Roses Are Red: Chapter 7: Denial (3/16/11)

I gasped, moaning as he made love to me. The bed slammed against the wall, his pace rough and fast. I raked my nails down his back, screaming for him as he went in even deeper. I felt a big, warm hand slip under my neck, and then his fangs pierced my throat.

My body arched under him, but I kept silent and still as he fed from me. My legs hugged his hips, his hands on my thighs now to keep my legs spread wide enough for him.

"...Dante!"

He pulled his fangs from my neck, his voice deep and silky, "Yes, Nero?"

"...More!"

His fangs drove into the other side of my neck, his body completely penetrating mine. I dragged my nails over his back again, feeling him harden inside me, our bodies meshing together, his thrusts furious and passionate. My head pressed back into the pillow, my body tensing as our climax approached. I dug my nails into him, his fangs going deeper into me. He moaned, grabbing my wrists and pinning them to the pillow as he lost himself in love-making. My back arched, his body completely impaling mine.

I screamed and writhed, my body going into overload, his hands going back to keeping my thighs spread as the tension finally snapped, his seed flooding into me.

I gasped, panting, soaked in my own warm sweat. Another dream? They'd been going on for weeks... Ever since the night before we made out at Love Planet. And they were getting more and more vivid. More and more creative. Dante had been everything froma cop to a cowboy to a pirate captain. He was the doctor who gave me my physical, the stripper who entertained me and earned every cent of the $100 dollars he charged... God where were these fetishes coming from? And why did Dante have to be at the center of all this?

I grabbed the Axe and a washcloth, throwing my nightclothes into the laundry closet. I got out the 'perfume' (We used it to hide our scent from enemy demons, but, conveniently, Dante wasn't immune to it.) and sprayed it over the basket, letting my clothes absorb it. And now it was off to the shower to wash the scent from my body too.

I started the water, stepping in, closing the door, and burying myself under the shower head.

I took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. Emotional and psychological pain was the same as physical pain. Grin and bear it, and you'd be fine. This had been going on for weeks. I could make it through one more morning. Right?

I had been telling myself that for a month now. That I could take one more day. But it never was just one more day. Every time I dreamt of him, thought of him, looked at him, those feelings just stirred and everything ignited inside me. I heated up, I burned, and I'd be left crying in shame when it was over. He was my best friend, he was like a brother, a father to me, and thoughts of him...'banging' me until my brain blew a circuit were not appropriate. And not right. I wasn't supposed to want him or degrade him like this, and I knew it.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Did I have no self-control?

I slid down the wall onto the floor, fighting back tears with surprising success.

"Hey, kid...next time you wanna hide something from me, don't slip up."

...What?

"You sprayed down your clothes, but you forgot the bed. And your scent is all over it. And the smell was strong enough to wake me up thinking there was a demon waiting to mate with me. I thought she smelled pretty delicious too. Until I found out it wasn't a 'she' I was smelling. I could still smell the Axe under the pheromones."

Oh my god...here it was. He knew I was lusting for him. He knew it, he knew he was straight now, and he was so not letting us be friends anymore, was he? Oh my god...I was about to get the harshest rejection ever, and I completely deserved it.

"Nero, look..." Here it came. "I had Trish and Lady do some research for me. They were on vacation after their job, but I told them it was for you and it needed to happen. Since Paris is an old city with a lot of books, they found a lot of stuff out for me. You wanted to know my orientation, right? Well here it is. I'm gay. But female pheromones are a huge turn-on for me. And you have both of the things I need in a mate. A male body, and the scent of a woman that'll clinging to you no matter how much you wash it away or cover it up."

...what? He hadn't rejected me yet...where was he going with this?

"I told you before, you're maturing. Your scent'll only get stronger, and your urges'll follow suit. Trish confirmed it. And I know what these showers are about now. They're about shame. About pain. About you being desperate to deny something that's hard-wired into you and that'll never go away. Kid...you and I are growing up. And the more you hold back, the worse it gets. Telling a demon 'no' isn't the way to handle a problem. Not unless you want an angry demon." There was a pause. I heard him come closer. "Kid, you realize you're fighting the strongest and most natural instinct the animal kingdom knows, right? Moms do extreme things when their instincts to save their kids kick in, but demons would kill for their mate and not think twice about it. Demons who mate share the rest of their lives together. And they do a lot of what you've been dreaming about 'cause that kind of unity is so intense for them that it completely consumes them. And it's natural for mates to be like that when two demons fall in love. And make no mistake, you know what you are, you know what I am, and you know a human guise doesn't change what kind of blood flows through our veins. A demon is a demon. And your urges will consume you if you fight them."

I heard the shower door open. I looked up from my seat on the floor, my eyes as calm as possible. He disrobed in front of me with no sign of any inhibitions, and then he sat down next to me, naked, his body meeting mine in ways they never had before. His arm went around my shoulders, his elbow draping over my back as he pulled me up against himself.

"You know how I told you to make it known when you fall in love with someone? Back at Love Planet just before we kissed? ...I think now would be a good time to follow up on that advice kid. I mean it." his tone stayed serious.

"That's gutsy of you. Assuming it's love." I commented.

"Kid, I told you, Trish did research for me. Demons don't know what meaningless sex is. They'll never have it because there's no denying someone you slept with the right to say they're your mate. And they do mate for life. Which is why they also only mate with other demons. That's how I know this is love, and that's how I know this involves me. I'm the only male demon you know, and there's no such thing as what you feel being just lust for me."

I squirmed, pulling my legs in closer to myself. "So...you know?"

"If you're asking if I know you're in love with me, the answer is 'yes'. And I've had my suspicions for a while."

He cupped my chin in his fingers, turning my head and planting a deep, impassioned kiss on my lips. It was only one kiss, but it was the kind of kiss friends didn't share. The kind you saved for that special someone. The kind you sent with love and a strong dose of lust.

He knew... He knew I liked him and he didn't seem to find anything wrong with it. Hell, he was encouraging it.

Did we both loose our minds?