Still, she tried to give him the use of her power in return for her life, though she soon realized he found it more burden than blessing.
That would have been bad enough, but she quickly discovered that some of those who’d made the Passage had been corrupted by their hosts. The one who’d found Josiah for her was one of those. What was worse, his host, Kali, was stalking Josiah.
Arial did not understand why until Kali caught up to them. She touched him—and her symbiote surged into his mind, trying to enslave him.
Arial did the only thing she could do. She took over, protecting Josiah’s mind as she attacked Kali, driving the other symbiote back into the woman.
And then they ran.
“FUCK.” Josiah’s voice rasped from the other side of the room. “We always thought my Transition had driven me crazy with a little help from Kali. Instead, it was that damned alien’s idea of saving my ass.”
Arial opened her eyes and found herself staring at a fringed bedspread. Blinking, she realized she was lying on the floor. “What the hell happened?”
“E. T. threw us for a loop.”
“Oh, yeah.” Arial sat up, groaning, as bruised muscles protested. “That power jolt just as we climaxed.” It had tossed them around the room like dice in a cup.
“Are you okay?” Josiah staggered to his feet and walked around the bed to help her up.
She cleared her throat. “A little singed, but I’ll live. I gather you saw the same…dream? Vision?”
“Alien gas giant inhabited by whatever-the-fuck-they-are?” He grimaced and lowered himself to sit on the edge of the mattress. “I saw it. I don’t know why I saw it in the middle of the best climax of my life.”
“In your pleasure, your consciousness finally opened to me,” a purring voice said. The tiger thrust its head out of his side. “I saw my chance and took it.”
“Ahh!” Josiah leaped to his feet in surprise. The tiger’s ghostly shape sat down on the bed and flicked an ear at him.
“I gather you can see him now,” Arial said dryly.
“Yeah. Jesus!” He eyed the cat a moment before his brows suddenly shot up. “I’ll be damned—it’s the Tillman High tiger.”
“What?”
“The mascot of that school where I taught football—it was a tiger. All this time you kept talking about a tiger, and I never put it together until…” He stiffened, alarm widening his eyes. “Wait a minute. Did you hear that?”
Arial frowned at him. “What?
He lunged off the bed. “Somebody just let loose an energy blast. And Psych doesn’t do energy blasts!”
JOSIAH ran so fast, Arial was forced to fly to keep up with him. Even then, he reached the scene of the battle ahead of her.
She rounded the corner to find him standing frozen, staring at what had once been the door of the garage. It had been blown off its hinges. The crumpled hood of Tracker’s SUV stuck halfway through the wall, as if something had picked the big vehicle up and thrown it.
From somewhere beyond the wreckage, a male voice groaned in pain. Mocking laughter answered.
“Not so tough now, huh, Psych?”
“He’s definitely a little worse for wear,” a woman agreed. “Feeling a little bit more submissive yet, darling?”
“Kali.” Josiah jolted forward, but Arial grabbed his shoulder with a strength born of pure desperation.
“Wait a minute,” she hissed. “We can’t just charge in there without a plan of attack!”
He threw her an agonized look and whispered hoarsely, “Arial, I can smell his blood.”
“And he won’t be the only one bleeding, if we don’t keep our heads. It sounds like they’ve got us outnumbered in there.”
For a moment he hesitated, visibly torn. Then he growled a curse and grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her backward down the hall. “If she’s got her full crew with her, they probably do.”
“How many are in her crew?”
“Six. Judging from my truck sticking out of the wall, she’s definitely got Brute. It would have taken Cerberus’s Hyper senses to find this place. And if those two are here, the other four are, too. And you’re right—there’s no way in hell we can take all seven of them. That team of hers has some serious firepower.”
Arial swallowed, fighting the sick sensation of rising fear. “So what do we do?”
“A little hostage negotiation.” His smile was bitter. “There’s one thing Kali really wants—and that’s me. I’m the one that got away. I get her to hand Psych over, and you fly him the hell out of here and call the Feds. They’ll have a team here before Kali finishes celebrating.”
“What?” She stared at him in horror. For a moment, Jenny’s wide blue eyes flashed through her memory. “Fuck that.”
“Arial…”
“I’m not handing you over to have your mind raped by that sick bitch,” Arial spat. “That’s not the way it works, Jos. You don’t give the good guys to the bad guys.”
Josiah’s expression turned stony. “It’s not your choice.” He turned away.
She stared at his broad back helplessly. With his strength, there was no way she could stop him.
Sensations spun through her memory: the heat and hunger in his kiss, the warmth of his hands, the exquisite way he’d made love to her. The sound of pride in his voice when he talked about his students. The tenderness in his eyes when he’d looked at her.
Oh, hell, Arial thought, I’m falling in love with him.
He was going to end up dead, and she wouldn’t be able to save him. She was helpless. Just as powerless as she’d been when Jenny died.
Haven’t we already been through this? Shen-Lung growled in her mind. You know better.
Arial froze, suddenly remembering his voice in that morning’s lesson. It’s all the same. The barriers between one and the other are illusion.
She focused on Josiah’s broad back, looking hard. Zooming in just as Shen-Lung had taught her. Until she could see the cells in his body. The molecules. The swirling energy that made them up. Until she could no longer see the barriers between him and the air around him.
Or between him and herself.
Josiah.
She heard her thought ring in his mind. And it stopped him.
He turned to look at her, stunned amazement filling his mind. Hypers can’t read Hypers!
Psych can’t. I’m not Psych.
His lips twitched. I noticed.
Have you noticed this? She took a deep breath—and opened herself to him.
THE love Arial felt was delicate, as fragile with new growth as a shoot of spring grass forcing its way through the snow. Yet Josiah could sense the promise of warmth and budding strength in it.
It staggered him.
And in that moment, he also realized how familiar the feeling was.
Because he felt the same. I’m falling for her. Joy filled him with such intensity, a broad grin spread across his face. Damn. He took a step back toward her—
Just as Psych screamed.
Josiah froze in midstep, anguish ripping through his momentary joy. He could feel its reverberation echoing through Arial. She gasped softly in pain.
In that instant, he remembered Rich had worked to save him when he’d scarcely been human. I can’t let him die, Arial. Not even for you.
No. He could feel the grief in her. No, it would destroy you.
Before he could turn away, Shen-Lung’s voice spoke in his mind. There is, however, another option.
The tiger rumbled a purr of approval.
RICHARD lay in a blood-soaked heap, as Josiah walked into the garage. He’d been right: Kali had brought all six of her slaves: Brute and Cerberus; Ghost—who could turn invisible—the flyer, Daedalus; Firecracker—who could cause small explosions with a thought—and Breaker, who controlled electricity.
If this doesn’t work, Josiah thought, God help me. They’ll tear me apart.
“I think he should be softened up enough by now,” Kali said cheerfully.
“Let’s try this again. Psych, you stubborn bastard.”
“Let him go, Kali.”
Her head jerked up, red hair dancing around her shoulders, as an incredulous smile of delight spread across her face. “Tracker! There you are. What did you do with the pretty cop? I’ve got such plans for her.”
“Forget her,” he said roughly. “We both know who you really want. Let Psych go, and I’ll give myself up.”
Kali went still, her green eyes narrowing. “Now, why would I do a thing like that when I can just have the boys kick your ass? Then I’ll have both of you—and the cop.”
The thought sickened him, but he folded his arms and gave her a cool smile. “I think we’ve already established that you can’t take me, Kali. On the other hand, if you let Arial get Psych out of here, I won’t put up a fight.”
Kali whirled toward Cerberus. “Is he lying?”
Squat and fiercely homely, the little man breathed deep to draw in Josiah’s scent. “Don’t seem so.”
Brute flexed his massive hands. Jealousy gleamed in his small black eyes. “I don’t trust the bastard. Let me work him over a little first.”
Kali snorted, her gaze fixed on Josiah with eager greed. “And batter that pretty face? I don’t think so.” She licked her lips. “Swear you’ll surrender yourself.”
Josiah didn’t let his eyes waver. “If you let them go.”
“Fine,” she snapped. “The cop can have him. He’s too stubborn for me anyway.”
Meaning she hadn’t been able to break him. Good for you, Rich.
Arial stepped into the room and gestured. Richard’s body rose into the air and floated toward her. Her teeth clenched as she struggled with his considerable weight.
He lifted his head and looked blearily around. “Wha?” Both eyes were so swollen, it was obvious he could barely see. Blood smeared his mouth and nose, and the knuckles of one hand were grotesquely swollen, as if his fingers had been methodically broken. “Jo—Tracker?”
“Shhh,” Arial whispered. “We’re leaving.”
“A telekinetic,” Kali said, staring at her with sharpened interest. “And a pretty damn strong one, at that.”
“Do you want me or not?” Josiah snapped, drawing her attention.
“Oh, I want you, big boy.” Her green eyes narrowed. “In fact, come here. Now.”
He moved toward her, putting an arrogant roll in his walk and a taunting smile on his face.
“That’s it.” Kali grinned and purred, “Good boy.”
His skin crawled as he stopped just within her reach. He lifted a brow. “Well?”
She rammed her hand hard against his chest. Josiah drew in a hard breath as her mind slammed into his.
And Arial’s dragon and his tiger shot from his chest, right into hers. Kali stiffened with a cry of shock. She began to shake, eyes rolling back in her head.
A moment later, Shen-Lung and the tiger emerged again, dragging—something. Something bloody red, with curving horns, a misshapen face, and a whipping forked tail. It looked like a medieval woodcut of a demon, and it hissed in rage as it struggled. But the tiger had buried its fangs deep in the thing’s throat, and Shen-Lung coiled around its barrel chest, all four sets of claws dug in.
Behind Josiah, female voices rose in a chorus of rage. He jerked his head around just in time to see two ghostly forms shoot from Rich’s body. Together, the twin spirits flew at the demon and began to slash at it with their claws. It howled in pain and desperation.
Until an inhuman roar drowned it out. Suddenly the air was full of savage, glowing shapes, pouring from the six slave Hypers to surround Kali’s demon in a swirling mob. Hiding it from view. Its screams grew shriller, more desperate.
“Jesus,” Josiah whispered, feeling a bit sickened. They were tearing the demon spirit apart, feeding on its energy as they’d once fed on the lightning of their home world.
And with the creature dead…
“What?” Kali gasped, staggering backward. All the blood left her face, leaving it milk pale under the fire of her hair. “What’s happening?”
He gave her a feral grin. “Looks like your slaves’ spirits are getting a little payback.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You’ll figure it out.”
There was a last choked cry…And nothing.
The spirits swirled away back to their hosts in a flurry of light and energy. Josiah gasped as his tiger dove back into his chest with a satisfied rumble. Well, that was a pretty chilling display.
But necessary. His host had driven Gerot mad. There was no other way to stop him from enslaving others to feed her lust for power.
“She’s gone,” Daedalus breathed, his eyes wide in his round face. “She’s not in my mind anymore.”
“Holy hell, you’re right!” Ghost whispered. “I’m free!”
Brute turned a chilling grin on Kali. “We’re all free.”
She took a step back, her eyes widening with the cold terror of a woman who was seeing her worst fears realized. “No. No, I’ll just…I’ll just…”
“You’ll do nothing, bitch!” Firecracker lifted his hands, obviously preparing to throw a blast.
A cold blast of wind slammed through the room, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. “That’s enough!” Arial barked. “Kali, you’re under arrest. The rest of you back the fuck off—unless you want to lose your powers too.”
Brute lifted his big hands and flexed them menacingly. “You sure you can take us all, cop?”
She lifted an elegant brow. “Are you sure I can’t?”
Josiah stepped between the two of them and curled his own hands into fists. “And if she can’t, I can. Somehow I doubt you’re quite as good a team without Kali pulling your strings.”
Brute licked his thick lips with an expression of profound unease. He apparently remembered their last fight as vividly as Josiah. “I got no problem with you, Tracker. You just put that bitch in a cage where she belongs.”
As Arial and Josiah watched, he whirled around, stalked to the opening left by the broken hydraulic lift, and leaped skyward.
Grumbling and casting dark looks at their former mistress, his teammates followed.
Arial watched them go. Damn, I hate to let those bastards get away, she said in Josiah’s mind.
I know, but we don’t have the firepower to take them out now. Don’t worry—none of them can stand the others. They’ll scatter and we’ll be able to pick them off later.
Kali suddenly whirled on Josiah, an expression of helpless fury on her face. “What did you do to me, you son of a bitch?”
Josiah walked toward her, pulling a pair of cuffs from his belt as he gave her a toothy grin. “Pulled your plug.”
“Come on, Kali,” Arial purred. “Resist arrest.”
She took one look at them and slumped in defeat.
EPILOGUE
One month later
Arial walked into the bedroom she was sharing with Josiah—and stopped, staring at her own black-clad reflection in the mirror over the bureau. She was still getting used to the sight of herself in Hyper armor. The suit was the same basic design as Tracker’s, except for the small white stylized Chinese dragon that swirled across her right eye and halfway down the cheek of the mask.
It had been a busy month. First she’d handed in her resignation to the James County Sheriff’s Office. It hadn’t hurt nearly as much as she’d expected. After that had come two weeks of federal psychological and physical testing to become a Hyper agent. The Feds decided to waive the law enforcement training requirement because of her background.
All in all, it was a good thing Arial was a cop. The federal medical specialists all agreed she was one of the most powerful Hypers they’d ever seen, between her telekinesis and ability to manipulate the weather, not to mention her talent for seeing other people’s aliens. That last little bombshell had definitely set the medical establishment back on its heels, not least because it was conclusive proof of l
ife on other planets.
Somebody probably would have been tempted to lock her up for further study, if it hadn’t been for the fact that she was so obviously needed to hunt down the rest of Kali’s gang. She was finally allowed to go to work on a provisional basis with Tracker and Psych.
Having spent a week in the hospital, Rich had been in the mood to kick ass. Arial and Jos had been happy to help him do it.
It had crossed her mind to wonder if any of the gang had been innocent, forced into criminal behavior by Kali’s powers. After all, the bitch had intended to enslave the three of them, too.
But a scan of each thug as he was caught revealed that none of them were exactly choirboys. And as Rich had pointed out, they’d certainly enjoyed beating the hell out of him.
Today they’d caught the last one, Brute, who’d barely put up a fight before he surrendered with a certain amount of resignation. Apparently he’d heard how thoroughly they’d defeated his former teammates and wanted to save himself the hospitalization.
Arial gave her reflection a smile of satisfaction—which broadened as Josiah slipped up behind her and wrapped his brawny arms around her waist.
“I do love a woman in leather,” he purred in her ear, then added, “Tempest.”
She rolled her eyes. “God, I hate that name.” The FBI had assigned her the handle, over her protests.
He caught the tab of her zipper and started sliding it down. “Well, nobody ever accused bureaucrats of having imagination.”
She gave him a mock pout. “I really wanted Phoenix.”
“Copyrighted. Comic book character.” The zipper’s tab reached the top of her breastbone. “We’d get sued.”
“Yeah, well, in Chinese mythology, the Phoenix is the mate of the dragon.”
“Yeah, but you’re the mate of me.”
She let her head fall back against his broad chest. “I’m not sure that sentence is grammatically correct.”
“Darlin’, I don’t give a damn.” He started tugging her armored coat down her arms. “And anyway, I used to read that comic, and Phoenix went evil and ate a planet. A billion poor broccoli people, dead.”
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