"An Erotic Christmas Carol"
				




Stave 1 -- Marle's Frustration

Marle, pronounced Marr-lay in a particularly horrid French accent if at
all possible, was dead.

Now due to the wonders of modern medicine, you might think, 'There's dead
and then there's DEAD.' Be assurred though, doctors making that much money
to delay the inevitable do not allow a somewhat dead patient to be buried.
He must be irrevocably dead before they will allow such a wonderful, kind
and generous man to escape their gently acquisitive hands.

Eben knew Marle was dead. They were full partners for five years, and
worked together for a couple of years before that. Eben was Marle's CEO,
the hand-picked heir to Marle' business, even if truth be told it was Eben
who made the business what it was at the time of Marle's medically
lamented passing. Eben made all the funeral arrangements and was one of
the few mourners at the appropriately cloudy day. The doctors who stopped
by could not be counted as mourners since their tears were for the loss of
income. Eben was curious about an attractive middle-aged woman in black
who seemed genuinely sad but thought she must have been a distant
relative.

So dear internet porn afficianado, this is not an Elvis was seen at a
7-Eleven in Kelowan, Kansas type of thing. If the fact that Marle and his
false French airs had truly left the mortal coil is not something that you
can accept, well then ... read this anyway it has a couple of scenes
worthy of staining a paper towel or two.

Eben did not rename his company though everyone said he should. It stood
as it was even after Eben moved them to a modern office building: Marle
Security Specialties: better know as Marle's. Sometimes his company's high
profile customers called Eben by his name; others called him Marle. He did
not mind either, probably preferred Marle if truth be told.

Oh, but Eben was a workaholic. Working, shaping, molding, digging new
niches for his firm, traveling to be ensure every detail was taken care
off when many of his staff could have accomplished the job as well. Hard
and sharp, that no competitor would find merciful nor could they get ahead
of him and his firm; secretive, unyielding to any challenge business or
personal, an island habitant who bred sharks in the waters. The cold
inside hardened his features, his lips were an unmoving line, and he spoke
commandingly in a voice echoing a lion's roar. Snow prematurely touched
demon black hair, and ice-blue eyes showed no warmth to the world.

He ignored the elements. The sun could not force the suit-jacket from his
shoulders, and the cold could not make him grimace. No winter wind could
cool a room like his implacable stare, no fire more heartless in its
purpose, no tide less caring for the drowned. Foul weather did not know
where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail and sleet could
boast only one advantage over him. If you were caught in one of them, the
warm confines of your home could protect you.

Eben followed you in.

Nobody ever looked at him across a conference table and with smiling looks
said "Mr. Razz, wonderful to see you. When will you stop by to see the
family?" No charity came to his door without a financial report of the
deductions he would receive for signing a check, no babies crawled to be
taken into his lap. Stray dogs avoided his path having no profit to offer
for a scrap.

And when Christmas cheer dusted the air, he was worse.

But what did Eben care. It was the very thing he wanted. To tread his way
THROUGH the crowded path of life warning all human warmth to stand to the
left or right or be mowed down.

Warmth, love, happiness, joy, friendship; none of these things did Eben
desire in even the darkest loneliness of a midnight hour.

Once upon a time of all days not to be, Christmas Eve, Eben sat busy in
his corporate office planning the move of his company into providing
Internet security and anonymity to some very rich clients. The windows at
his back were battered by the cold, biting weather. Through the open door
of his office he could hear the muted enjoyment of his employees at the
necessary, if foolish annual office Christmas party. The black clock on
the wall chimed three, but outside the dark struggled to douse the light
shining from the building. From the windows could be seen the valiant
battle other offices' lights fought to bring the gaiety of Christmas
parties to the darkening city. The night fought back with fathomless dark
that obscured sight outlining other buildings with a touch of fey. To see
the black clouds lurking above, hiding the stars, one would have thought
that Nature birthed something darker still.

Eben could hear the swelling and ebbing of the party; he was somewhat
distracted by having to make sure his personal assistant stayed at her
desk in case she was needed. Eben worked day and night, and his secretary
had to follow at his pace. She could not slow down for her boss never did
and the stare Eben gave when he had to wait was as close to real anger as
she ever wanted to see from him. Wherefore she squared her shoulders, and
tromped along in a race she could not win or even compete in, she was the
closest Eben had ever found who came close though so he made due.

"Mr. Razz, I'm sorry. She..." came over the intercom seconds before a
bright, if well-covered tornado exploded into the room.

"A Merry Christmas, Eb. God keep you safe," cried a muffled cheery voice;
a voice that was the torment of Eben's soul.

Brenda, his foster sister, born after her parents gave him a home.

"Yeah," said Eben softly. "Right."

She had so covered herself that it took a comical struggle to unwind the
lengthy scarf from her face. Her clean complexion came into view, as she
defeated her adversary. The heat of battle flamed her pretty face, and
sparked in her dark blue eyes.

"Come on, Eben," she said as she threw her defeated opponent down. "Stay
in character, be proud of who you are and shout from the rafters 'Bah!  
Humbug!'"

She laughed warmly taking in how he watched her. It was the slight
softening in his eyes when he looked at her that kept Brenda coming back.

"Yeah... Right," said Eben. "Merry Christmas. You have as little reason as
I do to be merry on that day, less actually."

"Come, then," said Brenda Rollins shaking off the deep sadness that
swallowed the fire in her eyes for a long moment. "What reason do you have
to be so dismal? What reason do you have to be so morose? I really like
that vocabulary book you got me for my birthday; dismal, morose, they
really are wonderfully descriptive don't you think. Anyway, you said it,
your reasons are significantly less than mine. After all, you're so rich
most of my friends want your number."

Eben, having no better answer and not wanting to see the sadness again,
said "Yeah," and followed it up with "Right."

"Not even one 'Bah..Humbug?'" she said amidst a giggle; almost the ghost
of a smile touched his face. "Can't you even try even for me?"

"No, Brenda."

The ghost fled.

"I won't celebrate in remembrance of your parents. Maybe there are reasons
for someone else to overindulge, or overcharge credit cards. I won't stop
you, or anyone else. I'll even let them throw a Christmas Party and give
them bonuses if they earned them. I'll think hard about your Christmas
gift because ... Don't ask more, Bren."

"But Eben," she pleaded as she had done for many years.

"No!" The voice cooled the room. "Have your Christmas, sister, but leave
me to the memories of your parents."

"They were your parents, too."

He nodded solemnly.

"But I'm not your sister," she said firmly and then smiling mischievously.
"Not where it would count anyway."

"Leave it, Bren." Eben growled, "That was a mistake. It never did you any
good."

"Bah... Humbug!" she said in a strong voice. "That was no mistake. Maybe
you're right and I should be sad on the anniversary of someone killing my
parents but it's also the anniversary of my best memories. My first
bicycle and how you taught me to ride it in two feet of snow. I remember
watching you from the livingroom window shovel for three hours to clear
enough space. Sitting between Mom and Dad in church learning that
Christmas wasn't about gifts. That memory got me through their deaths,
Eben. Believing like a child and not the teenager I was that they were in
Heaven waiting for us. Yeah! I spend too much, and so do a lot of people,
but you're the only one who doesn't give me a smile to make it all worth
it. You know what?  That's okay too, Eben.  No Christmas memory is ever
going to compare to the one we made together. So okay, our parents died on
Christmas day but EVERY other memory is happy so, 'Thank You, God.'"

Eben's assistant standing at the door gasped in wide-eyed wonder. Gasped
again, realizing Eben would not appreciate an audience and fled back to
the minor protection of her desk.

Eben stared at his foster sister on the edge of showing emotion that only
she had ever raised in him. The muscles in his jaw moved as he struggled
to hold everything inside.

She smiled innocently at him.

"Come on," she said. "Don't be mad. I'm here to invite you to my Christmas
get-together. You're going to say no, but I have to ask, right?"

She bent down to pick up the scarf, bravely moved to his side, grabbed his
arm tugging him toward the party.

He stood up and let her drag him towards the noise.

"No, Brenda. I don't think so."

"But why not?" she said as she passed the assistant's desk and winked at
the typing woman. She moved circling the party to get to the elevators.

"Why? Why do you date that empty-headed blonde woman?"

"Because it annoys the shit out of the only man I ever wanted. Maybe he'll
try to save me from her inane conversation. Plus she is great in bed."

She froze as what she had glimpsed through an almost closed door
registered.  She took a step back, and in front of Eben to see through the
crack. He looked over her head into the office of his new head of the
computer security section. The man had the office manager pinned against
his desk with his lower body. His hands were underneath her skirt pushing
it up so that he could caress her thighs. The woman had her head back
exposing a wealth of skin at her neck for him to nibble, lick, and suckle.
He was taking full advantage and the occasional moan from her accentuated
an especially pleasurable touch of his mouth. He was not what you expected
from a computer geek, looking more like a beach volleyball pro than
anything else.

Eben tried to move Brenda past the door, but she backed into him and
planted herself in place. He reached around her to close the door. She put
a death grip on the knob and fighting her would have gotten the couple's
attention.

The man inside was technically sound, but even better at getting and
keeping the best computer security people. It was an irreplaceable talent
that Eben needed, so he allowed the man his liberties even at the office.

The woman pulled herself onto the desk. When the man pushed her skirt high
enough, she wrapped a long leg around him, pinning him and the skirt. She
used him as a living rubbing post. The man did not fight the motion but
mirrored it. His hands pushed the skirt higher. They kissed frantically;
the pressure had been building for a while. Eben knew they had an active
flirtation that was the titter of office gossip, but no one knew if it had
gone further. The pace they were using to drive themselves had all the
impatience of new lovers desperately wanting the wonder of a first
completion together.

The office manager brought her hands around to grab him by the hair and
used her grip to pull his head back so she could bite into the juncture of
neck, shoulder, and shirt. The man reacted as she meant him to. He tried
to shove her skirt out of the way, needing madly to be inside the core of
her heat.

Eben felt himself get hard from viewing the scene. He heard Brenda's
breathing deepen and briefly struggled for control of the door. Brenda's
grip had not softened and when the door squeaked he stopped.

The office manager had enough. She put her hands on the desk and lifted
herself up. The man immediately grasped the elevated seriousness of the
situation. He pushed her skirt past her hips and onto her waist, reversing
the motion he stripped her pantyhose down.

She let herself down, and watched him continue slowly down the incredible
length of her legs. Eben could hear her ragged breathing as the man's
obvious enjoyment heightened hers. The head of the computer section kept
the pantyhose moving downward slowly, enjoying the unwrapping, taking
longer than necessary to regain control.

Eben recognized the deliberateness of the motion; the man wanted this
woman satisfied completely. Finally, he pushed her shoes off and took the
pantyhose completely off her body. As he straightened, she held his eyes
with her own.  She reached out and pulled him between her legs. They
shared a slow grinding kiss that promised an end to a lot of waiting. She
pushed him away and started working the buttons of his dress shirt. The
man had taken off his jacket and tie before Eben and Brenda started their
voyeur's adventure.

The woman ran her nails on his upper body taking the same slow pleasure
that the man had while removing her pantyhose. The head of the computer
section reached between them and did something out of the view of the
watchers that propelled the office manager to the next step of
anticipation. He continued to work furiously between her legs as she
worked on his belt and slacks. His pants dropped suddenly and her hands
dove into silk boxers. He joined her on the next step of anticipation. She
reached to his waist and lowered the boxers to gain free access. He
reached down to take another one of those slow grinding kisses. They
stopped for a second as she whispered something to him. He smiled
beatifically and reached for an upside down coffee cup on his desk. He
lifted the cup to expose a threesome of condoms. She stared at them for a
second and dug a hand's worth of nails into his chest. He smiled down at
her and extended himself far enough to place a bite between shoulder and
neck. She reached over to the condom with one hand and tore it open with
her teeth.

Eben decided that was enough. He put his arms around Brenda, lifted and
pulled her back. Her grip on the door worked to close the door. She
started kicking but stopped and dropped her head back onto his shoulder.
He put her down slowly, stepping back quickly when she made a slow
caressing motion with her hips into his.

"But that was fun," she teased sexily.

"They deserve a little privacy," Eben said purposefully misinterpreting
what she meant.

"Spoilsport!" she said pouting her lips and walking towards the elevators.
He sighed and followed.

She pressed the button and waited pensively. The elevator arrived and she
stepped inside. She turned around and pressed a button. He stood outside
the elevator watching her.

As the doors were closing, her face broke into a smile.

"By the way, I didn't take my Christmas present from your desk so you're
going to have to bring it to me tomorrow."

He watched the elevator doors close and stared at the numbers as they
descended. He shook his head and turned to walk back to his office. He
considered reprimanding his computer section head but both of the
lovebirds were valuable members of his team. A relationship as long as it
did not sour would tie them to the company more firmly for at least a
couple of years.

He stopped at his assistant's desk.

"Are the charity people still here, Ms. Cratch?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. They're eating some of the party food."

"Ask them to come in," he told her as he walked into his office.

A couple of minutes later, a man and a woman walked into his office. The
two took a moment to study the man behind the desk as he stared out into
the darkness catching him in a rare moment of introspection.

Eben turned the chair around and nodded for them to sit.

The woman gave one meaningful look to her partner that said quite clearly
that she would handle this. The man nodded, they came to talk to Eben
twice a year.

The first meeting had been nearly disastrous, especially because Marle had
been a part of it. It was only the fact that the woman had come to
understand very quickly that for Marle Security Specialties charity was
strictly a business transaction that had saved them from having their
potentially largest contributor find another organization. The man thought
to appeal to Eben and Marle's softer side, and when rebuked he attempted
an eloquent speech that did nothing more than try to shame his listeners
into giving charitably for the 'right reasons'.

Eben and Marle had sat through the entire speech watching the man
carefully. Afterwards Marle gave the man advice about how he should
control the raising and lowering of pitch to manipulate an audience
better. The man did not take that well, but took Eben's asking for the
name of some other institution that would not need the 'right reasons' to
accompany a healthy check even worse.

The woman who had been the junior partner when the two came in immediately
intercepted any possible reply. She started to discuss whether the company
wanted the publicity from the charitable contributions to be aimed towards
the owners or towards the company. The man was ignored for the rest of the
meeting while Marle discussed with the woman exactly how he wanted things
to be. By the end of that first meeting, they established that the focus
of any media attention would be on Marle's Security Specialties, and that
the woman would be the one to deal with them for the length of her
relationship with the charity.

The man came to the meetings as window dressing.

The meeting went smoothly and the pair walked out with a very generous
payment for publicity rendered during the Christmas holidays.

Eben remained in his office even after the party died down, and everyone
except his assistant and he had gone home.

Outside the windows, the clouds waited with even more menace.

Ms. Cratch finally gave up on outlasting her boss. She walked into the
office with the paperwork he had wanted done for the day. He looked up
from his work. She put the work down on his desk and stood back.

He nodded.

"Will you need me tomorrow, sir?" she asked trying to keep the hope that
he would say no out of her eyes.

He sighed to himself. He turned the chair and tried to cut through the
darkness with a cold stare but it ignored him.

"No, Ms. Cratch. I'll get whatever I need done myself."

She grimaced to his back as she realized that meant she would have not
only the 26th's worth of work to get done, but whatever he managed to
produce on the 25th.

"Thank you, sir." She said squeakily polite.

He nodded in dismissal.

He sat still staring out the window after she left. He was trying to find
a way to avoid visiting Brenda tomorrow. He knew he would not be able to
control his disapproval of her present lover. It was not that she was
female; he cared too little about what the rest of the world thought for
that to matter. It was the woman's petty maliciousness.

Petty malice was a waste of effort by Eben's standards.

He packed several things into his briefcase and walked past the janitorial
staff on the way out of the building without acknowledging their
existence. They, on the other hand, watched him carefully enough to be
sure they were not in his way.

It was bitterly cold outside and he made a quick decision on the way to
his car.

He drove to a small restaurant he frequented. None of the staff was
surprised to see him. They sat him at his usual table and the waiter took
a quick order. Everyone at the restaurant knew only a select set of
waiters were allowed to serve him. It did not have to do with any
preference on Eben's part but he tipped well over what would be considered
generous as long he was served efficiently with no problems beyond the
normal human control. He held many of his business dinners in the
restaurant and thought of generous tipping as buying future stock in good
service. The owner of the restaurant let only people he trusted wait on
Eben or work his dinners.

Eben asked the waiter for the restaurant's phone. It was not an uncommon
request so the waiter rushed to get the phone.

Eben dialed a number from memory.

"Good afternoon?" a husky feminine voice.

"Hello, is Asa available?" Eben asked as businesslike as any other
transaction.

"And who may I ask is speaking?" the voice asked.

"Eben."

"Asa is available, sir. At your domicile or elsewhere?"

"The penthouse is fine."

"The normal billing procedure?"

"Yes."

"A tip?"

"The usual."

"Thank you, sir."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye, sir."

Eben hung the phone up; the waiter was there to take it out of his way.
Eben ate without tasting his food. He looked out into the night trying not
to think about Brenda's teasing but unable to stop.

He finished, paid and walked out to his car. He drove home mechanically,
still trying to avoid thinking of things in his life by not thinking of
anything.

Suddenly a luminescent shape floated out of the darkness and smashed on
his windshield. He turned the wheel to the right trying to avoid it but
ducked as it hit the windshield.

"Jason!?" he exclaimed as he reacted to get his car back on the road.  
The apparition had seemed solid enough. It had glowed slightly as if the
fog it was composed of had a bright light shining through it.

He shook himself as he pondered what he had seen. He looked at the
rearview mirror.

The apparition had looked like his deceased partner, Jason Marle. It even
had the condescending smirk that usually marred the aristocratic lines of
Marle's face.

Eben shook himself again. When he had to stop for a red light, he rubbed
his eyes.

"Next, I'll be seeing him on my door knocker," he whispered sarcastically.

"Oh, wait. I don't have a door knocker," He laughed for a second.

The light turned green and he finished the drive home. He parked his car
in building parking lot, walked inside and took the elevator to his
penthouse.

It had been Marle's penthouse but as with everything else, Eben inherited
it. It was a large place that had plenty of space for decorating but Eben
kept it Spartan. The only distinctiveness to it was the black and glass
furniture against surgical white walls. Every room followed the same
austere, modern coloring from the deep black bathtub, to the glass top
table next to his bed.

No splash of color scarred the entire living space.

He removed his coat and put it in his bedroom closet. He took off his suit
and walked into the master bath to take a quick shower. Afterwards, he put
on a black bathrobe and mixed himself a drink in his livingroom. He stared
out into what little he could see of the city as he waited.

Few men and women in the city knew the number he dialed. Jason Marle
introduced him to it saying simply that some things you were better off
not fighting but deflecting worked just as well. Discreteness was not a
way life for the people that answered at the number; it was life. At a
nearly a couple of thousand dollars per visit, they had to ensure
non-disclosure along with complete satisfaction. After ensuring himself of
their reputation, Eben made use of the number often. Keeping a mistress
might been less expensive but not by much and he preferred the almost
business feel to the relief of his sexual needs.

Brenda had teased him with the touch of her hips but the real damage was
done by the reminder of a long ago Christmas Eve. The spectacle of his
computer section head and the office manager only added to the pressure.

The doorbell rang.

The building doorman was as discreet as the agency. He called ahead to
warn Eben of Brenda's 'surprise' visits but never bothered him past the
initial explanation when Asa stopped by. It was of course a further sign
of the amount of money Eben doled out for services efficiently rendered.

He opened the door.

The woman gave him a warm smile as he stepped aside for her to walk in.
She removed her coat and dropped it on the couch. The movement spoke of
understanding this man's need.

She was Asian; he had never found out anything more specific about her
nationality. She was short with curves proportional to her size. She was
not beautiful, only slightly above pretty. Makeup only added a touch of
false class so she never wore it especially when it was Eben. Most people
would not have looked at her and thought she was paid thousands for what
she did, but most people could not afford to find out why she was.

Asa was Eben's choice at the agency. Eben called the number several times
a week on average and only remember two instances of Asa not being
available; both had resulted in unsatisfactory joinings.


He turned around as she motioned for him to sit on one end of the couch.  
He smiled at her efficiency; with one look, she understood his need.

He moved to the end of the couch, sat down and leaned back against the
corner. She was wearing a black mini-skirt and top. She hiked the
mini-skirt out of her way and knelt between his legs long enough to undo
the robe and spread it open. He was already semi-hard and the hardening to
fullness when her hand encircled him told her everything she wanted to
know about what was required.

She moved away from him and lay down on her stomach. She impaled her mouth
and throat on him in one smooth much practiced motion.

He moved his hips up trying to drive deeper. She had him completely inside
her but moved her head back to give him room to thrust. She had been here
at times when he wanted to take his time, she had been here at times when
he wanted her to scream in the wild abandon of pleasure, and she had been
here at times like this when he needed a vehicle for release.

She brought one hand up to caress his balls and ball sac. He was driving
and she allowed him to.

He dropped his hips down to the couch, but she kept her head in place.
Only when he did not immediately plunge upward into her mouth, did she
move her head back to release him completely. She held him towards the top
of his dick to allow her thumb to stroke the underside of his crown. She
moved down to place small licks on his balls. He reacted and she moved up
to take him into her mouth. When she had him in place, she took her hand
off him and gave him free reign.

He immediately drove up into her mouth and dropped his hips again. This
time as he held himself away from her, she used her tongue to bathe the
head of his dick. She felt the bunching of effort, relaxed as he drove
into her throat again. He pumped in and out three times before settling
back down. She waited to ensure he had stopped, took him in an inch, ran
her tongue hard against the bottom of his dick, took another inch,
repeated the tongue action on the bottom of his penis, took him another
inch, caressed him hard with her tongue. She continued this until he was
fully embedded inside the warm, wet confines of her mouth and throat
again.

She unwound herself from him, only to receive a thrust into her mouth from
him as he surged. She waited patiently allowing him the freedom to thrust
in and to the edge of her mouth and back in again.

He started to press up and she moved onto her knees leaning forward. He
got up but continued to guide her back with his dick still inside her
mouth. She looked up at him and he nodded for her to lay back. She
released him and moved her legs around and lay back with her head propped
by a corner cushion. He moved towards her until his dick was pointing at
her mouth. She opened her mouth and received him. She got as comfortable
as she could, reached up to rake nails as far up his torso as she could
reach.

Eben began a slow deliberate in-and-out pace that would carry him slowly
over the edge. He wanted nothing more than to thrust viciously but he let
her get used to him being in charge of the pace. She used her nails on his
stomach and ran them down as if driving the pressure toward his dick,
guiding it slowly where it could find release in her mouth. He picked up
the pace slowly; she moved her tongue on him as much as she could as he
withdrew and accepted his thrusts into her mouth. She fondled his balls as
his thrusts became more purposeful and let him use her mouth to relieve
his need.

He withdrew himself almost completely from of her mouth and with one final
thrust growled as he buried himself in her throat. She accepted him that
final time, and used a swallowing motion to work the sensitized head of
his penis as he finished coming. He tried to move away but she wrapped her
arms around his thighs trapping him with no escape except forward into the
depth of her mouth. He leaned over her, but she continued to overload the
nerves on the crown of his dick. He fought her but it only added to the
sensations as she had to continuously adjust to keep him in place. She
continued her licking, sucking, rubbing until his nerve-endings shut down.
She felt him relax above her and settled into gently caressing him with
her mouth and tongue.

She had been here before after one of his sister's teasing visits and
though she did not know what caused the mood she knew what he needed from
her. She pushed him gently onto his back and walked sexily into the
downstairs bathroom. He heard the sink run and waited for her to come to
him. She had gotten naked in the bathroom and moved towards him with
purpose. She again lay on her stomach and took him in her mouth. It was a
momentary caress only to warn his body. She kissed, licked and nibbled
everywhere she knew on his body that would enjoin him to hardness again.

It was not long before she could crawl up his body and sink herself onto
him. It was a small orgasm that caused shivers through her body, an
appetizer for what she knew would come when he was in this mood.

The surge of wetness took Eben over the top. He stood up with his cock
still buried in her and lay her down on the couch. She straightened a leg
and rotated herself so that her ass was pointing towards him. He grabbed
her buttcheeks and his fingers slipped on the lubrication she had coated
herself with for later.

It was more of what he needed so he pulled back and thrust hard into her.
She squealed as she smiled thinking of how good the hot bath felt on her
sore muscles after he was done with her on this kind of nights. It would
be the only afterplay she got but it would a good cap to her pleasure. She
squeezed him with her pussy and arched her ass to allow him more freedom
to fuck into her.

He felt the change in her attitude and position. He put one foot up on the
couch, pulled back and thrust into her with no thought to her pleasure.
She grunted and pressed back against him to wedge him deeper inside her.
He pulled back and thrust into her again. Asa's head went down to the
couch and she pushed back as another thrust penetrated as deeply as she
wanted. He held at the deep end and used short thrusts to give her
something more than a monetary reward for her body. She growled as she
felt the action that always gave her the best orgasm. It was not long
before her body exploded in pleasure as her nature took over her body.

She took her legs off the couch and cornered it with her hips. It dropped
her hips but she knew it left her at a better angle for what he needed
next. She did not even protest when he pulled out of her and moved his
cockhead upwards until it was aligned with her anal opening. She did grunt
when she felt him push himself into her. He was always hard enough to
easily penetrate into her tight anus with sturdy pressure. She put her
hands under her head and relaxed waiting for the pleasure that always came
when Eben did this to her. He pushed himself into her with steady,
constant pressure until his hips where touching her buttocks. She sighed
and shook her ass to sink him deeper. He pulled back slowly and moved into
her with the same steady pressure. It was a few strokes before she
loosened enough to take him smoothly. Eben reached down and grabbed one of
her asscheeks in each hand. He spread her ass gently and thrust into her
hard. She reached around her to hold his hips as a small gasp of pleasure
escaped her mouth.
	
It released him from the last chains of control he demanded of himself.
Asa was enjoying him so there was no reason not to drive to the release.
She was tighter than any woman he had ever touched except one. He dropped
his head back as he remembered a snowy Christmas Eve that was the last
time he had lost control of himself. He thought about what it felt like to
thrust into a virgin's body as he thrust into Asa. He could not hold out
long and Asa squeezing him as her orgasm overtwhelmed her was too much. He
pulled back and thrust into her releasing into her body. He leaned over
her and put more of his weight on her as she milked him of the last
vestiges of pleasure.

Eben climbed off her and sat back on the other end of the couch. His
breathing slowly evened out. He didn't move so she got up and walked to
the bathroom again. She was holding a wet and a dry towel. He closed his
eyes as she gently cleaned him off.

Eye contact told her she could leave. She allowed him to assist in
dressing her and he walked her to the door.

He closed the door behind her. If he had looked through his peephole, he
would have been surprised to see that she turned and touched the door with
a loving smile on her face. Asa was different from the other women at the
other end of the phone number he dialed. Marle had picked her for Eben
carefully. She was always available because Eben was her only client. She
even payed taxes on the checks the agency cut for her. She was for all
intents and purposes Eben's mistress considering how often he needed her
body. Her eyes turned sad as she wondered how much longer it would last,
she had only had two lovers before she had turned to the agency. She knew
she had been lucky that Marle had chosen her for Eben. She had been richly
rewarded both in pleasure and monetarily. She turned from his door and
walked proudly out of his building.

On the other side of the door, Eben walked to his phone and dialed the
number.

"Hello." A different voice, not as husky as the previous one.

"Eben"

"Yes sir."

"Everything was satisfactory."

"We are happy to help, sir."

He hung up the phone knowing it would show up on his next charge card
statement. He reached for his liquor glass and took a careful sip.

"That was beautiful."

He turned around as the voice came to him from the door to his bedroom.

He blinked.

Blinked again.

He looked at his liquor glass and at the door to his penthouse. He looked
back at the man he refused to believe was standing at the entrance to his
bedroom.

"No, I'm serious Eben. That was truly beautiful. God, I wished I'd picked
her for me. Then again I had Amelia and I had her enough to pay for that
fancy agency Asa gets your money from."

Eben nodded as Jason Marley, his dead, very dead, partner walked towards
him.

He took a step back.

Jason waved his hand at him, chiding him for that step. Jason sat down on
one of the seats that matched the couch. He looked around the living room
before he spoke again.

"God, man. What's with the black and glass shit? Even I had enough class
to go for antiques."

Eben sat down heavily on the couch. He looked at his liquor glass again.
He shook his head briskly and looked at Jason again. Incredibly, enough
the thought that Jacob had never looked better flashed through his mind.

Jason was looking much better than when he died or any of the years that
Eben knew him. He seemed vital again. Eben could not quite see through him
but he could make out the black of the couch through Jason.

"Well, boy. You gonna continue fucking your life up?" Jason asked in a
frustrated but still friendly voice.

"Fucking up? The business is doing much better than when you died."

"Ah, to the hell with business. Well, not totally to hell. I mean it's a
nice way to make money, no matter what anybody says."

"And you certainly made a lot of it."

"Yeah, but not much of anything else," Jason lamented.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well, I'm fucking here talking to you," Jason replied. "That's not all
too wonderful compared to the alternative."

Eben raised an eyebrow slowly beginning to accept the whole thing as a
hallucination. The Marle he knew would never have discarded the fake
French accent.

"You don't believe I'm really here, son?" Jason said suspiciously.

"Not at all," Eben replied honestly.

Jacob laughed at that. "Too bad, kid. Cause I am and I got some shitty
news."

Eben leaned back waiting.

"You're fucking your life up according to the powers that have. And I'm
supposed to help you get a life." Jason said.

"Get a life. I have a life," Eben replied heatedly.

"No, Eben. You have an existence, just like I did." Jacob turned his head
but not before Eben saw the wave of sadness that shadowed his eyes.

"What's wrong with that? You did well enough. Look at you now. You look
better than you ever did. You can't tell me that's too bad."

Jason turned around and his eyes burning with pain.

"It's bad, Eben."

Eben waited, not so sure it was all a dream again.

"They let you look into the other side. They let you see every thing that
you could have had if you lived right; then they take it away and let you
go."

"What's so bad about that? At least you're not on fire. If I have the 'who
they are' part of this right."

"Yeah, I'm not on fire. But now, I get to watch life pass me by as I did
when I was flesh."

"Pass you by?"

"Yes, Eben. I get to watch people live. I get to want to be a part of
their life. I get to remember everytime I could have lived. I get to
remember love and I get to watch it. But I can't touch any of it, ever."

"Hmm... I still don't see what's wrong with that."

Jason sighed quietly and stared at the only person, other than Amelia, he
had ever been close to.

"We weren't evil, Eben. We just weren't good."

"I give to charity!" Eben defended himself.

"No, Eben. You buy good publicity. You don't actually give anything."

"What's the difference?" Eben asked sarcastically.

"Living and living like me." Jason answered. "You know I'm not the only
one that gets to do this."

"I'm still not clear on what this is." Eben replied.

Jacob shook his head, "This is being horny like a 14-year-old boy, being
able to watch someone get what Asa just gave you and only having it build
more. You can't complete anything on this side, Eben. You just get to feel
it build. Sometimes it subsides, but it all comes rushing back the next
time you walk into someone having sex. It all builds and builds, until you
go crazy. Then you go sane, and find out none pressure ever went away."

Eben shuddered remembering what that had been like, being 14 and the
mindless horniness that came with some physical maturity.

"It's like that with everything. We can't ever escape that we didn't live
life, Eben. They make us continue to live the exact same way, but they
open up whatever that place in your soul that the people in your life
should have been able to touch."

Eben sat quietly listening.

"You know we can do some weird shit on this side."

Eben shook his head again.

"Yeah, I walked up into the clouds one time and watched the sun that way,
kept walking. Never got tired, only bored, and then I came back. I think I
could have walked to the sun. Imagine how long that would have taken."

"You can't move faster?"

"No. I can only move faster if I'm with someone moving faster than I can
walk."

"Why are you here, Jason?" Eben asked suddenly.

"I told you. I have to help you get a life."

"Why you?"

"I don't know, beyond being the only one you know on this side that can
still interact somewhat with you."

Eben nodded.

"I guess I have to give you a real warning about what's on this side."

"You're not doing a very good job."

"Can you see how much I hurt every now and then."

"Yeah."

"How do you remember me, Eben?"

Eben froze.

"Yes, Eben. It's that bad. Worse even." Jason lifted his right arm
exposing his wrist. Encircling it was a rusty bracelet. "It's the only
thing I can feel physically. The weight of my life and how worthless it
was to other people. Supposedly when it gets lighter my penance is being
relieved bit by bit."

"Has it gotten lighter."

A tear seemed to form and move down Jason's cheek as he replied, "I don't
know. I can't remember how much it weighed, ever. I don't even know if
it's true, maybe it's not. Maybe it's a hope they dangle in front of you
like everything else. You wait and wait, hoping for something that's never
going to come."

Eben looked away.

"You have to change, son. They gave you this opportunity because there are
people that will be here like this if you aren't what they need. They are
more than happy to punish you, but not if it means taking down everyone
that needs you."

"So how does one change? Give a little more to charity?" Eben smirked.

Jason stared at him until Eben looked away again.

"You'll be visited by three spirits."

"You gotta be fucking kidding me. What is this? A remake of The Christmas
Carol starring Eben? Does this have something to do with your name? I
always thought Marle the way you said it should have been spelled Marley."

Jason surged up from the chair.

Eben stood up to face the challenge but Jason just watched him.

"Three spirits, Eben. You know the deal. One at midnight, one at the
stroke of two, one at four. Change or live wanting to touch. Change or
watch the people whom you hid your soul from live like this with you."

Jason waved for Eben to follow. Eben shook his head but his legs were
moving. Jason walked to the window and opened it.

He stepped up to the sill and stepped into air. As he did this, the window
was hit with a wave of painful sound. It struck Eben full on and he fell
to his knees as the sound washed through him. It was a chorus of uncounted
millions crying incoherent sounds of inexpressible sorrow,
self-accusation, lamentation and regret. It was mindless. Millions of
souls driven to insanity and beyond by viewing everything they could have
had and denied themselves.

Eben covered his ears and the sound lessened, but not because of his
hands. The sound lessened of its own volition. He could still hear the
loss but it did not attack him. He looked up at Jason who was watching
him.

"Three spirits, Eben. Joke about it if you want, but each is a lesson
about the path back. Learn each one well. You're not the only one you have
to bring back."

Jason then screamed his own pain at Eben. The voices rose again assaulting
Eben. His mind tried to rebel against the sound, but the emotions battered
at the place where he hid his own. He covered his ears again but they
continued mercilessly driving every ounce of sorrow and pain into him,
digging for the core of his soul.

He blacked out as the chorus reached a natural crescendo as it touched the
living wound on his soul.