never really had a one-on-one sexual experience with a woman. All his experiences had been with groups and with audiences watching. He had no idea what he'd do if he got a woman alone. He'd never even been kissed!

The girls laughed, and this time the laughter did sting Elijah a little. But Hailey put her hands on Elijah's leg and rubbed it in a reassuring way.

"It's okay, Elijah. It's not surprising with a cock like that you've not really had to learn anything else. But the good thing for you is you've got us!" Hannah told him.

Hailey rubbed his leg again and seconded her sister's comment. "We're great teachers! Just watch what we do!"

Hailey scooted away from Elijah, spreading her legs and letting her sister slide between them. Soon Hannah was expertly working two fingers into Hailey's sopping wet pussy, her tongue dancing merrily on her clit, earning her sigh and a low a moan of pleasure from her sister.

"Elijah, get down here and help!" Hannah said. Elijah jerked like he'd been stung by a bee. He'd been so caught up in watching the sisters play that he'd forgotten he was supposed to be learning.

He got down between Hailey's legs, his face dangerously close to Hannah's, and watched as she showed him what to do. "Try it!" She urged.

Elijah leaned forward, putting his tongue on Hailey's love button. "Nah whaaa?" He asked.

"Lick it, silly!" Hannah said, laughing at him.

He did. He seemed to be doing something right because the moans that Hailey had been making before returned, and as he continued licking, Hannah kept fingering. Soon the noise and motion from Hailey began to increase, and he had to back off a bit to keep from banging his head into Hannah's.

Hailey let out a long groan and then a scream, as she began to cum, announcing the fact in a breathy voice to her sister and Elijah. Elijah grinned, pleased with himself that he helped bring Hailey to orgasm with nothing more than his tongue and Hannah's fingers.

Fifteen minutes later, Eli found himself lying on his back, one arm wrapped around each twin as they snuggled in close to him. He'd learned quite a bit from the pair that night, far more in just this one tryst than he had in nearly a dozen with his brother. They seemed to enjoy teaching him, showing him a variety of different techniques they used to pleasure each other, and by the time they'd finished their lessons, all three of them were satisfied.

Elijah stared at the ceiling of his new bedroom, content in a way he hadn't imagined possible just a few days before.

* * *

Wednesday morning, June 9, 2032

Corn Creek, Desert National Wildlife Refuge, 35 miles north of Las Vegas

"I done told you everything I know!" Belle Dix pleaded for the tenth time. "Let me go!"

Thirty-five miles north of Las Vegas, the Desert National Wildlife Refuge was massive, beautiful, and remote. The largest wildlife refuge in the continental United States, its more than 1.6 million acres were more than twice the size of Rhode Island. Set up in 1936 to protect bighorn sheep, since 1974 most of it has been treated as wilderness and allowed to grow unchecked and untouched by human hands.

One of the few bits of civilization in the Refuge was the Visitor's Center, which was completed twenty years ago, along with a handful of field stations and modules. Those stations and modules, designed around conserving and studying the wildlife of the southwestern United States, surrounded the Visitor's Center and shared a parking lot. The entire compound was powered by rows of solar panels. It was a lovely, pristine place to go birdwatching or otherwise observe the native fauna of the Nevada desert.

It also happened to be Sally Hemingway's favorite location for interrogations. The head of the Refuge was a friend of hers and she'd made considerable donations to the National Wildlife Refuge League, which gave her access to a lot of the senior people in the Department of the Interior. Remote, quiet, flat -- you could see someone coming from miles away -- and it held the only bit of greenery in the entire area. She'd discovered the place years ago when she'd returned to America following her upbringing in Italy, where her father had shipped her off to protect her during the Mob War of the 80s.

That war had kicked off when Winston Chesterfield and Lester Hemingway had sold out her father to the Mob for forty pieces of silver. She'd dealt with the Hemingway family. She was going to deal with Chesterfield.

And that's where Belle Dix came in.

"Belle--"

"Why you gotta keep calling me that! I ain't gone by that name in forty years! My name's Helen!"

Sally Hemingway ground her teeth. She'd had quite enough of Belle Dix's interruptions. They'd been at it for barely an hour now, and she'd gotten almost nothing useful from the woman. Her patience was at an end.

Sally nodded to one of the armed guards, who stepped up and backhanded Belle across the face. Belle screamed in pain and anger. Sally's eyes were hard as she stared at the woman who had been part of the murder of her mother. There was no compassion, no empathy there. Nothing but ice in those eyes.

Belle straightened up. The slap had been hard, but it wasn't hard enough to bruise or cut her. The guards were under strict orders not to cause any obvious physical damage to Dix. A slap wasn't going to leave anything permanent or even that temporary, and it sent the right signal.

She didn't know that they wouldn't hurt her seriously, of course. Her heart raced as she worried what these men and this crazy bitch would do to her next. What did they want?

"Belle, I regret having to do that," Sally said, with absolutely no regret in her tone. "But I know you have information, and if you continue to waste my time, the chances of you walking out of here with the money I've promised is going to drop precipitously. A hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money for someone like you," Sally told her.

When Sally had first told her the number, she could see the piratical gleam in Belle Dix's eye. That had boded well for the interrogation, and Sally had been cautiously optimistic that she wouldn't need to use violence to coerce this confession. And she hadn't until now.

Dix looked at her with pleading eyes. "What information do you want? I've told you everything about me. What is it you want me to say?"

Thanks to the promise of cash, the woman had been talkative for the first half hour. She explained her entire life story, her relationship with Winston Chesterfield, and what she'd been doing since she broke it off with him, although she'd been reticent to explain why. Belle had finished out her biographical sketch by explaining how she'd been hiding in plain sight ever since, getting married to a two-bit hustler from west Las Vegas and running the Naked City Motel alone when he died.

Since then, she'd stuttered and stammered and evaded Sally's more pointed questions. Dix went over her history a second time, as Sally Hemingway's patience wore thin.

None of what she had been told so far mollified Sally. She knew most of it, except for Winston's sexual proclivities, which were interesting but unimportant -- he was in his 90s, and couldn't possibly care if people knew he had a taste for Black women when he was young enough to still be sexually active. Sally had more specific questions -- ones about why Belle had ghosted Winston and ran off, and about her mother's murder. And Belle had been holding out.

Sally hoped the slap had been enough to break through the nonsense, and it appeared to have worked.

Belle looked cowed now, as this was the first time one of her comments had led to violence. Sally saw a flash of defiance after the slap, but at the mention again of the money, Dix had softened her expression.

"I want you to answer my questions, Belle. That's all. Stop evading and tell me everything," Sally said calmly, her hands on her hips.

"Lady, I don't know who you are or what you want with me. I told you what I remember from back then. It was a long time ago and I ain't as young as I used to be, okay? What else do you want to know? I can't tell you what I don't know!"

"Belle, you were Winston Chesterfield's mistress for nearly two years. From 1983 to 1985, you worked for him. In '84 you started dancing in one of his main shows, and then in '85 you just up and disappeared. Why? You've told me everything else about your life but that. Let's start there, for now. If I'm satisfied with that explanation, we can go on from there."

Dix swallowed and lowered her head. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I don't like to think about that time," she said. "Bad things happened, and I was scared. It's why I left."

"If you want to see this money," Sally said, gesturing to a small leather briefcase that held the large quantity of cash she'd showed to Belle when they'd first sat down here in the field station, "you need to think about that time. And tell me."

Belle sighed, shaking her head.

"I knew he shouldn't have done it, I knew it was a stupid idea, but I was young and I was dumb and I was in love. And once we got the money, I thought everything would be fine. Then they killed my friends. And I thought they were going to kill me. Winston didn't protect them so I knew he wouldn't protect me, and if he ever found out what I did to him, he'd have let them do it, too. So I ran. I never found out what happened to the boy. I ain't seen Winnie in forty years."

Sally perked up immediately. This might be what she was looking for. She grabbed a chair and sat down across from Belle, the first time she'd been seated during the entire interview.

"Tell me what happened," Sally said. Before Belle could begin, she took out a small, silver pistol and aimed it at Belle as Belle's mouth fell open.

"Wait," she said, and Belle closed her mouth. Sally looked at the guards. "Leave us. If I scream or you hear a gunshot, come back in. Get her reward prepared," she said to the most senior of the guards. He gave her a slight nod, took the briefcase with the cash, and the three of them left the room.

"It's just us now. Tell me the story, don't leave anything out, and if you try to run," Sally said, brandishing the pistol at Belle. "Well ... let's just say you won't get very far."

Belle looked at the gun with wide eyes, then took a deep breath, sighed again, and began. As the words spilled out, it became clear that Belle Dix was exactly the source that Sally needed.

Over the next half an hour, Belle told Sally Hemingway one of the most remarkable stories Sally had ever heard. By the time it was done, Belle was an exhausted mess.

"And that's all I know, I swear," Belle said, looking at Sally with tears in her eyes.

"You expect me to believe this? That none of this ever came out?" Sally said, her mind reeling with the new information. Much of it fit the things she already knew, but there was plenty she'd never heard before. She got the feeling Belle wasn't lying -- there was too much self-incrimination, too many dirty, sordid details that no one except a true pervert or an erotica fiction writer could come up with, and Belle didn't appear to be either of those things.

"I ain't lying! What I told you is the God's honest truth. Now, I done my part. Put the gun away and give me my money and take me home." Belle said, her chin held high.

Sally had to give the woman credit. She had nerve. Sally put the gun away and stood up.

"How many people know this story? Everything you just told me?"

"Alive? Chesterfield, obviously. Me. You, now. That's about it. My husband knew but he's been in the ground almost as long as I been hiding," Belle told her. "Don't you worry. Your secret's safe with me. I think I proved I can hold one," she finished, a hesitant smile on her face.

Sally looked at her, expressionless. "You've certainly earned your reward," Sally told her. The smile on Belle's face widened, and her greedy eyes lit up.

"You can come back now!" Sally shouted.

The three guards, still carrying their concealed weapons, reentered the room. The most senior, a tall, striking man with dark sunglasses and reddish blonde hair, came over and whispered something into Sally's ear.

"Good. Belle, thank you for everything. You've been most cooperative. I apologize for the slap. My staff did you a favor and drove your vehicle here from the motel. You'll find it in the parking lot, along with the briefcase with your reward. I suggest you don't open the briefcase until you get home. The sooner we're all gone from here the better, understand? The money is all there. You can trust me," Sally said. She gave Belle her first smile of the evening.

It didn't reach her eyes. Belle didn't notice the look, too caught up in the dollar signs that had been dancing in her head.

The tall guard reached out and handed Belle the keys to her car, which she'd last seen sitting in a dish on the desk in the Naked City Motel office.

"Thank you for your help," Sally added. "This conversation has been most illuminating."

Belle took the keys and made a beeline for the exit. Sally went to the window, looked out and watched as Belle crept across the parking lot as fast as her aged bones could take her. She climbed into the beat up Toyota sedan, turned the car on and sat for a few moments. Sally was concerned she was opening the briefcase despite being told to hurry, but after a few more moments, the car pulled out of the parking lot and immediately turned right onto Corn Creek Road. That would take her back to Route 95 and Las Vegas. It was clear, based on how she didn't hesitate at the turn, that the pause had been her programming the GPS in her car to get her home.

"Ma'am, I don't want to question you, but what happens if she does what you ordered and waits to open the briefcase until she gets home?" The tall guard asked.

Sally smiled at him, the first genuine smile of the night. "Oh, Chuck. You saw the way she looked at that money. There's absolutely no chance she waits to get home before she looks at it again."

Sally thought for a moment and realized she had come too far to let all her plans turn on the greed of a little old lady. "Follow her," Sally said to one of the guards. "Make sure she's opened the briefcase before you return to the Key West."

"Yes, ma'am," the guard said. He and the other guard followed and hopped into one of the two dark SUVs they'd brought to the Refuge.

Sally was left with the tall man. She looked at him fondly -- as fondly as she looked at anyone. He'd been the head of her security detail for years now, one of the few who knew the depth of her desire for justice. He could tell she had been profoundly moved by what she'd heard tonight.

"Take me home, Chuck," she said quietly. "I need to think. This whole thing has gotten a lot more interesting. We're close. So very, very close now."

Belle Dix made it almost back to the Vegas city limits before she was overcome with curiosity. There was an old Chevron station I sight, so she took the exit, turned left and made her way towards it. She filled up her car, then pulled over into a darker area away from the main building. It was very early Wednesday morning, nearly two, and the place was deserted except for a lone attendant working behind the counter inside the 24-hour convenience store that complimented the gas station. He was wearing large headphones, bouncing his head up and down to the music and reading a magazine. He didn't notice Belle pulling in.

Belle got out of the car, taking the briefcase with her. It wasn't as heavy as she thought it should be, but it was certainly full. She brought it around to the front of the car, resting it on top of the hood. She looked up, left and right, making sure there was no one watching. There was no one, and the night was still and silent, except for the gentle sounds of the desert and the hum of the tall lights that illuminated the station.

She popped the locks on the briefcase and opened it.

The Desert National Wildlife Refuge had been created to protect bighorn sheep. Over the years, that mission had been expanded, and like any desert it was host to a wide variety of life, both on the land and in the air. Coyotes, desert tortoises, bobcats, badgers, golden eagles and roadrunners, along with all kinds of other animals, called it home. All were wild, some were docile, and some were deadly. One of the field modules at the Wildlife Refuge had been studying snakes under a grant from the National Institutes of Health, working to develop better antivenoms and antitoxins for use in hospitals around the world.

Unbeknownst to Belle Dix, that was the field module she had been questioned in. While the main area she'd been held in looked like any other office, the back rooms of the building were home to dozens of specimens of Nevada's native snakes, each held in a large glass vivarium.

Among the deadliest was the Mojave Green. A rattlesnake, the Mojave Green boasted one of the most lethal venoms of any snake in North America. Its venom included a neurotoxin that caused respiratory paralysis in its victims. The field module had boasted two Mojave Greens, which was two more than the staff wanted to handle.

Now they only had one.

Only a handful of people are killed by snake bites each year, with mortality rates varying largely on the size of the snake, the size and age of the victim, and the proximity to advanced medical facilities with the proper antivenoms.

Belle was small, she was elderly, and she was at least half an hour away from the closest medical facility. And the rattlesnake that leapt out of the briefcase she had opened was large, ill-tempered on a good day, and very angry at being removed from his comfortable glass enclosure and confined in a briefcase for the last hour.

Belle screamed and screamed, the sound echoing across the desert. She looked around wildly, hoping to find some help but she was all alone, save for the skinny kid behind the counter of the convenience store, still bobbing his head to his music while flipping the pages of the porno magazine he'd pilfered from the adult racks in the back. He was jamming out to a Candy track from ten years earlier as loud as his Beats by Dre could go.

Belle could have been screaming in his face and he wouldn't have heard it.

Her screams tore at the night, but they did little good.

No one heard the snake's warning rattle as it bit her twice, once on the left thigh and again on her right leg, before slithering off into the desert. No one heard as she turned and stumbled away, her brain numbed by fear. She tried to get as far away from the snake as she could, never considering where she was going. Instead of heading towards the convenience store, she took off into the desert, overcome with fear. The bites burned at first, the skin around them swelling and turning dark. She kept running, her clothes torn at by unseen cacti and shrub brush as she tried to put as much distance between her and the snake as she could. Soon the pain ceased, as her legs began to go numb. Her heart was pounding, which pumped the venom through her veins far faster than a doctor could have treated easily, even if there had been one right beside her.

There wasn't.

She felt the numbness creep higher and higher, a wave of nausea hitting her. She began to have trouble breathing. Her steps wobbled as she couldn't feel her legs at all anymore and she hobbled along like a toy wooden soldier in a Christmas ballet. Her chest felt tight, her lungs burning. She reached up and clawed at her throat, as her chest began to go numb. She became desperate to breathe. Her diaphragm muscles began to spasm.

She had been afraid. Now panic rose up inside her.

After a few more toddles, her knees locked completely, and she tipped forward. She fell hard, landing on her face. The taste of blood, dirt and sand filled Belle's mouth, and the desert dust clogged her nose, which had broken on impact. It didn't matter at that point-- she couldn't breathe anyway. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head, as her vision began to blur, tunneling as little stars formed around the edges, before all went black. She twitched slightly for a few minutes more, sweat beading on her forehead.

Less than fifteen minutes after being bitten, Belle Dix was dead.

Ten minutes later, a lone SUV pulled into the gas station. Two men in dark suits got out. One went to pump gas, the other crossed over to the beat-up old Toyota. He looked inside the car, then found the briefcase, which had tumbled off the hood of the car. He picked it up, saw that it was empty, then snapped it shut. He walked back to the car, hefting the case for his partner to see. The other nodded and opened the trunk.

They finished gassing up, climbed back into the SUV and pulled out of the gas station. One of them punched a quick dial button on his phone.

"Recovered. There was no sign of her. Tracks led off into the desert. Returning," he said. He paused, listening to the response, then ended the phone call.

"It's done," Chuck said to Sally Hemingway, who was staring out into the darkness as they drove back towards Las Vegas.

"Good," she said. "One less loose end. Get me home," she added unnecessarily. They were already heading towards the Key West and Sally's residence. The darkness outside the window was rapidly turning into the brightness of the city, but she saw none of it, her mind working through everything she'd learned that night.

A few minutes and a few more miles down the road, she sighed.

"Almost done, Mom. Almost done."