Kathy stepped into the Mist. John held her hand until she made the final step to leave him behind and enter the floating, hovering moisture particles. Marcie had already let John know that they were ready for her. Kathy had only to make the final decision. Go or no go. Giving John her bravest smile, she released his hand, stepped away and disappeared inside the Mist.
Kathy had walked in the Mist with John before and was always amused by the sparkling play of the Mist around her slowly moving arms as she made her way. Slowly she let her arms play in the dampness of the Mist as she walked. John had said it was like foreplay to the entities of the Mist. The sparks were excited energies being exchanged between the Mist and herself. She felt the energizing effect of the encounter even as she remembered John explaining how the Mist enjoyed the stimulation even as they enjoyed stimulating the one walking through.
She smelled the salt of the Mist and the acrid, metallic taste of the wetness as it fell upon her lips. Blood, fluid and spirit. That was how John had described the sacrifice. She was there to engage in the sacrifice of fluids. Sex was the method in the plane of existence beyond the gravity of earth. Marcie had explained it all to John and John had explained it to her. Now she was there to partake of it. To join the Mist and become part of it from her natural existence on earth.
“Hello, Kathy.”
A form materialized out of the Mist before her and walked out of the wall of Mist that gathered quickly back about ten feet from her. She had not even noticed that the Mist itself was backing off and separating itself from her, so lost was she in her own situation and thoughts.
“Uh...Hello,” Kathy ventured.
“Don't be afraid.” The form spoke in a young man's voice.
“I'm...I'm not.” Kathy lied. “I'm just apprehensive about taking a step I know nothing about. Not the sacrifice part. The joining part.”
“Oh.” A young man's form sharpened and came into view before her only a few feet away.
He was gorgeous. Tall and handsome with a squared jaw and athletic musculature, which Kathy had the complete view of because he was also completely naked. She did not avert her eyes. The young man seemed totally at ease with her looking at him, so she looked. She also took note that he would have been considered well endowed by any woman in any plane of existence. Kathy felt a flush of embarrassment at recognizing this attribute of her perspective partner.
“Forgive me.” She felt the need to allow the young man to lead the way and not get ahead of herself, even if she was only looking.
“No problem.” The young man took full flesh form and stood engagingly before her. “I like being looked at. When I died, I was broken and mangled and this body...” He motioned to his naked form. “...is so much better than the old one anyway.”
“Very nice.” Kathy did not know what else to say.
“My name is Emil.”
“Nice to meet you, Emil.”
“Are you ready?” The young man asked.
“Uh...yeah...I guess.” Kathy hesitated.
“Unsure of having sex with a ghostly persona or about the cheating on your husband part?”
“Both, I guess,” Kathy admitted.
“First, it is not cheating. I can not come into your world without your permission and invitation so I am no threat to your husband. I exist in the Mist and you must come to me. It's not cheating because he is aware of it and the two of you have talked it out and decided it is what you want. To be joined in the Mist. It is a far more spiritual connection than even the one you can achieve in your plane of existence. So, it is not cheating because the two of you are going forward together. Think of it more like two people sharing a home and splitting the bills. This is a process you have to engage in to pay your half of the bill to be part of the Mist.”
Emil smiled gallantly and shrugged.
“Not a great explanation but a simple one. As far as the sex with a ghost or whatever you choose to call me, that is no different than with any male in your plane. Maybe you will enjoy it a little more because in our plane, giving pleasure is a large part of the exchanging of energies.”
“It's just...that...well...John was my first lover.” Kathy blurted out. “Not a lot of prospects in a small town for a girl with a past like mine.”
“That's okay,” Emil smiled with a wide spread of his sensuous lips. The black curl of his hair falling across his forehead gave him an impish look with a slight hint of mischief in the background. He was indeed a charmer, Kathy noted. At least he was not some old guy with a fat belly and bad breath. Still, she was apprehensive of performing like this with a stranger. Somehow, John had never been a stranger. It was like she had known him forever the first time she met him.
“I'm sorry,” Kathy apologized again.
“It's okay,” Emil assured her. “You were also the first time for John, if that helps any. Marcie was his second, making the Mist your second, too. Something else the two of you will share.”
Kathy nodded. They needed to get on with this. The more they talked the more she was wanting to back out of it. She needed a reason to just get it over with.
“How do we do this?” Kathy asked to move things forward.
“Any way that makes you comfortable.” Emil offered. “You can just lie back and allow me to control the scene or I can lie down and allow you to control the action. It is all up to you.”
“Maybe you should lie down first,” Kathy decided. She wanted to be able to have some control of the performance. She did not want to be totally under anyone's control except John.
“As you wish,” Emil moved backward onto some soft pine needles behind him. He smiled up at Kathy as he reclined backwards and laid out flat for her to see.
Kathy noticed his manhood was already at full flag. Quite impressive, too. Part of her wanted to enjoy this. Another part wanted her to suffer and feel guilty about it.
“In your plane,” Emil looked up at her hesitation. “It is necessary to create commitment in the husband and wife relationship because of the freedom of choice given to your species by the Creator of Life and the ability to choose the wrong things and practice getting them right later. This commitment has been consummated through the act of sex so it is understandable that any action that causes you to stray from that commitment would cause some stress. You must understand that in the other planes the consummation through sex does not exist. We do not lie so our word is our bond. We do not marry so we are free to be committed only to the Creator of Life and the worlds of pleasure He has created for us all. Sex is not a commitment to us in the manner you have come to know it. It is merely a tool of pleasure and a way to gather energy.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Kathy tried to joke, hoping to alleviate some of her own tension.
“It's still the same work to pleasure each other, though,” Emil smiled and beckoned for her to come to him with his hand.
Kathy sighed, smiled and moved toward the gorgeous young man lying before her. She told herself that she should be happy about this freebie and that John was okay with it, too. She straddled him and lifted her dress. She had not worn any panties. She had joked with John that they would not be necessary tonight. She had even told him she was a woman on the prowl. She regretted that now. She was not prowling. All she wanted was John. Sure, this young man was enticing and beautiful to look at. But John was the real deal. He would be the one holding her tight later as she drifted off to sleep. As she squatted down over her young, ghostly lover of the Mist, she could not help but think of John.
“I love you, John.” She whispered under her breath as she lowered herself.
Joe was in pain. Not only had the doctor had to cause more pain to stop the bleeding but he had offered up the opinion that Joe may have some physical damage that was not repairable. Joe was in a real snit. Gol had done this. That giant rat had put him in this position and now he was maybe damaged for life. What kind of deal was that? He was supposed to come out of this with a better life, not a worse one. What kind of life would he h
ave if he could not perform with the ladies?
Walking up the stairs to his apartment, Joe limped a little in the places where no one could see him. He did not want to explain his problem to anyone. No one would understand. Hell, he did not understand fully himself. Things were supposed to be going good for him. Instead, he was feeling worse and worse by the minute.
He was still a failure. Now he had no manhood and he had impregnated his own mother with a beast of some kind from those giants of the Alliance. Yeah, failure was still the best description he could find for himself.
Joe opened the door to his apartment and stepped inside. Closing the door, he reached for the light switch. He never made it. The voice in the darkness arrested his movement.
“Don't touch the switch, Joe,” it said.
Joe could not place the voice. One of the giants, maybe. Maybe not. Maybe a new addition to their team. Another brother. Or a friend, maybe. Joe was not worried. The Alliance had not hurt him so far. Despite the menace he sensed in the voice behind him. He stayed still, not even turning around.
“Turn around, Joe,” the voice commanded.
Joe did as he was told. Slowly he revolved around on the ball of his left foot, using his right foot to balance himself and propel him to the desired position. The room was dark but some light filtered in around the curtains at the far end of the room. Before him stood a hulking figure of one of the giants. He could not make out which one. He could barely tell them apart in the light. In the dark it was impossible for him to differentiate.
“You've done bad, Joe,” the voice continued.
“How?” Joe was defensive before he was anything else. He might be a failure but he still had his pride.
“By inseminating your own mother, you stupid bastard.”
The voice was almost a growl. That was what was different. The growl. Gol had always spoken in a deep voice but it was somewhat controlled and normal. This voice was low and guttural in a menacing sense. Like an animal getting ready to pounce. For the first time Joe's hair stood up on the back of his neck. He was sensing something wrong with this situation. Not normal. Not friendly. Joe heard the voice with the sounds of an angry animal. His own response was to seek a path for flight. Like an animal ready to run.
“That was an accident,” Joe pleaded. He felt that he was being accused and needed defending.
“Accident or not, we are short one viable seed.”
“No.” Joe was going to fight any accusation. “My mother is an acceptable host. Hell, I think she wants the child, the way she was acting when she left here.” He tried to make it sound reasonable, but even in his own ears, talking about inseminating his own mother could never sound right.
“She's not that old and she already knows how to be a mother.”
“That's not the point, Joe.”
The figure turned slightly and Joe saw that indeed it was Gol before him. But he was different somehow. Something was not the same. Not normal. His clothes. Gol was not dressed in casual attire like usual. He was dressed in a pair of what looked like shorts and nothing else. He hunched more than usual, too. Somehow it made him look bigger, more menacing, not smaller or friendly.
“What is the point, then?” Joe was determined to find a way to make this right.
“The point is that you released the seed too soon.”
“Why is that a problem. The process went well.” Joe thought about complaining about the damage to himself and then decided against it.
“It is uncontrollable before twenty four hours. The seed has full power of its own and does not need to respond to anyone else for direction until after twenty four hours in a physical body where it can get no nourishment. What you did was release it too soon into a physical body where it can demand whatever it wants and grow however it desires without any direction from us or control by the woman's system.”
“You're saying I released a monster, then?”
“Basically, in the terms of your worldly plane.”
“Inside my mother?”
“Yes. And that's another problem.”
“I should say it is.” Joe was feeling indignant that the Alliance had endangered his mother. Never mind it was him who actually deposited the seed inside her.
“We can not allow the child to be born in his current condition.”
“That's seems like a good idea. Stop the monster before he gets out.” Joe played along. “How?”
“Only one way to stop the seed. It has to be killed.”
“How?”
“The mother must die.”
“What?” Joe was incredulous. “My mother?” he started to move but Gol's shift in position told him to stay put. “Not my mother.” Joe whined.
“I'm sorry, Joe.” Gol did not exactly sound sorry.
“Not my mother.” Joe repeated.
“No other way, Joe. Any attempt to abort the seed will expose it to the air. Once exposed it can not be killed. He will have all the strength and power as one of the Alliance with none of the connections or limitations of operating in this plane.”
“Why is that a bad thing?” Joe inquired.
“Because we are under strict guidelines from the Creator of Life to never create a being with no limitations. If we do, we forfeit our own freedom to exist outside of the Place of Chains. And that is not going to happen, Joe. We enjoy our freedom. We just want to get back to the plane you live in and once again enjoy the pleasures of the earth plane. If that seed gets out, he will have no limitations because he was created without a controlling existence. That's why we made the twenty four hour rule for you. Without it, we have no control over the seed. The mother's body has no control over the seed. The seed has to be terminated and it has to be done inside the body of the host.”
“Maybe we could just poison it.”
“Anything we could give your mother or do to her would be survivable by the seed and still deadly to your mother. Not only that, but the three month term of development will be accelerated inside your mother because of the early release. That acceleration will most likely kill your mother anyway. Either way, she dies and we need to terminate that seed before he is exposed to the air. Once he is outside the host and breathes his first breath, he has a deal with Air and killing him will carry the same penalty as any other murder. Besides our deal with the Creator of Life being broken because we created an uncontrollable, limitless seed.”
“So, what you're saying is that my mother is already dead and you just want to accelerate the process so that you can protect yourself?” Joe summed up the words of the giant before him.
“Yes.” A simple growled answer.
“That doesn't seem fair.”
“Worse than that.”
“Yeah, worse.” Joe agreed and started to relax.
“Because we need to make sure you never tell anyone about this.” Gol spoke calmly.
“You don't have to worry about me,” Joe answered. “I just can't believe this is happening to me. My mother. Of all people. My mother?”
“Don't worry, Joe,” Gol began. “We'll make this painless for both of you.”
John was still waiting when Kathy emerged from the Mist. She gave him an embarrassed smile, like he had caught her enjoying a tryst with an elicit lover. He smiled back assuring her he was glad to see her. He knew time did not exist inside the Mist. It had only been a few minutes since Kathy had left. But she could have enjoyed an hour or two inside the Mist before she came back out. He debated asking her how long she thought she had been gone. But he decided that would have bordered on prying and trying to make her feel guilty about the experience. He pushed his curiosity aside.
“Everything go okay?” he asked instead.
“Wonderfully,” Kathy had already decided how she would respond. “Emil turned out to be a good partner for such a thing.” She smiled at John and walked past him forcing him to run after her to keep up.
“Oh, so now you're Miss Ghostie Lover?” he asked.
“Careful.??
? John heard Marcie's voice in his head.
“Yes. Careful.” Kathy repeated. Then she smiled as she realized she had heard Marcie for herself.
“You heard that?” John asked, his jealousy forgotten.
“Of course, she did.” Marcie responded.
“And I found her to be the perfect partner, too.” A male voice chimed in.
“Emil?” Kathy asked out loud.
“Sure,” Emil answered. “But you can think your conversation with me now.”
“How do I think a conversation?” Kathy thought to herself.
“Just like that.” Marcie answered.
“Wow!” John said out loud.
“What?” Marcie asked.
“I could hear her thinking in my head.” John replied.
“That's because she is thinking in a shout and everyone can hear her. We'll have to teach her to talk softer and just to those she wants to.” Marcie suggested.
“You don't think she meant to talk to me?” John asked.
“She's talking to everyone right now.” Marcie said.
“I'm right here.” This time Kathy's focus was totally on the two ignoring her presence and she directed her thoughts quite easily at them.
“Still the easiest way to teach them,” Emil laughed in Kathy's head.
“What?” Kathy thought, thinking about Emil.
“Whoever you think about when you're talking in your head will be the ones who can hear you. Getting mad directs your thoughts at a specific individual. It's a perfect way to learn how to focus and direct your conversation to the right people.”
“Oh.” Kathy replied.
“Stunning conversationalist,” Marcie laughed.
“Are you Marcie?” Kathy asked the voice in her head.
“I am. Now, you need to rest after your...uh...exertion with Emil.” Marcie remembered John was still in the conversation. “We can get together tomorrow and talk about your plans to solve the crimes of the world.”
“Good,” Kathy laughed out loud and in her head. “I really am quite exhausted after Emil.”
Kathy gave an exaggerated sigh of fatigue, laughed and began to run toward the camper away from John. John laughed, too and was close on her heels by the time she mounted the steps to the camper. He caught her and held her in his arms as she pretended to struggle to get away.
“Now that you've caught me, what are you going to do with me?” she demanded.
“Everything I want.” John gave his standard reply and laughed as he moved her ahead and through the doorway of the camper.
“Well, that could be fun,” Kathy gave her standard reply to his remark.
“I say we try it out and see,” John laughed and dragged her toward the bedroom.
“Oh no,” Kathy wailed in a pretend voice of fear. “You're going to have to take sloppy seconds after a ghost.”
“Oh, no,” John answered her. “I will always be your first. Always.”
Kathy hugged and kissed him as he laid her down on their bed.
“Yes, John Corwin. You will always be my first. And my best.”
“They'll be just fine,” Marcie said to no one in particular.
“I'm glad of that,” Emil answered her. “She seemed particularly worried about that.”
“Well, we've never had a husband and wife inside before. It's new ground for all of us.”
“I like new,” Emil made reference to his new partner, Kathy, and the new relationship energy he had brought into the Mist.
“Don't we all,” Marcie laughed.