My ancestral home was built many leagues from the nearest village of Rainboro, where my mother's parent's lived. The road between my home and my grandparents' home was a barely discernable dirt rut, and navigation between the two locations was difficult. The only time we made the grueling trek was at the Yuletide.
The nearest doctor was a good two hours away by swift steed. It was thus that it happened that Dr. McDrurey did not reach our house until four hours after my father died on my eighteenth birthday, which fell on the twentieth day of November. We were celebrating the event, when a small morsel of venison from my birthday meal, lodged in my father's throat. Suddenly he began to gag. We pounded on his backside, but he just kept gagging until he turned blue and collapsed. Immediately we dispatched a trusted servant to fetch the doctor, but unfortunately, it was to no avail.
We could not bury the good man for three days because we had to wait for a priest to arrive. He was laid to rest with his ancestors in the family cemetery. My mother retired to her bedroom not an hour after the internment and no amount of my cajoling could get her out of her chamber. The servants brought meals to her. They provided warm, soapy water with which she could bathe her frail body, and they regularly emptied her chamber pot. Except for the ministering of the servants, she remained alone in her room, mourning for my father.
Our home had been built centuries ago as a fortress. There were few windows and the house was dark, cold and dank even in mid summer. In all honesty, I could not blame my mother for hiding in her room. She had hated our home since the day my father brought her there after their nuptials.
When a month had passed, she allowed me to call upon her. I quickly suggested that she should visit with her parents for as long as it would please her. I had taken over the management of the farm and our estate, and if I might be allowed to brag, I was doing an excellent job of it. She resisted the idea of leaving my father's home at first, but my persistence wore her down and she consented at long last.
I outfitted a carriage for her and tied my own fine steed to the rear. I drove the carriage and accompanied my mother to my grandparents. Halfway there, I was surprised to see a rather imposing mansion about fifty yards off the rutted road. I could not remember ever having seen it before, and I made a mental note to inquire as to its inhabitants.
We arrived at my grandparents' home in Rainboro late of an afternoon. I could not linger there, and I left almost immediately, over my grandparents' objection. I explained that I needed to get home quickly as I was now overseer of the family estate, and my presence at Bradsmoor was a necessity. They embraced me and sent me on my way with a basket of food.
I was not a half hour on the road when it began to sleet. I covered my face with a great scarf that my grandmother had knitted for me years ago, and I forged ahead. My faithful steed was having much difficulty negotiating his way.
The sleet eventually turned to snow and now I could barely see before me. The white snow was blinding me and I lost all sense of direction. The road was not clearly distinguished and I began to fear for my safety. Then I saw it. There were lights ahead, warm and inviting. I realized that the lights were emanating from the house which I had not known existed prior to today.
I headed my horse toward the lights. They had appeared so close, but it seemed to take hours to get there. When I arrived at my destination, I could see a lean-to very close to the house and I tied my horse to a post in the shelter. I wiped him down with my scarf as best I could and covered him with a blanket from my saddle bag. Then I trudged my way to the front door. It was exceptionally dark and I realized that all the lights in the house, which had shone so brightly of late, were now extinguished. I prayed that if the inhabitants of this sanctuary were asleep, they would hear me banging at the door.
The knocker was heavy and ornate. It would take some strength to lift it and start knocking. To my horror and dismay, the knocker was frozen to the door and I could not budge it. I was about to start pounding on the door when it opened up.
Standing in the doorway was a handsome youth of some twenty years. He was wearing a heavily embroidered scarlet robe, and in his hand he held a candle whose flame he shielded from the wind. He beckoned me in and tight shut the front door after me. Unlike my cold house, the interior of this abode was warm and comfortable.
The youth said not a word, but motioned me to follow him. He led me into a large library. A warm fire glowed in the fireplace. The man pulled a chair close to the fire, and spoke at last.
"Take off your wet garments and hang them on the back of this chair. The fire will dry them in a very short time."
I did as he requested, and I stripped off my heavy outer coat. My waistcoat was wet as well, and I removed it also, it being quite warm in the room. Lastly I removed my wet boots and stockings.
"If your trousers or your shirt are wet, do not be shy about removing them as well," my host proclaimed. "We are the only two souls in this house, my servants having deserted me a fortnight ago."
I was perfectly dry now and not inclined to remove any more clothing, but I was after all a curious youth of eighteen. "Why have they deserted you?" I asked in all innocence.
"That is a story that would take another fortnight to relate. Just rest assured that we are alone, and that I am more than pleased to offer you my hospitality. From the looks of the falling snow, you may be here for a time. Are you hungry?" he asked.
I had devoured my grandmother's basket of food, just before stumbling on this house so I shook my head. "No thank you. I've eaten," I said.
"May I offer you a warming glass of wine then?" he asked me, sounding most hospitable.
"No thank you," I replied. "I am happily content to be out of the weather and warm and comfortable in your home. But where are my manners?" I extended my hand and said, "My name is Tom McIntyre and I live in Bradsmoor some ten miles up the road, if you can call it a road."
The handsome youth took my hand. He didn't really shake it, but he held it and I could feel warmth invade my entire body. "I am Rene LaFontaine," he said. My ancestry is French."
"It is a pleasure," I said pulling my hand away.
"Are you tired?" he asked me.
"I have to admit that fighting the elements has exhausted me."
"Let's to bed then," he said. "We'll get better acquainted in the morning." He extended his hand, which I took, and he guided me up the stairs. He opened the first door on the right at the top of the staircase.
He led us into a large bed chamber. A warm fire burned in the fireplace. The room contained a large armoire and a huge bed. I reckoned that four large men could sleep in it. I had never before seen a bed quite so large. At the foot of the bed stood a rather heavy looking hope chest.
"Other than servants' quarters, I am afraid that this is the only bedchamber which is furnished," he said. "I must ask you to sleep with me. I promise I do not snore nor do I much toss and turn. And you?"
"I too am a quiet sleeper. Restlessness has never been a trait of my family," I assured him.
"Good," he said and dropped his robe. He faced me completely naked. He had not had on any clothing under the robe. He bent over and removed a chamber pot from under the bed and peed into it at some length. Then he offered me the pot.
"Just a moment," I said, and completely disrobed as quickly as I was able. I took the pot and did my business. He took it from me and opened the bedroom door. He placed the pot outside the door. I wondered at that, since he had no servant to dispose of our water. He closed the chamber door and secured it tightly. Again I wondered why he would take such precautions if we were alone in the house.
Now we both stood facing each other completely naked. We did what all young men do. We stared at our genitalia. I had seen my father after his bath several times. He was small and shrunken, but Rene's cock was magnificent. It was, I believe, partially erected, and at least seven inches long and quite thick. His head was pushing through his foreskin and I could see a bubble of a viscous fluid on the tip.
"Have you ever tasted a man's juices?" he asked, noting that I was staring at the bubble adorning his cock head.
"No," I replied. He took his forefinger and removed the bubble.
"Here," he said, "Taste." I was strangely titillated by all this. I had never at that time even pleasured me as yet, and I was excited and aroused at the prospect of what avenue Rene was pursuing.
I licked the fluid off his finger and was disappointed that I received no discernable taste. "It has no taste," I said.
"You'll see, I'll make more later and it will have a pleasant taste, I assure you. Now let us get to sleep." I climbed into the bed and lay at one far end whilst Rene extinguished the candles. The room was now dimly lit only by the waning fire.
"Move closer to the center," Rene suggested, "lest ye fall off the side." As I moved closer to the center, Rene got into the bed. He pulled the covers over us and snuggled close to me. I turned away from him and he nested against me. I could feel his cock pressing against the crack of my arse. I was simultaneously frightened and aroused. My cock was now fully erected as was his.
I could feel Rene's arm encircle my waist and reach for my cock. His fingers wrapped around it and held it tight. He did not stroke it nor fondle it. He simply held it. I was petrified. After a bit, I could tell from his breathing that he had fallen asleep. As frightened as I was, I fell asleep too. The difficult journey had exhausted me.
Sometime in the middle of the night, I awoke. Rene was sleeping a little off from me and no longer wrapped around me. I had to pee again so I crept out of the bed and went out into the hallway where I knew the chamber pot to be. It was where he had left it. I bent over intending to pick it up gently so as not to spill any of our combined waste.
The pot was empty. Rene had said that we were the only souls in the house. He must have gotten out of bed and emptied it, yet I was reasonably sure he had never left our bed. I peed and left the pot outside, and returned to the bed. As soon as I got into bed, Rene wrapped himself around me again. His hand found my cock once more and encircled it. This time he began to stroke it and I had the strangest sensation.
All my fears deserted me. My cock hardened almost immediately. I felt a tingling sensation growing in my loins. It was the pleasantest tingle I had ever experienced. The tingle grew and grew in intensity. My breathing got heavy and my whole body began to writhe. Suddenly Rene stopped stroking me. He leaned over my body and took my cock in his mouth. I was awestruck. I knew it felt wondrously good, but I was unaware that my cock could be used in such a manner. I pondered the notion that he might be of the habit of ingesting urine. He continued stroking me with his tongue and the tingle returned. I began to feel like my body might turn to fire and burn itself up. A sensation of such pleasure came over me that I began to cry. I wish I could describe my first orgasm to you, but I lack the poet's talents.
I could feel some sort of emission coming from my cock and filling Rene's mouth. My cock was tender and I begged Rene to stop sucking me. He crept up my body and began to kiss me. As he did so, he passed some of my emission into my own mouth. I swallowed it and it tasted good.
"I told you I would make more fluid and you would like it," Rene told me. He turned his back to me and went to sleep. I was left with an empty feeling. I wanted to do that to him, but he had turned away from me. There was nothing for me to do but to try to sleep also.
When I awoke, the room was lighted by the dawn, but it was far from bright. The fire had been newly stoked and I felt quite warm. I was alone in the chamber. I walked to the window and peered out. The snow was still falling so heavily that I could not see beyond the window. I turned back toward the bed and I saw that the hope chest was covered with a basin of warm soapy water, a wash cloth and a towel. To my surprise the chest also contained the chamber pot. It was clean and smelled fresh washed. I needed to use the pot badly.
I placed it on the floor and squatted over it. I deposited my waste from front and rear and whilst still naked, I returned the pot to the hallway just out side the door. I used the wash cloth and the soapy water to wash my body as best I could. The last thing I did was to clean my lately discharged arse. I delicately opened the door, and dropped the now brown wash cloth atop the chamber pot.
I returned to the room and could not see my clothes. I opened the armoire and there they were, neatly hung. I dressed and left the room. I descended the staircase, but there seemed to be no one on the main level of the house. I followed the aroma of cooking to the next level down. There I found the kitchen. Rene was standing over a stove attending to our breakfast. He wore his trousers and a pair of slippers, and it was obvious that no under garments touched his beautiful body. He was shirtless and I longed to caress his magnificent torso. After all, he had done as much to me, but I was afraid that he was not inclined to receive my touches in a friendly manner. I feared also that I might offend him with any gesture of affection.
"Ah, there you are," Rene said. "Come here at once."
I ran up to him and he kissed me lightly on my lips. "I feared you would sleep the day away. Had you not come downstairs, I would have been forced to have fetched you. Sit down at the table and I will serve you your breakfast."
I knew not what to say and so I did as he bade me. He served each of us two boiled eggs. Already sitting on the table were a fresh baked loaf of bread and a small tub of butter. I wondered where all this came from, since he was so isolated, and since he had nary a servant.
I was emboldened to ask him how the chamber pot kept getting emptied and then cleaned to be used anew as there were no servants afoot. He looked at me in a strange manner and answered me thus: "I had not noticed any such event." I knew to say no more on the matter.
"I have removed your steed from the lean-to and placed him in my stable," he informed me. "He has been combed and fed and is perfectly content as he is sharing the stable with a mare, and both are untethered."
I thanked him for being so thoughtful and so kind.
We placed all the dirty dishes and pans in a large scrub sink already filled with water, and we left them there. I could not help but wonder if phantom servants would wash the dirty dishes and return them to the cupboards.
"Come now," Rene said. "Unfortunately we have no diversions in this house and I would want to pursue the pleasures of the flesh. There is much I have yet to teach you so let's hie to the bedchamber."
There was much I was eager to learn and I hurried after him. The first thing I noticed was that the chamber pot was no longer in the hallway, but this time I swear by the virgin, I saw a running figure far down the hall, turning at the bend. I was afraid to comment at all. Rene would surely deny my sighting.
When we entered the room, the wash basin and the wet towel were gone. I knew that if I said something to Rene, he would tell me that he hadn't noticed, so I kept my tongue.
He came to me and undid the stays on my trousers and they dropped to my ankles. I stepped out of them. As I did so, my eyes naturally turned to the floor. When I looked up, Rene was already in bed and totally naked.
"Join me," he said in such a seductive manner, that I would have thought such whispers were left solely for a husband and his wife in the privacy of their bedchamber.
I jumped onto the bed and he wrapped his arms around me. He began to kiss me in a way previously unknown to me. He forced my lips apart and his tongue began to caress my own. Such caressing had so strange an affect on me, that I near swooned.
"Would you like to suck my cock," he asked "as I have so lately sucked yours?"
My body ached with a desire I had never before known. I was so weak, I could barely whisper, "Yes."
I bent over him and took his throbbing manhood into my mouth. He instructed me in the use of my tongue and lips. I must have been an excellent student, because he seemed pleased with me, and he rewarded my efforts with many sighs of pleasure. We were both so lost in our love making, that we failed to hear or notice the bedchamber door open.
Suddenly I was pulled off Rene's body and thrown on my back. I looked up to see a horribly deformed dwarf peering at me. He threw himself on my body and attempted to take my cock into his mouth. I was so revolted I thought I might give up my breakfast. I began to fight the creature, but he was so strong that I made little headway.
I felt my cock entering his mouth, and his tongue was as rough as my pet cat's. I cried out in pain. My sobs were well rewarded. In my agony I heard Rene whipping the creature across his back and buttocks.
"Off, off him, Andre," I heard Rene scream at the creature. Andre jumped off me and I was aware that he was running down the hall with Rene in close pursuit. I heard a heavy door bang shut somewhere off in the distance, and then I heard the unmistakable clang of a lock bar slide into place.
Rene returned to me weeping. I was quite in a state of shock. "He is my twin brother," Rene explained, and burst into breast racking sobs. He is the reason why we have no servants. They would hear strange noises and occasionally see strange shapes in the corridors. Believing my home to be haunted, they all departed."
That's about the moment when I fainted dead away.
When I awakened, I was in my own bed in my own home. Rene was sitting on my bed holding my hand. I glanced toward the window and was aware that the snow had stopped falling. Bright sunlight was shining into the room. I had never before noticed any brightness in my house.
Rene got up and latched my door. When he returned to me, he placed his hand on my genitals and began to rub my cock. "Would you like to continue what we started?" he asked. I nodded, and he stripped in a trice. He lay down next to me and said, "Tom, I love you."
I leaned over him and took him into me. I remembered his instructions and amidst heavy sighs, writhing of his body, and a loud scream, he spurted into me straight away. I loved the taste of him and drank every drop.
"Next time," he said, "I'll teach you how to fornicate in my arse hole."
"That will pleasure me no end," I answered him and kissed him on his lips.
"Please," I said, "tell me how I came to be home."
"After you fainted," Rene said, "I returned to Andre's room to explain that he could never commit such a dastardly act again. When I opened his door, he was lying in a pool of blood. A knife protruded from his chest. He still breathed and he whispered in my ear that he could not live like this any longer. He said he loved me, and the most precious gift he could give me was my freedom. He expired moments later and I buried him in the family crypt below the house. Nobody knows of his existence so I needn't explain his death. By my oath, I swear to you, I gave him a good Christian burial. I cleaned his room and it is free of any traces of blood.
When I returned to the bedchamber and to our shared bed, I saw that the snow had stopped. I readied my coach with two fine horses, and tied your steed to the rear of it. I dressed you and carried you into the coach. It was a difficult journey to your home, the snow being piled quite high. When I reached your front door at long last, your servants near covered me with kisses, that relieved were they to see you alive. They helped me deposit you in your own bed and allowed me to stay until you awakened."
"What are we to do now?" I asked. "Now that I have found you, I could not bear to face a life without you." I sobbed and embraced my true love.
"Our lands abut one to the other," Rene said. "Let us become one; one estate, one farm, one body. We can let our farmers live in my house and I will live here with you."
The thought of living with Rene and sleeping with him every night warmed me body and soul. "Yes," I said, one body, one soul. We'll be together for eternity, here on earth, and in the life after death, still to come. I pledge myself to you, Rene."
I reached over to my night table and took hold of my letter opener. I slit the tip of my forefinger. Rene offered me his finger and I slit it likewise. We held our fingers together and mingled our blood. Then we kissed.
Author's Note: This tale is homage to the talented authors of the nineteenth century who produced all those wonderful, eerie gothic, romantic tales. Special thanks go to the Bronte sisters. If I have offended any of them currently dwelling in paradise, I hope they will please accept my humble apologies. HB