Firewalkers: Dreamer

by Shiloh Walker

  She blushed as he sent her images of his homeworld, sex toys designed to help prepare a woman to accept a man anally, images of Jax forcing a thick gleaming toy slowly into her bottom. Her breath shuddered out of her and she closed her fingers tightly around his forearm, her nails biting lightly even through the heavy material. Hmmm, so they do have such things? he teased.

  Chapter Eight

  Jax eyed the cockpit of the small craft with distaste. It was about four meters long, had eight seats, cylindrical, and the wheels were even now retreating into the base as it started to rise into the air. “What is the purpose of this?” he asked as Dustin settled at the controls.

  The mountain didn’t answer. Caris replied, “It’s an ALTV, Air/Land Transport Vehicle. We can do quick, short air transport, but also use it for city driving as well.” She used a mental picture link to “describe” driving as Dustin shot up quickly and punched it, sending them screaming into the searing blue sky.

  Caris folded her hand around Jax’s and said through gritted teeth, “Dustin isn’t going to make this a pleasant trip. He’s a demon on the tracks. And he’s still sulking.”

  “The tracks?”

  “Hmmm. He’s a space jock in his spare time. Races sky cars,” she answered, sending more images, tiny little silver bullets, winging through sky courses dodging other racers.

  “He’s the best. And he’s certifiably insane.”

  Des Moines loomed on the horizon before any of them lost their lunches, but with the exception of Dustin, and Jax, all five of them climbed out shaky and pale. If you don’t like his driving tactics, why ride with him? Jax asked, supporting her with a nonchalant arm under her elbow.

  Habit. We’ve had a few close calls, and Dusty can lose anybody.

  Ari, Miguel and Morgan slid Dustin irritated looks, but he just smiled blandly at them as he paid for the holding fee at the docking station. Morgan flicked a glance at his watch. “I know we all have some business to attend to, and we can’t just gather up our…friends and head out so quickly. So let’s split up,” he said quietly, moving in and speaking softly right against Caris’ ear. “Three hours. Then we meet where Ari and I discussed. Ari and Miguel are together, Dustin and I will stay together. You and Jax will stay together. I doubt I have to spell this out, but no splitting up. Period. We’re being picked off one by one and it ends now.”

  Caris smiled and turned her face, brushing her lips against Morgan’s smooth cheek in a soft kiss as she whispered, “No spelling out needed. I’m no fool. And I understand.” Then she took Jax’s hand and guided him off the landing dock and down the moving glide, not once glancing back. She responded to Ari’s sassy, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” with a sly “And exactly what wouldn’t you do?”

  * * * * *

  Ari narrowed her eyes as Morgan informed her just who her “buddy” was. Not that she had anything against Miguel. He was sexy as sin, sweet as chocolate. But she had her eyes focused on Morgan.

  And the silver-haired bastard knew it. As Dustin and Morgan exited the landing bay, she sighed and met Miguel’s eyes. “Don’t sweat it, babe,” he told her, winking. “He’s no more happy ‘bout this than you. But he can’t be taking his eyes off Dusty right now. The big man is an accident waiting to happen.”

  Sliding her green eyes to the Puerto Rican agent, she arched a black brow and asked, “Really? Exactly what have I been missing?”

  He hooked a friendly arm around her neck and guided her out of the landing bay. “Oh, but have I got stories and stories and stories to be telling you. Let’s see to our errands, as Morgan has called them, and then we’ll find us a bar, and I will tell all.”

  * * * * *

  From across the street, Morgan stood in the doorway as Dustin signed in at a standing free clinic to have his ribs and nose checked. He watched with thinly veiled rage as Miguel and Ari walked away from the parking station. Ari Rayborne—what had he done to bring her back into his life?

  And why in hell was he so fucking pissed about seeing her walking arm in arm with one of his agents? Shit, if Miguel was stupid enough to hook up with the likes of Ari, the fool deserved to have his heart ripped out, his cock sucked dry, and a hole the size of Kansas left in his soul.

  * * * * *

  Caris slowed to a reluctant stop outside the store. Jax had his hand wrapped firmly around the thick cable of her braid, so really what choice did she have? He had bypassed quite a few stores, the seamier ones, so for that she was thankful, but damn it, she hadn’t ever done any actual shopping in a store like this.

  She’d always bought her toys online and now he was taking her inside?

  “What about money? I mean, you don’t have any yet, and I…”

  He slid her a look from his dark blue eyes and she swallowed. “Okay. I mean, yeah, I can buy—”

  “I have money,” he said softly. “Miguel was quite…impressed by something I had. A stone he thought would be worth a…pretty penny, he said. It was—” he made a circle with his thumb and forefinger, two inches across, “and dark blue. I have several more back at the house. He paid me, ah, two thousand? Yes, two thousand and five hundred in cold hard American standard.” He mimicked Miguel’s slightly Hispanic accent perfectly.

  Caris’ eyes narrowed. And he probably ripped you off, the American way, she mused. “I want to see these stones,” she said, forgetting some of her discomfort. But the minute she went back to studying the plain wooden door, she remembered it all. The Den was one of the more popular adult stores in the United Federal States of America and catered to a little classier set than the average adult store did, which is why they had ended up catching a ride on one of the skycabs to get here.

  Jax led her through the doors while she was still pondering Miguel and she turned bright red the minute she stepped inside. Jax chuckled and led her deeper into the room, casting the approaching woman a dismissing glance. She smiled, inclined her head, and retreated to the desk without a word.

  “Hmmm, this will work well, I am thinking,” he murmured, studying what he saw before him. “This will most definitely suit my purposes.” He guided Caris in front of him and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “You’ve toys of your own, yes?” Splaying his hand against her belly, he rocked his hips and stroked his cock against her ass. “Something for your sweet, tight little ass, we need. What else?”

  Her face flushed and her breathing kicked up as she shook her head.

  “If you’ll not tell me, then the choosing is up to me,” he warned her teasingly.

  Oh, hell…

  She opened her mouth, but the spit had all dried up and she couldn’t speak anyway. She watched in terrified, aroused fascination as he reached up and selected a wide, tapered butt plug, a silver bullet, an expandable vibrating butt plug, a telescoping vibrator, restraints… “Umm, exactly how much are you planning to get?”

  He laughed. “Exactly how much are you willing to let me?” he replied as he added lubricant to his selection, and pretended to search for more.

  Caris whimpered as he lowered his head and whispered, “I am anxious for tonight, Caris. Very, very anxious.”

  They followed with a quick trip to a clothing store and had just finished when it was time to head to the address Ari had given her. It was in a low-class area, but not so low-class that the cops regularly cased it. Ari had made a wise choice. She could recognize some of the emotion ranges coming from it as she slid from the cab, holding the lone bag Jax had let her carry. Of course, it was the plain black bag from The Den. She couldn’t touch it without hyperventilating.

  Damn it…tonight.

  She felt Ari as the other woman moved up behind her. “How many more roommates am I taking home tonight? I can sense five,” she said as she folded her hand over Jax’s.

  “Nine,” Ari said with a sigh. “I didn’t want to bring any more.” Miguel stood at her shoulder, his normally laughing eyes serious and somber. “If we have too many at one location, we’re just asking for trouble. T
he rest…well, Morgan’s gonna get pissed at my presumption, but I picked out some ‘lieutenants’ and told them to round up whoever they could and find a safe house. We’ll be hearing from them as soon as they are settled.

  “We need to get organized. We can’t keep doing this ‘fly-by-night’ deal,” Ari finished, shaking her head. “Morgan has got to know that by now.”

  “How many are there?” Jax inquired.

  “Firewalkers, or agents?” Caris asked. “There’s no telling how many Firewalkers. Not all of them fight with us. Many of them live their entire lives pretending to be normal, not one of us. We have more than two hundred agents, but Ari’s right. We have no true organization. Morgan’s running the show, and he’s doing the best he can, but none of us have any real training in anything that could be called good solid, well, technique. We would have been discovered if we’d tried to go through the militia or into Police or Security.” She gave a frustrated groan. “We can’t keep this up.”

  “I can help,” Jax whispered softly, wrapping one brawny arm around her waist. “Let me talk to Morgan. I can help.”

  They moved inside and found Morgan and Dustin were already there. Caris found the few she recognized, and two faces she didn’t know at all. Besides the two she didn’t know, one young teleporter, and a healer she was familiar with, thank God. There was another healer, two empaths, a pyro, and a telekinetic. And a partridge in a pear tree, she told herself wryly.

  The healers were more than welcome.

  The teleporter could be a problem. He was already looking edgy.

  The pyro was looking at Morgan with something akin to worship in her big gray eyes. Behind that, she had the anger and attitude of a young adult who had been forced into far too much.

  Then all eyes focused on Jax and widened.

  Caris stifled a snicker and moved forward to make introductions, keeping it short and sweet, leaving out the part about He’s my lover and he likes to bite me and drink my blood while we’re fucking. And we’ve already had a ménage with Sage. Sounds like fun, huh?

  Somehow, she didn’t think it would make any of them look at him with any less apprehension.

  Chapter Nine

  The two ALTV’s landed in front of Caris’ houses several hours later. Dustin took them through a number of evasive maneuvers, after going over each machine with a fine-tooth comb, making certain no tag devices had been planted.

  Caris, Jax and Ari left their shields wide open, making sure they could sense if anyone was on their back trail.

  When they were as sure as they could be nobody was following them, they let Dustin know it was okay to land.

  They disappeared into the house as Morgan and Dustin took the ALTVs deep into the mountains after loading a jetbike into the cargo bay. Just in case… “A fucking waste of a fine transport,” Miguel muttered, shaking his head as they zipped off toward the horizon.

  Ari shrugged her shoulders. “This is Morgan, for crying out loud. The man is loaded. He’ll just buy more.”

  She turned and looked at her charges, most of them frightfully young. The pyro was pouting because she hadn’t been invited to go along. “Get over it, Jeza. I think Morgan and Dusty can handle this on their own. They don’t need a tagalong to worry about.”

  “I can handle myself,” the tall mixed-race girl said, her gray eyes flashing fire. A red gleam started to glow behind those misty gray eyes, a sure sign of anger in a pyrokinetic.

  “Yes, I’m sure you can,” Ari said sweetly. “That’s why I had to haul your bony ass out of lockup, right? Those federal marshals weren’t really getting ready to put you into a psyn-iron box and fry you, were they?”

  Jeza’s eyes narrowed and she hissed, advancing on the shorter woman. Caris slid between them and met Jeza’s eyes. “Step down, kid. You are new, so I guess maybe you just don’t know the rules. We’ll take that into consideration. Rookies don’t go on missions for a good three years. They train, they study, they learn control. Which you are obviously lacking—” she dropped her eyes to the red glow hovering around Jeza’s hands. “I can make sure it’s a hell of a lot longer for you if you don’t cool down, and I mean fast. Is that what you want?”

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  Caris arched a golden brow and said, “Your hostess. So unless you want to go out on your…bony ass, where the feds can easily find you and finish the job…?”

  “I don’t like threats,” Jeza said in a low, rasping growl. The glow around her hands had started to throb and it was now a fire, albeit a small one, but a fire.

  Caris cocked a brow at her, lashing down the tiny fear in the pit of her belly. She knew how to handle a pyro, and she wasn’t without her own defenses, but damn it, why did pyros always have such easily lit fuses?

  “This isn’t a threat. It’s a statement of fact. You’re behaving like a child, so I’ll treat you like one. You want to be one of us? Ride along with your hero Morgan? He won’t take you across the driveway with this kind of temper, much less someplace where it matters. I’ve known him for years—he doesn’t even know your name,” Caris said coolly, dismissively. “He’ll never care to know it with you acting like this. Temperamental children are of no interest to him.”

  Jeza’s eyes widened with surprised hurt, jealousy, and the fire started to flicker and eat more of the space surrounding her. “I don’t like bitches like you.”

  “Tsk,” Caris said. “I can’t tell you how much that hurts.”

  “Me, I don’ like spoiled li’l brats,” Miguel drawled from where he had flopped when they had retreated into the house.

  Jax was reclining against the wall, still watching through lowered lashes, debating whether or not to intervene. He could scent her nervousness, but Caris wasn’t really concerned, just a bit edgy. However, the girl—she was a wild thing. He did not like that.

  The power inside her flared and her eyes gleamed red. Pushing off the wall…but too late. Miguel had flung something around Jeza.

  And the lady wasn’t happy.

  Miguel rose from the couch and ambled over to study his barrier which was a small cylinder, only large enough to hold Jeza. If she moved or shifted, she was going to touch it. If her fire spilled out, it was going to burn one person…her. “It was jus’ some friendly advice, amiga, and you shouldn’t take offense to friendly advice,” he said, smiling amicably. “Now you be good and still, and when Morgan gets back, we can all talk friendly like. When you understand the law of the land, and are willing to play nice—”

  “Lemme out of here now!” she shrieked, her long golden braids falling into her face as she started to shudder and vibrate with fury.

  Miguel clucked his tongue. “No can do, amiga. You’ve already shown us just how hot your blood runs. Can’t have you hurting anybody, now can we?” he asked, winking at her. He smiled easily at Caris who was shaking her head and muttering, “Why me?”

  Ari was laughing against her will. “Honey, if I had known you were gonna be this much trouble from the get-go, I just might have left you in that psyn-iron box,” she drawled to Jeza. She glanced at Miguel and asked, “Can you move her out of the doorway?”

  When Jeza was lifted up like a bag of laundry by an invisible force, she shrieked and hissed at the indignity of it, then subsided into sullen fury, glaring at Miguel. He smiled his megawatt smile at her and whispered teasingly, “Maybe if you act nice, I’ll let you out. We can go upstairs…I don’t mind getting singed…no? Ah, well. It was worth a try.”

  * * * * *

  Ari and Jax sat facing each other, the not-boy in a body-sized shielding of Miguel’s making. Jax spared a brief moment to give Ari a sympathetic smile as the evil eyes in that innocent face ran over her body as she had lowered herself to the floor. Jax had linked his mind with the intruder’s, blocking the curly blond hair, the charming smile, the look of innocence. Instead he focused on the foul, crawling stench of perversion, discontent, and evil as he waded through the mire of the man’s mind.

  Corru
ption, the need to control the power of the freakish, even though he was one of them. Far, far away, Jax followed that train of thought, even as the man started to understand and fight him. From without, Caris wrapped her own bonds around the intruder and silenced him, keeping him from alerting anybody—a gift Jax didn’t realize she had.

  Ari smiled. “Caris is full of surprises, Jax,” she murmured as she accepted the hand Jax offered. “But she’s gonna find out one day, she has her limits. She’s pushed them too far already. Or let others push her to them.”

  Jax’s eyes flickered as a static shock ran through him at Ari’s touch, while she absorbed the link through his mind. Now that was she focusing on him, he could see more. The room.

  They had locked the little boy in a room that was hardly the size of a closet. Oh, he was being cleaned and cared for, because the body belonged to that of a compatriot. But they were torturing the child inside, keeping him in the dark, keeping him afraid. Keeping him lost.

  “Hush, cher. I’m taking you outta that place, right now,” Ari murmured. The world just fell away from her as she followed the link, forgetting Jax’s words of caution as she absorbed the feelings from that boy. She needed to put the boy inside his own body, and the man inside of his, so they could punish him. Right and proper, as her mama would have said.

  Right and proper.

  She found him huddling in the dark, rocking against the wall, wearing nothing more than a T-shirt and underwear. A big strong male body, cuddled into a tiny fetal ball, whimpering and crying, “Take me back to Mama, please,” his voice was hoarse from days of crying.