Frostburn (Ultrahumans Book 4)

by Niall Teasdale

  Zoe waved a hand dismissively. ‘Oh, I doubt I’ll see her again. Not like that. I mean, it was fun and everything. Different, y’know? But a woman like Dominika Zuyev is not going to make a big deal of a weekend romp with a shop assistant. She can have just about anyone.’

  Andrea gave a shrug. ‘You’re not entirely wrong. She’s had Red Huntress, Skadi, June, Cygnus… Zephyr a while back. She’s bisexual.’

  ‘You?’

  ‘Nope. I’m the one person I know of she hasn’t. But she did go out of her way to hook up with you. I wouldn’t downplay the attraction.’

  Zoe straightened her back and pushed her chest out a little; Andrea figured it was unconscious, but it was definitely there. ‘You think?’

  Andrea shrugged. ‘If she’d just taken you home and banged you silly, I’d be doubtful, but… See if she calls again.’

  ‘I won’t get my hopes up. I will be entirely mature about this.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘How long do you think I should wait before I assume she’s forgotten me?’

  Andrea giggled. ‘Very mature, Zoe.’

  Zoe pouted.

  ~~~

  Roman and Hill occupied an office building in Uptown which was relatively low-rise for the area. Seven storeys with a small mall occupying the bottom two and the law firm taking up the top three. That left two floors in the middle which were let out to various small companies, full-time and on a ‘rent space as you need it’ basis.

  When Montgomery Hill showed Jacob and Heather to the small suite which had been allocated to them, they found a man in overalls painting ‘Fortuna Investigations’ on the glass. It was apparent that the new PI agency was considered a permanent addition to the client list.

  ‘Miss Morgan gave us some basic parameters for your needs,’ Hill said as he slipped in past the sign painter. ‘She suggested a reception room and two offices. Power, phones, and internet are already enabled. As you can see we put in furniture, but if you need to change anything around, please contact our office. We can arrange substantial discounts on furniture, stationery, etcetera.’

  ‘You’re being exceptionally helpful, Mister Hill,’ Heather said, echoing many of the thoughts buzzing around Jacob’s head.

  Hill smiled. ‘Let me show you the features in the office.’ And he was off toward one of the inner doors before they could say anything else. ‘This room has a separate air-conditioning unit with more efficient cooling. We thought that Mister Dannon might find it more comfortable, under the circumstances.’ He closed the door behind Heather, paused for a second, and then said, ‘You’re wondering what the catch is. This looks like making a deal with the Devil, and you’re thinking that the bill might be something you are unwilling to pay.’

  ‘Basically,’ Jacob said, ‘yes. Andrea assured us there wasn’t a problem, but…’

  Hill nodded. ‘I understand that you are unaware of the exact relationship between ourselves and Miss Morgan. She wishes to explain it herself and your prior status as UID agents made that difficult. Please be assured that there is no catch in this arrangement. We are keen to utilise the services of a legitimate, registered, reliable investigations agency which we believe with some conviction that we can trust. It’s not a combination one finds as often as one might wish.’

  ‘You’re taking a lot… Well, you’re trusting us and we’ve barely met.’

  Hill shrugged. ‘Miss Morgan vouches for you. Please, get settled in. I’ll send a notary down with some documents for you to sign. Read them through before you do so. And I look forward to working with you.’ Smiling again, Hill left the room.

  Heather looked at Jacob. ‘We are going to have to talk to Andrea, aren’t we?’

  ‘Oh yeah. No doubt about it.’

  ~~~

  ‘So… these people basically worship you?’ Jacob asked.

  Andrea gave him a grimace. ‘Twi likes the whole “I’m their dark goddess” thing, but I prefer to think of it like being… the chairman of an international company.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Heather said, ‘because we know all the major ones sacrifice goats in the basement of their corporate HQs.’

  ‘To my knowledge, the Shadow Court has never sacrificed a goat.’

  ‘Just people.’

  ‘Just my ancestors, to an ancient entity which sucked the life out of them. But guess what, ha ha, joke’s on them because we totally own their asses now.’

  ‘And just to be clear,’ Jacob went on, ‘you didn’t mention this before because…’

  ‘Because what they do isn’t always entirely legal. That’s aside from them sacrificing my ancestors to their dark god thing. The last one was a while back and in another country. I don’t think the UID has jurisdiction. But I’d have been putting you in a spot if I’d told you I had control of them. I didn’t want to do that, and you didn’t need to know exactly what I was up to in Italy.’

  ‘That should probably annoy me, but you’re right. Basically, then, they’re considering us as an outside resource they can trust because their goddess, or chairman, says we can be trusted.’

  Andrea nodded. ‘Uh-huh. Yup. I’ve told them to be careful what they ask you to do, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t break their trust too soon. Goddesses are supposed to be infallible.’

  ‘I think we can probably manage that,’ Heather said. ‘I don’t mind admitting I was worried. Making deals with lawyers…’ She shuddered. ‘I’d rather sit down with the Devil. A dark cult worshipping my partner’s girlfriend is much better.’

  Andrea looked at Heather and shook her head. ‘Has anyone ever told you you’re a little weird?’

  ‘Says the girl who’s worshipped by a dark cult.’

  23rd December.

  ‘Gary, there’s a couple of guys out front who need to talk to you.’

  Gary Hopper turned at the sound of his boss’s voice and frowned. ‘Who?’ There was something odd going on because the boss looked even more vacant than usual, and that was saying something in Gary’s estimation.

  ‘No idea, but go talk to them. Take as much time as you need.’

  Now that was definitely weird. Breaks were usually measured to the second. Going to the restrooms more than once in an hour was likely to result in a dressing down. Gary slipped out through the back entrance of the kitchen and almost immediately spotted his visitors. One of them sort of fitted in: though the suit he was wearing probably cost a fortune, he wore it without a tie and with the shirt collar open, and he had a swarthy look to him with shaved-back hair. The second was another matter: very well dressed, handsome, and exuding charm, he looked like he should be at a swanky restaurant, not a doughnut shop in Deale. One thing neither of them looked like was cops.

  ‘Good evening, Mister Hopper,’ the better dressed of the two said as Gary approached. ‘Please, take a seat.’

  Gary found himself complying with the request before his conscious mind had caught up with it, and a vague feeling of unease settled into his stomach. ‘You wanted to see me? Who are you?’

  ‘You may call me Asmodeus and my diminutive colleague is Sathanus.’

  ‘Uh, isn’t that another name for the Devil?’

  Asmodeus smiled. ‘Did you read that or see it in a horror movie?’

  ‘Movie.’

  ‘I suspected that might be the case. You are correct, of course. Specifically, both our noms de guerre are taken from the Seven Princes of Hell. As Asmodeus, I am the Prince of Lust while Sathanus–’

  ‘Enough with the exposition,’ Sathanus growled. ‘Get to the damn point, Asmodeus.’

  ‘As you can tell, Sathanus is Prince of Wrath, but he has a point; we should proceed.’

  ‘Um, proceed to what?’ Gary asked. The pair of them seemed to be crazy and Gary really wanted to get up and run for it, but his legs were refusing to obey him.

  ‘You might say that we are talent scouts,’ Asmodeus said. ‘We have worked our way through a puzzle which has been vexing the New Millennium City police and the UID, an
d we seem to have resolved that puzzle first.’

  ‘W-what puzzle?’

  ‘The identity of the person responsible for a number of icy deaths in this area over the last several months.’ Asmodeus smiled as he said the words, and the gleam in his eyes turned Gary’s stomach into a block of ice.

  Sathanus reached out and pushed Gary’s wrist to the table as his hands started to rise. ‘Sit still, kid. You don’t want to blow your cover, and if you try something, I’ll push your face out the back of your head.’ Sathanus was short and appeared lightly built, though there was a whipcord musculature about him. He did not look like a man who could enact such a threat, but Gary found himself believing it.

  Asmodeus was still smiling. ‘We have no interest in revealing your secret. We would rather make you an offer.’

  ‘What kind of offer?’ Gary asked.

  ‘Simple. You work for us. Then, not only will we not tip the police to your identity, but we will discourage their efforts and provide you with payment for your missions which you will, I believe, find far more lucrative than this… establishment.’

  ‘What kind of money are we talking?’

  ‘What’s the going rate, Sathanus?’

  Sathanus shrugged. ‘Depends on the target. Minimum of twenty K apiece.’

  ‘To, uh, kill someone?’ Gary asked, because he wanted to be sure.

  ‘Yes,’ Asmodeus said. ‘We would ask you to do what you already are doing, but to get paid for it. We know you’re up to it. Sathanus has a unique ability to detect those of a suitably violent persuasion. You’ll need a code name for contact purposes, I think. Triple Point. That should do nicely.’

  ‘Triple Point?’

  ‘It’s a physics term, to do with states of matter. Don’t worry about it.’ Asmodeus held his hand out across the table. ‘Do we have a deal, Triple Point?’

  Gary did not hesitate. Reaching out, he took Asmodeus’s hand in his own and shook. ‘Yeah, we’ve got a deal.’

  Part Five: Promises

  New Millennium City, MD, 25th December, 2014.

  Warmth, comfort, and the soft pressure of a lover’s body against your back were not a bad thing to have when you woke up on Christmas morning. Penny lay still when she awoke, not wishing to disturb the feeling of contentment too soon.

  Her reverie was eventually broken by June’s hand sliding over her stomach. Penny had stopped wearing anything to bed now, a circumstance which had crept up on her and had certainly not been a conscious decision. June’s hand had freedom to roam. Penny bit her lip to keep from moaning.

  ‘I know you’re awake,’ June whispered.

  ‘I was enjoying the warmth.’

  ‘I was enjoying your skin against mine.’

  ‘Well, that too. Don’t you want to… mm, stop that. Presents. Presents to open.’

  June placed a soft kiss on the back of Penny’s neck and slid her hand down between Penny’s legs. ‘And the present I want to open first is this one.’

  ‘I think you know what’s in that one.’ Penny shifted her legs to give June better access, quite aware that her actions were in opposition to her words.

  ‘No. I never know what’s in this one. There’s always something new to find. I think I could open it a thousand times and never discover all the secrets.’

  June’s fingers pressed into Penny’s sex and Penny swallowed her answer in a moan. ‘I hope so,’ she managed after a second. ‘I don’t want this to ever end.’

  ‘It won’t, love. Not ever. I promise.’

  ~~~

  Adele Hopper opened the small, white box with a smile on her face. It turned to delighted consternation as she lifted a gold necklace out. ‘It’s beautiful, Gary. I saw it in the shop and I thought it was… But you can’t afford–’

  Gary put a finger to her lips to quiet her protests and then took the chain from her to fix it around her neck. ‘I can, Mom. We can. Things are gonna change around here.’

  ‘Change? How? Why?’

  ‘I met someone. I just have to do a few things for him. I have to go out tonight and do one of them, and he gave me an advance so I could buy you something nice. He said it was a noble choice to make.’

  Adele looked down at the simple, gold cross which was now hanging above her worn blouse. Then she looked up at her son. ‘Gary… This man…’

  ‘He’s not asking me to do anything I don’t have to do anyway, Mom. I might be cursed with this… I might be cursed, but it doesn’t mean I can’t make something of myself. A couple of jobs and we can get out of this place. You won’t have to work. We can finally be free of this life.’

  Sighing, Adele nodded. She had made her choice long ago. Gary was her son and she would stick by him, no matter what. She knew what these ‘jobs’ were likely to entail, but that was not what concerned her. ‘Be careful, Gary. Men like that… They don’t think much of sacrificing those who work for them when they need to. You take care. More care than you have been.’

  ‘I will, Mom,’ Gary told her, smiling. ‘I will, and we’ll live like royalty. I promise.’

  ~~~

  ‘I kind of… shared the presents out between Cygnus and Penny,’ June said.

  Penny looked at the lacy teddy she was holding and raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you sure you didn’t label this wrong? And buy the wrong size?’

  ‘No. You don’t have a single piece of sexy underwear. Not one.’

  ‘I have seen some Penny panties,’ Andrea said. ‘I suspect that June is not exaggerating.’

  ‘Well… No,’ Penny admitted. ‘I never had a reason to buy anything that wasn’t, um…’

  ‘Really boring?’ June suggested. Penny pouted. ‘I wish to see a sexier Penny. This is a start.’

  ‘I’ll try it on later.’

  ‘I’m out tonight, so you can try it all you like,’ Andrea said.

  ‘Oh yes,’ June said, grinning. ‘Christmas night with Jacob.’

  ‘Uh-huh. We can have our very own white Christmas. Indoors. And I’m porting up to Boston after lunch. You two have the place to yourselves all afternoon and evening.’

  ‘I’m sure we can think of something to keep us occupied.’

  ‘I just bet you can.’

  ‘Like you won’t be doing the same once you get to Jacob’s place.’

  ‘I’m going to plead the Fifth,’ Andrea said. ‘Anyway, you’re dropping Dom’s present off this afternoon, right?’

  ‘We are,’ Penny replied. ‘She said she had no special plans for Christmas, so I’m assuming she’ll be in.’

  ‘Well, seems a shame for her to be alone all of Christmas day. Assuming she is alone, of course.’

  ‘She said “no special plans…”’

  ‘Yeah, but this is Dom we’re talking about.’

  ~~~

  Cygnus dropped lightly onto the balcony outside Svetilo’s apartment and set June down beside her. June had the present, which had been her idea so it was only fair.

  ‘Blinds are drawn back,’ Cygnus said, ‘so I guess she’s up, but I don’t see– Oh no, there she is.’

  ‘In all her glory,’ June added, tapping on the glass.

  The naked Russian looked around with wide eyes which she then rolled before walking over to open the window. ‘Is not like you have not seen this before,’ she said.

  ‘Happy Christmas,’ June said, holding out the wrapped box.

  ‘You bought me present? I did not think to… Bozhe moi…’

  ‘We didn’t exactly buy it,’ Cygnus told her. ‘And we weren’t expecting anything back. June thought you’d like this.’

  ‘Well, come in before all of heat goes. I get some wine before opening present.’

  As Svetilo walked over to the little kitchen area to pour the wine, there was a sound from the bedroom, followed by what sounded like a mumbling voice which grew more coherent as its owner walked to the door. ‘…coming back to bed? I thought I heard voices? Are you talking to– Eep!’ Framed in the doorway for a second was Zoe, looking a litt
le bleary-eyed and flushed. Then she vanished back into the bedroom.

  Svetilo handed glasses to Cygnus and June, a smirk on her lips. ‘Come out, Zoe. They have seen you. Is no use hiding.’

  A second or two later, Zoe emerged in what was obviously one of Svetilo’s robes since it swamped her much smaller frame. ‘Uh… Hi! Happy Christmas.’

  ‘Happy Christmas, Zoe,’ Cygnus said, grinning. She turned to Svetilo. ‘No special plans?’

  ‘Was not planned. I called Zoe last night to see whether she was doing anything and…’

  ‘I wasn’t,’ Zoe finished.

  ‘Well, I hope this sly Soviet is treating you well,’ June said. ‘Open the box, Dom. The contents seem more appropriate now.’

  Raising an eyebrow, Svetilo used a long fingernail to slit the tape on the wrapping and then opened up the box inside. Then, smiling, she lifted out an embroidered brocade corset in black and gold. ‘Is beautiful,’ Svetilo breathed. ‘You said you did not buy it?’

  ‘June made it,’ Cygnus said.

  ‘With a little help from Fullerton Technologies’ machines,’ June added. ‘I designed the embroidery and had the machines sew it, and then I made up the corset from it. It should fit. After two calendars, I know your sizes quite well.’

  Svetilo stepped forward and kissed June’s cheek. ‘Thank you. Is beautiful gift. Thank you, both.’

  ‘It’s gorgeous,’ Zoe said. ‘And I know what we’ll be doing this evening.’

  Cygnus shrugged. ‘It seems to be a theme.’

  Belvedere, CA.

  ‘That’s quite impressive,’ Bianca said.

  ‘What?’ Damian asked, though his mind was largely on other things.

  ‘Keeping your balance on a wet… uh… wet shower floor while holding me up.’

  ‘Yeah, well…’ He pushed her back up against the shower wall and leaned into her, getting a moan for his efforts. ‘I can only be impressive for so long before I dump us both on the tiles.’

  ‘As long as you keep doing what you’re… mmm… That, keep doing that.’

  ‘We’re going to have to… stop eventually.’

  ‘Once more… then we get… dressed.’

  Bianca felt Damian grind into her, swelling as his climax drew near. It was too soon. She wanted more, but knew she could not hold out for much longer either. When she felt him fill her, her vision darkened and thought fled.