Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 10:59:48 +0000
From: j p <jenna_is_pissed@hotmail.com>
Subject: Painted Black Part 1

This story is told from three different perspectives.  I will do my best to
keep it from getting confusing.  Feedback is appreciated so don't hesitate
to email.
Jenna

Demon's point of view:

	I closed my eyes, the music flowing through me.  "Please allow me to
introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste."  You just can't argue with the Stones.  I
let my lips form the words, mouthing the lyrics to Sympathy For The Devil.
Relaxed against the couch, doing my best to ignore it... all of it.  They
were watching me.  Nothing new there, people were always watching me.  I
could feel their eyes on me, taking it in.  The inky black hair, falling
over ice blue eyes; the half buttoned shirt, allowing taunting glimpses of
smooth muscle; the tight jeans over long legs ending in bare feet.  I could
feel them judge me, hear them catch their breath at the blatant sexuality.
Sense their heartbeat, frantic as I gave a hint of a smile.  They stared at
me like tourists watching lions at the zoo.  Telling themselves over and
over again that they were safe, that the predator was behind a cage.  In
this case the cage was society.  I didn't ask to be this way.  I just am.
I'm fire, and anyone who gets too close gets burned.

	Oh, how I love the burn.  I needed it.  Something primal; something dark
and beautiful.  Pale skin writhing, sliding against black silk sheets.  Hard
and slow, torture.  Something dangerous, po
werful, like a storm.  Angry and brutal; aching, painfully sweet.  Soft skin
against my tongue, the taste of sweat.  Slick, hot, sticky salty sweet.
Barely leashed rage, blood pounding.  Sighs and screams, everything else
fading away.  I'm empty and I need to be full, so full that it hurts.  To
lose control.  To take pain and anger and hate and love and every other
fucking emotion and blend them all together into a chaotic maelstrom,
unrecognizable.  To lose myself.  To find a place where laughter and tears
are the same.  To die, the little death, and be reborn.  It's the only way
that I can ever let anyone get close to me, let anyone touch me.  The only
way that I can feel alive.

	The next track on my cd started up.  I began to softly sing along, my lips
curling up slightly as I watched a woman pause.  Her jaw nearly dropping.
"I look inside myself and see my heart is black.  I see my red door and it
has been painted black.  Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the
facts.  It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black."  Like I
said ... can't argue with the Stones.  I wanted to laugh and tell her not to
worry.  She definitely wasn't my type, didn't have the right plumbing.
Instead I winked at her and sent her scurrying off like a mouse.
Appropriate really, because that's my game.  Cat and mouse... predator and
prey.  I'm Damian, but my friends call me Demon.  Friends... that's what
brought me here in the first place, and if Alex weren't half an hour late
getting out of his class I wouldn't be sitting here on a leather sofa in the
student lounge frightening the locals.  I definitely didn't belong in the
student lounge of the engineering building.  I wasn't even quite sure how I
had fallen in with Alex.  I watched him as he swept into the room, all blond
curls, brown eyes, and easy smiles.  He looked like a combination between an
angel and a puppy.  I adored him for it.  The cd switched tracks again and I
heard the opening lines of Garbage's #1 Crush as he plopped down next to me
on the couch.  "I would die for you, I would die for you."  Well, not
quite... but close enough.  I hit the pause and pulled the headphones from
my ears.  Alex looked happy, the test must have gone well.  Before he could
say anything I was dragging him outside, one hand around his wrist and the
other holding my cd player and shoes.  There was absolutely no way I was
going to spend another minute being ogled by a bunch of sexually repressed
mathematicians.

Alex's point of view:

	I grinned when I saw Demon sprawled out across the couch in the student
lounge.  God he was beautiful.  A study in contradictions, hard and soft at
the same time.  He looked like he had just gotten out of bed, he always
looked that way.  It looked good on him.  I never knew what he saw in me.  I
didn't expect to meet someone like him on my first day of classes.  Hell, I
didn't expect much of anything out of my first day of classes.  I was wrong
though, that day changed my life.

	I had been sitting, waiting for class to start at the beginning of freshman
year.  Knowing that I probably wouldn't have any problems at all with
English Composition I when he had prowled into the classroom.  I saw the
teachers eyes go wide at the sight of him and I knew what she was thinking.
He practically screamed sex, he was trouble.  I sat through the first
fifteen minutes of class while the teacher droned on and on about some
boring group project that would make up the first half of our grade.  I was
staring at the wall tapping my fingernails on the desk when she started
assigning groups, and when she said my name my attention snapped back into
focus.  The teacher smiled at me and again I knew what she was thinking.  I
look sweet and angelic, your typical all American good boy.  Then the
corners of her mouth turned down as she looked over at him.  "Damian
Greenwood you will also be working on Othello.  She cast her eyes around the
room, and had just opened her mouth to speak when the door opened and in
walked Kat.  She smiled lazily and walked up to the front of the room to
introduce herself to the teacher.  She walked like she owned the place,
twenty minutes late and not a nervous bone in her body.  I could hear the
other students whispering, and I knew what they were whispering about.  The
half of the room that hadn't been occupied with staring at Damian was now
occupied with staring at Kat.  I wasn't into girls, I pretty much always
knew that I was gay, but even I had a hard time taking my eyes off of her.
How the hell did I end up in the same room with the two most beautiful
creatures on earth?

	Her voice rose clear and strong above the whispering.  "Katerina Ophelia
Bennett... you would not believe the morning I've had."  She smiled sweetly
at the teacher.  "If I never have to change another flat tire it will be too
soon."    Her eyes shifted to the board where the list of projects was
displayed. "Is there room in the Othello group?"  The teacher again opened
her mouth to say something but never got the chance.  I was starting to like
this girl.  "Just point me in their direction and I'll let you get back to
teaching, I know your time is valuable."  What else could the teacher do?  I
mean how do you say no to that.  So just like that we were a group.  Stuck
together for at least half of the semester, and I was scared.  I nearly
dropped my books when I went to go sit with the two of them, and the rest of
the class stared at me as if I had just won the lottery.

	I was snapped out of my nostalgia by the feeling of Demon's hand clamping
around my wrist.  As he dragged me outside I noticed that he hadn't bothered
to put his shoes on.  I just shook my head and let him drag me along.  We
were late, and we still needed to pick up Kat.

Kat's point of view:

        I was pacing back and forth in front of my dorm, wondering what the
hell was keeping my two best friends.  If they didn't hurry we were going to
be late.  I hated being kept waiting, and I hate being late.  Okay, so I'm
always late... but at least I try to be on time.  I ran my hand through my
long, strait, red hair as I saw Demon's GTO pull into the parking lot.
About damn time!  Honestly, you would think that they would be a little bit
more considerate of my feelings.  I chuckled when I saw the look on Alex's
face.  I remembered the first time I had seen that look.  It was the first
day of class, and I was late as usual.  I wasn't in any mood to take any
crap about it so I just breezed into the class and took over.  It probably
wasn't the nicest thing to do, and I don't think Ms. Frank, the teacher,
every completely forgave me for it.  Still, it worked.  It more than worked.
  It gave me Alex and Demon.  Two gorgeous and completely untouchable men.
Why are all the good ones gay?  Alex gets this look on his face when he's
worried.  His eyebrows draw together and he chews on his bottom lip.  It's
adorable.  He was wearing that look when he walked over to the table that
Demon and I were sitting at and carefully slid into the seat between us that
first day of class.  I could tell that he was intimidated, and I didn't
blame him.  The entire class was staring at us.  I'm not saying that to be
conceited, it's just the truth.  I'm the kind of person who almost never
hears the word no.  I know what I want and I get it through sheer
determination and strength of will.  It probably helps that I'm a six foot
tall redhead with a set of legs that could stop traffic, but I really don't
care all that much about my looks.  If they help me get to where I'm going
that's great, but looks don't mean a whole hell of a lot if there isn't
something behind them.

	I knew the moment I saw Alex that I was going to like him.  I wasn't so
sure about Demon.  Okay, so he was hot.  That's great and all but he was
sitting there looking like he wanted to be just about anywhere else.  I
guess that's why I didn't sit directly next to him.  If I had thought about
poor shy looking little Alex having to sit there I wouldn't have taken the
far seat.  I was pretty sure that Alex was going to faint.  Thankfully, Ms.
Frank wrapped things up quickly and left us to do our group work.  I kinda
thought groups were just a little high school, but what the hell.  I turned
to Alex and gave him my best smile.  "I'm Kat.  So, what do you know about
Othello?"  I figured that he would be more comfortable talking about class
work.  I was right, but before he could say anything Demon started reciting
lines from the play.  Alex and I both turned to stare at him and his shit
eating grin.  That was the point where all of my doubts flew out of the
window.  It was shaping up to be one hell of a year.

	My thoughts were broken into by the sound of a horn and I realized that the
GTO was parked right in front of me.  Once again I had been caught
daydreaming.  Not unusual, it only happened like ten times a day.  I smiled
at Alex as I slid in next to him and the nervous look was banished.  Yelling
at them for being late could wait for later... we had a party to get to.