Bullied (18+)

 

Chapter 17: Fulfillment

A warm, suffocating, darkness surrounded me. In an instant, I regained the ability to breathe.

Fearing where I was, I swallowed the desperation to scream. I was enveloped in something, but I didn’t know if it was an abominable thing of nightmares or a perverse demonic shroud. Either of the two, me voicing my fright would be meaningless.

Sitting straight up, I tore out of the sleeping bag in my moment of panic. Despite now knowing what it was, I raked my nails over the fabric to throw it off and away from me.

When I felt the cooler air around me, I stopped thrashing out. I sat there and stared out in front of me into Adam’s dark room.

Without turning, I glanced at his bed to see movement. I suddenly trembled and laid back down quickly to cover myself in the sleeping bag to feign that I still slept.

On my side, with my long ear to the floor, I heard the padding footsteps of Adam approach me. He knelt down by me. “Clint… Come on, Clint, get up.”

That was unusual. I had expected him to inspect if I was awake, not wake me. I turned to face and look up at him.

“What do you wa--” I choked when I saw his frown. “I’m awake. What’s wrong?”

“Come to bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.” That drove a guilty spike through my heart. In response, I shook my head. “Please? I can’t sleep with you here like this.”

When I shook my head again, I saw his expression change into a curious one. His hand lowered down beside my head and he brushed my longer hair over my ear.

In a soft whisper, he asked me a question that I never wanted to answer. “Are you ever going to tell me what is happening to you?”

Clenching my jaw tightly shut, I jerked my head away from his hand. I loosened my gritted teeth enough to tell him: “Don’t touch me.”

That was all I needed to get started on my loss of control; his touch.

He retracted his hand and stared down at me sadly.

“Clint. I’ll stand by the door and wait, but I’m not going to sleep until you are in bed.” After a moment’s pause, he added: “It’s not right for you to be on the floor.”

In an aggressive confusion, I responded with: “And it’s okay for you?”

He shrugged and said, “I’m a guy. So yeah, it is.”

For a couple of seconds, I just stared at him dumbfounded. Then I laughed. As I shook my head, I was getting up and out of the sleeping bag before Adam stopped me.

“Hold on.” He looked around for a second, then said, “Ahmm, I know -- You are Clint, right now, right?”

Halfway up, holding myself off the floor with one arm behind my back, I nodded. “Yeah. I’m still in control.” I took the cover of the sleeping bag off of me to sit up and soon ready to stand.

“Wait, ah...” Adam looked around a moment longer before he grabbed his own shirt and pulled it up, off, and over his head. “Here. A nightie for tonight.”

I glanced at the shirt he was offering me. A nice and long white tee. Taking it from him, I began to put the shirt on as I heard him shift and walk away from me.

As I gradually stood up, I stared at Adam’s bare back with a keen interest. In a way, I was in a trance as I looked over his figure for several seconds too long. There was just something about him that I found attractive.

When I realized what I was doing, I glanced away.

With a sigh, I began to reflect on what I was doing. How I was behaving. The way I’d treated Adam tonight was very much like how Erin had pushed me away. Like her, I was afraid of Adam, but in the most unreasonable way.

Erin had a legitimate purpose to stay clear of me: she couldn’t control me. In Adam’s case, I couldn’t control myself.

But if I were to have believed what that dark demon had told me, I was supposed to be with Adam. In some strange way, I chose him.

Right now, I didn’t want to contemplate on that subject. Despite that I had slept, I was still tired. It might have been because of how disturbing my slumber had been.

So far, when I’d had my Hellish nightmare for the night, the rest of the night would be uneventful. In theory, that smile in the darkness -- which I supposed were those black flames -- had kept me safe and secure.

...That was my hope, at least. Then again, I had no idea how any of this worked.

If anything... If I could just get some good sleep, and wake up feeling fresh in the morning, I could work out what to do with my life. On top of that, whenever I could have another opportunity with the invisible fiery fiend, I could try communicating -- especially now that I knew she spoke. I also thought, ’Maybe get her off my back for awhile too?’

Walking over to the bed, I still had Adam in my thoughts and my mistreatment towards him. He hadn’t deserved any of this. Every single thing that had happened was my fault.

Him being in danger was my fault.

Very softly, I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“Hm? Did you say something?” When I turned to face him, I saw the back of his head was tilted to the side like he was in a bit of confusion. I suppose he wasn’t sure why I had not laid down yet. “Clint?”

Not whispering anymore, I told him: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being an ass to you tonight, yesterday, and the years before.” I shook my head and went on. “I didn’t want... nothing like this. Not this. I wanted a good life, but I did all wrong. I’ve been doing everyone wrong. Even myself.” Even though he couldn’t see me, I waved a gesturing hand towards him. “Especially you tonight. I know you were concerned about me and I --” I was struggling with this. “I am truly sorry.”

That got him to turn around. He just stood there, looking at me curiously for several moments, then smiled sadly. “Are you still Clint, or --”

“Adam! I --” I shut my mouth, realizing what he had meant and now I wasn’t sure.

He could be right. I wondered, ’Am I not sorry about the things I’d done?’

It was possible I only felt this way because Clementine was firing up, ready to go, to take over.

In worry, I wondered, ’Am I losing control again? Does this mean I don’t care at all about Adam? How would I know how I feel if I’m not me?’ I shook my head and quickly ran for the door, pushing past Adam.

“Excuse me.” Adam moved aside after I initially pushed him out of my way.

“Hey, Clint, what’s the matter?” As I left the bedroom, I could hear him follow close behind me.

Ignoring him, I ran into the bathroom and leaned over the sink.

My hands fumbled with turning the faucet on full cold, but when I did, I slapped the chilly water right into my face. It wasn’t enough to be certain if what I thought was my own or influenced.

Glancing over my shoulder, panting, I contemplated jumping back into the shower for another harrowing session, transitioning from hot blooded to cold hearted. I shook my head, knowing that I would have to fill a whole tub of frozen water to appease the heated passion growing in me.

My gaze broke from the shower behind me to stare at myself in the mirror to witness my instantly dry face. The steam simply rolled right up and off of my cheeks.

But in my reflection, that humid transition wasn’t all I saw: my eyes were more than just bloodshot. Like they were seriously red as Hell.

“Lack of sleep.” I immediately rejected the lie I told myself. “Wha…?” Coming closer to the mirror, I caught the slightest of changes with my teeth.

It could’ve been my imagination. In fact, with my peepers being fucked with, I could easily have been seeing things. A warped and blurry vision from whatever was being done to my eyes. But I worried and had envisioned that other demonic woman with the sharp teeth.

...And split tongue. I stuck the tip of mine out to look, but I didn’t want to believe what I might discover. As I observed my reflection, I caught on how funnily childish I looked sticking my tongue out at myself.

Further opening my mouth in a sorrowful smile, I nearly laughed in hysteria.

The bathroom door closed after Adam entered. I wasn’t sure how long he had been watching me, but I shut my trap before he heard me lose it or saw what I had suspected about myself; I was turning into one of them.

Viewing him in the mirror’s reflection, I saw his concern. I didn’t want him to know.

Turning the faucet back on, I looked away from him and pushed my face close enough to the sink’s cold stream while cupping the flow of water to hit me more thoroughly. My shoulders jumped when I felt his hand rub me softly and soothingly, back and forth. I trembled.

Closing my eyes, I spoke to him about less dangerous part of myself. “Adam. I’m trying to be who I am, but... I don’t know.” I shut the faucet off and just leaned on my arms and relaxed on the counter. “Whether I’m influenced or not, I know I don’t want you hurt.”

“Influenced? Clint, influenced by… never mind.” I assumed with his other hand, he shifted my longer hair behind my elongated ears. “Whatever is happening, I’m here. I’ll be okay, but I want you happy.”

Opening my eyes back up, I smiled as I looked up at him. “The whole me wants you to be okay. I don’t know about happy, but I… well, it isn’t my goal to make you... I don’t want you depressed because of me.”

Smiling back at me, he gently took my shoulder to pull me up into his arms for a hug. I didn’t protest or pull away, only drew up my arms against his naked chest and leaned into his embrace.

The water I splashed on my face had not helped. Being instantly turned into steam, it just wasn’t enough to keep me cool. I could feel myself tingling hotly from our contact.

“Do you know what would make me happy?” I didn’t move, but I was listening. “If you would tell me what is going on.”

Gently against his shoulder, I lightly shook my head as I rested my cheek on his warm bare skin and sighed: “You won’t believe me.” He firmly rubbed the back of my shoulders again with one hand while holding me securely with his other arm. “I still have a hard time believing it.”

“I, ah, I know what you mean. Yesterday, you were a guy. Now you’re the hottest girl I’ve ever seen or felt.” I had to laugh at the ambiguity, whether he meant it the way I thought or not. “Come on. Let’s go back and we can talk more privately.”

At first, I tried pulling away from him to walk back. He relinquished his rubbing hand off of me, but he still held me fast in a hug. Adjusting his arm around me, I was held around my waist as we walked back together.

A sigh escaped me and I leaned into his side. I was afraid of how the night would turn out if we continued to be this close to each other.

Once we were back in his room, the door was shut behind us and I immediately started to speak to defuse what could happen any moment. “Adam, could we talk later today?”

He turned me around and embraced me fully to his solid torso. I couldn’t help it, my hands were itching to touch and they did so by roaming up from his chest to over his shoulders. I hugged him back, tightly squeezing myself to him. Perking up at the arousing opportunity, he need not have imagined what feminine appeal hid under the shirt he’d given me to wear.

Inhaling deeply his very masculine scent, I shuddered. I clenched my jaw and tried again to find clarity. “Adam, you have school and we are both tired. Please, could we call it a night? I just want us to go back to bed.”

Breathing harder, I lowered my lips down onto his shoulder. Not kissing him, but I lingered in wait for his response.

“Do you promise to tell me everything?” In response, I nodded against his shoulder.

Accepting that promise, I thought about what everything would entail. The recent memory of my nightmare came back. I wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to tell him of the entire ordeal I had gone through in that world; maybe I’d just tell him the vital details.

My sanity could be in question if I told him all. I know I would be under such suspicion because I wondered, even now, how sane I was. Thinking about it, I wondered: ’What would he do if he suspected that I was crazy?’

He wouldn’t. I was all the proof he needed. And if he required more than my change of gender, then I believed he only needed to wait for these demonic transformations to be complete.

But by then, I worriedly wondered, ’Will I still be sane? Am I going to become dangerous? What if I lose complete control and...?’

“Ahmm…” Snapping me out of my thoughts, he emitted my name in a light moan. “Ahm, Clint?”

Jerking my head up, I realized I had been softly biting his shoulder. And my hands -- immediately I pulled them out of his boxers and pushed myself away from him. Inside my palm and on my fingers, I felt the warmth of his sticky excitement that I had been just a moment ago laboring to raise out of him.

Shaking, I apologized and turned around to quickly climb up on the foot of the bed to escape this incident before it escalated. “I’m sorry. I’ll --” I stalled a moment to regain some composure in mind and body. “I’ll go to bed.” I hadn’t heard a response from him, but I took that as him still regaining his senses. “Goodnight, Adam.” I managed to crawl halfway to the pillows --

-- then felt his hand on the lower portion of my back. I paused to glance over my shoulder at him.

He was breathing hard as he observed me. As he grabbed me, I squeaked in surprise when my hands slipped out from under me.

Then within my thoughts, I heard a familiar voice: ’Stubborn. I warned you.’ I tried to mentally process what that had meant, but I couldn’t. It was as if a thick blanket of dark fog laid down to spread over and around to obscure every thought.

Adam succeeded in delaying me long enough to hold my hips and pull me back. I laid prone on the bed, motionless, with my mind a blank buzz of interference rendering me paralyzed in confusion.

My voice was so very soft that I was worried he might not hear me. “Adam? What are you doing?”

His hands were gentle, guiding the bottom of the shirt up high to expose my back in its entirety. Soon after my head completely filled with darkness, I felt I had lost all power of speech. My mind wasn’t all lost for I could still feel Adam’s hands run along the back of my legs.

The course of his appraising knuckles turned to brush over my firm behind in what felt like admiration. The touch was so sudden and surprising that I had inadvertently tensed up. He was putting the slightest pressure on my taut muscles, massaging his fingers to capture the tension in me. I was so very tempted to press up against his kneading touch, but I hadn’t the will.

...Or perhaps, too much stubborn willpower for me to give in. I closed my eyes to think, but all that had done was enhance my other the senses.

The bed beneath, soft and yielding to our combined weight. His breathing, a quick and gentle tone compared to the thunder of my own heart. I knew his heart must have been pounding with a drumbeat of desire for what I’d done, and all I had done since was continue to burn him with an image and touch that was both agony and ecstasy. That he wanted to quench that raging desire before it grew to unmanageable proportions, like a wildfire. The only way he could satisfy the demand was the same for me; to taste that hypnotizing ambrosia flaming our blood into a dizzying boil.

But more than his touch, I felt his presence. This was entirely different from before; the connection we felt was an unequaled potency. Too strong for me to believe it natural. We had to be influenced by the dark lady.

Somewhere in the room, I believed she was hidden and manipulating our interactions. It was possible the fiery one was here as well. If I could, I would’ve searched for the two of them. Despite their invisibility, there was a chance my sight had become adjusted in spotting them.

As I was now, I had no way to confront anyone, let alone them.

A lassitude fell over me as he maneuvered his hands firmly and deftly down along my spine. Past the length of my back, he tucked his hands deeply at my waist, dimpling my flesh gently in his grip to raise my bare bottom up for me to be on my knees.

It was then that I understood what was about to happen to me tonight. To us.

His hands moved ever downward to splay his fingers over the curves of my butt. When his palms had their fill, he shifted his hands away in a sensually caressing massage at a circulating fluid flow to encompass my hips.

This touch of his melted me from within, caused a hot liquid to flow, to travel, and leak down the inside of my thighs until the scorched path brought with it a heated radiance to bring intimate attention. I felt the weight of his chest bear down the entire length of my spine.

My eyes flew open a dilated panic as I realized he was kneeling on the bed behind me. I was in a dangerously erotic prison, a strange paralysis, that burned more coherent thought from me by the wispy second.

The fires in our bodies seemed to leap and fan out to each other, rising undeniably like that of a firestorm. I felt him moving behind me with that hard tension I’d built in him.

He announced his intentions when my thighs were met by his aching and pulsing masculinity. With his knee, he parted my legs one after the other until he could press more thoroughly between them, forcing them to gently give way for him.

Feeling the final assertion was to come soon caused me to believe as an absolute that this was not Adam. His care for me and consideration to wear protection was enough for me to know better.

Before I was lost, I craned my neck, glanced past him and faced where I could to search for her: the dark mother or her fiery daughter I was to care for in the strangest possible manner. I knew one or both were here.

Mesmerization switched to fear; I shivered with dismay as I dared not dislodge myself from his hold. But Adam would wake from this blissful ignorance, as I had more than once, to guilt and hurt.

When and if she would come to extinguish this madness, he would have regained his senses, control, and reason. Our coerced moment together would immolate a part of him.

And it would be all my fault. The care I had for him would be deep enough to soberly drive me into a frantic search for our invisible matchmakers.

For a moment, my hunt had been interrupted when Adam thought to blind me with my shirt. He had it by grabbing the hem in one hand to ease up over my head. Then he grasped my arms to pull them through.

Now that I was fully exposed, I felt him settling again, leaning gently against my back, sensing each little flicker of movement within him, each subtle gradation of muscle in his lean body on mine. Once again, I couldn’t think, but less to do with the supernatural and more due to the primal instinct in me. It was like my mind and all the tender senses in me were lulled by the fiery touch, masculine scent, and intimate motion of the one I’d been bemused to profoundly feel for.

As his hands reached down and around to cup, taunt, rub and tease the swells and their hardening and darkening peaks of my bosom, we lifted effortlessly upright as one -- like I was weightless. He had me straddle his thighs and lean my back against his chest, with him settling his haunches down onto his spread legs. My knees brushed down and along the fine threads of the bed spread as he shifted beneath me to adjust our position efficiently. Our thighs, the inside of mine on the outside of his, finally relaxed when he spread me wide enough.

A turmoil of emotions tore through me as one. The primal part of me wanted to submit to Adam’s wants and desires, and the rational portion desired to yield to his demands to ease the suffering I’d caused him over and over by taunting his imagination. I was at fault, and yet, I could’ve had corrected and amended the wrong by this surrender. I would endure everything I had evoked in him, the stirring passion and sensual intimacy only I allowed him to think possible.

The choice had been his to make before and it would be again, but only because I would permit him to go further with me… If I was given more time to prepare. Now she was granting him access to everything by taking away any choice he and I had.

A sob of pleasure and sorrow escaped me as I miraculously said, “Not this way.”

Cradled in his arms and resting back on him, I felt the radiant heat of his member rise and press its advantage to my vulnerability in quivering anticipation. The crown of his manhood had stalled and likely discovered my arousal could set his entire length of hardened flesh ablaze.

Moistening my lips with the pink delicate tip of my tongue, I looked back to see his face in the corner of my vision and moan out: “Please?”

Even if I could have at that moment, I didn’t fight him; the only motion I made was in response to his rhythmic breathing. Watching him, as much I wanted him to go on, I tried commanding him with these Hellish eyes of mine to let me go.

Yet -- within his arms -- I was forcibly half-turned, shifted to favor his shoulder, and craned to lean my backside into him. This was done so he could hold me back with a sweet, gentle administration of persuasive lips. An escalated temptation brought higher by nibbling away at my shoulder and occasionally teasing my neck with the flicker of his tongue.

Instead of bringing myself back upright, I leaned down on one hand to brace myself against the bed. While he tasted my fevered skin, I prevented the fall that would’ve impaled me on his raging spike of excitement.

We were locked in a passionate battle, and I had lost. However I had regained my voice, it was gone with a gasp of ardent pleasure.

Overlooking my naked shoulder, I caught my breath sharply the moment he turned his illicit bites up a notch. It wasn’t hard for me to believe that Adam was totally possessed.

I couldn’t stop him, her, or myself. But I had to prevent the outcome. He would be wounded with the thought that I had been at least seduced by force while I was not myself, if not raped.

My mind raced for an escape, to buy time, until I could spot our manipulator and convince her to release Adam.

To give me a chance so I could love him my way.

’Tonight, no time. An opportunity lost.’

 The dark voice shushed me and concluded with, ’Let go. Be quiet, a good lover, a better mother.’

As she requested this of me, Adam nuzzled into my neck while he shifted himself from under me. I was pulled more securely into him. The instant he took my hand up and off the bed, I knew it would happen, but I still screamed when he brought me down and entered me slowly.

If he had not been quick and bold to respond by clasping my mouth, my voice would have carried to his parents. I felt the pulse of his sex, hotly sheathed deep within me, as he held perfectly still until I eased up on my shock. I hadn’t expected it to hurt. He was like burning steel inside of me.

Adam dropped the hand that silenced me back down to molest my breast to bring me back. She wanted me to be quiet. An alarmed breath escaped me as I raised up only to be lowered all the way back down, but I yielded quietly with a defeated groan.

For his sake, I tried to hush myself.

The slow but earnest growth of our arousals was too sure of their reproductive purpose for my voice to carry far. Sounds, gasping or moaning -- I couldn’t be sure how I protested, but the effort was a useless one. He parted my nethers with his to drive deeply into the humid depths, too demanding, probing for a response from me. I gripped his hands and arms, in an instinctively and passionate assurance I would remain quiet.

Oddly enough, his embrace offered me a comfort and security I desperately needed right now. I crossed my arms to fold around his with my fingers gently caressing his forearms, assuring him that I was okay. There might not have been a conscious lover with me, but I tried to love him back.

He encompassed and embraced me fully as I accepted him. I could not tell if he was conscious of what was happening or if her influence was more than that. Either way, I welcomed the loving affection that enveloped me. Then he began to move in a savoring slow rhythm that even made the near withdrawal appease the initial pain with a wonderfully filled sensation.

We had done no more than experience the undulating of our bodies for who knows how long. While I bit my lips to keep silent, he continued to taste the crook of my neck. No attempt to speak came from my moist and swollen lips, just huffing and panting heavily as I recovered my breath. Trembling, I felt his teeth graze my shoulder before running those hungry lips back up to my neck as he brushed my blonde hair away.

Adam or the demon, they were being more gentle with me. Even if this was forced, I comprehended earlier she was not motivated to intentionally inflict harm on us. I just wished she had given me more time to know Adam fully before we became inseparable with a precious, living and growing, bond within me.

Clinging tensely to his arms, I felt how he drove deeper and faster in a tumultuous rocking. My straddling legs squeezed against his, my back arched to his chest and shoulders, straining and shuddering as I was no longer aware of anything except Adam. I screamed again freely as he echoed my cry with a triumphant groan of an ultimate and volatile rapture upon release.

Soaring with him on his high towards that climatic euphoria of blazing light, my fireswept body ground down to exploit this virile moment. I lost control with wave after wave of hungry need for his seed deep within me.

My enfolded arms over his felt the seized tension in him relaxed just enough for me to straighten up and out of the embraced restraint he’d pulled me into. Now I could unwind and fully lean back and rest comfortably on him.

Before I could settle down, I froze up at the touch of another before me.

A burning hot hand, and reaching for me with it was my imperfect copycat over the side of Adam’s bed. I’d been foolishly looking for her everywhere except right beneath the bed. It wasn’t like I had a chance to flash a light under there, but still, I felt like an idiot. I hadn’t the mind to think she’d be a little monster under the bed this whole time. I supposed, if she had to sleep, it had to be someplace, and it made sense to stick close with me.

Again, if these creatures had to rest, then she might've slept under my bed. A nice dark place to keep an eye on me.

She just watched us, and judging how she looked at me, I knew she knew how I felt. I could see her plainly how her face was expressing regret. A single moment of anger passed through me, but it ebbed away as I felt Adam hold me tighter.

A possessed Adam. But his or her continuing embrace was an unspoken message that I would never be released or pushed aside. They wouldn’t let me go.

With her hand below our arms, pressing gentle burning fingertips onto my abdomen, I knew then that our first time was the charm. With that in mind, I supposed Adam was right about me ovulating. I just wished it had been like before, with us speaking with one another, rather than this silence.

A part of what I liked about Adam was our conversations, and I wanted him to speak to me. To assure me that he would be okay and that he knew I harbored no ill will for what had been done. None of what had happened had been his fault.

Withdrawing from my thoughts, I stared at her, the one that was supposed to become my daughter. For the first time, I had a good look at who she was without being molested, chased, or attacked, let alone how often she’d been cloaked from my view. Her mother’s words had been quite unclear to me on many things, but one subject I recalled: reflected and reimagined.

This fiery creature looked like me, but wasn’t entirely the same. Her hair wasn’t just dark anymore, it was brown, rather than my blonde. I supposed she was going to be a mousy haired girl.

But her eyes were shocking. Neither Adam or I had eyes that color: blue. A pale ice blue that nearly shone.

They reminded me of the frost giant that had saved us.

There was no sign from Adam that he had acknowledged her presence, but that could very well be because of the powerful influence that demonic darkness emitted. He was breathing hard into the back of my neck. I wondered, ’Is he okay?’

I glanced in his direction, then back to her with a glare as I clenched my jaw tightly. I understood the situation, though. This fiery girl was desperate. That was what her mother had said. I wondered how much longer she could have survived in our world before it was too late for her.

We kept looking at one another until I became impatient. I tested my voice and said, “Well?” I was glad to have tried my raspy voice first. After I cleared my throat, I asked: “Are you coming in or what?” Then she smiled at me, like I had just given her praise or… I gently shook my head, careful not to accidently collide with Adam, as I said rather than asked: “Don’t tell me you were waiting for permission after what you and your real mother just did.”

Adam began to stir behind me, as if talking had woken him from his possession. At the same time, a glowing warmth fluttered inside of me. I watched her fade from existence and transfer that hot radiance over to me --

-- then there came a knocking at the door.

“Everything alright?” I looked back at the door, hearing a gruff male voice. I didn’t have to guess what was being investigated; an unfiltered scream on my first intense orgasm as a woman had woken the house up.

The knob turned.

My eyes widened when I didn’t remember if Adam had locked the door.

When the door opened, I saw the same man from last night: Denis. Adam’s dad looked inside the dark room and stared directly, passively, with only the tiniest hint of a smile at us for a few seconds.

Without a word, he softly closed the door as if nothing was amiss. That made it twice he’d seen me in my completely naked splendor.

Closing my eyes, I sighed and felt oddly recomposed. The burning desire was cooled and I had my control back. There was no deep unsettling emotion in me about what I had experienced, which I found to be a good thing, and I wasn’t disturbed about Adam still holding me.

Being as gentle as I could, I gripped his arms and squeezed him to grab his attention. “Adam?”

“Hmm, ahmm?” I supposed that was a proper response when I thought about it. He’d had no experience with that type of influence before, whereas I had worked with something like it for a couple of days. Like building up a tolerance to an intoxicating drug.

Softly, I spoke to him directly over my shoulder. “Let’s go to sleep... together.” I tugged on his arm to indicate my meaning. “Please? Come on.”

He didn’t seem to mind as both of us laid down onto our sides, shifting into position on the bed, and fought a little with the covers under us to blanket ourselves. I felt his hips tense against me and I think he suddenly realized he was spooning me in a very intimate manner.

“Sshh, it’s okay.” I felt him tremble. “Just relax and sleep.”

“Clint? Wha-- How?” His voice shook with emotion.

I consoled him. “It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.” After I felt him shiver some more, I knew I had to tell him something that would make this right. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, I worked up my courage. “Adam?”

Turning slightly in his arms, I faced him over my shoulder again. I watched him look down at my shoulder, over us, then face me with a scared look.

To comfort him, I drew near enough to brush his lips with mine and waited.

He took a moment, but I felt his lips respond with the lightest motion. I shuddered; it felt like the flutter of wings as excitement and worry passed through us. We kissed and remained sweetly locked. This was our first time for everything, and I wanted this to be done my way, but lost that chance. So I kept this one opportunity going for several minutes.

When we broke the kiss to breathe, I told him: “I love you.”

That appeared to frighten him more. I couldn’t help myself as I laughed a little at his plight. In my laugh, I shut myself up by kissing him once more.

Eventually, he gradually came to relax and sleep with me in his loving embrace. I lay still, enjoying the comforts of his warm body against mine, but aware of how I might have ruined his future.

Neither of us planned for a child.

My mind wouldn’t let me sleep easily as I dreamt up ideas of what we could do. The first thought was that I had lived up to my bargain and now had a night to mark my conception. The second was about my dad, but I wasn’t capable of planning anything for that. Except the dark lady's word, and I hoped the deal she made would bear fruit.

So the third thought had lead to deal with Adam’s and my child-to-be.

I wondered how normal our kid would look in comparison to other children. If how she appeared before me was a glimpse, then exotically beautiful. When she had smiled at me, I hadn’t noticed it all those other times, but instead of having two upper canines and four incisors, she had four pointy canines on both sides of her two front teeth.

I wondered, ’Were those like that before or is that my altered genetics at play?’ Either case, that was already a dental bill to plan for if she turned out that way.

That’s if I could keep her. I had no parent and the only ones supporting me now were Adam and his folks.

Helen had already warned her son to wear protection.

If Adam and his family didn’t want the child, I worried, ’Will adoption be viable or will they step over my need to seek an abortion?’

“...No.” I very softly whispered to myself, but also to her: “After all you put me through? You’re not getting out of this. Besides, I don’t think your mom would appreciate me getting rid of you.”

Tenderly, I took a hold of Adam’s hands and slid them down over my abdomen to protect the fiery growth in me. This morning or afternoon, I would have to tell Adam everything I could so he would understand the importance of our baby.

Then we could decide how to plan our lives…