Incandescent Guardians

by D. R. Rosier

  “It smells delicious.”

  Amanda smiled at me tentatively, “Thanks,” she said in her warm sensual tones. That would take some getting used to, both the smile and her voice.

  Amber said, “It does smell good, do you cook often?”

  Amanda nodded, “Whenever we don’t go out, yes. It’s one of my hobbies, and although Serina can cook well too she hates it. I hate cleaning up, so it works out.”

  I chuckled as we sat down.

  Serina nodded, and said with teasing fondness, “Yeah, cause scraping plates and putting them in the dishwasher is hard.”

  It still felt more than a little surreal, I kept expecting Amanda to threaten to take me to jail, where I belonged. Not really, but some part of my mind did, I also expected her to turn bitchy, but she wasn’t. She had a warm smile, and her green eyes were clear of the usual anger and disgust I was used to seeing there.

  It was mentally jarring. I remembered all the times I had to shoo away Lady Lightning when Venus showed up, because she was the only one of us with no defenses against Venus’s power of seductive mesmerizing. I suppressed the flash of irritation at that, it was obvious she never would’ve taken in her own lover and life partner, and there was the fact Serina told me that’d been a lie too. Serina could shield, as long as her shields were active.

  “So, how long have you two been together?”

  Serina said, “Three years next week. We’ve been partners and living together for about two and a half years now.”

  Amanda teased, “Yeah, she was stubborn about it, but I convinced her we should move in together after six months.”

  Serina gasped in shocked amusement, “Liar!”

  Amanda giggled.

  Serina said primly, “It was the other way around. Though I can’t blame her.”

  The two of them shared an intimate look so powerful I felt like a voyeur. That’s when it really struck me, the articles were all right. Serina was smitten with Amanda, there was no doubt.

  Amanda nodded, and broke their gaze.

  “My… love life wasn’t easy before that to say the least. I’d been burned badly once too often. Fortunately, I recognized the one made for me when I met her, it just took a while to really sink in. You know Serina, she’s not subtle, and even then it took a while for her to get through my thick skull.”

  Serina glanced at me and winked.

  “She can be a flirt.”

  Amanda smirked, “Subtly testing the waters? She doesn’t keep anything from me, and I don’t mind. It’s who she is, and I trust and love her.”

  Amber’s left hand made it onto my leg, and she started to softly caress in circles. Was she that turned on, or did she sense my discomfort and was trying to calm me? I wasn’t sure, maybe both, and it kind of worked.

  “She’s also an amazing partner out there.”

  Amanda nodded, “Thank you for that, by the way. Both of you. For keeping her safe and having her back, I mean. Something I can’t do. I worry about her much less now than that first year when she was strictly solo.”

  Amber said, “Our pleasure,” and I nodded in agreement.

  The conversation meandered quite a bit, as we shared tidbits about ourselves and encouraged each other to share over our first dinner together. I’d already learned a lot about Amber the last four days, but there were still tons about her that I didn’t know, and I learned a few more things over that meal. It turned out my sweet brown eyed lover was involved in several local charities.

  Much like Amber and I, we all had overlapping areas of interest, though rarely all four of us together, and disparate passions and hobbies in real life. We stayed away from politics and religion, which is how I preferred it.

  Of Amanda and Serina I knew almost nothing outside of what was well known in the news and on the social media sites, which was nothing personal past the fact they were together. Amanda outside of her vague reference earlier, didn’t talk about her early life or challenges, but I did learn quite a bit. It was hard, that anger was still there, but there was also a grudging admiration for her by the end of the dinner. She was of course, a superheroine. She shared the same deep convictions we did, and she had the courage to go out there and risk her life.

  That fact alone was worth my admiration. Maybe Amber was right, and we were all a little nuts and had that in common. It was something to anchor to for all of us, the drive to get to know each other, and of course Serina was the deeper common connection there as well.

  Amanda was also involved in a few charities, and she donated not only her money but her time to the Chicago center for supers. No quickening was gentle, they were all because of a life and death situations, and more often than not extremely traumatic. Not to mention having new powers, and if their life was threatened by a person that person was usually always killed when the power expressed itself for the first time in self-defense.

  The centers were there to teach those newly quickened supers how to control their powers, and to help them in other ways if they needed it. Counseling, home placement, all of that stuff in the disparate tragedies. Even job placement and emancipation if it was called for, and they’d been in an abusive situation their whole life leading up to that life changing incident.

  We were obviously all putting our best foot forward, forming new friendships weren’t all that different than dating in that way, but we also discussed less altruistic parts of our lives, including entertainment and what we liked to do. Given the media room, both Amanda and Serina were videophiles, and loved to watch movies or television in their off time. Neither of them were book readers, but no one was perfect.

  It’d take time, but I already knew we would do this again in the future by halfway through the meal.

  The usual flirting between Serina and I was extremely sparse that night, but that was understandable given the tension, risks, and of course trying to form a friendship with a woman I’d thought hated us. In other words, I came to the conclusion we were all a little nervous, which was probably why Serina was so much tamer than usual that night, as opposed to my first theory of her simply being less bold when not wearing her super suit.

  Time and conversation had changed that opinion and first impression of things.

  Amanda’s descriptions and stories of Serina’s exuberant bluntness and playfulness when they were out on the town told me she wasn’t one whit less of a wild one outside of her suit as she was in it. We were just, redefining ourselves that night.

  After dinner, Serina made us all coffee and brought out a pumpkin pie and whip cream. On balance, I decided not to take that low hanging fruit and didn’t comment on the cream. That didn’t stop Serina from giving me a flirty knowing look, however. What could I say? The woman knew me.

  Amber said, “Serina said our cover story would be true?”

  Amanda nodded, “It’s hard being a solo heroine, but I don’t get along with any of the other registered heroes in the city. There’re times when I fight a whole group of supervillains, where it’d be useful to have cuffs. Sometimes I have to knock them out several times in a fight, and then another time or two by the time the Supermax transport arrives. I can fly one or two people with me, but not more than that. I wouldn’t mind some of those compact suppression cuffs, and a class two A.I. perhaps.

  “The government reporting systems I use and monitor to do the job works okay, but you guys pick up a bunch of stuff I miss. On the personal side, the couple that takes care of the grounds and house are getting on in years. So, an A.I. with real world tools of some kind would help too. This place is huge, and she can’t do much more than dust, vacuum, and clean the bathrooms anymore. Neither Serina nor I want a large staff, and it’s hard to find people to trust in your home, especially a superheroine and her lover’s house. You know? Who knows what would end up on Snapchat and Facebook?”

  Amber opened up her purse, and she pulled out what looked like a decorative gold fleur-de-lis. Not exactly, it was more roman looking. She grabbed my hands and pu
t them on the table, then put it on my wrist. Thin bands expanded from it and tightened around my wrists. She didn’t leave it on long, but I felt my power drain a bit before she released it.

  “I made it to match with your gold jewelry motif on your super suit. If you like it, I’ll make as many as you want.”

  Amanda smiled brightly, “It’s beautiful. Ten ought to be more than I’ll ever need, I can hook them on my boots maybe? Around the rim, decoratively.”

  Amber nodded, “That will work. The A.I. will take me a couple of weeks, and I can build a similar mobile hover bot to what Bob has. It can cook, clean, wash clothes, repair, and even shop if you want, or manipulate just about anything. How about smart home stuff? Do you want it to monitor and secure your home?”

  Serina nodded enthusiastically and said, “All of that.”

  Amber said, “The full A.I. package is fifteen million, and that’s actually close to cost. I’ll throw in the cuffs at no cost. Will Serina be the primary user, or joint?”

  Serina said, “Joint.”

  Amber smiled, “I can do that. Lastly, to increase our chances I can create a secure connection, so Sky and Angel and yours can all share information on sightings, postings, and news scans.”

  Amanda said, “That sounds perfect. Do we get to choose the name?”

  Amber tilted her head, “She’ll name herself actually, but you can change it if you want.”

  Serina waved a hand, “No, that’s fine. We’ll respect whatever she wants.”

  I excused myself and headed to the downstairs bathroom. After taking care of business and washing my hands, I almost ran into the smiling blue eyed and petite beauty standing outside the door.

  “Miss me?” I teased.

  Serina bit her lip sexily, “What if I did?”

  I laughed, but I didn’t answer.

  She took my arm boldly, as if it wasn’t the first time she’d ever touched me. Her petite and warm hand felt far too good there, but I didn’t comment as she led me toward the back door and out into the backyard.

  She explained, as she led me over to a bench and sat down taking me with her, “Amanda wanted a moment alone with Amber. I volunteered to watch you.”

  She let go of my arm as soon as our asses hit the seat, and I had the dangerous thought that I missed her hand already.

  I grinned, “Thanks. What’s up?”

  She bit her lip, “Girl stuff, nothing you need to worry about. This will go a lot better if those two get along.”

  “This?”

  She grinned, “My evil plans to trick you into being our best friends. It’s hard, and it’s rare to find someone that doesn’t care about all this,” she waved her hand at the vast property and the behemoth of a home behind us, “Or about superhero crap. Plus, you’re both my team, and I want you and Amber in my real life too. I’m sorry, Bob. I know…”

  I squeezed her hand interrupting her, and immediately let it go.

  “I forgave you earlier this morning. I understand why you had to lie about it. I’d have done the same to keep my sisters safe, even if it killed me to lie to you, I’d have still done it. So, just Amber to smooth the way, what about me?”

  She smirked, “You’re easy. Guys are a lot more forgiving than women are, and let’s face it, Amanda is a sweetheart. At least, men like you, you see the best in people, and treat people with respect.”

  She wasn’t wrong.

  I snorted, “She is nice, nicer than I ever thought possible, but you two are hopelessly in love with each other.”

  She grinned, “Maybe I am a bit biased, but she’s really easy to get along with. She puts up with me after all.”

  “That isn’t all that hard.”

  She beamed, “Thanks. You too. Well, I dragged you out here to grovel and apologize while Amanda schmoozed Amber. Since you already forgave me kind sir, whatever shall we do with our private time together?”

  I laughed, “Your wickedly delightful. Amanda must be a saint.”

  She pouted, “What happened to it not being all that hard?”

  Wow, I didn’t take that low hanging fruit either, though it was difficult to pull back from the tip of my tongue.

  “Just teasing, gorgeous. She really doesn’t mind you being such a flirt?”

  Serina leaned into me to knock me a little then sat straight again.

  “Flirt with you. And perhaps Amber. I don’t flirt with anyone else, though I’m friendly to everyone as a rule until they earn my disdainful wrath. But no, she doesn’t mind. In fact, she takes great delight in making me share all the naughty things we say to each other while the two of us are… painting our toenails.”

  I didn’t expect that at all. Not Amanda getting turned on by it like Amber did, nor Serina sharing that quite intimate tidbit.

  “Huh, is that what the kids call it these days?” I asked teasingly, while at the same time my mind imploded at that information. The two of them talked about me, as turn on material, when in bed together? The mental picture I got made my middle stir.

  Serina winked. She seemed a lot closer to her old saucy self with us being alone.

  “Just me? Flirting I mean.”

  I don’t know why, but I was inordinately pleased to hear that.

  Serina nodded slowly, “Most men if I flirted that hard would… attempt to cross boundaries. Despite the consequences. It’s fun, safe, exciting, and relatively harmless with you. Plus, I’m usually with her when I’m not with you two, and as I said when we got out here, we don’t have all that many close friends we can trust. I certainly don’t flirt with strangers, they’d get the wrong message.”

  “Relatively safe?”

  She mock glared, “Don’t make me say it.”

  Right, it made us both want things we couldn’t have. It could’ve been worse, we both had lovers that were turned on by it and liked us working off that sexual tension with them instead. Not that either of us needed the boost, I sure as hell didn’t, but it was exciting. Playing on that line, and not crossing it.

  “No, maam.”

  She snorted, “You’re a lot more polite outside of your suit. Not arrogant in it, but…” she trailed off.

  “Is that a good thing?”

  She grinned, “Depends on your point of view. Definitely good because I like it.”

  And bad because she liked it, message received.

  I said, “Next time we’ll host you.”

  She raised an eyebrow at my assumption, “Next time?”

  I winked, “Let’s just say Amanda schmoozing up to Amber was about just as needed as your apology plans.”

  Serina started to giggle.

  “Good to know.”

  We moved on to less personal and risqué things at that point and got to know each other a little better. It was only about fifteen minutes in total that we sat in the backyard while the sun set, but I enjoyed our time together. It helped we already knew our personalities were compatible from the last two years. It was almost a formality to get to know each other as true friends. Though I had a lot more to learn about all three of them, I wasn’t worried about what I’d find.

  They were all three of them good people. Anyone willing to put it on the line as a superhero vigilante almost had to be. The stakes were too high for the weak of heart, or those without strong convictions and a need to safeguard others. I also knew they weren’t arrogant or entitled despite where we were sitting, and that said more than anything else about the strength of their character.

  Serina said, “They’re done, let’s head inside.”

  I said, “How do you know?”

  Serina winked, “The world is alive with electricity remember? Amanda flashed her power for a moment, and that changes her bio-electric profile. A pre-arranged signal. A long time one, not just for this.”

  “So, she uses it to call you?”

  Serina blushed, “Something like that, yes.”

  The blush told me that the something would be very interesting to hear about, but I left it alo
ne.

  I got up, and then followed the curvaceously petite white blonde-haired beauty inside. I pushed down the disappointment when she didn’t claim my arm again. What was wrong with me?

  Chapter Thirteen

  The paparazzi on stakeout outside their mansion must’ve gotten on the phone when we arrived. There were at least ten people with cameras as well as two news quality video cameras as we drove out of the gate. It was a bit annoying as a couple of them jumped forward and took pictures from point blank range outside the window, but I pushed that down as soon as the vultures were in the rearview window.

  “Have a good time tonight?”

  Amber replied, “I did. You?”

  I nodded, “Better than I expected actually. We could invite them over in a few days?”

  Amber tilted her head, “We?” with a soft pleased smile on her face.

  “Yes. Us.”

  Amber nodded, “I’d like that. Amanda apologized to me while you were outside. We also talked about a few other things.”

  “Serina too.”

  I let that sit there a moment, not pushing her to share what those other things were. A few seconds later she continued on that tack.

  “I need some time to sort it out in my head, the other things. But… I think our secrets are safe, and that they’ll be good friends to have. Any concerns?”

  I frowned, “One. Being mean to Venus in the field will make me feel like an asshole, like kicking a cute puppy. Who does that?”

  Amber giggled.

  I shrugged, “Time will tell on the rest, but I agree with you. They’re both trustworthy, and if nothing else self-interest is there as well, our secrets are tied too tightly together.”

  I took Amber’s hand, and I entwined my fingers with hers.