Idle Hands Ch. 05

"Just going through my e-mail. I put out the word that I'm interested in doing pro bono work when I left Chihiro. So now I am getting all sorts of offers. I've got to weed out the ones that seem sketchy and see if there's anything that looks like a good fit."

She sat down beside him on the couch, her laptop balanced on her knees. He looked at her and swallowed. Until Althea had entered their lives, he had never seen his mother as anyone but his mother. But when Althea had entered her mind, it had began a slow transition to where anything now seemed possible.

Rachel Wainwright had always been an attractive woman. But in the weeks since she had merged with Althea her body had changed in subtle yet dramatic ways, which Alex had unwillingly observed. Her breasts were firmer, to the point where she seldom bothered to wear a bra anymore. The faint smile lines and crow's feet at the corners of her eyes and mouth had all but disappeared. Her pale skin seemed to glow with good health. Her black hair was more lustrous, now reaching past her shoulders, and her dark eyes were brighter, twinkling cheerfully as she glanced at him, seemingly aware of his thoughts.

And she seemed to emit a sexual magnetism which had him on edge whenever they spent any time alone together. The culmination of the ritual last night was proof of that. He colored as he remembered his mother's small, strong fingers on his cock, the way she had expertly coaxed him to climax. He steadfastly kept his eyes away from the neck of her shirt, where he could just see the tops of her breasts...

"Hello, darlings!"

Althea walked into the room and Alex's eyes bugged out. While Rachel had taken her skirt off the day before in order to display the tail which proved her incredible tale was true, he was still trying to get used to the casual states of undress which now seemed to becoming commonplace around the house. Althea was wearing nothing more than a button-down sweater, which he vaguely remembered as belonging to Sarah, just long enough to cover her hips. It gaped open at the neckline, displaying most of the teardrop-shaped wonders which were her breasts. High, large, round, and golden like the rest of her body, they challenged the gaze, daring a man to set his hands on them.

"Hello, beloved." Alex blinked. He had never heard his mother speak to anyone, not even his father, in that tone. It spoke of secrets shared, and terrifying intimacy, and a bond that went beyond mere love and approached the holy.

"Hello, my handmaiden." Althea kissed her cheek, then sat down between the two of them. In doing so, the sweater rode up until her legs and groin were completely exposed. Alex could see the puffy lips of Althea's cleft, and the dense, close-clipped blond strip of her pubic hair.

"Handmaiden?" he asked, trying to peel his eyes away from the intoxicating sight.

"Indeed." Althea smiled at him, brushing her fingers over his cheek. Casually, she hooked one leg over his knee. Her skin felt hot where it touched his, as if she had a fever. "When I first entered your mother's mind, I did not plan to do anything more than use her to regain my power and my body." This was said in such a frankly unapologetic tone that Alex could only sit there, stunned. Althea must have noticed his expression, since she went on quickly. "Understand, Alex, that I have watched so many of my loved ones die over the years that for the past few decades I have avoided any but the most casual relationships. But as the days went by, I grew to admire your mother more and more. It wasn't long before I decided that Rachel was worthy of much more than simple abandonment."

She bestowed a loving look on his mother. "For too long mankind has not given thought to what a wonderful thing the act of love is. Even the most open of your societies place so many restrictions on it. They take away the power and beauty and leave shame and guilt in its place. Consider your own example. How much happier would you have been if you had been able to explore your desires without self-disgust?"

Alex nodded slowly, remembering how his need to be the dominant in a relationship made him feel as if he were sick and twisted, unworthy of a woman's love. "And?"

Althea smiled at him, unbuttoning the sweater even more. "So I am going to do something about it. I will not hide any longer. I am going to be a beacon to humans who want sex to be something more than the merely physical. To stand tall and proud and declare how wondrous our lives are, and how we should celebrate them. And Rachel will be my handmaiden; a guide and a spokeswoman for us."

"Well, it all sounds good," he said, but doubt clouded his voice. "But free-love cults have sprung up before. They usually fall apart pretty quick, don't they?"

"Free love?" Althea's voice was amused. "No. Love is never free. In order to give love, or receive it, you must give up so much. Fear. Hate. Selfishness. When you love, truly love, you realize your happiness is dependent on that of your beloved. And hers is dependent on yours.

"Tell me, Alex. Do you love your mother?" Somehow the sweater was now completely unbuttoned. Althea spread it apart, revealing her glorious breasts. The nipples were darker than the surrounding skin, almost bronze in color. They seemed impossibly large and thick and were turgidly erect. Her other leg was now draped over Rachel's, wantonly exposing her nether-lips.

"You know I do." His voice was hoarse.

"And yet you have not taken her to bed yet. Why not? Oh, and here," she said, catching hold of his hand. She guided it down between her legs. "Rub me for a while. I need to get off soon, or I'm going to explode. And, Rachel," she added, turning back to his mother, "you can do something to help out, you know. With me, you never have to ask permission."

"Of course, my beloved." As Alex watched avidly, Rachel helped Althea slip off the sweater. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, she took Althea's nipple into her mouth. Her mouth worked softly, suckling on her breast like a child.

"Oh, that's lovely, dear," the succubus sighed, leaning her head back. Under his probing fingers, Alex could feel dampness gathering on her lips. Her hand gripped his wrist, guiding him. "Two fingers, please. Yes," she cooed. "That's right. That's right...there," she said as her thrust his hand into her dewy cleft.

"I can't...fuck my mother," Alex said, answering her earlier statement. But his voice was uncertain, as if he were trying to convince himself.

"Why not? Your father is fucking Sarah. And very happy the two of them are about it, to be sure."

"What? Mom, is this true?"

She lifted her head from Althea's breast. He could see the nipple shining wetly. "Of course it's true. Why do you think I told you to stay at Maria's the other night?"

He colored, feeling amazingly stupid. His sister had been much more cheerful over the past few days. But he thought it was due to her relationship with Jeremy. Not the consummation of a forbidden love with their father.

"And yes," she said, her hands stroking Althea's breasts lovingly. "I'm okay with it. How can I not be? I was the one who suggested it, after all.

"Your sister, with our help," she said with a wry glance up at the succubus, "had finally admitted to herself that she wanted her father in her bed as her lover. However, she also knew that sort of relationship was impossible. At least, it would have been impossible if we constrained ourselves to an outmoded morality passed down by iron-age barbarians." A small shrug. "It wasn't a big deal. All I had to do was give them my blessing and they took care of the rest of it themselves."

"Just as you two will," Althea smiled. "Go on, Alex. I think my work here is done. No one will be back for an hour or two." She grinned unashamedly. "I will say it took some pretty clever maneuvering to make sure you two would be here by yourselves."

Across Althea's body, their eyes met. The desire which he had felt and denied for days found its match in his mother's face. He held out his hand, and she gripped it hard, then raised it to her lips, licking off the residue of the immortal's juices. Her eyes closed, and a slow shudder rippled through her body. In the loose pair of cargo shorts he was wearing, his cock was hard and aching, his testes swollen with seed.

"Mom," he whispered.

"Yes, darling," she replied. "Yes.

"But not yet." She turned to Althea, who had been watching them with loving eyes. "How long, beloved? How long will you deny who you are? What you are? This restraint is not natural to you. You denied yourself Yasna last night. And again this morning."

"How can you know that?"

She smiled and tapped her head with her finger. "And now you think to deny yourself again. No, I say. You need more. And you deserve more. Come with us."

Althea's eyes shone with tears. "Oh, my handmaiden. Do you mean it truly? I have waited for this for so long."

*****

"I have wondered," Rachel said curiously to Althea, as they watched Alex undress in her bedroom, "why you never tried to make love to me in your glade."

Althea sniffed. "Would you rather smell a good meal? Or eat it? Illusion is no match for reality, my dear." She lay on Rachel's bed, resplendently nude, her hands idly stroking her nether-lips.

"You are so beautiful," she whispered, as Alex kicked off his shorts and his cock jumped free. The thick, curving length of it slapped against his belly, leaving a faint gleam of moisture on the curling hair surrounding his navel. "All of you. I do not know what strange plan of the Almighty has brought me here with you, but I have been blessed.

"Please, Rachel. I need you so bad."

Alex watched, transfixed, as his mother crawled into bed with Althea. For long moments he was content to watch them. They stroked each other lovingly, their caresses the culmination of weeks of slow-building desire.

Althea's back arched as Rachel touched her, her hands expertly arousing her. A small, secret smile danced over her lips as the dark-haired woman played her body like an instrument. Her legs spread open helplessly, her hips slowly rolling upward, and when Rachel let her weight fall directly onto Althea's groin, Alex could hear her let out a weak gasp of pleasure.

The foreplay was long and slow and tender. Rachel made love to Althea with hands and lips and tongue, kissing her, nibbling her ears, her lips, her breasts, until she was red-faced and gasping. As Alex watched, wide-eyed, their tails emerged from the sheaths at the base of their spines and lovingly curled around each other, the spade-shaped tips pressed flat like the pages of a book. They shone in the dim light of the room, and an aromatic musk rose from them.

"Now," Althea whispered, and Rachel sank down between her legs. She cupped Althea's buttocks in her loving hands, raising her up at the same time as her head dipped to taste the golden-skinned succubus. At the first touch, Althea's hips snapped upwards and her mouth opened, her breath coming hard and fast. Like a flower unfurling, her legs opened wide, then came down to rest on her lover's back, her feet slowly stroking Rachel's spine.

"There. Right there. My clit. Suck it," came a cracked whisper from the bed, then a high-pitched squeal, ending on a gurgling giggle. Again and again it sounded, and Alex smiled to hear such an unrestrained sound coming from Althea, who the previous evening had seemed the epitome of tough, unemotional competence. She lolled on the bed, squirming slowly, and to Alex's eyes it seemed that the light in the room began to gather around the two women, leaving the rest in shadow.

"You're wonderful," Althea said.

His mother's voice was warm and amused. "And how can I not be, with you inside my head, practically giving me step-by-step instructions?" Her hands reached up and gave Althea's nipples a quick pinch, eliciting a groan. She bent her head again, and Althea's hands rested on the dark mass of her hair, tenderly stroking the dark strands.

"Oh, Rachel, my handmaiden, my love. I'm there. I'm there. I'm coming!" Althea's face reddened and her body shook. To Alex's astonishment, a pair of white horns appeared on her head, gleaming palely through the golden curls of her hair.

"Now," Althea chuckled, her voice rich and deep. "Your turn." She drew Rachel up in her arms, then turned her around until her golden head rested next to her dark one. "That's it," she whispered, her hands roaming over Rachel's body. She cupped her breasts in her hands, the fingers slowly gliding over the erect nipples. She sank back onto the pillows, her lover cradled in her arms. "Come on, Alex. Take her. She's so ready for you she's about to burst."

He gazed at his mother adoringly. "Mom?"

"Oh yes," she breathed. She stretched her arms over her head, displaying her body to its fullest advantage. "I want this. In fact, in all honesty, I command it, as Mistress of the Household." She started slightly as Althea's legs crept inside hers, then smiled as the succubus slowly pulled them apart, her channel exposed and vulnerable. She ran a teasing finger along her lips. Dew glistened on her folds. "See how wet I am for you, baby? Come over here and fuck Mommy."

"Don't mind me," Althea added cheerfully. "I won't bite. Much," she said, as her teeth fastened playfully on Rachel's earlobe.

Alex moved onto the bed, feeling as if he were dreaming. But it was real. He could feel his mother's warm hands on his back as he positioned himself between her legs. When he kissed her, her tongue, darting into his mouth, tasted of honey and musk, Althea's intoxicating nectar driving him wild. Her eyes, when she looked at him, were filled with love and desire.

So much desire. Desire to match his own. To match all of them. For an instant, he glimpsed a corner of what Althea had told him about her, and was awestruck. The vast power of his mother's soul, to hold all of them in her heart simultaneously, would be what drove Althea's dream of carnal freedom.

"I love you, Mom," he whispered, and sank into her.

"I love you," she told him, then gasped as he filled her.

She surrounded him like exquisitely sensual oil, the muscles of her inner walls stroking him in a way that was both pleasurable and incredibly intimate. Her thighs lifted, snuggled firmly against his hips, and he paused for a moment to reflect on the astonishing fact that he himself had emerged from her body less than twenty-two years ago.

He lowered his head, and found himself looking into Althea's brilliant green eyes. "It's a wonder, isn't it?" she said, her eyes sparkling. She raised her head to his, and almost helplessly he found himself kissing the succubus, their tongues entwining passionately. Her taste was intoxicating, pushing his passion higher, filling his body with desire. When he emerged, he looked down at Rachel guiltily, but she did not seem to resent his momentary distraction.

"She's irresistible, isn't she?" she asked softly. "Don't worry," she continued, taking his face in her hands and drawing him down to her lips. "I don't mind. I love both of you.

"But so gentle, Alex," she teased. "I'm not made of crystal, you know. I won't break. Yes, that's it," she said as he began to thrust into her more vigorously. "Fuck me hard!"

"I won't last long," he warned her, bracing on one arm so he could hold her breast in his hand. His thumb grazed her nipple, then started to stroke her from thigh to hip to breast, over and over.

"So?" she asked. "Do you think we are going to only do this once?" She pulled his head down and kissed him thoroughly, even as her hips rose and fell, meeting his strong strokes firmly. "You are going to be my lover for years, Alex. Just as Sarah will be with Josh. Just as Althea will be with all of us. She is part of us now, just as we are all part of her."

"Wonderful," he groaned, feeling his climax boil up inside him. His balls felt huge, swollen with seed. He pounded into his mother, unable to think of anything but the sensation of her breasts against his chest, the silky-smooth feel of her inner walls around him. With a keening wail, she clenched down on him, her grip excruciatingly tight and pleasurable. Her muffled moans of pleasure triggered his own release, and he came into her in a bolt of white-hot fire.

*****

Althea entered Josh's workshed a short time later, happy to see Yasna and Josh puttering about.

"Hello, Althea," Yasna said as she closed the door behind her. She gestured towards the workbench. "There are your things."

"Oh, thank the Almighty," she said, hurrying over. She opened her purse and rapidly riffled through the contents. Wallet, credit cards, and ID were all there, along with the laptop in her shoulder bag and the jacket she had been wearing the day she had been yanked out of her body. She pulled the laptop out and powered it on immediately.

"So where are Rachel and Alex?" Josh said.

"In bed," she replied absently.

"Ah." There was a short silence. "I don't suppose I have to ask whether they are in different beds, do I?"

"Indeed not," Althea replied, smiling at him. She wondered how long it would be before she managed to get him alone. Or perhaps not alone, she added, thinking of Rachel. Mmmmm. She slanted a look at Yasna, and was happy to see there was no look of moral outrage on her face. The last thing they all needed was to spend hours or days convincing her that incest was not inherently sinful. Instead, she looked slightly introspective, as if she were trying to come to terms with a way of thinking that was unfamiliar, but not completely unfathomable.

Josh caught her glance. "I told her about Sarah and myself earlier, when we were picking up her things."

"Good," Althea said. She logged into her bank account and started paying her bills. "It's strange. Even when something monumental occurs, everyday life has a way of sneaking up on you."

Yasna nodded. "Truly. I bet if you look back in history, you will find extraordinary people with very ordinary fears. I wonder if the founding fathers had worries about how they would pay their mortgages."

"Oh, they totally did," Althea murmured. "John Adams, for example. He was always concerned about how to keep Braintree solvent."

"Were you there?" Yasna's voice was incredulous.

"No, of course not. I was far too fond of my own comfort to move to a new continent peopled by savages."

"That's not an appropriate way to speak of the Native Americans," Yasna said primly.

"I wasn't. I was talking about the religious maniacs who settled in Massachusetts," Althea replied. "Terrible people. Adams wasn't as bad as some, but I didn't move into America until about fifty years ago, in the sixties, when things started to get interesting. And sometimes I think even that was a mistake."

She finished buying new clothes, specifying Rachel's address for delivery, and turned her computer off. Standing up, she wandered around the shop. She smiled to herself. Everything she needed was here.

"Tell me, Josh, have you ever made a sword before?"

"A sword? Yeah. I dabbled in weapons when we first moved out here. It was right when I first started casting my own bronze and I wanted something simple to practice on. Can't get much simpler than a blade." He opened a low drawer set under the table and pulled out a long, slender object. "What do you think?"

"Nice," she said, impressed. The blade was about thirty inches long, impressively sharp, the hilt wrapped in soft leather. She lifted it, testing the weight and balance, and quickly moved through a series of exercises, heedless of Yasna's startled glance. "How long would it take you to make one of these for me?"

He shrugged. "We can start on the mold right now. I have clay here. I could have it ready by this evening. It doesn't take long. Melt the bronze while I'm doing that and cast it. Then a day or so to sharpen it and make the hilt."