The Reality of You

The night was silent except for the sound of her breathing. Once Blake tucked her in, there was nothing more for him to do but sit and wait for morning.

As he sat on his side of the bed, he watched over Jasmine with a worried eye.

He hoped he had worn her out, walking around the place so she could sleep through the night instead of waking up with night terrors like she did the night before.

"Blake," she whispered.

"I'm here." He responded with a husky voice.

"Can we hold hands?"

"Sure." He reached out with a tiny drop of red energy and took hold of her hand. "I'm right here. Don't be scared."

"Hmm. I used to be scared of ghosts when I went to sleep at night."

"And now?"

"I'm still scared of ghosts, but I'm not scared of you."

Blake laughed. "I'm worse than a ghost. I'm a ghoul."

"But you're not scary at all. Your presence gives me peace and joy. You know what's scary? Those seven flaming heads that killed my aunt."

Suddenly all the things Jasmine tried to push away during the day came back and she began to weep. Her shoulders shook gently with her sobs.

"I can't believe my aunt is gone. It all happened so fast. I never got a chance to say goodbye to her."

Blake sighed and reached out with his entire body to hug her.

She turned into his arms and cried hot tears of loss and pain for her aunt. As she cried, she gripped him tightly, her body shaking with the choked sobs.

He held her with tender arms and let her cry for as long as there were tears in her body. And then he kissed her forehead.

"Don't be too sad, Jasmine." He murmured into her ears. "At least you know something important."

"What's that?" She whispered.

"It's not the end." He smiled. "When you die, it's not the end."

Jasmine was silent for a moment.

"You're dead, right? How is it you're still here? And where is she?"

Blake took a deep breath.

"I'm here because I'm not done here yet. She's not here any more because she's done here."

"Then I shouldn't cry for her. I should be happy."

Blake nodded. "You should cry for me. When I died, nobody cried for me."

"I did." Jasmine admitted. "But it doesn't feel as if you're gone. You're still here. I can touch you. Feel you. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were really here with me."

"I am." Blake kissed the top of her head. "I'm really here with you."

"You feel so real."

"I am real."

As real as my mind is telling me I'm real, Blake thought to himself. What was 'real' any more? It was all as real as it could get.

Blake inhaled sharply as he felt her lips, trailing kisses from his neck upward to his face.

It was a revelation to him that he could feel all this, as long as he expended enough red energy to keep himself in solid form. He could feel her and she could feel him. Could she feel his kisses?

Blake leaned into her and gently kissed her mouth.

Without fear, Jasmine grabbed his head and pressed his mouth into hers. In shocked silence, Blake felt her tongue reaching into the recesses of his mouth.

He kissed her with the desperation of a starving ghost who had lost everything, including the right to touch another person. The right to be with someone he cared about. This existence was hell because he could not reach out and touch her.

For the first time, Blake realized what hell really was. If it hadn't been for his ability to be able to tap into his poltergeist power so that he could touch her and protect her, Blake didn't know what he would have done.

All these thoughts rolled around in his head in a vague tumble of thoughts, even as she moaned and sighed.

"Oh…I wish you were real." She breathed.

"Grrrrr." He growled and pushed her onto the pillow. "I am real! Can't you feel me?"

Jasmine's eyes glistened with tears.

"Yes. I can most definitely feel you." She reached out and touched his face. "I just wished you were real enough for us to really be together."

"Be together?" He narrowed his eyes.

Suddenly, images of the old man and the young ghoul having sex flooded his mind. It was not impossible for a person and a ghoul to share intimacy. If they could do it, so could he.

"I am as real as you are." He breathed as he slowly, he began to kiss her mouth. "As real as this silk gown." He clutched the neckline of her dress and tore it from her body. RIPPP!!!

Jasmine gasped as she felt the cool air brushing over her naked body. He had actually taken the final barrier between the two of them because she could feel his entire naked body lying on top of hers.

"How is it possible that you can feel so real…"

"I don't know, Jazzie, but I don't ask why or how." He breathed onto her silken skin as he dropped kisses on her neck and her chest.

"I just accept what's been given to me and thank the heavens above that I can still feel you and you can still feel me." His lips trailed onto her areole and fixed around her erect nipple.

"Aaaaahhh."

She gasped softly as she felt his tongue swirling round and round, her tip of her nipple as his hands roamed around on her back, her hips, and her arms.

There was nowhere on her body that he did not touch.

Her breasts were full and luscious and he tasted them both in turn. And as she melted into his arms, Blake buried his face in between her breasts and inhaled the scent of her female body.

Oh God.

If he was breaking some terrible spiritual rule by making love to a woman who was still alive, he was absolutely willing to take the punishment.

As long as Jasmine was happy, he would take whatever pain and penance the Universe was going to hand down to him for daring to love a living human being.

Slowly, he trailed kisses between her breasts and moved downward. He kissed every inch of her stomach before moving even lower.

As his head moved lower, he looked up at her. If she wanted him to stop, this was the absolute last moment that he would still be able to control himself, because after this, he would not be able to hold his passions back.

Her soft brown eyes gazed at him with unbridled passion. Her mouth parted as she breathed out his name.

"Blake…"

Unable to stop himself, Blake slid his hands between her legs, separated her thighs, and lowered his head.