Wind Runner: The Complete Collection

by Edmund Hughes

  “I disagree completely,” he said. “Now come here. We still have time to have some fun.”

  Malcolm reached out, pulling Rose against him. She felt soft and perfect, and lust surged through his loins. He kissed her, but she kept her lips flat against his.

  And then suddenly, he was on the floor, knocked back a half dozen feet by one of Rose’s shadow assisted pushes. It was just dark enough outside to leave apartment partially in shadow, strengthening her powers.

  “You have no idea what it’s like to be a monster,” said Rose, in a cold voice. “What it means to feel corrupted all the time, addicted to using your powers.”

  She reached out with tendrils of shadow and lifted Malcolm up, holding him with all four limbs outstretched.

  “Then tell me,” he said. “Or show me, if you can.”

  “Show you?” She let out a mocking laugh. “I’ve been trying to keep you from seeing it, Malcolm. Making a fool of myself to maintain, just so I could keep using you for another day.”

  …What?

  Her words were like cold water on the flames of his manic state. He suddenly didn’t care about flying, or playing with the wind, or anything other than what Rose had just said.

  “Malcolm…” said Rose, her voice turning poisonous. “Why do you think you’re still alive right now? You’ve been sharing your apartment with an evil, dangerous spryte for the past couple of days…”

  “Rose…” Malcolm shook his head. The intensity of the conversation had done something to her. Her eyes were darkened, the whites pushed out by deep black, and shadows clung to her body like veils.

  “Do you think I spared you because I cared about you?” asked Rose. “Or because I just enjoyed the sex that much? Does that seem likely to you?”

  Malcolm summoned the wind, trying to knock her off balance. She anchored herself in place, unmovable against even his fiercest attack. She slowly drew him in closer, pulling the tendrils toward her until Malcolm was hanging from his bonds directly in front of her.

  “You’re my little champion,” whispered Rose. “My inside man. My shield against field champions, willing to lie and obfuscate to throw them off my trail. And you won’t be able to do that if you lose their trust.”

  “I… don’t believe you,” said Malcolm.

  “Good,” said Rose. “That means you’re learning. I’d have thought the champions would have a clear policy against trusting sprytes.”

  She held him just inches away from her. Malcolm stared into her eyes and saw only blackness staring back at him. The room was charged with emotion, but not in the way he would have expected. Rose’s body language was open and easy, almost as though…

  Wait… Her focus activity. It’s been almost a full day… She’s losing control!

  “Rose!” said Malcolm. “Hold on! You have to fight against it! You’re losing touch!”

  “I’m more in touch with myself than I have been in a long time,” said Rose. She kept him in the same position. Malcolm saw the chance he had, and took it.

  “Really…?” He whispered the word, leaning in and letting his breath tickle her neck. “Rose…”

  She shivered slightly, and Malcolm slowly brought his lips up to hers. He didn’t kiss her immediately, instead letting the tension build until it was about to explode. His lips brushed against hers…

  And the door slammed open. Tapestry was suddenly in the room, launching a vicious front kick into Rose’s chest and pulling Malcolm back.

  “No!” he shouted.

  “You…!” Rose pulled herself back to her feet, darkness swirling around her as though she’d opened a gateway to a dimension without light.

  “Malcolm, get behind me!” shouted Tapestry. She had her gun out, and was taking aim.

  Rose launched one of her tendrils directly at Tapestry. Tapestry fired, the sound of it deafening to Malcolm’s ears. He summoned the wind, trying to defuse the situation by keeping the two of them distracted.

  He looked over at Rose, and she made eye contact with him for a moment. Her eyes were, for an instant, back to normal. There were tears in them. Rose blinked, and the darkness took hold again. She threw the full force of her shadow power at Malcolm and Tapestry, not attacking or killing, but demonstrating.

  Tendrils of shadow surged by him, coming within inches of his face and neck. Tapestry was still trying to take aim at Rose, but she couldn’t see, let alone manage to hold her arm steady to get a shot off.

  Malcolm heard the sound of a window shattering, and then she was gone. Her aura of darkness followed behind her, and so did he. He sprinted toward the opening, summoning the wind and preparing to leap outside to follow her.

  “Malcolm!” Tapestry pulled him back from the window and wrestled him down to the ground. “Are you insane? You’re going to get yourself killed!”

  I can’t lose her. Not like this…

  “No!” Malcolm struggled, trying to push Tapestry off. She was straddling him, and pinned his arms to the floor with surprising strength. He bucked his hips, trying to throw her loose.

  “Malcolm!” Tapestry slapped him hard across the face, stunning him. Malcolm stopped fighting against her, leaning his head back against the floor. He closed his eyes and let out a slow, shaky breath.

  CHAPTER 34

  Tapestry moved through his apartment like a professional, taking stock of the situation. She locked and bolted the front door and found a piece of cardboard in Malcolm’s closet to put in place of the broken window. She took out Malcolm’s phone while he was still on the ground, and after muttering to herself for a minute about how to get it working, managed to play some of his music for him.

  “This is partially my fault,” said Tapestry. “I knew that your stabilizer had taken damage in the explosion. I just thought that it would be better to wait until we could replace it without Multi having to know.”

  “It’s not your fault,” said Malcolm. “I let myself go off the deep end. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  He ran his hands through his hair, feeling more annoyed with himself than he ever had before in his life. Not only had he come close to losing control, he’d also triggered Rose and scared her off in the process. And this time, he didn’t think she was coming back.

  I am so fucking stupid. She was trying to do better, to not give in to her spryte side. And I went and messed it all up.

  “Hey,” said Tapestry. She sat down next to him on the couch. “It’s okay. You’re still you, Malcolm. Nothing’s changed.”

  She reached over and squeezed his hand. Malcolm looked over and saw the concern on her face. He was glad she was there.

  “Thanks,” he said. “Have Multi or Morph gotten in touch with you?”

  “I told them that we were calling off the search for tonight,” said Tapestry. “We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

  She’d found a broom in his closet, and was sweeping the floor in front of the window. Malcolm watched her work, contemplating what to do next.

  I can’t find Rose if she doesn’t want to be found. And if she meant what she said… about using me… maybe I shouldn’t bother worrying about her.

  “Malcolm.” Tapestry emptied the dustpan in the garbage can and walked back over to him. “I know you’re still recovering from all you’ve been through today, but I have to ask. Why was there a spryte in your apartment?”

  Malcolm gave a slow shrug. He didn’t have to lie to her this time.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  He didn’t know, honestly, how things had ended up the way they had with Rose. Had he just been naïve and foolishly hopeful to think that she could coexist with him? Or had it been hormones, the fact that she was beautiful and open to his advances?

  He looked up and saw that Tapestry was still watching him, waiting for something more. Malcolm gave her an apologetic smile and leaned back on the couch, wanting nothing more than to sleep, while knowing that he probably wouldn’t be able to.

  “I already texted Melani
e to let her know that I’m here,” said Tapestry. “I’ll stay with you tonight, Malcolm. In case anything else happens.”

  “Thanks.” He smiled at her. “I appreciate it, Aubrey.”

  Malcolm choosing to use her real name had an interesting effect on her. Tapestry blinked a couple times and then smiled, a very slight blush rising to the surface in her cheeks.

  “I can cook dinner, if you want,” she said. “And if you don’t mind, dessert, too. I need to do some baking.”

  “Be my guest,” said Malcolm. “Though I can’t promise I have all that much for you to work with.”

  He sat with her in the kitchen while she worked. It felt strange watching someone new pulling out pans and rifling through his fridge.

  “I feel like a child,” said Malcolm. “Sorry for making you baby me like this.”

  Tapestry smiled at him.

  “Don’t be,” she said. “You’ve been a champion for what? Three days? It took me a year to really come into myself after I got my powers.”

  Malcom let his eyes linger on hers for a moment.

  “Tell me about it,” he said. “Really. I want to hear.”

  Tapestry seemed to consider it for a moment before giving a slow nod. She looked so young, and yet her expression held so much depth and maturity.

  “It was like waking up from a dream,” she said. “I’m not sure how else to explain it. I wasn’t fully lucid for the last, well, decade or so, before I discovered my gift.”

  “Wow…” said Malcolm. “That must have been really hard.”

  Tapestry shrugged.

  “Not for me,” she said. “For the people around me, I’m sure it was. For Melanie, and her brother Miles, and her mother, who was my granddaughter…”

  Her expression grew forlorn, and she turned back to cooking dinner.

  “Melanie told me that… they were killed,” said Malcolm. “That you lost most of your family in a demon attack.”

  Tapestry nodded.

  “Some kind of earthquake demon,” she said. “Destroyed a bridge. Killed hundreds of people stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.”

  I’m just drudging up her bad memories. Maybe I shouldn’t ask anymore…

  “I wanted revenge too, Malcolm,” said Tapestry. “Eventually… I realized that it’s not something that will change anything. It won’t bring anyone back.”

  He didn’t say anything to that. While he didn’t disagree with her, Malcolm wasn’t prepared to give up on his vengeance, especially not with how close he was to it.

  “There’s more to life than fighting,” continued Tapestry. “That’s the most important lesson I’ve learned since getting my powers.”

  Malcolm walked over to the counter, standing next to Tapestry as she split her attention between the chicken sizzling in the pan and a bowl of cookie dough.

  “Is there, though?” he asked. “I feel like I was given my powers to change the world. To make it better for people. Assuming I was given them for a reason.”

  She smiled knowingly at him.

  “I think there is,” she said. “I don’t embrace my religion as much as I used to, but I still believe. Everything happens for a reason, Malcolm.”

  She turned a spoon over in the cookie dough. Her eyes had a faraway look to them, and it captivated Malcolm’s attention.

  “Those first few months after I got my powers were deeply spiritual for me,” said Tapestry. “Did… Melanie tell you much about them?”

  “She said something about you aging backward,” he said.

  Tapestry nodded.

  “I probably lost about a year each day. Nobody had any idea what was going on. I didn’t think it was going to stop until I… well, passed the 98th day and went back to the time before I was born.”

  “Jesus…”

  “Melanie was there with me,” said Tapestry. “Encouraging me. Supporting me. Caring about me, even when she couldn’t understand what I was going through, or how it was going to end.”

  The food was almost done. Tapestry turned the burners off, shifting her full attention back to Malcolm. He stared at her, sensing how much she cared about him and feeling a little exposed.

  “You were alone before this started,” said Tapestry. “Weren’t you?”

  The question caught him a little off guard. Malcolm chewed his lower lip, glancing down at the floor.

  “I guess,” he said. “I don’t know. I never really felt like I needed anyone else.”

  “You can trust me, Malcolm. To be here, with you.”

  She stepped in closer to him, pulling him into a hug. Her body felt so soft against his. Her figure was petite, and there was something ironically girlish about it.

  “I do trust you,” he said.

  Malcolm kept her against him, even as they pulled back slightly. He let his hand slide up her cheek. The air between them pulsed with the tension of the moment. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.

  CHAPTER 35

  Tapestry looked completely and utterly caught off guard.

  “You just kissed me,” she said, almost making it sound like a question.

  “I did.” Malcolm smiled, and went in for another.

  She held up a hand, pressing it to his lips. She kept it there for a second, and then slowly let it drop, allowing his lips through. He kissed her again, and felt her kiss back. It went on for longer this time, but again, she pulled back.

  “I’m old enough to be your-”

  Malcolm kissed her again before she could finish. Tapestry let out a soft, slow moan as he ran his hand down her back, pulling her more tightly against him.

  “You’re young again, Aubrey,” he said. “And when you’re young, certain things just… happen.”

  Malcolm groped at her butt and pushed his crotch forward. He was incredibly turned on, and suddenly felt as though he needed to have her. He tried not to think about whether it was out of a true attraction to Tapestry, or a need to fill the hole of losing Rose. He could think about that later.

  “You’re…” Tapestry slid her hand between his legs, her expression shifting to shock as she felt his hard bulge. “Already? We just started kissing?”

  “Have you forgotten what young men are like?” asked Malcolm. “You should take it as a compliment.”

  “Malcolm!” she said, sounding offended by his tone, if not his words.

  “Tapestry,” he replied. “Aubrey.”

  He gave her a deep, passionate kiss, lifting one of her legs so he could grind his hardness into her crotch. Tapestry was wearing jeans, and he lets his fingers play over the button and zipper.

  “We’re coworkers,” whispered Tapestry. Malcolm kissed her neck, and she let out a tiny, pleased moan.

  “We’re all alone,” he whispered. “In my apartment.”

  He groped at her breasts. They were on the small side, but each a solid handful, and very perky. Tapestry bucked her hips forward against him. It was all the encouragement he needed.

  Malcolm spun Tapestry around and bent her over the counter. He unzipped her jeans and pulled them down roughly, and then almost burst out laughing.

  “Interesting choice,” he said, eyeing the very modest, old fashioned pair of panties she had on.

  She glared at him over her shoulder, blushing furiously.

  “I suppose if you don’t like them, you should just… take them off me.”

  “With pleasure.” Malcolm slid his fingers into the waistband, teasing her for a couple of seconds before sliding them down. Tapestry’s butt was amazing, and he had to take a couple of seconds to pull his jaw up off the floor before doing anything else.

  “Malcolm,” she said. “This feels…”

  “How does it feel?” Malcolm had his jeans and boxers down. He pulled her legs open a little wider from behind, pushing the tip of his erection into position.

  Tapestry shivered.

  “Well?” asked Malcolm, sliding into her slowly. “How does it feel?”

  Tapestry either couldn’t
answer, or didn’t want to. She leaned her head forward against the counter. Malcolm slid in deeper, running one hand through her hair while the other groped at her breasts.

  She was tight, almost painfully so, but she was also wet and ready for him. Malcolm slowly started pumping into her, feeling her butt jiggle slightly with each thrust. Tapestry’s body was lean and athletic, and it made it all that much more pleasurable and active.

  “Oh god, Malcolm!” she moaned. “Oh…”

  He built up a rhythm, keeping her pinned as he unleashed the onslaught of his tool. Tapestry braced herself against the counter, pushing back. She only had on a t-shirt, and it made her look like a slutty college student, bending over to let a frat bro have his way with her.

  Malcolm pulled back a little too far and missed her hole on a forward thrust. Tapestry rubbed his leg and spun around, kissing him and making an adorable attempt to go on the offensive. Malcolm let her control the pace for a second, cupping her cheek and kissing her gently, and then grabbed her by the thighs and lifted her into the air.

  “Oh!” cried Tapestry.

  She was small enough for Malcolm get inside while holding her, but that wasn’t what he had in mind. He carried her into the living room, and the two of them collapsed onto the couch, Tapestry underneath him.

  It only took a second for him to get going again, and then they were moving together. The pace of it was faster this time, Tapestry bucking her hips to meet his thrusts. She draped her arms over his neck and buried her head against his shoulder, squealing as Malcolm ruthlessly pounded her.

  “Oh god!” Tapestry let out a couple of shaky, quick breaths, and had one of the cutest orgasms Malcolm had ever seen.

  He slowed down, slowly sliding his rod in and out of her tight hole. It almost felt like she was stroking him off, but wetter and hotter. He went slow, giving her a break, and after a minute of edging himself up, he reached his limit.

  “Aubrey,” he moaned. “Mmm…”

  He wanted to pull out and do the sensible thing, but it didn’t happen in time. Tapestry had recovered enough from her orgasm to make an annoyed face, but it was halfhearted. Malcolm luxuriated in the pleasure, embracing her with his tool still inside, the two lying together on the tiny couch.