I’ve always known what Kei is, from the first time I saw him. He is my best friend.

My brother calls him a monster, a murderer. Aren’t all of us murderers? What makes Kei any different from me? We both kill. His prey and mine are equally dead at the end of the day. Why should the fact that his life is sustained by their deaths make any difference? I kill for money and power. He kills to live...and to protect me.

He started having nightmares a while ago. I know that they are about the man who made him a vampire and the way that he died. He told me about it once. He told me that he watched as the man gave up on life and ended his existence on the beach, watching the sun rise for one last time.

It bothers him so much to have these dreams. I used to think that it was fear of his own death but he acted much the same when I found him. Lying with his smoking hand in the sun, he looked like a man calmly waiting for his death when I dragged him away to our hideout. As much as he hates what he is, I don’t think this mourning is out of any sense of gratitude either.

I finally decided somewhere along the line, that he must have been in love with the man. It’s really the only thing that makes sense. I wonder if he felt the same way about that man as I do about him.

The last time that the nightmares got bad, he stopped feeding. It’s okay for a while, but it starts to show. He looked unwell and even other people could tell that something was wrong. I was worried about him and made the mistake of offering myself if he couldn’t bring himself to kill to eat. I didn’t mean to upset him but he was furious.

I listened as he talked about what he was, about how the curse separates him from humanity, and I cried for him. I know he thinks that I was crying for myself, but it was sadness for him and his despair that drove me to tears that night.

I started going out during the day and not staying up with him all night. He eventually started slipping out when he thought I was asleep and feeding again. It was exhausting waiting up for him to come back in and then having to get up as though I was well rested, but it was worth it to see him back to his old self again. I guess it was somewhere in the middle of all that when I realized that I didn’t just love him. I was in love with him.

Growing up on the streets, as we did, I knew about the things men did with women and men did with other men. Having Kei to watch over me meant that no one ever tried to do anything to me, but I still knew about it all the same. I knew that people did it to be cruel, or to have fun, or to have a family, or just because they loved someone. I act so tough around everyone, but I’m shy around girls and it just never seemed right...until now.

Now I knew that I wanted to be with Kei. I wanted to be with my best friend who made me feel protected and protective, who knew me as well as I knew him, who had a body to die for. I could be comfortable with him and I knew that it would be good. There would be no awkwardness, no fumbling. We were so in sync with each other when we fought and I just knew that it would be the same when we...made love, had sex, fucked. Call it anything you want, I don’t really care. I knew what I wanted and I was going to grab for it.

I knew that I needed to buy some things to be ready. It’s no big deal for a guy to walk into a store and buy condoms, but condoms and lube...oh, that’s a whole other story. That’ll get you knifed in a dark alley around here. Then I thought about it. Kei couldn’t get sick, couldn’t have any diseases, so what was the big deal? That made things a lot easier. If I didn’t need condoms, I didn’t need special lube either. A plain old jar of petroleum jelly could be had anywhere and would do just fine. No one would look twice at that.

Kei always got happy and loose after he fed, so I decided it would be easier to make my move after he came home. I knew he would be worried. He always tried to make me be afraid of him and I think it scared him that he couldn’t frighten me. Setting the stage was more about making him comfortable than me. I was ready for anything.

When he got home that night, I was waiting for him. As beautiful as the moonlight was, I couldn’t take the chance that we might fall asleep until after sunrise, so I had closed the drapes. When he closed and locked the door, I reached for his hand and stopped him from turning on the light switch. I never spoke, only shook my head to say no. I knew that he could see perfectly well in the dim light that filtered around the edges of the curtains and I didn’t waste time with words.

Pushing him back against the door and still holding one hand, I leaned forward and kissed his lips. There was still a metallic taste there that left no doubt what he had been doing, but, underneath that, was a taste that was uniquely Kei. I’ve tasted enough of my own blood over the years that I didn’t let the stranger’s life blood bother me. I pushed forward and licked and nibbled at his lips until they parted.

He was panting slightly more from shock than arousal but I got what I wanted and thrust my tongue into his mouth. I wrapped my free hand around the back of his neck and locked our lips together until I felt his muscles relax. I felt his free arm reach for my shoulder and try to push me away.

His movements were fluid and slow so I let him push us apart, but just a few inches, and then I looked into his eyes. I saw so many questions there. Did I know what I was doing? Did I know how dangerous this was? Did I know what a bad idea this was? Had I recognized how much he wanted me too?

The smile and nod that I gave him seemed to be enough to satisfy him so I reached for his coat with both hands and slid it off his shoulders and onto the floor. I saw him smile back as I leaned forward and licked a line up his jaw from his chin to his ear. We never spoke and so the gasp he let out seemed almost deafening in my ears. All my senses were suddenly so alive. I heard the beating of our hearts and the panting of our breaths as though we were wearing microphones.

I was naked when I met him at the door and his cold hands moved over my heated skin and made me shiver. He let me undress him and I sucked and licked at his skin as I uncovered it. I dropped to my knees as his pants fell and sucked on his cock. When he was undressed and we were both at our limits, I took him by the hand and led him to the bed.

There are things that you ‘know’, and things that you Know. I was hoping that he would take the lead at this point because I was feeling as out of my depth as I was aroused and I trusted him with everything. I handed the jar to him and lay back on the bed, waiting for him. He didn’t look surprised, but he didn’t act as though he had been expecting it either. I opened my legs and waited for him.

He was careful and gentle with me. I’ve seen him show off his strength and know just what he’s capable of. His touch that night was as soft as silk. He caressed my skin and stroked the tension out of my legs before he ever did anything else. He never put his mouth on me, though. I felt a little hurt at first that he never kissed or licked me anywhere but my lips, but I realized later that he just didn’t trust himself. In all the times that we were together, the only place I ever felt the touch of his soft, beautiful lips was on my mouth.

He moved one hand over my thighs and cock while the other dug into the jar and grabbed up some of the jelly. It warmed quickly on his fingers and as he moved his hand under my balls, he leaned over and kissed me deeply. My breath hitched once when his finger first pushed inside me.

I’m not sure what I expected, pain probably, but it was a strange sensation. There was some pain and a slight burning feeling, but mostly it just felt foreign. It was like nothing I could have imagined, but I still trusted Kei and tried to relax as he moved his finger slowly. Eventually, I got used to the feeling and hummed into his mouth. I could feel his lips curve as he smiled above me.

When he slipped his finger out, I gave a small sigh and heard a chuckle come from him. I was feeling brave and brazen...until he put a second finger inside and started to stretch me for real. That hurt. This time the pain felt like a real intrusion, nothing like what one finger had been. Once his fingers were inside and he heard the small grunt I couldn’t stop, he went still.

My eyes were closed but I could feel him inches from my face and watching me, reading me. He saw every twitch of my jaw, felt every breath, heard every sound I made. Slowly, I relaxed and he started to twist and then scissor his fingers. He took a long time doing this, and I wondered if this was normal until he curled his fingers and my world disappeared.

My eyes flew open and focused on his smiling, smug face. Whatever That was, he had been expecting my reaction and I just wanted him to do it again. I lifted my head off the pillow and chased his lips until he gave me the kiss that I wanted, but he pulled his fingers out.

As I rested back against the bed, he entered again; this time with three fingers. I was ready for the feeling, though, and the pain eased sooner. The wicked fingers started to tease sensations that went straight to my dick, which was hard and leaking when he pulled away and sat back on his calves.

I knew that I was ready now and watched in fascination as he put more of the jelly on his own hard cock. He was beautiful and I wanted him. He lifted one of my legs and put it on his shoulder before leaning forward and lining up his dick with my hole. I could feel him there, not pushing, just pressing.

Pushing my leg to my chest, he leaned all the way over with his arm next to my head. Our faces were inches apart and we looked at each other. Those questions all flowed through his mind again, and again I smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. I had no doubts. Not about this; not about him.

I put my arms around his shoulders and held on as he started to push inside. It wasn’t easy to stay relaxed, but I did my best and he stopped each time he felt me flinch. Slowly we moved together. It felt like an eternity but finally we were one. He was buried as deeply inside me as he could go, and it felt amazing.

Suddenly, I couldn’t get enough of him. My mouth attached to his neck and sucked as he tried the first gentle stroke. Pulling out felt strange, but when he pushed back inside...he took my breath away. I wanted more and more and bit down on his shoulder, urging him to move. We were panting and grasping at each other’s bodies, desperate for more contact. The sweat was pouring off of our skin and soaking the sheets and we noticed nothing but each other.

I don’t know how long we actually fucked. It felt like forever and still not long enough. When the pants and moans changed to loud groaning, he reached around my leg and grabbed my cock in one of his hands. I knew I wouldn’t last long after that; I had been so close already. The feel of his hand on me as his cock pushed deep inside me was so good. My nerves were on fire and I felt heat in my spine and my dick as I got close.

Harder and harder, he pistoned into my body and the bed shook from the force. He hit something inside me again and my breath rushed out of me as my climax hit. I groaned loudly and watched as his head flew back and he pushed inside me one last time. I could feel his cock throb inside my ass and knew that he was coming. It was such a rush to see and feel him as I came down from my own high.

When it was over, he collapsed on top of me and together we fought to catch our breath. We were sticky and hot and sated. I rolled him over to my side and held him as his body shook in the aftermath. I wanted to hold him like that and never let go. He reached for me then, too, and pulled my head down to his by my hair. It was no gentle kiss that he gave me. It was a savage kiss that reflected the last of the passion we had spent on the bed, and when it was over, he let me go and fell asleep.

I watched him for a few minutes. I was exhausted as well, but I wanted to catch this time in my memory. I didn’t know if he would ever let me do this with him again, and I wanted to remember as long as I lived how good it had been with him. His life is so long compared with mine. I wondered as I laid there if he would remember this time when I was gone, and knew as I watched him smile in his sleep that he would. Content with that beautiful smile as my answer, I curled up in his arms and sought my dreams.