Demon Heart

by Rhys Lawless

  They continued to stare at us, palming each other’s dicks as if we were their own personal porn channel, until Caleb locked us in the booth, and I turned my attention back to him.

  Caleb pinned me against the wall and ground himself on me. His dick was as hard as mine, and I didn’t need to take his pants off to see its shape as the skinny jeans he loved wearing did all the talking.

  “You’re killing me here,” I told him when he came up for air from the juicy, wet kiss he gave me.

  “But, baby, I’m just getting started,” he said, and I felt a jolt of energy as he made our empathic connection work both ways and let me into his head.

  This might be a bit more private, don’t you think? Although I have to say, having spectators would make me hornier, he said in my head.

  I bit my lip to keep me from moaning as he unzipped my trousers and took my length into his mouth hungrily.

  His passion and horniness shot throughout my body like a lightning bolt that kept striking, as if on loop. It was a miracle I wasn’t coming, but my body was getting accustomed to being in complete unison with his, so it took more than a simple touch to make me come.

  Don’t worry, baby. If you come, I can make you horny again, he said.

  Jesus, what are you doing to me?

  Of course, he was doing the best thing. Sucking me off like a champ. I’d never been blown like this from anyone before him. No woman had even come close to doing this so masterfully, so orgasmically as he did.

  I would love to have said it was because he was a man and knew what was hot or not, but I had sucked him off enough times to know I didn’t even come close to his artful blowjobs. But I was learning. Our empathic link allowed me to not only hear his thoughts but access what he wanted me to do and how he felt when I did it.

  Don’t sell yourself short. You’re a pretty good blower. And an even better top, he said.

  No, he wasn’t just the best blowjob I’d had. He was the best sex I’d ever had. Nothing even came close to what it felt like being with Caleb. Being inside Caleb.

  He swallowed my length all the way and kept his nose to my groin while massaging the part of my shaft where it met my balls with his thumb and my taint with his index.

  I felt as if someone had cut my oxygen tank, and I was struggling to breathe. It felt as if he was choking me, like we did at other times.

  Before I could unwind, he came up for air, and I felt as if I could breathe again too. But only for a moment because he did the same thing.

  I’m not going to last long, I told him.

  Good. Come in my mouth, baby.

  As he gave me permission, his middle finger tickled my anus and pressed against it, although he didn’t insert his finger.

  He might as well have because I clenched and felt my dick tremble.

  Come on, he said and pushed against the side of my anus harder.

  I held my breath and continued to resist his touch.

  Why are you resisting me? he asked.

  You have your fun; I have mine.

  He choked as my glans rubbed on his pharynx, and I thought he would let me go again so he could catch some air.

  Instead, he dug his finger into my hole, and I felt the cum shooting out of me and down his throat before I could control it.

  I let out a groan and a silver dust spilled from my mouth.

  One moment we were both feeling my bliss, the next Caleb’s entire body was encased in a slick cocoon, as if he’d been swallowed by an oversized condom, and he screeched.

  His scream was loud and clear in my head.

  What the fuck? I can’t breathe!

  I got down to my knees and touched Caleb everywhere, looking for the opening of the cocoon.

  As with the vines, I couldn’t find anything to break the spell. But I couldn’t keep hoping the spell would expire. I had to do something before he suffocated inside the darn thing.

  Help, he shrieked.

  “I’m trying, baby, I’m trying.”

  I pulled at the latex over his mouth, hoping to make a tear in it, but this was no fucking latex, was it? This was something magical and impenetrable. What kind of kinky-ass spells had I sniffed to have all this weird-ass shit happen to us?

  I needed to start carrying a knife with me. This was getting ridiculous.

  “Hold on, baby.”

  Wade, I can’t breathe. I’m gonna die.

  Patting him down and pulling at the material wasn’t working. I needed to find something sharp right now.

  I took a moment to look at my nakedness before I pulled up my trousers and rushed out of the door.

  The two guys wanking each other off stared at me as I pulled the door open and ran upstairs. The bar was crammed with people waiting to order a drink.

  I didn’t have much time. I needed to get Caleb out of that fucking spell. A couple of guys with empty, tall glasses stared at me with a naughty grin.

  I grabbed one of the glasses and smashed it on the table. A piece of glass dug into my palm, but I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I picked up a big chunk and returned downstairs.

  It all happened in a flash. Seconds later, I was back at the stall with the two guys standing over Caleb, trying to get him out of the cocoon to no avail.

  I pushed them aside and pressed the glass over his open mouth.

  Relief washed over me as the glass cut through, and Caleb took a big gasp of air. I peeled the rest of it off him and uncovered his face.

  “The fuck was that, dude? You a murderer?” one of the guys said.

  “Was,” I muttered and held Caleb in my arms.

  I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m a monster.

  You are not, he said, but I had a hard time believing him after almost losing him.

  Nine

  Caleb

  I still couldn’t believe how close I’d come to dying. Again.

  If Wade hadn’t acted as fast as he had, I’d have suffocated inside the ectoplasm that had encased me.

  It was simply incomprehensible how and why the spells he’d used in the past were coming back to haunt him. It seemed to happen every time he felt a strong emotional pull. The problem was, he wasn’t a witch, so it shouldn’t have mattered anyway. Besides, the last of those spells had been ground and inhaled a month ago. Surely his body would have flushed the dust residue out of his system by now.

  “Caleb, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say,” he said for the hundredth time on the way back.

  “Baby, if you tell me how sorry you are one more time, I’m gonna punch you so hard that you’re not even going to enjoy it,” I said to him and grazed his hand, giving him a full blast of my forgiveness, hoping it would help him get the message.

  I wasn’t angry with him. I was angry with myself because I’d thought it was a one-time occurrence, and I’d been too busy to give Wade’s problem a second thought.

  If there was anyone to blame about what had happened at the bathroom stall, that was me.

  We didn’t even manage to reach Covent Garden before my phone rang in an ominous way.

  I didn’t know how a mobile phone could sound ominous, especially since it didn’t have a soul, but somehow, even before I answered it, I knew it was bad news.

  “Hello,” I said when the device touched my ear.

  “Caleb,” Lorelai cried. “You need to get here.”

  “El, what’s going on? What happened?” I yelled, and some passers-by turned to stare me down. “Come where? The café?”

  “I’ll text you the address. You-you better hurry. This is ugly,” she said and hung up before I could get anything else out of her.

  The phone immediately lit up in receipt of her much-promised message.

  “Is she okay?” Wade asked.

  “I don’t know. She didn’t say. She just said it’s ugly and that I needed to get there fast.”

  “Get where?”

  “Greek Street,” I said and turned on my heel.

  “That’s back in Soho. Do
you think she knows what I did?” he asked and hurried as I sprinted back in the direction we’d come from.

  “How could she? The only ones who saw me were two drunk, horny idiots who probably don’t even remember any of it.”

  It didn’t take us long to get back to Cambridge Circus in Soho, and when we did, we saw the blue flashing of police cars and the fluorescent color of an armada of ambulances.

  “This isn’t good,” I muttered.

  “No, it doesn’t look good,” he said, and we pushed through the people watching the police cars, trying to understand what was going on.

  We tried going into Moor Street when two police officers stopped us.

  “I’m sorry, folks, road is closed,” the female officer said.

  “What happened?” Wade asked just as I said, “I’m with them.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t divulge any information,” the officer said but stopped mid-sentence when I pointed at a group of three people dressed in suits and talking to a constable.

  “You’re with the special unit?” she said and perked her eyebrow to look me up and down.

  I nodded.

  “Wait here,” she said and walked a couple of steps before shouting, “Hey, Tony. This guy’s saying he’s with them.”

  “Who are they?” Wade whispered.

  “Witches undercover in MI5,” I replied just as the officer returned her attention to me and pointed behind her with her thumb.

  “You can go,” she said and stepped aside to let us through.

  I walked towards the three witches, trying desperately to remember their names and failing miserably, when one of them, the woman among them, stretched out her hand and shook mine. I pulled my glove down halfway to my palm so when she touched me, our skins met.

  “Mr. Carlyle,” she said.

  Agent Adeyemi, she thought, and I picked up on it.

  It was a natural instinct to want to introduce yourself when you shook someone’s hand. And that’s all I needed to jolt my memory.

  “Corrine,” I said. “Good to see you again. Long time no see.”

  “I wish our reunion was under better circumstances,” she said. “You remember agents Harrison and Travis.”

  “Of course. Maximilian. Dirk,” I replied, taking their hands one at a time.

  “I don’t believe I’ve met you before,” Corrine said, looking at Wade.

  Wade nodded and shook her hand.

  “Wade. Nice to meet you.”

  “Are you new to the coven?” she asked.

  “Couldn’t be newer. Literally, just joined.” I replied for him. “What happened here?”

  Corrine started walking towards Greek Street, and we followed behind her.

  “We’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s unprecedented. We’ve had to take over and claim it was a gas leak, but—“ Corrine said, but once we turned the corner, I saw the bright red hair of Lorelai hunched over a lamppost, puking up her guts, and I ran over to her.

  “El, you okay? What happened?” I asked her and massaged her back as soon as I reached her.

  Her eyes were red and her eyelids wet. She gave Wade a once over and then turned to me.

  “It’s horrible, Caleb. I can’t believe anyone would do this,” she said, and the tears rolled again.

  “Do what?” I asked.

  I was starting to lose my patience. Everyone was on edge and speaking in riddles as if we were on a fucking film and we needed to build up suspense or something. She’d called me here, so she’d better tell me what happened before I blew off.

  “I can’t even bring myself to say it,” she said and stood up straight and gave a quick glance to her left at a black entrance with a neon sign that read Xtasy. Then, after a big breath, she walked over and the officer blocking the door opened it for us. Another one handed us gloves and we were swallowed up in the darkness of a foyer area. Our eyes took a couple of seconds to adjust and then we descended the stairs.

  Once we reached the bottom, I saw teams of crime scene investigators and emergency services covering bodies with sheets.

  The lights were up in the main bar. It was a tiny club, and I’d been here in my youth but never really visited since then. It was known as a den for the queer community and those looking to escape reality. Over the years, it had become a Nightcrawler haunt too. Lots of LGBTQ familiars had found their mate in here.

  Despite its size, it looked like a stadium, the floor covered with white sheets wherever I looked. There were glasses and bottles on every table, on the bar top, and on the limited seating. But no one was nursing those drinks. The ice cubes had melted, and the drinks left wet rings on the wooden tables.

  “What the…fuck?” I said.

  “Oh God,” Wade said at the same time.

  “Over a hundred victims. All dead,” Lorelai said, her voice barely a whisper.

  “H-how?” I asked.

  “We-we don’t know. The coroner said they are not showing any signs of foul play. It looks like their hearts just…stopped. But he’ll know more once he’s examined them all.”

  “Their…what?” Wade shouted, and the few investigators turned to look at him.

  “A group of friends called the police when they entered the club and saw all of them on the floor,” she said.

  “Caleb.” I heard Graham behind us. “You came.”

  I didn’t even have the energy to tell him I hadn’t come for him.

  “Graham, who did this?” I asked.

  “We don’t know. I’ve tried a variety of spells, but they’re not giving me anything.”

  “It’s Christian, isn’t it?” Wade heaved.

  We all turned to him and saw his face turn red. He looked as if he was about to explode. I recognized the look. The same look he’d had when he’d tried to kill me the first time he’d met me a month ago.

  I touched his arm, but it didn’t even register with him. If his outbursts were linked to his emotions, like a witch’s powers were linked to their emotions, this could be the start of another episode. And we were already in the shit. We couldn’t risk getting into more trouble. Especially considering the fact we couldn’t know which spell would manifest.

  “Baby, calm down. Please,” I said, but it was too late.

  The last thing I remember was Wade coughing purple dust. Then everything else became a blur.

  When I opened my eyes, one thing became clear to me. I was no longer at the club, and my body felt like lead.

  I could hear commotion around me, but I couldn’t turn my head to find the source. All I could do was scan with my eyes and hope to get a clue of where the hell I was.

  The ceiling was light blue, and I could see a railing at the edge of my vision with a red curtain. Neither my house nor Wade’s had a blue ceiling or red curtains.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to realign with my body. I moved my toes, and they obeyed me. Then I tried my fingers and they curled into fists. My limbs were responsive, so why wasn’t my head.

  “Caleb.” I heard Wade’s voice, and he leaned over me, his blue eyes sparkling in the artificial light of the room. “Are you okay?”

  As if his words were a spell, my body jolted into action, and I was finally able to move my head. I sat up. That was a mistake. The whole room turned, and I had to steady myself on Wade even though we weren’t really moving.

  “What…what happened?” I asked and blinked, clearing my vision and making everything stop jumping.

  It appeared we were in a function room, and I’d been lying on the floor, which was carpeted with a crimson red pattern that had only been in style two hundred years ago. There were a few tables dotted around and fixed seating against one wall where Lorelai and Graham were being tended to by Corrine and Maximilian.

  “I-it happened again, Caleb. A spell came out of me and put you all to sleep. I couldn’t control…” He panicked, and if there was any doubt before, there was none now.

  His outbursts were linked to his emotions, and God knew what co
uld happen if he had another episode right now.

  “Wade, look at me,” I said and touched his chest.

  He didn’t.

  I took my glove off and touched him again. This time he had no choice but to obey.

  “This is not your fault. It was a mistake, okay? You didn’t mean it.”

  “I just became so…so angry and upset, I…” He was getting wound up again, so I pushed happy thoughts on him.

  “What the hell?” Graham shouted, turning all in the room to his direction.

  “Mr. Durham, I’m glad to see you’re okay,” Corrine told Graham as he sat up.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “It seems that Mr. Rawthorne lost control of his power when he saw the scene at Xtasy.”

  Graham’s gaze fell on Wade.

  “You? You’re not witch,” he shouted.

  I looked at Wade, and he looked at me, biting his lip.

  What did you do? I asked him.

  I had to say something. Sorry, it was the only thing I could think of.

  “He isn’t? He told us he had the ability to put people to sleep—“ Corrine started, but she stopped when Graham jumped out of his seat and barreled towards us.

  Lorelai also stood and watched the events unfold.

  “What the hell did you do to us? Why are you lying?” He grabbed Wade by the collar, and I had to intervene before they both did something they were going to regret.

  “Graham, stop. It’s not his fault, okay? He can’t control it,” I said.

  “Can’t control what?”

  “He gets these outbursts in the last few days. When he gets too emotional—“

  “What outbursts? He is not a witch. I could feel it if he was.”

  “I’m not. It’s the spells,” Wade said, and Graham tightened his grip.

  “What spells?” he shouted.

  I put my hand on Graham and forced him to calm down.

  “He used to do spells, okay? When he was under Christian’s rule, Christian made him think he was addicted to spell powder, and he would steal it from his victims and sniff it. And now, for some reason, because of the ley lines, they’re all coming out at the worst of times,” I said, and Graham took a step back, pushing my hand away from him.