CHAPTER#160

Lost in his thoughts, he found himself staring at a crack in the plaster above. Perhaps he had seen it every night, but he couldn't help but wonder if it had always been there. The house was always changing, manipulating their memories and its blueprints, working its way towards some eventual... something. The house and its occupants were part of a game, apparently, but to what end? It had already gone through some changes this week alone, changes that boggled his mind.

Yawning, he wondered what it would be like if he could see them all, the people of the house, laid out like game pieces. He thought about the strange garden from his vision, then blushed at the memory of masturbating as the house. Fighting the urge to fall asleep, he tried to slip into that space once again, to see if he could gain any more information.

The effort this time was minimal, and his consciousness rapidly shifted perspectives, the room around him bending like metal and then melting into the ground. He stood on the roof of the house, the wind blowing through his hair. He felt himself lifted into the sky, the world beneath him growing small and revealing several pinpricks of light scattered across the grounds. They moved like twinkling stars, shifting about beneath him.

He rocketed into the sky, the clouds clinging to his skin like morning dew until he was above them, his body illuminated by the moon. His whole body spun in place like a drunken top, and he fell, the soft clouds folding around him like a pair of hands.

The fall was long, and the moon vanished, leaving him in darkness. Down below, a tiny spot of light could be seen, and he fell through it, tumbling in space over a large body of sand. He crashed, scattering grains of sand in every direction.

"Mmmph!" Pushing himself up, a fountain of sand fell out of his mouth.

"That... was quite the entrance, Romeo."

Mike stood up, squinting in the harsh light of the sun. Standing on the edge of the crater he stood in was the succubus Lily, wearing a bikini and a pair of thigh high boots. She lifted her sunglasses, appraising him with crimson eyes.

"Lily? Is that really you?"

"In the flesh. Well... essentially." She knelt down and offered a hand. "You're in the Dreamscape, but I've never seen anyone enter quite like that before."

"I was trying to go somewhere else." He took her hand and pulled himself out. It was an odd sensation, as if his entire body was being sucked into the ground in opposition to his movements. Instead of stepping out of the crater, the sand filled it in until he stood level with Lily. "You're actually here?"

"I am." She grinned. "I'm in your bedroom right now, actually."

"Oh. Um, want me to wake up?"

"I'm on a bit of a time crunch, actually. A couple minutes in the real world versus an hour in here. Thought I would drop in and talk to you for a change."

"What do you mean, for a change?"

She chuckled. "I've been sucking you off in your sleep. We've been super busy and I haven't had time to visit, just enough time to come home, get some juice, and fly back out to keep our little delivery girl sane."

"That's kind of a dick move. We've been worried about you."

Her face darkened. "You're one to talk. You were missing for a couple of days, and I spot this fox demon storming around the house like she owns the place. Thank the underworld I wasn't running on empty, otherwise you'd be reading about a zombie outbreak on the news."

"Oh yeah? Where at?"

"No spoilers. You'll hear about it first hand in a week or so. We're headed your way, actually, so I'll let our girl fill you in on what we've been up to when we get home."

"Is she... did Dana... get cured?"

Lily rolled her eyes and knocked on Mike's forehead. "If she had, would I be here to get her a spooge smoothie?"

He laughed. "No, I guess not."

"So... where did you come from?" Lily pointed up. "It's called falling asleep, but you came in here like a meteor."

"I was trying something. It's like a trance, I've gone there a couple of times, but I ended up here instead." He told her about the visions, and about wearing the body of the house. "Any ideas?"

"If it's somewhere like the Dreamscape, it's not terribly far away. Metaphorically, anyway. Why do you want to go there anyway?"

"Don't know." He shrugged. "I keep ending up there, and it would be nice if I could control when I go. I feel like there's some big secret to be learned, but I don't know what."

"Well..." Lily frowned. "That might be something I can help you with, when I get back."

"You'd help me? Just like that?" He crossed his arms. "What's the catch?"

"No catch." Her face darkened. "Of late, I've been feeling very... nostalgic. When I left with Dana, part of it was I wanted to help her, to do a good thing. But honestly? I've been feeling things I haven't felt in a while, and I don't fully understand why."

"What kind of things?"

"It sounds silly, but human things. Emotions. I don't know if it's because I'm bonded to you, or if its some other reason, but I've been unusually... kind, as of late."

Mike thought back to the last time he saw Lily, on the front porch. He had fucked her and Cecilia at the same time, the magic running rampant through all three of them. If Lily was feeling more human, what had he taken from her? "I might know why that is, actually."

"Oh?" Lily lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah." He looked around to see if anyone was listening, and then leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "I'll tell you when you get home."