A Sacred Pact

by Michael Todd

  Stephanie leaned against the doorframe of the control room. It was decorated in purple and black, much like her home before she joined the mercs. “I like it! Very gothic and sexy.”

  Timothy beamed at the Victorian clawfoot couch on the righthand side of the room. “I put a sitting area in so I can get away for a second without losing track of what’s going on. I even have the alarms set up so I can plug in and listen to music in my headphones. If an alarm goes off, it will interrupt the music and let me know. I foresee many a good nap happening on that couch. Smooth out the wrinkles I’ve acquired working this job.”

  Stephanie laughed as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the couch. She sat next to him and he crossed his legs, putting his hands on his knees and batting his eyelashes. Stephanie ran her fingers over the mahogany coffee table, shaking her head. “You went all out. I’ll have to have you design some rooms in my home if we ever go back there.”

  “Yaasss, queen. Then we can have girl time; do hair, drink tea, and all that good stuff.”

  Stephanie smiled sweetly as she leaned back on the couch. “So, what did you want to chat about today? I was so happy you called me down here. It’s been forever since we had one of our gab sessions.”

  Timothy rolled his eyes. “I know. Good God, it’s been ages. But, I’m not here for the juicy gossip this time. I was actually hoping I could talk to you about something a bit more serious.”

  Stephanie sat up immediately. “Of course. Are you all right?”

  “Yes. Well, no. I don’t know. To be honest with you, despite the beauty of our sisterhood, I’ve been pretty miserable since I became infected. I make do with what I have, of course. I buy new clothes and keep myself busy with decorating, but there is just something missing.”

  Stephanie shook her head. “I understand. You’re lonely.”

  Timothy sighed. “You could say that. I have been unable to have any sort of real relationship since all of this happened. I may talk a juicy game, girl, but I crave that companionship.”

  Stephanie bit the inside of her cheek. “Well, I’m sure there are other gay men who have been infected, or maybe someone like Sofia who doesn’t mind it. In fact, I think she finds it sexy.”

  Timothy put his palms flat together and pressed his fingertips to his lips. “There is no drought in men, but my demon is not the least bit interested. In fact, he loathes the idea of it. He’s a complete homophobe. He pitches a fit every time I get feelings. It’s not very conducive to a relationship. Think about it this way: what if your demon prevented you from being with Korbin?”

  Stephanie’s heart dropped into her stomach just thinking about it. “Oh, Timothy, I’m so sorry. I never thought about it in that way. I would absolutely die if I couldn’t be with Korbin. He is the person for me. But what are the options here? The world is a frightening place for the mere mortal.”

  Timothy groaned. “Oh, I know. I fully understand just how dangerous it can be for the non-infected. Their bodies are fragile, they are all alone, and they can’t fight off the demons even with our special weapons. It’s like walking onto a battlefield in a bathing suit. But still, I can’t help but remember what it was like before this. It’s all a bit foggy, though.”

  Stephanie’s heart went out to Timothy. “Did you like your life before this?”

  Timothy scoffed, slapping Stephanie’s knee. “God, no. Please. I lived in my mother’s basement hacking shit all day. And don’t even get me started on my fashion choices. Girl, it was a dark dungeon disaster. But now I know what the world has to offer. I grew into myself. Now I think I’ve outgrown the demon inside me. What was it like for you without a demon? You spent quite a long time free from the shackles.”

  Stephanie sat back again and looked at the ceiling with a small smirk on her lips. “Things were definitely more colorful. The silence in my head was amazing. It wasn’t always perfect, though. Thinking about how fragile I was, I can’t believe I took the risks I did. It was tough sometimes, but most of the time it was really nice.”

  Timothy leaned his head on the back of the couch, staring at Stephanie. “And what was it like to control your body?”

  Stephanie laughed. “That was the best part. I couldn’t do all the cool shit I can do now, of course. Demons have their uses. But I had full, uninterrupted control of my body. I could make whatever choices I wanted, and I would either reap the benefits or suffer the consequences, but the choices were all mine.”

  Timothy shook his head, closing his eyes. “Oh, to have my body back. To have control. It would be so amazing. I could touch anyone I wanted, do anything I pleased, and just be me. I don’t do a lot of cool tricks like the rest of you, since my demon is a bit of an ass. For me it would be almost a clean sweep. It would be me just being me and no one else.”

  Stephanie lifted an eyebrow. “Why are you asking all this, anyway? You’ve never brought it up before. Does it have something to do with Brock and the guys losing their demons? If you’re feeling jealous, just remember that the grass is not always greener on the other side. They are in serious pain.”

  Timothy stood up, leaning over and kissing Stephanie on the cheek. “Right now, I don’t know what will come of me thinking about it. It’s probably nothing. I don’t want to say anything until I have talked to Katie a bit. I’m going to go look for her. Have you seen her recently?”

  Stephanie narrowed her eyes. “Just don’t do anything rash. Think it through.”

  Timothy swatted his hands. “Duh, this queen will never sacrifice her body or soul. Nope.”

  Stephanie chuckled. “In that case, I think she is in the dining area upstairs.”

  Timothy stopped in the doorway. “Love you.”

  Stephanie put her legs on the couch. “Love you too. Gonna hide out in here for a bit.”

  Timothy winked and took off down the hall. He leaped up the stairs two steps at a time, then walked down the hall and stuck his head into the kitchen. Katie was sitting at the kitchen table with two full boxes of donuts and one empty one. She had sugar and icing all over her fingers and the remains of countless donuts crusted on her lips. She was slumped forward in the chair with a morose look on her face.

  Timothy raised both eyebrows. “Good Lord, child, you look like you shouldn’t even be wearing pants.”

  Katie glanced at him and groaned. “I’m stress-eating.”

  Timothy walked to the table and handed her a napkin. “Start with this. I think we might have to hose you off later.”

  She pushed aside the empty box and offered a nearly empty box to Timothy.

  “I’m all right, girl. You go ahead.”

  Katie dug in. “Don’t judge me. This is my go-to in really crazy times. It’s been a while.”

  Timothy sneered. “Uh, that’s probably a good thing.”

  Katie’s belly was sticking out slightly from the sheer number of donuts she had consumed. Pandora wasn’t helping. She was already comatose, victim of a sugar crash.

  Timothy reached out and took Katie’s sticky hands in his. “I love you so much I’m going to ignore the way your skin sticks to mine right now. Look, I know Brock means a lot to you. I’m sorry that you are having to go through this. I think I might have a solution.”

  Katie lifted an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

  Timothy sat up straight, clasping his hands in front of him. “I’ve decided to give up my demon for Brock.”

  Katie’s face slowly fell. “What? But what about you?”

  Timothy waved his hands. “I’ll be fine. I mean, seriously, I’ve been in this post forever now. All I ask is that when Pandora takes him out of me she figures out a way to keep my memory intact. I still plan on staying here in this position as a non-infected. It is important to me to do this.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I can’t promise your memory will remain intact.”

  “Calvin is a bit fuzzy, but he seems fine, so it’s possible.”

  “I need to talk to Pandora.” Katie rubbed her chin and made
her demon wake up. Can you do that?

  Pandora thought about it for a moment after she was firing on all cylinders again. Pretty sure I can. I just have to concentrate a bit. Keep my focus from spreading. Shouldn’t be an issue. With my angel powers, things are a bit easier these days.

  Really?

  Shit, I don’t know. Probably. This isn’t an exact science, sweetheart.

  But probably?

  Probably.

  Katie squealed. She jumped up from her seat and ran around the table to throw her arms around Timothy. She squeezed and shook him like a rag doll. He patted her on the back and wheezed slightly. “Honey? Oh, God, honey, you are going to kill me.”

  Katie smiled and let go. “Sorry. This is just so amazing. My only thing is, I feel bad for infecting him without his approval.”

  Timothy waved her off. “Girl, bye-bye with that bullshit. He loves what he does. If he woke up and was told that he wouldn’t be allowed to do it, he would be devastated. Besides, Brock needs a demon to heal. You’re just giving him medicine. You can always exorcise him if he doesn’t want it anymore.”

  Pandora smirked. This chica has a point.

  Katie pondered it for a moment, then grinned. “Let’s do this.”

  Down the sterile white hallways and inside of one of the surgery areas, Timothy lay on one of the tables. A satin sheet was stretched under him, and a cashmere blanket covered his body. His hands were harnessed at his sides and straps held his legs at the ankles. “I told them tying me down wasn’t necessary. He wants to go as much as I want him gone, but they insisted.” Timothy lowered his voice. “Have you been strapped down like this before? It’s amazing.”

  Katie chuckled, but Pandora was intrigued. It’s been a few thousand years since I was into rope play. Something to keep in mind.

  Katie smiled. “I’ll have Pandora come out to do this. You two have met.”

  Timothy pursed his lips. “Yass, girl. She is fabulous.”

  Pandora laughed as she stepped out of Katie’s body. She wore a tight white strapless bodycon dress with red heels.

  Timothy whistled. “Look at those heels.”

  “Look, but don’t touch.” She leaned over Timothy and sniffed, rubbing her hand over his forehead. “Just hold still, princess. Momma’s gonna take care of this.”

  Pandora focused hard. She tried to separate the demon from Timothy’s memories. She would usually just yank the whole thing out at once, but she wanted to keep Timothy intact. In reality she wasn’t sure she could do it, but she figured it was better to keep that to herself. Timothy wanted the demon to go either way, and if he forgot, they would remind him. Besides, Katie had proven good at restoring memories thus far.

  Pandora’s hand moved down Timothy’s chest. He clenched his eyes shut. When she reached the center of his body, where his demon’s energy was strongest, talons grew at the ends of her fingertips. She whispered to herself as she slowly pushed her hand into Timothy’s chest and grasped the demon. When she pulled the snarling creature from his body, Timothy groaned and passed out.

  The thing immediately began to curse, but not at Pandora.

  The demon held tightly to Pandora’s hand. “You fucking douche bag. I am so happy to be rid of you. All I want is a little trim! Is that so wrong? An eternity in hell would be much better than a human life in that.”

  Pandora narrowed her eyes. “Be nice. He is our friend.”

  The demon spat and cursed some more. Pandora scowled. “Be cool or be fucked, little one.”

  The demon shivered when he realized who was holding him. “Sorry. Where to now?”

  Pandora turned with the demon and walked over to a second hospital bed. Brock, beaten and bruised, lay on the white sheets. Pandora held the demon over Brock. “You are going to save the day. Heal this one double-time, or else.”

  “Oh, fucking great.” The demon rolled his eyes but screeched as she slammed him into Brock’s body.

  Pandora smirked and pulled her hand out. “Get to work, fuckhead.”

  Katie was already questioning Dr. Thorough. “Okay, time to get to work. Let’s get Brock back to health. What can I do?”

  Thorough pushed up his glasses and shrugged nervously. “I’m not sure how long this will take, but it should work. Maybe if the demon had a bit of motivation?”

  Katie nodded. “Pandora? Can you get this demon going?”

  Pandora snickered. “It would be my pleasure.”

  She took a deep breath and centered her focus on the demon inside Brock. Look, bro. I am here to tell you that this isn’t a free ride. If this man dies, you are going to be my new personal punching bag, then you’ll go back to Timothy.

  Aw, come on!

  Shut the fuck up. After I knock the shit out of you and put your dick in a vice, I have no problem putting you back in him.

  The demon shivered. I know. Trust me, I know. I’m looking around right now. I will do my best, but it’s nuts in here. It’s like whatever took him hollowed him out. It’s insane. I’ve never seen anything like this before.

  Pandora could tell he was being honest. Well, work with what you have. If you feel like giving up, remember I am watching you, lover boy.

  Pandora turned to the doctors. “Later, nerds.” She slid back into Katie’s body and sighed. He is doing what he can. Having that demon just might save Brock’s life.

  I hope so. Do me a favor, stop calling the doctors ‘nerds.’ They’re trying to help Brock, too.

  That’s a tough one. I’ll see what I can do.

  Timothy moaned, and Katie turned to him. She could feel the tears of gratitude welling in her eyes. She put her hand in his and leaned over him. “Timothy? Are you awake?”

  Timothy blinked his eyes twice and took in Katie’s face. His eyes floated down to her tits, over her curves, and then rested on her ass. He looked back at her face, expressionless. Katie stood up straight. “Oh God. I think you un-gayed him, Pandora. How do you even do that?”

  I told you, this shit isn’t an exact science.

  Timothy smiled mischievously. “Just kidding. I was just double-checking. Making sure I had that damn demon out of my head once and for all. See, normally when I glance at your ass or your tits, the demon would make some sort of crude remark about you. This time there was nothing but glorious silence.”

  Katie burst into laughter. “Oh, my God, it worked! You can remember everything?”

  Timothy looked at the ceiling with his hand to his cheek. “Mmmhmm, every little detail. The color of my control room, and all the words to the Hamilton musical. That night with Willy Blackburn. It’s so good not to have that pussy-hound demon voice yapping in my skull. Oh, God, girl, it’s almost orgasmic.”

  Katie giggled. “Do you feel free?”

  “Like I could hide from danger with a Mai Tai and my computer for the rest of days. I will have to watch my body fat, though. That was the only thing the asshole did for me.”

  Timothy sat up and looked across the room at Brock. “I hope he does more for you, man.”

  Katie nodded soberly. “Me, too.”

  “Come one, come all, enter my No More Hound in My Head coming-out re-release party!” Timothy stood in the doorway to the living area, his arms raised like a carnival barker’s.

  Timothy had gone all-out for the event. He was wearing his favorite pleated pink dress pants, matching vest, black button-up, and a tie with flamingos on it. His hair was gelled to perfection, his eyeliner was on fleek, and his yellow-tinted glasses had Hollywood glam-sized frames.

  Stephanie had helped with the decorations, including a flamingo-shaped ice sculpture for shots, balloons everywhere, and of course as much glitter as humanly possible. They would be living in a sparkly snow globe for the next decade. Timothy had gotten special permission from the general to allow the security detail to come to the party. They were all stunned by the inside of the place.

  One of the soldiers used his beer to point to the huge flat-screen on the wall. “Shit, if we’re gonna b
e fighting, we should join the mercs. At least we would get a badass pad.”

  Stephanie overheard this and walked up. “You boys enjoying yourselves?”

  The soldier with the beer stood at attention. “Yes, ma’am. We were just talking about how nice it was in here.”

  Stephanie sipped her drink through a flamingo straw. “Your housing isn’t like this?”

  The guys chuckled, thinking about the military housing on the other side of the base. “No, ma’am. We have standard military-issue insane-asylum-gray walls and decades-old bunks, but it’s what we expect in the military.”

  Stephanie shook her head. “That just won’t do. You are protecting one of the most important assets in the world. You need to have a good place to lie down at night. I’ll see what I can do.”

  Katie came through the door and stopped. She marveled at the decorations. Timothy ran over and gave her a kiss on each cheek. “Oh, my lady. How are you? You look fabulous.”

  Katie looked down at her leather stretch pants, stilettos, and the white t-shirt tied at the waist. Her hair was down and pulled to one side. She had let Pandora give her smoky eyes. “Thanks. They said look trendy, so here I am. It’s the best I can do.”

  Timothy giggled. “Well, come in. There is food on the table, drinks against the back wall, and if you want to hear anything special, just let me know. I have the iPod plugged in.”

  Katie smirked. “I will. This doesn’t even look like the living room.”

  Timothy put his hand to his chest. “I know, right? Stephanie did a fab job, as always.”

  Katie got a drink and waved at Stephanie, who was talking to a couple of the guards. Pandora sniffed. Okay, what is wrong with you? You are pouting at a party.

  Katie swallowed her drink. Nothing. I mean, I guess I just feel bad for partying while Brock is laid up in the med unit.

  Pandora groaned. Man, you are hooked. He would want you to have fun. Besides, the doctors say he is already getting better. He will be up to boning in no time.

  Katie’s eyes fell on Calvin, who was sitting uncomfortably on the couch. She walked over, helping him lean his crutches on the wall. She sat down next to him and whispered, “You look like you are incredibly uncomfortable.”