Arne had fought his way up from nothing to the security of his position using whatever weapons were available to him, from a hammer to the face and a knife to the throat over diplomacy and blackmail to pitting his rivals against each other from the shadows. He was used to handling strangers with strange reactions. But when the sweet blonde who had brought him here finally put her hands on his face and gave him a deep kiss and a “Welcome to the Family, brother,” before leaving him on the other side of the fountain, he fought his reactions of unease fiercely.
Secure. When he woke up yesterday, his biggest problem had been rolling out of bed and leaving without waking his lover. That was what security fell like, he thought longingly. Well, now he was as secure as you could be when a stranger had just rubbed you in laurel scented oil while you had inadvertently been coerced into the service of an undead, probably vampire, as Toog had put it.
He’d left everything he had arrived with, his clothes, money, sword belt and all his knives, on a shelf before the fountain, and the trip through, naked like everyone else, was… a new, laurel scented experience. The relaxed, giggly, gropy attitude was something he’d not exactly experienced before, and he had to suppress the thought that it was like a high-end brothel where the clients were also fondling each other while repeating the sentence Consent is very important.
But here he stood, clad in a soft white robe and nothing else, just like all the happy headcases around him. Beyond the giggle-grope fountain was a broad corridor, light and airy, and beyond that he found a large dining hall. It looked like the house had been gutted to create this open space, and remnants of the supporting walls were brightly decorated and used for shelves where fresh food, bread, fruit, soups and snacks, were placed. Long sturdy tables stood the length of the hall and people were seated here, all robed in white, all happy, relaxed and laughing together while eating. He guessed there was little over than a hundred people here. At the end of the room off to the right was an unadorned set of closed double doors.
Some of the white robed Family members walked around bringing food from an unseen kitchen, and some few, five in all from what he could see, had a red collar embroidered on their robes and stood along the walls, smilingly keeping an eye on everyone. People milled past him from the fountain, some went to get food, some just stood around chatting in groups. He spotted Toog, sitting in a far corner at one of the long tables, seemingly deep in conversation with a tall, lanky looking fellow. From here, it looked like they didn’t have a robe of a fitting size and Toog was again clad in baggy clothes.
Someone grabbed his butt and all thoughts of Toog’s gender-ambiguity vanished.
A tall, slender woman with striking red curls smiled at him when he turned around.
“I usually go for very young men, hoping youthful stamina will win the day, but look at me,” she gestured playfully along the neckline of her white robe and further down her breasts, “no embroidery. So now I’m thinking it’s time to change my strategy.”
“I… Alright.” Arne nodded.
She stepped back a bit, a less flirtatious look in her eyes. “You already have a Temple Buddy?”
“No? Not as far as I know,” he answered truthfully.
“Ohhh, it’s your first time!” she exclaimed. “Well, even better, you do now. I’m Nyssa, and I think you and I can do good things for each other at the orgy.”
“Is that a euphemism?”
Stolen story; please report.
“No.”
“I see,” Arne lied, mind going blank for a second. A phenomenally beautiful probably vampire sent a monster to force-recruit him to infiltrate a sex cult? Apparently, this was his life now.
“I should have guessed you were new; I saw you a little hesitant at the fountain. But let me just tell you, in a city of five universities, a man with actual muscle mass is quite a treat,” Nyssa purred. “So, how ambitious are you?” she asked, changing tone to brisk and business-like in a heartbeat.
“Very, very ambitious!” Arne stated and put a hand on her shoulder, leading her to a bench nearby. “Tell me everything I need to know.”
o-0-o
Leg Arne thought, and for a while, that was enough. Then the foot at the end of the leg moved and impacted gently with his elbow, jostling him out of his stupor.
He looked up into the high, dark ceiling above and heard low, tired groans and moans around him as his senses and memories slowly returned. He remembered Nyssa eagerly leading him by the hand when a gong sounded from somewhere, and she led him to the double doors so they were the first into the hall when they opened. She had taken him to the foot of the round dais with the carved, round altar on it…
Something had happened. It wasn’t like he particularly needed convincing or had any reservations about having sex with Nyssa. He just always sort of assumed …that an orgy would at least start off a little awkwardly, with all those arms and legs all over the place… But then the five celebrants in white robes with purple embroideries had walked onto the dais, faces hidden behind intricate animal masks, and when they began speaking, a strange wave or vibration had hit him, humming in his body, setting his thoughts aflame.
His partner had clearly felt the same and revelled in it, and though Arne had fought the alien sensation, it had… what? What had it done? He had no doubt they had had sex. Little flashes still swam through his mind leaving trails of flaming passion in his thoughts, he had an intensely dodgy taste in his very dry mouth and his body was sated to a point of exhaustion. Also, he was now becoming more alert to the world around him and realised that the hand clamped around his inner thigh belonged to the portly middle-aged man lying comatose next to him.
The realisation propelled him into a sitting position, evidently too fast because he felt woozy and strange for a moment. A lot of people were still lying on the pillow and robe-strewn stone floor, passed out with exhaustion in puddles of laurel scented oil that had been placed all around the orgy hall. Some few people had gotten to their feet already. Arne slowly removed the hand on his thigh and looked around. Nyssa was lying close by, still unconscious, red curls like a wild crown around her face.
The doors to the chamber were opened gently and sunset light and fresh air poured in from the dining hall. Several people in white robes came in with a large basin and began pouring water into washbowls. Slowly and gently, they walked among the passed-out revellers, offering them washcloths and warm water and another team of Family members came in with cups and jugs of water. Yet another group slowly went around lighting lamps in sconces along the walls.
Arne slowly got to his feet, looking around for the robe he had worn, but not finding anything recognisable that wasn’t buried under several other revellers. He stood there, naked, looking out over the carpet of naked people covering the large ritual hall. The few others who were also getting up, made their way over to get a washbowl or refreshment and a new robe.
A quick wash, a cup of water and a robe later, Arne felt more surefooted and aware of his surroundings. He offered to help and took some cups and a jug of water, using it as an excuse to walk around looking for the other two in the zonked-out orgy crowd …or alternatively, looking for faces he recognised, to log for future possible blackmail.
He found Dia lying closely entwined with a middle-aged woman on the other side of the dais. He nudged her with his foot but when she didn’t stir, he decided not to press the issue. She had so far proven testy at every step of the way. He wasn’t sure if sleepy and sexed out would be an improvement or make her mood plummet even further.
“On the job training really means something in this business, huh?” he heard a low voice mumble and Toog, clad in a shapeless robe that gave nothing away, walked past, kneeling down to hand a bowl of water to a reveller regaining consciousness.
“I have a nagging feeling this will be in the good end of the experiences, though,” Arne whispered back and they went their separate way in the crowd of slowly awakening sex cultists.