And now, she was overwhelmed with lust, her hips buking underneath him. Victor groped at her breasts as he pounded into her, the beat of sex sounding out a he drummed his body against hers.
“Oh God!” shouted Lucy. “Oh God, Victor!”
It was almost as though the effects of the scarlet aura were becoming more pronounced as the heat of the sex intensified. Lucy was pulling him into her, wiggling constantly in delight. She kissed him even more passionately than she had before. Her body tensed up, muscles tightening and then releasing, her hips jerking wildly, as a ridiculous orgasm tore through her.
Victor pulled back. He didn’t want to keep going, even though he was still in need of release. He felt guilty and dirty and aroused in a way that made him feel a little evil.
“No,” whispered Lucy. “Keep going.”
“Lucy, you aren’t thinking clearly,” said Victor. “It’s my fault, and I need to-“
She moved closer to him on the couch, pressing her face against his cock, licking and kissing it.
“Anytime you want, Victor,” she whispered, voice hot with desire. “You could marry my sister. I could marry someone. It doesn’t matter.”
“Lucy, please.”
“I’m yours,” she said. “To use and abuse as you see fit. Just promise me that you’ll let me feel this way again.”
Victor started to interject, but Lucy wrapped her mouth around his cock and began to suck with incredible sensuality. It felt so good that he couldn’t think, and moreover, didn’t want to.
He ran his hands through Lucy’s long hair and watched as her lips bobbed up and down on his rod. She sucked and licked and kissed and used her hot wet mouth like a practiced slut.
I don’t know if there’s any coming back from this.
Victor took her by the shoulders and pushed her onto her back. He spread her thighs again and slid his cock into her. Lucy cried out in pleasure as he pumped in and out, fucking her with the rough intensity of a man who has lost control.
He was kissing Lucy when he came. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him in tight, as though fully intent on collecting all of his cum in her pussy. The pleasure was all through his body, warm and hot and illicit.
Several minutes went by with the two of them locked in the embrace. Victor slowly pulled back from her, caressing Lucy’s cheek once and hoping beyond hope that she would return to normal. It took a few minutes, but he could tell when she did.
Lucy’s eyes narrowed into a glare, and she slapped him across the face. She shook her head and set about angrily pulling her bra back on.
“Lucy,” said Victor. “I’m sorry.”
“Forget what I said!” Her voice was angry enough to crack slightly as she spoke. “Don’t you ever bring this up again! Any of it!”
She looked at him again, and this time, Victor saw a hint of weakness in her expression.
Sex is power, and now I’ve taken the lion’s share of it from Lucy, too.
He rested his forehead against his hand, unable to continue meeting her eyes.
CHAPTER 18
Lucy took a shower, and Victor waited on the couch in the living room, alternating between nervously checking the time on his phone and pacing around the room. He felt as though there were a million different things that could go wrong, none of them he felt prepared for.
“Take a deep breath.” Ella materialized behind him, softly rubbing his shoulders. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Ella,” he said, his voice softer than a whisper.
“She’ll forgive you, eventually,” she said. “You need to keep in mind that as you become more comfortable with your auras, using them is going to be second nature, almost involuntary.”
“I wish I’d known that before I’d come over here.”
“Honestly… so do I,” said Ella. “But like I said before, I’m getting better at controlling my jealousy.”
Victor smiled and felt her cup his cheek in her hand.
“Focus on saving Kiara,” she said. “I know how much this matters to you. So don’t get in your own way and mess things up by doing something stupid.”
Victor nodded, and Ella disappeared.
After half an hour, Lucy came back out, clean and dressed in sweatpants and a red sweater. She met Victor’s eye without any apparent lingering feelings, and when she spoke, her voice sounded normal and neutral.
“We should head over to Monteiro Tower separately,” she said. “It’s going to be too obvious if we make the trip together.”
“Alright.”
“And I think you should head out first,” said Lucy. “Draw your report to Eli out for as long as you can. At 7:30 sharp, start your distraction.”
Victor nodded. It sounded easy enough, but he knew from experience that on paper, all plans did.
“Where am I going to meet you afterward?” he asked.
“Here.” Lucy scribbled down an address on a piece of paper and handed it to him. “It’s a gas station just outside the city. The easiest way to get Kiara to the facility is for you to fly her there. It shouldn’t take me anymore than fifteen minutes to get her out of the building and to safety.”
“It’s going to be cutting it close.”
“We don’t have any other choice,” she said. “These are the cards we’ve been dealt. We need to play them the best we can.”
“Alright.” Victor ran a hand through his hair and turned to the door, stopping to meet her eye one last time. “Also, I just want to say…”
He trailed off. Lucy’s eyes bored into him, bright blue and strikingly cold, unlike Victor had ever seen them before. It looked as though she was only barely holding back a wealth of emotion, all of it harsh, unforgiving, and vengeful. Victor shook his head and left without another word.
One problem at a time.
He took to the air and headed for Monteiro Tower. As he had before, Victor aimed for the roof instead of the front lobby. He carefully circled, brought himself in as slowly as he could, brought his feet underneath him, and continued running forward. He didn’t trip at first, but unfortunately, he had too much momentum to stop before running into the guard fence, which bounced him back onto his butt with gentle, elastic ease.
Victor smiled, even though the fall had given him a bruised tailbone. Baby steps were better than nothing.
“Not bad,” said Ella, appearing behind him. “Let’s hope the rest of the plan goes as well.”
He checked his phone on the way down the stairs and into the top floor of the building. It was 7:13. Eli’s assistant was waiting for him as he stepped into the main hallway. She flashed a practiced smile at him and nodded.
“Right this way, Mr. Anders,” she said. “Mr. Monteiro has been expecting you.”
Victor followed her down the hallway and into Eli’s office. Jade was already there, standing at Eli’s side, her tanned face as expressionless as ever. Several armed guards were also at attention on either side of Eli’s desk, making the large room feel a bit smaller, and a lot more intimidating than it had on Victor’s last visit.
“I’m here to report in,” said Victor. He folded his arms behind his back and tried to adopt a look that gave off an air of respect and humility.
I’m a terrible actor.
“Victor,” said Eli. “Jade has already given me a rundown of your last encounter.”
“Did she say it out loud, or is she proficient in sign language?” Victor smiled, and looked from Eli, to the two guards, and even to Jade. Nobody showed any sign of appreciating his attempt at humor.
“Let us not waste any time beyond what’s absolutely necessary,” said Eli. “Give me a full rundown on what’s inside.”
Victor wrinkled his brow and shook his head slightly.
“Nothing much,” he said. “It used to be a government research facility. My father was involved in one of the projects that was being developed there, but it never came to fruition. The place is abandoned.”
“I could have gotten all of that fr
om a google search,” said Eli. “Enough foreplay, Victor. Tell me what she found.”
Victor did his best to look cooperative.
“It’s an old, crumbling building,” he said. “There were some old computer monitors? Lots of dust, mold, and-“
“Then why does she have armed men standing on guard outside at this very moment?” shouted Eli. He stood up fast enough to make his chair tip over backward and stomped around to the other side of his desk. Out of the corner of his eye, Victor checked the time.
7:18… I need to keep him talking and keep him calm.
“Look, I’m sorry,” said Victor. “I can go back and get more information.”
Eli stared at him. His expression was unreadable, but not for a lack of clues. Rather, it was as though the man was trying to react in seven different ways at once, his mind racing and plotting ahead, and his face amalgamating all of the possibilities into a single mask.
“No,” said Eli. “You’re going to stay here for now.”
“I thought you wanted me close to her.”
Eli took a deep breath.
“What I wanted was to have you under my thumb, Victor,” said Eli. “Unfortunately, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Victor flinched at his words, and then, seeing an opportunity, he amped his reaction up a notch.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Eli flashed a condescending, slightly nostalgic smile.
“Your father was the same way,” he said. “John always made the mistake of assuming that he knew more than he really did.”
Victor made a show of gritting his teeth. He didn’t disagree with any of what Eli was saying. He knew his father well enough to know that Eli, regardless of his motives or bias, was speaking from a place of truth.
But that doesn’t mean that I have to let him know that. Let’s see if I can play the offended son, defending his father’s honor.
“You don’t know a goddamn thing about my father,” said Victor. “You aren’t half the man he ever was.”
Eli’s smile widened. It was almost smarmy enough to make Victor genuinely angry. He checked the time again.
7:21… Just a little longer.
“As much as I’d love to continue this exchange, I’m afraid I have other matters to attend to,” said Eli. “Jade, escort Victor back to Maxworthy, and keep an eye on his interactions with Ms. Lockwood.”
“Hold on!” said Victor. “I’m not through here yet. You don’t get to insult my father and walk away from the conversation!”
Eli gave him a curious look, and Victor suddenly realized that he’d overdone his acting. He tensed up as Eli glanced over at Jade, and then at the door.
“You…” Eli glared at him and then slammed his finger down on the desk. “Dominique, I need a report on all activity in the-”
Victor bound his scarlet aura out of second nature and launched a skull sized blast of pure flame at Eli’s chest. Jade was there to block it with a shield of azure aura conjured ice, and a thicket of steam expanded into the air.
One of the armed guards opened fire. Victor waved his hand, using a targeted bind of his own azure aura to suck the energy out of the man, rendering him unconscious. Jade slammed into him, knocking him into the back wall of the office and nearly through it.
“That was a very costly mistake, Victor,” shouted Eli. “And it only reinforced what I was just saying! You’re just a bit too clever for your own good.”
Victor slammed his knee up into Jade’s stomach. He made an attempt at binding his scarlet aura to end the encounter as he had before, but she was ready for it, and hopped out of his reach before he could. Jade cut her hand through the air, sending out a circular fan of flame that singed Victor’s hair as he ducked under it.
“Are you insane?” shouted Eli. “You’ll burn the place down!”
The other guard opened fire. Victor rolled, covering his ears as the loud gunshots echoed off the walls. He mused over the last thing Eli had said for a moment, and then got an idea.
I’m not trying to win this fight. I’m trying to create a distraction.
Jade slammed into him, pressing him back toward the window frame, intent on getting him out of the building even if it didn’t guarantee his death. Victor set his palm against the wall and pumped heat into it with his scarlet aura, leaving a trail of flames in the sliding wake of his hand as Jade continued to maneuver him along.
“No!” screamed Eli. “The fire! Put out the-“
Victor tracked Eli’s voice and sent a finger thin tube of fire off in his direction. He didn’t hear a scream, but knew that he’d at least come close enough to landing a hit in order to give the man pause. He glanced up at the clock, which was barely visible through the steam and smoke.
7:25. But the fire alarm will activate soon, and that will buy me the rest of the time I need.
Jade landed several fierce punches to his stomach and face. Victor caught her fist on the last one, more out of luck than anything, and bound his scarlet aura into her knuckles until she let out a high pitched scream.
“So you do have vocal cords?” he said, mockingly. “Well, you learn something new every day.”
He took a running step toward the large window against the wall of the room, covered his face and eyes, and then… stuttered. Even though he knew that his diamond aura would catch him, and even though he knew it was his only chance at escaping, it was still almost impossible to willingly jump out of the glass window of a skyscraper.
Jade kicked him in the back, solving the problem for him. Shards of glass cut through the skin of Victor’s exposed hands and also on his scalp in places. He screamed and focused everything he had on binding his diamond aura, and pulling himself into flight.
CHAPTER 19
Victor didn’t explode into flight quite so much as careen into it at breakneck speed. He pulled up from the ground in time to miss a frantically honking semi-truck, and scuffed the edge of one of his shoes on a traffic light as he lifted back up to a proper altitude.
Jade didn’t come after him. Victor hadn’t been expecting her to, but he looped around the tower once just to make sure. Smoke was pouring out of Eli’s shattered window, and employees were streaming out of the front lobby doors and moving into place for fire drill procedures. Victor checked his watch.
7:28. I can only hope that Lucy and Kronenberg had enough time.
He frowned. There was nothing more that he could do at the moment. Even if he found them in the rapidly forming crowd below, his presence would, most likely, only draw attention and allow them to be captured more easily. He had to let his friends do their part and meet up with them at the rendezvous point.
Instead of flying straight there, Victor flew upward, almost perpendicular to the ground, as though he was literally trying to shoot the moon. He’d done it a couple of times before, mostly out of curiosity, just to see how high he could get.
Despite their fantastical nature, the nanites weren’t magic. His didn’t understand completely how his diamond aura worked, but what he knew from his own testing was that as the air thinned out, his propulsion and levitation abilities went along, too. It felt almost like the powers of Icarus, wings that melted as he approached the sun and stars.
The air was cold enough to make Victor’s teeth rattle uncontrollably. Undercliff City looked like a patch of white Christmas lights strung up in careful formation. His breathing became shallower, and he felt his fingers going numb.
Victor stopped before he’d made it as far as he could, letting his body fall from its own gravitational pull. He had to be careful on the way down. Too much speed usually led to unconsciousness. It was something that his body could handle better than most, but still posed an unnecessary risk.
He slowed himself down a little, picked out the tiny dot that was the gas station from the rest of the lights, and flew toward it. He tried for a repeat of his landing on top of Monteiro Tower as he swerved along parallel to the electric blue sign
in the parking lot, but mistimed it and spun out into a side roll.
A homeless man stood against the side wall of the gas station. He blinked and looked around as though unable to believe his eyes, and then hurried away while Victor was still in the process of picking himself up. Nobody else was around, and he walked by the front windows, peering in through them as if he half expected Lucy and Kronenberg to be picking up snacks.
Victor waited for fifteen minutes. He paced back and forth uneasily, chewing his lip and checking the time every thirty seconds.
“Ella,” he whispered. “Do you see them anywhere?”
“The only way I could see them is if you could, too,” said Ella’s disembodied voice. “Just try to relax. They’ll be here. Your plan went off without a hitch.”
Another minute went by, and then another five. Victor’s heart began to race with anxiety.
Did Eli manage to get to them before they could get out? Are they in one of the holding cells in Monteiro Tower, at this very second?
He did a lap around the nearby area, scanning the streets and sidewalks for a woman, a drone, and a wheelchair. There was nothing, and the despair began to sink into his chest.
It was a hard feeling to cope with. Victor was waiting for something that he desperately wanted, needed to happen. The odds were long, the stakes were high, and he didn’t have any idea of what he’d do if they didn’t show up.
Five more minutes passed, stretching out for what felt like longer than a year. Victor closed his eyes and leaned his head back. He wasn’t ready to accept it, but he couldn’t make himself continue hoping, either.
Footsteps approached from the direction of the city center. Victor opened his eyes and almost melted with relief. The silhouette of a woman pushing a wheelchair with much more urgency than normal was headed straight toward him. Victor waved a tentative hand and saw Lucy wave back.
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