“Then he started yelling at me, called me a stupid bitch, and several other derogatory words I won’t repeat aloud. The police suspected they were going to ransom me, but when I ran, they went to a backup plan, invaded my home and demanded my parents give them all the valuables in the house, safe money, all that, as a desperate kind of backup plan. That he’d probably lied to them, and he said he had me and would give me back if they hurried up about it.

  “One thing I am sure of, was that I screwed up their plan a second time, by barging in. I honestly don’t know if that’s the truth, but he was livid with me for screwing up his plans even if he didn’t spell them out, so it is a likely scenario. He got grim then and exchanged looks with the others. He said that they’d seen all their faces. I supposed that changed everything, it’d finally occurred to him we were three witnesses as well as helpless victims.

  “Then he turned to my father and demanded he take him to the safe. My father scoffed, and he accused him of intending to kill them anyway. My father demanded I be let go, and then he’d do whatever they wanted.”

  She bit her lip, and tears gathered in her eyes. Her voice was throbbing with emotion as she said the next sentence.

  “That’s when the man turned to the one with the gun, and he just… nodded. The other man pulled the trigger, and my mother’s brains were splattered all over the wall. I lost it then, and I started to struggle again as I cried out in rage. I lost it, truly lost it, when my mother died. The man hit me two more times, hard enough that my head swam, and I couldn’t fight anymore as I was overwhelmed by vertigo. Ironically perhaps, the other man finally let me go, when I started to throw up, and I collapsed on the floor.

  “The man, I would find out later his name was George, demanded my father open the safe, or the same thing would happen to his precious daughter. I don’t know why, perhaps he thought to give himself time, and he hoped for an opening, or maybe he’d truly given up and he just couldn’t bear the thought of watching me die. For whatever reason, he agreed, and George and my father left the room, to head to the study.

  “It was the last time I saw my father alive. I was dizzy from the blow still, minutes later, when I heard another gunshot. My heart constricted in my chest, and I knew he was dead. A minute later, George came back, and that’s all the proof I needed to know both my parents were dead. You can’t even imagine the self-loathing I felt in that moment, it was all my fault.

  “Yes, they killed him, killed my mother, they were guilty of the deaths, but they wouldn’t have been there at all if I’d listened, if I hadn’t been a know-it-all spoiled little brat. I’d brought them to my house, to my parent’s home.”

  I couldn’t hold my voice, “You don’t know that, it could’ve been their plan all along.”

  She frowned, and shook her head, “You’re wrong. George was an internet predator, he’d lure teen girls in and he and his two buddies would have some fun with them. George was never a kidnapper for ransom before, not until I placed the perfect opportunity in his lap, not only was a I cute teen, but I was the daughter of a billionaire. It was my fault, they wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t fallen for his scam.

  “I’m ashamed of what happened next. I just closed my eyes, and I waited to die. It was a moment of insanity I think. I was in so much pain and out of my mind with guilt and grief, I just wanted it to end. I would have died, like a lamb to the slaughter, if it wasn’t for the fact that George was a pervert, and guilty of raping underage girls. He liked to embarrass them too, lure them in, so he could shame them. He was a real piece of work.

  “He probably should have just killed me, but he turned to his buddy, and told him they were going to have a little fun with me before killing me and cleaning up their mess. That energized me, and cut through the self-pity, grief, and guilt. Yes, I’d been willing to die, but I wasn’t willing to let them… let them take me like that.

  “I ran for the door, but I stumbled and didn’t get far, before I was being pinned down. I panicked then, as I felt my jean snap open, and the other one ripped my shirt off. I was sure I was done for at that point, they were going to rape me, and kill me, but they didn’t get to do either of those things, as my impending rape finally triggered my quickening.”

  Well, thank god for that, I felt a little guilty at my relief, at hearing that, in the midst of such a horrible story. I’d known it wasn’t going to be pretty, supers that quickened, their stories were never pretty. Still, at least she was spared that.

  She continued, “The quickening didn’t just clear my complexion, it healed my head injury. Both men startled back at the change in me, and his accomplice raised his gun in fear. Instinctively, I held up my hand and an energy bolt fired from it. Cut the bastard in half, and it vaporized several pounds of flesh. George joined him in hell a moment later.

  “The aftermath was a mess, but my father’s lawyers managed to get me emancipated as a minor, so I didn’t have to go to a foster home. Given I was suddenly a powerful and famous super, and able to make money, not to mention my fifty-million-dollar trust that’s supposed to last me until twenty-one when I get the rest, the judge saw fit to make me an adult.”

  I nodded, “Energy bolt?” I asked as gently as possible.

  She smirked, but her heart wasn’t really in it.

  “Like your first weapon. Too powerful to use. Hecate could fire energy bolts in all the tales, without casting a spell. Mine is… powerful, and not much better than your first weapon as far as purpose. It would kill most supers in one hit, and it only comes out at one power level. I can’t ramp it back, so I can’t even show you, unless you want to fly out into the desert sometime? Point is, I can only fight with my spells, although I would use it again, if it was a matter of life or death. I never have though, my shields are too strong to need to, and that bitch with gravity today had me in too much pain to summon it up.”

  I said, “I’m sorry that happened. Thanks for trusting me, I won’t tell a soul, about any of it.”

  She smiled wanly, “I know you won’t, I’d have to kill you if you did.”

  I snorted, and then pulled her into a brief hug. Screw it, I buried my face in her hair, and took a deep sniff. So worth it, her scent was delightful. Not just the apple and cinnamon shampoo, but her real and deliciously feminine scent beneath it.

  She giggled, and she burrowed into me as she let out a contented sigh.

  I knew holding her was dangerous, she wasn’t ready, and I wasn’t about to take advantage of her emotional and messy vulnerability, so I backed off. A man had limits, and I wasn’t going to push my luck. I already ached to kiss her lips, they looked so soft, and perfect on her beautiful face.

  I knew I’d made the right choice, when I saw the unsure fear along with the deep desire, caring and even lust in her eyes and on her face. If I pushed it, made a pass, I was pretty sure she’d go for it, enthusiastically even. She wanted me, I could see it. But I also knew that would ruin everything, once morning came.

  So, I reclaimed her hand, and then reached for my iced tea with the other instead, which broke the intense and precariously balanced moment.

  Next time I looked, a moment later, there was relief mixed with disappointment on her face, and I knew I’d made the right call. No matter how much my cock had been voting for the other decision.

  Of course, I went for the joke to get over the slight awkwardness of the moment.

  “So, tell me more about that lie, you missed me more on Friday?”

  She giggled, “Or you could tell me more about why you like me, and care so much.”

  “Right, or, Netflix?”

  She grinned, “Good idea. That sounds… safer.”

  I knew what she meant, we were already close to that edge, the desire, the sexual tension, hadn’t just gone away and was almost palpable in the room. Neither of us needed to be throwing more seductively verbal logs on the fire if we weren’t going to be having that cook out, so to speak.

  She flipped on the television, turned away from me, tucked her feet under her on the couch, and fell sideways into me as she lifted my arm with her hand. She snuggled into my side and sighed in contentment, as I put my arm around her shoulder. She was a perfect fit, soft, supple, and oh so feminine against my side.

  “You don’t mind, do you?”

  I shook my head, “Nope.”

  It was a little dangerous, but it felt good, and if she wanted to be held after telling that horrific story and opening herself up to me like that… well, I was her man.

  We watched another comedy special, an effort to change the mood that mostly worked, although her scent and the feeling of her against me was quite overwhelming. My cock never did go down or change his vote for the rest of the evening.

  Our goodnight was a little awkward, we both wanted a kiss, but both feared we wouldn’t stop there, so we settled on one more hug, and she kissed my cheek with a breathy sigh.

  There was even regret in her voice, when she said goodnight, but her eyes thanked me for not pushing it, and I was going with that.

  “Good night.”

  She whispered, “Dream of me.”

  I groaned, “Foregone conclusion.”

  She giggled wickedly, as she let me out of her apartment.

  It’d been a hell of a night. We may not have taken it to the final level of physical intimacy, but the emotional intimacy and trust between us after all that was pretty damned solid. We were going more than fast enough in my opinion, too fast really, but my heart felt what it felt, and that gorgeous woman had her hooks in it. My heart felt full, and I would dream of her that night, and she’d be my first thought when I opened my eyes.

  She was just, mesmerizing, enthralling, and I wouldn’t fight it anymore, I didn’t want to fight it. Screw the consequences of failure, what if it worked out?

  Chapter Fifteen

  The door banged loudly, and Rose’s insistent voice, woke me up.

  “Time?” I groaned as I rolled out of bed.

  The door banged again, and Rose said, “Two-fifteen, there is an emergency.”

  Right, I dressed myself in the jeans and t-shirt, thank all that was holy my stuff would get there today. Later, much later, today.

  That cleaned me up as well, on the way to the door, and I pulled it open to see Alyssa’s worried face. She was already in the White Witch outfit.

  I asked, “What’s going on?”

  Alyssa said, “Mount Shasta is about to blow, in three hours.”

  I blinked, and I tried to process that statement so that it made sense.

  She added, “Oracle called me.”

  Oh, at that point the future tense in her sentence made sense.

  She said, “It’ll also chase out a nasty mutant that will look for a new home, we need to take it out.”

  Right. I changed again with my amulet, and I followed her down the stairs.

  “Tina and Carol?”

  She shook her head, “They won’t be able to help on this one.”

  We got outside, and took off into the air, pointed northwest, and took off. The route to Mount Shasta popped up on my HUD.

  “Thanks, Rose.”

  Rose replied, “You’re welcome. Didn’t want you to get us lost.”

  I laughed.

  “Mount Shasta was abandoned last year, wasn’t it?”

  Near as we could figure out, the alien ship crash landed in the Pacific over two hundred years ago, and it had lost containment of their power systems for a split second. Which, was the origin of supers, the radiation given off by that unknown energy is what I called meta-energy all the time. It might as well be magic, for our level of technology.

  It was last year when there was another containment failure. Not only did it double the alien-energy in the core, it doubled the meta-energy, or radiation. Which had the effect of doubling the number of humans who went through the quickening.

  That wasn’t the only change however, three new volcanoes had formed, the weather patterns had changed, there were more natural disasters. Earthquakes, reawakened volcanos, and even our EM field around the Earth changed. At least in that last case it was good news, it’d gotten a little stronger. There’d also been a few tsunamis from ocean volcanic eruptions.

  Because of that, scientists the world over suspected the energy had heated up the Earth’s core somehow, which was why it’d been so critical to get the alien ship out of the Pacific, up into space, and out of our solar system. If it had full containment failure, it was estimated the energies involved would have blown the planet apart.

  The real point to all that however, was that it’d created a crisis and panic in the population. The government was very adept at taking advantage of a crisis, to take more power and promise they’ll take care of everything. That’s when the MTF was announced, and it came into being.

  The whole world had changed last year, not just America. Third world countries had destabilized because of the new supers, and all first world countries had created something similar to the MTF, in order to take the super risk into hand. It was all about control though, nothing about safety.

  Tensions were still rather high between all the countries as well, after war was averted by a slim margin in the Pacific over the alien ship. So far, no countries had violated the treaty and rules of war which said supers couldn’t get involved in international politics or wars, or even just assist across borders.

  For that reason, it wasn’t something I thought about very often, since we couldn’t do anything about it anyway. Well, we could, but any super involvement between countries would invariably make things even worse, perhaps spark off a third world war.

  She replied, “Yes, it’s been showing signs of imminent eruption for a year now. I guess it was finally ready to go over.”

  “Did he say how bad the mutant animal would be?”

  Yeah, that was another thing. Animals, sea creatures, and other lifeforms could quicken too, not just the humans. Invariably, those turned into huge monsters that saw humans and large cities as tasty snacks. Fortunately, it was only the sea creatures that became truly large, and I mean close to a mile in diameter for most the last year.

  She said, “It’s a sphinx looking thing, about twenty feet tall, wings. He thought it was probably a mountain lion to start with. He also suspects it moved into Mount Shasta when the people moved out. Kind of like a kitten sunning on the windowsill, except using a volcano instead.”

  I laughed, “Right. What’s it been eating?”

  She shrugged, and looked over at me, “Heat? It has fire powers, there’s been no reports of a sphinx terrorizing nearby towns or cities, or even hunter sightings of it hunting animals. Of course, that’ll change if it’s driven out of the area.”

  The natural disaster was also kind of proof the whole MTF was a bad idea. Disasters had always drawn hundreds of heroes from nearby cities, but I suspected that wouldn’t be happening anymore. At least, not nearly in the same numbers.

  “This is unofficial?”

  She nodded, “Yes. It’s also just us.”

  “Really? Guy calls for help, and then doesn’t show?”

  She giggled, “He said if him and the Maidens came it wouldn’t make a difference, I’m the only one who can stop it. It can eat plasma for breakfast, and its fire is so bright that shadows won’t reach it.”

  Yeah, which probably meant I was only here to keep her company? I thought longingly of my bed, but I dismissed it. She was my partner, I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I just… needed a coffee.

  She added, “He also said you’d tell me where to hit it.”

  Oh, that almost made sense. I could tell her where the brain was, just by the energy configuration in the creature. But… I’d have to get alarmingly close to it to do that. I also assumed it wasn’t obvious, like the head of the beast. Most likely the body mass of the original mountain lion was somewhere inside of it, and the brain wouldn’t have moved or grown as the body grew.

  I suspected humans only stayed human in appearance because we were sentient and our subconscious minds very much cared about appearance when we went through the change. It was why most supers were so attractive, any physical changes were toward beauty and a perfect form.

  Not that it happened to all either, I’d been satisfied with who I was, and Alyssa had as well outside of her acne. Animals didn’t care at all about any of that, so they invariably became better hunters at any cost. That usually meant powers and size. Size was a big determination on how much meta-energy an enchantment could hold.

  Which, was just one more reason I had a full suit of armor, my enchantments at their base were stronger without my energy added in than they would be on a small piece of jewelry.

  Point was though, quickened animals always grew, they didn’t care how pretty they looked, they just cared about hunting and food.

  As for how Alyssa managed to hold a reactor’s worth of energy in her petite and sexy five foot one body, I couldn’t explain that at all. I made a mental reminder to consider the possibilities some other time, maybe some of my assumptions were wrong.

  “What about the volcano.”

  She laughed, “Even I have my limits, but I do plan to carve out a new lava path to save a nearby town.”

  Our ETA was just under ninety minutes at Mach one, we could get there faster, but that would just drain my energy, and we had more than enough time. We’d have another hour and a half after that, to build a lava path and find the Sphinx before the volcano erupted.

  I couldn’t help but do the math in my head, I could’ve slept two more hours, and gone at Mach three, which would still leave us thirty minutes pre-eruption. Then I pushed it all out of my head, at least I’d be awake by the time we got there.

  “Maybe I should add a cold weapon, I figured plasma and a rail gun could cover everything. That, and the electricity attack. But after that woman yesterday, and a fire-cat sphinx now, it sounds more and more like a necessary idea.”

  My cuffs and the stasis spell didn’t count in my mind, they weren’t really weapons, more crowd control.