Chapter Eight: Sister
JUSTINA
The smell of last night's sex wafted into my nose as the dawn light shined into my eye. I took a deep inhale, and smiled. Bodies pressed all around me, warm and expanding with breath, the smooth flesh of five hues sprawled on an oversized bed. Brandon's body encased Willowbud's, while I laid in my nightly nest of Astrid and Mom, nestled between their naked curves, resting my head between Astrid's pillowing breasts as her wings blanketed us. It felt like a family; Mom being my mom, of course, and Willowbud was already my cousin, but Astrid was like a protective older sister to me, and Brandon, my aloof brother. The only person missing was the one I'd been closest to; the one who used to live in my head.
Once Willowbud learned what Angela was, she could see the Life Giver's ethereal sister through Corruption's eyes, and it was not a sight she could bear. To Willowbud, Angela represented her only competition for Brandon, so, in exchange for my freedom, Brandon had tearfully exiled Angela from our makeshift family. It was like a part of me had been ripped out. My head felt quiet, my musings went unanswered, my soul was missing some crucial piece. Angela and I had shared every thought, emotion and sensation from two perspectives. It had been more than intimacy; it had been coexistence, and now that she was gone, I felt hollow. My mind had been freed, but it also had been emptied.
Since I was liberated, Mom and I had no reason to stay with Willowbud, but we didn't leave. We had a litany of excuses as to why; our duty to Brandon, helping Astrid with her (now almost totally forgotten) mission to rescue Willowbud from Corruption, and Mom's blossoming fighting career, but we both knew the
real
reason we stayed. The sex was too good. No one fucked quite like a god, and here were two of them residing in the busiest brothel of the largest city in the world; it was like succubus heaven, so what were we to do? We just ignored the devil that lurked within Willowbud's mind, hoping that the silent sixth member of our family would remain sedated with Brandon's affection.
"Willowbud," Brandon's voice whispered, his eyes still closed, "are you awake?"
"I can tell you are," Willowbud smiled sleepily, shimmying her hips into her lover's crotch.
"It's Tuesday."
"Do you have to?" she groaned, trying to dissuade Brandon by grinding her ass deeper.
"You can come with if you want."
"I liked that cunt better when there was a hole in her chest," Willowbud grumbled. "When you reach a similar sentiment, I'll gladly come along, and we'll make a date of it."
"I can only give the shared miracle of life, to take what has been bestowed—"
"Don't start that shit again!" Willowbud growled as Brandon chuckled. "Fuck the Creator's Codes, and fuck Gloria for teaching them to you! You and Astrid should run along to Iona where they paddle your ass for using the wrong fork, then see how a life codes suits you."
"You don't need an excuse to paddle my ass, Mistress," Astrid groaned sleepily, rolling on her back and revealing a body I wouldn't have recognized two weeks ago. Her braided blonde hair was shorn near to the scalp on the sides, her nipples and labia were pierced, and her skin was a canvas of dark ink. She had protested greatly over the first tattoo, the one written across her lower back that read, 'Mistress's Entrance' with an arrow pointing downward. The other twenty, she'd gotten on her own. It seemed that once Astrid broke an oath (or was forced to), she went full-bore, and now she was covered from foot to chin in a display of artistry that contoured to her every curve, leaving only her face, breasts and butt bare. Her physical metamorphosis reflected her spiritual change, which had been like watching an angel fall. It was a privilege to witness her descent.
"I'll tell you what," Brandon purred into his girlfriend's ear, pulling her white hair behind an ivory, ram-like horn, "if you let me in back here, I'll skip today's lesson."
"Hmm, tempting," Willowbud smiled impishly, her green irises cornering her black sclera, "but no. That deal stands as it is. You only get to fuck my ass if I get to fuck yours."
"Are you sure you want to go down that path?" Brandon chuckled, "What if it awakens something in me? What if I realize that I've been batting from the wrong side of the plate this whole time?"
"It's a feminine penis."
"That's an oxymoron."
"You're an oxymoron."
"I didn't know I was dating a fourth grader," Brandon smiled, connecting eyes with Willowbud as she craned her neck. He sighed, worked his jaw a little, and then said, "Fine, but it never leaves this room."
"You serious?" Willowbud asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yeah," Brandon grinned. Their lips connected and opened, tongues wrapping and eyes closing. They parted with mutual lust in their gaze, a string of saliva glinting between them.
"After class, meet me at the spa," Willowbud whispered, drawing a finger through their oral bridge.
"Why?"
"To get our assholes bleached, of course! We're not barbarians, are we?"
BRANDON
It felt like I was walking a tightrope with the world on my back. Did I like Willowbud? Yeah, I liked her; hell, I
really
liked her, but was I in love with her? Maaaaaaybe...? I didn't know what 'being in love' even was, but I did know that if I didn't keep the Sentient-melded Earth Former happy, all hell would break loose.
I looked over my shoulder as I unlocked Gloria's door, and then slammed it shut the moment I entered. Gloria had been gone for two weeks. The moment she heard that Willowbud knew she was alive, the ancient vampire packed her shit, and left. Through a torrent of departing comments like, 'you fucking dumbass,' and 'your dick is not a life coach,' I managed to convince Gloria to give me her housekeys so that I could use her home during her absence, and do the things my girlfriend could never know about. Where I could perform what the Earth Former might consider infidelity.
"Brandon?" Angela asked, floating from the corner of the room. I felt butterflies every time I saw her now, and I swore they only got worse each time I did.
"Hey, Angela," I smiled, locking the door behind me, "are you doing alright?"
"Oh, I'm doing just fine," Angela snorted. "I'm stuck inside an empty house with only spiders and that fucking fox to keep my company."
"His name is Red Rocket, and he is an absolute delight," I grinned back at her as I reached into my coat pocket, and pulled out a pound of bacon for the fox.
"Well, he isn't much for conversation," Angela huffed, "and I'm a natural extrovert, Brandon; I need the social life to keep my edge."
"I don't know what that even means," I chuckled, "and I don't think you do either."
I walked to the back of Gloria's room, and sifted through a pile of heavy boxes until I found what I was looking for. I grunted as I pulled the coffin from behind the litter, and dragged the unwieldy box to the center of the room. This thing was getting heavier by the day.
"When's Gloria coming back?" Angela asked. "I don't care if she can't see or hear me, just having a person here would make all the difference."
"Gloria's going to be gone for a while," I grimaced.
"Does Justina ask about me?" Angela asked, a touch of sadness in her voice.
"All the time," I said, thumbing the combination lock, "but I can't tell her anything, Angela, for her own sake. If I told them, and Willowbud found out they knew..."
The mechanism clicked into place, and I opened the coffin lid. Creating plants and animals was easy for me, but an actual person was an entirely different story. I thought I could think Angela's body into existence like anything else, but it was not the case. I'd been making her piece by piece for two weeks, stealing what little time I could without making Willowbud suspicious. As of now, the project was an absolute horror-show, but I was making steady progress. Today, we started on the digestive system.
"You know what I miss the most about having a body?" Angela said as I began my work on the esophageal tube.
"What?"