A Master's Ring: Book 01

The delay while Melisa entered the car gave my senses the time to place the eyes on the back of my head. I could have pointed to both pairs but it would have warned them.

The inside of the BMW had a strong new car smell.

"Did you have to walk behind me the whole way?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. I enjoyed the walk down to the car much more having her ass to stare at the whole way. She smiled and shook her head as she pulled the car out of the lot. I smiled out the window; already enjoying how the Siblings I knew expected me to openly appreciate their femininity.

"Yours?" I asked running my hand on the dashboard.

"For now," she said turning to smirk at me.

"Really trying, aren't they," I stated.

"Like I said in Dr. Ryan's office, you need to know what denying yourself a Brother's ring would mean," she said with a shrug.

I sat back and enjoyed the ride.

She stopped in front of the hotel and handed the keys to the valet as she stepped out. She walked around the car, took my hand and led me to the dining area. The host gave us a table next to the window, not much to see but more pleasant than the inner tables.

I ordered a simple breakfast.

"Are you nervous?" Melisa asked me.

"Not really," I said.

"How come?"

"This has all been planned, right?"

She nodded.

"The Brothers have been waiting for the right time for years. They would have picked up a major fault in me a long time ago."

She smiled.

"You've tested me," I continued. "How many men would have tried for more considering what you've been doing? You know I'm one of them. This is the easy part, Melisa. It's just a question of showing them that reality is what they already know it is."

"You don't think you'll fail here?" she asked.

"No."

She just stared at me.

"No matter what happens here, I've passed the biggest obstacle between a black ring and me."

"What was that?" she asked.

"You want me, not as Melisa Bryar, but as a woman who wear a white ring. You've never thought of me as anything other than one of them. I've been thinking about how you treated me the last two years. It's gotten stronger, hasn't it?"

She turned her head to stare out the window.

"You, Janet, even Doris Alex; three Siblings that like me according to you and that means three Siblings that want me by your conception of the world. A dominant doesn't have to take anything from a submissive."

I reached to turn her head so her eyes looked into mine.

"You've waited a long time for this, Melisa. I'm not going to fail you," I whispered.

The waiter arrived to drop off breakfast. It was one of the best breakfasts I ever ate. It had nothing to do with the food; Melisa's smile made everything seem brighter. We finished our food in silence, and I enjoyed our coffee in the same quiet.

At five minutes to nine, Melisa looked at her watch and got up saying "It's time, David."

I followed her out of the restaurant. I did not wonder at her not having paid; they carefully choreographed every step.

She got into the elevator and pressed the button for the 7th floor. I leaned back against the elevator, smiling; I really was not nervous. I found that amusing to some degree, and wondered if I should worry about my confidence.

The elevator stopped.

Melisa got out and turned to the right. She walked to the last door of the hallway, opened it and stood back.

"I'll be called when you're done. If there's time, I'll wait with you for the next one." she told me.

She stopped me as I passed her. I looked down at her, questioning with my eyes. She stood on tiptoes to give me a small kiss on the lips. She let go and walked past me to the elevator. I watched her before entering the lion's den.

My interviewee was leaning back against the windows opposite the door with her hands behind her.

She was amazing: tall, blonde, and athletically trim.

I expected the blue eyes as I got closer, but their brilliance surprised me. She stared at me as I approached her.

I could not have made her more beautiful, except...

"So do I call you Sister?" I said extending my hand.

She smiled for a second and then broke into laughter. She took my hand and drew me into a hug. She motioned with her left hand to a couch. The black-stoned ring of a Brother was prominent on her ring finger.

"You expected this,"" she said sitting down across from me. "How?"

"The Sibling ring on Melisa's hand," I said. "There's a female kneeling with wrists bound, but the other side has a bound male. I took it to mean either sex could wear it. The obvious leap from that is Sisters or homosexual Brothers. I liked the idea of both. Professor Ryan and Melisa also had hesitations and said people a couple of times."

She smiled like I was a little brother doing her proud.

"The choice is obvious then; the perfect example of my standard for attractive, even a little unreachable. Tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and an athletic body. Can I look beyond the shell to see the equal?"

"And can you?" she asked.

I stared at her looking inside myself as I studied her.

"You are beautiful," I answered, "but not attractive. As if I had just been told me you were my sister."

"Incest is best," she said with raised eyebrows.

"I want the Siblings I know. You... I don't know... It's like I was just told you're a lesbian. There's just nothing for me to mentally latch onto," I said simply.

"Not even a little attractive," she pined in humor.

"I am hoping you have a twin sister who isn't quite as brotherly, more siblingish so to speak," I said with a laugh and she laughed with me.

"Actually, I do have a little sister. I think she's better looking, and she is in Sibling training," she said when our laughter passed.

"Better looking?" I asked doubtfully.

She nodded hard so I had to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Then meeting her would be bad," I said with another quick laugh.

"That's unfortunate, David. A Brother in residence makes a college very attractive to Siblings picking where to go to continue their education. We were hoping you would welcome Liz with open arms," she said with a smile of mischief on her face.

"As a Brother, I have a feeling I would be more willing to do the necessary bad things," I deadpanned.

She nodded sagely.

I guessed what the test would be, but I was still amazed that as beautiful as she was, I really did not find her attractive. I wanted time to think about that newly discovered facet of my personality.

We sat there for a minute measuring each other, as if we were long lost family members that had just met. I was sure I had passed my first interview.

"Even though you seem to know what's coming, I guess you must have questions."

"I have a few guesses about what's coming, but I'm not sure about them," I replied.

"Ohh?" she said questioningly.

"The order of the interviews." I explained.

"What are your guesses?"

"Well, you were the obvious one."

"And the next?" she asked.

"Male, black, homosexual," I stated crisply.

"But why?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The racial choice is easy. A man of directly opposite sexual preference, probably as expressive in his homosexuality as I am private in mine. You stack prejudice on prejudice and see if society has imprinted me with them."

She got up to and walked to the window.

"And the next one?" she asked me.

"That one is tough," I replied standing up to walk around the room. "If this is to test my reactions to different Brothers, I would pick someone almost exactly like me but set off some classic male insecurities. Latin but better looking than me: taller, more attractive body type. An extrovert pitted against my introverted nature. Everything and anything that would make me look at him as unfavorable competition and react in that fashion."

I gave a short laugh.

"Hell, I'd make him a Spaniard instead of from this continent. Go for culture bias too."

I stood next to her and leaned against the window.

She turned to look at me, and started laughing.

"Okay, let's go for the full passing grade," she said through the laugh. "Three interviews on Saturday, four on Sunday; who gets thrown at you tomorrow?"

"That's easy, the tradionalists; all of them old with a touch of stodgy. Each one guaranteed to have annoyingly different views of the world than a younger man," I replied jokingly.

"How do you that?" she asked me wonderingly.

I walked over to the couch, leaned back before replying.

"Would you believe, I'm psychic."

She raised an eyebrow and sat down across from me.

"No, seriously."

I surprised myself by telling her the truth.

"Foster parents come in all shapes and perversities. You have to know immediately if it's going to be beatings or sleeping lightly. You can live with the beatings, but you have to know when to smash a few valuables to get them to kick you out or that you need to run the first chance you get and every time they put you back in the same house."

She was quietly staring at me.

"I learned to watch people. Everything made sense once I understood the underlying system or motivations," I said to her. "Very rarely are there truly disparate actions. You want me, but there's a lot to protect; thousands of Siblings, close to two thousand Brothers you expect me to count as closer than blood."

I stared at her for a minute.

"Liz is your baby sister, and you're handing her over on a silver platter. How careful would I be in that situation? How careful would I be if I were able to choose my own brother or sister? You have a file on me but that would not be enough. You need to see me in action, that's what Melisa is for. You have to hit me from unexpected sides; that's what these interviews are for. Melisa, Janet even Doris Alex could tell you wanted to know though; there couldn't be many other reasons for the interviews. After that..."

I shrugged and she raised the eyebrow again.

"The tests seem obvious," I continued.

"But we didn't surprise you," she said simply.

"It's just as good," I said.

"Really?"

"The surprise would have been if I didn't figure it out, wouldn't it?"

"But you know the answers, David," she said.

"It doesn't matter; Brothers can't like surprises; I don't. You expected this, at least from me. I know the answers, but I'm either a really good actor, or my reactions are exactly what you want them to be anyway."

"And are you a good actor?" she asked me seriously.

I did not answer. She smiled at me.

I asked if there was another name for black ring wearers than Brothers.

"No."

"The women don't mind?" I asked.

"Some do, but it's an old society. We keep the name Brothers because of the tradition and in honor of those that built the Brotherhood," she replied. "Most Siblings call us Sisters anyway. Brother is a title we use between us now. Plus female Brothers that don't like the name still have to admit that the Brotherhood was more than a few centuries ahead of it's time in accepting women as equals."

She smiled proudly.

"The first female Brother accepted a ring close to a thousand years ago. She had full Brother rights. Supposedly, the male Brothers found it amusing to recruit male Siblings and present them to her as gifts. By the time she died, there were a significant number of female Brothers."

I nodded to myself.

"Why wasn't I approached sooner?" I asked seriously. "It seems you've wasted a couple of years. I know Melisa thinks that."

"We were not the only ones interested in you," she admitted honestly. "You possess a violent skill set considered a high commodity among certain US agencies. We had to bury you to make sure no one else tried to recruit you."

"How did you manage that?"

"Reports were altered to reflect the truth of what happened on your last official mission. The truth in black and white is not very pretty, and the three month detachment from your team at the end of your career did not reflect well either. Nobody on that mission answers any questions without having stars waved in their face. Your military psychological profile was also changed to flag you as dangerously capable of going rogue. After that, it's just a matter of waiting until another class of young, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed killers graduated from military service."

"Killers?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. She did not answer but maintained the eye contact.

"Why did you put the tails on me?" I asked.

She nodded.

"We questioned whether you would know," she said softly. "The military records state that your measurable senses test well beyond normal capabilities."

"I know there's been at least two people following me since I left Professor Ryan's office yesterday."

"Why haven't you done something about it?" she asked.

"They either belonged to you, or to someone that knows about you? Either way, they are not important for now," I stated carefully.

She nodded again.

"They belong to us, but are borrowed from other... never mind, that's irrelevant for now. They are here to make sure you don't try to expose us," she said.

"That has happened before?" I asked curiously.

"Would you take the chance?" she asked.

I shook my head.

I did not need to know the consequences of trying to expose the Brotherhood. Professor Ryan was not the kind of wordsmith that threw a word like purge around lightly.

"You're treating me differently than other Brother candidates," I said.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Professor Ryan said you usually study a Brother candidate for two years. You isolate them for those two years, don't you?"

She nodded.

"Why not me?"

"You require special handling."

I waited silently. She watched me for a couple of minutes and sighed.

"You're right," she said. "Any other candidate would be isolated and after two years interviewed by any seven available Brothers. We can't do that so the interviews serve a different purpose in your case."

I nodded and stood up to look out the window.

"We would prefer not to tell you why yet, David. When the time comes though, I give you my word you will be given a choice."

"You think I'll choose what you want, don't you?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied honestly.

"Even if you told me everything now, you believe I would make the same choice."

"Yes, David," she said with finality. "You, of any Brother candidate, would not disappoint us."

I nodded and sat down across from her again.

"It's my turn to ask the questions," she said with a vicious smile.

=====Chapter 6=====

I went through the military's most brutal evasion, capture, resistance and escape training, but Samantha's interrogation techniques were without peer. She wrung me out until I resorted to skimming the truth with each question she asked. It did not stop her, but I thought if she were on the clock, it would delay her invasion of my mind. Samantha smiled as if she had enjoyed herself profusely when the time came to end our discussion.

The two other interviews went along the lines that I laid out for my newfound sister.

Robert was older than I expected and one of the Brotherhood's historians. We discussed a number of historical figures that were Brothers. The number of Siblings who had contributed to society was astounding. The Brothers dropped completely out of public life around McCarthyism; it was for all intents and purposes another purge and a deeper entrenching. The Brotherhood was probably well served by the renewed vigilance in the US considering Hoover and the technological changes in monitoring people. Robert liked to talk, and I liked to listen to people who knew what they were talking about.

I smiled outside his door. It had been an elegant dance of getting what he wanted by asking my opinion on different people. He made it easier to be honest than Samantha with his charm and wit. I had a more difficult time holding him at bay. I never met someone quite as flamboyantly homosexual as Robert, and it was an experience even if most of it was an act on his part.

Roderigo was a pain in the ass. I knew for a fact that I was an asshole, and Roderigo was very nearly the exact same kind of asshole. We spent a good three hours like pitbulls separated only by the bars of civility. He was a woman's dream: tall, Mediterranean complexion, handsome, and sweated confidence. In the end, just the fact that I would not bend forced respect out of him.

Melissa was waiting for me outside his door. She looked past me and smiled. I hoped it was not at the sight of Roderigo.

I even disliked his fucking name.

We ate a quiet dinner in the hotel restaurant. I barely noticed the food as more than a replenishment of my reserves. The Brothers worked together to drain me, but they could not overcome the years of training in foster homes and the military. They were not cruel and without a real desire to do damage. The twenty-four years of institutional training was enough to protect the parts of myself that had always been private.

I felt the low thrum of Melissa's satisfaction as she drove us home. I smiled as her emotions warmed me. I do not know what it was, but her happiness made the last of the day's stress dissipitate.

She got out of the elevator at her floor and turned around. I gave her a look of confusion. She put her hand on the elevator to keep it open.

"Do you think Roderigo's an asshole?" she asked me seriously.

My eyes widened but I managed to nod.

"So do I," she said with a firm nod. She shrugged and moved away from the elevator.

I laughed all the way to my floor.

I walked into the floor lounge hoping she would be coming upstairs as soon as she changed. I did not talk to my floormates very often so the strange looks the people in the lounge gave me were confusing. My social group consisted mostly of Melisa's sorority since they did a fair job of isolating me in classes. I did not remember a single class without either Melisa or one of her sorority sisters. Few girls were going to challenge any of the sisters for a man's attention. I smiled remembering my two logic classes with Doris Alex. It took one kiss on the cheek accompanied by a caress to send a clearly received signal that I was off-limits.

Doris Alex and I had signed up for a formal logic seminar the next semester. I was looking forward to it, but her Sibling status added a whole new dimension. I wondered how long it would be before I could have the night with Doris Alex that every heterosexual/bisexual male that knew her dreamed of.

I studied the people in the lounge carefully to see if something was wrong. I shrugged figuring my roommate opened his mouth about Melisa or someone saw her coming out of my room wearing a towel. Everyone knew there was little chance Melisa would date a member of my roommate's fraternity so if they saw her like that I would be the obvious culprit.

I was right and wrong.

People knew that our relationship had changed, but the real reason for the looks was that Janet waited for me by the door to my room.

She was eminently noticeable in very tight black shorts and a white tummy t-shirt. I shook my head knowing my floormates were wondering how I could have gotten so lucky.

Janet's clothing positively screamed she wanted male type attention.

I leaned against my door and looked down at her. She smiled so sexily that I had to step into her space. She tilted her head back, and I leaned down for a kiss. It overwhelmed both of us. I drove my tongue into her mouth and she tried to wrap hers around it. We breathed harshly as the tide threatened to drag us down. I put my hands in her hair and pushed her head back to separate our lips. She groaned and pressed her lower body against my groin to tempt me to kiss her again. I looked down into her brown eyes.

I let her hair go and took a step back. I leaned against the door again.