Show Me Yours and I’ll Show You Mine

Ian didn’t stay in his dorm for the entire week. He only went back twice during that week. The first time was on the first morning of his first day back to class. Khali went with him while he collected his class necessities and a few more personal items—mostly extra socks, as Ian somehow managed to lose all of his while he was at his parents’ house. The dorm room felt creepy, and Ian avoided letting his eyes move to the other side of the room where all of Tommy’s belongings still lay. Ian left as quickly as he could, shoving his things into his backpack and ushering Khali back to the elevators.

The second time was on Friday afternoon. Tommy’s parents met Ian at the dorm to collect all of Tommy’s belongings. They sadly offered to let him keep anything of Tommy’s that he wanted, but Ian declined the offer, not realizing until later that he still had the shirt Tommy had lent him for his date the previous Saturday. To Ian, that was enough for now.

During the week, Ian stayed with Khali, and the two of them became closer and closer over each passing second. Eilam was not pleased, growling and grumbling under his breath every time he saw Ian walking around his house. Khali only had to shoot Eilam a dirty look to keep him from saying anything about their guest’s presence, giving Eilam no choice but to hide away in his bedroom or leave the house completely. He did leave a few times, but always came back quickly to make sure that Ian and Khali were not engaged in any “inappropriate” behavior.

Ian and Khali rode the bus together to the university for the remaining three days of the week. Ian didn’t enjoy returning to his classes—his classmates and professors had all heard about what had happened with Tommy (just the death part, not the interesting part with the ritual and the demon) and gave him depressing looks every time he turned around. But between classes, he slipped into Khali’s lab where she didn’t mind having him around as she tested out her skin products on one of the Samads. She especially enjoyed having him around when it was just the two of them alone down there. Eilam, naturally, stopped coming to the lab that week.

During his stay at Khali’s house, Ian learned that Khali and Eilam didn’t necessarily need to sleep—or eat, or do anything else that normal people needed to do to sustain life—but they did it anyway just because it was helpful to them. Like eating, sleep was a way to replenish energy in the body. And energy, Ian learned, was the driving source behind their ability to use their magic. Using magic burned off energy, just like running or swimming burned off energy. They needed energy more than they needed anything else in life. Carbs were Khali’s favorite, she once joked, so Ian took pleasure in making pastas with her each evening.

Much to Ian’s slight chagrin, Khali always insisted that Ian sleep on her bed. That was nice of her, but, unfortunately, Khali’s bed didn’t come with Khali still in it—she always modestly slept on the couch. Ian would never express his disappointment in this arrangement. He was much too nice of a gentleman to do something of that sort, especially when they hadn’t even known each other that long. But really, he felt as if he knew her better than he had known anyone else in his entire life. Better than he knew Tommy, even.

Tommy.

Even with Khali now a consistent part of his life, Ian still felt a persistent loneliness for Tommy. He would probably always feel it, he assumed, as Tommy had been there with him during most of their lives. There was nothing that could replace that friendship.

Oh, how Tommy would have loved teasing Ian for staying at a girl’s house for multiple nights, even sleeping in her bed, without “getting any.” Yeah, Tommy would have had a field day with that.

Saturday night was another official “date” night for Ian and Khali—this one, Khali insisted (and Ian didn’t even bother arguing when she insisted), was her treat. She took him to a cute little diner in the next town over where a waitress (Allyson, her name tag called her) talked them into splitting a piece of pie for dessert, and Ian thought he might have gone to heaven from the perfect taste. Afterwards, Khali drove them back to the graveyard by her house, where they joined the others in the storm drain and were entertained for hours by a medley of traditional cultural dances that Ian had never witnessed before. The whole experience was mesmerizing. He tried not to notice how Nithya—who looked positively radiant in her gold-trimmed, bright blue sari—cooed and tittered whenever she saw Ian and Khali sitting close together or leaning in toward one another.

Afterwards, they went back to Khali’s house, giggling and high off the energy from the evening. Ian paused on the front porch to make a joke about not being able to kiss her goodnight because of a promise he’d made to Eilam. Khali laughed loudly and pulled him inside, immediately bringing her mouth to his for a long, tender kiss.

Ian trailed his lips across her jaw to her ear. “Have I told you how beautiful you look today?” he whispered.

“Just a few times,” she replied with a chuckle, as Ian’s lips tickled her neck.

“This color looks great on you,” he said for the tenth time. She wore a lime green, long-sleeve shirt (understandable; the weather was turning a bit cooler from the October winds) that came down past her hips and clung perfectly to all of her curves. It had a wide boat-neck collar that exposed her freckles, ivory collarbones, and most of her shoulders.

Khali was modest as always. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you,” Ian said suggestively, but he quickly added, “for taking me out tonight. That was great. We should do it again sometime.”

“Yeah, we will,” Khali agreed. “I’m glad you had fun.”

But Ian was still having fun, pressing his lips in quick pecks up and down her shoulders. “So what should we do now?”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a fist banged on the front door behind them. They jumped apart, and Khali quickly opened the door. Richard and Lena stood on the front porch. “Eilam invited us over,” Richard explained.

“Has he been here all night?” Khali asked as she let them inside. Lena just shrugged.

Any expectations that Ian had about the remainder of the evening promptly flew out the window. As Richard and Lena walked by him on their way to Eilam’s bedroom, Lena sent Ian an apologetic smile, like she knew exactly what they had just interrupted.

“Come on, let’s go watch a movie or something.” Khali gripped Ian’s hand and pulled him into her bedroom. Ian stretched himself out on the bed, face-down, propped up on his elbows, while Khali selected a movie for the DVD player and flipped off the lights.

Eilam stuck his head into the room as the opening credits rolled. “If you don’t mind,” he said in his big brother tone, “I would like for you to keep this door open while the two of you are alone in here in the dark.”

“Eilam!” Khali began to use her stern voice, but Ian interrupted her.

“No, it’s okay,” Ian told her calmly. To Eilam he said, “That’s fine, you can leave it open.”

Confused by how easily Ian had conformed to his suggestion, Eilam cautiously opened the door all the way, keeping a suspicious eye on the brunette. He then watched in horror as Khali practically threw herself on top of Ian and planted a big kiss on his lips.

“Khali!” Ian and Eilam both screeched at the same time.

“Sorry,” Khali said to Ian. “You know I like it when you stand up to me like that.” Well, he had interrupted her. Perhaps in her eyes, that was the same as standing up to her. He’d learned that not a lot of people would do that to her, especially when her stern voice came into play.

“I did not need to see that.” Eilam gagged.

Khali sighed. “Someday, Eilam, you will find a girl who can tolerate you enough to want to kiss you, and then you will understand.”

Eilam shook his head, disgusted, and walked away. “Door open,” he called over his shoulder.

“Yes, Father,” Ian called back to him, which did nothing except cause Khali to kiss him again. He would have to keep up this bold attitude just for the reward system.

Khali and Ian cuddled together on her bed as they watched the movie, exchanging kisses every few minutes and completely missing all the major plot points of the film. They were only interrupted by Richard, Lena, or Eilam twelve or thirteen times. Eilam always acted pleased to do the interrupting, but Richard seemed annoyed that he’d been recruited for the task, and Lena only did it half-heartedly because Eilam asked her to.

During a rare moment alone, Ian pulled Khali closer to him. “You’re not using your magic on me right now, are you?” he whispered.

Khali gave him a confused look. “Of course not. Why would you ask that?”

He sighed. “It feels like something is manipulating my hormones.”

“Eilam,” Khali hissed with a scowl and a narrowing of her eyes.

Ian shook his head. “I don’t think Eilam would be doing this to my hormones.”

Khali twisted her body so that she could see him better. “What are you talking about?”

Before he could stop himself, the bold new Ian leaned forward and murmured into Khali’s ear, “I think I might be falling in love with you.”

Khali’s eyes widened before she ducked her head in embarrassment.

Oh great. I have just made a complete fool of myself. Ian couldn’t think of any way to coolly play off his previous words, so he simply muttered under his breath, “Stupid hormones.”

These new words caused a hint of a smile to appear on Khali’s face, but she still looked embarrassed. “Ian, I’m flattered, but—”

Ian cut her off, just the way she liked it. “I don’t expect you to feel the same way right now. I just wanted to tell you what was on my mind.”

Khali timidly smiled. “I do really like you, but I don’t think I’m ready for... that... yet.”

“Good,” Ian responded. “No need to rush.” He was just pleased that he hadn’t completely freaked her out with his confession.

They settled back into their cuddling position, and Ian’s heart began racing as he realized what he had just done. So he wasn’t a completely pure and innocent guy, but he had never actually told a girl words like that before. It felt invigorating to get the words out there like that. He didn’t even mind that she didn’t feel the same way (yet!). He’d just have to keep working on that.

Much to Ian’s happiness, he and Khali fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Ian awoke a brief period of time later. He sat up and looked around. Khali was gone and the television screen was blank, but a lamp next to the bed had been turned on. From the opened bedroom door, he could see that the rest of the house was completely dark, and there were no sounds coming from anywhere. Eerie.

“Khali?” Ian called, his voice sounded entirely too loud for the quiet house.

He heard the sound of bird twittering from somewhere else in the house. He knew Khali was there; that was unmistakably her laugh.

“Khali, what are you doing?” He stood and began to walk toward the door, but Khali quickly ran into the room.

In one swift motion, she turned and closed the door behind her. “They’re finally gone!” she announced.

“Who, Eilam?” Well, obviously, who else?

“And Richard and Lena,” Khali confirmed. “It’s about time. I was so tired of them hovering around us all night.”

“They weren’t too bad,” Ian teased. “Well, maybe the random hand-checks were a bit much, but I suppose their intentions were good.”

Khali giggled, and Ian found pleasure in the sound. She stepped up to him, softly running her hands up his arms until they rested on his shoulders. He grabbed her waist, pulling her to him and filling in all the space that separated them. Khali laughed again.

Ian growled playfully. “Why do you keep teasing me with that sound? I shouldn’t have told you how much I like it.”

Khali deviously giggled before capturing his lips with hers. She pulled away slightly and whispered to him, “I’ve been thinking about what you said to me earlier.”

Ian pulled back a little more so that he could get a better look into her gorgeous green eyes.

“I think I might be feeling the same way about you after all.” She ducked her head, her hair falling down into a curtain around her face, and Ian felt his heart begin racing again.

Ian used a finger under her chin to tilt her face up toward his. He couldn’t suppress a grin. “Really?”

She nodded, biting her lip.

That single move was ridiculously more seductive than Ian would have liked to admit. Before he could register what was happening, their mouths desperately crashed together and Khali pushed him backwards toward the bed. The back of his legs hit the mattress, and he sat down, pulling Khali onto his lap in one liquid movement.

Khali pushed Ian again so that he lay all the way back on the bed. She hovered over him, her lips and tongue eagerly exploring every possible surface of his mouth and face while her body pressed firmly into his. Ian was so stunned by Khali’s bold move that he couldn’t think to respond.

He looked up at her; her curly red hair hanging down around them, her radiant beauty accentuated by the lime green color of her shirt, the neck-line of her shift falling off one shoulder. And the way she was leaning over him at just that moment... yep! If he looked at the exact angle, he could see right down her shirt! Overwhelming emotions were raging within him, and he wasn’t sure that either he or Khali could do anything to control them.

“Khali,” he moaned into her mouth.

She giggled, sending another jolt of excitement up Ian’s spine. “Something the matter?” she teased, barely removing her lips from his. Her hands strategically moved downward until she reached the hem of Ian’s shirt. She abruptly sat up on her knees above him, one leg placed on each side of his body.

“What?” Ian tried to sit up as well, thinking that something was wrong, but Khali forcefully pushed him down again.

“I have an idea,” Khali said tantalizingly. She bit her lip timidly again, and Ian had to hold back those annoying teenage urges.

“What?” Ian repeated, curious this time.

From the light of the bedside lamp, Khali’s shy demeanor became clear. This did nothing to help Ian’s hormones; shy girls—to say the least—could be so hot. “Well...” There she went with that lip biting again. “Remember your first night here when you asked if you could see more of my skin?”

Ian swallowed. Where was she going with this? He nodded.

“So I was thinking... maybe I could make that happen, if you show me yours first.” Khali blushed and avoided eye contact.

“What?” This time Ian’s word of choice was accompanied by wide eyes and an incredulous expression.

Khali leaned down closer to his face. “Come on,” she pleaded. “I know Nithya told you my secret.”

Oh yes, he knew what she was talking about now. One time she said that she thinks you’d look hot without a shirt on.

“I can take it off for you, if you’d like,” Khali said, sliding her hands further up his shirt so that all of her fingers pressed into the skin on his stomach.

Ian didn’t need to be asked twice. He squirmed out of his plain, black t-shirt, with Khali helping him pull it over his head. Finally it was off and tossed onto the floor where hopefully more clothing was destined to be discarded.

“Mmmm,” Khali sighed, rubbing her hands up Ian’s stomach and across his chest. “Even better than I imagined.”

Ian had no idea why she would say that. He had no six pack or even slightly-defined muscles anywhere. He was a bit on the skinny side and had practically no body hair, minus an almost invisible happy trail leading down into his jeans. But Khali’s eyes looked almost hungry as she gazed at Ian’s bare torso, which somehow strengthened Ian’s attraction to her at that moment—if that was even possible.

Khali kissed his chest a few times and then slyly looked up at him through her eyelashes. “My turn,” she whispered.

Ian knew that there was no possible way in the world that he could hide just how aroused he was at that exact moment. Especially not with Khali sitting on him the way she was. “Okay,” he said, sounding more like a squeak than a human voice.

Khali took her sweet time pulling her long shirt over her head while Ian watched and enjoyed every second of it. She tossed the shirt to the floor with Ian’s and shook out her hair.

“Oh, my dear lord.” Ian enunciated each word very slowly as he took in the sight before him.

Khali was absolutely flawless. There were no gray or dry spots anywhere, just her beautiful freckles cascading across her body. He didn’t feel guilty for getting a good look at her cleavage this time, and his mouth watered at the sight of her breasts supported by a lacy, black bra. He gently grabbed her by her waist, reveling in the way her naked skin felt against the palms of his hands, and pulled her body back down on top of his. Her flesh against his flesh almost sent him over the edge, but he was holding on for dear life. This was too good to let go.

They kissed again, becoming more and more eager to taste each other. Khali allowed Ian’s hands and mouth to wander to her chest, but Ian pulled away before she even stopped him.

“Are you sure we’re not moving too fast?” he breathed.

“Psh, no way,” she said seductively as her lips collided with his again.

Ian began trailing his hands across the smooth skin of Khali’s back, but he abruptly stopped as her words caught him off guard. Did the word “psh” really just come out of her mouth? There was only one person in the world that Ian had ever heard say that.

“Khali?” He pulled her away from him a little. “Why did you just—”

But she cut him off. “No, shh, don’t say anything right now. Let’s just finish what we’ve started.” She reached down to the button on his jeans. “This should be fun,” she said, licking her lips with her bright yellow tongue.

“What the f—!” Ian forcefully shoved her away, and she stumbled off the bed with a yelp.

“Psh, you know you liked it,” came Tommy’s voice from the floor.

Ian sat up and looked over the edge of the bed where Khali had fallen. Sure enough, Khali was not there. Instead, it was Tommy, in demon format—charcoal skin, tiny body, and bright yellow eyes and tongue.

Tommy stood up to his full height—now only three feet or so—with a devious smile on his face. He placed his skinny hands on his hips and wiggled his shoulders. An odd move, but Ian could easily see what it was all about. Around his chest, the Tommy-demon wore a lacy, black bra. “You like?” Tommy cackled.

Ian screamed. “Oh my god! You kissed me! UGH!” He tried to suppress a gag, but failed.

Tommy just laughed hysterically.

Ian stopped and stared at Tommy for a moment. “Wait a minute. Eilam said they destroyed you! What are you doing here?”

Tommy abruptly ceased laughing and turned his head toward the door of the room.

“Ian? Are you okay?” Khali’s voice called from somewhere else in his mind.

Suddenly the room shifted around Ian. He wasn’t sitting up on the bed anymore, and he wasn’t half nude. He was lying on his back with his eyes closed; he’d been asleep—all of that had been a dream (a very realistic one, at that), starting at the time when he and Khali had fallen asleep together. Ian struggled to open eyes just in time to see the Tommy-demon sitting on top of him with his body crouched over Ian’s. Hearing Khali approaching the room, Tommy rapidly leaped off of Ian’s body, and Ian became very aware of how completely tired he felt. He wasn’t sure that he could even open his mouth to speak.

Tommy’s maniacal laughter rang throughout the room just as Khali’s voice shouted, “Oh my god! Eilam! The incubus! He has Ian!”

Before Khali or Eilam could further respond, Tommy had vanished out a window into the dark night.

Ian tried to sit up. It was impossible. He couldn’t even move a toe.

“Was it...? Was he...? That looked just like my bra!” Khali exclaimed, rushing to the opened window where Tommy had escaped. Unable to see him anymore—those demons were speedy little buggers—she hurried to her bureau and opened one drawer. “Hey! That was mine! He’s a thief, too!”

Oh well, nothing she could do about a stolen bra now. Although, it was her favorite; what a shame that Tommy had run off with it.

“Ian, are you all right?” she said, finally coming to inspect Ian, who still lay out on the bed unable to move.

He groaned, surprising himself by being able to do that much.

“Don’t try to move!” Khali insisted. “He must have completely drained you. He didn’t get your soul, did he?”

Ian didn’t know what it would feel like to not have a soul, but he didn’t feel any different. Well, minus the whole inability to do anything. He groaned again.

“I don’t think he did,” Khali concluded. “Stay right here, okay?” Ian didn’t think he had much of a choice. She leaned down and kissed him on his forehead. “I’m going to get you some juice.”

She fled the room, screaming for Eilam again. Richard and Lena timidly walked out of his bedroom with him.

“Would you care to explain to me why an incubus just showed up in our house?” If Ian had been present, he would have been cowering at Khali’s voice.

“Incubus?” Eilam tried to play innocent.

“Yes, Eilam.” Khali wasn’t fooled. “The exact incubus, in fact, that you told me you had destroyed five days ago!” With her hands on her hips, she fiercely added, “I swear, I didn’t expect this from any of you!” She shot an evil glare toward each of them.

She gave them all a moment to respond to her in some way, but no one spoke up. She stomped away to the kitchen and quickly poured a glass of juice. She grumbled all the way back to her bedroom.

“Now I have an energy-drained human in my room who could have lost his soul! Fortunately all the demon took was my bra! How would it sit with your conscious if he actually had made it out of here with a soul? Oh wait, never mind. You don’t seem to have a conscious, considering that you didn’t even have to think twice about lying to me about destroying the one enemy that we have.”

She made it to the bed and leaned over Ian with the glass of juice. “I’m going to help you sit up, okay?” she said in a nice, sweet, soothing voice. “And I want you to drink this. It will help you get your energy back.”

Ian assumed that Khali meant she would use her arms to help him sit up, but that wasn’t exactly what happened. Without Khali even touching him, Ian could feel a force push against his back and shoulders, bringing him to a sitting position. Then Khali brought the glass of juice to his lips, and Ian greedily drank. He could feel the sugar pour into his system, instantly reanimating his muscles. Within a few sips, he could actually lift his arms to hold the glass.

“Oh, Ian!” Khali flung her arms around him once he was able to sit up without the aid of her magic. He hugged her back, and his heart began pounding at how nice it felt to have the real Khali in his arms. “I saw the demon, Ian! I saw Tommy on top of you, and I was so scared! That’s how they drain your energy when you’re asleep; they just sit on top of you and suck it all out.”

Ian shuttered at the memory of Tommy sitting on top of him. Then he shuttered again at the memory of what Tommy had been doing to him in his dream.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that!” Khali gushed, kissing his cheek. “Was it absolutely horrifying?”

Ian thought about the experience. “Well,” he replied, finally finding his voice, “actually, the only horrifying part was when I found out it was Tommy.”

Khali’s brow wrinkled. “What do you mean?”

“You know that belief that you told me about? That the incubus and succubus seduce people in their sleep?” Ian could feel himself blushing as he said the word “seduce.”

Khali nodded.

“Well, I think that part’s actually true,” he informed her.

Her jaw fell open, and a bit of red crept into her cheeks. “You mean, those rumors are true? He appeared in your dream as a beautiful woman and seduced you?”

Yep, that’s exactly what had happened. Ian didn’t tell her any more details (especially that Khali herself was the beautiful woman in the dream), but he confirmed her question.

“So technically, that would make Tommy a succubus, if he appeared as a female,” Khali concluded. She shook her head, overwhelmed from what had just happened in a matter of mere seconds.

Ian didn’t care what Tommy was. He just never wanted to experience anything like that ever again. Well, unless it really were Khali coming on to him in such ways.

“I can’t believe Eilam lied to me,” Khali muttered. “How could he just pretend that he’d destroyed the demon? And put everyone in danger like that? This is worse than when he actually created the demon.”

“I’m okay now,” Ian told her, jestingly flexing his bicep to show her how he’d gotten his strength back.

“That’s not the point,” she snapped. “He could have gotten your soul. Or mine. Or someone else’s. Who knows where he is now? He could be out sucking on some other innocent person’s soul. We could be in the middle of another demon war right now. This is exactly how the Dark Ages began, you know.”

Such news didn’t even shock Ian anymore. It seemed that many historical milestones were somehow connected to the Khalids.

“Calm down,” Ian told her, forcing himself to stand up to her and use his own stern voice. He may have been imagining things, but it looked like Khali’s eyes lit up a little as he spoke. “We can handle this. I mean, you’re Khali. You’re the queen of this place. You can do anything.”

Khali smiled. “Thanks for the confidence boost,” she said dryly. “Right now, I’m going to go yell at Eilam some more.” And that’s exactly what she did.

Author’s Note: This chapter was awesomely fun to write. I think it’s my favorite so far. Please tell me what you thought about it. Reviews made my world go ‘round. And thanks to all my faithful reviewers! And readers! You are awesome as well.

By the way, I hope you all picked up on my little reference to another story in there. Hehe. Oh yeah, and this college where they go to is in the town called “New Falls” (mentioned a few chapters back), which is a town I made up that also appeared in the other story. Did any of you catch that? If not, no problem. I will just go cry. Haha. Kidding.