Beetle Juice (7 page)

He nodded his head.

But you can enjoy regular women too?

He nodded again. He was already enjoying their physical contact.

“Then we'll get along,” she said, reverting to audible speech now that she had confirmed the telepathic mode. “Now I have some points to make while I have you muzzled. I'm no virgin, but I can seduce any man in short order when I try. I will be happy to demonstrate with you. Meanwhile I'll answer your most likely question: yes, it's true about vampires and blood. But as a general rule I don't take the blood of friends, and I do have an alternate way to get the equivalent: a man's semen bolsters me similarly. So when you have sex with me, you are actually feeding me. I don't need a lot, a few drops will do, it's a hormonal thing, but I do need it regularly. So I will be after you for sex every night, and not just because you are one magnetically virile stud. If you don't like that, simply tell me; I do have other sources.” She squeezed her thighs against his hide suggestively.

Wetzel walked on, not demurring. It was interesting how she was managing him, effectively silencing him while she made her presentation. He liked her, and she was indeed sexually interesting, especially for a vampire. His fantasy research had indicated that vampires could take sex or leave it; her ability to use it in lieu of blood was not in the literature he had seen.

“Another thing,” she continued. “We are a team, and we stand by each other, to the death if need be. You join us, we'll stand by you, and expect you to support us similarly. We'll be your friends. It is no casual commitment; the Amoeba brought us together for a purpose, and we need to know we can depend on each other. But apart from that, the other woman, Veee, is my friend. I don't want her hurt. Anyone who hurts her will be my enemy.” Her mood darkened, and it was clear that she was neither joking nor bluffing. “I'm not suggesting that you would do so deliberately, but you could do so unintentionally, simply because you don't yet know her well enough. Reading her immediate mind won't necessarily suffice. She has had wide involuntary sexual experience, but now is in a voluntary relationship with Tod, and is becoming her own woman. They love each other and will marry in due course. You could surely seduce her, because of your magical appeal to women, but she would thereafter feel guilty and be hurt. She wants to be true to Tod. It's a cultural thing. So I ask you, I beg you, do not have sex with her. You can be her friend—she makes the best possible friend—but leave her alone sexually. I am not trying to reserve you for myself; you can have sex with anyone else, and I suspect you will, just as I do with any man who takes my fancy, including especially Tod. Veee and I share him, for now; that's complicated to explain briefly. She's not the jealous type. But Veee alone you should spare.”

Wetzel walked on. Vanja's mind buttressed her words; she was making sense in this context. He would try to honor that request.

They came to the glade. He transformed back to human form, and sure enough, Vanja transformed simultaneously to her bat form, hovered momentarily, then landed on his shoulder.

“I have heard you, vocally and mentally,” he said. “I will treat your friend carefully. Because she is not a virgin, I should be able to hold off.”

She jumped off his shoulder, transformed, and landed neatly on her feet before him, now completely nude in appearance. She put her arms about him, drawing close so that her belly and breasts pressed against him. She had the most provocative figure he had ever seen. “One other thing,” she murmured, smiling to flash her fangs. “I don't bite when making love, unless requested.” Then she kissed him and drew him down on the grass, wrapping her legs about his hips. He was in her and climaxing immediately; she was indeed good at seduction and at sex.

“Now more detail,” she said briskly as they lay still clasped. “Exactly what is it with unicorns and virgins? Are you really helpless before a virgin?”

“It's a liability of the form. My passion is for a virgin, but the moment I have sex with her I lose further romantic interest. I can enjoy sex with any woman, but I can love only a virgin. I want to love and marry and have a family, but my wife must be a continuing virgin. It's not just her body; she must be virginal in her mind too. I know that's impossible. I took the trail in the hope that somewhere, somehow, there is an answer for me.”

“So if you find the right virgin, your life is complete?”

“Hardly. I am completely smitten by any virgin I meet; she can make me do almost anything. Until she stops being virginal.”

“So, if we encounter an enemy virgin, one who wishes us ill, we will need to protect you from her, odd as that sounds?”

“Yes. I cannot say no to a virgin. So I am not looking for a virgin as such, so much as THE virgin who will fulfill my life, imaginary as she may be.”

“I don't know enough about the Amoeba to say, but it is my impression that it does try to satisfy the ones it summons. So maybe there is an answer for you, though I can't imagine what.”

“I hope so,” he said fervently.

“Okay, I believe I have introduced myself. Next you should get to know Tod. He's the leader of our team. He'll need to know your capabilities so he can organize the mission.”

“What
is
the mission?”

“We don't know. Just that it relates to beetle juice, thanks to your information. That's typical of the Amoeba; it doesn't tell you, but in due course does show the way. We can be sure it will be a challenge that utilizes all of us, though maybe not in exactly the ways we expect.”

They got up and walked back toward the village. Wetzel noticed that her painted clothing had reappeared. Too bad he could not do the same. “Thank you for the information,” he said.

“Thank you for the ride.”

He smiled. “Who thanks whom for the sex?”

She returned the smile. “It's a draw. We both desperately wanted it. We're a close match both in being half-humans and in our keen sexuality. There will be many other times.”

“There will be,” he agreed.

They rejoined the other three. “I am turning Wetzel over to you, Tod, for background on the Amoeba and our organization as a team.” She flashed a smile. “And yes, he
is
a stud.”

“Let's take a walk,” Tod said. He was a fit brown-haired man of pleasant disposition.

“First get him some trunks,” Veee said. She was embarrassed by his nakedness, though also admiring it.

Tod rummaged in his things and came up with a pair of undershorts. Wetzel put them on. “I did not think to bring clothing of my own,” he said. “When I transform suddenly, it is hard on clothing.”

“Veee will surely design you something feasible.”

“I will,” Veee said.

They walked along the same path as before. “The Amoeba is a remarkable entity,” Tod said. His mind was well informed and surprisingly powerful; he was much more of a person than his appearance or attitude suggested. “The trails are actually its pseudopods, extending beyond our imagination. We are in the Amoeba, and it facilitates our association.”

“In
it?” Wetzel asked, surprised. “I assumed it was controlling the trail from some other vantage.”

“Not so. Everything you see here is part of the Amoeba. It provides a mutually compatible environment so that all of us are physically comfortable, when we might not be in each other's frames. It also enables us to converse with each other, though our individual languages may be quite different. Your telepathy may enable you to relate to foreign cultures on your own, however.”

“I am not sure of that,” Wetzel said. “I have no prior experience with foreign cultures. But it may be so. That might be why I was offered the trail.”

“We may find out, in due course. We each have special abilities and traits. It seems the Amoeba is essentially mindless, but senses what it needs and goes after it. That may not be what we think. Our prior fifth member was Bem, an alien blob. But there's a more immediate aspect. You have not eaten anything here?”

“I have not,” Wetzel agreed.

“There is a sickness that comes the first time a person eats on the trail. We have all suffered it. It occurs once, then not again. First you vomit, then you get the implacable chills that it seems only close personal contact can ward off. Your best bet is to eat very little, wait for the siege, then let the girls bundle with you under a blanket.”

“Both women?”

“Two are warmer than one. It seems to be not merely physical.”

This could be awkward. “Vanja told me to leave Veee alone, sexually. I intend to do that. I should not be put artificially close to her. It is difficult for me to resist sexual temptation.”

“I appreciate your caution. But when you are sick, you will not be sexually inclined.”

“She said that you and Veee may marry.”

“Yes, we hope to. But here on the trail it is open territory, sexually. We are not possessive of each other. If you and Veee wish to indulge you can, as long as the desire is mutual. I do so with both women, sometimes simultaneously.” He smiled. “That can be quite an experience.”

“Vanja said Veee would feel guilty, and thus be hurt. I do not wish to do that.”

“That is purely up to the two of you. Vanja is very much her own woman, and Veee is getting there.”

“I have normally had sex with any woman who wanted it, and in my proximity all do, except for virgins. I fear Veee would also. It is better simply to keep us apart. I do not want to be a divisive influence in this group.”

“This is an understanding you must come to with Veee. It is not my prerogative to tell either of you what to do in this respect. If there is an emergency we need to handle, such as a charging monster, then I will expect all of you to heed what I say. But that is the extent of it.”

The man was unusually tolerant, and his mind echoed his words. Still, Wetzel intended to stay clear. “Maybe it is time for me to eat something local, and handle my ensuing illness. Then we can consider what other limits exist.”

“Good idea,” Tod agreed.

Wetzel paused to pick a single blue berry. “Will this do?”

“Yes. But don't eat it yet. Wait until the girls can help you.”

Wetzel was bemused, but decided to play it through. These were nice people, open and honest, and he liked them already. He might have been selected to fill a specific role the Amoeba required, friendship no object, but the prospect of associating with them appealed.

“One other thing,” Tod said. “The words you picked up, beetle juice. Were they capitalized?”

“I believe they were,” Wetzel said, surprised.

“That suggests that my conjecture about a squished bug was wrong. There is another interpretation. Betelgeuse.”

“A giant red star?” Wetzel asked, picking it up from the man's mind.

“Beetle Juice capitalized is a nickname in my culture for the star. In my language, which may not be what we are using here, the two phrasings sound similar.”

“But that is far away from here.”

“The Amoeba extends everywhere, and neither time nor distance is any barrier to it. The next village down the trail could be in the vicinity of Betelgeuse.”

“That being the case, why wasn't Betelgeuse put into my mind, instead of Beetle Juice?”

“I don't know. There must be a reason. It can be complicated to figure out the simple mind of the Amoeba.”

“So it seems,” Wetzel agreed, smiling. He was gaining respect for Tod; the man had a competent way of thinking.

They returned to the group. “Wetzel will eat a berry,” Tod said.

“We'll get the wash basin,” Vanja said.

“And the blanket,” Veee added.

“I'm not cold,” Wetzel protested.

They merely smiled. “Eat your berry,” Tod said.

Wetzel ate it. It was delicious.

“Meanwhile, you can get to know Veee,” Tod said. He and Wizard departed.

Veee stepped close. “There is something about you.”

“It is my sexual appeal,” Wetzel said. “It is my nature to be attracted to virgins, while experienced women are attracted to me. While I am unable to truly love any non-virgins, I can enjoy sex with them. However, I think it best if you and I do not indulge in that manner.”

“Why not?” Her interest was intensifying.

Wetzel glanced at Vanja, but she was silent. Even her mind was guarded. She had said her say and was leaving it to him.

“It is my understanding that you prefer to be true to Tod, whom you will marry. In my culture, married women are not normally encouraged to indulge sexually elsewhere. It happens, but is frowned on.”

“This is true for me too,” Veee said. “Yet I am tempted.” Indeed she was; her mind was churning.

“You might be tempted to eat a tasty berry, too,” he said. “But would not if you knew it was poisonous.”

“You are poisonous?”

“A sexual relationship with me could poison your association with Tod.”

“I do not blame him for having sex with Vanja. He would not blame me for having it with you.” This was true, but her feelings were seriously mixed.

“Not because of him,” Wetzel said carefully. “Because of you. You would hate to yield to the illicit temptation of the moment.”

“You're reading my mind!”

“I am,” he agreed.

“You know you could take me this instant.”

“Please, your burgeoning passion incites my own. It is like a fire spreading. Get away from me.” His erection was showing within the shorts.

She did not move. “I know I should. I know I'll condemn myself tomorrow. But right now I can't help myself. I want you.”

“And I want you. But we must not. I would feel as guilty as you.”

She reached for him. “Then stop me, because I can't stop myself.”

Vanja remained impassive. She would not intervene.