Arch Rivals (Super Hero Academy Book 2)

by Simon Archer

  I ran my hands down her sides, enjoying the feel of her under my fingers before settling my grip on her hips. Each of the women in my life was distinct and perfect in their own unique way. Andie was lithe and athletic, Kara shorter with broad shoulders and wide hips, while Aylin was something else entirely. Almost as tall as I was, she was a statuesque beauty with voluptuous breasts that strained at the constraints of her uniform as she stared up at me.

  “No,” I answered at last, “but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that they had a hand in this.” I smiled softly as I basked in her closeness. “But I’ll deal with them later. Right now, the night is ours, Aylin Aijal, and while I know one thing we’re doing before the night’s out, the rest, well, is up to you. My goal is to make this the happiest night of your life here on Terra.”

  I meant every word of that, and the expression that passed over Aylin’s face was divine. Her charming smile mixed with a pulse of light through her markings, a swirl of white light that passed through her body like a heartbeat.

  “Though my ultimate intentions may have been obfuscated for the benefit of social mores,” Aylin began slowly, “I was not entirely dishonest, Starlight.” Her smile grew wistful as her eyes turned up further, toward the ceiling of the room. “On my home planet, during the better times, I was a princess who wanted for nothing. I have seen glorious things, flown up to the top of the Yori Tower to gave over the golden domes of Isilor, wined and dined with the richest merchants and courtiers of our land.”

  Aylin’s half-lidded eyes drifted back to mine. “So, here, in this new world, a world that brought me you, my yodanu, I do not want some extravagant party or to seek out some grand sight by which to consummate our love. I simply wish to experience the every day, to feel the heart of Terra from the ground down.”

  “I think you mean ground up,” I corrected with a chuckle.

  She flushed hotter at that. “Oh, yes, of course. I thought that did not make much sense when I said it…”

  “It’s okay,” I soothed before kissing her on the forehead. “And I get it. I really do.” I stepped back, taking her hand in mine as I led the way towards the door. “I mean, as much as I hate to look at it that way, after Mom died and Dad, well, became Lord Inferno, he raised me to be, well, his little Lord, for lack of better words. Though it doesn’t sound as awesome as what you just said, he still did everything in his power to shower me with gifts, to make sure I only experienced what he thought the ‘best’ was.”

  As we talked, I kept leading the way out through the bowels of the arena to a side exit. Maybe we’d get lucky and avoid the press that way.

  “Again, it would seem as if our stories are very much the same, Starlight,” Aylin observed. “We walk the same trails through the stars, do we not?”

  I smiled at the imagery and nodded. “Yes, and you never need to be afraid of walking them alone ever again. You always… always… have a place with me… with us.” I shot her a wink. “After all, with me, you get a package deal, and let me tell you now, you’ll find that you will never want for love and support with Andie, Kara, and me.”

  Aylin’s eyes watered as she smiled. “This would make me very happy, Starlight. It has been so long since I have belonged.”

  We stopped before the door to the parking lot, and I turned to face her, cupping that perfect cheek as I thumbed the tear of joy away. “You don’t know how happy that makes me too, Aylin. Now… let’s go enjoy a night like any two normal average college kids. How about pizza and beer?”

  “Oh, that sounds very normal, indeed!” Aylin bounced on her toes. “Then, perhaps we could watch a very substandard movie while laughing at its incompetence and inconsistencies? I do greatly enjoy your Terran movies!”

  I laughed. “I think that can be arranged.”

  With that said, I bumped the door open with my back, and we stepped out into the crisp night air of Alexandria. To my surprise and relief, we really had managed to either outwait or outwit the paparazzi, and so no one jumped out of the shadows with a vidcam or a microphone seeking an interview. There were just the pristine night sky and the array of stars twinkling down on us.

  “So,” I began as I dug into my pocket for my phone, “I was thinking we just grab the monorail down to this nice ma-and-pa pizza joint right by campus and--”

  I didn’t have a chance to finish before two strong, slender arms looped under my armpits and pulled me up into the sky. Aylin giggled with unrestrained glee as we soared ever upward, the brisk night wind in our faces as she oriented us towards Valcav.

  “As much fun as it would be to ride the train, Starlight,” she whispered, her breath hot on my ear as she held me close, “I wish to have the honor of flying you tonight. For everything you have done for me, for our team, and for everything you will do for us in the future.”

  I remembered how she had told about the time Dr. Delgado had visited Sahana, how it was considered a great honor to fly her around their planet, and it put this little moment into perspective, how much it must mean to Aylin to do this.

  “Thank you, Aylin,” I called back. “You honor me as well.” She giggled again, the sound vibrating through me as her chest was pressed against my back, a rather thrilling sensation in and of itself. “So, onward to Alfredo’s Pizza, then to the campus! We have pizza, beer, and movies ahead!”

  18

  What surprised me more than anything as we sprawled out on the floor of Aylin’s dorm room, our backs propped up against the bed as we watched the so-bad-it’s-good movie, The Condo, was how utterly normal and barren the place was. Maybe it was a combination of beer and preconceptions talking, but I had expected something fanciful and exotic, like a hyper-atmospheric sleeping pod that perfectly duplicated her home atmosphere, or a robotic attendant, or a singing crystal radio, or, well, something alien.

  Instead, the place was about as bog standard as a dorm room could be, save for a featureless case of some kind that sat on her dresser. It looked like it was made of obsidian, perfectly polished with sharp corners, but what its function was, I had no idea. Considering how much fun we were having with the movie and the food, I didn’t especially feel like asking either.

  No, my focus was Alfredo’s excellent triple pepperoni pizza, with a thin, buttery, foldable crust to let you get every delectable bit of greasy goodness into your mouth, the dark, yeasty beer we had selected at the suggestion of the pizza cook, and Aylin herself. Honestly, as much fun as it was to laugh at the utterly unintentional train wreck that The Condo was, I found that it was hard to take my eyes off the indigo-skinned beauty beside me.

  Every laugh, every smile, every sparkle of light that danced across her skin as she moved, Aylin Ajal was my passion for the night. I thought back to how Andie had wondered what it would be like to pain Aylin nude, and it brought a renewed smile to my lips.

  By the time the movie was over, the pizza was down to scraps, there were only two cans of beer left, and Aylin was laughing merrily in my arms.

  “Do you remember--” She interrupted herself with a snorting giggle. “--how Marco kept saying the word ‘kitty’ in that amusing accent?” Aylin managed to control her laughter long enough to attempt an imitation in the actor’s bizarre accent. “Oh, hai, kit-tay. How are you?”

  That was about all she could manage before she broke down again, and I joined her in a good laugh. “Well, it’s a classic for a reason,” I pointed out as I tipped her chin up towards me. “So, we’ve done all the prerequisite college kid things. We’ve had pizza, beer, and we watched a cheesy movie.” I kissed her softly on the lips, savoring that spark of energy alongside the taste of her. “Are we forgetting anything?”

  “If I am to believe your human ‘porn,’” Aylin said with a faint dusting of deep purple on her cheeks, “we are forgetting the part where we fumble out of our clothes and have sexual relations.”

  I laughed as I shook my head. “Oh, I didn’t think we would forget that, but…” I trailed my fingers up her cheek before tucking bac
k a lock of her long hair that had fallen over her face. “I thought that we could do it with more style and beauty than how you described it.”

  Her eyes lit up at that, and with Aylin, it was a literal pulse of light. “If it is beauty in lovemaking that you wish, Starlight…” Her voice trailed off, thick with need as she lifted to her feet with simple grace. “I did speak with the others… with your Sun and Moon… about,” her blush deepened, “the best ways for us to share pleasure, and I would wish to share with you something from Sahana.” She bowed her head to me, palms pressed together in front of her. “But only if you would wish it.”

  Not only was my curiosity piqued by the idea of something both intimate and alien to share with Aylin, but I also found myself already aroused at the thought of what other plans my little circle of minxes had come up with. At this point, I had to assume that most of tonight had been maneuvered into place by Andie and Kara with more than a little help from Aylin herself.

  To be honest, I couldn’t think of a better way I would want to celebrate this win.

  “I would wish that, Aylin,” I said with a firm nod as I pulled myself up by the bed. “I would wish that very much.”

  Aylin’s smile lit up the room as much as the glow that passed through her marked skin, and she turned in mid-float towards the polished box on her dresser.

  “I was not allowed to bring much with me in my exile,” she began, her voice soft and tinged with a hint of sadness. “Some of my clothes, a few odds and ends, and many memories.”

  Aylin came to a steady hover in front of her dresser as she caressed the inky black stone. “As with you, Starlight, my father intended for me to take his place, and so I was trained as any rule of my people would be. I do not know if this is true for Terra, but that also included very… intimate studies. A particular art that I learned to love is called handanu. The best way I could translate it is to call it ‘the binding of hearts.’”

  She glanced over her shoulder at me, the fire of her desire for me plain in the brightened glow of her eyes. “Though it may seem frivolous to many, when allowed one other thing from Sahana to bring with me, I chose the instruments of handanu.” She sighed softly. “Perhaps I knew somehow that I would find someone like you here.”

  “Maybe you did,” I replied as I walked up behind her. As I put my hands gently on her shoulders, she shivered with need. “But even if it wasn’t, to hold onto a tool of love, well, that only speaks to how big your heart is. When you could have taken anything, you held onto love.”

  She shifted in my grasp, turning towards me as she guided my hands into hers. “I would never have thought to put it in such a way. Your kindness is only matched by your courage, Starlight.” A smile dawned on her lips as she looked up into my eyes. “Would you allow me to show you handanu? Would you bind my heart to yours as we make love?”

  The throbbing in my pants was only matched by the desire in my heart as I answered. “Yes, Aylin, I want you to show me, and I want to bind you to me, now and forever.”

  “You should disrobe then as I prepare the rings,” she said with an almost religious reverence before turning back to the box.

  I didn’t have to be told to do something like that twice, but as I disrobed, I couldn’t help but watch Aylin. She pressed her palms into the far corners of the black case, hard enough that if she had normal human flesh, I was certain she’d have sliced her palms right open. A soft blue glow spread out from where she touched the box, and as it did so, it brought out swirling patterns in the black stone, much like Aylin’s markings. In a few moments, the light came together in the center, and the box split open without a sound, the top half of it sliding apart to reveal its contents.

  Sitting on a bed of dark velvet were a set of etched rings made out of some silvery metal. They were of various sizes, and with how they were stacked within one another, it was hard to make an exact count. From the outermost one, I could recognize the markings as Sahanan writing, but that was all. Aylin carefully lifted the stack of rings out of the case, and as she did so, the lid resealed itself.

  “These are the instruments of our binding, Starlight,” she said softly as she turned back to me… and then she shivered at the sight of my naked body. Glowing eyes traveled up and down my form as a low sigh mixed with a moan escaped her lips. “You are… more magnificent than I had imagined.”

  “Not as much as I imagine you’ll be to me, Aylin,” I responded, then nodded to the rings as I walked up to her. “How do they work? The rings, I mean.”

  Aylin came back to her senses, her eyes snapping back up to mine. “Yes, we should work swiftly before I lose myself in the moment.” She held up the rings, and now I could see there were two identical sets nested together, with each set consisting of four thicker rings that looked more like cuffs or anklets, and a fifth that resembled a torc, complete with a gap. “There are two sets, as you can see. One set of rings, the ones with the gold inlay, are for the pozu.” She bit her lip as she shifted her stance and tightened her thighs together. “The best way I can translate the word is ‘one who leads the ceremony.’ That would be you, Starlight, while the other, the pure silver ones are for the sozu, the supplicant.”

  The concept seemed fairly clear to me, and once again, I felt a rush of both desire and love that Aylin would trust me in such a way. When she held the rings out to me, I carefully took the gold-inlaid set off the top of the stack.

  “Now, wear them as you would Terran jewelry,” Aylin explained as she set her own set on top of the case. “The nanocircuits will adjust the size automatically as well as attune to your bioenergy signature. I will undress and prepare myself while you do so.”

  It was as easy as she intimated it would be. The only reason it took me any time at all to fit the handanu rings into place was the difficulty it took to pull my eyes off of Aylin as she carefully and neatly took off her uniform, from the jacket and skirt down to her surprisingly utilitarian underwear. To say that she was an exotic, magnificent beauty would be obvious, but it would also be an understatement.

  As I said before, Aylin was a statuesque woman, with long, solid lines and perhaps the most impressive breasts I had ever seen. They were large and firm without being disproportionately sized, with dusky purple nipples and areola. But what drew my eye as my gaze traveled up and down her form was the swirling patterns that swept over every inch of her skin. They formed a constant pulsing artery of life that made her purple skin a shifting canvas, each subtle ripple of energy emanating from above her heart and towards all parts of her body. As if this play of light was trying to lead my eyes, it spiraled around each of her breasts, it highlighted the flush of her cheeks, cascaded down her long legs like a waterfall, and pooled right down to the smooth core of her pelvis and right into her startlingly human-looking vagina.

  Well, that was one worry I hadn’t even thought of ahead of time out of the way. If I had any doubt before, it certainly looked to me as if humans and Sahanans were absolutely compatible… and Aylin was as wet for me as I was hard for her.

  But patience was a virtue, so I snapped the last piece, the torc, into place as Aylin busied herself doing the same. I could practically feel the heat coming off her, no doubt an expression of the power she held inside her, and from the way she trembled slightly with each motion, I knew she had to practice the same rigid control I did.

  “Now,” she said, at last, her eyes half-lidded as she looked me over, “the essence of this ritual is absolute trust between the pozu and the sozu. In this way, our love and our unity will be forged into an unbreakable binding.” Aylin touched her own torc. “The rings respond to neural impulses and your internal energy. In fact, if you weren’t, well, you, Starlight, I would not be sure if it would work… but as you have more power in you than my people, I am certain it will.”

  She took a deep breath. “In essence, the rings grant you as pozu control over the power inside me as sozu. I willingly you give you that control, over my flight, over my strength, over my light
, so as to better fit your desires in love.” Aylin hovered up a foot or so further as she spread her arms out wide and tilted her head and upper body back. It was an almost angelic pose that thrust her large breasts out proudly. “Please, pozu, take that power so that we may both fulfill our desires.”

  Oh, yes, if I wasn’t already burning with my need for Aylin, this did it. Few people, human or alien, could ever learn to turn themselves fully over to trust in another, be it a friend or a lover, and nothing aroused me more than that exchange of trust. I felt a surge inside me as the raging power I housed in my body connected to the alien rings, and even though we weren’t touching yet, I was connected to Aylin once more through those rings.

  My body stiffened as the two immense torrents of energy swirled together, as if a maelstrom danced with a hurricane inside my chest, and I clenched my hands into fists as it began to settle out. As I did so, I saw with fascination as Aylin mimed my motion, clenching her fists in time with mine.

  “Don’t worry, Aylin,” I soothed as I took a deep breath, “I will take very good care of you.”

  It was almost instinct to manipulate the rings, as it turned out, instinct born of my constant practice with my own powers, and with a slow, steady gesture with my right hand, Aylin spun slowly in the air so I could take in every bit of her majestic body, every inch of glowing art on her skin. Then I brought her close as I turned her in the back to face me.

  “I know you will, Starlight,” she whispered softly, her body trembling as the pulsing of her markings quickened. “I promise you that I will hold fast until you are pleased, pozu.”

  I licked my lips in anticipation and nodded as she came with inches of me, right so that she was floating with my head to her navel, and then I began to kiss her. With each kiss, I manipulated the rings to shift Aylin’s position so that I could show my love for every inch of her, every gorgeous part, from her forehead to her nipples, her taut stomach to her mile-long legs, ending with her pulsing core. With each worshipful kiss, I turned her again, posing her not just in stereotypical sexy poses or positions from the Book of Love, but also in imitation of classical sculptures, and in each and every way, Aylin’s beauty surpassed the original work, at least in my eyes.