Ultimate Warriors

by Jaide Fox

  He was surprised to find her ready for him as his fingers dipped inside to stroke her. Her leg rubbed restlessly against him, her foot working its way to lie against his arousal, stroking him in return the only way she could reach.

  Quinlan thought she died when his lips latched onto her moistened center. His fingers began to move more insistently, urging her to climax against his hand. She began to tremble. Nikandros felt the response and sucked her deeper into his mouth. His fingers quickened until her hands were in his hair smothering his lips into her softness. Her head thrashed wildly against her pillows.

  "Nick," she screamed, jerking and tensing against him. It was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. He didn’t let up until he milked every last quiver her body had to offer him. A dominant smile on his lips, he released her and crawled up over her weakened body.

  He moved as if he would enter her, but Quinlan tightened her thighs on his waist and flung him onto his back with a surprising strength. A sultry vixen’s smile came to her mouth as she eyed his naked and readied body.

  "I must have you," he growled, reaching to grab her hips. She met his hands and pressed them over his head, pinning him down. The moisture from her body slid between them as she sat on his hard stomach.

  "It’s my turn to play," she whispered.

  Nikandros was glad that her head dipped to kiss his chest, because his mouth fell open in amazement at the bold statement. Her lips were on his hot flesh, tracing a pattern over the ridges of his muscles. Her mouth was light, dropping little feathery caresses along him until he squirmed to be free of her torture.

  She was amazedly strong, but he knew that if really wanted to, he could buck her off him. But, as she sat up, he saw the lowered lids of her impassioned gaze and he wouldn’t have stopped her torture for the world. She leaned over to explore his neck and throat, biting him as he had her and then soothing the same way.

  "Do you like this?" she asked, licking her way to his earlobe. She was answered by a husky growl.

  "Yes," he groaned. The loudness of his response pleased her.

  She kissed up his jaw to claim his mouth. She sucked at his eager tongue, massaging it with her own. His hips jerked and her body slid back along his waist so that her backside was flush against his heavy erection. She could feel him against her, large and powerful. The smooth skin of him rubbed insistently into her as he thrust his hips up, searching for his release that could not come unless she took him deep inside.

  "I must have you now," he urged against her mouth, not letting her up from his all-consuming kiss. "Let me inside you, Quinlan, please. I need to feel your silken depths before I explode."

  Quinlan released his arms. He growled, his hands automatically finding her hips to raise her up. With a potent force, he guided himself directly inside of her, hitting hard upon her heated core. Quinlan jerked in surprise.

  Nikandros howled with delight at the feel of her on top of him. His stomach tensed and he sat up, rocking her thighs against his hips. The action caused him to go deeper still. His fingers dug into the silk sheets as he braced his arms back. Her hips began to move, controlling the motion of their thrusts. His knees bent and his heels dug into the bed for leverage. His body jerked, impatient to meet the down stroke of her hips, slamming his body up into hers.

  "Ah, faster," he begged her, breathless and gasping for air. "Harder."

  Quinlan began to move faster, instantly discovering the delight of claiming him hard.

  "Harder," he growled, pumping up into her, his whole body tensing and flexing.

  She could not deny him. Watching his face, contorted in what seemed like agony, she gave him what he begged for. Her body squeezed him, colliding against him, forcing him to come inside her as she rode him hard. Her body began to peak with desire. Sweat glistened on their skin. She tried to hold back from her climax, wanting to give him his first.

  "Oh, yeah, sweetheart," he implored demandingly. "That’s it. Ah, that’s it. Don’t stop. Just ... like ... that, darling. Don’t stop ... ah. Keep it hard. Oh, you feel so good on me."

  Quinlan couldn’t deny herself any longer as his words washed over her. She pushed him back. She braced her hands onto his chest as he fell over in surprise. Her fingers dug into his nipples. She circled her hips while still pounding into his flesh. Her body began to tense, she could feel it coming, she needed it to come, she needed him to release her....

  "Aahh!" she screamed, shaking ferociously as she peaked. Her hands clawed viciously into him.

  Nikandros’ head fell back as he arched into her. He never felt anything like it. It was as if her body sucked the life out of him and he willingly gave it to her. His mouth opened, his eyes sought to look at her, wanting the memory of her climaxing pose to forever be with him. He was stunned to see her eyes shifted to the subtlest purple.

  "Silk," he whispered.

  Quinlan collapsed on top of him, breathless. She couldn’t move. "What did you say?"

  "I said you feel like silk," he murmured into her hair. She was too spent to move. His lips trailed to her temple to give her a gentle kiss. She fell asleep on his body, his member still embedded within her.

  * * * *

  Nikandros didn’t know how long he dozed, but sometime during his rest, Quinlan had slid off to his side and now lay nestled next to him on the bed. She was achingly beautiful in her nakedness and his body stirred, wanting to take possession of her again. Her lips parted and she moaned in her sleep, tempting him to a kiss. He held back. He didn’t dare wake her.

  Thinking of her shifting eyes, he slowly stood and went to look for the formula he’d stolen from her father’s laboratory. It angered him slightly that she would just leave it lying out like that. He didn’t dream for a moment that a scientist’s daughter wouldn’t know what it was--especially William’s daughter.

  Guilt overwhelmed him as he pulled the paper out. Slowly, he read over the encoded documentation. It was part of William’s research. He knew because William had used part of his DNA coding in his research and Nikandros recognized the sequencing.

  Getting to the end, he frowned. The work was incomplete and, in the corner, in a tight script that looked just like William’s, it read, All attempts to produce genetic enhancements a complete failure. All subjects unstable and die within twelve hours before any genetic altering can even take hold. Am regretfully calling an end to the project.

  It was dated the day before William died.

  Nikandros glanced at the bed to the sleeping woman. The smooth curve of her backside was to him. The documents were fakes--good fakes, but fakes nonetheless. He knew because he had seen the real research. Where this paper claimed to hit a dead end, they had surpassed by leaps and bounds.

  He sighed, knowing he would be expected to report in. Taking a leap of faith, he grabbed a pen from his pocket and scrolled quick note onto the back of the page. Then, laying it by her head, he placed the rose from his lapel on top of it. He wanted to kiss her again, but didn’t dare until this nasty business was done for good.

  Quietly, he dressed and snuck from her bedroom window, leaping down the way he’d gotten in. His body blended completely with the darkness, blurring as he moved, turning into a fine, undetectable mist as he went easily past her security.

  * * * *

  Quinlan awoke the next morning with a smile forming on her lips before she even opened her eyes. She was thoroughly rested. Yawning, she reached across her large bed, searching for Nikandros. To her disappointment, he wasn’t there. Still grinning like a fool, her fingers hit a flower. She grabbed the bud, sitting up to look around. The fire still burned golden. Save for her, the room was empty.

  "Nick?" she called lightly, her head leaning over to look into the bathroom as she smelled the red rose. There was no answer. She frowned in disappointment. Then, seeing a white piece of paper on her pillow, she picked it up.

  I know the truth about your father’s formula. Meet me tonight. Pierson Park. Midnight. Nikandros.

&nb
sp; Quinlan’s hand trembled as she turned the paper over. It was the fake sheet she’d put in her father’s office and carefully sprinkled with dust to make it look like an original. Her hands trembled and a tear slid down her face. If Nikandros knew the truth, then others might know it as well. She couldn’t let the secret out. She couldn’t let them make more like her. She had to stop him.

  "No," she whispered, looking down at her naked body in bittersweet dejection. "Silk has to stop him."

  * * * *

  Nikandros frowned into the video phone. "I don’t think she is trying to sell the formula."

  Korbin’s eyes narrowed. "What makes you think that?"

  "I just do," Nikandros said. He rolled a little piece of silk residue in his fingers. He’d found it on his chest when he got back to his hotel room, next to the scratch marks from Quinlan’s fingers. He’d also seen the way her eyes changed to a most familiar purple.

  "Are you sure you’re not thinking with your--" began Korbin.

  "William figured out the formula," Nikandros broke in. "It’s complete."

  "No," Korbin whispered, with an expression akin to horror. "Then you know what we must do. We have to get that formula. If it fell into the wrong hands, just imagine the evil we’d be dealing with."

  "I don’t think she’s going to give it out," Nikandros said, wondering what made him so sure of that fact.

  "You’re not thinking straight," Korbin said. "I know you like her, but--"

  "I think I love her," Nikandros said. Korbin paled. He knew his friend would never say anything like that lightly.

  "Nick," Korbin began, almost mournful.

  "All I ask is that you give me time to talk to her before you send in the other Protectors. If she is trying to give out the formula, I’ll take her down myself--on my honor." Nikandros stared boldly in the phone.

  "All right," Korbin said. After hundreds of years of working together, he knew to take Nikandros at his word. But, from experience, he also knew that love clouded the mind. He didn’t know what was going on down in Pierson City, but he was sure he didn’t like it. "I’ll give you till tomorrow. But if the formula’s completed, she could already have a buyer lined up for it. I can’t think of a single man at that party I would want to have it."

  "I know," Nikandros said. "I won’t let you down. Trust me."

  "I do, old friend," Korbin said. "Just don’t forget who you are ... what we are. We are the Protectors and we must do just that."

  Nikandros nodded, switching off the phone. His eyes drifted down to the silk ball he had rolled in his hands. Slowly, he lifted his fingers and threw it at the trashcan. It was time to end this.

  Chapter Six

  It was a half an hour until midnight and Silk wasn’t sure what made her go to her father’s laboratory instead of straight to Pierson Park. The tight, familiar fit of her clothes was comforting to her skin as she walked silently through the secret passageways.

  Henry Thompson had sent a crew to pick up her father’s collection earlier in the day and she was a little sad to see the big portrait go. With it there, so big and commanding, she had felt like he was with her again, watching over her. Then Nikandros had come and she felt the loneliness leaving her for a sweet moment of ecstasy.

  It had been so hard the last ten years--alone and isolated from the world. No one had been there to help her understand her new powers. She couldn’t let anyone in, lest they discover her secret. She would not be exposed for a freak--prodded and tested and torn apart until there was nothing left. And, most importantly, she would not see anyone else burdened with her curse.

  Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the secret door to the laboratory. For a moment, she let herself remember what it was like to be a young girl, sneaking away from her nanny to go to her father’s lab. He’d always scold her, but never once did he send her away.

  Clutching her teddy bear, she’d watch him look into his microscope. He always took the time to show her what he worked on, doing his best to explain complex concepts to a young daughter who didn’t understand them. All Quinlan had known at the time was that her father was a good man and he was trying to save and improve lives. Dr. William St. James had done just that time and time again. But the two lives he couldn’t save, were his own and his daughter’s.

  "I’m sorry, Dad," she whispered, feeling like a failure. All she ever wanted was to avenge him and put an end to the reality of his formula.

  Suddenly, two strong arms clamped around her from behind. Silk had been so lost in thought, that she didn’t hear anyone else in the room. Glancing down through the red fog of the security lights, she saw two very strong, pale masculine hands on her arms.

  Silk didn’t scream, biding her time.

  "I’m sorry, Daddy," came a mocking feminine whine.

  Silk blinked, narrowing her eyes through the mask as she peered out into the darkness. To her amazement, Mrs. Nathaniel walked out from behind her father’s antique filing cabinet.

  "Ah, great," Silk said, giving a heavy sigh of frustration. "You’re not trying to seduce the robotic help again are you?"

  Mrs. Nathaniel grimaced, storming forward to slap Silk across the face with the flat of her palm. "Shut up! I was rewiring to listen to your messages."

  Silk just laughed. It occurred to her that the hands on her arms more than likely belonged to the Adonis model pleasure droid.

  "Uh-huh," chuckled Silk, mocking. "The last time I checked, robotic droids didn’t store their message files in their erections."

  "Hurt her, Adonis," cried Mrs. Nathaniel, pulling at her blonde hair.

  The pleasure droid squeezed ever so slightly, but didn’t really do her skin any harm. Pleasure droids were not programmed for pain. They were like any other droid. If they tried to really hurt a human, they would self-destruct instantly. Silk, an idea forming in her head, gritted her teeth as if she were in pain.

  "That’s better," said Mrs. Nathaniel. "Now, tell me where you’ve hidden your father’s formula."

  "Formula?" spat Silk, giving a pretend jerk in the android’s arms. "What formula?"

  "Argh!" the woman screeched, slapping Silk again.

  Silk frowned. This was quickly getting old.

  "Did your husband send you here?" Silk asked.

  "My husband?" the woman asked, laughing.

  Silk held perfectly still, watching her wild eyes roll in her head.

  "My husband," Mrs. Nathaniel spat with venom, "is too busy with his lecture tours and publicity trips to even dream of such a thing."

  "Oh, so you’re just a poor little victim?" mocked Silk.

  "Where is the formula?!" the woman demanded.

  "There is no formula. It doesn’t work," Silk said.

  "Then why are you all dressed up in your Halloween costume?" the woman challenged.

  "I’m rich," Silk said, "and eccentric. Don’t you read the papers?"

  "I know the formula exists! I’ve seen it," screamed Mrs. Nathaniel. She began to run her hands into her hair, pulling at the tender strands. Her lips curled in anger as she huffed, "I’ve felt the power of it inside me. I’ve got to have it again."

  "You lie," Silk said. "If you’d of felt it, you’d still have it and wouldn’t need the formula."

  "You know it doesn’t last!" the woman cried. "Now tell me where it is."

  Silk knew that the woman was insane. Her wild eyes rolled back in her blonde head.

  "Prove it," Silk said. "Tell me how."

  "I’ve felt it," said the woman. Greed lit in her gaze. "I came to visit your father to have him build me a biomechanical droid--you know something that feels more real. That was before I developed a taste for synthetic. Anyway, your father wouldn’t help me and in my anger I cut my finger on a piece of glass. His formula spilled on me. And I know he gave it to you. I’ve seen you. I saw how you leapt over my fence the night you broke into my house. Now, tell me where it is!"

  Silk’s lips tightened, letting the woman hang herself with her own words. Ad
onis’ hands stayed strong, binding her. She was too angry to move. If this woman saw her, than she saw Nikandros too. It all started to make sense. This woman knew Nikandros was in her lab. Maybe the woman paid him to duplicate her father’s work. It would explain how he knew her document was a fake.

  "Come on," Mrs. Nathaniel begged. "Please. I have to have it. I have to feel the power of it again. You’re father wouldn’t give it to me and I showed him. But, you’ll give it to me. If you don’t, I’ll kill you too. You’re not going to stop--"

  "You killed my father," Silk said, her tone low. She never would have suspected this woman.

  "What of it?" she growled. "Now you’re going to join him if you don’t give me what I want!"

  "Adonis," Silk said unexpectedly. "Pleasure your mistress."

  Instantly Adonis’ hands let her go and he began to move around to grab his owner. Mrs. Nathaniel’s lips puckered in surprise before she began screeching in protest. Silk grabbed Adonis’ head and twisted it to the side, shutting him off. The droid froze in mid-stride like a statue.

  Mrs. Nathaniel screamed in protest as Silk came after her. She tried to run, but Silk caught the back of her hair. She wanted to kill her, wanted to maim her for what she had taken away from her. But Silk was above this woman. Justice would prevail.

  With a call to her security, Silk dragged the woman from the laboratory kicking and screaming behind her.

  "Take her prisoner," Silk said to the guard. "Call the police. And get her damned pleasure droid out of my house!"

  * * * *

  The police came and arrested Mrs. Nathaniel, taking the security tapes from the laboratory as evidence against her. They never once spoke directly to the mistress of the estate, only stopped at the gate where the robotic guard had Mrs. Nathaniel and her pleasure droid detained. The guard handed them the tape and sent them on their way.