The Misbegotten

A minute after the clock on the wall in the living room half-chimed at the middle of the hour, the doorbell rang. I gazed across to the sofa opposite the one Ramona and I were lying upon. My eyes fell upon Katie, who’d been watching us make out – hot and heavy - for some time now. She had a rapt, if not ravenous gaze. Every once and a while, when I was able, I had seen her hand creep down to the waistband of her homemade booty shorts. Then she’d remember where she was and yank it back in obvious frustration.

My hot ass, little cousin wanted to cum!

Despite being a weekend, my parents had left early with little Lucia for breakfast and a visit with my grandmother. As they left, my mother mentioned they were going to run some errands and follow them with a brief stop at a friend’s party. She told us not to expect them until the evening, saying there was plenty of food. Right before leaving, she did her usual – she told me to behave.

Being magnanimous, we offered to take care of Martín when he balked about being gone for most of the day. He wanted to stay home and play. After we settled that, he had bolted for the Game room. We hadn’t seen him since.

After many hugs and kisses doled out to my baby sister by both me and Katie (Ramona and Tirza had stayed up in the Loft), they left.

The rest of us had scampered over to Flavia’s, then Johan’s bedrooms. I asked them to meet us up in the Loft as soon as they finished with the last of their morning rituals. They had come within ten minutes, both of them suspicious.

Flavia had been a little put off by the fact I had two additional girls up on the third floor without our parents knowledge.

Johan had looked at me with newfound admiration. He understood the significance of having my current girlfriend and my ex-girlfriend sleeping in my bedroom. His leer vanished though when Flavia’s stern gaze had fallen upon him. Her eyes bugged out like a camillian lizard. He did manage to raise his eyebrows, in rapid succession, at me as soon as he was able nonetheless. He made sure our volatile step-sister couldn’t see.

I winked, but forged on, we had much more pressing issues to attend to then age-old notions of propriety.

Per the plan, Katie left in search of Martín, but found him so engrossed in one of his video games. She came back, shrugging, knowing he wouldn’t be bothering us any time soon.

So, I filled them in on what had really been transpiring around them, not leaving out a single detail. (Well, I did leave out the whole incest thing between me and Katie. And the subsequent threesome that had arisen from it too, but for the most part, I told everything).

They listened, polite at first, then with concern as the meaning and implications began to take root. Their comprehension grew more thorough with each passing sentence.

Last, I let Tirza tell her story and that’s when their concern had turned to astonishment, then outright fury. Finally, fear settled upon them when they realized the enormity of our situation. Overwhelmed, they stared wide-eyed. They knew our branding as threat to meta-national security would come swift. The suddenness of such a change in the eyes of the rest of the human race rattled them to their skeletons. They were pariahs now.

It was sad to watch the zeal for life, the belief in the goodness of man, leave them. But there was precious little I could do. I needed them strong and level-headed, otherwise they could get hurt. I couldn’t even imagine that. I wouldn’t. I would die first.

From there, it was just a matter of explaining our plans. By the end, they were both on the same page as the rest of us, which was a big relief.

After breakfast (Martín included), Flavia had taken Tirza to her room and we hadn’t seen neither of them since.

Johan had decided to call Jolene and see what was up with her, and he disappeared as well.

Martín scurried back upstairs without as much as a word.

Ramona, Katie and I had meandered to the Living Room bored, waiting for Sandy and Leda to arrive. It was our intention to fill them in as well. That was when my girlfriend had announced she wanted to play with me for a while, if Katie didn’t mind. My cousin hadn’t objected.

That had been more than an hour ago.

Leda and Sandy were running late.

Now, Katie’s look centered on mine, the aftermath of the doorbell still ringing in our ears. “I’ll get it,” she offered, then bound up from the other couch, making her way through the TV room. She went onto the foyer before the front doors of my house. Her shoulders were jutting back and stiff. I could tell it irritated her to feel horny, because she could do nothing about it for the time being.

Ramona got up from lying atop me and began fixing her hair. She rubbed at her lips where our vigorous make-out session had made them raw and chapped pink.

I got up as well, spying my cousin push herself up to the tips of her sexy, bare feet and peep through the spy hole in the left hand door. She looked outside to the front yard and the street beyond. I was fingering the tip of my still swollen cock without thinking. I savored the sight of the arches of her feet as they flexed bearing the weight of her. As I approached, I could see her tendons tightened. The balls of her feet became taut and her toes began to grip onto the tile beneath them. Even from a distance, I could see every detail, every nuance, every fold and ripple of that hearty flesh of hers. I grew harder.

She turned to look at me, about to say something, and saw my posture. She saw I was holding a much engorged dick through the thick fabric of my shorts. “You better put that away, tiger. We got company,” she simpered, so naughty, from the back of her throat, daring me to continue what I was doing.

“Who is it?” asked Ramona. She came up to my side, glanced downward. One of her hands joined mine, squeezing my member, she liked testing the firmness of it.

A big, hard phallus was something Ramona always had a hard time ignoring, especially mine.

“It’s Leda and Sandy,” replied Katie, nonchalant, though her eyes never left my crotch and the goings-on about it.

Ramona gave me one more, harder gripping, then: “Later, my love. Katie and I will take good care of you. We promise, right, Katie?”

My cousin’s grin was pure yearning. “You know it…” We weren’t taking any chances now, so she had to unlock all four of the door locks.

The doors at the front of my parent’s house were massive. It was their sheer weight that sometimes made them hard to open. Once you got them moving though, they were easy to actuate. It was just that initial burst of energy that required a modicum of strength to accomplish the task.

Katie heaved, revealing our new guests.

Ramona released my junk.

I turned around to adjust my manhood into a more vertical position. I stuck my hard-on into the waist of my shorts, which would keep it snug against my body and much less conspicuous.

From behind me, I heard my cousin greet the two newcomers.

“Hey, ladies, how’s things with ya’all?” Katie was always cheerful when it came to initial greetings.

Leda rolled her eyes and jabbed a sideways thumb at Sandy. “Big baby Sandra here got sick, that’s why we’re late. Sorry.”

“That’s ok,” mollified my cousin. “We’re not a schedule or anything. It’s no biggie.”

She might’ve said more, but my girlfriend edged her way up to her friends.

There was an urgency about her that made me forget my cousin’s scrumptious feet.

“Do you mean sick like the rest of us or just regular sick?” she asked in a rush.

“Sick like the rest of you,” mumbled Sandy before Leda could reply.

To my surprise, Ramona reached out, viper-quick. She grabbed Sandy by the chin, turning her face to the right without a shred of delicacy. It appeared as if she were searching for something harmful – a disease or an infestation.

Sandy flinched at first. Her eyes bulged outward as she attempted to gaze down at Ramona. The angle of her face made it difficult for her to see over her own cheekbones. “What the hell, Mona!” she spoke, awkward, embarrassed, out of the corner of her mouth.

My girlfriend was grasping the lower part of her face, making it hard for her to speak correctly. “Stop moving!” was all Ramona said. She even went far enough to shake the other girl’s head, emphasizing her command.

It was unnerving to watch.

“Hey, Mona, cut it out,” I protested. This was way out of line. She was making Sandy feel uncomfortable and in my house. I walked through the throng of females and put my hand upon my girlfriend’s wrist. “Let her go...,” I trailed off. My tone grew an edge, almost as forceful as hers had been moments before.

And yet, Ramona ignored me. She gave absolutely no sign she even knew I was there.

Instead, she murmured, “How is it that I cannot see you anymore…?”

I felt my brow furl. What the fuck? “Ramona, let her go.” I tightened my grip on her wrist.

That seemed to break through her train of thought, only not in the manner I expected. She shifted her gaze to mine, though her eyes appeared distant. She was looking right at me, but didn’t see me. Or maybe, she was peering into me.

Yeah, I guess that is a better way to explain it.

A moment later she said: “I can see it in you – desire, lust, hardness, strength, youth, and yet…” Her voice died upon her tongue.

Sandy pulled Ramona’s fingers from her face.

My girlfriend gaze drifted back toward her friend. “…And then there is nothing when I see her. Why?”

I felt my scowl deepen. What in the hell was this girl talking about!?! It was like she was speaking to herself, as if we weren’t real. Or we were some kind of specimens she was examining under a microscope.

I tried a different tactic. “Babe… Babydoll, what are you talking about? You’re sorta freakin’ us out.” I pulled her to me with the hand still clasped about her wrist. I saw pure marvel creep across her face, slow like sap oozing down the side of a pine tree. Something miraculous had just registered in her mind. I encircled her waist with my other arm. I pressed her against the middle of me, staring into her bewildered eyes.

“Estefan…?” she queried, her voice lost.

I nodded.

“W-what -,” she began. She stopped, her eyes distending with recognition.

I thought she had come to realize who I was at last, but boy, was I ever wrong on that morning.

“It’s stronger,” she mumbled, looking at me now. Her eyes danced back and forth between my own.

She was too tempting. I bent down and kissed her – a chaste, brother-like peck upon the lips, but enough to taste her. She always looked like a little girl when she discovered something new. “What’s stronger, babe?” I asked. Our lips were close enough that mine brushed against hers.

She smiled, cute. The automatic batting of her grey-blue orbs was something she did whenever she wanted me to pay attention. “This thing… this thing inside me that allows me to see into people, it’s stronger,” she replied.

My face wrinkled as I considered what she said. What thing? “Since when,” I asked.

“Since now,” She uttered under her breath. She broke away from me, looking over at Leda.

She hadn’t moved since Katie had opened the door.

“I can see you now, Leda,” she went on, speaking in some sort of code I couldn’t decipher. “Before it was like trying to look through a thick fog. There were impressions, inklings of thought or intent, but nothing like this. I see you clearer now, as plain as day, as if an extraordinary sun has burnt away all the mist.” She was smiling like a child, seeing Main Street at Disneyland for the first time.

Leda tilted her head a little to one side. She seemed nonplussed in the powder blue halter top, short denim skirt, white stockings and two-inch heels she was wearing.

Upon seeing the ensemble, my first inclination was to ask if she were planning on going to a club later on, but I didn’t. The thought she looked fucking hot in that outfit crossed my mind next and I could think of little else.

Her pale skin, dark hair and eyes were an attractive contrast when set against the varying shades of blue she was wearing. She might be a petite, five foot teenager, but she filled out, nice and in the right spots. The garments she wore clung to her, accentuating every curve, every mound.

“What do you see?” asked Leda, staring back at Ramona. Her face betrayed nothing other than curiosity. Her rich voice scattered my thoughts.

My girlfriend squinted for a second, peering deeper into the girl opposite her. “I see youth, but just about everyone else here has that quality in them. But there is more… something electric.” Ramona paused then, her eyes searching the ground as she formulated the correct response. “It’s inside your head, it lights up your hair, though it doesn’t touch it physically.”

For some unfathomable reason, Leda smirked, nodding conspiratorially and walked into the house. She began to pass between my girlfriend and me. When she and I were side by side, she glanced at me. Her stare was frank and appraising, through her eyelashes.

It was an expression I had yet to see from her, direct, calculating. Once again, these young ladies had me puzzled. Such strange behavior, all around me and it was becoming more frequent with each passing hour.

What have you girls been smoking?

“And you see nothing in me?” asked Sandy in her usual perky, upbeat sort of manner. She must’ve forgiven – or forgotten - Ramona’s mistreatment of her minutes prior.

I let my eyes caress her feminine form.

She wore a white, V-neck t-shirt that forced my eyes toward her cleavage before I pulled them away. She had on some tight fitting shorts that looked better suited for working out than hanging around. But hey, they looked comfortable.

I assumed that was what she was going for, especially since it was still pretty damn hot outside.

She had on a pair of simple Capri tennis shoes – all white – and lacey bobby socks devoid of color as well.

Though her outfit was the complete polar opposite of Leda’s, she was no less beautiful in hers. To me, she was like the sexy, girl-next-door that looked stunning, even though she was just chilling around the house. I could see how every guy I knew in the neighborhood would want to pull down those tight, spandex shorts and go to town on her.

Naw, there wasn’t a guy back then – ah, fuck man, there isn’t a guy now – that wouldn’t have wanted some of Sandy.

Ramona shook her head. “Nope, your completely blank, girl. I don’t even see intent anymore.”

“What about me?” asked my cousin, still holding open the door as she motioned Sandy to come inside. She closed the portal behind her when the larger girl came through the threshold. Like I said it was hot outside.

“With you it is all fire and flames, Katie,” was my girlfriend’s immediate reply. “Which seems kinda fitting don’t you think?”

Katie giggled, engaging all four of the door locks. No chances allowed. “Yeah, it does,” she bubbled forth.

“What does all this mean?!” I asked, quite a bit too loud, because I was so confused by now. It seemed difficult determining what was up and what was down.

“I think it means I can see what is changing inside of us, what kind of… mutation is occurring from within,” answered Ramona. She was confident now. She believed in every word she uttered. There was newfound conviction infused in every word she spoke.

“You mean from the comet?” I questioned, a glimmer of understanding beginning to shine onto the fog of my brain.

My girlfriend nodded.

“But then that means that your… mutation gives you the ability to detect mutations in others, right? I mean it seems like the next logical step to consider, don’t you think?” I was thinking hard now, scratching at the skin on my head.

Ramona’s eyes sparkled. “Yup, that makes sense.”

I took a deliberate step away from her. “And with me you see desire, strength and what else?”

She sucked in a full breath. She gave the impression that delving into me was something she had to prepare for. Like her mind needed steadying. “Effy, I see the lust in you, but that was something we all already experienced yesterday. Now, I see more. I think, at this moment, you are still changing. But when I gaze into you, I see hardness. It's a density that wasn’t there before as well as a newfound strength, but it doesn’t come from your muscles. This strength is somehow combined with this hardness. Together they are transforming you into something way different than what you’d been before you got sick. I cannot explain it any other way.” She stopped, giving me a wan smile, her face cast with frustration.

I chuckled into a fist. “Wow that sounds pretty freakin’ scary.”

“No, babe, it isn’t,” countered my girlfriend almost on the heels of my final words. “It is amazing to watch.” Her smile grew on her face, making her eyes shine. I loved that look of hers. To this day when I think about it, it makes me grin. There have been so many, many good memories attached to that expression through the years, most of which I will cherish to the end of my days.

We all heard footsteps, then, coming up from behind. We turned as one and saw Flavia and Tirza trailing behind Johan. His visage was set to “maximum” grave. His brow he bunched in the middle, his eyes a little wild.

I gave him the universal “what’s up” nod of my head, stepping through the girls, coming toward him. We met in the middle of the main hallway, equidistant from the front doors of the house and the staircase at his back.

“Jolene is sick,” he said with words clipped as though he was trying to cut off his emotions as well.

I huffed, more out of resignation than surprise. My vision bounced about his shorter, stockier frame. I noted the dark blue gym shorts and matching tank top he was wearing. His feet, just like rest of us who’d been in the house all morning, were bare.

“You wanna have her come over, once she feels better?” It was a deliberate asking, so he wouldn’t have to experience the embarrassment of asking himself. Johan was like that, so I compensated for him. It seemed like the right thing to do.

He nodded, thankful.

I nodded back. “Okay, do it.” My gaze shifted to my sister who had a pained look on her face.

I knew she worried that Johan and Jolene were going to have sex. I could tell. She'd most likely seen some 3rd-base action in her room already, so I could see how she could make the leap forward to “home base”.

“Flavy?” I called to her.

She peered back at me, trying to mollify what was so easy to read.

I pretended not to notice. “Make it look like a sleepover thing, okay? You do the calling and the asking.”

She nodded, wondering fingers fiddling with the seams of the lavender summer dress she was wearing. It was loose fitting and hid her figure from view, which wasn’t much at that time.

Flavia was what we called in the hood – a late bloomer. Now, this wasn’t in any way, shape or form a bad thing. Most of the girls her age got their boobs and their rounded asses. And, of course, they got most of the attention of the boys around them. But, here’s the good past. Almost all the late bloomers I have ever known, with time, blossomed into the most gorgeous of women. Thus, Flavia had to only bide her time and one day she would grow into a knockout.

This, by the way, did happen.

She would become a tall, lithe figure with flowing auburn hair and dark complexion that could stop any man in his tracks. Even when she was snatching the life right out of him, he would still stand there for a few moments. Before he knew what the fuck was going on, she’d have him stupefied onto death. As he’d crumple to the ground, he’d swear he saw the face of a raven angle. He hadn’t though.

At least his last vision would’ve been a good one, right?

“Okay, Eff,” was all she said and turned around. She made her way back to her room, Johan trailing like a lost puppy.

Tirza stayed behind though with an awkward smile directed at the five of us. She was now dressed in grey, loose fitting shorts and tank much like what Johan’s. Only hers was cut to the female form. Her shorts couldn’t completely hide her bubble-butt and strong thighs.

To me, they’d always been her most redeeming feature, especially when pounding her from behind. Ah god, it’s making me tingle just thinking about it!!!

Ok, ok, I gotta stop. Sorry!

Anyway, she walked closer to us on her tiny, sock-covered feet. She appeared much better than she had the morning before. Some of her color had returned. Her bearing was more normal, though her eyes still looked haunted about the edges. She wore her hair pulled back in a ponytail. The styling revealed her smooth cheeks, small angular nose and large oval, dark brown eyes. She was on the verge of a smile, the dimple on the right side of her face beginning to form.

“What do you see in her?” blurted Leda, out of nowhere, which made Tirza stop dead in her tracks.

As was the norm, whenever she stopped moving in an instant, Tirza always did so perched on the tips of her toes. Her hands would splay to either side of her. Her eyes and mouth would widen. It was stance that made her look like a scared ballerina. It was a little comical to watch, and then it wasn’t. It was somehow attractive too.

Though as I sit here and think on it, I cannot tell you why the stance had always appealed to me.

My girlfriend turned to regard my ex-girlfriend.

Tirza slowly eased from her toes to the balls of her feet, then without a sound let her heels touch the floor.

Ramona gasped in shock. We all turned to stare at her, imploring expressions etched on each of us. My girlfriend’s gaze flickered over me for a second, then back to Tirza. Startled realization was plain upon her face.

Sandy appeared to speak.

Ramona’s voice stopped her. “She’s… she’s a lot like you, Estefan.” There was confidence building in her voice as she went along.

“Like me?” It was yet another surprise to add to those on this wild day. “You mean with all the lust and shit?”

“Well, no, but similar. I mean, it isn’t a compulsion-sort of mutation like yours, rather it is an ability that allows her to detect.” Then Ramona’s eyes widened for a second time. “Oh god, she is powerful!” she exclaimed in a breathless rush. She reached out and grabbed one of my arms. She cleared her throat. “She too has the hardening strength just like you do, but it’s this sense of detection that will be her main alteration.”

“What can she ‘detect’,” asked Katie bracketing the word with her fingers.

My girlfriend’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “Everything.”

What, everything, what the hell did that mean?

“She will come to know us all,” continued Ramona, “and be able to follow us all wherever we go. It will not matter how far away we are.”

“So, she’s a super-tracker like you said before?” I wondered aloud, chancing a glance at my ex-girlfriend.

She had stood there the entire time like a deer in the headlights – stunned, unmoving.

“Yup, the best kind,” was all my girlfriend offered as an awkward silence befell us.

It stretched for a while…

…And then a while longer.

“So, umm, what does this ‘youth’-thing you were talking about a few minutes ago? You said we all had it. What were you talking about?” asked Leda. Her piercing orbs gouging into Ramona, though she was only asking a simple question.

Ramona swept her vision toward her friend. The surreal understanding that Tirza was going to be a strong Muto seeped from her. Some the tension in her shoulders evaporated away. “All I can tell you is it’s like a wellspring of golden light. It shoots out in all directions from each of us, even me.” She shrugged. “Other than that, I cannot explain what it means.”

If she had understood what it had in fact meant, she might’ve fainted with astonishment. She was seeing a wellspring of vitality - something truly breathtaking. Without it, I wouldn’t be the one telling this tale so many years later.

She had seen the essence of an Old-Timer.