Violets Are Blue

both hard. Michael and William were large, and their penises pulsed and throbbed as they stood there naked. They weren’t shy. The brothers were used to nudity since their boyhoods. They were also accustomed to having sex with strangers.
    Dara looked around and said, “I feel outnumbered but not overmatched.” She took some coke from her purse.
    William gently stayed her hand. “You won’t need that. Lie down on the bed. Trust me a little. Trust yourself, Dara.”
    Like a magician, William produced four silk scarves — red, blue, and silver. He tied Dara to the bedposts. She struggled some, pretended to be afraid. They all enjoyed watching her act, and Michael put his arm around Andrew, who was getting lost in the shuffle. He was high too. His blue eyes were glazed.
    “Why don’t you get comfortable,” Michael whispered. “You’re among friends.”
    Andrew slid a pair of handcuffs from a black leather bag on the floor. “These are for you. Just for fun. Okay?”
    Michael obediently thrust his hands out, ready to be cuffed. “Just for fun,” he said, and laughed.
    “This is going to be so great,” Andrew said, his tongue more than a little thick. “I can feel a rush already. I think I’m starting to peak.”
    “No, you aren’t even close,” Michael told him.
    It happened so fast that it almost didn’t seem possible. Suddenly Michael had locked the handcuffs onto Andrew’s wrists. Then he took the actor down on the carpet. He was all over Andrew. He and William gagged him with silk scarves. They moved so fast. They took off Andrew’s clothes. They tied his ankles with more scarves.
    “Trust us, Andrew. This will be great. You can’t imagine,” William whispered. Then he watched Michael bite into Andrew’s throat. Just a sip. A few delicious drops. An aperitif.
    Andrew Cotton’s beautiful eyes went wild with fear and confusion. The look was priceless. He knew that he was going to die. Soon, very soon. Maybe in just a couple of minutes.
    Dara couldn’t see what was happening on the floor. “Hey. What are you men doing down there? Is it dirty? Are you buggering one another? I’m feeling neglected up here. Somebody come to bed with me. Bugger me.”
    William rose up to her, and his penis was large and beautiful, his stomach impossibly flat, his smile enchanting, irresistible, and he knew it.
    “Up popped the devil,” he said.
    “Kiss me, devil,” she whispered, and fluttered her eyelashes. “Make love to me. Forget about old Andrew. And Michael. You’re not in love with your own brother, are you?”
    “Who wouldn’t be?” William asked.
    He knelt over her and then he lowered his body very slowly. He closed his arms around her. Suddenly Dara was shaking. She knew, without really knowing. Like so many men and women William had feasted on, she wanted to die without knowing what it was that she wanted. He knew she could see herself reflected in his deep blue eyes. He knew Dara felt she had never looked more desirable.
    And he did desire her. Right now, he wanted Dara more than anything else on the earth.
William inhaled Dara’s smells — flesh, soap, a citrus fragrance, the rich blood coursing through her veins. Then William’s tongue gently lapped at her earlobe. He knew that Dara felt as if she had been touched
inside
. It wasn’t physically possible, but she had felt William’s tongue deep inside her.
    Suddenly Michael was lifting Andrew up onto the immense bed. There was room for everyone. Andrew was bound in colorful scarves and shiny silver handcuffs. There was a harsh red mark on his neck. And blood running down his chest. The actor was already dead.
    Dara was beginning to understand everything. William was right — this was so much better without the cocaine. He was touching her everywhere and he was so warm, so hot, this was exquisite. She was writhing, ready to come already, bursting with yearning and desire.
    “This is just the beginning,” William whispered against her throat. “Your pleasure is only just starting. I promise, Dara.”
    He licked away her bittersweet perfume. He kissed her again and again. Then William bit down into her throat.
    It got better and better.
    The ecstasy of pain.
    Dying like this.
    No one understood that until the end.

Chapter 34

    IT HAD happened again. Jesus. Two more ungodly murders. An FBI helicopter was waiting for me at the airport in Fresno. I was flown to Las Vegas, where an FBI sedan was waiting. The driver, an agent named Carl