CHAPTER TWELVE
Kaphas sat all theway at the back of the vehicle with Fetch and Fin while Rowan, Elanore, and Celeste sat in the seat before them and Fathom and Rosalie the seat before that. He envied the brand-new connection Fathom had with Rosalie in many ways, surprised that the sexual one came in last place. Their bond could be felt from where he sat and made him crave it. Fathom’s powers were electrical in nature because of his primary fathoming gift. His ability to work out things required lightning speeds and now his entire makeup—defense and offense, came equipped with it. Being that he was a part of all of them, Kaphas understood it like an extension of himself. How much would he inherit of what they all had? It was the single comfort he felt to the depths of what he was becoming, being part of all of them. He fetched that it was its own power. He fathomed it was his greatest. And he’d finish this fact with one final death.
The question was...could he even link with a woman? He was not created by Quantum to become a soldier, but a body to execute. The idea cut him still. And yet, all got what they wanted. Their need to kill was fulfilled as was his need to live. But... what would he be when all the dying was done?
His existing gifts had grown times five in various ways since his second death. But he didn’t sense new powers. And his third death... he didn’t remember anything except laying on the table to get ready and then waking up from being dead. No memory of anything. No signs of anything. Had he malfunctioned? No clue. But ever since Quantum explained what his body had done at the party, he was able to understand it as it was happening now. In that second, his defenses thought it a threat not having Celeste closer and so it sent a stream of kinetic energy to hover on the surface of her skin. As close as he could be without touching. She wouldn’t notice it unless he wanted her to. And if he did, he could think it and his body produced whatever was required. If he wanted her attention, he could focus more energy on a part of her body that made her think of him. Which was anything sexual ever since he’d planted that seed in their last encounter. Any type of erotic stimulation would have her every molecule straining for him. Hungry. Desperate.
Wanting to confirm it, he closed his eyes and followed the line of energy to her body then added more at her nipples beneath her cream-colored silky blouse, slowly increasing the heat and vibration.
Her sudden gasp brought Rosalie’s, head whipping around. “What’s wrong? Oh God, did I accidentally shock you? Can I do that from here?” she quietly worried to Fathom.
“No,” Celeste whispered, confused. “I just... remembered something.”
Indeed.
“Oh, thank heavens,” Rosalie said quietly over her shoulder. “Apparently, I can accidentally shock people now without touching them! And do other crazy things.”
“Really,” Celeste said, her excitement racing up the bridge of energy between them. “What sort of things?”
Yes, what sort of things, Kaphas wondered, also intrigued.
Rosalie called Celeste closer to her seat and whispered quieter, “I can sense so many things in people mostly.” She leaned and put her hand to Rosalie’s ear and said as quiet as she could, “Whatever you just remembered I know excited you in...a certain...pleasurable way. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to know it!”
And every non-human ear now also knew.
Fathom said something to Rosalie that no ear but hers could detect. Whatever it was made her suck in a breath. Then stifle a giggle.
The secret interaction filled Kaphas with more hunger for Celeste. He leaned forward and whispered so only she would hear. “Come sit with me in the back. I need to tell you something,” he added, realizing she might need more persuasion since that mean trick he’d played on her. And he’d changed his mind about her going to his second death party. He’d decided it was a stupid, pussy idea. Why would he want her to see him die? He didn’t want her pity.
Kaphas made his way out of his seat and into the very back smaller one, his cock buzzing with energy when she finally got up and made her way to him.
She sat and he gobbled up everything she brought to him. He leaned and again whispered only to her, “Thank you for the gift.”
She eyed him, her perfect little lips being politely edible. “Are you teasing me for not getting you one?” she wondered, while her brow worried.
“Having you here is my gift,” he said, smiling at how easily he broke her down. “You look beautiful. The color of your skirt nearly matches your skin.”
She looked down. “Am I... rose pink?” she wonder-worried at him.
“You are. In some places.”
He realized he was experiencing her aroused excitement through the connection as well as storing it. She sat there, her pulse a subtle flick on the bridge between them. He shifted the anchor of the energy to his cock and slid lower in his seat, already rock hard from what he was about to do. What would his sweet Celest look like having her first orgasm right where she sat? How would she behave?
His powers considered it a threat to his existence if he didn’t learn that answer immediately and already it gathered between her legs, preparing to get every detail.
“How could you possibly know such a thing?” she asked quietly, giving him only half her gaze.
“Maybe I’m guessing.” He pushed the hot vibration of his energy between her petals.
“Oh God!” she gasped, grabbing hold of his leg then snatching her hand off like it burned her.
“Are you okay?”
He moved the energy firmly and slowly over her clit.
“I...” she panted a few times, shifting around in a panic. “Something’s... wrong with me!” She suddenly buried her face between his shoulder and the seat, panting as he mercilessly licked along her clit.
“Should we stop?” He formed a finger with the energy and worked it into her womanhood.
“Oh!” She clutched his bicep in both frantic hands.
“Tell me what to do,” he whispered.
“I can’t...” she barely whipsered, fighting to be quiet, turning her face so it pressed against his shoulder.
He raised his arm and pulled her against him, putting his mouth at her other ear as her hot breath heated his chest now. “Are you hurting?”
“No!”
“Tell me what you’re feeling so I can help you.”
“I...I can’t tell you! Oh no,” she breathed. “Oh...please,” she begged, maybe the universe, moving a hand between her legs as if to stifle it.
He turned up the heat on her clit. “Do you like it?” he whispered. “It’s a new trick I learned after I died. I wanted you to be the first to experience it.”
He withdrew all of it from her instantly, leaving her panting and on the very edge of an orgasm. Now they were twins in that divine, fiery torment. It wasn”t the same kind of connection Fathom had but...it would do for the next fifteen minutes. He was sure he’d not last longer than that before he tried more of his tricks.
“You didn”t give me that birthday kiss,” he reminded, like they’d agreed on one.
She sat there, winded with her skirt bound in both fists, staring toward him. “Why would you... do that?”
“Did I take it away too soon?”
“That... that’s wrong to do.”
“Do you want to punish me more than you already are?”
“I’m not punishing you,” she whispered, her chest heaving.
He stilled as she leaned in and pressed her lips against his cheek then returned to being his sweet, trembling statue, staring at her lap.
“I want one on the lips,” he dared.
“I can’t,” she gasped, the pain in the words getting him harder. She couldn’t but wanted to.
“I won’t tell.”
“But I’ll know! God will know!”
He turned and she avoided his stare. “Look at me, Celeste.”
To see the amount of power he had over her obedience was its own gift. He gazed into her eyes and slowly leaned in, pausing right at her mouth. “I’m going to take a kiss. You owe it to me. For denying all the things I crave to have in you.”
She didn’t turn from him, and he suddenly wanted to test this silent submission, feeling her breath on his mouth.
“You’re letting me?” He grazed her cheek with his fingers, feeling her silk. “I wanted it to be my mouth on your pussy. And pretty nipples.”
Many breaths flew from her while she remained obediently still. He brushed his lips over and they barely parted with a frantic blast. He moved his hand over her lap and inch by inch, worked her skirt higher. “I just want to feel you once,” he quietly lied on her trembling lips. “I want you to be the first woman I touch this way. And the only one I touch this way.”
Fathom called for music and soon the noise cloaked his naughty game right as her breath began to catch with threatening moans. He moved his hand over her panties, barely touching as he paused at her clit. He drew that hot energy into the tips of his fingers and barely pressed against the softness while covering her mouth with his.
He forced her against the seat, taking his kiss and the sounds of her first ecstasy with a hunger. He tormented her clit with slow circles as he licked at all her fears and Handy worries, converting them into secret trophies.
Her hips flicked at first slowly then faster, and now she was coming, hiding her intense orgasm right in his mouth. He gave a victorious groan as she writhed and thrashed through the pleasure before she broke the kiss and shoved her face between him and the seat.
Her breaths shuddered as he smiled that she’d again used him for a hiding place.
He cupped her head with his hand and angled his mouth at her ear. “Will you hate me now, my Angel?” He realized his canine teeth ached and throbbed and slid his tongue on the slightly lengthened weapons. At least he’d assumed they were weapons. But the way he longed to sink them into her soft flesh had him second guessing. Why should he do such a thing? Would it hurt her? Pleasure her?
He’d test it later. That night. When he coerced her into sleeping in his arms. And again, when he buried his cock in her divine body.
****
“WHAT ON EARTH KINDof date place is this?” Kaphas wondered, holding tight to Celeste’s hand after bullying her into letting him. Another birthday present.
“It’s still a surprise,” Rowan ordered Fetch as they made their way around a building.
They had to educate Kaphas about dates and their purposes and he immediately decided they were his favorite thing to do with Celeste. But now he wasn’t so sure. He didn’t like sharing her air with others within a ten foot radius and he didn’t like the looks and feel of the building they were walking toward.
“I don’t like this place,” Kaphas muttered. “Why is that?”
“Instinct,” Fetch said quietly, his Kevlar cells becoming more active than he liked.
“Don’t worry, brother,” Fathom said, his tone ominous. “What happens here is no threat to you or your woman.”
“But there is a threat,” he knew that much.
“It’s a graveyard,” Fin informed. “Where brand new humans come to die.”
Kaphas stopped in his tracks as his powers became erratic. “I cannot not enter this place.”
His brothers turned with their wives. Fetch eyed Rowan and she tossed her arm at Kaphas with a, “Alright, fine, tell him.”
“Remember the gift for Butterfly? It’s here. Rowan has befriended one of the nurses and said she could provide her with a baby tonight.”
“A baby?” Celeste gasped as Kaphas stared at his brother while the women held hands and bounced excitedly.
“How did you even meet this woman?” Celeste marveled.
“Welllll,” Rowan said. “See, on the night of our honeymoon, me soldier had to do a thing I really didn’t wanna do and I asked him if he could fathom another way to do it. And we tried the morgue, we tried the terminal ward at the hospital, and neither worked. This was the last place we came.” She regarded the building, her face going sad and sober. “When I realized what it was, I decided I’d rather handle me own nightmares rather than steal their little sufferings, yeah?”
Kaphas marveled curiously at the tears in Rowan’s eyes and the way the women again joined as one in their emotions. Were they symbiotic because of the triplets? But Celeste wasn’t part of that and yet she shared the bond.
“I was sad to the depths of me soul and Fetch fathomed I should offer to help and I’m like why didn’t I fathom that! So, I called and got in tight with one of the nurses—used me God card—” she whispered sneakily with a grin “—and heckity hoo, I was in. I told her anytime a mother needed help or other options, to call me. And she did!” she exclaimed.
They were jumping and squealing before the other girls even knew why.
“What did she say?” Celeste demanded.
“A mother wants to give her baby up for adoption, but her parents are against it because they know she’ll go a huntin’ for it later. So, she called me. We’ll take the wee thing off their hands, and nobody will be the wiser, yeah?”
“Oh my God, Butterfly’s going to be so happy!” Celeste squealed.
While they danced about, Kaphas caught Fetch eying him with half a smile. “That’s my wee human wife,” he bragged as Fathom snatched Rosalie from the pile of emotional females and pulled her into his arms.
“Oh!” Rosalie cried then erupted with laughter when electricity arced between them then disappeared under their skin.
“Let’s go!” Rowan said. “We’s supposed to be here right after closing.”
Kaphas pulled Celeste to his body, claiming her hand again. She aimed her pretty eyes up at him and her smile suddenly made the insane mission entirely logical.
While waiting at what seemed to be a back door to the facility, Kaphas created chest straps with his arms and harnessed Celeste with them. She held on with her hands, her nails occasionally digging holes into his skin when he played his vibration tricks right in front of everybody.
“What’s taking so long?” Rowan whispered, pulling her phone out. She put it to her ear and after five seconds, whispered, “We’re here, where are yous?” She stiffened. “What!?”
Kaphas jerked at the sound behind him. He turned his hyper-auditory hearing to maximum and pulled Celeste with him toward it. His pulse raced as he got closer to a metal container, discerning the sound of a tiny being fighting for air.
He ripped the top of the giant dumpster off with one hand and immediately zeroed in on a black bag containing the distress signal.
“Oh my God!” the women gushed when he lifted it out and lay it carefully on the ground, tearing an opening in it.
“Oh my God!” they shrieked at the tiny infant, mouth opening and closing slowly, battling for oxygen.
“Help him!” Celeste screamed.
Kaphas lifted the baby from the ground and turned it over. He focused his fangs into slender points and lowered his mouth to the tiny shoulder. He pierced his skin and his power’s essence entered his little body. Kaphas closed his eyes and followed the life force as it traveled through him. It located the weak, erratic heartbeat and interpreted its rhythm. He quickly drew kinetic energy from the air and cancelled the dying energy before replacing it with an amplified power.
Kaphas held the baby closer to his chest, commanding his heart to beat stronger. The life force obeyed its neural master, creating a healing power that flooded every cell in the fragile wonder he held. He turned the infant over, watching his mouth open wider, and a gasp of air fill its lungs. He eyed his tiny chest, rising and falling more, aware of four tiny hands on his back, their whispered prayers filling the air.
The little heartbeat finally stabilized and Kaphas released his own breath as the baby’s cries sputtered forth. The women sucked in their breath then danced and hugged and cried as he eyed Celeste.
“Oh, thank you, thank you God, he’s alive!” Rowan cried, hurrying closer to see.
“Thank you Kaphas!” Celeste gushed, quickly removing the wrap around her shoulders and holding it open next to the baby.
He laid him in it and the other women helped get it nice and snug till he resembled a delicate wonder, bundled in royal silk.
By the time Celeste held it next to her breast, his little lungs were fully working. He filled the air with furious cries that flooded his matrix codes with powerful chemicals. “He’s... like a tiny little miracle,” Kaphas marveled, looking at Celeste as she nodded and wept.
“He is a beautiful precious miracle, yes.”
“A pissed little miracle,” Fetch thought with a chuckle as they all studied the wondrous phenomenon.
“Oh, my God,” Celeste whispered, smiling up at Kaphas. “Butterfly will be so happy! You’ve saved two lives tonight.”
She returned to lavishing coos to the baby while her words stirred things in Kaphas that felt potently familiar. Was that his real purpose? To save?
His blood and powers revved and raced at the idea. Maybe he was going to be a soldier after all. He realized it’s what he truly wanted. Not just to save but to protect.
Celeste suddenly held the baby toward him, and he took it in his arms. As he stared at its little face, he was overcome with volatile chemicals from his rapidly firing neurons. The combination necessitated the urge to smile. And he did. They all did.
****
“THEY what?” Pain whispered, glancing over his shoulder at his sleeping beauty, hurrying out of their room. “A real, actual fucking baby?”
“Yes, a real actual fucking baby,” Kult said. Tell me what you think of this.”
Pain paced in the hall, shaking his head, dumbfounded. “A baby? A new one?”
“Brand fucking new. Straight out of the oven and into the fucking dumpster. Kaphas saved its life.”
“How do you feel?” Pain wondered, needing direction in this one.
“I feel like they’ve lost their fucking minds and yet... it’s brilliant. Exactly what she needs.”
Pain closed his eyes. “Why even discuss it? It sounds done.”
“Oh it’s done. It is done. They’re on their way here with it so you might wanna prep our Butterfly, but I want to know how you feel.”
“I feel like I’m willing to do anything to take that fucking sadness from the depths of her eyes.”
“That’s a good way to see things. Now, you don’t have to like the thing, it’s for her,” Kult reminded.
“I know,” Pain agreed.
“But like it or not, you’ll be doing a lot of shit with it. So, brace yourself. If she thinks you hate it, you’ll ruin it all to hell. You need to prepare. Prepare to see it, prepare to touch it, and hold it, prepare to smile and maybe even coo. She’ll be watching all that shit, but she’ll especially be watching your face. So, turn your fake-it-till-you-make-it settings to maximum. This needs to be the fucking miracle our angel deserves.”
“Pain?” Butterfly called.
“Fuck, gotta go. Who all knows?” he whispered.
“Everybody but her.”
“What do I tell her? Right now?”
“Fuck,” he muttered. “Tell her... tell her Handy has a gift for that island of broken trash of hers.”
“What? I can’t say that.”
“It’s from... the fucking...dumpster!”
“I know! But I can’t call it a piece of trash!”
“Then tell her whatever you think she wants or needs to hear. I’ll call you, Fetch is calling in.”
****