Chapter Text
The crickets and frogs chirped outside. Their melody rose into the bedroom, carried on a cool early-summer breeze. Luz’s footsteps whispered across the carpeted bedroom floor. The bed creaked softly as she eased herself in.
On the Day of Unity, Luz walked hand-in-hand with Philip Wittebane through the portal into the Human Realm.
Today, fifteen years later, Luz curled into Philip’s side. She tucked her face into the crook of his neck. She breathed deep and sighed, lulled by the musky scent of his lingering cologne.
“Are you trying to distract me?” Philip asked, if reading her mind. His voice held no malice; it quirked up at the end with a teasing edge. He turned the page of the book he read.
Luz weaved her fingers through the thin mat of hair across his chest, following it down across his stomach and against his happy trail. Philip sighed as Luz kissed his neck and slid her hand into the waistband of his pyjama pants. She squeezed him gently.
“Yes. Pay attention to me.” She whispered into him.
“How am I ever going to finish this novel?”
“I’ll be quick.”
Luz stroked her fingers languidly across his familiar flesh. She squeezed again, her thumb teasing the tip. Always faithful, Philip slowly stiffened in her palm.
So many people talked about married life getting stale after a while. People got bored with their spouses or their lifestyles and started to crave uncertainty and adventure. Luz considered herself blessed that she and Philip never had that problem. Mediocrity became a luxury once they’d managed to settle down.
Luz almost never thought about that now. Maybe she was feeling nostalgic. Their Bonnie and Clyde-esque lifestyle was only ever fun in theory, skulking across the country trying to find a place where they fit. They had a lot of struggles, then. But now things were comfortable and easy.
She kissed the side of Philip’s neck again. His warm skin burned her lips. His veins flexed under her tongue as he let out a contented sigh. Luz stroked him faster; he rolled his hips into her touch. Despite this, his eyes stayed lingering on the open face of his book. Luz pulled back enough to stare down at him. She pursed her lips.
“A-hem.” She enunciated loudly.
Philip glanced at her through the corner of his eyes. He smirked. “Yes, darling?”
Luz sat up on her knees. She stared at him expectantly, and waggled an eyebrow.
Philip looked between her and his book. “Ah. I’m finishing this passage. Surely you can wait a moment.”
“You ever hear the phrase ‘happy wife, happy life’?”
“I’m sure I will make my wife very happy,” Philip said, turning the page, “in one minute.”
Luz stuck her tongue out at him. In case he missed it, she said, “Nehh.”
“Patience is a virtue. Sit there quietly a moment.”
Luz shivered subtly. It was a little hot when he used that tone with her, almost like she was a child being scolded. Luz kept that tidbit to herself, of course; she refused to let Philip get anymore full of himself. However, she had also developed an allergy to doing whatever he told her to.
Luz waited a minute for Philip to become engrossed in his novel again before she peeled off her t-shirt. As expected, Philip didn’t glance her way. With a mischievous grin, Luz crawled between his legs. Again, without looking, Philip said, “Luzura.”
But Luz was already in the process of pulling back the waistband of his pants. His half-hard cock sprang out. Almost greedily, Luz wrapped her palm around the base and then licked up the thick shaft. She took the tip into her mouth as Philip moaned softly.
Luz flicked her eyes up. Philip’s expression fought to stay cool, yet she still caught the pinch in his brows as she took more of him into her mouth. She sucked gently at first, moaning as Philip swelled and hardened completely against her tongue. She swallowed more of his prick, practically down the back of her throat. Philip’s hand weaved into her short curls and Luz moaned again. Excitement pooled inside her, making her squirm. She loved the familiarity of this all, how wonderful it felt.
Luz bobbed her head, taking slightly more and more each time. Philip’s fingers tightened and relaxed with the rhythm. When she pulled back to focus on the head, her tongue followed the slit to lap up the precum gathered there.
Philip groaned as if frustrated. There came the rustling of pages as he slammed his book shut. Luz grinned around his cock triumphantly.
“You are going to be the death of me.” Philip mumbled. “You’re so damn impatient.”
Luz went to pull back and offer a quip, but before she could Philip pushed her head back down. Caught off guard, Luz stuttered around the thick cock forced deep into her mouth. Her eyes shot open and looked up.
Philip met her with a smug smile and flushed cheeks. His chest heaved softly. His fingers moved down to stroke the back of Luz’s neck.
“Honour thy husband, remember?”
Luz made a face. Yet still, her body betrayed her; between Philip’s smooth voice, his hand on her head, and his heavy cock on her tongue, her cunt throbbed. She resumed mouthing at him, sucking slow and hard.
Philip sighed and nodded approvingly.
“It’s much better when that smart mouth of yours is occupied.”
If Luz were able to, she would have made a comment. Instead she hummed around his cock as she sunk more down on it.
Philip actually didn’t make her go for as long as she expected him to—Luz was prepared for him to cum down her throat and then make her hold him in her mouth until he was virile enough again to fuck her. A small ‘punishment’ for disturbing him. Instead, shortly into blowing him, Philip’s hand retracted and he said, breathless, “Get up here.”
Luz did so happily. She pulled off his cock and hurriedly sat up, removing her boxers before slotting herself in Philip’s lap. She straddled his hips and Philip accepted her; his hands groped and pulled her closer. When she kissed him, he grabbed her chin, holding her against him as though he couldn’t be close enough. His other hand cupped her breast, earning a moan. His thumb toyed with her nipple, pleasure bloomed through her. Luz nibbled on Philip’s lower lip and couldn’t help but whine as he moved to kiss down her jaw and neck.
She loved this life. She truly did. The crickets chirped and the frogs sang; cradled by lamplight Luz made love to Philip. This wasn’t what she anticipated out of life, but it was good—it was warm, it was familiar.
Philip sucked and kneaded her breast. Unable to wait any longer, Luz moved her hips back. She guided Philip’s prick to her aching cunt and eased herself down on it.
The relief was almost immediate. She clutched Philip’s shoulders as she adjusted herself, wonderfully stretched and filled by his throbbing cock. She rocked her hips, experimentally at first, until she found that perfect rhythm that scratched all the desperate itches inside her. They fit together perfectly. Luz buried her face in the crook of Philip’s neck and moaned.
“There we are—” Philip muttered to himself, breathing hard. He pumped his hips to meet her, one knee sliding up for extra leverage behind her. “That’s my girl...”
A shiver ran down Luz’s spine. Philip’s whispered praise only made her move faster. She bounced almost feverishly in his lap, his cock striking deep inside her each time.
“Oh, God, Philip,” Luz moaned desperately. As the pleasure built up, she felt like she could have cried it felt so good. She almost couldn’t get enough of him. Luz dug her nails into Philip’s shoulders. Likewise, he grabbed the curve of her ass and clutched, encouraging her to go even deeper and faster. “Oh God, God, God—”
Philip’s chest hair tickled her skin. Sweat beaded between them. Philip mumbled praise that Luz almost couldn’t hear; she lost herself in the sounds of their sex and her own laboured breathing. She got the angle of his cock inside her so well brushing against her g-spot that she thought she may cum from that alone.
Then in a rush, Philip sat forward. Before Luz could object—she only had time to gasp as he slipped out—he flipped them over. Luz’s back hit the mattress and her legs were shortly grabbed and thrust up to her chest. She gaped as Philip mounted her, an animalistic gleam in his bright blue eyes. He thrust back into her with a ragged moan himself; Luz threw her head back as she was filled again, her back arching.
Their desperate love-making resumed. Luz clutched Philip like a vice as he pounded into her. She ran her nails across his back and mouthed at his jaw line. Philip panted and heaved above her, his hips snapping against her cruelly.
Luz loved it. She loved it. She tried to say the words—or any words, really—but all that came out were broken moans and hissed sounds of pleasure. She threw her hips to meet each thrust, chasing the sweet sensation for as long as she could. Philip’s mumbled words turned into nonsense as his expression pinched. Then, finally, he tensed above her. Luz moaned as Philip came inside her, hot and throbbing.
His body pressed in tight, pinning her down into the bed. Luz clutched him, kissed his cheek and his mouth. His lips quivered, although he didn’t kiss her back, or move off her. Luz paused.
“Philip?” She whispered. When she got no immediate response, she raised her voice slightly as she asked again, “Philip?”
Unsteadily, Philip finally shifted off her. Luz followed immediately as she sat up. Philip’s expression pinched; as the colour fled his face, he seemed ghostly. Luz’s heart leapt in her throat. She got up on her knees.
“Philip? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t breathe.” Philip clutched his chest. A balmy sweat broke out across his body.
“Are you in pain?”
Philip gritted his teeth and nodded. “Certainly not the worst I’ve ever experienced, but—” He jolted, his breathing became erratic. When his eyes snapped open again, he hissed, “A palisman! Get me a palisman!”
They ran out of palismen more than a decade ago. Hearing the word now made Luz’s mouth sour and her lips cringe.
“Stay here,” she said quickly. She snatched up her phone from the bedside table. “Don’t move. Just try to stay calm.”
Luz rushed to the bathroom down the hall while balancing her phone in one hand. Her thumb quivered as she dialled 9-1-1.
She wretched open the medicine cabinet. The phone slipped from her grasp and clattered in the sink. A tinny voice from the other end asked, “911, what is your address?”
Luz snatched her phone up. She slotted it into the crook of her neck as she rattled off the address of their subdivision. A bottle of aspirin almost leapt out of her hands as she selected it.
“And what is your emergency?”
“My—” Luz choked. All these years, and still the word slithered out of her throat. “My husband is having a heart attack. I think.”
The world got brighter, more vicious. Speaking those words out loud suddenly made it real. Philip was having a heart attack. He was pretty old, he could die from it.
Could, in theory. He probably wouldn’t. Even still, Luz’s eyesight went blurry as she rushed back to the bedroom.
The dispatcher distantly told her what to do. Luz could barely make sense of it as she tossed her phone aside on the pillows and shook two pills into her palm. She knelt on the bed beside Philip.
“You’re going to be okay,” Luz assured, partly to Philip, partly to herself. “Take these, and I’ll get your clothes, and—”
He snatched her shaking arm. Luz looked at her husband then, coated by shadows from the bedside lamp.
All colour fled Philip’s hollow cheeks. Sweat beaded across his forehead. His brows knit together. It was the same face she’d woken up to for the past almost fifteen years, yet she’d never seen him wear such a cold, hateful look. Luz shuddered.
“Tell me the truth,” Philip said through gritted teeth. His grip was weak and clammy. “Did you do this to me?”
“What?”
“We had a deal, but you’ve always hated me. Don’t think I’m oblivious.”
Luz blinked with disbelief. Her own hand shook around the rattling bottle in her palm.
“Are you senile, old man?”
He tightened his grip. His fingers quivered, yet his eyes stayed on her like steel.
“Answer me.”
“What— no, I didn’t poison you or curse you or whatever. You’re having a heart attack. The paramedics are on the way. I just need you to chew this aspirin—”
Suddenly, his hand jumped from her bicep to her throat. Luz gagged as his fingers closed around her neck, squeezing weakly. The aspirin bottle bounded again out of her palm; this time, the pills spilled across the bedspread and the floor. Luz’s eyes flicked to them, despair rolling inside her.
“Just because I may die does not mean that you will know peace,” he spat. His words struck like whip lashes. “Death will not end our deal.”
Luz swatted at his hand. Philip shifted his weight forward, pulling himself off the bed to her. “I have half a mind to drag you to hell with me—”
“Philip!” Luz rasped. She scraped her nails across his wrist. With her other hand, she pushed on his shoulder to hold him back. “Philip, stop! I’m trying to help you!”
He managed to wrestle his way on top of her. Using all his weight, he leaned down on her throat. His shoulders quaked and his hair, damp with sweat, fell in clumps to frame his face.
“I earned you,” he hissed. “You are mine.”
Luz struggled under him, yet part of her still hesitated, despite it all, to kick or hurt him. Her lungs burned. She dug her nails into his wrist until she broke skin. Blood seeped down her fingers.
“Do you hear me, girl? You are—”
Philip’s face suddenly contorted with pain. His eyes blew open wide. His mouth fell open and his muscles all clenched around Luz.
His grip loosened into nothing. Finally, his limp body collapsed on top of her.
Blood rushed back to her head along with a fresh jolt of adrenaline and anxiety. Her stomach twisted up, more hot tears swelled in her eyes.
“No! No! No!” Luz chanted frantically as she pushed him off her, rolled him onto his back. His expression stayed frozen with that blink of pain and confusion. Luz could barely make sense of her own emotions. “You sonofabitch, don’t you dare die on me!”
They were words that she never thought she would say. Another time, another place, another life, and Luz would be rejoicing right now. But the cold hard reality sunk in that the only thing connecting her to that old life was dying—maybe even already dead—on their hideous floral bedspread directly in front of her.
The terrified fourteen-year-old girl inside her screamed at her to leave it be—let Belos suffer the way he caused countless others to suffer. However, the terrified twenty-eight-year-old who had spent the past fifteen years with Philip screamed at her to save him, because he was all she had.
In the end she performed her closest approximation of CPR based on what she’d seen in shows. Screaming-tears and adrenaline burned her throat.
Philip stayed unresponsive under her ministrations until the paramedics arrived.