I let my chin hit my chest and feel my tongue looser than it has ever been. I test the movement, then open my mouth and manage to say without much trouble at all, “Dahhhntehhhh.”
He flushes, and I find that I would like to see his cheeks stay that pretty color. “Yeah, that’s me.”
I want to say it again, but I’m fading quickly. I close my eyes and find myself dozing to the human sound of what is meant to be my punishment, but might actually be the thing that saves me.
two
DANTE
In the corner of the room, I can see Cielo sleeping. His chest is rising and falling with a small tremble from the pain he’s in, but he hasn’t complained much. I don’t know if it’s because he’s strong or because he’s afraid. Or maybe he has no way to tell me how much it all hurts. But whatever the reason, it’s killing me.
There’s a tap on my shoulder, and I look over toward my brother, Luca, who’s been watching him warily. We’ve both had dealings with the Vyastil before. Once the initial fear of them wore off and I believed they weren’t on Earth to hurt us, I was only slightly terrified to sign up at the clinic.
And granted, it wasn’t the greatest experience of my life, being tied to a chair while a very inhuman being sucked my dick, but I got used to it. And it felt pretty good. I mean, what guy would turn down a free weekly blow job?
I’m only human.
But after a few months of weekly sessions, they moved me to an as-needed basis. The sessions dropped from once a week to once a month, and now I’m lucky if they call me in more than a few times a year.
None of the Vyastil have ever been unkind to me. They rarely speak to me, and before Cielo, I had never been given the chance to speak to them, which is fine. The monsters at the clinic have never seemed interested in being friends, and I’ve had too much going on in my life to give a shit.
But the ones who live in town are a bit more friendly.
Luca and I inherited the triplex we live in and two commercial properties when our nonna on my mom’s side died. My commercial property turned into my sex shop—my baby, my pride and joy. Luca was not really interested in managing his own business, so when a Vyastil couple approached him about wanting to open a café, he was more than happy to sign that lease.
It’s allowed him to focus on everything else he’s wanted to do—mainly accessibility tech, which has kept him traveling to Deaf expos and things like that. It’s been great for me because he often sets up a little table, laid out with my current attempt at accessible sex toys.
I’ve gotten tons of business from it, and we’ve both lived peacefully and happily.
Until now.
I don’t want to say Cielo has disrupted the harmony of my home, considering I was the one who volunteered to take him in, but it’s been a complication I wasn’t expecting. And for me, complications aren’t easy to handle.
At least, not all the time.
‘Has he woken up yet?’ Luca signs.
I nod. ‘I gave him some of the herbs Everest gave me to help treat his wounds.’
‘Cum?’ Luca spells.
‘I offered him some, but he kind of freaked out,’ I admit. It was weird. I figured he’d be eager to jump on my dick, just like the Vyastil at the clinic, but he looked almost terrified. It makesme wonder if he was threatened into not accepting any, which seems like another form of psychological torture.
After what they’ve done to Cielo, I’m really starting to dislike the Vyastil elite.
‘I gave him some in a bottle,’ I add.
Luca frowns, so I mime jerking off, and he grimaces, flipping me off. ‘Don’t be gross.’
‘Just honest,’ I say with a small grin. ‘Accept.’
He scoffs, then peers over at Cielo. ‘He’s the one who doesn’t speak well, right?’
I’ve already told him about the first time I met Cielo and how quickly he seemed to absorb ASL simply from listening to the words coming out of my mouth and watching my hands move. If only humans could do the same.
It would have made my life a lot easier.
I insisted on learning ASL the moment my parents brought home a little baby who couldn’t hear, but it had taken forever for the language to stick in my brain, and I still sometimes fucked up when signing.
