Michael led him through the door to the master bedroom and he was faced with Lisa and Nikolai sitting on the bed looking at him. Both of the other vampires were still dressed and they were sitting demurely on either side of the bed, only their hands touching, and yet there was an intensity to their gazes which made his skin prickle. Now he remembered what he was there for, because he could all but feel their hunger.

"We will have to send the agency a bonus," Lisa said, smiling at him and she all but ate him with her eyes.

This was the kind of vampire he was used to, all selfish want and hunger and somehow it made him feel more balanced. He knew how to deal with this.

"Give us a show, Mikhail," Nikolai said and John looked back at the vampire holding his hand.

Not being much of an exhibitionist John focused his whole attention on Michael. He let the vampire push him onto the bed and arrange him on his back, legs spread. If he was being truthful he expected Michael to push his knees further up and apart and just take him there and then, so when Michael climbed onto the bed between his legs, but bent down and started licking at one nipple instead, he was surprised. He didn't even have to think about what he should have been doing, he just arched up as Michael drew yet another real moan out of him.

"Oh, pretty, he's so responsive," Lisa's voice dented his enjoyment a little, "play him for us, Michael. Make the little one sing."

The professional corner of his mind noted the client's request and planned to employ his acting skills, but as soon as Michael's lips touched his skin he didn't need to. It really was as if he was an instrument and Michael was the musician as the vampire continued to touch him. If the universe had been running correctly, Michael should have been an Incubus, not a vampire; Michael had the magic touch. By the time Michael swallowed his rapidly hardening cock, John's skin was singing and so was he. He was glad that all that was required of him were moans and groans, because there was no way he could have kept up the fake accent with everything that Michael was doing to him.

When slick fingers were pushed into him again he was reduced to gasps and it took everything he had not to come down Michael's throat. He was so very close to the edge and it was all real, no acting involved. Holding off was the most wonderful torture and it was only an iron will that let him do it.

"Please," he finally begged after what seem like an eternity.

"Michael, sweetie, I think you're breaking him," Lisa said, sounding as amused as ever.

"Can't have that," Michael said after pulling off and smiling down at him, all teeth. "On your hands and knees, John, and look at Lisa and Nik, so they can see you come undone, there's a good boy."

It was then that John realised Michael was playing a role, just like he was. There was passion and desire in the eyes that looked at him, but something else as well, something much more calculated. It helped John remember who he was and what he was doing. He smiled back, one of his practiced smiles, and did as he was asked. He was just about comfortable when Michael took hold of his hips and pushed in with one long stroke. He felt his eyes open with shock and he could barely focus on the two vampires sitting at the head of the bed watching him.

"Oh fuck," he said as his arse screamed at the abuse and his cock throbbed mercilessly, not on the same page as his brain about the whole acting thing apparently.

Michael was big and all of Michael at the same time made his gasp and claw his fingers into the sheets. Thankfully Michael did not start to move immediately, giving him time to adjust to being so full, but the vampire did something else, equally as mind blowing. He felt a sharp nail run along his back and he shuddered, knowing Michael had drawn blood. When the vampire leant forward, curling over him and licked along the stripe of the scratch, John could barely breathe.

The connection that occurred between vampire and human when a vampire fed flared through him during the brief contact and he almost face planted into the bed. It was such a strong reaction that the noise he made was completely incoherent, somewhere between a moan and a cry.

"I want to taste him."

The words were edged with a hard Russian accent which could only have been Nikolai. John didn't want that, not yet, even though his whole body trembled at the thought; he wanted Michael. The want was so hot, so pure that for a moment he forgot who was paying whom.

"Not yet," Lisa said, saving him for a while, "let Michael disarm him completely."

The fact was, Michael had already disarmed him; he hadn't been so undone by a client since his first outing. Something about Michael fed right into his hind brain and circumvented all his trained responses. As Michael began to move inside him all he wanted to do was spread his legs and come. It was so hard not to beg and in fact he only lasted a few minutes before words began to fall from his lips, words he had never given to another lover, not and meant them.

"Fuck him hard, Mikhail," Nikolai said with a laugh.

John had never liked being watched, not like this, but he was so far gone it made no difference. His body loved what was happening and his brain was only along for the ride. When Michael flipped him over onto his back again, he just sprawled and this time Michael did lift his legs and push right back in. The angle had him whining in the back of his throat as Michael pounded into him, all carefully controlled power and grace. His eyes met the vampire's and Michael's irises glowed.

There was no illusion now, no pretence; Michael was no human being, he was a creature of legend and John surrendered to that power. After what could have been seconds or minutes, he felt hands take his arms, spreading them cross-like on the bed, but he only looked at Michael. As fangs broke the skin on both his wrists, his body flooded with the high that only came from vampire bites, but he whimpered and refused to give in.

Michael pushed into him one last time, coming deep inside him, but still John held on.

One of his legs fell back to the bed as Michael released it, the other was pushed further to the side and John kept his eyes firmly on Michael's face as the vampire lowered himself onto the bed. Michael kissed the inside of his leg first in an almost reverent gesture and he whimpered again. He wanted, he needed and when Michael's fangs dug in to the soft flesh of his thigh, he keened. The connection flared, his high peaked and he came all at the same time.

For some time everything disappeared in a haze of endorphins and so much pleasure that he wanted to surrender completely. He wanted the vampires to suck him dry, wanted it like air, but that was why he was trained. Finally that training kicked in and his mind swam towards reality.

John gathered his will, pulling his sense of self back into his body and sent out the mental command to stop. Moans came from all three of the vampires, but he felt them withdraw their fangs one at a time. Very few humans could take three and come out alive at the other end, the pleasure was too great, but John was an expert. He was also something much more and as his clients pulled away from him he opened his mind and sent out a psychic blast.

All three vampires slumped in place, exactly where they were.

For a while John just lay there, staring at the ceiling and catching his breath. That had been the most intense experience he had ever had and he had been feeding vampires for nearly five years. Pushing himself up and onto his side was more effort than he cared to admit and it took every last ounce of strength he had to climb over Nikolai and off the side of the bed.

Staggering to the bathroom, he bent over the sink and threw water on his face. His arse ached, his head was spinning, but he had a job to do and it wasn't the one his clients thought they were paying him for. When he felt strong enough to at least stand properly, he washed himself down and pulled a towel off the rail, drying himself off before walking back into the other room. As his eyes alighted on Michael it was the first time he had ever felt regret for what he was about to do.

Shaking his head, he refused to think about it. He had no more choice than he had led Michael to believe earlier; he was trapped in a world he had not chosen and his path was set for him. With a sigh he walked up beside the bed, climbing on next to where Lisa had fallen onto her back. Reaching out, he placed a hand over her heart and opened his mind once more; then he waited.

It didn't take long before the female vampire opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Prepare to be judged," he said and sent his mind diving into hers.

She screamed, a high pitched, inhuman sound and her hands ripped at his wrist, but it was too late, the connection was made. It was not something he could control. The power inside him was contained or let loose and when it was free it was wild. He never really understood what it did or why he had it; all he could feel was the edges of its actions as it sifted through the vampire under his hand as if she was simply a catalogue of information.

Those who had taken him, turned him into what he was now, said he was the instrument of destiny. They had awakened what was inside of him, shown him how to use it, forced him to as they trained him to be a vampire whore, but they had never explained it. The power inside him was judge, jury and executioner and he could feel the scales dipping badly against Lisa. His vision turned inward and all he could see was blackness and from his hand fire ripped right into the heart of the darkness. Screams filled his mind, but they didn't last long and then reality snapped back in, leaving him gasping and shaking over a pile of ash on the bed.

Mechanically, he stood.

He should have gone to Michael next, Michael was closest, but instead he walked around to Nikolai. The Russian was face down, so John pushed him over onto his back and climbed onto the bed. Nausea tried to drag his attention from his task, but he pushed it away. Stretching out his arm, he placed his hand flat on Nikolai's chest and once again opened his mind. This time it was only a second or so before the vampire opened his eyes.

Almost instantly Nikolai moved, trying to throw him off as if sensing what was to come. John ended up on his side, but it was as if his hand was glued to the vampire's chest. The wind was completely knocked out of him, but the words were just tradition, he didn't need them and he set the beast free. Sometimes when the power ripped from the heart of him he wondered which was more animalistic, the vampires and the way they used humanity, or him and his uncontrollable ability.

Nikolai died just as fast and as easily as Lisa, but it took longer for John to move this time. It could have been fatigue or it could have been reluctance about what he had to do, either way it took him over a minute to convince his body to stand up. Michael was slumped on his side in the middle of the bed towards the end and John slowly made his way around.

"I'm sorry," he said as he pushed the unconscious vampire onto his back.

This time he climbed onto Michael as well, straddling the vampire's hips as he reached out and placed his hand over Michael's heart. For the first time ever he did not want to do it. All the vampires he had ever met had been arrogant, self centred, quite possibly poster boys and girls for sociopath central, but Michael had been different. Vampires used humans, used and abused, that was the way things were and people like him were there to redress the balance. In all the times he had been sent out he had never doubted that truth, that one fact had kept him sane, but now he did.

He had to force his mind to open and then he waited.

Blue green eyes flicked into view after about twenty seconds and looked up at him.

"John?" Michael sounded confused.

He should have just let the power go, but he couldn't.

"I'm sorry," he said for the second time.

Michael did not try and throw him off, the vampire just frowned at him.

"What?"

"I'm a Soul Reader," he said, wanting to rip his hand away, but knowing that it was too late for that.

Surprise and then something else flickered across the vampire's face.

"Not really from the agency then," Michael said with a wilted laugh.

"Poor kid's tied up in an alley," he replied, feeling tears prickling at the back of his eyes.

He had never mourned a vampire, not any of those he had judged. If he had not believed they were the enemy what had been done to him, what he had had to do would had driven him mad.

"Were you really an actor?"

"Yeah and I really was kidnapped. They don't give people like me a choice. I'm a tool of destiny whether I like it or not."

Michael placed a hand over his, but did not try and remove his.

"Sucks to be us," the vampire said and squeezed very gently.

If he could have he would have ripped his hand away then, but it was too late. The power inside of him was lashing against its cage and demanding to be freed.

"I've never been very good at being a vampire," Michael said as if sensing his hesitation, "just do it, it will be better for both of us."

"I don't want to," he replied, taking a deep breath to give himself just a few seconds longer, "but I can't stop it."

Michael smiled at him, honest to god smiled, and it broke his heart. He was the one who wanted to scream as the power ripped out of him and dove straight into the vampire. For the first time since he had been introduced to the world of the undead and those who opposed them a small voice at the back of his mind asked a simple question: is this right?

He tried to pull his mind away; he did not want to see the end of the only vampire to have ever shown him real kindness. He would have liked to pretend that it was all a game, that Michael was just playing with him, but he could see the truth. Michael's soul was right there before him, on display, and when he looked into the darkness it glittered back at him. Fire erupted from his hand just as it always did and Michael screamed like all the others, but it did not streak into the middle of the darkness, burning it away. The fire hit something and split and hit something else and split again and again and again until all John could see was a cobweb of flame.

In a way it was beautiful, but then one of those tendrils came straight back at him. It hit him between his virtual eyes and he felt the heat of it sear through him. Feeling utter shock and a strange sense of relief, he succumbed to its power and everything just went away.