Accelerant

by Katelyn Beckett

  "Got it. Heading up now."

  There was silence for a few too many minutes. I poked the button. "Guys?"

  "Edwin, you guys are the best."

  Cassie's voice came through on Adam's coms device loud and clear. I hesitated. It could be an entirely innocent incident. Maybe. "Creed?"

  "Yeah, I'm here. I've got Cassie. Nate? You find anybody down there?"

  "It's empty. Whoever was down here took the other girls and fled. Cassie? You all right?"

  Again, Cassie's voice came through the speaker. "I'm fine. I'm just tired. Dreamweaver ran off hours ago. I didn't have the chance to stop her. She's got everybody. Just, everybody. Nishelle, Izzy, Lexi..."

  Her voice drifted off again. I got out of the car and watched as a trio of shadows exited the back of the house. The trees swayed as they made their way through them. Were we really going to get away clean? Sure, we'd missed out on saving the rest of them, but at least we'd gotten Cassie away from our new villain's grasp.

  She was being carried by Creed, no surprise there. He seemed to like having her slung over his arms like that. Exhausted, bloodied, her hair a mess, she got the entire back seat to herself. Adam sat up front with me, and Nate climbed into the trunk as a cat and flattened himself in the back so we wouldn't get pulled over by some well-meaning cop.

  The whole way back, Adam's hand reached back and held hers. Though she said nothing, which was incredibly not reassuring, she was absolutely still. After a while, I assumed she'd gone to sleep. I could ask her about how rough things had been and what we needed to look out for later.

  A horn blared as I turned into the Alliance building. She shot up out of her seat like she'd been fired by a cannon and launched herself out the door. Adam dove out after her but I had to run out of the car and open the trunk for Nate. He shifted into one of those jungle cats that run far too fast for human comfort and was gone.

  "Can you two still hear me?" I asked, grabbing my phone and moving my car out of the way.

  Adam huffed into his speaker. It nearly made my ears bleed. "Yeah, we're on her tail. She-"

  Something banged on the other end of the phone. Adam's huffing paused. "She just blew through a brick wall and into a restaurant."

  "Isn't that sort of a good thing? It sounds like some sort of revival of her powers."

  "Yeah, I'll let you tell the restaurant manager how great it is. He looks ready to kill me." There was another brief pause and then, "I'm so sorry, sir. She's... well, you know who she is. After the tragic loss of-... yes, yes, I know you have a business to run here, I completely understand. And rest assured, the PTB Alliance will take care of your wall for you... yes, and your time-"

  If nothing else, Melody's endless coaching had made listening to Creed do work like this a wonder. I made my way into the Alliance building and down to the lab, listening to the conversation the whole way. Somewhere toward the end of it, I heard Cassie's shocked gasp as one of the two men grabbed her. She giggled wildly, like she was on an adrenaline high, and Creed sighed.

  I put the phone down by my computer and let myself into my apartment. There, I got down on my knees and pulled a box from beneath the bed. It wasn't a sexy box on the outside; just one of those under-the-bed type totes that you get when you don't have the closet space to waste.

  But on the inside? Kink central. I'd gathered quite a collection over the years and, after a while, had become some sort of enthusiastic at keeping things interesting between the sheets. I grabbed a pair of handcuffs and latched one side to a hook set in the wall behind my bed. Then I walked back to the lab, picked up my phone, and tapped the speaker icon. "Bring her down to my room. I've got a restraint system set up."

  "You've got a what?" Adam's voice was full of disbelief.

  I settled down at the computer. "A restraint system set up for her. It's very rudimentary but it should keep her grounded. It's amazing what a little handcuff can do for someone who needs to calm down a bit."

  "Since when the hell do you have a pair of handcuffs laying around?"

  Purring, I leaned toward the computer. "Since you came into my life, big boy."

  Adam fell silent for a moment, then cleared his throat. Cassie gave a wild, musical little laugh that promised all sorts of insanity if someone would only let her go.

  I'd never seen a Blitzer turn back on when they'd had an injury like Cassie had. It was entirely possible that giggling and launching themselves through businesses were... well, perfectly normal in the least manner of which I'd use that term.

  The point remained that I wasn't certain. I hung up on Adam and Nate. Then I dialed Scribe. I didn't wait for him to answer when the phone picked up. "I think Cassie's powers are coming back in, sir. She threw herself through a wall. Like a hot knife through butter, sir."

  "You're always so full of good news, Edwin," came the tired, somewhat annoyed reply. "Keep her as calm as you can. Maybe put her in the simulator for safe keeping until she gets a handle on things again. It shouldn't take very long. Most Blitzers reset themselves in a few hours."

  "Great. Thanks," I said, and hung up. There was no reason to tire out the pleasantries if Scribe wasn't going to try to do the same.

  Creed and Savage came in as a pair. Savage had Cassie's legs while Creed carried Cassie's top half into the lab. I gently directed them into the apartment. Together, they put her on the bed. She gave me a wild, perpetually exhausted smile and wiggled her fingers in a playful greeting.

  I snapped the handcuff around her wrist and couldn't help but wish the other two men weren't in the room.

  Chapter 13

  The cuff chaffed my wrist, keeping me in reality. Deep down, the Dream kept trying to pull me back in. I knew why I'd been released and why I had been allowed to be saved. I was supposed to be the bait, the reason that I lead them all back to Allison. And in the end, I didn't know how much longer I could keep from doing it.

  Losing Nishelle again was like losing her for the first time. She'd clung to me as we'd been ripped apart by men I didn't know, couldn't place. That wasn't entirely surprising, tens of thousands of superheroes worked for the Alliance and, until that moment, my powers had been gone.

  Whatever Allison had done, my powers were slowly creeping back into my life. I yanked on the handcuff again and tipped my head back, letting the pain soak into my mind. Again and again, until I felt a trickle of blood coursing down my forearm. It didn't matter, so long as I kept my head where it belonged. My cousin was like poison, creeping through my veins and trying to light everything up.

  I wouldn't let her.

  Noises. So many noises outside the room, inside the room. Edwin had been kind enough to walk back in and turn on the television at some point, but much like in the Dream, I couldn't really understand what was going on. I was pretty certain it was the Princess Bride, but don't quote me on that. Instead, I concentrated on what was happening within.

  Lead the boys to a point where they'd get killed. No. Tug. Blood. Pain. Keep the boys safe, tell them what was happening and what I knew of Allison's plans. That didn't earn me a tug or any pain, that was the thing I wanted to do. That was reality, the truth beyond all truths. Another yank. No, reality was perception. But my perception wasn't really up to par at the moment.

  A sleeper agent. That's what I was. That was the word for it. I yanked the handcuff, felt it try to give under the force, and reminded myself that it was made to restrain people. Not people like me, but normals. People who didn't have to worry about anything other than where their next paycheck came from or what their wife was cooking for dinner. Normals, who spent their lives doing nothing but for themselves. And that was a welcome idea.

  Deep breath, hold it, let it out through your nose, Cassie. Try to work through it all. Concentrate on getting to Scribe, ending the whole- no. Yank. Scribe wasn't the enemy, Allison was. And I needed to get back to her to free the others. I needed to go home, talk to my parents, try to get my mind sorted out. They were both Psychics. They could do it. They
would have to do it, because I didn't know the first thing about psych-related stuff other than what I was using to keep it from taking over me.

  "Hey, you want some dinner?"

  My head twisted to stare at Edwin. I looked him over, starving for everything. Blood, money, passion, even the open-faced turkey sandwich he had on the plate. It was soaked with gravy, as were the mashed potatoes beside it. Baby carrots. Greens. I could have kissed him, or killed him, depending on which side of my mind was taking over at the moment.

  As it was, I just wanted something to eat.

  "You come over here, you're risking death by dismemberment," I warned him. "I'm not safe."

  He rolled his eyes and walked over, sitting down beside me on the bed. He popped the legs out on the little tray and sat it over my lap. "Want me to feed you?"

  "Probably better than me having a knife in my hand. I'm serious. This is dangerous."

  Edwin sighed and kissed my forehead. "Everything is dangerous. Here comes the airplane. Vrooooooom-"

  I snatched the spoon out of the air with my mouth and gulped the potatoes like I hadn't eaten in a week. And I was very nearly positive I hadn't been in my cousin's grasp that long, but who honestly knew.

  Bite after bite went down like that. When I finished the tray, he whisked it away and put it down beside the bed. "You wanna talk about it?"

  A breath left me. I leaned my head back and thought about it. Did I? I could lay there, talk to him about problems he couldn't possibly fix. Or... "I'm definitely not okay. I feel like I should strangle you and fuck you. That's nowhere near okay."

  "That's almost kinda hot."

  I looked over at him and raised both brows as high as they could go. "Come again?"

  Edwin draped himself over my legs and grinned. "Where do you think the handcuffs came from?"

  "Surplus?" I asked, looking up at the cuff that had kept me sane for... however long I'd been home.

  He chuckled. "There's a box under this bed that is most unseemly for an innocent, unassuming man like me to have."

  "You? What, really? I thought that kind of stuff was more like, in movies," I said, tugging at the cuff again. Try not to think about Edwin having more cuffs, maybe something that would really hold me back. Make me strain, writhe, squirm for him while I was busy kept thinking about other things.

  The touch of his fingertips along my belly caught my attention. I hissed, then arched as they crept higher and higher. The stress, the tension, the clusterfuck that was my life. He could make it all melt away if he decided he wanted to. Maybe he could even take my mind off of the commands I was under.

  His gaze turned to the door, then back to me. He got up, walked over, slid the tray outside, and pushed the door closed again. I heard the click of the lock and drew my knee up toward my chest, my eyes locked on him. His voice was a rich, dark coffee pouring into my veins. "Let's see if I can distract you, just a little bit."

  "I hope it's a hell of a lot more than a little bit," I whispered, watching as he stalked toward me.

  For a man that played tech support, Edwin was certainly well kept. There's the stereotype of the pale, homely nerd hiding in a bunker while he hands out orders. That wasn't him at all. Edwin didn't work out like the rest of us, but he didn't need to. A typical, easy regimen kept him lean, strong, and the sort of handsome you saw on those Hallmark movies when it started to get chilly outside.

  Edwin was a little more than the boy next door type, but he'd still caught my eye. And as he pulled his shirt off over his head, revealing abs that I could trace my tongue over, he was doing so much more than that.

  Up he came onto the bed and I shied away, teasing him. All thought of the Dream and Allison had left my mind, only to focus on the sinewy hand that slid beneath my top and crept upward. His free arm wrapped around me, drew me up against him, and our lips met with enough force to cause mine to throb.

  I curled my leg around his thigh, drawing him closer as we kissed. He pressed me into the mattress, those curious fingers finding my left nipple and pinching. I tore my head away from his and gasped, arching against him. The pleased, quiet sound he made wasn't quite a growl, but it was very close. He lowered his lips to my neck and trailed his way down to the nape of my shoulder, a place that would be hidden by my clothing, and bit.

  Was anyone outside in the lab? It didn't matter. I moaned, dug my nails into his back, and dragged them down. He shuddered against me and bit again, harder, either as encouragement or correction for raking him. Either way, he was going to leave a mark. It would be a beautiful, dark mark that I'd show off to Creed later and hope he gave me a matching set.

  Edwin peeled the shirt off of me, up and over my arms. He left it there, one arm stuck in the sleeve and the other trapped by the handcuff. I glared at him, but he only smiled and opened my front-clasping bra with his teeth.

  Yeah, that's one way to get rid of a glare from a woman. I let out a little sigh as he pushed either cup away and ran his tongue around the poor, abused nipple from before. Then he guided it into his mouth and drew on it. Overwhelming heat rushed from my feet to my stomach, unwinding something long-forgotten and long-neglected. If my arms had been free, I would have curled my fingers in his hair. Instead, I had to be happy with my nails biting into my palms.

  Dimly, I was aware of him playing with the opening of my jeans. I curled upward, trying to help him get those troublesome pants off. I felt him smile, draw his head back, and blow a little puff of air across my breast, the nipple hardening until it felt ready to pop. His hands were deft, gentle, and everything I could want. Edwin slipped my pants off my hips and let them land, gently, upon the floor just off the side of the bed.

  "You sure this is all right?" he murmured, nipping me again.

  Every sensation driving the Dream further from my thoughts, every nerve burning for more, I reached for him. My arms caught short in their shirt prison and I scowled at him. "I want to touch you, too."

  He smiled up at me and my heart did a flip-flop that I hadn't anticipated. "Later, you can touch all you want. Promise."

  Then he slid down the length of my body and dragged me with him. I ended up with my legs off the bed and him between them. My panties, adorable pale pink things with a bow on the top band, were slipped off my body slowly but surely. And then.

  And then.

  Oh, God.

  Heaven.

  Who knew that man's tongue could be so talented? My head fell back against the pillows, my eyes rolling up in my head as he went to work on me. First one finger slid into me, then another. He concentrated on gentle, slow strokes to begin with, then started to build.

  The tip of that mischievous tongue was dead set on my clit. That sensitive little bundle of nerves buzzed as Edwin did so much more than simply thrust his digits in and out. So many people don't realize that a curl of a fingertip or the stroke of your finger pad while deep within someone adds a lot more.

  My hands were busy. Fine. I curled my legs around my shoulders and placed my heel against the back of his neck. I felt him chuckle and that nearly sent me over, his laugh a welcome vibration so deep within me. Those questing fingers finally found their mark and I choked, bucking against his hand and straining toward him.

  "Ah," Edwin purred. "There we are."

  "Yeah, wow, there you are."

  Reality came to a crashing halt as I whipped my head up to stare at Adam. He looked between us, his face impossible to read. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

  He still gripped the doorknob and didn't seem to know which way to go. Was it the first time he'd seen me naked? I couldn't remember. Surely, we'd had to deal with it at some point. You get torn up when you're out in the field together. Still, I glanced at Edwin, who shrugged at me. Then I looked back at Adam and gave him a slow, dreamy smile. "You didn't. Come here. Close the door behind you."

  "I don't mind if she doesn't," Edwin added.

  The door shut with a final sort of thud and, this time, I heard the door's lock click into place.
Not just lock, like Edwin had done. I eyed him and he winked at me. Should have figured. Wasn't he always three steps ahead of me?

  Adam walked over and cleared his throat. He looked up at the clothes holding on to my wrists and reached for them. I pulled back. "It's probably better if those stay there. I'm not exactly... entirely in control at the moment."

  "We should probably do something about that," he said. Then he glanced down at Edwin. "I mean, he already is but-"

  I gave him a little smile, the color rising in my cheeks. It was something entirely different than Edwin. While he was all curling smoke and culture, Adam was soft, almost shy about these things. I slithered up to the best sit I could, my arms pulling back, and sank my teeth into the cut, stark bone that made Adam's clavicle some sort of impossible dream of manhood and strength.