Chapter four. Slide on down to Gabeclone's Slip n Fall.

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The ring of metal on metal sounded from the middle of the table, as the tines of their forks locked together unexpectedly. Matching eyes with Lori, across the table, Lincoln attempted to pull his fork back, but her hand followed his. So… That's how it's going to be, huh? He twisted his fork to the side, and was pleased when hers moved with his; so he knew she wasn't cheating… Actually… Thinking about it, that was a bit annoying honestly. Because if power use was on the table, well… Actually he had an idea.

Clucking his tongue, he pushed her hand back until the forks were hovering in front of, and over, her plate. Then, with a sudden movement, he wrenched his fork back, before she could react, and speared it towards her plate. Then her arm rocketed past his, the light flashing off silver as the teeth of her fork bit into one of his roast potatoes, even as his fork matched it. Then, eyeing each other steadily, they pulled their hands back and look bites of their respective prizes. Damn, it was a tie. He narrowed his eyes at her, while she smiled playfully in turn.

Chewing, he tilted his head as he considered her, but he didn't dare take his eyes off her. Could he move his plate down the table, to make it harder for her to get?… Eh… That felt like a bad idea. The rules of these impromptu games were only defined by what they actually did. If he moved his plate, that would signal to Lori that plate moving was okay, and he didn't like his odds of winning that. It would be hard for him to beat her simply holding both their plates over his head until he conceded defeat.

"You'd think people would be smarter than that." Dad's voice sparked with irritation and disbelief as he read the morning paper at lunch time.

"Smarter than what?" Mom leaned back, turning away from the sink to hear.

"It's nothing." Sighing, Dad ran a hand through his hair. "Just people."

"What about them?"

Leaning back in his chair, Dad's neck made audible popping sounds as he cracked it from side to side. It was impressively loud, resounding throughout the dining room despite the noise it had to compete against.

"Ew…" He heard Lori mutter from across the table.

"Awesome." Lana breathed from the end of the table opposite Dad.

"Nice!" Lynn gave their dad a thumbs up, leaning through the door to the kitchen.

"You know Dad, maybe we should start calling you Pop, Ha!" Luan's joke immediately had everyone, but their dad, groaning.

"Good one, Luan." Dad laughed. "Telling the perfect joke is hard, but I knew you'd Crack it. Ha!" A new round of groans met him, even as he and Luan broke down even harder.

"Honey…" Mom moaned. "Please. The paper?"

"Oh!" His face lit up in recollection, "Oh…" Then went flat, as he exhaled explosively. "There have just been a lot of reports about out of control parties, involving drugs."

Drugs? Huh… Lincoln tilted his head up in thought. He couldn't help but remember the store house King and Queen raided the other week. It was probably a coincidence; but they could be related.

Rehearsal take one:

"The way you said that makes me think that they aren't recreational drugs." Lincoln prompted.

"No, I mean, they are… I think…" Consternation twisted his expression.

"You think?"

"The article mentioned LSD, and something called amfetamines." He crossed his arms over his chest.

Closing the simulation, Lincoln considered the new information. He didn't really know a lot about amfetamines, but… They gave you energy, right? LSD just made you hallucinate, he knew that much. He could understand why someone might want those at parties…

"What kinds of drugs?" Luna rasped. "Because not all of them make you act crazy. The people at the parties could just be dumber than most." Oh… He didn't have to ask. He probably should have guessed that Luna would be interested.

"The article only mentioned three." Wait, three? "LSD, amfetamines, and something new that nobody has seen before."… What made him answer differently?

"Eh…" Luna stalled, gathering her thoughts. "I mean, people do pretty stupid stuff while on LSD…"

"What was the new thing?" Lincoln asked, to which Dad shrugged wordlessly. "Huh…" Lori met his gaze, as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He smiled the reassure her when he saw the spark of worry in her eye.

Honestly, he wasn't that interested in the drug thing… Well, he was, but only in a general way. A new drug was… semi unusual, but he figured that drugs were made all the time. In all likelihood, it was just another party drug. It gave energy, or made you feel good, or something. Besides that, he didn't see the point in crashing parties and burning all the drugs. It didn't actually solve anything; it just made peoples lives worse.

"So… Carol called earlier and asked if we wanted to hang out at the mall today." Lori said, though Lincoln knew that Carol had actually asked Lori. It was just that he and Lori were a bit of a package deal recently.

"Cool." He nodded.

I wasn't sure what to write here, so I chose not to write anything at all. I'll just trust you all to know where the segment break is. You're smart, you got this.

Was it ironic that Lucy was watching Lori and Lincoln, while they were watching others? Sitting up in the branches of the tree they were sitting under, Lucy did her best not to rustle any of the leaves. That used to not be a problem; nobody ever noticed her until she wanted them too, but she couldn't take the chance with Lincoln. She peered down, through the chaotic mass of plant life, at her older siblings.

"What about him?" Lori pointed towards a man, nearing their house on the sidewalk, with her latest creation.

She called it a Fall Reduction, because Lucy didn't know why. It was basically a log of delicious mashed potatoes, cheese, and corn, deep fried, and served with a side of gravy to dip it in. The smell… Inhaling deeply, the savory scent called to her like a siren, tempting her into revealing herself just to get a bite. But no. She wiped her drool on her sleeve and pushed the thought from her mind.

"The scuffed shoes and stained, striped, shirt says that he has nowhere to be today, and also that he either doesn't care about his appearance, or that he's running out of clothes to wear." The man walked calmly past them, not aware of their brother's judgment. "Other than being scuffed up, his shoes aren't actually in bad shape. That, combined with his bed head, tell me that he probably doesn't care about his appearance."

"That it?"

"That's everything I can get from here, from appearance alone." Amusement colored his tone.

"Don't laugh at me." Lori huffed, though there was no real negativity in it. "I'm used to you knowing everything. I'm allowed to be surprised when you don't"

"Yeah? I guess so." He admitted, even though the smile never left his face.

"Shut up." Their oldest sister flushed, in spite of, or maybe because of, Lincoln's easy acceptance.

"Okay." Plucking one of Lori's creations from the basket between them, his grin grew wider still.

"Shut up." She growled, crossing her arms and looking away, in an unsuccessful attempt to look mad at him.

They sat in silence for number of seconds; Lincoln apparently electing not to respond.

"Shut up." Lori whined again, despite his silence, turning back to their brother with a pleading look on her face, to match with his ever widening smile.

"I didn't even say anything that time."

"…Shut up…" She murmured, apparently determined not to say anything else until the situation was over.

Taking a moment to bite into his treat and chew, before he said anything, he leaned forward and nodded at another person coming down the way. "You do the next one."

Lucy's gaze flickered back and forth between her older siblings as she thought about what she'd seen so far.

When Leni and Lisa brought up the idea that Lincoln and Lori might be in a romantic relationship, Lucy felt shock. Shock that quickly melted away, ceding ground to a trembling excitement that made it difficult to sit still throughout the rest of the meeting. The idea, it was just intoxicating. Lincoln and Lori romantically together? It was better than all the stories about forbidden romance she'd ever read. Not the least because it was real, and happening so close to her.

What must they feel? Shame? Disgust? Anxiety? Fear? To be feeling that, and decide to do it anyway… The intensity of the emotion, the complexity of the mix, the weight of expectation baring down on them… Tingles ran through her body, as butterflies filled her stomach, and she did everything in her power not to pant for breath. She was hot. Her body was hot. She was sweating, she must have been, because how could she not be when the unbearably delicious warmth radiated from her core and left her feeling feverish and jumpy.

Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath, held it, and let it out slowly.

Sure, Leni and Lisa said that they weren't sure, but… Looking down on the two underneath her, Lucy was feeling pretty confident. They acted just like the characters in her books. They shared an easy comfort with each other, as if they knew each other better than they knew the back of their own hands. She could see it in the way they sat so close together that their shoulders touched. She could see it in the way they ate each others food, and drank each others drinks, as if swapping spit wasn't a gross exploration of the bacteria other people kept in their mouths, but was instead something they did regularly. She could see it in the way they spoke to each other, like there were no secrets between them…

It wasn't conclusive evidence, Lucy knew. She hadn't even seen them kiss, but… But they were in public; Lucy didn't think they would be so reckless as to start making out in front of the house. They were smarter than that. She'd likely have to follow them into the city to see that, and she wasn't confident in her ability to stay hidden from Lincoln for long enough for that to work.

More thought went into this chapter than usual. To make up for messing up in the last chapter, I had to make sure this one was as perfect as I could get it.

Leaning against the wall, in the front hall, Vicky tapped away at her phones screen, trying her best to ignore the party around her. It was only days like these, when she was the designated driver, that she could appreciate how stupid these parties truly were. With about ten people gathered in the living room, watching a drawn out game of beer pong, and nothing else to do, most people just drank and shuffled around the house.

It was the type of thing that you could only find fun if you were mentally impaired in some way, and Vicky unfortunately was not… Though, the aforementioned mental impairment probably accounted for why there was nothing to do. She spoke from experience when she said that it was pretty difficult to stay organized while under the influence. The task was made impossibly challenging when you got other people high too.

Opening her contacts, she scrolled through them to find someone to talk to, but most of her friends were already at the party. Lea wasn't, but she was studying for a test… Who gave test so early in the year? Lea's teacher must be a slave driver.

Sighing in irritation, she closed her phone and slipped it back into her pocket. She needed some fresh air. Wrenching the door open, she stepped into the night, looked up at the stars, and took a deep breath… Huh… The air smelled sweet.

Looking back down at the yard, she was struck by something else; almost nobody was around. But… There were tons of people out here before, did they all leave? The sweet smell became more intense in her nose, as the music from inside seemed to blast even louder and Vicky had to cover her ears and retreat from the door.

God damnit! How could anybody enjoy the music when it was that loud? They'd all go deaf! Rubbing her sore ears, she walked further into the yard, as the breeze flowed over her unusually sensitive skin. It was almost ticklish, really. Heh…

Her head snapped to the side, when she heard something… What was it? She strained her eyes in the darkness, until she picked up a huddled mass at the edge of the yard. Walking closer revealed more details, and she could see it shivering. It was a person, whimpering and shivering at the edge of the yard, where the grass met the sidewalk.

What the hell? Did this guy get too high? She walked closer, even as the smell became stronger, and the music didn't fade despite how far she was from the house, and everything snapped further into focus. She could see… She could see? It was like someone suddenly shined a light on them. Did someone else come out? Turning back, she hissed as the light stabbed into her eyes, stronger than it had any right to, and refused to dim. She held her hands in front of her face to block out the blinding rays and tried to peak through her fingers, but it was like looking at the light of god. She snapped back around, suddenly panting. Breathing deeply, and quickly, as anxiety rose up inside her. The sweet smell was almost sickly now. It assaulted her nose, and burned behind her eyes.

She rapidly blinked, trying to think, because something was wrong. Something was wrong.

"Hey." She reached out the grab the shoulder of the whimpering person. "We should get out of here."

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She flew back as the guy abruptly surged to his feet and shoved her away. "STAY, THE FUCK, AWAY FROM ME!" His eyes were unfocused, and sweat drenched his face and the front of his shirt. "Y-you won't!" He took an unsteady step towards her, and Vicky felt panic claw at the back of her throat.

Scrambling back on her hands and feet, she watched him lurch towards her. It was painful, the sounds from the house. They resonated through her head, like a gong, drowning out anything but sound and survival. The bright light bathed her and whited out the world except herself and the guy. The sweet smell curled through her, even as her fingers curled around a rock.

"I-I'll stop you…" He took a step closer, but Vicky didn't understand him. "I'll kill you before you can." She rose her her feet, her stone clenched tightly in her hand, as his skin melted away and his true, horrific, visage was revealed. Demon. Her breath came in short pants, as she stepped back and tried to gain her footing.

He was a demon. She could see the sulfuric smoke obscuring his form, and she dashed in before he could change completely. She wouldn't let him, she would live through this! She wouldn't let him hurt her!

Her hand came down with as much force as she could manage, and the stone bit into the side of the demon's head. It whipped around with a sickening crack, and the demon dropped.

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Chapter notes:

I definitely should have shown the talk between Leni and Lisa… Eh… Whatever, everyone makes mistakes, and I'm fairly confident in my ability to land on my feet after tripping up.

The second scene is supposed to take place the day after the first. I didn't want that to be confusing for readers, so I thought I'd mention it here, but I also didn't want to rewrite scene to make that clear. It's not really That important that you know, it's just detail that adds a bit of context.