Devil Cares: Chapter Twenty-Five

July 11, 2008 at 4:04 pm (Devil Cares) (Devil Cares)

Here it is. Early, for no other reason than because I felt like it. Also, look for something special tomorrow at high noon.

Wes was dreaming, he was pretty sure. What he was seeing couldn’t be real, it was like something out of his wettest dreams. Two gorgeous chicks a little older than him were kneeling just a little past his knees, and were giggling. One was blonde, with her hair in curls all tied up in a ponytail type thing on the back of her head. She was wearing a leopard spotted bikini edged in pink lace. The other was a redhead, her hair flowing down past her shoulders in copper waves. Wes noticed her eyes were a green disturbingly reminiscent of Melissa Jones, and that she was dressed in a black one-piece bustier.

“Oh, good,” giggled the blonde, seeing him notice them.

She leaned forward, and before Wes could react she’d stuck out her tongue and began to lick his neck. His eyes wanted to loll back into his head, but a whisper of something tickled the back of his brain. A memory?

He reached out his hand to push her away. “Now, just wait a—oh, God!”

The blond had not been deterred, she’d simply taken the opportunity to start sucking on his fingers.

“Not quite, love,” the redhead purred in a voice Wes could only describe as silky.

She began to lean toward him as well, and Wes edged backwards, pulling his fingers from the blonde’s mouth. But there was nowhere to go, his back was already up against the seat. Seat? Wes thought, there’s something about this…something wrong.

“Don’t be afraid to use those, baby,” the blonde breathed as she began to pull up the edge of his shirt.

Déjà vu, that’s what it’s called, Wes thought, I feel like I’ve been here before. But why would that be weird? If this was a dream maybe he’d had it before. It had never felt quit like this, though. That thought was enough to bring some caution into his mind.

“S-stop,” Wes moaned as the blonde’s tongue found his navel.

“You don’t really want us to stop,” replied the redhead as she pulled the neck of his shirt past his shoulder. “We can tell.”

Trying to find a breath, Wes groaned, “Y-yes, I do—”

“Hush,” purred the liquid of the redhead’s voice as she bent her head and bit down on Wes’s shoulder.

She bit hard, and it hurt, and yet it sent a spike of heat straight to his groin. He threw his head back and whimpered, full on whimpered.

“Oh, he liked that,” laughed the blonde, whose tongue was moving farther up his chest.

Then the redhead reached for his belt, and as she exposed him to the air memory slammed into his head. Lunging forward, he pushed past both of the girls, rolling off the edge of the strange backseat-bed. When he had been caught in the succubus’s illusion, there had been nothing but darkness surrounding it. Now that darkness had turned into a field of night sky.

On the bed, the girls giggled as he buckled his belt.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it,” the redhead purred. “I can tell that you did.”

Heat came to his cheeks, whether embarrassment or shame he couldn’t have said. “Just because I enjoyed it doesn’t mean I wanted it.”

“But you did want it.” She came off the bed with a pair of legs he couldn’t help but notice, despite his attempts not to. “Deep inside you wanted nothing so badly as what we did to you. You even wanted a little more.”

Wes shook his head, denial on his features. “No. I don’t know how you—”

“It wasn’t us, babe,” said the blonde, as she joined the other girl off the bed. “It was all you.”

She giggled and winked. “What an imaginative little boy you are.”

The redhead’s voice was surprisingly kind when she said, “There’s nothing wrong with it, Wes. We like what we like. So you need it a little rough, so what? It doesn’t make you a freak.”

“It just makes you kinky,” the blond piped up. She was cowed by a stern look from the redhead.

This was never a conversation Wes wanted to have. They were telling the truth, he couldn’t really deny it. When the redhead had bit him, he’d never been so aroused. For a perpetually horny sixteen-year-old that was quite a statement.

“It…it’s not normal,” he protested.

“Oh, Wes, there is no such thing as normal,” the redhead gave a soft sigh. “I doubt you’ll believe this, coming from us, but normal is entirely subjective.”

There was a nonplussed look on Wes’s face.

“It varies depending on your point of view,” the blonde offered.

“Do you accept your brother, Wes?” the redhead asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Do you think it’s wrong?”

He opened his mouth, and then slowly shut it.

“No,” he said, sounding almost surprised, “I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“I was the only member of our family he still talked to,” Wes began, “and I could tell how much happier he was. I mean, if it made him happy then it can’t be wrong, can it? Happiness doesn’t come in right and wrong, does it?”

The blonde smiled. “That’s up to you.”

Wes frowned. “Why are we having this conversation? And why should I believe anything you say? You’re demons.”

“We weren’t always demons, Wes,” the redhead replied, “And we still aren’t the kind you think we are.”

“What are you then?”

“Once upon a time we were healers, wisewomen, goddesses. We came to the people and took their pain away. Their shame, their guilt. We showed them that this life is what you make of it, and happiness is theirs if they would only take it.” She sighed. “That was a long time ago.”

Kimber will know if this is true, Wes thought.

“Okay, so then why tell me this?”

“We did take your innocence,” the redhead said.

“It’s only fair we give something back,” the blonde finished.

“Don’t be afraid of your desires, Wesson Mossberg.” The redhead smiled gently. “You will live so much happier.”

“Our mistress is calling,” the blonde winked again. “We have to go now.”

“Wait, your mistress?” Wes looked back and forth between them. “You mean you’re real?”

“Real enough,” the redhead said, “real to you.”

They began to slowly fade away. Just before the blonde had vanished, she said, “It was an honor to help you get your freak on.”

Despite himself, Wes laughed. His laughter quickly died as he realized he was alone in the star-studded darkness.

“What do I do now?” he called out.

A wispy voice echoed around him, though which one it was he couldn’t have said. “It’s your dreamscape, you figure it out.”

“Because that’s helpful,” he muttered as he looked around.

He tried to take a few calming breaths, thinking maybe if he focused like he had in the hallway he could wake up. Instead, his thoughts kept coming back to what the girls had told him. Had succubuses…succubae really been good guys once? What other creatures had changed as the years had gone by? Then recalled the ease with which Kimber had identified the wight, calling it a nature spirit. Were the succubae like that once? Harmless and fey?

It’s not like he’d ever really know, and the best bet for him to find out would be Kimber. Wes was certain that if anyone would know, his middle brother would. And then he had an idea. The succubus’s girls had told him this was his dream, and that it was up to him to get out. He couldn’t focus on waking up, but maybe he could focus on his brothers. If he could get them out of bed they could come wake him up.

Kimber was already on his mind, so he called a picture of him to his mind. Wes could see his brother’s cool gray eyes, the way they gained some warmth when he looked at Wes. He could see Kimber’s flawlessly messy hair, which he could never decide if it looked spiky or curly. Wes could even see the fancy, classy clothes he liked to wear.

He heard the sound of choked breathing somewhere in the darkness.

“Kim?” he called.

“Wes? Is that you?”

Behind him, his brother was kneeling on the ground. He slowly came to his feet, and Wes could a few pale tracks down his cheeks.

He stared in astonishment. “Kimber, have you been crying? What’s wrong.”

“Nothing.” Kimber scrubbed furiously at his face.

“Are you real?” Wes asked, doubt in his mind now.

Sighing, his brother replied, “Yes, I’m real. This is the dreamscape, not an illusion. Whatever the succubus did to us has apparently ended.”

“I thought you said you killed it.”

“No, I said I ended the threat. I thought I had,” he murmured.

“So are you in my dream or am I in yours?” Wes asked.

“I’m not sure the distinction matters,” Kimber said. “Some theories hold that all subconscious activity happens on the same plane.”

He gestured around them. “It would appear that’s at least partially correct.”

“Oh.” Wes had no idea what he was talking about. “Let’s find Barrett. If you’re here, he probably is too.”

“I think that’s a safe bet,” Kimber agreed. “How did you find me?”

Wes shrugged. “I just pictured you in my head, like I did for the door in that hallway.”

“I see.” Kimber closed his eyes. “Let’s do it, then.”

“Wait, should we hold hands or something?” Wes asked. “So we don’t get separated?”

Without opening his eyes, Kimber extended his hand. Wes took it, feeling embarrassed despite it being his idea. But he closed he eyes and drew a picture of his oldest brother’s face in his mind. He could see Barrett’s very dark hair, cut short to his head, but not quite military style. Barrett’s eyes were brighter than Wes’s, and more vivid, so it wasn’t hard to picture those. He usually dressed in the same style as their dad, flannel, denim, nothing impractical. Thinking of their dad actually helped to fill in more details of Barrett’s face.

“Where did you guys come from?” Barrett’s voice floated out from in front of them.

They both opened their eyes to see their brother standing in front of them.

“Are you guys real?”

Kimber rolled his eyes. “Barrett, the things you don’t know could fill a book.”

Barrett sighed. “I’m going out on a limb and saying you’re real.”

Wes grinned.

“So how do we get out of here?” Barrett asked.

“In theory, all we have to do is wake up,” Kimber responded, “but as we were brought here by magical means, I’m not sure it’ll be that simple.”

“Which leaves us where?”

“You do have knack for stupid questions, don’t you?”

“Guys, let’s focus please,” Wes was getting uncomfortably good at knowing when things between Barrett and Kimber were about to break. “I was able to move around in this place just by wanting to, so maybe we can get out that way. Instead of picturing each other, let’s… focus on our bedrooms or something.”

“It’s as good a plan as any,” Kimber sighed.

“Should we be touching again?” asked Wes.

There was silence for a beat as Kimber thought it through, and then he said, “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. We’ll each be aiming for different locations, after all.”

Each brother closed his eyes, though Barrett did so grudgingly, and tried to picture their bedrooms.

“It’s not working,” Barrett complained.

Annoyed, Kimber’s eyes opened. “If you weren’t so quick to distract us…” he trailed off.

“Look,” he said, pointing behind them.

Almost without meaning to, the three brothers had formed a triangle from the way they were standing. From Kimber’s position he could see beyond Barrett and Wes. They both turned to look in that direction. A few feet from Barrett a new star had appeared, glowing a bright, vivid blue. Beyond Wes, there was a star which burned with a darker blue radiance. Turning around, Kimber saw a silver star shining a short distance away.

“They’re the color of our eyes,” Wes murmured.

He saw Kimber give him a look, and he was betting the older brother was surprised he had noticed.

“Is that a good thing?”

Kimber replied, “Yes, I think so. Stars are a symbol of navigation, as well. To help us find the way.”

As one they each broke from their position and began to approach their stars. All of them stopped when they were close.

“Now what?” asked the oldest brother.

“I think we should try to touch them,” was Kimber’s response.

The three brothers extended their arms. Barrett used two hands, as if he was catching a moth. Wes came in underneath his star. Kimber merely reached out with his fingers. Light shone from the stars as the brother’s touched them, and suddenly they felt themselves falling away.

Wes jerked awake, looking frantically from side to side. He was in his bedroom. Flinging the covers off himself, he opened his door. Apparently his brothers were thinking the same thing he was because they all came into the hallway at about the same time.

For a few seconds they stood there not saying anything.

“So,” Wes finally said, “purification baths?”