Fic... finally!
Okay, looks like it has to be cut in half... so here's part one:
Title: Dijinn and Tonic (1/2)
Series: Pixi Problems
Rating: NC-17/Adult
Length: apx. 12,000 words
Status: Complete
Warnings: M/M, Demon Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Rimming, Anal Sex, Humor, Sap
Summary: Bryan is hurt, lonely, and desperate to get back the girlfriend that left him so many months ago; but she won't even take his calls anymore, let alone see him or give him a second chance. He'll do anything to get her back, he's tried everything, but his last resort may also be the most dangerous... summoning a daemon to ask for help from the realm of the supernatural. It works, but now the question is, is Bryan willing to pay the price that this particular daemon demands?
Dijinn and Tonic
“A oo thu billahi min ash shaitian arrajim… a oo thu billahi min ash shaitian arrajim…” a hand, almost steady, held the match to the thick red pillar candle, the wick flaming with only the lightest of touches, “Zwee denn kai zan tween…”
He hoped that he was doing it right. Ancient Sumerian was not his area of expertise. In fact, if he really thought about it, he felt kind of silly regardless of whether he was saying the words right or not. He didn’t know how he had let Tyler talk him into this. He was sitting on the floor of his living room, strange symbols drawn onto the hardwood floor in chalk that had come out of a box with a picture of happy little grade-schoolers playing on the front (he really hoped that the stuff would wash off, he did not need to explain the markings to his grandmother the next time she visited) while candles melted into sloppy little pools of wax around him. The room smelled heavily of incense and smoke, and the humid heat of the late summer night was heavy in the air. He was shirtless, more symbols drawn on his pale chest and arms, and he had been chanting strange words in a strange language for nearly half an hour. And nothing had happened. Absolutely nothing. He was ready to give it up and pretend that the whole mess had never happened. Then he remembered. Natalie.
“A oo thu billahi-“
He stopped. Between one word and the next it was simply there. He was too shocked even to be scared. One minute he was alone, the next there’s a massive creature standing in the middle of the living room floor, sharp, alien eyes watching him stare open mouthed back at it. It, no he, it was definitely masculine in the basest sense of the word, had to be over six foot six, broad shouldered and made up of massive, solid looking muscle. Long, untamed dark hair framed a face that, had he not been so shocked, he might have called handsome, with a strong jaw and large, hooded eyes that seemed to take in everything around him with shrewd intelligence mixed with the barely contained hunger of a predator well aware of its own prowess. The silver bands around his wrists and forearms had to be as big around as the average man’s head. The ears, he noted, were sufficiently pointed and symbols that matched the ones that he had drawn on his own body decorated the creature’s chest and abdomen, glowing faintly in the candlelight. And he was blue. From the deep blue of his flesh, to the near black blue of his hair, even his piercing eyes were a startling shade of cerulean. When he smiled, only the gleaming white of his sinisterly pointed fangs broke the pattern. He was everything that he had expected him to be, even if he hadn’t really expected to call up anything at all. Even the voice, when the creature at last spoke, was the deep rumbling growl that would be expected from a massively muscled blue being summoned during an ancient ceremony of Sumerian chants and foreign symbols.
“You called for me,” there was a strange, almost teasing note to the final word that was accompanied by a slow sweep of eyes from top to bottom of the young male sitting before him, “Master?”
“I…” he had to clear his throat twice before he could speak with anything other than a startled squeak that would have been more at home coming from a cartoon mouse than a grown man, “I did. Yes.”
Silence was met with the arch of perfect, blue-black brows, “And?”
He blinked dumbly, mute, the slightly quickened intake of breath his only answer.
“And,” there was definitely a note of humor in the creature’s voice now, although it was made just that little bit frightening by the flash of fang that came with the accompanying smile, “Was there a purpose for that call, or did you just want to ogle me for a bit?”
Silence.
“Not that I’d blame you, mind you, if you only wanted to look at me. But most people call a being from the Other Realm with some greater purpose in mind.”
“Greater purpose?” Later, when his wits had returned and he was more himself, he was certain that memories of this particular conversation would be highly mortifying. As it was, his intelligence seemed to have taken leave of his brain. The great blue being before him was speaking English, even if it was with a thick and exotic accent, but for some reason he didn’t seem to comprehend much. Not even the playful tease and self-centered remark that would have been unexpected, cause for rebuke or laughter, or both, if he’d caught it in the first place, registered in his befuddled mind.
“You know,” a massive hand that looked strong enough to crush a human’s head without much effort waved vaguely in the air before them, dark black claws glinting in the candlelight, “Vengeance, power, wealth, love? Something important that you wanted me to do for you?”
The last word in his list of examples seemed to be the key to awakening him, and the purpose of the summoning returned to him at last. “Love.”
He nodded, as though he’d heard it all before. “So, you want to gain the love of someone who won’t even give you the time of day, or do you need to win back lost love? Please tell me they’re still alive. Last time I brought back lost love from the grave she stunk to high heaven. And don’t even get me started on what happened after that. Honestly, I understand why it’s illegal here; I had nightmares for weeks after witnessing that.”
“She’s alive,” he assured him, not wanting to hear any more. Now that his mind was starting to function at something approaching normal he could imagine what they were talking about, and he didn’t need nightmares of his own. He had enough to worry about as it was. “Natalie’s alive. She just wishes that I wasn’t.”
“Ooooh,” he hadn’t expected a sense of humor when he’d gone about summoning demons, but it seemed that that was what he’d gotten. It figured, since God seemed to be mocking him a lot as of late. Why should this be any different? “So, what’d you do? Cheat on her? Run over her cat with your car? Did she catch you dressing up in her best Victoria’s Secret unmentionables?”
The last gave him pause. “I am not a cross-dresser!”
“Okay,” the teasing sparkle in his dark eyes didn’t match the apologetic words, “I believe you. Had to ask though. In my line of business, you come across all kinds. This one time there was-”
“I’ve never tried on her panties,” he felt the need to say again, just to reiterate the truth. He’d thought of doing a lot of things over the four years that he and Natalie had been together, most of which would have pissed her off to varying degrees, but that hadn’t ever been one of them. “And I didn’t run over her cat either. She doesn’t even have a cat. Says they shed all over and would ruin her clothes.”
“I like cats, myself,” he said, as though they were old friends catching up and not a confused college student and the monster that he had just summoned out of thin air, “Dated one for a couple of decades a few centuries back. She never shed.”
“You dated,” he wasn’t sure that he’d heard right. Surely not. “…a… cat?”
“No imaginations, humans,” was his only answer, “Always thinking within such a confining little box.”
“Yes, well…”
“Anyway,” the blue man shook his head, as though to clear it of memories, and looked back down at the human still kneeling at his feet, “Back to your lost love. So, spill. Why’d she leave you?”
“She said that I needed to grow up,” Honestly, what were you thinking? A PS3? What a waste of money! … And don’t forget, we’re going to dinner with Dr. Smith tonight. He’ll be a great reference when I’m looking for a hospital to hire me. And don’t you dare say he wants to sleep with me. If it means getting on at a good hospital, I’ll suck his cock and detail his car if that’s what he wants … Your friends aren’t really the type of people that we should be associating with these days, they’re not our sort of people … On and on it had gone, day after day, and his friends had all told him that she was bringing him down, changing him, but in the end when she had finally left him for a successful plastic surgeon six months ago it had still felt like his world had ended. He wasn’t whole without her. And he would do anything to get her back, even summon demons, even change into the man that she wanted him to be once he got her back. Anything. “But she won’t give me the chance to prove that I can. She won’t even take my calls anymore. If I can just get her back, I know that I won’t screw it up this time.”
“Kid,” the humor was gone for the moment, a certain softness in his voice that he might have called kindness or tenderness had it been used by a human, “take my advice. I’ve been around a long time, I’ve seen it all in my day, and if they leave they usually don’t want to come back. No matter how much you change. Forget her. Move on.”
“Don’t you think I’ve tried?”
“Try harder.”
“It’s not that easy.”
Massive shoulders shrugged, but he didn’t argue.
“So, you want me to make her love you again?”
He nodded.
“Sorry. Can’t.”
“Can’t?!” he shouted, “What do you mean, you can’t?”
“I can’t make someone love you. The heart’s too complicated a thing for that.”
He looked crestfallen.
“Best I can do is lust. Maybe infatuation.”
His eyes grew bright, latching on to that small bit of hope, thinking at last that this might all have been worth it.
“It could give you time to win her back,” he didn’t sound like he expected it to work, “It’s the best I can do.”
“I’ll take it!”
He looked taken aback for a moment by the human at his feet. “You’re not even in the least bit afraid of me, are you? What if I ask for your first born or a pound of flesh or whatever in exchange for helping you?”
He thought about it for a moment then shook his head in the negative. He’d decided a long time ago that he’d do anything to get Natalie back, anything not to be left alone again, and it hadn’t really occurred to him to be frightened of the one and only being in all of the known universe that might be able to help him. Although, considering the size of the imposing being before him, and the undeniable feeling of power that wafted off of him, he supposed that he should be. He was probably used to people paling before him, groveling or holding their tongues, very careful not to offend him, afraid of what he could do if provoked. He wondered if he ought to apologize.
“Um, I’m sorry?”
The great, loud bark of laughter that boomed out of the blue being almost did succeed in finally scaring him. He toppled backwards, just barely catching himself with his hands before he fell to the hard floor, narrowly avoiding tipping over the still lit candles while trying not to look like he’d been spooked. Which only seemed to make him laugh more.
“I’ll have to thank little Crissy for this one, looks like I might have some fun after all.”
“Crissy?”
“Cute little pixie that managed to find her way down to us,” he explained, “Adorable bit of a thing, bright wings and a weird haircut, always getting herself into some sort of trouble. She told me to take this one, even though Varoxis was going to answer your call originally. I’m starting to be glad that I listened to her.”
“Oh.” He had no idea what they were talking about anymore. In fact, he’d been lost from the beginning. “That’s… good, then… I guess.”
“Very good,” he said, “Trust me kid, you did not want Varoxis to answer you. He’s been in a piss poor mood for weeks, ever since his husband left him for a younger daemon. If you’d told him about your lost love he would have either killed you on the spot or spent the better part of the next millennia crying on your shoulder while he told you how much he knows about heartache. Either way, you lucked out.”
“Lucky me.”
Something about the look that the summoned demon gave him when he answered should have scared the human, “Yes, lucky you.”
“So, um,” he tried to think of something to say while he nervously stood and went around blowing out his candles, wincing when he flipped on the light and was nearly blinded by the harsh glare. What was the protocol for speaking to blue monsters anyway? “What’s your name?”
“Frikx.”
“Frikx?” He thought that he might have misheard him. Frikx? Aside from the fact that he was relatively certain that it wasn’t a name at all, it sounded incredibly… cutesy. Like a cartoon character or something. It didn’t really seem to fit the imposing man before him.
“What of it,” Frikx answered defensively, arms crossed over his chest, chin held high, obviously having had this discussion a time or two before.
“I don’t know, it’s just…”
“Hey, it doesn’t translate really well,” Frikx snapped, “Get over it. I suppose your name is so much better?”
“My name’s Bryan.” A nice, normal name. He all but dared him to find a way to make fun of it.
“Like the dog on Family Guy?”
“You watch Family Guy?” Somehow, it just didn’t seem right. Demons just did not sit around watching television. And, if they did, they shouldn’t be watching cartoons. And, even if they did want to watch cartoons, not that one. Definitely not that one!
“What, you think we just sit around waiting for mortals to summon us,” Frikx wanted to know, “This is the 21st century, hardly anybody even believes in us any more. It gives us a lot more free time than we used to have.”
It made sense, he supposed.
“You know, you’re kind of cute.”
That, he had not been expecting. Despite what Natalie had often told him about his hair being too long and unruly or his clothes not being grown-up enough, he didn’t think that he was exactly un-handsome. He had sandy blond hair and bright blue eyes, and he thought it made him look sort of like the newest James Bond, although he’d never actually open himself up to ridicule by saying the last out loud. He was average in height, about five foot eleven, his body was lean but not too thin and possessing just the hint of muscle from running and swimming. Cute, however, just didn’t seem right. Especially coming from a very male demon!
“Am not!”
Frikx stopped himself, just barely, from replying with are too. Seemed too childish for a man who could remember a time when Zeus had been the dominate god in the world. Still, it had been true. The human before him was, if not cute, really quite handsome. And definitely his type. He’d never been one to beat around the bush, so out and saying so seemed the prudent thing to do.
Oh, Frikx thought with an internal chuckle, but the boy had no idea what sort of turn his night was about to take!
“Fine, you’re not cute,” he lied, “Take off your pants.”
Bryan actually took a step back, his back hitting the wall with a dull thud, eyes wide as he looked at Frikx, waiting for him to laugh and say that he was only joking. “Excuse me?” His voice squeaked again, but he didn’t really care.
“I said,” Frikx carefully kept his face schooled, enjoying the way that the human before him squirmed under his dark gaze, barely suppressing the laughter that begged to escape past his lips, “You’re not cute. If you don’t want a complement, I can’t help that.”
“No,” Bryan all but shouted, “After that.”
“Take off your pants?”
“Yes,” Bryan said, “That!”
“Not very complicated, that,” Frikx said, “If you can perform an ancient summoning ritual, Sumerian text and all, then you should be smart enough to follow simple instructions, right? You just pop the button, pull down the zip, and voila! Nudity.”
“Yes,” Bryan had recovered somewhat, his shock subsiding just a bit as they bantered. It was, oddly, just like the mostly pointless conversations that he would often have with his friends. Or had had, before Natalie had convinced him to stop associating with them. It was fun to have this again, even if he had needed to summon a demon to do it. A demon who might just slaughter him if he didn’t watch his tongue. It was actually worth it, in his mind. “I understand how to remove my pants. I’ve been doing it successfully for years, in fact, with only the occasional alcohol related mishap preventing me from being able to say that I am in fact an expert in the removal of my own pants. I’m just not sure why you would want me to do it in the first place.”
“I’m a dijinn, it’s what we do.”
“Oh, I’m so very sorry,” Bryan feigned chagrin, “I thought that you were a demon who granted wishes to the one who summoned you, not a pervert.”
“I’m both, actually,” Frikx couldn’t hold back any longer, and he started laughing uproariously, “And the look on your face right now is more than worth admitting to it!”
“I’m so glad that you’re so amused,” Bryan huffed. Frikx didn’t tell him that the pouting expression on his boyishly handsome face was a huge turn on. He didn’t want to scare him off, after all. Any more than he already had, that is. He was having too much fun.
“Look,” Frikx explained when he’d calmed a bit, “I am a dijinn. We do grant wishes to the one clever enough to summon us correctly,” he paused for a moment, considering the last time he’d been called out of the Other Realm, “Kudos for that, by the way, it’s not as easy as you’d think. The last guy who tried to summon me accidently inverted the last two verses of the spell and ended up wearing his guts on the outside of his body. Not a pretty sight.”
They both shuddered at the imagery that that provoked.
“But, what do you think, that we do it all for free? Hell no,” Frikx raked his eyes up and down Bryan’s body again. He really did like what he saw. “Nothing’s ever free, in this world or any other. Besides, I’m bored and horny. Never a good combination.”
“Yes,” Bryan really wished that his living room was bigger, he was backed up against the wall and still he could feel the heat of Frikx’ gaze, “But I’m a guy. I knew there’d be a price to pay, but… but… that?”
“Mortals these days,” Frikx sighed, “So narrow minded. They never want to try anything different.”
“I’m not narrow minded,” Bryan was offended. He was the most open minded person that he knew! And, if he was going to be honest, he’d thought about men like that before. Just not since Natalie. She wouldn’t have approved.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I summoned you to bring my girlfriend back to me, not to molest me.”
“Why can’t I do both?”
“Because…” Bryan struggled to find an answer, eventually settling on, “Just because!”
“Very mature.”
“I know.” He barely resisted the urge to stick out his tongue and make the whole conversation completely childish.
“I don’t know what the problem is,” Frikx said in a tone that spoke of reason and sense, “If your girl left you and you’re this desperate to get her back then it stands to reason that you haven’t gotten laid lately. I’m offering to help you out, get your girl back, and to give you the best sex of your life. You should be thanking me, not arguing.”
Bryan laughed despite himself.
“Pretty confident, aren’t you,” he muttered, “Best sex of my life?”
Frikx didn’t back down from the implied challenge. “You know that saying about practice makes perfect,” Bryan nodded, “Just imagine what a few millennia does for a man’s technique.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Bryan said, intrigued despite himself. If he was telling the truth, he was lonely. It had been so long since anyone had touched him, long before Natalie had left him, and what he was being offered would give him comfort, relief, and would enable him to indulge in one of his most secret fantasies while still winning Natalie back. He agreed with Frikx, why was he arguing? “I sleep with you, and when we’re done you’ll help me get Natalie back?”
“Cross my heart,” Frikx answered, a predatory glint suddenly present in his eyes. He knew that he’d won. “Mind-blowing sex followed by the return of one wayward girlfriend. Promise.”
He didn’t know why, but for whatever reason that was good enough for Bryan. Frikx was a stranger, a demon, and a man, but he couldn’t find fault with the agreement. Mind made up, he took the few steps that separated them and pressed his body against Frikx’ much larger frame. He braced his hands on the muscular blue chest and strained upwards, placing his lips upon Frikx’ as he threw caution to the winds. Maybe he’d been under too much stress lately, maybe he’d finally lost his mind, but he just didn’t care anymore. If there were consequences to his actions then he’d deal with them later. After he’d fucked a demon.
Frikx was a little surprised by Bryan’s sudden forwardness. He was used to humans being afraid of him, despite the fact that he’d never really done harm to one without good cause in all of his long life, but this one didn’t seem to know fear. For that, Frikx was glad. He liked Bryan, liked his honest eyes and playful mind, and the last thing he wanted was to see the young man trembling before him in terror. This way, he could make him tremble for entirely different reasons. It was going to be fun!
Frikx let Bryan control the kiss for a while, resting his hands lightly on the human’s slim hips, opening his lips obligingly when a questing tongue swiped across his lower lip. He moaned, low and deep in his barrel chest, when Bryan took the invitation and deepened the kiss, but the brush of tongue against his sharp fangs made his blood boil and his patience snapped.
“Not that this isn’t nice,” Frikx growled, arms wrapping around Bryan and pulling him against his body with force, “But I’m over three thousand years old. That automatically means that I’m in charge.”
Bryan would have put up at least a token resistance, but he was too curious about what it would be like to reap the benefits of three thousand years worth of experience to muster the will to complain. It would, ultimately, be detrimental to him so why bother? Besides, it wasn’t like he would ever see Frikx again after tonight, so the injury to his pride, small as it was, shouldn’t be a problem. He’d submit completely, have a night of fun with the dijinn, and by this time tomorrow he’d be back with Natalie leading a nice, ordinary life with the girl of his dreams. He just had to keep telling himself that he was doing the right thing.
“Where are you?”
Frikx’ deep, rumbling voice drew him out of himself. The kiss, although probably the most passionate of his young life, had also felt somehow warm and comforting; just like being held in such strong arms. It had allowed him to be lulled, to wander, and his cheeks heated as he realized that Frikx was now staring at him from only millimeters away, his dark eyes seeming to see more than Bryan had ever dared to let anyone else see. Being the sole focus of such intense scrutiny was unsettling, to say the least. Also, for some reason, it was oddly flattering. No one had paid him such attention in a very long time.
“I’m here,” he tried to cover, but he knew that the demon wouldn’t buy it.
“No, you aren’t,” Frikx said, voice suddenly gentling, “Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I’m not used to people spacing out when I’m doing my best to seduce them,” Frikx said, sounding mildly offended while at the same time being just that little bit worried, “Which means either something is wrong, or you really don’t want to do this. I’ve never, ever, been a rapist, so if it’s the latter then you really need to tell me now. If it’s the former, then you might want to tell me what’s wrong. You might not believe me, but three thousand years of life really teaches a guy to be a good listener and a decent dispenser of fairly adequate advice.”
“Oh, really?”
“Hell yes,” Frikx smiled, a wide grin that showed off his fangs yet kept him from becoming fearsome, and the room suddenly seemed hotter to Bryan, “I mean, for the first thousand or so you’re a complete prick, but around about the fifteen-hundred year mark you really learn to settle down and hear what people are saying. Another five-hundred or so and I might even be good enough to get my therapists license.”
“Ha, ha, ha,” Bryan said in a flat, toneless voice, suspecting that Frikx was right but still unable not to tease. Despite a heavy heart, Frikx left him feeling happier and more upbeat than he had in years. It felt, somehow, natural. Right. “You know, when I summoned an ancient demon from the netherworld I really expected something a bit more…”
“More…?”
“I don’t know,” Bryan waved a hand vaguely in the air before them, as though he were searching for a word, “mature, maybe? I mean, three thousand years and still all you can do is tease and joke? Isn’t that enough time to learn to act like an adult?”
“What fun would that be?”
Bryan laughed for what felt like the first time in ages. A deep, rumbling belly laugh that felt like it began all the way down at his toes and traveled the length of his body to bubble, uncontrollable, out from his smiling lips. It felt good!
“And it looks like we’ve found something you’re good at too,” Bryan was still chuckling, so he only shook his head to indicate that he was ignorant, “Changing the subject.”
“I didn’t change the subject,” Bryan answered defensively, his laughter slowing dying.
“Really,” Frikx wanted to know, “Then why aren’t we talking about what’s wrong? I’m here to help, it’s what I do, what I’m for, and it’s not just a matter of getting your girl back. I’m here for you, so you might as well take advantage of that fact. It’s not everyone who gets the benefit of a three thousand year old demon you know.”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” Bryan promised, “I summoned you, you didn’t summon me. I’m not your problem.”
“I’m not even sure that that argument makes sense,” Frikx would not be discouraged, “But I’m immortal. I’ve got all the time in the world. I can wait.”
“I thought you were horny,” Bryan reminded him, hoping to distract the big blue dijinn, “I’m done arguing about it. I’ll take off my pants and go up to the bed right now.”
“If you prefer talking naked, that’s up to you,” there was an almost-smile back upon Frikx’ face. He really did like this kid. It was part of the reason why he wasn’t going to budge on this particular matter. He could tell that something was wrong, and something within him wouldn’t rest until he knew what and why and rather there was anything that he could do about it.
“I,” something about the look on Frikx’ face, the tone of his deep voice, told Bryan that he wasn’t going to give up or give in. Normally, Bryan didn’t confide in anyone. It just wasn’t something that he did. Or could do, usually. But, suddenly, he heard a voice speaking and realized too late that it was his, “it’s just, well, Natalie. Nothing I ever did seemed to be good enough. I was always too lazy, not ambitious enough, not mature enough, too playful, too gentle, too friendly, too naive. She didn’t think that graphic design was a good major, she didn’t think that my art was ever going to make us any money so she didn’t see the point in it, she didn’t think that I had the right mindset to make it anywhere in life.”
“Well-“ Frikx began, but Bryan was on a roll, and he kept talking, his tone growing more heated and his words coming faster and faster.
“She didn’t like the way I dressed, or the way I made love, or the way I wear my hair, or the friends that I have. She doesn’t even like my family,” he hadn’t realized just how frustrated he had grown with the whole situation until just that very moment. Had he been calmer he might have been embarrassed as he neared hysterics, but for the time being he didn’t really care. “And I said that I’d change. That I’d work on it. But does she give me a chance to prove that I can do it? Hell no! She up and leaves me for a plastic surgeon. A married plastic surgeon! Why? Because he has prospects. Prospects? Hah!”
Bryan was practically panting by the time that he was done.
“Felling better?”
“Much.”
“Can I ask one question?”
Bryan nodded.
“If she doesn’t love you then why do you want her back so bad?”
TBC...
The rest will be in the next post...
Title: Dijinn and Tonic (1/2)
Series: Pixi Problems
Rating: NC-17/Adult
Length: apx. 12,000 words
Status: Complete
Warnings: M/M, Demon Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Rimming, Anal Sex, Humor, Sap
Summary: Bryan is hurt, lonely, and desperate to get back the girlfriend that left him so many months ago; but she won't even take his calls anymore, let alone see him or give him a second chance. He'll do anything to get her back, he's tried everything, but his last resort may also be the most dangerous... summoning a daemon to ask for help from the realm of the supernatural. It works, but now the question is, is Bryan willing to pay the price that this particular daemon demands?
Dijinn and Tonic
“A oo thu billahi min ash shaitian arrajim… a oo thu billahi min ash shaitian arrajim…” a hand, almost steady, held the match to the thick red pillar candle, the wick flaming with only the lightest of touches, “Zwee denn kai zan tween…”
He hoped that he was doing it right. Ancient Sumerian was not his area of expertise. In fact, if he really thought about it, he felt kind of silly regardless of whether he was saying the words right or not. He didn’t know how he had let Tyler talk him into this. He was sitting on the floor of his living room, strange symbols drawn onto the hardwood floor in chalk that had come out of a box with a picture of happy little grade-schoolers playing on the front (he really hoped that the stuff would wash off, he did not need to explain the markings to his grandmother the next time she visited) while candles melted into sloppy little pools of wax around him. The room smelled heavily of incense and smoke, and the humid heat of the late summer night was heavy in the air. He was shirtless, more symbols drawn on his pale chest and arms, and he had been chanting strange words in a strange language for nearly half an hour. And nothing had happened. Absolutely nothing. He was ready to give it up and pretend that the whole mess had never happened. Then he remembered. Natalie.
“A oo thu billahi-“
He stopped. Between one word and the next it was simply there. He was too shocked even to be scared. One minute he was alone, the next there’s a massive creature standing in the middle of the living room floor, sharp, alien eyes watching him stare open mouthed back at it. It, no he, it was definitely masculine in the basest sense of the word, had to be over six foot six, broad shouldered and made up of massive, solid looking muscle. Long, untamed dark hair framed a face that, had he not been so shocked, he might have called handsome, with a strong jaw and large, hooded eyes that seemed to take in everything around him with shrewd intelligence mixed with the barely contained hunger of a predator well aware of its own prowess. The silver bands around his wrists and forearms had to be as big around as the average man’s head. The ears, he noted, were sufficiently pointed and symbols that matched the ones that he had drawn on his own body decorated the creature’s chest and abdomen, glowing faintly in the candlelight. And he was blue. From the deep blue of his flesh, to the near black blue of his hair, even his piercing eyes were a startling shade of cerulean. When he smiled, only the gleaming white of his sinisterly pointed fangs broke the pattern. He was everything that he had expected him to be, even if he hadn’t really expected to call up anything at all. Even the voice, when the creature at last spoke, was the deep rumbling growl that would be expected from a massively muscled blue being summoned during an ancient ceremony of Sumerian chants and foreign symbols.
“You called for me,” there was a strange, almost teasing note to the final word that was accompanied by a slow sweep of eyes from top to bottom of the young male sitting before him, “Master?”
“I…” he had to clear his throat twice before he could speak with anything other than a startled squeak that would have been more at home coming from a cartoon mouse than a grown man, “I did. Yes.”
Silence was met with the arch of perfect, blue-black brows, “And?”
He blinked dumbly, mute, the slightly quickened intake of breath his only answer.
“And,” there was definitely a note of humor in the creature’s voice now, although it was made just that little bit frightening by the flash of fang that came with the accompanying smile, “Was there a purpose for that call, or did you just want to ogle me for a bit?”
Silence.
“Not that I’d blame you, mind you, if you only wanted to look at me. But most people call a being from the Other Realm with some greater purpose in mind.”
“Greater purpose?” Later, when his wits had returned and he was more himself, he was certain that memories of this particular conversation would be highly mortifying. As it was, his intelligence seemed to have taken leave of his brain. The great blue being before him was speaking English, even if it was with a thick and exotic accent, but for some reason he didn’t seem to comprehend much. Not even the playful tease and self-centered remark that would have been unexpected, cause for rebuke or laughter, or both, if he’d caught it in the first place, registered in his befuddled mind.
“You know,” a massive hand that looked strong enough to crush a human’s head without much effort waved vaguely in the air before them, dark black claws glinting in the candlelight, “Vengeance, power, wealth, love? Something important that you wanted me to do for you?”
The last word in his list of examples seemed to be the key to awakening him, and the purpose of the summoning returned to him at last. “Love.”
He nodded, as though he’d heard it all before. “So, you want to gain the love of someone who won’t even give you the time of day, or do you need to win back lost love? Please tell me they’re still alive. Last time I brought back lost love from the grave she stunk to high heaven. And don’t even get me started on what happened after that. Honestly, I understand why it’s illegal here; I had nightmares for weeks after witnessing that.”
“She’s alive,” he assured him, not wanting to hear any more. Now that his mind was starting to function at something approaching normal he could imagine what they were talking about, and he didn’t need nightmares of his own. He had enough to worry about as it was. “Natalie’s alive. She just wishes that I wasn’t.”
“Ooooh,” he hadn’t expected a sense of humor when he’d gone about summoning demons, but it seemed that that was what he’d gotten. It figured, since God seemed to be mocking him a lot as of late. Why should this be any different? “So, what’d you do? Cheat on her? Run over her cat with your car? Did she catch you dressing up in her best Victoria’s Secret unmentionables?”
The last gave him pause. “I am not a cross-dresser!”
“Okay,” the teasing sparkle in his dark eyes didn’t match the apologetic words, “I believe you. Had to ask though. In my line of business, you come across all kinds. This one time there was-”
“I’ve never tried on her panties,” he felt the need to say again, just to reiterate the truth. He’d thought of doing a lot of things over the four years that he and Natalie had been together, most of which would have pissed her off to varying degrees, but that hadn’t ever been one of them. “And I didn’t run over her cat either. She doesn’t even have a cat. Says they shed all over and would ruin her clothes.”
“I like cats, myself,” he said, as though they were old friends catching up and not a confused college student and the monster that he had just summoned out of thin air, “Dated one for a couple of decades a few centuries back. She never shed.”
“You dated,” he wasn’t sure that he’d heard right. Surely not. “…a… cat?”
“No imaginations, humans,” was his only answer, “Always thinking within such a confining little box.”
“Yes, well…”
“Anyway,” the blue man shook his head, as though to clear it of memories, and looked back down at the human still kneeling at his feet, “Back to your lost love. So, spill. Why’d she leave you?”
“She said that I needed to grow up,” Honestly, what were you thinking? A PS3? What a waste of money! … And don’t forget, we’re going to dinner with Dr. Smith tonight. He’ll be a great reference when I’m looking for a hospital to hire me. And don’t you dare say he wants to sleep with me. If it means getting on at a good hospital, I’ll suck his cock and detail his car if that’s what he wants … Your friends aren’t really the type of people that we should be associating with these days, they’re not our sort of people … On and on it had gone, day after day, and his friends had all told him that she was bringing him down, changing him, but in the end when she had finally left him for a successful plastic surgeon six months ago it had still felt like his world had ended. He wasn’t whole without her. And he would do anything to get her back, even summon demons, even change into the man that she wanted him to be once he got her back. Anything. “But she won’t give me the chance to prove that I can. She won’t even take my calls anymore. If I can just get her back, I know that I won’t screw it up this time.”
“Kid,” the humor was gone for the moment, a certain softness in his voice that he might have called kindness or tenderness had it been used by a human, “take my advice. I’ve been around a long time, I’ve seen it all in my day, and if they leave they usually don’t want to come back. No matter how much you change. Forget her. Move on.”
“Don’t you think I’ve tried?”
“Try harder.”
“It’s not that easy.”
Massive shoulders shrugged, but he didn’t argue.
“So, you want me to make her love you again?”
He nodded.
“Sorry. Can’t.”
“Can’t?!” he shouted, “What do you mean, you can’t?”
“I can’t make someone love you. The heart’s too complicated a thing for that.”
He looked crestfallen.
“Best I can do is lust. Maybe infatuation.”
His eyes grew bright, latching on to that small bit of hope, thinking at last that this might all have been worth it.
“It could give you time to win her back,” he didn’t sound like he expected it to work, “It’s the best I can do.”
“I’ll take it!”
He looked taken aback for a moment by the human at his feet. “You’re not even in the least bit afraid of me, are you? What if I ask for your first born or a pound of flesh or whatever in exchange for helping you?”
He thought about it for a moment then shook his head in the negative. He’d decided a long time ago that he’d do anything to get Natalie back, anything not to be left alone again, and it hadn’t really occurred to him to be frightened of the one and only being in all of the known universe that might be able to help him. Although, considering the size of the imposing being before him, and the undeniable feeling of power that wafted off of him, he supposed that he should be. He was probably used to people paling before him, groveling or holding their tongues, very careful not to offend him, afraid of what he could do if provoked. He wondered if he ought to apologize.
“Um, I’m sorry?”
The great, loud bark of laughter that boomed out of the blue being almost did succeed in finally scaring him. He toppled backwards, just barely catching himself with his hands before he fell to the hard floor, narrowly avoiding tipping over the still lit candles while trying not to look like he’d been spooked. Which only seemed to make him laugh more.
“I’ll have to thank little Crissy for this one, looks like I might have some fun after all.”
“Crissy?”
“Cute little pixie that managed to find her way down to us,” he explained, “Adorable bit of a thing, bright wings and a weird haircut, always getting herself into some sort of trouble. She told me to take this one, even though Varoxis was going to answer your call originally. I’m starting to be glad that I listened to her.”
“Oh.” He had no idea what they were talking about anymore. In fact, he’d been lost from the beginning. “That’s… good, then… I guess.”
“Very good,” he said, “Trust me kid, you did not want Varoxis to answer you. He’s been in a piss poor mood for weeks, ever since his husband left him for a younger daemon. If you’d told him about your lost love he would have either killed you on the spot or spent the better part of the next millennia crying on your shoulder while he told you how much he knows about heartache. Either way, you lucked out.”
“Lucky me.”
Something about the look that the summoned demon gave him when he answered should have scared the human, “Yes, lucky you.”
“So, um,” he tried to think of something to say while he nervously stood and went around blowing out his candles, wincing when he flipped on the light and was nearly blinded by the harsh glare. What was the protocol for speaking to blue monsters anyway? “What’s your name?”
“Frikx.”
“Frikx?” He thought that he might have misheard him. Frikx? Aside from the fact that he was relatively certain that it wasn’t a name at all, it sounded incredibly… cutesy. Like a cartoon character or something. It didn’t really seem to fit the imposing man before him.
“What of it,” Frikx answered defensively, arms crossed over his chest, chin held high, obviously having had this discussion a time or two before.
“I don’t know, it’s just…”
“Hey, it doesn’t translate really well,” Frikx snapped, “Get over it. I suppose your name is so much better?”
“My name’s Bryan.” A nice, normal name. He all but dared him to find a way to make fun of it.
“Like the dog on Family Guy?”
“You watch Family Guy?” Somehow, it just didn’t seem right. Demons just did not sit around watching television. And, if they did, they shouldn’t be watching cartoons. And, even if they did want to watch cartoons, not that one. Definitely not that one!
“What, you think we just sit around waiting for mortals to summon us,” Frikx wanted to know, “This is the 21st century, hardly anybody even believes in us any more. It gives us a lot more free time than we used to have.”
It made sense, he supposed.
“You know, you’re kind of cute.”
That, he had not been expecting. Despite what Natalie had often told him about his hair being too long and unruly or his clothes not being grown-up enough, he didn’t think that he was exactly un-handsome. He had sandy blond hair and bright blue eyes, and he thought it made him look sort of like the newest James Bond, although he’d never actually open himself up to ridicule by saying the last out loud. He was average in height, about five foot eleven, his body was lean but not too thin and possessing just the hint of muscle from running and swimming. Cute, however, just didn’t seem right. Especially coming from a very male demon!
“Am not!”
Frikx stopped himself, just barely, from replying with are too. Seemed too childish for a man who could remember a time when Zeus had been the dominate god in the world. Still, it had been true. The human before him was, if not cute, really quite handsome. And definitely his type. He’d never been one to beat around the bush, so out and saying so seemed the prudent thing to do.
Oh, Frikx thought with an internal chuckle, but the boy had no idea what sort of turn his night was about to take!
“Fine, you’re not cute,” he lied, “Take off your pants.”
Bryan actually took a step back, his back hitting the wall with a dull thud, eyes wide as he looked at Frikx, waiting for him to laugh and say that he was only joking. “Excuse me?” His voice squeaked again, but he didn’t really care.
“I said,” Frikx carefully kept his face schooled, enjoying the way that the human before him squirmed under his dark gaze, barely suppressing the laughter that begged to escape past his lips, “You’re not cute. If you don’t want a complement, I can’t help that.”
“No,” Bryan all but shouted, “After that.”
“Take off your pants?”
“Yes,” Bryan said, “That!”
“Not very complicated, that,” Frikx said, “If you can perform an ancient summoning ritual, Sumerian text and all, then you should be smart enough to follow simple instructions, right? You just pop the button, pull down the zip, and voila! Nudity.”
“Yes,” Bryan had recovered somewhat, his shock subsiding just a bit as they bantered. It was, oddly, just like the mostly pointless conversations that he would often have with his friends. Or had had, before Natalie had convinced him to stop associating with them. It was fun to have this again, even if he had needed to summon a demon to do it. A demon who might just slaughter him if he didn’t watch his tongue. It was actually worth it, in his mind. “I understand how to remove my pants. I’ve been doing it successfully for years, in fact, with only the occasional alcohol related mishap preventing me from being able to say that I am in fact an expert in the removal of my own pants. I’m just not sure why you would want me to do it in the first place.”
“I’m a dijinn, it’s what we do.”
“Oh, I’m so very sorry,” Bryan feigned chagrin, “I thought that you were a demon who granted wishes to the one who summoned you, not a pervert.”
“I’m both, actually,” Frikx couldn’t hold back any longer, and he started laughing uproariously, “And the look on your face right now is more than worth admitting to it!”
“I’m so glad that you’re so amused,” Bryan huffed. Frikx didn’t tell him that the pouting expression on his boyishly handsome face was a huge turn on. He didn’t want to scare him off, after all. Any more than he already had, that is. He was having too much fun.
“Look,” Frikx explained when he’d calmed a bit, “I am a dijinn. We do grant wishes to the one clever enough to summon us correctly,” he paused for a moment, considering the last time he’d been called out of the Other Realm, “Kudos for that, by the way, it’s not as easy as you’d think. The last guy who tried to summon me accidently inverted the last two verses of the spell and ended up wearing his guts on the outside of his body. Not a pretty sight.”
They both shuddered at the imagery that that provoked.
“But, what do you think, that we do it all for free? Hell no,” Frikx raked his eyes up and down Bryan’s body again. He really did like what he saw. “Nothing’s ever free, in this world or any other. Besides, I’m bored and horny. Never a good combination.”
“Yes,” Bryan really wished that his living room was bigger, he was backed up against the wall and still he could feel the heat of Frikx’ gaze, “But I’m a guy. I knew there’d be a price to pay, but… but… that?”
“Mortals these days,” Frikx sighed, “So narrow minded. They never want to try anything different.”
“I’m not narrow minded,” Bryan was offended. He was the most open minded person that he knew! And, if he was going to be honest, he’d thought about men like that before. Just not since Natalie. She wouldn’t have approved.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I summoned you to bring my girlfriend back to me, not to molest me.”
“Why can’t I do both?”
“Because…” Bryan struggled to find an answer, eventually settling on, “Just because!”
“Very mature.”
“I know.” He barely resisted the urge to stick out his tongue and make the whole conversation completely childish.
“I don’t know what the problem is,” Frikx said in a tone that spoke of reason and sense, “If your girl left you and you’re this desperate to get her back then it stands to reason that you haven’t gotten laid lately. I’m offering to help you out, get your girl back, and to give you the best sex of your life. You should be thanking me, not arguing.”
Bryan laughed despite himself.
“Pretty confident, aren’t you,” he muttered, “Best sex of my life?”
Frikx didn’t back down from the implied challenge. “You know that saying about practice makes perfect,” Bryan nodded, “Just imagine what a few millennia does for a man’s technique.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Bryan said, intrigued despite himself. If he was telling the truth, he was lonely. It had been so long since anyone had touched him, long before Natalie had left him, and what he was being offered would give him comfort, relief, and would enable him to indulge in one of his most secret fantasies while still winning Natalie back. He agreed with Frikx, why was he arguing? “I sleep with you, and when we’re done you’ll help me get Natalie back?”
“Cross my heart,” Frikx answered, a predatory glint suddenly present in his eyes. He knew that he’d won. “Mind-blowing sex followed by the return of one wayward girlfriend. Promise.”
He didn’t know why, but for whatever reason that was good enough for Bryan. Frikx was a stranger, a demon, and a man, but he couldn’t find fault with the agreement. Mind made up, he took the few steps that separated them and pressed his body against Frikx’ much larger frame. He braced his hands on the muscular blue chest and strained upwards, placing his lips upon Frikx’ as he threw caution to the winds. Maybe he’d been under too much stress lately, maybe he’d finally lost his mind, but he just didn’t care anymore. If there were consequences to his actions then he’d deal with them later. After he’d fucked a demon.
Frikx was a little surprised by Bryan’s sudden forwardness. He was used to humans being afraid of him, despite the fact that he’d never really done harm to one without good cause in all of his long life, but this one didn’t seem to know fear. For that, Frikx was glad. He liked Bryan, liked his honest eyes and playful mind, and the last thing he wanted was to see the young man trembling before him in terror. This way, he could make him tremble for entirely different reasons. It was going to be fun!
Frikx let Bryan control the kiss for a while, resting his hands lightly on the human’s slim hips, opening his lips obligingly when a questing tongue swiped across his lower lip. He moaned, low and deep in his barrel chest, when Bryan took the invitation and deepened the kiss, but the brush of tongue against his sharp fangs made his blood boil and his patience snapped.
“Not that this isn’t nice,” Frikx growled, arms wrapping around Bryan and pulling him against his body with force, “But I’m over three thousand years old. That automatically means that I’m in charge.”
Bryan would have put up at least a token resistance, but he was too curious about what it would be like to reap the benefits of three thousand years worth of experience to muster the will to complain. It would, ultimately, be detrimental to him so why bother? Besides, it wasn’t like he would ever see Frikx again after tonight, so the injury to his pride, small as it was, shouldn’t be a problem. He’d submit completely, have a night of fun with the dijinn, and by this time tomorrow he’d be back with Natalie leading a nice, ordinary life with the girl of his dreams. He just had to keep telling himself that he was doing the right thing.
“Where are you?”
Frikx’ deep, rumbling voice drew him out of himself. The kiss, although probably the most passionate of his young life, had also felt somehow warm and comforting; just like being held in such strong arms. It had allowed him to be lulled, to wander, and his cheeks heated as he realized that Frikx was now staring at him from only millimeters away, his dark eyes seeming to see more than Bryan had ever dared to let anyone else see. Being the sole focus of such intense scrutiny was unsettling, to say the least. Also, for some reason, it was oddly flattering. No one had paid him such attention in a very long time.
“I’m here,” he tried to cover, but he knew that the demon wouldn’t buy it.
“No, you aren’t,” Frikx said, voice suddenly gentling, “Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I’m not used to people spacing out when I’m doing my best to seduce them,” Frikx said, sounding mildly offended while at the same time being just that little bit worried, “Which means either something is wrong, or you really don’t want to do this. I’ve never, ever, been a rapist, so if it’s the latter then you really need to tell me now. If it’s the former, then you might want to tell me what’s wrong. You might not believe me, but three thousand years of life really teaches a guy to be a good listener and a decent dispenser of fairly adequate advice.”
“Oh, really?”
“Hell yes,” Frikx smiled, a wide grin that showed off his fangs yet kept him from becoming fearsome, and the room suddenly seemed hotter to Bryan, “I mean, for the first thousand or so you’re a complete prick, but around about the fifteen-hundred year mark you really learn to settle down and hear what people are saying. Another five-hundred or so and I might even be good enough to get my therapists license.”
“Ha, ha, ha,” Bryan said in a flat, toneless voice, suspecting that Frikx was right but still unable not to tease. Despite a heavy heart, Frikx left him feeling happier and more upbeat than he had in years. It felt, somehow, natural. Right. “You know, when I summoned an ancient demon from the netherworld I really expected something a bit more…”
“More…?”
“I don’t know,” Bryan waved a hand vaguely in the air before them, as though he were searching for a word, “mature, maybe? I mean, three thousand years and still all you can do is tease and joke? Isn’t that enough time to learn to act like an adult?”
“What fun would that be?”
Bryan laughed for what felt like the first time in ages. A deep, rumbling belly laugh that felt like it began all the way down at his toes and traveled the length of his body to bubble, uncontrollable, out from his smiling lips. It felt good!
“And it looks like we’ve found something you’re good at too,” Bryan was still chuckling, so he only shook his head to indicate that he was ignorant, “Changing the subject.”
“I didn’t change the subject,” Bryan answered defensively, his laughter slowing dying.
“Really,” Frikx wanted to know, “Then why aren’t we talking about what’s wrong? I’m here to help, it’s what I do, what I’m for, and it’s not just a matter of getting your girl back. I’m here for you, so you might as well take advantage of that fact. It’s not everyone who gets the benefit of a three thousand year old demon you know.”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” Bryan promised, “I summoned you, you didn’t summon me. I’m not your problem.”
“I’m not even sure that that argument makes sense,” Frikx would not be discouraged, “But I’m immortal. I’ve got all the time in the world. I can wait.”
“I thought you were horny,” Bryan reminded him, hoping to distract the big blue dijinn, “I’m done arguing about it. I’ll take off my pants and go up to the bed right now.”
“If you prefer talking naked, that’s up to you,” there was an almost-smile back upon Frikx’ face. He really did like this kid. It was part of the reason why he wasn’t going to budge on this particular matter. He could tell that something was wrong, and something within him wouldn’t rest until he knew what and why and rather there was anything that he could do about it.
“I,” something about the look on Frikx’ face, the tone of his deep voice, told Bryan that he wasn’t going to give up or give in. Normally, Bryan didn’t confide in anyone. It just wasn’t something that he did. Or could do, usually. But, suddenly, he heard a voice speaking and realized too late that it was his, “it’s just, well, Natalie. Nothing I ever did seemed to be good enough. I was always too lazy, not ambitious enough, not mature enough, too playful, too gentle, too friendly, too naive. She didn’t think that graphic design was a good major, she didn’t think that my art was ever going to make us any money so she didn’t see the point in it, she didn’t think that I had the right mindset to make it anywhere in life.”
“Well-“ Frikx began, but Bryan was on a roll, and he kept talking, his tone growing more heated and his words coming faster and faster.
“She didn’t like the way I dressed, or the way I made love, or the way I wear my hair, or the friends that I have. She doesn’t even like my family,” he hadn’t realized just how frustrated he had grown with the whole situation until just that very moment. Had he been calmer he might have been embarrassed as he neared hysterics, but for the time being he didn’t really care. “And I said that I’d change. That I’d work on it. But does she give me a chance to prove that I can do it? Hell no! She up and leaves me for a plastic surgeon. A married plastic surgeon! Why? Because he has prospects. Prospects? Hah!”
Bryan was practically panting by the time that he was done.
“Felling better?”
“Much.”
“Can I ask one question?”
Bryan nodded.
“If she doesn’t love you then why do you want her back so bad?”
TBC...
The rest will be in the next post...