Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 1, After the Fall (20 page)

"Fuck,
Finn
, would you shut up about the gay stuff and get in here, already?  No one's gonna think you're a homo for helping a friend get warm."

"I will," said Tim, giggling up near the ceiling.  

I ignored him, knowing Finn couldn't hear him.

"Says who?" asked Finn, not moving.

"Says me!  I'm the boss of the whole compound, in case you haven't heard, so get in here.  You're letting all the cold air in."

Finn grumbled, but he complied.  I snuggled in close to Tony, turning so I could face him.  I tucked his arm in tight to his side and rested my head on his chest.  Finn laid down on the other side, facing out.  Once we were both in place, I pulled the covers up to our necks, and then reached into The Green to bring its healing energy to my friend.  As the green glow crept over us, it began to warm up under the blanket.  But Tony's skin remained frigid.

"What the hell, Tones?  Why is your skin like this?"

"Gray," was all he said before he closed his eyes again.

The door opened and Tim buzzed to the other side of the room, as far from the door as he could get.  I craned my neck sideways to see who it was.

"Well, doesn't that look cozy," said Spike's voice from the doorway.  It was soon joined by two female ones.

"I want in!"

"Why didn't we get an invite to the orgy?"

I rolled my eyes, turning my head back to Tony.  "It's not an orgy.  We're trying to warm Tony up.  He's got some Gray in him or something."

My incubus and succubi friends moved to the foot of the bed where I could see them better.  Spike still looked goofy-happy, but the girls not so much.

"What?" I asked them.  "I don't like the looks on your faces."

"Getting Grayed is not good, Jayne," said Felicia.

"Bad news, sister," said Theresa.  Their heads moved in perfect unison, both of them shaking slowly from side-to-side.

"Why?  What does it mean?  How can we get it out?"

Before they could answer, Spike spoke up.  "Is that Finn in there?  Hey, dude ... what are you doing under the covers with Tony?"  He laughed, knowing exactly what he was doing.

"Shut the hell up, okay!  I was ordered to git in here, and I ain't happy about it, alright?"

"Okay, okay, ease up.  I just didn't know you swung it like that, is all."  Spike winked at me.

"That's it," growled Finn.  "I ain't doin' this no more.  Come on, girls.  Have at it.  I'm done with this body-warmin' shee-it."

Theresa and Felicia scampered over, shoving each other out of the way to be the first at Tony's side.

"Move, Felicia!"

"No
you
move, Theresa!  I'm going in, not you!"

"Hey!" I yelled, sitting up, bracing myself with my hand behind me on the bed.  "Neither of you are coming in here unless you can
help
the situation!  I don't want anyone sucking whatever life he has left out of him, do you hear me?"

They both stopped at the edge of the bed opposite me, looking at one another first and then at Tony.  "We could help," said Theresa.  "But you might not like how we'd do it."

"I have no problem with you cuddling with him to warm him up," I said.

"It wouldn't be just cuddling," said Felicia, the nicer of the two, usually.

I clamped my mouth shut, not sure I wanted to know what she meant.

"You should strongly consider it, Jayne.  He's in bad shape," she said, looking sad.

"How do you know he's in bad shape?" I asked weakly, staring at his really pale face. 
But the medical fae sent him back to his room, so how bad can he be?

"We can sense these things.  He's got dead spots," said Theresa.

My heart leaped into my throat.  "Dead spots?"  It sounded worse than awful.  I sat up more fully, looking at Spike for confirmation.  He wasn't as experienced as his succubi girlfriends, but he had to know something.

Spike bit his lip and rolled his eyes to the ceiling.  When he started whistling I knew something was up.

"Spike, come on.  Stop fucking around."

His eyes left the ceiling and met mine.  "Yeah, he's got some dead spots.  They're not lying."  It sounded like he was ringing Tony's death bell.

"So what's the cure?" I asked, looking from one girl to the other.  "A witch's spell?  Hot tea with lemon and honey?  What?"

Theresa shrugged.  "You can cut the dead spots out.  Leave them.  Or try to heal them over.  It's a crap shoot any way you do it."

"A crap shoot?  What the hell does
that
mean?"

Felicia explained.  "What she means is, that if you leave them, Tony will not be like the Tony you knew anymore.  Dead spots on your soul are never good for the personality.  And cutting them out ... well, that's painful and dicey at best.  It's not a precise magical science and so is prone to errors.  Bad errors can be, like, really bad.  Like cutting out good parts instead of bad parts.  So your best bet is to try and heal them; but to do that, you need us to get busy."

"Get busy as in ..."

"She means like
get busy
, get busy," said Spike.  "Like serious sexy time.  Energy sucking and other things, if you catch my drift."

I laughed in a sick way, feeling totally bereft at the idea of either losing my best friend or seeing him changed in irreparable ways.  "So what you're saying is, he needs some sexual healing."

"Yep.  Pretty much," said Theresa.

"But we'd be gentle with him," said Felicia.  "As gentle as we can be, anyway.  We know he's special to you."

"Oh, to be a fae with a dead spot on my soul," said Tim, staring at the twin succubi wistfully.

I really wished I had something to throw at him, but since I didn't, I did the next best thing.  "The succubi don't do micro-wieners, Tim, so you're not allowed in the line for sexual healing.  Better go see Maggie for what ails you."

He came flying down to buzz my face.  "I'll have you know I am
more
than fully endowed in that area, thank you very much!  And I'll thank you to not be
talking
about my
junk
in front of all these
children!"

I laughed, ducking his slappy little hands.  "Man, you are so not fun now that you've become a father."

He screeched something unintelligible as he flew out the door.

"What'd he say?" asked Finn, watching him go with an expression of awe on his face.

"He denied having a tiny pixie dong."

"Oh, shee-it, why did I even ask?" he said, hanging his head and shaking it slowly.

"Anyway, back to business," said Felicia.  "Do you want our help or not?"

I looked down at Tony who appeared to be sleeping.  "I think I'd better ask him first."  I knew my best friend was still pretty innocent where girls were concerned, and this felt a little too close to virgin sacrifice for me to make that decision so easily.  I looked back up at my friends.  "Could you guys give me a minute alone with him?"

"Sure, no problem," said Felicia, pushing her twin towards the door.  Theresa just stared at Tony, a hungry look in her eye.

I sat cross-legged and pulled his hands into mine while they filed out of the room.  When they were gone and the door was closed, I jerked on his hands a couple times to wake him up.  I let The Green go back into the Earth so it would be just the two of us.

His eyes opened.

"Hey," I said, "listen ... I have to ask you a question, and it's totally important.  It's not a sick joke, but it's going to sound like one, okay?"

"Sure.  Go ahead."  His lids slid shut again.

I jerked on his hand.  "No, open your eyes.  You have to look at me when I ask you."

He smiled and opened his eyes again slowly.  "You look like you're about to propose."  He tried to laugh, but he didn't have the energy.  His smile slipped away when I didn't laugh with him.

"I just found out that your soul has spots on it or something from whatever happened in the Gray.  The twins say they can help you out ... but I think it's going to mean losing your virginity.  And I really hope I can convince you to say yes ... that you'll let them do it, because I love you so much, and I can't stand the idea of you not being your perfect Tony self."  I tried to keep my voice even, but I was ready to cry and my voice was getting more and more strained with every word.

He winced, and I quickly realized it was because I was squeezing the crap out of his hands.

"Oh, shit, sorry."  I smiled weakly, loosening my grip.  "I'm freaking out.  I'm so sorry I have to ask you to do this."

Tony pulled one of his hands away and patted me on the knee, leaving it to rest there when he was done trying to make me feel better.  Then he smiled.

"So let me get this straight ... you're telling me that I have to lose my virginity to the two most beautiful, sexy girls in this entire compound, in order to save my soul ... and you think I'm going to be upset about that?"

It took me a second to compute what he was saying.  "Uhhh, yeah, I guess I was.  I thought maybe you were saving yourself for someone special or something."

He closed he eyes again, but the smile never left his face.  "Bring on the healing."

I shoved his hands away from me, smiling so hard it almost cramped my face.  "You dog.  You guys are all the same, you know that?"

He laughed.  "What can I say?  I may be a little inexperienced, but I'm not blind, you know."

I stood.  "Fine.  I'll go get your honeys.  But just don't come crying to me if they, you know, do something wrong or whatever."

He turned his head to look at me.  "I'm pretty sure they're experts at what they do.  I don't think I'm going to be complaining."

I walked over and grabbed the door handle.  My emotions were so tied up right now, I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing for a moment.  But then I changed my mind and ran back to his bed, leaning down to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.  "Just remember, no matter how much they love you, they'll never love you as much as I do."  I had to catch the tears before they could fall, refusing to make him feel bad about the choice he had to make but also wanted to make.

"I know.  And same for you.  No matter how many angels you fall for or how many deals you make with the devil, I'll always be the one who loves you most."

I was getting ready to stand again, but I froze.  "How did you know about that?"

"I was watching you from the Gray.  That's how I got jumped.  Torrie was keeping you busy and luring you in, and I tried to stop you but I couldn't reach you in time.  I got distracted."

I shook my head.  "Fuck me," was all I could think to say.  I'd let my guard down with that evil creature and had nearly destroyed my friend's soul.

Tony grabbed my hand before I could leave.  "Don't."

"Don't what?!" I nearly shrieked, my tears choking me.

"Don't get upset with yourself like that.  It's not your fault."

"Everything's
my fault.  I had no idea..."

"Of course you didn't, silly.  That's why you can't get upset about it.  There's good news, though.  I'm happy it turned out this way.  I learned some good things, which I'll tell you later.  I'd tell you now, but I have other things on my mind, and I'm getting weaker."

I panicked.  Too much shit was going down right now, and I didn't know what needed to happen first - confessions, healings, fights to the death. 
Argh!
  "Okay, fine.  Sexual healing and then you and I are going to have a loooong talk.  Which may or may not include details about you losing your virginity."

Tony smiled.  "Deal.  Now, go."

I strode from the room, throwing the door open, at least now feeling resolved about what needed to happen first.  "Girls!  Batter up!  Time to get some healing done!"

They both squealed with delight, clapping their hands as they shoved past me into the room.

I shook my head as I shut the door behind me.  "Friggin virginity-stealing cheerleaders."

"Lucky bastard," said Finn, staring at the door.

I punched him in the shoulder.  "Yeah.  Got his soul shit on by some evil spirits.  He's lucky alright."

"I don't know," said Finn, a teasing note in his voice, "I'd consider some tay-ta-tay with some evil spirits if it meant I could ..."

Becky appeared at his side.  "If it meant you could what?" she asked innocently.

Finn nearly choked, throwing his hand up to his chest.  "Damn, girl!" he burst out.  "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"If it meant you could
what?"
she asked again, looking pointedly at the door.

"If it meant ... uh ... some cute water sprite could come in and do a healin' on me," he said sheepishly.

"Yeah.  That's what I thought," she said sassily before turning to me.  "Gregale is almost here.  I offered to transport him with me, but he declined."

"You can do that?" asked Finn, interrupting her in his enthusiasm.  "Oh, man ..."  He held out his arms.  "Do me.  Transport me.  Come on, I'm ready."

She smiled evilly.  "You won't like it."

"Oh, no.  I'm gonna love it, trust me."  He was grinning like a fool.

"You sure?" she asked slyly.

"Damn sure.  Let's go.  Lay it on me, water sprite.  I've been wantin' to do this forever."

She shrugged.  "Okay.  Can't say as I didn't warn you."

I started to interrupt, knowing full-well there was something going on in her tone that Finn was ignoring.  But before I could get the words out, she grabbed his hand and they both disappeared.

"What the hell?" said Spike, turning to look all around the hallway.

"Since when has she been able to do that?" I asked.

"I have no idea," he said, coming up behind me to rub my shoulders.  

I felt like melting under his firm touch, the muscles in my neck and back losing some of their stress almost instantly.

He leaned in by my ear and breathed in deeply, giving me goosebumps.  "Mmmm, I think someone else could use a little incubus healing today."

I shrugged him off and turned around.  "Keep your incubus parts to yourself, Spike.  I have enough shit to deal with without adding cheating on my partner to the pile."