House of Skin

MEMOIRS OF THE TEMPLAR SOCIETY (1)

In the days of his youth, James Stadtler sought out the underbelly of society. He kept the company of criminals, perverts, fetishists, and prostitutes. All those who had sampled life’s darker pleasures and lived to tell the tale. It was in this way he met Zero and Grimes. They were both older than he—professional men, it turned out—and equally as jaded by the experiences life and ready cash had brought them. There had to be a better way.

And together, they would find it.

He met them quite by accident in a Chinatown brothel. They had just finished with their evening’s amusement and were hanging about the bar, drinking and talking in low tones. Stadtler paid them little mind. He was waiting for his oriental flower and wouldn’t leave until he sampled her wares.

They sidled up next to him and sat quietly for a time.

“Haven’t seen you here before,” one said. “Name’s Grimes. This is my associate Dr. Zero.”

“What of it?” Stadtler said.

“And you’re…”

“Stadtler. Jim Stadtler. Again, what of it?”

The two men looked to each other and laughed. Grimes was short and stout, balding with twinkling blue eyes. Zero was tall and thin, dark-eyed, with an immaculately trimmed beard. They both wore business suits and overcoats.

“Is there something funny about that?” Stadtler asked.

“We find your manner… refreshing,” Zero told him.

“Do you?”

“Oh yes.”

Grimes ordered more drinks for them all. Stadtler didn’t mind; he barely had enough money to cover his whore, let alone all the booze he was sucking down. If these two queers wanted to pay, so be it. He’d gladly talk with them if they covered expenses.

“Do you have any favorites here?” Grimes asked.

“The Asian women,” he told them. “Particularly Lee Chang. I’ve been through the rest. Whites, blacks, Indians. I’m tired of them all. Even Lee is getting boring. But what else is there?”

“Yes, what else?” Grimes said.

He and Zero exchanged another of their secretive looks.

Stadtler was waiting for the inevitable proposition he was certain was coming. Hopefully, they’d buy him more drinks before he had to turn them down. He figured Grimes was at least fifty; Zero somewhere in his forties. It was a novel approach they’d developed, he thought, hanging around whorehouses and trying to pick up men. It all seemed rather absurd when there were dozens of places males of all ages could be had for a price or for free.

“We know of your plight,” Zero assured him. “There isn’t a house of pleasure in this damn town we haven’t milked dry for entertainment.”

Grimes nodded. “A man reaches a point where he needs something new.”

Here it comes, Stadtler thought.

“Before you bother going any farther,” he said, “I should tell you I’m not interested.”

“In what?” Grimes asked. He looked slyly amused.

“This isn’t a proposition,” Zero said.

“Isn’t it?”

“If it was a young man we wanted, sir, the city’s full of better pickings than you, I dare say.”

Stadtler felt terribly foolish. He’d as much as insulted them and all on the part of an over-inflated ego. “My apologies,” he said. “I thought—”

“Think nothing of it.”

“What do you do for a living?” Grimes inquired, ordering more drinks.

“Private security,” Stadtler said. “You’re a doctor, I take it?”

Zero smiled. “I hold that degree, but I’m not in practice. I sometimes lecture in anatomy at UCSF.”

“If it pleases him,” Grimes said.

Stadtler studied Zero. His clothes were tailored, his nails manicured. Everything about him spoke of money. A man, apparently, who only worked when it pleased him. A dream life.

“And you?” he said to Grimes.

“I teach mathematical theory at the university.”

“And you get together from time to time to enjoy certain pleasures?”

“Weekly.”

Zero added, “But it seems there’s less and less to be had. Our little circle of two is growing tiresome. We need fresh blood.”

“New thoughts on the nature of experience.”

“And you want me to join?”

“Maybe.”

“And what do we call our little group?” Stadtler asked.

Grimes and Zero locked eyes again.

“The Templar Society,” Zero said.

“As in the knights of history?”

“As in the way they were reputedto be,” he explained, “not as they truly were.”

“Interesting.”

A silence passed between the three as each debated this possible partnership.

“I’m game, if you still want me,” Stadtler said.

“What do you think?” Grimes asked.

“He’ll do nicely.”

Stadtler smiled. “A toast, then? To the Society of three?”

They swallowed down their drinks and Grimes ordered more. Stadtler was getting drunk and it seemed appropriate to celebrate.

“But first,” Zero said, “will your profession stop you from indulging in anything considered immoral?”

“Or illegal?” Grimes wondered.

Stadtler thought about what he was getting into. He didn’t give a damn. “Of course not. I’m game for anything.”

They drank again and began talking about the women they’d had and what they’d bullied them into doing. They laughed and joked and confided like old friends. And through it all, Stadtler couldn’t help feeling that it was the beginning of the end somehow.

“I’m glad you waited,” Lee Chang said, coming up behind Stadtler and licking his ear. She was dressed out in silk and lace, her legs long and sensuous, her breasts high and full. Her eyes promised a thousand ecstasies.

“At last,” Stadtler moaned, running his hand between her legs. “These are my friends. They’ll be joining us tonight.”

Zero and Grimes looked pleased.

Lee licked her lips with lecherous delight. “I’ll do my best to amuse them.”

The foursome went up the stairs to the chambers above.

And this is how it all came together.

They met more often in the weeks that passed, the games taking on a new and practiced urgency.

And by that time, there was no looking back.