Ultimate Warriors (18 page)

     
Elaine
smiled. She stepped back, pulling off her form-fitting mini-dress and kicking
off her shoes. There was nothing else to her outfit. Elaine had gone trolling
for a power, and she was ready for the natural conclusion. She reached for his
clothes.

     
Julien
pulled her hands away, shaking his head at her look of confusion. "If that’s
what you want, why did you choose me?" he teased.

     
Her eyes
widened. "What did you have in mind?"

     
He
advanced on her. "Would you rather the bed or the lounge?"

     
She
hesitated.
"The bed."

     
Julien
motioned his head toward the bedroom, adding a hungry look that was not
entirely for show. He followed Elaine in, trying to ignore the sway of her
hips.

     
Elaine
sat on the edge of the bed, striking a sultry pose with her shoulders thrown
back and her breasts offered up. "What are you going to do, Soulchaser?"
Her breathing was quick, already heavy in excitement.

     
"Promise
me anything, and I will give you the ultimate rush."

     
Her
cheeks darkened. "Which is?"

     
"I’ll
make you come without touching you — at all." The challenge was made. He
knew from experience that the answer wouldn’t take long. Either Elaine would
jump at the chance, or she would ask him to define what she would be giving in
return. With the level she played at, chances were that she would accept
outright.

     
"What
should I do?"

     
"Lie
back. Close your eyes. Let go for me."

     
She did
the first two. The third wasn’t happening. Julien sat at the edge of the bed.
He leaned over Elaine and kissed her. She relaxed into the more familiar idea
of his hands on her. Julien eased back, sending the appropriate sensations to
her mind.

     
Elaine
bowed her chest up to the sensation of his mouth. Her arousal washed over him,
and Julien stroked his aching cock in response. He closed his eyes, using
Elaine’s mind to drive the encounter.

     
She
groaned as he supplied fingers stroking at her clit. "I thought you said
you wouldn’t touch," she taunted.

     
Julien
snapped his eyes open, checking his watch. Twenty-two minutes. He eased off the
bed and strode to the open door, lounging against the frame with a grin.
"I’m not," he assured her.

     
Elaine
looked at him in surprise, and Julien mentally eased his fingers inside her.
She shifted her legs wider to accommodate him as if the hand were a physical
body.

     
"Soulchaser,"
she gasped. He’d heard that voice before.

     
"Close
your eyes, Elaine. Imagine what you want me to do." That step wasn’t
necessary for him to do this. Julien had used this trick many times before.
Women got off on watching the hands and mouth that weren’t really there, but
Julien couldn’t let Elaine watch him. It was better to let her think he needed
her eyes closed.

     
She
nodded, closing her eyes. Julien rewarded her with a slow lick over her clit
that had her arching off of the bed. Julien nodded and slid from the room
silently. He crossed the main room, placing his forehead against the glass door
and willing his arousal back. If Julien wasn’t careful, he would climax with
Elaine.

     
That was
how this particular game started. In Julien’s earliest days with the
power-chasers, he would make this offer. He’d stand close beside his partner,
unclothed and ready, feeding his arousal off of hers until just before her
climax. When Julien suggested the repayment he wanted, none of the women ever
balked. He made a habit of delaying his release just long enough for the
woman’s crest to dim to a glow before he brought the head of his cock to her
lips—

     
Julien
forced his eyes open. Not this time. Angel is waiting. He checked his watch.
Nineteen minutes. Julien forced his mind to two levels, his thinking mind
handling his strategy while his semi-conscious layer handled Elaine. It was no
different than following strands when you didn’t allow yourself to become
immersed in the flow, he reminded himself.

     
He
opened the door and eased through. Julien raced up the outside emergency
stairs. At three floors up, he started checking the corner doors. It was six
floors before he found one that was both unoccupied and unlocked.

     
Julien
closed himself inside and checked his watch. Fourteen minutes. He laughed aloud
at the sound of an Academy helo. "Just in time," he mused.

     
He
hurried through the corridors to the north corner and took the stairs further
up. It was another five floors up, and Julien was winded by the time he reached
the thirteenth floor. He shook in a mixture of exhaustion and sexual tension,
but Julien couldn’t risk using the lifts, as he couldn’t risk using his
identi-card to unlock doors.

     
Julien
was keeping Elaine at the edges of release, holding off the moment when she
would discover his absence as long as he could. Once that happened, the
operatives would search for him, and a search of the tower wouldn’t take nearly
long enough for Julien’s comfort. He checked his watch, groaning.

     
"Five
minutes," he groused.

     
Julien
checked the corridor carefully and strode to the quarters as if he belonged
there. He grumbled a complaint as he kept Elaine from going over yet again. I
wonder if I could screw her into unconsciousness, he thought bitterly. Julien
sighed. There was little chance of that, though it would solve his current
problem. If Elaine were unconscious, she couldn’t alert his shadows that Julien
had ducked them.

     
He
pushed at the door to the quarters he needed, praying for miracles and smiling
at his luck — or Angel’s planning. The door was unlocked. Julien slid inside
and locked it behind him. Two minutes.

     
It was
becoming more difficult to hold Elaine off — and to order her not to seek him
out with her eyes. She was begging for release, desperate for it. Two minutes,
he begged. Just two minutes, and I will give you the orgasm of a lifetime.

     
Julien
pressed his back to the door, waiting for a tap behind him announcing Angel’s
arrival. He shook his head in disbelief as the blaze of white light filled the
center of the near-empty room. His eyes watered, but Julien couldn’t look away.
Angel and Anthony stepped out of the light, and it faded away. Julien started
swearing fluently.

     
Angel
smiled at the sight of Julien. He was really here. It was over. Her smile
disappeared as he started pacing, running a shaking hand through his hair.

     
"You
are fucking crazy if you think I’m doing that again," he growled. Julien
rubbed his forehead, groaning. "Dammit! I am completely and utterly
screwed."

     
"What
is it?" she asked, confused and frightened by his explosion.

     
"I
got distracted and let her come," he informed her miserably. "Now she
knows I’m gone, and—" He stilled, paling. Julien shook his head, his jaw
tight in fury.
"Oh, yeah.
Just
perfect.
They know. I can’t go back now. I am so screwed."

     
"You
want to go back?" Angel asked indignantly. What the hell am I risking
myself for?

     
Anthony
gestured frantically.

     
Angel
waved him off. "I am well aware that we have ten minutes or less if they
are searching the tower," she snapped. She planted her hands on her hips.
"I asked you a question, Julien."

     
Julien
laughed harshly. "Well, I don’t want to travel that way again. It damn
near killed me the last time. Thank you very much for that warning, by the way.
I suppose I’m facing a choice of death or a synth-cloth padded cell. Lovely
choice, but what do I have to lose?"

     
Angel
groaned. "So like your father. You tapped into the power and almost got
sucked along?" she asked urgently. Angel knew it was a possibility, but
when Julien hadn’t appeared on the other
side,
she
assumed he hadn’t chanced investigating a power level so high.

     
His eyes
widened. "He did die that way," Julien accused.

     
"Not at all.
Jake was smart enough not to fight it.
Thankfully, fighting it didn’t kill you. It could have. That was why I needed
your absolute trust." She smiled weakly. "If you hadn’t fought it,
the jump site would have brought you straight to us, and this would all be
unnecessary."

     
"You
could have told me that," he groused. Julien stilled. "You knew my
father?"

     
Angel
went to him and took his hands, leading Julien further into the room. They were
running out of time. "Yes. I did." She vaguely noted Anthony
returning to the jump point.

     
"How
did he die? The Grellan didn’t kill him, did they?"

     
"No.
We didn’t. I will give you the whole truth when we are safe. Please trust
me."

     
He
nodded slowly, seemingly lost in the revelation that Angel was so intimately
tied to him. Angel sighed. Stunned was nearly as good as accepting. It would
have to be enough.

     
Anthony
took one of her hands, casting nervous looks at Julien.

     
She
nodded, tugging Julien’s body to hers and holding his gaze locked with hers.
"Trust me," she whispered.

     
The
energy wrapped around them. Anthony raised the level gradually, letting Julien
accept it in gradients.

     
Julien
cupped her cheek in one hand. "Promise me."

     
"I
promise." Angel would promise him anything. It didn’t matter if he was
asking for assurances that he wouldn’t be injured again, assurances that he
wouldn’t regret leaving his life behind, or assurances that she would honor her
promises to give him the whole truth and to make love to him once they were
safe.

     
He
stiffened as the portal formed around them.

     
Angel
rose on tiptoe and brushed her lips over his. "Trust me," she
reminded him.

     
Julien
nodded, meeting her lips urgently. Angel gasped as his power joined the feed,
coursing through her like a wave.

     
He
raised his head, looking past her as the door swung wide. A devilish smile not
unlike his father’s curved Julien’s lips. "Speed it up, Anthony," he
requested. He stepped around Angel, blocking her body with his own.

     
Angel
grasped at Julien’s clothing, memories of the night they both lost their
parents searing her. She looked past him, stifling a scream of dismay as the
old man raised his weapon.

     
Julien
waved. "Goodbye, Adrien."

     
The old
man faltered, his eyes widening. Julien laughed aloud as the room melted away
outside the circle of light.

     
Angel
closed her eyes as she felt her body make the jump — lengthening, thinning,
disassociating
her mind from her body. She came back to
herself in the workroom, collapsing under the force of Julien’s body.

* * * *

     
Julien
groaned. His limbs felt leaden much like they had in the hospital. The startling
colors faded away, and he blinked his eyes, taking in the beige walls and banks
of electronics curiously. The panels were strange, like nothing Julien had ever
seen before.

     
Angel
eased from under him, touching Julien’s face in concern. "Relax. The first
time is always the hardest. You’ll be weak for several minutes. The dizziness
will last longer — a few hours." She accepted a bright-colored robe from
Anthony and pulled it on, cinching it at the waist.

     
Anthony
motioned to Julien, his hands a flurry that made Julien’s head spin.

     
She
nodded. "We will be fine," Angel assured her brother. "Go rest.
Long distances always tire you, but we’ll be able to relax for a few days
here."

     
The boy
smiled at Julien and made more hand motions. He waved and strode from the room.

     
"What
did he say?" Julien asked weakly.