CHAPTER EIGHT
“She’s angry,” Fathommarveled to Fin when Rosalie walked off. “And do you know why?”
“I can’t fathom it,” Fin muttered, also at his wits end.
“First, I asked what was wrong.”
Fin shook his head. “What did she say?”
Fathom considered it. “With only her gaze, she labeled me stupid. Then walked off.”
“Look but don’t look,” Fin said, using his peripheral. “Her sister is glaring me down now. Do you suppose our symbiosis is contagious to them in some way? Their moods are nearly perfectly synced.”
“I fathom we need to reinstate using our gifts.”
“Thank the circuit gods,” Fin said, facing away from their wives with a full scowl. “I’m ready to rip her open to find out what’s been hiding from my mind in plain sight.”
“What puzzles me is that she’s still giving off an insane amount of arousal signals but refuses to act on a single one of them.”
“Your puzzle is identical to mine,” Fin assured. “And if I hear our brother fuck his wife one more time, I can’t guarantee what I will do to Elanore.”
“You can’t hurt her.”
“But I can hurt you for thinking I need reminding. I thirst to test every parameter regarding that protection mechanism. Define the exact boundaries. And then spend a week on the very edge of it with my ever-moody human wife.”
Fathom spent ten seconds immersed in such a scenario and had to come up for air before he combusted from the lust it produced. “A delicious solution indeed.”
Fathom backtracked to the first day in Newark when he and Fin encountered their human’s apprehension with sex. They’d determined to wait until she initiated the link, a seemingly reasonable solution given their wives’ past sexual abuse and the way it aligned with the culture’s mindset regarding sexual consent. Five days of that nonsense left their plan to grow their bonds in shambles.
Fathom stiffened and braced for impact when Rosalie headed his way again. There was an invisible cord between them that wound his every muscle and every inch of his cock anytime she was near. Whenever she moved away from him, it tightened. And when she got close, it tightened.
“May I speak to you?” she asked the air next to him.
“You may,” he said, waiting for the ire his simple answers always brought to her.
She merely spun off and he followed, his own frustrations mounting right along with his arousal. She stopped in the hall after rounding a corner and turned with her arms crossed, still not looking at him. Her head barely shook as she glared at the floor, and he stared at the creamy skin above her royal blue velvet dress.
“Rosalie?”
“What have I done to you?” she demanded, slamming her angry eyes into him. “Why are you treating me so differently?”
“I had the same question for you, Rosalie.”
His words appeared to have slapped her, initiating yet another puzzle with her. “Ever since we came back from the trip to the city you’ve been acting very weird. Did something happen when you went with your brothers to that bar? Elenore noticed it too,” she said, her accusing tone not only baffling him but doing other odd things that involved his confused cock. “Of course Rowan doesn’t notice anything, she’s too busy getting her brains you know what by her husband. We both know they screw every night as loud as can be and probably all day, only someplace else, and Elanore and I are fed up guessing about what we’ve done. Did you meet another woman and realize we’re not good enough? You don’t kiss me, you don’t touch me. And you used to!” she snapped, pointing at him.
He stood in utter shock at every single one of her unfathomable delicious words. “There can be no other woman but you—”
“Because you’re forced!” she further accused.
“No, because I don’t want another woman, I want you, Rosalie.”
She shot out a single, angry laugh before leaning in and muttering, “Well I. Can’t. Tell.”
He watched her storm off then followed, stopping at Fin.
“What did she say?” he demanded as Rosalie and Eleanore hurried off down the hall.
“You won’t believe it,” he assured, even as his blood danced and sang in his inhuman balls. “She’s pissed I don’t touch her or kiss her anymore.”
Fin regarded him for five solid seconds. “Fucking Finish me,” he said, astonished.
“We have surely been wrong about this, brother.”
Fin looked around. “We need to speak to a human.”
“Like?”
“Kult,” he said, his voice slicing the air.
“Let’s find him.”
****
KULT SPOTTED KAPHASand made his way to him, not liking that look he wore. He’d gained five more years of probably the worst of their hells, and he looked like a brooding twenty-two-year-old undead. He needed to find out what the hell he was doing with Celeste. Harlow told him he was playing some game with her, but he knew there was a lot more to it than funsies.
Kaphas leaned with his back on the wall, hands in his suit pockets, eyes on... Kult glanced in the direction of his gaze... Celeste. With a few of her sisters.
Kult rested on the wall next to him with a sigh. “You look like a serial killer stalking your dinner.”
He didn’t speak for several seconds. “Maybe I am.”
Just three hours before, his voice was two whole octaves higher. “Why aren’t you with her?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Mostly because I’m not Handy.”
“Mostly. What’s the rest? And why aren’t you Handy?”
“I’m Kaphas,” he said. “Handy was...a pathetic idiot.”
“You could tell her that.”
“I could.”
“But you’re not because?”
“Because I’m not ready.”
He nodded. “So, you plan to make her cheat on the old you with the new you?”
“Something like that,” he said.
“You and Harlow,” he muttered.
Kaphas finally looked at him. “What about me and Harlow?”
“Oh, you didn’t hear what he did to Lucy?”
“No.”
“Guess you didn’t get to that memory yet. Two more days and you’ll probably know. Do you want to wait, or would you like me to tell you?” he asked with a smile.
“You know the answer.”
“I do, yes,” he said, liking that he did. “So, our noble brother Harlow convinced her that she had to be sexually tested before she could be with a soldier and also convinced her to be the first one he tested. He knew she liked him, but she’d already chosen to follow her sisters down the path of giving herself over for saving the world. He figured if he had her once, she’d be ruined for anybody else. And he was right. He ruined her so good she truly can’t see straight anymore. Now he’s got her working for him. He disciplines her when she doesn’t perfectly fulfill all his impossibly tall orders, then he adds up the infractions all day and punishes her in the evening. He’s got it so she’s required to live in the room adjoining his. Free access to do as he pleases to his love slave. And she lets him.” Kult chuckled at the look on his face. “Finally, signs of life in your eyes.”
Kaphas looked back at the crowd. “I want her. Maybe just like that.”
Kult angled his gaze at him. “Well, that was quick. Well, done.”
He looked at Kult. “What was quick?”
“You deciding what you want. Next is how you plan on getting it.”
“Maybe I’ll request to take over the sexual testing division.”
“Nah,” Kult chuckled, shaking his head. “That’s a Harlow thing. You need a Kaphas thing.”
That got his attention again.
“Just because you’re a part of all of us doesn’t mean you’re not you. Focus on becoming that man.”
His golden eyes slowly moved from his, resting on the bodies before them. “I’m not fully that man yet.”
“Work with the parts you have.”
He got another solid gaze lock with him that lasted a full ten seconds before he closed the distance and locked Kult in a tight hug. “I saw what you hid,” he whispered. “And I understand why you did. If it weren’t for Pain’s gift, I don’t think I’d be alive right now. But then...what would this ugly world be missing?”
Kult hugged him back tight, pressing his face in his neck. “Don’t fucking say that,” he said right in his ear. “I’ll tell you what the world would miss. The man who carries the hearts and souls of his five brothers.” He pushed him back, keeping hold of his shoulders and hot gaze. “You’ve got mega-awesome DNA. And you have this soul-reaping warrior body that I’m a tiny bit jealous of,” he admitted, eyeballing his amazing physique. “You have to tell me what the hell kind of things you’re capable of now.”
“Well, I can crave to die but can’t be killed.”
Kult snorted. “Bet if I lopped off that big head of yours, you’d have a hard time walking away from it.” He angled his head at him with a shit-eating grin. “Is that a smile? Holy shit, that’s the coolest superpower I ever did see.” Kult shaded his eyes. “Blinding!”
Kaphas laughed now.
“Oh shit, Miney and Moe, two o’clock.”
Kaphas looked. “And who’s that?”
Fuck, he didn’t know yet. “Friends of ours. You may recognize them.” Fathom and Fin stopped right before Kult. “Where’s Eenie-Meanie?” Kult asked.
“With his wife,” Fathom muttered, the stress on the word smile worthy.
“And to what do I owe this most random and untimely visit?”
They suddenly eyed Kaphas and Kult decided introductions now rather than later might help his evolving brother. “Kaphas, meet Fathom and Fin. Somewhere in the hellish crowd is Fetch, their other brother and his lovely wife, Rowan. They’re the evil triplets.”
“This is Handy,” Fathom and Fin realized in awed unison.
“Kaphas,” Kult corrected. “He’s a new entity, wouldn’t you agree?”
They regarded him again. “Indeed.”
Fathom and Fin ventured closer, invading Kaphas’ personal space to inspect him with their powers, while Kaphas allowed them, keeping his arms crossed as he checked them out as well.
“What are both of you?” Kaphas finally asked.
“We’re the first soldiers. Our previous residence was in the mind of Kult. Fetch, Fathom, and Fin.”
“They deal with the what, the why, and the when,” Kult finished.
Kaphas’ gaze snapped to Kult’s. “They’re...”
Kult nodded. “Yep. They are.”
He went back to ogling Fathom and Fin. “Wow,” he muttered, amazed.
“Kaphas,” Fathom wondered at him. “Do they know what you’re capable of?”
Kaphas eyed Kult then Fathom. “Well, if they do, I’d like to know.”
“Quantum will have a full report regarding this last growth spurt,” Kult said.
“We have a matter to speak to you about,” Fathom remembered. “A human matter.”
“Excuse me,” Kaphas said, pushing off the wall and making his way into the crowd.
“And there he goes,” Kult muttered, watching him strike up a conversation with another sister. Good ole, operation piss your female off.
He looked at Fathom. “A human matter. I’m quite puzzled with that request.”
Kult listened as his psychosis in semi-human form detailed their marriage problems with their wives. “Wait... you have not had sex yet?”
“No.”
“And you’ve decided to let her lead that charge?”
Fathom and Fin exchanged glances and said in unison, “This is a problem.”
Kult’s nods were heavy. “Women are naturally submissive in sex. You definitely need to do it.”
“Do what exactly?” Fathom asked.
Kult slammed the brakes right before giving directions to easy street. “You need to make her work for it.”
“Work for what?”
“What she wants.”
Again, they exchanged glances. “That’s where things refuse to behave,” Fin said. “They don’t seem to know what they want or how they want it or when.”
“You can go ahead and add why to that,” Kult allowed. “Take off what, though. They know what they want, they just don’t know the rest.”
“So, what do they want?” Fathom pressed, bringing Kult’s grinniest grin.
“She wants everything you want to give her.”
More exchanged glances. “Surely not everything,” Fin guaranteed.
“Oh, yes,” he nodded, slowly and emphatically. “Surely.”
“How do we make her work for it?” Fin hurried.
“Research all forms of foreplay with a woman. Then follow the crumbs to the full course meal.”
Fathom and Fin spun to the crowd. “Kaphas.”
Kult turned and found his new brother standing in the center of the floor with a ten-foot clearing all around him. All eyes were on him right as Kult spotted who Kaphas’ eyes were on. Celeste, of course. Chatting it up with a Creole King.
“He’s gathering power,” Fathom and Fin said, their alarm putting Kult right on their heels as they hurried toward him. Kult realized why there was a ten-foot clearance around Kaphas when he ran into denser air that caused the hair on his arms to stand up.
Kaphas was now on the move, walking toward his target at a hunter’s pace.
Fetch came from the right, joining Fathom and Fin, heading for Kaphas. Kult spotted the Syphon King who eyed the coming storm on two legs. Fuck, now the lensed giant was moving toward the Creole King. Kult pushed through the dense air as Fetch, Fathom, and Fin got in front of Kaphas. Kult looked around for fucking Quantum. Pretty sure they had a chill chip in him they needed to use now.
The air around Kaphas now crackled and hummed as the Syphon King stood before the Creole King and Celeste, stretching his new hand out toward Kaphas. Fetch, Fathom, and Fin spun to the Syphon King and filled the air with debilitating shrieks that sent everybody running.
The Syphon King removed the dark lenses covering his eyes. They narrowed on his newest brother, bringing a strained roar as he forced his hand toward the ceiling. A loud boom rocked the air and two seconds after, a monstrous chandelier shattered on the floor.
Kult raced forward when he saw the triplets attempting to pin Kaphas to the floor. Pain was suddenly there, diving for their new brother. He landed on top of him right as a massive sonic boom rocked the room.
“PAIN!” Kult dove for him next, realizing he’d absorbed what blasted out of Kaphas, holy fuck.
Kaphas went limp beneath Pain, his eyes drifting shut as Quantum arrived, pushing Fetch and Fathom back while Kult pulled an unconscious Pain off of Kaphas. Quantum lifted his new brother in his arms as Kult felt for a fucking pulse. “He’s got no fucking pulse!” he yelled.
“Get him to the trauma unit immediately,” Quantum ordered Fetch. “The rest of my team need to move the guests to safety.”
A little fucking late for that, King.
****
“WHAT THE FUCK AM Ilooking at?” Kult marveled at the analysis on the screen.
“You’re looking at a near indestructible being,” Quantum said. “The Syphon King said he saw Kaphas drawing energy from the air around him and was becoming unstable. When he attempted to siphon some of it, the Triplets used their phonic concussion and formed a barrier around Kaphas to keep the Syphon King from touching him.”
“And why?”
“See this? That’s a Backlash Shield. When Kaphas feels threatened, it gets triggered and draws more kinetic energy from the air around him. That’s what it runs on.”
“Kinetic energy,” Kult repeated.
“Correct. Kaphas collects it through his own movements at all times. This shield defines the amount of power it needs to eliminate the threat without him even aware—at this time.”
Kult muttered, “A built-in self-defense.”
“Precisely.
“The air was dense,” Kult recalled. “Stood the hairs up on my arm.”
“That was the energy he was pulling toward him. Thankfully the Triplets understood his powers and tried to form a shield to contain what was building in him. They protected everybody at risk to themselves and that’s a good thing.”
“And the Syphon King?” Kult wondered.
“He said when he removed his gates, he realized Kaphas was converting his siphoning power into kinetic energy. It built up in both of them and due to Syphon’s inexperience with his hand, he feared the blast he’d built up might do more than neutralize Kaphas. And he was undoubtedly right. It would have turned him into a bigger human bomb than he already was.”
“I can testify to that,” Pain said, his jovial tone drawing Kult’s amazed gaze over his shoulder. Pain’s recovery time—thirty minutes. “He killed me instantly.”
“Yeah... We know,” Kult said, wanting to punch him in his happy grin.
“How did you know, is the question,” Quantum asked. “To do what you did?”
A dark cloud slowly eased over Pain’s face. “I can feel him. I could from the beginning, but his last growth, even more.”
“I was wondering if that might happen,” Quantum marveled. “A kind of symbiosis. This happens not only when there’s molecular bonding, but emotional as well. And it’s obvious he’s emotionally bonded to all of you and us him.”
“Did he program that shit in?” Kult wondered.
“The program designed the optimal body to serve what was in his psyche. If he needed the emotional bond, then it would have built it. Given his level of intelligence when we created him, he may have easily known what the growth sequence would entail and ensured he had all the necessary components to facilitate this symbiotic bond.”
“So we help him in the evolution,” Sync realized.
Kult turned, forgetting him and Atlas were hiding in the back corner.
“When’s Harlow getting here? And what about Celeste, she’s having fits to see him.”
“He needs to remain detached until his next growth phase,” Quantum said.
“You mean brain dead,” Kult said, not liking it. He eyed Pain, finding the storm over his face darker than before. “What’s your problem,” he demanded to him.
He raised his dark gray gaze to him. “If I’m symbiotically connected to him any more than I am, I will never sleep.”
“Until his final growth, things will be rocky,” Quantum assured.
“Two more days,” Atlas mumbled with a sigh. “Not looking forward to watching him die again.”
Nobody was.
The door burst open, and Harlow came in looking freshly raped by a nun.
“What we got?” he dove right in, hurrying to the monitors as Quantum caught him up.
“Holy shit,” he muttered, eyeing Quantum with a grin. “He is one bad-ass,” he shrilled doing an ecstatic jig before catching Kult’s evil glare. “This is good!” he cried, or pled.
“Well, if it’s all the same,” Kult said, “I’d like to talk to him before the hour of his death. We all need to. And he needs to see Celeste.”
“When does he plan to tell her he’s Handy?” Atlas wondered.
“He doesn’t plan on it.”
All eyes landed on Pain now.
“I sense he doesn’t actually like Handy.”
“Now, see, this puzzles me,” Kult said. “That you would know this and I’m not sensing it.”
“I forgot to mention,” Quantum said at the computer. “He’s partitioning.”
“Like Augustine?” Atlas wondered.
“Yes. I wondered in what way it would manifest and maybe this is how.”
“Or one of them,” Harlow said, his greedy tone rubbing up on Kult’s killing nerves.
“It’s pretty epic that he might be able to connect to a piece of all of us,” Atlas mused. “He’s like our offspring.”
Those words hit Kult like a valium wrapped in adrenalin. Their offspring. “You know, it doesn’t bother me if he somehow made us feel this way about him. It bothers me that he thought he needed to.”
“Why you looking at me?” Harlow cried.
“Because of your incessant hate for him, that’s why.”
He threw up his hands. “What you want from me?”
The look of betrayal in his eyes only added to his fury. “I want this stupid growth bullshit to be done, I want him to fucking tell Celeste who he is so she can give him what he needs. He’s being a dick about it.”
“He doesn’t want her to think he’s Handy,” Pain reminded.
“And why not?” Kult demanded.
“Because he’s not. He’s Kaphas. The one who came out on the other side. Handy to him is...a milestone to who he’s wanted to become.”
“Because we never accepted him!” Kult yelled. “Fuck, why do I want to kill right now?”
“I think he sees you as a father,” Pain thought.
Kult whipped around at hearing that, the words clicking right into place and making him pace. “Well, that’s a stupid choice he made if that”s true. I’m the father of shoving candy down the throats of evil with a razor blade of vengeance tucked neatly inside.”
“Maybe that’s why he picked you,” Pain offered.
“We have three hours till his next birthday, maybe—”
“Don’t... fucking call it that,” Kult warned Sync.
“I’ll wake him and see how he’s feeling,” Quantum said. “And what he remembers.”
Kult nodded at seeing he waited for his approval. “Can I talk to him first?”
They all agreed, and Kult realized he was late getting back to Mary since the near apocalypse at the party an hour ago. “I need to make a five-minute call then I’m ready.”
“What about Celeste?” Harlow wondered. “It will come up.”
“What about her?” Kult asked.
“Should we tell her?”
Kult’s patience snapped in half. “Should I tell Lucy about your little game?”
“Bruh, I’m just asking, chill.”
“I say let him be Kaphas and win her,” Pain thought. “Not like Handy will be showing up to tell on him.”
“Right,” Atlas chuckled. “Would be a tad funny though if he did.” He went through a ten second skit of various Handy attacks they all remembered well.
“Handy strikes again,” Pain grinned.
Would serve their second little shit right for trying to snuff out their first little shit, Kult thought. How the fuck he could possibly adore both little shits?