Feature Writer: 5thRing
Feature Title: HALLON SEED DAY 3
Published: 28.08.2017
Story Codes: Erotic Horror
Synopsis: Mark & Julia get closer. A decision is made about the demo
Hallon Seed Day 3
Julia was brought out of sleep by something moving her arm. The room was pitch black, and it took her a moment to remember where she was, and with whom. She rolled onto her right side and found the body of the demon laying in the same position, but now it occasionally twitched lightly, and Julia heard faint sounds of discomfort.
It seemed that the demon has having a tumultuous dream. Julia drew closer and gently stroked the bare arm while quietly shushing.
“It’s okay,” Julia whispered. After a short while, the demon was still and quiet. Julia looked in the direction of the open door. If the sun were up at all, then there would be at least some noticeable ambient light, but she saw nothing.
She did not feel Mark against her, but she found his body as well. Not wanting to disturb him, she rested her head again and closed her eyes to sleep.
She was awakened a second time by a movement against her arm, but this time it was the gentle touch of Mark’s fingertips gliding up and down the length of her left arm. She turned over to face him, though she could not see much more than a portion of the silhouette of his head. She noticed that the sun had risen.
She found his cheek, using it as a point of reference to help her find his lips.
“Good morning,” he said sweetly. Quietly. She smiled, even though she knew he could not see her do so.
“It is,” she replied, hoping her smile would be translated. She gave him a longer kiss, and he wrapped an arm around her. The sense of safety that engulfed her was one that she’d never felt with anyone else.
His hand moved up and down, melting her into comfort. It moved down further past the bunched up hem of her shirt, and then back up across her bare skin, setting her alight. She shifted her thighs against the swelling of her sex and moaned into his mouth. When she parted her lips to breath, his tongue sought out her own, and she welcomed it. His hand moved down again, over her hip and onto her thigh, where it lingered.
It lingered like a small torture, so she moved that leg back until his hand fell like a feather onto her inner thigh. She was electric, and he was dangerously close to an area of increasing wetness. Her body begged to be discharged, but her mind fought her.
It was the same as all the other times. Something unseen made her reject him. When his hand moved nearer, she let out a whine, and grabbed his fingers, holding them firmly. She felt terrible.
“I’m sorry,” she breathed into him. Guilt threatened to bring her to tears, but she was only just spared by his words.
“It’s okay.” He brought her fingers to his lips and gave them a forgiving kiss. “It’s alright. I don’t want to until you’re ready.” He kissed her lips once and then held her close. She pressed her forehead to his chest, thankful for the dark to hide the tear that escaped.
They lay there a while, and the sunlight invaded further, until the room was no longer a sanctuary of darkness.
“You want breakfast,” Mark asked.
“No,” she replied. She felt like she should have said more, but nothing that came to mind felt appropriate at the moment.
“Okay. If you need me, I’ll most likely be in the study, reading. Just let me know.” He gave her a kiss on the head and then got up an left her there.
“I need you,” she whispered as she watched him disappear through the door.
She rolled onto her back and stared at the dim ceiling. After some minutes, the demon rolled over and laid its head on Julia’s shoulder. Julia found the clink of the chains somewhat jarring.
“He deserves better,” Julia said. “I love him. I want to be with him in… every conceivable way, but something won’t let me. I feel like I’m being selfish, which is exactly what I’m trying to avoid. I’ve made so many bad choices, that I’m not sure if I would know a right one if it presented itself.”
“There are no selfless choices,” the demon said, calmly as ever.
“What,” Julia asked, confused. “What do you mean?”
“You may make a decision with another person in mind, but in the end, the decision is made to satisfy a desire within yourself. Selflessness is a fool’s dream.”
Julia wanted to object, but she found that she had nothing to say.
“Selfishly pursue your joy. Do what makes you happy,” the demon added.
“It doesn’t seem right,” Julia contended. “I don’t want to be someone who doesn’t think of others.”
“If helping others is what brings you joy, then pursue it selfishly. You choose your joy.”
“I don’t feel like that has been the case,” Julia confessed. “I feel like I’ve spent half of my life choosing misery.”
“You do nothing that you do not feel benefits you in some way. If misery was your choice, then you felt that you benefited from it. Perhaps, instead, misery was simply circumstantial. What good did you get from those past relationships?”
“Good,” she breathed out in a laugh. She had no idea what the answer to that question would be. “Attention? Some illusion of security? … Avoiding loneliness? Maybe I felt I didn’t deserve better.”
“Deserving is irrelevant.”
“What do you mean?” Julia’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“It is an uncertain word. Truth is your greatest ally. Uncertain words do not help you. Humans concern themselves with uncertainty when certainty is unpleasant. Deserve. Fair. Should. These are abstract things. They are illusions. They do not truly exist. Disregard them.”
“I’m not sure how I would go about doing that,” Julia said. The demon was quiet for a moment.
“Ask me what you should do.”
“I thought I was supposed to disre…” Julia stopped, realizing that observation would lead nowhere. “What should I do?”
“Ask me the same question without resorting to the word, should.”
Julia thought a moment. “What… decision is the one I shou…. Which decision will yield the desired result?”
“Cause and effect,” The demon said. “What do you want?”
“To be happy with Mark.”
“What stands in the way?”
Julia thought of numerous excuses, but in the end, she knew the answer.
“I stand in the way. I think I don’t deserve him.”
“Without using the word, deserve.”
Julia thought. “I am afraid… I will… disappoint him.”
“In what way?”
Julia searched herself, finding nothing.
“With everything he knows about you, and you him, and considering how he feels, what might you do that would disappoint him,” the demon asked.
“I… I don’t know.”
“I will ask a different way. If the desired effect was to disappoint him, what cause would you most likely employ?”
What an awful question, Julia thought. She had half a mind to ignore it, but then realized that ignoring things was a part of why she was miserable.
Mark wanted to be with her from the beginning. She rejected him. He waited for her to come to her senses. He waited for her to find her strength. In his own subtle ways, he guided her toward it.
“I would continue doing exactly what I’ve been doing. I would stay weak… and continue rejecting him.” Her eyes welled with tears. “That would be the only way.” She sniffed and wiped away tears.
Julia maneuvered her right arm under the demon, and pulled it closer in a hug. She let out a little laugh of joy in her revelation. Her left hand held the back of the demon’s head, and she kissed it in gratitude, her cheek grazing one of the smooth, boney horns. She smiled and ran her thumb over it.
“I really like your little horns,” Julia said.
“Thank you,” the demon replied, then Julia breathed out a laugh at the irony of the demon thanking her for something so small, after what it had just done for her.
“I’m gonna check on Mark,” Julia said throwing the covers off. She felt the pressure of her full bladder as she started to get up. “After I pee,” she added.
Upstairs, she slipped her shoes on to go outside, and took them back off inside, taking notice of how much more comfortable she felt in the house. She went to the study and found Mark sitting in a large, cushioned chair, reading. The sight of him brought a smile to her face.
He looked up to see her. “Hey,” he said. “You’re looking… better.”
She walked around behind him, wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed his cheek and rested her chin on his shoulder.
“I’m better,” she said casually. “Learn anything?”
“I started with the basics, so it’s mostly stuff you’ve seen in horror movies. Things like the power of a demon’s name. If you say the name, then you can summon it, and it gives the demon more power over you.”
“Not really a concern for us,” she noted.
“Hm.” His response seemed half agreement and half doubt. “There is a lot of information here, but I haven’t found anything terribly useful, yet.”
“You want me to bring you some food?”
“Yeah. That’d be great. Thanks.”
“Sure thing,” she said. She kissed him on the cheek and returned to the kitchen.
She put wood in the stove and lit it, put water, left over from yesterday, in the medium sized pot to warm, and looked in the provisions box for something to prepare. She decided to go ahead and make a dent in the Mac and Cheese supply.
She read the instructions, and when the water was warm, she prepared two pouches. Something felt strangely new about what she was doing. Not the fact of where she was or that she’d never prepared and MRE, but something… less obvious.
She held the open pouches between the fingers of one hand, held water bottles in the other, and as she started back toward to study, the feeling increased. As she approached the door to the study, she realized that this was the first time that she’d ever prepared a meal for Mark.
She had prepared many meals for her asshole ex-boyfriends, but never Mark. She was a little disappointed that her first one was this sub-standard stuff, but perhaps it was appropriate on some level. Any of those assholes would have scoffed at being handed such a thing to eat, but Mark would be grateful.
She watched his face as she drew closer. He looked up to see that she had food, he closed the book he was reading, and he smiled.
“Sweet. What’s food, today,” he said with a hint of excitement. She chose to remain silent and just hand him the pouch. He looked inside. “Mac and Cheese. Haven’t had that in ages,” he said, digging in.
“The breakfast of… fat champions,” she joked, hiding her appreciation of him. He laughed. She turned to leave.
“Not eating with me,” he asked. She stopped and turned back to answer.
“No. I don’t want to distract you.”
“You wo… It won’t bother me,” he said.
She could tell he was about to say that she wouldn’t distract him, but he didn’t. He knew it wasn’t true. She would have counted it as a polite gesture, but to him it would have been a lie, so he didn’t say it.
She wanted to talk to the demon some more, but now her reason for leaving the room was to keep from breaking into tears again.
“I’ll check in on you later,” she said turning back toward the door.
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Absolutely.” Beyond the door frame, she took a deep breath to collect herself and headed back to the basement.
Noting the darkness, she realized that she hand left the demon in the unlit room.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you in the dark.” She set her food down long enough to use a match to re-ignite the fire.
The demon said nothing. It sat up and scooted back against the wall, in anticipation of Julia soon doing the same.
“How ya doin’,” Julia asked, lowering herself into position. The demon opened its mouth to speak, but Julia interrupted. “Nevermind. Stupid question.” The demon silently closed its mouth, just staring forward.
“What would happen if you ate some of this?” The demon did not immediately answer. “I mean, I understand that your body is not strictly a human body, but do you have internal organs?”
Julia adjusted her position and bent over, pressing her ear to the demon’s chest. To her surprise, she heard a rhythmic lub-dub. She sat back up.
“You have a heartbeat. You bleed. You probably have a stomach and intestines, right?”
“It seems to be a reasonable assertion,” the demon said after a pause.
Julia held a spoonful of Mac and Cheese in front of the demon’s mouth. The demon stared at it, contemplatively, then opened its mouth, took the bite, and began chewing.
Almost immediately, it held up its palm and calmly expelled the food, the sight of which made Julia giggle.
“I believe this body was designed for me to appreciate the taste of only seed.”
When Julia realized that they had nothing to put the food in, she ran up to the kitchen and returned with the garbage bag. She held it open and the demon turned over its hand, dumping the small pile. The demon spit numerous times to clear the rest from its mouth. Some gooey cheese remained on the demon’s palm, and Julia realized that she had nothing with which to wipe it off.
“I think we left the paper towels in the jeep. Here….” Julia took the demon’s hand a licked it clean, willing to tolerate a little of someone else’s saliva for the sake of convenience.
Julia froze with the unexpected taste that accompanied the cheese flavor. It was sweet. Familiar. She titled up the demon’s chin, with the edge of her index finger, and turned it in her direction.
“Open up,” Julia said, curious. The demon opened its mouth and Julia looked inside.
There was no uvula or tonsils. Presumably because the demon was making an effort at keeping its mouth open, its throat and the roof of its mouth randomly expanded and contracted. One moment, it looked like an otherwise normal mouth, and another, the walls were thicker. Softer looking. Familiar.
“Oh, my god.” It suddenly hit her. “Your mouth is a vagina.” She inserted her finger and ran it over the demon’s tongue, wetting her finger. The fluid felt slightly more viscous than saliva. Julia put the finger in her own mouth and tasted it. “Your mouth… is a fucking vagina.”
The demon closed its mouth when Julia went back to her food.
“I want to be horrified by that, but… I mean, knowing why, and all, but that’s just so fucking cool.” She took a spoonful, and halfway through chewing it she added, “And I thought I gave great head.”
After a few more bites, Julia spoke again.
“So, how do you feel about sex?” She immediately realized that she would be better served to be more specific. “Did how you were treated… make you… disgusted by the prospect of having it?”
The demon thought a moment. “No. It probably would have, over time. It would be a terrible psychological torture to experience physical pleasure in an act that I despise. It would have instilled self-loathing, more easily turning me toward a desire to hurt others.”
Julia shook her head, finishing the last of her food. “That’s fucked up.” She put her trash in the bag and stood up, “I’m gonna brush my teeth and check on Mark, again.” She started to walk away with the bag in hand, but she paused. “Are you bored?”
“No,” the demon replied, flatly.
After a moment, Julia walked away. After brushing her teeth, she went back into the study to, at the very least, collect Mark’s empty MRE pouch.
“I know it’s been only, like, forty-five minutes, but anything useful?”
“Actually, yes,” he said, sitting up from his lounging position in the chair. She sat down on his lap and leaned against him. “After I got some food in me, I started thinking about everything from a different angle. Look at the mechanics of the curse. Why not just cast a spell, or whatever, that binds the demon inside the area of the basement, or just the house in general, along with the indestructability?”
“Why make things more complicated, and limiting, from Phillip’s point of view, by attaching the demon to a wall? And then there’s erasing the demon’s name from its memory. Now, I don’t think the demon is able to leave the body on its own. Maybe the knowledge of how to do that was erased as well, but what if one of the immutable laws of the universe is that when as demon is summoned, it has to appear?”
“What if the loophole, in all of this, is to summon it to someplace other that where it is, and nothing can stop it from being pulled there? The only missing ingredient is the name.”
“Wow,” Julia said, casually. “Yay, Mac and Cheese.”
“Yay, Mac and Cheese,” Mark said through a laugh.
“You wanna take a break,” Julia asked.
“I kind do, yeah. Haven’t brushed my teeth yet.” He leaned closer to her ear. “Could make use of a hole in the ground,” in a jokingly quieter tone. She smiled.
“Okay,” she said, standing up. She collected his trash. “Come downstairs when you’re done, ‘kay?”
“Okay.” He set the book down, stood up and stretched.
He exited the study as she was putting the empty pouch in the trash. She glanced over and watched him head outside to brush his teeth. He was in view the entire time, and she found herself just watching him. When he finished, she pushed herself up onto the counter and sat there, ankles crossed and fingers curled over the edge.
Before he would see her, she pulled the hem of her nightshirt out from under her butt, to give him a little more thigh to look at as he walked by. Her panties were no barrier against the cool of the marble countertop. She pulsed, and the contrast in temperatures became more apparent.
He definitely noticed her thigh, as well as her looking up and down his bare chest. They exchanged only flirtatious smiles, as he passed by. He slipped on his shoes and exited the back door, leaving it open.
When he was halfway across the expanse, she hopped down and stood in the middle of the kitchen, lifted the hem of her shirt, pushed down her panties, and let them fall to the floor. She stepped out of them and went downstairs.
“You hungry,” Julia asked, smiling. She sat down next to the demon and began casually stroking herself in anticipation.
“Yes.”
“Won’t be too long.” Julia closed her eyes and tilted her head back, focusing more on the feel of her fingers. “Did you ever masturbate while you were down here in the dark?”
“No.”
“Hm. I imagine I would have been doing a lot of that,” Julia shared.
“The pain of hunger was overwhelming.”
“Right. Sorry.” Julia was only half paying attention. In addition to warming herself up for Mark, she was also listening for the kitchen door to close. Everything was quiet for a time, and then she heard the barely audible signal. “Here he comes.”
She got up onto her toes, reacquiring the position in which Mark had found her, the night before, when she was looking in her duffle bag. She faced away from the stairs, circumstantially facing the demon, peeled off her shirt and set it aside, just out of the way. Since her hair was dry, her upper back was not exposed, so she pulled her hair over one shoulder.
She listened, soon hearing the quiet rustling of Mark’s feet on the synthetic material of the sleeping bag. Her dangling panties appeared in her peripheral and then dropped on top of her discarded shirt.
She closed her eyes and waited. Suddenly something soft and warm touched just below the back of her neck, sending a tingling sensation over her skin. She quietly gasped. Goosebumps rose and fell, unable to persist through the warm flush of her face and chest.
The softness began to slide down her spine. She arched backward with the sensation. It moved over her tailbone, and then it was her appendage tracing him. She anticipated his fingers, and then they were there, tickling her pubic hair and teasing the edge of her slightly parted lips. The tiniest of moans escaped her.
His touch send waves through her, and the muscles of her abdomen fluttered with her breath. This time, she did not stop him. Another hand slid under her arm and around, taking her breast. His pinching and rolling shot through her, as if trying to connect the fingers of his two hands.
The moment he touched her clit, she lost all sense of balance, falling back into him. She instinctively grabbed the arm around her, and he held her securely, stroking her up and down at first, dipping into her just far enough to spread her wetness. Circular motions elevated her further. Faster.
A finger suddenly sunk into her and began moving in and out. She automatically thrust her hips outward and her torso backward to accommodate him. He began stroking her upward, and her legs could not be still. She felt random urges to extend them, close them around him, widen them further for him. A second finger entered.
Her body was not her own, but unlike the other times she had felt as if she had no control, she welcomed it. In that moment, her body was Mark’s and she offered it freely, completely, and with implicit trust.
“Yes,” Julia said, between moans and labored breaths. “I’m gonna cum.” In an instant, her body opened, her legs extended, pushing them both backward. She clutched his arm tighter in one hand, and the other grabbed for anything it could, but he held secure, and then everything in her contracted. If not for the rhythm of his fingers, she would have thought time stopped.
Her eye rolled back into her head, and then a moment later, her body and breath shook. “Nnnnggggaaaaaaahhhhh…” Julia reached her lost hand back and clutch his head as another orgasm coursed through. When she was able to breath again, she grabbed his hand to still it, for fear of passing out from lack of breath.
In an instant to quick for the conscious mind to fully perceive, all of the sexual experiences with her past partners flashed. They had rarely cared that much about what she was feeling. They rarely came anywhere close to satisfying her.
Before she even realized what she was doing, she quickly turned over, grabbed Mark’s face, and kissed him on the lips. And then again. And then again, as quickly as she could, as if she could not do it enough.
When she had finally regained control of herself, she lifted her head enough to look into his eyes. She felt a tear fall from her face. She looked at where it fell onto his cheek, and then wiped the drop away with her thumb.
The breath of a quiet laugh escaped her, and she smiled, realizing her joy. He smiled back, and his hands slowly rubbed up and down the back of her ribcage.
She laughed, and was filled with the urge to say something she’d never wanted to say to her past partners.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Mark replied.
It was as if he were overwriting all of her negative past. She wasn’t forgetting it, but she could feel herself becoming less haunted by it, because she had something good to replace the bad in the forefront of her mind. Her smile fell into an expression more serious and intentional.
“Mark,” she said, with a sense of excited purpose.
“Yeah?”
“I need you to do something for me, Mark.”
“Anything.”
The word sent a ripple through her mind and down her body. It threatened to push out another tear, but she pushed it back, wanting to stay focused.
“I need you to fuck me from behind,” she said, and Mark’s eyes fill with surprised confusion. She felt like she needed to repeat herself. “I need you to fuck me from behind, Mark. And I don’t mean gently. I want you to pound me. You understand?”
He made no reply, apparently still trying to process it.
“I need you to pound me hard, and even pull my hair. You understand?”
“Yeah. Okay,” he said, finally understanding.
She helped him onto his knees, but then quickly turned around on all fours, putting him behind her. She reached between her legs and grabbed his dick, quickly rubbed it up and down her slit to lubricate the head, and then slid him into herself.
Her mind slowed briefly as he slid through her already well-primed cavity. Her eyes closed, and she sucked in a slow breath in time with his singular thrust. “Oh, my god,” she said, almost loosing control.
His fingers wrapped around her hips. He withdrew halfway, then pushed in again. Every slide threatened to steal her mind. She let out a long, breathy moan as her head and torso lowered onto the bed, and her arms extended in front of her, finding flesh.
Mark’s rhythm increased. Her hands clutched. His force increased. Her faced moved repeatedly against the material of the sleeping bag.
“Yes,” she said, but she was soon, unable to think in words. There were only long sounds, segmented by each impact, punctuated by the rapid slap of skin against skin.
His right hand let go, and then her head was being pulled up and back by her hair. She released the flesh she held and raised herself back up on all fours.
“Yes,” she said again, more loudly, as much to Mark as to herself. She was his. Not theirs. Not any of theirs. He was the only one worthy.
She turned her head to look at him, and he let go of her hair so she could. Her eyes kept wanting to close with the pleasure, but she wanted to see him there. It is him, and no one else.
The pleasure became too much to resist. Her eyes close, her head went back, her torso lowered slightly, her hands clutched the material beneath them. Her mouth opened wide, and for a moment, there was no sound. She was holding everything.
Then she released a cry from the pit of her stomach, and with it, her burden was expelled. She felt new. She felt strong.
“I’m gonna cum,” she heard Mark, in a desperate voice. “I’m gonna cum,” he repeated on panting breath.
She pulled forward and laid down on her back, her legs along his right knee. She watched the ecstasy on his face, for the first time truly caring to see it experienced.
His streams of cum shot across her body, landing hot on her skin, and she happily welcomed each offering. They were for her, but she remembered that she needed to share them.
She looked to see the demon on its hands and knees staring eagerly at the buffet set before it, waiting. Waiting for permission. Julia extended a welcoming hand and gestured that permission.
“Come on,” Julia said, and then the demon quickly crawled over and began licking and slurping up every sticky, white pool. Julia closed her eyes and arched her back slightly toward the tantalizing strokes and suctions. Again and again, on her breast, her ribs, her stomach, the crease of her thigh.
When she felt them no more, she opened her eyes to see the demon bridged over her body and suckling at Mark’s dick. Mark just knelt there. His face was a mixture of wonder and disbelief.
“Oh, my god,” Mark said. His eyes closed and he held the demon’s head in his hands. His mouth hung open, and Julia delighted in the sight of him. The demon had gotten what she could, and was now trying to get more.
Julia reached up and took the waistband of the pair of shorts that she had let the demon wear. She pulled the waistband down over its small, but full, pale ass, revealing the bare pussy beneath.
Had it ever received a loving touch, Julia wondered? She caressed the demon’s ass, and then ran a finger along the slit of its mound. Down and then under, she rubbed. It swelled slightly, parting, and its clit could now be felt. Julia stroked until she heard a soft moan from the demon.
Excited, Julia wriggled out from under the creature and knelt behind it, rubbing more, deeper. Clear, viscous fluid quickly coated Julia’s fingers. Julia’s eyes widened, able to tell just by looking that it was thicker than normal female lubricant.
And then the aroma entered on a breath. The heady scent was delicious. She wondered if it tasted anything like the demon’s mouth. Julia raised her fingers to her tongue, and the flavor closed her eyes. Sweet and warm, with a undertone of some kind of mild spice, like cinnamon, but not.
Julia bent over and buried her face into that nectar and consumed it. She laid on her back and scooted her head in between those legs, and pulled its ass downward until she was again devouring that pussy. She teased the clit, and it released more for her.
Julia slid a hand up the demon’s stomach, under the shirt and over a small breast. She massaged it until the nipple was erect, and then she pinched and pulled and rolled as if it were a delightful toy, perfectly designed.
She came out from under the demon and untied the shoulders of the shirt, allowing it to slide down the lithe body and to the bed. The demon maneuvered at Julia’s subtle guidance and then the demon was naked.
Julia rubbed her hands over the expanse of its skin, top, bottom, and sides, simultaneously massaging and simply feeling the incredible softness and suppleness.
“Oh, god,” Mark said, and Julia watched him practically collapse onto his back, no longer able to stay upright, the demon moving forward to maintain its oral hold and continue to suck, its head now bobbing up and down, easily taking Mark deep into its throat with every decent.
Julia crawled over to Mark and caressed his chest. He opened his dreamy eyes to her, and she smiled. He raised a hand to the side of her face, and she lowered to kiss him.
“Is it good,” Julia asked, uncertain if he would even be able to offer an answer.
“It’s so good,” he quietly slurred. His eyes closed, his mouth opened, his head tilted back.
Julia watched the demon’s lips travel up and down Mark’s shaft. Mark’s hips were rising and falling, almost randomly, and then they found a rhythm. He grabbed the demon’s head. He grunted as he worked his way back onto his knees.
“Ohhhhh, get on your back,” he instructed, and the demon turned over, maintaining its hold. The demon laid down with its head tilted back as Mark thrust in and out of its mouth fully.
Julia moved around to Mark’s left side and rubbed his back. She kissed his shoulder, then his cheek, and then whispered into his ear.
“Her mouth is a pussy.”
“God, it is,” he said, knowingly, and pumped faster, until he came ferociously into that magnificent throat.
Julia delighted in Mark’s grunts. She was fascinated by the partially obstructed sight of the subtle undulations of the demon’s taut throat, as it milked Mark’s penis a second time for all it had to offer, giving her another reason to wish the iron band was not fastened around that beautiful neck.
Mark fell backward, out of its mouth, and collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. Julia kissed his chest and neck and face as he panted.
“You can rest now,” Julia assured him, brushing his hair aside. She then crawled over to the demon, sitting at its side. It looked up at her, with a little smile. “That was good, huh,” Julia asked softly.
“That was very good. Thank you,” demon said. Julia lowered her face near the demon’s sweet face, and stroked its cheek and hair.
“Would you mind if I gave you a very good memory,” Julia asked.
The demon’s expression took on a slight look of fear. Its lips quivered with words it could not yet speak. A tear rolled from the corner of its eye.
“I would like a very good memory, please.”
Julia swung a leg over and straddled the demon’s hips. She took its small hands and raised them, and the chained shackles, in an arch to rest on the mattress above its head, where the demon could not see them. A delicate kiss on its forehead, its nose, its lips, its chin.
Julia nuzzled into its neck, the demon craning to welcome it, and placed a kiss there. Down between its breasts, taking the time to enjoy its stiffened nipples, and hearing the resulting moans.
The path continued downward. Julia was pleased that the creature was given a bellybutton, as she brushed her nose upward along its edge and dipped her tongue into it, and then a kiss. Julia lifted her head away, and her hands which had been trailing behind, now took the lead over the demon’s hips and thighs.
First one, then the other, giving each leg its own turn, she lifted a foot and passed her hands over every inch of skin along the leg, briefly massaging the muscles.
Julia set the foot back down and pushed the demon’s knees apart, moving hands down the inner thighs and then under, as she lay on her stomach. The demon’s aroma entered her lungs and her mouth watered in anticipation.
She part those pink lips with her thumbs, closed her eyes, and lowered her head. As her tongue and lips worked, she listened to the little moans and sighs. She slid a hand up its torso to feel the rise and fall with every breath and the ever so slight vibration of every moan.
She opened her eyes, looked up the demon’s body, and saw the face of ecstasy. To the side, Mark sat up, and watched, mesmerized. He looked at the demon’s face, and then Julia’s. She reached out a beckoning hand to him, and he moved to her.
When Julia lifted away, the demon let out a small, disapproving whine, so Julia continued with her fingers, instead. She moved aside and guided Mark into place. She held the back of his head and kissed him on the lips, sharing the demon’s wet bounty.
Mark inhaled a sharp breath through his nose and grabbed the sides of Julia’s face. He was tasting the demon for the first time, and Julia was pleased to be the bearer of that gift. Mark licked Julia’s lips of every trace, and then backed away, looking with amazement into Julia’s eyes. She smiled and nodded her understanding.
“Make her cum, Mark,” Julia said softly. “Make her cum, but not inside her.” She then guided his head down between the demon’s open legs.
She took a moment to watch Mark’s tongue flick and lap at the demon’s lips and clit. She rubbed the demons body and breasts, before turning Mark’s hips, bringing his half-erect penis into view. She laid down, took him into her hand and mouth, tasting the demon on him, and slowly returned him.
The demon’s moans reached a fevered pace, and Julia looked to watch its small body tremble, and soon after, Mark’s hand held the side of her head, and his moans and grunts prefaced another unleashing, but this time, she remained around him.
She allowed herself one swallow, but the rest she held. She drew all that she could, and then moved to the demon’s face. Julia turned its eyes to her and pulled the demon’s chin down with her thumb. She then parted her lips and let pour out another offering into the demons mouth.
Julia smiled into grateful eyes, and the demon put its arms around her neck and kissed her, sucking in what it could of Mark, and then simply kissed her.
“Thank you,” it said.
“You’re very welcome,” Julia replied. After a pause, she wondered and asked, “Have you ever been hugged? Have you ever been truly hugged?”
“No,” the demon answered.
Julia remained encircled, but guided the demon to move with her. Julia sat on her feet with knees bent, and the demon sat of Julia’s upper legs, and Julia pressed their bodies together. The demon seemed uncertain at first, but then returned the embrace, holding Julia tightly for more than a minute, and Julia was happy to oblige.
In time, Julia dressed the demon, she and Mark put on fresh clothes, and then the two of them returned to the study for more research.
Julia was looking through a list of demons’ names, and what each demon was known for doing, and she decided to see if she could gain some ground on that front.
“I’ll be downstairs,” she informed Mark, and stood up with the book.
“Okay,” she said passively.
She returned to the basement and found the demon laying on its side, facing the stairs. She sat down and ran her fingers through the black hair, feeling the smooth-tipped horns under her palms.
“Hey,” Julia said softly. “I’m trying to figure out what your name is. I know you don’t remember your name, but was anything ever mentioned that might be a clue? Did Phillip know your name?”
“I do not know if he knew my name.” The demon’s voice was a little less flat than it usually sounded. “He once said that he would have liked to call me Ashley. He called me many things, but never by a name.”
“Would have liked to call you Ashely?” Julia found that curious. What would have stopped him from doing that? “He was forbidden from naming you? Surely it not everything could be undone simply by giving you a new name, could it… Demona?” Julia waited to see if anything would change. “Eh… Demona?”
“I do not believe that is the case.”
“Yeah, didn’t think so. I wouldn’t have named you Demona, anyway. Just the first name that popped into my head… ’cause you’re a demon…” Then a thought hit her. What if Phillip chose Ashley for a similar reason? She opened the book and looked through the list again.
“You said you remember what you did. You remember your original purpose. Tell me what that was, like if you were giving me your job description.”
“I inspired the perversion of sexual desire. I turned it from something beautiful into acts of purely self-serving cruelty. Rape and sadism are my handy-work.”
Julia looked for something that matched up with that.
“Okay, demons of the seven deadly sins… lust…” She mumbled under her breath as she read. “Perverting sexual desire. I think this might be you.” She looked at the names by which the listed demon was known. “Holy shit!” She stood up quickly and hurried up the stairs back to Mark.
“I think I found her name,” Julia said, grinning. Mark looked up and she threw herself into his lap. “Phillip was not allowed to give her any kind of name, but he let it slip that he would have wanted to call her Ashley. I was looking through this list of demons and what they did, and check this out.”
She opened the book and pointed to the entry.
“It matches what she used to do, and look… The Greek name is a bit of a stretch, but look at the Hebrew one.”
“Hm.” Mark thought a moment. “And the punishment was exactly the kind of thing it used to do. Would likely be driven to want to visit the pain it experienced onto others. Yeah, I think you found it.” He looked up at her. “So, now what?”
“I don’t know. I mean, is the goal to remove the demon and put it somewhere else, or just remove it and let it go, or what,” she asked.
“Not sure. I guess we talk to the demon about it. See what it has to say.”
“Okay.”
They both left their books behind and went downstairs. The demon was still laying in the same position. Mark and Julia sat down near the demon in a tight triangle.
“Well,” Julia started, “We think we might have discovered your name. Of course, we have no idea if it will actually do any good if you don’t remember it. Still, we wanted to consult you on what the next move might be. I mean, what is it that you want?”
The demon sat up, drew in its feet, hooped it harms around it legs, and rested its chin on its knees. It was quiet for a time.
“I want to be free of this prison, but if I am set free, I will be sensed, unless I am contained elsewhere. But I do not want to trade one prison for another. I would need a willing host.”
“You’re talking about possessing someone,” Mark asked with a look of concern.
“Inhabiting, is more accurate, as I would not seek to control them.”
“That’s still asking a lot of someone,” Mark said.
“It is,” the demon agreed.
“What would that be like for the host,” Julia asked.
“In that circumstance, they would sense me, but I would be inactive, unless they wanted me to become active. I would be capable of influencing and controlling them, but I would simply choose not to do so. They would always know that I am there.”
“What about you,” Mark asked. “How is that not just another prison, if you are doing nothing?”
“I will be able to share in the hosts experiences. Their thoughts and feeling will be open to me. That alone is of great value. I will be able to feel without fear of being sensed, even if it is someone else’s emotions.”
After a moment of contemplation, Mark stood up and said to Julia, “I need to talk to you upstairs.”
“Sure,” Julia said and followed him back to the study. He fell back into the chair with an exasperated sigh. She sat back down on his lap and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re skeptical. I just want you to know that.” She turned up her head and gave him an approving kiss on the lips. “What’s on your mind?”
“I can see everything it has said and done being part of a con. There is not a word or reaction that could not have been premeditated.” He sighed again. “Or it could all be completely true. We have absolutely no baseline on which to judge any of this. There is only one hundred percent trust, or doing nothing.”
Julia searched for some factor by which she could offer a disagreement, but she found nothing. Even the tear rolling down the demon’s cheek could have been a lie.
“And even if it were all true, who would be the host,” he added. They sat in silence.
“Me,” Julia said, staring at nothing in particular.
“Yeah,” Mark said, somberly. “I figured you’d say that.” He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.
“So, what does the ritual, or whatever entail,” Julia asked
“I don’t think we’ll need one, actually.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. From what I can tell, the ritual stuff is all about getting a demon’s attention. Basically a, hey, you, come here. Ours is already here and knows what’s going on. In our situation, saying the name is more a sign of commitment and acceptance.”
“Of course,” he continued, “Potential problem number one: It’s the wrong name, and we’re getting the attention of a completely different demon. Number two, ours not remembering its name renders the whole thing null. I mean, when you think about it, we’re just hoping that hearing it will suddenly override the memory wipe. No guarantee of that.”
“In any case, we’re not doing it tonight,” Mark told her. “I need more time to think. No point jumping on it right away. None of us are going anywhere.”
“Definitely a matter worth mulling over,” she agreed. “Hungry?”
“Absolutely. Let’s open some cans and have a proper meal.”
“That’s definitely a good plan,” she said.
They both opened and warmed up a full meal of meat and vegetables, and ate in the basement. That also chatted with the demon, asking it questions about what life was like at various points in history. They even played some card games, during which they realized that Go Fish was not the wisest choice of game to play with someone who remembers everything flawlessly.
They decided to stay up late, and had no idea what time it was until the fire along the wall suddenly dimmed and extinguished.
“I guess it’s midnight,” Julia said. She turned on a lantern and Mark got up, and relit the fire. She looked at him curiously and jokingly asked, “Afraid of the dark, suddenly?”
“I want to stay up a little more. One way or another, tomorrow will be a significant day. I’d like to do some things differently. Feels appropriate. Let’s turn the mattress so… she… can sleep in the middle. It’s not so bright that it’ll keep us awake.”
“Sounds good.”
They spun the mattress ninety degrees left and pushed the head up against the wall, aligning the center with the iron chain plate. The excess chain was stuffed between the wall and the mattress. Since the demon never changed positions, there was no concern with it uncomfortably laying on the chain, at any point while they slept.
Mark and Julia changed into their bed clothes and crawled into bed. Julia wanted hold the demon’s little body against herself, to feel its heartbeat through its back. To just give it another good memory of a cuddle.
Mark brushed the side of its face, looked it in the eye and smiled. “I hope you do have pleasant dreams.”
“Thank you,” the demon said and closed its eyes.
Julia was sleepy, but the fire light did keep her from falling asleep as quickly as she probably would have in the dark. She lay with her eyes closed, thinking about what it might be like to share a body with a demon. Moreover, the fact that Mark didn’t really object to it.
She recalled when she had told him that she wanted him to do something for her, and he had said he would do anything. That was no insignificant thing. He trusted her as much as she trusted him. If she decided to allow this demon into herself, then she would be giving it the same trust.
Was she making the right decision? Was it a wise thing to do?
She was suddenly reminded of something Mark had said a couple of years ago, although she didn’t remember the context. He had said it off-handedly, and she didn’t give it much thought, at the time, but it seems to be ringing true, here and now.
“Knowledge can let you rule the world. Wisdom can let you choose not to.”
When he said he would do anything for her, he handed her the secrets of the atom in his universe. He granted her the power to create and destroy. What kind of power will she be granting this demon?
She felt mentally exhausted. She decided to focus her attention, instead, on the steady rhythm of the demon’s heartbeat.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Mark opened his eyes and found Julia and the demon in the same positions in which they had fallen asleep. He turned over onto his side and faced the demon, just watching. He had to not care about time.
He was not certain how much had passed, but Julia began to stir, and then she woke up. She pulled her armed away from the demon and then stretched. She yawned aloud.
The demon opened its eyes, and in an instant almost too quick for the conscious mind to capture, Mark saw joy. And then he saw that joy give way to fear, and then sadness.
“Good morning,” Mark said quietly with a smile.
“Good morning,” the demon replied, flatly.
Julia reached across the demon and cupped Mark’s face. “Hey,” she said. “She awake?”
Mark looked at her and nodded.
Julia lifted the chain. “Turn over,” she told the demon, holding the chain out of the way, and then setting it down behind its head.
Mark rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.
‘Well,’ he thought, ‘that was the only test I had, and you passed it. But then, if you can read minds, then of course you would. Being a mind reader would have let you better please Phillip.’
‘But then you would also be able to know your name from his thoughts. Or you currently do know your name, and it doesn’t really matter. I’m clearly not smart enough or clever enough to sort this one out.’
‘Julia will, naturally, agree to let you in, and I will, naturally, agree to let her. Your escape is inevitable, and I will have no way to stop you, if you are still evil. I do have one request, however, if you can even hear me.’
‘If everything goes to shit for us, and the cat is well out of the bag… I’d like to know what happened to all the spiders. It’s just weird that I haven’t seen any, anywhere.’
Mark turned his head to see Julia propped up on an elbow watching him, smiling. He nodded to her. Her eyes widened slightly with surprise, knowing exactly what the nod meant.
Julia lowered her head level with the demon, caressed its cheek and smiled. “Good morning, Ashmedai.”
Mark saw Julia’s hand relax, and she was silent. He raised himself, to see over the demon, and found them both unconscious. His heart thumped hard in his chest. He reached over and jostled her, but she did not wake up.
“Julia,” he said. No response. He changed to a cross-legged sitting position and waited intently, unsure of what else he could possibly do.
Minutes passed, and then Julia’s eyes fluttered open.
“Oh, thank you,” Mark expelled with a sudden breath. He held the side of her face. “Julia?”
She looked confused for a moment, and then realized where she was. “Mark.”
“Yeah. Are you okay? How do you feel?”
“It feels weird. It feels like a tiny echo in my head.” She giggled. “Ashmedai says it will fade in time. We still need to fully synch up. So weird.” She grabbed Mark’s hand and stood up, excitedly. “Come here,” she said, hurriedly pulling him along with her up the stairs and out the back door.
She looked all around her at the sky and trees and grass, smiling at every thing.
“She’s happy, Mark,” Julia said with delight. “She’s happy, and I’m happy she’s happy, and that makes her more happy, and-” She suddenly giggled uncontrollably for a few seconds. She put fingers to her mouth. “Oop. Feedback loop. Still got some kinks to work out.”
Mark smiled, but was still concerned. He took her hands into his and looked her in the eyes, wanting her to focus on him.
“That’s great,” he said. “Is everything… good, though? I mean… I know this is a stupid question to ask, at this point, but… can we trust it?”
Julia’s smile all but left, and her eyes darted slightly, as if listening to something else. After a moment, she focused on him again.
“She wants to talk to you, okay? I’m gonna let her talk.”
“Okay,” Mark acknowledged.
Julia’s expression changed to something more flat, but with still a hint of happiness.
“I understand your concern, and I know that there is nothing that I can say to truly alleviate those concerns, but I am now able to experience the joy that I have long sought, without fear of discovery. Julia and I trust each other, but there will be no joy without you, which means your trust. I am begging you to be happy.”
Once again, it comes down to trust, Mark noted. There was no real precaution he could take. All he could really do was remain observant, as he usually was of Julia, and not assume the worst. Mark didn’t want to live his life waiting for the other shoe to drop. All that would do was hurt their relationship.
Another slight change in expression signaled Julia’s return. She looked into his eyes, and he simply nodded. She leaned in and stood on her toes to kiss him.
“I think we can go home, now,” Julia said. “We don’t need to be here anymore. But there is one thing we need to do, first.” She released one hand and pulled him with her back into the house with the other.
In the basement, they both stared at the small, motionless body that the demon had once inhabited.
“Lift her up, please,” Julia asked.
Mark picked the body up in his arms and held her while Julia pulled all the coverings off the mattress. She unzipped the sleeping bags from each other and then laid hers back on the mattress. Understanding what she was doing, Mark set the body back into place.
Julia leaned over and put her ear to the chest.
“The heart is still beating,” she said, somewhat sadly. “Created to live forever in pain.” She sat up. “The body still will, I suppose. The only consolation is that no consciousness will feel it.”
Julia turned the body onto its side and moved the arms and legs to make it look like it was sleeping, and then she zipped the sleeping bag around it appropriately.
“Sweet dreams, kiddo,” Julia said, and after a moment, “You’re welcome.”