by Lola Dodge
The ground rippled, and Deena screeched. She jumped, but as soon as she landed, she plunged to her calves, and her case of darts tumbled away. I let the power go and the floor solidified, trapping her where she stood. She couldn’t reach me or her ammunition.
Which was good, because a lance of pain jabbed my body. I’d thought I was recovered from the scene at the casino, but apparently not.
The world fuzzed. I hoped Tank was okay. Wherever he was, I’d get him back.
We had unfinished business, and I wanted my kiss.
Water soaked me. Ice cold. Not from a hot tub. My eyes wouldn’t focus.
Where was Jenny?
“Finally awake?” The guy sounded amused, and his voice was slightly nasal. I could already tell he was a douche bag. When I finally blinked him into focus, my assessment was confirmed. Frosted tips, clothes out of a menswear catalog and a cocky smile. I would’ve hit him, but I was tied to a chair.
“Drake,” I guessed.
“Knew you were a smart one.” Drake took a seat on the other side of a sprawling mahogany desk. Four monitors surrounded him, and a fifth one faced me, recording with a web cam.
“What is this?” I strained against the ropes, but it was a professional job. I hardly had room to breathe, though I managed to turn my head. It was a bland office, with no Jenny in sight.
“An auction.” Drake rattled off some keystrokes. “And the bidding begins at one million. You’re going to make me a rich man, Mr. Hero. Well, a richer man.” He leaned forward and the glowing screens reflected in his eyes. “Hope you were being good to my Jenny.”
“Your—” The web cam showed the vein pulsing in my neck. “What did you do to her?”
“Left her right at home where she’s safe. I’ll stop by later and hide all this from her memory. You too. I don’t like heroes messing with my girl’s heart.”
“I’ll kill you.” It came out as a growl. Who was this bastard?
“Yes.” Drake’s fingers flew over his keyboard. “Get angry. One of the heiresses just upped it to fifty mil, though between you and me, I’m hoping the villains win out.”
If he was serious, I was royally screwed. The villains I’d worked against would pay through the nose to get me on a rack, and they wouldn’t kill me. I’d just want to die.
I needed my powers. In three seconds I could hack his mind, read every thought he’d ever had and overtake his will. Without powers, I couldn’t get myself out of the fucking chair.
“She won’t come for you,” Drake said. “Temptress isn’t the rescuing kind of girl. I made sure of that.”
No? I smiled. “You don’t know her as well as you think.”
Chapter Nine
My skull throbbed, and a really annoying bird kept screeching in my ears. I shivered. Night had settled in, and I lay on the balcony in nothing but a string bikini.
Deena was screaming.
Red marks scored her legs, but no amount of clawing was going to get her free. I bet the points of her heels poked through the ceiling below us.
I wrenched myself to my feet and staggered for her. The bitch tried to slap me, but I grabbed both of her wrists. “Before I do this, I have to say that you’re really not my type.”
She tried to turn her head, but I lunged, head-butting her as I stole my kiss. Her perfume made me cough, but I held on until her powers rushed into me. As the energy left her, she slumped. With feet stuck, her knees bent back until her shoulder blades touched the ground.
That had to be uncomfortable.
I spat. I should’ve interrogated Deena before taking her powers, but I wasn’t in the mood for reason. Where was Tank?
I could picture him in the moment he’d frozen, inches away from a kiss that I was pretty sure would’ve rocked my world. The penthouse was quiet without him. It had only been a few days, but I was already used to having Tank around.
I wanted him there permanently.
But how was I going to find him?
At the thought, one of my powers resonated, and I pulled it from my internal pile. It still smelled vaguely of perfume.
Deena. What was her power?
I rolled it around, but it was hard to say when I’d never seen Deena do anything. She mostly stood around or chased after people.
Chasing. The power gave another throb of resonance. Was that what she did? I eased into the ability and thought of Tank. Dark, caring eyes, muscles for days and his fabulous waffles.
It was like gazing down from a satellite. An office building grew in my vision. It was in Manhattan, surrounded by a haze that reminded me of Drake’s invisi-bubble, but Deena’s powers cut through like clear air. A security force armed with assault rifles guarded doors and hallways, but the ones without guns were more worrisome. Supers. Dozens of them. I recognized them from the federal database. Mostly petty criminals or ones that hadn’t been seen in a while.
They shouldn’t have been working together, and there was no way in hell an operation like that could go unnoticed in the middle of Manhattan. The picture zoomed to an office on one of the upper floors. Drake sat surrounded by computer monitors, while Tank thrashed against the ropes binding him to his chair. I jerked so hard the power slipped from my grasp and stumbled under a wave of dizziness.
Why did Drake want Tank? Between the vision of our past and the sight of Tank helpless, I didn’t have a choice. It was my fault he’d been taken. And I’d be damned if I didn’t get my kiss.
I had to go after him.
Leaving Deena where she’d collapsed, I stormed inside. Tank’s coat still hung over a chair in the kitchen. I clutched it, inhaling his cologne. It was strange how he’d rooted himself in my life so quickly.
A weight shifted in the coat’s pocket, and I reached in, coming up with his cell.
Calling for help wasn’t in my playbook, but even at one-hundred percent I’d be hard pressed to take down that kind of force. Scratch that. I could do it, but there wouldn’t be any survivors. I needed allies, and lucky for me, Tank had a ready set of them.
I punched the first number in call history: Red Ruin.
“Brother,” Ruin answered after a ring. I could hear the other heroes clamoring in the background. “You were supposed to call. We—”
“This is Temptress speaking,” I lowered my voice, making it as sultry as a phone sex operator. “Ruin, right?”
“Where’s Tank?” The background noise went silent, in a coiled kind of stillness. Tank’s buddies were not going to be happy with me.
“Kidnapped,” I purred. Might as well play the role.
“You—”
“I know where he is. We need to rescue him. Now.”
Ruin gripped the phone so hard I could hear his knuckles. “Where?”
“I’ll come to you. Fifteen minutes.” I flipped the phone closed. They’d absolutely go without me if I gave them the info, and with Deena’s power, I could find the Ten at their doorstep.
First, I needed to get out of my bikini.
Regular Jenny would’ve saved the day in yoga pants and a tank, but I was channeling my alter ego. I wanted my man back, and I’d see Drake in cuffs before the end of the night. Kicking ass was easier when I played the part, and even seasoned heroes tended to pause and ogle. Showing skin was the secret to my success.
I bee-lined to my closet, rummaging piece by piece for the most ridiculous Temptress outfit I could assemble. There was a lot more black leather than I remembered. I unearthed a pair of skintight shorts that laced up the sides and a scandalous leather bustier with pops of lace. The ensemble paired nicely with thigh-high red boots. For the hell of it, I threw on the scarlet cape I’d worn for Halloween.
I took a running start and leapt off the balcony, triggering Deena’s powers while I flew. The Manhattan Ten were staying at New York, New York. It must’ve made them feel like they were still guarding their post.
Letting the image go, I dropped a few feet as dizziness swamped me. I battled waves of nausea through the air and final
ly careened onto the balcony at their suite.
As side effects went, it wasn’t the worst, but it made me more vulnerable than I wanted to be, and every power I used added to my exhaustion. I wasn’t eighteen anymore.
The Ten had closed their curtains, but the sliding door was open. Typical heroes. They thought they were invincible. I went invisible and waited for a gust of wind. When the curtain shifted, I slipped into the room.
“She’s got two minutes.” Ruin paced the living room. The whole bachelor party crew—minus Steel and Tank—was assembled. Cyclone, Jet and Annihilator sat on barstools while Panther sprawled on a couch. Thunder stood about a foot from me, leaning against the glass door. As long as I didn’t sneeze, they’d never notice me. Without Tank, they were as lost as I was.
“Do we have a plan?” Panther scratched his whiskers.
“We get him back, and then we take care of that bitch.” Ruin smacked the wall.
Thunder turned to squint at the curtain blowing behind me. I must’ve made a noise. So much for stealth.
“You got the first part right.” I flashed visible, flipping my hair over my shoulder.
Thunder jumped, and an ear-splitting boom echoed through the suite. The other heroes leapt from their seats, calling their powers until energy crackled like Fourth of July fireworks.
“Temptress.” Red lightning danced over Ruin’s arms as he approached. “Where is he?”
I appreciated that his leader and best friend had been abducted because of me, and that I was on Ruin’s turf, but I liked being threatened even less than I liked being called a bitch. Tank had stopped my powers, and I was guessing he could stop theirs. I channeled him, but moved deeper than mind reading as I focused on the heroes surrounding me. It was kind of like holding a paper shield in front of a herd of stampeding elephants, but I gritted my teeth and forced it to work. One by one, their powers fizzled.
“You really have them.” Ruin stared at his arms, naked without their lightning.
A headache built at the back of my skull, but I held on. I couldn’t show weakness. “I’ve got the plan too.”
I swept past the heroes. Rows of liquor bottles and shot glasses lined the bar. I poured a quick shot of Grey Goose and knocked it back. The cold booze stung the back of my throat as it went down. I was going to need the extra support to survive the night.
The guys gaped. I shrugged and took a barstool, aware that the position did naughty things to my bustier. Then they really gaped. Typical. “Tank was taken by a villain named Drake. I don’t know why, but I know where he’s being held.”
“Drake?” Ruin’s eyes narrowed. “Never heard of him.”
“No one has.” Except maybe me, but I only had one memory that hinted at our connection, and I wasn’t about to share. “That’s why he’s so dangerous. His power’s some kind of cloaking ability.”
“He’s invisible?” Panther pulled at his cheek, insecure without his whiskers. “We’ve taken them down before.”
“More than that.” I leaned forward, anchoring my heels on the stool to stop my knees from shaking. Keeping their powers down was making me sweat. “He can hide memories, and I’m pretty sure none of the authorities know he’s running a crime syndicate out of Midtown.”
“He’s in New York?” Ruin’s fists bunched. “He can’t—”
“He is. Trust me.”
Thunder raised his hand. “We’re all about trust, but it works two ways…ah…Temptress. We’re going to need our powers back if we’re doing this together.”
“Call me Jenny.” I let loose a deep breath, releasing Tank’s energy. Quiet noises of relief spread through the room as the heroes’ abilities returned. “But you guys come after me, I won’t be gentle.”
“Why bring us in at all?” Little bolts of red lightning jumped between Ruin’s fingers. “I thought you had every power in the book.”
“That’s not entirely true.” I hopped from the stool. “And I don’t do so well against guerilla forces with automated weapons. Plus twenty, maybe thirty supers. Figured you guys could use some exercise.”
“Hell yeah!” Cyclone whooped. I’d been waiting for him to jump in, classy guy that he was.
“Don’t suppose any of you can teleport?” We needed to get to New York fast, and short of bending time or space, I didn’t see how we could make it.
“No. But we can take the G6.” Ruin pulled out his cell and started punching numbers.
“You guys have a private jet?”
“You don’t?” Cyclone cocked his head to the side.
I was clearly living my life the wrong way. We took a helicopter to the airport and were in the air so fast it had to be illegal. Turned out Thunder was ex-Air Force, and the old top gun had some pull.
We all sank into the leather seats, and the guys were glued to SportsCenter on the flat-screen before takeoff. I drummed my fingers against the chair arm. We’d get there, but I hadn’t thought to sneak my Sudoku along in the bustier. All I had to do was worry.
Tank was captive and helpless because of me. I wasn’t sure what was between us, but that was more reason to get him back. We needed to talk it out and then have some crazy, amazing sex. Though I almost trembled at the thought of his body, that wasn’t his most attractive point. It was Tank himself. Supportive, but not smothering. Strong, but reasonable. Even though I’d taken his powers, he’d stood by my side. We’d only begun to explore where we fit into each other’s lives.
“What’s in this for you?” Ruin had taken the seat facing me. “Why rescue Tank? You already took his powers.”
I wanted to tell him it wasn’t his business, but unfortunately it was. “Bacon. That boy can cook.”
“He cooked for you?” Ruin face-palmed his forehead. “Damn.”
“What?”
“You sleeping with him?” Ruin asked.
My jaw fell a little, but I snapped it closed. Play the part, right? I was Temptress. Might as well have fun with my loose reputation. I folded my arms under the bustier. “Use your imagination.”
“Five hundred!” Cyclone pulled away from the TV long enough to whoop. “You owe me five hundred, Ruin!”
“Yeah?” Ruin scowled. “You still owe me a grand from the bachelor party.”
Oh God. These were Tank’s friends? “Where did he find you guys?”
“Here and there,” Ruin said. “If you screw with him—”
“You don’t get to talk about who I’m screwing.” I fixed Ruin with my best glare. “But I’m not playing. I’m serious about Tank.”
“Good.” Ruin twisted his chair to face the TV. “He’s the best of us.”
I was going to say obviously, but I let it slide. Ruin meant well.
As worry wore at me, I fell into a fitful sleep. I shouldn’t have opened myself up to the guys like that, but they were heroes and we were on mission. Plus, I was exhausted. My arms were still raw and achy, and though the Bellagio seemed ages ago, I’d used plenty of powers since waking, and the G6 didn’t have onboard Vicodin.
The restless catnap didn’t do much good. When we finally touched down, we split into air and ground forces. I wanted air considering I was the only one of the bunch who could fly, but most of the supers were stationed near the bottom of the building, and I needed to suppress powers to give our smaller team the advantage.
Our helicopter dropped us on the roof of a nearby skyscraper, and I ferried Ruin, Thunder and Annihilator down to the street. Cyclone, Jet and Panther would make their way to the other building from above and we’d rendezvous around Tank.
It was a good plan. Assholery aside, the guys knew what they were doing, which made me feel a little less like something was going to claw its way out of my stomach. I did stealth missions, and the occasional smash and grab, but I’d never gone up against so many enemies in such a calculated way. For one night, at least, I was going to have to play hero.
“Ready?” I asked as our group approached the curb.
The heroes nodded. I blanketed
the four of us in invisibility and we jogged across the street. Traffic was light at this time of night, but none of the guards had gone home. I zapped the automatic door, and it swung open. Motion sensors triggered the lights, and half a dozen rifles pointed toward us.
“Breach in the lobby,” one of the guards spoke into his headpiece. “Can’t get a visual—”
Red lightning seared across the marble, and the guard went down hard. The other guys didn’t have a chance to get their rifles pointed before Annihilator took them out. He moved like every action movie star I’d ever seen pieced together and pumped full of steroids. I was glad they were on my side.
The elevator pinged like a death knell. Supers spilled into the lobby, radiating powers and slinging fireballs. I managed to throw myself behind a column, but I couldn’t keep my grip on the invisibility. All four of us flashed into sight.
My heart hammered. It was show time. We’d get Tank back, but how much of me would be left after the smoke cleared?
Chapter Ten
I took a deep breath and slipped into Tank’s powers. Fifteen supers had come to play. They ran the spectrum from shape-shifters to super-muscle and psionic blasters. I reached to stop their powers before they could fire, but the pillar’s shadow twisted, gripping me like an inky tentacle as it wrenched me into the air.
A boom echoed as Thunder jumped into the fray, while Ruin’s red lightning crashed and anything Annihilator touched evaporated. They could handle themselves.
Me? Not so much.
The shadow’s touch stung my ankle through my boot. The scent of burning leather curled around me, and I writhed as I tried to shake free. No dice.
I reached with Tank’s powers but couldn’t find the mind to stop. Fire shot through the thing, and ice didn’t slow it down. A force field should’ve worked, but the shadow reached through my wall. It lifted me higher and started to twine around my legs, cocooning me in burning shadow.
Panic pulled at the edges of my tough girl façade. I wasn’t playing that game. I needed firepower and force.
