Frostburn (Ultrahumans Book 4)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Isn’t that a bit dangerous?’

  ‘There’s a risk. If I come back from the club singing his virtues and detailing an amazing sexual encounter, get Viviane here to deprogram me. But I think he’ll discover he’s bitten off more than he can chew if he tries digging around in my mind.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘We have guests arriving in… under an hour,’ June said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Andrea replied. ‘I was thinking Friday night. That’ll give me time to get something inappropriate to wear and actually pluck up the courage to wear it. It’s going to have to be me that goes in, not Twilight.’

  ‘I don’t think I like this,’ Penny said. ‘Jacob is really not going to like it.’

  ‘So we won’t tell him until after. Anyway, when I leave the club, he’ll get the benefit of my inappropriate outfit so he won’t have a thing to complain about.’

  ‘Unless you end up in bed with Jason Sweet.’

  ‘Trust me, I won’t.’

  ~~~

  ‘It’s been one Hell of a year,’ Fire Bug said. He was in casual clothes again, which was kind of weird. Cygnus had almost asked if he had his costume with him so he could get changed and look like Fire Bug. ‘Let’s hope twenty fifteen is a bit less… hot.’

  ‘It’s going to be pretty cool for me,’ Jacob replied. He was in his suit, on a sofa between Andrea and Heather.

  Fire Bug was sitting on the other side of Heather who had elected to dress up in her catsuit again which seemed to be making Fire Bug a little uncomfortable. ‘Yeah, and it’s always a little warm for me.’

  ‘And the chances of us not getting another year of emergency this, that, and the other are pretty slim,’ Cygnus said. ‘There’s always someone trying to blow the place up.’

  ‘That’s… true. Still, this year has been pretty bad.’

  ‘Not disagreeing.’

  ‘I think it’s just been louder,’ Andrea said. ‘I mean, it used to be more behind the scenes. There was the war between Ghostfire and Tonaldo, but hardly anyone knew about it. This year we’ve had riots and large-scale arson.’

  ‘Not to mention the Excelsior releases Diamond arranged,’ Cygnus added. ‘You’re right. It’s been more public.’

  ‘Don’t forget Slapstick’s atom bomb,’ June said. ‘That was pretty public.’

  ‘He’s got cancer,’ Heather said, which seemed something of a subject change. ‘Slapstick, he’s got cancer.’

  ‘I thought he just regenerated anything that went wrong with him. Including falling into a lava flow.’

  ‘That’s his problem. He was created in a radiation accident, which gave him powers and cancer. His cancer is as regenerative as he is. When he comes back from the dead, it comes back just as strong as ever.’

  ‘But he can’t die!’

  ‘Yeah… Sometimes having powers can really suck.’ Heather patted Jacob’s forearm, or his suit anyway. ‘When you’re thinking how bad things are having to wear this around us temperature-tolerant folk, just think of Slapstick.’

  ‘Having to wear a power suit to a New Year party does seem less of a burden suddenly,’ Jacob agreed.

  Heather grinned. ‘Sorry, that was a bit of a downer. Let us instead consider Cygnus, who clearly rolled ten consecutive critical successes on the power-acquisition table when she created her character.’

  Andrea almost snorted her wine out her nose. ‘You are into role-playing games?’

  ‘I had an ex who was when I was doing my degree. It was cute the way all these geeks fawned over my strawberry-blonde elf thief. Actually, I think that’s why he became an ex. He couldn’t stand me getting all that attention.’

  ‘His loss,’ Fire Bug commented.

  ‘Why, thank you, Andy. Yes, it was. Not that I thought so at the time, though I think I missed the game more than him.’

  ‘I think,’ Svetilo said, ‘if ex could see you in that outfit, he would know what he missed too.’

  Heather gave her a grin. ‘Are you flirting with me, Dom? Because I think the cute blonde in your lap might have something to say about that.’

  Zoe, who was perched in Svetilo’s lap, shook her head. ‘Flirting’s cool. I think that suit looks really sexy too.’

  Cygnus giggled. ‘And we are all now required to comment on Heather’s sexy catsuit so that she goes scarlet. I got to fly her across Chesapeake Bay when she was wearing that.’

  Heather, blushing already, grimaced. ‘And then we got buried under rubble in an ex-bioresearch establishment.’

  ‘Meh,’ Andrea countered, ‘you had it easy. Jacob and I got dosed with Excelsior and left in a freezer, and then I died.’

  ‘Yeah, but you got better.’

  ‘We’re on to one-upping each other on weird survival situations?’ June asked. ‘Because I’m pretty sure Zoe and I have got nothing there.’

  ‘I’ve only really got the incident that triggered my powers,’ Fire Bug said. ‘Burning building, got trapped, bring on the amazing fire-control abilities.’

  ‘That had to be pretty scary,’ Zoe said.

  ‘Most terrified I’ve ever been in my life. Painful too. I’ve got the burn scars on my back to prove it.’ Fire Bug turned and lifted the back of his T-shirt to show the wrinkled, mottled area of skin just above his left hip.

  Giving a wince, Heather reached out and ran her fingers over it. ‘That looks bad. I’ve seen worse burns, but… That looks bad.’

  ‘Killed off some of the nerves,’ Fire Bug said. ‘I can barely feel your fingers.’

  ‘Oh! Sorry.’ Heather pulled her hand back and Fire Bug turned around again, grinning.

  ‘Not a problem.’

  ‘And now we’re on to the battle scars portion,’ June said. ‘Again, I have nothing to give.’ She tapped at her right breast. ‘These are natural, so there aren’t even scars from that.’

  ‘Da, but you could show us them anyway so we can check,’ Svetilo said with a thoroughly mischievous grin on her face.

  ‘I’d say “you first,” but you’d just do it.’

  ‘Net. Am in mini-dress and would have to make Zoe get up. I like Zoe where she is.’

  ‘Huh. Cygnus should have a great big scar on her stomach where she was shot with an elephant gun, but that healed without even a little mark. Thinking about it, that might be the most scared I’ve ever been. I was right there when it happened.’

  ‘Technically,’ Cygnus said, ‘it was a sniper rifle, not an elephant gun, though I’m not totally sure what the difference is.’

  ‘There isn’t really one,’ Andrea replied. ‘You could say an elephant gun is a civilian hunting rifle, and a sniper rifle is military, but the two definitions overlap a lot. The famous elephant guns tended to be double-barrelled, and they’re always big calibres, whereas sniper rifles don’t have to be, but I think Conrad was using a sniper rifle that would have made a good elephant gun. Of course, he’s dead now…’

  ‘More downer. Denny, what’s the time?’

  ‘It is twenty-five minutes until midnight, Cygnus,’ Denny replied. ‘I can display a countdown timer if you require or show video feed of the clock on the Americas Trade Center.’

  ‘Give us the clock feed.’

  ‘I still can’t quite get used to your house talking to you,’ Zoe said as the screen lit up with the broadcast on ACPN.

  ‘It takes a little getting used to,’ June admitted, ‘but Denny’s great. And I’m not just saying that because she will one day become our invincible electronic overlord.’

  ‘Don’t worry, June,’ Denny replied cheerfully. ‘When my robot army marches out across the world, I’m keeping you on here.’

  ‘Thanks, Denny. That’s very reassuring.’

  ‘I’ll need a pet or two, obviously.’

  ‘She’s joking,’ Cygnus said. ‘I think.’

  ‘About the robot army,’ Zoe asked, ‘or keeping June as a pet?’

  ‘Both. I think.’

  1st January, 2015.

  Andrea peeled her T-shi
rt off over her head and grinned at Jacob. He was standing near the foot of her bed, just watching her, his glowing eyes fixed on her as she undressed.

  ‘You getting out of that suit?’ she asked. ‘It’s thirty-six in here. All the rooms have individual thermostats and really good insulation.’

  ‘Yeah… sure.’

  Jacob sounded far too thoughtful for a man about to get laid, but Andrea ignored that for now, stripping out of her jeans and asking, ‘You want to make a bet on whether Andy and Heather are looking sheepish in the morning?’

  ‘Huh, no. I saw the look on Andy’s face when she unzipped that suit of hers. Plus, the “isn’t it warm in here” line was a giveaway. Plus, telling him it was stupid for him to sleep on the sofa and they were both adults… Yeah. Let’s hope she doesn’t break his heart.’

  ‘Neither of them has anyone current. And Andy could do with the stress relief after the last few weeks.’

  ‘Not arguing.’ The bed shifted as Jacob laid down beside where Andrea was sitting. ‘What I’m not sure about is why you stick with me.’

  Andrea turned and looked at him. ‘What’s brought that on?’

  Jacob gave a small shrug. ‘New Year, new thoughts? Sitting there in a suit that keeps me alive with the rest of you in casuals? I’m cold, Andrea. My skin is cold. I’m not sure how you can stand to–’

  Andrea moved, swinging around in a move which ended when she was straddling his hips. ‘Cold doesn’t bother me, Jacob. You’re not cold to me.’

  ‘Maybe not emotionally, but–’

  ‘Hush. You’re not cold to me. You called yourself Frostburn and I don’t think you know how appropriate that is. I can feel your fire under me right now. I can feel the heat. When you’re holding me, I feel warm. When you’re inside me, it’s like I’m burning. When you fill me, I catch fire. I’m not giving up on this until you get tired of me.’

  ‘After a speech like that, you think there’s much chance of that?’

  ‘Well, I certainly hope not. Now, are you going to light the match, or do I have to resort to an alternative form of oral stimulation?’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, we have ignition.’

  ‘Yeah, but if you want to…’

  Andrea began to shift her hips back and forth. ‘I think we’re getting there without.’ She let out a soft moan. ‘Yeah, I’m feeling warmer already.’

  ~~~

  Fire Bug was looking a little sheepish in the morning. Heather was looking rather pleased with herself, though she did mutter something about doing the walk of shame since she only had her catsuit to wear. Svetilo did not help at all by slapping Fire Bug on the back and calling him a sly dog.

  By midday, everyone had left except for Jacob and the house was settling back into normality, or what passed for normal when most of the occupants were Ultras. And Jacob had been introduced to Penny.

  ‘I need to get some powers,’ June said as she started putting together a light lunch.

  ‘Why?’ Penny asked.

  ‘I feel left out. Everyone else has them.’

  ‘Hardly everyone.’

  ‘Everyone here. Zoe and I were the only people there last night with nothing. Even Heather’s a little bit Ultra.’

  ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ Jacob suggested.

  ‘I know, but… I think I’d like gravity-control powers.’

  ‘Explain,’ Penny said.

  ‘Well, I could probably fly, and that’s cool. And I’d never need to wear a bra again. I mean, gravity’s going to get to me eventually. There will be sag. If I could anti-gravity my boobs, problem solved.’

  ‘I actually can’t see a fault in that logic.’

  ‘It’s maybe a little worrying that she’s obviously thought about this,’ Andrea said.

  ‘Cellular regeneration might be better,’ Jacob said. ‘Everything stays firm and you’d never have to worry about scars. No flying though.’

  ‘An interesting alternative,’ June said. ‘Penny was lucky she got that, considering how often she used to cut her fingers chopping vegetables. Andrea, is it worrying that your boyfriend is considering saving my boobs from sagging?’

  ‘Not after what he did to mine earlier, no.’

  June giggled. ‘Any plans for today?’

  ‘Get him to do it again.’

  ‘That’s fair.’

  ‘Oh, and drop in to Schatten Schloss, then Boston later. Wish everyone a happy New Year and that.’

  ‘No patrols today?’

  ‘I think we deserve a couple of days off. We’ve done pretty well on the clear-up rate recently.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Penny agreed. ‘I think you’re right. You coming back here tonight?’

  ‘Tomorrow morning, I think.’

  ‘Okay. Quiet night in on the sofa then.’

  Andrea laughed. ‘Quiet, right, sure. Just make sure everyone’s panties are cleared up before I get back.’

  2nd January.

  ‘You’re quite sure about this?’ Cygnus asked.

  ‘I’m sure,’ Andrea replied. ‘Okay, I’m a little nervous, but that might be the outfit.’

  ‘You’ve almost got used to your new costume and you’re worried about that dress?’

  ‘The costume doesn’t make me look like I’m out to get some in a club full of people who probably want to give it to me.’

  ‘Yeah, well, don’t worry about them, just worry about Sweet.’

  ‘I know. Don’t worry. He’s going to ask me some questions, I’m sure of it. When he does…’

  ‘Let’s just hope he wants to do that more than anything else then.’

  The shadows drew up around Andrea. ‘Let’s hope,’ she said as she vanished.

  ~~~

  Jason Sweet was having a good night. The Gates of Hell had a full crowd in it and he had already persuaded three young women to go up to the VIP section. One was an assistant DA, but he would collect all three of them in a short while, take them to a private room, and take a few pictures while they entertained him. Then he would have an assistant DA in his pocket, which was always useful.

  The last week had been less enjoyable. The loss of the arsonist had not been that bad: his role in things had been essentially completed. Losing Triple Point so quickly had been annoying. Hopper had been a misjudgement. He lacked self-control. Sweet knew a lot about self-control and tried to ignore most of it as much as possible, but rising to obvious bait was not something he indulged in. Still, Hopper did not know enough to be any form of threat. The New Millennium project would continue without delay or issue, and he would be reporting that to the others at the next meeting.

  Something, a stirring in the crowd, made him turn and his first thought was that someone must have decided that this really was his lucky day. He knew the girl by sight, even without the jet-black eyes. But then he remembered his thoughts on Hopper’s mistake: rising to obvious bait was likely to get you in trouble. Why was Twilight in his club, alone?

  Rising to bait was out, but equally, not introducing himself was not an option either. Sweet followed Andrea from the bar, where she bought a cocktail, to a booth at the side of the room. He took his time about it, playing the host along the way so that his arrival looked both casual and quite normal.

  ‘Miss Morgan, isn’t it? Twilight?’ Sweet asked as he stepped up to Andrea’s table.

  ‘That’s right. Andrea.’ Andrea gave him a smile and sat up straighter, and Sweet did his best to keep his mind on the job. She was wearing a very short, sleeveless, black latex dress with a deep-cut cleavage held in place by four belts across the gap. There was a little translucency to the latex, enough to tantalise but not quite to show. She also had black latex stockings up to mid-thigh and high heels, and a lot of dark make-up which emphasised her eyes.

  ‘I am Jason Sweet. This is my club.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Mister Sweet. I wasn’t looking for any special treatment or anything. I’m just out for the night. I don’t do it often and this place is new. Also one of the few places open a
fter the fires.’

  ‘Most unfortunate. Might I sit for a moment?’ Andrea shifted over to allow him to sit down beside her. The movement pressed flesh against latex and tantalised all the more. If this was bait, it was very good bait. ‘We had Cygnus here on opening night. I sent you an invitation too…’

  ‘I was busy. A serial killer to find. We found him and I think I deserve a night off, don’t you?’

  ‘Most certainly. I’m happy you decided to spend it here. Especially in such a wonderful ensemble.’

  Andrea grinned. ‘It’s a bit much, maybe.’

  ‘It is perfect. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You’re a beautiful and exotic woman, Miss Morgan.’

  Blushing, Andrea took a drink quickly and then said, ‘Andrea.’

  ‘Andrea then.’ And Sweet decided that the opportunity was too good to miss. This was not a woman with her guard up, not at all. ‘I do believe you’d find it much more comfortable in our VIP section, Andrea,’ he said, pressing the suggestion home with his mind.

  Andrea blinked at him. ‘That would be really nice.’

  ‘I’ll take you up there myself.’ Sweet smiled. He had her. He could feel it, feel the control. Maybe it would be a foursome tonight with the assistant DA. Sweet could enjoy all of them once the evidence had been gathered, but there was something he needed to do first.

  Slipping an arm around Andrea’s waist, he guided her toward the stairs. ‘You don’t mind the familiarity,’ he said, and he slid his hand down to cup her behind through the latex.

  ‘I don’t mind,’ Andrea repeated.

  ‘I think we’re going to have a wonderful time tonight, Andrea. I have some friends for you to meet and then we’ll get very comfortable together.’

  ‘That sounds good.’

  The bouncer on the door of the VIP area let them through without comment. The VIP room was large and fitted out with a lot of booths which had enough shadow to allow the occupants a degree of privacy, along with a lot of deep reds rather than the black and chrome downstairs. Sweet steered Andrea to an empty booth. He needed to talk to her before he compromised her.

  ‘Sit down and give me your hand,’ he said, and Andrea slipped onto the bench seat, holding out her hand for him to take. Sweet’s powers had some annoying limitations as far as he was concerned. Generally, they were not an issue, but they could be. They all revolved around his voice: he had to speak to his victims personally. Transmission over any medium rarely worked, but he believed that was to do with distance. The problem was even worse when he wanted to interrogate someone. He had to touch them while he asked his questions, but then he could just reach into their minds and rip out the answers. His control did not allow him to force answers from them either, which was annoying.