Wild Passions

by A Storm Moon Press Anthology

  Then, he'd been silent.

  A low creak resounded in the room. Shuffling, the whining of hinges, a badly muffled curse. Jake's eyes flew open as a narrow, useless ventilation grate near the ceiling was pushed open. A small grey head poked inside the room.

  "Hey, big guy," a familiar squeaky voice said. "Looks like you could use some help."

  "Mosley!" Jake almost choked with relief. "Listen, Ethan's batshit insane. He's gonna attack the lab; it will be a fucking massacre. You gotta go, man, you gotta warn Liam and--"

  "Yeah, yeah, I know. Keep your pants on, willya?" Mosley interrupted, awkwardly trying to climb down the wall. He slipped and toppled to the floor, cursing.

  "Keep my--? Are you out of your fucking mind?" Jake wished he could reach through the bars and strangle the little bastard. "They're gonna be slaughtered. You gotta do something."

  "And that's what I'm doing," Mosley said, as if Jake was thick in the head. "Jeez. Come down, you, before he gets his knickers in a twist."

  As Jake watched, too speechless even to manage a coherent insult, a white tail poked out of the duct. Kye lowered himself laboriously, his tiny hands holding onto the edge of the opening before he let himself drop.

  "Kiddo here explained everything, and I think you should go deal with this crap yourself. I'm too old, you know. Plus, it's about time you got off your ass and did something useful."

  "Really?" Jake sputtered. This was fucking unbelievable. "Why, thank you, Mr. Smartass. I'm kind of incapacitated here, in case you failed to notice."

  "Chill out. We'll get you out of there in no time." Mosley nodded toward Kye, who was standing still in front of the bars, his expression utterly solemn. "Come on, kid. Show us what you got."

  Slowly, Kye lifted his hand, his tiny fingers spread. As Jake held his breath, flickers of blue light began to dance in the air, scarce at first, but growing thicker by the second. Kye's eyes flared, and the blue sparks converged together: a thin, luminous snake. The thing pulsed faintly and shuddered to life. It floated in the air, making its way past the cell's bars, slowly, but resolutely, headed toward Jake.

  He gasped as the thing moved past him, a cold aura pooling around his aching wrists. Kye's breath hitched and the manacles snapped open. Jake ripped them off, letting them clatter to the ground as his pulse sped up, energy rushing back into his body, permeating his muscles.

  "Stand back," Jake warned, and grabbed one of the bars. Crackling electricity blossomed and wrapped itself around the bars, buzzing loudly. Jake clenched his jaw and the lock exploded. He kicked the door open and stomped out. "Well done, kid," he said, placing his hand on Kye's shoulder. The fox looked up at him, beaming as his tail wagged happily. "You've been very brave. But now I need you to go hide, little one. Find a safe place and stay there. Okay?"

  Kye nodded quickly. Jake squeezed his shoulder one last time, managing to stretch a comforting smile. "All right. I'm off. Take care of him, Mosley."

  "Whoa, big guy," the rat said, grabbing Jake's trousers. "Where you goin'?"

  "To the motherfucking pub," Jake snapped. "I'm going to help Liam, you unbelievable moron."

  "Right. Go ahead, then. The several miles between here and the lab will just be a minor hindrance, I'm sure."

  Jake took a deep breath, clenching his hands and trying to just. Keep. Calm. "Mosley," he said, as level-headedly as he could muster. "I swear to God I'll drown you in a toilet if you don't cut to the bloody chase already."

  Mosley gave him a crooked grin. "Come outside, big guy. I got a surprise for you."

  Wind whipped at Jake's face. It made his eyes water as he tried to focus on the swiftly shifting ground below him. He was whooshing through the air, his coat clutched in the claws of two of the mutant pigeons. Mosley was riding one of them, skillfully maneuvering its reins. Jake was too far gone to even be terrified.

  "Mosley!" he shouted. "I can see them. Get down!"

  "Roger!" the rat yelled back. They plummeted, nose-diving toward the large, gleaming building of the lab.

  The battle was raging on. A hole had been blasted open in the lab's walls, contorted metal and debris littering the ground. Ethan, Jake thought. Damn it, but the bastard was good. Foxes poured toward the building, climbing on walls, leaping like goddamn shadows, trying to reach the opening. The rows of machine guns aligned on the lab's roof fired incessantly, rotating in slow, deadly arcs. Jake could see too many foxes sprawled on the ground, their bodies ravaged by bullets. His chest clenched. Liam...

  "I'm not dropping you down there," Mosley called, all humor gone from his voice.

  "I have an idea," Jake shouted. "I need you to bring me halfway to the lab, far right--those metal plaques on the ground, can you see them?"

  Mosley swerved and glided down, expertly dodging the gun's line of fire. "Disengage!" he warned, and the pigeon's claws opened, letting Jake tumble into the dirt.

  He scrambled on, trying to keep low, throwing himself to the ground beside the rusted iron plates. He placed his palm on it and blasted, pulverizing half the thing. There was no time. Inside, he could see cables, clusters of wires; he ripped them aside, looking. There, a large black cable, thick as his wrist, tucked at the bottom of the cavity. The alimentation for the living quarters, still connected to the old network, separated from the massive supply directed to the lab itself.

  He grasped it and pulled it up. Power rose within his ribcage and shot down, seeping into the cable. Jake pushed, sending it forward, hurling it on as hard as he could. The wire would guide the energy he couldn't control, he hoped, concentrating it, leading it on. The lab was fully automated. If he could get into the mainframe from this minor circuit, interfere with the controls...

  The guns fell silent. They twitched, turned, hobbling madly up and down, completely out of control.

  The foxes didn't miss a beat, swarming onto the defenseless building like devils. Jake could see Liam run on, his white hair a bright marker in the chaos.

  "With me! Let's get our brothers!" he shouted. Jake saw him climb swiftly up to the gaping hole, disappearing into the lab, followed by a handful of foxes. Jake's chest clenched.

  Shots broke the air, followed by warning cries. Jake looked around frantically. Militiamen in full armor had appeared on the roof, brandishing their rifles. Foxes yelled, stumbling as they sought shelter. Jake watched one fall, then another. God damn it; when Liam came back out, he'd be right under their fire. Jake could do nothing but look, horrified. He couldn't move a fucking inch, connected to the cable, his power feeding steadily into it.

  Then, shapes plunged down from the sky; it was pigeons, Jake realized, dozens of pigeons shooting straight toward the Militiamen, each carrying a tiny figure on its back. At the last second, they reined back up, but not before dropping huge loads of, of... Guano, they were bloody shitting on the soldier's visors, blinding them.

  Way to go, Mosley, Jake thought. It was just in time because foxes began to pour back out of the ruined lab, leaping effortlessly from the ruins. Some were carrying others on their back.

  "Retreat!" someone cried, the voice spreading like wildfire among the crowd. "Retreat!"

  The foxes were quick to obey, falling back and disappearing into alleys and manholes like goddamn ghosts. Jake clenched his jaw, cramps biting at his arm. He had to hold on, keep the machines stalled and give everyone the time to flee. He couldn't pass out. They would capture him, of course, but he could live with that. Distantly, he wished he'd had the chance to see Liam one more time.

  Unless...

  He clutched the cable with both hands, heaving for breath. It was madness, his rational part cried. He was nowhere near strong enough; he would get himself killed. Jake ignored it. If he... if he pushed hard enough, maybe he could overload the system. Maybe he could make things right, just this once. Jake closed his eyes and concentrated.

  His muscles cramped up as power shot through them, too strong, too bright. He screamed as his palms were scorched, t
he skin torn to shreds as the electricity sped through it and into the cable. He gritted his teeth, feeling as if his bones would snap at any second; his heart was pounding wildly, in irregular throbs. A splitting ache dug deep between his ribs. Do not stop, Jake begged. Just a little longer...

  And someone was calling him, shouting his name, a single voice rising above the chaos. Jake forced his eyes open. A flash of white in the distance: it was Liam, shoving his way back through the fleeing crowd, trying to get to him.

  No! Jake had no oxygen to yell. His lungs were burning. His whole body was burning from the inside, consumed by his own power. Liam couldn't come. He had to leave. He had to--

  "Jake!" The fox scrabbled toward him and dropped on his knees. He had blood on his shirt. "We have to go. Here, let me--"

  "Don't," Jake managed. His ribcage ached, strained from the inside. Liam looked at him, and then at the cable; his eyes went wide, alight with a wild gleam. Jake shuddered. "What are you..."

  Liam grinned. "You're good, monkey-face," he breathed, and then pressed his hands to Jake's chest. Jake's head snapped back. He gasped as cold, soothing energy invaded his lungs, his veins, spreading in ripples all over his body. He breathed quickly, high on Liam's energy, feeling it pool in his chest, humming, ready. He met Liam's eyes, gold storming through his irises, and he didn't fear death, he didn't fear anything at all, because Liam was with him.

  Jake closed his eyes and seized Liam's energy, feeding it into his power. It roared and tumbled through his veins, ocean-sized waves he could not contain. Yet he tried, holding back, letting it build up in his chest and grow and push until he thought he'd burst. Then he let it go, blasting it all into the cable, feeling the wires melt into his skin and hoping, praying wildly it would work.

  Time slowed down. Metal and concrete disintegrated, sprayed upward as the lab blew up in flames. The ground shook, dust and stone and ruins hauled up, buildings howling as they bent under the pressure, ready to shatter. Everything was still for one split second. Jake threw himself over Liam's body, pushing him down as the shockwave swept forward, chased by angry, hurling flames, shattering and crushing and burning and blasting everything to hell.

  Jake sat with his back propped up against the remains of a wall, his legs sprawled on the ground in front of him. The fox was beside him, legs crossed and his head tilted back. They were covered in dirt and, Jake suspected, some pigeon crap.

  He glanced to the side. "You look like shit," he pointed out.

  Liam snorted. "Guess whose fault that is."

  Silence was a welcome, comfortable affair. Jake had a feeling he'd never get tired of listening to Liam's breathing ever again. "We should go," he groaned. His hands were fucking killing him. His back, too. But hey, they were alive. He wasn't about to be fussy. "You know. Before the cavalry arrives and we get our asses kicked."

  Liam leaned into him, resting his head on Jake's shoulder. He was smiling. "Shut up, monkey-face."

  Jake gave a quiet huff, and pressed a kiss to Liam's hair.

  The Hume girl tittered into her drink, and Koit rolled his eyes skyward. She was just about drunk enough to take him back to her dorm, he was fairly sure, based on the slur in her words when she asked, "Is it true that all Shterpi have big cocks?"

  "Larger than average, yes." Koit reached out and rubbed his fingers over the back of her hand. Just a light touch, just a delicate push on what she already felt. "Why?"

  "Because I was thinking, maybe," she paused, giggled again, and continued, "maybe you could show me yours." Koit was only too happy to comply, of course. He was gallant and paid the entire bill for their supper--which had lasted rather longer than Koit liked, given the fact that the girl had been downright boring--before following her through the space station, back to the parts that were Moravec Academy, and into her bed.

  Sera was different.

  Koit did not, under any circumstances, sleep with her. They'd grown up together, and he was fairly sure it would have felt like incest to go that far.

  But she did lie with her head in his lap, out in the common area on their floor of the dorms, and he did brush her long hair. It was soothing to both of them, so far from home, and it wasn't like Koit had any hair for her to brush.

  She reached up and ran her fingers along his forearms to his elbows, where his skin was hardened into brown scales. He had scales on his shoulders and back as well, a light brushing across the top and straight down the middle, respectively. And his knees. And his head. All of it was pretty typical for a half-Shterpi like himself-- although he hadn't lucked out and gotten hair along with the scales--but Sera had always been fascinated by the differences in their bodies.

  "Hey," he said softly and set the brush aside. "What was this I heard about you and Trilla?" Just gossip, but gossip often had roots in truth.

  "We fucked," Sera said with a husky sort of lilt to her voice. Understandable, as Trilla was a total babe. "It was fantastic. We're an item now."

  "Mmm." Koit picked up the brush again.

  "You should try it sometime."

  Was she honestly saying what she thought he was? "Try what?"

  "Fucking someone your own gender, for one, and a relationship, for another. It's not like you have anything to lose."

  The words were said so matter-of-factly, but Koit couldn't make himself detach emotionally from the idea of fucking a guy. "My masculinity?"

  Sera snorted softly. "Bitch, please. With a cock like yours, you're not going to lose an ounce of masculinity by sucking someone else's."

  Koit took a deep breath, let it out, and tried very hard not to picture that. He didn't have much success. "Did you have to--"

  "Yes," Sera hissed, sitting up, and her eyes were so damn intent. "Look at it this way: You're depriving yourself of the experience. Are you honestly okay with that?"

  He supposed it was a question he'd have to answer sooner or later, but, for now, he'd continue to fuck his way through the female cadets.

  "Is it true," another date asked, her cheeks flushed with the emotion that Koit had pushed into her, "that a Shterpi can make someone fall in love with just a touch?"

  Koit smiled broadly at her and traced a gentle pattern over both her arms. The way she squirmed in his lap made her legs fall to either side, straddling him. "What do you think?"

  "I think..." Her eyes slid shut as he cupped one of her breasts, careful to keep the touch to a mere brush. "...it's true."

  "Does that bother you?" Even though it didn't work quite the way the populace thought it did. They had to have something to start with; they couldn't create desire where there was none. It wasn't magic, it was hormones, and the only thing they'd create with nothing there to begin with was more nothing.

  She hummed, arching her back, shoving her breasts forward. "No."

  "Why is there an e-mail from SuckAnyCock.com in my inbox?" Koit asked, only raising his voice slightly because he really didn't want anyone but Sera to hear about this. He was fairly sure it was her fault, and as soon as she undid it, things would be great.

  "Because I thought it would help you lighten up some." She smiled sunnily, like some sort of angel which she absolutely was not.

  "What the hell, Sera? This is just--" Koit's eyes skimmed over the message, and part of it caught his eye: Don't let yourself be hampered by standards; strive to suck any cock, every cock! And his username was monstercock37, for fuck's sake. The guys were... just... fucking crazy. Why would anyone want to suck a cock just because it was a cock? This made no sense, and yet Koit could feel heat pooling in his belly at the idea of his lips wrapped around--no. No.

  "There are girls on the site, too," she said, like it was any sort of comfort, except it kind of was. She knew him too well.

  "Not many." He was actually looking now, like some sort of freak. Most of the pictures were guys, but there were some girls, too, every so often and--oh. He was fairly sure he recognized that mouth. He'd had sex with her last week and she had ta
ken interest chiefly in sucking him off.

  When he looked up from his screen, Sera's smirk was firmly in place.

  "Payback's hell," he said. It was the only thing he could think of.

  Her smug look didn't waver. "And karma's a bitch; what else is new?"

  "I'm going to delete the profile." Koit was already in the account info section, trying to find where the hell he had to enter his password in order to make all of this just go the fuck away.

  "Don't," Sera breathed, leaning toward him. "Look, I'll... I'll send you a vid of Trilla masturbating, if you'll just give it a shot."

  Trilla was a goddamn babe. A vid of her masturbating would be-- "Do you have it now, or will you be recording it later?"

  Sera's lips quirked. "I'll be recording it later, and even if I did have it, I'd tell her I sent it to you before I sent it."

  "What if she said no?" It was entirely possible, after all.

  "Trilla? Say no to that? Not in a million years; she has a pretty hardcore exhibitionist streak."

  Koit licked his lips--not that he was nervous or anything, just because they were dry--and turned his attention back to the screen. "Fine. But if I don't have it by tomorrow, I'm deleting the profile."

  "Done," Sera said, and sounded happy about it, but Koit's full attention was on his screen. Most of the pictures on the site were either of mouths or cocks. Every so often there'd be a smiling face, but mostly it was lips pouting, tongues peeking, and cocks that rivaled Koit's in size.

  There were over a hundred listings in the "Moravec Station" section, too. He supposed it made sense to have a separate place for them, since they were in the middle of space, though it still felt weird. He wondered what the ratio of academy cadets to people who just lived on the station was.

  Oh, there was a "Celestial Armada" section, too. He wondered if the cadets already contracted into the CA were listed in both sections? If they were, it would be an easy way to spot those who had already sold their souls versus those who still--

  Koit realized with a start that he'd been staring at a picture of some guy's cock for at least a minute, maybe longer. He looked over at Sera quickly, to see if she'd caught him, but she was reading something on her own screen. Thank God."You're going to have to get me drunk before I actually message any of these guys." He hoped he didn't sound too eager--but was fairly sure he didn't--at the idea of being drunk and at the idea of potential messages.