Aftermath: We are the future
"Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire.
My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly,
Keeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I?
A fallen man, I climb out of my fear.
The mind enters itself, and God the mind,
And one is One, free in the tearing wind."
In a Dark Time: By Theodore Roethke
Jazz waking up coughed against the sharp dryness in her throat as her eyes strained to open. She blinked away tears before her vision cleared enough to see the smoke fill lab in its entirety. Thump thump thump her heart pounded in her ear as it started to beat uncontrollably in her chest.
A flash of memories hit her psyche like a freight truck as one name exploded from her lips as she was gripped by a terrible sense of dread, "Danny!"
Her eyes and face shot down to find Danny sleeping in her lap, seeing the steady and calm rising and fall of his chest let her know he was okay now, all the wounds were healed, and he looked to be in peace.
She studded his sleeping face for a long moment tracing her hand against the softness of his cheek before running her fingers through his raven hair as said in a whisper, "Your kind of cute when you're asleep."
Though this lasted longer than it should have, it didn't last too long as the situation hit her again, breaking whatever spell she had been under.
Her eyes snapped up as she looked around the ruins of the lab, fires burning of yellow and orange, but others of Green and black. Something instinctual screamed at her to avoid those eerie ghostly flames and she thought to herself, 'Why are we not coughing and choking on the thick soot and smoke Danny?'
Her breathing was perfectly fine and from watching her brother he was too, and this was definitely not right, they should be coughing and showing signs of smoke inhalations. Despite this she felt amazing, better than she had ever felt in her life. Though there was this sharp endless hunger in the pit of her stomach, one she had no idea how to stifle and a thirst that was making her throat uncomfortably dry.
She was snapped out of this inflection as the voice from earlier that lead her to saving her brother spoke to her in the back of her mind, "We cannot wait around, if we are discovered by first responders in this wreckage, there will be questions, how are we and our brother unharmed, we are yet strong enough to be revealed."
Not for the first time since the floor had exploded from under her Jazz questioned her sanity. She wondered if she was hallucinating, especially with the voice coming from her that was not quite her own inner monologue. With that in mind, she chuckled to herself at that pun, if this was not a hallucination then the voice was right.
If her and her brother were discovered in this scene of destruction and mayhem, they might get turned in to science experiments by some black site. A shiver ran down her spine and her blood ran cold as she thought, "Or our parents!" the thought of Her mother and father strapping them down and using them as test subjects was far too real of a possibility for her liking and she started to steer her aching muscles awake as she shifted herself and Danny.
She pulled Danny sleeping body up and against her bosom as she said aloud, "They won't get us Danny, Ill protect us!" She manipulated the unconscious form of her brother so she could scoop him up princess style. Taking in a few quick breaths she counted to 3 and with all her strength went to pull herself and her brother off the ground.
To her utter surprise she flew up effortlessly jamming her shoulder into the wall behind her. Thump thump thump again her heart was beating loud in her ear, not only did she feel lighter than air but the weight of Danny in her arms was basically nonexistent.
Now she was fit and not weak by any stretch of the word. One did not practice several martial arts styles with their mother frequently and did not have a toned and athletic body, but she had never been particularly strong like her father.
But she decided to add this to a rapidly growing and extensive list of, 'Things to worry the fuck about later' and squeezed Danny to her chest as she navigated the smoke-filled basement lab and made her way out of the house.
Before she took him outside the voice spoke up again, "They will wonder why he is in the burnt jumpsuit you'll need to change him."
She bit her lower lip and cursed that the voice was right, and she hated it. She looked around the room and seen that the family couch had been thrown back against the wall next to the stairs. She frowned seeing the cake she had gotten Danny was splatter across the ground in front of it before she gently placed Danny down and rushed up stairs.
She quickly found one of his white Ts with the red dot and the center and a pair of denim pants before heading downstairs back to Danny.
She quickly changed him, making sure to try and give him as much privacy as she could afford in the moment though she giggled at seeing the pair of tighty-whites. Once she had him in clean not scorched clothes, she threw the destroyed clothes into the trash and headed towards the front door.
By the time they had gotten out of the house Danny had stirred awake and asked, "J-Jazz, what going on?"
She instantly let him down to stand on his own and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him into a powerful hug as tears came unwelcomed spilling out of her as she angerly said, "Gods damn it Danny you could have died! I found you in the gods forsaken machine on the ground and thought you were dead!"
At that moment it seemed like his memory came back from what had happen and he started shaking saying through his own tears, "I am sorry, I am sorry!" His arms wrapped tightly around her. Before she could say more neighbors came rushing over asking if the two were all right.
Jazz pulled away from their embrace and slid defensively in front of Danny as she replied, "I Don't know, there was a sudden explosion, me and Danny were about to celebrate his birthday and then this happened!" She waved at the house with bellowing smoke coming out from the windows before continuing, "But other than some shock me and Danny seem to be okay, right Danny?"
Danny's mouth open and closed several times before he nodded saying, "Yes." He didn't know why Jazz was covering for him, but the sickening worry, sadness, and anger that had been in his sister's voice when she threw her arms around had shaken him to the core, so he decided she probably knew best.
To Jazz's surprise she felt a hand grab hers and felt fingers entwined with them as well. looking down she seen it was Danny holding her hand. She couldn't remember the last time he held her hand once he decided he was too old for such things.
She looked up to his face and seen it covered in fear and regret with tears building up in the corners of his eyes and his lower lip trembling as he tried to hold back from crying from the shock of everything that had just happened. Ignoring the neighbors, she turned around placing her free hand on the side of his face as she pressed her forehead to his. She looked into his eyes and said in a soothing calm voice, "Shh shh it's okay, your Jazzys here nothing can hurt you, you're okay and I am okay that's all that matters."
This was something she hadn't done in a long time either, she used to do it whenever he was scared to let him know she would always be there to protect him. Danny put his free hand over the one she placed on his cheek again apologizing to her.
The older couple that was their neighbors thought the scene was sweet but when they scene the EMT and police arrived they called them over.
Both Danny and Jazz were asked what had happened and if they were okay, both nervously said, "yes."
As the EMT was looking them over Jazz answered the officer's question informing him they didn't know what had happened, Danny parroted Jazz to the EMT. Jazz couldn't help herself but give Danny a small glare as she was still upset that he had almost got himself killed. In turn Danny looked down with a spot of shame on his face.
Though before the EMT could ask him what was the matter came a familiar and comforting voice of the mother Maddie yelling over the noise of everything, "Where is my babies!"
Once she spotted them, she rushed straight to them nearly knocking the officer over as she pulled her kids into a loving embrace. Despite themselves they all started crying as both Danny and Jazz threw their arms around the mother telling her they were okay. From behind them thick arms engulfed the family as Jack appeared somehow unnoticed and pulled them into his embrace filling them with the sense that everything would be okay.
…
Several minutes had passed as the whole family talked with, police, firefighters, and the EMT Jazz and Danny sat in the family RV exhausted from whole ordeal.
Danny was laying his head down on his arms at the small table in the room with jazz next to him her head propped up in her hands finger entwined over her mouth as she tried to settle down.
Though now that things were still and she had room to breathe the weird thirst and hunger was back, her head hurt, the lights seemed too bright, sounds were too loud, smells were too strong. Out of all of these sounds were really bothering her, she could hear her parents talking to the insurance adjuster, the electricity in the light above them, and scarily the beat of her brother's heart. At first, she thought it had been her own, but she quickly figured out she could almost could home in sounds and to her horror she realized the thump thump thump she was hearing was coming from Danny. When she looked at him, she was scared again as she could swear, she had the ability to see the blood pulsing in his jugular.
Now she was staring at a spot on the wall in front of her and the sound of her parents' conversation with the adjuster. Apparently, they would be staying at a local hotel while the fire department and insurers did their investigation.
While she was trying not to freak out a small whimper escaped her as her face and jaw really hurt, moments later she nearly jumped out of her skin as a hand reached out and touched her shoulder as the meek voice of her brother asked, "Are you okay?"
Jazz wanted to scream, 'No she is not okay,' but when she looked over at his worried expression, she let a sigh slipped past her fingers before moving her hands away from her face saying, "I am fine, Danny."
He searched her face for a long time before asking, "Are you really, or are you just trying to be mature and hiding it for my sake."
She leaned over with her shoulder pressing into his as she rested her head against his, her fiery hair against his raven as she said, "I am not okay."
He asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
She sighed again saying, "Not particularly, at least not right now."
He sighed to himself before asking, "Are you mad at me still?"
Not even a heartbeat later she said with more heat than she intended, "I am Furious with you!"
He gulped and she could feel him shivering as he managed to ask in response, "Are we going to be, okay?"
She sat up and looked at him, he slowly turned his face to meet hers and she could see the worry behind his eyes, they hit her like a truck constricting her heart as she replied, "always, we will always be okay, even if I am mad at you."
Before the conversation could continue their parents came in with jack saying, "Well I got some good news and some bad news, Good news our insurance is going to cover us to stay at a local hotel while they all do their investigations."
Even though Jazz already knew because her newfound super hearing both her and Danny sighed in relief at not having to stay in the RV then he continued, "Bad news," this part she had not heard, "They only have two rooms one with a king size bed and one with two queens, me and your mother will get the king, but that means you two will have to share a room."
Danny made a whining sound in protest and Jazz gave him the evil eye eliciting a gulp from Danny, as their father added, "Hopefully it won't be too long and you guys can get your rooms back, before killing each other." He gave them a big smile and laughed at his own joke before calling Maddie to the RV, he looked at the two and said, "Okay grab a tote from the back of the GAV and grab a few days' worth of clothing and stuff you'll need!"
…
Danny and Jazz walked into the room, each with a large tote stuffed with whatever they thought they might need for a week or so. The room was like a lot of nondescript hotels two beds with neutral beige blankets with two white thin pillows on them, walls covered in a pale wallpaper with floral designs, a night stand next to each bed with a dim lamp, a mini fridge in the corner, a small kitchenette, and a full bathroom.
Jazz picked the bed closest to the shower as she put her tote down and sat on the end of the bed, but instead of unpacking anything she just stared at a blank spot on the floor, Danny frowned. He was confused by how Jazz was acting, and he was confused by the fact she hadn't told their parents that he was the cause of the accident, or why she kept looking at him with eyes full of sadness and anger.
He knew why she was angry but the sadness behind her eye turned his blood to ice, yes there was significant damage to the house, but no one was hurt, and everything seemed like it was going to be okay.
He gulped and put down his tote and walked over to Jazz's bed sitting next to her. He felt his blood pressure, and heart rate skyrocket, and strangely he seen her close her eyes tightly and tilting her head as if trying to turn away from something unpleasant.
Danny sighed he didn't want to poke his sister specially with all the crazy stuff, but knew they needed to talk so asked the first question that came to his mind, "So, why didn't you tell mom and dad? I know why you didn't tell the cops, but why not them?"
She looked at him with those same pain filled eyes full of indignation and sorrow with tears in the corners. His chest felt tight knowing this was because of his own stupid actions.
Her voice was shaky with held back anger but not able to hold back the under tone of fear as she replied not able to look at him, "You almost died Danny! When I found you, I couldn't tell you were alive! How am I supposed to tell mom and dad that!? Not only that but look at you, not a scratch, do you remember seeing the destruction in the living room?" He gulped as he remembered the buckled and splintered flooring of the living room and nodded before she continued, "Don't you think it's strange you are perfectly fine? That I am perfectly fine?" His brows furrowed, he knew he should have thought of that, but he found he didn't care for some reason, he also knew he should also care that he didn't again though he didn't.
He nodded that he understood as she added, "That's strange, that's beyond strange that's impossible. We should both be in the hospital, but we aren't, if anyone knew this our parents included, we would be seen as 'things' or test subject to be studied or experimented on."
He gulped saying in his parent's defense, "Mom and dad wouldn't!"
She stopped looking at the floor and stared him in the eyes saying, "Danny they are obsessed with ghosts and the occult, so much so they've put our financial stability and life in danger! Do you think other families have some 'Ghost Portal' device in their basements that can just explode?"
This also never crossed his mind before but now that he thought about it what the hell were they thinking and he answered with a shaky with his body starting to tremble, "N..no"
She turned on the bed and pulled him into a hug saying, "That's why I didn't say anything to anyone, I nearly lost you….I..I won't lose you, I am your big sister, ill protect you even if I have to lie to our parents." He felt her starting to cry and his instincts kicked in as he pulled his sister into him wrapping his arms around her.
She started sobbing against his neck as her arms wrapped around him squeezing him back and into her while he started saying barely holding his own emotions, "I am sorry Jazz, I am so sorry, I am here, we are here, and I won't let anything happen to you either."
…
They had stayed like that for several minutes before Jazz pulled back wiping her eyes as she looked at the alarm on one of the nightstands seeing it was 10:00 pm, still two hours left of Danny's birthday. Suddenly she stiffened and Danny looked at her worried when she broke away from him and started digging through the tote pulling out a wrapped box and an envelope that said, "Happy birthday dork," on it.
She sniffled as she put them in his lap and said, "Happy birthday Danial."
His face scrunched in a cute way at her using his full first name and she stuck out her tongue at him. He opened the box, and she giggle seeing his slight disappointment at him seeing the book, "A history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration," he reluctantly thanked her, but she didn't mind as that was only a secondary present to the main show.
He opened the envelope and was surprised to not find a goofy birthday card but a brochure and receipt detailing everything he would need to know about going on the Space Academy 3-day, 2-night package. He looked at it, back up at her, and then back down before a small whisper asked, "H-how isn't t-this expensive." She smiled seeing the star stuck shine in his eyes as she finished clearing her own face of tears saying, "Well you know all those summer jobs? Well, I saved up enough to make sure you would be able to get in before you were too old."
It was his turn to tremble and start tearing up as he said, "Thank you, thank you so much!" he threw his arms around yet again pulling them into a tight hug making her giggle before she said, "You are welcome, I know you want to be an astronaut and I just want to help you hopefully to take that first step."
He squeezed her harder and she was actually surprised by how strong he felt, before she pushed him away and kissed him on the forehead causing him to blush as she said, "Okay before it gets too late, we should wash up, I'll take the first shower, okay?"
Half an hour later she came out of the shower, she had one towel tightly wrapped around her midsection and her hair up in another. She gently rubbed the one on her head into her hair in her drying routine but stopped as she heard the now clear sound of an increasing heart rate and a sharp intake of air through teeth with Danny saying, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
She tilted her head slightly asking, "what?" she look at him as his whole body turned redder than a tomato as he said between fingers across his face stating, "You are, You are naked!"
A 'pff' escaped her lips as she said, "For one you have seen me go from the shower to my room in towels before and two I am wearing underwear under these." She tugged on the towel showing the top of a plain white bra, she didn't know why she did that though.
His face somehow grew redder as he said, "Yes tooooo your room! Not our room!"
She laughed saying, "Well if you go take your own shower, by the time you get out I'll be dried and changed."
Her new senses took in his dilated eyes peeking through his fingers focused on her, the strange rhythm of his breathing, his thumping heartbeat, and the change in his smell as he stood frozen in place for a few moments.
The change of smell hit her, she couldn't nail what it was, but she did feel a warmth radiate from around her stomach in between her legs in response and shifted nervously in place.
Finally, Danny grabbed a towel and a change of clothes and ran into the bathroom slamming and locking the door behind him while Jazz sat down on the edge of the bed.
She thought about how her body just reacted and thought it was strange, while she blushed. She was not a stranger to being horny, but why did she get horny from that smell. She shook her head and put it in the still ever-growing box of, "What the fuck is going on," That she needed to figure out the answers for.
She laid back on the bed with her hearing able to still hear Danny's breathing and rapid heartbeat as he struggled with pulling off his clothes.
She thought to herself, "I hope everything goes back to normal I don't want to hear everything like this."
After a few moments she heard, Danny suddenly started mumbling to himself in the shower, "Please go down, fuck why aren't you going down, it was just Jazz!"
Tilting her head she questioned, "What won't go down, and what about me?"
She heard his breathing growing awkward and rushed as well as a rhythmic wet slapping noise she didn't recognize at first than something clicked. She had heard it before while watching some porn she gasped, "He's masturbating!"
She tried to cover her ears but found the same warmth radiating from between her legs and stomach as she could still hear the sounds of his hand stroking his cock.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck I shouldn't be hearing this," she thought to herself and was surprised when she heard him mumble behind the door and in the shower, "Jasmine!" There was a sudden held breath and the wet rhythmic sound of him stroking himself became erratic as a scent of ammonia and others filled Jazz's senses before water washed it away.
"Oh my! Did he just touch himself to me!?" she mumbled as her own breathing grew ragged, she suddenly stopped herself as she realized she had slid her hand under her towel and into her panties stating to herself, "Nope, nope we can't do this!"
"Why not," spoke the phantom voice in the back of her mind that she ignored.
Instead, she rushed over to her tote and started to get dressed so she could go take a walk to clear her head. Finding a large sleeping shirt one several times too big one she wore to bed while looking for some shorts when she heard another sharp intake of air and looked up to see Danny standing in the door frame of the bathroom looking at her with wet hair and in a blue striped pair of sleeping pants but no shirt. She realized she was bent over the tote and despite the fact her shirt was knee length it was riding up showing off her butt and panties.
She quickly stood up blushing saying, "Oooh! hay Danny." She awkwardly smiled at him, and he return the awkward smile saying, "I didn't see anything!" his face turning red like hers.
She looked at his face scrunching up as she said, "Don't tell someone that, it tells them you in fact did see something!" She was now covering her ass as she turned around.
He gulped and rubbed the back of his head before saying, "Sorry…well we should probably get to bed right?"
She looked over at the clock and realized she had tried to take a walk at nearly midnight, her shoulders falling in defeat as she nodded in agreement and headed to her bed.
Once the lights were off and they were in their respective beds she called out, "Good night birthday boy."
This got a small chuckle from Danny and a reciprocated good night.
…
Hours after the dark nothingness of sleep had taking her Jazz woke up shooting halfway out of bed heart pounding in her head, mouth and throat painfully dry and her senses dialed up to eleven.
What should have been a dark still hotel room was as bright as day to her, she was hit by several smells of commercially cleaned fabrics, mixed with the smells of her own sweat, and that of Danny's. He smelt like the first rains of summer, bland hotel soap, smoke that lingered from the basement, salt, and something else that pulled at her.
She closed her eyes against the lights of the room and shook her head of the smells of her Danny. "Wait why did I think of him as 'my Danny'," she thought to herself before she heard a soft thump…thump….thump it reminded her of her own heart beating in her ears but it was more distant and sedated. Her head tilted until she was sure her head was pointed in the direction of the sound. Opening her eyes, she swallowed painfully against her still painfully dry throat as she licked her chapped lips seeing the soft rising and fall of Danny's chest under his blankets.
She blinked her eyes several times against what she was seeing, his skin was radiating with crimson spreading out and branching with each of the thumps of his heart. She realized this matched diagram she had seen in anatomy books and knew she was seeing his veins and capillaries, especially as her eyes wandered to the searingly bright crimson glow traveling up his neck. Before she knew it, she gently crawled into his bed and was hunched over him, eyes locked onto the precious life force traveling through his arteries.
A sharp pain came from her jaws, and she gingerly brought her hands up to her mouth once again feeling fangs in her mouth like down in the basement. This caused her to sniffle as tears threated to overcome her as she thought, "What am I doing, what am I?"
The now familiar voice in the back of her head spoke up, "We are the future, and we need to feed!"
Without questioning her own sanity, she asked the voice through quite sobs, "On our own brother?"
The voice calm and reassuring said, "He is ours; we will take only enough to sate our hunger, I'll show you how to heal him to, just let go."
Jazz didn't know why but she surrendered herself to the voice and felt her mind slip back as if she was falling asleep, but instead of darkness she found herself having an almost outer body experience she could see the world but not react to it, she could take in her senses, but they were dulled, she could feel herself move, but not because she was moving.
She could see that sharp nails had formed at the end of each of her fingers, as well as instead of seeing red wisps of her normal hair they were silver.
She felt one of her hands move up and trace her own lips before her body spoke out on its own, "Don't worry Jasmine we are one in the same, I will never hurt you or what is ours."
Her free hand ran gently through Danny's hair who mumbled something in his sleep about an "Angel."
The one currently in command of her body softly giggled, and Jazz realized it didn't actually sound like her before it said, "Remember when he first seen us like this, he kissed us and called us an angel?"
Internally she blushed remembering before the voice continued, "We are far from an angel, but we can be his."
Jazz was going to question the voice that was now in control of her body before it leaned down gently turning Danny's face and kissed it. This cause Jazz to squeal demanding, "What are you doing." Jazz could feel the voice smiling as she answered, "Not holding back."
What the heck did the voice mean by, "Not holding back," before feeling as her body pushed Danny's shoulders so he was now laying on his back. She felt her slide her leg across the sleeping teen straddling either side of his hips. Jazz felt herself blush yet again but couldn't stop her body as she leaned down and kissed his lips again which tasted strangely sweet to her.
The voice spoke up again saying, "Don't worry we won't take him yet or while he is defenseless, but we do need to feed."
The voice than turned Danny's head exposing the pulsing crimson of his jugular and leaned forward to kiss the flesh just above the pulsing vein before she started to open her mouth exposing the now long fangs and sharp teeth slowly pressing them against his flesh and sinking into them.
Jazz cried out in the mindscape, a desperate harrowing cry, "Don't hurt him! Please don't hurt him!"
A warmth filled her mouth, a wonderful orgasmic heat flowed through her as she felt arms wrap around her in the place outside the control of her body as the voice whispered, "Never! We are one and the same, you would never hurt him, and neither would eye, we just need to feed, and I'll show you how to sooth and heal him." The ghostly arms somehow tightened around her as her body continued to feed off Danny.
After a few moments she felt the voice and her body reluctantly fight itself to pull away from Danny's neck. She could see the circled bite marks, and unlike movie scenes it was not two punctures but 4 large one two on top and two on the bottom with a ring of smaller ones. Blood gently pulsed out of the wound but quickly slowed down before the bleeding stopped entirely, her body leaned forward and gently lapped at the blood on his neck before sitting up Stradling the boy once more.
Jazz fretted over seeing the wound on his neck and was about to call the voice in control of her body a lier before she brought an index finger up to one of her fangs. She felt pain as the finger was pressed against the fang as it pierced the flesh until it bled. Before she could ask what she was doing she pressed the now bleeding finger against the wound, smearing her own blood across it. To jazz's amazement the puncture marks slowly started to close, and totally disappear with the voice saying, "See we are of the same mind, nothing will hurt what is ours."
Jazz was still freaked out, well freaked out was an understatement she was about to have a complete break down and again asked, "What are we?"
"The Future, we are the future."
To be continued