Gay Erotic Stories

The sound came to him the way light tries to make its way through a fog. He felt himself floating in that fog. He couldn't tell if he was floating around the sound, or if he was still and it was the sound that was moving around.

"Greg..."

He expected the proverbial brilliant white light but it wasn't there. There was no light at all, only the sound--the sound of his name.

"Greg..."

It was definitely closer now. Still seemed like it was moving around some, but closer.

"Wake up, Greg..."

The voice was at once right next to him, and far away. Almost like an echo, but he thought he was hearing the echo first.

"Come on, my love."

He felt a pressure on his chest. Pushing. Like it was trying to push him down. Hold him down. He wondered why since he wasn't trying to go anywhere. Oh well, he thought. May as well see what all the fuss is about…

Greg opened his eyes.

Ely was standing over him, smiling. His hand was on Greg's chest, gently shaking him. Greg listened and heard the distinctive sounds of a hospital. He realized he was still there.

"I thought it was over," he whispered. "I thought I was..."

Ely leaned in close and whispered, "It is over my love. You are."

"I am?"

Ely snickered, "Yes, yes! You are!" He reached over and patted Greg's head, "Welcome my love. Welcome back!"

Greg's eyes widened, "The pain!"

Ely showed his familiar slight bow. "It is no more, I can tell."

"It's still gone!" Greg smiled, "It's gone! Oh man!" He twisted his body some, flexed his arms and legs, looked at Ely and clapped his hands together, "It feels great! I don't remember when the last time was I felt this good!"

"Yes, yes," Ely said with a small laugh. "But we don't have time for that now, Greg. You must leave here and go wait for me in the car."

"What for?"

"I don't have time to explain now, my love. Come, sit up," and he helped pull Greg up to sit on the edge of the stretcher.

Greg smiled and jumped off the stretcher. He looked at Ely and smiled, "I can do it myself now! Isn't that great?"

"Wonderful. But you must leave!"

"What's the hurry?"

Ely gently put his hands on Greg's shoulders. "Look, Greg." He turned Greg around.

Greg turned and saw himself. He saw his old self on the stretcher, eyes half closed, each eye looking in a different direction, both eyes with a milky covering to them: the look of death. He brought his hands up to his face. He felt himself and knew he was standing up on his own, yet there he was lying on the stretcher. Dead.

Somehow it was more frightening than when he first discovered what Ely really was so many years ago. More frightening than the thought of Ely with fangs, and turning himself into a bat, and only living at night and the other legends that weren't true. He spun around and sucked in a breath and fell against Ely, burying his face into Ely's chest. His head was spinning. Suddenly he was afraid and shaking. Ely hugged him.

"I know, my love, I know." Ely held him. "It is not easy seeing how you look in death. But you’re not dead. What you saw you can say goodbye to, for it is no longer you." He patted Greg's back, "This is you now." Greg was sobbing. "You are alive, my love. Very much alive." He reached out behind Greg and pulled the sheet up over the face of the body on the stretcher.

Greg pulled his face out of Ely's chest and looked at him. "Am I okay?" he asked while his eyes dug into Ely's, searching for the truth in them, "Am I really okay?"

"You are okay," Ely reassured him. "You are exactly like me now. You are more than okay."

Greg just stood still. He looked at his hands, looked down at his feet.

Ely snickered, "Don't worry, you are all there. But you really must go to the car."

"I don't want to be by myself."

"It won't be for long. Just until I can sign some papers and see to the boys."

"Why can't I wait here?"

"Because," Ely said with some exasperation showing. "Right now I am the only one who can see you. You must leave the hospital before any one else can see you. Especially before any one can see you and recognize you. We can't have that!" He wrapped an arm around Greg's waist and gently pushed him toward the curtain. "Wait for me in the car. The window is open - you'll have to climb in that way."

Greg was walking but was looking at Ely, scared and questioning, but he'd spent his whole life listening to Ely and doing what Ely had told him to do. So even though his head was spinning with questions and fears, he went. Ely kept looking behind them to see if anyone was watching. He reached his hand out to the sensor over the entrance to the Emergency Room and the door opened. He pushed Greg out the door. "Lay down in the back seat and wait for me," he called out to Greg. "Keep down!" Ely scurried back into the cubicle.

Greg half walked and half stumbled to the car. It was parked on the street around the corner from the entrance to the hospital. Greg absent-mindedly thought that one of the boys must have driven it to the hospital because he remembered that Ely rode in the ambulance with him.

Greg reached out to grab the handle of the car's door and missed. He tried again and missed again. Then he realized he wasn't missing. He watched as his hand slowly reached out, curled around the handle, and...nothing! It was like his hand went right through the metal of the handle... like a ghost would do.

A ghost!!

Greg's head started spinning again. That's what he was now, he thought. In spite of the training and preparation Ely had given him over the past 75 years, it was mind numbing. He didn't dwell on it, but just climbed into the car through the open window; not even wondering how Ely knew the window was open since he didn't leave Greg's side that Greg knew about. Nor did he wonder how he could climb through a window when he couldn't even grab hold of a door handle. He just did it.

There was a shirt, jeans, and sneakers in the back seat. Greg saw those and then realized he was naked. It didn't occur to him to be glad no one saw him walking from the hospital to the car. He simply pulled the clothes on, lay down in the back seat, held himself and shivered.

Greg opened his eyes and Ely was getting in the car. He didn't realize he'd fallen asleep. He yawned, sat up and looked around. Night was falling. Streetlights were coming on and it was tough to see people clearly who were walking down the street.

"It is all right now," Ely told Greg. "You can come in the front seat and sit up now."

Greg silently climbed over the seat and then sat still, staring straight ahead. "Is it all right for real?" he asked without looking at Ely. "Did it work?"

"It worked beautifully!" Ely said excitedly. "You came through it all as if you have done it several times."

"Believe me," Greg said slowly, "once is enough." He turned to look at Ely. "Now why all the hurry and secrecy in the hospital?" he asked as Ely drove down the street.

"Just as a baby's body must form over time in the womb," Ely explained, "our bodies must form and solidify after the human body dies. It is the last stage of the change. Until that happens, you are invisible to all but other of us."

"Okay, but if I was invisible why did you get in such a hurry to rush me out of the hospital?"

"As I said before," Ely said as he reached over to pat Greg's thigh, "the longer you can maintain your human body, the faster and easier you can get used to the final change. If you had only lived a short time, your new body could take a couple of weeks to solidify enough for people to see you." He glanced at Greg and smiled, "You hung on much longer than anyone I have ever known. For all I knew, your new body could have formed in a matter of minutes. At first people would not only be able to see you, but see right through you. It would not have done for the hospital staff to see that!" Ely patted Greg's thigh a little harder. "Indeed, I think you could walk around even now and no one would know what you really are. You made the final change very quickly."

"I feel tired." Greg sighed. "I don't hurt or feel bad or sick or anything. I just feel so tired."

Ely smiled, "I was expecting that. A human baby exhausts itself during the birth process, and we too, use a lot of energy making the final change and end up just as exhausted." He stopped the car at a light and looked seriously at Greg. "You cannot go home, I'm afraid," he said. "Some of the boys will stay there and your human body will lie in state for a day. The other boys and our friends will come around. They of course cannot see you as you are now. You must stay in a hotel for a few days until the house empties out again."

Greg yawned again and nodded. "I don't care right now. I just want to sleep."

Greg waited in the car while Ely registered in the hotel and then followed him to their room. Anyone watching would have thought Greg had been drinking by the way he was walking. He was only tired.

In the room Greg sat on the bed and kicked off his shoes. He was too tired to unbutton his shirt, so just pulled it up off his head like a t-shirt. He tossed it aside and ran his hands through his hair. He lay down and stretched his legs out, and then suddenly bolted up in bed. He ran his hands through his hair again. And again. And again.

"Hey!!" Greg yelled, his fatigue forgotten, "My hair! It's back! I got hair! Oh man I got a BUNCH of hair!!"

Ely laughed at sat down next to Greg. "You have much more than hair, Greg!" He wrapped his arms around Greg in a hug and said in his ear, "You have everything you had when you were 18. You ARE 18 again. I told you it would happen and it did. You are 18 again my love." He pulled away from Greg and Ely was also 18 again. Greg just stared and smiled and stared and smiled.

Greg suddenly jumped up and looked down and felt his bare chest. His pecs were back! His arms were filled out and muscled again! He felt his chest and arms and looked at Ely and smiled and said, "Wow!" over and over again. He ran to the wall mirror, looked at himself and said, "Wow!" Ely stayed on the bed and watched and laughed. Greg alternated from looking at himself in the mirror to facing Ely saying, "Look at this! Look at this!" and back to the mirror.

Suddenly he stared at Ely with his mouth hanging open and groped his crotch, "Oh shit!" he yelled and unzipped his pants. He reached in and pulled out his dick. Almost immediately it got hard. "Look, babe!" Greg yelled and showed his dick to Ely, "It's back! My dick! It works! My dick works again!"

Ely smiled and smacked his lips, "It certainly does, my love! It certainly does!"

Greg's expression turned sensual. He gave Ely a "you're gonna get it now!" look and almost ripped his pants getting them off. He ran across the room and jumped up on the bed, jumped on top of a ready and willing Ely and jammed his dick in Ely's mouth.

Ely sucked and sucked and swallowed a load of cum and sucked some more until he swallowed another load and kept right on sucking. It was like Greg was trying to make up for almost 20 years of lost time right then and there. Greg didn't say a word but humped Ely's face and grunted and came. He pulled his dick out of Ely's mouth and it was still hard. He yanked Ely's pants off and Ely automatically spread his legs and Greg fell on top of Ely and fucked his ass fast and furious and shot two more loads before he collapsed on top of Ely sweating and panting.

Once again Ely tucked Greg in to bed and leaned over to kiss his sleeping cheek. "Welcome back, my love." He reached back and felt his freshly fucked butt, smiled, and sighed deeply, "Ahh yes! Welcome back!"

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CHAPTER TWO

Greg opened his eyes and after a moment of disorientation realized he was in the hotel room. He sat up and stretched. Then he remembered, and eagerly ran his hands over what he thought of as his new body. He smiled and checked out his once again buff chest, muscular legs and arms. His hand went by itself to his hard dick. It looked the same as it did so long ago. He ran his hands through his once again full head of hair. He leaned back against the headboard and saw that he could see himself in the mirror on the opposite wall. He smiled again and was glad that he could see himself after all. Another legend bites the dust! He blew a kiss to himself in the mirror and watched himself play with his dick.

He heard the clock next to his bed click off another minute and checked the time. He saw that Ely had left him a note by the clock. He read the note and smiled. Their car was in the parking lot for him. The keys were on the table by the window. Ely wrote that he had come in a few times to check on Greg and wrote that he could come home now. Greg checked the clock again and saw by the date that he had slept for two whole days! Wow! How the hell had he done that? He remembered that he was awful tired when he left the hospital but he didn't think it was that bad! He jumped out of bed and hurried into the bathroom and rushed through a quick shower (after he jacked off under the spray and hooted when he shot a load), brushed his teeth with the brush and paste supplied by the hotel. Ely had left some more jeans and a t-shirt for him and he dressed quickly. He was hungry - ravenous - but he wanted to go home first and see Ely.

There was another car in the driveway when Greg pulled up. At first he was afraid one of the boys was still there, but Ely wouldn't have written the note telling him to come home if it wasn't safe. Most likely it was a car he'd rented so he could leave Greg their's. So Greg stopped the car right outside the front door and almost left it running in his hurry to get inside and find Ely.

In the foyer he hollered out at the same time he heard Ely's voice holler out to him when the front door slammed open and then closed. The teenaged Ely ran in from the library and Greg didn't even slow down when he ran into Ely's wide open arms. Both of them hugged each other and spun each other around and wound up on the floor of the foyer hugging and kissing and Ely welcoming Greg back.

Greg was grinning ear-to-ear and raised up to sit on Ely. "Look at this!" he teased and yanked his t-shirt off to show off his chest.

Ely's hands felt Greg's pecs and tweaked his nipples. "Mmm," he moaned. "It is so so nice to have you back!"

Greg leaned down and kissed Ely, "Believe me! It's good to be back!" They rolled around on the floor and clothes went flying in all directions and all the rest of the morning each used every part of his body to show the other how he felt.

They finally lay spent and wet with sweat and spit and cum. They lay side by side with their arms around each other and hugged while they caught their breath.

"It's been so long," Greg whispered to Ely, "It feels so good."

"It certainly does," Ely replied while he ran his fingers through Greg's new hair. "It is even more wonderful than it ever was. And you! You are absolutely gorgeous!"

Greg grinned and teased, "Yeah, I am, aren't I!" They both hugged and laughed.

Ely gave Greg's butt a playful slap, "Now! We must get busy. We are having company for dinner tonight. We must start preparing it now."

"Yeah? Who's coming?"

"Well, now that you are one of us," Ely said as they stood up and gathered up their clothes, "I thought you should meet a couple of others."

"How did you know I'd be back here today?"

"I didn't, really," Ely answered. "But they will be staying with us a few days so I knew there would be plenty of time whether you came back today or tomorrow."

At the bottom of the stairs Greg stopped Ely, "When are you going to tell me? I've been waiting for too many years. When are you going to tell me the stuff you've been keeping from me?"

Ely cupped Greg's face, "Tonight, my love. We'll start tonight after dinner." They went upstairs to their room, where the shower in the bathroom was probably thinking, 'Oh no! Not those two again!'

After their shower they stayed naked and prepared dinner under Ely's tuteledge. Ely had told Greg years ago that cooking was a hobby of his. Greg learned early on that Ely meant cooking completely from scratch. No instant or boxed or canned stuff for him! It took all afternoon to get dinner ready. Well, it wouldn't have taken quite that long, but they kept going at each other in the kitchen and by the time dinner was almost ready they were covered in cum and more sweat and flour and crumbs and had to take another shower. . .

Almost on cue, the doorbell rang just as Greg and Ely finished dressing. Ely said the dinner was to be casual, so they dressed as typical teenagers in somewhat baggy jeans and Florida style tanks and stayed barefoot.

Two guys came in and greeted Ely at the front door. They were as young as Greg and Ely and similarly dressed. One was a typical looking Florida teen--blonde hair, a little longish, and slightly unkept looking. Sky blue eyes, a buff chest only barely contained in a tight t-shirt. A pair of legs that anyone would want wrapped around them rose up and disappeared into a pair of shorts that stretched around a juicy looking butt.

By contrast the other guy was dark haired with thick eyebrows and what appeared to be a permanent 5 o'clock shadow. Just as buff and young as the others, a little more hairy, with eyes that teased and twinkled as much as Ely's always did. They came in holding hands. The dark haired guy and Ely hugged and they were obviously old friends in spite of how young they looked. Ely shook hands with the blonde and turned to Greg.

"They have heard all about you, Greg," Ely said as he pointed to the blonde guy, "This is Ken." Ken and Greg shook hands. "Ken completed the change only a couple of weeks ago," Ely told Greg, "But he has been able to go out in public only for the past few days."

"Yeah?" Greg asked, "How come?"

"I didn't last as long as you did," Ken smiled, "I was only 57 when I had a stroke." He looked at the guys a little sheepishly, "I didn't make it..." he patted himself as if to reassure himself that he was still there, "...sort of."

"Believe me!" Greg told Ken as the others snickered, "93 is no picnic. I could have done without it."

"Because he ended his human life while still relatively young," Ely explained, "he had to wait longer while his new body formed and solidified to the point where he could let others see him." Ely hugged Greg from behind. "It only took you about a half hour or so."

Ely pointed to the other guy and asked Greg, "Does this guy look familiar to you?"

Greg shrugged his shoulders, "No, I'm afraid not," he shook his head and nodded to the guy a little apologetically. "Should you?"

The guy laughed. "Not at all, Greg," he said. "We've only met once, and only for a minute, and I didn't look like this." He walked forward to shake Greg's hand and at the same time gave Ely a playful punch on his shoulder, "This old guy is just playing games with you. My name is Alex."

Greg's eyes lit up, "Wait!" he said and glanced at Ely, then back to Alex, "The hospital, right? You called yourself Ely's 'witness' or something?"

"Exactly!" Alex said.

Ely somewhat gallantly swept his arm toward the dining room. "Let's continue at the dining table," he told the others and led the way. "For dinner is served."

It was an almost laughable contrast. Four teenagers sat around the table in jeans and shorts and tanks and t-shirts. All were barefoot and all sat back overly casually. They could just as easily have been passing a bottle of wine around while a CD blared, and yet dinner was served and eaten with all the pomp and circumstance of old British Edwardian aristocracy. Ely's cooking "hobby" obviously extended beyond the kitchen through the table settings and into the library where brandy was served in heated snifters.

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CHAPTER THREE

There was a small book on the coffee table in the library. It was obviously very old. Greg and Ken flipped through it and snickered to each other.

Ely told them, "That book was one of the first official studies of us ever done. Not a scientific study by any means, but at least one that was accepted as official. As you can see, it is completely inaccurate - which pleased us immensely."

"Everything is here," Ken said. "All the stuff you're not supposed to do or like."

Alex laughed and put his arm around Ken, "You mean all the stuff WE aren't supposed to do or like. Don't forget, you're one of us now."

"But that is all minor," Ely said. "There are in fact, a few things you need to learn immediately."

"Yeah!" Greg said. "More than a few, I think."

"That's right," Ken said and looked back and forth to Ely and Alex, "There's got to be a lot of stuff judging by the secrets you kept hinting at all my life."

"You too?" Greg asked Ken.

"You bet!" Ken told Greg, "Every time I'd ask a question, it was the same old thing." He mimicked Alex, "Not yet. Not yet. Later. Later. He never told me a damn thing!"

"Same here," Greg said and smiled, "They're a couple of sneaky old bastards, aren't they?" Ely and Alex looked at each other, smiled, and rolled their eyes. They'd both been through this before.

The brandy was changed to tea. Both Ely and Alex were originally British so there was tea everywhere. Spoons and cups clinked while Ely and Alex made small talk and Ken and Greg got acquainted with each other. Greg asked Ken what part of Florida he was from and Alex quickly stopped Ken from answering. The new guys looked at the old guys, puzzled.

"Now is a good time to learn one thing," Alex said and glanced at Ely. "Wouldn't you say so?" Ely nodded and had Ken and Greg sit facing each other. They did but each kept looking questioningly at his mentor.

"You will tell us what part of Florida Ken hails from," Ely told Greg with a smile. "You will find," he continued, "that it will be much easier to do now that you have completed the change." He told Greg to look into Ken's eyes.

"You must concentrate," Ely said while standing behind Greg. "The trick is not to tell yourself that you are entering Ken's mind. The trick is to tell yourself that you are already there." He stayed silent while Greg and Ken stared at each other.

Greg stared into the pupils of Ken's eyes. He looked as deep as he would look into Ely's eyes. He told himself he was traveling into those eyes, along the optic nerve into the brain. Surrounded by the gray matter. Lights flashing as the nerve impulses jumped from synapse to synapse. He felt the same. Ken was seeing the same thing. He was entering Ken and at the same time letting Ken into his own mind. The lights brightened and settled and the gray matter changed from a mere brain into a man's mind.

"Whoah!!!"

Greg and Ken both jumped back a little. Both looked at each other with mouths hanging open. Eyes wide. Foreheads scrunched up. Greg was the first to find his voice.

"You're kidding!" he told Ken. "Colorado?!?"

Ken laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah," he said. "A town near Denver."

Greg flexed his hands. "But you look so typically Florida-ish."

Ken laughed, "Blonde and blue eyed boys are all over." He smiled and nodded at Greg, "So are dark brown and green eyed boys!" They both laughed. "Your hometown was smaller than mine."

Greg nodded, "Yours was small enough, though." He turned serious. "I'm sorry about your mom."

Ken shrugged, "I was still a baby. I don't remember. The doctors today say it was post-partum depression or something like that, but no one knew it then. She didn't leave a note I heard, so no one really knew why."

"And your dad," Greg spoke softly, "moved into a bottle and never came out of it. Your foster parents were worthless."

"Yeah," Ken lowered his eyes; "I was in their house so they got money from the government. That's all I was to them - a walking pay check."

Alex spoke up, "You have both risen well above your odds. Be proud of what you accomplished in your human lives and don't dwell on your beginnings. Whether you are one of us or not," he put an arm on both shoulders, "the important thing is tomorrow, not yesterday."

Ken and Greg talked some more. Both were amazed at how much information they had gleaned from each other in so short a time. Seconds was all it took. Ely and Alex laughed with them and assured them that the fun was only beginning. Then Alex looked serious and told Greg to read him while Ken read Ely. The guys happily made eye contact with the others' mentors.

But they were disappointed. There was simply nothing there. They concentrated. They stared. They almost broke a sweat. But all they saw in Ely and Alex were nothing more than a pair of eyes. Finally they gave up when Ely and Alex burst out laughing. Greg and Ken looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Ely sat down and put his arm around Greg.

"My love," Ely snickered. "That was just another lesson. You see, the same way you can read other people, you can prevent them from reading you."

"Yeah, I guess so!"

"It is very important," Ely told them. "You must never go out in public without that mental block in place. Never!"

"Why is it so dangerous?" Ken asked.

"Psychics," Alex said, "mediums, clairvoyants, whatever you want to call them - they are real. You never know when you will come face to face with one of them so you can never take a chance."

"They are a threat I take it?" Ken asked.

"Not intentionally," Ely told them. "They aren't out looking for us or anything as crass as that. But they can read enough of us to know what we really are. Being human, they are completely unpredictable. In an effort to increase their esteem in others' eyes and prove their worth to the general public, they may very well try to expose us." His smile vanished now. His face was stern, his gaze seeming to bore right through Greg and Ken. "And we can NOT let that happen!"

Both guys threw their hands up.

"Hey! No problem here!" Ken said.

"Not from me!" Greg agreed.

Alex stood next to Ely, looking equally serious. "We cannot over emphasize the importance of this," he told the guys. "It can only take one accident and the consequences could be immeasurable."

The rest of the evening was spent with Greg and Ken practicing reading each other, then blocking each other. During a break Ely served dessert with the same flourish he served dinner. The night wore on and Greg mentioned how surprised he was at how easily he and Ken were learning the "tricks of the trade" as he called them. He got to where he could pick up Ken's thoughts in less than a second, as long as it took to glance into his eyes. Ken learned just as quickly.

"It's not uncommon at all," Ely told them, "It's in our make up to learn quickly. For us, and for you two now that you are one of us, it's actually instinctive. As instinctive as breathing."

Greg snickered, "And fucking?" He glanced at Ken, "I sure hope so!"

"Yeah, what's going on with that?" Ken asked, "I wasn't this horny when I really was 18."

Alex and Ely laughed, "You are correct," Alex told them. "Our sexual drives are heightened quite a bit. You must learn all over again how to control it. We can't have you jumping on every guy who walks by!"

"Why not?" Ken asked with a twinkle in his eye. "Can't we just look at them, pop a thought in their head, pop their butts, then pop the memory out of their heads?"

Alex and Ely sat down, sighed, and shook their heads. Once again, they'd been through this before. Greg sat back, pulled his feet up onto the edge of his chair, which forced his legs apart. He gave the old guys a wicked smile and groped his crotch.

"Well come on, teach!" he told them. "Your students are ready to learn!"

What they did the next couple of hours didn't need any teaching. Or learning. The four of them wound up on the floor on top of a pile of their clothes. Their bodies were so entwined that a casual observer wouldn't have been able to tell which leg belonged to which body, who's face it was up in who's butt, or who's dick was getting sucked.

They kissed, they licked, they sucked, they ate, and they fucked. No one said a word, but there was noise anyway. Smacking noises, slurping noises, squishing noises. Moans and sighs and grunts--the sounds of a bunch of guys having a nice "instinctive" fuck.

By the time they got up off the floor their clothes were wrinkled and damp with their own sweat. Four naked guys walked out into the night and splashed around in the ocean. They washed each other off and went at it again right on the beach. Alex and Ely - the old friends - made out on the beach while Greg and Ken took turns plowing each other's butts in the moonlight.

That moon crawled almost all the way across the sky before they were all spent enough to think about getting back in the house before the early morning joggers started showing up on the beach. They stumbled, exhausted, into the house. Alex and Ken went arm in arm into a guest room and Ely took Greg into their room. They fell on the bed and slept immediately.

They didn't wake up until early the next afternoon. There was a note in the kitchen from Alex that he and Ken had gone into town to shop. They would be back in time for dinner. Greg fixed breakfast for him and Ely, and while he carried the plates to the table he stubbed his toe on a chair.

"Aw fuck!" he yelled and slammed the plates onto the table. "I did it again, dammit!" He sat down and looked at his toe, expecting to see blood. "One of these days I'm gonna break a toe I bet - awwh Christ!"

Ely dropped his fork and it clattered in his plate. He jumped up and looked pained. "Greg!!" he yelled.

Greg stopped and stared at Ely. Ely had never spoken so sharply to him. Then he remembered what he was now and what he had said. He jumped up and wrapped his arms around Ely. "Hey! I'm sorry babe!" he said, "I didn't realize. We're not supposed to like that name anymore."

Ely relaxed and hugged Greg back, "No no, my love," he said softly, "It's not that at all. There's nothing to be afraid of." He pulled away from Greg and put his hands on Greg's shoulders and looked deep in his eyes. "But Greg, if you're going to say that name - you're going to have to show much more respect than that!!"

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CHAPTER FOUR

Greg only stared at Ely, his toe forgotten. Ely wrapped his arm around Greg's waist and led him into the library, sat him on the sofa and sat in a chair opposite. He leaned forward and looked into Greg's wide and wary eyes.

"Let me tell you, my love, why we are here."

Greg didn't blink, but just sat back, his arms on the armrest of the chair, feet on the floor. This is what he'd been waiting to hear for the past 75 years. He swallowed and only nodded at Ely, who was pacing back and forth while he talked.

"All the holy books say the same thing. That God formed the heavens and the Earth," Ely began as he walked back and forth with one finger pointing up in the air. "When He made this planet, He made the people last."

Greg nodded. This much he knew.

"Before He made the people," Ely went on, "when the Earth was filled only with plants and animals, the planet could function completely on it's own. You see, God never intended to micro-manage the planet. Until He put people here, He really didn't need to manage it at all. Without people, the planet would still be functioning even today."

Greg shrugged his shoulders, "So He considers people something of a mistake?"

"Oh quite the contrary. God wasn't at all satisfied with the planet until He put the people here. As you know, with the first two people things didn't go very well. Eve committed the first sin by eating from the forbidden tree. She then committed the second sin by enticing Adam to do the same. Different people may or may not believe that story, but that isn't important."

Greg only stared at Ely as if to say that there must be more to it than this. There was.

"Regardless of how politically incorrect it may be in these times to say so out loud, it was women who screwed things up first," Ely continued. "But men and women both have been screwing things up since then. If you'll remember, they screwed up so bad that God decided the best thing to do was to start all over again, and He had Noah build the ark."

"Yeah," Greg said, "And Noah took all the animals and stuff and started populating the world all over again. Everyone knows that."

"Yes, but you see, God still doesn't want to micro-manage the planet. He wants the people - the humans - to manage the planet on their own. To that end, he gave humans four things that would allow them to manage the place without Him having to intervene all the time."

Ely ticked off the numbers on his fingers, "Those four things are: a brain, a soul, a conscience, and a will. He then turned humans loose to learn how to use those four things in conjunction so they could manage the place themselves."

Greg stared in awe. Even slowly shook his head and told Ely, "But that won't ever happen--humans running the place without needing God? The whole world will have to work together and get along and - no - it won't happen!"

"Well," Ely flicked his hand as if he was dismissing an underling, "That they haven't yet is not at all unexpected. You see, Greg, a human baby must first learn how to sit up, and then to crawl, then to walk, then run. The human race must learn how to get along and manage the planet in the same type of baby steps. The planet and the universe have been around for billions of millennia, and the human race only for several thousand years. By comparison, the human race is still very much in its infancy. There hasn't been near enough time for them to learn much."

Greg was sitting with one hand over his mouth. He was looking away from Ely, not following his movements but staring out the window, deep in thought. Ely kept talking.

"As time went on and humans reproduced, God knew that He would still have to intervene at times and manage the planet until humans could learn how to do it themselves. But He also knew that if humans knew without a doubt that God was working for their benefit, they would become lazy and would not even try to do anything on their own. They instead would expect God to take care of everything."

Greg looked at Ely, "Haven't they already been doing that?" he asked. "They go to church, they pray, they ask God to take care of everything. And they do it at least every Sunday. When I was a kid I was always taught that if I just believed in God that He will take care of everything. No one is even trying to do anything themselves."

"For the most part, that's true," Ely answered. "But there are some humans who are trying. If not, there wouldn't be any progress. Not in medicine, not in the engineering that built planes and rockets, not in technology--but there are others who, like Eve, are using what they know but not in a productive way. In fact, they are using it in terrible ways. The best example of that are the world's dictators. They use their knowledge to gather power, and then use that power to oppress and enslave their people."

Greg just nodded, "Okay."

"If God were to do everything Himself, humans would never learn, and God would always have to do everything Himself - exactly what He never wanted to do. So God needed a way to intervene now and then, but without humans having even an inkling that there was any Divine intervention at all. In fact, the best scenario would be for humans to think that they did it all themselves, thereby giving the entire human race a boost of confidence. Most times, that intervention needed to be in the form of some task that would have to cause someone to come to some harm, or something to not work, even to the point of being destroyed. In other words - dirty work."

Greg was leaning forward, his hands clasped between his knees. He only stared at Ely.

"He couldn't have the angels do it, as angels are incapable of even considering doing anything other than good. He couldn't have Satan do it because Satan cannot be trusted. Satan won't do anything unless there is something in it for him. He certainly won't do it for the sole gratification of serving God."

Ely stopped pacing. He sat back in the chair facing Greg. He leaned forward and looked Greg in his eye. Greg stared back.

"That's where we come in, Greg. We are the ones who do God's "dirty work." Put in today's terms, we are the equivalent of God's CIA, his Divine Mossad, a Holy sort of KGB. And since I am using those metaphors, you can use them to understand why we have such a need for secrecy. If the public knew we not only existed but actually walked among them, they would revert back to the days when humans depended on God so completely that they did nothing for themselves. The entire planet would go back to being a tribal state. And the population of the planet is much to big for that these days. The human race is headed in the right direction and we must make every effort to see to it that things like that don't change.

That's why we perpetuate the legends that we are evil - demons - spawns of Satan - only existing at night, and so on." He reached out and put a hand on Greg's shoulder. "Those legends and myths are the best disguise we have. It is paramount that we not be exposed or only chaos would reign in the world. No one can know - cannot even suspect - what we truly are and what we do. If they do, then we have failed. Miserably. See, Greg, I told you even back in the woods when we first met that when you complete the change, you would in no way be a "victim." And you are not." He leaned forward and cupped Greg's face in his hands. "What you are, Greg, is...chosen!"

The color had drained from Greg's face. He couldn't speak.

"So you see, my love, if you are going to utter His name in any context - you must do so with the utmost respect."

Ely knew from experience that now was a good time to leave Greg alone to think. He patted Greg's thigh and left him staring into space and went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. As was his custom he spent a long time at it, cooking everything from scratch. When Alex and Ken returned from shopping in town it was already dark, and they found Greg still sitting in the library in the same chair, staring out the window, not even noticing that any one had come into the room.

Greg jumped when Alex put a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to come out of a trance. He looked back and forth between the two of them and out the window and at the clock. "So Ely told you then?" Alex asked. Greg only nodded.

"Bowled you over like it did me I see," Ken said. Again Greg could only nod.

Ken went into the kitchen to help Ely with dinner. Alex sat down next to Greg.

"Did you have any idea?" Alex asked softly. He knew what was going through Greg's mind now. Greg just shook his head.

"Are you pretty much okay with it?"

Greg took in a deep breath and sighed. "Not much of a choice at this point is there?"

"Not true," Alex smiled. "You always have a choice. You can choose right now to stop the whole thing if you want to."

Greg frowned at Alex, "You told me in the hospital that I was making my "final" decision."

Alex nodded, "Yes, I did. But can you understand that at that particular moment we hardly had the time to explain everything to you?"

"Well, yeah, but man it's all so overwhelming."

"Of course it is," Alex said, "It was the same for me, too. Ely went through it the same as you are. If you trust him, and you are comfortable with me, then you should see that it isn't really a bad thing."

Ely stood at the door and in his usual flourish announced that dinner was served. He took Greg's hand and pulled him up out of the sofa. "Come my love, you must eat. As you have already learned, we still need to eat."

At the table Greg asked Ken, "So you know already?"

Ken nodded, "Alex told me about a week ago. I spent the whole day sitting in a chair and staring at nothing."

Greg looked at his food and nodded. He spoke without looking up. "So I guess I'm just going with the flow."

"For starters, yes," Ely said. "The same way all of us started out. You are reacting quite normally, Greg. Just as I knew you would."

Greg ate sporadically - not even aware of what was on his plate. He looked at Alex, "You said I could choose to stop right now." Ely stopped in mid bite and froze. "You said I could end it if I wanted to." Ely took in a breath and held it. "I don't want to, but how would I do it if I did?" Ely sighed and his whole body seemed to slump in relief. Greg didn't notice.

"Well certainly not with a wooden stake in your heart," Alex smiled.

"I know that one!" Ken chimed in. "All you have to do is drink blood from one of us."

"Huh?"

"That's correct." Ely said. "As long as we wish to stay here, we cannot feed on each other. That is the only way to end our existence on this planet."

"What would happen?"

Ely shrugged, "When humans die they immediately go to their reward, as it were. We would do the same thing, except we don't have to die again. We've already done that. We would simply vanish from here, and ascend to whatever would normally have awaited us in the next life."

"I thought we were here forever," Greg said. "I thought we were eternal. When you told me we could be 18 again you specifically said, 'forever.'" Greg was speaking pointedly now, causing Alex and Ely to glance at each other.

"Yes, I said that," Ely smiled, "I wasn't lying, Greg, I was only selling the idea to you. I couldn't tell you the truth, remember, so I had to become something of a salesman. We certainly are eternal, and as is my fondest hope, we will be together forever. There are two reasons why we may not be here in this world forever."

Greg didn't really eat. He pushed his food around his plate. He listened.

"While we are no longer human," Ely went on, "we are still not perfect. There is a possibility that one or more of us could 'go bad' you might say. If that happens, there is a way to be taken out, but we have to do it to each other. To that end, we never know who all the others are. You know me and Alex and Ken, and you will meet others from time to time. But you and I and all of us will never meet all of the others. If need be, one of us can see to it that you drink our blood and vanish. It's a system that works very well."

"Has it ever happened?" Ken asked, "Have you ever had to do it to anyone?"

Ely shook his head, "I haven't myself, but if it was done I wouldn't know anyway. I wouldn't ask, and if anyone asked me, I wouldn't tell them. Other than teaching it to guys like you and Greg, we simply don't discuss it amongst ourselves."

Greg nodded as though he still had questions, but wasn't ready for the answers. He simply asked, "What's the other reason?"

"Well," Ely said between bites, "while we will be here for a very long time indeed, we won't be here forever. You see, there will come a time when humans do in fact learn how to manage the planet on their own. It may take thousands of years or thousands of centuries, but it will happen. When that time comes, we will no longer be needed here. We will then ascend to our reward the same as humans do on their deaths. Except we won't have to go through a dying experience as we have already done that. We can still be together, still be 18. And we will be at least that much forever. But we will not be here on this planet forever."

Greg ate without realizing what he was eating. He didn't say much, but kept nodding, as though it was all something he expected to hear but not at that grand scale. He looked at his plate without seeing what was on it. He twirled his fork around and then put it down and looked at Ely. "Why me?" he asked, "I'm not anybody. You came to me when I was 18 and I hadn't done anything--nothing at all. Why not someone who'd already proven himself? Someone who'd already accomplished something great. Invented something. Found a cure for something. You know - someone who already showed how smart he was and you knew he could do even more if he became one of you?"

Ely put his own fork down (which was not something he was accustomed to doing in the middle of a fine meal), and reached out to hold Greg's hand. "My love - I knew what you were capable of even before you knew yourself. I told you that back when we first met. You never were a 'nobody' except maybe in your own mind--certainly not in mine. Yes, there are plenty of 'somebody's' around, but we do not want them. That is not to belittle their accomplishments during their lives, not by any means. They have done wonderful things, and there will be others.

"But they have also attained a kind of status. A notoriety. They have become accustomed to being shown respect and special treatment. Were they to become one of us, they would immediately expect that respect and treatment to continue, and we cannot work that way. We are all equal. We have no boss to answer to here in this world. We have no chain of command, no corporate structure. We do not need the same kind of discipline that humans do because we are above that. We cannot have anyone in our group who sees themselves as above even us, for that is not what was ordained."

He reached out with his other hand and held both of Greg's hands and looked deep in his eyes. "You have done great things too, Greg. And you have done them quietly, modestly, with no fanfare and no expectation of reward. Because of that, you and people like you shine so much brighter than the others. You are exactly the kind we seek out. I told you that I knew you even when you were a small boy. I watched you all those years. If I saw in you that you would ascend to the same kind of status as the 'somebodys,' I would not have approached you in the woods."

Dinner was over and Greg helped Ely clean up the kitchen but seemed to still be in something of a trance, a deep frown on his face. Ely stayed close by but didn't push Greg. Ely actually did most of the work as Greg was moving slowly, more into his thoughts than his actions. When the kitchen was finally clean Greg walked back into the library but suddenly came back into the kitchen. He looked at a puzzled Ely, shook his head, and headed upstairs to their bedroom. Ely peeked into the library and saw Ken and Alex making out on the sofa. Their shirts were already off and Ken's hand was inside Alex's pants.

Ely walked into the bedroom and Greg was sitting on the edge of the bed. Ely sat down on the bed next to a very confused looking Greg. Greg turned to face Ely.

"Isn't it wrong?" he asked. "Considering what you told me and what we really are and who we really work for, isn't it wrong for us now?"

Ely shook his head and smiled, "Oh no!" he said. "Nothing could be more right, actually." He reached over and took Greg's hand, "You see, when humans die, as I said, they go to their reward. We, however, don't go anywhere - we're still here. But we don't stay here unrewarded. Think about it Greg - being here on this planet, in this world, as long as we are destined to be can become insanely boring. There must be something to maintain our interest throughout all those years. Even when we were human, sex was the most interesting thing there was. It was the only thing that kept us going - the only thing we wanted to do, and the only thing that made us feel our best."

Greg nodded and finally managed a small smile.

"I already told you that now that you are one of us your sexual awareness, desire, and energy are quite heightened. That is because sex is our reward." Ely put his arm around Greg's shoulders. "We don't have to follow the same rules the humans do. We can do what ever we want with whom ever we want, and when and where ever we want. We have permission. When you think of anything sexual - know that for us, it is allowed.

Greg nodded, but looked at Ely like he didn't hear. "You could have told me something," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"This isn't a joke, Ely."

Ely stiffened. Greg had always called him "babe." He was afraid of this.

"This is.... this is..." Greg spread his arms, "this is HUGE. You could have given me some kind of a hint at least."

"No, my love, I couldn't. I swear to you, I couldn't."

Greg sat up and looked away from Ely. "This is a hell of a secret to keep from me all my life!"

"Greg, I..."

Greg cut him off and yelled, making each word its own sentence, "Seventy!...Five!...Years!" His head snapped around to look at Ely, his eyes narrowed, "You said you loved me!"

"I DO!" Ely pleaded, "I do love you! I've loved you all this time!"

"Bullshit!" Greg's eyes filled with tears, "I guess I was stupid! But I had this wild idea, ya know? I kinda thought that loving someone meant you also trusted him!" Tears were dripping off his chin. Ely reached out but Greg slapped his hands away. "I trusted you! I never questioned you - I never asked you anything, really. Certainly nothing to compare with this!!" Ely's face was buried in his hands. "I loved you AND I trusted you! You said you loved me but you never trusted you or me would have told me SOMEthing! You lied to me all those years!"

Ely's head snapped up. "NO!!" he yelled and stood up. He started pacing like he did in the library. "I did not lie to you. I DID love you! I DO love you. And I did trust you or I would not have stayed with you all this time!"

Greg looked deep in Ely's eyes and shook his head, "No, you don't know what trust is. Or you don't know what love is. Or you've forgotten. Something as big as this - you should have told me. Told me something! You owed it to me!"

"I loved you all your life, Greg!"

Greg could hardly speak now. His eyes were open faucets, "You didn't love me. You fucked me. You trained me. You manipulated me. You used me."

Now Ely's eyes were full of tears. He pleaded with Greg, "No, no, Greg! Please! Let me ex..."

Greg snapped his arm to the door, "I would like to be alone now please!" Ely hesitated. "Would you leave me now please? Would you just go?" Greg wasn't trying to use any of his power, but the expression on his face left no room for interpretation.

"Greg - I..."

"GET OUT!"

Greg slumped back on the bed, his feet on the floor, his hands up to his face. He didn't see Ely leave the room. He only heard the door slam. He heard Ely's footsteps fade away down the hall. He heard them go down the stairs. He heard the front door open and slam closed.

"Oh man," he mumbled to himself. "What have I done?

__________________________________________________________________________

CONTINUED IN "EIGHTEEN FOREVER - THE LAST STORY" PART TWO