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lwprodz24 · 1 year

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Old Enemy, New Possession

Backstory: You had gotten sexually involved with Rafael shortly after he had lost his girlfriend but ended things just before his first full moon. Landon was a kind and gentle soul, except when it came to you. As friendly as he was, his mood would always change around you, he despised you. This was solely because he knew that you didn’t truly care for Rafael, you just wanted him for sex and to feel less lonely. In fact, it was Landon who forced you to end things with his brother before Rafael simply decided to end things with you himself. You and Landon continue to loathe each other despite not having spoken to or seen each other since.

Summary: You were killed and you end up in limbo where you immediately run into the new ferryman, Landon Kirby. (takes place a year after 4x20)

Pairing: Landon Kirby x Female!Vampire Reader

Genre: Smut

Words: 5k+

Triggers: degrading, marking/biting, over-stimulation

Y/N’s eyes flutter open and you sit up, groggy and disoriented as you gaze around at your new surroundings.

‘Everything is dark and has a blue-ish hue to it.’ This is the first thought that crosses your mind as you get to your feet.

You walk through the woods until you end up in the small town that is Mystic Falls, still confused by your surroundings and unsure of what happened that put you here.

“Y/N?” You freeze at the sound of the voice, recognizing it immediately as someone from your past, yet you still turn around to see where it came from.

“Landon?” You’re still puzzled by everything but now, you’re getting nervous at the sight of Landon Kirby.

“Where am I? What’s going on?” You decide to speak up on your confusion now that you have come in contact with another person.

“You’re in limbo. If you’re here, that means you’ve died.” Landon tells you where you are before revealing that if you’re in limbo, it means you’re now dead.

His words hit like a train as you remember what had happened before you woke up in this place.

You run your hands through your long, wavy hair as you process the fact you’ve died, and have reunited with Landon as result.

“I’m going to be honest, I thought you’d be one of the first people I saw here but better late than never.” Landon’s voice is as bitter as it always was with you but now it sounds colder than you remember, which has you stare at him in confusion.

“What happened to you, Landon?” You speak in a soft, genuine tone while asking what happened to him, clearly concerned, but he just smirks at you in response.

“You’re going to need a drink if you want to hear what I’ve been up to these past two years, Y/N. Come on, I’ll take you to my bar.” Landon simply tells you that you’ll need a drink in order to hear his story then motions for you to follow him as he claims that he’ll take you to his bar.

You’re still confused and are unsure if this is the Landon Kirby that you remember but you follow him anyway, wanting to know what he’s been up to.

He takes you to the bar under the clock-tower and motions for you to take a seat as he walks behind the bar.

“What do you drink?” Landon asks you what you drink as he places a glass in front of you then one in front of himself.

“Whiskey.” you give him an answer and he grabs a bottle of whiskey, opens it, then pours it in the two glasses.

“So, when did you drink? And become a bartender?” You look around the bar as you wonder when Landon started drinking as well as when he became a bartender but he just chuckles.

“That part of my life comes closer to the end of the story.” Landon’s response infuriates you for some reason but you take a deep breath to calm down before taking a sip of the drink that he had poured for you.

So, Landon starts at the beginning, telling you everything about Rafael, Hope, the Salvatore School, and all the things that led up to his death and being in limbo.

You stare at him in shock, completely overwhelmed by everything that he’s just shared and you struggle to process it all, but the biggest pill for you to swallow is that Landon is now soulless.

Downing your drink in one gulp, you help yourself to another glass and down that one as well in order to help you process all of the information you just got.

“I told you that you were going to need a drink.” Landon gives you an ‘I told you so’ with a smug tone in his voice, which sparks your anger but you hide it.

“So, you’re the ferryman and run limbo while being soulless?” You’ve seemed to have processed most of what he told you but you still can’t seem to wrap your head around this, mainly his lack of soul, which he seems to notice.

“Well, I’m not soulless, I just lack some of my empathy. For now, anyway.” Landon corrects you, saying that he simply lacks some of his empathy before adding an implication that all of his empathy will fade and he’ll actually be soulless eventually.

“But what about you, Y/N? What have you been up to these past two years?” Landon changes the subject to you, wanting to know what you’ve been up to, but you look away from him evasively.

“Have you been spending the past two years of your life shacking up with every grieving man that might want you?” Landon has faux-sympathy in his voice, making it clear to you that he’s still holding onto what you did and assumes you’ve spent your life doing the same to other people.

However, his tone of voice has you crossing your legs as you sit on the bar stool, feeling a certain appeal to him talking to you this way.

“No, I haven’t. Shortly after we broke contact, I got involved in the wrong crowd and I got killed but I didn’t die. At least, not permanently. After I woke up, I was told that I was in transition to being a vampire and I was forced to feed. I had been adapting to vampirism ever since until I died again.” you share your story with Landon, revealing that you’re now a vampire, after admitting that you haven’t done to anyone else what you did to his brother.

Landon stares at you for a long moment and you stare back, trying to figure out what emotions are currently in his eyes but the only emotion you see is embarrassment before you start staring into his eyes.

You have never realized how pretty his eyes were yet then again, you were too involved with Rafael to even pay attention to Landon.

You see his eyes scan down to your hands, which are promptly on your glass, and you suspect that you’ve made him uncomfortable.

“I don’t see any jewelry on you. I assume that means you were never given a daylight ring.” Landon takes note of the lack of jewelry you have then makes the assumption that you weren’t given a daylight amulet.

“No, I was given a daylight bracelet. It was removed before I was killed.” you reveal that you did have a daylight amulet but it was taken off before you were killed and he hums lowly in response.

You feel your legs pressing themselves closer together, despite being cross-legged, due to his low hum and you have to bite your tongue to hold back a whimper.

‘What the hell is he doing to me?’ you ask yourself a question that you don’t even have the answer to, but all you know is that you want to hear more of his voice.

“Well, if you’re the ferryman then surely you can send me on my way to peace.” Your words have Landon glaring at you in return, making you as nervous as you were when you first reunited with him.

“You’re right, Y/N, I am the ferryman. Although I’m confused on what made you believe that I was going to be sending you to peace.” Landon confirms that he is the ferryman yet expresses his confusion on when he gave the impression he’d send you to peace.

His expression is dark and his tone low but slightly aggressive, which has you subtly squirm in your seat as you bite your tongue again.

It becomes clear to you that Landon has officially detected your discomfort towards him, so he puts on a lighter expression with a fake smile.

“You know what, how about I show you where I’m staying. You’ll stay with me.” Landon suggests that he shows you where he’s living and makes it direct that you’ll stay there with him.

Against your better judgment, you stand to your feet and follow him out of the bar, letting him take you to his place.

“Now, I was staying at the school but I decided to get an apartment for fun.” Landon explains that was formerly staying at the boarding school but chose to get an apartment simply for the hell of it as the two of you walk inside.

“It’s a nice place.” You compliment the apartment as he closes the door behind him, still very uncomfortable by the fact that Landon doesn’t seem to have any intentions of letting you go to peace.

You turn around to face him, only to see that he’s started walking closer to you, and you can’t help but get nervous, especially when you can see nothing but anger in his eyes.

“Um, why aren’t you going to send me to peace?” Despite your nervousness and his anger, you start backing up as you choose to ask him why he won’t send you to peace.

He raises his eyebrows as an incredulous look crosses his face, seeming surprised by your question.

“You did not just ask me that.” Landon emphasizes ‘not’ as he voices his disbelief of your words.

He grabs you by the waist in order to spin you around and walks you backwards until you’re pressed up against the wall.

“As the ferryman, I say who does and who doesn’t go to peace. So, what makes you think that I will send you to peace after what you did?” Landon’s face goes dark, as does his tone, while reaffirming that he’s the ferryman and because of it, he decides who stays and who goes before wondering why you think you’d go to peace, bringing up what you did again.

You press your legs together yet again, feeling a throbbing sensation course through your body this time, as he gently places hand around your throat.

Your breathing hitches as you try not to show what he’s doing to you but it doesn’t take long before he distinguishes that what he thought was discomfort is actually attraction.

“Hmm, it looks like you’re enjoying my lack of intentions in letting you leave.” Landon hums lowly again before being vocal about how your body language has caught his attention.

You look away evasively once again as you try to get out of his grasp but he removes the arm around your waist and begins slowly pressing his body against yours, making you squirm more.

“How would you feel if I did this?” Landon moves his free hand down to pull your legs apart, so they’re no longer pressed together, and quickly places his thigh in between them to make sure you can’t press them back together.

A whimper tears its way through your lips at the feeling of his jeans in between your bare legs and hovering close to your underwear.

Landon gives another low hum in response to your whimper, causing you to do it again.

He removes his hand from around your throat and gently places it in your hair before harshly tugging it back so you can look up at him.

“You’re still a dirty little whore, aren’t you Y/N?” Landon smirks, realizing that you haven’t changed a bit as you moan and bite your lip at the degradation in his question.

Removing his hand from your hair, he uses his body to pin you back to the wall then presses his thigh further between your legs, causing you to gasp at the feeling and discern just how much you want him right now.

“I think I can work with that. You see, the only thing I feel when I look at you is anger and hatred so I’m going to use this time to take my frustrations out on you, is that something you’ll be okay with?” Landon believes he can work with your needy behavior before he reveals that he only feels anger with you then leans closer to your face, whispering, as he confesses to wanting to remove his frustration on you, and proceeding to purr in your ear to ask if you’ll be okay with what he wants to do to you.

You shudder at his words, attempting to press your legs together only to get blocked by his thigh, which has you whimper once more.

“I, uh… mm.” you try talking to him so you can give an answer, but he makes you moan again by applying more pressure between your legs, implying he isn’t currently taking no for an answer.

“Do you want me to fuck you, Y/N?” Landon doesn’t hold back when he asks you this very straightforward question, causing you to stare at him for a long moment.

‘Holy shit, did he just say that? That word sounds so hot leaving his mouth. I want him to say that word again.’ These were just some of the thoughts that crossed your mind after he asked you this but a definitive answer of yes or no weren’t in any of them.

Unfortunately, the part of your mind that cares about your physical needs answers first by nodding desperately before you could actually give him one, not that it matters as you quickly register that your answer was going to be yes anyway.

He smiles at you, tucking some of your hair behind your ear, before he places his forehead against yours and dropping the smile.

“I don’t believe you. If you want it, you’re going to have to show me.” Landon’s breath feels hot against your mouth as he admits that he doesn’t believe you want him and that he wants you to show him.

You breathe in deeply, getting a taste of his breath in the process, which smells of various alcohols but mostly whiskey and a hint of strawberry.

“How?” this is the only thing that leaves your lips, as it is the most important question because he won’t fuck you until you show him that you want him to.

“Move against my thigh. I want to see how desperate you get.” Landon tells you what he wants you to do then slightly lessens the pressure that he placed on your underwear to allow you to move as he admits to wanting to see your desperation.

You keep your eyes locked on his lips as you start to grind down on his thigh, increasing your pace by the second.

Feeling him reapply the pressure he had lessened, you whine while continuing to grind on his thigh and keeping your eyes on his mouth.

You clench your legs together as you grind in an attempt to get more friction, and also try to ignore how wet you are from doing this.

Landon places a hand on your face, stroking your cheek with his thumb, causing you to clutch onto his jacket sleeve as you start to feel a throbbing sensation course through your body again.

Your grip on his jacket sleeve gets tighter as do your legs, along with the inside of your body, and you comprehend that you’re close to the edge with just this but something holds you back.

Landon stares at you in amusement, seeming to know that you’re close, then places his lips on yours as he applies more pressure with his thigh and with that, you lose it.

You moan in his mouth, still tightly gripping his sleeve, as you start losing balance but he keeps you pinned to the wall so you won’t collapse to the ground.

The kiss breaks and you have to catch your breath, feeling that your underwear is now soaked but to your surprise, even after you already came, Landon continues to rub his thigh up against you.

“What’re you doing?” You decide to ask him what he’s doing, now that you’ve caught your breath, yet he simply smirks at you in response.

“You’re clearly enjoying this. And because I’m enjoying watching you become a pathetic mess, I want to see how many times I can make you cum with just this.” Landon points out how much you’re enjoying riding his thigh then adds that because he’s finding enjoyment in your desperation, he wants to see how many times you can fall over the edge with just his thigh.

Your eyes close when you whine at the degradation, although you’re not sure why as he’s insulted you many times in the past but this time it feels different.

“Please, just fuck me.” you beg him to fuck you already as you start grinding on his thigh again, your eyes still closed.

“Begging already? Poor little slut, I’m not even close to wanting to fuck you.” Landon’s tone has faux-sympathy in it again, like it did earlier when he made the assumption of what you had been doing for the past two years, and he also degrades you again, which earns a whimper from your lips this time, as he implies that he doesn’t want to fuck you until a lot later.

You don’t know what’s wrong, if it’s you, your body, Landon’s new found confidence, or maybe, it’s all of the above but you’re desperate for him in a way you’ve never felt for anyone before, and all you want is for him to be inside of you but that doesn’t seem like it will happen for a long while.

Landon has taken up slowly moving his thigh in sync with your grinding, causing you to lose some of your senses and cum an unknown amount of times, you’ve lost track after the third time or maybe it was the fourth, all you know is feeling.

“Look at that, you ruined my pant leg.” Landon’s voice snaps you out of your daze when he tells you to look at his jeans and you discover that he has your hips pinned to the wall so you can’t move them anymore.

You glance down at his jeans and sure enough, his one pant leg is ruined, even though you can feel that you’re still wearing underwear.

“I, um…” you attempt to speak but he quickly shushes you with a deep kiss, having you moan as you taste his breath again.

“It’s okay, I don’t care about it.” Landon soothes you by saying he doesn’t care about his pant leg as one of his hands rubs your hair.

You start to grind your hips, even though his thigh isn’t between your legs anymore, yet he stops you from doing so.

“Oh no, we’re done with that.” Landon assures you that you’re done with riding his thigh as he places his hand on your cheek.

You can’t help but shudder when you actually feel his hand on your skin and it’s freezing cold, colder than your skin.

He had touched your cheek with his hand before but you weren’t paying attention as you were on the verge of going over the edge for the first time.

“Your hand is ice cold.” you whisper your recognition of how cold his hand is against your heated skin.

“I’m sure it is, compared to your skin.” Landon shrugs off the comment, assuming that the reason his hand is cold to the touch for you is because he heated up your body.

“Are you going to fuck me now?” You change the subject back to him fucking you, staring at him with hopefulness and desperation, since he said that you were done with thigh riding.

“Not yet. I have something else in mind first.” Landon denies that he’s going to fuck you, causing you to whine at his refusal, yet he adds that he something else in mind.

His words have your body igniting in anticipation, curious as to what he’s going to do to you, even though you should be worn out due to the amount of times you came from riding his thigh.

Landon catches you getting excited by his words, having him tuck your hair behind your ear in order to whisper in it.

“You are such an insatiable little slut, Y/N.” You moan as Landon degrades you while feeling his hot breath on your ear.

He kisses your neck, which makes you identify that although his breath is hot, his lips on your skin are cold but you enjoy the feeling on your skin.

You feel his hands run down the back of thighs before he wraps your legs around his waist, still kissing your neck.

“This shirt does not go with this skirt.” Landon whispers into your neck as he voices his distaste towards your sweater and tells you it doesn’t go with the skirt you’re wearing.

Before you can retort, his hands slide underneath your shirt and lifts it over your head, your arms subconsciously going in the air as he removes your sweater.

You can’t hold in your moans as he starts kissing your neckline, feeling his tongue and the small grazes of his teeth on your skin.

“Landon, please.” A whimpered beg escapes your lips, pleading him to continue what he’s doing, yet this has him stop.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” He whispers into your mouth that you shouldn’t worry and that he’ll take care of you then proceeds to give you another deep kiss that makes your head spin.

You’re not sure what you want anymore, for Landon to keep kissing you, for him to keep kissing your body, or for him to actually fuck you, and the problem is you want all of it but he seems keen on only giving you one of those things as he eventually stops kissing your lips and goes back to your body.

He places your legs back on the ground as he goes lower down your body and despite the fact you’re dead, as well as a vampire, you can feel him leaving marks on you with his teeth.

You detect him focusing on the left side of your rib cage where your heart is for a little longer than he did the rest of you until he stops.

Whimpers emit from your mouth when he stops kissing your body, earning a breathy laugh from him that allows you to sense his hot breath on your skin.

“Shh, it’s okay.” he shushes you, saying that it’s okay, before he takes his right index finger, hovers it over the part he’d been focusing on earlier, and drags it down your rib cage.

You yelp in surprise at what he’s doing before it turns to moans at the sensation it sends through your veins.

Landon smirks victoriously at what he’s done then places a kiss on his work, sending a chill down your spine as he does.

“Please.” you whimper out a plea, although you’re not entirely sure for what, but it seems to spark something in Landon that causes him to bite down on your rib cage.

An electric feeling courses through you, further igniting your pleasured head-space, as you release a loud, unintelligible groaning noise at the sensation of his teeth completely pressed against your flesh.

Landon removes his teeth then proceeds to press gentle kisses on and around where he bit you, his teeth having left an imprint on your skin.

You feel something dripping down your inner thighs and you conclude that what he did had made you cum, which he realized as well, since he starts kissing your inner thighs to clean it up.

He plants small kisses, making his way back up your physique before stopping in front of your face, and then, without warning, puts your legs back around his waist.

“Do you think you’re worthy of being fucked now? Or are you still a desperate little whore?” Landon wonders if you think you’re worthy of being fucked or if you want more of what he’s been giving you, grinding his hips into you.

You whimper at the feeling of him pressed between your legs once again while you wrap your legs around him in response to the degrading but you’re too far into your pleasured head-space to actually think so you just nod.

“Which one, Y/N? Use your words, slut.” Landon has a gentle tone when he asks you which one you want then grips your chin to make you look at him, his voice changing to harsh, then degrades you again as he demands that you use your words.

You simply wrap your legs tighter around him in response to his words while moaning at the manhandling.

He gives you a look that should intimidate you but all want is more pleasure at this point, so everything he says and does just makes you want more of him.

You open your mouth to try to answer his question, only for whines to leave your lips, revealing to him that you don’t care anymore and he smiles at this development.

“I have to admit, I’m very much enjoying how insatiable you are. Let’s see if it matches mine, shall we?” Landon expresses his enjoyment in the fact you want more then suggests that they compare your insatiable nature to his.

Not actually knowing what he’s suggesting, you just moan at the sound of his voice then nod in agreement to his words, assuming that whatever he said meant more pleasure.

He kisses your mouth deeply before going to your neck then goes further down, removing your legs from his waist so he can kiss down your torso.

Landon stops when his face is between your legs then places his hands under your bra, his nails touching your skin, and drags them down your stomach, earning a loud moan from you.

Every time you think that you can’t get wetter by any of his actions, he surprises you, and he does so again when he teases you by kissing your ruined underwear, having you grip at the wall behind you with one hand and run the other hand through your hair in order to grasp then pull it back out of pleasure.

You feel him hike your skirt up and pin your hips to the wall, most likely to ensure you won’t move them, as his tongue continues to tease you.

“Landon.” A whimper of his name rips its way out of your mouth as he moves your panties to the side causing him to place a gentle kiss on your now bare pussy.

You whine at the sensation of his cold lips pressed up against that part of you and you attempt to move your hips for more but he’s pinning them to the wall.

He marks up your inner thighs, gliding his teeth across your skin, before doing the same to your pussy.

You struggle in trying to squirm and grind your hips against his lips as he continues to keep your hips pinned to the wall.

His cold lips, hot tongue, and the grazing of his teeth on your bare pussy was too much but became even more so when he soon found your clit, causing your legs to start trembling as you cum.

Landon keeps doing what he’s doing, even though cum is now dripping down your thighs, furthering the over-stimulation and your pleasured head-space.

“Such a desperate, needy little thing, aren’t you?” Landon mutters into your body as he makes his way back up to your face and you moan at his words.

He wraps your legs around his waist again while your legs are still trembling then starts heatedly kissing your lips as he takes off his jacket, letting it drop to the floor.

You can taste yourself as the two of you are kissing before he abruptly stops.

Landon strokes your face with one of his hands before removing your back from the wall and while still having your legs around him, walking towards then placing you on the bed.

So used to being against the wall, you let out a gasp of shock when you feel the soft, plush sheets underneath you.

He takes his shirt off and although you should be worn out by now, you’re not, instead your body is buzzing in anticipation as you realize that more pleasure is to happen.

“Do you think you’re ready to be fucked now, Y/N?” Landon moves one of his hands between your legs and makes two of his fingers dance along your clit as he wonders if you believe you’re ready to be fucked.

Chills travel down your spine at the contact of his cold fingers dancing along your clit as it causes you to begin squirming for more.

You get hit with a case of uncontrollable moans and whimpers as he slides his two fingers inside of you then slowly moves them in and out before dragging them across your pussy, toying with it.

Your back arches while you continue to moan and squirm as he puts his fingers back in you.

He proceeds to finger you until your clit starts getting sensitive, which is when he stops.

Even though a part of you wants to stop, the rest of you wants to be fucked despite how overstimulated and sensitive your body is.

Landon grabs your hips and flips you onto your stomach then drags his nails down your back, leaving scratches while making you whimper.

You keep whimpering as he kisses your back, leaving hickeys and other marks on it to go with the scratches he left.

You can hear him undo his belt then jeans before he lifts your hips off the bed so you’re now face down with your ass in the air.

He places his fingers into you once more then removes them and drags his fingers down your spinal cord, marking you with your own cum.

Spreading your legs just enough, you feel him glide his dick along your clit before he slowly but finally slides himself inside of you.

You squeal, squirm, and grip the sheets as you deduce that every part of his body is just ice cold compared to yours.

He released a moan as you tightened around him upon penetrating you that made you shiver.

Moving out of you until it’s just tip, Landon then grasps your hair tightly and without warning, harshly thrusts into you with all he has, forcing a loud whine from you.

With every harsh thrust, it’s like you can hear every story that relates to the anger he’s felt and all the frustration he has.

Landon is merciless in fucking you, taking his free hand, wrapping it around your throat, and pulling you up to him so your back is against his chest while you’re both kneeling.

Every now and then, Landon will grip your hair tighter or slightly choke you, as he keeps hitting the spot that keeps you falling over the edge.

You can’t stop coming in this position but you’ve reached the point where you can no longer make noise and your mind is completely blank, all you’re officially capable of is coming and feeling Landon’s body behind you.

He removes his hand from your neck and touches the part of your rib cage that he bit earlier, tracing the work with one of his fingertips, spelling the letters LK, which reveals that he had branded you with his initials.

After Landon has vented all, or at least most, of his frustrations on you, he lies on the bed, holding you close to his chest and gently plays with your hair while you sleep.

You smile in content at the situation you’re in, deciding that Landon Kirby is what you’ve been waiting for your whole life even when you didn’t know or want to admit it.

“You’re mine now, Y/N.” Landon whispers a possessive statement about you being his before pressing a kiss on your hair while still playing with it.

All you do is subtly nod in agreement and you discover that you are now addicted to the ferryman.

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pasta-connoisseur · 6 months

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Progvember day 5- horrifying or comforting

(Somehow it ended up as more unsettling, also check the tags)

There’s something about Peter

(I don’t mean any harm to the people this is based off of, and claim nothing except for the story)

There was something about Peter.

Tony had seen the change, he’d been there from the beginning. It started off slowly, a quick flash of something across his face, letting things drop where he would have caught them.

A smile that was a bit too wide, and so blindingly white under the stage lights. The fans ate it up anyway, standing almost transfixed as he danced around like a leaf in the wind.

He looked over to Peter anyway. Under the dimmed lights he dressed like a streak of void painted onto the normal workings of a stage.

When his head was turned, at least. With the makeup he was more reminiscent of a lit lamp post. Tony shook away that thought. As if hearing him, said lamppost turned his head to face him. He looked like he was about to say something when the curtain came up, flooding the stage with white light.

Showtime.

They started off just fine, everything was going smoothly. His hands were gliding over the keys, drummers were playing when drummers should, bassists and guitarists were doing what was rehearsed. He let his mind wander for a bit, they’d been playing these songs for long enough that muscle memory could kick in. His mind always wandered back to Peter though. As if tethered to him. He glanced over to see that he was now engrossed in mowing the lawn of wires across the stage. Alright then. Everything as planned.

A third of the way through the set was where things started to go downhill. Everyone was playing well, that wasn’t the issue. However the atmosphere seemed more charged now, more electric than at the start. Small tendrils of shadow seemed to creep up from between the keys, brushing over his fingertips and coiling around his wrists. Almost keeping them in motion.

He worriedly looked over to the others.

Steve looked fine as he leant into the light for his solo. Mike and Phil seemed to be facing the same sort of troubles though. Not in that they couldn’t play, but that they couldn’t seem to stop either. Then there was Peter. He seemed to have become taller and leaner as the song went on. His form stretched and warped under the multicoloured light. He still sang. He still played. Something uncurled in the back of his mind, whispering that it was all fine. Tony wasn’t so sure.

As the show went on, the strange happenings seemed to reach new levels of odd. Now even Steve was affected, as the shadows bent and twisted around him. Tony looked down to the audience. They were still swaying with the music and the lights, they seemed to bask in the chaotic atmosphere, but they always did. That song ended. Silence. Then applause. His head was aching now, his hands were completely still under the blue light. Shadowy coils still looped around them, now making their way up his arm. A strange hush fell over the crowd now. They were worshippers, and the stage was their altar. If that made them their gods he didn’t know. Thoughts were wildly running through and around his head. Panic was lapping at his throat. Everything else was still.

“Old Michael walked past the pet shop, which was never open”

Supper’s ready. Tony shut his eyes and drew in a deep breath. Peter did too.

“Into the park which was never closed”

His eyes were closed. Did that mean he was the pet shop? His thoughts were hazy.

“And seeing the park was full of very smooth, clean green grass”

His eyelids cracked open. Light flooded in once again. Time slowed to a crawl.

“He took off all his clothes, and began to rub his body into the clean, wet, green grass”

Clarity after the delirium. How can he say that so seriously? Tony wondered.

The crowd clung onto his every word and movement. Even the breaths between each. The monologue was over, now the real show began.

His hands were moved into position on the guitar. Across the stage, several other pairs of hands were readied. Peter stood still.

He started singing. Shadows pulled his fingers up and down on the fretboard. Smooth as silk strings. His thoughts racing listening to Peter, trying to ignore the panic setting in once again.

“It’s been a long, long time”

He sang it almost directly to him. Or that’s how it felt. He set down the guitar with hands that should have been shaking.

The song was played, and the atmosphere only turned more surreal. Shifting and changing lights washed over a shifting and changing stage. Shadows carved keyboards into strange sculptures. Guitars were made and unbraided while being played. Drum fills rolled as waves through the sea of audience members. Singing and shadow melted together to bind the musicians and crowd. Verses bleeding into choruses then into sections and instrumentals. Hands melting into instruments. Cries from the crowd becoming a dissonant haze of noise. And above it all, a clear echoing voice. A whistle. Another change.

Keys to door to frame to change.

Voice, vines, ropes, signs.

Faces, masks, dresses, songs, flutes, flowers, more change.

Tony drew in a shuddering breath. Focusing on the ordeal that was about to unfold. He couldn’t even find the keys, yet the right notes still flowed freely from his fingers. Shadows turned his head to the warped figure centre stage.

Peter stood with his arms raised above his head. Coils of shadow extended from his shoulders like wings, climbing into the curtains and crawling towards bandmates. Fiery golden eyes were arranged behind him like choirboys. His costume glittered in the supernatural light. The atmosphere was heavy and still around him, despite the chaos of the rest of the stage. In the storm’s eye stood Peter, or what looked like Peter. Immune to the carnage as the sole cause of it. The song still continued. The crowd still cried out for more.

Tony’s head was pounding. Like an icepick holding the weight of the world was poised over his skull. Images of past times and performances flashed behind his eyelids in a disorienting light show. An ancient presence settled around him as the music swelled to a crescendo. Its powerful voice sang out from all around him.

“There’s an angel standing in the sun”

There it was, Tony thought. He kept looking and feeling the music around him. It was impossible not to.

His hands shook as he played the final minutes of the song. The pressure seemed to ebb away.

It was over. He let out a long breath.

The lights dimmed as the crowd roared in approval. Peter said something to them and then bid them goodnight, walking off the stage. The rest of them followed suit, Tony trailing behind the rest. Already, memories of this performance were slipping away with the crowd’s noise. As he walked back to the dressing room, he could only try to remember the room number where they were staying.

#genesis band #no pairings #wanted to try something different #so here’s like 1k words #lmk if it’s crap or not #progvember2023 #my (prog) writing #prog rock

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