by Candy Crum
“Thank God!” I said.
“What… the…” The teacher’s words fell off as she lost all thought process. I couldn’t imagine what might be swimming in her head right then.
“Everyone get on the floor!” Wendy called out.
I didn’t hesitate. The teacher and I grabbed the standing students and shoved them to the floor. We had no idea what was about to happen, but I wasn’t about to question it. Once I was down, I looked up to see Wendy move one of her outstretched hands in front of her. With nothing more than the flick of her wrist, a huge blast of energy exploded forth, blowing a massive hole in the exterior wall.
Rubble began to fall all around, but it was deflected by a barrier surrounding us.
Holy shit, was the only thing that I could think. The amount of power that woman had was nothing shy of incredible. How?
“Tristan!” Wendy called out.
I turned my head to see my biological father jump across some of the downed brick and concrete to get inside. The smoke cleared enough that I saw Cass rushing in as well. I jumped to my feet to help them carry the kids out and get them to safety. Once they were out, I saw Wendy walk forward, step across the rubble to stand on the ground outside, and then drop her hands. The floor inside toppled down, dust and debris flying into the air as it did.
“I’m so fucking happy to see you,” I said.
Wendy smiled. “Got another trip in you?”
“I do, but listen. The building has gotten out of control. The firefighters are under strict orders not to do anything else. One of them even went so far as to pass along a friendly little message. I should have died when I had the chance. If I had any sense, I’d stay dead this time.”
Tristan’s eyes flashed red, though his expression didn’t change aside for some furrowed brows He was angry.
“They are spraying water, but not where it’s needed. They are only keeping up appearances,” I said.
“I’ll take care of them,” Tristan said.
“Go easy, Tristan,” I said. “At least one of them helped me when he was under orders not to. At least one of them is good.”
Tristan nodded before walking off toward the crowd and the firefighters. Several men ran toward him to stop his approach, but Tristan had other plans. His aura flared, and the humans around him seemed to lose focus. Damn, I envied that gift.
“Mia,” Wendy said. “Your father has control of them. He’ll get us help from the outside. We need to go back in.” She turned to Cass. “If I control the flames, do you think you could help?”
“If you can control the flames, why don’t you just put the fire out?” I asked.
Wendy frowned. “I would love to, but I can’t. I certainly have the power to, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, but I can’t. It would be obvious that the fire went out by non-human means. There are already several people here today that will be able to say they witnessed some less than normal things.”
“Well, it was a fire caused by a drug lab explosion,” I said.
She gave a soft smile. “And that’s why we have to be gentle. Too little, they die. Too much and they will know they saw something not related to being stoned by that terrible crap they made in there.”
“Can you heal them as we pull them? Make sure they don’t have brain damage?” I asked.
Wendy nodded. “Yes. Let’s go to the second floor. The first floor has been cleared.”
We ran back in through the front. Wendy was able to force the fire into submission wherever we went. When we found students, Wendy would touch them just before Cass and I picked them up. Then, he and I would run them out and come back for more. There were about thirty students with five adults that we did that for before the building was cleared. Once cleared, we made our way out, and Wendy allowed the fire to resume.
The hoses outside were on full blast, and I knew that was thanks to Tristan. We made our way around to the side of the building, and Andrews soon found us. He handed my phone back to me, and I paused. I reached for it, but my body didn’t seem to want to cooperate. Suddenly, I felt exhausted and weak. I didn’t feel well at all.
“Tristan?” I said, just as everything went black around me.
Chapter Four
My eyes slowly opened, and the small amount of ambient light around the room blinded me. I groaned and rolled over, burying my face in a pillow. Wait… Pillow?
“What… the…” I mumbled, my voice coming out a whisper.
I pushed with all I had, and all I was trying to do was lift myself onto my elbow on my side. My body felt like it had had the hell beat out of it. I felt bruised and exhausted, like I’d been working out for days on end.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I heard Andrews say as he ran into the room. He sat something on the table next to the bed before sitting by my side, helping me up. “Don’t try to get up on your own. You passed out pretty hard.”
“What the hell happened?” I asked.
“You used a lot of energy. Too much. It was too much for you, and you ended up lasting only as long as your adrenaline did.”
“Well—I feel like shit, man.” I grunted and fell back on my back, the lower part of me still twisted on my side. “Jesus. This sucks. I can’t even move. Wanna give me a hand here, hot chocolate?”
Andrews laughed slightly before pushing my hips the rest of the way over.
“I brought you something to drink,” he said. “It might help you feel better.”
I shook my head. “Unless it’s amber colored and burns like fire going down, it’s probably not gonna help much. Not unless you have some Vicodin around here somewhere.”
“No,” he said, his voice regretful. “I don’t. I’m sorry.”
“Where is everyone?”
“Cass had to get out of there. He really doesn’t like fire much. Can’t say that I blame him, given he’s a tad bit flammable. Wendy went to work on the victims, and Tristan wanted to stick around to get some answers. They told me to take you back to my house, and they’d pick you up later.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but was stopped by intense coughing. My entire body felt like it was on fire, and I could still feel the effects of the drugs in the smoke. I didn’t know exactly how long something like that could last while burning at the heat and speed that it was, but it was apparently a long time. Made me wonder just how much was in there.
Andrews ran to get a cool washcloth, so he could wipe my face. It felt so good, and so did the touch of his hand. My skin was so sensitive that it felt like the cloth was scraping me, but the temperature and wetness made up for it.
“I feel like I’m dying,” I said before coughing some more. “All that smoke. All those drugs. That was too much. My body was working overtime to filter all that. At the same time, I was using my abilities to sense out living people. I could actually see them through the floors. It was like thermal readings or something. Once I realized I could do it, I never stopped. Then the compulsion. I was able to do it on several of the kids at once. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline, or if it was that they were too young to fight me, but either way. It worked. Tristan was right. I used far too much energy.”
“Just relax. Don’t worry about talking right now.”
I could see the worry on his face. His brows furrowed, his lips pursed in a straight line. It warmed me that he cared that much.
“What do you need?” he asked. “If you need pain meds, I can probably find some. I’ve been hurt on the job enough times. I bet I can find something around here.”
I shook my head. “Thank you, but I was only joking. My body just burned off a hell of a lot of only God knows what. If I took anything like that, I think I’d burn it off just the same, and it would only serve to make me weaker and feel worse. I think I’m going to have to ride this out.” I sighed and closed my eyes. I felt worse by the second.
Andrews lifted my hand into one of his, squeezing it a bit. “There’s one thing that can help.”
I looked over and saw the look on his
face. He was concerned. Far too concerned for his own good. Sure, I made jokes about him all the time, but I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t hurt him.
“No,” I said. “Not like this.”
“Don’t, Mia. It’s not that bad. Don’t think of it like that.”
“I don’t have the energy to fight you, Andrews. Just… no. You know I think you’re gorgeous. I’ve never been shy about it. I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you, but not like this. Not because you feel forced.”
“I don’t feel forced. I want to. Please, let me help you.”
He was making it hard for me. I was starving and in a great deal of pain. I needed to feed. More than anything, I needed to feed. That, however, just seemed wrong to me.
“That’s the problem. You want this because you want to help me. Because you’re a good guy. Not because you want me. Please, don’t argue anymore. I don’t have the strength. I need to get some more sleep. But thank you for being willing to give yourself to me like that.” I smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.
He truly was a beautiful man. His dark skin was quite a contrast to my own, even with my tan. His skin was flawless, and his eyes never failed to stun me. Everything about him was breathtaking, but I just couldn’t do it.
“Kiss me,” he said. He fully climbed on the bed then, his legs on either side of mine, and his hands on either side of my head, keeping him up enough that he didn’t lay on me. “Kiss me once. You have the power to look into someone’s mind. Look through mine. You might be surprised just what you find in there. Just once. If you still don’t believe me, I’ll leave you to rest. If you say no now, I’ll respect your wishes and let you rest. Just give me one chance to help you.”
He said he’d leave me be if I said no again… but I was curious. I wanted to know what I’d find in his mind—if I even had to power to do that again. Before, I had been furious when I’d done it, and certainly not weak.
I lifted my right hand and placed it on the side of his face. “You’re sure about this?”
He nodded. “I am.”
I pulled Andrews down to me. He was careful to lower only his face, keeping the rest of his body elevated off me. He was quite the gentleman, even in the current situation. His full lips pressed against mine, and I immediately felt his essence come alive. I could sense his arousal, and his mind quickly opened to me. It seemed that I was a natural at some things.
I didn’t like to look around in the minds of others, but he’d asked me to, and I was a bit more than curious to know how he felt. To seal the connection, I pulled some of his energy through the kiss and the contact that I had with the bare skin on his face through my hand. Flashes of him watching me as I walked, smiling at my smile, and losing his train of thought while looking in my eyes flooding my mind. He’d wanted me for a while, but he was too much of a gentleman to say so. He was professional and didn’t want to take advantage of the friendship that we had.
I could feel some of his emotions come through as he remembered things. He really trusted me. He admired my strength. When he’d called me that day, he’d hoped that I’d be able to save even one life. He had no idea that I would be able to do what I did. Granted, it all nearly fell apart just before Wendy got there, but he didn’t hold that against me. He looked at me now like a superhero of sorts, even though I was far less powerful than the others that were with us earlier. It meant a lot to me.
What meant more was that his need to help heal me was truly organic. It wasn’t only lust that drove him—meaning; he wasn’t just trying to find a way into my pants. He truly felt like he owed me after what I’d done for him, finding his niece and then pulling the kids out of the fire. He felt like he should repay me in some way. That was what I’d feared, that he only wanted to be with me at that moment as a sense of duty and repayment.
That wasn’t all, though.
He did want me. He enjoyed it when I called him pet names. He liked it when I flirted with him. It made him feel desired, wanted. Something he hadn’t felt in a long while. He wanted to pleasure me, not only for my health, but for selfish reasons as well. He wanted to touch me because it would bring him pleasure to do so.
I deepened the kiss then, pulling just enough energy from him that I could have the strength to move. I didn’t want to drain him by any means. I’d only been with a single human since my transformation, and I needed a babysitter. Though, I definitely held my own, if I do say so myself.
Some of my energy returned, and I rolled, pinning Andrews beneath me. I held his wrists in mine and kissed his face and neck. He smelled incredible. I wanted to bite him—so I did. It made me slightly envious that I couldn’t bite like a Vampire could. It seemed like it would be so sexy to be on the giving end of a bite.
“You should have told me sooner,” I said. “I would have gladly taken you up on it.”
Andrews smiled. “I know you would have. I just didn’t want you to think badly of me. Like I was only after you because of what you are. I kinda like you for other things, too.”
“I saw that. Kind of hot actually.”
I saw up then, pulling off my shirt as I rose. Once that was gone, I pulled the bra off, too.
“Wow,” he said, his face going slack. “You are beautiful.”
He sat up, wrapping his arms around my waist before placing a single kiss on each of my collar bones. With a gentle shove, he pushed me on my back before moving to pull off my other clothes.
“We should shower,” I said. “I know I must smell terrible after the day.”
“Actually, I already showered. I think I have a better idea,” he said.
He stood and lifted me in his arms before carrying my naked self to the bathroom that was located in his room. He sat me on the edge of a large tub and ran bathwater. Before long, the tub was full of bubbles, soft towels were waiting on the rack, and he was pulling my hair back and tying it up for me.
Though I didn’t really need it at that point—because of the little bit of energy I’d taken from him—he helped me into the tub. The water was hot. My skin was still overly sensitive, and I could feel every bubble as it popped against me. It felt nice.
“Just relax,” he said. “I’ll take care of everything.”
Andrews sat on the back of the tub, on the beautiful stone ledge that surrounded the porcelain, sliding his legs in the water. He placed his hands on my shoulders and began to massage them. My head fell backward, and a moan escaped me. God, it felt amazing. He was excellent with his hands. He spent a very long time rubbing my back and shoulders, moving across my body and then down.
Soon, he slid in the tub behind me, his legs on either side of my body. My breath quickened as I realized that he was only wearing a pair of boxer briefs. He moved his hands across my stomach, then up to my breasts. My body was hot from the water and his touch. I wanted him.
I turned my head and reached back, pulling his face closer to me. I kissed him, the heat between us increasing. He pulled me onto his lap, and I felt the hardness pressing against me. My body began to ache and throb all over. The pain from earlier was coming back with a vengeance to let me know that I needed to move faster. Any other time, there would be plenty of time for foreplay, but right then, I wasn’t interested.
Reaching behind me, I fumbled with the only fabric that separated us. He lifted me, and I gasped as I felt him brush against me. My Succubus energy flared as he sheathed himself inside me. The bond was instant, and I felt my anxious body wanting to pull. I was surprised at the violent need that grew inside of me. My instincts were telling me to pull and not to stop. If I wasn’t careful, I could kill him.
Every move that he made only seemed to make me more and more ravenous. I tried to keep control, only absorbing a small amount of his energy, but the closer I got to climax, the harder it became.
“We… have… to stop,” I managed to blurt out between breaths. It was difficult to speak, even more difficult to form words. “I might… hurt you.”
“You’re unbelie
vable,” he said. “You feel far too good to hurt me.”
He reached forward and grabbed hold of my breasts, his fingers brushing across my nipples as he did. I screamed as I forced myself down—hard. An orgasm ripped its way through me, and the switch that I had hold of broke. I felt the energy flood through me, healing my aching muscles, lungs, and the migraine that I was fighting. My mind was screaming to stop, but I couldn’t. It was too late. The Succubus part of me had total control, and I couldn’t stop.
Everything shifted quickly as I was yanked out of the tub. A robe was slung around me, and I felt enraged that I’d been taken away from Andrews. I pulled and fought to get away from whoever had hold of me, but they were strong. I heard growling, and deep down, I knew that it was me. It was me making those terrible noises.
“Mia!”
Someone screamed my name, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was Andrews. I wanted him. Wanted more. I wasn’t done.
Pain seized me then. I heard screams, and just like the growls a moment before, I realized that they were mine. They became louder and louder with every increasing jolt of pain. My brain felt like exploding, and my blood felt like it was on fire. The fight in me was dwindling by the moment as the more “Mia” part of me came forward. And she… wasn’t… happy.
My pain tolerance dropped significantly as the arousal disappeared in its entirety. My face became wet as I felt the tears begin to flow.
“Please!” I screamed. “Make it stop!”
I couldn’t handle any more. All of the pain I’d felt when I’d died my human death, when I was later shot, none of it compared in the least to what I felt right then at that moment.
Then…
It all stopped.
All of it. There was just nothing. My screams silenced, and I heard the sound of water sloshing around. I opened my eyes and blinked away the tears. They were blurry, but I could see them dragging Andrews out of the tub. A sheet flew out of nowhere, and Tristan covered him before he leaned over—and kissed him. Tristan kissed Andrews.