Chapter 26 King of the Mountain

Chapter 26 King of the Mountain

I had a weird dream Thursday night.  I was climbing a cliff and trying to escape two ferocious lionesses while a third human woman cheered them on.  It didn’t end pleasantly as once they caught me they pinned me down and ate my intestines while I struggled futilely.  I was sweating when I woke and hoped this was not some sort of premonition or warning.

When I got to hockey practice coach Sam had me directing drills at one end of the ice while I also participated.  I had to use my incubus voice constantly to stay on top of things and keep my teammates focused.  I asked Sam during a break why wasn’t her husband here to supervise the drills.  She just said he had quit.  Since she didn’t elaborate she could have meant the team or perhaps their marriage. I would set Sophia on learning the truth as he taught at our high school. By lunch, she would let me know.

The team was actually looking pretty good from my perspective.  At least good from what high school hockey I had watched in the past.

In the showers, I got needled verbally about the size of my penis.  For some reason, my dick was larger when flaccid than most guys.  I didn’t suffer from shrinkage apparently and it allowed my dick to come to attention very quickly.  I joked with the guys that I was outta here because I was worried about what would happen if I accidentally dropped my soap.  A few guys got the prison shower reference and liked my comeback.

For my own part, I decided to shower at the rink’s locker room as little as possible in the future.  I could make it home to shower and Rob and his sister could walk the 1/4 mile to my house.  When I picked up Rob and his sister I let them know about the change of plans and gave Rob my spare car key so they could wait in the car in the morning or after school if I was late getting to the car.  I asked Sophia to dig up what dirt she could on Sam’s husband.  It was the first time I had given her a gossip mission and she enthusiastically took it.

Since Iris wasn’t at school today my day went pretty smoothly.  I talked with Mary in the hallway for a little bit and asked her to cool her texting a bit.  This made her upset so I used my voice to soothe her.  It worked but I somehow ended up promising to go shopping for a dress with her for the junior dance.  Wasn’t that a thing girls did with each other or their mother?  How did my asking her to not text me as much get to the point of me taking her dress shopping?  Dress shopping was scheduled for Wednesday, December 2nd after school.  We were going to drive into the city together when school got out.

At lunch, Rob was excited about his own date with Yuki.  Sophia had already found out Sam’s husband had put in his notice at the school.  He was leaving at the end of the semester.  Sophia said the rumor was he caught her with a hockey player after school last year but none of that was confirmed.  James had told me about her promiscuous nature but the guys on the hockey team didn’t blab about it.  I decided it was not my problem.

After school, I went and deposited $500 in my bank account as my funds were getting low.  I had thought the $30k in cash I got recently would last me a long while but I was not being very thrifty.  With my array of powers there had to be a way to make money.

I spent my afternoon at home and did my increasingly frustrating aether manipulation exercises.  I was picking the trio of girls up at 7 to go to dinner and then onto the rock wall gym.  I cleared my text messages responding to everyone.   Paige wanted to make sure the rooms were ready for next weekend and said she would be back in time to catch my first hockey game with her friends.  No pressure there.

At 6:45 I drove over and got to the house just after 7:00.  The girls were all dressed in workout clothes and had bags as they pilled into my car.  They looked sexy and had a touch of makeup on.  It appeared I had a preferred type, a hard-bodied woman.  The makeup didn’t really help Abigail’s plain face but her body stirred me.  Jade seemed to be in charge since she sat in the front seat with me.

“So Caleb, my cousin said you have the perfect date for us.  Can you handle all three of us though?” Jade said and the word perfect came out as a cat's purr. Jade's tune had changed since I first met her.  She seemed playful.  Maybe after I punched her she thought me an equal or maybe just worthy.  I was definitely not her equal.  She was a far superior fighter but my incubus body made me a lot tougher.

I was trying to come up with a good response but Mandy beat me to it, “I heard Caleb is a big boy.  He can probably handle all three of us at once.” She finished with a giggle.  At least Abigail was quiet as the two cousins went back and forth teasing me all the way to Vincent’s.  We ordered two large pizzas, one with artichoke and banana pepper toppings, and the other pizza was sausage, black olive, and green olive.  These were Vincent’s XL size, almost 20 inches across with a New York-style crust. Each pizza was cut into 8 large slices.

I picked off the green olives and ate two slices of the second pizza.  The two massive slices filled me up but Jade and Abigail both ate four slices.  Mandy just had a single slice.

“So Caleb,” Mandy started in on me again, “are you going to race each of us on the competition wall?”

“Sure if it helps your feminine egos to beat up on a poor boy,” I said in defense.

“Well if you can beat me…I will get the entire cheer squad to come to your first game. That’s 20 people in the stands.  Usually, hockey games draw about 200 so it will be a boon for you.”  Mandy offered.  She grinned, “and if I beat you then you need to prove to me the rumors are true.”  Jade looked on with humor on her face.  Clearly, she was enjoying her cousin teasing me.  Mandy had a boyfriend but I assumed she was a bit of a wandering free spirit from the snippets I heard at school.

“If you can beat me on the wall I might let you take me on another date,” Jade said. “If I win you owe me a rematch in the ring.”  She had a predatory grin.  This one was a win-win for me.  I had actually been thinking of asking Jade for fighting lessons if I found her a likable person.

“Agreed,” I said. “Should we write the contracts out and sign them in blood or something?”  It was a jest on my part because I was a demon and I thought it was funny internally.  Abigail was the only one at the table who laughed.  She had a nice low-key laugh and smiled as she did.  The smile completely changed her face and she morphed into a very cute teen as if by magic.

Jade spoke after the awkward moment, “Blood will not be necessary. Our word is good enough.” She was serious and her eyes looked like they were trying to see through me.  “Abigail, what are you going to be bet with our brave human here?”

My internal alarms were going off.  The blood joke was taken seriously by Jade and Mandy for one.  The second was that Jade had called me human.  Not Caleb, boy, or anything else that indicated my person.  Had I somehow revealed that I knew Jade and Mandy were demis and they knew I was not human myself?  Abigail had finished thinking and said, “Caleb you can take me to the senior prom when I win.”

“What if I win?” I asked.  I planned to keep an eye on the two cat girls tonight but best not to show I was suspicious.

Abigail scoffed.  “Yeah, that is not going to happen.  You may have a small chance of beating these two but I have the gym record for my age group and I know they haven’t changed the holds since the last time I climbed it.  You don’t have a chance.”  She wasn’t smack-talking just making a statement.

“How do you know I don’t have a date for the senior prom?”  I asked not requesting a prize if I won just yet.

Mandy answered for Abigail, “I am on the prom committee and I know every senior girl and who they are likely to bring.  When the rumor of your…size…came to us I did some research and found you had dates to the freshman, sophomore, and junior dances.  So you are still available for the senior prom, no?”  Mandy was the social queen at the school so it didn’t surprise me.  Maybe a little creepy that she checked into me so deeply.

“Yeah, no date yet.  I wasn’t planning on going but that sounds fair Abigail.  If I do win then you need to bring me to the senior prom.”  Everyone looked confused so I clarified. “Basically we are betting on who pays for the tickets.”  They nodded and Abigail grinned.  Abigail was a nice girl and filling up my available date slot for the prom, the last high school dance should prevent others from asking.  The senior prom was in the spring anyway, a long way off.

Abigail and Jade finished off the pizza and I made the mistake of commenting on their appetites.  You are not supposed to tell a girl she eats a lot.  Jade said she works out about 4 hours a day so needed the calories.  Abigail said she ran every morning in the state forest behind her house.  Usually six miles but sometimes ten.  She wanted to join the cross country team when she was too tall for gymnastics but her parents wouldn’t let her.  We left for the gym with some tension in the air.

At the gym, we went to the changing rooms and the girls came back in spandex leggings and sports bras.  All three of them sported six-pack abs…maybe Jade’s muscular torso had an eight-pack.  I was getting envious stares from every guy in the gym.  It was 9:04 pm and we had some time before our reservation for the competition wall came up.  There were a lot of small walls with foam pits underneath to try your skill on so we hit those.

Jade and Mandy were doing a wall in front of us and I noticed Abigail staring at Mandy’s ass ten feet away as she climbed the wall.  Her nipples were nubs of hardness in her sports bra.  Was she aroused by Mandy?  I focused my incubus senses and I think she was.  Her eyes locked onto Mandy as she climbed.  I asked Abigail, “Why?”

She broke her gaze and looked at me, “Why?  What are you talking about Caleb?”

“Why do you want to go to the prom with me when you like Mandy?”  My question got a worried look on her face.

“I…what are you…I don’t…” she stuttered as I locked eyes with her.  Even though it felt a little dirty I used my seductive gaze and charmed Abigail.

“It’s ok Abigail.  I am not going to tell anyone.  You can tell me the whole truth.” I said and felt the charm take effect.

“Mandy and I made love last year at one of the football away games.  We had the same hotel room and things just happened.  We haven’t done anything since but I realized I like girls more than boys.  I really like Mandy but she has pretended it never happened. I asked you to the prom because Mandy wanted me to.  She is helping her brother by keeping you happy.  If it makes Mandy happy then I don’t mind.  If you were receptive I was supposed to fuck you as well.” Abigail had just been completely honest with me.  I was still in shock.

“Has Mandy done this to you before?  Get you to have sex with guys?”  I asked not really liking where this conversation was going.

“No, this is the first time.  Usually, Tara is eager to have sex with anyone Mandy asks her to.  Kathy and Diane also do it sometimes.  I am not as attractive as those girls so I haven’t been asked before.” She finished and I realized that Mandy was in fact pimping out her teammates.  It was hard for me to envision, this was a different side of the social life at our high school.

Jade and Mandy were sitting on top of the wall drinking water and whispering to each other so they were not coming back soon.  “Abigail, do you want to have sex with me?”  I asked knowing my charm was still in effect so I was getting an honest answer.

She didn’t hesitate, “Yes.  I haven’t been attracted to boys for a long time but at the party, something about you aroused me.  My parents don’t know I am a lesbian and I really wanted to be sure so I wanted to try sex again with a boy.  I had two boyfriends my junior year but the sex wasn’t enjoyable.”  She had probably felt my incubus charm.  I never attracted women like this before.

“Thank you for being honest with me, Abigail.  I won’t tell anyone your secret.”  I decided I didn’t like Mandy.  The jury was still out on Jade until I got to know her better.

Our time for the competition wall reservation finally came.  We each did two trail runs on the 18m wall custom wall which was fairly difficult.   The wall had two portions that jutted out and you needed to zig-zag around them or attempt a very difficult arms-only hang climb.  I lined up with Mandy first.  I decided to go just hard enough to beat her to the top.  We were close and she tried to put on a burst of speed at the end but I just pushed myself harder.  I think she was a little shocked to lose to me.  She had planned to use her superior cat woman's physical skills at the end and win.  When we descended she got ribbed hard by Jade for losing.  Jade and Abigail went next and Jade won.  Abigail was a little shocked at losing to Jade as well.  We then rested for ten minutes before going again.

Mandy said, “Caleb nice sprint at the end.  Thought I had you.  You have great upper body strength to power up that last segment.  I will make good on my promise.  All the cheerleaders will be at your first game.  James said you were the best athlete on the team and now I believe him.” Jade was listening to us talk and she was eyeing me strangely.

In the next round, Jade easily beat Mandy.  I was matched with Abigail who looked determined after losing to Jade.  I gave her a good effort and beat her by 2 seconds.  At the top of the wall, she looked stunned and dejected.  This was her hobby and losing to two new climbers was not helping her spirit.  I leaned into her and put my arm around her, “Abigail you are an amazing climber.” I snapped my charm spell.  “If you want to go running tomorrow with me I will meet you at your house at 6.  I haven’t been in the state forest in a while and like running. Hockey practice was rescheduled to start at 8:30 so we can get in six miles and you can show me your favorite trails.”

She put on a half smile which made her look cute.  If this girl could only smile all the time she would have guys beating down on her door. “Thanks, Caleb.  I haven’t run with anyone since my dad died so it would be nice.”  I didn’t know her dad died.  I knew she had a stepdad but thought her parents had been divorced.

After a short rest, my final race was against Jade.  This one was a matter of pride.  Well, it looked that way for both of us. Jade's golden eyes stared at me in the challenge as we lined up.  The buzzer went off and we both raced to the wall and climbed.  I made a huge push-off and skipped two handholds as I raced straight up into the overhang instead of using the zig-zag pattern that was expected.  Jade was flying up but using the expected holds and going around the outcroppings. I got to the top first and stopped my clock.  Cheers rang out from below.  I had just got a new wall record apparently for the gym.  I also beat Jade by 4.6 seconds.  Her time would have matched the gym record for women.

She looked at me as we made out way down the steps at the back of the wall after disconnecting our safety harnesses.  I started, “So for our next date, I was hoping you could teach me to fight.  And I don’t mean that I act as your punching bag.  I want to learn some simple boxing and whatever else you can teach me.”

Jade looked a little surprised.  “Sure you have my number.  Give me a call. I am pretty much free anytime as my uncle and aunt have me trapped in the house till school starts.”  I still didn’t know how I felt about Jade but hopefully I could learn something from her and maybe get some life essence.

We rejoined the others at the bottom and went to the locker rooms to change.  It was past midnight and the gym closed at 1:00am.  I drove Abigail home first and promised to be back in a few hours to go for a run.  When I got to Mandy’s house they didn’t get out and I felt a cold sensation go down my spine as both young women looked at me.

It was Mandy who spoke from the backseat, “So how powerful is your magic?  Don’t lie to us.  We know all the demis at school.  You must be shielding it extremely well because James couldn’t see any aether manipulation at practice from you but you were definitely using some type of spell work.  And the climbing wall…Jade went all out.  When she goes all out a human doesn’t stand a chance against her.  So I ask what manner of human wizard are you?”