Modified Box Set

by Kat Stiles

  Jay hugged me in a warm embrace. “Everything will be all right.”

  The warmth of his hands on my back and his cheek next to mine was perfect. I suddenly felt a pang of jealousy. Why can’t I have a power like his, that actually helps people?

  “Wish I could believe that,” I said, as I reluctantly withdrew from him. “Vi is scouting out the room. She should be back any minute.”

  “I know you have a lot on your mind,” Jay said. “I’m here if you want to talk.”

  “Thanks.” But talking was the one thing I didn’t want to do. Hadn’t done me any good so far.

  Vi popped back in, outfitted in her slutty nurse’s uniform. I was instantly aroused once more, recalling her initial fantasy involving that outfit and me.

  Jay just looked uncomfortable, averting his eyes as if she were naked. And truth be told, she might as well have been. Her getup seemed skimpier than the first time, but perhaps I was focusing on it more this time around. The shortness of her dress, exposing her muscular legs…her amazing cleavage and the way her ponytails cascaded into it… I shook my head, trying to focus. It was time to help Alex, not eyefuck Viola.

  “The room is vacant, and Alex is asleep, I guess.” Vi said. “He was hooked up to all sorts of shit.”

  “The guards are outside?” Jay asked.

  “Hell if I know,” Vi said. “I didn’t look and risk getting caught.”

  “Okay, we better go before someone checks in on him.” I thanked Vi and hugged her.

  Then Jay and I teleported to the hospital. To save a married cop I fucked and put in a coma. If we didn’t get arrested first. Fuck me.

  Chapter 9

  The hospital room was dark and quiet, save the noises of the machines Alex was hooked up to. I approached him, feeling the guilt resurge at seeing he was on a ventilator. He can’t even breathe on his own? Though I wasn’t trying, his thoughts came through as clearly as my own.

  Why can’t I wake up? I can’t stay like this…somebody should just pull the plug.

  I couldn’t hold back the tears this time. What kind of monster am I, that I could do this someone? Someone who wasn’t even trying to abduct me or rape me.

  Jay squeezed my hand and released it. I nodded and moved out of the way, a silent acknowledgement for him to start.

  Jay placed his hands on Alex’s head and heart. Then he closed his eyes. I could feel the heat from where I stood next to him, it was so powerful. When his hands started to glow, I gasped. I wanted so much to touch him, feel that incredible energy.

  Then the door to the room clicked open.

  Shitballs, what do I do? There was no way I could explain either of us being in that room.

  In the shadows I couldn’t make out the person, but I overheard a conversation.

  “Can you check the even rooms? I’m just about to finish up my shift.”

  Must be the nurse, doing her rounds. If she finds us here we’re screwed. Should we just teleport and come back? I glanced at Jay, but he seemed so deep in concentration, I didn’t want to disturb him.

  I looked back at the nurse, thinking over and over: you don’t want to come in here, you don’t need to come in here.

  She stopped and scratched her head. “Why am I here again?”

  Holy shit, did I just do that? Only one way to find out… I thought: you forgot to write it down, no change in his condition.

  “I swear, I’d forget my ass if it wasn’t attached.” She grabbed his chart by the door and scribbled some notes. “Good enough.”

  By some miracle she left, closing the door behind her.

  Jedi mind control? No fucking way! It must be part of my power. I giggled, feeling oddly proud and eager to explore the limits of that ability.

  Jay shot me a quizzical look, but I just smiled. “I’ll explain it later,” I whispered.

  The glow from his hands burned brighter and then subsided, disappearing as if it were never there.

  Alex’s eyes shot open, and the machines he was connected to worked themselves into a frenzy. I stepped back, hoping he hadn’t seen me. Fuck that awkward conversation.

  “Let’s go,” Jay said. He grabbed my hand, right as the door to the room opened. We teleported back to his apartment, before the nurse saw us.

  “You did it!” I hugged him, amazed we were able to pull that off.

  “I only wish I could’ve stayed. He’s going to be sore once they take the IV out—”

  “It’s fine, he’s awake and that’s enough,” I said. “Thank you so much.”

  Jay nodded. “I didn’t sense any major problems, it was as if his brain had just short-circuited or something. Do you know what happened?”

  “Not really.” It wasn’t a lie—obviously my power was involved, but I wasn’t entirely sure how it happened.

  “I get the feeling I’m not the only one who did something cool in that room,” Jay said, smiling coyly. “Someone was about to come in, right? Thought I heard the door open at some point.”

  “Yes! And I stopped her with a suggestion.”

  “No way, mind control? Are you serious?” Jay seemed about as excited as I, in all his geeky glory. “Do it to me!”

  I laughed. “Really? I mean, I would like to practice it. But what if I hurt you?”

  Jay arched an eyebrow. “Duh, I’m a healer, remember?”

  “Oh yeah. Okay. Tell me if I hurt you.” I was about to try to project a thought into his head, when Jay doubled over.

  I helped him stay on his feet, holding his shoulders. “Jay, what’s wrong? Are you sick?”

  “It’s…Vi,” Jay managed, through clenched teeth. “She’s in trouble.”

  “No, she’s fine, she’s just in the…” I ran over to the bedroom to go check on her and found the room was a wreck. The dresser lay in pieces on the floor, and the bed was tilted on its side, the mattress half-spilled off. What the fuck? I thought Steve was on board, did he seriously just kidnap her?

  I rejoined Jay, who was still doubled over. “They must have taken her.”

  “If we don’t save her soon, she won’t survive these injuries,” Jay whispered. I could see he was trying to heal himself, but he appeared to be having difficulty.

  I nodded, grabbed his hand and teleported just outside of Derek’s compound.

  It was one thing to kidnap me. But taking Vi? That motherfucker is going down, in a glorious Tarantino brains-splattered-all-over-his-precious-compound kind of way.

  Modified Volume 5

  Chapter 1

  Little known fact #5: Healers are “connected” to those they’ve healed before, which gives them the unfortunate ability to experience severe pain as the person they’d healed experiences it. Of course I didn’t know that at the time, so Jay’s acute pain attack freaked me right the fuck out. He managed to explain what was going on, in half-sentences mixed with a scream or two. From the way he favored different areas of his body, it became obvious someone was kicking the shit out of Vi.

  I tried to teleport to her, but the dampening field must’ve been preventing me. I helped Jay to his feet. “Can you do the distance healing thing with her?”

  “It takes some…” he paused, groaning. “Time, to do that. She’ll be dead before…”

  He held his ribs and seemed as if he were about to collapse again. I steadied him. “Jay, you’ve got to do the boost, teleport us to her.”

  The compound itself was only a few hundred feet away, and I could just make out what appeared to be two guards heading towards us.

  “I can’t, I’m not strong enough…” He grasped my upper arm, attempting to stay upright.

  “You have to be.” I slid my hands along his jawline, brought his face to mine and kissed him.

  At first, he was unresponsive, but then it was like something awoke within him. Heat surrounded us both, and in that warmth, he kissed me back—a perfectly sensual and healing kiss. When it ended, he rested his forehead against mine.

  “Thanks, I needed that.” He took hold of m
y hands and the next thing I knew we were teleporting.

  “WHERE IS SHE?” I heard a familiar voice yell as we materialized. It took me a second to recognize it: the Russian-sounding voice from my cell, when I was a prisoner.

  We were in what I guessed was a questioning room–a table and a couple of chairs were the only furniture. Vi lay collapsed on the floor against the far wall, her face a swollen, bloody mess. She tried to smile when she saw us, but her busted lips barely moved. There was bruising by her ribs and stomach, too. Jay immediately ran to her side.

  I focused on the behemoth that belonged to the voice I’d heard. “And just who the fuck are you?”

  He was the largest man I’d ever laid eyes on, both in terms of height and girth, like professional body builder large. His shirt was half-torn off in the struggle, and although he didn’t have the muscles on muscles you see with body builders, he still looked ridiculously strong. A solid mass of a man.

  Derek’s voice filled the room, but of course the cowardly fuck was nowhere to be seen. “Get her!”

  “You!” the behemoth snarled, as he stomped towards me.

  To say I was frightened, watching this giant of man come after me, would be a gross understatement. I was fucking terrified. But I didn’t have time to be scared. I focused on him, hoping Jay’s touch earlier was enough to give me my powers in this God forsaken place. It felt like I was getting through, but he kept advancing. A single thought reverberated in his mind: I must capture her. What the hell?

  I concentrated, applying more pressure to his brain. His mind opened up to me: a failed suicide attempt, his modification and rehabilitation, which consisted mostly of Derek brainwashing him. His nose started to bleed, but he seemed totally unfazed. Why isn’t he feeling this?

  He grabbed me by the neck and raised me in the air. With my feet dangling and my air cut off, “Jay…” was all I was able to squeak out.

  Jay was in the process of healing Vi, but when he caught sight of me gasping for air, he leapt to his feet. “Let her go!” He bolted over to us and grabbed the behemoth’s arm.

  The dude just laughed. “And why would I do that?”

  “Because your nose is bleeding,” Jay said. “I’d be willing to bet Kate’s using her telepathic power on you right now.”

  “I feel nothing,” he said, which sounded so much creepier with his accent and total confidence. I had to keep the pressure on…maybe something will get through.

  Jay kept hold of his arm. I knew the futility of him trying to physically attack a man who outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds, but I thought he would try something. Then it dawned on me, when I saw his hand start to glow: he’s trying to heal the guy. But why would he do that? The last thing we needed was for this guy to be stronger.

  The dude suddenly released me. I dropped to the floor, landing flat on my ass, but I didn’t give a shit. I was happy just to breathe again.

  Jay’s strategy became clear when the dude grabbed hold of his head, as if he suddenly felt the pain of my attack. Jay’s healing must’ve made it possible for him to feel the effects of my power.

  “What did you do to me?” the dude whispered, staring incredulously at Jay. He jerked his arm back, and Jay’s contact with him was broken.

  The alarm sounded, and I suspected we only had seconds before we were all gassed with that migraine-inducing sleeping agent and trapped there. I wasn’t about to let Derek win again. “We have to go. Now!”

  Jay nodded, and we both ran over to Vi, who managed to make it to her feet. He stood between us and touched us both on our shoulders. There was a surge of heat, the boost to get past the dampening field.

  In my peripheral vision, I noticed behemoth dude shake his head and then stare in our direction. Right as we started to teleport, the smoke began to pour in from the vents. I raised my middle finger high in the air, knowing Derek would see it.

  Creepy dude leaped at us. I thought he missed, because we dematerialized out of the compound and back to the safety of Jay’s apartment.

  But then I felt an oversized hand wrapped around my ankle. When I looked down, sure enough, the rest of behemoth dude was there along with it, sprawled out on Jay’s floor.

  Chapter 2

  I stomped on the hand with my free foot, using the kind of force I would if I’d seen a cockroach crawling across the floor. The guy scrambled to his feet and lunged at me, but Vi yanked me out of the way. She didn’t seem to be fully healed, but she looked better than she did at the compound.

  Vi faced him. “Gonna have to get through me, asshole.”

  “Didn’t get enough, huh?” The grin that surfaced was strangely playful in nature. “You like being beaten? This is for you, what is the word…foreplay?”

  “I know something you don’t,” she sang, and then delivered an uppercut that sent colossal dude into the air. He crashed into the opposite wall, penetrating the cheap drywall. His hair was sprinkled with chalky white highlights from the debris.

  She giggled, which warmed my heart. I was so worried about her before, but seeing her in her element like this, kicking some dude’s ass was fucking awesome.

  He didn’t appear to be moving. Jay approached him as if he were a wounded animal, reaching his hand out slowly. He rested his hand on the dude’s arm.

  Colossal dude groaned. And then his eyes opened and focused on Jay. “Get away from me, freak!” He shoved Jay off and stumbled to his feet.

  “He’s the freak?” I muttered.

  Jay seemed shocked and maybe a little pissed, it was hard to be sure. “I was just trying to help.”

  “I don’t want your help! Stay away, or I kick your ass, too.”

  Jay narrowed his eyes at him, and I got the feeling he took it as a challenge. “Very well.” He settled on the couch, with his legs crossed and his hands rested on his knees. When he closed his eyes, I suspected he was attempting a distance healing, and I couldn’t help but smile.

  The dude shook all the dust from his hair and eyed Viola. “You have power, too?”

  “Now that there isn’t a dampening field,” she said. “You gonna back down, or do we get to hear the sound of your spine shattering?”

  He laughed. “I like you. Got a lot of spirit. Remind me of my ex-wife, before I broke her.”

  Without any indication, he charged at Vi, knocking her off her feet and into the end table next to the couch. The lamp broke into a million pieces, some of which spilled onto Jay’s lap, but he didn’t move an inch. His hands glowed, and I knew the next strike Vi made would have a major impact—it might even kill the dude. And while I didn’t like the guy, I thought there’s at least a chance he could be useful. If Jay were really healing him, then I should be able to get through too.

  I wasn’t sure how much my power affected him earlier, and I was afraid if I put too much more pressure on his brain I might kill him. And then it dawned on me—I could try out my suggestion power. I focused on him, standing there all smug and superior, and thought, you don’t want to hurt us. You want to sit your ass down on the couch and answer all of our questions.

  Vi jumped to her feet, pissed as hell. She was about to retaliate, when I grabbed her arm. “It’s okay. I got this.”

  She seemed confused, but she backed off. We both watched the dude calmly sit on the couch, on the opposite end from Jay. It creaked in protest at the weight of his massive body and sunk down where he sat.

  “First of all, who are you?” I asked.

  Vi’s jaw dropped. “What the fuck? Is this some kind of trick?”

  Jay’s eyes opened and he wore the cutest sleepy little satisfied smile. He guided Vi over to the loveseat and started to work on her. “She’s using her power of suggestion,” he whispered.

  “Really? She can do that?” she whispered back.

  “My name is Lukas,” the dude said, as he scratched his balls. “I’m from Slovakia.”

  Not Russia, but damn close. With no threat of danger present, I took a good look at him. He had short dar
k brown hair and a five o’clock shadow, not unattractive, but nothing special either. Easily the size of two or three linebackers, all muscle. Okay, maybe he was kind of hot in a rugged, foreign sort of way, but it was hard to see him in a positive light after he almost killed my friend.

  “Why did you kidnap Vi?” I asked.

  “Derek wants you. He figured, you come after her.” He said it nonchalantly, as if he were talking about a beer run as opposed to an abduction. And it pissed me right the fuck off.

  “So this is what you do, whatever Derek commands? You’re some kind of lackey?” Was I trying to get under his skin? Maybe a little. Having seen a glimpse of his history, I knew there was a real person in there somewhere.

  “Derek made me like this,” he said, his hazy brown eyes staring deliberately into mine. “Let me just say, I am grateful.”

  “You can’t feel pain, is that your power?” Jay asked, still working on Vi. Her ribs looked completely healed, and Jay had moved on to her face. Vi’s eyes were closed, and she seemed so peaceful and relaxed.

  “I feel nothing.” It was the same thing he said at the compound, only slightly less creepy in the current environment of Jay’s apartment.

  “Not even emotions?” I asked.

  He snickered. “It is blessing. Trust me.”

  “How can you say that?” Jay said quietly. “Emotions are what make us human. The capacity to love…it’s everything.”

  I was touched by the simplicity and truth of his words, and the conviction behind them. He looked at me and smiled. My heart just about melted. How did I deserve—

  “Sure say that now, and then when you catch her screwing your brother, then…then come back and we talk.”

  “This fucking guy,” I muttered. “I need a smoke.”

  “You have cigarette?” He straightened up, looking at me eagerly.

  I rolled my eyes. This fucker rains on my moment with Jay, and now he wants to bum a smoke? “Come on, Lukas, is it?” I looked at Jay. “We’ll be right outside.”