Daystar (30 page)

Furcas wrapped his arms around Paimon and held his head.
 
“I am the Archangel of Hope.
 
I can do naught else but give that.”

Paimon pressed both hands into Furcas’ chest, pushing and pulling.
 
“Please do not torture me, figment.”
 
He inhaled deeply, Furcas’ scent like a drug.
 
His teeth scraped across Furcas’ neck.
 
“Do not put me through this again, I cannot lose you twice.”

Furcas kissed his cheek.
 
“But torture you I must.
 
With pleasure perhaps?”
 
He kissed Paimon’s chest.
 
“Something familiar?”
 
He kissed his stomach.
 
“Something tangible for proof that I am here?”
 
He kicked blankets off the bed.
 
“What will show you?”
 
He hooked a finger in the waistband of Paimon’s boxers.
 
“That I am no daydream.”
 
Furcas tore the cloth off.

Paimon blinked and stared blindly at the ceiling.
 
“I cannot think of a thing.
 
Figment, I—”

Furcas touched him.
 

Paimon screwed his eyes shut.
 
“I—,” Furcas kissed him.
 
Paimon arched on the bed.

Furcas placed his hand on Paimon’s stomach and pushed him back down.
 
He gazed up at Paimon’s face, unguarded for once in a lifetime, he watched as he kissed.

Paimon gasped and touched his hair, his cheeks, his lips.
 
“I—”

Furcas rested his cheek on Paimon’s inner thigh.
 
His mouth and hands worked to drive thought from Paimon’s mind.
 
Whether willing or obliging, Paimon surrendered himself.
 
His heart raced, his breaths came in cries.
 
Paimon’s toes curled.
 
He placed a foot against Furcas’ ribs.
 
Furcas smiled.

Paimon knew this touch.
 
He knew his lover.
 
He grasped at Furcas, his body moving on its own volition.
 
He stared into the air with blind eyes.
 
He saw lights, spirals, patterns.
 
His wings glowed neon green.
 

Furcas sucked and teased, bringing him to the edge and taking him over.

Paimon bit his lip.
 
“Furcas!”
 
He sucked in air.
 
He shuddered, hips pumping.
 
Pleasure burned in his body, as he had burned for only one in his long life.
 
Tears rolled down his cheeks, his muscles relaxed.
 
Paimon panted; his skin scalding hot.
 
He held one hand over his heart as it slowed to a regular beat.
 
Agony and ecstasy lingered in his body.
 
He reached out tentatively.
 
“Furcas?”

Furcas smiled.
 
He crawled up Paimon and leaned over him.
 
“Yes?”

Paimon looked into the air blindly.
 
He found Furcas’ face and pulled him into a long kiss.
 
He released him and spoke in a whisper, “That was the best,
only
, sex dream I have ever had.
 
You always come up with the best new ways to fuck.”

Furcas frowned.
 
“You are not
dreaming
, you
fuckwad
.”

Paimon smiled.
 
“Pretty sure I am.”

Furcas bit Paimon’s neck, drawing blood.
 
He grabbed Paimon’s hair and forced his head into the pillows.
 
“Pleasuring you will not wake you?”
 
He drove a knee into Paimon’s inner thigh forcing his legs apart.
 
“Perhaps I should pleasure myself when you are so pliant and willing.”

Paimon smiled lazily.
 
“You were rarely on top in life, why would you be in a dream?”

Furcas covered his mouth with a kiss.
 
He grabbed Paimon’s wrists and forced them above his head.
 
He bit Paimon’s earlobe.
 
“Time for a change, I am Furcas reborn.”
 
He grabbed one of his shirts and tied Paimon’s wrists together and then to the bed, freeing his hands.

Furcas grinned, looking down at his lover.
 
“Oh yes, reborn indeed.
 
I think I will fairly enjoy this vantage point from now on.”
 
He grabbed Paimon’s chin.
 
“If you don’t wake up to reality after this I am going to do terrible things to the rest of you.”

“Promises, promises.”

Furcas kissed him, biting his tongue and lips.
 
He kept him still and thrust.
 
Paimon gasped, Furcas grinned and thrust again, his body making a regular motion out of it.
 
Paimon moved beneath him, a smile touched his lips.
 
Furcas kept one hand on Paimon’s hip, pinning him to the bed.
 
He lowered his head and breathed into Paimon’s chest, his breaths coming quicker as he moved.

A knock on the door and both froze.
 
Furcas scowled.
 
“
What?
”

Paimon frowned.
 
“You can hear that?”

Jegudiel opened the door and covered his eyes.
 
“She won’t stop saying ‘ba-ba’.”

Furcas sighed.
 
“Is she crying?”

“Well, no but she wants something.
 
I think you should come.”

Furcas snarled.
 
“I am trying to!”

Paimon gaped.
 
“
Who’s
crying?
 
Who’re you talking to, Yoshi.
 
I was having the best dream, you shit!”

Furcas punched Paimon in the sternum.
 
“Jegudiel,
please
tell him I am really here and not some crazy drunken dream!”

Jegudiel nodded.
 
“Yep, you’re there.
 
Yes, two naked guys, doing intimate things.
 
Furcas and Paimon, the legendary duo, doing what they do best.
 
All right, I am backing out of the room now.
 
I didn’t see a thing, never want to, goodbye!”

The door slammed shut.

Furcas looked down at Paimon.
 
“See?”

Paimon tore through the ties that held his arms.
 
He wrapped them around Furcas.
 
“How are you alive?”

“Long story.”

“Tell me!”

Furcas tried to get up.
 
“Later—”

Paimon cut him off with a kiss and grabbed his ass.
 
“You aren’t going anywhere.”

“But—”

Paimon wrapped his legs around Furcas and kept him locked in place.
 
“No, there is nothing out there more important than in here.”

“But she needs to see us and you need to meet her.”

“Who?”

Furcas grinned.
 
“Our baby.”

Paimon exhaled in a gasp.
 
“I thought she was dead.”

“You thought
I
was dead.”

Paimon brought his hand to his mouth.
 
“Our Bean.”

Furcas smiled and helped him sit up.
 
“You know her name?”

“Barachiel said it before I killed him.”
 
Paimon’s face fell.
 
“I killed him for you.
 
He hurt very much before he died.”

Furcas nodded.
 
“Good, but we can go over this later?”
 
He snatched at two silk robes.
 
He helped Paimon into his quickly and tied the other around his waist.
 
He pulled Paimon to his feet.
 
“Come on!”

Paimon tripped and fell trying to follow.
 
Furcas picked him up and carried him out.
 
Jegudiel hovered over the crib when they entered the living room.
 
He backed out of the way and leaned against the wall, silent and unobtrusive.
 

Bean clapped her hands.
 
“Ba, ba, ba!”

Paimon heard her voice and jolted himself out of Furcas’ arms.
 
“Where is she?
 
Where is she?”

Furcas led Paimon to the crib and rested Paimon’s hands against the side.
 
Furcas smiled down at Bean.
 
She stopped crying and laughed at the sight of them.
 
“Ba, ba.”

Paimon sank to his knees.
 
His tears flowed unrestrained.
 
“Furcas?”

Furcas picked up Bean and sat down beside Paimon.
 
“Yes?”

Paimon looked blindly in their direction.
 
“What does she look like?”

Furcas smiled and took one of Paimon’s hands.
 
Paimon shook.
 
Furcas rested Paimon’s hand on Bean’s stomach.
 
She reached out and grabbed his finger.
 
Furcas smiled.
 
“She is the most beautiful girl in existence.”

Paimon bit his lower lip.
 
She curled her hands around his fingers and wrapped her legs around his arm.
 
With Furcas’ help, he raised his arm slowly and brought her into an embrace.
 
Paimon wrapped her up in his other hand.
 
“She’s so tiny!
 
How did we make something so tiny?”

Furcas smiled as Paimon rested his cheek against hers.
 
“She will be big before we know it.”

Paimon wiped his tears against Furcas’ shoulder.
 
“I don’t want her to be!”
 
He kissed her forehead.
 
“Tell me more.
 
Does she look like you or me?”

Furcas smiled.
 
“Me of course.”

“Good.”
 
Paimon smiled.
 

Furcas wrapped an arm around Paimon’s shoulders.
 
“She has the biggest eyes you’ve ever seen.”

“What color?”
 
Paimon ran his fingers through her silky hair.
 

“Light purple with flecks of pink and blue.
 
They match her hair, which has been growing out since we got back from Hell.
 
She just had a wisp of it at first, but now it is past her shoulders, near her wings.”

“I can feel that.”
 
Paimon sniffled and smiled.
 
He gazed at her sightlessly.
 
“What about her wings?
 
How many does she have?”
 
He moved his free hand from her cheeks to her back.
 
He touched her four opalescent wings gently, rubbing the feathers between his fingertips.
 
Bean purred and nuzzled up against him.

“Four wings.
 
They’re whitish with rainbow colors, like an opal.
 
Let me show you.”
 
He touched Paimon’s hand and shared what he saw.

“She’s lovely.”
 
Paimon trembled and brought her in close.
 

Furcas wrapped both of his arms around them.
 
They leaned their foreheads together and looked down.
 
Bean looked up at both of them with a toothy smile.

Jegudiel had his hands to his mouth.
 
He cried silently, unable to take his eyes off the trio.
 
He knew this was what he had been brought here to see and he could not stop watching.
 
What he had been searching for was in front of him.
 
Real love and a family.

Paimon and Furcas held their daughter close and whispered words of love.
 
They could have stayed like this forever.

***

Helion crouched over Belial.
 
“Wake up!
 
Please wake up.”

Belial showed no signs of injury after Uriel had stabbed himself, but the darkness underneath her flesh had spread to her legs, up her neck and crept into her cheek.

Helion rocked his twin and watched the lightshow in the air above.
 
“Please Belial, they’ll be back soon.
 
I won’t know what to tell them.
 
Belial, wake!”

Her eyes flicked open.
 
She coughed up bile.
 
“I am awake.”
 
She held her chest.
 
“Fuck, I don’t want to be.”

Helion gasped.
 
“Your eye.”

“It has turned too?”

“Yes.”
 
He frowned.
 
She only had one blue eye remaining; the other had turned pitch-black.