When I asked her why they needed her help so desperately, she was silent for a long time before answering us.
It was because of an ability she had never told us about – not even Lily – one that I had seen in action myself without realizing it, when Rose was hurt.
Violence Trailing.
The ability to sense violence like a physical scent – and the more violent the event, the more powerful her perception of it, which was the reason why her ability had been useless when Lily had been kidnapped almost a year ago – because her kidnappers hadn’t left a trail of violence for her to follow.
It was a double-edged sword though.
When Rose had been killed by Blaze, the unexpected trauma of sensing the trail of violence forced Freya to stop using it the moment she located Rose’s body in the field across from Lily’s place. Otherwise, she could have figured out that Blaze was the one responsible without Rose telling her. But instead, she was too overwhelmed to handle it in that moment.
Really, the ability wasn’t unlike following a trail of blood, except that it used her third-eye to work instead of her nose, which was what the S-FBI had always believed her third-eye was used for. They had no idea she could peer into someone’s mind, because back then they didn’t have a reliable super capable of sensing another person’s powers.
Such supers were so rare that whenever they got their hands on one, they treated them like royalty.
Meaning, if my mother had worked for the government, then I probably would have grown up like a prince if she hadn’t died.
Not that I would have wanted that. It’s just how it would have been, given an ability like hers.
Alternatively, most superpower identification was done with blood tests, with genetic markers correlating to certain powers, just like it did with certain diseases. It was an imperfect system, but after hundreds of years of data collection, it was pretty reliable now, so long as a person had a known ability.
Ones like my true superpower wouldn’t be detectible though – not unless they discovered unique genetic markers that I had in common with someone like me, if such a person even existed. Granted, since this wasn’t even my original body, I wasn’t sure that would work, unless I had somehow changed this body’s genetics when I stole it from my father as an infant.
I doubted that was the case though. Likely, my genes would simply show me as a typical regenerator and nothing more.
Freya’s unique sense also wasn’t unlike my astral trailing ability, which was how she guessed at what I was experiencing when Lily had been kidnapped the first time. Although, while mine was more useful, hers was also a lot more reliable so long as she had blood to drink.
Needless to say, all of this information was new to Lily and me. And while I tried different avenues to research the sovereignty thing, of course I couldn’t find any information on it actually existing for any country in the world, never mind our own. There was plenty of information on smaller groups of people being recognized as sovereign, but nothing about individual people.
Yet Freya’s nationality code made me wonder if there were actually a decent number of supers running around with that kind of status. It also made me wonder if Blaze was such a person, though I was hesitant to ask Lexi if she had ever seen his ID before. Doubtful she wanted to discuss him anytime soon. If anything, I was pretty sure she wanted to forget about everything related to him, so I wasn’t going to be the one to dredge up the past again just to satiate my curiosity.
Again, like with Lily, the wellbeing and mental stability of the person was more important than my own desires.
Realizing I’d been staring at the same news article for a long time, I decided to go check on Rose and then maybe step outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air.
However, as I turned off my tablet’s screen and got to my feet, I suddenly felt extremely dizzy.
Unexpectedly, the room around me disappeared and I was standing outside of an indistinct doorway, peering in to find Heidi, of all people, facing the other direction. Not wanting to be rude by just barging in, I knocked on the door, prompting her to look over her shoulder.
“Oh, hey Sam. Can you help me with this?”
My gaze fell to her bottom lip, where she had recently inserted a single snake-bite earing, holding up another as if she was getting ready to insert it. My eyes then drifted to her nose, where she had a new piercing, and then to her ears where she had four – three at the top of her ear and one on the earlobe. All the earrings were diamond studs, including the one in her lip.
She grinned at me when I didn’t respond right away. “What?” she asked in a playful tone.
“Umm, nothing,” I replied. “Just surprised by all the new piercings,” I admitted.
“You don’t like them?” she asked with a pout, pulling her hands away from her lip briefly.
“What? No. They look great,” I reassured her. “It’s just weird for me to see you go from no piercings to a ton.”
She shrugged as she turned away slightly to look at the indistinct wall like she was looking at herself in a mirror. “I used to have all of these,” she admitted. “But the holes close up if I leave them out for even just a few hours.” She then sighed heavily. “It’s been way too long.”
I assumed that being Blaze’s prisoner was the reason why she hadn’t worn them for so long, so I didn’t question it further.
I cleared my throat. “So what do you need help with exactly?”
She grinned again. “Just this last one. I’m having a hard time making them even.”
I took a step towards her into the small room, prompting her to hold out her hand, offering me the last diamond stud. When I stared at it in my palm briefly, she spoke again.
“All you have to do is just grab my lip, make sure they’re even, and then just shove it in.”
I immediately used all of my willpower to suppress a grin, since her comment could be taken as an extremely erotic remark, possibly referencing either oral sex or even regular sex. But it was doubtful she was intending it to be sexual, and I wasn’t about to make it awkward by pointing it out.
I grabbed her full lip as she asked, focusing intently to make sure it was lined up with the other snake-bite, so that I only had to stick her once.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Yea,” she replied without moving her mouth. She then sucked in a sharp breath when I shoved it in, puncturing my own finger in the process. I didn’t react at all though, barely feeling it.
I then met Heidi’s lavender eyes, still holding her lower lip, only to discover that while I had been concentrating, her gaze had turned intense.
Passionate.
She abruptly shoved her face forward, her warm lips meeting mine, her tongue quickly searching for my own. At the same time, she reached out with her arm for some unknown reason, only to return her hand to my hip. An overwhelming sense of arousal hit me like a semitruck, a flame igniting in my gut, and I shoved her backwards against the wall, my hands grabbing her face while hers flew to my pants to unbutton them.
Faster than I thought possible, she was working her hand in between my legs while I was pulling down a pair of silky shorts – I hadn’t noticed any details about them before, but I could feel the smoothness.
She moaned when I slipped my hand between her legs, tugging on me so that I would come closer. I pulled my hand away then and grabbed her hips, hoisting her up in the air, only to have her slide on me effortlessly. It was something that might have been extremely painful for both of us had it not been such a synchronized movement.
We fit perfectly.
Suddenly, the way it felt to be connected with her was overwhelming me all over again, prompting me to shove my lips against hers while pinning her against the wall, feeling the embodiment of her passion. Her skin was so smooth, her body so warm, her desire so raw.
Unexpectedly, someone grabbed my arm, hissing in my ear.
“Sam!”
A familiar voice. Far away.
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“Sam!” she repeated.
I gasped, instantly disoriented as I found myself on my hands and knees, panting heavily. My brow was dripping with sweat, my heart racing. But most noticeably, an insatiable desire wracked my gut.
It took me a second to realize where I was – to realize who was speaking.
“Freya,” I gasped in the darkness, my second-sight focusing on her worried expression.
“Sam, what’s wrong?” she asked urgently.
I didn’t see any point in lying to her about it, knowing she would probably find out eventually. Not to mention, now that I could think a little more clearly, an intense remorse was stirring within my chest, even while desire clawed around in my lower gut.
“I’m so sorry,” I gasped. “But…I think…” I struggled to catch my breath, wincing as I spoke. “Freya, I think I cheated on you. I didn’t mean to, but…it was like I couldn’t stop myself. And it happened so quickly.”
“Cheated with who?” she asked, her tone just as worried as it had been.
I sucked in a ragged breath, reaching up to wipe my forehead before planting my hand on the ground again. “With…Heidi…”
“Sam, Heidi’s not here,” she whispered.
I shook my head in disagreement, knowing that Heidi was here, the sensation of what I had just experienced feeling very real. “See for yourself,” I groaned quietly, knowing she would pick up on what I was implying.
She didn’t respond at first, but then she leaned forward and gently bit into my shoulder. I could hear her third-eye appearing, the sound unexpectedly nauseating even though it had never bothered me before.
And then she saw it.
“Oh,” she whispered.
I couldn’t discern her reaction from her tone, seeing in my extra sense that her expression was impassive. She might as well have been saying ‘Oh’ to the most mediocre revelation ever. At least, if she was pissed, it wasn’t obvious.
But then I gasped when her hand was suddenly reaching in between my legs, as if to confirm what I had just experienced.
“Don’t touch,” I complained, the guilt becoming even stronger. “I feel like I’m going to explode.”
“I know,” she whispered, beginning to push against my ribs gently. “I saw it.” She then continued to push, until she was easing me on my back onto the floor, her strength handling me like I weighed nothing, only for her to disappear from my side.
I was briefly confused about what she was doing, until suddenly she was yanking down my shorts and taking me in her mouth, causing me to gasp from the overwhelming sensation.
Immediately, my hands shot downward, my fingers grasping her black hair roughly as I thrust once, feeling like the instant orgasm was never going to end. In all the sexual experiences Lily, Freya, and I had enjoyed together, this was by far the strongest and longest orgasm I had ever had.
In my entire life.
It was illogical, unreasonable, and once it was over I had never felt so empty, being left behind with nothing but an overwhelming sense of guilt.
I had promised Lily and Freya that I would never cheat on them. How could I have let this happen? And how were they ever going to forgive me for it?
It was unforgiveable.
Freya’s mouth stayed down there for a long minute afterwards, continuing to work on me a little even though I was spent, before she finally laid down next to me on the floor and kissed me on the cheek.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“It was just a dream, Sam.”
My eyes widened in shock as I stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t dream, Freya. I’ve never dreamt in my entire life. And even if it was a dream, how can you be alright with me fantasizing about screwing another woman?”
She took a deep breath, and was quiet for a moment. “Sam, if you have sex with Heidi in real life, I’ll kill you.”
I scoffed at that, since we both knew I couldn’t die, but obviously I got the point.
“But,” she continued. “I’ve had to change my mindset on that kind of thing, so it doesn’t bother me as much as it would have previously.”
“I don’t understand,” I admitted, still staring up.
She took another deep breath. “Did it feel good?” she wondered.
I winced. “Yes, but–”
She cut me off. “I gave you that pleasure. Me. And you enjoyed it, which makes me happy.”
“I still don’t understand.”
She kissed me on the cheek again. “Sam, when I first found out Lily was dating someone, I wasn’t okay with it.”
I turned my head to give her a confused look, our noses barely touching, prompting her to continue.
“I was jealous. It was part of the reason why I kidnapped you back then. Initially, I took comfort in the fact that Lily couldn’t have sex with anyone, but then when I found out you two actually were having sex successfully, it pissed me off. Originally, it had nothing to do with your ability, like what Lily thought, although that turned out to be nice too. Instead, I was more like a vengeful ex. But then I became obsessed with you as well, and I found myself in a horrible situation.”
“Because I was with Lily instead of you?” I guessed uncertainly.
She shook her head. “Not just that. It was because the two people I was enthralled with were both with someone else. I was jealous of you for being with Lily, and then I became jealous of Lily for being with you. I wanted you both to myself. I didn’t want either of you to be in a relationship, even with each other.”
“Oh,” I said in surprise.
Honestly, I didn’t know how to respond to that. This was the first time Freya was sharing this with me, and I wasn’t sure if even Lily knew.
“So…”
Freya took a deep breath. “So, I had to work really hard at changing my mindset.” She sighed. “It sort of helped when you both began letting me watch. In a way, it let me experience what I had always wanted through a proxy. It let me live vicariously.”
“And that made you feel less jealous?” I guessed.
She pursed her lips, and then shook her head. “Well, not exactly. At first, I found myself feeling even more jealous. It was actually miserable watching you and Lily have sex, especially after-the-fact once I wasn’t horny anymore.” She took a deep breath. “I was really jealous, because Lily was mine, and she was screwing another dude. But I had become fixated on you too, so I found myself angry because you were screwing some other woman. It didn’t even matter that I was obsessed with both of you.”
“I’m…sorry…” Hearing her say that made my guilt feel even worse. I had no idea she had been experiencing any kind of negative emotions about the arrangement.
She took a deep breath. “It’s alright now. And I did want to watch, because that was better than nothing. Plus, it helped push me in the right direction, because I began to slowly realize what it really means to love someone, especially when I considered how you treated Lily.” She paused. “And how you treated me too,” she admitted. “I realized jealousy is something I feel because of my selfishness. And now I can watch Lily make you feel good and truly feel happy that you’re happy.”
“Now?” I repeated, wondering if she was admitting that this was only a recent change.
Her eyes widened in the darkness. “Oh. Sorry. This is all stuff that happened before you proposed to Lily,” she clarified. “I haven’t felt jealous about you and Lily enjoying each other for at least nine months. Probably longer.”
“That’s good,” I said slowly, trying to really understand the situation from her perspective. Freya seemed to pick up on my train of thought, because she elaborated.
“Let me ask you this. Not that it will ever happen, but if one day Lily and I screwed, would that make you jealous?”
I scoffed. “Well of course not.”
“And why not?”
I thought about it. “I guess because I love you both? And it would make me happy to see you make each other happy? Like you said. But you�
�re also both women, and for a guy that’s just hot in general.”
She sighed. “Yes, but that’s how it is for me now, in a way. I’m actually not attracted to women at all, and never have been. It took me by surprise when I became enthralled with Lily. She’s the only girl I’ve ever loved like this. But initially, the emotions I felt were what you would probably feel if Lily had sex with another guy.”
I grimaced. “I’m sorry,” I repeated.
The guilt I felt still hadn’t subsided. If anything, it was worse now that I really understood. That single comparison made it crystal clear how she felt back then.
“I wish I had known,” I added. “Not that I would have known how to make it better.”
Freya inched her head towards me and kissed me on the corner of the mouth. “It’s in the past. And because I love you both, and focus on your mutual happiness, I don’t feel jealous at all anymore. I mean, I haven’t for the majority of our relationship at this point.” She paused. “Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t be pissed if you ever cheat on us, but if you get turned on by someone else, then I’m okay with taking care of you. That’s certainly a lot better than them taking care of you.”
“So let me get this straight. You’re okay if I fantasize about other women while we have sex?”
She was silent for a moment, her expression not revealing how she was reacting to that question.
“Well, no,” she finally admitted. “I guess I’m not okay with that. This was kind of an exception. I could see in your thoughts how horny you were, and I wanted to take care of you, so you could get your mind off Heidi.”
I sighed. “Well, it worked,” I realized. “Pretty much the moment I was in your mouth, you were all I could think about.”
She kissed me again, an obvious smile on her lips. “Good,” she whispered.
“I really am sorry.”
“Forgiven,” she replied simply. “And I’m glad you had a great orgasm. It was kind of fun having you be so rough.” She began rubbing my chest with her fingertips, her eyes unfocusing as she stared past me. “I think I’m going to need you to take control like that again sometime soon. Like, maybe a rough wake-up call – you can just open my mouth when I’m still asleep and shove it in.”
The Sacrificial Love of an Immortal Page 15