Chapter Seven:

Yami settled down in a seat beside Joey, at one end of a long, fourteen-seat table. Aibou and Kaiba sat across from them. The table was laden with dishes upon dishes of food, an amazing array. Yami saw two whole roast turkeys, a roast pig, two plates of grilled fish fillets, green beans, corn, stewed carrots and beets, mashed potatoes with gravy, sushi rolls, thai sticks, barbecue ribs, hamburgers piled in a small mound, white and wheat rolls, and a couple of dishes he couldn't identify. Considering the fact that the meal seemed to include dishes from each country represented by the guests, he supposed they were Indian and Phillipino.

"Wow," Joey said beside him. "This place knows how to treat you right."

Yami nodded, though his attention was more on the people than the food. The fellow guests all looked like common people, married or dating couples out for a thrill as they were. He dismissed them and focused on the hosts. The woman, Abigail, was a woman who looked to come from good breeding, with the best of education and upbringing. She seemed to have a great deal of poise and pride.

Oscar was more inscrutable. He seemed friendly and open, yet also distant, as if he was playing a role. Yami supposed he was so used to doing this that he'd fallen into rut with his acting. On the other hand, he might be deliberately withdrawn. It might be part of the mystique of this show.

"Hello again, my guests," Abigail said as she sat at the head of the table. "We will enjoy this wonderful feast while I fill you in on the history of the house and then we begin our tour."

"All right," Joey said happily, helping himself to corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, turkey, and a rack of the ribs.

The rest of them got their food and they ate for a few minutes before Abigail began to speak. Yami paid close attention, intent on knowing everything she would say about this place.

"The Marvell House is now named for the current owners, a company that sets up tours of haunted places and exotic vacations. It's original name was the DeVere mansion. DeVere and his wife were French/Dutch immigrants to America in the early-1800s and built this mansion in 1837. Onfroi and Annika DeVere were both heirs to their respective families in their home countries. They met and fell in love when Annika's family vacationed in France, but, like many families at the time, theirs objected to the romance. Back then, far more than now, blood and breeding mattered to almost everyone and mixing was frowned upon."

She paused to glance at the Indian man and Phillipino woman and smiled kindly. "Onfroi and Annika disagreed. They secretly packed up their most precious possessions, stole money from their fathers, and eloped. They came to America in 1836 and got married, sold some of their more valuable possessions to fund the house and settled here."

"How romantic!" one of the women cooed, smiling at her husband.

"How did this get to be a haunted house?" Kaiba demanded. Of course he wasn't interested in tragic romance.

"Oh, I'm getting to that. Part of it will be revealed on the tour. Onfroi and Annika settled here and soon after began having their babies. Five of them, three girls and twin boys. Onfroi, with his money and smarts, got a job at a prominent bank and worked his way up. Annika raised the children with the hired help and life seemed perfect."

She paused there and it was clear she wanted someone to urge her to continue. Aibou, as attentive as he was, played along.

"What happened?" he asked.

She smiled at him. "Annika and Onfroi shared a dark secret. But we'll get to that on the tour. A little more on the house. After it was built in 1837, Onfroi and Annika hired two in-home maids, a nurse to help with the children, a gardener, butler, cook, and driver. Another difference between Annika and the common way of life was that she was a hands-on mother. During the 1800s, many uptown women were known for hiring nurses to raise their children alone so that they could persue their own social climbing. Annika lived for her children. So did Onfroi, when he could be home outside of his job. The higher he rose, the more he could and life was happy.

"For the most part. Later this house was placed for sale and purchased now and again by different families. None of those families stayed for long. And none left whole."

That got the attention of everyone at the table. Abigail paused to take a drink of the wine served with the meal. She was playing the tension and curiosity of the group, pausing for effect.

"Do you mean, whole as in mentally or whole as in every person there?" one of the white men asked, his accent heavy which Yami thought might be Southern.

"Both, really. In one-hundred and sixty years eighteen families have lived here. Eighteen people have died or gone missing. When the house was purchased twenty-three years ago and turned into the haunted house it now is, thirty-six people have died or disappeared."

"What?!" nearly everyone gasped.

"That can't be possible," Kaiba said coolly. "If it were so, surely this place would not be open for business."

Abigail looked at him and smiled. "Well, maybe I'm just throwing out numbers to scare you all." She leaned forward and winked. "Or maybe I'm telling the truth."

Kaiba leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, looking at her disbelievingly. She turned back to the table at large.

"Anyway, here we are now. Let us finish our meal and then begin our tour."

Everyone only looked at her. She looked around at them and smiled.

"Very well, finished now? Then let us go to that dark secret." She stood up, setting down her napkin.

They all got up as well. Yami glanced around once, realizing he hadn't seen Oscar during the entire meal. Maybe Kaiba was right and it was fake and Oscar was in hiding to start the effects at the appropriate moments. Abigail walked out of the dining room, heading across the main hall to the only closed door leading off of it. She stopped there while they gathered around her.

"Onfroi and Annika seemed like the perfect couple. Rich, smart, nice house, beautiful children, a solid and loving marriage. But they had a shared interest."

She turned the handle on the door and pushed it open, walking in. The group followed her, gasps of surprise and horror accentuating the reveal of what the closed-door room contained. It was a huge room, nearly as big as the dining room and main hall combined and it was filled with tools of torture.

Yami knew little about torture devices. Few had existed five-thousand years ago and none of the Pharaohs of his family had condoned their use. What he knew of them came from Yugi's knowledge. He recognized a rack, an iron-maiden, a Catherine's wheel, and a cage with a collar-and-chain hanging from the inside. Tables displayed various knives, whips, cuffs, and things he couldn't name.

"What is this?" one of the other guests demanded.

"Their secret. Onfroi and Annika were very interested in all types of torture and execution. They secretly sought and collected all sorts of torture devices from different eras. Nazi, Spanish Inquisition, Nordic, medieval-English, those from the Oriental countries, even Egyptian and Aztec."

Yami looked around sharply but saw nothing that leaped out at him as being from his home country. Aibou was looking a little sick as he looked around.

"Why?" he asked.

Abigail shrugged her shoulders. "Why does anyone like anything? They gathered their collection as anyone else might gather decorative spoons and commemorative plates. And every piece in here, I assure you, has been used."

"I think I'd like to leave," the wife of the Southern man said. "I don't like it in here."

"Of course," Abigail said.

They all left the room and Abigail shut the door. She turned to them and smiled.

"I'm sorry if that upset you, but it is a large part of the history of this house. Onfroi and Annika were not secret murderers...that I know of. The objects were collected, stored, admired, but I doubt the couple bought them to use them. History itself vouches for them; there were no unexplained disappearances during the time that they lived here. They merely had an unusual taste.

"Now, for the haunting part. There was already evil in this house thanks to the presence of the devices used to maim and kill countless poor souls over the centuries. If you believe in objects being able to be imbued with the life force of people, you might suppose they soaked in the pain, fear, despair, and resentment of those tortured on them. That alone might explain the horrors of this house. But it gets worse."

She paused again, but this time only to take a deep breath, as if steadying herself to say something even more horrible than a nice couple collecting devices used to torture innocent people with a macabre sense of delight.

"Onfroi and Annika kept their collection secret. None of the children or staff were present when the pieces were moved in and the door to the room was always kept locked with explicit instruction not to attempt to enter. Stories of the couple handed down generations say that they told the staff that the room contained valuable and fragile relics from their old countries--vases, crystal, things like that. The door was kept locked to keep the children from entering the room and perhaps injuring themselves. As I've already told you, they were known for loving their children very deeply."

"Finally tragedy struck. It started with an illness, cholera. In the 1849 a epidemic swept through the Mississippi region East of here, claiming thousands of lives. But though the concentration was there, the disease saw cases elsewhere. Onfroi and Annika's second child, Annabelle, contracted the illness consuming tainted food shipped to the private school she attended and died."

"That's terrible," the black lady said.

"It gets worse. Not long after Annabelle was buried here on the property--there is a family graveyard behind the house, down the hill--they were to lose all of their children. Frederick, one of the twin boys, was kicked by a spooked horse in the head and died instantly. His despondent twin Henri then committed suicide by climbing to the highest point he could reach at one of the plateaus you can see from the yard and jumped. Angelien, the eldest of the girls, was raped and strangled when robbers broke into the house looking for things to steal. She was alone in the house because Annika had had a nervous breakdown after losing her the other three and was in the hospital. Onfroi had taken Giselle, the youngest of the children, to see her, but Angelien did not want to go. Why has never been revealed.

"Annika got better after suffering a second breakdown over the horrible death of Angelien. It is believed she did so only because Giselle, who was seven that year, was all who was left and she felt she needed her mother. However, not long after Giselle turned nine, she drowned when ice-skating after the ice broke and she fell through."

"That's just awful," one of the women said.

"Yes. It happened in a fairly short period, too. Annabelle died in 1850, Frederick and Henri both in 1853, Angelien in 1854, and Giselle in 1858. Some of those who believe in evil auras and karma suggest that the tragedies happened because Onfroi and Annika invited evil into their house with their fascination with bloody death. Perhaps. What is known is that they immediately sold the house after Giselle's death and disappeared. There are no further records on them and no one knows where they moved, where they died, or where they're buried. Historians believe they changed their names or else went to a remote area and committed suicide together."

"So the house is haunted by the children," the black man suggested.

"There have been reports of children's voices and faces, yes. But also of adults, perhaps the echoes of the victims of the torture devices. Or even Annika and Onfroi themselves, searching for their children. Once the house was sold, all of the devices were removed, but not sold. They were kept in storage rather than be dealt with. From that point the families who owned the house suffered their own tragedies. In 1862, when the first family to buy the house had moved in, the eldest child, a boy named Alexander, was found dead in an upstairs bedroom--the third floor, which we'll visit later--of no apparent causes. The family moved. From then on it was a procession of unexplained deaths and disappearances, usually of children, but some adults. There was no pattern in the deaths and no one has ever been blamed. The only two common factors are this house and the fact that all of the deaths where a body was found have no apparent causes, aside from the ones who appear to be suicide. Perhaps they were literally frightened to death."

"I don't think I want to go to the third floor," the Southern woman said.

"Honey, that's what we came for, is to be scared," her husband said.

"No, no, I'd rather go. I'm sorry about the money, but I want to go, please, Billy."

Billy looked up with a helpless smile and shrugged. "Is it too late to leave?" he asked, clearly joking.

"Of course not. I will be happy to summon a taxi to take you back to Las Vegas. You are not the first person to leave early, Ms. Miller."

"Good, good, thank you. Let's go pack."

She tugged hard on her husband arm, practically dragging him toward the stairs. "Okay, Miranda, okay. We're going."

Kaiba snorted softly as he watched with the rest of them. Abigail shook her head.

"Oh, yes, we've had many guests leave early. I don't blame them. That's why the company offers a half-refund if the couple decides to leave before half of the three-day period is over. I will have to tell them that. Please, if you'll excuse me, I need to get the taxi and set up the paperwork to have the money refunded. That is why the second door on the right has games; to occupy guests time if something untoward happens or the ghosts aren't too active. Excuse me."

She turned and headed up the stairs. Left alone, the other three couples went into the game room. Their group remained out in the front hall.

"Ridiculous," Kaiba muttered. "Nothing has even happened."

"Some people are sensitive," Yugi said understandingly. "Though I guess she should have realized things in here weren't going to be like Disney World."

"And how about the part about the ghosts not being particularly active?" Kaiba went on. "She practically told us we could stay here all weekend and not see anything."

"Yeah, but every haunted place says that," Joey said. "They can't guarantee spooks are going to pop up every night."

"Do you believe in ghosts, then?" Kaiba looked at him condescendingly.

Joey shrugged. "I don't expect to see one, really, but, yeah, I keep an open mind. Hey, right here next to me is proof death ain't the end, so why not?"

Yami ignored the remark about his status. It was true, of course. He continued to search the front hall for any signs of anything strange, casting out the sixth sense awareness he and Yugi shared, but detected no evil or spiritual presence. It was starting to look as if this house was indeed a fake and merely a means for gathering money from tourists. The history was bloody and sad, but the house didn't seem have to 'soaked up' any of it.

/Yami, looking for a ghost?/

Yami looked at his light and nodded. //Yes, but I don't sense anything, do you?//

/No. If you don't, I sure wouldn't. That room is horrible, though./

//The world is full of people with gruesome fixations, Aibou. But that is somewhat extreme. Odd that the couple shared the interest.//

/Yeah. I wonder how that came up between them? Suppose Onfroi just asked Annika one day, 'Hey, what do you think of the rack tearing people's limbs off?'/

Yami smiled, glancing up as Abigail came back down the stairs, followed by Billy and Miranda, each carrying their suitcases.

"The taxi will be here soon to take you to the city," Abigail was saying. "You may wait in the conservatory or the dining hall as you please. Oscar could get you something to drink."

"Maybe we could wait outside," Miranda said.

"Honey, come on, don't be scared. Those stories are just a crock, it's a gimmick. Uh, no offense," he added to Abigail.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Many people believe that, Mr. Miller. I'm not surprise you do as well. I could only ask that you don't spread it around and ruin our business."

"Nah. Where would the economy be without tourist traps? Miranda, I'm not waiting outside with the bugs. Come on and sit in the conservatory."

"Okay. Okay, you're right. I'm really sorry, Ms. Douchett."

"Think nothing of it, dear. Oscar will be in in just a moment to see if you would like anything to drink. He'll stay with you until the taxi arrives."

"Thank you."

The rest of the guests had come out of the game room, perhaps hearing Abigail's return. She smiled and gestured towards the stairs.

"This part of the tour is optional. We're going up to the third floor. Up there is the bedroom of the parents, the mother's morning room, and the father's study. The second floor was originally the childrens' bedrooms, the toy room, the two second floor bathrooms, the room where the childrens' lesson books and study area were held, and a generally unused bedroom that only saw the occasional guest of the family."

"So we're staying in the children's rooms?" Yugi asked.

Abigail nodded with a slight chuckle. "Yes. You and Kaiba have the twins' room, Yami and Joey are staying in Annabelle's. The Millers were in the toy room, the Narendras are in the study room, the Johnstons are in Angelien's, and the Maxwells in Giselle's."

"The little girl? That's why it's pink," Mr. Maxwell said.

"Yes. The house was refurnished to make it appear almost exactly as it was in 1847, when the time was good, except for the other two bedrooms on the second floor. Upstairs is the parents' room, where I stay, and Oscar is in the reconverted study. The study looks as it did back then, except for the addition of a couch with a fold-up bed that Oscar sleeps on while we're here during the season."

"So you stay up there all by yourselves?" Mrs. Narendra asked.

"Oh, yes. And, yes, we've had many supernatural experiences."

"Of course," Kaiba muttered.

"But you haven't disappeared," Mr. Maxwell said with a smirk. Cleary he thought like Kaiba did.

"No. Not yet. But if you think only guests disappear, you're wrong. We used to have help with the tours. Every season we'd have some of teenagers and college-age coeds from the city here working during the summer, until Nikki disappeared. They never found her body. The house was closed for three seasons while an investigation occurred and the family tried to have the house shut down for good. The owners won at the appeal and the house was reopened. After all, the cops never found any reason to suggest the house or anyone working here had anything to do with the disappearance and Nikki did have a boyfriend from an out-of-state college. They think she ran away. I think she's dead, but if she is, that's no reason to shut down the house. People disappear and die every day and this is merely a ghoulish amusement attraction."

They reached the third floor. No one had decided to opt out and they spent an hour combing over the third floor, being informed of the miscellaneous disappearances and deaths occurring there and in their own rooms downstairs. One person had even been found hung in the kitchen where there food had been prepared. At that point Mrs. Narendra and Mrs. Johnston both looked ill.

Oscar came up as they were descending the stairs back to the second floor. "The Millers are on their way to Las Vegas. It's ten-thirty, Ms. Douchett."

"The tour is over," Abigail said to the guests. "All that's left tonight is for you to enjoy your stay and experience your own personal hauntings." She smiled. "Tomorrow, after breakfast is served, we will head down to the graveyard and after lunch, to the spot where Henri jumped. Both have had reports of hauntings, but very few. Perhaps we will be lucky. That night we'll hold a traditional seance in the parlor, where Angelien was killed, to see if we can't forcibly coax out a sighting. On the third day, after breakfast, we'll make a trip to the school where Annabelle was sickened and to the lake where Giselle drowned. After that, you are free to explore all on your own to see if you can have any more experiences and at six, you'll be taken back to the city. Goodnight."

Yami noted that the women and Mr. Narendra looked a little spooked while Mr. Johnston looked eager to see a ghost and Mr. Maxwell looked disdainful. Abigail and Oscar descended to the ground floor, though Oscar paused on the stairs.

"If anyone else wishes to leave at any time you may come up to my room on the third floor. Don't worry about the hour, at any time you are free to leave and we'll provide your transportation, though we must inform you that after lunch tomorrow, there is no refund at all. For tonight you may leave your bedrooms to explore the house if you wish, but we must ask you stay out of the torture-chamber room and the cellar downstairs. The cellar will be locked, but unfortunately a previous guest last week was unkind enough to attempt to force entry into the torture room and damaged the lock and surrounding jamb, so it will be open. Please, for your own safety, mind the rules. We have a repairman coming tomorrow to fix it, but for now... If you need anything at all, Abigail and I will welcome any requests at any hour. Goodnight."

They split up to head to their own rooms. Yugi wandered into Yami and Joey's room, Kaiba on his heels. He stepped to the side of the door and folded his arms while Yugi took a seat at the table.

"Pretty nasty, huh?" Joey said with a grin as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah. Now I can't help but wonder if Frederick or Henri is going to show up," Yugi said.

"Please, Yugi, you don't actually believe in ghosts," Kaiba said.

"I'm like Joey; why can't they exist? Maybe you'll see one and change your mind."

Kaiba snorted as Aibou smiled. "I doubt it."

"They say nonbelievers always see one first," Joey said.

"Who says that, Wheeler?"

Rather than answer that question, Joey's smile widened. "We're gonna wake up at two in the morning to Kaiba screaming bloody murder."

"More likely I'll be looking for the trick if one does show up. If one shows up in your bedroom, Wheeler, Oscar won't have to call a taxi, you'll already be running back to Las Vegas."

Joey laughed. "Yeah, probably. Sorry, Yami, you'll be on your own."

"Are we going to go exploring?" Yugi asked.

"You can if you want," Kaiba said.

"I will go if you want to, Aibou, but I'd rather go to bed," Yami said.

"Yeah, me too," Joey said. "Let's save the ghosts for the seance tomorrow."

"Good," Yugi said. "I didn't really want to go either."

"Then let's say goodnight," Yami said.

Yugi stood and hugged him and Joey. "Yeah, goodnight."

"Sleep well, Aibou."

Joey grinned broadly. "Hey, if a ghost shows up looking for revenge, tell 'em they can have Kaiba."

"Joey."

"Goodnight, Kaiba," Yami said to be polite.

"Yeah, goodnight," Joey said with that grin continuing. "Don't smother Yugi hugging him for a teddy bear when the ghosts come for you."

Kaiba gave him a look and left the room with Yugi laughing on his heels. "I wouldn't mind being held like that, Seto," he said as they went. "Even if you squeeze tight."

Yami shut the door after them with a smile. He jumped when arms wrapped around his waist.

"Hey, not a ghost, just me," Joey purred in his ear. His lips began trailing slowly down his neck. He pulled back and turned Yami around, pushing him against the door and pinning him there, hands holding his biceps. He looked down at him with a wolfish grin.

"Ever done it in a haunted house?"

Yami gave him a look of his own. "Wouldn't that be morbid?"

"Yeah. That's the point. That and you're so hot."

He bent and claimed Yami's mouth. Yami reached up and wound his arms around his neck as Joey wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled their bodies together. Joey started walking backwards towards the bed, toppling onto it with Yami on top. Their kisses continued, Joey pushing up Yami's shirt to run his fingers along his back. Joey broke the kiss to move his mouth down Yami's neck again, slowly rolling them to push him down into the bed.

Joey sat up to take off their shirts before leaning back down to start working over his chest, tongue sliding over his nipples. His fingers dragged over his stomach, reaching down to work on the fastenings of his pants while his mouth trailed down. Yami squirmed slightly as Joey dipped his tongue into his navel, nipping the skin. His pants were undone and Joey pushed them and his underwear off. Yami hissed softly as the coolish air caressed his growing erection.

"Hm. Not there yet? I think I'm losing my touch."

Yami smiled at him, then groaned as Joey pulled him into his mouth, sucking lightly before pulling up to place kisses along the shaft, then took him into his mouth again, continuing this pattern until Yami was gripping the bedsheets.

"Jo~ey," Yami growled.

Joey lifted up, crawling over him to kiss him. Yami bit his bottom lip, tugging it with his teeth. Joey laughed when he let go and glared at him. His hand stole down and wrapped around him, beginning to stroke.

"Is this what you wanted?"

He didn't wait for an answer, bending down to kiss him again, pushing his tongue into his mouth. Yami growled again, reaching up to tangle his fingers in Joey's hair, hips moving against his hand. Joey broke the kiss and went down to take him into his mouth again, this time really beginning to blow him. Yami rested a hand on the top of his bobbing head, the other taking another handful of the sheets. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the attentions.

Yami opened his eyes in frustration when Joey lifted off of him. He glared down the length of his body at him. Joey was looking at him thoughtfully.

"What?" Yami demanded.

"Is this how it's going to be? Just straight sex tonight? You don't have any of your gizmos or games today?"

Yami grunted. "Yes, Joey, because I wanted to be caught in customs with a bagful of sex toys and handcuffs."

Joey laughed uproariously. "Oh, yeah, the country really checks now, doesn't it?"

"Weren't you in the middle of something?" Yami shifted under him.

Joey grinned at him, reaching down with one hand to lightly tease him with just his fingertips. "I'm sorry. Aren't I usually in this position, begging you to let me cum? How's those turned tables?"

Yami shot up, grabbing the back of his neck and jerking him down to kiss him harshly. "Do something or I'm going to flip you over and skewer myself."

Joey groaned against his mouth. "That would be hot, except I don't want you to hurt yourself. I'm just going to get the lube and then we're rolling around on this bed until even a ghost couldn't wake us up."

Yami smiled and reluctantly let Joey leave the bed to get it. Joey squatted on the floor to pull it out of his bag before he straightened up and came back to the bed. Yami met his kiss as he leaned over him again. Joey moved back and squirmed out of his pants, leaving them both naked. He popped the top and poured some onto his fingers, moving his hand down as Yami spread his legs and lifted his hips. He groaned softly as the first finger slid into him, pushing against it.

"Don't take your time, I'm warning you."

"Yes, sir!"

Joey pushed the second and third fingers in quickly, pushing them in and out. He removed them and slicked his cock. Yami moved, rolling forward until he was facing the foot of the bed, putting himself on his hands and knees, looking at Joey over his shoulder.

"Damn..." Joey rumbled softly, his eyes on his ass.

He moved up onto his knees behind him, pressing a kiss to his spine before positioning himself. Yami groaned softly as Joey teasing rubbed the head of his cock against his entrance without entering him.

"Jo--"

His aggravated snarl was interrupted with a cry as Joey entered him to the hilt in one shove of his hips. Lowering his head, he panted at the mattress, knowing he was definitely getting his punishment for teasing Joey like this many times when they made love.

"Oh, gods," Joey groaned from behind him.

His hands held on tight to Yami's hips and he began to thrust, rolling his hips slowly against him, taking him deep. Yami moaned in pleasure, closing his eyes. Joey sped up, his fingers digging into his hips, his own groans getting louder. Yami began shoving back against him, clutching at the edge of the mattress.

"Faster."

Joey obeyed, his thrusts turning short and hard, Yami's prostate rubbed continuously. He leaned over him, teeth nipping at the back of his neck. His hands slid up, running lightly over Yami's hardened erection before going up his stomach and rubbing calloused palms over his nipples. Yami arched up, reaching down to grab one of his wrists, trying to push his hand back down. Joey chuckled, lips brushing over the short hair at the base of his skull before going to his ear.

He suddenly pulled back, twisting Yami over onto his back. Yami looked up at him, deliberately letting his arms stay above his head, hanging over the edge of the mattress. Joey smiled down at him, one hand cupping the side of his face as he bent down for another short kiss. Leaning back up, his hands took ahold of Yami's thighs and tugged him down, entering him again. Yami rolled his head back, groaning.

Joey lifted up his hips, holding him up above the mattress, sliding his thighs more under Yami's. He began to thrust again steadily, deep groans rumbling from his throat as he closed his eyes. Yami kept his hands above his head, watching Joey even as his own pleasure burned along his nerves. As it grew higher, Yami's fingers curled of their own accord and he shut his eyes, crying out as Joey suddenly slammed harder.

One of his hands left his hips and reached down, stroking his erection. Yami reached down with one hand, wrapping his fingers around Joey's, squeezing and making him grip him tighter. Joey bent down and they kissed feverishly, Yami tangling his other hand in thick blond hair. His abdomen was tightening; he was nearing his climax.

Joey broke the kiss to move his mouth down to his neck again, teeth lightly biting before he began working for a hickey, lips and tongue sucking on his skin. Yami shivered, the hand in Joey's hair sliding down to his shoulder. Joey groaned against his neck, the vibrations running through him.

"Gods, Babe, I'm so close. Cum first."

His hand began working his cock faster, tighter, and Yami couldn't hold on. His back bowed and he came with a scream, shuddering as Joey continued to stroke and thrust, prolonging his pleasure before he came himself, his own shout muffled by Yami's neck. They relaxed, panting heavily, Joey carefully pulling out before laying down on Yami, distributing his weight and resting his head on his chest.

After several long moments, Joey turned his head and kissed Yami's chest lightly, moving up to kiss his mouth before he lifted himself up. He left the bed to get a wet washcloth from the bathroom. Yami sat up as he returned, allowing Joey to clean him up, exchanging kisses with him while he did. After Joey was cleaned up, they got ready for bed. Yami was exhausted, burrowing under the covers with Joey, turning out the light. Yami rested his head on Joey's chest, wrapped up in his arms.

"Well, even if we don't see any ghosts, I still had a extraordinary experience," Joey purred, kissing the top of his head.

Yami chuckled, closing his eyes. "Goodnight, Joey."

"'Night, Yami. I love you, Babe."

Yami smiled, nuzzling against his chest. "I love you, too."

They fell silent, Yami yawning deeply and settling down to sleep. Joey's breathing turned deep and even beneath his ear. Yami followed him.

They were jerked awake in the middle of the night by a terrible scream.