Idle Hands Ch. 03

"Let me show you."Althea laid a hand on Rachel's forehead. In moments, she blinked.

"Oh. That's easy!" A brief focusing of will, and her tail was also gone. She rubbed her back, and suddenly shivered with pleasure as her fingers encountered the sensitive tip.

"Yes," Althea said, her voice darkly amused. "You're going to find that takes some getting used to. I would recommend you wear undergarments that don't chafe for the near future. Or perhaps none at all."

"But how..."

"Our bodies have a sheath where our tail can retract if needed,"Althea replied. "Much like how a horse's cock is kept inside its body until the time comes for it to mate. It makes little sense for such a vulnerable body part to not have a safe haven."

"Do you...do you think it will go away when you return to your body?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. And why would you want it to?"She shuddered delicately. "I can't imagine anyone not wanting a tail. They are so useful. It would be like going through life without thumbs. Worse. Because thumbs don't give you nearly as much pleasure as a tail does."She demonstrated a function she especially enjoyed, and watched Rachel's eyes widen in sudden speculation.

"And what about the other body parts? Hooves? Wings? Horns?"

Althea shrugged negligently, the motion causing her breasts to bounce cheerfully. "I can give myself some of those features, certainly, if I wish. I rarely do. Hooves are terribly impractical, you know. Wings as well, although they are impressive if needed . Your body will make no attempt to fashion those for you.

"Horns?" She let her hands roam over Rachel's head. "Not yet. Maybe not ever. It depends on how quickly you get me back into my own body. Besides,"she said, her voice sounding slightly hurt in her own ears. "I always thought my horns were cute."

Rachel raised her eyes. Althea knew what she saw, now that she had removed the illusion which had hidden them. A pair of horns, white as ivory, peeking out from the tousled hair on her head. They were no longer than her middle finger, curving in a slight spiral, and resembled nothing so much as a pair of tulips emerging from spring soil. She shivered as Rachel raised her hands to let her fingers brush against them, feeling the hard surface, and smiled.

"Maybe for you,"Rachel said, removing her hands to rub her own head warily, as if searching for mysterious lumps in her skull. "But I would have a hard time explaining them to the kids!"

*****

"Josh, we need to talk."

He looked up from the canvas, a piece of charcoal in one hand, to see his wife (no, his fiance, his mind corrected him) standing in the doorway. "Hmm?" he asked distractedly.

Rachel walked into the workshop and snuggled into his side, one arm wrapping around his waist. "A new piece?"

"Just sketching it out," he replied, returning her hug. He dropped a kiss on her head, his lips brushing her hair. "It may turn out to be nothing."

"Or it might not," she said, knowing how his mind worked. She looked the canvas over, taking in the bold lines and shadowed curves. "Our daughter?"

He nodded. On the white canvas, Sarah was pictured. On first glance, it seemed to be a simple portrait of a young woman. But when you looked deeper you could see the smoldering sensuality, just below the surface. It never ceased to amaze Rachel how much personality Joshua could capture in just a few strokes of a pencil or a stub of charcoal. When they first started dating, he had tried to teach her some basic rules of art; perspective and why light and shadows were important. But she had never progressed much beyond stick figures.

"It seems you had a good time last night. Both of you," she remarked.

"I did," he said, and a blush rose in his cheeks. "We both did."

"Good," she said simply. When he looked at her in surprise, she laughed. "Come on, Josh! I practically shoved the two of you into bed together. I'm not out here to scream at you for doing what I helped you to do. It would break Sarah's heart. And maybe yours.

"But we do have something to talk about. And I didn't want the kids to interrupt us. And I didn't want to wait until we were in bed tonight. We might be otherwise occupied," she said with a smirk.

"Want me to hang out the sign?" he asked. When she nodded, he picked up a simple piece of wood hanging from a string. The words 'Go Away' were carved in large, bold letters on one side. He hung it on the outside doorknob and shut the door firmly, then turned the deadbolt for good measure. Ordinarily, he used the sign when he was working on a project and didn't want to be bothered. When it was up, the kids knew better than to knock for any emergency less pressing than 'alien invasion' or 'house on fire.'"

When he turned around, he saw that Rachel had taken off her skirt and was in the process of pulling down her panties. He grinned at her. "I thought you wanted to talk? If you wanted to have some fun, all you had to do was say so." His smile faded as she met his eyes. They were deadly serious, and a little...afraid?

"Josh, I have something to show you. And then I have something to tell you. And I want you to keep an open mind."

He blinked, confused. After the last few days, now she wants me to keep an open mind? "Sure."

She turned her back to him, giving him a wonderful view of her shapely rear. Despite his activities with Sarah, which had lasted so long into the night they hadn't fallen asleep until the early morning, he itched to take the firm globes into his hands. The dark red ink of her tattoo seemed to almost glow in the May sunshine coming through the windows.

"Look," she said. "Look close."

The sound of his head hitting the wooden floor as he fainted was the last thing he heard.

*****

Rachel managed to drag Joshua's unconscious body across the floor and heaved him into the ratty old armchair he had hauled around for the past two decades. She wrinkled her nose at the musty smell. Bought at the Goodwill in Champaign to help furnish their first apartment, he had insisted it accompany them on every move since.

"We've got to have continuity, Venus." She could hear his voice as the movers lugged the smelly, stained thing into the workshop.

Her husband frowned, then blinked his eyes, smiling up at her woozily.

"Hey, Rachel. I just had the wildest dream. I was in here, doing a sketch of Sarah, and you came in. You told me you had something you wanted to talk about, and the next thing I know, you have a tail! Pretty crazy, huh...oh my fucking God," he whispered, as she pirouetted to show him her new appendage. His eyes, when she faced him again, were wide and fearful.

She could see his throat work convulsively as he swallowed. "Rachel, what the hell is going on? What...where did that come from?"

"I wanted to show you first," she said. Her stomach churned with fear at his reaction. "If I tried explaining it from the beginning, I was afraid you'd have me taken in for a psych evaluation.

"You see, honey, I've got a strange woman in my head. She's a succubus. Her name is Althea, and she's the immortal offspring of a fallen angel and Adam's first wife.

"How it happened was this way..."

*****

When the story was finished, Josh blinked, very slowly. His face was a dazed blank.

"Josh? Honey? Do you believe me?"

He lowered his face into his hands and rubbed the sides of his nose. "Do I believe you? Rachel, you have a tail. How can I not believe you?

"The bigger question is, what the hell do we do? I mean, I love you. And I love that we're back together. And it would take a better person than I am to say I didn't want to keep having awesome sex with you and Sarah.

"But how much of this is you, and how much of this is this Althea person fucking around with your head? Heck, with all of our heads. You, me, the kids, other people, too. I know I never looked at Sarah as...as a potential partner until a few days ago. And from what you tell me, you never gave Maria a second thought before. Now she's living with us, and what she's apparently doing with Alex..." he trailed off. "I'm not judging. Different strokes, and all that. But does Althea really have our best interests at heart?"

"I don't think she did, at first," Rachel said honestly. Althea was silent in her head, as if she were afraid to interrupt. "From what she's told me, she has been alone for a very long time. Decades. She's had lovers, but to watch them all fade away and die, while she lived...it was as if her entire life was one long goodbye. Think of it, Josh. She is thousands of years old. And for almost all that time, she has been watching her loved ones leave her. First her parents. Then friends, lovers. As soon as she meets someone she feels she may care for, she has to deal with the knowledge that she will lose him. Or her. God, can you encompass the strength of the soul who can deal with that heartbreak over and over again and still be able to love?"

She thought back to the night before, when Althea had taken her in her arms and had sought to calm her. She could have told her soothing lies. Or attempted to seduce her. In her glade, she was in control, and there her physical impact grew more profound, not less. Rachel could not pretend she was immune to it. Instead, she had given her simple, unvarnished comfort.

"As far as I can tell, she has always told me the truth, even when it would have been to her benefit not to," she said. "She's in my head, and doesn't want to be. She gets power through sexual pleasure, and has been very up-front about that. As far as where that power comes from?" She smiled ruefully. "She doesn't care. At all. I could arrange for an orgy tonight, and the only thing she would ask is if everyone was a willing participant. Probably not even that, since she trusts me. She thinks human customs about sex are silly. Polyamory, group sex, what you and Sarah shared last night...all love is equal in her eyes.

"She pushes, yes. But gently. I have changed, yes. We all have, under her influence. But has anyone been hurt? Are any of us less happy than we were a few weeks ago? I know I'm not. If not for her, I would still be working my way to an early grave, alienating my children, and cut off from the man I love." She laid her hand on his cheek. "Now I have all the time in the world, my husband and my children are happy, and I can help those I care about, like Maria and Jeremy."

"So what does she have planned? For us?"

She paused, working through the possibilities. "In the beginning, I think she just wanted to use me to accumulate enough power for her to pull free and return to her own body. Now, I think she may want more. I have caught a few hints, here and there. She doesn't want to hurt us. I'm certain of that. She just wants us to be happy."

~Beloved, may I speak?~

Of course.

~I will need to use your voice.~

Rachel swallowed. "She says she wants to say something."

Josh's eyes widened as Althea's voice emerged from Rachel's lips. Even as the measured cadences rang through the room, Rachel could not believe the words were coming from her body. The voice was stronger, deeper, with weighty undertones of power.

"My handmaiden is correct," Althea said. "At the beginning, I used her as a refuge. Then, as a resource, drawing on the pleasure she received from her beautiful body. But now, I want more. From her, and from all of you.

"This is a wonderful world we live in, Joshua. But too few people are truly happy." She sighed. "So many rules about who you can love. How you can love." An arm described an arc, seemingly encompassing the entire planet. "It is as if you are all living in a cathedral, and no one cares enough to worship. I want to change that.

"Whether by chance or some unknowable design, we have all been brought together. When I saw the work you are capable of, I thought of you as a Michelangelo or a Raphael. One whose art could elevate the act of bodily love to a sacrament, much like their art inspired numbers beyond count.

"The others in your household are also incredibly gifted. Think of them all working together for a common purpose. Yourselves, your children. Maria and Jeremy as well. Six men and women, loving and living and serving as a catalyst for a new age of love."

"With you as our Goddess?" Joshua's voice was shrewd.

Althea laughed, her voice full of amusement. "May the Almighty forbid! I have no desire for worship. Think of me rather as a prophet. Sent to guide those who would listen. Not like some huckster on television, trying to fleece the gullible. But instead as a voice of enlightenment." Her voice lowered and grew suddenly intent. "Think of what we can do, Joshua. You have been working towards this your entire life. With my vision, your art, Rachel's passion, we can lead so many away from their self-imposed darkness. She held out her hand. "Will you aid me?"

He took her hand. "I have to think about it," he said. "You are right on one count, though," he continued. "Not enough people are happy. Do you really think seven people can make a difference in how the whole world thinks about sex?"

"The greatest fire can start with a single spark," she said, then withdrew. Rachel staggered slightly as her body became her own again. She shook her head, her stomach roiling, her body feeling as if it belonged to someone else.

"Gah!" she said. "I'm not doing that again if I can help it.

"So, what do you think?"

Josh shook his head. "I'm not sure. It all sounds nice, but I've learned to be careful when something sounds too good to be true."

She nodded. "I understand. Think about it and let me know.

"And now that I've confessed my terrible secret," she said with a lopsided smile, "I'm heading out. Althea asked me to go up to the hospital and check in on her body. To make sure they're taking good care of her and see if she can figure out how she wants to approach things. I'll take Alex and Maria with me," she said, grinning wickedly. "I thought you and Sarah would appreciate some alone time."

*****

"So what's going on again? And why are we doing this on Memorial Day?" Alex asked.

From the back seat, Maria smiled. She loved her master dearly, but sometimes Alex was as oblivious as a boy, caught up in his own concerns and not giving a thought to others.

I'm going to have to work on that. He cares for me. That I know. But it would be well if he showed more concern for everyone else. Actors are too self-absorbed to begin with. When he is famous, I want him to be gracious and kind, not an egotistical prick.

"I just found out a friend of mine is in the hospital," Rachel said, as she steered the car into the parking lot at the University of Chicago Medical Center. "She doesn't have any close family, so I thought I would check in on her and see how she is doing. And whether I could do anything for her."

She put the car in park and opened her door. "As far as why we're doing this on Memorial Day, why not? I wasn't aware of any pressing engagements you had, other than screwing poor Maria here so many times you've probably rubbed all the skin off your pecker."

"I do not mind, Mistress," she said softly, climbing out of the car, as Alex flushed scarlet. "I wish to please my master. And he pleases me in turn. Often." she said. Indeed, the night before had been heavenly. As soon as they had entered her apartment, Alex had ordered her to her knees, tied her hands behind her back with a silk necktie he had purchased for the occasion, and had presented his lovely cock to her. She had pleasured him with mouth and lips and tongue until he had exploded in her mouth.

When she proved her skill by swallowing every drop of his wonderful semen, he had removed her restraints and made love to her until she was a puddle of raw sensuality. They had still been lying in a happy, tangled heap in her bed when Rachel knocked on the door the following morning and ordered them to get dressed and go with her on her errand.

"Good," Rachel replied, smiling at her. She smiled back, happy that her mistress was pleased. When Rachel had suggested her solution to their dilemma, with Alex remaining her master, but Rachel stepping into the role of Mistress of the Household, Maria had been worried. Would mother and son be able to find a balance? So far, it seemed, they had.

"Come on Alex," Rachel said. "The sooner we're done here, the sooner you can go back to violating this sweet young woman's innocence."

*****

~Well,~ Althea said as Rachel entered the room where her body slept. ~This won't do at all.~

Rachel gave silent agreement. The space was pleasant enough, by the standards of hospital wards, which inevitably tended towards bleak functionality over beauty. It had a window which looked out onto the hospital campus, and the walls were bright and cheerful. A vase of cut flowers sat at the bedside, driving away some of the antiseptic odor all hospitals seemed to share.

But still, the place could not be mistaken for anything else than what it was; a holding pen where people waited to get well.

And, sometimes, didn't.

As Alex and Maria watched sympathetically, she sat at the bedside, taking one of Althea's hands in hers. She shivered as she felt her warm flesh for the first time. Can you sense anything?

~Nothing,~ the succubus said sourly. ~My body may as well be a lump of rock. All of me is in here with you, going gradually insane. Well, it's just what I thought,~ she continued. ~I just wish I could get hold of that idiot Pete Miller. I'd kill him all over again just for getting me into this mess.~

"Have you known her long, Mom?" Alex asked.

She started, having been caught up in her silent conversation with Althea. "Not long. But you know how it is with friendships, Alex. Every once in a while you meet someone, and it seems like you've known them forever."

He nodded, his hand moving to clasp Maria's. "I get you," he answered.

"But this room won't do," she said decisively. She glanced at the other side of the small space, where an elderly man with waxy skin lay in a coma of his own. "She needs privacy."

"Privacy?" Alex's confused voice followed her out of the room. "Why would a woman in a coma need privacy?"

*****

The question was echoed by the head nurse at the front desk of the ICU, a stern martinet with iron-grey hair and a no-nonsense attitude.

"She is in a coma, Miss Wainwright. And according to Dr. Marafi's notes, quite unlikely to recover consciousness anytime soon. Why would a woman in a coma require a private room? They're expensive as hell and hard to come by, even in a hospital this large.

"Besides," she said, a hint of steel entering her voice. "You're not a member of her family or a legal guardian. You have no right to be making any requests."

In her mind, Althea sighed. ~This one's not going to budge, dear one.~ Rachel could almost hear Althea frown. ~I don't like doing this. But when it comes time to restore me to my body , I can't have a bunch of people interrupting us and wondering what the hell we are doing. I need a room to myself and a door that bolts shut.~

Rachel caught and held the nurse's eyes. In response to Althea's silent guidance, she allowed her voice to deepen, becoming almost hypnotic.

"Come on. What's the harm? The woman's insurance can pay for it. And if they won't, she can. She's rich as old King Midas. Why not have the hospital make a little money for a change? As hard as all of you work, you deserve it. And I know it would make her happy to have a room to herself. And isn't this what you got into nursing for?" she wheedled. "To help sick people get better?"