Love Charms

by Multiple

  He frowned, looking from my wrist to my face, ready to speak, but then he hesitated. His eyes lit up, a smile on his face, and he shook his head fast.

  “No,” he said.

  “No what?” I asked. “What are you saying?”

  I sounded desperate, I knew it, but I needed him to say something more than “No.” What did he mean? Why did he look excited? What was going on?

  “It’s faint. A little weak, but I can feel it. Your pulse is very low, though. That’s probably why you’re body temp is lower. I can’t say with absolute certainty, but I think it’s maybe six or seven beats per minute.”

  “I don’t believe you,” I said. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to cry and hug him and tell him he was the only person who’d given me any hope in such a very long time, but I couldn’t. If I believed him, I knew it would only hurt me more when I realized the truth later.

  “Here,” he said. “I’ll show you.”

  “I appreciate the nice lie,” I said, gazing off into the trees while he took my other hand and placed my fingers on my wrist. “I think it’s nice of you to do that and I don’t hate you for it, but you can tell me the truth. We’re both adults here.”

  My fingers lay on my wrist, motionless. Everything was motionless. I had no pulse, no heartbeat. Maybe I had no heart? What if that’s what happened? Four chambers in my chest, shriveling up inside me, transforming into nothing more than a hardened lump of muscle.

  A throbbing bump.

  My eyes widened and I stared at my wrist. It had taken awhile, but I felt something.

  Evan laughed, excited. “See?”

  “It was a mistake,” I said. “Let me feel more.”

  He nodded and moved close to me, resting his hands on my forearms by my elbow. I felt glistening, warm, and giddy. Maybe ten seconds or so later, I felt it again.

  Bump!

  I laughed. I wanted to jump around and dance and scream at the sky, but instead I grabbed Evan and kissed him. I didn’t know where that came from, except maybe I needed to because he was the only person around? Was that all, though?

  A flood of emotion swelled through me as our lips touched. I felt alive and healthy, warm and pulsating. I wasn’t dancing, I was kissing, but my body couldn’t quite tell the difference at the moment. Some quivering cadence of molten fire surged through me.

  I nearly passed out from the raw feeling of it. Overwhelmed, the warmth crashed into me and made me shaky on my feet. I teetered from side to side in a strange, intoxicated state, and would have fallen if Evan hadn’t caught me. The warmth of his fingers was softer than the heat of his lips and it leveled me to a more balanced state of pleasure.

  I stared at him. He looked at me, concerned, but not too much. Happy, yes, and worried, and curious. I liked Evan. He seemed like a nice person.

  “Do you want to come in?” I asked.

  *

  I shouldn’t have invited anyone into my house, because I never cleaned it. Not to say it was horribly dirty, but it wasn’t in the best of shape before I arrived, and I’d done nothing to fix it up afterwards, either. I used the kitchen for the bowls, spoons, the microwave, and a can opener, then the bedroom for the bed and the bookcase, and that was about it.

  We stumbled inside, tripping over a clutter of jackets laying on the ground near the coat closet.

  “It’s nothing fancy,” I said. “I should clean more, but it’s difficult to remember to.”

  “This is a really nice house,” he said, awed. “I love it. I used to live with another guy before everything happened, so I don’t mind the clutter too much. It’s not even that bad to be honest.”

  “I try to take out the trash at the very least,” I said. Why was I telling him this? I sounded like some dirty loser. “I don’t eat much, though. I get full really fast. I think that’s a part of this? I’m not sure.”

  Evan nodded, listening, peering around my home. He moved past me and walked into the dining area with the open kitchen to the right. There was a living room off to the left, open as well, then a glass door in front of us leading to a porch and the backyard.

  “This is nice,” he said, removing his crossbow and quiver from his back and tucking them into a corner of the living room. “Too bad that huge TV doesn’t work.”

  I laughed. “It does work, actually, but I don’t use it. There’s nothing ever on.”

  “Huh?” he asked.

  “Look. Come here.” Pointing the way through the rear glass door, I showed him the generator hidden near the back side of the house. “I fill it with gas from a nearby gas station. It’s been running fine since I came. I try not to use it often, though, because I don’t know how long it’ll last. I love it, though. It’s not much, but…”

  “What?” he asked. “It’s alright. You can tell me if you want. I won’t think it’s strange.”

  I laughed because that was exactly what I’d been thinking. Strange, Sadie. Why are you telling this man you’ve just met about all the terrible things that are wrong with you? I was kind of surprised he hadn’t run away screaming yet.

  “I turn it on for a few minutes every couple of days to use the microwave,” I whispered. “I heat up a can of beans or soup or whatever I can find while I’m out and about—” Oh, yes, out and about. Like I was just heading to the store to do some weekly shopping. “It really helps. I know it’s dumb, but when I eat hot food, I feel normal for a little while. I don’t know how long, but it helps.”

  I felt so emotional and stunted, like I was some shriveled plant begging a gardener to water me. Except I wasn’t a nice plant like a rose bush, nor a useful plant like a tomato vine. I wasn’t even common grass. I was some hideous weed that everyone wanted to get rid of, to toss out, except if you didn’t do it properly I’d just grow back and piss you off even more. I didn’t want to do that, I didn’t want to annoy anyone and continue growing where I didn’t belong, but I didn’t have any other choice, either.

  “It’s probably been a long day for you, huh?” Evan asked. “You’re probably tired.”

  This was it. He was going to pluck me up and toss me out, make some excuse for me to go to bed and then leave me alone.

  “I’m not too tired,” I said, praying I didn’t sound desperate. I knew I did, but I didn’t want to.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  I wished I was. “I ate yesterday.”

  “Ah. Right.”

  “My bedroom’s over here,” I said. “I’ll probably lay down for a little while. I’m sure I’ll feel better when I get up.”

  A lie, of course. He probably knew that, but I offered him the escape anyways. There wasn’t anything wrong with leaving while I slept, since that’s what most people did. An easy out, a way for him to go, and that was that. I stumbled towards the bedroom, feeling the remnants of his touch—his heat—fading away from me.

  He didn’t follow me like I knew he wouldn’t. Down the hallway off to the side of the living room, past the stairs to the second floor, then into the master bedroom. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Shambling towards the bed, only a few feet more, I fell onto it. My face hit the blanket-covered mattress and I bounced up and down once before settling into place.

  I closed my eyes. Maybe I should sleep like this? Why not? Who cared? When I woke up, I’d be dizzy and disoriented, unsure what was going on, so it hardly mattered. Sometimes it took me an hour to push away the haze and realize somewhat about where I was and what had happened, though other times it came faster.

  The bedroom door opened, then clicked shut, and footsteps approached me while I stared at the blankets.

  “What,” I said, voice muffled by fleece.

  “I’m kind of tired, myself,” Evan said. “I didn’t want to intrude in the rest of the house, so I thought I’d come in here. If you don’t mind lending me a pillow, maybe I could sleep on your floor? A blanket would be nice, but I don’t need one.”

  I spun around fast, laying on my back, and lifted my head up
to look at him. “What?”

  “I can leave if—”

  “No, it’s alright. You don’t have to sleep on the floor. It’s a big bed. I don’t know if there’s anymore blankets, so we can share one.” My eyes darted towards the closed closet by the bedroom door where there were shelves filled with blankets.

  Evan laughed. “If that’s alright. I don’t want to bother you.”

  “It’s not a bother,” I said, sitting up. I felt colder now, but the prospect of his warm body beneath the blanket with me gave me hope and promise of feeling nicer soon.

  “I…”

  “Yes?” I asked, shifting around the bed, fixing things, making it look nice and presentable. I turned down one corner and patted that side, beckoning Evan over.

  “I don’t want to sound perverted,” he said. “I was thinking, though. If you’re alright with it, maybe we could sleep naked?”

  I blinked. “Um?”

  Flustered, he let out a laugh and scratched his head. “Yeah… that came out wrong. I meant that, well, you like the feeling of warmth, right? I’m not trying to pressure or coerce you into this, and I swear I’ll be a gentleman, but like I mentioned, I used to be an EMT, and it’s a common survival tactic for people trapped in cold weather. I’m sure you’re fine, but I thought it might help. We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

  “Alright,” I said. Shimmying to the edge of the bed, I grabbed the skirt of my dress and started lifting it up my legs.

  “Alright what?” Evan asked.

  The dress slid up my body, past my stomach, and I grabbed the sides and lifted it up the rest of the way off. Sitting on the bed in my bra and panties, I looked at him.

  “We can do what you said,” I said, pulling off my shoes and socks.

  “Oh.”

  I scooted under the bed, hiding beneath the blankets, then pulled off my panties and unclasped my bra. I tossed both undergarments onto the floor with my dress.

  Evan stood stockstill, staring at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  He laughed. “Oh. Right. I hope I didn’t come across as odd, that’s all.”

  “No.” I shook my head. I didn’t want to say more because I didn’t want to scare him off.

  Evan began undressing. I watched him, savoring it. He unbuttoned the front of his shirt and then slipped his arms out of the sleeves. Letting his shirt fall to the ground, he started unbuckling his belt. Unbuttoning and unzipping his pants, he let them fall to his ankles, too. He kicked his shoes off and stepped out of his pants.

  It wasn’t exactly the most erotic thing, but I couldn’t stop looking at him. He stood in the middle of my bedroom near the foot of my bed wearing only his boxers. Slightly tented in the front, I saw a faint glimpse of his half-erect cock peeking through the slit in the front of his underwear.

  Ignoring me, or not noticing me ogling him, Evan rushed to the other side of the bed, lifted up the blankets, and slipped under. Mesmerized, I watched his cock bounce beneath his underwear as he ran over.

  He fidgeted under the blankets until he managed to remove his boxers, then tossed them off to the side.

  “How do you want to do this?” he asked.

  I laughed. “I don’t know. I thought you were the professional.”

  I turned to look at him and he shrugged, relaxing. “Right,” he said. “I think the best way is to spoon. So just—”

  I inched towards him beneath the covers and he came to meet me halfway. Huddled under the blankets in the middle of the bed, we joined together in some awkward display of fidgeting and fixing this, figuring things out, moving here and there.

  I faced away from him and he slowly approached me. His hand touched my hip. I let out a gasp at the heat of it.

  “I’ll go slow,” he said.

  Gently, carefully, we came together. Evan pressed towards me, easing me into the sensation of warmth infringing upon my previously cool exterior. His hand touched my back, igniting sparks on my skin. I arched towards him, biting my lower lip. I doubted he had this in mind when he’d suggested we do this, but I couldn’t help it.

  Evan’s chest pressed against my back. Slow at first, barely grazing my skin, soothing and nice, then moving more until we lay tight together. His hand on my hip moved forwards, unsure, until he touched against my taut stomach. I breathed in sharply, exhilarated at his warmth, but not wanting to tell him for fear he’d run away from me.

  What would I say, anyways? Oh, yes, I really like this. I mean I really like it. I’d already said enough to scare him off, but he stayed, and I refused to risk it by saying more needless things.

  Evan wrapped one leg around mine, holding me close. He seemed careful and delicate, not wanting to push this over the edge towards obvious impoliteness. I understood and I tried to act the same, but it was difficult.

  It wasn’t difficult because of his chest pressed against my back or his hand touching my side and holding my stomach. Nor was it difficult because of his chin near my shoulders or his leg tangled with mine.

  No, none of that. His cock was still semi-hard and no matter how much he tried to inch the center of his body away from me, I could feel the heat of it touching against my butt.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, even though I knew exactly what was wrong. I twisted in his arms, looking over my shoulder at him.

  “Sorry,” Evan said, giving me a sheepish grin. “I swear I’m not trying to come on to you here. Down there. You know? It’ll die down. Just a natural reaction. I’m really sorry about that.”

  “It’s alright,” I said. I pushed back against him, reveling in the fire of his body.

  He didn’t move away this time, didn’t try to escape from me. We’d gotten over that, it seemed. It would die down, a natural reaction.

  I didn’t want it to die down, though.

  “Where do you live?” I asked.

  Evan breathed hard against my neck, distracted. “There’s a survivor’s camp on the other side of the city. I live there with some others. It’s mostly a bunch of tents, but we’ve got all the necessities.”

  “Is that your long term plan?” I asked. “Is anyone planning something else?”

  “Well…”

  I shifted beneath the blankets. My hips wiggled back against his hardening cock, teasing against it. Careful, slow, I spread my legs slightly, shifting back further and further. The heat from his cock brushed against the bottom curves of my ass and inwards towards the center of my thighs.

  Evan gulped, having said nothing more than “Well…” once I started moving. “We’re… we’re settling down for the long haul,” he said. “I’m not sure what the plans are after that. I’m studying, of course, and we’re stocking up supplies. Once winter comes it’ll be rough, but maybe we can find someplace to stay that’s safe. We have a few more months until that, though.”

  “Evan?” I asked.

  “Yes, Sadie?”

  “Do you like me?”

  I sidled backwards, sneaking around until the head of his cock touched lightly against the lips of my pussy. Shifting just a tiny bit more, I angled him and I so that one slight movement would bring us together fully.

  “Sadie…” he said, at a loss for words.

  “I know that this is wrong,” I said. “I really do. I shouldn’t put you into this situation. I’m… I know that you’ll deny it, but I know what I am, Evan. Even if I have a pulse, I’m not normal. I’m inhuman.”

  Evan pushed forward, rolling his hips. The head of his cock disappeared into my cool slit. Cool before, but not for long. A raging inferno flared through my body, stimying my cold and replacing it with warm, lush arousal.

  “Evan,” I whispered, frantic. “You don’t have to. It was silly of me. We shouldn’t do this.”

  He pressed his lips against the nape of my neck, lighting me ablaze with his touch. I let out a cry and my body tensed tight, desperate for his heat.

  “I want to,” he said. “You’re beautiful, Sadie.”

  I nodded
my head up and down, unsure why I was even nodding. He’d said something, yes, and I loved hearing it, but I became mindless once more when he pressed further inside of me. His cock dipped between my folds, pushing into my pussy, further and further still until I felt the wondrous feeling of his pelvis held tight against my rear. He was all the way inside of me, deep.

  I shivered in delight and he held me close to him. His lips kissed along my neck and my shoulders and his hand gently caressed my stomach. His leg wrapped around mine, entwined, pulling me closer to him and he pressed inside of me more, filling me as much as he could.

  “I was worried,” Evan said.

  “Why?” I asked, gasping out the word.

  “I don’t usually do this,” he said. “I like you, Sadie, but I don’t have casual sex. I…”

  “I’m sorry Evan but I can’t think right now.”

  He laughed. “Alright.”

  I would’ve been completely content if he just stayed inside of me. He didn’t need to move or do anything in particular to make me happy. He did, though. Easing himself out of me, his thick warmth heating my core, he settled the head of his cock at the entrance to my slit, then pushed right back in. A piston of fire, melting me inside and out. I tensed against him, squeezing my thighs shut, my inner walls clamping down tight on his cock.

  Evan kissed me and held me and made love to me. His throbbing cock teased me into a heightened awareness of myself and my body. Everywhere he touched, inside of me or out, he left light tingles across my skin. I closed my eyes and focused on our intimacy.

  Like small fireworks being set off inside me, his heat flared to the forefront of my thoughts. Crackling sparks shifted around me in my mind and I felt like we might ignite the bed and burst into flames if we continued. The bed didn’t catch fire, but right then I doubted I would have cared if it did.

  “Sadie,” Evan said, his voice thick and heavy.

  “Mm,” I murred.

  “I’m going to soon. I… you feel so good.”