The White Knight & Black Valentine Series (Book 3): Almost Invincible

by Brand, Kristen

  “Text us when you get there,” I said.

  “Yeah, Dad.” Elisa yawned. It was four in the morning, and the neighborhood was quiet except for chirping crickets and the rhythmic hissing of sprinklers from the yard across the street. Dew glimmered on the grass and bushes in our yard, and a few lizards scurried up a tree. Despite the early hour and lack of sun, it was already warm and humid. I could only imagine how sweltering it would get by afternoon.

  Elisa was ready to go, dressed in denim shorts and a baby blue T-shirt that read “I don’t care. I’m a unicorn,” around a cartoon image. Evidently, she’d inherited my (lack of) fashion sense along with other traits. She was tall like me, though not nearly as broad, had the same brown eyes, and her brown hair was a few shades darker than mine had been before it turned gray. Her face resembled her mother’s, thankfully, as I didn’t think my square jaw would flatter her very much. She even had my super-strength along with her mom’s telepathy, which you’d think would translate into me worrying about her less. But really, it just caused more problems.

  Today would be the first time since her powers developed that she’d be in a large crowd without her mom or me to bail her out. She was going to the Hero Experience, a theme park in Orlando, which meant the thoughts of thousands of sweaty, cranky tourists would be assaulting her mind. Add that to her newfound strength, and there was a definite chance of disaster. But she’d been training and practicing and hadn’t had an accident in months, so we’d deemed her ready. It was the right decision. Really. Anyway, it was too late for second-guessing now.

  “I’ll take good care of her,” promised Barbara Flores. With bleached blonde hair and large hoop earrings, she was Elisa’s best friend’s mother and had volunteered to chaperone the girls. “Though I should probably get your number. You know, in case there’s an emergency.”

  She batted her long eyelashes, and I tried to figure out whether she was flirting or I was deluding myself. I had to be at least six years older than she, and I wasn’t exactly dressed to impress. I had on an old flannel robe over navy pajama pants and wore slippers shaped like clawed, furry monster feet that Elisa had given me last Christmas.

  “You have my number, Barb.” My wife, Val, came out of the house with a water bottle and snack bags for Elisa. “If you get into any trouble, just text me.”

  After handing Elisa the food, she looped her arm around mine and gave Barbara a shark-like smile. I guess the woman had been flirting, then. Huh.

  Barbara was nice enough, with a pretty face and friendly disposition, but no one could compare to Val. Her jet-black hair was rumpled from sleep, her hourglass figure covered by an elegant robe of silk and lace that probably cost more than a television set. Barbara froze like a rabbit that had just sensed a fox, which wasn’t surprising. Val was a former supervillain. With dark, dangerous eyes and a burn scar that marred half of her beautiful face, she could intimidate cops, criminals, and yours truly. Poor Barbara didn’t stand a chance.

  “Right. Well, we’d better get going.” Barbara’s voice turned a fraction higher-pitched than usual. “We’ve got a long drive ahead of us. Thanks again for the tickets.”

  “Thanks for driving,” I called as she fled into the driver’s seat of the minivan.

  Val released her possessive grip on my arm and hugged Elisa. “Text us so we know you got there safely.”

  Elisa’s lips quirked. “Yeah, Mom.”

  “And when you see someone in a White Knight costume, take a picture. I want to judge them later.”

  Elisa grinned at the look on my face. I was trying not to think about the White Knight mania that currently gripped the Hero Experience. Today was the grand reopening of White Knight: Invincible, the ride based on my former superhero persona. It was a motion simulator with a mix of 3D and animatronic sets that had been completely revamped over the past several months. When the park had sent four complimentary tickets in the mail, I’d been happy to pass them on to Elisa and her friends. I had no desire to stand in line for two hours to experience a simulation of my old job and see my face on coffee mugs in the gift shop afterward. I’d rather have a quiet day at home with Val.

  “You got it,” Elisa said.

  “I’ve put pepper spray in your bag just in case,” Val went on. “Tuck it in your back pocket when you go through the bag check at the gate. Security there is a joke, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “If anything happens, call,” I added firmly. “We might be four hours away, but we can still help. I’m sure Julio could get a police squad to pull you out if I asked.”

  “I bet he’d jump at the chance,” Elisa muttered.

  “What?”

  She sighed. “Nothing. So he’s not going to be at the park getting mobbed by adoring fans? I figured if they couldn’t get White Knight himself for the reopening, they’d want his old sidekick.”

  “He has real work to do. But if something happens—”

  “I know, I know.” She gave a truly exemplary eye-roll. “Just how much trouble do you guys think I can get into in one day, anyway?”

  “I’m not worried about you finding trouble…” I started.

  “We’re worried about trouble finding you,” Val finished with her arms crossed and a serious expression. “So be careful, okay? And have fun.”

  Elisa traced an X over her heart with her forefinger. “I promise.”

  By that point, Barbara’s daughter, Haley, and her friend, Madison were calling at Elisa from inside the minivan to hurry up. Elisa gave us one last hug and hopped into the car. Barbara, not even daring to look at me again in Val’s presence, turned on the headlights and pulled out of our driveway, and I waved as they drove off down the dark street. My stomach hitched, feeling like a rubber band someone had just yanked.

  “It’s not too late to mind-control Barbara into turning around,” Val said.

  We waited a few seconds until the car left our view and exited the range of Val’s telepathy. I tried not to think of all the horrible things that could happen to Elisa now, of what had happened to her when we let her out of our sight before. She’d been hurt, and I’d do anything to keep that from happening again.

  “At least the temptation is gone now,” I offered, though I was still tempted to lock Elisa in a bunker for the rest of her life.

  “Stream TV into the bunker, and she might not even whine that much.” Val gave me a weak smile as she read my thoughts.

  I put an arm around her and kissed her forehead. We’re not crazy overprotective parents—no, really, stop laughing. It’s just that Elisa’s been kidnapped twice, and the last time was less than a year ago. That leaves a parent with a raw sense of terror, like a wound that would tear open under the slightest strain. I couldn’t convince myself those worst-case scenarios that woke me in the middle of the night were so unlikely. I may have retired from my crime-fighting days, but both Val and I had enemies who’d be all too happy to get back at us through our daughter.

  I took a deep breath through my nose. It was just a day at a theme park. The worst thing that could happen to her was a sunburn.

  “Time to go back to bed.” There was a purr in Val’s voice that suggested she wasn’t concerned about getting sleep. Well, that was one way to distract us from worrying about Elisa. Val’s hand traced teasingly along my chest before she pulled away and led me back inside. I followed, the tip of my cane clacking against our stone walkway. An injury to my knee had been half the reason I’d retired from being White Knight. (Super-strength was great most of the time, but not so much when you needed knee surgery.)

  The other half was my boss finding out I’d been sleeping with my arch nemesis.

  It had been a semi-forced retirement, and most of my colleagues had cut off contact with me after the scandal came to light. But as the robe slipped down Val’s shoulders and I closed the door behind us, I couldn’t help but feel that everything had worked out for the best.

  •••

  We had the house to ourselves and took f
ull advantage of it. Having a telepathic teenage daughter meant our sex life was nonexistent when she was at home. Eddy and Irma were gone for the week, too. On paper, they were employed as our cook and maid, but really, they were Val’s henchmen/hit men/surrogate family. But they’d gone vacationing to a mountain cabin up north and had taken their massive collection of guns and knives with them, so the house was unusually empty.

  Val and I never did make it back to bed. We knocked some pictures off the entryway walls before dragging each other down onto the living room couch. A good deal of time later, we ended up in the kitchen, (I wouldn’t recommend cooking breakfast for your spouse while naked unless you have super-strong, burn-resistant skin.) and by noon, we were swimming in the pool in our backyard. It was a beautiful day outside, and I hoped the weather was just as nice in Orlando for Elisa. Beyond the edge of our yard, the waters of Biscayne Bay glittered in the sunlight, and the boat that was my pride and joy rocked gently at the dock. The salty breeze from the ocean was cool against my wet skin, staving off the South Florida heat. Though it was a wonder I noticed any of that with how my eyes were glued to Val.

  Her skin was smooth and slick under the water, and I pressed my lips softly against hers. Before I knew it, she’d slipped her tongue into my mouth with the practiced stealth of a thief. Her hands ran lightly up my back, making me shiver. I couldn’t help it; I pulled her closer. Our kiss turned more demanding, and our movements made the water ripple and splash around us. I’d just slipped my fingers under the tight elastic of her bikini bottom when my phone went off on the patio table. I winced, pulling back my hand. The ringtone was my mother’s.

  Val made an exaggerated groan and rolled her eyes in a way that would make our teenage daughter proud. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before climbing out of the pool. Knee twinging as I ascended the steps, I took my cane where it rested against the railing. My pace was slow, and my body protested breaking away from Val’s touch. The ringtone cut off before I reached the patio table where my phone sat, but it started up again a few seconds later. My mother must really want to talk. I toweled myself off, picked up the phone, and greeted her in Spanish.

  “David, dear, I don’t want you to worry…” she started.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, immediately worried.

  “It’s not an emergency or anything. I was having some terrible trouble breathing this morning, and I felt light-headed, and… well, long story short, I’m in the hospital.”

  The day’s pleasant coolness turned to a slimy chill. How was that not an emergency?

  “Are you all right?” I asked. “How do you feel now? What do the doctors say?”

  “I’m feeling better, and the doctors are still running tests. I just wanted to let you know.”

  I grabbed my towel and hurried inside. Val, telepathically listening in, had already gotten out of the pool. “Which hospital are you in? I’m on my way.”

  “David, dear, you don’t have to come. I’m being well taken care of.”

  “Which hospital?” I repeated.

  Chapter 3

  She was at Mercy Hospital, and Val and I got there in under an hour. I knew exactly where to go since I’d been admitted there before, and I was an old pro at the hospital experience, anyway. (Back when I was White Knight, I used to ask if they had loyalty cards so I could get a free milkshake or something after my tenth stay in the ER.) Navigating the winding halls and different elevators, I found my mother on the fourth floor. She’d been placed in a nice room with pastel walls and a floor that couldn’t have been real wood but made a decent forgery. A painting of palm trees decorated the wall, and the window had an excellent view of the water.

  “David.” My mother looked small in the hospital bed, the clean white blankets pulled up to right beneath her shoulders. Her thin arm had an IV in it, and thick pillows cushioned her head.

  “Mamá.” I went to her bedside and exchanged kisses, nearly missing the elderly gentleman who rose from his chair on the other side of her bed. He wasn’t a doctor. He wore a short-sleeve shirt with dress pants and a panama straw hat. A small man, his tanned skin was a shade lighter than mine and riddled with sunspots and wrinkles.

  “David, this is Mr. Alfaro from across the street. He was kind enough to drive me here.”

  “It was my pleasure,” the man said as he shook my hand. I smiled distractedly and ignored an irrational stab of jealousy that my mother had called a random neighbor to drive her instead of me. She must have chosen him because he lived closer.

  “Mr. Alfaro, this is my son, David, and his wife, Valentina,” my mother continued, doing an even poorer job than usual of hiding her grimace when she said Val’s name.

  Val just smiled tightly, skipping her usual snarky comeback. She always had a hard time in hospitals, where her telepathy picked up everyone’s pain and worry. I let her take the only other chair in the room and sat on the edge of my mother’s bed, listening to a recap of the different tests the doctor had ordered and how nice all the nurses were.

  “That’s right. Elisa’s at the park, isn’t she?” my mother said.

  “She and her friends took off early this morning,” I confirmed. “I thought about calling her to tell her, but—”

  “No, no.” My mother waved a wrinkled hand, her usual beaded bracelets replaced by hospital wristbands. “Let her enjoy herself. I feel bad enough that I had to bother you.”

  “You didn’t bother me. I wasn’t doing anything important, just swimming.”

  “You do look like you’ve gotten some sun.” She smiled at me fondly before turning to Val. “And Valentina… you look like you’ve been eating well.”

  I winced.

  Val gave my mother a flat stare. “Your son is an excellent cook.”

  “That he is.” My mother turned back to me, eyes glimmering with pride. “Which reminds me, David, you really have to try Mr. Alfaro’s ropa vieja. He cooks it with beer, and—”

  A wheezing cough cut her off, and she hunched over. I rubbed her back gently, looking at the door and wondering if I should call for a doctor. I’d never heard her sound so awful. Mr. Alfaro picked up a plastic cup of water from her bedside table and waited. Once the coughing subsided, he handed it to her, and she drank carefully.

  I watched her anxiously. My mother had shrunk as she’d gotten older, losing over an inch of height and growing worryingly thinner. There wasn’t a strand of brown left in her curly white hair, and her hands trembled as she grasped the water cup. She never felt particularly well these days. To decide she needed to be driven to the hospital, things must have been terrible.

  She’ll survive, Val said telepathically, her presence a balm to my troubled mind. But she couldn’t know that. She read minds, not the future.

  Mean old ladies like her outlive everyone, Val said.

  She’s not mean, I replied automatically.

  Not to you. She gave birth to you. But trust me. Spite, stubbornness, and a need to make more passive-aggressive comments about my flaws will keep her going for another decade, at least.

  I shouldn’t smile, but I couldn’t help it. My wife always knew exactly what to say to make me feel better.

  My mother passed the cup back to Mr. Alfaro.

  “Better?” I asked.

  She made an affirmative noise and sank further down in her bed, looking tired. “I never thought something like this would get me in the end.”

  “You’ll be fine.” I held her hand. “The doctors will figure it out.”

  “They certainly will,” said Mr. Alfaro. “It’s probably something ordinary. Much better than gunshot wounds and head trauma, hm?”

  My mother chuckled weakly, and I stiffened. Mr. Alfaro must be more than a random neighbor if she’d told him about her past. You’d never guess from looking at the little old lady in the hospital bed, but my mother was a tougher hero than I was. When I’d been White Knight, I’d worked with the full support of the US government. My mother’s superhero alter ego, Shadow Woman,
had been a vigilante back in Cuba. Even after she’d fled to the States, she fought crime on her own, avoiding the DSA until my late father, a policeman, had convinced her to turn legitimate. Had she really told all that to Mr. Alfaro?

  Who is this guy? I thought at Val. Could you scan him?

  The corner of her lips turned up, but she focused on the elderly man. He could be a paid informant, retired criminal, or someone else trying to take advantage of my mother. She shouldn’t go telling people her secret identity left and right.

  It’s terrible, Val said telepathically.

  What?

  He’s a retired accountant. Can you think of a more banal career? He did it for over fifty years and didn’t even skim off the top.

  I exhaled loudly, causing her curved lips to widen into a grin at my expense.

  A nurse knocked on the door, and I immediately started asking questions about my mother’s condition. The nurse didn’t know anything, though, and instead, wheeled my mother out, bed and all, to take her to another test. We said our goodbyes and wished her good luck before falling into an awkward silence as soon as she left the room. Well, I felt awkward. Val had her legs crossed and perused her phone in boredom, while Mr. Alfaro wrung his wrinkled hands worriedly.

  “You from Miami originally?” I asked, somewhat strained.

  Mr. Alfaro raised his head. “Hm? Oh, no. I moved down here when I retired. I’m from the DC area.”

  “That’s a nice city. I lived there for a while.”

  “Yes, your mother mentioned that. You’re retired law enforcement, right? Your family has quite the history of public service.”

  “I guess we do.” I rubbed the back of my neck. At least my mother had kept my identity a secret, even if she’d revealed her own.

  My attempts at small talk stalled, and I wondered what to say next. It seemed a little ungrateful to ask, “What exactly are your intentions toward my mother?” He’d driven her to the hospital, after all. I could play the role of overprotective son as well as I played overprotective father, as the last boy who’d dated my daughter had found out. (Elisa assured me that wasn’t the reason they’d broken up.)