Amor de Muerte

Chapter 1

Marek walked outside and lit a cigarette. He took a drag deep into his lungs, and released the smoke slowly through his mouth.

"Hey sailor," the voice came from next to him.

Marek looked over, and raised an eyebrow. "Sailor?" he asked.

"It's an expression," said Charon.

Marek snorted, and chuckled slightly. Five minutes later they were in a bathroom stall together.

Charon kissed him, and breathed him in. His scent was a strange combination of cigarette smoke, and pepper. He turned her around, and she leaned against the wall. Charon felt him pull her pants and thong down, and slide into her from behind. He started pumping in and out, as he grabbed a fistful of her hair, and pulled her head back. She moaned, and started to come. Her pussy muscles squeezed his dick, and watching her big hips, narrow waist, and feeling her large, natural breasts with his other hand pushed him over the edge. He pulled out and came on the floor.

She turned around, smiling, but then her face turned to a mixture of fear and anger, and she said, "Where's the fucking condom?!"

"Fuck condoms!" retorted Marek. "Relax, you can't go around worrying all the time. I pulled out anyway."

Charon calmed down a little, and said, "Okay, you're right, and, I mean, it's not like you have sex with hookers, right?" she chuckled uneasily.

Marek just stared at her awkwardly.

"Oh my god! You sick fucking prick!" she slapped him, got dressed, and walked out of the bathroom.

Chapter 2

Two months later Charon sat in her apartment with her friend Cereza.

"You remember Marek?" asked Charon.

"I wish I could forget that piece of shit." answered Cereza.

"So, you know what he does, then?" returned Charon.

"Oh, I know," said Cereza.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry to hear that. I get it. I got tested, did you?"

"Fuck yes I did! I'm not crazy! Luckily, I'm all good."

"Well... So did I, and since we both know we're both clean... I mean how often do two people know that they're both totally clean and safe?"

Cereza lunged forward and started kissing Charon. She pulled her clothes off, and tongue fucked her, while Charon rubbed her own clit. She came extremely hard, and then said, "Now, it's your turn."

Charon pulled off Cereza's top and sucked on her breasts. She then removed her pants and underwear, and licked her clit. She marveled at Cereza's amazing body. Cereza had very wide hips, perfect, real breasts, and just the right amount of trimmed hair around her pussy. She had olive toned skin, and dark black hair.

Charon was brought back to herself when she heard Cereza yelp "I'm coming!"

Charon licked the female ejaculate off of Cereza's pussy as Cereza lay there, quivering, for a few moments.

They got dressed, and moved to the living room, where they ate snacks and talked about what they were going to do next. Charon explained that, the following evening, they would be meeting several people they had gone to college with in north Texas, and that they were going to get so fucked up, they were going to die.

After they talked for a long time, and Cereza made extensive plans based on Charon's recommendations, they planned out their trip, and went to bed.

Chapter 3

Mikhail looked at Robby for a moment. It made Robby feel uneasy. They were standing in an anteroom of a temple, discussing politics, waiting for the event to begin.

"What?" demanded Robby. He hated looking at Mikhail's scar. It crumpled up on the right side of his face whenever he grimaced, and he was doing so now.

"You're a fucking racist dude," said Mikhail.

"Get fucked!" said Robby. "We don't have time for this, anyway. They're going to be waiting on us."

Robby stormed out, and Mikhail followed. They entered the main hall of the temple. Cereza, Tavish, Charon, and the other Mikhail were already there.

"Who is ready to meet the maker?" asked Tavish as he played a somber piece on the grand piano. He worked the pedals, and Cereza noticed he was able to do it with his prosthetic foot, no problem. She remembered hearing about him trying to jump onto a train, in Dallas, and falling. His leg was crushed, and it had to be removed.

Cereza checked her watch. It was 11 p.m. "He plays like a savant," she said, quietly, to Charon.

"A what?" asked Charon.

"You know, like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. A genius at something, but other than that, not so much," explained Cereza.

"Ah," said Charon.

"We're not really going to die, though, right?" Cereza said, even more quietly, to Charon.

"You'll have to see!" said Charon. "You're going to love it, though, either way."

Tavish kept playing. Robby was trying to figure out what song it was. Suddenly it picked up, and became really lively. It was Moonlight Sonata, Robby realized. What a weird piece, he thought, to go from much of the song being really dark, to suddenly a lively, upbeat tune.

Charon looked to the right, and noticed that Aleta had joined them. He was accompanied by that fucker who everyone knew had raped a chick back when they were freshmans in college, Pol. He'd lured her behind the stands after a game, and she'd been too dazzled by the fact that he was the quarterback, and very popular, to realize he was dangerous. It was never proven, but everyone knew. She shook these thoughts away, and noticed some other people she didn't recognize had joined the circle, as well.

Everyone started to look bored, so Mikhail gathered up a few clumps of a dark substance, and put it on the brazier in the middle of the group. He lit it with a match, and it was rapidly engulfed in flame. Cereza was terrified as she watched the blue flame ripple over the large mound. Then, it crackled, and died down. The dim light flickered on everyone's faces, making their smiles seem otherworldly, and terrifying, to Cereza. She actually jumped when the flame soared up once, almost looking alive. It seemed to slow down, much slower than flame could possibly move, and lean over, looking at her.

Looking at me? She wondered at her own thoughts. The flame towered, then, like a huge mountain, vast, and awe inspiring. Smoke tumbled down the mountain, pouring, rapidly, until it washed over them all. Then, the flame vanished, and all that was left was a smoldering pile of the substance, dimly glowing from deep inside. Smoke poured out of it, and filled the room. The notes Tavish was playing on the piano kept going, but seemed to get longer, and longer. Robby fell on the floor. Cereza wanted to go try to catch him, but she couldn't move! She realized she'd been breathing the smoke this whole time, it had already begun.

Each person dropped to the ground, one at a time. Even Tavish collapsed on the piano keys. Cereza was full of fear, as she watched her own body fall. She realized, though, that she was, in fact, watching HER OWN BODY. She looked around the room. It was dim, yet, much brighter than it had been previously. It looked the way a room does when flooded with the first light of day, but through curtains, muted. She could see dust motes in the light. Walking over to one, though, she noticed that they weren't moving. They were frozen. She walked around the room some more. The piano bench was empty. Where was everyone? She looked back, and saw that their bodies were missing, too.

Looking down, she noticed that the piano keys were elongated, and strange looking. When she scanned the room, it became apparent that the doorways, too, were all slightly bent. It didn't make any sense, yet she wasn't scared. She wandered into the different rooms of the abandoned temple, and admired the art within each, truly enjoying taking it all in. She felt calm, peaceful, and happy.

Chapter 4

Deep, gasping breathing. That's it. That's all there was. It filled all senses. The breaths kept coming, for a long time, and then, eventually, calmed a bit. Other breaths could be heard, then, all blended together. Over time, they began to separate.

Blackness gave way to a room, and shapes started to appear. Everyone was here, they were all waking up. Cereza rubbed her head, trying to make sense of everything that was happening. She looked at her watch, it said 11 A.M. She felt surprisingly happy, and clear headed, after a moment.

"So, good morning!" she said to Charon, who was getting to her feet next to Cereza. "You're right, that was amazing, and we have time to go see that new movie, it starts today!"

Charon snorted, and laughed. "Fat chance," she said.

Cereza looked at her, confused, while tilting her head.

"Look outside," instructed Charon.

Cereza walked to the window and pulled back the curtain. Her stomach dropped, and her blood ran cold. Every tiny hair pricked up on the back of her neck, and she felt an almost electric wave of anxiety creep up her body. Everything out the window was covered in snow.

"What the fuck is happening!?" demanded Cereza, tears welling up in her eyes.

"We died, and, so, some time passed," answered Charon, coolly.

"Bullshit! I'm very much alive, and clearly so is everyone else. How did we pass out in summer, and wake up- when the fuck is it now? Did three months go by? Is it winter?" yelled Cereza.

"Oh, honey, I-" began Charon, but she was cut off by Mikhail.

"It's kind of random. I check every time we do it, first thing when it wears off. Are you sure you want to know?" he said.

"Obviously!" said Cereza.

"It's been three years."

Chapter 5

Cereza left the temple that night. Her car wouldn't start, so she got a cab to a bus station and made her way home. Once she got home, terror rose in her, at all the lost time. Now it all made sense, as to why Charon had been telling her to make sure to get a house sitter and tell them it would be an unknown time frame, to make sure all of her bills were on auto pay, and so on.

"Bitch didn't tell me my car would sit so long it wouldn't start." she said. Then she realized how stupid she'd been to storm off, and take a cab, when Charon definitely would have given her a ride. She was angry with her, though. Yet, when she really considered it, Charon had warned her, in no uncertain terms, that they were going to die. Did she really die, though? Certainly, something strange had happened, but, death? There was no other explanation, except sci-fi nonsense about suspended animation, but they did not wake up hooked up to any machines.

Thinking about what had happened chilled her, deeply. Worse, still, though, was that she loved it. She loved every second she spent remembering that night, what it had felt like to be "dead," all of it. She was startled, suddenly, as her phone rang. She answered it.

"Yeah?" she said, in a snarky tone. It was Charon, and she was feeling ambivalent toward her.

"I miss you," said Charon, "My clothes smell like you. I can't stop thinking about you. I keep remembering how you tasted that night. I don't even care if it's driving directly into the sunrise, I won't mind it if I can come see you first thing in the morning."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" demanded Cereza. "We were just dead for three years, and you're trying to talk sexy to me?"

"I'm sorry, I lied before," said Charon.

"Lied? About what?" asked Cereza.

"About why it was important for you to come with me to the temple. We noticed that no one who dies with us ages, but we also found that people would start to die, permanently, and rapidly. Our group used to be a lot bigger."

"I don't get it," said Cereza, feeling the tingle of anxiety again.

"We found out that if you add people, more to die, then no one permanently dies. Marek worked out the details. He was afraid that, fun as it is, he might end up getting stuck in the other world. So, he figured out a pattern that would allow us to add the right number of people, and to die every few years, which should allow us to, well, live forever."

"You're fucking psycho!" shouted Cereza into the phone, tears forming in her eyes, voice quavering. "No one died, and no one is going to live forever! And, no one is going to fucking die if you don't do some stupid ritual every few years. I'm-" she was about to say she was never going to do the ritual again, but she couldn't.

"Then, I challenge you to explain what happened. If we didn't die, then what happened?"

"I don't know, some chemical compound that put us into a state of stasis, or something?" suggested Cereza.

"No such thing. We died. Sorry. But, now we live forever, so long as we play our cards right." said Charon.

"A lot of the people there were pieces of shit, do they really deserve to live forever?" said Cereza.

"Do you? Do we?" asked Charon.

Cereza was silent.

"Well, can I see you?" asked Charon.

Chapter 6

"We're going to have to do it again," said Charon. She'd driven to Cereza's house that morning.

"Die again? Why?" asked Cereza.

"On the way here, I got a call. I ignored it, and then listened to this voicemail," she played the message on speaker so Cereza could hear.

The message was other Mikhail, he, at first, was asking Charon to call him back, but then a loud knocking could be heard, and Mikhail getting out of his car. He was clearly shouting at someone who was angry about how he was driving, and had approached his car at a stoplight. Then, there was a wheeze, and the sound of the door shutting.

"So what? Did you call him back?" asked Cereza.

Charon held up her phone. There was a news report on it detailing a stabbing on a highway nearby.

"Oh my god, that was other Mikhail?" asked Cereza.

"Yeah, and that's not all of it," said Charon, as she opened up another news story. This one showed that two people had died in a car accident, when the car had burst into flames while the police were chasing them.

"Fuck. I saw both of them at the temple," said Cereza.

"Something went wrong, so we need to try again," said Charon gravely.

They went to the kitchen, and Cereza made coffee for them.

"Sugar?" she asked.

"Sugar, and do you have any cinnamon?" asked Charon. Cereza nodded, and made the drink for her. She passed it to her.

Charon said, "So, we need to go back to the temple. Marek said we need to be there in two weeks." she took a sip of her coffee, and said, "Mm, this is good."

"Fine," said Cereza. She hated herself. Not because she believed Charon, that some kind of mystical thing was happening. She hated herself because she wanted to do the ritual again, because she loved how it felt.

Chapter 7

Two weeks later they were back in the temple. There were some missing.

"Where is Aleta?" asked Cereza.

Marek answered, "He got sick. He's dead."

"What!?" asked Cereza. "It's been two weeks!"

"That's what I was trying to tell you!" said Charon. "It happens, and doesn't stop until we get the ritual right! But, if we do it right, no one dies. It's been ten years that we've had no deaths until now."

"But, wait, that sounds like a normal death, right? He wasn't killed, he just got sick, so that's not necessarily part of anything," suggested Cereza. She looked around, and saw that most wouldn't meet her eyes, and Marek, Mikhail and Charon were shaking their heads at her.

Pol stumbled in, then, gripping his leg. It was bandaged at the thigh, and a little blood seeped through.

"What happened?" asked Marek, as he moved over to help his friend.

"I got fucking shot!" stammered Pol.

"Who would shoot you?" asked Marek.

"It's the ritual, we fucked something up. It was a stray bullet, million to one odds, and it hit me! The sooner we get this going, the better!" said Pol.

Cereza thought it might have been better if the shot had hit Pol in his head, though. She had never liked him, and he was a fucking rapist.

Marek put the substance on the brazier again, and lit it. The mountain of flame rose up, and the blue, liquid looking smoke poured down in a cascade, covering them all. They all collapsed again, and Cereza found herself walking around in the hazy world, and in love with it, once more. She wondered, what if she just stayed here, where she was always happy? No, she decided she loved life, and would do whatever she needed, even if it meant believing Charon's nonsense, and doing this ritual, over and over again. Maybe the only ones who would die permanently were the assholes, she thought. Each one that had was a piece of shit, after all. Maybe the rest of them would live, so long as they kept doing the ritual. They would figure out the pattern, and everything would be fine.