Alternate Earth Pt. 04a

"When I got their letter, I was so excited that I started to pack right then. I sold almost everything I had except my kit and some clothes just to get across the channel. I had been living with three other girls in a tiny, two-bedroom apartment in Dublin and barely making the rent each month. I could'nae believe how they were living when I got there. I was thinking that I'd stay in a room with one of them but I got my own room and a place to set up my drums for us to practice. It was heaven."

"She couldn't believe that we had computers and e-mail accounts," Carmen chided good-naturedly. "And when we told her that it was how we had been keeping in touch with Layla and Raqui, she was so happy she almost cried."

"I didn'ae have any of that in Dublin. At the time, I didn'ae even have a band to play with so I jumped at the chance to play with them."

"Of course, our bassist didn't like her at all." Selena told it like it was a secret even though Abbey was sitting right next to her. "He couldn't keep up with her and his simple baselines got swallowed up by her brilliant drumming every time we played."

"I knew that he wasn't what we needed but Selena and I had known him since we were little girls. He put up with it for nearly six months, especially since we were doing better than we had ever done before. But since he simply did not have the talent to keep up with us, people seemed to forget about him in interviews and articles except to criticize him. Eventually, he furiously demanded that we hire another drummer and, when we refused, he left the band."

"I felt terrible about breaking up the band but Selena and Carmen were amazing. They told me to keep my chin up and that we would find a bassist that could keep up with us. The whole time this was going on, I had been e-mailing with Layla and Raqui from Selena's computer. When I told them what was going on, they decided to visit."

"What actually happened," Raqui explained, "was that I had just walked out on my cheating fiancé and his band. Layla, of course, decided to come with me like a true sister."

"After what he did, I would never have continued to play with him and his egotistical cousin. We decided that it was the right time to leave Tel-Aviv, especially after things with Hamas started heating up, and Paris sounded like a wonderful opportunity."

"I had a former lover who let us play together in a studio while it wasn't being used," Carmen said. "When we got together, we learned that the only one of us who was not classically trained in music was Abbey. It was what made playing together at once simple, yet difficult. There were not many songs that we all knew well enough to play together and the first one we tried, 'Enter Sandman,' by Metallica, was a disaster."

"We just could'nae get it together and it was mostly my fault, since I tried to adlib the beat and it threw everyone off. Anyway, Selena suggested we just play something and see what happens. She asked for a beat so I just started with something simple. Layla wove her base in and then the guitars just followed."

"Since I wasn't singing anything, I simply decided to listen, believing that I could critique everyone when they finished. After only a moment, I realized that there was nothing to critique. The four girls naturally flowed into a sound that Selena and I had been trying to achieve for years. It was one of the most beautiful moments in my life."

"I remember hearing what we were doing and missing a beat. Everyone kinda stumbled when I did and the magic was broken. We were quiet for a minute and then all started talking at once. When I started a second beat with a completely different pattern, we created a totally different sound from the first and it was just as amazing."

"When we finally finished," Raqui explained, "we noticed a group of men, three in suits, applauding in the booth. Of course, we couldn't hear it until they tried to talk to us through the intercom. When they asked us how long we had been playing together and what that song was called, we just told them we were simply feeling each other out and they were floored. They told us that if we could put together twenty-six tracks, they'd schedule studio time as soon as we were ready."

"We could," Selena said with a smile.

"And we did," Abbey finished for her.

"Carmen and Selena have an amazing gift for lyrics," explained Raqui. "As a team, they came up with most of what you heard tonight."

"And of course Raqui is musically gifted," Selena continued quickly, "writing most of the melodies that those songs evolved from. Frankly, I find that her melodies inspire us all to contribute easily, creating what you seemed to enjoy so much tonight."

"But of course Abbey has been the driving force of this band from the beginning and has made us into what we have become." Carmen's words seemed to contain heavy innuendo and made Abbey turn red again but I couldn't understand what she meant. I mean, I understood that Abbey brought them together first and then got everyone jamming together but what did she mean make them into what they've become?

By now, the drinks were really making me feel good enough to ask my question and not feel like I was going a little too far. Even Brian must have been drinking quite a bit because he didn't seem to catch the innuendo that Carmen was giving Abbey.

"Oh, well our Abbey is quite the witch," she said, smiling. "But her magic is, shall we say, unpredictable."

"What she means," Abbey explained seeming a little embarrassed, "is that my magic never turns out the way I want so I don't practice anymore."

"I'm not sure that I follow," I said. Selena began to explain.

"When we found out Abbey was a practicing witch, about a week after we all started playing together, Carmen and I begged her to cast a spell that would make us rich and famous. I honestly thought it would be fun and harmless so we convinced Raqui and Layla to join in. We all thought it would not be much more than a fun night to laugh about together. Abbey tried to warn us but we did not care at the time."

"Abbey's spell definitely did not do what it was supposed to," Carmen added. "No one is quite sure how it happened and we have asked other witches but they are at a loss as to how to fix it."

"So the spell actually worked but not the way you wanted it to?"

"Yes," Raqui said in response to my question. "But we have learned to love the change even though it has taken quite a bit of getting used to."

"What was the change?" I looked over at Brian when he said it and was just as curious as he was. When I looked back at Selena, I saw something pass between her and Abbey before she spoke again.

"It can be... difficult for some people to accept. We have hid the change very well but most people that know do not see us the same way so forgive us if we are apprehensive."

"But the two of you do'nae seem judgmental or prejudice at all," Abbey said. "So it would be ok, right?" She directed the second part of her statement towards Carmen who seemed skeptical. Her distrust made me a little angry and I was about to say so before Brian spoke up.

"We promise not to judge, no matter what your 'secret' is. And if you're worried about us blabbering to anyone about whatever it is, I give my word that Megan and I won't tell a soul."

They exchanged a look which made it obvious that they wanted to tell us but were still afraid to. Finally, Carmen looked at me with something in her eyes that seemed almost yearning before standing up and asking us to follow her. I was a little puzzled but I let her lead me into one of the bedrooms with Brian in tow. The other four girls didn't make a sound when we left the room.

"Before you find out, I should explain that I thought this would be less overwhelming without all five of us gathered around you. You see, the night Abbey did her spell, we all believed that it probably would not work so we laughed and joked about it. Abbey told us that it could be dangerous and that if we were not careful, something could go wrong and make the spell do something unexpected, even terrible.

"We did not take it seriously and when the spell was over, we celebrated by drinking and reveling late into the night. We woke to Raqui screaming and crying. When we ran to see what had happened, she screamed at the sight of us and tried to run away. We did not notice until we were all together that we had changed. We broke up and refused to speak to Abbey for an entire week until Selena suddenly changed her mind about the change.

"When she told me about it, I couldn't believe it but during the next couple of days, she convinced us all that it was a blessing in disguise. It took us a while to get used to it so please, when I tell you, don't react until you have given it time to let it sink in."

While she was talking, I started wondering if I shouldn't just tell her to stop and that we didn't need to know but, well... I wanted to know. I wanted to be closer to these amazing girls and maybe, if I was lucky, count them as friends so I nodded. Brian seemed as interested as I was and, as usual, seemed unconcerned about what she was saying. I was almost sure that if she told him she was an alien, he'd accept it. It's just the way Brian is. Turns out, I wasn't far off.

"Since the night of the spell... we could no longer consider ourselves women... in the traditional sense."

It didn't hit me until she gave us a profound look exactly what she meant. Once I realized what she was talking about, my eyes grew wide and I looked up at Brian's surprised face. When he spoke, it caught me completely off guard but what he said was shocking.

"But you look, I mean... was that the only change?"

"Yes, we still have breasts and are shaped like women. We still think and feel like the women we were before but... now there are certain, urges that are a result of the change in that part of our bodies."

As she spoke, she reached out to touch my face with her right hand, the one with the claw, and I let her place her hand on the side of my face, feeling the touch instantly in my pussy. As I leaned into her touch, I couldn't forget Brian standing beside me so I reached out lightly to take his hand and felt him tug slightly. I tugged back and leaned in further so that I was looking up into Carmen's eyes from only inches away. I squeezed Brian's hand and then closed the short distance to kiss her softly on the lips.

The kiss was like nothing that I had ever experienced before. It made me weak at the knees and I had to place a hand on her hips just so that I didn't fall. Someone knocked on the door lightly but none of us paid any attention to it. I vaguely remember the sound of the door opening and then closing as I kissed Carmen. Like I said earlier, I like playing with girls but no one that I have ever kissed felt like this. Even Brian, who kissed really, really well was different. He was all male, sweet and sensual one second and then hard and demanding the next. This was definitely the soft, sensual feeling of kissing a woman but there was something masculine there that made it different and amazing.

I heard the door open and then Brian's hand was suddenly squeezing mine. I almost looked over but Carmen's mouth was demanding and amazing. When Brian let go, I finally managed to break away and look at him. What I found was Layla in his arms. I was about to say something until Carmen captured my attention again with that clawed hand of hers. She trailed it across my breasts, sending the sensation to my nipples and my clit at the same time, before capturing my mouth again with hers.

I felt hands slide down my arms from my shoulders as Carmen's tongue thoroughly explored my mouth. A large set of tightly restrained breasts pressed against my back as the hands, and arms that they were attached to, slid around my waist, telling me that Selena was probably the woman who was lightly kissing and licking the back of my neck above my collar and sending shivers down my spine and right to my clit.