CHAPTER SIX
Kult’s ragged breaths filled his ears as he looked all around in the aftermath. Quantum, Syphon King, and his woman, Kaphas and his wife. Pain. All fucking down. He made his way to his feet as the triplets rose along with a stunned and dazed looking Seer. Atlas and Harlow then Sync climbed to their feet next.
He looked around, finding Bishop and his crew, along with a handful of the Creole Kings slowly entering the aftermath zone, gazing at the fallen.
As if sensing the questions on everybody’s tongue, Fetch went first. “Your Seer saved Kaphas’ woman,” he said to Bishop then to the Creole Kings. “And your Syphon King drew out her darkness.” He regarded the girl on the ground next to the fallen hero. “She absorbed it all. And somehow still lives.”
“You have a read on Kaphas and Quantum?” Harlow asked, winded.
Fetch pinned him with icy blue eyes. “Our brother’s grief turned him into a conduit of pure destructive force. ”
“And Quantum neutralized his unique power signature with his bare hands,” Fathom added, curiously. “He’ll need a full recharge cycle to stabilize and recover.”
“What is he doing?” Fin wondered, bringing all eyes to a Creole Kings kneeling next to the Syphon King’s woman, hand covering her face.
“Empathetic resonation,” Fathom said, sending the triplets toward the Creole King to fetch the full story.
“That’s Lore,” Harlow said as Kult and the rest of them followed, surrounding him as he moved his hand slowly over her body. “She is in restorative stasis but is stable and unaffected by all she absorbed,” he murmured in awe as he turned and touched the Syphon King now.
Harlow knelt next to Quantum King. “We don’t fucking have what we need to restore him.”
“What do you need?” One of the Creole Kings demanded.
“Some kind of high-capacity energy storage system, or advanced energy transfer technology.”
“What about our Delta Nexus Core?” one asked.
“What’s that?” Harlow wondered.
“Our energy system. It integrates supercapacitors, quantum entanglement nodes, graphene superconductors, and adaptive thermal regulation. It can push power in the gigawatts. ”
Harlow appeared dumbfounded. “Why the hell you have that?”
“In case of grid failure.”
“We just need a steady twenty-one megawatts to recharge him safely.”
“How long?” the King asked.
“Twenty-four hours minimum.”
“She’s coming around,” Seer informed behind them.
All heads turned to Celeste being helped upright. “You’re okay, I got you,” Seer quickly soothed at signs of her panic.
“Kaphas,” she whispered weakly, looking around.
“He’s alright,” Seer assured.
She spotted Kaphas on the ground and scrambled over, throwing herself onto his still body with sobs. “What’s wrong with him?” she choked, kissing his face. “Did I hurt him?”
Kult wondered what all she remembered.
“Quantum shut him down to prevent him from getting hurt,” Harlow assured.
“Oh God,” she wept, petting him everywhere as black patches made flash appearances, beneath her skin like storm clouds racing angrily. She turned his face with her black fingers and kissed him until those same inky storm clouds began racing under his skin.
“Utterly remarkable,” Fathom said as Kaphas’ arms rose up and embraced her .
“Angel,” he said, in the barest whisper, as joyous laughter mixed with her full-on sobs.
The collective sigh of utter fucking relief was more felt than heard when Kaphas sat up, looking like he’d bathed in raw power and was now ready to destroy an entire planet.
“Call Bart and tell him to ready a Swamp Dragon to transport Quantum to wherever they need,” Bishop said to the one on his right. The Bat King, Kult remembered.
“Oui,” he muttered, pulling out his phone and turning while Bishop got on his and stepped out of their circle. Kult’s puzzle pistons jiggled with Bat King goodie-bits, demanding he put him together now rather than later. His trunk days would’ve allowed him to grab hold of that juicy puzzle and slink off into the shadows to work them in peace while his brothers did the bothersome living chores. How he missed that. To his puzzling lusts, having his own body and life sucked. Because the wicked puzzles still found the morbid magnet that he was. He was the predator attracting the predator within the preyed upon weak.
“Everything is fine, Ma Petite,” the Bishop assured quietly. “I know you do. I’ll tell you everything later.” He paused a few seconds. “Ma Petite, I cannot tell you now but I will.” He went back to pacing. “Which is why I need you to be Ma Belle Eveque and make sure our Hoard is assured everything is fine. You can do this for me? Oui, I will tell them. I love you.”
Bibbity bobbity boo. His Belle Eveque sounded like Butterfly’s perceptive twin. “Everything okay?” Kult asked when he returned, getting the answer in the man’s pointed dark stare.
“You tell me, mon frere,” he said quietly. “I have a lot of families to protect here and what I just saw doesn’t make me feel like I’ve made a very wise decision joining up with your King.”
Kult very much wanted to assure him otherwise, but he was too busy thinking the exact same thing. “No,” Kult submitted easily. “You’re a thousand percent right in thinking you’ve got a shit-show not bothering to wait to happen.” Kult faced him fully now. “We’re basically choosing shit-shows these days. Not sure what you’ve heard about the intel regarding other said shit-shows, but it seems we’re down to picking which will best serve us. I didn’t always have magical things I wanted to protect in my life but now that I do, I’m weighing these puzzles very carefully and can assure you that this shit-show here is in our favor.” Kult watched his lowered head shake, remembering. “You know, I was there when Sir Quantum King came online , and I didn’t need a lot of intellectual prowess to fathom that this conglomerate of brilliance designed to protect the innocent might easily one day decide that the five sexually obsessed males were unhealthy for the woman he’s meant to protect. Even as I’m told it could never happen, that exact thing did.”
Bishop aimed his dumbfounded expression at him. “This should make me feel better?”
“I’m not here to make you feel better about a fucked-up situation, I’m here to assure you that your theories are far from conspiratorial and you are hardly alone with them. Even Quantum now shares our concerns which is why he continuously works to set up firewalls to prevent it. Here’s the thing,” Kult said, getting closer to him. “Threats are nothing new. There are monsters everywhere, even inside us, always have been always will be. Like always, we do whatever we can to protect those we care about. My thought is we want all the power on our side that we can get even if it comes with risks as all power does. Because I’ve analyzed the coming shit-storm’s data and I can tell you right now, I would rather be the one wielding the dangerous weapons that could possibly turn on us than not have them. And do you know why?”
“Do I want to know?”
Kult nodded firmly. “You really do. Because we’re not alone in our digital genius. Quantum is confident, as are we all, that whoever is starting this weird as fuck war is at least on par with us. Which means we’ll be needing every bit of our evolving AI human machinations as fast as we can get them. In fact, I can’t build Quantum’s lab fast enough for him to produce more soldiers. You understand? ”
The one they called their Bat King suddenly joined them, allowing Kult a good look into his freaky eyeballs.
“While I was eavesdropping,” the dude announced unapologetically, “I heard mention of building more soldiers.” He regarded Bishop. “May I mention our theories, my Eveque?”
His Eveque . How fancy.
Bishop tossed a hand in defeated approval.
Kult listened in growing fascination to the Bat King’s bite -schemes, particularly hung up on the sexual aggression aspect. He suddenly turned and whistled, waving somebody over before grinning at Kult. “Let me introduce you to our alchemist. The one partly responsible for my transformation.”
Kult looked around for other guilty looking culprits. “Who else is responsible?”
“His petite Felix,” the Bishop said, bringing the Bat King’s ever-hungry looking grin.
“She gave me way too much.”
“Ten times too much,” a perfectly fit dude with heavy tattoos said as he held out his hand, walking up. “Lesion.”
Kult shook his hand, notating all the puzzles in that onyx gaze. All these swamp men had them. All similar. Like they shared the same secret and silently invited him in to work the angles. For once, he’d rather just be told straight out .
“Lesion, meet Kult,” the Bat King introduced. “Tell him our idea for upgrades.”
Again, Kult listened, his puzzler smoking hot by the time the most unsuspecting genius standing before him concluded the immaculately laid out plan.
“All that from bat saliva,” Kult marveled, spotting Fetch, Fathom and Fin’s eyeballs on him. “I have a lot of questions,” he said to the alchemist while missing the times his terror triplets could telepathically impart what they clearly needed him to know. “Excuse me while I check on my brothers first.”
Kult saw the area was nearly vacated while wondering who all had been present for the shitshow. Hopefully just the nuns. They were at home with blow your mind, out of this world shitshows. At least their vocation implied that.
****
She is not out of the woods , Handy said, using all his ability not to feel while Kaphas comfort/cleansed Celeste. He had plenty of practice being part of all his brothers, but he’d not once practiced not feeling things. No regrets there, he’d had only a hand to live through. But even if he had practiced it, an entire body was different. Which of them contributed more to their ravenous arousal he had no clue as Kaphas drew kinetic energy from every form of matter he could. The demonic remnants were like cancer. Not a single evil cell could be left, or it would reproduce.
Is there some reason you’re not helping? Kaphas demanded with a foreign stab of fear.
Do you need help?
I don’t know what I need for this.
That explained his fear and why it was foreign. They usually learned things easily and rapidly. What you’re doing is working.
I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.
Well, keep doing that.
Is it right?
It is.
How do I know when it’s enough? What if my powers are killing her?
They’re not, they’re saving her.
The demons are using them against her.
She’s clean. You’re done. For now.
How do you know?
Because I can see both of you. You’re clean and she’s clean.
Why can’t I see this?
Because you’re too close to it.
And if you leave, I’ll lose the ability to see?
A wave of anger washed over Handy .
What?
Of course, Kaphas had felt it. Is it not enough that I lost the woman I craved and am willing not to fight you for her? You want me to stay while you have what I can’t have?
His anger was hit by another energy that Handy wasn’t accustomed to feeling.
I don’t want your pity, just your understanding.
It’s not pity, it’s…
Don’t name it. Please. Whatever you think it is, I don’t want it.
I didn’t command it forth, it came on its own.
Nice to know. I guess.
Quantum will fix this. You will have your body and your life back.
Can’t get back what you never had.
Then you can get to building the life you envision.
You already forgot my original plans?
No. But those changed when she came.
Yes. And that’s gone for me.
Handy half-ass resisted the second wave of bubbly energy he wasn’t accustomed to.
I didn’t mean it.
Mean what?
I can’t help what happens when you say things. I can’t stop it.
Never said you had to.
But you don’t want it.
Never said that either .
Things slowly settled inside Handy, making him realize Kaphas’ emotions were quantumly entangled in his. I need a new body asap. I can’t take this torture.
“Let’s get you back,” Kaphas said to Celeste, not needing it spelled out, thankfully.
“Back?” she wondered, her soft voice a balm through them.
“You need to rest. And I need the Kings to run tests on me.”
Her instant fear poked the beast in their cock and Handy knew Pain and Kult were to thank for that little trait. “Are you okay?”
“I am. But I need him to find out what happened and how so that we can prevent it from happening again.”
She pulled back in his embrace and her gaze was its own intoxication. “They can do that?”
Handy let himself feel her skin as Kaphas stroked her cheek. “They can.”
Her eyes searched his. “What about… Handy. Can they help him too?”
Handy couldn’t resist the dry laugh. “You got an itch to ditch me?”
Alarm lit her eyes followed by that compassion he’d fallen in love with. “Never. I care very deeply for you.” That delicate anger joined the intoxicating dance in her gaze. “I made a promise to you, and I intend to keep it, I told you. You will have your body, and I will not rest until I see it done. And I hope Kaphas will understand that I don’t think it’s right that we… have certain relations until it’s finished. For Handy’s sake.”
Fuck. “You’re not making it easy not to fight for you, Angel.”
Now angelic tears. She was going to kill him before he had a body to die in.
“There’s another angel out there, waiting for you to save her,” she whispered.
Handy raised his other hand and stroked her face. “ You saved me .”
She shook her head as tears streamed. “You saved me. ” Handy closed his eyes when crushing need raped his perfect cells. “And you’ll save her the same. She will be everything you ever dreamed for and much more.”
A whirlwind of power stirred in their blood, requiring both of them to steady it. “If you say it then it must be so,” Handy soothed, getting her adorable little nods while that just one taste need continued to crush him.
Take it, Kaphas said. It’s not mine to deny.
And just like that, his overcoming strength returned. The one that had allowed him to forge his eternal death scheme. His need to protect his brothers, to set them free, to give back what evil had stolen from them. And Kaphas wasn’t just one of his brothers, he was all of them. Handy loved him five times harder.
Feeling the triplets approaching, he urged a disconnect and Kaphas aided him, retaining only Celeste’s hand. But that it was his right hand felt like her tiny fingers gripped his soul.
“They’re sending air support to fetch Quantum, and both of you for tests. It’ll be quicker,” Fetch said.
Kaphas nodded. Quicker was definitely better. Handy put a hand on Fetch’s shoulder and his arctic eyes locked onto him. “Thank you. For everything.” He was careful to hide the memories he shared with the triplets from Kaphas. It was better for all that nobody knew those.
Fetch nodded once, ever the resourceful being. “We’ll find you after we fulfill our civil charade duties with our newest comrades.”
Celeste yanked her hand from theirs as several of her sisters hurried into the clearing toward her. The itch to follow conflicted with his previous urge to join the triplets in their domestic duties. The clash of wills ended when Kult stepped up to them. Handy went in reverse and shoved Kaphas forward to take what always came when Kult got in their air space. He was more than Handy could stand with his jacked up energy bearing sadistic mouth-watering appetites. Another reason he needed his own animated meat sack. He’d be able to actually do something about those appetites instead of suffering the tease and torment.
Kult tackled their every defense with one of his bear hugs accompanied with a string of swearing threats should he scare him like that again. The moment Handy wondered how much of that was for him, Kult gripped their jaw in his large hand and forced a gaze lock. “That goes for you too, Handy.”
Kaphas smiled while Handy rolled his eyes, no doubt making them look like his pussy-pal.
Fathom pulled out his phone and looked at it before handing it to Kult.
“What?” He took it and looked, a smile creeping over his mouth. “Mary, Mary,” he mumbled, handing it back. “I think we share an obsession.”
“She likes you as much as you like yourself?”
Kult whipped his grin back at them. “Who said that?”
Handy raised his right hand and wagged his fingers, grinning back.
Kult pointed at him. “New body. Pronto. So I can kick your ass.”
“Looking forward to it.”
Kult’s grin grew teeth as he raised his brows. “She wants to marry me.”
“Oh God,” Handy muttered, genuinely astonished. Not that she wanted to marry him but that he was clearly considering it.
“Our baby is growing up,” Fin approved .
“She proposed to you?”
Kult regarded Fetch. “More like made manipulative demands on me.”
“Your favorite,” Fathom chuckled. “She’s perfect for you.”
“You all approve?” Kult asked, actually seeming to care.
“We do,” they all answered at once.
Kult regarded Handy and Kaphas. “You?”
“If she makes you happy,” Kaphas said.
Kult nodded at him. “And Handy?”
A chuckle came with his, “You can tell us apart.”
“So very easily. Kaphas doesn’t present as an asshole.”
Handy laughed, taking it as a compliment. “I kept that trait for myself. But about your Mary. I think she’s perfect for you.”
“Except?” Kult pressed, bringing Handy’s grin.
“Except she’s only wanting to marry you because she thinks you need chaining down.”
The look that brought to his face was every bit worth the laugh he now guffawed.
“What is he talking about?” he asked Fetch who appeared clueless.
“Maybe the jealousy?”
Fathom’s kind suggestion was met with Kult’s pushy, “What jealousy?” followed by his rabid gaze zipping between all of them as if the answer ran for its life from him. “Why would Mary be jealous when I’m obsessed with her, and she knows that?”
“This is a tricky subject with females, brother,” Fin assured, his face darkening.
“What makes you suggest it?” he demanded of Fathom.
“Merely repeating what Rosalie informed me of.”
“Which is fucking what?” he pried with exasperation.
“I honestly haven’t fathomed it,” Fathom assured, his expression nearly mirroring Fins.
“What’s funny?” he asked a chuckling Fetch.
“What’s funny are these little human females,” he mused with humored awe. “They are a pandoras box of illogical treasures.”
“Facts,” Handy agreed.
Kult propped his hands on his hips and gave a shrug. “No disrespect to your little female human but I have to call bullshit.” This brought on the triplet’s laughs with Kult’s nods and another shrug. “I do. I think she misread whatever she read.”
“Would you like me to verify?” Fathom offered.
“I don’t know how you would if she’s misreading but have at it, let’s see just how confused your little female is. ”
Fathom was already texting on his phone, grin set to wide and big. Handy shared the setting. They all did. Except Kult.
Fathom handed Kult the phone after a minute of silence, and he took it while everybody else waited in the silent giggle section.
“What the fuck ? I do not do this.”
“She thinks you do.”
“What does he do?” Fetch begged for all of them.
“I look at everything and everybody, not just women. My brain requires it, you know this,” he shrilled to the triplets. “I told you it’s a misread.”
“On Mary’s part,” Fathom said.
“Yes. On Mary’s part. Your little human was right,” he stressed. “I’ll explain it to Mary,” he finished, dusting the problem out of his life. “I’ll remind her of how I think. About my condition, and that’ll be it,” he assured. “Silliness resolved. What!” he demanded at Fin who shook his lowered head.
“Let’s pray your female human is more open to pure logic than mine is. Do you know I have still not fucked her? Excuse me. Become one with her.”
Handy stifled a snicker at the odd clue linked to his agonizing defeat.
“You came so very close last night,” Fetch lamented with marvel.
“Brother, every second of my life is me so very close to coming . ”
“Ah,” Handy chuckled, bringing Fin’s gaze along with an immediate threat zeroed in on him. “Sounds like you’re using the wrong words in the wrong sentences at the wrong time.”
Fin angled his head. “I can drain all the blood from a human body in the same amount of time it should take you to explain yourself.”
Handy laughed, nodding in full understanding. “Sounds like she thinks you only want her for her body and not the whole package.” Seeing his anger hadn’t budged, he added, “You need to seduce her heart and mind, then her body will follow.” Fuck, his anger had doubled and Handy had to hide his grin, valuing the blood in their body. “You may need to use coercion.”
“I won’t use my powers for this.”
Handy drew back in surprise. “Why not?”
“Because I want…” His pause brought an interesting suspense all around. “Why shouldn’t I use my powers?” he mused to the dilemma in his head.
“Your powers exist to protect her,” Handy said. “And she really can’t be protected until you’re one with her as she likes to call it, and your power becomes infused into her being. That’s the ultimate protection. But I gotta tell you,” Handy said with a grin. “I’m totally blown away that nobody fetched or fathomed this.”
Too close, Kaphas said.
Apparently .
“He’s right,” Fetch said.
“He is,” Fathom agreed.
“I will surely finish this,” Fin said, sounding ready to leave that second.
“You got a plan?” Kult’s curiosity was stuffed to the brim with those sadistic hungers that never failed to water Handy’s mouth.
“A most elaborate one,” Fin said, turning his clear gaze on him. “That I will not share with any of you.”
Their laughter subsided as four of the Marsh Kings headed their way, leader front and center. “Uh-oh. Somebody’s in trouble again,” Kult muttered.