Chapter 5

	I woke up when Melisa got out of bed. The alarm clock blinked 6:30 am at me. I turned to watch Melisa walk naked to the closet. Watching her do anything naked was enjoyable. I thought of insisting she do homework naked in my room, maybe Doris Alex could tutor her.

	Melisa looked over her shoulder smiling as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body. She walked back and leaned against the bed. I did not bother to look if my roommate, who stumbled in drunkenly at around 2 am, was awake and watching. Melisa wanted him to see us together; it was not quite trumpeting the change in our relationship around campus but fairly close.

	"I'm going to shower and get dressed," she told me. "You should get ready."

	"Should I wear anything special?"

	"Casual," she said, gathering up her t-shirt and shorts. "I don't know how long the interviews will take so you should be comfortable."

	She gave me a kiss on the neck and ran her hand down my chest to the edge of my underwear. She kissed me again before leaving. Melisa lived in the building so I did not think anything of her walking around the better part of naked.

	I stretched and yawned trying to clear the cobwebs and sexual frustration. The three Siblings had me surfing a wave of physical desire. It was uncomfortable but not unpleasant. I got out of the bed and walked over to the closet. I pulled a towel off the top shelf after picking out jeans and tan summer shirt. Melisa's sorting job made it easier. She had even made a pile at the bottom of the closet I was sure were the things she thought I should not wear again. I tossed the clothes on the bed and went to the drawer set; underwear joined the clothing on the bed.

	I made the shower extremely cold, uncomfortable enough to wake me up and push away the last of the lethargy. My roommate made some grumbling noises when I walked back in. He would head out immediately after getting up. His mom and dad wanted him home every weekend as long as they were footing the bills.

	I finished dressing and stood at the window, staring out across the river into the next town.

	Waiting.

						----

	Melisa walked in at 7:30. She had chosen a tan business suit; I had to consider if was possible she could read my mind. She smiled widely at my choice of shirt, probably placed in a position I would be likely to choose it.

	I liked women in suits. It was a pleasure to size them up and wonder if they were the type to wear some frilly, tiny lingerie underneath or practical, color-coordinated bra and panties. Prior to the last couple of days, I had Melisa pegged for the color-coordinated type. The options had altered; the sexy lingerie was the practical choice over wearing nothing underneath.

	She walked over and checked to make sure I was presentable. She reached up to kiss my neck. Melisa did that instead of the short, quick kisses other women used; I preferred it. She proceeded to straighten out imagined wrinkles or bad positioning in my clothing, which I bore in silence.

	"Breakfast?" she asked.

	"The cafeteria isn't open this early on a weekend."

	"The Ramada will be," she said. "That way we can't be late, and you'll have a chance to get comfortable in the surroundings."

	"I'm not uncomfortable," I replied. She raised a blonde eyebrow at me. "Not that type of uncomfortable, anyway."

	She smiled and kissed my neck again. I was not uncomfortable with my choice. I put a gun to an officer's head and did not question the choice. In both situations, the alternative was clear--death. Melisa might not have understood, but I had no doubts of the consequences if seven Brothers did not elect to give me the black ring.

	She led the way to the parking lot, walked to a black BMW, and opened the passenger door for me. I appreciated the car before I got in. The delay before Melisa entered the car gave me time to place the eyes watching me. I could have pointed to both pairs.

	"Did you have to walk behind me the whole way?" Melisa asked, not unpleased that I had.

	"Yes," I replied. She shook her head at me as she pulled the car out of the lot. I smiled out the window; the Siblings expected me to openly appreciate their femininity.

	"Yours?" I asked running my hand on the dashboard. The distinct smell of new car enveloped us.

	"For now," she said turning to give me a smile.

	"Really trying, aren't they?"

	"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 smooth ride to my future, or not, they had provided me. She stopped in front of the hotel and handed the keys to the valet. She walked around the car, took my hand, and led me to the dining area. The host gave us a table by the windows where I ordered a simple breakfast.

	"Are you nervous?" Melisa asked.

	"No."

	"How come?"

	"This has all been planned, right?" She nodded. "The Brothers have been waiting for the right time for years. They would have noticed a major fault long ago."

	She smiled.

	"You've tested me, Melisa," I said. "How many men would have tried for more considering what you've done? To you, I am one of them. This is the easy part, just showing them reality isn't an illusion."

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

	"No," I replied. She stared at me. "No matter what happens here, I've passed the biggest obstacle on this stage."

	"What was that?" she asked.

	"You want me, as a Sibling and not Melisa Bryar, the co-ed, finally hooking up with the guy she hung out with during her freshman year. I have always been one of them in your mind. I've been thinking about the last two years; what you feel, it's gotten stronger, hasn't it?"

	She turned to stare out the window.

	"You, Janet, even Doris Alex, though it took some thought to recognize her signs: three Siblings who want me. How is that Professor Ryan put it... in the 'vernacular of the civilized world', the submissives are already treating me like the dominant." I reached out to turn her head so her eyes looked into mine, "You've waited years, Melisa. I'm not going to fail you."

	It was among the best breakfasts I ever ate. Nothing to do with the food; Melisa's smile made everything better than it had been since Jason's death.

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

	I followed her out of the restaurant. We did not pay, but no one complained. Each step had been carefully choreographed. Melisa got into the elevator and pressed the button for the seventh floor.

	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. I looked down at her, questioning. She kissed my neck before walking to the elevator. I watched her before entering the lion's den.

	The woman leaned against the windows opposite the door with hands behind her back. She was stunning: tall, blonde, and athletically trim. I expected the blue eyes, but their brilliance was amazing. She stared at me as I approached; I could not have made her more beautiful.

	Except...

	"Do I call you, Sister?" I asked extending a hand. She smiled for a second before laughing. Taking my hand, she pulled me into a hug. She motioned 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. "The man on the ring meant male Siblings. The obvious leap is homosexual Brothers or Sisters. I liked the idea of both. Professor Ryan and Melisa also hesitated, stressing certain words in their explanations; they wanted me to fall into the trap of thinking of Brothers as males."

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

	"The test and choice are obvious at that point. A shining example of my preferences in women: blonde, blue-eyed, an athletic body, and even the slight air of unreachable. Could 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 very beautiful," I answered, "but not attractive. As if I had just been told, you're my sister."

	"Incest is best," she said, the corner of her lip turned up slightly.

	"The Siblings I know, I want to... possess them. You, I don't know. The first words out of your mouth might as well have been, 'I'm a lesbian.' There is nothing for me to mentally latch onto."

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

	"I am hoping you have a twin sister who isn't quite as brotherly, more sibling-like, so to speak," I said with a laugh. She laughed with me.

	"Actually, I have a baby sister, a junior in high school. I think she's better looking, and she happens to be in Sibling training," she said.

	"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."

	"That's a rather unfortunate way of putting it, David. A Brother in residence makes a college extremely attractive to young Siblings. We were hoping you would welcome Liz with open arms," she said with a smile of mischief.

	"As a Brother, I have a feeling I would be willing to do the necessary bad things," I deadpanned to which she nodded sagely. We sat measuring each other for a minute, long lost family members who had just met.

 	I had passed my first interview.

	"You seem to know what's coming, but you must have questions," she said finally,

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

	"Ohh?"

	"The order of the interviews." I explained.

	"What are your guesses?"

	"You were the obvious one."

	"And the next?" she asked.

	"Male, black, homosexual," I stated.

	"But why?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

	"The racial choice is easy. A man of directly opposite sexual preference, as flamboyant as I am private about my sexuality. Stack prejudice on prejudice to see if I've accepted society's imprint of them."

	She got up to and walked to the window, "And the next one?"

	"That one is tougher," I replied standing up to walk around the room. "If the objective is to test my reactions to different Brothers, I would pick someone almost exactly like me but set off some classic male insecurities. A better-looking Latin male: taller, a physically more attractive genotype, an extrovert. Anything which could make me look at him as unfavorable competition."

	I let out a short laugh, "Hell, I'd make him a Spaniard and go for culture bias too."

	I stood next to her and leaned against the window. She turned to look at me before laughing freely.

	"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?"

	"The traditionalists; old, somewhat stodgy. Each one guaranteed to have annoyingly different views of the world than a younger man," I replied.

	"How do you that?" she asked.

	I walked over to the couch, leaned back before replying, "Would you believe I'm psychic?"

	She smirked and sat down across from me, "No, seriously."

	I surprised myself by telling her the truth, "Foster parents come in all shapes and perversities. I had to know right away if it was going to be beatings or sleeping lightly. The beatings were tolerable, the other stuff required immediate action if I wanted to make it out of those houses."

	She quietly stared at me.

	"I learned to watch people. Things made more sense once I understood the underlying system or motivations," I said. "Disparate actions are actually rare. There is a lot for you to protect: thousands of Siblings, close to two thousand Brothers whom you expect me to count as closer than blood."

	I stared at her for a minute, "Liz is your baby sister, yet you'd hand her over on a silver platter. How careful would I be with my little sister? How careful would I be if I were given the opportunity to choose my brother or sister? You have a file on me, but it would not be enough. Melisa, Janet even Doris Alex could tell you everything you wanted to know though; there couldn't be any other reasons for the interviews, except to hit me from unexpected sides. After that..."

	She raised the eyebrow again.
	
	"The tests seem obvious after that," I finished.
	
	"But we didn't surprise you."

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

	"Really?"

	"You've spent a lot of time studying me; the surprise would have been if I didn't figure it out."
	
	"But you know the answers, David," she said.
	
	"It doesn't really matter, does it? Brothers can't like surprises; I certainly 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."

	"And are you a good actor?" she asked. I did not respond.
	
	After awhile, I asked if there was another name for black ring wearers than Brothers.
	
	"No."
	
	"The women don't mind?" I asked.
	
	"Siblings tend to call us Sisters," she said. "Brothers accepted women as equals at a time most considered us property. The first female Brother was given a black ring close to a thousand years ago. Supposedly, Brothers found it amusing to recruit male Siblings and present them to her as gifts. I would consider being hung up on an honorific, which clearly deserves honoring, to be a character flaw."
	
	I nodded.
	
	"Why wasn't I approached sooner?" I asked. "It seems you've wasted a couple of years; Melisa probably thinks so."
	
	"We were not the only ones interested in you," she admitted. "You possess a violent skill set considered a high commodity in certain 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. In black and white, the truth is not very pretty, and the three month detachment from your team at the end of your military career did not reflect well either. A flag was added to your psych profile; seems you're dangerously capable of turning rogue. After that, it was a matter of waiting until the military machine spit out another class of young, bushy-tailed killers."
	
	"Killers?" I asked. She did not answer but maintained the eye contact. "Why did you put the tails on me?"
	
	She nodded, "We questioned whether you would know. The military records state that your measurable senses test beyond normal capabilities."
	
	"There have been at least two people following me."

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

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

	"They belong to us but are borrowed from other... 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 out of curiosity.

	"Would you take the chance?"

	I shook my head slowly. I did not need to be told the consequences of trying to expose the Brotherhood. Professor Ryan was not the kind of wordsmith who threw a word like purge around lightly.

	"You're treating me differently than other Brother candidates," I said. The eyebrow went up again. "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, David." She watched me for a couple of minutes and sighed. "You're right! Any other candidate would be isolated and after two years interviewed by any seven available Brothers. We cannot do that with you so the interviews must serve a different purpose."

	I nodded and stood up to look out the window.

	"We would prefer not to tell you why yet, David. When the time comes, 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."

	"I doubt it as much as Melisa doubts you deserve a Brother's ring," she said with finality. I nodded and sat down across from her again.

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

						-----
	
	Samantha could have taught the military's best evasion, capture, resistance and escape instructors a few things about interrogation. I resorted to skimming the truth; if she were on the clock, she would have to pick the information she wanted most. She smiled and nodded at my tactic. Most of her questions were about my earliest memories and Jason.

	The remaining interviews went along the lines of my guesses.

	Robert was older than I expected and avid student of the Brotherhood's history. We discussed a number of Brothers who made it into the world's historical texts. The number of Siblings who contributed to the world was astounding. The Brothers dropped completely out of public life around the time of McCarthyism. The Brotherhood was probably served well by the renewed vigilance in the US considering Hoover and the technological changes in monitoring people. Robert liked to talk, and I enjoyed listening to people who knew what they were talking about.

	I smiled outside his door. He used a different technique than Samantha, asking my opinion on different things, but he made his interrogation more tolerable with charm and wit.

	Roderigo was annoying. I was an asshole, and he exuded the same character strength. The next three hours passed with the barking of one pitbull and the other waiting for the fence between them to come down. He was a heterosexual woman's dream: tall, Mediterranean complexion, handsome, and carried himself with a distinct air of confidence.
	
	Melisa was waiting outside the door when I stepped out; she smiled at Roderigo over my shoulder. I barely tasted the food at dinner. The Brothers had worked together to drain me, but without the desire to damage, they could not overcome the training of foster homes and the military.

	Melissa's body almost hummed with satisfaction as she drove to the dorm. Her obvious happiness helped bring me down from the fight reaction the interviews triggered. She got out of the elevator at her floor and turned around. I had been expecting her company for a little longer. She put her hand on the elevator to keep it open.

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

	"Definitely."

	"So do I," she said with a firm nod and let the doors close. I laughed all the way to my floor.

	I got off the elevator thinking Melisa probably wanted to change before she came upstairs. I rarely spoke to anyone so the strange looks the people in the lounge gave were confusing.

	My social contacts consisted almost completely of Melisa's sorority since they did a fair job of isolating me in classes. I did not remember a single class without Melisa or one of her sorority sisters. Few girls could or would compete for a man's attention against a sister. Doris Alex had made that perfectly clear in the two logic classes she had with me. A kiss on the cheek accompanied by a surprising caress along my arm sent a clearly received message that I was off-limits. Doris Alex and I had signed up for a formal logic seminar the next semester. I had been looking forward to it, but her Sibling status added a whole new dimension. I wondered what the appropriate waiting time was before I could have the night with Doris Alex that was every straight male student's dream.

	I studied the people in the lounge to see if something was wrong. I shrugged, figuring either my roommate opened his mouth about Melisa or someone saw her coming out of room wearing a towel. There was no chance Melisa would date a member of my roommate's fraternity so I was the obvious culprit.
	
	The campus rumor mill would eventually grind with the activity on my bed, but Siblings wanted to feed it had plenty of grist.

	Janet had made sure no one would fail to notice her waiting by my door. The tight black shorts and tummy t-shirt screamed her desire for male-type attention. I leaned against my door and looked down at her. She smiled so sexily I had to step into her space. She tilted her head back and leaned towards me. The kiss came close to overwhelming us. I drove my tongue into her mouth; she tried to wrap hers around it. We breathed harshly as the tide threatened us. I grabbed fistfuls of her hair and pulled her head back to separate our lips. She groaned and pressed her lower body against my groin trying to tempt me into another kiss. I looked deep into her brown eyes before letting her go and stepping back.

	"Melisa says you need to get used to sleeping with different Siblings," she whispered after catching her breath. "With a young Brother in residence, more Siblings will want to attend school here. We're going to spread you pretty thin."

	I opened the door to let us in. She jumped up on the bed and stared at me.

	"Professor Ryan has been here for years," I pointed out.

	"Jeremy is a professor."

	"I will be one eventually," I said walking to the window.

	"Jeremy's books put him in the public eye. He is also one of the most popular professors on campus," she said. "You really can't understand yet, David, the standard Brother/Sibling relationship is extremely sexual. It would not be hard to figure out he was having affairs with multiple students if he were the focus of Siblings on campus."

	"I will have the same problem eventually."

	"Not for years; not to mention, we can mitigate the attention, just not as easily with Jeremy," she stated. "He also lives hours away, only commuting in a few days a week. You would live here... sleep here. Melisa is right; there are reasons you need to get used to lots of different Siblings in your bed, not the least of which is Sibling/Sibling relationships."

	I gave her a look of avid curiosity. She smiled sexily and shrugged. I wanted her to continue, but it was not yet time to dig further.

	"Can I ask you for something, David?" Her voice dropped down to a whisper.

	I nodded.

	"The first time we have sex... fuck me like you would have after the fight." Her eyes drew me into her. "Don't think about me or what might make me come. You fought for me, take what you won."

	My hard-on ached from the pressure of her words and the look in her eyes as she spoke them.
	
	"I didn't see the beginning of it. My friend said you slapped him and when he swung, you threw him through the bus window. I saw the rest." Her nipples looked painfully hard pressing against her t-shirt. "I've never wanted anyone who wasn't a Brother, but it didn't feel wrong. I wanted you to throw me down right there and fuck me so hard I'd still feel it a week later."

	I looked away from her for a second. I adjusted myself before turning back. She was staring at me hungrily.

	"Take your clothes off." If there had ever been a point of no return, my words put me beyond it.

	Janet managed a smile, peaceful and sexy at the same time. She stood on the bed and kicked her sneakers off. She turned around so her back was to me and wiggled her shorts down. She wore purple panties, a triangle at the top of her ass, which thinned into a thong lost between her asscheeks. She spun around; the front of her panties barely reached two inches above her pussy. She wiggled more vigorously; the t-shirt went flying. Janet's breasts were mouth-watering.

	"The panties?" she asked huskily. When I shook my head, she sat down.

	She looked at my pants. I moved towards her; she spread her legs so I could stand between them. I pulled her to the edge of the bed until we touched. The adjustments I made to the bed at the beginning of the school year placed her crotch at my stomach. She leaned forward and down to kiss me. I hooked my thumbs on her panties.

	She broke the kiss and looked at me. "One of my high school teachers was a Sibling. There was something different about her--she seemed so happy. I watched her for months, and one day, I followed her home. Her crest Brother caught me spying on them. He knew."

	She put her hands on my face and kissed me gently.

	"I'm a Sibling, David. Everything I want to happen, every fantasy I've had about you is going to come true. You're going to fuck me on the floor of that bus. I don't give shit that Melisa slept in your arms last night, and she is sleeping like a baby because she knows I'm with you."

	I put my forehead on her chest. I closed my eyes so the vision of her luscious breasts a couple of inches from my mouth would not make me do something which was a really good idea but not quite yet. The rings were important to Siblings, maybe more so than Brothers.

	Janet put her chin on top of my head; we stayed in that position for a while. Melisa sent her to me for a very important reason. Society taught two people in a relationship. I did not know how Melisa related to other Siblings, but she needed me to understand it would never be just the two of us. Whatever my thoughts of other Siblings had been, Melisa handing me off to Janet made it far more real.

	Janet pulled on my shirt. I stepped back and took my clothing off. She made room for me on the bed. I did not want to be on the bed, I wanted to be on top of Janet. I looked at her; I liked the smoothness of Janet's curves. I wanted to lick and kiss every part of her, but I needed more time, a weekend might have been enough. I guided Janet to her back. I hopped on the bed and moved between her legs. She wrapped them around me and pulled me down for a kiss.

	It took a while for us to get our fill.

	I turned on my back, dragging her on top of me. It gave me access to her ass, and I filled my hands with it. I explored her behind as we continued kissing. I pulled on her panties, and she protested a little but was not serious. I got on top of her again and pulled them down her legs. I lay down beside her and turned her so I could push my dick against her ass. She lifted a leg, and I guided my dick to her pussylips.

	"David, no!" she said with a groan. "Melisa is your First."

	"Ssshhh," I whispered in her ear. She moaned as my dick split her lips. I pushed my hips forward and rubbed her clit with my crown. She dug her nails into my hip. I moved forward and back, stroking her clit. She exposed her neck to my lips.

	Janet was right, Melisa would be the first Sibling to welcome me to the Brotherhood, but it did not mean Janet had to go to sleep frustrated. I rubbed her clit with my dick some more. She bent her knees to give me free access to her pussy. I kissed her neck and shoulder as I continued the moving against her.

	She put her hand on my dick and pressed it against her pussy. She moved her hips to jump off the edge of her pleasure. She gasped as her body wet my dick. Finally, she let me go with a sigh.

	I liked Janet's body: the roundness of her curves, the extra weight of her feminine body parts. Unlike Melisa, I had fantasies about Janet. I reached down and grabbed an asscheek in each hand. I spread her open and pulled back. My dick followed the natural path of her body. I raised my hips until the tip of my dick touched her anus.

	"Oh my God!" she gasped when I pushed against it. "You're too big, David. You can't do that."

	I took a hand off her ass and grabbed her hair. I pulled her head back hard.

	"What did you just say, Janet?" She moved her hips back, almost penetrating her ass on my shaft. Her actions belied the words she had spoken; whatever pain might come of it, Janet wanted me however I wanted her.

	"You're going to remember telling me I can't do something, Janet," I whispered. "When I have a ring that says you're mine, I'm going to fuck your ass once a week for telling me I can't."

	She pushed hard against me, wanting me inside her. When I let go of her ass, her cheeks trapped my dick between them. She grabbed my arm and hugged herself with it.
	
	I spent a long time thinking about where the voice and words I used on Janet had come from. I had to consider whether Janet had meant to draw them from me.

					-----

	I was awake when Melisa walked in wearing a blue business suit. She brought a heavier breakfast than the day before.

	Janet's restlessness woke me early in the morning. She apologized but neither of us could go back to sleep. We lay together and watched the arrival of daylight through my window. She dragged me into the women's bathroom and gave me a thorough shower. Her diligence to make sure I was sparkling clean impressed me. Janet looked absolutely incredible wet, which distracted from my efforts to make her body shine. For the second morning in a row, a woman left my room wearing only a towel.

	Melisa stared out the window while I ate. Whatever I might have said to her at the restaurant, she had waited a long time to open her eyes on the morning I would receive a Brother's ring. Ten years were words to me; Melisa lived each day waiting.

	The silence continued on the way to the Ramada. The eyes were on me the entire time. Melisa walked in and gestured to the elevator bank. She pressed the button for the top floor. We watched the numbers climb as the elevator brought me closer and closer to a destiny I never knew existed. When the elevator opened, she walked to the only door on the floor, opened it, and stepped aside.

	"Good luck, Brother," she whispered as I walked by.

	The look in her eyes made it impossible to resent her part in the invasion of my world. Melisa did not know--whatever the interviews were about, the decision to give me a black ring had been made before her father showed her my profile and confirmed by allowing her matriculate to the university I would be attending.

	The structure of my recruitment was for more than a Brother's ring.

	I stroked the line of her cheekbone before walking inside the suite. There were four elderly gentlemen sitting across from a lone chair. Four pairs of intelligent eyes watched every move as I approached and sat down across from them.

	We studied each other for a long time before the oldest spoke.

	"Old and worn out I am. Although I own much wealth - gold, silver, and jewels, granaries and treasuries overflowing - I have no son."
