Branded (10 page)

“I flew today.” Asher rolled onto his back and looked up into the velvet night sky. The memory made him shudder.

“I’m sorry about what I said earlier,” Blind Guy said. “I don’t know anything about your mother, and I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Asher sat up, crossing his legs in front of himself. “It doesn’t really matter.”

“Yeah, it does. You saved my life today, and I didn’t even thank you.”

“It’s alright. I don’t care if you hate me.” It had to happen sooner or later. Blind Guy had already made it clear that he didn’t like him.

“I don’t hate you, Asher.” Blind Guy got up and Asher followed him with his eyes as he approached. Blind Guy sat down and patted the spot in front of him. “Come here. I want to show you something.”

Asher raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’ll like it, I promise,” Blind Guy added.

Slowly, Asher scooted over to him.

“Turn around.”

Asher did, coming to sit with his back to Blind Guy. He flinched when Blind Guy encircled him from behind, feeling for his arms.

“Relax, you said it was okay to touch you.”

“I didn’t say surprise buttrape was okay.” Although…

Blind Guy snorted and his breath stirred the fine hairs on Asher’s neck. “That’s not what this is.”

“You disappoint me.” Leaning back a little, Asher found Blind Guy’s chest as firm as he remembered it. Now if he could just get the man to sleep with him. He pressed up closer until he was sure Blind Guy would know exactly what he was saying no to.

Blind Guy’s fingers slid down Asher’s arms to his hands. “Watch this,” he said, making Asher stretch out his palms in front of himself. Small flames appeared out of thin air above his hands. Asher stared. They moved slowly at first, up in a circle, exchanging places.

Blind Guy was juggling the flames, only making it look like it was Asher doing it.

“Awesome.” Asher exhaled, fascinated by the show, and the man behind him. Blind Guy’s scent was stronger than the lavender now, and Asher was drawing it in with every breath. He looked at the fire and felt Blind Guy, and he didn’t know which was more arousing. Through the haze in his mind, he wondered whether Blind Guy had any idea what he was doing.

Either way, the effect on Asher was undeniable. Torn between wanting the show to go on, and wanting the fire elf, he sat still as long as the flames were floating, burning red and orange in front of his eyes.

When Blind Guy stopped, though, there was no stopping Asher. He turned around before Blind Guy could withdraw and pressed his lips to Blind Guy’s.

To Asher’s surprise, Blind Guy didn’t jump back. He didn’t respond at all. Shit. This wasn’t going to work, was it? But then Blind Guy raised one hand into Asher’s hair and opened his mouth. He tasted like smoke, like the fires Asher was addicted to. For a moment, Asher forgot that he didn’t even like kissing that much. He’d always considered it a necessary evil, something he had to do to get what he really wanted, but this… The way Blind Guy’s tongue stroked over the roof of his mouth actually got him hard.

Damn, but it had been too long since he’d seen any action at all.

When Blind Guy tried to Asher dug his hands into the long strands of his hair and crushed their lips together again.
Fuck. It.
He was not letting the man get away now.

His insistence seemed to work, but now Blind Guy was starting to touch him, and Asher had to keep himself from shuddering as hands ran up his bare chest, exploring, touching, taunting. Normally he kept touching to a necessary minimum. And Blind Guy didn't touch like normal people, seeing people, did. He mapped out Asher’s skin like a work of art that he wanted to remember in every detail. Asher had never felt so naked with his pants still on. He didn’t know whether he liked that or not, but the way those fingers ran over his abs did make him want to lose more of his clothes.

But then Blind Guy broke away again, got up, and left him cold.

Wait, what?

What?

“What the fuck, man?” Asher stared at Blind Guy, too stunned to do anything else.

“Sorry.” Blind Guy ran a hand through his hair. “This is not happening.”

“Why not?” Asher didn’t care if his voice came out like a whine. He was horny. And it was Blind Guy’s damn fault.

“I really am sorry,” Blind Guy said, instead of answering the question. “Lost my head for a minute there.”

“You know what? Fuck you.” Asher stood up as well. He’d had enough. First Blind Guy was mean, then he was nice, then they were making out, then they were not… It was too damn confusing and the day had been long enough. Asher turned and started to walk away from their make-shift camp.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to jerk off now. Without you.”

Blind Guy didn’t try to stop him after that. Just as well. Who needed him anyway?

Chapter 11 - Corpses

“Wake up,” Asher said over the sound of birds chirping. “I’m hungry.”

Fantastic. Seemed like someone was still pissed about last night. José had heard Asher come back late, but had pretended to be asleep. Like he could sleep after a day like that.

“Wait a second,” he said, gathering himself. “The lavalight isn’t back yet.”

“Where’s she always going off to anyway?”

José dusted himself off. “I don’t know. I hope she’s finding a fast way for us to get home.” There was no guarantee that Jonas and Maya’s fate wouldn’t be their’s yet.

“I hope she finds food.”

José suppressed a sigh. It was a good thing he’d turned Asher down last night after all. He didn’t do one night stands, and there was no chance the two of them would ever be more than that. Before he could think too much about it, though, he felt the lavalight draw closer, a bright red spot to his right.

“Found anything?” he asked, turning to face her.

“Well, after this detour you insisted we make…” she drew the words out to underline her annoyance. “I’ve found a small port at the foot of the mountain. It won’t get us exactly where I wanted, but it’s something. You just need to keep your heads down and get going now. We could be there by sundown and cross tomorrow.”

José related the news to Asher.

“Did she say anything about breakfast?”

“God, Asher, you’re single-minded.” José started making his way back through the bushes to the mountain trail. “I’m sure we’ll find some food and water somewhere.”

“At least I keep to my goals and don’t confuse the hell out of people,” Asher said, following behind.

José bit his teeth together. He shouldn’t have slipped up yesterday. Okay, he hadn’t gotten any in a while and Asher was hot, no denying that, but... José pinched the bridge of his nose.
Do not think about how hot he is. Especially do not think about the contours of his body.

“I don’t—” José stopped himself to yelp as he stumbled over a rock in the way. Flailing with his arms, he just so managed to keep his balance. He really should not let that idiot distract him so much.

“Uncool, dude,” Asher said, walking past. Then he stopped still, and José almost ran into him on the narrow pathway.

“What?”

“I just remembered, I never told you.”

“What did you want to tell me?”

“What happened when I was waiting for you outside that city.”

José raised an eyebrow at him.

“First there was this bastard little squirrel and then this huge seasnake sorta monster. And they both threw stuff at me. I shoulda grilled the little beast.” Asher talked so fast it was hard to follow, but José wasn't surprised by any of what he said. Of course Asher got into all sorts of trouble on his own. “You'll never believe what I found after I lost sight of the squirrel!” Asher said then.

“Was it a bed?”

“What? Why would I find a bed?”

“Never mind… go on.”

“I found a bottle of Coke. Real Coke. Coca-Cola brand name and all.”

José's mouth fell slightly open as Asher started humming the Coca-Cola Christmas jingle. Which wasn't only very catchy, but also very unfitting. Still he couldn't help but feel a sudden craving for Coke.

“Real Coke?”

“Well, not
real
real. It was British. But...you know. Tasted real enough.”

“Wonder how that got here…” And whether there was a connection to the bed phenomenon.

“Probably the same way we got here,” Asher said, like it was the simplest thing.

“And how exactly did we get here?”

“Dunno. Sorry I didn't think to ask the bottle.” He kept humming that stupid melody. José was going to have it stuck in his head for the rest of the day. Sometimes he wanted to whack Asher.

“What did you do with it?”

“I threw it away after I drank it up.”

José went ahead and whacked him.

“Ouch! What was that for?”

“We could have used that bottle to ask around.”

“I didn’t think of that. Oh, by the way, I also found Horse-Guy,” Asher said then, like an after thought.

“What?”

“Don’t worry, he’s dead.” Only Asher could say that like it wasn’t big news. “Let’s just go on and find some food.”

“You mean you found his corpse?“

“Yeah. Now c’mon. I’m starving.”

“Okay,” José said slowly, trying to process the info.

Asher started walking again, obviously done with the topic. José followed. They only made it a few steps before José noticed a weird smell in the air. Like something rotting, but not quite. He stopped Asher.

“Do you smell that?” José asked.

“No. What?”

José focused on his surroundings. Something wasn’t right. “There’s a cold spot in the bushes.” He pointed to the right. “What’s there?”

Leaves rustled as Asher went to check it out. “Man,” he said. “You don’t wanna know. Seriously, you don’t.” He stepped away from whatever he’d found.

“What is it?” José crouched down beside the cold spot. It was about the size of a child, lying in the bushes.

“Don’t touch that,” Asher said. “She’s dead.”

“Is it a—”

“She looks like an elf. With a dog tail.”

A half-breed child. José took a deep breath, feeling the contents of his stomach work their way up. He turned away from the corpse.

“This is fucked up,” Asher said. “This is really fucked up.”

José nodded. He would have liked to give the girl a proper burial, but there was no time. “We have to go on,” the lavalight said into his ear. Digging a hole large enough would have taken forever in this soil. José made himself take a step up the road.

“Come,” he said to Asher. “Let her rest.”

***

At the end of the day they reached a sad accumulation of run down huts by the shore. Several people had gathered in the middle of the village, out in the open. “You figure they’re all waiting for that boat?” Asher said, looking over the assembly of freaks. Most of them seemed to be women and children. Asher cringed as a baby’s crying reached his ears. “Figure the baby will be boarding?”

“I guess,” Blind Guy said.

“Awesome.” Asher didn’t try to hide the sarcasm.

“The lavalight said it’ll only be a couple hours, probably.”

Asher looked out over the sea, but it was too dark to see whether the land on the other side was visible from here. The smell of cooked meat drifted into his nose, but thankfully, he’d already eaten. One more goal accomplished.

“C’mon, let’s call it a night.” Blind Guy yawned. “I think with this many people here, we don’t need a watch out.”

“Alright.” Asher led them to an open spot just outside the first huts. The ground was a little softer there, not as trampled on. It had been a warm day, and even without a fire, he felt comfortable. The stars looked a lot like they did at home just outside the city. As a small child, he’d lived on the beach side, and he’d always liked that view of the night sky. It was pretty.

He looked over at Blind Guy, who’d curled up on his side, facing away from Asher. Another pretty sight there. If only he wasn’t so complicated. “You know it was really nice last night before you chickened out.”

“I’m sure you had more fun by yourself after.”

Asher shrugged. “Could have been better.” He’d gotten so close yesterday, he couldn’t just give up now. If anything, he wanted it more now than he had before. He couldn’t get Blind Guy’s taste out of his mind. Or the way his touch had felt. So intense.

Blind Guy turned around. “I’m really not into this whole one-night-stand thing,”

Asher rolled his eyes at him. “Wouldn’t be a one-night-stand if we did it twice.”

“Repeating a mistake doesn’t make it right.”

“I don’t care if you hate me, or you don’t like me, or whatever. But do not call me a mistake.”

“I didn’t mean you, Asher. I meant us having sex.”

“Whatever,” Asher said. “You wanted it too, yesterday. You stopped yourself, but you wanted it.”