The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4)

by Kurtis Eckstein

  It seemed as if her allowing me in her personal space was a pretty big deal.

  6: Tension

  Freya Rosetti

  April 10, 2735 – Current Day – Late Morning

  Freya stared in disbelief at Lily’s smooth skin on her forearm, still unable to accept that this was really happening. That this was real. She and Lily were in the bedroom, a knife in Freya’s hand, her fingers grasping her best friend’s wrist.

  “Freya,” Lily finally whined. “Is it really necessary to keep doing this?”

  “That last time really didn’t hurt as much?” Freya asked seriously.

  “Well, yeah, of course it hurt.”

  “But you were able to tolerate it?” she continued.

  Lily took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yeah, it hurt, but I could handle more.”

  Freya nodded, holding up the knife again. “One more time then.” However, rather than harming her friend, she waited – as she’d always done, all her life. She waited for her permission.

  Lily took another few breaths before sucking in a deep one and holding it. “Go ahead,” she said through her teeth.

  Freya had been very careful previously, but this time she really wanted to know how much Lily could handle. “Okay, just remember to say stop if you want me to stop. If you just say ouch or something, I’ll keep going.”

  “I know,” Lily whispered.

  Freya pressed the razor-sharp edge to Lily’s smooth pale skin and began putting pressure, digging it deep into her flesh.

  “Ouch! Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!” Lily hissed, only for her eyes to flutter and her to begin to stumble.

  Freya quickly reached out to catch her with her free arm, easing her onto the bed.

  “Are you alright?” she asked seriously.

  Lily groaned, now lying on her side on the latex sheets, holding up her arm to look at the small amount of blood over a nonexistent cut. “Yeah, I could handle more. I just got dizzy.”

  “Then let’s do it one more time, with you laying down.”

  “Freya,” Lily whined. “I think I’m really done.”

  They were both silent for a few seconds.

  The vampiric beauty then sighed heavily and got up, going into the bathroom to rinse off the knife, only to leave it on the counter as she returned to the bedroom. Carefully crawling into bed, she laid down next to Lily, her expression almost sad.

  “What’s wrong?” Lily wondered, turning toward her.

  Freya just shook her head, feeling shaken by the implications.

  Lily reached out to touch her shoulder, gently rubbing up and down her arm. She then smiled gently. “Want to clean up the mess you made?” she asked playfully. “And then after that, I probably need to eat too. I’m really hungry now.”

  Freya looked at her in surprise, before smiling warmly. “Sure,” she agreed, reaching out for Lily’s arm so she could begin licking the small amount of blood off. At the same time, she began prodding at Lily’s ribs, sending her into a fit of giggles from the sensation.

  Yet, despite Freya’s attempt to cheer herself up listening to the sound of Lily laughing from being tickled, she still felt shaken. Lily could heal now – that was enough to flip her world upside down on its own. In fact, that alone would affect her, because it changed everything.

  But if Lily somehow had Sam’s power, then what might this mean for him?

  ❖ ❖ ❖

  Sam Archer

  April 10, 2735 – Current Day – Late Morning

  Despite the fact that Lexi grabbed my arm, and made the guys gawk by doing so, she didn’t hold on long, letting go the moment we passed the two guys up, gesturing to the others around the table.

  “This here is Yosef,” she said, pointing to a guy with tan skin, black hair, and brown eyes. “He can create an invisible wall that he basically uses as a shield.”

  “What’s up?” the guy said as a simple greeting, gesturing with his fork before taking another bite of cake from the small paper plate he was holding.

  “And this is Jack,” she continued, gesturing to a guy with blonde hair and gray eyes. “He’s one example of a Cinderblock, strong and durable.”

  “And proud to be one,” he said with a grin. “We’re the core of the CDS. Can’t have a proper building without a solid foundation.”

  The guy next to Jack, a dude with dark skin and short curly hair, automatically nodded at me, speaking up in a deep voice. “And I’m Tyrone. I can see and manipulate certain forms of radiation, like x-rays, microwaves, and normal light.”

  Lexi nodded. “We work together a lot. Usually, if I can give him a good idea of where the enemy is located, then he can blind them from a distance. It can help reduce casualties.”

  “Blind them?” I repeated.

  Instantly, the world went dark, and with Liz’s shield still around, filling the whole building and beyond, my second-sight was blurry. Otherwise I would have been fine.

  Instead, I was far from fine.

  My claustrophobia began rearing its ugly head in full force.

  My hand shot out, grabbing Lexi’s arm in a near panic.

  “Stop!” she yelled at him, the moment she realized what was going on.

  Just as fast as the world disappeared, it reappeared. And much to my surprise, Tyrone seemed sincerely concerned. I quickly tried to collect myself, my heart still racing. Lexi had her hand on my wrist, prompting me to loosen my grip on her arm in case I was hurting her, but still keeping a hold on her.

  “Sorry man,” he said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “Didn’t think it’d freak you out that much. I can basically just block the light waves from entering your eyes. Most people just assume the lights went out.”

  The problem was, the lights never went out for me. Even in the dark, my second-sight let me see. I could only nod in response, trying to respond verbally, when unexpectedly someone opened a door to our right, an office space clearly visible through the doorway.

  A tall guy with a lean muscular build, as well as black hair and green eyes, took one look in our direction, only to go from calm to enraged in half a second.

  “What in the hell do you think you’re doing grabbing onto Lexi like that?” he snapped, his face turning red.

  My eyes widened in surprise, glancing down at her questioningly, only for her to snap right back at him, sounding just as pissed.

  “It’s none of your business, Radley . If I didn’t want him to touch me, then I would have zapped him.”

  The guy looked even more pissed.

  Now, part of me wanted to be an ass and let go of Lexi briefly so I could wrap my arm around her shoulders. But the truth was, she wasn’t my woman, and I was physically fine now, my panic having calmed down. Not to mention, while this guy obviously seemed to have some kind of unrequested overprotectiveness going on, I could totally understand him being upset that some random stranger was holding Lexi’s arm how I was. Because, superficially, it didn’t look friendly.

  Shit, if I saw some guy at my old office holding onto Nancy like this, one of the women I used to work with, I’d probably assume the worst and speak up too.

  Thus, I let go, prompting a disappointed look from Lexi, as if she wanted me to stake a claim.

  Surprisingly, Tyrone took up my defense. “Hey man, chill out. He just freaked out a little when I turned out the lights without warning.”

  Radley scoffed, ignoring him. “So, you’re the new hotshot, huh? Just what we need, another prick who thinks he’s invincible.”

  I tried not to smile, with Lexi rolling her eyes again, angling toward me as she introduced him with an annoyed tone. “This is Radley. He’s a Cinderblock, but also has Mathematical Intuition, which has the practical application of making him one of the best shots alive.”

  Oh great, so a nerd then.

  A super nerd.

  “Damn straight,” he scoffed in response to Lexi’s comment, puffing out his chest a little. “I wield the heaviest rifle ever designed. The kick alone
would probably break your shoulder and throw you back twenty feet.”

  Yep, definitely a nerd.

  “He’s also an arrogant asshole,” Lexi added, only to glare at him. “And you don’t even know what his superpowers are,” she added.

  Radley’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I bet I’m stronger than him.”

  His statement was ironic, because I was physically much more muscular, but it also wasn’t entirely baseless. Because people with super-strength or super-speed often had muscles that were different physiologically than those without, thus causing their abilities to not correlate directly with physical size.

  My friend Nick was the perfect example, though he was an extreme case, being extremely short and scrawny while also being one of the most powerful men alive in terms of strength.

  “So,” I finally said to Lexi without responding to the guy, deciding not to get into a proverbial size match with him. “What’s next?”

  “Still want to check out my personal office?” she asked a little too suggestively.

  Damn Lexi, did you want me to have to put this guy in his place? Was that something you needed from me? Because there was no way in hell he was going to let that one slide. And sure enough…

  “Are you shitting me right now?!” Radley snapped. “You’re going to let him in your office?!”

  Clearly I was missing something here. Were people not allowed to step foot in her office?

  Her purple eyes narrowed, full of disdain. “Considering my sister and I have been living with him for the last six months, yeah. I think I will. And either way, it’s none of your business,” she added with contempt.

  The guy looked like he was going to literally explode, his face bright red. And Lexi was totally exaggerating by saying they’d been living with us for six months. Sure, they’d been around a ton, but they hadn’t been fully living with us until only about a month ago.

  Well, really, it’d only been like three weeks, but that wasn’t the point.

  Clearly , it was time for me to stake my claim. Or at least point out that this asshole didn’t have one.

  “Okay, what in the hell is going on here?” I asked seriously, causing Lexi to suddenly look mortified, as if she was terrified I was going to make her look like a fool by contradicting her. “Last I heard, Lexi was single, and she was dating a different guy for three years before that. So who in the hell do you think you are , trying to control what she does with her life?”

  Lexi’s embarrassment immediately shifted to eternal appreciation.

  “Son of a–”

  I cut him off. “So who in the hell do you think you are?!” I repeated. “Because even if you’re an ‘ex’ or something, I at least know one thing for sure – she hasn’t been with you for a minimum of four years. And from what I can tell, she has no intentions on ever being with you in the future. And if you’re not even an ‘ex’ then you really have no right to be dictating what she does, not that you get a say even if you are.”

  He immediately smacked his fist into his palm, the noise so loud, it was almost deafening, like the literal crack of thunder from a lightning strike. His tone was infuriated, dripping with violence. “That’s enough shit out of you. Let’s go. Right now.”

  “Go ahead,” I offered with a shrug, not even planning on trying to block him.

  He did, without hesitation, rushing for me, drawing back his arm and swinging with all his might straight for my face.

  Only for…his hand to stop in midair.

  And I wasn’t even doing anything – not even using my astral limbs.

  This was all Liz’s doing, her shield passively preventing violence.

  I just grinned at him, his confused look immediately shifting to rage. He dropped his arm and tried to strike again, this time with an uppercut, and then again when that didn’t work, only to come up short each time.

  Which did tell me one important thing about his strength – the fact that he couldn’t make contact meant that he wasn’t even close to being as strong as Freya, whose punches Liz couldn’t fully hold back from this distance. Granted, he probably was sincerely stronger than I was, since I didn’t have super-strength, but there was no way in hell he was anything close to being top-tier.

  I finally sighed, acting like I was bored, only to wrap my arm around Lexi’s shoulders and pull her close. “So this is acceptable behavior at work?” I wondered in a mockingly apathetic tone.

  “Oh, no. Not at all,” she agreed with mock concern, wrapping her arms around my waist. “He could totally get written up for trying to attack you.”

  I could tell she was loving every second of this.

  I finally focused on Radley again when he stopped trying to hit me, both because of Lexi’s sudden proximity, combined with her answer to my question. At least he wasn’t a woman beater. However, now his hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his lean muscle bulging.

  “Look,” I said evenly. “I’ll be honest with you. I’m not Lexi’s boyfriend, and I have no more say over what she does with her life than anyone else. But neither do you. If she wants to invite me, or anyone else, into her office, that’s her decision to make. Not yours, or mine, for that matter.”

  Lexi looked disappointed again, but I didn’t want to set the wrong precedent here. It wasn’t that Radley didn’t get a say because I was staking my own claim, or because my decisions trumped his.

  No. He didn’t get a say because she didn’t belong to him, period , whether she chose to be with someone else or not.

  The guy’s face was so red, I was sure he was going to pop a vein. It looked like he was beyond speech at this point.

  “She’s not mine,” I emphasized, trying to diffuse any impression that I was taking her away from him, even while holding her slightly tighter. “But she’s not yours either, so back off and leave her alone. Your behavior is entirely inappropriate on multiple levels.”

  When he didn’t budge or otherwise respond, I finally gave Lexi a light squeeze.

  “Let’s go,” I said simply.

  She nodded, holding me tighter around the waist as we began walking past him.

  Unexpectedly, the moment he was behind us, he whipped around with a wild kick, aiming for the middle of my back, just below Lexi’s arms. It was a kick that might break a normal person’s back, and permanently paralyze them. Even with my second-sight being blurry, I definitely saw it coming.

  And I was done with his shit.

  Even as Liz’s shield halted his attack, I grabbed him by the throat with an astral limb and yanked him off his feet like a ragdoll, holding him high into the air. Of course, I wasn’t strangling him, but he still began clawing around his throat in an attempt to grab whatever had him.

  “Sam,” Lexi whispered in concern, likely worried about me getting in trouble.

  But I was already dropping him, only wanting to make a point, with him surprisingly landing on his feet with the grace of a cat.

  Nope. I wasn’t about to have that.

  Shoving one astral projection behind his feet, I used another to shove his chest, knocking him hard on his ass.

  “Let’s get one thing straight,” I snapped, looking over my shoulder at him, and knocking him down again when he tried to get up. “I realize that you’re probably just not thinking straight because you’re irrationally pissed, even though I’ve made it clear Lexi and I aren’t dating, and I don’t have any claim on her.” My expression darkened. “However, I suggest you take a moment to cool down, because you do not want me as your enemy.”

  “Go to hell!” he finally yelled in outrage.

  Everyone else was just standing back in complete and total shock, with Yosef having frozen in place with a piece of cake halfway to his mouth.

  I shrugged, knocking Radley down again when he tried to stand, before giving Lexi a slight tug and heading for the exit where the guy had come from. Opening the door with an astral limb, I followed her into the large office space, with her expression unexpectedly becoming somber
as she quickly led me across the room.

  The area was massive, being like a copy of the lounge area, except full of cubicles. Glancing to my right, I assumed the doorway at the other end led to the same hall we’d used to enter the breakroom.

  However, Lexi’s destination wasn’t one of the desks, but instead a closed door with her name on it, as well as a legitimate warning sign saying ‘Danger, keep out’ on the other side. I barely caught a glimpse of several handfuls of people peeking their heads at us, before she was tugging me in the room and closing the door behind us.

  And damn, what a door it was.

  I’d never seen anything like it. There wasn’t a lock as far as I could tell, but it was thick as hell, and made of a material that seemed similar to what Lily’s house was built out of. The moment we were inside, she plopped down in an extremely comfy looking chair, and put her head in her hands, groaning quietly.

  Her office wasn’t huge by any means, possibly only the size of a small bedroom, but it was a really nice space. Her metal desk actually seemed to be bolted to the floor, almost as if it was designed to be grounded, and her three widescreen monitors were elevated about half a foot above her workspace, hung on a wall mount, with an extra layer of thick plastic encasing them.

  There were also a couple of heavy-duty tablets lying on the desk, one normal-sized while the other was five times bigger, with no signs of paper documents anywhere. The mouse and keyboard seemed normal, but were both wireless. She also had fake plants in the corner, as well as a massive poster-sized picture of a sunset on a beach on one wall, along with a tropical rainforest on another.

  Above her monitors was a motivational poster of footprints on the beach, coupled with a simple phrase.

  ‘A journey begins and ends with a single step.’

  Since there was no other seating available, only confirming this was normally a Lexi-only space, I decided to sit next to her on the desk. Without hesitation, she leaned forward, grabbing at my clothing as she pulled her head into my lap.