War On Earth - 4. Chapter 4

The morning sun was streaming through my window when I awoke to movement at my side. My first instinct was to recoil from it, but as soon as I got my bearings and found the source of the movement, I relaxed. Marc was curled up next to me on my bed, just as naked as I was. Wait, when did I become naked? I thought as I lifted the covers just to be sure. I was definitely not wearing anything, and I knew I had not done it. The last thing I remembered was hitting the floor after moving my math book.

I was a little freaked out that Marc had undressed me, and I wondered what else he might have done to me while I was out. I didn’t like being suspicious of someone I liked, especially since he had saved my life, but I couldn’t help it. It was true that I was attracted to him, but that didn’t mean I was ready to let our relationship be physical, especially if I wasn’t going to be awake to enjoy it.

But I didn’t know why he had done it, which meant there were still a plethora of reasons available. It wouldn’t have made much sense for him to have messed around with me and then left me bare. He would have given himself away if that were the case, and he was definitely too smart for that. I figured he probably had a good reason, and I would just have to wait until he got up himself before I would get it.

Until then I decided to make the best of the situation. I turned toward him and gently wrapped my arms around his naked flesh. I felt him stir slightly, but he remained asleep. I didn’t know how long I had been out myself, but I felt completely refreshed, as if I had just had the best sleep of my life. I wanted to ensure that he had the same opportunity, even if I wasn’t certain that my purity was intact.

Resisting the urge to play with his naked form was harder to resist than I had thought it would be, and any blame I was originally going to put on him went away. If I was having such a hard time, I figured it would be hypocritical of me to blame someone else for acting on those urges. As the minutes dragged on, my desire only grew, and I knew I had to remove myself from the situation or I was going to give in. Reluctantly I withdrew my arms from around him and slowly swung my legs out from under the covers, making sure to take great care that I didn’t wake him with my movement. With my feet firmly planted on the floor, I stood up.

Almost instantly I fell back to the bed as my legs gave out under me. Apparently whatever had knocked me out had been stronger than I had initially realized. I was about to make another attempt when I felt Marc stirring behind me. It appeared that I had awoken him, and I figured that I might as well have the conversation with him then, rather than later. As I sat in my nakedness, I waited for him to speak first. I didn’t have to wait long.

“Oh, you’re awake. Probably pretty weak too huh?” He said and then yawned. He proceeded to stretch, which was a sight that had my heart pounding as I watched his toned muscles flex. He really was beautiful.

“Yeah, weak is a good word I suppose. What happened to me? The explanation had better be good,” I said only half serious, but the sharp look I got in return told me that he was not amused by my assumptions.”

“If you’re worried about your purity, it’s intact. I didn’t play around at all, even though I wanted to. You should count yourself lucky that demons are more honorable than they are made out to be in the stories,” he answered with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

I knew I had struck a nerve and had to apologize. “I’m sorry Marc, you’re right, I shouldn’t have thought anything like that. In my defense though, can you really blame me? I did wake up naked when I was fully dressed last I could remember, and I was in bed with a gay guy who had expressed interest in me. Now that Veronica is no longer in the picture I’d be totally down for exploring that side with you, but I would have preferred to be awake you know?”

With a laugh he replied, “If I would have known that, I would have woken you up!”

My eyes widened in surprise and then I started laughing too. My question still hadn’t been answered though, and I was about to ask again when he went on to explain.

“So what did happen is that you tried much too hard to do something that you’re much too inexperienced to do, and it exhausted you. When a human uses their psychic abilities, it is very taxing on them physically. You overworked yourself. As to why you’re naked, I had to do some work on your muscles or you would have ended up with some problems later. In other words I spent almost an hour massaging you, which I admit I certainly enjoyed. It’s true that I didn’t have to remove your underwear but I figured since I had already gotten everything else off...” he trailed off as he looked at me with that mischievous spark in his eyes.

I hit him lightly in the arm to show my mock displeasure and said, “I suppose that’s fine. While you were sleeping it was really difficult for me not to play around, so I can understand where you’re coming from.”

“Well I’m glad that you see it my way. Do you have any other questions about my honor?” He replied with a grin. Any sense of hard feelings toward him faded when that smile lit his face. Maybe it was just the fact that we were both naked and on my bed, but I was more turned on by his smile than I had ever been before. Other things were still more important though, and I had to stifle my urges once again, though this time there was a strong physical side to those urges that I also had to keep under control. I was glad that my back was still to Marc. Even though I knew he had obviously seen my entire naked form, I was still embarrassed by the obvious signs of my arousal.

“Well, I do have more questions, and a few concerns I’m puzzling through, but not about your honor. First off, why did I black out from barely moving my math book when I only lost my footing after I threw the angel off of me? Didn’t that blast to the man who was going to kill me use a great deal more energy?” I asked as calmly as I could, while slowly pulling the covers toward my groin. Marc seemed to catch on to what I was doing, as he subtly began pulling them back toward him. It became a game as we continued our conversation.

“That is simple to explain, though it may be hard to understand. See, psychics can get to the point where using their abilities does not exhaust them, it just takes a lot of training. However, on a subconscious level the knowledge is already there. When you were reacting to the angel that was about to kill you, it happened off of instinct and your subconscious ability took over. Since it was still something you weren’t used to, it still had an exhausting effect on you, but because you did it by tapping into your innate knowledge it had less of a consequence than if you were to attempt it consciously. You are currently far from being able to use that much energy on a conscious level, though from what you did to the angel, I can tell that you certainly have great potential.”

“So those men that were attacking me actually were angels? But they looked human to me.” My memory went back to the night before, and I realized something that I hadn’t let sink in at the time. With a touch of fear I asked, “Wait, did you kill those men last night?”

Our game with the sheets stopped as soon as the question was poised. I had apparently won, as I suddenly had a lot more covering me than I had before, but I barely took note of it. Marc was giving me a hard look as if he was trying to figure something out about me. The spark was gone, and there was a hard edge to his voice as he replied, “What does it matter if I killed them? They were trying to kill you weren’t they? If you’re going to get hurt by the fact that I did what it took to save your life, then maybe I won’t do it next time. To answer your question though, Damien, no, I probably did not kill the angels that were attacking you. The only one that I might have succeeded on was that last one, but even if I did, he’ll be back. They almost always come back. Their medical technology far exceeds the current human level.”

This time the nerve I struck had been deep, and I knew that I had to do something to make it up to him. Though I was still slightly embarrassed, the thought of my best friend being a murderer had severely lessened my arousal, and I felt mostly comfortable with what I had decided to do. I dropped the covers and turned around, climbing on top of him and pinning his shoulders down to the bed. I kept my eyes locked to his, and let them speak to each other what my words couldn’t. I wanted him to feel my appreciation through the proverbial windows to my soul. It was not meant to be sensual in any way, though it was by far the most profound experience I had ever shared with another person. It felt as if our minds were one, and as the hard edge drained out of his eyes and from his face, I let my happiness grow to accompany the appreciation.

Then I felt a new emotion, one that I had never felt before. It took me a moment to realize that the reason I didn’t recognize it was because it wasn’t coming from me, but from Marc. I could sense his own fading seriousness, and sense his rising passion. And then I felt his surprise, and I realized that he was feeling my emotions as well. His surprise quickly faded to what I could only call wonder, and then his joy seemed to match my own.

Before I realized what was happening we were kissing passionately, and the whole time I could feel his emotions, erupting within my mind. It only fueled me more, and I knew that he was feeling every bit of my own passion as we continued our expression. The thin layer of sheet and blanket between our lower halves was soon soaked in sweat. The scent of his body filled me with as much need for him as his emotions did, and it only sped me up. Within just a few moments, I felt his pleasure erupt at the same time as my own, the release that we both craved came to us, and the sheets were suddenly soaked with more than just sweat. It was only then that we slowed down and caught our breaths, basking in the euphoria that remained shared between us.

My euphoria began to fade as I realized what had just occurred. I had not intended for that to happen, and guilt took over instead. I didn’t know how, but I cut the link with him as surely as I had made it, and pulled away, or tried to when he caught my arm and pulled be back, surprising me with a quick and gentle kiss.

“Hey, where are you running off to? That was the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced, and where do you get off feeling guilty about it? You didn’t seduce me you know, I was just as into that as you were. You should know, we had an emphatic link.”

I was such a mixed bag of emotions then that I wasn’t sure if I had tapped into his mind again. It felt like I had a few too many. Uncertainty and guilt remained supreme, but now that I was looking into his eyes again, they were quickly losing the battle to happiness. He pulled me back down to the bed so that I was on my side facing him, and at the same time he rolled onto his side so that our eyes never left each others’.

“Let’s just lay here awhile and talk, get your mind off of it. The first time you do anything like this it can feel a little disconcerting for a little bit. I’m going to explain a little bit more about the angels now, and if you have any questions feel free to ask, but otherwise just try and enjoy the moment okay?”He said lovingly as he caressed the side of my face with his hand. I nodded and didn’t otherwise reply. With my complicated emotions I didn’t trust myself to speak.

“I told you that ‘Heaven’ is a term that refers to certain places. The term directly refers to the name of the type of ships that the Angels used to travel here. Apparently they encountered some problems in the asteroid belt that kept most of their vessels stranded there. Most of the race still resides there, except the few that have become refugees to this world, and the soldiers that they have here watching over their interests.”

“The way that they manage to stay hidden while they are here is through some very complicated technology. We still don’t quite understand how it works, but they are able to produce full-body holographic images that they project over themselves. It’s true that they are not that dissimilar to humans, especially since they are also primates, but they have enough differences that they wouldn’t blend in without their holograms. But the real trick is that their holographic projectors link directly into their brains, allowing them to change their image at will if they so desire, meaning that they are almost impossible to track.”

“They don’t have wings. We are still not entirely sure how that legend came to be, unless it’s based off of seeing one of their ships take off, a rare occurrence since they are capable of cloaking. I suppose it could come from the Angels explaining themselves as being able to fly. Humans have always dreamed of flight after all, so it wouldn’t be that farfetched for their intellect to use that desire in order to manipulate the populace.”

“The craziest thing they are capable of is their ability to escape death. Their medicines keep them alive for far longer, and in prime condition, than we demons, and we live far longer than humans do. They also have the ability to completely reanimate dead tissue for days after it died. This means that even if I did kill that angel in the alleyway, once they get his body back to one of their ships, he’ll be on the swift road to recovery. As will all the other ones that I incapacitated. Death means almost nothing to them, which is part of their problem.”

While he caught his breath I interjected a few questions. “So that means the Veronica, or Verina, is an angel as well right? Is that what you meant by her showing her true colors? How long have you known her?”

He smiled as he explained, “I was just about to get into that actually, because Verina is a prime example of the problem with their race. Their ability to resist death has decreased their need for population growth, and children are very rare among their people. Verina is one of the youngest members of their entire race that we are aware of, and she is well over sixty years old.”

“Whoa! She’s old enough to be my grandmother? I feel a little dirty now.” I replied with a shudder.

“Well, you might get uncomfortable for a minute then. It’s a matter of perspective really. For their maturation rate, she really is about your equivalent age, and she’ll remain at about that level for probably the duration of your life. Here’s the part that will really bother you though, and I think it’s important that we cover this now. I am thirty four right now.”

“No way! Yeah, this did just get weird, but I guess it’s been weird the whole time. So you were a teenager when I was born? That is just a tiny bit creepy.”

He laughed, and I almost smacked him because I was serious about my feelings, but when he explained I was glad that I hadn’t. “Like the Angels, demons mature at a slower rate than humans as well. Yes, I was eighteen when you were born, but that would put me at equivalent maturity to a human nine year old. We mature at approximately half the rate of humans, but live approximately twice as long. In reality, you and I are both adolescents, even if I am more than twice your age. It really is perspective.”

I nodded slowly, digesting the information. I realized that it wasn’t really that odd, just different. I could get used to the idea if I simply focused on Marc for who he was and ignored the age discrepancy that I had been programmed to see as awkward. “So what’s your history with Verina then? Were you like elementary school rivals or something?”

“No, though that’s a really funny idea now that you mention it. Verina has been around pretty much the whole time I’ve been watching you. She has been watching me. I never really knew why. She knew who and what I was, but she never made any moves against me. Other angels did, but she apparently only had one goal, and that was figuring out what my purpose was. Then when she saw me with you, she began showing interest in you, thinking that she had found out what I was all about. That’s the reason I tried to make it out as not that big of a deal. I was hoping that I could deflect her interest, make you seem unimportant to the war, like you were just a new friend of mine.”

“Unfortunately she saw right through me, and before I knew what was happening, she had you wrapped around her finger. I couldn’t risk what would happen if I revealed myself to you and you just thought I was crazy, so I had to wait until she played her hand. I would have preferred that it had gone a lot smoother, but I am satisfied with how it has worked out.”

One thing was still bothering me, and I decided that it was time to voice it. “What I don’t get is how you can be so comfortable now that they are after us. Aren’t you worried that they’ll track us down now? I mean, it can’t be that hard to look me up considering Verina knows my name and what school I go to.”

“Aha, I do have an answer for you there. Do you remember your lovely statue over there that you inherited from your mother?” I nodded, though I couldn’t see the relevance. “That statue is actually concealing a device which jams the holographic projectors the Angels use. They can’t get within a few miles of it without starting to have serious problems, within a mile their projectors fail completely. It was given to Merlin’s daughter after he left us with his promise, so that his line would be protected from Angel interference. They may fear that you are important, but not nearly enough to risk blowing their cover on you.”

“That is awesome! Why don’t we just carry it around with us everywhere and start revealing them? Wouldn’t that help us win?” I asked excitedly.

“Or because we are making such a bold move they’ll simply send in human operatives to steal it, which I suppose is something we might have to worry about now that they know exactly where it is. Of course, if the person in charge of this case is a young angel like Verina, they are most likely only going to resort to that if they can’t kill you after a reasonable amount of time. They clearly don’t find you that important if the main person watching you is so young.”

“So what do we do until then? Just sit inside the field and hope they don’t try to kill me?” I replied incredulously.

“No silly, we’re going to get you trained. I told you that I wasn’t an expert on the druids, but that I knew one. It’s time to introduce you to Keith, one of my oldest friends, and one of the few humans still practicing the old ways. But first, let’s grab some breakfast, if your legs will hold you that is.”

I slowly slid by legs back over the edge of the bed and placed my feet on the floor. Then with a deep breath I stood. It was a little shaky at first, but I knew that I could make it, so I started searching the floor for my clothes. The embarrassment of being naked in front of Marc was completely gone, and I didn’t have any problems with giving him the view as I slowly got dressed. When I was pulling my shirt over my head I noticed that he was still in bed and watching me. I raised one eyebrow at him and he just laughed.

“What? Aren’t you going to get ready for the day? Unless you want to tire yourself out by going invisible, you’re going to have to get dressed if we’re going to meet your friend Keith.” I said, and then it dawned on me. He didn’t have any clothes to wear. I laughed as I realized my mistake and then inclined my head toward the closet. “You can wear anything you want that you think will fit you. I’ll go down and start making breakfast.”

He smiled and nodded, and I waited until I got the view of his beautiful body climbing out of bed before I left the room and headed down to the kitchen. I was incredibly excited now, and I was ready to experience this chapter of my life, but all of that faded the instant I stepped into the kitchen and saw my father sitting at the table, a cup of coffee in front of him that looked as if it had hardly been touched. The look in his eyes spoke volumes. He was displeased, and I had no idea why.

I didn’t have to wait long to find out as he spoke, calmly but with that hardest edge I had ever heard on his voice, “We need to talk son. Why don’t you bring down that girl you had in your bed last night too. I think this is something that all three of us should discuss.”

“You’ve got it all wrong Dad,” I tried to explain, but the shake of his head told me that he wasn’t going to have any of that until I did as I was told.

“Look son, I know you were going on a date last night with a girl from your school, and last night when I got home you didn’t respond to me calling you. I thought I’d check in on you, so I knocked on your door and didn’t get an answer. I figured you were still out so I decided to see how far along you were with unpacking, and I saw you in bed with someone. Now go get her so we can talk about this?” His voice retained its hard edge, but his face softened a little bit. The small difference in his eyes assured me that his primary concern was my well-being, and I suddenly knew that I could trust him.

At least I could trust him with everything except the Angel and Demon bit anyway.

“I guess I can’t keep anything from you, Dad,” I replied, and then added before I turned toward the stairs, “But you really don’t know what happened yet, and I think that you’re going to have a different impression in a few minutes.”

I hurried up the stairs and slid into my room, just as Marc was pulling one of my t-shirts over his head. I was a little bit smaller than him, so the shirt was just a tiny bit too tight, but I thought it looked great. My purpose for coming back up was momentarily forgotten as I got lost in fantasizing about the beautiful boy in front of me. He snapped me back to reality with a quick kiss on the lips.

“What are you thinking about Damien? You seem a little distracted,” he asked with a touch of amusement. I smiled back despite the situation that I knew awaited us down the stairs.

I explained what I came to say in a rush. “You, and how beautiful you are, in all of your forms, but that aside, we have a problem. My dad saw us in bed together last night. He’s waiting for us to come explain ourselves. He thinks that I brought Veronica home from our date and slept with her. I think he’s mad because he thinks I’m taking risks that I shouldn’t be taking, like potentially getting a girl pregnant. Would you mind coming with me and helping me explain?”

“Well this is awkward. I suppose it is largely my fault though isn’t it? Yeah, let’s go. I have some experience dealing with displeased adults. Hopefully he is a more reasonable man than my own father. Let’s go.” He replied while gesturing for me to lead the way. I was more than happy to do so. With what had occurred over the last twenty-four hours, I was pretty certain that I could accomplish anything with Marc at my back.

As I stepped into the kitchen with Marc just a step behind, my Dad looked up and his eyes widened. It took him a moment but the hard edge drained completely from his face and I could see a different emotion settle in; Relief. He motioned to chairs on the opposite end of the table from him, and we took our seats quickly. I was certain now that this conversation was about to go a lot better than my dad had been expecting.

“Well, you’re right Damien, I hadn’t been expecting this. Alright, since a lot of what I was going to say is now irrelevant, I will hear your story first,” he began, then with a look over at Marc he added with amusement, “Though I am dying to hear why he is wearing some of your clothes.”

Up to that point Marc had not met my father. The two of them had not been in the house at the same time, due to Marc going home early and my father working late. I had mentioned to my father that I had a new friend though, and I figured it was time to make the introductions. “To start off, this is Marc. Marc, this is my dad. I have told both of you a little bit about the one another. Now you can both put faces to the names.”

“Though I do wish this were occurring under different circumstances, it’s a pleasure to meet you sir,” Marc jumped in and extended his hand.

My dad shook it and replied in kind, “Indeed Marc. It’s nice to meet you as well. I hope you don’t mind me saying that I don’t even know what the circumstances are now, so we might not have any problems at all.”

Marc nodded and I continued my explanation. “Well, as you can see, Marc is clearly not a girl. He has in fact never been one, and I do hope that he doesn’t change any time soon. I kind of like him as he is.”

My dad actually laughed a little, though his face grew a little more serious again as he replied, “You know son, you didn’t have to lie to me about going on a date with a girl. You could have just said that you were going out with a guy, I wouldn’t have cared. I know that we’ve never talked about your sexuality, but you are very aware that I have had several close friends who were gay over the years, and that it doesn’t bother me. You’re alright to be who you are in this house and out in the world, though I am a little concerned about you lying to me and not trusting me.”

I shook my head and went on, “Well dad that isn’t really the case. I did have a date with a girl last night.”

His eyes narrowed and the hard edge was back as he replied, “Well that isn’t something I’m very fond of. You shouldn’t be leading girls on like that when you’re sleeping with someone else. I didn’t raise you to act that way. Why didn’t you just tell her that you’re gay and refuse her advances? Crushing a girl’s heart immediately causes a lot less pain than cheating on her.”

“Whoa dad, chill out. That isn’t what happened. I met her at the restaurant but she left within five minutes. It became very clear to both of us that it wasn’t going to work out, and she was definitely not who I thought she was. She might as well have stood me up for how she was acting, in fact that would have been preferable. I was home by six thirty, and then Marc came over.”

The hardness faded once again, and I was curious about how it felt to have one’s emotions shift that much. I almost reached out with my mind as I had done with Marc earlier but realized it was a bad idea. Telepathy at breakfast was not how I wanted to come out as a psychic. My dad was pretty good at vocalizing his emotions anyway, and he replied with a hint of confusion, “I still don’t know why you couldn’t just tell her you were gay. That seems like it would have made things a lot simpler for you.”

“Well, that would be because I’m bisexual, not gay. I like both sexes, and I was honestly attracted to Veronica, but I’m definitely not anymore. When Marc and I had talked earlier in the week, he let it slip that he was attracted to me, but that Veronica had beat him to the punch. When we got together after my failed attempt at a date, I hadn’t intended for anything to happen between Marc and me. One thing ended up leading to another and now we’re boyfriends.” I felt a sudden rush of embarrassment that I had just referred to Marc as my boyfriend, but he simply reached out with his hand and gave mine a squeeze, reassuring me that he was more than okay with accepting the title.

“Bisexual huh? Are you sure you’re not just undecided?”

“Come on, you’re not going to be one of those people are you? Yes, I like both. Personality traits are more important to me than physical attributes, and enjoy looking at both,” I replied with a hint of anger.

He raised his hands in surrender to my point and said, “I’m sure you’re right, son. Though I don’t have a problem with it, I suppose it’s just hard for me to understand because I’m not that way. I’ve only had one bisexual friend before, but he always dated guys so I just figured he didn’t want to tie himself down to something that was a social stigma at the time like being gay was. If you say you’re bisexual though, more power to you. It doesn’t make me care for you any less. Now, how about you give me the story of why Marc is dressed like you? And don’t tell me they’re actually his clothes, because I definitely recognize them. You wear them quite often.”

“That’s kind of embarrassing, Dad, do I really have to explain it?” I asked while trying to look anywhere else but his eyes. I knew that I didn’t have a convincing enough lie for this, and I certainly didn’t want to tell him the truth.

Thankfully Marc had an answer that perfectly matched my reaction. “We were wrestling, and we can both get pretty into it. Both my pants and my shirt were ripped quite a bit when we were done, and Damien said I could borrow some of his clothes until I was able to get to some of my own.”

My dad chuckled when Marc emphasized the word “wrestling”, but then he looked between both of us with concern. He cleared his throat before beginning to say something that I knew was an uncomfortable subject for him. “Now, we need to talk about ‘wrestling’ for just a minute. I want you to know that I understand that hormones are a difficult thing to keep under control. That being said, you are both young and need to consider how having a physical relationship will affect you. This would be a very different talk if Damien had brought home a girl last night, but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t serious. You need to be careful and keep yourselves safe. I admit that I know very little about gay sex, except that you can’t get anyone pregnant that way. Please do research and make sure that you use what you’re supposed to use. I am okay with you having a physical relationship just don’t let it get out of hand. I think you’re both old enough to make those decisions on your own. Please don’t be too loud though, I find the thought of my son having sex to be about as repulsive as he probably finds the thought of me doing the same.”

I admit that the thought sent a shudder down my spine, a movement that my father didn’t miss, and a smile crept onto his lips as he nodded in satisfaction. He went on to say one last thing to seal his end of the discussion, “This has been a difficult conversation for me, though I am glad to say that it was not difficult for the reasons I had feared. I know I don’t say it often, but I love you son, and I am glad that you seem to be happy. Now as for you Marc, welcome to the family.”

Marc smiled in response and I got up to give my dad a hug. My father in turn waved Marc forward to include him in the embrace. I was glad that everything was alright, and that my father was so accepting. As we pulled away I saw Marc wipe a tear from his eye, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was happiness or sadness that had caused it.