A look of dread possessed Emile’s face as he stared at my father. “We failed. We’re too late to save her.”
Her? Why was he speaking as if I wasn’t in the room?
The house shuddered, similar to one on an overactive fault line. A second quake hit, cracking the walls. Then an ear-piercing sonic boom reverberated throughout the room. The windows shattered from the outside in, flinging glass everywhere. I hovered near the floor, shielding my face.
The room darkened.
“It’s him. I feel it.” My father struggled to stand and wiped the cut, in the middle of healing, on his forehead. “The kill dart with Regan’s blood should’ve ended him. How is he alive?” My father turned to Emile, accusatorily. “Did you taint the blood? Was it an order from Claudette?”
“I-I don’t know.” Terror filled Emile’s eyes as he looked expectantly at the door.
Raymond’s body slammed into the closest wall. He slid against the surface, professing his agony with a series of screams as he sank to his knees and brought his hands to his head.
The house grew darker, and a blur streaked across the room. The back of a man dressed in black sweats and a hood over his head stood in front of Raymond. He turned toward my direction. His hood hung low enough to cast a shadow over his face. He extended a hand toward Raymond and sent his body into a never-ending series of violent convulsions.
“It’s painful…isn’t it?” The voice with that accent I couldn’t place with particular origin exuded contempt. It was Calind’s voice. “It’s the least of what you deserve, you ingrate. I gave you the immortality you begged for and this is how you repay me?”
“I have to look out for myself.” Raymond choked on his words. “You weren’t trustworthy.” He cowered and vomited blood tinged with foam. Each time he expelled the sickness, his body decayed and his limbs twisted until they no longer resembled a human form.
As I watched Raymond die, the remaining clouds gave way, and I relived the entirety of my father’s death. It happened the last time I saw him. I was at his side, injecting poison into my father’s line. I sensed Calind behind me during the act. I turned to see him. His image flickered as though he wasn’t there. The movie, showing a glimpse of my horrible reality, faded away to disclose what was in the now.
Calind reached out and my father’s body separated from his head, landing in two different directions. He twisted up his hand as it glowed with a blue hue and ignited. Raymond’s remains kindled, burning into ash and disappearing with a strong gust of wind.
Calind delayed his pace as he approached Emile, who was trying yet failing to be strong.
A scream in my head controlled my mouth and made me act. “Stop, don’t kill him.” I launched myself in front of Emile by someone else’s force of will. As I looked at what remained of who I thought was my father, I couldn’t rest an indicator on any one feeling. A black hole had trapped my emotions.
The finger, pointing to the perpetrator of the death of my mother, June, and many others landed on him. The notion that he couldn’t have done these things, because I killed them, became strong enough to induce a migraine.
“You’ve done enough,” I said to Calind, unable to breathe.
Calind paused and appeared to study me. His face remained hidden by a shadow. “If I catch you near Regan again,” he warned Emile, “what happened to Raymond will seem like heaven on Earth.” He attempted to walk past me and confront Emile toe-to-toe.
Reaching out, I clutched Calind’s arm, shaking my head.
Fitting my chin over his fingers, Calind subdued me. “I’ll keep my promise to not kill him.”
I released his arm, allowing him to walk beyond me toward Emile’s position. Whatever Emile saw in Calind’s face made him shake in fear. “Leave,” Calind growled.
Emile scrambled up, scurrying out the door.
When Calind swiveled around, I startled at the sight and receded from him.
His skin was paper thin like a newly developing person. Every vein and artery underneath his skin was visible. Needle sharp teeth retracted behind a regular set of teeth.
A rush of images pierced my head, making me remember the things Calind had tried to make me forget and melded with what I knew of the present.
My head shook of its own accord. “No. Fuck no. Y-you’re a…” The wall stopped my stride. I glanced at where my father—Raymond once stood as the rush of guilt, sadness, and regret washed over me. “If this is my reality, I don’t want it. You killed my father. I killed my father…the first time. Those people?” I picked up my trembling hands, cursing them. “I killed all of those people. And Claudette. I can feel her clawing around inside my head. I feel her—”
“Shh.” The shadow reappeared on Calind’s face as he approached, his steps hurried, and touched my face. “I won’t have my last moments with you ruined this way.” Moving my chin, he leaned in and kissed me. “Let it all fall away, Regan. Forget everything that hurts you. Snuff it out of existence.”
A swarm of darkness covered the gunk inside my head, sending me into a tailspin before everything grew silent.
It was like waking up from a nightmare you couldn’t remember. I knew the house around me and didn’t know how I’d gotten there, why I was there, and why Calind was there, his olive skin glowing, his hair perfection, and looking as though he was ready for a winter jog.
“What’s going on? Last I knew we were in Alaska. Why are we here?” The unknown pulled at me, luring me out of my body, and out of this space. I touched my cheeks, finding moisture on them. “Calind, what’s going on?”
“We were here to say goodbye.” He tightened his embrace, keeping me still.
“To what?”
“Your past.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
He stroked a hair clinging to the side of my face. “You’re transitioning.”
“Transitioning? That’s a cute way to say dying.”
“Where should we say goodbye?”
“Not Alaska.” It took too much energy to give him a full smile. Even if I could have faked the emotion, my smile would’ve have been the saddest thing he’d ever seen.
I stifled my grief over saying goodbye to Calind and my fear of death aside, wanting to spend my last moments getting fucked to oblivion while I still had the energy.
“Take me someplace warm.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CIRCUMSTANCES GNAWED AT me while Calind and I traveled. It was as though an invisible hand was tugging at me, leading me to a different place. I didn’t think it was a place, but a feeling.
When I could see again, I was in a bed I didn’t recognize. The sound of the ocean waves filled the bedroom. My body was weighted and stiff, but I experienced no pain. I couldn’t remember the details of what happened in Alaska, or before it. I felt nothing but what was to come.
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the brightest blue sky, melding into turquoise crystal water chasing at white sand. Outside the sliding glass doors stood an eternity pool.
Calind was standing at the doors, facing the opposite direction.
“Where are we?” My voice was quiet and weak.
“One of my homes. The place I wanted to take you had things gone as planned, and I wasn’t diverted with a false distress call.”
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry.”
Desiring to sense the sun on my face, I moved to stand and fell to my knees.
Calind surrounded me in his arms, holding me to his body and carried me out to the pool where he set me on the lounge chair to watch the perfect view. His arms and legs surrounded me, cradling me.
Stuck in that position, I couldn’t view the angle of the sun in the sky. “Calind, I have to say something serious. I’ll miss seeing that gorgeous cock of yours.”
He shifted underneath me, and I could tell he tried to stifle his laughter. An invisible warmth filled my chest on the rare occasions when he laughed.
“On the actual ser
ious side, you should know I don’t regret us,” I told him. “I regret not meeting you sooner. You fucking turned my life upside down, and I loved every minute, even though sometimes I was a kid about it. I want to stay, but I can’t. Just know…I felt more for you than I could’ve felt for anyone. But we can’t say goodbye this way.” With frailty, I squeezed his hand and plastered a tepid smile on my face. “Send me out with an orgasm, Calind.”
He held me tighter. “You won’t be able to endure it unless you consider an extreme alternative to the injections.”
“I’m ready for whatever. Honest.”
“Are you certain?”
I nodded, or at least I hoped I did. My head didn’t want to move.
He picked me up to stand and removed his belt. Using the metal stick on the buckle, he brought it to his neck and beckoned for me. “I won’t let you take much, only enough to ensure you enjoy our last moment.”
I shifted in my position, unsure. “Do it.”
He wrapped his arms around me and pushed me against him.
He tilted his head and brought the metal stick across his skin, making a vertical cut on his neck. Grasping the back of my head, he pulled to his neck.
I latched my lips onto the cut and sucked in the sweetest flavor I’d ever tasted. It sent me on an ascension, and I had never burned so fucking much.
“Calind,” I moaned with a renewed energy.
He thumbed the corner of my mouth, and I let it disappear between my lips.
He slid from my body and stood a few feet away from me. With his back to the pool, he undressed. I salivated as I watched him remove every piece of clothing. Nude, he stood in front of me with a confidence anyone could’ve envied.
Clasping my hand, he helped me stand and twirled me. He shifted my hair over one shoulder as he unzipped my dress, allowing it to slip from my back. I bit my lip, wanting more of his touch.
The sound of a loud splash resounded behind me.
I turned around to see Calind, inside the pool, wading in the center. The glint in his eyes offered me an informal invitation.
I slipped my dress from my body and dove into the water. Swimming to the center, I met him in the middle. Our bodies moved in sync, wading to the edge of the pool.
He grabbed my thighs to wrap around his body and pressed his mouth against my lips. His cock thumped against my pussy, begging to come inside of me. I reached for his erection, only to have my hands taken away and placed behind my back.
“Be patient.”
His lips slid against my neck as he sucked at my collarbone. Wet hair tickled my face while his soft lips explored my body.
He lifted my body into the air and pushed up and over, setting me on the edge of the pool with my legs spread. He hoisted himself up using the strength of his arms and met my position. Opening my mouth by sucking on my bottom lip, he urged his tongue between my teeth and fucked my mouth.
I moaned against his lips, my need for him increasing.
He worked his way back down my body, sliding his lips against my neck, collarbone, and the peaks of my breasts. He brushed his mouth back and forth across my nipples, making them tighten and harden. Wrapping his mouth around my breasts, his tongue flittered over my nipples. I shook as the electricity shot through my veins and burned hottest at my pussy.
Cradling my legs, he forced them to drape over his shoulders. Watching my face from down the bumps and dips of my body, his lips parted my swollen, wet slit. His tongue rotated around my clit, circling and hugging it.
I reached out for him, clinging to his head. His wet hair slid between my fingers. Our eyes locked, and our fingers found each other and intertwined.
“I’m going to come so fucking hard for you,” I said, my voice shaking as my body vibrated. I tried to hold on to the pleasure as long as I could; he was just too good. The rush hit me hard, pure euphoria running through my body in a relentless cycle.
I slipped backward and Calind was there to hold me before I hit the tile with a hard thud. He shifted my body up and around, lowering himself onto my body. His cock entered my pussy, and he rode me in deep, long strokes. With his face resting against my neck, he sucked hard on my sensitive skin.
I held him, running my hands over his muscular back and grabbed his perfect, round behind, flexing and relaxing with each thrust.
Gripping my waist, he picked me up and slid backward, positioning my legs to straddle him and placed me on top of his body. My limbs were weak from the convulsions, and I couldn’t ride him.
He leaned onto his elbows and pumped inside me, making sure I didn’t need to do the work.
The pleasure swelled, spreading to every nerve, making me lightheaded. Friction from his cock gliding inside my wetness became too much to take. I collapsed across his body, resting against his chest. He held me, his hips falling still with only his cock moving, throbbing inside my pussy.
My body relinquished to one last orgasm. Shuddering in his hold, the darkness drew me into closing my eyes and falling asleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
THE FLUORESCENT LIGHTS above my head gave me a headache. In a wave, pain pervaded my body. The intensity made my eyes water. My muscles tensed up in painful spasms. It was agony to breathe, let alone move.
Through foggy eyes, I glimpsed at the room’s aesthetic, only because it was both familiar and alarming. The high-tech machines attached to my head and chest by many wires surrounding my bed weren’t the kind found in a regular hospital.
I slanted my head to the right and looked through the glass. Men and women in black suits and white coats mulled around with the Executive Suites insignia on their lapels.
My uppity guide, Mr. Paré, had returned and was at my side with a grim smile on his face. “Good evening, Miss Barcel.”
Four simple words unearthed buried emotions from me, unleashing a deluge I couldn’t control.
Totally immersed in a false world, it gutted me to know that it was all fiction, and I never expected it to hit me so hard. Never had I wanted something to be real. My life should’ve ended when I thought it did—in Calind’s arms.
“Thank you for choosing Executive Suites as your final dream destination. Your outtake consultation is going according to your questionnaire. You chose reality, thus the reason we pulled you out of your shared virtual reality with your Experience Creator.” Mr. Paré chirped the spiel, shifting his weight from foot to foot as though he had something better to do with his time.
It was stupid to stick to my skepticism and check the wrong box on my application. I should’ve gone for an adventure and went into the afterlife oblivious.
“Miss Barcel, we are nearing the end of your life,” Mr. Paré continued. “The cancer metastasized while you were under what we call our ‘deep sleep’ to induce the experience. There’s nothing left to do but make you as comfortable as possible. Is there anyone you want to say goodbye to?”
“Calind,” I said, choking on the failing words. The simple act of breathing hurt. Talking hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. “I want Calind.”
Mr. Paré shook his head, keeping up his distance. “We don’t—”
“Right here, sweetheart.” Calind appeared and sat at my bedside, looking as good as he did in my experience.
I never thought the man’s voice could soothe me as much as it did at the moment.
Lifting a weak hand in the air, I reached for him, and he covered my hand with his own.
Calind nodded to a gawking Mr. Paré, directing him leave us alone.
“Was it all a virtual reality, dreamed up by some computer geeks?” I asked.
“It’s unimportant, Regan. The only thing of any importance is what we shared.”
I softened, giddy he so easily shared a sentiment he never would’ve in our dream. “How do I know you don’t say this to all the girls?”
His dimples deepened with his smile.
“When did it start?”
“After you signed the legal paperwork,” he told me.
&
nbsp; “The injection? When the world turned suddenly bright as hell?”
He bobbed his head.
From across the room, I caught sight of my reflection in the window pane. My face looked gaunt, my once natural glow had disappeared. Chapped and chalky lips curved into a frown. My eyes were sunken in their sockets and sallow. I was skin and bones, a walking corpse a day past being put in the ground. I was hours, maybe minutes away from eternal oblivion.
Calind moved to the window and closed the curtains, leaving the room dark and stealing away the view of my reflection.
I suddenly realized I was in a diaper and smelled of rot. I covered my face and cried because I couldn’t do shit else. “You should go. You really should go.”
He mumbled a few indiscernible words.
“You don’t have to do this anymore. Go kick back at one of your five thousand homes, if they were real. You did your job well.”
Calind looked crestfallen. “This act failed to work on me before, and it won’t work on me now.”
“It’s cruel to watch me die. To see me like this. I’m trying to help you.”
“You’re not.”
“What else do you want from me?”
He crouched forward and stared at me. I somewhat hated his beauty now; it made me feel even more like shit. “As promised, I’m here with you until the end.”
“Fuck that promise and make another one. Don’t watch me die.”
“Is it…is it what you want?” he asked, appearing to have trouble expressing the question.
I nodded my head. “Promise me you won’t stay.”
Calind smoothed my hair and held my head, planting a kiss on my forehead. “Promise.”
My lungs struggled, forcing me to release short spats of air.
Calind placed his soft lips on my cheek, resting them there for a minute too long.
As he walked away, the pace of my heart filled my ears, drowning out everything else.
At the doorway, Calind halted and turned toward me. “On your application, you said you preferred reality over the fantasy. Do you still?”
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