Accelerant

by Katelyn Beckett

  The quiver crept up from his stomach, along his chest, and ended in a tremble at the top of his spine. He sank down onto the bed with me, cradled my cheek in one massive hand and kissed me like I was something delicate, worried he was going to break me. It was so kind, so pure, that it felt filthy to moan into it. But I couldn't help myself. Edwin was busy down below, wiggling the tip of his tongue against me, driving me to a height I was sure to fall from.

  I tried to concentrate. My hands were stuck, my lower body already occupied. I nestled his neck. "You'll have to get your pants off yourself, but..."

  He got the message, though he seemed like it was a difficult choice whether to leave the bed or not. Once more, he stood and shucked his pants one leg at a time; just proof that we really all do it the same way. His boxers held a bulge that gave me a hell of a lot of hope. He'd been listening at the door. He knew what was going on, or he had some idea of it. That thick, hopeful part of him had known exactly what he was walking into.

  Adam hooked his thumbs in the edges of his boxers and slid them down far enough. My head snaked forward, licking the head of a cock that was at least seven or eight inches long. He wasn't as thick as a coke can; nobody is, but there was plenty there to make me really be aware of where my teeth were as I swirled my tongue over his head.

  His hands were free, the bastard. Fingers curling in my hair, he was careful not to drag on me but I could feel the tension in his arms. He wanted to. It was a natural response. I clenched my fists, wanting to pull him closer or grab Edwin's head and grind against it. My boys were in control and I had to trust that they were willing to take things to the level I needed.

  His head rolled back on his shoulders as inch after inch slid past my lips. It was difficult not to do the same when the tip of Edwin's tongue pressed into me, exploring, forever looking for new ways to make me pitch and whimper. A throaty moan escaped me when that tongue was replaced with fingers, finding the promised land of my g-spot again. I dug my heels into his shoulders and tried to remember to bob my head along Adam's length as Edwin took me closer to that place of no return.

  "Cassie, Jesus Christ," Adam breathed.

  I ran my tongue up his underside, bobbing a little lower this time. Hard, pulsing, how long had been out there listening to us? I slowed to make him wait for it, looking up at him and trying not to smile. His gaze rolled back down to me and his eyes narrowed. He got the message and his hips gave an insistent jerk to prove it.

  Edwin's teeth grazed my clit, making me yank my head off Adam to gasp. Another chuckle answered me as I tried to concentrate long enough to guide my head back to helping Adam along.

  But Edwin was relentless. He knew I was close, so desperately close. I squirmed, my feet crawling up onto his shoulders and rubbing my knees together. I gave Adam another lick, two, three, then sucked him back into my mouth. I was a chorus of moans, using his cock to quiet me down so the rest of the building wasn't aware of what was happening in the lab. I bucked and twisted, my mind lost as I sucked for everything I was worth.

  I was blind to everything other than the wonderful boiling in the pit of my stomach, the promise that I was about to reach nirvana and never leave it again. Edwin never paused, hitting that precious spot deep within me on every perfect downstroke of his fingers and-

  The orgasm knocked me for a loop. It was the most powerful thing I'd experienced and yet, I was aware. Every nerve ending sought the heat that fried my mind but screamed for the peace of cold, begging for winter, all at the same time. My body was full of light, of something shimmering and fleeting, that feeling of fulfillment that so many reach for and yet never obtain.

  When I came back, Adam was as close as I had been; closer. He swelled, filling my mouth with his steel-hard length as I bobbed my head to and fro along it. There was a question in his eyes, a worry that I'd shame him or turn him away. Instead, I slid down the entire length and buried my nose in the soft, short hair at his root.

  I swallowed him down. Every last drop, every inch, and held my breath.

  Superheroing has its benefits. Learning to hold your breath and not choke on it, in case you were trapped in a sinking car or whatever?

  Yeah. Adam was reaping the benefits of that.

  When he withdrew, he had to put a hand on the wall to keep himself standing. Edwin moved away from me and gently tapped Adam's shoulder. When Adam turned, Edwin walked the step between them, wrapped his arms around his waist and drew him into a kiss that... wow.

  Adam was clearly surprised. Then he realized; realized he was tasting me on Edwin's lips, Edwin and me, together, something that was an impossibility and... I squirmed a little as I watched. I hadn't thought that would be a turn-on but...

  Yeah.

  Wow.

  When they parted, I looked up at Edwin and crooked my finger at him. He only shook his head. "Later. Another day. How're you feeling?"

  "Clear-headed. Sane. ...Like I could go for round two, really, after watching that kiss. Wow."

  "Mm. We're just discovering all sorts of things today," Edwin said, irony in his voice. "Adam? Can you get her all tucked in? We'll wait for an hour or two, and if she's still got control of herself, we can let her loose. If she's all right with that?"

  "Cassie is just fine with whatever you want to do with these handcuffs, Edwin," I said. "But I guess I should probably have a shirt on."

  "Wham, bam, and you're out?" Adam accused, hitching his boxers back up.

  Edwin waved the accusation away. "I'm going to get us a bottle of wine. We're going to watch television. I'll keep an eye on the computer, but I don't think we'll be disturbed. And, like I said, if she manages to keep things under control, I'll let her go in a little bit."

  "And while we do that, I can fill you both in on what I know," I said.

  Adam paused and frowned as he reached for his pants. "Anything that'll help us shut this situation down pretty quick? Did Allison maybe say where she was taking everyone?"

  I searched my mind for an answer and shook my head. "No. But I have a good idea of what's left to her disposal. My aunt and uncle aren't the richest people in town, compared to the rest of the family. And there are only so many Clark family holdings she would be allowed to sneak into for something like this. She's got enough up her sleeve to make things difficult but I have... a hunch."

  Edwin headed out as Adam got me dressed again, decent in case someone came rolling in to Edwin's bedroom for whatever reason. I tugged at the handcuff, just to make sure it hadn't all been a dream.

  The handcuff ouched.

  Chapter 14

  "But I loved you," Melody said.

  My heart broke for her. Allison was in her cell. Melody shrieked, shattering the wall beside her into a cloud of dust as she was jammed with a taser again and again. I didn't know where Allison had gotten a police-grade stick taser like that and probably didn't want to.

  I ran my fingers over my bruised ribs. I'd been the target a mere half hour ago, but I was glad to be left alone. For the moment. Lexi hid in the corner of her cell, trembling and knowing she was next. I watched her for a time, trying to keep Isabella's screams from my ears.

  It didn't work.

  Wherever we were, there was something in the air that inhibited our powers. I could barely light a candle. Lexi was practically on the ground. And Isabella? The fact that she only cracked the stone and sent dust everywhere should have said something. The thing was, it didn't feel like the same type of inhibitor that Allison had been using before. Wherever it was that we'd been.

  "Please, please, stop!" Melody cried. "I don't know. Allison, I don't know. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

  The pop-snap sound of the taser came again and I couldn't bear it. I knew that pain too well. "Leave her the fuck alone!"

  "You run your fucking mouth again and I come back in there," Allison snarled.

  I'm not proud to say it but I hesitated. I burned, and not in the way I was so well acquainted with. Every part of me hurt in one way or another. Wheth
er it'd been Allison laying the boots to me or deciding she was going to maul me with the taser, no one wants to keep experiencing pain. You get tired of it, even when you're supposed to be the shining example of never getting tired of anything. You get sick. You puke all over yourself and you end up on the ground trying to figure out which way is up.

  And it sucks. It really, really sucks. We're there for the people who need someone to rescue them from the evil bumps in the night.

  They aren't there for us.

  But then Izzy screamed again, that terrible pop came again, and I knew I had to do something more than just stand there and let her get fried. "She said she doesn't know. Ask somebody else."

  "What did I just tell you?"

  Allison wrenched out of the cell, slamming it shut behind her. I inhaled sharply and stepped to the back of my cell, watching her come in. Hell with it, I took a swing at her head, feinted, and drove my elbow up and at her chin instead. She didn't expect it and the connection was the sweetest thing I'd felt in a long time.

  She staggered, I followed her. I got cocky too fast. I went to sweep her legs out from under her and didn't realize she already knew what I was about to do. Allison turned into me, caught her hip in my groin, and grabbed me by the throat. Then, she lifted me off my feet.

  "I don't know what games you're playing, Ardent," Allison said. "But you need to find somewhere else to play them."

  Did you know, it's better not to cling to someone's hands when they're holding you off the ground? It's true. It's better to rabbit punch that sucker in the face so they let you go faster. I balled up my fist, wreathed it with the pathetic flames I could summon, and popped her one right in her ugly mug. The fire shattered across her eyes and she tore away from me, dropping me on the ground.

  There, I gasped for what little air I could get. This was going to hurt worse than I'd thought it would. Allison seemed to be a few tacos short of a party pack. I felt her coming, knew the strike was going to happen, but I wasn't able to defend myself against it. The shoe struck the center of my sternum and smacked me onto my back. I grunted and reached for the bed, hoping to drag myself beneath it. The seconds it would take her to crawl under and grab me would be enough for me to gather some form of defense, even if it was a slap to her worthless face.

  The world around me got fuzzy around the edges. I snarled, biting the inside of my lip. The world shot back into clear view. Pain was one way to fight the Dream, I was beginning to realize. It sucked, but if it kept Allison out of my head, that was all that mattered.

  Another blast of the Dream hit me when I wasn't ready for it. Somewhere. I was somewhere else. Cassie and I were holding hands. We were so young, maybe 14 or so. We were at a theme park; not Disney or Universal-tier, but the type where you need to watch your wallet when you walk out of it. Probably a Six Flags.

  She dragged me off toward one of the rollercoasters. The Firebolt. She pointed at the name, winked at me, and towed me inside. I followed her, amused. Two fire-oriented things belonged together, didn't they? That was why we were together. I was the actual flame. She was the fieriest person I'd ever met. And if one of us burned, the other wanted to be right there alongside.

  We rode the coaster. Up, down, through a corkscrew. It was wonderful. When she got scared, she clung to me like a second skin. When I got scared, I screamed right along with her.

  "No," I gritted. "It's a memory. Just a memory. There's nothing real about this. We were at that park years ago."

  Something shuddered under us. The coaster's car came around a bend too fast, whipping another car off the track behind us. The people in it shrieked as they careened to their deaths, a hundred feet below. Still, our car sped up.

  I chewed a hole on the inside of my cheek, bracing for the impact of the brakes or smashing through the station. It never came. Nothing came. Again, I was left in the inky blackness of the absence of the Dream. It was a world between, something that I didn't really understand. It felt like a staging ground, like somewhere that hadn't really come to be yet but that would one day be something I couldn't turn my head away from.

  "If you didn't fight me, this wouldn't be anywhere near as hard. It wouldn't be anywhere near as hard for any of you," Allison said.

  Sighing, I sat up in the In-Between. "If I didn't fight you, I wouldn't be who I am. And you wouldn't want me under your control as bad as you do."

  "That's a very good point for someone whose unconscious body is laying on my floor. It wouldn't take much for me to stand on your throat until your heart gave out, Nishelle."

  "Your heart doesn't give out. Your brain goes dead from lack of oxygen," I told her, even in this horrible, critical place unable to be anything but a stickler for facts. Then I added, sweet as I could, "Is that what happened to you?"

  There was a growl and a flash of lightning within the place I dwelled. Storm clouds gathered in the horizon; if there was such a thing where I was. "You keep toying with me."

  "I'm keeping you off Isabella. There's no reason to do that to her. She says she doesn't know. If she did, she'd have told you when you were dating. We're all shit at keeping secrets," I snapped. "Tearing her up now doesn't get you the info you want. None of us knows the passcodes other than Edwin, and he'd kill himself before he gave you full access to the database."

  Then I paused and frowned. "Besides, you're a Psychic. Why don't you just rip them out of his head?"

  "The Alliance is talented at keeping such things from happening. You don't understand because you aren't one of us. There are limits to what we can do when others are under the influence of other Psychics."

  Oh? Time to milk her for all she was worth. "But you can put me and Cassie and the others under if you want to, despite the protections granted to us. Sounds like you're just too weak."

  That was the wrong thing to say. I flinched as more lightning struck. It was getting closer to me. "I'm far from weak, but tampering with certain protections sets off... an alarm, so to say. If I dove too deep with Edwin, others would know. And they could stop me."

  "If there's someone related to the Alliance who could stop you, why aren't they? Why let you run rampant?"

  She chuckled and I knew the questioning was over. "You're quick, for a throwaway suit. Most of you non-Psychics aren't worth training. You, though. I chose well to take you for so long."

  "You stole years of my life. And one day, hopefully very soon, I intend to talk to you about that."

  She laughed at me again and I wanted nothing more than to smash her face into the ground over and over again. I wondered if that was how this had all started. I didn't remember dying. I didn't know what had happened to me and only bits and pieces were popping up in my mind from the way I'd spent the last few years. Had I attacked her? Had I gone in search of Cassie? Or had I just done what I'd been told and been a good little robot?

  More than that, how had Scribe missed that a random Pyro had shown up? I didn't think Scribe was a problem; or the problem in this instance. But I didn't understand how I'd been cleared to run off to another Alliance building when, surely, someone would have known I was me.

  Was our security that lax? Our standards that... flexible? If that was true, we were more like a weakly arranged joke than we were the organization I'd always believed in.

  Allison didn't say anything else to me for a time. I let my mind wander, trying to use the Dream to connect what I'd done. Without access to the internet or newspapers, it was hard for me to find out anything about myself. During the brief time I'd been free, I'd found out that there were dozens of conspiracy theorists who thought that Ardent and Ember were the same person.

  Well, score one for the little guys. They'd been right on with that.

  I just wanted to know what I'd done or what I hadn't done. I wanted to know what I was guilty of, what I could have saved, what I'd missed. It was the standard sort of thing anyone would worry about, but it was hard to reconcile. Had I really been that person behind the mask? Did it count if it was just you
r body and you weren't really present for it?

  Cassie was the kind of person who liked questions like that, not me. I wanted answers, she wanted to get all philosophical and play mind games. I supposed it came naturally to her, Psychic or not. She'd grown up around people who communicated in word and telepathy, surely things got weird back at the Clark household.

  Not that I knew. I'd never met her parents. She'd never met mine. It seemed like a fair trade.

  I rubbed my forehead and looked at the darkness around me, wondering when I'd be released this time. If I'd be released. Had this bee where I'd been kept, except for those few times I'd woken up in housefires and whatnot? I didn't know. It was like I'd been erased, despite the world knowing I was still in it.

  Sighing, I sat down on the ground and waited.