HELL HATH NO FURY (Revised story list) by Karl555

This is the sixth story of a much longer story arc, which is best read in the order of the List at the end.

Translation of German words or phrases at the end. However, I have tried to make the meaning fairly clear in context.

HELL HATH NO FURY . . .

With many thanks to Stefani, who not only proofreads my German, but also comes up with helpful comments and suggestions. Vielen Dank, meine Freundin!

PRELUDE: Happily Ever After?

If this had been a fairytale, we should by rights have reached the part where Logan and I would live happily ever after. Somehow, as the fog clears from my mind and I open my eyes, I get the idea that is not what is going to happen.

Last thing I can remember, we were sitting at our usual table at the local mutant-friendly bar. I was about to order another half dozen beers for Logan. (Yes, I had been foolish enough to take him up on one of his bets again. Someday I will learn not to do that.)

In any case, there was a subdued “poof” and the air was filled with a thick, choking cloud of some kind of gas. Before I could even grab Logan and teleport us outside, the world was already going black around the edges and the floor was coming up to meet me fast.

HELL HATH NO FURY

Groggy and still half out of it, I force my eyes open. I am in a small room with bright lights, stark white walls, no windows,
and only one door. I can see the back of a rather bulky man standing near one of the walls, looking at a computer screen. Above his head there are six large monitors, which are all blank. He has not yet noticed that I am conscious, so I remain still and quiet in order to evaluate my situation.

I am lying on my back on a firm but padded surface. Glancing down, I can see that I am totally naked, with some sort of restraints around my wrists and ankles, which hold my hands down by my sides and my legs straight but slightly spread apart. My tail is pulled down between my legs, with something clamped around the narrowest part, just before the arrow-shaped end. Worst of all, there is something tight and hard fastened around my neck. Lieber Gott, let it not be one of those devices that prevent mutants from using their powers! I try very slowly to raise my head, but I cannot. Concentrating, I can feel that the device does not encircle my entire neck, but only holds me down. It is not a collar, then.

I start to smile. Whoever has tried to trap me in this way apparently does not realize I can easily teleport out of such restraints. Perhaps he does not even realize I can teleport at all. That would be nice. I could be free in an instant, either way.

Yes, but that only gets me off of this table, or whatever it is. I am not now aware of where this room is located and what surrounds it, and thus have no idea what is behind any of these walls. If that one door is locked in such a way that I cannot open it from the inside, I would still be trapped in this room, unless I am willing to teleport blind and take my chances. Not a good bet, even under the best of circumstances.

And where is Logan? What has been done with him? That thought is enough to send a pang of fear through me. Has he been captured also? Or is it just me? Has Logan perhaps already been killed somehow?

The man at the computer turns around. I have never seen him before and have no idea who he is, but in some ways, he resembles Logan. Obvious muscles, dark hair, dark eyes. He even has the same kind of extravagant sideburns that almost but not quite come together at his chin, but they are perhaps trimmed just a bit shorter than Logan’s. His hair is also shorter, and it has begun to recede slightly at his temples. His face is more squared off, with heavier jowls. His nose is straight, but prominent.

He grins at me, which is not a pretty sight. There is nothing but cruelty in his smile.

I give him a level stare, waiting for him to say something first.

“I know you’ve been awake long enough to realize that teleporting might be a mistake, since you can’t get out of this room like that without taking a big risk. Smart boy. I was almost hoping you’d try it, so that I’d have an excuse to beat you up, assuming you survived.” He shrugs sarcastically. “Oh well, guess one can’t have everything.”

He comes over to the table and stands there looking down at me. “You’re probably asking yourself why I haven’t fastened one of those collars around your neck that are supposed to be able to prevent a mutant from using his powers, aren’t you? The answer is simple: the technology just hasn’t been perfected enough. I find that most of them work some of the time, and some of them work most of the time, but they don’t all work all of the time. Besides, being myself a mutant, I just have this aversion to the damn things. I’d rather do it the old-fashioned way and figure out how to capture and hold the particular mutant, or mutants, that I’m after. Makes for more of a challenge. Don’t you agree?”

“Uh – yes, I guess so.”

He gives me that nasty smile again and his voice turns hard. “OK, boy, I’m going to lay down the rules of this game, so listen carefully.”

“Just tell me vhere Logan is,” I interrupt.

“As it happens, I can do better than that. I can show you.”

He raises one hand and points a remote control device toward the blank monitors. All six screens come to life, showing me images of Logan from different angles and at varying distances. He is standing spread-eagled and stark naked in the middle of what looks very much like a duplicate of this room, held in place by a curiously-designed system of heavy restraints and metal bars. He is bleeding from numerous cuts and slashes and assorted other wounds, but they are clearly in the process of healing. His head sags forward on his chest.

“Logan!” I shout.

“Save your breath, baby. He can’t hear you. The video is on both ways, but the audio’s turned off right now. Here, I’ll turn it on, but only so that he can hear us, not the other way around.” He aims his remote and clicks again. “That will save me from having to recite the rules over again to him.”

Logan is obviously conscious, since he raises his head and looks around as he hears our voices. I can see his lips move.

“Forget it, Jimmy. We can’t hear you.”

For a moment, Logan and I stare at each other’s images in the monitors.

“It’s rather a nice touch that he’s spread out into a neat X like that, don’t you think? Quite appropriate, considering.

“I gave a lot of thought to designing restraints that would hold Jimmy, since his claws can cut through damn near everything. However, even if he can extend them, he can’t get loose unless he can use them to cut whatever’s holding him in place. It would have been easy enough to simply secure his forearms and hands back flat against a wall, so that he couldn’t use his claws to cut himself loose, but I wanted him in a position that gave me access to his body from all directions, not just the front. If you take a look at the crossbar that runs between the metal restraints that enclose his arms from above his elbows to the ends of his outspread fingers, you’ll notice that his claws, if he bothers to extend them, would angle slightly outward and away from both the crossbar itself and the vertical bar in the middle that runs up to the ceiling supporters. That supporting bar can be lowered or raised so that the crossbar can be held at whatever level I want it. Right now, I’ve got him essentially hanging from the ceiling, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. I could let his toes touch, or even allow him to stand for a while, if I felt merciful. There’s only a short chain connecting the cuffs around his ankles to the floor, so even if he were standing flat-footed, he still wouldn’t be able to reach far enough to kick me. On the other hand, I can do anything I want to him and he can’t do anything about it.

“Just be glad I decided against stringing you up that way, blue boy. Over time, it gets mighty uncomfortable, compared to just lying on a nice padded table. Now pay attention, both of you, and listen to how it’s going to be.”

After a quick glance in Logan’s direction, he turns back to me.

“Just like I know Jimmy’s abilities well enough to design that system, I’ve also made it my business to learn the limits of your teleporting ability. I’ll warn you right now that this place is out in the middle of nowhere and there aren’t very many open spaces in the area around it outside. I made sure you didn’t see anything when I brought you in, so you don’t know the layout of this building or its surroundings. And even if you did, Jimmy isn’t here. I’m keeping him somewhere else, in a very similar building, far enough away so that it’s out of visual range and it’s pretty well camouflaged. You might find it eventually, but that would take time, more time than you could afford.

“You see, I’ve got both of these rooms booby-trapped. There’s a bomb in each building, and I can detonate either or both of them from a control panel in both buildings, if I choose to do so. In the other room, there’s an incendiary bomb mounted beneath the floor right under your boyfriend and it’s pretty powerful. If it doesn’t kill him outright, it will most certainly blow him into so many pieces of flaming body parts that you wouldn’t know what to rescue even if you somehow managed to get into the room.

“You hear that, Jimmy? If I want to, I can blow up your little buddy here. Make me too angry and I may just do that, if only so I can see the look on your face when I do.”

Our captor favors me with a gloating grin.

“Since you’re a teleporter, I’ve taken extra precautions with you. There are sensors in your restraints that will react to your sudden absence by detonating the bombs in both buildings. You might save your own life by trying to teleport completely out of this building, if you dare. You might just end up OK. Or you might just as easily end up inside a tree or a mountainside. And Jimmy will still be dead.

“I trust you will both keep all this in mind if you are tempted to become, shall I say, uncooperative during the course of your stay in my humble abode.”

He laughs as Logan and I stare at each other in obvious dismay.

He sounds disgustingly smug and sure of himself as he tells us all this. I say nothing, hoping he will let slip something that could be useful.

Giving each of us a stern look, he goes on with his lecture, obviously enjoying himself. “If either of you tries to escape and you’re unsuccessful, you’ll get to watch the other one tortured until I’m satisfied that you’ve learned your lesson. I know how to make Jimmy scream, so just imagine what I could do with you, if I really wanted to. And imagine how much Jimmy would not enjoy seeing that. Got the picture?”

I nod.

“On the other hand, if both of you cooperate and do as you’re told, things don’t have to get that bad. Think about it.”

“Jimmy?” I finally ask.

“Oh, what’s the matter? Didn’t he tell you about me? The way I caught up with him while he was up North and told him who he was?”

I shook my head. “He told me, but no details.”

On the monitors, I can see a look of sudden anguish come over Logan’s face.

The man gives a deep chuckle. “I can’t imagine why not.” He turns to the screen, addressing Logan. “What’s the matter, Jimmy? Don’t want your little friend to know what went on between us? Don’t want him to know how we were screwing around together for over a month out there in the woods, and you loved it?”

From the look on Logan’s face, this man is telling the truth. I close my eyes and try to keep my shock and hurt hidden.

“He didn’t, did he? I thought not.” His fingers grab my chin and turn my face toward him. He shakes his head as he examines me. “Tsk tsk tsk! You’d be kind of cute, if not for those teeth. Let’s have a closer look, shall we?”

He takes hold of my lower jaw and opens my mouth, turning my head from one side to the other and surveying my horrendous mouthful of teeth. They are not my best feature and I am acutely aware of that. Then he runs his forefinger along the tops of my lower teeth. Now this is making me very uncomfortable, as I feel like a horse whose teeth are being examined to be sure the animal is not older and more decrepit than he is claimed to be.

It only gets worse when he uses his thumb to feel along my top teeth. In addition to being very crooked, they are also quite sharp, especially the ones in the middle. He presses his thumb down on the point of the sharpest one experimentally. I taste blood, and I know it is not mine.

“Ever give anyone a blowjob?”

“Vhat do you think?”

“I think any man who would stick his cock between those teeth is either very brave or very foolish. I’m no coward, but I’m no fool either. If nothing else, your mouth gets to keep its integrity, boy.”

I have had about enough of this. “I am not a boy.”

He gives a short laugh. “If you had lived as long as I have, everyone else would be a boy in comparison. But maybe you’d prefer a more specific nickname. Jimmy calls you Elf, doesn’t he?” I nodded. “Well, you don’t look like an elf to me. You look more like a fairy, except for the color. Yeah, that’s it. I’ll call you my little blue fairy boy. You like that?”

I shake my head vehemently.

“No? Considering those teeth, maybe I ought to call you the tooth fairy instead.”

I do not even dignify that with a reply.

“Nah, that would sound too silly. Guess I’ll stick to fairy boy.”

“I have a name.”

”I know. I just prefer to call you something else because it annoys you. By the way, my name’s Victor. Victor Creed, sometimes known as Sabretooth. I’m Jimmy’s brother. Well, half-brother. Same father, different mothers. I’m a lot like him in many ways. The same healing factor, but not such long claws.”

He holds up a hand to show me the short pointy slightly curved claws that serve him as fingernails. When I do not seem sufficiently impressed, he shows me how far he can lengthen them when he wishes. All right, I am more impressed now.

“All natural, fairy boy. No adamantium.” He casts a look over his shoulder at the monitors, where Logan is now struggling hopelessly against his restraints and screaming something I cannot hear.

Victor goes over to a table along the wall, picking up something I cannot see and bringing it back over to me.

“I assume you’re familiar with dildos, fairy boy. Probably very familiar. I find that this particular one comes in rather useful for my purposes.” He holds it up in front of me. “It’s pretty long and it increases in width more rapidly than most.”

He is not exaggerating. Even I would not like to have this particular item inserted into me all the way.

“Nice, isn’t it? Black glass, cool and smooth. Should feel real good going in, hmmm?” As he says this, he uses his other hand to run the sharp tips of his claws teasingly along the lines of the scar on my lower abdomen, stopping just short of my penis, which cannot seem to decide if it likes the attention or fears it.

“Nice cock, even if it is blue and kind of on the skinny side.” Then he looks a little closer. “What’s this? A fancy little scar. You’ve even had it decorated. Was that Jimmy’s idea?”

“Most certainly not. I did that many years before I met him.”

He runs the tip of one finger over the scars. “You did that to yourself?”

“Ja.”

He narrows his eyes slightly. “All the rest of these too?” He gestures at my body.

When I nod, he looks closer. “Very neat and pretty. How did you make them come out so precise? Scars can heal in sloppy ways sometimes.”

I shrug. “On me, they are very consistent, as long as I take care vith the cutting. Even scars from injuries do not make too much of a mess.”

“Hmm. If you have the guts to slice yourself up like this, maybe I’m underestimating you a little, fairy boy.” He looks again at my poor bewildered prick, which still has not made up its mind whether to just lie there or get hard. “Especially this one. You know, I prefer uncircumcised cocks like yours. More to play with. And speaking of playing, let me show you a unique feature of this table you’re lying on. Like Jimmy’s restraints, yours are also very adjustable, but in other ways.”

Much to my chagrin, I discover that the table is made so that my feet can be slid back and forth along the sides, restraints and all, then refastened wherever Victor wants them. The restraints even adjust the angle while they move, so that the soles of my feet come down as he bends my legs. He leaves me with my knees bent up sharply and my feet almost next to my buttocks. It occurs to me to wonder what else this table can do.

“There. Much more convenient for me now. In fact, I rather like this view of your ass.” He runs one claw gently around my anus, which is now more accessible than it was before.

“This’ll be easier if you relax and enjoy it, baby. All I’m doing is trying to get some idea of what you can take without incurring any serious damage, in order to get a better idea of what I’m going to do to you later on. See? I’m even putting a little lube on the dildo, just to show that I mean no harm.” Another vicious grin. “Not just yet, anyway. You should really be grateful that I’m taking the time to do this. Don’t want you to die too soon. That wouldn’t be much fun, now would it?”

As he presses the smaller tapered end of the dildo against my opening, I find myself at a loss for words, which is quite unusual for me. Probably just as well. A smart remark at this time could be something I would regret later on.

He goes slowly, pushing in a little, then backing up, twisting, moving the glass shaft around, then edging further, retreating, advancing bit by bit. At this point, it feels good and I know he is correct about relaxing. All right, I will cooperate, to an extent. But if he truly is just trying to measure me in this way, it would be better to have him underestimate what I can accept, rather than overestimate it.

All the while he is doing this, he is talking, as if he enjoys the verbal torment as much as the physical. I have barely been able to get a word in edgewise, which is unusual for me.

“By the way, I recognized those claw marks on your back, fairy boy. Jimmy may think you’re his, but right now you’re mine.”

He goes on to tell me how he tracked Logan to his campsite, leaving him to his own devices for a time, but keeping tabs on him from a distance. Just when Logan began to pack up his things and hike back to the nearest town, he waylaid him, convincing him to stay a little longer by offering to tell him about his past.

“He’s a sucker for anyone who says they can fill him in on what he’s been and done. It was easy to convince him I knew what I was talking about, because I do. All I had to do was tell the truth most of the time and bells started ringing in his head. He was glad to do anything I wanted so long as I kept on reminiscing about our past.”

The words hurt much more than the dildo does, at this point in the proceedings. Much to my shame, my penis decides it just might enjoy the feeling, and I can tell that my eyes are beginning to glow. Yes, they are surely glowing now, since he is staring at them. I turn my head as far away from his gaze as I can and squeeze my eyes closed. But this displeases Victor. He grabs my chin and turns my face back.

“Open your eyes, fairy boy,” he orders me. “Do it, or Jimmy will pay the price later on.”

I obey. Victor makes the connection between my eyes and my hardening cock. He takes hold of it, moving his hand relatively gently up and down. My glans is just beginning to work its way out of my foreskin by now. I am overwhelmed with shame, not because of my body’s natural reaction, but because I hate that he can do this to me. I will not let it happen. I will fight it, even if it is a losing battle.

“Just as I figured. Your eyes get brighter as I work your cock,” he concludes. “Very interesting effect. Now let’s try something else.” Forcing my partially retracted foreskin forward over my glans, he pinches the end tightly together. “You see? I told you there was more to play with on an uncut penis. I’m going to keep this dildo right here for a while but move it around, just to see what happens.”

I know what will happen. My penis will continue to become engorged, trying vainly to push the head free of my captured foreskin.

“This would be a good time for me to tell you how much fun Jimmy and I had together, wouldn’t it, fairy boy? You’d like to hear all about that, wouldn’t you? Especially now.”

That is about the last thing I would like to hear, for it would continue to arouse me. But Victor knows that. He describes some of the things he and “Jimmy” did, mostly rather brutal things, while I lie there trying hard not to squirm in pain as my cock stiffens further. I cannot imagine that I will get hard enough to actually tear my foreskin, but that is how it feels.

“I’m being very kind to you, you know. I could just as easily have sewn the end together and done this same thing, but simply refused to cut the thread no matter what happened. Think about that for a while, fairy boy.”

I do, and I do not particularly enjoy the images it conjures up. He goes back to telling me about all the activities he and “Jimmy” shared, while I go back to thinking of anything I can that might decrease my arousal.

Finally, Victor has mercy on me and lets go. One sort of pain stops, while another resumes, as he pushes the dildo further into me with a sharp jerk.

“Shall I tell you how very angry Jimmy made me when he said he was going back to be with you?” Another sharp push. I am beginning to approach my limit, as far as the width goes. In order to make him think I have already gotten there, I tighten my sphincter, no longer yielding so easily to the relentless pressure. I clench my teeth and wince. He smiles.

“It hurts now, does it? You can take a lot, fairy boy, I’ll give you that. I’ve never found anyone who’s gotten so far in taking this little baby here.” He twists it, pulls back, then pushes forward.

“Gaahh! Bitte, Victor, nein! Es tut verdammt weh!” I gasp, feigning more pain than he is actually causing.

A frown crosses his face as I say that. “That’s right, you’re a Kraut, aren’t you? I should have noticed it from the accent. I hate Germans. Killed a shitload of them in the last World War. Wouldn’t mind killing another one, though.” He eyes me speculatively.

“I’ll tolerate none of that Kraut shit, fairy boy. Say it in English, if you expect me to understand, much less do as you ask.”

“Please, Victor, no — no more. It hurts like hell,” I beg, translating it loosely for him. So. He does not understand simple German. Or he wants to make me think he does not understand it. I may be able to use this information later on.

Logan is reacting to my apparent pain by struggling against his bonds and appears to be screaming furiously. Out of the corner of one eye, Victor notices this. “What’s the matter, little brother? You look as if you’d like to tell me something. Want me to turn on the audio, so we can hear you?”

Logan nods frantically.

“Sorry. Maybe later on. I’m busy now.” He turns his attention back to me, giving one more push to the dildo, somewhat less emphatic than the previous ones. I scream obligingly, even though I do not really have to.

“I’m tempted to go further, baby, and split you right open, especially when I think about how Jimmy left me for your sorry ass. But I won’t. I’ll be nice. For now.”

The pressure eases as he slowly and teasingly withdraws the dildo. “You did rather enjoy that though, didn’t you?”

I cannot tell him no, as my hard cock would clearly show it to be a lie. Victor examines the dildo as if considering how far it went. Then he gives a satisfied nod. “When I finally get around to fucking your ass, fairy boy, I’ve got to remember not to be overly gentle or you won’t take as much notice of it as I’d like you to. But don’t worry about that happening, since I don’t do gentle very well anyway. You can ask Jimmy about that later on, if you want. Meanwhile – ” He sets the dildo aside on the counter, then returns to stand next to me, readjusting the table so that my legs are again flat down against the surface. Perhaps it is over for now. No, I guess not. He has placed one hand on my chest and begins to trace the scars with the point of one claw, as Logan often does with a finger.

I want him to keep talking, so I ask, “Vhy are you doing all this just to torture us? These buildings and all this equipment must have cost a fortune.”

“Oh, they did.” He sounds a bit bemused, as if he is more interested in my scars than in the discussion. “I would never have been able to afford all this stuff, except that some very rich and very powerful folks hired me to take down the fearsome Wolverine. You’re just collateral damage. They think I’m going to kill Jimmy, but I won’t be doing that. I’ll just keep him for myself, after I’ve had my fun with you.”

“Vill these powerful people not come after you vhen they find they have been betrayed?”

“Yeah, they probably will. But Jimmy and I can hire ourselves out to some other equally powerful folks and be safe. Or at least as safe as we’ve ever been, which ain’t saying much.”

His claw has arrived close to one of my nipples now. He touches it experimentally with the sharp point. I shiver. He smiles. “Sensitive tits, huh? I like that in a man.”

He positions his claws around the areola, pricking just enough to draw blood. “Now listen, and listen good. If you behave well, I can free up one of your arms so that it’s on a short chain. That way, you can reach the water bottle I’ve got on a shelf under the table along with the urinal and bedpan that are there also. If you don’t behave, I won’t do that, and you’ll have to depend on me to make both of those things available to you. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m not all that reliable about such matters, if I have no reason to be. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“So you gonna be a good little boy if I do that for you, or are we going to do this the hard, and I assure you the much more messy and unpleasant, way?”

“I vill be good, Victor.”

The claws prick just a bit more deeply. I do not even dare to wince for fear it would drag those points through my flesh. “If you’re lying to me, bear in mind that Jimmy will be the one to suffer for it. You’ll just get pretty thirsty, not to mention being left to lie in your own piss and shit.”

“I vill not forget,” I assure him.

“Good.” The claws pull away, leaving me essentially undamaged. He works at some mechanism at the side of the table, clipping a short length of chain to the metal cuff around my left wrist then releasing the cuff from whatever was holding it to the table. “There you go, baby, just like I promised. Reach around under the table and try it out.”

Yes, there is indeed a plastic bottle of water, with a permanent straw attached. I had not realized just how thirsty I was until I had the bottle in my hand. With a little maneuvering, I can get the end of the straw between my lips and take a few swallows. I notice he has stepped back just far enough to be out of my reach.

“See? I told you it would work.” He moves away, toward the door. “I’m gonna leave you two alone now. In fact, I’ll even turn on the audio so you and Jimmy can talk things over. I’m not going to tell you what time it is, or even whether it’s day or night. And I’ll come back to visit either or both of you whenever I feel like having a little more fun.”

He clicks the remote control as he gets to the door. “Oh, and by the way, the locks on the doors will only work by a voice command from me, so don’t even bother to try to get out that way unless you happen to be a very convincing mimic. It won’t work.”

He leaves, after reciting some nonsense word at the door. There is only silence in the room, as Logan and I stare at each other. Logan speaks first.

“Elf? Ya OK?”

I move my wrist, replacing the bottle and then testing the length of chain again. I can reach most of the way to my face and a little way down below my hips.

“Ja, just fine, all things considered. Is this Victor really who he says he is?”

“I’m afraid so. A lot of what he told me jogged memories in my brain. I’m only sorry you got involved in our little vendetta. I’ll get you outta here somehow, I promise.”

“Be careful vhat you say. He could be vatching and listening to us.”

“Let that mother-fucker listen. I don’t care. There’s something ya need to know.”

“Vhat?”

Logan hangs his head forward so I cannot see his face. “He – he told you the truth about what we did. The sex was brutal, hideously brutal. It was almost more like fighting than screwing. We tore at each other like animals. It was – hideously exciting.”

I have every reason to know how very closely sex is linked with violence in his psyche, so what he tells me should come as no surprise, and yet it hurts.

“Kurt? Say something, darlin’. Talk to me.”

I take a breath and exhale, trying to banish the quiver that threatens my voice. “I hear you. Vhat is it you vould like me to say?”

“That you understand? That you – don’t hate me for what I did, maybe?”

He is pleading now, I can tell from his tone. His head is still bowed forward. “I can never hate you, Logan. You should know that.”

“I guess I do, darlin’.” He dares to look at me. “But maybe you should. It’s my fault you’re in this mess. I fucked up big time. I never should have told him about you.”

“You told him –?!“

“That you were my lover. I had to, when I said I was leaving him. If I’d known he’d do something like this –“ He shakes his head in self-disgust. “I should have known. We fought for real when I told him. I had a chance to kill him then, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to close off the only window I had into my childhood and my past. I – I wasn’t thinking of what might happen to you.”

“You did varn me that it had just gotten much more dangerous to be involved vith you.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t tell you the reason. I meant to. It just never seemed to be the right time.”

“It has been more than a month since you returned, and yet there vas no ‘right time’?”

He winces, but continues to look at me directly. “Like I said, I fucked up. I admit that. I should have told you the details immediately, but I was afraid. I let your confidence, and your love, overpower my fears. Forgive me, Elf? For that, if for nothing else?”

“No matter vhat happens, I vill never blame you for this. It is Victor’s doing, not yours. I vould rather die here vith you, than live in safety vithout you.”

“Don’t even think about dyin’, darlin’. I’ll get us out of here. Somehow.”

“I am not so sure there is anything you can do. Ve vould seem to be pretty vell trapped,” I say, false misery in my voice. If Victor is listening, I want him to think I have taken all of what he said at face value and believe our situation is hopeless.

“Now, Elf, don’t you dare give up! I’ll think of somethin’.”

Good. If I have convinced Logan of my lack of hope, I have surely convinced Victor.

“I shall pray that you vill.” But I still sound as if I have given up. Let Logan promise to rescue me. That will put Victor’s focus on him as a potential rescuer, rather than me. That could come in handy later.

“But enough of this,” I go on. “Is your name really Jimmy?”

“Yes, if he’s not lyin’ to me. James Howlett.”

“It has a nice sound to it, I think. Vould you like me to call you Jimmy instead of Logan?”

“No! Jimmy may be who I was, but I’m Logan now, no matter what that wretched son-of-a-bitch calls me!”

“Good. That is how I think of you also. Ve should rest and take advantage of this respite to try to get some sleep, since Victor could return at any time. The less ve talk of escape vhen he may be listening, the better.” That last part is for Victor’s ears, more than Logan’s

He nods, but clearly does not like my advice. Neither do I, but I do not want Victor to learn anything more about us that he may be able to use. We are silent, each trying in his own way to relax and calm himself into sleep. Eventually, we succeed.

By the time Victor returns, I am awake and have tried out the sanitary arrangements. Not altogether neat, but better than nothing.

The first thing he does is reset the cuff around my wrist into its place by my side. Then he faces Logan on the monitors. “I’ll leave the audio on, Jimmy, if you keep your mouth shut. Got it?”

Logan nods.

Victor turns his attention back to me.

“We’re going to play nice this time, my little blue fairy. With you, at any rate.” He runs the tip of a finger over my lips. When I try to turn my head away, he grabs my chin. Then he covers my lips with his mouth, his tongue pressing hard, seeking entry. He must have forgotten about my teeth. I open my mouth slightly. When he tries to press his advantage, I bite his tongue. Not hard enough to do serious damage, but hard enough to draw blood. This does not stop him, but it does provoke him into giving the side of my thigh a stinging slap.

If anything, the pain of his bitten tongue encourages him. He pushes it further into me. I allow this, but as soon as his tongue is deeply into my mouth, I close my teeth against it gently. If I bite down now, I will sever his tongue near the base, and he knows it. I release him, having made my point, and he retreats. A slow smile spreads across his face, and he chuckles a bit.

“You’ve got spirit, baby, I’ll give you that. I like it that way. Much more fun if my victim doesn’t just dissolve into tears and start begging for mercy, at first anyway. That comes later, but it always comes. And speaking of coming, what do you like, baby? What do you fear? What do you absolutely hate?”

“I am beginning to absolutely hate you!”

“Only beginning? Oh my. We’ll have to do something about that, won’t we?” He lets the tips of his claws rest against the base of my scrotum. “It would make more sense for you to fear me, you know.” Just as I did with my teeth, his grip tightens only enough to draw blood. “I think you can imagine what would happen if I closed my fist right now, then yanked down hard.”

“I can imagine it very vell, but you vill not do that.”

“Oh? And just why do you say that?”

“I vould very likely bleed to death. And your little game vould be over almost before it began.”

“Are you so sure of that?” He digs his claws a little deeper. I wince, but do not try to pull away, as that would just do more damage.

“Ja, I am very sure. If you simply vanted me dead, you vould have killed me at the very beginning.”

My remark has clearly displeased him. His eyes narrow dangerously.

“You’re a smartass, boy. I’m not sure I like that. Does Jimmy take this sort of thing from you?”

“Ja. If he deserves it.”

He looks as if he cannot decide whether he is more angry or amused. Amused wins. He laughs and lets me go, then glances over at Logan on the monitors. “That true, Jimmy? Is he this mouthy with you?”

Logan nods, careful not to say anything.

“Score one for the blue fairy,” Victor says cheerfully. “No more threats of immediate death. However,” — his good humor changes abruptly – “if you don’t tone it down some, you’ll be feeling some immediate pain. Got that?”

“Ja.”

“Now, let’s get serious, shall we?”

That is clearly not a question. I wait to see what he is going to do next. It is terrible to feel so vulnerable. Naked does not bother me, but helpless does. I am not accustomed to being restrained like this. I am the one who can get out of anything by teleporting. I do not think I have felt so helpless before someone else since I was a child, before I could teleport. But I must not let my fear show. This man would know exactly how to use it to break me.

“Let’s start again, shall we? What do you like?” He trails the tips of his claws lightly across my chest, then begins following the scars just as Logan often does with his fingers. Scar tissue is less sensitive than ordinary flesh, but the sensation is there nevertheless. It almost hurts, it almost tickles. And it always arouses me. I close my eyes to hide the glow I know will soon be visible. As he continues to work his way down my chest to my abdomen, I cannot hide the stiffening of my penis.

“It would seem you like that, hmm?” He glances at my face. “Open your eyes, boy, and keep them open. I want to be able to see just how much you like it.”

I shake my head.

“Do it, or your lover boy suffers for it,” he says smoothly, knowing the threat will work.

Deprived even of the ability to conceal my traitorous eyes, my shame deepens. I do not want to enjoy what he is doing to me, and that is especially true as I know Logan is watching.

His fingers reach my genitals. With a surprising gentleness, he takes everything into his hand, squeezing and releasing in a slow, steady rhythm, rubbing a finger now here, now there. I gasp at the pleasure of it, feeling that familiar twitch begin deep inside me. No! I try to fight it, try to relax whatever it is that causes this incredible pleasure. Yes, that is working. I can stop it, if I concentrate. I will not let him do this to me. I will not!

“You like this, don’t you?” he says, a sneer in his voice. “Sure you do. You’re nice and hard now. Keep it up, baby. Come for me. Show me how much you like what I’m doing. Show Jimmy how much you like it.”

No. He can go on as long as he wants massaging my cock and balls. I will ignore it. I will not come. I will relax. I will think of how much I hate his touch. I will concentrate on that, nothing else.

“Never,” I tell him through gritted teeth. I am about to tell him he can go to hell when I think of something that might be more useful. I switch to German. ”Fahr zur Hölle, du Hurensohn!”

“English, you mother-fucker! English!” His grip tightens, fingers digging into my scrotum.

This is not good. I want him to let me curse in German. How can I convince – Ah, I have it!

“Bitte, Victor – I mean, please — German is the language in vhich I think, and I revert to it automatically if I am stressed or in pain. I do not do it deliberately.”

“So you use that Kraut gibberish when you’re bad off, huh? OK, I can use that to know when I’m getting to you, in that case.”

I shake my head violently, as if I have only now realized I have given something away to him.

The smile he gives me is cunning and cruel.

“Too late, fairy boy. I already know. Besides, I strongly suspect you’re cursing me out, and you can’t insult me effectively if I don’t understand what you’re saying, can you now?”

I pretend to be dismayed and mutter, “Scheisse!”

“Ha! That one means ‘shit’. I’ve heard it before.”

I pretend to be even more dismayed, turning my head away from him as I stifle a laugh. I am not surprised that he knows what Scheisse means. Many people do. I only hope he knows very little beyond that.

He goes back to what he was doing, but the squeezing is becoming harder now, more painful. He pinches cruelly, or pricks his claws into me here and there.

“Du bist der Abschaum der menschlichen Gesellschaft!” I tell him after an especially painful pinch, spitting out the words as viciously as I can. “Du Schweinkerl! Du Miststück!”

He smiles and does it again.

In the same tone of voice, but with my eyes focused on Logan’s image in the monitor, I continue with “Schatz, verstehst du!”

I can see Logan’s eyes blink in sudden surprise. He gives me a minuscule nod, and I know he has understood me, while all Victor hears is another insult. If I use only German phrases that Logan knows, I can communicate with him and Victor will not realize it.

I have barely begun to savor this minor triumph when Victor decides to change tactics.

“Maybe my hand just isn’t exciting enough for you, hmm? Maybe you’d like something faster and more intense. I just happen to have a nice collection of vibrators available. Let’s see if one of them appeals to you. Here we are, fairy boy: the basic standard smooth plastic, medium size, uses 2 C batteries, and available in an attractive bright pink. Do you like it on the outside, or the inside? No answer? OK, we’ll try it inside, in that case.”

After a brief interval of rubbing the buzzing tip of the vibrator around my quivering anus, he works it slowly in. Of course, I have had some experience of such things and I know they are entirely wonderful. The rapid vibration gets to the erotic nerve endings like nothing else I know. As it slides easily into my anus, my body literally clutches at it spasmodically, repeatedly, as if to draw it in faster, deeper, until it reaches that place inside and finally satisfies the growing tickling, itching, wanting inside me that yearns for stimulation and satisfaction. I am gasping with the exertion of simultaneously wanting to come and struggling to prevent it.

“Yeah, that’s it. Show me how much you’re enjoying this, baby. Let me see it.”

I want to tell him to go fuck himself, but all I can do is moan in desperation. My thighs tremble and my entire body shakes in the grip of my contradictory desires.

Then Victor touches another smaller but more intense vibrator to the tip of my dripping cock. I am almost sobbing now.

“Oh yeah, that’s real nice. Real nice. You’re getting to me, fairy boy. Look. I’ll show you.” Briefly letting go of the vibrator stuck deep into my ass, he unzips his fly and pulls out his own hard cock. “Bet you’d like this instead, wouldn’t you?”

I shake my head desperately, as if in fear. His penis is indeed rather larger than I would prefer, but certainly not beyond what I could manage.

“Scared, huh? Well, you’ll get it one of these days. But not now. Now I want to see you come. That’s just what I need to be ready to put the real thing into Jimmy next.”

He begins working the vibrator in my ass back and forth. My spine arches and my hips lift up from the table, involuntarily seeking to capture the source of that tantalizing sensation.

“Stop fighting me, fairy boy. You know you want to let go.”

He is right. I will not be able to stop. I can feel it deep inside, the pressure mounting, the ecstatic waves of pleasure cresting and ready to break. In a last desperate effort to prevent ejaculating, I tense every muscle in my groin as tightly as I can, trying to hold back. A fierce satisfaction envelops me, pulsing, throbbing waves of golden joy turning my body into paradise. I come – and yet I do not. There is no feeling of the slide of fluid through my penis, as there should be, yet I tremble with the intensity of the spasms that continue on within my body, while everything is locked and held down hard by my will. I hide my feelings from Victor as well as I can while it happens, moaning no louder than I had been doing already. With no cum to prove me false, I pretend nothing has happened. Carefully, I allow myself to relax as the intensity of the pleasure subsides but does not entirely go away. Mein Gott, what have I just done? I did not know such a thing was possible!

Apparently, Victor does not know it either, judging by his next remark.

“If I didn’t think I was imagining things, I’d say you’re deliberately refusing to come, fairy boy.”

I gather my scattered wits and reply casually, “Now, Victor, do you really think a man can do that? Maybe you just don’t turn me on.”

“You’re turned on all right. Your eyes are as bright as coals.”

“Oh, did I forget to tell you they glow not only vhen I am aroused, but also vhen I am experiencing very strong emotions, including anger and rage? I thought I mentioned that, but perhaps I overlooked it.” My tone is casual and calm, but a firestorm is still raging inside me, wanting to burst again into flame.

“You never said anything about that.”

“Entschuldigung. I mean, sorry about that.” I deliberately do not sound at all sorry. My sarcasm earns me a sharp smack in the face. I see it coming, so I make sure to let my head turn with the blow, to minimize the damage. Even so, my lip splits against the points of my teeth.

Victor tosses both vibrators across the room in a frenzy of frustration, then leans over me and snarls, “Keep that up, fairy boy, and I’ll make you very sorry about a lot of things before I’m done with you.”

“Geh zum Teufel, Arschgesicht!” I snap back at him, spitting the blood from my lip into his face.

He just laughs, wiping off the blood with his fingers, then licking them.

“Since you don’t seem to want to play my game by the rules, I think I’ll go play with your boyfriend for a while. Perhaps he’ll be more appreciative of my attentions than you are.”

As Victor stomps out of the room, I start counting the seconds between the time he leaves here and the time he appears in the other room with Logan, in the hope that I can get some idea of how far away the other building is located.

I get up to 124. Figuring that Victor’s stride is roughly a meter long, that would make it around 12 meters. Nothing guarantees that he went directly from here to there, nor is my mental count necessarily accurate. I realize this is a very rough estimate, but it is a starting point.

Meanwhile, I have no choice but to watch Victor rape Logan, using none of the care and finesse that he lavished on me. I am not truly worried that he can hurt Logan that way, but it is still not pleasant, as Victor savagely bites and gouges his victim as he does it.

Logan proves to be no more cooperative than I was about allowing himself to reach orgasm as a result of Victor’s action.

At first, this pleases me, but then I see the rage suffusing Victor’s face and I am afraid. I want to tell Logan to give in, give him what he wants. When I resisted, I knew I would not be truly hurt, but that is not a consideration in Logan’s case. Yet I know my pleading would be in vain, for Logan must prove that he can do whatever I can do. And after what he told me when last we spoke, he must also show me that he no longer desires Victor’s attentions.

And so I watch in silence. Perhaps Logan already knows how to do whatever it was that I did, or perhaps he simply has more control over his sexual responses than I do. Either way, for all Victor’s striving, he cannot make Logan come, although he himself howls and bellows his way through several climaxes of his own.

Finally, Victor gives up on the effort and backs off. He stands there for some seconds, virtually snarling his rage and frustration. Suddenly, his posture changes, he takes a deep breath and seems to have come to some conclusion.

“You don’t want to give me your pleasure,” he growls, as he walks around in front of Logan, “so I’m going to make you give me your pain instead.”

One clawed hand reaches down to Logan’s scrotum, pricking it around the base just as he did mine. I can see from the look on Logan’s face that he too knows what will come next.

“I’m going to do this real slow.” One of the monitors shows a close up of Logan’s lower body. I cannot tear my eyes away from it as Victor’s claws extend and go in. “Scream for me, little brother. I want to hear it. And I want your little blue tooth fairy to hear it also.”

There is triumph in Victor’s eyes as he turns to look at me. His hand closes tighter. Logan clenches his teeth and remains silent.

Victor’s fingers pull downward, the sharp claws cutting through bleeding flesh slowly but inexorably. The bottom of the sac bulges as the testicles are forced against it.

“Stop being the strong silent type, little brother. Unless you want to watch me do this to your fuck buddy once I’m finished with you.”

The claws finally dig in to the testicles as they continue to shred the scrotum. The distended flesh at the bottom gives way, leaving Victor holding Logan’s skewered balls in his hand. He continues to pull downward, drawing the attached ligaments and ducts out of the bloody opening.

“What’s more important to you, Jimmy? Your pride, or your demon lover?”

Logan throws his head back and roars out his pain and despair.

I start on my usual litany of curses in German. As soon as I see that I have gotten Logan’s agonized attention, I call out, “Schatz! Nicht verzweifeln!” before returning to the foul names I am calling Victor.

His continued screams pierce my heart but I rebuke myself. You told Logan not to despair, Kurt. Now keep your own hope alive. You know full well he will survive this.

Holding Logan’s skewered balls up to the camera for me to see, Victor laughs at my futile efforts to insult him. As I watch the blood gush down from Logan’s groin, I swear to myself that the last laugh will be mine, no matter what the cost.

Victor returns to my room. I have been too distracted to count the elapsed time, but it did not seem very long.

“Did you enjoy the show, baby?” he asks as he loosens the restraint on my left arm, replacing it with the chain. I am so furious that I try to pull my arm free while he is doing it, even though I know I cannot. I do surprise him enough that I can get a grip on his forearm with my fingernails and tear out a chunk of flesh.

“Oh, you’re being a bad little fairy boy, aren’t you?” he says as he pulls back out of my reach, clutching the injured arm as it heals. “What’s the matter? Did I make you angry?”

I glare at him, the rage burning in my heart reflected in my glowing eyes. His hand moves toward my face. My eyes close reflexively and the tip of a sharp claw touches each eyelid.

“I could do it so easily, you know. But I’ll spare you this time and do something else instead.”

The claws withdraw and I can breathe again.

He takes the remote control from his pocket. “There. I’ve shut off the audio both ways. You can lie here and watch while Jimmy heals, but you can’t talk to each other.”

His gloating laughter trails behind him as he leaves the room.

He is right. I would almost have preferred a physical punishment to this. I want so much to say something to comfort Logan, but at least I can still see how fast he is healing and I will know when he is whole again. It is nothing short of amazing to watch when his body literally re-grows a part. However, it does take time and he is clearly suffering a considerable amount of pain as it happens. If I were not trying to be strong for his sake, I would be crying uncontrollably.

I cannot say how long it took, but at last he looks at me with something other than pain in his expression. I smile tentatively and raise one eyebrow in inquiry as I make the thumbs up signal with my hand. He cannot respond in kind, as his hands are totally encased in their restraints, but he does nod at me.

. . . LIKE A MUTANT SCORNED

As Victor again takes the slack out of my left hand restraint and fastens it down, he remarks cheerily, “Since you both resisted so well last time, I’ll have to be more persuasive. You’re going to be sorry you did that. I don’t like it when my victims refuse to give me what I want. This time, you’re not going to have a choice.”

I do not like the sound of that, but I say nothing.

“Now, how do I want to configure things?” He glances from me to the monitors. “Let’s let Jimmy listen, but not see what’s going on or be able to make himself heard.” He sets the controls. “Do we want to be able to watch his reactions? Nah. They’re pretty predictable, aren’t they? I hurt you. He gets all upset.”

The monitors go black.

“Do you two ever play with electricity, fairy boy?”

“Vas?”

He flicks the tip of my penis hard with his middle finger, smiling as I wince. “English, remember? Unless you’re cursing at me, that is.”

“Vhat do you mean?”

“If you don’t know what I mean, then I have my answer.” He holds up a strange-looking device. “Consider this to be a learning experience. This is a violet wand. It can do some interesting things.”

It does not look particularly impressive. Just a sort of a handle with a clear glass globe at the end, attached to a box by a cable. When he turns it on, the glass lights up with an eerie violet color. It looks like a very small version of those plasma globes in science museums, where the sparks follow your fingers around on the surface of the globe.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

“Uh – ja,” I reply uncertainly.

He moves it slowly down towards my right nipple, and I expect him to touch me with it. Instead, as it gets close, small sparks jump between the wand and my skin. Almost, it tickles, as if tiny feelers are wiggling around. The muscles of my chest tighten in arousal, and my nipples grow taut.

Victor turns a dial on the box, and a brighter spark jumps the gap. I gasp at the sharp snap of electricity. It hurts just enough to get my attention, but not enough to cause real pain.

He moves the globe to my left side, giving it the same treatment. I force myself to lie still, even though I want desperately to squirm around as I become more aroused by the strange feelings that are almost pleasure but also almost pain. No! I do not want this to happen!

He begins to trace a line of fierce sensation down my body with the strange device, slowly, teasingly. “I think you can see where I’m going with this, can’t you, fairy boy?”

As he approaches my groin, my body arches uncontrollably and I throw my head back as far as the metal band around my neck will allow. My teeth clench as I try to stifle a moan in anticipation of how it will feel when it reaches my penis. Instead, the sparks move to one side, running down the inside of one thigh, then back down the other. Now, surely!

No. He goes to my lower abdomen, following the design of the scar that stretches across it. All right. This gives me a chance to think more clearly. After fighting so hard against coming during the last session, I am certainly not about to give in easily this time. I focus on my hatred of this man, picturing what he did to Logan. I see the claws piercing his scrotum, ripping out his testicles, slowly and agonizingly. I hear again his screams.

With this image held firmly in my mind, my penis falters. I can tell it is beginning to wilt, despite the sparks still dancing across my body just above it.

Unfortunately, I am not the only one to notice this.

“Oh, we’re going to play the same game we played last time, are we? Let’s just see about that.”

The sparks dance rapidly up the length of my shaft, then focus on the end, striking my exposed glans, my foreskin, and the sensitive area around the frenulum.

As my cock twitches reflexively, I concentrate grimly on the image of Logan’s lacerated sac, the blood steadily dripping down to the floor, and the sight of his balls clutched in Victor’s hand. Although I can feel that twitching, clenching sensation deep in my groin, I deliberately try to suppress it. I will not let this happen!

Victor finally gives up. But why does his voice sound so cheerful when he says, “OK, you’re still fighting me, fairy boy. I could turn this up much higher, but I’d just end up burning you, and that’s not what I have in mind. Looks like you win this round.”

He leaves the room for a few minutes, then comes back pushing a small cart with some sort of mechanism on it. He parks it next to the bed and plugs it in. I do not like the looks of this. It is a metal box with several meters and assorted switches and buttons on the front.

“Want to take a guess, baby?” When I cannot come up with anything, he continues. “I’ll give you a hint: this is a medical device that’s used to get semen from a man who cannot ejaculate, for one reason or another, if he wishes to father a child.”

He looks at me expectantly. From the expression on my face, he can see that it is beginning to dawn on me what comes next. Picking up something from behind the box, he holds up what looks like some sort of probe, about as long as a man’s finger and the width of two fingers. It is mounted on the end of a slender wooden rod, with a wire going back to the box.

“Get the picture? The current isn’t anywhere near enough to do harm, but when it’s applied to the area around the prostate, you will ejaculate, whether you want to or not. Does it feel good or does it hurt? I haven’t tried it myself, so I’ll let you give me the answer to that question. But I strongly suspect it isn’t much fun, since the usual procedure is to do it under anesthesia.”

He sets the probe down on the cart.

“There’s something real handy about this table, baby. The time has come for me to show it to you.” He fiddles with something that I cannot see and the entire section that is usually between my legs folds down, taking my tail along with it. I am left with my buttocks at the very edge and my legs bent at the knees.

He returns to the cart. “Look, I’ll even make it easier for you by putting a little lube on the probe. You don’t have to thank me.”

I do not thank him. My mind has run back to a documentary I once watched about getting semen from prize bulls. It did not appear all that bad, but the bull usually bellowed pretty loudly when the current was turned on.

“Relax, baby,” he says as he inserts the probe. “This part won’t hurt a bit. I promise.”

He plays around with the probe, clearly doing more than is necessary to find the right position near my prostate.

“Want to see what I’ll be using on Jimmy, if he proves as stubborn as you? Here.” He holds up something almost as long as a man’s forearm and just as wide. “It’s meant to be used on a bull, so just be glad you’re not getting this one.”

My mouth drops open in dismay. “No! You vould not –“

“Sure I would. Unlike you, he’s pretty much indestructible, remember?”

Setting the monstrous thing aside, he flips a switch on the box. “The usual procedure is to go to the maximum setting right from the first, keeping it on for a couple of seconds. Then repeat that until the desired results are obtained, usually about seven or eight tries. That seems too quick for me, so I’ll start at the lowest setting and work my way up. That should give you a chance to savor the experience properly. I’m even going to put a condom on you to collect your cum.”

At first, it is not unpleasant at all. Rather nice, actually. But I know that will not last. I am proven right after only a few increases in power. There appears to be a point where the feeling of tingling excitement and mild tensing of the muscles changes into the muscles clenching so hard that it is no longer just arousing and it begins to hurt. I know electricity can cause burns, but surely a medical device meant to be used on humans would stop short of that. Each time now as Victor pushes the button that turns on the current, the spasms become more intense, until it feels as if my insides are trying to turn themselves inside out. My entire lower body convulses and my pelvis thrusts forward uncontrollably. I hear myself gasp, moan, and come very close to sobbing.

“Oh, nice,” Victor croons. “You’re making me real hot. Keep it up.”

Eventually, I am screaming.

“Okay, fairy boy, we’re at the top of the scale. Now I just do it over and over again until you give me what I want. I think I’ll increase the length of the pulses bit by bit also.”

I have lost this battle and I know it. My screams get louder and longer each time, until finally I cannot stop my body from reacting.

“That’s good, baby. A few more times and you should be fairly well emptied out.”

“Bitte, nein! Nicht mehr! Hör auf!”

“Sorry. Don’t know what you’re saying.” He pushes the button again.

“Stop! Yyaahhh!”

“That was a good one. Just a couple more and we’ll be done.”

By the time he stops, my muscles are cramping and my legs and tail are pulling hard against their restraints. I whimper as tears run from my eyes.

He removes the condom from my twitching penis and sets it aside, then draws the probe out of my rectum. “Doesn’t look as if that was much fun, was it?”

I glare at him. If I were not restrained, I would be doubled over in pain.

“Here, let me see if I can help you out a little.” His hands press down on my belly, kneading the cramped muscles carefully so that his claws do not seriously dig into me.

“That didn’t have to happen, you know. If you had been more cooperative last time, you wouldn’t have forced me to do it like this.”

I look daggers at him. I want nothing more than to ‘port myself free of the restraints and wipe that gloating smile off of his face, but that would set off the bombs and get Logan and me killed. Wait a minute. It would also get Victor killed. No, not if he is here with me. It is only the bomb in Logan’s room that is supposed to be powerful enough to kill someone with that same healing factor, so it would only kill him if he were in Logan’s room when I ‘ported. But would he honestly be willing to take the chance that I might do that if he pushes me too far? Somehow I doubt that he would leave it up to me.

Enough thinking. I should be responding with more curses, but I have used up most of those in my vocabulary by now, so I take an inventive Yiddish curse I once heard and turn it into German as best I can remember it.

“Drecksau! Du sollst in einem Kronleuchter verwandelt werden, so dass du von Tag zu hängen und verbrennen bei Nacht!”

No one can accuse me of not having a sense of humor, even under these circumstances. I called him a filthy pig and said he should turn into a chandelier, so he could hang by day and burn by night.

“Tsk tsk, fairy boy. That sounded nasty. Guess you’re pretty angry at me.” The hand on my belly changes into fingertips pressing hard on the sensitive pressure points along the top of my pubic bones. I try to squirm away from the pain, but his hand follows me relentlessly, as I moan.

His other hand reaches into his own pants and it is immediately obvious what he is doing. “Louder, baby, louder! Oh shit, yeah!”

The pain stops as he comes. I am left gasping for breath, struggling to get myself under control.

“That was real nice.” His lips quirk ironically. “Next you get to watch me make Jimmy come. And he will. I guarantee it.”

He changes the settings on the monitoring system. I can see the rage on Logan’s face and hear his ragged breathing.

“Maybe Jimmy’ll have enough sense to give me what I want right away, now that he knows what happened to you.” He glances at Logan’s image. “What do you say, lover? You going to be more cooperative?”

“Go fuck yourself!” is his only reply.

Victor snarls. I hear the click of the remote again. “There. Now you can see and hear what I do to Jimmy, but he won’t be able to see or hear you.”

Returning the table to its usual position, he gives me a final pat on the belly, then turns away to gather everything together on his little cart.

As I had feared, Logan again chooses to be just as uncooperative as I was. If he could have heard me, I would have told him to give Victor what he wanted as quickly as possible. Knowing Logan, he would not have taken my advice anyway, just to prove a point.

So once again, I can do nothing but watch and listen as Victor uses the huge probe on him, shocking him with a current that was meant for a bull, running it up a little at a time, as his body convulses and he bellows much like a bull might have. Eventually, of course, he is made to ejaculate several times, just as I had been. I do not know if the current was enough to stop his heart, but if it did, he survived that, just as he usually does.

When Victor is done, Logan hangs limply in his restraints, his head drooping on his chest. As far as I can tell, he is breathing. Then the monitors go black and the speaker falls silent.

It is not very long before Victor comes into my room, a self-satisfied smirk on his face and a paper cup in his hand.

“Brought you something for dinner, fairy boy, but it’s not exactly a sirloin steak.”

I look from the cup to his expression, and I think I know what it is. “Mine or his?” I ask evenly.

“More like yours, mine, and ours. I jerked myself off a couple of times watching the recordings of recent events.”

If he thinks I am bothered by this, he has another think coming. “Release my hand and I vill drink it happily.”

“Most of it is mine, you know.”

“That does not matter.” By now he has released my left hand. “I vill drink it all, for the sake of the part that is his.”

Grabbing the cup, I suit my actions to my words, even to the point of ostentatiously licking my lips when I am done. “How about a refill?” I ask as I hold the cup out to him.

This is obviously not the reaction he desires. Victor snatches the cup from my hand, crushes it, and flings it across the room. “You disgusting faggot! Have you no shame?”

“You are calling me disgusting?!”

He glares. For a moment I am sure he is going to kill me with his bare hands. Then he storms out the door, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Since he left my hand fastened only by the chain, I reach down for the bottle of water and take a sip, as I wonder if Victor is even now offering Logan a paper cup. I am curious as to how he will respond, but the monitors and speakers have not been turned on, so I must contain my curiosity for the time being.

Meanwhile, I consider carefully everything Victor has said about the bombs which will go off if I get out of my restraints. I begin to think he has lied, and, if so, then how many other things has he said that might also be lies?

Finally, the monitors and speakers come back on. I can see Logan hanging in his restraints, with multiple bleeding slashes down the insides of both thighs. His face is set in a painful grimace, but the bleeding is diminishing even as I watch. Victor is nowhere to be seen.

I am glad simply to be able to see him and to know he is essentially in one piece. I wait and watch the gashes stop bleeding and begin to heal.

“Did he offer you a paper cup, Elf?” Logan asks eventually.

“Ja.”

“What did you do?”

“Drank it vith a great deal of pleasure, because some of it vas yours. You?”

“Took it in my mouth then spat it into his face, because most of it was his.” Logan manages to grin at me as he says that.

“I guess he did not like that very much.”

“Understatement, darlin’.” Then he starts swearing bitterly.

“Vas ist los?” No, I should not have said that. I do not want Victor to even think that Logan understands German. “Sorry, I meant to ask vhat is wrong.”

“I should have been able to stop him from making me come.”

“Vhy? I could not. You are being too hard on yourself, mein –“ just in time, I remember that I must not call him Schatz, since I do not want Victor to pick up on the fact that I can use it to catch Logan’s attention during my bouts of German cursing – “Liebling. No matter that your bones are full of adamantium and your body heals fast, you are still just a man, nicht wahr? Vhy is everything your responsibility?”

“I guess that’s just what I’m used to doin’, Elf. I’m the one who has to do what others can’t, simply because I can.”

“You cannot be the best there is at everything, you know.”

“We’re not talking about resisting Victor’s electroejac devices anymore, are we?”

“No, ve are not. Ve are talking about you alvays taking upon yourself the sole responsibility, and the guilt that comes vith it vhen you fail.”

“Well, I can’t see that I’m doin’ very good at getting’ us outta this mess so far. I’m just as helpless against Victor as you are.”

I do not know how to respond to that, considering that Victor may well be hearing all this, so I say nothing.

“I should never have come back. I should have just stayed with him. Deep down, I’m as vicious as he is. The two of us belong together.”

“Never say that! It is not true!”

Logan shakes his head in denial, but he does not press the point.

“Kurt, listen. If you see a chance to get yourself outta here, promise me that you’ll take it, and not worry about me.”

“Nein.”

“You gotta, especially if you think you’re in mortal danger. No matter what happens to me, save yourself. I’m likely to survive anyway.”

“Even if you are blown to pieces by Victor’s bomb? You may be hard to kill, but you are not immortal.”

“Well –” he glances down uneasily at the floor below him. “Yeah. Probably.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Only probably?”

“I suppose if I were blown into too many pieces, and those pieces were deliberately separated and scattered far apart –” He leaves it hanging, then goes back to his main point. “Promise me, Elf. I need to know that you’ll save yourself, if at all possible.”

I do not wish to promise such a thing, as I have no intention of escaping without taking Logan with me. But I do not want Victor to know that.

“I vill do everything vithin my power to save my own life. That is all I vill promise.” I glance around my prison and sigh hopelessly. “But I have no idea how I could get out of here vithout blowing us both up, so it really makes no difference.”

From the look on Logan’s face, I know my answer does not entirely satisfy him. He also does not want to think I have given up.

“I’ll get you out of here, one way or another,” he says. “Trust me.”

“Alvays vill I trust you. Never doubt that.”

Victor’s voice comes over the speakers. “All right, enough of that, you two lovebirds. Next thing I know, you’ll be professing your eternal love and devotion to each other. Enough, already!”

With that, he cuts off both video and audio. We are alone, with nothing but our thoughts, and those thoughts are not particularly comforting. Although I now have a rough idea of how it might be possible to escape, there are still a few things I must know before I dare try it. There are too many unknowns, and besides, it involves doing something I would prefer not to have to do.

In the silence and the solitude, I sort through what I have figured out so far, in the hope that I can think of a better way out of here. I try not to dwell too much on my eventual fate, if I cannot escape, nor on Logan’s, but it is hard to keep such considerations out of my head.

I do not want to die, but if that is what happens, I will face it as bravely as I can. If there is nothing beyond death, then I have certainly had my share of joy in this life, especially lately with Logan. And if there is something more, then I will trust that it is worthy of the God I choose to love and worship, despite my many doubts and questions. Either way, I cannot complain.

Logan is not so well cared for as I am, but he is given water now and again. The floor has a drain strategically located so that he can simply urinate where he stands. Beyond that, Victor cleans up when necessary. It is almost certain that there is no one else here except Victor, as he would surely assign these rather disagreeable tasks to someone else if he could.

Every time Victor leaves me, I have counted the seconds until he appears in Logan’s room, if he does. I can get some idea of how far away it is from mine, and vice versa. Thus far, my estimates range anywhere from nine to twelve meters, which would be in keeping with a separate building, but not at any great distance. It has seemed all along to be extravagant overkill to have two buildings, as he claims, but I cannot prove it to be impossible from the elapsed time. However, if we are not in two separate buildings, the threat of a bomb that could kill Logan is almost certainly a lie, as it would kill Victor also.

I can make a rough guess as to how wide the walls of these rooms are, judging by what I can see when Victor comes in or goes out. Assuming he does not go to the extreme of placing large objects outside my door and moving them whenever he comes or goes, which I judge unlikely, I could safely teleport to the area just beyond the door. Beyond that, I do not know what is directly outside of this building, or if the outside door is locked.

There are too many unknowns. I need more answers.

It seems a long time before Victor returns. As usual, he wastes no time fastening my wrist back down.

He turns on both the audio and the video, so my eyes go directly to Logan’s image. His head lifts as he hears that the speakers are active. He gives me a smile, as if to reassure me that he is doing all right.

Victor starts teasing me with the points of his claws, drawing them lightly over the inside of my thighs, then next to my scrotum, then around my exposed anus. It does not hurt, since he is using very little pressure. In fact, it feels all too good. If I did not know the horrors those terrible claws could do, I would find this quite arousing. I close my eyes, wishing it were Logan’s fingers teasing me. Ja, like that. Around my anus, then up a bit, towards the base of my tail, where the lightest touch sends shivers of desire up my spine. Ja, there! There!

I gasp as I react, then remember it is not Logan’s hand touching me.

“What’s the matter, baby?” Victor asks, his voice sarcastically sweet. “Did I hit a tender spot?”

“No. You are tickling me.”

He presses harder against that sensitive area. “You’re not laughing. Are you sure it just tickles?”

“I am too scared to laugh.”

So he laughs. Good. I do not want him to realize just how exquisitely that part of my body reacts. Why such a thing should happen, I have no idea. Perhaps its has something to do with the way my nerves run into my tail. In any case, I just want him to forget all about it.

But now he is running his claws down the under surface of my tail, which is turned upwards due to the way it is restrained. I do not like anyone to touch my tail, especially underneath. It is truly no more sensitive than most of the rest of my body. After all, my tail can hold my weight and do lots of other fairly strenuous things, so how sensitive could it be?

However, to be handled like this makes me feel very vulnerable. It is so easy for someone to grab me that way, as I cannot see what is happening behind me.

“You don’t like this much, do you?”

“How vould you know?”

He taps a finger against his nose. “Same way Jimmy does. I’ve got that enhanced sense of smell also.”

I was afraid he would say that. The best I can do is try to explain away my fear as something else, if I want to throw him off the track. Whether it is physical or psychological, it is not good to let a sadist know you have a weakness.

He is still intent on handling my tail, much to my dismay. It is only restrained at the far end, so he can easily reach around it, bend it a little, whatever he wants. My hips are also not restrained, so I can move around to an extent, to take some of the tension off if he pulls too hard.

“I think I’ll try a little experiment here, fairy boy. I just happen to have this nice leather blindfold in my pocket. Maybe you’ll enjoy things more if you can’t see what I’m doing.”

As he fastens the blindfold around my head, he continues cheerily, “It’s a shame this will keep me from seeing your beautiful glowing eyes, but it should be well worth it.”

The blindfold is all too effective. I can see nothing, even if I try to peek out underneath it. I know the sort of apprehension this creates, as some of my childhood customers did it to me. Since one cannot see what is actually being done, one tends to assume it is worse than it truly is, especially if your tormentor deliberately tries to make you think so. However, knowing this does not make me feel a whole lot better about it.

I feel a sharp prick down near the end of my tail, just above the metal band that holds it down.

“How would you like another fancy scar, baby? I could use this scalpel to make one right here.”

I seriously doubt he has a scalpel, but it is impossible to tell just from what I felt. Another light prick, this one further up my tail.

“Or maybe here? Or here?”

Again, further up, maybe half way. It is getting harder to hold still, as my natural reaction would be to whip my tail away and out of danger.

“Maybe you’d prefer something more dramatic than a thin scar, since you’ve got lots of others. How about if I slice off a bit of skin instead?”

Whatever he has in his hand, he scrapes it along my tail, again closer to my body. I whimper, hoping to make him think I believe him.

“Since your tail is so skinny and bony, maybe I need to move to the thicker part, where there’s more meat to work with. How about this? Is this a good place?”

Now he is right up near where my tail begins. It truly is more sensitive there and the poke he gives me this time hurts.

“You know, I could start here and scrape off a layer of skin all the way down to the tip, maybe an inch or so wide. How about that? I think it would look real pretty, don’t you?”

There is no answer I can give him, other than to swallow nervously. Surely, he is not going to do that. Is he?

“Yeah, I think you’d enjoy that sort of thing.”

Whatever he has in his hand, he presses it down against my skin in a horizontal line across my tail.

“Hold real still now. I’d hate to slip while I’m doing this. After all, we want a nice straight line, don’t we?”

I tense against the anticipated pain, even though I doubt he will do what he threatens to do.

“Kurt, don’t believe him!” Logan’s voice shouts from the speaker. “It’s not a scalpel! It’s just a needle of some sort!”

Rather as I had expected, but now I am sure. Victor, however, is not happy.

“Jimmy, you just spoiled my little game. Not only am I turning off the audio on your end, but now you’re going to watch me use this needle on your blue friend here, in a nastier way than I had originally planned.”

He turns his attention back to me.

“I don’t have just one needle, fairy boy, I’ve got a whole selection of them. Various lengths and various gauges. You do know that the higher the number, the narrower the diameter of the needle, right? And vice versa?”

I do not trust my voice just now, so I nod my head.

“I’ve been using a 14 gauge, but I think we’ll begin with something smaller, since I’ll be starting near the end of your tail and working my way up higher as I go. I promised you something pretty before Jimmy spoiled things, so I’m going to use the fancy needles that have decorations on them.”

“Decorations?” This concept is new to me.

“Yep. They’ve got things like – no, I won’t tell you. It will be a surprise when it’s finished.”

“I do not like surprises.”

I hear him laugh. “Oh, you’ll like this one. It will mean I’m finished.”

I hear faint jingling noises, as if he is sorting through a collection of small metal objects, as he doubtless is.

“Ah, here’s the one I’m looking for. This is a 25 gauge needle, baby, the smallest size I have.” His fingers move to the very end of my poor tail, where it comes to a fairly sharp point. “Hold still now. There’s not a lot of loose skin for me to work with.”

A small prick, magnified by a scrape against the underlying bone, then another prick as the point of the needle comes out again. It does not hurt very much, but it is not comfortable either.

His fingers move past the metal band that secures my tail, but only by a centimeter or two. Again the double prick of a needle.

“Oh, yeah. This will look real sweet. The next few will be 23 gaugers, baby.”

Like I really want to know that.

A little more painful, but certainly nothing to scream about.

He works his way slowly up the length of my tail, informing me each time when the diameter of the needle gets larger. By the time he is close to the place where my tail meets my body, we are up to the 18 gauge ones. By now it definitely hurts, but that may also be due to the cumulative effect of all those other needles that are still in place.

“Last one for your tail, fairy boy. This is a 14.”

Well, at least he is almost done.

“I’m starting to really enjoy this little game. How about you? Having fun?”

“Vhat do you think? Are you finished making a pin cushion out of me?”

“Oh, no. The best is yet to come.”

He takes hold of my penis, pinching the skin along the top of the shaft, just above the scar. “This is an 18, but it has a very nice decoration on it.”

“Verdammt! Der Teufel soll dich holen!”

“Call me whatever you like, baby, but your prick is hard.”

I clench my teeth firmly as the needle goes through the skin held between his fingers.

“Same thing below the scar. Got to be symmetrical, you know.”

I do not open my mouth, but I cannot keep back a groan.

“Now we get to the really fun part.”

His fingers hold me just before the edge of my glans, and I know already what is coming. I shake my head in negation, but I will not beg.

“Don’t worry, boy. It’s only a 25 and it’s very short. You’ll hardly feel it, even though I’ll be sticking it straight in.” I hear a low chuckle. He continues on, and I realize he’s only doing it to make me wait, while I anticipate what is to come. “I’m very good at knowing exactly when erotic pain turns into real pain, so don’t bother to try to deceive me. I’ve learned to judge that edge very closely, because I can smell the difference. With you, I intend to stay pretty close to that edge, although I may cross it now and then.”

He drives the needle into me, just above my slit. And leaves it there, as he removes the blindfold.

“See, baby? I told you it would be pretty.”

Tentatively, I open my eyes and look down at Victor’s handiwork. There are indeed decorations attached to each of the needles. Two shiny red hearts grace the top and the bottom of the scar, while a short string of pearls dangles from the tip of my stiff penis. All the way down the length of my tail there are other similar things: the image of a tiny cat, several kinds of flowers, a fleur-de-lis, a few small feathers, a rainbow, a butterfly. And in the very tip, an iridescent peacock feather!

I am well and truly flummoxed!

“Well?” Victor asks impatiently.

“Umm – Es ist sehr schön. I mean, it is very pretty.”

I glance at Logan’s image on the monitor. Even though he saw Victor doing it, he still appears somewhat dazed.

Victor’s eyes follow mine. “What do you think, Jimmy? Didn’t believe I had an artistic streak, did you?”

Logan just shakes his head.

Victor snaps his fingers and exclaims, “Oh darn! I forgot the finishing touch!” He picks up what looks like a small blowtorch and lights it.

“Uh –it all looks just fine the way it is.”

“No, no. Just one more little thing.” He starts heating up a very thin metal rod about three centimeters long, which is attached to a wooden handle. “They have a new name for this, but I prefer the old name. Devil’s fire. Watch. I’ll show you how it works.” The metal is red hot by now. He touches the point very briefly to the back of his hand. “It burns, but not much, because it’s done fast. Hurts a bit more if you do it this way.” Heating the rod again, he touches it sideways against his hand, instead of just the point.

Why do I think it is not going to be that easy for me?

“Holding it against the skin just a little longer makes it worse. Doing it in a very sensitive place makes it a lot worse.” He rubs a finger over that spot between the base of my tail and my anus.

“No! Victor, please!”

But the rod is already glowing hot in the flame. “How about a nice V? Does that sound good?”

It is not a question. He touches the side of the rod to my flesh. Not very long, but long enough.

“That’s the first half of the letter. Now we’ll do the second half.”

I clench my teeth and try not to flinch.

“There. Not nearly as impressive as those scars down your back from Jimmy’s claws, but maybe this will leave a scar for you to remember me by also. That is, if you live long enough for it to heal.”

He runs a finger slowly up my tail, flicking each little decoration as he goes by. I am still trying to become accustomed to the pain of the needle in my glans, not to mention the burns he just created, which I cannot even see from this angle.

Take a deep breath, Kurt, I tell myself. Exhale slowly. You have been hurt far worse than this in your life. Let it go. Better yet, toss it into that basement in your House of Pain, as Herr Grüber taught you to do as a child.

Victor has reached that sensitive spot now. Placing his fingertips on the burn, he rubs the entire area in a circular motion, as if he knows that this stirs up a perverse mixture of pleasure and pain throughout my entire groin. I cannot help but groan.

“You like that, fairy boy?”

I shake my head, lips still clenched tightly.

His hand shifts to my cock, holding it near the base and rolling it slightly between his fingers. Another mixture of pain and pleasure, as my penis hardens more, increasing the pressure on the needles. As he continues to do this, I can feel the twitch of heightened desire begin to make itself felt deep inside me. No! Not now!

Victor evidently decides that this would be a good time to begin a conversation, as he asks, “Does Jimmy ever let you fuck him, fairy boy? Or are you always expected to be on the receiving end?”

When I do not reply, he takes my scrotum in his other hand and squeezes tightly. “Answer me when I ask a question, baby.”

“It is my preference to be fucked. However, there have been times vhen I have been the one doing the fucking. Recently, he let me do much more than that.”

“Oh, yeah? How recently?”

“Just after he came back to me almost a month ago,” I reply, fixing him with a look designed to infuriate him over my gloating tone. I simply cannot resist goading him like this.

It seems to have worked, as his lips contort into a snarl. “And exactly what did he let you do, you little slut?”

“You vill have to ask him that.” I know full well that I will suffer for this, and I am not proven wrong.

“Don’t play games with me. You’ll find I’m much better at them than you are.” He releases me, walks over to the counter, opens a drawer and takes something out, then comes back to me. He holds up a butt plug the like of which I have never seen in my life. It is way too long and much too wide and does not narrow very much before the flared end, as it should.

I whimper as I feel the tapered end pressed against my opening, without even the benefit of lube.

“Let’s see you relax and enjoy this, smartass.”

Automatically, I struggle to pull away, but he grabs my tail near the base, holding me in place. “Hold still, dammit! Don’t give me a hard time, fairy boy, or you just might get my hand up your ass instead of this nice smooth dildo. I know an interesting little variation on the usual technique of fist-fucking. Maybe you’d like for me to show it to you.”

He clenches one hand into a fist and holds it up in front of my face. Then he opens his fingers, claws extended as far as possible, and shoves it up in the air, mimicking what he would do once inside me.

Just in case I did not get the picture, he elaborates.

“Your scream of ecstasy would very quickly turn into a scream of agony, as I sliced you open from the inside out and twisted your guts around my fingers.” He glances over at Logan’s image. “You look as if you’ve got something to say, Jimmy. Here. I’ll switch the audio back on, if you promise to be polite.”

“Victor, no!!”

“No what, Jimmy?”

“Please!! I’m beggin’ you! Do what you want to me, but don’t do that to him!”

“All right, but only because you asked so nicely. But he’s still going to get this butt plug up his ass far enough to remind him to be more respectful.”

He grinds it against me, beginning to spread me open. “Now, I’ll ask you that question again. What did Jimmy let you do to him?”

I shake my head. He smiles and forces the plug harder against my distended sphincter. I am desperately trying to relax and accept what he is doing, but I cannot do it fast enough.

I can hear Logan alternately pleading and cursing. When I do not do anything but moan, Victor takes notice of him. “I still want to hear the answer to my question, Jimmy. He told me I should ask you. How about it?”

“I let him fist-fuck me. Are you happy now? Leave him alone.”

“No, I’m not happy now at all. You let this little twit do that to you?!”

“Yes. And I’d take it from him again before I’d take it from you.”

“Logan, no!!” I say, knowing that he is deliberately goading Victor in order to get him away from me.

“Shut up, Kurt! Shut up now!!”

But it is too late. Victor turns to the camera, his face set in a snarl. “All right, you two have really pissed me off big time. I’m gonna teach you a lesson you’ll never forget, Jimmy.” He turns back to me. “As for you, you damn blue faggot, this is what you get.”

As he shoves the butt plug in the rest of the way, I feel something tear inside me and cannot suppress my scream. His grin becomes a wide smile.

Tears run down my face as I glare at him, while Logan calls him obscene names and threatens impossible forms of mayhem.

Victor ignores us both.

“Keep that plug in there, fairy boy, or I’ll have to do it all over again,” he warns me, then gets a harness from the counter and proceeds to fit the leather straps around my waist and between my legs. The strap between my legs is wide, but has an opening in the middle to allow my penis and scrotum to be pushed through while letting the wide part behind that be pulled tight between my buttocks and against the base of the plug. The strap divides once again to go around either side of my tail.

“There. Now you can’t push it out even if you try. That should keep you busy for a while, like maybe until tomorrow morning. By the way, the blood looks real nice seeping out around the leather strap, and all those nice decorations make you look quite fetching. If I weren’t so angry at Jimmy right now, I might just be tempted –” He shakes his head. “Nah. Another time.”

Still furious, he storms out the door, without releasing my left hand as he usually does. Trying to ignore the pain, I focus on counting the seconds but get no further than three when Victor appears in the other room. Even at a fast run, he could not have covered much distance in such a short time. Logan is almost certainly in the same building as I am. That being the case, there may well be bombs in both rooms that Victor could set off if he wished, but I cannot imagine he was so stupid as to set them up so that I could be responsible for when they are detonated. However, there may well be sensors in my restraints that would detect my sudden absence in order that some other sort of less lethal booby trap would be sprung.

My speculations are cut short as I see Victor shove his clenched fist into Logan’s ass.

Logan does not scream, but only continues cursing him out. Nevertheless, I can see the pain on his face, and what might be fear.

“Shut up now and pay attention. Remember how I just told your blue friend about putting my hand into him and then driving my claws through his guts?”

His smile is more than usually vicious as he grins at me from the monitor. I know what is coming next, and my heart cringes within my breast. But I can do nothing about it, other than watch and pray. I yell “Noooo!”

But he has already begun to carry out his threat. At different angles and on each monitor, I see his arm push up into Logan’s body so far that his hand opens a gash in his abdomen. I watch in horror as he closes his hand around the intestines twisted between his fingers then pulls down and out.

I can only retch as Logan bellows his agony. I force my eyes to remain open, watching as Victor continues to disembowel my lover.

Logan seeks out my eyes with his own. I know I must look totally distraught, tears flowing down my face and sobs racking my body. His lips form my name, just before he finally passes out.

Much later on, Logan has almost recovered from the ordeal, which would have left any other man, with the possible exception of Victor, dead. He still appears weak and is almost certainly in a lot of pain, but his body is intact again and I can reasonably expect that his ravaged abdominal organs are in the process of regenerating.

He has told me that the recovery often hurts more than the original injury. I suppose that makes sense. Even for an ordinary person, I have noticed that the recovery time after being injured can be worse under some circumstances, so since his healing is very accelerated, the pain might well be concentrated into that briefer time span.

For just a moment, I experience a sharp pang of envy for Logan’s ability to heal, especially since I myself cannot do anything at all about the growing pain inside me. I have no idea of how badly I may be injured, as a perforated colon does not hurt all that much until later, when infection sets in and the abdominal cavity becomes septic. It could equally well be nothing beyond a bad tear in my anal sphincter, but I do not think so. There is a pain deeper inside that shows no sign of easing up. With the harness strapped tightly against me, I cannot push out the too-large plug. Nor can I adjust to the hard pressure and stretch it is forcing on my rectum and probably the lower part of my sigmoid colon as well. Usually I can relax and allow myself to open and stretch, but this is beyond anything I have ever tried to adapt to before, even Logan’s hand, and has been forced in deeper.

I try to control myself, rather than lying here crying, but I cannot stop a sob from getting through now and then, or maybe just a moan every time my abused gut contracts hard against the abuse it is having to endure. It is after one of these agonizing spasms that I hear Logan’s voice.

“I can’t stand to see ya hurting like this.”

I cannot stand to see him concerned for me, after the pain he has gone through and is probably still feeling. But I am glad he has recovered enough to be able to speak to me.

“Let me try something that might help, OK?”

I can think of nothing he can do that would improve things in the slightest. But I nod.

“Close your eyes, darlin’, and don’t open them again. Now, focus only on my voice and what I’m sayin’.

“Imagine you’re lyin’ in our bed, and I come home needing you so bad that I’m ready to rape you the way I did once.”

“It vas not –“ I begin.

“Sshh. Just listen. This time, I tell you why I need it, since you said that’s what you wanted me to do, if it ever happened again. I need to take you, hard, rough, even painfully, to get the craziness out of my head before I take it out some other way on someone else. You don’t say anything. You just open your legs for me and close your eyes, preparing to endure it.”

“Victor can hear us,” I object, opening my eyes to get Logan’s attention.

“Let him. I don’t give a damn in hell if he does. Maybe it will teach him something about what it means to love someone. Now stop interruptin’ me and close your eyes. Concentrate on my words.

“I want you to imagine something that is totally untrue. Pretend I’ve got a cock as big around as my upper arm and just as long. Don’t laugh, darlin’. Just pretend. I’m huge and hard and I’m shoving that horrendous dick up your ass, stretchin’ you wider than you’ve ever been before, and you’re taking me deeper and deeper into your body. I’m fucking you, opening you, filling you completely, violating you horribly.

“Imagine you want me inside you, even though you know it will hurt. Imagine you can hear me moaning with pleasure over the way you’re taking me, holding me so tight and hot within you. I’m kneeling between your legs, holding your hips tight against me, knowing I’m hurting you, but wanting so much to give you pleasure, not pain. But I can’t do that, and I need it so desperately in order to stay sane.

“I can see the expression on your face as you try to accommodate me. I hear you whimper as I press myself in further, but you don’t tell me to stop. You only struggle to accept it, because you know how very much I need it. And I can tell it’s hurtin’ you a lot, since your cock is barely hard. Much as I want to give you pleasure, I cannot. All I can do is cause pain, and that tears me up inside, but I can’t stop.

“It feels so wonderful, so good, to be inside you. I’m about to come, but I desperately want you to enjoy it also. One of my hands moves up to your chest, my fingers spread wide to touch and rub those tender nipples. I wrap my other hand around your dick, pulling gently, rubbing my thumb over your exposed slit. You gasp as your body responds. I can feel your muscles clenching around me, your insides starting those pulsing spasms that drive me wild. I can’t hold back. I can’t – but I must, I must.

“My fingers work you frantically now. Your body opens impossibly further, yielding to my relentless attack, pulling me in deeper. I can hold out no longer. With a few more strokes, I take my release deep within you. I feel your cum spurt out against my chest as I struggle to catch my breath.”

As the spell of his words breaks down around me, I realize I have felt it all just as he has described, including my orgasm. The deep aching pain is still there but seems less, perhaps because he has relieved some of the tension in my gut. I want to cry. I want to hold him while he holds me. But reality will not allow that. I keep my eyes closed, so I do not have to see what is really out there.

“I’m not leavin’ you alone yet, Elf, not until you’re asleep. Stay with me here, darlin’.

“The sex is over. I get up and go into our bathroom to start the hot water running in the tub. I come back and lift you up from our bed, carrying you in my arms then lowering you into the water. I know you’re still hurting. I can see it in your face and the way you grimace whenever you move. As the tub fills up, I kneel beside it, massaging your belly gently, trying to ease the tightness of the muscles I can feel beneath my hands. And they do relax, a little, but I can still feel that aching hardness inside you.

“I soap you up and rinse you off with the shower attachment while the water runs down the drain. I help you up and wrap you in one of those big towels we have. I support you as you use the toilet, then carry you back to bed. I tuck the quilt around us both as I gather you into my arms, where I can hold you against me.

“I kiss your hair and the tips of your ears and your closed eyelids. I place my hand once more on your belly, just above your penis and on top of that scar that stretches from one side to the other. I know that’s where it hurts, and I want so much to make it stop. I long to heal you, but all I can do is heal myself. Never before have I realized how useless it can be to heal oneself, when you cannot also heal the ones you love. All I can do is hold you close and hope that I may never have to let you go. Finally, you rest your hand on top of mine and sigh. Your breathing slows, your body relaxes a bit at a time. Your head lolls against my chest. And I lie beside you through the endless night, keeping watch as well as I can until the dawn.”

Resting in his arms, I sleep until shortly before the next time that Victor comes in to wake me up.

Yes, there is surely something wrong. It is harder for me to think straight, what with the steady ache deep inside me, on top of my other accumulated hurts. I feel as if I have a fever and I am terribly thirsty, far more than I should be. But I cannot even reach for the water bottle, since Victor did not free my hand at all last time. Despite the fact that I have not eaten much since I have been here, I am not hungry any longer. In fact, my stomach is downright queasy just at the thought of food. These are all possible symptoms of peritonitis, so the most likely reason, as I have already surmised, is a tear in my sigmoid colon or rectum, which is leaking into my abdominal cavity and causing infection. My time is clearly running out. I cannot afford to play games with Victor much longer. One way or the other, this must end soon.

As soon as Victor comes into the room, he unfastens the harness around my hips and pulls out the butt plug. The abrupt stretch tears my anus again, but at least eases the throbbing deeper inside. By the time I have finished moaning, he has returned with a towel and begun to mop up the mess of blood and fluid.

“I made you bleed again, didn’t I?” he inquires with false concern. “Sorry about that.”

I have caught my breath now, and the most recent layer of pain has eased off a bit. I start in on my German cursing, to get him used to it.

“All right, enough of that shit.”

Giving in to one of the strange quirks of mischief that often invade my mind, I conclude with another of my Germanized versions of a Yiddish curse. “Du sollst wachsen wie ein Tsibeleh, mit Kopf im Dreck!”

“I said enough!” He runs his hand down the decorations that are still in my tail, then flicks his finger hard against the needle in my glans.

But the pain is worth it, since I just told him he should grow like an onion, with his head in the ground.

“Now, what shall it be for today, fairy boy?”

“I vould not mind a drink of vater,” I suggest hopefully.

“Oh dear! Did I forget to free your hand last time? Tsk tsk. My bad.” He reaches under the table and brings out the water bottle. “Yeah, I guess you could use some about now, couldn’t you? Not exactly what I had in mind, but we’ll start there.”

He opens the cap and pours the entire bottle over my face, which allows some of it to get into my mouth, but not nearly as much as I need. But he does not free my hand.

“Aw, looks as if I spilled most of it.” He tosses the empty bottle over his shoulder. “Are you still thirsty?”

Warily, I nod.

“We seem to be out of water. Maybe you’d like to drink some of my piss, hmm? I’m sure you’d prefer his –“ He jerks a thumb toward the monitors, which show Logan watching us intently “– but that’s not in the picture.”

I make a disgusted face and shake my head.

“I could piss on you, if you’d rather. You could stand some cleaning up, you know. Or maybe you’d like it to go up your ass instead? I’ve heard that can feel pretty good, if you’re into such things.”

All right, time for me to get on with it. I do not really want to do this, but I have thought of no other way. There are still too many risks, but I have run out of options.

“Come on, Victor, is that the best you can think of? Do you seriously believe I’d be that ashamed to drink your pee? Or be terribly bothered by any of the rest of it? If so, you greatly underestimate me. Let’s stop playing children’s games and get down to the real thing. Fuck me! Shove your dick up my ass and see if you really can hurt me with it. Let’s get this over with, right now.”

“My, my. The little fairy boy is anxious for it, is he? He wants to feel my big cock inside him. Maybe I’ll oblige you sooner than I had planned, since you’re so hot for me. But first I want to have a little fun.”

He rests his hand low down on my abdomen. I suck in my breath and grimace.

“Oh, that hurts, does it? Thanks for letting me know.”

O Gott, now I am in for it!

His fingers trace across my belly, probing to find the area that hurts most. When he reaches a spot low down and just a bit to the left of center, I gasp.

“Right there, huh?” I do not like the smile that spreads across his face. The heel of his hand presses down hard on that place, rubbing in small circles.

I can barely suppress a scream. I whimper, and plead, “Nein! Bitte, Victor, nein!”

“’Bitte, Victor, nein,’” he mocks. “I know what that means, baby. I think I like to hear you say that.” He releases the pressure then pushes down once more. “Say it again.”

I scream and say it again.

“But I’m supposed to be trying to arouse you, aren’t I? I don’t seem to be doing a very good job of that. Let’s try something else.”

He leans down, fastening his mouth over my right nipple and sucking. At first, it feels nice. I dare to relax a bit and try to get myself under control during this surely brief respite. I feel a hand reach for my other nipple, pinching it lightly. If the rest of my body did not hurt so much, this might almost be pleasant. But the small amount of water that I managed to drink is not sitting well in my stomach, and the ache in my gut has turned into sharp spasms.

Slowly, Victor increases how hard he is sucking, how roughly he is handling me. It goes past the point of pleasure and turns into pain. At last, he stops.

“That’s better. Your eyes look a bit brighter now and that pretty blue dick is getting harder and turning a nice purplish color.” He touches me, teasing my straining cock. Then he seeks out the sensitive spot just below my tail that he burned during our last session.

“Schwein! Scheisskerl!”

“Now, now. I thought you liked being touched there.”

The finger continues to rub over the burn, tormenting me. I whimper as quietly as I can.

When he starts pinching and pricking that sensitive area with his claws, I cannot help but try to pull away from him, even though I know full well that it is hopeless.

“Hell, fairy boy, by the time you feel my cock inside you, it’ll be a relief, won’t it? Maybe you’ll even enjoy it. Jimmy won’t like that, but I sure would. Maybe I’ll make sure you enjoy it. How’d you like Jimmy to watch you come while I’m fucking you?”

“That vould not be too bad, overall,” I inform him as blithely as I can manage. “Perhaps you vould then like to vatch me come vith Jimmy inside me? Or me inside Jimmy?”

He laughs. “You are an outrageous little slut, aren’t you?”

“I have been called vorse things.”

“Yeah, I imagine you have, at that.” He actually chuckles before he continues. “I’m just having so much fun with you these days. Maybe I’ll keep you alive a little longer. Or maybe even permanently, if you give me a little encouragement. What do you say, fairy boy? How much is your life worth to you?”

“Not enough to spend it vith a creature like you.”

“Now, now, that’s not very friendly.”

“Shove it up your ass!” is my decidedly unfriendly retort.

“What’s the matter? Run out of German curses?” I just scowled. “In any case, I’d rather shove it up your ass, fairy boy.”

But instead of looking at me as he says that, his eyes slide upwards to one of the monitors, watching for Logan’s reaction. I realize that he has been doing that all along. I just did not understand why. Now I think I know.

He does not desire me. He does not even care about me. I am only a pawn in the game he is playing with Logan. Mein Gott! That is the answer! “You love Jimmy,” I state flatly.

“What did you say?”

“I said, ‘You love Jimmy.’”

“You’re crazy.”

“Nein. In your own tvisted vay, you love him.”

“You’ve seen the things I do to him. That’s not love.”

“It is the only kind of love you know.” I let him think about that a moment. “That is vhy you hate me so. Jimmy loves me, not you. You cannot stand that.”

“Shut up, fairy boy.”

“You think if you kill me, you vill have him for yourself. But you vill not. He vill only hate you all the more.”

“Shut up, you little shit! I’m warning you –“

“Varning me of vhat? You already intend to kill me.”

“I never said that. Maybe I’ll let you live, after I’m finished fucking you. Maybe I’ll enjoy it so much that I’ll keep you both alive.”

“Nein. You vill not dare. The longer Jimmy sees vhat you’re doing to me, the more he vill hate you.”

“Maybe I’ll decide to let you go, if he promises to stay with me. What do you say to that, smartass?”

“You vill not let me go, although you might try to make him think you have done so. You vill kill me regardless.”

“Now why would I do that, if I got what you think I want so much?”

“Because as long as I am alive, there is a chance he might find that out and go back to me. Besides, you hate me too much. You cannot stand the idea that Jimmy loves me far more than he could possibly love you.”

He places his hand flat on my abdomen. “You’d better stop now while you’re ahead. Unless you want Jimmy to hear you scream some more.”

This is not what I wanted. “It does not really matter how loudly I scream. Jimmy vill still not love you.” I meet his eyes directly, hoping my next challenge will get him to do what I want him to. “Perhaps you are afraid to fuck me, because you might find out you like it. Do you think I have not noticed how hard you get vhile you’re playing vith me? Maybe you vill find that you like screwing me better than you like screwing Jimmy.”

But I am getting to him now. I force a lascivious smile to my lips.

“Go ahead, big man. Do it. Maybe it vill make Jimmy jealous, seeing you fuck someone else and enjoying it. Maybe he vill vant you back again. Or are you afraid to do it?” I slit my fiercely glowing eyes at him, giving him an arrogant glare. “Or maybe you cannot do it, after all. Maybe you are so hung up on Jimmy that you are not capable of screwing anyone else. Is that it?”

“You’d better just shut your mouth, you damn Kraut. You’re only getting yourself in deeper.”

“Better men than you have told me to shut my mouth, Victor.” I smile again. “But I never learn.”

Logan interrupts us. “Kurt, stop it! You don’t know what you’re doin’!”

I do not take my eyes off of my tormentor. “Oh yes, I know exactly vhat I am doing. I am telling this Schweinhund the truth.” Again I spit a few of my choicer German epithets into his face.

“Victor, don’t listen to him! Please! He doesn’t mean it! You’ve driven him crazy!”

Desperate to keep Logan from interfering any further, I add one more furious ‘curse’. “Matte! Hab ‘nen Plan! Sei bereit!”

That stops him immediately, as I hoped it would. I see from the insane rage on Victor’s face that I have won. He literally rips off his own pants. He is going to fuck me, and he is going to do it now. Good. That is what I want. Do not think about it anymore, you overgrown asshole. Just do it!

He adjusts the table, much as he did once before, dropping the section with my tail downwards so that my ass is at the edge, and my legs are bent sharply.

“Makes it easy for me to get in real deep, from this angle.” He steps between my knees, holding up his cock for me to see. “If you’re in such a hurry for this, fairy boy, why don’t you look a little more enthusiastic about it? Hmm?”

Despite what some men may want to think, no penis is a weapon of mass destruction. However, almost any penis can become a weapon of sorts, if the man attached to it wants to use it in that way, especially if it is longer and thicker than normal. This is clearly what Victor intends.

I close my eyes and try to clear my mind in order to focus on the floating cloud meditation that helped so much when Logan fisted me. But Victor will not allow me this escape.

“Open your eyes, baby. I want to see them when I do this.”

I shake my head.

“Open them, dammit! Or you’ll get my fist instead of my cock!”

I surrender to that demand.

“That’s better. Lovely! Now keep them that way.”

As he did with the butt plug, he simply shoves his cock into me in one hard thrust, then keeps working it in deeper with sudden jerks of his pelvis.

It hurts. Mein Gott, it hurts so much! I cannot keep quiet, nor can I stop struggling. There are a lot of incoherent noises a person can make to express both pleasure or pain. I learned a few new ones from Victor Creed.

“Nothing to say now, smartass? Not so sure of yourself anymore, are you, you blue piece of shit?” he says between grunts. “Gonna force it in so far that it rips your guts apart, fairy boy.”

He could almost make good on that threat, if he kept at it long enough. I can barely keep my mind on what I must do, but I have to take it for a little while longer. I want all of him inside me, in order to be sure.

Then he hits a place that turns the pain into agony.

“That’s it, boy! Take it all the way! Oh, yeah!!!”

The moment I feel his balls slap against me, I teleport, clutching his penis within me and concentrating on keeping it there, with the full intention of taking it along and leaving the rest of him behind.

I reappear just outside the door of the room, and realize that I have been successful in my endeavor. If there was any doubt, the screaming and cursing that reaches me even through the closed door would have convinced me. If there is a bomb that will go off when I teleport, that should happen at any second. I hold my breath and pray. The only thing I hear is a soft “poof”. No bomb, but only the same gas that he used to capture us! I continue to hold my breath.

Now I must hope that my conclusions about Logan being in this same building are correct. If not, once Victor gets over what I have done to him and begins to heal, he will be able to come after me. Or worse: if I am wrong and there is another building, he may detonate the bomb under Logan before I can get to him.

I look to the left and to the right. There is nothing but a short corridor, with one door on the side opposite to mine and one door next to mine, plus one at the far end.

I must find Logan quickly now. As I run down the hallway, I am leaving a trail of blood behind me. There is only so much time left before I have to breathe, or before I collapse from loss of blood, for I know some of that blood is mine.

The door on the other side of the hall is ajar, revealing obvious living quarters but no windows. The door at the end is locked.

I can feel the pressure in my lungs, as I run to try the door next to mine. It is also locked. Could it really be that simple? Was Logan so close to me all along? Or is this the door to the outside, and Logan is behind the other door? Judging by the layout, it is more likely this door, but I am far from being certain.

If this is indeed where he is being held, I know what it looks like inside and can safely teleport. If not – Well, if not, it does not matter. If Victor catches me now, there will be hell to pay. One door or the other, I must act.

I picture the inside of the room, visualizing the layout and picking what should be a safe spot. I cross myself and teleport.

And find myself right next to Logan! His eyes flare wide with surprise and hope, as I wrap my arms around him.

We are gone, to reappear immediately just beyond the outside door and clear of any obstacles. As I search for my next destination, we both suck in a welcome breath of air. He seems a bit groggy, as if he has inhaled at least one lungful of the gas.

There is an open field, perhaps a helipad, as everything beyond that in all directions appears to be thick jungle. All right, the far end of the helipad is the best I can safely manage.

As soon as we are there, I scan the jungle. I cannot see very far through the vegetation, but I can see an opening under one of the larger trees, so I take us there. In this manner, I teleport us several more times. Each time, I grow weaker, sicker, and more exhausted.

Finally I have to stop. My knees go weak. Logan wraps an arm around my waist to support me as I collapse to the ground.

“Kurt, are you OK? There’s blood runnin’ down your legs.”

“Some of it – is not mine. But some of it might be.”

“You don’t mean –?“

“Ja. I vas not even sure I could do such a thing, but apparently I can. It serves him right.” I smile up at him, before I gag and suppress the urge to vomit, as I realize what I have to do next. “Logan, you must help –“

This time he cuts me off. “I know, darlin’. I know. I’ll be as careful as I can, but this is gonna hurt.” He picks up a stick and breaks off a short piece. “Here, bite down on this. I don’t want your teeth to do any more damage to your mouth. Now, push as hard as you can.”

My teeth go right through the stick as I try to obey. Even so he has to open me further with his fingers in order to get a grasp on the ragged and torn flesh of Victor’s penis inside my rectum. I hold back a scream and push again as he pulls it out, but I do not move. I lie there, shaking and crying with the pain and the accumulated shock of what has happened over the last few days, not even looking as Logan tosses the remains into the bushes around us.

“Shit!” he curses, wiping his hand off on a fallen log. “I know I split ya open again. I just hope there’s no worse damage deep inside. Lie still. I’m gonna see if I can find something to stop the bleeding.”

I whimper bravely in reply. I am absolutely certain there is more damage, because I feel much worse than I should, even after teleporting the two of us repeatedly and rapidly. I am entirely exhausted and hurting badly, but he does not need to know about that.

He is back in a moment.

“Here, I’ve got a handful of spider web. That should help. Best I can do, under the circumstances. With us both naked like this, I can’t even rip up a shirt or something.”

I nod. “Just – make sure – the spider is not – still in it.”

“No jokes. Not now.” I feel him spread my buttocks and pack the soft, sticky substance against and partly into my anus. “Promise me you’ll never pull that trick on me, darlin’.”

“If you vish me to promise that, you must first make sure you never do anything to deserve it.”

“No worries on that account, Elf.”

“Victor – he vill grow it back?”

“Yeah. It may take a few hours and it will hurt a lot, but he will. Don’t lose any sleep over him.”

“Ve must get avay from here.”

“We will, darlin’. We will. Let me get these damn needles out of you first. That is, unless you’ve become attached to your lovely ‘decorations’ by now and would like to keep wearing them?”

“I have not!”

He proceeds down the length of my tail, quickly pulling out the needles and tossing them away, then working on the ones in my penis. The last one to go is the one sticking into my glans. That hurts more than I had expected. A drop of blood wells up, but Logan wipes it away with a finger. “Sorry, darlin’.”

I nod a little and smile through clenched teeth.

He glances around, trying to get his bearings. “OK, we’ve gotta be far from here before Victor recovers enough to come lookin’ for us. How far are we from where we were being held, and which direction did we come from? I lost track after the first jump.”

“About two kilometers, I think.” I prop myself up a bit and look around, then point.

Logan leans forward over me. “Then we’ll go in the opposite direction. Put your arms around my neck, I’m gonna carry you.”

“I can –“

“No, ya can’t. Do as I say.”

As he lifts me in his arms, a sharp spasm tears through my guts. I cry out, clutch his neck even harder, and then pass out.

After that I have no consistent memory of what happened for the longest part of our trek through the jungle. I suspect I was unconscious much of the time, with fleeting episodes of half-consciousness mixed in.

The next thing I am sure of is hearing Logan’s voice. It seems to come from far away, but with each repetition it gets louder.

“Kurt! Elf!! C’mon, darlin’! I need you here! Kurt, please!!”

His words penetrate the merciful darkness that held me safely away from my body while he plodded through the rainforest with me in his unwearying arms. At first I try to ignore the disturbance. I am so comfortable here. No pain, no fear, just a fog of nothingness. But the voice is relentless. He jogs me slightly. A sharp spasm of pain parts the curtains of my semi-conscious peace.

“Logan, vas –?” I murmur resentfully, trying to force my eyes open and my mind back into alertness. Briefly, I hope we have reached safety, but the greenery still surrounds us. Bleary-eyed and confused, I realize we are on the bank of a wide stretch of water.

“I’m sorry, darlin’, but I gotta try to see where we are and figure out if we need to cross this river or not. I’m gonna have to set you down so I can climb one of these trees, and I don’t want ya lyin’ here unconscious and vulnerable. Do ya understand me?”

“Ja, I understand,” I assure him.

As gently as he can, he lowers me down onto a fairly smooth spot of ground at the base of a tree. The trunk is so wide that both Logan and I holding hands could not easily encircle it. There are no branches lower than about 50 meters.

“You should be OK here, but could you ‘port up to one of those branches if you had to?” he asks.

He is covered with cuts and welts from insect bites, in varying stages of healing. For the matter of that, so am I. But that is the least of my worries. My gut aches, I am weak as a kitten, and far beyond just exceedingly thirsty, not to mention shaking with cold, despite the high temperature of our surroundings. If I do not get treatment soon, I will die, and not in a particularly pleasant manner. But it will not help to point that out to Logan. He may have guessed, but if he has not, I will leave him in ignorance for now. He has enough to worry about.

I look up at the branches, forcing my mind to focus. “Ja, I can get up there if I must. Go,” I urge him.

Extending his blades, he literally claws his way up the trunk until he reaches the lowest branch, then is quickly lost to sight in the thick foliage. All I want to do is pass out again, but I must not. There is always the possibility that Victor is tracking us even now, not to mention all the possible dangers that may lurk in a jungle such as this. Death follows all too easily in the wake of carelessness in such an environment.

It is not long before Logan re-appears, practically sliding down the huge tree trunk in his hurry to reach the ground. Excitement and relief mingle on his face as he kneels beside me.

“There’s something out there, Elf, and it’s not too far away! I can see the tops of buildings in a clearing. Even if it’s only a village or plantation, all we need is a phone or radio to reach the Mansion and get help. But we’ll have to cross this river to get there. It’s too deep for me to walk across. I tried that before I woke you up and didn’t get very far. Have you got the strength to ‘port us over there, or do I have to swim and tow you along? Or maybe you just ‘port yourself and I’ll swim?”

Swimming is not easy for him, as his adamantium-laced skeleton makes it hard enough for him to stay afloat, much less tow someone else. But I know he will do it if there is no other choice.

By now, he has again lifted me in his arms. I gaze across the river, the glare of light from the setting sun dazzling my eyes. The distance appears to be approximately three kilometers. I can see what looks like a clear stretch of sand on the far side, just about opposite from us. Ordinarily, I could do it easily, but now I am weak and sick.

“I think I can do it, but cannot be certain,” I admit.

He makes an effort to smile, adding a sardonic snort. “Same thing I’d say about my ability to swim across, darlin’.”

“Vell, since my vay is easier and faster, let us try that first.”

I give him no time to disagree. Wrapping my arms tighter around his neck, I take us away from our present position.

Vertigo such as I have never felt before engulfs me, along with that cold and empty place that is so familiar to me. I feel faint, with blackness closing in on my vision. I fight against it. I must be conscious if I hope to get us back to our own reality!

Then we are sprawling in the sand on the far side of the river, so perilously close to a tree that I could reach out and touch it. Logan’s face is distinctly green. My stomach doesn’t feel too good either.

“Rough trip and a sloppy landing,” he says with an effort at a sickly grin. “But any landing you can walk away from –”

“—is a good one,” I finish for him, trying to return his smile but hoping I will not throw up instead. “I am horribly thirsty. Do you think it vould be safe to drink from the river?”

“Safe for me. I’m not sure about you. I know you’re not feelin’ too good and I don’t want to make you worse.”

“Dehydration may be a greater risk to me than the water, right now. I vill take the chance, if you vill help me.” I try to rise, but can get no further than propping myself up on one elbow before my head starts spinning and I must lie down again.

Logan scoops up as much water as he can hold in the palm of his hands and holds it to my lips. I suck it in eagerly, but it is hardly enough to help. After a few more inadequate handfuls, he shakes his head. “No more right now, darlin’. Even if the water’s OK, you may throw up. Give it a few minutes and I’ll get you more.”

He sits down beside me. We both stare out over the slowly flowing water. The sun sinks behind the trees on the far side. Darkness will be here soon.

“How long have ve been out here, mein Schatz?”

“I figure we escaped not long after dawn, so that would make it the greater part of a day so far.”

“Victor could be following us by now, nicht wahr?”

“Yes. If he can find our scent to begin with, he’ll be on our trail.”

“And he vill be madder than hell.”

“’Fraid so, darlin’.”

Silence falls over us again. The water sits heavy in my stomach, but shows no real sign of coming up. I place one hand on my abdomen, pressing gently. It feels hard as a board. Not good at all. I push harder, but stop because it hurts too much.

“Elf, what did ya do that for? You sure you’re not losin’ it?”

“I am merely confirming the diagnosis I have made for myself. That is all.”

“I don’t need to ask you for your conclusion. If you’ve decided that you’re not in very good shape, you’re right. I can pick up that much from your scent,” he says, without meeting my eyes.

“How about a little more to drink?” I ask. “Then ve can be on our vay.”

A few more handfuls of water and I am again lifted securely in his arms, as easily as if I were a small child. Now, at last, I can stop fighting the weakness and relax. My head lolls against his shoulder as he continues our trek through the jungle. The comforting darkness of oblivion holds me in its arms and I know nothing more.

When I begin to come to again, I have not even the strength to open my eyes at first. I can tell I am lying on a hard padded surface. Please God, we are not back in Victor’s hands!!

Voices echo through my head, a foreign language – Spanish? No, but very close. Portuguese? Are we in Brazil then? That would explain the rainforest and the language. As I listen, I find that my rudimentary knowledge of Spanish allows me to make out many of the words.

Through the haze of fever and pain, I feel something tight around my arm, followed by the small stab of a needle seeking a vein. Wherever I am, someone is starting an IV on me. A medical facility. We have made it! Hope rushes through my heart. I realize I am terribly thirsty. I open my eyes, expecting to see Logan’s face. No, just two strange women, one of whom continues to search for a vein in my dehydrated body.

Licking dry lips, I try to speak. “Agua, Senhorita?” I ask, voice cracked and hoarse.

“Yes. Right away,” she replies. As she hurries away, I hear her call out, “Senhor Logan! Wake up. Your friend is awake!”

I follow her with my eyes and find Logan sprawled out on a cot over by the wall. I was not really worried about him, but it is still good to see him alive and well.

The woman returns quickly and holds a glass of water to my lips, helping me hold my head up enough to take a few sips. “Slowly,” she tells me.

By now, Logan is standing beside me. He reaches for my hand, taking it to his lips and, much to my astonishment, kissing it.

“How ya doin’, Elf?”

“I vill live. I think.”

His worry breaks into a broad smile. “Ya damn well better, after all the effort I went to luggin’ yer carcass through the jungle.”

“Ha. Ha,” I retort. “I vould laugh for real, but it vould hurt too much.”

He becomes serious. “I know, darlin’. But the Blackbird will be here any minute now to pick us up. Hang in there.”

“I vill,” I assure him.

The woman has at last gotten the IV line set up and started something dripping into my veins. Whatever it is, it hits me fast. I recognize the feeling as my head begins to feel light and my awareness fades.

“Logan –“

“Don’t fight it, Elf. I’ll look out for ya. You know that.”

I try to smile, but am not sure if I succeed or not before I pass out.

AFTERMATH

I have just crossed the lawn and started into the woods when I hear running footsteps behind me. Alarmed, I start to turn but then Logan’s voice calls out, “Kurt! Wait up!”

Of course, I wait.

“What are ya doin’ out of the infirmary, darlin’,” he demands, as soon as he gets to me.

“I’m healing vell from the surgery and the infection is mostly gone. Angelita said I did not need to be there anymore. In fact, she told me some light exercise vould be good for me, so I am taking a valk.”

“And ya didn’t even invite me along?”

“It is so early, I vas sure you vould still be asleep and I did not vish to disturb you. Why are you up at this hour anyvay?”

“I ain’t been sleepin’ so good lately. Too many dreams.”

He looks rather dejected, so I stroke the side of his face gently with the tip of my tail. “I vill be there tonight, mein Schatz.”

He brightens up at that thought. “You’re really OK then?”

“Ja.” Seeing the glimmer in his eyes, I add quickly, “Vell, maybe not quite that OK. Hank says no anal sex for a good long vhile. And nothing too rough even then.”

He captures the flattened end of my tail, which is hovering in his vicinity, and kisses the underside. “That still leaves us many possibilities, darlin’.”

“Ja, it does indeed.”

“Maybe we should go back right now and –“ He leaves the rest hanging.

“I have been lying in bed in the infirmary for over three veeks. Right now, I feel the need to move around in the fresh air and sunshine again.”

“No problem. OK if I join you?”

“Sure.”

We walk along for a time in silence. The green of the leaves and bushes surrounding me seems brighter than usual and the variety of nature delights my eyes, after staring at the beige walls of the infirmary for so long.

“Are we going someplace in particular or just walkin’?”

“Ve are going to my favorite spot down by the shore of the lake.”

“Isn’t that kind of far away for your first walk?”

“Not if ve cheat a little.” I grab him and ‘port us both a couple of miles closer. “There! Now it is not nearly so far. Was ist los, Logan? You look a little green around the gulls.”

“You know I hate to be teleported, Elf. And that’s supposed to be ‘gills’, not ‘gulls’.”

I give him a puzzled look. “Who cares? It makes no more sense one vay or the other.”

I am mostly just teasing him, to take his mind off the momentary nausea teleporting usually causes him. I put my hand in his and pull him along. “Come on. Ve are almost to the lake. I can see it betveen the trees. It is beautiful early in the morning. Besides, you vere glad enough to be ‘ported avay from Victor’s grasp, vere you not?”

“Yeah. Uh – that reminds me. Darlin, we have to talk.”

“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” I say lightly.

“I’m bein’ serious, Kurt. There’s something I’ve got to ask you, but I wanted to give you some time to recover first.”

“Vell, I am now recovered. Vhat is it you vould like to know?”

“Are ya mad at me for screwin’ around with Victor while I was gone?”

“That depends. Are you mad at me for screwing around with Storm and Mystique, vhile you vere gone?”

“No. Surprised maybe, especially about Mystique. Not angry. After all, we’ve always said we had an open relationship, haven’t we?”

“Then you have my answer already. Surprised, ja. Angry, nein.”

“Good. I just needed to make sure there was no misunderstanding between us about what happened.”

“There is not. But I vish you had told me about it sooner, so I vould have known before Victor told me.”

“I was still trying to absorb all the things he had told me about my past. I woulda told ya after I’d gotten it all straightened out. Like I said, the right time just never seemed to come.”

“I believe you.” I could tell there was more bothering him than just that. “Vhat is it you are not saying, even now?”

“I – well, it wasn’t just that I had sex with him. That’s not the worst of it. The worst is that I loved it. I loved it so much that I spent an entire month with him, and almost made it the rest of my life. Yet it was awful. Brutal and vicious and bloody.”

“I can imagine.”

“But something about it was – how can I describe it so that you’ll understand? It was very satisfying in some ways. I didn’t have to be careful not to damage him, like I do with everyone else. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, actually, it does.” Of course he would enjoy it with a partner who is not so fragile as I am, so easily damaged if he loses control. With another mutant who heals as he does, he could let himself go, do what he really wants to do. I can never give him that.

I take a breath, as I prepare to ask a question of my own, aware that I may not like the answer. “How much vere you tempted to stay vith him?”

“I – uh – Very much. I very nearly did. I’m sorry, Elf, but I’d be lyin’ if I said otherwise.”

“I understand, and I prefer truth to lies. So vhy did you not stay?”

“For one thing, all the stuff he told me about what we had done together when we were younger – Well, some of it just wasn’t what I wanted to do anymore. All the wars, the fighting and killing. I dunno. After the wars were over, the world wasn’t a whole lot better that I could notice.” He shrugs. “I didn’t want to live like that, and I knew I would have to, if I stayed with Victor.”

“Then vhy did you remain there so long? Other than the sex, that is.”

“I guess I wanted to find out as much about my past as I could, before I told him I was going back to you.” He held up his hands, as if to ward off my next words before I could say them. “I know, I know. That was stupid and I’m sorry.”

“So am I,” I retort. “But there’s no use crying over spilt milk, is there?”

“Hey, ya got that one right!”

“Ja. But at least I vas not the one who spilled the milk in the first place,” I remind him.

We both get a laugh out of that.

“Look, there is the lake just ahead of us.”

We hurry the rest of the way through the trees. The water sparkles in the early morning sun, as a light breeze skips over the surface. I drink in the expanse of blue, fringed with green vegetation. Ah, I have missed this so! I have always thought that my soul would wither and die if I did not have such beauty to look upon now and then. Yes, nature is cruel and uncaring, yet that is what our eyes seek out, that is what they are meant to view. I stand as if transfixed, drinking it all in.

“C’mon, darlin’. Let’s sit down here against this tree and be comfortable. I just happen to have a couple of granola bars in my pocket, the chocolatey ones you like so much. Want one?”

“Ja. I am a bit tired out from the valk, after being in bed for so long.” I settle next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder as his arm goes around me. I take the granola bar and nibble on it, wanting to make the taste last as long as possible. Logan devours his in three bites. He seems somewhat tense as we sit together, staring across the lake.

“Uh – Elf? There was more I wanted to tell you, beyond what I’ve said already.”

I wince, not sure if there is any more he can say that I truly want to know. But I am the one who places so much importance on honesty and openness, so I cannot refuse. “Go on.”

“Remember after I first came back, I told you about that time I thought about you sleeping in my arms just before I left, and how much I missed you? What I didn’t tell you was that it happened while I was lying next to Victor, after we had fucked until we were both so bad off that we could do nothing but lie there waiting to heal. That’s when I made up my mind. The next morning I told him I was leaving.”

I almost burst out laughing, mostly from relief. “And you expect that to bother me?”

He shrugs uncertainly.

“If anything, it makes me feel better.”

”Sometimes I just don’t understand you, Kurt.”

“It is simple. You vere there vith him, enjoying the sex very much, perhaps even more than vith me most of the time.” He starts to say something, but again I raise my hand to stop him. “Yet still you thought of me, and decided to return to me. Vhat more could I vant?”

“Well, when ya put it that way, I suppose it makes sense.”

“Of course it does. If there vere no temptation to stay there, nothing but the wilderness and your fear for me, you vould not have given up something that vas of great value to you in order to be vith me.”

“You’re crazy, darlin’.”

“I do not think so. But there is something else that I am not, mein Schatz, and I hope you have realized that also.” He turns a truly puzzled look on me. “I do not vant you to feel that you must alvays be the one to rescue and protect me. I am not helpless. I may not be so strong and tough as you are, but I can hold my own.”

“Shit, Elf! Ya didn’t just hold your own. You rescued me. Do you think I didn’t notice that?”

“So ve vill not any longer be hearing about how vorried you are that I am in danger just because ve are together?”

He heaves a sigh. “No. Not if it bothers you. But my past experience with lovers, at least as much as I can remember, isn’t exactly reassuring.”

“I am not one of your past lovers. I am, after all, the Amazing Incredible Nightcrawler, remember?”

“Yeah. How could I forget?” He leans around to kiss me hard and long. As usual, he ends up with blood on his mouth from pressing too hard against my sharp teeth. He rubs it absently away with the back of one hand, then stares intently at that hand.

“Logan?” I ask, puzzled at the strange expression that crosses his face.

He gives me that shit-eating grin. “How would the Incredible Amazing Nightcrawler like to blow me?”

“Vas?”

“You heard me. Suck me off. Or if you’d prefer to be fancy, perform the act of fellatio on me.”

“I know vhat you mean. It is just that no one, including you, has ever asked that of me before. Or at least not after I smile at them and they see vhat my teeth look like.”

Suiting actions to words, I give him an exaggerated smile, then turn my head away. “There, you see? No man in his right mind vould put his penis into my mouth, not even Victor. You have never done more than occasionally hold yours up to my lips vhen you are ready, so I can drink your cum.”

I lick my lips at the thought, recalling the feeling and the taste of him.

“Yeah, Elf, I know. But you’d like ta do more, wouldn’t ya?”

“I vould. But I vould not like to accidentally shred vhat is euphemistically called your manhood. Or even vorse –“ I grin evilly and chomp my teeth together with an audible clicking noise “—make it necessary for you to re-grow said manhood, as Victor doubtless had to.”

“Ya wouldn’t do that to me, and I know it.”

“Not deliberately, no. But in the heat of passion –“

I leave that hanging as I start to stand up. He grabs my tail and pulls me back down.

“Ach, you know I hate it vhen you do that!” I protest.

“Yeah, I know. But sit there and hear me out, huh?” His hand is still around my tail. He slides his fingers a little way along my tail until they are at the place where it joins my body, then reaches down for that sensitive spot and massages it gently. The burn that Victor inflicted on me has healed long ago, but there is still a visible scar. But I must put that behind me, and simply accept the pleasure that I feel.

I do not have to agree to stay where I am. I know my indrawn breath and the glow that is starting to fill my eyes has agreed for me.

“Open your mouth as wide as you can. Yeah, like that. Hmm. Is that the best you can do?”

I nod, my mouth still stretched open. It is painfully apparent that the temporomandibular joints where my jaw connects to my skull are not at all as flexible as most of the rest of my joints.

He sticks his forefinger between my teeth. “Here. Suck on this and let me see what happens.”

I can do that and still keep my teeth clear of his finger.

“OK. Now try my thumb.”

I would object that his thumb is not so large around as his erect penis, but I cannot speak with my mouth full.

“Keep suckin’. I want to try something.”

The hand that was on my tail moves around to the front to reach down into my sweatpants and take hold of my cock. As my body reacts to this, my mouth closes slightly before I can stop it. I taste blood. Scheisse!

“It’s OK, darlin’. I expected that to happen. You’ve gotta pay more attention to what you’re doing and less to what I’m doing, that’s all.”

I am tempted to nod my understanding, but that might well cause more bloodshed.

He leaves his thumb in my mouth, which is just as well, because I am starting to enjoy sucking on it, even if I am doing so rather gingerly.

I let my eyes close, imagining I have something more interesting between my lips, wondering how it would feel.

His hand goes up underneath my sweatshirt. His fingers pinch one of my nipples sharply, but I do not react by forgetting about my teeth. No blood this time.

“That’s it, darlin’. You’re learnin’.”

He is now rubbing his calloused palm over the tip of my nipple. I refuse to be distracted from my task, even though my prick is getting hard and my tail is twitching with delight.

“Ya can let go of my thumb now, darlin’,” he says, his voice harsher and his breathing more ragged. I know what that means. “Want me to lie down for ya?”

“Nein. I vish to kneel before you.”

His lips give a little upwards quirk as he rises to his feet. “You’re a strange one, Elf.”

“I know.”

“I should be on my knees to you. You’re the one who saved our lives.”

“You are the one who carried me through the jungle, so ve shall call it even.” I kneel and start unfastening his belt, as he spreads his knees slightly and leans back against the tree. Very quickly, I have his jeans and underwear pushed down his thighs, with his stiffening cock jutting out above the fabric. His thick pubic hair obscures the base, but his foreskin has already begun to draw back as he becomes engorged. I can smell the characteristic odor of a man’s genitals.

I need him almost ready to come before I take him, since I do not expect to be able to keep my mouth open as wide as will be necessary for a long time.

As I reach for that so-familiar penis, I realize how very seldom I have approached it from this angle. It feels different somehow. Around us, the birds and the insects sing their songs, and the slight lapping of the waves on the shore keep time. The breeze brings forth a rustle of leaves from the tree overhead, as I glance up the length of Logan’s body from my new vantage point, my fingers teasing his shaft with gentle touches, soon changing into a steady stroke as they combine to hold him within a fist. His hips begin to move in time with my rhythm and he groans.

I lick the head of his penis, swirling my tongue around the sensitive corona, then add my lips, sucking his slit. How often have I taken this wondrous part of a man’s body into my ass, I wonder, letting it stir to life that fire that always smolders deep inside me? And yet, how fragile a thing it is, to be able to cause such joy.

In a quick flash of sensation, I remember how it felt to ‘port while taking Victor’s cock along inside me. Yes, all too fragile, and easily destroyed. I shiver at the memory. Would I have done that, if I did not know he could heal? Yes, I decide, for I had been given no other choice.

Logan’s body is tense and straining. I see a droplet of pre-cum form at his slit and lick it off, just as I open my mouth to take him in, my lips pulled down as far as I can to cover my vicious teeth. As I suspected, it is not comfortable for my jaws to open this far, but I am determined not to cause him any damage, but only give him pleasure.

He pushes deeper into my mouth, tentatively at first, then with more confidence as he meets with no pain. As he hits the back of my throat, I cannot suppress a gag, but I overcome it quickly. I struggle to hold him more tightly, sucking on him now, despite the ache in my jaws.

“O god, Elf, that feels so fuckin’ good,” I hear him say above me. “So damn fuckin’ good.”

A thrill runs through me at his words, and I try harder to devour his cock fully. But it is difficult, and an unfamiliar thing for me to do. I am drooling uncontrollably, trying to follow the rhythm of his thrusts as well as I can. His hand touches the back of my head, but he does not try to force me closer, as surely must be his impulse. He just holds my hair and murmurs, “So good, darlin’.”

My jaws hurt seriously, and it is hard to breathe around the object now far down my throat, but I persevere. I can no longer keep my mouth as wide open. I feel him scrape one of my lower teeth and taste blood, but it does not appear to bother Logan at all. He is very close to coming now. Soon he will –

With a guttural growl, he pushes forward hard and holds there for an instant, his body trembling as his cum spurts into my throat. I gag, but I also swallow. A few more short thrusts and I have taken all he has to give.

An incongruous image flashes across my mind: kneeling at the altar rail as the priest lays the consecrated Wafer on my tongue, then offers me a sip from the Chalice. Is this thought sacrilege – or just a different form of holiness? At one and the same time, I beg my God for forgiveness and offer thanks for the almost unbearable beauty of this moment.

Then my mouth is empty and Logan is kneeling in front of me, hugging me close against him and kissing my cum-and-blood-stained lips.

His hands unfasten my belt, as I realize I have a hard and aching erection. Barely do I feel the warm breeze on my freed cock, followed by the touch of his hand on the sensitive flesh than I empty myself into the palm of his hand.

To my surprise, Logan raises his hand to his lips and sucks the slick glob of semen into his mouth, then kisses me with the taste of my own cum, as our tongues intertwine. I have always thought that to be a disgusting thing to do, yet this time it is not. It is only a deep sharing between us.

We break apart, and he pulls me down to lie with my head on his arm in the cool grass.

“Not bad for your first try, Elf. Not bad at all.”

“I do not think that vill ever become my first choice for sex, mein Schatz,” I reply regretfully.

“Hurts, huh?”

“Ja.” I wiggle my jaw from side to side experimentally. “I vish I vere like a snake, and could dislocate my jaws in order to svallow large objects.”

“Just be glad ya never had to give Victor a blow job, darlin’.”

I must have looked horrified at that, as he added hastily, “I was only makin’ a joke. Relax.”

But already the image has flashed across my mind of Victor’s hand tearing through Logan’s gut, and his scream of pain rings through my head.

“Hold me, Logan,” I beg through trembling lips.

As if he knows what I am experiencing, he pulls me over onto him, my head on his chest, his arms clutching me tightly against him.

“I’m OK, darlin’. It’s over.”

“I know.” But I continue to shake.

“Here.” He takes my hand and leads it to his abdomen. “I want ya to feel it, not just say you know. All OK. See?”

“Ja.” I take a deep breath and relax a bit. “Ich will dich nicht verlieren.”

“Ya won’t lose me, ya dumb Kraut,” he says, ruffling my hair. “I don’t get lost easy, unless I want to.”

“You called me a dumb Kraut.”

“Oh, yeah, I did, didn’t I? Sorry. It was all that German cussin’ you did to Victor, I guess.”

“Could you understand any of it?”

He laughs. “Ya think I didn’t learn most of the dirty words first, darlin’? I will admit to being a bit confused about the onion and the chandelier though.”

Now it is my turn to laugh. As our laughter dies away, I prop myself up on my elbows and look down into his face.

“So maybe now ve get a chance to live happily ever after, mein Schatz?”

“I wouldn’t count on it, darlin’. I wouldn’t count on it.”

German Translation HELL HATH NO FURY . . .

Lieber Gott! Dear God!

Bitte, Victor, nein! Please, Victor, no!

Es tut verdammt weh! It hurts like hell!

Fahr zur Hölle, du Hurensohn! Go to hell, you son of a whore!

Scheisse! Shit!

Du bist der Abschaum der menschlichen Gesellschaft!
You are the scum of the earth!

Du Schweinkerl! Du Miststück!
You filthy creature! You piece of manure!

Schatz, verstehst du? Darling/Sweetheart, do you understand?

Entschuldigung. Pardon me.

Geh zum Teufel, Arschgesicht! Go to the devil, ass-face!

Schatz! Nicht verzweifeln! Darling! Don’t despair!

GERMAN TRANSLATION . . . LIKE A MUTANT SCORNED

Vas? What?

Kein mehr! Hör auf! No more! Stop!

Drecksau! Du sollst in einem Kronleuchter verwandelt werden, so dass du von Tag zu hängen und verbrennen bei Nacht!

Filthy pig! You should turn into a chandelier, so you can hang during the day and burn by night!

Verdammt! Der Teufel soll dich holen!
Damn! The Devil take you!

Es ist sehr schön. It’s very beautiful.

Schwein! Scheisskerl! Pig! Filthy creature!

Schweinhund Pig-dog

Matte!
Stop! (Japanese martial arts term which has been established in a previous story that they both understand.)

Hab ‘nen Plan! I have a plan!
(Colloquilism for “Ich habe einen Plan.”)

Sei bereit! Be ready!

Senhorita/Senhor Portuguese for Mr/Miss

Agua Spanish for water

GERMAN TRANSLATION AFTERMATH

mein Schatz my darling/sweetheart (literally: my treasure)

Was ist los? What’s wrong?

Scheisse! Shit!

Ich will dich nicht verlieren.I do not want to lose you.

Vas? What?

STORY ARC – In Order

Something a Little Different
As the Twig is Bent
Pray for Us Sinners
With Nothing on My Tongue
You Win, Elf
Hell Hath No Fury

---