Part: 4 of 7
Manipulations of the Heart
T. Rose
Disclaimers in Prologue





                                      Chapter

     Later that evening, Cory and Fox left together for Cory's hotel. 
"You're just visiting?"

     Cory nodded as he unlocked the door.  "I'm just here to finish a job.  
I'll be leaving next week."

     Fox wondered if that might appease the Professor, but then remembered 
this was a test-- he was supposed to prove himself by killing Cory.  It 
occurred to Fox that it would be a lot easier for the both of them if 
Grysher would just accept his love and not require constant proof in the 
form of actions with which he wasn't comfortable.  But, Grysher would just 
accuse him of being weak, and start to wonder if he had indeed made a 
mistake about Fox being the man he had thought he was.

     Cory was approaching him now and he prepared himself to respond 
favorably when Cory pulled him in for a kiss.  It wasn't long before he was 
no longer pretending.  Cory was no amateur in the art of seduction and he 
had decided to help Fox forget about Grysher as much as possible.

     Fox had never realized sex could be so enjoyable.  With Grysher, it was 
more an act of necessity, because it was what Grysher wanted.  There was 
pleasure of course, but nothing so mind-shattering as what this man was 
putting him through.  When the time came that he should have put a stop to 
it, in order to kill Cory, he was lost in a haze of pleasure and it didn't 
occur to him until it was too late.

     When Cory lay beside him asleep, he realized that he had failed.  He 
felt lost.  He didn't kill the man, and he didn't want to.  Grysher would 
never forgive him for this.  He physically began to shake... his mind kept 
telling him that he could still fix it.  Kill the man, take his head and 
Grysher would never know the difference.  There was a small voice in his 
head that said it was too late and maybe that was a good thing.  Just 
allowing the thought to surface made his stomach lurch.

     Cory awoke when Fox left the bed to rush into the bathroom.  He waited 
until Fox returned and stopped him from dressing by standing up and putting 
a hand on his shoulder.  "What's wrong?"

     "It wasn't supposed to happen this way.  I was supposed to kill you and 
take your head."  Fox stood there waiting for the man's reaction, 
embarrassed to realize he was crying.

     Cory decided to dwell on the most curious statement first.  "Take my 
head?  You're not immortal."  He wondered how long it would be before that 
statement would no longer be true.

     "Grysher wanted you dead.  You stole his property and I had to prove 
myself.  But I just can't do it."  He brushed a hand across his face, to 
wipe away a tear.

      "Why couldn't he just challenge me like a normal immortal?"

     "He said you didn't deserve a chance to defend yourself and that it was 
my responsibility to kill you.  If I truly loved him."

     Cory winced.  He  pulled Fox back onto the bed and decided to comment 
on the bruises he had noticed earlier.  "Does he do this to you every time 
you anger him?"  He covered a bruise with his hand.

     Fox flinched.  "When I need it."

     Cory had been abused often enough by his 'friends' -- usually for 
dragging them into his plans.  He never enjoyed it, but it didn't bother him 
much either.  He healed quickly.  But it was irresponsible of Grysher to 
treat the young man this way.  Fox was still mortal.  He wouldn't heal 
within minutes, or even hours, until after his first death.  A 'condition' 
that no one could tell Fox about until after the fact.

     "Has he asked you to kill for him before?  To prove yourself?"

     Fox looked away.  Cory gently pulled his head around to face him.

     "Usually it's to keep us safe.  If I love him, I'll protect him from 
those that wish to harm us.  But, he says that to kill -you- would prove my 
love."  Fox unhappily stared off into space, refusing to look into Cory's 
eyes.

     Cory whistled.  "I can understand you're killing for safety, but has he 
actually killed anyone for you?"  He hoped he wasn't totally mangling his 
point by talking about murder and love as if they were related.

     Fox did look at him then.  "He doesn't need to prove himself to me."

     "So, why should you?"

     Fox had asked himself the same thing just a few hours before.  "He 
needs me to."

     "What's good enough for you should be good enough for him."  Cory 
gently rubbed his new lover's arm.

     "He deserves better than me.  I need to make him want me."  Fox tried 
to make him understand.

     "I want you and you don't have to do anything more than smile."

     "You just want to put one over on the Professor."

     That annoyed Cory.  "Fox, I couldn't care less about the Professor.  
You don't have to believe everything he tells you.  You go to Oxford for 
God's sake.  You're intelligent enough to think for yourself."

     Fox looked stricken and Cory was contrite immediately.  "Baby, I wasn't 
kidding when I said you were beautiful.  What has the Professor been telling 
you anyway?"

     Fox knew he was betraying Grysher by telling this man anything.  The 
Professor would never want him now.  Cory wouldn't stay and he would be 
alone again.  But he found himself telling Cory anyway. "If others knew me 
the way he did, they would never accept me, much less love me.  While he 
loves me in spite of it."

     Cory already realized this, and doubted it was the only thing Grysher 
had ever said, but it was obviously the part that stuck out in Fox's mind.

     //Damn, the problem with helping people with psychological abuse was 
the time it would take.  Give me a good bank robbery any day.//

      If he was serious about helping Fox, he would have to stick around.  
He would also have to challenge Grysher.  The Professor wouldn't just 
release this man willingly.  //Was Fox worth it?//  Then his seldom-heard 
conscience made an appearance.  He normally ignored it, but he heard it this 
time.  //You use the needy and less fortunate to excuse your criminal 
tendencies.  How concerned are you, really, in the welfare of your fellow 
man?//

     Cory chafed at the very idea that he was insincere and decided to prove 
to himself that he wasn't a fake.  He looked at Fox, willing him to believe. 
  He had no idea what the right thing to say could be, but he had to try.  
"The man's a liar, babe.  That's not love.  It sounds to me more like he's 
using you, making you into something that -only- he could love.  You're 
worth so much more than he's letting you believe.  Nobody is perfect, yet 
people seem to fall in love with each other all the time.  You just haven't 
had a chance."

     Fox suspected Cory was right.  It was as if everything he had been 
thinking was now being voiced aloud by a virtual stranger.  But there was no 
escape, not anymore.  "Grysher would never let me leave, even if I got the 
courage to try.  I think he might even try to kill me, rather than let me 
free."

     "He probably would.  Listen, I've got a plan."  Cory wondered vaguely 
why people seemed to get nervous whenever he said that.  Fox didn't berate 
him though; instead he just waited to hear the idea.

     "I'm gonna challenge Grysher.  We'll tell him you did try to kill me, 
but I got wise and prevented it.  I'll call him a coward.  That should get 
his attention."  He grinned as he imagined the man's reaction to such a 
statement.

     "He'll have difficulty believing I failed."  Fox wondered if he truly 
loved the Professor as much as he'd thought.  After just a few hours spent 
with Cory, he realized that for awhile now he had been doubting everything 
he had believed for the past 3 years.  The question now, he supposed, was 
whether he really 'needed' the Professor so desperately that he could 
continue to betray his own convictions?  Did he really want to continue 
killing to prove his love?  The longer he remained with Grysher, the more he 
felt his own self fading away, as he attempted to become what the Professor 
wanted him to be.  But, could he allow Cory to try to kill the man, just 
because he wanted to get away?

     "You're just a child compared to me.  He can't expect you to have the 
ability to kill me if I got wise to it."

     "He would know it wasn't true because he's spent the last 3 years 
training me to kill, with emphasis on pressure point blows.  He knows I can 
easily execute them and be successful without being noticed."  Fox began to 
get agitated as he realized the truth in his own statement.  Until recently 
he had never allowed himself to believe the Professor could possibly have 
been training him for such a life all along.  But the more he thought about 
it, without Grysher's overbearing presence to cloud his judgement, the 
clearer it was that the Professor had probably been planning this since the 
beginning.

      "So that's why he has you do the killing to protect the pair of you.  
But anyway, you won't have to worry about whether he'll believe it or not, 
because I won't lose."  Cory made the assurance confidently and then he 
tried to grasp the idea of pressure point blows.  "Does he study this 
pressure point thing?"

     Fox shook his head.  "The Master wouldn't teach him because he's 
immortal, but he taught me because I'm not."

     Cory suspected something wasn't quite true in that statement, but 
doubted that Fox realized it.  "I want you to remain here.  You don't have 
to, but I think you'd be safer.  He might decide to kill you before the 
fight, just in case he was to lose."  Cory began planning for the coming 
morning with the same excitement he usually felt before a heist.  He 
wouldn't allow Fox to be brought into the game so soon, not if he could help 
it.  Fox had enough problems to deal with, he didn't need to worry about 
fighting for his life too.

     "Are you sure it's me you're worried about?  Grysher's told me all 
about the Game.  I know you immortals try to kill each other so you can be 
'The One'.  Are you sure you're not just using me to get his attention so 
you will have the chance to kill him?"

     "I don't buy into all that immortal stuff about the Game, and that 
'There Can Be Only One' crap.  I wouldn't be challenging him if not for you. 
  I don't go around killing people for the sake of it.  But if I don't kill 
him, will you be able to leave him?  Will you even want to, once you go back 
to him?  If you don't want me to challenge him, I won't."  Cory wasn't going 
to do this against Fox's will.  He wanted to help the man, but he wouldn't 
force him into anything.

     The idea that Cory would do this for him was unbelievable.  He still 
held doubts that it was purely for him, but the idea of freedom was too 
appealing to quibble over semantics.  Fox made his decision quickly.  "He 
usually has me in the background to make sure he doesn't lose."  He realized 
his actions hadn't been as honorable as he had always deluded himself into 
believing and he lowered his eyes.

     "Well this time you won't be there to 'assist' him.  Without you, he'll 
have to fight clean."

     Fox's expression was bitter as he remembered the past few years from a 
different viewpoint.  "There are some young men he's been working with 
lately.  They aren't students at the University and I doubt he's teaching 
them philosophy.  I wouldn't put it past him to call on them to take my 
place.  I wouldn't trust him."

     "I won't.  Now I want you to try to get some rest."  Cory readjusted 
the pillows, and nodded at the space next to him as he lay back down.  He 
didn't feel that now was the time to deal with Fox's feelings of betrayal.  
He would need a lot of time and encouragement to really get through this 
period.  He wanted to deal with Grysher first.

     Fox obediently lay next to his new lover and was soon asleep.  The 
doubts relegated to his dreams.  Shortly before dawn he awoke screaming.  It 
was a surprise because he hadn't dreamt of his sister's disappearance for 
over 2 years.  Grysher had considered the memory a danger to Fox's 
well-being and had attempted to 'exorcise' it.  He also considered it bad 
for his own health to have Fox wake him from a restful sleep, so he would 
punish Fox when he suffered from any type of nightmare.

     Cory's tone was soothing as he attempted to wake him.  "Come on baby.  
Wake up now.  It's just a dream."

     Finally Fox became aware of his surroundings and he apologized 
profusely, almost desperately.

     "Hey, we're all allowed our fears.  It's okay now.  You wanna talk 
about it?"  He vaguely remembered hearing somewhere that it was good to talk 
about these types of things.

     So Fox told him about his sister, and her kidnapping.  Cory didn't 
laugh or berate him the way Grysher did when he spoke of the light and her 
floating through the air.

     Instead, Cory nodded seriously.  "I was kidnapped once, about 25 years 
ago.  They didn't know I was immortal and thankfully they never found out.  
I remember the bright lights and floating through space too.  But I always 
figured it was some sort of planted memory to make me -believe- I'd been 
abducted by aliens."

     "I'm not sure, maybe it is."  Fox couldn't swear to anything.  "I 
remembered through hypnotherapy and dreams.  I can't be sure of anything.  I 
used to have nightmares about it all the time, though."

     Cory didn't comment on that.  Instead he focused on the statement Fox 
had made in the beginning.  He had been watching his sister while their 
parents were out, and his father had been furious with him for letting her 
be taken.  Now he understood why Fox had been so susceptible to Grysher's 
special brand of 'love'.

     "It wasn't your fault she was taken.  You were just the scapegoat.  
Easy to blame because you'd be unable to defend yourself."  He began to 
caress Fox's arm.

     Fox didn't argue or agree.  Instead, he moved to snuggle in with Cory 
and after a moment of the silent comfort, he turned just a little and licked 
Cory's almost hairless chest.

     It was completely unexpected and Cory laughed.  "Fox, you're 
beautiful."  He moved to hug the now self-conscious man.

      Fox liked being called beautiful.  Grysher had never been much for 
compliments.  Since Grysher had never bothered much with foreplay either, he 
felt rather inexperienced.  But he had been trained to do certain things and 
he had always learned quickly... so he did what Cory had done to him earlier 
that night.

     Fox lowered his head back and lightly bit at the nipple closest to him, 
his thumb rubbing the other.  He figured he must be on the right track when 
Cory moaned beneath him.  He licked a trail down Cory's belly to his cock.

     Meanwhile, Cory was drowning in sensation.  The first time, he had been 
in control, with the impression that Fox was unfamiliar with real 
love-making.  Now he wasn't so sure, but he was determined to let Fox go at 
his own speed.

     Fox took hold of Cory's erection, and brought the leaking head into his 
mouth, rolling his tongue around it.

     Cory gasped.  //Oh God.  Patience?  Not likely!//  Before he could 
voice anything, he felt that moist warmth entirely surrounding his cock.

     Fox had a hand on Cory's hip, holding him still.  He began to use his 
mouth and tongue to steadily build the other man's need to a level he'd 
never personally reached.   The soft, desperate moans and whimpers told him 
that Cory was close.

     Cory cried out as he came into the young man's throat.  Fox sucked him 
dry and let the now limp cock drop from his mouth.  He moved up until he was 
face to face with the panting man.

     Cory smiled weakly at him.   "Thank-you, Fox."  He reached out to pull 
the man in for a kiss, spreading his legs in obvious invitation.  His other 
hand began stroking Fox's semi-erect cock and it began to harden 
immediately.

     Fox was surprised at the offer and broke off the kiss as he fumbled for 
the lube Cory had used earlier.  //God, if you exist, don't let me mess this 
up.//  He forced himself to banish away all thoughts of Grysher and slicked 
his fingers.  He ran a hand over Cory's leg as he pushed in one finger, then 
two, preparing him the way Cory had done with him earlier.  He found and 
stroked the man's prostate, hoping he was doing it correctly.  His 
confidence grew when Cory began to move frantically beneath him, practically 
fucking himself on his fingers.  Fox used another finger and Cory began 
begging him senselessly.

     "Come on Fox.  I'm ready.... I need you,  NOW!"

     He whimpered when Fox left him to prepare his cock and groaned with 
relief when he felt Fox return-- positioning himself above and guiding 
himself into his ass.  Once inside the tight heat, Fox began to move at a 
slow, cautious pace.

     At the first touch against his prostate, Cory cried out. "Harder Fox.  
More already!"  He rarely had lovers that took as much care in his pleasure 
as he did with theirs and he was beginning to understand their impatience.

     Fox obeyed as he took hold of Cory's erection.  He thrust in harder and 
faster, pumping his lover's cock in time with his movements.   He was close. 
  He gripped Cory's shoulder tightly and drove into him almost brutally.  He 
could feel his orgasm building.  He squeezed and pulled on his lover's cock, 
drawing more frantic moans from him.  Finally, unable to hold back any 
longer, he came with a shout.  Cory followed soon after and stared 
sightlessly at Fox for a few moments before he fell into a deep satisfied 
slumber.

     Fox used a towel to clean them off and then he lay next to him, his 
head on Cory's chest.  He fell into a dreamless sleep.

     An hour or two later Cory awoke.  With a shiver of excitement, he 
remembered he was planning to challenge 'Professor' Grysher today.  Even 
though he wasn't known for his fighting skills, he was no coward.  He had 
taken some heads in his time, and with his profession it was necessary to 
stay in shape, so he wasn't too worried about the upcoming fight.  He was 
only worried about Fox.

     Fox seemed to sense his wakefulness and was immediately alert.

     "Good morning."  Cory sat up with a contented smile and leaned over and 
kissed his new lover.

     Fox returned the kiss and smiled back.  "Good morning."

     "Today's Sunday, Fox.  Sleep a little longer."  Cory petted the light 
brown hair softly.  Fox nodded and shut his eyes obediently, listening as 
Cory got out of bed to take a shower.  While he lay there, he thought about 
what he would have to do.  When Cory returned, freshly showered and shaved, 
it appeared Fox had indeed fallen asleep again.  He gently shook the young 
man's shoulder and when Fox's eyes focused on him immediately, he wondered 
if it was normal for him to sleep so lightly.  Fox had seemed surprised to 
be awakened by nightmares, even though he had apparently been plagued with 
them quite often.

     "I need to call Grysher and set up a meeting."  He watched as Fox wrote 
down a number on the hotel stationary.  "Are you going to stay here then?"

     "Probably."  Fox nodded.  There was no turning back now.  He knew that 
Grysher would never forgive him for failing to kill Cory.  After the 
revelations of the night before, he wasn't even sure he cared.  Now he could 
only hope that Cory was as successful as he expected to be.  The thought of 
being alone was intimidating, and he wondered if he was indeed prepared to 
start a new life without the man, but he was certainly willing to try.

     "It'll be all right."  Cory got dressed.  He unpacked his seldom-used 
sword and hid it beneath the jacket he wore.  "When this is all settled, we 
can start to look for a more permanent residence."  He checked his 
appearance in the mirror, before he walked to the phone.

     Fox nodded.  "All right.  What!?"  He couldn't believe Cory was 
serious.

     "You still have to graduate, right?  Unless you don't want me to stay." 
  Cory was careful not to let his expression reveal any of his own inner 
doubts.

     Fox shook his head.  "No, it's just that I thought you were leaving 
next week."

     "That was before I met you.  I'll stay as long as you need me."  Cory 
was determined to help the young man, no matter how it chafed to be tied 
down.

     "Thank-you."  Fox went into the bathroom when Cory picked up the phone. 
  He couldn't bear to listen as they discussed killing each other.   
Especially since they wouldn't be, if it weren't for him.