Cherry Blossom Girls Box Set

by Harmon Cooper

  It was thumping rapidly now.

  “Okay, just breathe for me and let me play around a little bit longer.”

  I selected her energy ability and took a look at it.

  Main: Ergokinesis

  Overcharge: 6

  Charge Capacity: 4

  Charge Integrity: 3

  I was about to close the shadow box when I remembered that her Overcharge was at two the last time I saw it. Now it was at six.

  So, either adjusting the Restoration Speed or the Tele-Sphere Radius had increased her Overcharge, which was affecting her vitals.

  Of course, I tried to turn down Overcharge just to see if it would work, and it did not. I then turned down Charge Capacity by one point and asked her how she felt.

  Main: Ergokinesis

  Overcharge: 5

  Charge Capacity: 3

  Charge Integrity: 3

  Her eyes lit up. “That’s a lot better. What did you do?”

  “I decreased the amount of time it takes you to recharge so you can teleport larger objects. Doing so caused your Overcharge dial to increase on its own, which is akin to heating you up, from what I can tell. To fix this, I decreased your Charge Capacity, which means you won’t be able to make objects as large as you had been.”

  She considered that for a moment. “But making larger objects may be able to help us more,” she finally said.

  “I agree, and adjusting either the Charge Integrity or the Charge Capacity up could also help us, but if we do that, we have to adjust all your teleportation abilities down. Right now, those are the abilities we need to get Veronique out. That’s why I wanted this cable, so I can adjust in real time.”

  “So, can we rest now?”

  “Sure, I’m bugged out as it is. Long day, right?” I looked awkwardly around the room.

  Dorian rolled her eyes. “There’s room on the floor … or you could just rest on the bed with me.”

  “Also a good call.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Up and Away

  Dorian woke me five or six hours later. It was around two in the morning, but I felt surprisingly rejuvenated after the rest. Even though the bed wasn’t great, it was a lot better than the one in my holding cell, and hearing the faint hum from the television had actually helped me sleep better.

  Background noise, don’t leave home without it.

  “I’m going to go soon.” She stood from the bed and put her jacket on. The room was cold; the window air conditioning unit was working pretty well now.

  “Okay, let me get ready real quick.” I was in my new underwear as well, having changed into it after taking a quick shower. I liked to go to bed clean, so when I’d lain down earlier I figured I’d better scrub a dub a little bit before I actually dozed off.

  She raised an eyebrow at me. “I wasn’t aware you were going.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be going?”

  “What exactly are you going to bring to the table here?” Dorian asked as she fixed her hair. She checked to make sure her paintbrush was with her and put it in her front pocket.

  “You need a holster for that thing,” I told her.

  “A paintbrush holster?” She considered it for a moment. “That could be handy. But stop changing the subject.”

  “I can be more helpful than it seems,” I told her. “But, to be honest with you, I figured Veronique may need to feed. If anything, I am food to her.”

  “What if we run into people?”

  “I thought you were just going to appear in her room, grab her, and go.”

  “That was the plan, yes.”

  “Then I’ll go with you, and she’ll probably need to be fed, and she can drain me some. I’ve been useful in that way before, when we first rescued her.”

  “You’re going as food?” she asked skeptically. Damn, if Dorian wasn’t hot in her ribbed sweater and tight black pants, which were low cut and revealed a sliver of her midriff when she moved her hips.

  It was an incredibly stupid outfit to wear when trying to rescue someone from a military facility, says the guy who was currently wearing an Austin Ice Bats shirt.

  “Yep, I’m the food.”

  “Why do I get the feeling this is a bad idea?” She placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head at me.

  “It probably is a bad idea, but I was under the impression I would be going with you, and … Well, it’s totally your call, but I think I could be useful. I don’t know how, exactly, but … well … Yeah, I already told you how I thought I could be useful. Especially if we run into any issues. Having Veronique with some power is always helpful because she’ll probably be exhausted.”

  “Don’t make me regret this,” she said and reached out to touch my arm.

  “Wait! I’m not ready yet – I still don’t have pants on.”

  She started to laugh. “I was hoping we could surprise Veronique.”

  “She wouldn’t be surprised to see me in my undies.”

  “Why’s that? You two fuck or something?”

  “Ha! Not exactly,” I said. I slipped into my shoes and new jeans. “But that’s a long story.”

  I wasn’t apprehensive in the least to go back to the facility. And I totally should have been.

  Maybe it was the rest.

  Before I could talk any more shit, Dorian touched my arm and we flashed out of existence, reappearing in a long, dark hallway.

  My heart jumped into my throat; this was not the holding cell.

  “I thought you said …”

  Dorian’s eyes went wide.

  My stomach wasn’t as topsy-turvy as the last time we had teleported, but as we became more cognizant of the fact that we were standing in a dark hallway, it started to churn.

  A red light flashed at the end of the hall and Dorian’s paintbrush went into her mouth. A blazing circle of energy appeared as she moved her hand in the air. She held the circle of energy at the tip of her paintbrush as we walked down the hallway.

  “I swear this was it,” she whispered to me. “I even double-checked it.”

  “We should go back to the hotel,” I said, overcome with nervousness. “They must have known we were coming … this was so stupid.”

  The glass door at the end of the hallway lit up from the inside. A man moved by wearing all black armor, and before he could turn to us, Dorian put out her small beacon of blazing energy.

  We would have left right then if we hadn’t seen a plastic pod open and the man look down at Veronique’s nude body.

  “What are they keeping her in?” I asked.

  “Just follow my lead,” Dorian said, steeling herself. “There can’t be that many men in there, and if there’s just one or two …”

  She stuck her paintbrush in her mouth and pulled it out again, this time painting a man in the air. She also painted a gun, which the man took, its form three-dimensionalizing as his hand touched it.

  We stayed where we were as Dorian sent her humanized energy creation forward. As he walked, he lifted his firearm at the glass and began shooting at it.

  The glass was thick, but it didn’t take more than two shots to completely shatter, and for his next act, energy man shouldered through the glass and slammed into the security guard.

  By this point, alarms were going off, and Dorian was making another man.

  She created this one to stand guard behind us, wisps of energy licking off his body as he stood strong. As we moved toward the broken glass door, her free hand on my wrist, Dorian created a floating fireball of energy.

  We entered the room and she instantly flung the fireball into another man, who’d been waiting in ambush. He cried out as it sizzled through his body armor and burned into his skin.

  The smell of burning flesh made my stomach churn, so I returned my focus to Veronique. She was in a sarcophagus, the top part encased in glass. I could tell just by placing my hand on it that the rest of the sarcophagus was made of plastic, and I quickly searched around until I found a button that opened the top.

  �
��Veronique,” I said as the top clamshelled back.

  We heard activity in the hallway that we’d spawned in, and Dorian went to work with her paintbrush. The tailless energy wolf she’d just created tore off down the hall.

  “Get her out of there,” Dorian said, worry spreading across her face.

  “Working on it!”

  “Veronique,” I said, lightly patting her face. “Veronique, can you hear me?”

  There were some cables plugged into her neck, so I figured those needed to go. I pulled them out, and as soon as I did, she sat up violently, her eyes filling with hate.

  She gasped when she saw me and lifted her arms around my neck.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “Drain me, now,” I told her. “We need you.”

  She placed a shaky hand on my neck, and as red energy swirled around her fingertips, I began to feel weak in the knees. I stabilized myself against the sarcophagus as she continued draining my life force.

  I started to get lightheaded and was glad when she finally stopped.

  “Is everyone ready?” Dorian asked, and I heard more shouting down the hall.

  “I think we are,” I said. She placed a hand on my shoulder and her other one on Veronique’s forehead. She closed her eyes, and …

  Nothing happened.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Shit, it’s not working, it’s …”

  Veronique looked toward the door we’d busted through. There was no metal around that she could use, but soon there would be men who had metal … in the form of bullets.

  “I’ll hold them off,” she said, as she got out of the sarcophagus, nude as the day she was genetically created.

  “Good,” I said. I pulled out my smartphone.

  Dorian and I moved to the far side of the sarcophagus and I instructed her to sit. I smoothed my hand over her neck and found the port. Once I plugged in, I quickly located her teleportation stats.

  Main Second: Teleportation

  Tele-Sphere Radius: 3

  Conscious Spatial Awareness: 10

  Recharge Speed: 5

  Restoration Speed: 6

  “I’m going to crank up Restoration Speed as high as I can by turning down Recharge Speed and Tele-Sphere Radius,” I told her.

  I heard a burst of gunfire, and then I heard a man cry out as the bullets were reversed and punched through his skull. At least I assumed it was his skull; all I could see was Veronique’s naked ass in the doorway – hunched over slightly, but still in control.

  More gunfire. Dorian looked at me with true fear in her eyes and nodded.

  “Just trust me,” I said, and no, she shouldn’t have trusted me because I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. But that never stopped someone from trusting an idiot.

  I decided to crank it all the way up, and in doing so, noticed it wasn’t a one-for-one exchange as it had previously appeared to be.

  Tele-Sphere Radius: 1

  Conscious Spatial Awareness: 10

  Recharge Speed: 1

  Restoration Speed: 10

  A pulsing vein appeared on her forehead.

  “Gideon,” she said as her face turned red.

  I had confused Restoration Speed and Recharge Speed.

  Recharge Speed was the time it took her to recharge, duh. Restoration Speed was the time it took her to reform after teleporting.

  Fuck!

  In my haste, I’d gotten the two mixed around in my head. I started making quick adjustments and was able to bring Restoration Speed way down, and Recharge Speed up.

  “Whoever made these labels did a bad job,” I muttered under my breath. Or whoever is messing with them isn’t the sharpest spork at McStarbucks, I thought and saw with relief that her face had lost its redness.

  Tele-Sphere Radius: 2

  Conscious Spatial Awareness: 10

  Recharge Speed: 8

  Restoration Speed: 2

  If I was hoping for a sigh of relief from her, I wasn’t going to get it.

  The pulsing vein remained on Dorian’s forehead, and I could tell by touching her skin that she was overheating.

  I removed the cable and stuck it back in my pocket. “You think you’re ready?” I asked.

  “I … I think so,” she said as I helped her up.

  There was a short break in the gunfire and I called out to Veronique. She fell to the side, and like a hero I would never be, I actually caught her.

  Dorian put one hand on my shoulder, the other on Veronique’s head.

  We were gone in a flash.

  Chapter Twenty-Six: A Much-Needed Shower Scene

  We slowly reappeared back in the hotel room.

  I don’t really know how else to describe it other than that; our bodies reformed in slow motion. It wasn’t exactly painful, but it was weird seeing our heads take shape, and then an arm or two, then a torso or three, followed by each leg. Some Harry Potter shit.

  “Drain more,” I told Veronique, who was still in my arms.

  “I need clothes,” she said.

  “I already thought of that – and really, I had no idea you’d be kept naked, but we wanted to get some clothes anyway.”

  Dorian exhaled audibly and sat on the floor next to the bed, her knees pulled to her chest. “That was …”

  “The point is, we got out,” I said with a sigh.

  “Clothes,” Veronique repeated.

  “We’ll get you dressed in a moment, but first, you should probably drain more of my energy. You look like you’re on your last leg.” I glanced at Dorian. “And I’ll mess with your stats in a bit. Are you feeling overheated or anything?”

  She nodded, the vein pulsing on her forehead. “But, it’s getting better. I think the change you made created less Overcharge. I can’t say for certain, but I don’t feel as warm as I did back there. Still hot though.”

  Yes, you are, I thought and then felt guilty for such a stupid comeback.

  “Adrenaline probably hit you too,” I told her. One glance down and I noticed that my hand was shaking. “You aren’t the only one.”

  Veronique placed her hand on my arm. Instantly, I felt myself losing energy, to the point that I grew sleepy, the edges of my vision blurring. She was draining more than she had drained back at the military facility. I could tell in the time it took me to lay down in … Dorian’s lap?

  “Relax, Gideon,” Dorian said, her fingers pressing my eyelids down.

  My brain sparked and fizzled.

  On one hand, this was incredibly sexy, and I was still male enough to realize that. On the other hand, I was scared. And then on the third hand – because who doesn’t have three hands? – I was so weary, barely able to keep from falling asleep.

  Veronique suddenly stopped. I blinked my eyes open to see that she was sitting up and touching Dorian’s cheek.

  “Drain me,” Dorian said softly. “It’s fine.”

  Is this the start of a fucking orgy?

  A quick email exchange happened between my two heads.

  ---------------------

  Dear Gideon Caldwell’s Dick’s Brain,

  I fucking hate you sometimes. She’s just trying to be helpful. No, this isn’t the start of a threesome. You are a horny idiot.

  Love,

  Gideon Caldwell’s Actual Brain

  ---------------------

  Dear Gideon Caldwell’s Hypersensitive and Overly Concerned Snowflake Brain,

  Why do you always let your moral pedantry get in the way of me and vaginas? This could totally turn into a vampiric orgy with teleportation highlights if you’d just calm the fuck down, stop overanalyzing, and let the heavy petting begin. Touch me again, Veronique! There’s energy left down here!

  Kind Regards,

  Gideon Caldwell’s Dick’s Brain

  ---------------------

  “What’s going on?” Veronique said as she removed her hand from Dorian’s cheek. She glanced down at the tent I was pitching.

  Dorian caught wind of
it too. “Looks like there’s still some energy there.”

  “Don’t … it’s nothing! Dicks have minds of their own, as do most world leaders. Sorry, that doesn’t make any sense, but really, just keep doing what you do. Please don’t kill me!”

  Veronique placed her hand on my member and laughed. “I guess I haven’t drained you enough.”

  “Apparently not!” I said. I tried to stand, but my knees buckled and I fell forward, which hurt like a bitch when I cracked my boner on the floor.

  Shit!

  “Don’t mind me,” I mumbled as Dorian helped me up.

  “Just relax, Gideon,” she said. “You’ve done enough for tonight.”

  “What about you? Are you overheating?”

  She sighed. “I think I’ll be fine.”

  “No, just … let me handle that first.”

  Weak as I was, and partially guided by Veronique’s helping hand while ignoring my raging hard-on, I plugged into Dorian and adjusted her Teleportation Recharge Speed down so it looked like:

  Tele-Sphere Radius: 3

  Conscious Spatial Awareness: 10

  Speed: 5

  Restoration Speed: 6

  I checked to make sure her Overcharge had also gone down, but I really didn’t need to; as soon as I dialed the Speed down her face lightened and she started to breathe more easily.

  “Now relax,” she said as she helped me to the bed.

  I’m pretty sure they ended up watching more fucking home and garden shows after that. Then again, there’s no telling. I was out.

  Fade to black. Literally.

  It only took another second of Veronique’s touch to completely put me out. I was trapped in utter blackness, swimming through an endless pool of dark crimson, my mind moving forward toward a bright light.

  The light seemed so familiar, so warm, so real.

  As I swam closer to it, I watched it begin to change into Grace, starting with her long blonde hair and quickly forming her face and voluptuous, soft features.

  “Grace!” I called out to it.

  But I was too late, it was now too far away. Something was pulling me backward, deeper into the cool water.

  I awoke in a cold sweat.

  It was morning now, and I was lying on the bed between Dorian and Veronique, both of whom were cuddling me in some way. Veronique had put on the Willie Nelson shirt and a pair of panties. Dorian was in her thong and black bra, tattoos covering her arms.