Curving her flight path, Pax headed southeast back to the Americas. Hopefully, it would take Thornton a while to realize she was not on the normal path, and a while longer to locate her. Flying at her current speed, which was several times greater than before, she reached the mainland in about an hour. That was when she realized that her pursuer was still behind her. Her change in direction hadn’t dissuaded him, but she felt more at ease now that she was above the continent. She could fly down at any point and lose herself in a city.
Pax enjoyed the wind tossing around her black hair wildly. For the first time, she was grateful that she had sliced off all of her hair; it certainly made visibility easier. She wanted so much to enjoy the scenery below as she flew, but needed to concentrate on evading her hunter. This is actually kind of thrilling, she thought to herself. I like the fact that he can't catch up with me, but the longer the chase goes on… the more I start to wish he would catch me. Stupid Pax! That will only cause a huge fight, verbally and probably physically since lately you have zero control. It will just be a lot of unnecessary pain for both of you. However, fighting can be a nice way to let off steam. I always grow so much stronger and discover more of my power after a really heated emotional spat.
She didn’t quite know where she was—probably over Ecuador or Peru. As she gazed at the lush forests memories came rushing back to her. Not too long ago Thornton and Pax might have flown around the globe like this a bit more leisurely, and stopped in random countries to explore the culture, cuisine, and landscape. They would often stop to stay at a hotel or inn and make love in the most exotic possible locations—oftentimes, in the remote outdoors. They had a gigantic map on the wall at Pax’s condominium in the city where they placed thumbtacks on all the places where they’d had sex. It was a private joke they enjoyed, and they could point at a thumbtack and reminisce. They had been trying to cover as much of the globe as possible in their spare time, and it was easy when they could fly for free anywhere they wanted, both in and out of planes. Sometimes Thornton had taken Pax along on his business trips all over the world.
But nothing could compare to the greatest trip they had taken together. Shortly after Pax’s mother had died, Thornton had offered to take her along on the final test run of a Kalgren Tech spaceship. Pax had been extremely depressed and skipping most of her classes. Although Mrs. Rose Kalgren had not approved of allowing a fourteen-year-old into space due to issues with bone density, Pax could not turn down the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leave the planet’s atmosphere. She had begged Thornton to sneak her on the ship, and the summer they’d spent in space together had been the highlight of her entire life.
Thornton had probably saved her life with that gift.
There was nothing quite like floating around the planet to give a girl perspective. In later years, they had often joked that it was too bad Pax had been so young while they had been testing the ship, or they could have put thumbtacks on a map of the solar system. They had often dreamed of going back someday and making up for those lost thumbtacks. Maybe on their honeymoon. Thinking of all these memories left a taste in her mouth that could only be defined as bittersweet. She couldn't help it; her heart ached. Who's going to do all that with you now, Thornton? Who's going to make a future with you that can rival our history? Why didn't you think about what you were throwing away?
She wrangled all of her focus into the thrill of the flight; she felt the energy rushing through the channels of her body and the blood pumping through her veins. She might not be Para, but even so, there was something valuable in her ability. As she experienced the perfect natural adrenaline and endorphin high, her ego was boosted as well. I know that I'm one in a million. Heck! I'm probably the strongest girl on this planet right now, so that’s one in 6 billion-ish. Not that it's the only reason I'm special. Just nice to mention. I'm also a very good person until someone pisses me off and I explode. Find another like me, Thorn! Find someone better, someone more perfectly matched! Find her, I dare you!
His life force was growing stronger and closer. Was he really managing to catch up? She looked over her shoulder, something she knew she should never do in any race or chase, and sure enough she saw the little blip of red light in the distance. Damn. He assumed Ruby Form. That’s drastic, and I should do the same—but it will take everything out of me, and I will probably have to sleep for days! She looked behind again and he was close enough for her to make out the shape of his body. Screw it. I’m a Burnson, and I’m going to push myself to the limit. She clenched both of her fists and released a guttural scream as she altered the source of her prana, turning her normally transparent energy vibrantly red. This drove her body's output of energy dangerously close to the maximum. She nearly fell out of the sky as the heat and flame of her own insides consumed her.
Choosing to use the technique colloquially coined ‘Ruby Form’ meant willingly succumbing to a fever of a thousand degrees. This was the price one paid to exist in the heightened state of consciousness for a few minutes; it was one not many devas could afford to pay. An additional challenge was containing most of the power and heat inside the body so that one’s clothing did not burn to cinders. Only a few descendants of demigods could sustain the state, and Thornton’s father had been the one who prepared and trained Pax to withstand and master Ruby Form when she turned eighteen. He had also been the one who warned her never to use the technique unless she was desperate. Push it, Pax, push it. And she was desperate.
Why on earth is he following me? He doesn't want me; he wants to have sex with Para. And a bazillion other women. Not me. So why is he chasing me? Probably only because I'm running away. She considered trying her teleportation trick to send her body instantly back to Vincent, or possibly to her father. But she knew she would not be able to successfully accomplish the task; she was too focused on Thornton, who was exuding massive amounts of energy very nearby. She might just screw up and teleport directly beside him. She had managed to teleport to Amara that one time, but at the moment she couldn't find Amara’s life signature whatsoever… it was too weak from halfway across the world. She couldn’t concentrate enough and relax enough to teleport. The only thing to do was keep flying. For how long, though? How long until one of them ran out of energy, or until he caught her? She suddenly realized that she was no longer over South America. The landscape was all white.
Antarctica was beautiful.
What the hell! In the moment she had been distracted by the scenery, two small mountains of ice had begun barreling toward her from either side to intercept her path. She instinctively slowed down to dodge being crushed between the gigantic chunks of landscape. That was a mistake. In a second she was caught in a death-grip, with her arms held fast against her sides.
“Gotcha!” he said, laughing. The worst part was that his laugh made her want to smile too—the vigorous chase had made her body hum with excitement and energy, and her mind was calmed. She had almost forgotten the reason she’d been running away. Almost. The hurt and betrayal of the past months almost disappeared, and crushed in the vice of his arms she almost felt like nothing at all had gone wrong. Almost.
"You cheated," she mumbled into his chest as the boulders crashed into each other inches away from them.
“All’s fair, sweetheart.”
He turned his body to shield her from the shower of debris. When the crash had ended, she realized that he was being playful with her. He wasn’t allowed to do that. Not anymore. Not after what he’d done. She began struggling, but his grip was more unyielding than being the meat in an ice sandwich. She regretfully wished she had been the latter.
“Release me, Thornton. I told you to stay away.”
“It’s unreasonable to expect me to obey that command forever. I gave you time to cool down, hot stuff, and… hey! Paxie, where’s all your beautiful hair?”
“Don’t call me that,” she said, grinding her teeth together. The fact that he could restrain her while casually examining her haircut enraged her. A hig
h-pitched noise began ringing in her head. She fought to maintain control of her life force. Thornton might be comfortable in Ruby Form, but it was killing Pax.
“I need to talk to you,” he was saying when she could hear again. “This isn’t how I planned it. I was thinking of running into you ‘unexpectedly’ at the Kalgren compound. But when you took off flying, I knew that I couldn’t be casual and smooth about this. It’s now or never. Will you just listen for a moment? Don’t I deserve that much, after all these years?”
Her heartbeat began to quicken without her permission, and a little butterfly in her gut seemed to begin fluttering its wings hopefully. She immediately crushed it. She knew that it was mainly the result of his proximity: hormones and such. If I didn't have proof, hard evidence of him cheating, I would fall for this. I still might fall for this. Do I love him that much? That I’d put it behind me? No. Get a hold of yourself, Pax Burnson! Visualize and remember what you saw. In perfect clarity, she could feel her arms filled with warm paper bags holding several Styrofoam containers of takeout food. She remembered balancing the bags on her knee in order to push the buttons to his private elevator. She remembered kicking the door to his office open and seeing glimpses of a grey pinstriped blazer and red hair. And skin. Lots of creamy white skin. She remembered staring disbelievingly at the naked thighs which were wrapped around her Thorn as she crushed the takeout food in her arms.
“I can’t believe you followed me here.” Pax tried to escape again, but his grip was stronger than steel. Stronger than titanium, stronger than tungsten. The red energy still surrounded him, imbuing him with exorbitant amounts of power.
“To every corner of the omniverse, remember?”
Their sweet old jokes were suddenly sour. Her own red energy was fading fast, and she needed to break free and get away before she lost consciousness. She thrashed wildly, delivering multiple head-butts to his neck and chin, but she didn’t have enough leverage to faze him and he still held onto her securely. She tried to release fire from her hands and mouth to scald him, but his body was crushed tightly against hers and the attacks scorched her face and arms as well. While in Ruby Form, the burns could hardly be felt and she worried about causing permanent scarring. She had garnered enough scars as a result of her own recklessness. She tried to bring up her knees up against his midsection to force some space between them, but he just brought his own knee up in between hers and forced her knees to the side of his body.
This motion, a form of grappling in midair, resulted in the rough grinding of their bodies together. She could feel his warmth and hardness being mashed against her as she fought to resist his grip. She dug her teeth into her bottom lip as she fought. He was becoming aroused as they wrestled, and this in turn had the same effect on her. She could feel the clammy sweat dripping off his face, and the moisture soaking the fabric over his chest. The scent of him was too familiar to find unpleasant. Stay cool, Pax. This isn’t a game. This isn’t supposed to be fun. But she loved fighting too much that she couldn’t help but enjoy the tussle. She couldn’t help feeling a thrill from the challenge.
Pax was so focused on the specifics of combat that she forgot the reason she was trying to get away. She became lost in grunting as she slammed her kneecaps into his thighs. She became lost in the taste of him as she sunk her teeth into his jaw and carnally tried to rip the bone out of his face. She became lost in the pain as she tried to flex her shoulders backwards until she felt like her spine was going to break. She did not even notice how seamless the transition was from fighting to free herself to struggling to touch him and grow closer to him. She did not even notice when her chest began heaving with deep breaths for a different reason than exertion. She did not notice when she finally lay limply against him and clung to his waist, rubbing her lips against his neck. She was hardly surprised by his fingers entangling in her short hair, and his other hand slipping into the waistband of her jeans to rest comfortably on her bare bottom. It was too natural to fall back into this.
“Thorn,” she whispered, in a pleading voice that was more recognizable to him. Gone was her fake formal address using his full name. Gone was the stiff, standoffish façade of being a stranger. She had easily melted in his arms, just as they had both expected. Pax felt his lips against her temple, and then against her eyes. There was no need for words. Both devas could feel in the quiet humming of their once fierce red energy that they had missed each other gravely—their bodies were pining for the other’s touch. Pax’s mind was so blown, so clouded with such a fuzzy mist, that she could only think about how much she needed to remove her clothing. At the back of her mind, a thought seemed to float to the surface like a solitary message-in-a-bottle bobbing in a vast sea. The note inside was a reminder of why she could not allow herself to succumb to her lover’s charms, as much as she wanted to drown in him. As much as she wanted to feel him inside of her without delay.
I can’t believe that I still want him after all this. I am the weakest woman who ever lived, she thought in exasperation. Thorn, why do you always have an erection? Did you follow me around the globe just to torture me with that thing? I know; your penis is beautiful. It's an enchanting shade of pink and so silky to the touch. Not to mention the cute blonde curls at its base, so perfect for nuzzling. It's the fairytale cock of dreams. You're probably the only man on earth who has a beautiful penis, because frankly, penises are weird looking. I've seen plenty in the hospital, and of course they're usually injured or diseased (why else would they be showing them to me in the hospital?) but regardless of that, they're all funny and odd. I think yours would look great even if it were injured or diseased. Which it probably will be soon, if you keep up the lifestyle! Syphilis, I hope. Except for the fact that demigods are immune to infection. Damn. How could I have almost forgotten?
This has been an odd mental soliloquy. I think that keeping my energy red for this long is driving me insane. I should focus all my attention on breaking free and kicking your ass now. You cheated on me, you man-whore. Those blonde curlies were supposed to be for my eyes only. So stop pressing your junk against me!
Fueled by that thought, Pax rammed her knee up into Thornton’s groin. When he began whimpering, her lips curled deviously. A small wave of pity ran through her, but it was easily overshadowed by amusement. How does it feel to have a demigoddess in Ruby Form bust your balls?
“Cheap shot, Paxie,” he said, growling from low in his throat.
“Let me go. I’ll do it again, but harder.”
“You wouldn’t,” he said, wincing. “You enjoy the talents of Mini-Thorn far too much to unman me. Besides, if you injure me too badly you won't be able to have my babies.”
“Yeah. ’Cause in some universe, that’s still on the table.” Pax released a burst of rage-born energy she brought up her knee with full force into his groin, but he blocked her by twisting his body to use his own knee. He laughed then, hooking his legs around one of her thighs so that he had both her arms and her legs locked firmly.
“I'm sorry. That was pretty inappropriate considering the circumstances,” he admitted with a smile. “It's just the kind of thing I would have said to you a few months ago, you know?”
“I think the fact that I’m repeatedly kicking you in the balls indicates that things have significantly changed between us.”
“I’ve known you since the day you were born,” Thornton reminded her. “A short hiatus does not significantly change as much as you think.”
“No, but the reason for that hiatus does. Thorn, I swear I’ll do something drastic…”
“Everything you do is drastic. It’s what I love most about you. So quit fussing and listen to what I have to say.”
Pax snarled as she tried to yank free. She managed to slip an arm out of his hold and concentrated all of her life force into her fist, imagining that it weighed several tons and was as dense as iron before she swung to hit him in the face. She hoped that the punch would knock him out, or at least give him enough pain and shock t
o release her, but he was only momentarily dazed. He promptly re-pinned her hand firmly behind her back. She made a sound of exasperation as she channeled all her power to her knees, desperately kicking him with force that would have dented concrete. It didn’t even leave a mark. She could not imagine how furious she had previously been in order to harm him—at the moment, she could not seem to access her power. She was draining fast.
Even as her stores of energy diminished, Pax felt the delight of rivalry reviving her determination. She hated being at a stalemate, and it drove her to fight more creatively. Her legs were free, and she entangled her limbs with his, using her flexibility and strength to try and break his legs. This had always been the nature of their communication. Pax and Thornton had always been physical and aggressive with each other, and that always found its way into the other aspects of their life as well. They couldn't deny their violent deva heritage. Pax couldn’t deny that having her legs wrapped around him made her yearn for other activities.
Ugh. Bad thoughts, Pax. Bad thoughts. Get away from him! If only I were fused with Amara right now, this wouldn't be bothering me quite so much… I think. Time for a new strategy!
Pax abruptly spun around so that they were upside-down. He was strong, but she was determined and clever. If she couldn't get out of his grip with brute force… well, Antarctica was only a few thousand feet below. Pax began to fly, diving headfirst into the large icy continent, with Thornton still attached to her.
“You think smashing me into a glacier is going to help this situation?” asked Thornton loudly to be heard over the whistle of the wind as they both barreled down head first.
“Absolutely.”
The theory is this: maybe grinding both of our heads into a glacier at an extremely high speed will take my mind off you grinding your body against me. And hopefully, once your head is smashed open and your juicy grey matter is spilled out on the ground, you'll quit doing that and leave me alone. Pax gritted her teeth together and closed her eyes before the collision came. She felt a second of almost-nauseating fear; the feeling right before a rollercoaster plummets vertically downward from a considerable height. A moment of pause. Then it came, and it was sharp, blinding pain exploding through her head and entire body. Her entire nervous system was jarred by the impact.
Paramount Page 10
