Spectra: A Cynical Superhero

by Amy Sumida

  Every year, Landry, Mama, and I went out for a nice dinner in D.C. and then strolled the streets. This year, Davorin, Kyrian, Lily, Jason, Leo, and Leo's girlfriend, Julie came with us. Landry and Mama dressed casually, and I usually did as well, but Davorin and the gang talked me into being more festive this year. Even Kyrian agreed to wear his wings out so I couldn't be the only spoilsport. But I had no idea what to wear.

  Lily offered to help. She brought an armful of clothes over to The Wilds—where we were all getting ready and doing a little pre-game drinking as Davorin called it—and helped me get dressed in my newly refurbished bedroom. There wasn't a single bloodstain left on the floor or tooth in the wall. Landry said he'd given Cyclone Cleaning—the cleaners who work with the elements to give you that natural clean—a five-star rating on Wassupe (the Market's version of Yelp; like wassup but with a supe twist).

  “What exactly am I supposed to be?” I asked Lily as I stared in the mirror.

  “Wait for it,” Lily said as she pulled a length of fabric out of her bag and swung it around my shoulders.

  The vibrant colors of the rainbow looked even brighter against the leather pants and bustier she had shoved me into. I frowned at the cape she fastened at my shoulders and then transferred my scowl to her.

  “It's your superhero costume!” She declared. “Look; I even ironed an S on the back.”

  I turned my back to the mirror to see that there was indeed a black S on the back of my rainbow cape.

  “What are you wearing?” Landry asked in horror as he came into the room.

  “Her superhero costume!” Lily exclaimed again.

  “Lily, darling, saying something loud and with forced excitement does not make it exciting,” I explained patiently. “I can't wear this out in public.”

  “Why not?” She whined.

  “Because she looks like a gay girl scout,” Landry said.

  “A gay girl scout dominatrix,” Davorin added as he joined us. He cocked his head and nodded. “Yeah; I'm totally okay with that.”

  “Watch it, stoner,” Landry said to Dav.

  “Just because it's colorful, it doesn't make it gay,” Lily protested.

  “No; it's the rainbow flag that you've tied to my shoulders that makes it gay,” I said gently. “I look as if I'm about to join a parade.”

  “At least it's an S on your back and not an L,” Davorin pointed out.

  “What's wrong with an L?” Landry asked with an annoyed look at Dav.

  “The L word is not Landry,” Davorin said.

  “Then what is it?” Landry asked.

  Lily pressed her lips together but a giggle still escaped.

  “It's lesbian,” I said to Landry. “The L word is lesbian.”

  “Oh.” Landry cleared his throat and promptly left.

  I took off the cape. “Thank you, Lily, but as much as I support gay rights, I'm not actually into women. This seems like false advertising to me.”

  “You never know until you try it,” Davorin said with a brow waggle. “Lily's right there. Why don't you give her a smooch just to make sure?”

  “So, you think that you should try sex with a man?” I shot back.

  “What?” Davorin asked as his expression went blank.

  “By your reasoning, people should try everything; even things they are certain they won't enjoy,” I said. “If I should try women, you should try men.”

  Lily burst out laughing. “Why don't you give Jason a smooch? He doesn't have a date either. You can be butt-pirates!”

  I covered my mouth and tried to hold back my burst of laughter. Davorin, Leo, and Jason had all dressed up like pirates. It had started with Leo; who decided to dress like a pirate to pair with his girlfriend's mermaid costume. Then the other men wanted to do a group costume so they all bought pirate outfits. They had tried to get Lily and me to be mermaids as well, but we refused. Walking around D.C. in October in nothing but shells and scaled lycra was not my idea of a good time. Julie was actually a mermaid; at least, the closest thing to a real mermaid that I've ever met. She could cover her body in scales and breathe water through a pair of gills on her neck; the cold didn't bother her at all. So, dressing up as a mermaid was her version of being herself. But back to the pirates. Or back to the butt-pirates, rather.

  Davorin grimaced and rolled his eyes. “Why do I even try to be charming around smart women? They're cruel and don't get my humor.”

  “That was your idea of charm and humor?” I asked him in a horrified tone. “Oh, darling, you need to work on those.”

  Lily launched into another round of laughter.

  “Fine.” Davorin held his hands up in surrender. “I know when I'm not wanted.”

  He walked out in a huff.

  “You're wanted, Dav,” I called after him. “We love to look at you; just don't speak.”

  Davorin's annoyed muttering filtered back to us, and Lily and I giggled.

  “How about sexy kitty?” Lily asked as she held up a stick of black eyeliner.

  I just groaned.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Lily had a cute, cotton, blue, gingham dress in her pile of slutty clothes. So, I put my hair in pigtails and slipped into some bright red heels. A little picnic basket and a stuffed dog completed the look. It wasn't the most perfect impersonation of Dorothy but I liked it. Davorin chuckled when he saw me and said that if I wasn't going to wear a rainbow, the next best thing was to fly over one in a balloon.

  Lily had dressed up as a witch—a sexy witch, of course—but it ended up being a perfect accompaniment to my Dorothy. She danced about and cackled about getting me and my little dog too. Whenever she got too annoying, Kyrian would stand between us and open his wings. He was turning out to be quite handy to have around. Although, his wings were so massive that he had to put them away every time we went inside a building.

  Despite my doubts, we had a smashing time; quite literally at moments. Davorin turned a guy's beer to stone for asking if he could be my Toto. The man dropped the stone bottle in surprise and it landed on his foot. We hid our smiles as we hurried past the screaming drunk.

  Dinner was fantastic. We booked a table at Bourbon Steak; a really great steakhouse on Pennsylvania Avenue. There were a few fine dining establishments in the Supermarket, but they got old by the end of the year and it was nice to be able to go out with my friends and family to someplace special. We ate and drank everything we wanted—that was one of our rules when we went out on Halloween—and we loved every second of it. The only tense moment came when we were leaving the restaurant, and someone asked Mama and Julie if they were Ariel and Ursula.

  “Do I look purple to you?” Mama had asked the man—who was dressed as Howard the Duck. “I'm obviously a Kraken, not a sea witch, you featherbrained fowl.”

  We had all laughed as the man gaped at Mama and her impressive tentacles, and then we sauntered down the street to check out a costume contest in a bar; a sushi bar, no less. The chef playfully threatened to put Mama on the menu. I leaned over and whispered to her that she was getting more attention than any of us.

  “It's the tentacles, deary,” she said to me. “Men love tentacles.”

  We had so much fun that I didn't make it home until late that night, or early that morning; depending on how you looked at it. I tottered into my townhouse and kicked off my red shoes—no clicking necessary. Then I paused and peered around me. Something vibrated in the air; a strange energy that left sparkling particles of ultraviolet light. I frowned before I realized what it must be—who it must be—and then I began to smile.

  I hurried upstairs to my bedroom; where I had set up Malik's transportation device. And there he was; rubbing a towel over his wet hair. The light in the bathroom was still on and steam was filtering out into the bedroom. Malik had a pair of loose pants on but nothing else, and his chest had droplets of water scattered across it—just begging to be licked off.

  “Hello, Nightshade,” I said softly.

  Malik grinned
brilliantly as he tossed the towel aside and reached me in two steps. He was about to kiss me when he noticed what I was wearing.

  “What's this?” He asked with a confused smile.

  “It's Halloween,” I said. “I'm wearing a costume. I'm supposed to be Dorothy; swept up by a tornado and taken to the magical land of Oz.” I held out my arms and twirled to show him the entire look. “What do you think?”

  “I think that the only thing sweeping you up will be me,” Malik declared as he swept me into his arms.

  “As long as you take me somewhere magical,” I teased him.

  “I think I can manage that,” he murmured as his gaze roamed my face.

  “It's too bad that you got here so late,” I said as I slicked the damp hair back from his forehead. “It would have been fun to walk around the city with you in your battle-form.”

  “You don't think that anyone would notice it was real?” He asked in surprise.

  “They didn't notice that Kyrian's wings were real,” I said.

  “You were out with Kyrian?” Malik frowned.

  “And Landry, Mama, Davorin, Lily, Jason, Leo, and Julie,” I said.

  “Oh. All right.”

  “Are you jealous?”

  “No.”

  “Kyrian does have some impressive wings,” I said with a musing tone.

  “Do I need to show you mine again?” Malik offered. “Is this all a ploy to get me to spread my wings for you?”

  “Darling, I don't do ploys,” I said as I ran my hands down his arms. “And I don't think my bedroom is big enough for you, me, and your wings.”

  “I think we'll be fine,” Malik murmured as he lowered his mouth to mine.

  A second later, Malik's wings rose behind him in all of their dark glory. As I shared a searing kiss with him, he wrapped all that demon leather around us and blocked out the rest of the world. There weren't any other words spoken; they weren't needed anymore. Malik undressed me as I caressed and massaged his naked body. By the time I was as naked as he was, Malik was growling with need. A few urgent strokes were all he could tolerate before he lifted me and eased me down on his shaft. I wrapped my legs around Malik's waist and my arms around his shoulders; holding onto the base of his wings to steady myself as he thrust upward powerfully. Then came the clawing and clenching, the biting and licking, and finally, the shouting and moaning release of our pent-up passions.

  After our initial lust was sated, Malik helped me to bed and slipped in behind me; pulling me into the curve of his body as he draped a leg and an arm over me. I sighed and closed my eyes; basking in the scent and feel of him surrounding me. I had known that he would return, but part of me had also doubted. Happiness had eluded me for far too long for me to accept it easily. But there he was; in the massive flesh.

  “I think I need to get a bigger bed,” I murmured sleepily.

  “I agree,” he said. “Is Nightshade going to be your new nickname for me? I thought it was Mal?”

  I laughed. “No; it's your codename.”

  “My what?”

  “If you choose to become a part of our top secret regiment, you need a codename,” I explained. “Kyrian suggested Nightshade since it's the English translation of Starsiene.”

  “It's acceptable,” Malik murmured. “You've already agreed to their terms?”

  “They're good terms,” I said. “You can hear them out later and decide for yourself, but the rest of us have already signed contracts. We are now officially a secret special operations team called the First Extraordinary Abilities Regiment.”

  “FEAR?” Malik asked with a chuckle.

  “Yes; precisely.”

  “I like it,” he murmured against my neck. “But right now, I'm more interested in one particular member of FEAR.”

  As Malik continued making his way down my body, I rolled onto my back and stared up at the patterns of light on my ceiling. I didn't know where this new path was going to take me—either with Malik or the First Extraordinary Abilities Regiment—but for the first time in my life, I felt hopeful. I had a new job, a new family, and a new lover; all of them exciting, a little daunting, and very dangerous. But I was Spectra, a cynical superhero, and I didn't fear anything; I was FEAR.

  Yep; even in my head, that sounded dumb.

  Grammar Giggles

  And just for a little giggle, here are some grammar mistakes found during the editing of this book.

  Correct Line: The air was toxic to both Bleiten and Triari; neither race could live on the planet.

  Giggle: The air was toxic to both Bleiten and Triari; neither rave could live on the planet. (I'd love to go to a Bleiten rave)

  Correct Line: We had gone over all of Homeland Security's findings by that time, and Kyrian was concluding our meeting by perusing a folder of suspects.

  Giggle: We had gone over all of Homeland Security's findings by that time, and Kyrian was concluding our meeting by perusing a folder of subjects. (A subtle but important difference—it took me a minute to figure out what the hell I had meant to say.)

  Correct Line: His shirt hung in tatters around him and he was barefoot, but he managed to look both amazing and absolutely comfortable.

  Giggle: His shirt hung in taters around him and he was barefoot, but he managed to look both amazing and absolutely comfortable. (I guess the demon prince was wearing a potato shirt. Perhaps he was trying to be like Lady Gaga.)

  Correct Line: I ran my hands over the breadth of his shoulders; pulling him closer.

  Giggle: I ran my hands over the breath of his shoulders; pulling him closer. (Talk about alien; his shoulders were breathing.)

  And please feel free to write me at vervainlavine@yahoo.com if you spot any grammar errors yourself. I'm a poor self-published author who must rely on the kindness of my super-smart friends for help in editing. Please have mercy on my writing.

  About the Author

  Amy Sumida is the Internationally Acclaimed author of the Award-Winning Godhunter Series, the fantasy paranormal Twilight Court Series, the Beyond the Godhunter Series, the music-oriented paranormal Spellsinger Series, and several short stories. Her books have been translated into several languages, have made it to the top seller's list on Amazon numerous times, and the first book in her Spellsinger Series won a publishing contract with Kindle Press.

  She was born and raised in Hawaii and brings her unique island perspective to all of her books. She doesn't believe in using pen names, saving the fiction for her stories. She's known for her kick-ass heroines who always have a witty comeback ready, and her strong, supporting male characters who manage to be sensitive and alpha all at once.

  All she's ever wanted to do since she was a little girl, was to write novels. To be able to do so for a living is a blessing which she wakes up thankful for every day. Beyond her books, she enjoys collecting toys, to keep herself young, and cats, to keep herself loved.

  If you enjoyed this book, please let the author know by leaving a review. Unless you want to leave less than 5 stars, in which case, she begs you not to let her know. Our little Indie Author hearts are so easily crushed.

  For information on new releases, detailed character descriptions, and an in-depth look into the worlds of Godhunter and the Twilight Court, check out Amy's website;

  http://www.amysumida.com/

  You can also find her on facebook at:

  https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Godhunter-Series/323778160998617?ref=hl

  On Twitter under @Ashstarte

  On Goodreads:

  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7200339.Amy_Sumida

  On Instagram as; ashstarte

  On Tumblr: http://vervainlavine.tumblr.com/

  And you can find her entire collection of books, along with some personal recommendations, at her Amazon store:

  http://astore.amazon.com/amysum-20

 

 

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