Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 2

lives and long-drawn out illnesses. They were the desperate few that worked in the manufactories, the factories, the hotbeds of disease. Such had become Sam's kingdom.
    "He's gone underground and we haven't been able to track him. You will need to infiltrate the organization. Get close to him, Dart. Find out what further insidious poisons he's concocting, and get the information to us so we can stop him. And we want to know the name of every person who counts themselves his loyal followers."
    In university Sam had volunteered to be a test subject for an experimental drug that Oberon had created. It was likely that very foundation that had brought Oberon, and Sam, to where they were today. When Oberon had graduated and become a post-graduate assistant to one of the chemistry professors, a renowned scientist, elderly and rather senile by that point, was when the real trouble began. It was Sam's first close encounter with Oberon— his first intimate relationship. Oberon was the man Sam gave his virginity to and a certain devotion that seemed never to have left him.
    So maybe it had been wrong for him to accept the assignment knowing the depth of his emotional attachment. But it had been years between that interlude and accepting the mission. How could he have known those feelings as a young man, which had lain dormant for so many years, would rear so powerfully once again? Unfortunately, they had. Sam had always thought it almost inevitable what had come to pass. As though Oberon was his destiny, and his cross in life to bear. His love, his hate, his every emotion was tied up in this man.
    He glanced at Bobby. And Bobby had become the sedative to the consternation of Sam's life. But again, all that would change over the course of the next few hours. Sam walked across the floor and joined them because he had no choice. He loved them each— he loved them both. Each of them needed Sam– just in different ways. And he needed them.
    Oberon embraced Sam and drew him close, making them a trio. Or a duo basking in the insane light of Oberon's brilliance. Oberon kissed him and Sam leaned into that kiss so very ravenous for the touch of his lover. Quarterly visits over the last five years since the capture did little to assuage his desperate hunger.
    "I've missed you, Sam. You have no idea what this place is like. I need you terribly." He turned to gaze at Bobby, who stood compliantly, awaiting the next order. Beautiful and submissive. Perfect in practically every detail. Emotion completely lacking, as Oberon had designed.
    It came to Sam in that moment that Bobby was much like Oberon in that way. That lack of emotional binding. Perhaps that's why Sam was so taken with Bobby. The similarity in personality to Oberon was striking. But maybe that wasn't quite right either because he didn't possess the dangerously human insanity either. Did that make Bobby even more perfect? He was someone easy to love where Oberon was not. Nor did it carry the same danger in loving him as it did his love for Oberon.
    Sam had done his duty and seen to Oberon's capture, trial, and imprisonment. His honor and his moral and ethical imperative had been satisfied, but at what cost? Likely it was the decision to marry Oberon on the eve of his incarceration that led to Sam's assignment in the poisonous Ragstown District. It was Command's way of expressing their disapproval of that act. But Sam couldn't have done any less than marry the man he loved. It was the only way he would be able to see him— through the conjugals. And he simply couldn't turn his back on Oberon, not after everything. Oberon was his destiny after all.
    For better, for worse,
    During peace or war,
    Through madness and insanity,
    Unto life and into death
    Bound for eternity, be it heaven or hell or some purgatory in between.
    I bind my soul to thee.
     
    Oberon had smiled after Sam had taken his vow. And then he had kissed him, sealing their pact. Thus were the vows struck before an official of the city who looked on askance at the bond forged in madness. Thus were those vows consummated. And thus did Sam mean to keep them no matter the cost in morality to himself.
    Sam watched Oberon kiss Bobby. Oberon's hand was at Sam's nape, holding him fast, fusing him to the intimacy. Oberon's lips seemed to consume Bobby. Delicate, beautiful Bobby, trained to obey, to submit, to seduce, to engage. And so he returned Oberon's kisses with an energy that mimicked human emotion so very, very