Shades of Gray -- Ch. 8 is up.

Seth folded his arms across his chest and glared at his sister. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

She shook her head and held out the stack of papers. “Look for yourself. It’s all here, proof of everything that they told me, and even more on top of it. The Grays-“

“Aurora put you up to this.” Seth cut in, and Maria looked startled. “This is ridiculous.” He looked away from her, across the street. They were sitting in a window booth of the diner downtown. He could see Casey through the window of the music store across the street. He was setting up a display, his headphones on. His head bobbed back and forth a little in time with his music. It made Seth smile.

“She didn’t. They told me about all this stuff, and I looked it up later.” Maria snapped at him, bringing his attention back to their conversation. “Look, Seth, I know that they’re the only people in town that you know, but don’t you see that I’m trying to protect you? What if they’re dangerous?”

Seth rolled his eyes. “They’re not dangerous.”

“Just read the articles, please?” Maria put the stack of paper beside his water glass. “If you would just-“

“No.” Seth snapped. “Goddamnit, Maria, they’re the only friends I have. I know you’re mad that I haven’t spent enough time with you lately, but come on.”

Maria scowled. “That’s not why I’m doing this!” she insisted. “Seth, I don’t need you around twenty four seven. I’m not vying for your attention. Why won’t you listen to me?”

“It’s ridiculous, that’s why.” Seth took a sip of his ice water. “Maria, they’re my friends.”

“I know they are, but sometimes-“

“Hi guys!” Aurora chimed, making Seth jump so hard he smashed his knees into the bottom of the table. Everything on the table shuddered, and Maria caught her glass before it fell over, giving Seth a dirty look. “Fancy seeing you here, Seth!” she tossed herself into the booth beside Maria, smiling from ear to ear. “Having lunch? I just put in an order for a carry out.”

“Stay.” Maria suggested. “Have lunch with us.” Aurora agreed, and Seth sighed. The girls started talking immediately, and he blocked them out, turning to look out the window again. He didn’t see Casey; there was a different kid finishing the display set up.

The girls talked for a while, about things Seth didn’t know or care about. From time to time, Aurora would throw him a look, her eyelashes fluttering, his lips curving into a smile, and if he looked directly at her when she was looking directly at him, she would wink at him. He hunched lower in the booth.

Their food came, and as Seth was reaching for the hot sauce, a pair of warm, smooth hands slid up his shoulders. He jerked involuntarily, and one of the twins appeared out of nowhere, sliding into the booth beside him. The other twin popped up from behind him, sitting backwards in the booth behind theirs. He saw the moon tattoo of the twin behind him as he wrapped his arms around Seth’s neck. Cayden.

“Hello, Seth.” They said in unison, all smiles. Beside him, Casey threw his leg over Seth’s thigh and snuggled up beside him. Cayden leaned down, pressing a wet, nibbling kiss to the side of Seth’s neck. Despite the embarrassment and panic, Seth felt himself react to the twins, their touches and the smell of them. He closed his eyes, his entire body going rigid.

Aurora and Maria stared at them, matching expressions of shock on their faces. Casey leaned across the table, affectively sliding into Seth’s lap at the same time. “You must be Seth’s little sister, Maria.” He held out his hands, smiling. “I’m Casey Gray, and that’s my brother Cayden. My, my. You’re almost as cute as your brother.”

Maria shook his hand as though in a daze. Cayden laughed and ran his hands down Seth’s chest. Seth shuddered and looked away from the girls. “What are you two doing?” he asked softly.

“We saw you.” Cayden told him. “We thought we’d come and say hello. That’s all right, isn’t it, lover?” he licked Seth’s ear.

That was it. Seth got out from under Casey and away from Cayden’s arms as fast as he could. It took some struggling, but managed it and took off out of the diner as fast as he could without running.

The twins caught up with him a few stores down, and when one of them grabbed his arm he turned on them, furious. “What the fuck was that?!” he shouted, his arms waving madly. The twins grinned. “You can’t just show up where ever and paw at me like a couple of-“

The twins grabbed him and shoved into the narrow alley between two stores. His back hit the brick wall, knocking the wind out of him. The twins slipped forward, literally wrapping around him.

“We’re tired of being hidden.” One of them told softly. Their hands were everywhere, doing painfully good things to him. He felt one their mouth’s slide along the column of his throat and his head fell back against the wall. His bit his lip to keep from moaning, and heard one of the twins say, “We talked to you about this.”

“I said I needed…” he trailed off, his words failing him completely as a hand slipped down into his jeans. The twins both laughed softly. Seth closed his eyes, figuring whatever he’d been about to say could wait until later. The twin against his neck bit down, just above his pulse, and he whimpered and strained against them. The teeth at his throat seemed too sharp, and for a moment, Seth was scared they would cut his skin. He didn’t want to walk around with a big blood bite mark on his neck. Finally, the teeth released his skin, and a tongue swiped along the abused area, soothing it.

“We’re going away soon.” One of them told him, nipping at his ear lobe as the other did more serious things to him below. He turned his head and opened his eyes long enough to look at the twin who was speaking. The dark haired boy smiled slowly, and nuzzled the side of Seth’s throat. “Will you miss us?”

“Where are you going?” Seth asked, his hands coming up and finding the second twin’s hair. He wrapped his fingers through it as that twin began to ease down onto his knees.

“Just… away.” The twin above said vaguely. “We’ll give you your time to think, but before we left, we wanted to see you one more time.” He slipped his hand under Seth’s shirt, his long, talented fingers sliding up and finding one nipple. Seth pushed up against him, and the twin smiled. “Will you miss us?” he asked again.

“Yes.” Seth said, his voice catching a little.

The twins were gone in an instant. He made a short, coughing gasp from the sudden lack of contact and watched them step back, their fingers lacing together. They were both smiling. “Liar.” The twin who had been busy on Seth said. He didn’t sound angry. “You will miss that, but not us.”

“We are not stupid, Seth.” The other one said softly.

Seth watched them carefully. Part of him wanted to tell them whatever they wanted to hear, so they would come back. The other part of him saw the escape opportunity in this, and made him hesitate. The twins exchanged looks.

“Well, perhaps another time.” One of them said nonchalantly, and they left him there, panting and confused. He covered his face with his hands and tried to catch his breath. When his breathing was sort of normal, he checked to make sure his clothes were in order, then headed out of the alley.

He immediately bumped right in Aurora. She stepped back, an apology on her lips, but when she saw it was him her eyes went flat and she snapped her mouth shut.

Seth gave her an embarrassed smile. “Hey, I’m sorry about-“

“I’m sure you are.” She snapped. “Maria went home without you. Excuse me.” She brushed past him and stomped away. He watched her go, annoyed and confused. Finally, he headed home. As he got to the second floor, Maria’s door flew open and she grabbed him by the shirt. He let out a startled yelp when she pulled him into the room.

The door slammed, and he faced his furious little sister. “Now, Maria, I know you’re confused, and I want you to-“

“You’re having SEX with them?” she screamed, and Seth winced at the volume. “With BOTH of them?!”

“No, I… I mean, well…” he stopped, frowning, and she threw her hands in the air and started pacing. “Maria, listen…”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked him. “That’s so wrong!”

“Why?” Seth asked them, surprising himself. “Because they’re guys?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Seth, I’m not a retard, and I don’t care if you’re gay.”

“I’m not.” He said, but she ignored this.

”You can’t have sex with two people at the same time. It’s wrong. Besides, they’re brothers! TWINS!”

“Oh please, a lot of guys have fantasies about-“

“Yes, fantasies.” She cut in. “They don’t actually have Double Mint moments in real life. It’s wrong.” She said again.

“I know you’re upset, but seriously, could you keep your voice down? Jesus Christ, do you really want Amelia and Joseph to know about this?”

“I’m sure you don’t.” she retorted, and sat down on her bed. “What are you thinking?”

Seth sighed. The problem was, he wasn’t thinking. He couldn’t think, not around the twins. They were like drugs; addictive and dangerous. He sat down beside his sister. “I don’t know what to do.” He told her, and watched the anger in her eyes dissipate a little. “I don’t know what I’m doing with them. The first time was an accident, and it scared me. They’re like… leeches. I can’t help it.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you can figure out a way to keep your dick in your pants.” She assured him.

“That’s the problem.” He admitted. “I don’t think I can. I don’t want to do this, but I can’t help it. I’m serious. I’m not just trying to justify my actions by saying they aren’t my fault, you know I wouldn’t cop out like that.”

Maria studied him carefully. “You’re serious.” She said finally, and he nodded. “What are you saying, that they’re… forcing you?”

He laughed at this. “No. Not exactly. It’s like…” he searched for the words to explain it without getting too graphic about his homosexual threeways with the creepy twins. “It’s like I can’t control myself. I don’t want my body to do what it does, but it doesn’t listen to my brain. It’s like watching someone else control me.”

“You’re talking about-“

“No.” he said, cutting her off before she said something so off the wall, so unbelievable. He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Maria sighed and hugged him with one arm. “Is it just, you know… sex?” she asked, her tone suggesting that she really did not want to know.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. They say they want more than that.”

She looked at him. “They want to share you?” he nodded, and she laughed. “Hell, Seth. I can’t get one guy to want me, and you’ve got two who are willing to take turns?”

Seth turned bright red and looked away. “They don’t take turns. It’s sort of a….” he stopped, glancing at his sister, who looked both sick and in awe.

“Okay, I’m done with the ‘too much info’ part of our little chat.” She said, holding up one hand in a ‘stop’ gesture. “What are you going to do about them?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “They said they’re going away for a while, and- Maria, knock it off.” He’d caught the look on her face when he’d mentioned them leaving. “I’m not in the mood for you psycho bullshit about them being… serial killers or whatever.”

Maria smacked him in the arm. “I never said they were serial killers. Read the damn files.” She pointed to the stack of papers on her desk. He rolled his eyes. She bit her lip, getting one of those nervous looks on her face that Seth didn’t like. “Can I ask you something?” he sighed and nodded. “The twins… they came to you, right?” he nodded again. “Were they… together…” she stopped, obviously uncomfortable. “I mean, do they…”

“Yes.” Seth said, and she cringed. “In their opinion, it’s more like masturbation than anything else.”

“Because they’re identical?”

“They aren’t. They’re mirror twins.” He explained this to her, and she nodded slowly. “You aren’t going to tell the parents, are you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Of course not. I don’t want you to do this, though, Seth.”

He stood up. “I know. I’m sorry. I don’t really want to do this, either.” In his mind, he didn’t, most of the time. But his body, on the other hand… “I’ll talk to you later, okay?” she nodded, and he left the room.

In his own room, he laid down on his bed and put his hands behind his head. He watched the shadow patterns on the ceiling and decided it was time to figure this out, once and for all. The twins would be going away soon, they would want an answer out of him.

Could he really go through with what they wanted from him? Could he actually let people see them together? Could he deal with the judgment? He didn’t know, and it hurt to think about it. He lay on his bed for hours, watching the shadow lengthen, and tried to sort through this mess.

As dusk approached, he began to nod off, and the dreams that came were strange and broken, terrifying and sexual. He dreamed of the twins, dancing, pulling at each other, drawing blood with their nails and teeth. He dreamed of cold, dark cellars, dirt floors and the smell of something rotting. He dreamed of Mr. Gray, a kitchen knife in his hand, standing above a cradle where two sloe eyed infants looked up at him. He dreamed of his sister, her throat slit and her eyes glassy, and Ruby beside her, whining low in her throat. He dreamed of the twins, coming to him through his bedroom window, their teeth filed to points and their hands covered in blood and bits of flesh. They pounced on him, and somewhere between sex and cannibalism, Seth realized that Amelia and Joseph were watching from the door way.

The awoke with a scream behind his teeth, and clapped both hands over his mouth to keep it in. He was drenched in sweat and shaking. He got out of bed, his knees barely holding his weight, and stumbled to his bathroom. He washed his face, his breathing slowly returning to normal. He wandered back into his room, walking over to the window and looking out towards the Gray house.

The top window was dark, but there was movement in the side yard, so Seth hunched down a bit more and watched carefully. It was little more than shadows; two matching ones, disappearing through what looked like a cellar door. One of them turned and spoke to the shadow standing beside the open door. The shadow person by the door shook his head, and when the two smaller ones were inside, he shut the door and ran a heavy link chain through the handles. Seth scowled and watched him snap a padlock in place, securing the chain. He checked the door, tugging on the handle; they didn’t so much as budge.

Seth bit his lip and watched Mr. Gray walked back towards the front of the house, his head lowered a little. As he passed through the patch of light thrown off by the porch light, Seth saw smears and streaks of bright red against his shirt and hands.

Seth took a step back, his heart pounding again. He closed his eyes, trying to convince himself that he hadn’t seen that. Then his mind supplied the fact that the man was a coroner; he probably got blood on himself on a daily basis.

“Then why did he lock the twins in the cellar?” he asked him out loud. “What the hell is going on?”

You’re dreaming, his mind assured him. This is all just part of that crazy dream. Lay back down, and you’ll wake up and see that nothing of the sort happened.

Seth did exactly what his brain wanted him to. He laid down, closed his eyes, and pretended he’d seen nothing. Eventually he fell back asleep, and he did not dream.
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The next morning, as he ate breakfast with the family, he tried not to think about the parts of his nightmare that he could remember. His mind kept wandering back to it, and it was hard to concentrate on what Joseph was saying. Still, he kept trying to push the dream away.

“…found him behind the old railroad station, just outside of town. I’m sorry I didn’t come home until late last night.” Joseph told Amelia.

“It’s all right, sweetheart. You’re working.”

“I just don’t get it. It’s probably one of the worst cases I’ve had in years. I need to get back, get some work done.”

Maria frowned. “Dad, you promised you would take me shopping today.”

“Seth could take you.” Amelia offered.

“No.” Maria snapped. Amelia and Joseph stared at her, shocked. Maria ignored the looks and fed her bacon to Ruby. Seth glared at her.

“Well, then I’ll take you myself.” Amelia said after a moment of awkward silence. “We’ll leave at noon.” Maria agreed to this.

Seth fed Ruby his bacon as well, when she came over to see if he had anything for her. He wasn’t hungry. When Ruby was finished with her piece of bacon, she wandered over to the back door and whined.

“I’ll let her out.” Seth got up and went out into the backyard with Ruby. The dog trotted away, and Seth sat down on the stairs. The dream chased itself around in his head, and he wished it would fade, the way normal dreams did. Instead, it remained particularly vivid, especially the part of watching Mr. Gray put the twins in the cellar. He supposed that was because it was the only part that had happened in a place he knew and saw everyday. A tiny voice in the back of his mind called bullshit, that it was vivid because it had happened, but he ignored it.

Ruby came back, carrying her Frisbee. He smiled and took it from her, standing up, and the dog took off, tail wagging. He threw it, hard, angling it up a little to get better distance, and watched Ruby time her angle and jump. She caught it perfectly, making his smile widen, and returned to him. She dropped the Frisbee at his feet and barked at him, excited.

As he played with her, he went over in his head what had happened yesterday. He decided that if the twins didn’t show up today, he would go over and speak to Mr. Gray tomorrow morning, and never mind the fact that the guy hated his guts. He knew the twins might be gone already (that tiny voice tried to be heard here, and he pushed it down hard) but he’d wait and see.