Eros' point of view
"What do you mean, we can have sex?" Surely I misunderstood what she was saying. She couldn't possibly mean... She didn't seriously think that I...
"If we need to exchange powers anyway, then my not do it the way we did it before?" Demona said, wiggling her eyebrows. "I mean, I may not be a virgin anymore, but you can hardly call my first experience a normal one. I would love to just be able to be with you the way other girls can. To not fall into a black pit into of nothingness right after, to just snuggle with you."
"You can snuggle with me right now," I said, not able to keep the annoyance from my voice. "We don't need sex to do that."
"Eros..." Demona grabbed my hand and tried to pull me to her, but I got up from the bed to put some distance between us.
"No," I said. "No way. Demona, do I seriously need to remind you that the last time we slept together, you ended up in a coma? You've only been awake for two weeks! Do you seriously think that sex is even on my mind at this point?"
I could tell that my harshness hurt her, but I needed to drive my point home. Of course I wanted her. I had from moment I laid eyes on her, but I wasn't a caveman. I had let myself go once and I'd almost lose her forever. I wasn't going to sleep with her, not now, not when she was still recovering from suddenly being able to control minds, working through her issues with drinking human blood, still adjusting to her new life. There was no reason to give into our urges right now, not with so much on the line.
"Well, it is on my mind," she spat. "I'm sorry for being attracted to my boyfriend. I'm sorry for wanting to be with him. I'm sorry that I thought that you might want to have sex with me. Obviously, I was wrong."
"Dem..." I sighed. "You know that I want to. I'm just not going to, because I love you too damn much to ever put you in danger again."
She grunted and let herself fall backways, stretching herself out on the bed. "What was the use of me waking up when I can't even live a normal life? I can't go out of the hospital except for an hour a day to train in the woods. I can't go back to school once summer is over. I can't even go with you to our own place. What is the use of living together when I'm not actually living? And now, finally, we can at least do one thing, and you're telling me no?"
I knew that explaining over and over again would do no good. She already understood why I was saying no. She knew that I was too scared of losing her, of her collapsing underneath me again. I had somehow managed to survive these past months, but I knew that if something like that happened again, we both wouldn't be so lucky. Besides, there was a chance that I'd be the one in a coma or worse this time. I wasn't scared of that, but I knew how depressed I had gotten when she'd been gone. I would never wish for her to feel that way.
"I love you," I said, getting onto the bed as well so I could pull her into my arms. "I love you so much, Demona. We'll get there, I promise, we will. And I want to, you know that. For now, our love just has to be enough. It has been for so long. Can't we just hold onto that for a little while longer? We have all the time in the world to move forward. It doesn't have to be right now."
She relaxed into my embrace and finally allowed herself to cry. To let out all the hurt she'd been feeling from the moment she'd woken up, refusing to feel it.
"I just want to go back to normal," she whispered. "I never wanted this power. I just want you."
"I know, little one, I know," I replied, stroking her hair.
We stayed like that for a long time, comforting each other. I was sad for her, but not for myself. Honestly, I had never been so completely okay with not being able to have sex. I'd gladly stay celibate for the rest of my life if it meant that Demona would be safe. Sure, I'd rather take her right here and now, but I just couldn't.
She tilted up her head after a while and kissed me. She tasted salty from her tears and I kissed them all away, making her giggle. The kiss turned more desperate real soon and she clung to me, her nails digging into my back through my shirt. I'd always been stronger than her, but from the moment she woke up, her strength seem to have doubled or even tripled.
For a moment, I wondered if I should stop this kiss right now. We'd only just finished talking about not having sex, and now we were already on a bed, kissing. The thought seemed to vanish from my mind the moment I had it. I tried to hold onto it, but it slipped out like it had never been there. I blinked a few times, trying to remember what I'd been thinking about, but Demona demanded my attention again, her hands traveling south.
I gasped when she undid my belt buckle and slipped one small hand into my pants. My hands responded of their own accord, grabbing Demona and pulling her on top of me. We kept kissing until she sat up to take off her shirt and bra.
"We shouldn't..." I couldn't even finish the sentence, not sure why we shouldn't be doing this. I sure as hell wanted to and even though my lips kept forming the word shouldn't, I couldn't think of a single reason why this might not be the best idea.
"We should," Demona responded. Her blue eyes were wide and almost vacant, like she wasn't even truly in there. She moved down to take off my pants before throwing herself on top of me again.
A wonderfully think mist seemed to roll over me, making everything I was experiencing even more shockingly exciting. I kissed her like it was my sole purpose on this earth and grabbed her skirt, not even taking the time to properly taking it off, but ripping it instead.
"What the hell?" a voice sounded above us, but sounded so far away that I hardly even registered it. "What are you doing?"
Demona didn't respond to whoever was talking and neither did I. She sat up and grabbed the edge of my shirt, pulling it up, struggling to get it off.
Suddenly, I could feel the weight of her body on top of mine got lighter and I heard Demona scream as she was moved from me completely. I gasped for her, but my hands came up empty. I couldn't see anything because my shirt was pulled over my eyes, so I pulled it down and sat up, looking around me. Someone was holding Demona, but I could only see her. Half-naked, screaming on the top of her longs, trying to get back to me.
I jumped up and trying to grab her, but someone tackled me from the side, yelling at me. The words were incoherent, though, since all I could hear and see was Demona.
"Eros!" she shrieked. "Eros!"
I fought the person holding me, trying to get him away from me, but he was stronger. Stronger than I was, for sure. He pinned my arms behind my body and kept yelling at me.
Finally, his words started making sense. "Eros!" he was saying. "Get a grip!"
Breathing heavily, I tried to think. What was going on? The heavy feeling in my head just wouldn't life, making it impossible to think about anything else than getting to Demona, getting her naked, pushing her back down on the bed and...
"Mind... control..." I managed to say, panting. That was the mist that I was fighting to think straight. Mind control! Even now that I knew what was happening, I still couldn't stop trying to get away so I could get to my girl.
"Demona!" the guy holding me yelled. – Dylan, I realized, his name bubbling up from somewhere deep in me, biting through the mist. "You're compelling him! You're compelling yourself! Stop it!"
"Eros?" she whispered, but I could see she had stopped fighting Simon, who looked like he was so worn-out he was ready to throw up. "What..."
As her eyes went wide with realization, the compulsion left my body and went back into hers, leaving both of us reeling. Suddenly, I realized that I was naked from the waist down and that Dylan was holding me against him while I was... Oh God.
The moment he felt the change in me, Dylan let go of me and bent down to throw me my own pants. I pulled them on, cheeks burning. I wasn't ashamed of my body, but Dylan and Simon walking in on my and Demona while we... Oh hell, this was pretty much one of my worst nightmares.
Demona was pulling on a shirt while Simon went over to het suitcase to get her another skit, since her old one was completely ruined. No one spoke until Demona and I were both decent.
"Okay, so that was..." Simon shook his head, trying to find the right words.
"Utterly disturbing," Dylan finished for him. "Something I never ever want to have to see ever again. What the hell were you thinking?" He looked at Demona with almost murderous rage. "Why the hell would you compel him to have sex with you? There is no way he was willing to do that when you only just woke up from your coma. Are you that horny?"
Nurse Sara opened the door, peeking her head around to see what all the yelling was about. "Everything okay?"
"Nothing to see here," Dylan spat, walking over to shut the door on her.
"Demona didn't do it on purpose," Simon said, much calmer than Dylan.
"That's it," Dylan exclaimed. "You're never allowed to be alone again." He shot me a dark look. "Why the hell did you even put yourself in that position. You were probably in bed with her, weren't you? Surely she didn't start compelling you while you were standing on the other side of the room?"
He was right, I realized. I should have known better. I was used to being able to stop us kissing without the only trouble being my own mind control, which I'd been starting to get a handle on before Demona took it from me. I had severely underestimated how strong she'd gotten in such a short amount of time.
"We have to report this," Simon said with a sigh. "I'm sorry, but Cornelia and Hammerhead and the doctors need to know that she can't control herself."
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Demona shouted, finally speaking up. "You don't need to report this. I will tell them myself. I'm sorry. I had no idea..." She shook her head and closed her eyes. "Eros, I'm so sorry..."
"Hey, if anyone understands, it's me." This had happened before, after all, only the other way around. I moved over to her and wanted to pull her in for a hug, but Dylan jumped between us and pushed me so hard that I slammed my back against the wall.
"Hey!" I exclaimed.
"What the hell don't you understand about what just happened?" he hissed. "Stay the hell away from her. Keep your distance. We don't know what her mind control will do next! I'm not gonna keep pulling you off each other. I'm scarred for life now that I've seen that much or both of your bodies." He shuddered.
"Stop talking," Demona said, her voice so calm it scared me.
Through the bond, I could feel the mind control raise its head again. I was ready for it now, and I could see Simon bracing himself as well.
"Get out," she said softly, her eyes turning into that blank stare again. "Get. The. Hell. Out."
Dylan was already backing away, but Simon and I stood our ground, fighting the mist. We'd practiced this. Simon had been immune to my powers at one time. To these powers. We could do this.
"I said: GET OUT!"
The full force of her compulsion hit us then and there was nothing either of us could do. My mind went blank and next thing I knew, was on in the corridor, staring at the closed door of my girlfriend's hospital room.
"Shit," I muttered.
Dylan let out a soft, sad laugh. "That, my dear friend, is the understatement of the century."