Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2012 08:55:41 -0700 (PDT) From: Richard Garcia Subject: Darkness Dwindles chapter 3 DARKNESS DWINDLES Chapter Three Daniel healed quickly from his injuries. At his second visit the wound care specialist expressed delight at the speed of his recovery. He gave Daniel another rabies shot and a prescription for a final course of antibiotics, but did not renew the pain meds. Daniel was able to start driving again, so he borrowed Joey's Civic. It was easier to handle one-handed than the van and his around-town car, the Porsche, was a stick shift. Which meant that Joey couldn't leave the house when his brother was out. That was okay, since Joey seldom went anywhere anyway. With his left arm still out of commission, Daniel couldn't do much training at his dojang. He worked out as best he could on the mat at home and used his spare time to catch up on paperwork and do day trading from his home office. Life began to slide back towards normalcy. Three-and-a-half weeks after his return from the ER, Daniel entered what he called his sweet spot: that frenzy of artistic production he slipped into at times. Joey sat in a chair against the back wall of the studio and practiced his clarinet while his brother primed a canvas. Having his left arm in a sling didn't seem to slow Daniel down much. After the primer dried he began layering on paint in broad, sweeping strokes. This was going to be one of his big works; the colors were dark. Daniel knocked off at dusk. Although he had installed full spectrum lighting in the studio, he still preferred to work under natural light. He went out for dinner and beers with friends and didn't get home until after Joey had gone to bed. He was working in his studio when Joey got up the next morning. "Hey, bro," he greeted Joey cheerfully. " 'morning.” "Daniel, you're already up." Daniel grinned. "Actually, I never went to bed. Just didn't get tired. Could use some coffee, though." "I'll make some." "Thanks." Daniel drank coffee and worked in the studio all morning, then took a break near noon for lunch. Joey had fixed tuna fish sandwiches. Daniel wolfed his down in six bites. "Wow," he sounded surprised. "I'm hungry. Can I have another?" "Uh, sorry. We don't have any more bread." "Shit. Okay then, I'm going to the store." Daniel returned with four large steaks and a twelve-pack of beer. He grilled the steaks on the patio and ate two of them with a couple of beers, then returned to the studio. An hour later the living room stereo came on. Joey came out to find Daniel sprawled on the couch listening to Coldplay. "Had to take a break," he said in response to Joey's query. "I was starting to get off course and it was pissing me off. Can't work like that." Daniel didn't go back to the studio. Instead he hung out in the living room, listening to music and drinking beers. After an hour he switched to classic rock, filling the house with music from Rolling Stones and The Doors. As the afternoon progressed Daniel's mood darkened. His answers when Joey approached him became shorter and more surly. Hour by hour the music got louder and more metallic. The noise became so loud that Joey retreated to his bedroom and watched the picture frames rattle against the walls. If the homes on the block hadn't been on two-acre lots they would have gotten calls from neighbors. Maybe they did and no one heard the phone. Around six-thirty Daniel killed the music. Sudden silence enveloped the house. Joey ventured into the living room to find Daniel pacing back in forth in front of the windows, watching the sun slide behind the trees of the preserve. He whirled at the sound of Joey's footsteps. "What?" he snarled. "Uh, sorry, Daniel. It's almost dinnertime. Do you want me to make you something?" "Jesus, Joey. What are you, my chef?" "Sorry, Daniel." "Don't cringe, goddamn it. And get that hair out of your eyes. You look like a little girl." "Sorry," Joey smoothed the hair back from his face. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," Daniel mocked. "Fuck, Joey. You're always saying you're sorry. You know how annoying that gets?" Joey stared at his older brother. Daniel never acted like this towards him. "Daniel, what's wrong?" "That's a really good question, bro." Daniel resumed his pacing. "What the hell is wrong? I've been wondering that for years. Christ, Joey, when's the last time you laughed? Before your mom died, that's for sure. When you were a kid you had a wicked sense of humor. And you were smart. Look at you now: you're eighteen years old and have no friends. You act like a fucking moron. All you ever do is watch TV and practice your clarinet. As far as I know, you've never been out on a single date." Daniel stopped and turned to face Joey. "Bro, I wouldn't care if you were into girls, guys or dogs, but you have no sex drive at all. For a teenager that's seriously fucked up. "So you tell me, Joey. What's wrong?" Joey stared at Daniel. "It's like talking to a rock." Daniel threw up his right hand in frustration. "Fuck it. I'm going out to eat." He stalked out of the room. Daniel was gone all evening. Joey fixed himself dinner and watched TV in his bedroom. Shortly before midnight he heard the Civic pull in. He turned the TV off and went out to meet his brother. Daniel was in the kitchen, braced against the counter and staring at the floor. He looked up as Joey approached. "Hey, bro," he said, "We've got mice again." Daniel's eyes were shiny; his pupils were enormous. He looked high. Except that Daniel didn't do drugs. He cocked his head. "One's runnin' through the wall behind the sink. I can hear the little bastard." Joey approached his brother cautiously. "Daniel, are you okay?" "Never better." Daniel's grin looked shockingly toothy. "Know where I went?" "To eat out?" "Yeah, did that. Then I went to a bar. Whadda you think of that? Picked up some girl there." He frowned. "Thought I liked her at first. Had that fuck-the-world spiked hair look. Sometimes I really dig that. But she was wearing way too much of some strange-ass perfume." He crinkled his face in disgust. His nose twitched. "The longer I was around her the worse it smelled." He leaned forward and sniffed. "You don't wear perfume. `course you don't. You don't use any deodorant either, do you? That's good. Shouldn't use that crap. Makes you smell like a walking chemical plant." He took a step away from the counter and tilted alarmingly. Joey stepped forward to steady him. "Whoa, Nelly." Daniel giggled. "I am waaay too drunk. Can't believe I drove home like this. You should never drive drunk. Stupid thing to do. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Help me to bed, little bro, will you?" Joey got Daniel's arm over his shoulder and guided him down the hallway toward his bedroom. It was an encore performance of their return from the Baxter County ER nearly four weeks ago. "People should smell they way they are," Daniel continued his monologue as they stumbled along. His chin dropped onto the top of Joey's head and he tilted his nose to nuzzle his brother's hair. "You smell good, Joey. I bet I could pick your smell out from a thousand other people. I really bet I could." "Here we are," Joey said. "Oh, yeah. Here we are." Daniel half-sat, half-fell onto his bed. He flopped onto his back, feet dangling over the edge. Joey slipped off his shoes and socks. Daniel's feet were surprisingly hairy. It looked like his nails needed trimming, too. In the light from the hallway they looked almost black. "That's good," Daniel sighed. "That's good, little bro." He frowned up at Joey. "Hey, you aren't supposed to take care of me, you know. It's my job to take care of you." He turned to peer at the clock beside his bed. "Wow, it's midnight. Past your bedtime." He wagged his finger at Joey. "You go to bed, young man." Joey went to bed. ************** The crash woke him up. It was just past dawn. There was another crash. Joey leapt out of bed and ran down the hall to his brother's bedroom. Daniel was crouched on the middle of his bed. Blankets and sheets were strewn everywhere; his bed-stand lamps were lying on the floor to either side. His brother's head swiveled toward him when Joey entered the bedroom. He snarled. Joey stopped up short. Daniel did not look like himself. He was naked, and Joey had never seen so much hair on a human body. Only it didn't look much like a human body any more. The nails on Daniel's hands looked more like claws and his nose had lengthened and broadened to become almost a muzzle. His forehead had flattened and receded. His ears twitched forward as his gaze fixed alertly on his brother. He leapt off the bed and was on top of Joey in one bound. Joey was pinned beneath Daniel on the bedroom carpet. Daniel snarled again, then dropped his head to sniff his brother's chest. "Jooeey," he rumbled. Then again, "Jooeey. Smeeell gooood." He butted his head against Joey's chest, then licked it lightly. His tongue rasped against Joey's bare skin. "Smoooth," he panted, "sooo smooooth." Daniel licked the chest again. He sniffed it. He licked one of the nipples, then licked again, a little further down. He sniffed harder. Abruptly his face dropped to Joey's crotch. Joey squirmed. Daniel's growl came from deep in his throat, a warning, and Joey froze. Daniel buried his face into Joey's crotch and sniffed hard. There had been a couple of emissions that night, and one of them was recent enough to leave a damp patch on Joey's sweatpants. Daniel licked it. He licked again. And again. His nose rose to push against the top of the sweats, nudging them down. They were snug against Joey's hipbones, and gave only a little. Daniel nudged harder. He seemed to remember that he had hands: abruptly he grabbed the sweats and jerked them down. The nails on his hands scored long welts down Joey's thighs. Daniel dropped his head to resume licking his brother's crotch. He licked the shaft of the flaccid penis, nudging it with his nose to get at it from every side. Then he moved down to begin licking Joey's balls, nosing the sack around to coat it completely with saliva. Daniel butted his head against Joey's inner thighs, pushing the legs apart to get access to the space between his brother's balls and crack. He continued licking. Joey stared down. He could see along the length of Daniel's torso to his penis. His brother had an erection. It looked enormous, and not entirely human. The top third of the shaft was pink and glistening. It tapered to a point like a rocket ship. Daniel kept licking, butting his skull and muzzle against Joey's inner thighs and perineum as he tried to get greater access to the crack. He growled and shook his head in frustration, then looked up at Joey. His eyes, bright with animalistic lust, were solid gray without a hint of white. He grabbed Joey's shoulders. Nails gouged flesh as effortlessly Daniel flipped his brother over onto his stomach. A hand raked down to sweep the sweatpants off. Cloth ripped as they were jerked away. Joey lay naked on the carpet. Daniel crouched over him, licking down the small of his back, slipping his tongue between the flesh of Joey's ass cheeks to taste the crack. He grabbed his brother's hips and hauled his pelvis up into the air. The carpet burned against Joey's knees as they slid under his waist. Daniel grunted and settled onto him. His penis jabbed against Joey's right ass cheek, sliding toward the hole. He shifted and jabbed again. This time he hit the hole, and went in. Daniel jabbed hard. Joey whimpered. Daniel arched over his body, arms on either side of his brother’s shoulders, holding him tight as he jabbed and jabbed and jabbed. His breath came in short, gulping pants as he flung himself again and again against the smaller body beneath him. Abruptly he slammed his hips tight against Joey's ass and froze, trembling, as the panting rose to staccatoed yelps. In his bowels Joey felt his brother's engorged penis swell further. He whimpered again. Daniel was pressed tight against him, his frenzied motion frozen now to quivering stillness. The fur of his chest and stomach matted against Joey's sweat-slicked back. Gradually Daniel's panting began to slow. But his penis, tight in Joey's ass like a key turned in a lock, did not go soft. They were stuck together. Daniel settled his weight onto Joey. One at a time Joey slowly straightened his legs and let his hips settle onto the carpet. Daniel rode him down. He snuffed the nape of Joey's neck and began to lick it. They lay together for a long time while Daniel washed the back of his brother's head and neck with his tongue. ============================================================================= Okay, there's a bit more happening now. The situation is definitely starting to get hairy. Hope you're enjoying the show. After all, that's the whole point, isn't it? InvertedBeast@yahoo.com