Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Series Title: Highbury Tales By: Alexander Sunshine, Dec.  2011 Episode 9:
This is Only the Beginning

   ---------------- Author's note: I finally came back to writing this
story after setting it aside for a few years.  Reading it over, it is
better than I remember, and unintentionally hilarious at many points.  I
think I shall finish this storyline...  ----------------

   On this Friday morning, the sky was cloudy such that at intervals the
sun would shine brightly for a few minutes, but then it would be overtaken
by the clouds.  This was usually as sunny as it ever was in Highbury.  The
downtown city-streets were bustling with ordinary folks going about their
ordinary day: stately men in business suits and dark-brimmed hats buying
newspapers at the street-corners, mischievous children cutting school and
rushing off to their next adventure, cart-wheels and horse-hooves sounding
on the cobble-stones as taxis and transports drove down the street.

   On watching the crowd this morning, one would observe that there was a
man pushing a cart who stood out since he was very tall.  Observing him
more closely one would notice that as he walked along, pushing the cart, he
spoke to the young, contrastingly-petite, Vindhyan woman by his side.  A
stranger to them would not notice that the bespectacled and
scholarly-looking young man nearby was accompanying them.  A stranger would
not know that they were returning to the house where they all happened to
reside, after having purchased the contents of the cart (machine-parts)
from the nearby engineering college.

   "Why didn't we just hire a taxi to help us move this equipment?" Brian
asked, frowning.  He glanced at Bill resentfully, in spite of himself.  He
was clearly unhappy that Alice had insisted that Bill help them transport
the equipment home.

   "Why do you complain?" the Vindhyan woman asked.  "It's not more than
one and a half miles away, besides it's such a pleasant morning for a walk.
The sun is shining..."

   "So, what are you going to do with all of these gizmos?" Bill asked.

   Alice smiled and thought a moment, thinking of what level of detail she
should explain to a lay-person.  "I'm going to try to build a machine, I
found a manuscript that gives directions as to how to build it."

   "Oh yeah?  What is the machine supposed to do?"

   "I'm not sure, to be honest." She looked very pensive, and continued on
as if talking to herself: "The diagrams call for degraded semiconductors,
so I think it is safe to assume that the machine exploits magnetic
induction for some electrogenic application...  but since the capacitance
potential is connected to a double-open circuit, the calculations necessary
to determine the gradient of the electro-static discharge are very
complicated.  And so, it has been impossible for me to ultimately
understand what it does."

   Bill silently turned to Alice and squinted at her, and she thought she
might wither under his intense gaze.  She felt as if it was the first time
he had really looked at her.

   "How old are you, anyway?" he said.  "You look as if you are 16 years
old, but you must be older than that, and obviously you're already more
learned than I ever will."

   Alice laughed.  "If you added a decade to that figure sixteen you would
be much closer to my actual age." She didn't say anything for a few
minutes. As the three of them continued to walk down the side-walk, she
considered how little she knew about Bill.  As curious as she was, she had
been disinclined to ask him about himself since he seemed to prefer to keep
to himself, and probably had some things to hide (for example, that he was
a drug-dealer).  But in discussing her age, Alice felt that their
conversation had opened a door, or a window at least, into the realm of the
personal, and so she was emboldened to finally ask him about himself: "So
how do you know Rupbert anyway?" she said to him.  "He does not seem like
one to visit the pubs, and you- I would think you would be a stranger to
the salons.  I mean, you two seem like you would not cross paths, or have
much in common." Alice avoided stating it directly, e.g.  'He's rich and
you're poor.  Rich people and poor people usually aren't friends with each
other.'

   "Oh, me and Rupbert...  we go way back." Bill turned to look at her
while he spoke, but then faced ahead again as he almost ran the cart into a
middle-aged lady walking by in the other direction.  "We met in Vindhya. 
Over there I worked piloting a boat on the Punjabi River.  I helped
business-blokes like him and their associates travel from place to place.
In many areas there are no roads built, and often they get destroyed by the
typhoons anyway, and so the river is the most reliable method of travel."

   She found his answer intriguing, and it served to bring so many more
questions to her mind.  "Wow, such a romantic job!" she said.  "But you are
from the west originally, right?  How did you end up working all the way
over there?"

   Bill smiled.  "Yeah, I grew up right here in Highbury, actually.  I just
saw an advertisement on a notice-board in a pub that the company was
looking for laborers that can speak English to go work in Vindhya.  I
figured a change of scenery would suit me, and so I applied."

   Just then, Alice saw something out of the corner of her eye, she was
startled by it before she consciously realized why it was so startling.  It
was a shadow, but not just a shadow.  She saw it crouching down on a
second-story porch, and the air around it shimmered like a mirage but also
had a strange sparkle to it.  It was shaped like a man, but it was hard to
determine much about it since she saw it only very briefly.  Then she
remembered that morning, the first morning she had woken up in the
Greenleaf mansion.  She had been there by herself when she had noticed a
similarly bizarre shadow outside, seemingly spying on the house.

   Brian, who had been brooding silently at her side, observed the sudden
change in her countenance.  "Alice, is something wrong?" he asked.

   She did not want to discuss the matter around Bill, so she said: "Oh,
it's nothing.  I just thought I forgot something for a moment."

   Bill stopped pushing the cart all of a sudden.  His companions stopped
and looked at him questioningly and he asked: "Why are we going this way?
It is a shorter path to cut across the square through this alley-way right
here."

   "I usually don't try to navigate the alley-ways, too often they have
dead ends." Alice replied.  "But if you know the way let's go right ahead."

   The alleyway was quite narrow and poorly-paved.  As Bill continued to
push the cart, its wheels kept getting stuck in the rocks and cracks on the
ground.  Each time this happened, with a low grunt Bill shoved the cart
hard to dislodge it.

   "Be careful, you might damage the equipment!" Brian nagged.

   "Nothing's getting damaged." Bill spat.  "If you have a better way to
get the cart un-stuck, I'm more ears than a basset hound."

   "Can we just get home without you two getting into a fight?" Alice
pleaded.

   Just then the sky dimmed, the sun having been overtaken by the heavy
cumulus clouds once again.  Just then they all noticed that three shadowy
figures accosted them and stopped motionless some eight feet away.  Alice,
Brian, and Bill stared at them attentively.

   "Give up what's in the cart." A voice said.  It was impossible to
determine which figure had said that, for none of the inky-black figures
had a face, but the voice was otherwise a very normal man's voice.

   "I am not afraid of you." Brian said resolutely.  "You can't make us do
anything."

   "You're teasing the wrong dog..." Bill said, pulling a large pocket
knife out of his pocket.  "This one bites." He held up the knife and with a
loud click it swung open unleashing its shining, jagged blade.

   The three figures stood silently for a moment.  Alice feared what they
would do next, but they faded away, shrinking to black points at
waist-level before disappearing completely.

   After a stunned silence, Alice said: "What just happened?"

   "They're gone!" Brian answered, he drew close to comfort her, and
probably to comfort himself too.

   "The cowardly thieves escaped!" Bill muttered.

   "You were so brave, Brian." she said, actually rather surprised.

   "There was nothing to be afraid of," he said soberly.

   "Nothing to be afraid of?" she started.  "Are you kidding?  Those men
were rather strange, you must admit...  and how about being afraid of being
slaughtered in an alleyway!"

   "I know what those men are," Brian said didactically.  "I have read
about them.  They are only sentinels.  You see there are beings in the
higher dimension, the fourth dimension, while we are in the third.  Since
they are in the fourth dimension they cannot physically harm us, and can
only appear as sentinels, those black silhouettes."

   "What?" Bill said, shaking his head.  "You must be joking..."

   Brian shot him a look and then turned back to Alice.  "Besides since we
are not organic portals, but fully souled individuals with free-will, we
cannot be killed or die accidently, we cannot die unless and until we
choose to."

   Bill scoffed.  "I wish I could believe such a fairy-tale!  No wonder you
look so smug all the time..."

   Brian finally gave in to the urge to confront him: "You saw those men
yourself, but still you don't believe there is something beyond your
close-minded materialism?  They were not human, they were almost-amorphous
black shadows!  They had no faces, didn't you happen notice?"

   In an unusual show of insecurity, Bill stammered and blinked quickly a
few times.  "They had faces..."

   "What did they look like then?"

   "They were just regular-looking blokes, I did not get a good look at
them."

   "Did you happen to notice that they vanished into thin air?"

   "They just ran away, they didn't 'vanish into thin air'!"

   Brian turned away from Bill and said: "Alice...  didn't you see what I
saw, and not what he saw?"

   She sighed.  "I'm not picking a side, let's just be glad they are gone
and go home."

   "See?" said Bill.  "You are delusional!  Those were just a couple of
ordinary muggers dressed in all black.  There is no need for this
fourth-dimension nonsense."

   **************************

   After they arrived home, Alice went upstairs and heard Rupbert rummaging
about in the bedroom.  She went inside and was suprised to see he was
packing some folded-up clothing into a suitcase.

   "Ruby, hello...." She went to his side and warmly took his hand in hers.
"What are you doing?"

   "Hello Alice, I did not see you go out this morning.  I know this is
sudden, but I am leaving today, I am taking a business trip to Rwambia."

   "Rwambia?  That is so far away.  How long will you be gone?"

   "It will take me at least a week to get there.  I plan to stay there for
two months."

   "Two months!  Why do you have to stay there for so long?"

   "I have to oversee operations of the textile mills there, it is critical
that nothing goes wrong at this early stage.  I'm sorry Alice, I will miss
you.  But just think of how delighted we'll be when we are reunited."

   "You cannot go!  Something very frightening happened on the way back
from university with the machine-parts.  These three strange...  men tried
to attack us!"

   "What?  Did anyone get hurt?"

   "Everyone is all-right.  Bill and Brian stood up to them and they ran
away.  The problem is, I don't think these were ordinary muggers.  Somehow
I get the impression they are related to the secret society."

   On the mention of the secret society Rupbert's jaw dropped and he
nervously folded his arms close to his chest.  "What gives you that
impression?"

   "Well, I never told you about it, but one day...  when I first started
living here, when I was home alone, I saw a strange man on the property
spying on the house."

   "What?  Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

   "I only saw it - him briefly, and I didn't know what to think...  I did
not want to trouble you when it could have been nothing."

   "The men you say you saw spying on the house, and who accosted you
earlier this morning, what were they like?  What makes you think they are
related?"

   "Oh...  umm, I don't know..." she hesitated.  She was hesitant to say
explain that they appeared to be pure-black shadows which dematerialized
into thin air!  "It was the way they were dressed...  they wore all-black.
The man I saw that other day might have been one of the same men I saw
today."

   "It could have been just a coincidence.  A thief or murderer hiding in
the shadows would want to wear all-black."

   "I am still frightened of the secret society, I would feel so unsafe
without you around.  I fear that this is only the beginning.  The secret
society has not forgotten about us.  I understand that this business trip
is important, but perhaps you can find a way to avoid it, perhaps someone
else can go in your place?"

   "No, I definitely must go myself.  If I do not go and meet my Rwambian
associates face-to-face, they will not trust me, it would disempower me. 
That's just the way it is in the business-world." He put his arms around
her to console her.  "Everything is going to be all-right.  Here is an
envelope with plenty of money so that you can purchase anything you need
while I'm gone."

   Afterwards, the two of them went downstairs and Rupbert informed both
Bill and Brian of his travel plans.  Bill seemed nonchalant about his
friend leaving, but bid him a hearty farewell.  Brian, on the other hand,
seemed quite disappointed.  Alice could see the fear in his eyes as he
heard the news, she figured that he was concerned about how Bill would
behave without Rupbert's authority to temper the antagonism between them.

   ****************************

   Later that day, after Rupbert had left, Alice found herself wandering
into the bathroom.  She considered how with Rupbert gone, and the
book-store closed, she had nothing to do except work on building the Alset
machine.  She looked in the mirror over the sink and washed her hands and
face.  She considered that perhaps she could reorganize some things
throughout the house.  She opened the cabinet by the mirror and found
several unlabelled bottles.  She opened a large, dark and opaque bottle and
sniffed at its contents, and determined it must be anti-septic iodine.  As
she closed the bottle, she almost dropped it, such that some of the brown
liquid spilled onto the floor.  Alice sighed and rushed to get a hand towel
from the towel-rack.  She got down on her hands and knees and tried to wipe
up the mess before it spread.  She heard someone moving outside the
bathroom, but she continued to wipe the floor.  Suddenly she felt someone
grab her plaited hair.

   "Ah!" she cried out.  "Stop it!" Someone pulled her hair up rather
painfully, she scrambled at the edge of the sink to lift herself up and
then she clawed at the hand on her head.

   "Hey kitten, don't scratch me just because I got you by the tail..."
That someone spoke in a low murmur as he pressed himself against her
back-side.

   "Bill..." she said, forgetting the awkwardness of her position; the
sound of his voice lit a fire inside of her.

   "I must admit," he continued, "when I asked you if Rupee just poked you
in the cheeks while you were bent over cleaning the floor, I was just
warning you about what I wanted to do to you."

   Alice wanted to turn around and kiss him, embrace him, but he forcefully
pushed her head down with one hand, and her skirt up with the other.  He
fumbled as he hastily pulled down her under-wear, and procured his own
equipment.  Alice waited breathlessly for him to put the latter to work,
but meanwhile listened as he hastily reached for the bar of the soap on the
sink and turned on the faucet for a moment while he got some lather on his
hands.

   He roughly massaged her ass-crack with his slick, wet hands and then
plunged his middle finger inside of her, and worked it in and out, the
gentle wet sounds almost drowned out by her raspy breathing.  "Do you like
that?  Does that feel good?" he asked.

   "Ohhh...  yeah..."

   "Want me to fuck your ass?"

   "Yeah..."

   "What do you want?"

   "Fuck with me with your dick...  in my ass..."

   Finally, he put his hard and ready cock inside of her.  He cupped her
breasts as he slowly thrusted in and out.  Alice grasped at the edge of the
bathroom-sink, tense and overcome with pleasure, "Ughhh!" she moaned.

   Meanwhile, Brian had been downstairs reading a newspaper.  Something in
the newspaper was interesting he and so he cut it out with a pair of
scissors and looked for Alice so that he could show it to her.  He went
upstairs, thinking that Alice could perhaps be reading on her bed.  After
he went up the stairs, he must have thought it sounded like Alice was
getting hurt, for he rushed in there and said, "Are you all-right Alice?",
barely finishing his sentence.

   For a moment he stared at them flabbergasted as he beheld Alice, with
her skirt lifted up to her waist and her white panties pulled down.  She
sat up and had an apologetic expression on her face, and so he instantly
realized it was not a situation for him to gallop in and try to save the
day...  again.

   "Hey Brian, wanna join the party?" Bill affected, gesturing at him with
one and hand and still holding his penis with the other.

   Brian scoffed at his words, and he shook his head as he rushed away.

   Alice sat up straighter and turned to look at Bill.  "Did you *want* him
to see us?"

   "I couldn't care less." he said immediately, and shrugged, but the smirk
on his face told a different tale.  "Don't let bible-boy spoil our fun
now..." He took her arm, drawing her close, and made a hot trail of kisses
from her lips down her neck...

   ***************************

   Brian had immediately left the house and wondered what he should do.  He
went behind the house to the pond and sat down on one of the benches there
where Alice had told him all about her past.  That day was not so long ago
but how much things had changed...  But he did not think very much just
then about what he had just witnessed.  That is how denial works: he simply
thought, *I'm not really surprised that Alice is fucking Bill.  And I don't
mind it at all.  It doesn't mean anything, no point in ruminating about it.
I should focus on how I can improve the relationship between myself and
Alice.  All we ever do is study magic together, I am such a bore!  She had
so much fun with Bill at the pub, the two of us should try to find a place
to socialize and have fun...  try to find a group of like-minded peers to
help us develop spiritually and magically.  I'll show her that newspaper
clipping I cut out, the ad in the classifieds...  it said: 'Meeting
Wednesdays of the Highbury Mirthful Mystics Group / Come join us / To share
and learn of the divine spirit, mysteries, magic, laughter, friendship'. 
Alice would be interested in that!*

   After much ruminating and denial, Brian eventually worked up the courage
to come back into the house.  When he walked through the back-door, which
led to the kitchen, he saw Alice there.

   She seemed to be waiting for him.  "Brian...  are you all-right?" she
asked gently, her hands folded contritely near her heart.

   "Yes, of course I'm all right.  Why wouldn't I be?"

   She stammered, confused for a moment.  He genuinely appeared to be
not-upset-at-all, and unaware of what she was talking about.

   "I was going to look for you," he said.  "I want to talk to you.  I was
thinking about our studies in magic, perhaps we can find a magical club to
join."

   "That's what you want to talk about?" She furrowed her brows.  "Are
there such groups here in Highbury?  Besides the secret society of
course..."

   "Yes, there are.  Look here, I found this advertisement in the
classified section of the Highbury City Press." He handed her the folded up
clipping that he had put into his pocket.

   She took the clipping.  "Mirthful Mystics..." she read.  "That does
sound interesting, but I'm not certain they would be a group we could fit
into.  Often times groups like these are very close-knit and dogmatic."

   "Maybe you are right, but perhaps we would fit in.  If we went to a
meeting we could see for ourselves and find out!"

   "We can go, I suppose," she said slowly.  But then suddenly, she blurted
out: "Brian, it's obvious that we cannot pretend you did not see what you
saw earlier."
Finally, the wall of denial crumbled down.  He turned around, wiped his
forehead and struggled to find words for his heart-wrenching frustration
and jealousy.  "Alice...  why are you like this?" His voice emerged high,
strained, quiet -mostly.  "Why do you feel impelled to give yourself up to
every man?  You know you don't have to, right?  And for Bill...  the

philistine scoundrel!"

   "I'm not giving anything up!" She scoffed, offended at his attitude now.

   "Is it because of what happened to you, what you witnessed when you
spent those years in the sanitarium?"

   Alice laughed.  "Brian...  Those things I told you about, out back by
the pond...  they didn't actually happen." she said condescendingly. 
"Wasn't it obvious it was made up?  Especially, the sex-parts of it anyway.
I just made it all up to see to see your reaction.  You don't understand
me...  You think I am just compensating for some personal or emotional
deficiency if I have sex with a man.  It doesn't even occur to you that
perhaps I am just doing what I want to do, perhaps I am just enjoying
myself.  Obviously, you don't know me as well as you think you do."

   He was dumbfounded, and stood with his jaw hanging.  He thought that
Alice had opened herself up to him during their conversation out back by
the pond, and was crestfallen to learn that much of what she had said was a
lie.  He put his hands in his pockets and looked at the floor for a moment.
"You are right Alice, I really don't know you as well as I thought I did, I
really don't understand..." he said slowly and solemnly.

   "I'm sorry Brian..."

   "Well, here, keep the newspaper clipping." He slapped it down onto the
table, with a forcefulness that contrasted with the painstakingly-measured
tone of his voice.  "Tell me later if you are interested in attending a
meeting with me.  I'll go this Wednesday, with or without you." he said,
lying.

   ***************************

   After going to bed, Alice found herself on the balcony of a castle.  She
looked outside and the sky was sunless and moonless, but still the sky was
lit by twilight, a gentle, bright pink at the horizon that blended into the
deep purple above.  Beyond the deep purple of the sky, twinkling white
stars hung fixed in the sky like studded jewels.  Down below a verdant
forest stretched out all the way to the horizon.

   On the left side of the sky as she could see it, a vibrant rainbow with
all of the colors arched across the sky, with all of the colors, not just
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, but there were also
other colors, indescribable for she had never seen them outside of the
dream.  "It's so beautiful!" she said out-loud.  "I never want to leave
here.  Why would I ever leave here?"

   She turned around and saw that inside was a wide bedroom.  There was a
strange lit fireplace with tall pink and green flames.  The room was
exquisitely designed, like nothing she had ever seen on earth, the floor
had a deep-red carpet with intricate gold embroidery.  The walls were like
marble, but the stone was a light-bluish colour, and had inlaid panels of
green wood and gem-stones of amethyst, sapphire, and emeralds.

   On the bed lay Brian, but he looked different.  Older.  His hair was
long, almost reaching his shoulders and he did not wear glasses.  He looked
stronger, more athletically built.  Or perhaps it was actually a younger
Rupbert.  He lay on the bed so placid and relaxed, still and silent,
staring at the ceiling in reverie, she did not even notice him for a
moment.

   "Are you Brian or Rupbert?" she asked.

   His perfect white smile overtook his face as he turned his attention
towards her.  "Which one do you want me to be?"

   "I'm serious."

   He sat up.  "Why are you bringing up our days in Kingsland?" He stared
off at the wall again.  "Ah, Shaya...  It was scary, but it was exciting,
wasn't it?"

   Her eyes narrowed.  She was puzzled, but could not decide what to ask.
"My name is 'Shaya'?  Of course, my name is Shaya!" She felt so sad all of
a sudden, she felt like crying.  Despite how strange he was, despite the
beautiful scenery, this Rupbert/Brian character was the most familiar and
comforting presence there.  She rushed to the bed and put her arms around
him.  She buried her face into his warm, bare chest.  "I don't understand
what's going on!"

   "It's okay, you are just having a little episode." said another male
voice.  Startled, she turned her head and saw it was actually Bill, who had
just silently come in through the door.  She almost did not recognize him,
but then he took out a cigarette.  He actually looked quite similar, except
gone were the lines of age and weather from his visage.  But he had long,
greying hair in a ponytail.

   As Alice pulled away from Brian/Rupbert, her attention was drawn to her
own bare arms.  "My skin is blue!  How did I not notice this before!" She
felt as if her skin was covered in paint, so strange was this blue color.
She looked at her clothes for the first time.  She wore only a light,
sheer, silver-coloured gown, and noticed the fabric was similar to the
light pajamas the other two wore.

   "Perhaps you should lie down...  Relax." said Brian/Rupbert.

   "Where am I?" she said, reclining onto a pillow.

   "Every is going to be okay.  You are home, and safe.  All that Kingsland
stuff is over." Bill said soothingly, as he stroked her hair.

   "So, am I seeing the future?"

   Brian/Rupbert and Bill looked at each other questioningly, then Bill
spoke: "Maybe she is." He shrugged.
She sat up, she did not want to relax.  "If I am...  this is important.
I should ask something...  It is so good here...  almost too good to be
true.  How do I create this future?  Or is that too general a question...

Why do we look so different?"

   Brian smiled, relishing the opportunity to tell her the good news: "It's
a long story, but basically, here in the future humanity suffers no more
from disease, or aging.  There is no more war, poverty, nor oppression."

   "What?  That sounds ridiculous.  How can that happen, and within my
lifetime?" She shook her head.  "Nevermind- all right, you said it was a
long story.  But why is my skin blue?"

   Brian shrugged.  "I don't know, you're the one who chose that color."

   Alice/Shaya examined the back of her hand, and then shook her head
again. "This is a dream.  But it's so nice, do I have to wake up and go
back?"

   Future-Bill put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.  "Relax, kitten. 
This is the future you will inhabit soon enough.  The future is not set
though, from your point of view.  But if the past-you is seeing this future
than you must be on track."

   She turned to him and gazed into his crystal-blue eyes.  She was so glad
to see him this way.  He looked so much happier and healthier than he did
in her present.  "So, in the future, you still call me 'kitten'?  I'm a
grown woman, why do you always call me 'kitten'?

   "Because..." Bill began, smiling.  "You're so small and quiet and every
time I look at you I want grab you and pet you."

   She put her arms around him and squeezed him tightly, her heart singing.
He looked so different yet he still had his familiar personality and charm.

   She pulled away so she could look into his eyes again for a moment and
then drew him close again for a kiss.  She kissed him deeply, with all the
passion overflowing her heart.  She gently ran her lips down his chin and
nibbled at his throat.

   She looked to Brian/Rupert who had been observing them nonchalantly.  In
the future, he and Bill must get along much better, if that is actually
Brian, she mused.  When she turned to him he took it as his cue to join in.
He ran his hands along her lithe, blue body and kissed her lips and then
her ear, as she turned to kiss Bill again.  He started lifting up the hem
of her gown to remove it, she sat up, and then both men pulled it off
together.

   She reclined backwards onto the bed and pulled Brian down with her.  As
she probed his mouth with her tongue, she reached down and contacted his
burgeoning erection.  He quickly pulled off his own clothes and then went
back to kissing her.  As she caressed his now-exposed shaft he squeezed and
kneaded her smooth breasts.

   Soon she felt Bill's hands caressing her thighs, and then his warm
breath.  She moaned gently as she finally felt the hot wetness of his
tongue exploring her own hot wetness below.

   Brian/Rupbert pulled away and positioned himself behind her head.  But
then he leaned forward and guided his stiff penis into her willing mouth.
As she hungrily worked it into and out of her mouth, his hands returned to
her bouncing boobs.  He gently teased her nipples, giving them a gentle
twist or pull at intervals.  He loved the way she would cry out "ohm!"
suddenly as he did so, her vocalizing muffled by his thrusting manhood.

   But soon she was moaning continuously as Bill began to work his tongue
as fast as he could at the most sensitive part of her clitoris.  He
stopped, and she felt him insert a finger inside of her and thrust it for
only a few strokes, as if only testing it.

   She sat up to reposition herself.  She put the pillows nearby into a
pile and then bent over it, lifting her hips up high.  She could not see
who was doing it, but she felt Bill's fingers as he transferred the
lubrication from one hole to the other.  She gasped as she felt his
fullness relentlessly penetrate her backside.  Before she could barely
accustom herself to the sensation, she felt Brian's penis sliding into her
pussy-hole.  She grasped at the bed-sheets and cried "Ahh!" as they both
thrust inside of her, in and out, each at a separate rhythm.

   Bill moaned and convulsed as he spent his seed inside of her.  As Brian
continued to fuck her, he went back to using his tongue.  The sensation of
Bill's tongue, and Brian's cock, and their hands all over her was too much,
and soon she was climaxing along with the latter.

   As Rupbert/Brian gave his last thrusts, the door of the bedroom opened
and a familiar man walked in.  He was extremely tall, and was dressed as a
butler.  He even held a tray in his hands.  There was something familiar
about his dark, thick eyebrows.  He spoke: "Pardon me for interrupting, I
thought you might want some tea."

   Alice/Shaya sat up and smoothed down her tousled hair.  "I recognize
you...  but from where?  Oh!  Dr.  Pacey Lee.  You are here too?"

   He smiled warmly and began speaking, but somehow it all came out in
unintelligible mumbling....

   ***********************

   When Alice woke up she felt tired, her thoughts were hazy.  She was
surprised to find that Brian was right there next to her.  She marveled at
how vivid the dream had been as he ranted on about something.  She thought:
*Have sex with both Brian and Bill on the same bed, at the same time?  That
would never happen in real life...*

   "You cried out, 'My name is Shaya!'" he said.

   "Oh," Alice said, scratching her head.  "Well people did call me that,
back in Vindhya." she said sleepily.

   "What is your real name?  It makes sense something like 'Alice' would
not be your name."

   "My name is Akshaya Maharajapuram."

   "What a pretty name."

   "Oh...  Thanks." She yawned.

   "I would not have come into your bedroom like this," he whispered.  "But
I also heard a noise outside...  Maybe it is nothing, but I think a saw an
intruder lurking."

   Alice grew more alert at those words.  "Let's go wake up Bill too."

   "He's not even here." Brian frowned.  For the first time he wished Bill
was in the house.

   The two of them snuck out into the backyard.  There they saw several
shadowy yet sparkling sentinels, they barely got a glimpse of them as they
faded into the fog, and soon their attention was turned towards a regular
man.  He was wearing a long hooded coat.  Even though they could not see
his face in the darkness, underneath the hood, it was clear that he was
startled to see them.  He ran off, but only after smashing a bottle against
the house.  They ignored the man, as they saw that the wall immediately
caught on fire.  As the man disappeared into the woods behind the house,
Brian and Alice both noticed there were a few empty flower-pots nearby. 
They were partly filled with water due to the recent rainstorm.  They
rushed, ran, and both threw a pot-full of water at the flames, but only one
would have been necessary.

   The two of them stood silently, catching their breath, and looked at
each other.  "We are so lucky that these pots of water are here.  They just
tried to set fire to the house!" said Brian.

   Alice turned towards the woods, towards the direction where the strange
man had disappeared.  "I have a very bad feeling about this.  I fear that
this is only the beginning."
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