Children of a Lesser God

But since he couldn't ask them now, maybe the girls knew?

"Do you both believe that gods still exist?" Laz was thinking about that dead beauty in the coffin who could still communicate with him. Just because she said she was a god, did that mean she was? Maybe yes, maybe no.

"If a cockroach can survive a nuclear holocaust then I'm pretty sure the gods could survive whatever shit went down back then," Ruby said, downing her drink and pouring another.

"You seem to hate them?" Laz wondered why it was that Ruby held hostility for these people she never met.

"It's not that she hates them. It's what's happening to her..."

"ENOUGH! Sigh... Let's not talk about it Lene... You know how testy I get and I don't mean to. It's not your fault. Not anyone's. It just is..." Ruby finished her next glass quickly and started drinking from the bottle.

"I'm not sure..."

"It's fine. I'm fine. Relax."

Laz let out a sigh of his own and moving a bit, managed to wrap his arm around Ruby's back and waist.

"You're not fine. I'm... not bright on many things but even I know that no woman who says she's fine is actually fine...."

"Oh, he got smarter since the last time we were together, hmm?" Ruby said, rubbing her finger against his chin. Her antics caused Malene to laugh as well.

"What?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Malene laughed some more while Ruby explained.

"Dear. You're a great lover. But I've seen concrete less dense than you. The fact that you know this is just surprising."

"I'm not that bad..."

"It's just lucky I like them big and kind of dumb... lucky for you." Ruby teased. Malene was laughing the whole time while Laz just decided he would keep acting like a fool. In fact, he decided it would be fun to start tickling Malene who was still in his ŀap while laughing at him. When she jumped up like a startled cat, Ruby started laughing harder and to keep things fair, Laz went after her too.

Turned out they were both super ticklish.

For the next few moments, a strange battle erupted where the girls ran from Laz while he chased them, all over the penthouse. Had someone come in and observed, they would have questioned the ages of the ones playing considering they used pillows and blankets as weapons. At some point, Ruby switched off the phone when she ran by it while escaping Laz's grasp.

There was probably not going to be anything else happening that needed to be observed.

Even still, by the time everyone was worn out, they laid on top of the bed while staring out the high balcony windows, breathing hard with smiles on their faces.

To Laz, this was a simple game. To the girls, it was one of the most fun, dumbest and most relaxing times they had lately..

Before Laz had even settled down, Malene took one of his arms while Ruby took the other. They then both snuggled in tight, as though they wanted every breath of air they took to be filled with Laz's scent.

"What is this?" Laz asked.

"Have we ever gone on a date?" Malene asked.

"Ever went to a movie?" Ruby questioned.

"Ever just went for a walk?"

"Went to the beach?"

"Spent time watching a movie?"

"Listening to music?"

The girls fired off one question after another at Laz, mostly about pretty mundane things.

"I guess... not. No."

"Yep."

"Not even once. Hell, the one time we did go on a date, we went to karaoke night at the club we worked at... I mean... how lame is that?" Malene asked, snuggling closer.

"At least you got a date with him. Our night ended up consisting of getting drunk and having a three way..." Malene sighed, burying her face in his shoulder.

"That doesn't sound like a bad time... but I understand," Ruby said with a laugh.

"I'm missing something," Laz said, slightly confused.

"Have you ever dreamed of love?" Malene asked, sitting up.

"Well.. I mean... who doesn't?" Laz replied. He wasn't foolish enough to admit that his and her definition of a love dream might be a bit different.

"I'm not talking about that. I mean, real love? Finding the person who is right for you? Finding the one who makes you feel good, who sticks by you no matter how crazy you can be? Finding the guy who can honestly understand you and still wants to be with you?"

Laz was about to reply with something about not dreaming about guys, but a quick pinch from Ruby caused him to stop.

"Every girl dreams of it. And we're not talking about a prince charming either. A girl grows out of that dream real quick. We just want a guy we can honestly connect with. One who we can spend time with and enjoy it while spending time away from them and just wanting to be back in their arms." Ruby said, resting herself on Laz's chest.

"So yeah. A girl will plan out a perfect date, perfect night, perfect wedding... a whole lot of perfect things to us. And sure, that perfect will change as she changes, but it doesn't change the fact that we want it," Malene explained.

"Do you get it now?" Ruby asked, poking Laz's cheek.

"Well. I would have to say that basically... we, none of us, have had something like that. It's basically been one crazy experience after another..."

"MMMmmm. He does get it..." Ruby commented while patting his head.

"And don't misunderstand Laz. We don't blame you. Our lives... how we met and got to know each other. None of it was normal. None of it will be normal. And the exciting is fun too...."

"But sometimes, just running around, having a tickling war and cuddling in the bed can be a perfect kind of normal, right?" Laz said, finishing her statement.

"It's the best kind of normal. It's like... everything else is miles away..." Malene had a rather content look on her face as she started rubbing Laz's chest.

"Would it be better if I wasn't here?" Ruby asked with a grin.

"Of course not. You know what I mean. You feel it too. And we all know how we feel about each other as well," Malene reassured Ruby while moving a hand over to stroke her face as well.

"Uhh...?" Laz went blank.

"What?"

"You two?"

"No."

"Not what you think. It's like being really... really close best friends. Maybe guys wouldn't get it, but girls have no problem cuddling each other to sleep at night. At least we don't." Ruby said, holding on to Malene's hand.

"Ah."

"Yeah. You have no clue, do you?" Malene said with a laugh, echoed by Malene.

"I don't. I don't... actually have any friends..." Laz said, admitting this embarrassing fact.

Although he kind of made that comment in jest, it actually caused both the girls to freeze up. Perhaps life had been hard for them, working as they were to further the business empire that Kennedy had taken over. One that they all wished would become the center and rallying point for the infected all over the country. At the same time, they wanted Laz to not be tied down by the same problems they had. None of them had forgotten that he was still actively searching for his parents. Also, Laz was their primary connection to a god like figure who seemed to have control over his life and death. As such, they wanted him to be free to search out his own destiny.

But now it seemed like they had kind of missed a rather large point; while they all had each other, Laz was, almost always, alone.

Ruby reacted first, leaning in and kissing Laz on the lips. Malene was just a step behind. As soon as Ruby finished, Malene leaned in and continued to occupy Laz's mouth.

When they were all done, the both sat up while looking down at Laz who was still laying down.

"Whatever happens in the future..."

"No matter where you go or what you do..."

"You will always have us."

"Always."

Both girls reassured Laz. Seeing them both be serious about it, Laz couldn't help but laugh. Of course in doing so, a few tears escaped his eyes as well, all be it, unintentionally.

"I know. I don't deserve you two. Or any of you. But since I have you both and others who care about me, I never feel alone. Not really." Laz revealed.

"Ok, ok... well... what should we do now then?" Laz continued on, breaking the awkward silence.

"Well, what is there to do?" Ruby asked back. She mostly was just content to spending time with Laz. Although she had complained about a lack of date time, in truth, it was a lack of just time with him. They didn't need to do anything special.

"Well... how about we compare strength?" Malene suggested, running to one of her bags and grabbing something out.

"Compare strength?"

Although Laz didn't understand, Ruby took a hard stare at Malene as though she wanted to attack her right then and there. Malene wasn't disturbed and stared back, causing both girls to engage in a staring contest.

Ruby was the first to turn away.

"That's right. Deal with it cause it's not about to change."

"Whatever. I'll deal with you later."

"You think his feelings will change?"

"It's... no. But that's not it."

"Then suck it up and let's do this." With the fight having been concluded, Malene set down a strange looking snow globe on the middle of the floor and waved for Laz to come sit. Ruby was already sitting down as well, allowing them to form a triangle around the snow globe.

Looking at it closely, the snow globe looked like a tiny model of London, something one would buy if they were vacationing and wanted a souvenir. Other than looking a little shiny and spotless, there really was nothing special about it.

"What is this?" Laz asked, looking form girl to girl.

"You'll see. Just focus your spiritual sense into the globe and be ready for it."

"Ok." Completely trusting her, Laz did as he was asked. As soon as his spiritual sense made contact with the globe, he felt a vacuum like suction suddenly draw him in. Although it wasn't strong to the point of being unable to resist, being dragged somewhere still didn't feel the best.

When Laz opened his 'eyes,' he noticed he was standing in mid air over a sprawling, lit up city. It only took him a moment to notice Big Ben located in the center of this fantasy scape for him to understand that he had actually been drawn into the globe which was like a world of it's own.

Looking around a bit more, he noticed that despite the lights being real, the cars, buildings and everything else appeared lifeless with no movement in the slightest.

It felt like it was a world frozen in a moment of time.

Just as Laz was taking in all the sights around him, he couldn't help but hear a bit of giggling. Turning his head, he saw what looked like a body made up of different colors of light, floating in mid air not far away from him. The interesting part about it was that the body of light wasn't facing him, but had instead turned around and looked like it was struggling with something.

Before long, the body of light seemed to give a great tug, causing the object it was fighting with to be thrown forward.

Laz couldn't help but freeze in shock.

The thing the body of light had been struggling with kind of looked like a monster. From it's waist down it appeared to be a snake with scarlet colored scales and strange, yet familiar bands of golden jewelry. From the waist up, the creature was actually an incredibly beautiful woman. On her wrists were more golden bands of jewelry along with different piercings and accents. Her well endowed breasts were covered by only a thin piece of fabric that seemed to barely be able to contain the melons it was encasing while her face was covered with a veil.

Despite the veil blocking her face, it only took a moment for Laz to realize that this strange creature was actually Ruby.

"What in the actual fuck?"

"See... I told you he would be..."

"Your transformation allows you to grow tits? How wild is that?" Laz finished his thoughts. He couldn't really be blamed for this. Although Ruby wasn't lacking in any way, she also wasn't one that would have a hard time finding a bra either... if she ever wore one.

"That? That's what you focus on? That's where your mind goes first?" Ruby replied, not sure if she wanted to laugh or beat the shit out of him.

As for the body of light, it was rolling around on the ground laughing, it's voice an enchanting treat to the ears that Laz couldn't help but recognize.

"Malene?... You didn't grow boobs though?" Although Malene's transformation was astounding, Laz noticed that he body shape was still exactly the same as before.

His words made her freeze in place while Ruby couldn't help but break out in laughter.

After being glared at for a while by Malene, Ruby finally got it together.

"It's not just us. Look at your own body..." Ruby pointed out.

Laz looked down to notice that his skin had turned a stone like grey color. The normally hidden tattoos were now visible streaking all across his upper body while his lower body was just as bare as the day it was born.

Of course with that, Laz realized he was naked as well.

"Well, this is interesting," he said while using his hands to trace the contours of his face, noticing that they had become sharper and more pointed. He had also grown a pair of fangs, his hair had become white and quite a bit longer than before.

"Hmm..." Laz said while rubbing himself all over.

"Ok. Ok. Enough. focus your spiritual sense while thinking about some clothing to cover yourself and it will appear," Malene suggested, trying to keep herself from staring at Laz's hanging leg. It's not like she hadn't seen it before. It was just that with his appearance as it was now, he looked like a totally different person.

As Laz focused, he imagined some soft, loose fitting pants that magically appeared on his waist and legs, just as they should. Moving around a bit, Laz felt a little weightless although there did seem ot be a floor in the sky.

"What is this?" He asked, mystified by such a strange item.

"Something we picked up off of a resale website. The guy said he had a glowing snow globe that seemed weird so we check it out and couldn't believe what it was."

"Took us a while to figure it out, but the fact that it was special was obvious."

"Yeah. But getting used to moving in it is a little weird." Malene added while Ruby nodded her head.

"This has got to be the sweetest thing I have ever seen,: Laz said, praising the girl's luck at getting this.

"Well, move around a bit and get a feel for it. Cause in here, we can go all out, even if we destroy everything around us..." Malene's voiced seemed a little weird when she said this, but Ruby nodded her head in agreement as well.

Laz suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.