PROLOGUE

He lived among men and women, yet he was always apart from them; perhaps even more isolated from normal people than the others of his kind. He was human, right enough. He had hands, and feet, two eyes, two arms, and two legs. His skeleton, brain and bone were indistinguishable from his more common brothers and sisters. Down to his DNA, he was human.

But he did not, could not, live as did other men. None of them could.

They called themselves the “Peers,” and, in each of them, there existed some legendary talent. One of the Peers was a telepath. Another had the power to project his soul out of his body. A third was telekinetic; able to draw small objects to herself, or push them away; bend spoons and the like. Some were great mystics, of various types, while one could make faint contact with the universal spirit and, from that contact, divine the probable shape of tomorrow. In their group was a healer, who could lay on hands and mend a broken or diseased body; and a new member who replaced the fire starter that had passed away a decade before. Their numbers were unstable; and a talent might vanish for decades, only to come again as it emerged in a new practitioner.

They came to their skill in different ways. Some grew into it. If it was to come naturally, the talent always manifested when the adept reached their mid 20’s. Sometimes trauma brought on what the Peers called the “quickening:” a blow to the head, severe injury, or an extreme emotional event. Sometimes, just getting close to a Peer was enough. Usually, someone with a latent power showed some small capacity for the talent well before it “quickened” into fullness.

These days, there were 16 of them, scattered around the world. None possessed more than one ‘talent.’ They maintained contact, and told one another of their lives and exploits; and the ways that mankind sought to duplicate their abilities. They held, among them, books describing arcane practice and power. All of them feared exposure, and the exploitation that would surely follow. Some used their talent in service to mankind. Others wished only to be left alone.

As for him, he would never be by himself. Yet he would always be alone.

He was an alpha. He was the living embodiment of all that is male. He was tall, well over six feet, broad at the shoulder; and heavily muscled. His face seemed chiseled from stone, and his deep penetrating voice sounded like the tolling of a great bell. When in his presence, men saw him as the leader they could, even must, follow. Women, when he turned his attention to them, surrendered to the overwhelming desire he inspired. He called it, ‘the hunger.’ It struck him, and women, as a ravenous appetite for each other that could not be denied. Any woman, all women, that he wanted, he took. For, when the hunger came over them, they were as though under a spell, and unable to do anything but succumb. It was an overpowering craving that would continue every minute they were within his orbit.

The sex was magnificent. They would climax over and over; as often as he wished them to. And he would be satisfied as well; filling their bodies with his seed. He left no bastard children behind. He controlled his own potency. His partners would experience bliss from their coupling with him.

There had been thousands; for he hungered no less than they.

When they parted, he would remember them. But they would have no clear recollection of him. They would experience him only as the epitome of their dreams of the ultimate male; only as the most virile and vigorous man they had ever known. The features of his face, the shape and size of his body, any name he might give: they would remember none of that. For he was the essence of man, and no one, man or woman, could see the person that existed behind the overwhelming intensity of his manhood. Even the memory of him would wane in time; the recollection dimming like an antique print, bereft of vibrant color. How else could any other man ever satisfy them? The pattern of his life was unchanging: He and his chosen would hunger. He would feed their hunger. Both would know ecstasy. Then he would fade away.

That was his talent…and his curse.