After pinning the car in on all sides for countless miles, the dense forest finally parted to reveal a striking building. It was an impressive sight. Though the architect had clearly been hoping to emulate a log cabin aesthetic, at four storeys tall this was no simple forest retreat. What was more, it soon became clear that the place was far bigger than even the initial glimpse through the trees suggested, with large wings sprawling off to the left, the right, and no doubt to the rear too.
Pulling up outside, the car’s occupants all climbed out and stared up wide-eyed at the building, momentarily awestruck.
‘Well, I’d say there’s definitely worse places to spend the week,’ Liam said at last, running a hand through his dark hair and puffing out his cheeks.
Appearing beside him, Solomon shoved him playfully. ‘Worse places? Talk about the understatement of the century, Liam. This place looks amazing!’
‘How did you even find this place?’ asked Niaz. He peered at Liam through large, pink-rimmed sunglasses while fiddling with the pendant of his choker.
Leaning in to turn off the ignition, Liam shrugged. ‘It just popped up when I was looking for accommodation that could cater for large groups. It’s got everything: two pools, a gym, a library, not to mention a frankly stupid number of bedrooms. I never realised it was this big though.’
‘Well, it’s a good job it is,’ said Dominic, coming around the car to join them. ‘After all, there’s enough of us to sink a small ferry at this point, so we’re definitely going to need the room.’
As if on cue, the sound of approaching engines echoed up the road. A few seconds later the thump of music turned up far too loud reached them too, prompting a handful of birds to take flight from the surrounding trees.
‘That’ll be the cavalry,’ Solomon noted. Stretching his lanky frame, he sighed as several joints gave audible cracks. ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I’m off to pick a room. Perks of riding shotgun with the organisers is you get first dibs, and there’s no way I’m wasting that opportunity.’ Popping open the boot, Solomon grabbed his suitcase and marched off, nimbly catching the keys Liam tossed to him as he went.
It didn’t take long for the rest of the cars to arrive. Just as Liam had expected Aaron was the one to blame from the blaring music, and though the racket cut off as he killed the engine, the few birds that still remained went flapping away when he slammed his door shut hard.
‘Damn, boys, looks like we’ve hit the jackpot,’ Aaron said, flipping up his designer sunglasses to admire the building. He was wearing the varsity jacket and dark jeans of arrogant jocks everywhere and his black hair was worn in a high quiff oiled to within an inch of its life.
‘You can say that again,’ Jacques nodded. ‘This place looks like the Playboy mansion!’
Aaron turned to stare at Jacques with a quizzical look, as did the other three men climbing out of the car.
‘Dude, you don’t have a clue what the Playboy mansion actually looks like, do you?’ Joe said.
‘Of course he does, he’s spent enough time looking at pictures,’ Taylor laughed. ‘Obviously he only looks at them to appreciate the décor. The girls are just a happy coincidence.’
‘Fuck off,’ Jacques snapped, punching Taylor on the shoulder as his cheeks flushed.
While the others were ridiculing Jacques, Andre had already grabbed his suitcase from the boot and was following in Solomon’s footsteps. ‘Well, if you guys are just going to stand here all day, I guess I’ll have to be the one who goes and meets all the bunnies in there,’ he called back. With that the other guys were scrambling to grab their own cases before racing after him, eager to explore every corner of the house for any elusive centrefold that might be hiding inside.
Rolling his eyes, Niaz perked up as he saw Vince emerging from one of the other cars. Slinking across to the tall, handsome man, he shamelessly pressed himself against Vince’s rock band t-shirt and looped his arms around his neck. ‘So then, are we bunking together for the week? I promise to make it a memorable experience if we do,’ he added with a wink.
Like a springing tiger, Andi, Vince’s girlfriend, appeared and pushed Niaz away. ‘Hands off, man-whore,’ she said, though there was no venom in her voice, only amusement. Everybody knew that Niaz would have done anything to get in Vince’s pants, and it was a running joke that he’d take any opportunity to try and steal his crush from Andi’s arms. ‘Oh, and we’ll be keeping our bedroom door locked at night, just so you know,’ Andi went on, prodding Niaz in the chest. ‘Don’t want you trying to get a midnight snack, you little gremlin.’
By the time everybody had arrived the drive was clustered with cars. One by one the occupants filtered into the manor until only Liam and Dominic remained outside.
‘Well, this place seems to have gone down well so far,’ Liam noted as he pulled out their suitcases.
‘Of course it has,’ Dominic replied. He was leaning against the side of the car admiring the building. His white shirt was stark against his black skin and as Liam came to join him Dominic patted him on the shoulder. ‘You’ve really outdone yourself this time, man. Something tells me this is going to be a week to remember.’
‘I hope so. After all, a tenth anniversary should be celebrated in style.’ He handed Dominic his suitcase. ‘Come on, we’d better go see if there’s any good rooms left.’
The bonfire flared as Liam tossed on a few extra logs. For a few seconds they remained untouched, then the wood started to char as the heat set in. Soon the flames had set about consuming them, bathing the surrounding group in a warm glow.
‘So I was thinking of starting the day with some yoga tomorrow,’ Jessie was saying, her bare feet resting on the lip of the firepit. ‘I was going to go out by the pool so there’ll be plenty of space if anyone wants to join me.’
Almost before she had finished Luke was nodding. ‘I’ll go with you,’ he said. Then, realising there were more than a few smirks directed his way, added, ‘I mean, if it’s not too much trouble. I’ve never done it before, but it can’t hurt to try, right?’ Flushing with embarrassment, he pretended to spot a smudge on his glasses so he could take them off and avoid making any eye contact while rubbing them on his shirt.
As usual, Jessie was oblivious to the raised eyebrows. Lit up with enthusiasm she was already orating about anything and everything to do with yoga, never once noticing that Luke had the befuddled look of an infant trying to wrap his head around quantum physics.
Set back from the group a little, Charlie chuckled as he watched the odd pair. Catching the attention of his two companions, he nodded in Jessie’s direction. ‘Is she the only one in this whole group who can’t see it?’ he muttered.
Stephen took a sip of his beer then rested it back on his portly stomach. ‘Seems so. Then again, that might be for the best. He’s been crushing on her for so long, if she realised it now the eureka moment would hit her so hard she’d be concussed for a week.’
Maria simply smiled her usual motherly smile. ‘Leave them alone, you two. I think it’s cute. They’ll figure things out one day.’ She paused, glancing with a disapproving eye at Aaron who was currently chugging a can of beer. ‘And I’m sure he’ll make her much happier than any previous flames she might have had.’
‘Naming no names, of course,’ Charlie said, cracking open a beer of his own and flicking the tab into the fire.
‘Of course not.’ Maria smiled sweetly, and Charlie could almost believe she didn’t want to use Aaron as the next batch of kindling. Almost.
The sound of voices – or rather one voice that wouldn’t stop – echoed through the darkness behind them. ‘From one hopeless couple to the next,’ Stephen muttered, just as two figures entered the ring of firelight.
As usual, Emma was dominating the conversation. ‘So there isn’t much info online about what kinds of trails there are around here. I mean in fairness we are in the ass end of nowhere, so it’s not really surprising. Anyway, while I was unpacking I found a whole bunch of maps in one of the drawers and it actually looks like there’s loads of good hiking paths all over the place.’ Flopping down into an empty chair, she brushed a stray lock of long blonde hair behind ear. ‘I was thinking about trying them out tomorrow. You should come too Sean, I’m sure you’ll love it.’
Sean just nodded along, his eyes only for her. When Emma was around he barely seemed to notice anybody else, and perhaps if she closed her mouth for more than a few seconds she might have picked up on the adoring look in his eyes. But as always Emma was so busy chatting away that despite how obvious Sean’s infatuation was to everybody else, she remained far too distracted to spot it.
‘You know a hike doesn’t sound like a bad idea,’ Solomon said. He was reclined practically horizontally in his chair, his shoulders barely above the arms and his feet thrust out towards the fire like Jessie’s. ‘If you’re up for some company I’d be happy to join you.’
Emma wasn’t listening, but Andi and Vince were nodding.
‘We’re down for a walk,’ Vince said.
‘Yeah, especially if it keeps us as far away from that brat as possible,’ Andi said, sticking her tongue out at Niaz who pulled a face before turning and continuing the conversation he was having with David and Maya.
A few other members of the group agreed to join the hike, including Liam and Dominic. It seemed like a refreshing way to start the week, and besides, there would be plenty of time to chill at the manor later on. Better to explore the wilderness now in case the weather turned down the line.
Leaning back in his chair, Liam listened to the ebb and flow of the conversations taking place around him. The chatter was often about nothing of any great importance, but that’s what he enjoyed listening to most. Hearing his friends laughing and talking together filled him with a sense of pride for the part he’d played in bringing them all together.
It had been ten years since he and Dominic first founded the group. Back then there were just a handful of them. They’d met at a comic con – a bunch of overexcited teenagers in homemade costumes – and decided to band together. As he usually did, Liam had been the one to help arrange plans so they could attend the next event together. And the rest, as they say, was history. By now they were over thirty in number and in celebration of the group’s tenth anniversary they had decided to spend a week away together.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Dominic asked while skewering marshmallows onto a pair of toasting forks.
Liam shrugged. ‘Nothing much. I just like listening sometimes, you know? It feels kind of special knowing none of us would be together right now if it weren’t for you and me.’ Dominic handed him one of the forks. Holding it over the fire Liam let the flames lick the marshmallows on the tip.
Sticking out his own fork, Dominic nodded. ‘Yeah, I get that. Honestly sometimes it feels like an accomplishment just keeping them all from killing each other. But I guess families are like that sometimes, right?’
Liam said nothing, but his smile was agreement enough.
As the night wore on, both the radiant flames and the supplies of alcohol gradually dwindled. Eventually the group began to fragment, trudging back to the manor in small clusters where they slumped into bed. Exhausted by the long journey and woozy from the booze, they were soon fast asleep. With the building in darkness and no lights from the city to get in the way, the bright moon nestled amongst a glittering riot of starlight, illuminating in silver the name engraved on the ornate sign that stood to one side of the drive: Fantasy Manor…
Here we go again!
It has been three years since I last wrote a Fantasy Universe series for the summer, and for someone ridiculous reason after I released my rewrite of The Program: Amber Smith last year I decided I wanted to do a new Fantasy series for this summer. Given that I have much, much less spare time than I did when writing Lake Fantasy and Fantasy Resort any rational person would have rejected that idea outright – so obviously I decided to start sourcing galleries and figuring out the plot, because it seems I cannot resist overstretching myself.
So yes, this series has been literally a year in the making, and given that I only managed to get the first five chapters written before I then had to drop it for about six months, it’s safe to say that the past few months have been very busy for me! The end result of all that work was a 200-page marathon of transformations and smut that once again showcases the work of some of my favourite models. Long-time readers will know that my Fantasy Universe stories are as much about showing off the models I love as anything else, so I genuinely hope that I do their work justice in these stories and that I can introduce people to models they may not have been aware of before. If even one person is prompted to explore the work of a new model from this series, then I’ll be happy with that.
As always with these stories, I want to point out that none of these stories would exist without the influence of Mara Mischief. Any reader of TG erotica undoubtedly knows who she is, and it was her Mischief Manor series that originally inspired me to write Lake Fantasy, which then snowballed into Fantasy Resort, my Club Fantasy solo stories, and now Fantasy Manor. This series in particular is as much an homage to her original work as it is inspired by it, so if you enjoy it you really have her to thank. So as always my thanks to Mara for giving me her blessing on this project, and I urge you all to support her work on her blog and her Twitter (no, I will not call it X).
My release schedule for this month is going to be very busy. Chapter one is already out, then starting next week there will be a new chapter releasing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next three weeks. Then we’ll be closing out the final week of the month with a new chapter every day Monday through Friday, followed by the epilogue on Saturday 31st.
I truly hope you all enjoy what’s to come this month. It’s taken a lot of time and effort, but I’m extremely happy with the result, and I’m really excited for you to finally read what I’ve come up with.
Images: https://unsplash.com/photos/f6eWKcd8_dA (edited)
