by Aaron Crash
Manuel screwed up his face. “Uh, how would you know for certain? That would be really hard to test. Like learning to fly. If someone told me I could fly, how could I prove it?”
What he said made a lot of sense. “Yeah, I guess. But what if someone shot you and the bullet bounced off? So you have proof.”
Manuel thought for a minute, one hand on the mouse, other hand on the keyboard. “Okay, so I’m bulletproof. Like Luke Cage. I guess I’d fight crime, but that really doesn’t pay the bills. And I wouldn’t want to be a freakshow. Sooner or later, the government would come to study me.” He paused and seesawed his head. “Maybe become a mercenary? You could go into any sort of bad situation without getting hurt.”
“So I should quit my job, quit school, and go to Iraq?” Steven asked.
His friend laughed. “That doesn’t sound like much fun. I don’t know, man.”
“What if you could change shape by killing people or having sex?”
“Ese! You’re being super weird!” Manuel replied, rolling his eyes. “Seriously, you might be watching too many comic book movies. But, if I was an incubus, which is a male succubus, I’d find some lovely lady, work my magic, and get my sex on. Then, totally, I’d find someone to pay me to fight crime. Make the world a better place. You know, with great power comes great responsibility.”
Steven nodded. “Thanks, man.”
He thought Manuel might remember it was his birthday, but he didn’t. Which was okay. Steven was too busy to really have close friends anyway.
Thinking about Manuel’s answers to his weird questions didn’t help him. Should he quit school and his jobs on such a risk? He wasn’t sure yet. But he did know he had to finish up in the cafeteria, grab some lunch, and then get to his statistics class.
He had another energy drink, but he was starving. He got a burger, two hot dogs, and a big slice of pizza for lunch, but he still felt hungry. It was a feast he couldn’t quite afford, but again, he wasn’t thinking clearly.
On his way to class, he called his mom. He got her voicemail but didn’t bother leaving a message. His mom couldn’t figure out technology to save her life and that included voicemail. She didn’t have a cell phone because the tech was beyond her. She was at work, cleaning the Denver airport, so he’d have to wait until she got home. At least she could work her old phone, still wired into the wall. Archaic.
He was dying to ask his mom about the pendant and about his childhood. Other than having a father with a gambling addiction, his childhood had been so normal. How could he be a Dragonsoul when he’d wet the bed until he was a third grader? Or there was that time Todd Butch pantsed him in the seventh grade. Dragons didn’t get pantsed, did they?
Thursday afternoon, he had statistics and his science for non-majors, which was actually a pretty cool class. But sitting in the auditorium, listening to the professors talk, didn’t help him with his exhaustion or his spinning mind.
It was his twentieth birthday. And yet, it felt like a normal day, and nothing special was in store for him. But, fuck, man, everything was special now. He had a magical pendant that had showed him three places for him to explore. That and he was a dragon with experience points to grind in the form of Animus.
Or was he hallucinating the whole thing? Had he overworked himself into insanity? There was that whole Creepy Pasta story about the Russian sleep-deprivation experiment. After a month without sleeping, all the people had gone insane. Maybe that was happening to him.
Classes passed in a haze, and soon he found himself in the library. If anything would kill him, it was his library job. Shelving books was mind-destroying even on the best of days. Now, with his head whirling and his stomach growling, it felt like the minutes had turned into years, and he’d be able to clock out when he was thirty.
Eventually, he had a break, but that was filled up with studying. He had a paper to write about symbolism in the King Arthur legends.
The cheapest thing at the cafeteria was a baked potato, so he bought four and loaded them up. Okay, the amount he was eating was strange. Clearly, something had changed in his metabolism.
Still no call from his mom, and when he called her, the phone just rang and rang. He figured she might call him to wish him a happy birthday, but then, that would be relying on his mom’s terrible memory. Not something he wanted to bet on. It wasn’t her fault, and he knew she loved him, so he tried not to take it personally.
He was hungry again at 11:45 pm when he walked through the doors of the Coffee Clutch, ready to clean. However, he wasn’t tired anymore. That was the nice thing about long days with no sleep: at some point, your body shifted, and your brain resigned itself to the fact that naps weren’t gonna be a thing that day.
Sitting on the counter was a chocolate-chip muffin with a single candle burning in it.
Steven grinned, and Tessa grinned back. “Happy birthday, Steven.” She was behind the bar, starting the cleanup early since the place was empty.
Steven locked the door to avoid any more bullshit like the night before. “Tessa, you’re the best. You’re the only one who remembered!”
“You saved my life last night,” Tessa said, shooting him a wink. “It’s the least I can do.”
Bud came out to the main area to stack the chairs on the tables. “Hey Cool Whipp, I heard what you did last night. Sorry I left the door unlocked. But I heard you were a hero. I guess. If I would’ve been here, I would have totally kicked that guy’s ass. He’d still be shitting out my boot leather.”
Steven wasn’t in the mood for Bud or his crap. “Shut up, Bud. And my name is Steven.”
Bud, following the script all douchebag assholes kept in their pocket, threw out his chest and bustled up to Steven. “What if I keep calling you Cool Whipp? What are you doing to do about it?”
Steven shoved him back against the table. Fuck it, he had two other jobs. So what if he got fired from one? He was bulletproof, and if he could take a bullet, he could take a punch. He was tired, hungry, and confused. And Bud was a dickhead. Steven slapped him right in his stupid face. “This is what you want, right, Bud? If you want to fight me, well, let’s go then. Yeah, my last name is stupid. So fucking what?”
Bud looked hurt, shocked, and he backed away. “Look, I was just messing with you. I’m sorry.”
“Just leave,” Steven said. “Then tomorrow night, when I come in, we can start over. You can treat me like a human being and not your personal punching bag.”
Bud didn’t move. He looked genuinely conflicted.
“Leave, Bud. And I’ll get the door behind you.”
Bud gulped. “I’ll just leave through the back. Again, I’m sorry.” He took off.
Steven stacked the chairs on the table. His head was buzzing, the adrenaline felt good coursing through him, and he felt strong. Powerful. It was almost like he’d gotten a dose of the Animus from the little tussle.
“Steven, come and blow out your candle,” Tessa said after a long while.
“Oh, sorry,” he said. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Idly, he considered telling her about Aria, and what happened, but he still wasn’t sure that kiss or seeing her in his room had been real.
The candle dripped a colorful red shell of wax on the muffin.
Tessa sang him “Happy Birthday” in a nice, low, sultry voice, sexy as hell.
Steven was spellbound by her and her talent. “Wow,” he said when she was finished. “You have an amazing voice, anyone ever tell you that?”
She blushed. “Oh, stop, now. Blow out your damn candle.”
Steven did. Then she took the muffin, peeled the wax off the top, and gave it to him. She’d also whipped up a latte for him to go along with the sweet.
“You stood up to Bud,” she said.
“I did,” Steven admitted with a shrug. “I kinda feel bad now. He totally didn’t see it coming.”
They both laughed. He ate the muffin, but he had another type of hunger filling him. He thought about Manuel’s suggestion,
and if there were one person he wanted to bang, it was Tessa Ross. She stood there, so beautiful, so confident. She was wearing a cool leather skirt with tights, and she had a lacy blouse with a red embroidered vest over it. Her hair was swept back, showing the side she shaved.
He went around to where she stood behind the coffee machines. He had no idea what he was going to say, but he had stood up to Bud, and now he was going to go all-in with Tessa. “I really wanted to walk you home last night ... Well, this morning. I’ve wanted to walk you home, make sure you were safe, since I first met you.”
Her face grew serious. “But I’m not in school, and I’m kind of a loser,” she said. “Why would someone like you want anything to do with me?”
Steven felt flabbergasted. She thought she wasn’t good enough for him? What? “You’re special,” he said. “We both are. I’d like to kiss you, Tessa. And if you’re interested, I’d like to do more. But we can start with a kiss.” It was almost like what Aria had said to him without the talk of destiny and doom.
She crossed to Steven, he took her in his arms, and they kissed, hard. She smelled like coffee, perfume, and just her, Tessa Ross, the scent that made him want to take her right then and there.
She was breathing as hard as Steven was, and they both trembled at the power of their attraction. Energy filled his chest. His crotch throbbed. He knew the pendant was glowing like his own personal sun. The kiss was giving him Animus, he could feel it. Just like the fight with Bud had.
She broke away. He bent and tasted her neck. Her smell filled his nose, lighting up every single one of his senses. He loved how curvy she was, how her hips felt in his hands, and her breasts pressed up against his body.
“Oh, fuck, Steven. Oh, I can’t believe it, how you are, how we are. What’s happening? What changed in you? What changed?”
The truth? Aria had been dead right. Everything had changed with that one kiss.
He leaned back but kept her body tightly next to his. Feeling her against him felt so right. So natural. “Tessa, you won’t believe me, and I’m not sure I can talk about it yet. How far do you want to go with me?”
“Here? Now?” Tessa asked, eyes widening. “Well, after that kiss, I want all of you, Steven. I’ve fantasized about having sex here, at work, after hours. I’ve fantasized about you ... us ...”
Steven’s hands went lower, and he touched her shapely ass for the first time.
She closed her eyes. He could feel the heat emanating from between her legs.
“Why didn’t you ever give me any signals?” he asked.
She opened her eyes, and he felt trapped inside them. “I did. But you were too busy, too focused, and I figured you weren’t interested in me.”
“Holy shit, was I stupid,” he breathed.
“Not anymore,” she said, nipping at his lip.
“Not anymore,” he agreed. He lifted her up and set her on the counter. The lights were on in the place, so anyone walking by could see them, but neither cared.
He was between her legs, kissing her, and she was peeling off her blouse. He unhooked her bra. It wasn’t the first time he’d unlatched a brassiere, but all those other times had been childish and uncertain. He’d been scared of messing up, of being a dork, but not now. He wanted her. He didn’t care anymore about what other people thought of him. He wasn’t just some guy working and going to school.
He was more, and he felt it, down to his bones.
She got his pants off, and he pulled off his shirt. The pendant sent rainbows glowing down his skin. Had he lost weight? Was he more muscled? It seemed so.
She was bent down, on her knees, taking him into her mouth. He touched her hair and felt how soft it was. He touched her ears, and he brushed over her piercings—the metal as hot as her body. He wanted to lick every inch of her skin and take months to do it.
Glancing down, he saw her face, glowing with lust, and her bare chest, and he knew this was only the beginning.
He came close to exploding in her mouth, but he wanted to save it for the main event. He pulled her up, set her on the counter again, and then slid down her tights and her panties.
He spread her legs and returned the favor she’d given him.
She came quick, and then, he was inside her. He was having sex, real sex, for the first time in his life. She was a wonderland of skin and scents, a luscious woman who wanted him as much as he wanted her. Every part of him was on fire, and the burning sensation in his chest grew painful, and then it was beyond pain, into an ecstasy he’d never felt before.
It was heaven, and it was hell. It was lust, and it was love. He gave himself to Tessa, and she gave herself to him. Their friendship had melted like honey, and they were lovers now. Everything had changed.
“Steven, your necklace, the pendant,” she gasped. “It’s glowing. It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
They locked gazes, the light blinding them both, and then, staring into her accepting, loving eyes, he was pushed over into the first real orgasm of his life.
“Oh, it’s happening, something is ... Steven ... I can feel it. I can feel you in me ...” And then Tessa fell off the counter. He’d slipped out of her. Standing, they held each other, and Steven felt his body take in her energy, the Animus.
It was like before, with Aria, but this time, there was so much more of it. An endless river, it seemed. If he knew how to channel it, he knew he could do amazing things with that raw life force.
Tessa was weeping in his arms, crying softly, and he tilted her head up gently. They were back to staring into each other’s faces. Tessa’s eyes were no longer hazel. They glowed with a bright white light, and tears like liquid silver dripped down her cheeks.
“What is happening, Steven?” she asked.
He couldn’t answer because, in the end, he wasn’t sure how to explain it. Or anything.
Chapter Six
CLOSING DOWN AND CLEANING up the Coffee Clutch had never been more fun and never more flirty. Tessa kept smiling at him. Her eyes weren’t blazing with light anymore, but they were still glowing with a mixture of love and lust.
Steven told Tessa every odd thing that was going on in his life, and she listened, enraptured, and when he was done, she said, “Let me think about some of this stuff. It’s pretty wild, but come on, you’re not crazy. This is happening. We just need to figure it out.”
“Do you want to come back to my place?” Steven asked. It didn’t feel like a bold move. No, it felt natural after what they had shared.
They got their work done and then went outside. She got on the back of his bike, taking the seat, while he peddled furiously standing up. His quads didn’t mind because he felt so much stronger. A little rain pattered down. He only sped harder while Tessa gripped his waist. He spun in front of his house and bounced up the sidewalk before coming to a stop next to the cottonwood where he and Aria first kissed.
Where was Aria? What had happened to her? That kiss had triggered his change. Now she was gone.
Tessa stepped from the bike and held it while he locked it up to a fence post. Then they were up the steps, down the hall, and in his little bit of room in the great big house.
He got the door locked before Tessa was on him again, kissing him with a wet, wanton mouth, and if she smelled good before, now he was getting a double dose of her sweetness. His senses were heightening, he could feel it. Everything was changing inside him.
She stripped her vest, her blouse, and her bra off, and they fell to the floor to mix with his laundry. He liked the idea. Their lives were joining, syncing up. He tore his shirt, literally, ripping it at the seams.
She heard it, smiled, and shimmied out of her skirt. “Easy there, Tiger. We have all night. No need to destroy our clothes in the process.”
“I don’t care about any of that. I want you again, Tessa. I’d bring the entire house down to get to you.” Steven found himself almost snarling those words. He’d never been more turned on in his life, and it wasn’t just the sex, it w
as the sheer excitement over gaining more Animus.
It showed when he dropped his pants.
Both were naked, staring at each other. Steven couldn’t believe he had a real naked woman in his room. She was curvy and hippy and breasty and beautiful. And real! Steven pounced. He pushed Tessa onto the bed, and her legs fell open.
It was heaven inside her, and when they kissed, the connection was complete. The energy transfer between them made the Animus pendant glow again.
“Oh, God, Steven, it’s so beautiful!” Tessa gasped. “Maybe you’re some kind of vampire. I feel you taking from me ...”
That shocked him. He stopped moving but stayed inside her. “Does it hurt? Are you feeling weaker?” He thought about what Manuel had said, about an incubus drawing power from women through sex. Was that what he was?
His eyes traveled from where they were joined, up her soft belly to her breasts and then to her face and her eyes, which were glowing again.
“No. I feel it leave me, but then you give it back to me, like a circle. I’ve never felt better. I’ve never felt more connected to anyone during sex, and I love it, Steven. I feel safe, and sexy, and loved.” More tears dripped down her face. “So loved and so powerful.”
Steven kissed the tears off her cheeks, kissed her again, her wonderfully luscious mouth, and then he found himself lost in their passion as she screamed her pleasure. And he joined her seconds later, her cries of bliss triggering his own.
They stayed together, their sweat mingling, their breaths intertwined, and their hearts beating in unison.
Hours went by. Sleep was definitely not on the agenda. They rose and fell together, climbing up mountains of rapture and discovering valleys of complete ecstasy.
Finally, a little after four a.m., Steven collapsed, burying his face in Tessa’s neck.
“I can feel the power flow into me,” Steven said, finally, when he could breathe and think again. “It’s the Animus Aria told me about.”