The world looks strange.
It wasn't the spinning. Chris had accepted that his world now rotated to the left at various speeds. That hopefully would change soon, once modern medicine and archaic prayers did their thing, but he was nothing if not a realist. For now, the world spun.
No, what was strange was the ceiling.
His head tilted right. The world went left. Yes. Something was wrong with this picture. The surface had things on it. Things with writing, what looked like boxes.
Chris's eyes flicked up. Ah. It wasn't a ceiling. It was a wall.
****
Chris lay in a darkish hospital room. His head, and upper body, were raised up. Not much, but enough to confuse assumptions made over countless previous nights. His eyes closed again.
Whatever.
****
What had happened was still a bit confusing, at least in his current state. Some sort of an attack. A call to his sister. No, wait. A stagger to the door after dressing and grabbing things, so he could call for help from an unlocked house. Help having to break in wouldn't be good. Or had his sister had the keys?
Whatever.
So he was here now. Awake in the dark. Various things scanning him as doctors looked over hastily scheduled scans and tests. Mind free to wander.
He didn't think he was going to die. That was possible while at home, alone while the universe betrayed him. In the hospital? No. He'd live.
That mattered. He was surprised at that. He wanted to live. For awhile, he thought he was just going through the motions. That, really, it wouldn't matter if he woke up in the morning. Now that there was an actual chance of that...
What would death be like, anyway? Chris closed his eyes. Tried to picture it. Heaven had never made sense. Spending forever with those you loved. Well, what if they didn't want to spend time with you? What if Jodi wanted to spend eternity with her family, and not him? He wouldn't blame her, naturally, but HE didn't want to be with her mom. Would there be two of her? Her attention split? Would HE be split, half cuddled with Jodi, half in a beanbag chair with his old dog in his lap?
He sighed.
Whatever.
****
Jodi
He missed her. Still misses her. She had made him enjoy life. Her loss...
He felt her. Felt her hands on the inside of his thighs, felt her tongue on the tip of his member. Even as the world spun, he felt.
His legs spread, sheet already tossed aside. His eyes stared at the ceiling. He knew this was a dream. She was a decade gone. If he didn't look down, he could pretend. Pretend it was her, as he did when he touched himself.
Hands moved up onto his chest, as a mouth engulfed him.
His eyes opened.
That felt...
****
Jodi was laying on the end of the hospital bed, lower body going right through the footboard running the width of the bed. He could see her eyes rise in the darkness, seeming to glow as they met his. They smiled at him.
His eyes closed, head pressing back into the pillow. Fourteen years. A decade and a half had passed, yet he could still feel...
She licked him again, the lick turning into a gentle sucking of the head. He was hard. Harder than he had been since coming to the hospital. Harder than he thought had been possible now, after that catheter had come out. He felt her entire mouth engulf him, right down to the base. Chris wished he could moan her name. Nobody was in the second bed yet, but the room door was open and the nurses station was right outside. Instinctively, he put his right hand where her head would be.
He felt her hair.
Her hands were caressing his bare thighs, one going up to his belly. Her mouth began its slow bobbing on his cock. He slid his fingers through her hair, cupping her scalp when he found it, slowing her speed slightly as her head went up and down. It was her. Yet, it wasn't. It was Jodi sucking his cock, but it couldn't be. She was dead. What was doing this...
Chris opened his eyes again.
Succubus.
The creature that looked up at him wasn't human. Wasn't Jodi. It's skin was dark red, eyes large, black. So, too, were the lips wrapped around his cock black. Was the tongue currently wrapped around him that color as well? His hand tightened on her head. Her hair was light red, almost but not quite pink, long, soft.
He should be scared. Frightened. Trying to flee.
His hand caressed her scalp. She wasn't Jodi. He smiled, left hand coming up to caress her cheek. The red skin felt warm. Soft. He saw her expression become one of wonder, her head coming up, eyes meeting his as her lips released his cock before gently kissing the tip.
"Thank you." He said it almost silently. Her eyes became wider. She rose up on her hands and knees, her nude body now more visible. He could see her breasts, nipples as black as her lips, hanging down. Her bush was also light red, extremely curly, almost a reflection of his own untrimmed brown tangle. He felt lust coming from her. Lust, and confusion.
And Friendship.
Not love. Love he couldn't handle. Love would be the creature continuing to be Jodi. But...
Both hands drew her up his body. Brought her face towards his. He kissed her, eyes open. He saw her eyes open even more. Saw them close even as her mouth opened, tongue almost shyly coming out to meet his. Her body lay on top of his nude form, sheet now somehow over both.
"Do you give yourself to me?"
He heard it in his mind, even as her flesh pushed down onto his, the hot wetness between her legs rubbing over him in search of his hardness. One of his hands slid down her bare back, finding her ass. He grasped it.
"If you freely give yourself to me." He nibbled on her lips as her eyes opened again. He didn't know how these things worked. Deals with demons were things of fiction, up until now.� Perhaps still were. Her body found his cock, its head just nestled inside the appropriate opening. He held her there, left hand again stroking her face as he whispered. "Be my mate. My lover." The words came from him without thought. From his heart, not his mind. For he could feel HER heart. Feel what she wanted. While she was a creature of lust, of sex, she was also a young woman. A woman with needs sex alone would not fulfill. "Be my friend."
Her body no longer moved against him. Lilim's eyes just gazed at his face, expression a mix of wonder, fear. Something tickled his mind, something about knowing her name. He disregarded it. Chris focused on her skin, how soft it was. Her mind, which he could see behind those black eyes. He blinked.
She was gone.
Chris let go a breath he didn't know he was holding. Gone. A dream? Letting his body relax, he let his confused mind consider. No. It was too vivid for a dream. Too real for a fantasy. A fantasy would have stayed Jodi
His eyes closed.
Whatever.
****
"Try to get back to sleep."
The nurse smiled as she pushed the cart with the blood pressure instruments out the door. He heard the door latch shut behind her. She had actually closed it. Huh. Must be new to this floor. But, then, they seemed to rotate shifts every day or two. Wouldn't do to let patients get to used to you.
Or get much sleep.
He looked at the clock on the opposite wall, between him and the empty bed. Three AM. Another three before the change of shift, the return of the head nurse and the start of the day. Three hours in which he should go back to sleep, try and get rested before the day's therapies.
Four hours until breakfast.
He had ordered the pancakes, along with eggs and sausage. And a banana. Couldn't forget the banana.
Something moved in the darkness.
He saw her move out of the shadows created by the one light left on near the door. Saw for the first time Lilim's full form, her naked body. She stood still for a moment, posing, red skin almost black. He tried to sit up, resorting to raising the bed beneath his head and back, thin sheet falling off. The bed sounded loud to his ears. He expected the nurse to return, noise attracting her attention. After a moment, he realized how silly that was. Other patients on the floor were much more important than a random noise.
The only attention he was attracting was hers.
"Why?"
He again heard her in his mind. He knew the full question she was asking. Why was he asking for friendship? For something beyond sex? The answer wasn't noble. He wanted, if not Jodi, what he had had with Jodi. Someone to hold. Comfort that went beyond the bedroom. Beyond orgasms. A small part of him also thought the orgasms of a Succubus might bring death, that of the large kind rather than the small. Her head cocked.
"You... no longer want that."
"No." Chris adjusted himself in the bed. "Not now."
"Oh." Lilim took a few steps towards the end of the bed. Her breasts only jiggled slightly. "But, you want me."
"If that's possible." His body recalled her touch. He had not come to orgasm, but no part of him felt it had been denied release. She had given him something long missing. Something he had not known had been denied him.
"It is not." Her head bowed. He closed his eyes, hearing her sadness, his own matching it.
His eyes opened. She was gone.
Chris slumped back into the bed.
Whatever.
****
"Time to wake up."
The nurse came in, rolling the cart in with her computer and magical pill dispensary. It was still the overnight head nurse. Ah, that's right. The shift change was going on, the day crew not really taking over yet. She stopped her cart at the end of the bed.
"Do you mind if I turn this light on?"
His response wasn't that important, as she flipped the switch that turned on the lights above her. Those right above his head stayed off, the switch behind him. With a sigh, he sat up, right arm held out for the tests he knew by now were to come.
"This is Lil. She'll be following me around today."
He blinked as the newcomer stepped into view.
Lilim.
Her skin was a light brown, almost Hispanic. Her hair was light red. A slight smile touched her lips as her gaze went to him. The head nurse didn't notice.
"So, how are you this morning? Get enough sleep?"
"Enough," he said. His eyes closed momentarily. So. She had chosen this form to get around whatever rules there were. To be with him.
Chris smiled.
Whatever.