Psychoverse Page 9

  “What the fuck was that?” Erupa shouted, spittle flying and teeth bared in a snarl. Her hand rose, shaking, as she pointed at me. “What. The. FUCK!”

  “It was the new power,” I replied, backing off. “Honestly, it—”

  “Do it again,” she muttered, although she didn’t sound convinced.

  “What?”

  “I want to feel it again. I’ve never… I’ve never felt so helpless. It was…. Different.”

  “I’m not doing it again.”

  “Just… Please.” Erupa licked her lips, eyed me, and said, “Make me do something. Whatever you want—I’m willing, hear that now so you don’t doubt. But… make me do it.”

  My eyes darted over, first to Tink, who shrugged, then Cheri, who nodded eagerly. Mer was holding herself, arms wrapped tight, and watching me with uncertainty in her eyes.

  “Erupa, I shouldn’t.” I stepped up to her, hands on her upper arms, eyes staring into hers.

  She stared back, firm. “Do it.” When I didn’t, she reached up, long claws on my jugular, and said, “DO IT!”

  “Fine,” I said, pulling her hand down, “but not because of your empty threats.”

  “Can you… do two at once?” Cheri asked.

  “Come on,” I replied, but when she walked over and slapped my ass, I chuckled and said, “We’ll see.”

  When it happened this time, I was ready for it. First Erupa’s eyes went gold, then Cheri’s. Their arms went limp, expressions blank. It was creepy, but for the sake of experiment, I went with it.

  Anything I want, huh? I shook my head, trying to think of what I should do in a situation like this. Some guys would go straight to having the lady go down on them, or maybe get into some anal action. But it wasn’t like either of these ladies held out in those regards when they weren’t under my control, and something about it felt weird, even if they both wanted it.

  I focused on Cheri fingering herself, but nothing happened. Ignoring the inquisitive stares from Tink and Mer, I tried again. A vibration sounded from nearby, and I turned to see my robes shifting. In a flash, the red stone was out from my robes and flying to Cheri, connecting with her chest and inserting itself there. Not burying itself there, but stable as if stuck.

  This time, when I mentally told Cheri to put her hand between her legs, she not only did so, but looked up at me with those gold eyes—and I noticed they now had shining red in them, too.

  “Do you like that?” she asked, leaning against the wall and thrusting her hips out, hand massaging her clit, the other going to her breasts as she let out a low moan.

  “Interesting…” Tink said, eyeing me before her eyes went to my robes, where we knew the other stone was.

  I considered, then focused on Erupa in the same way I had with the stone and Cheri. Again, the free stone flew to her, landing on her chest, and she jerked as if coming to life.

  “Ooh, here we go,” she said, as if a whole new level of being herself.

  “It’s like…” Mer ran a hand over Cheri’s face, watching as those golden red eyes followed her movement. “Like they’re under your control, but also able to—”

  Her words were cut off by Cheri starting to moan.

  “Come on, Ez,” Tink said, fluttering around, then tickling my ear with her wing as she landed on my shoulder. “They gave you permission. Make it fun.”

  “Hmmm.” I moved over to Cheri, willing her to stop touching herself, then had her remove the rest of my clothes.

  “Really?” Mer chuckled. “Anything, and what, you’re going to have her go down on you?”

  “I’m working on it,” I said. Then, to show them I meant business, I had Cheri bend over away from me and Erupa come up behind her and start fingering both of her holes. Cheri was moaning, bent over with hands on the wall, but I realized this was a waste of hands and mouth. So instead, I lowered myself to the nearest chair, had her run her tongue along my body, and then go down on me as Erupa continued behind her. After a moment, I had another idea. Erupa went for the baton.

  “No way,” Tink said, cringing. “You wouldn’t.”

  “She won’t go full in, and no electricity, of course.” I shrugged. “Isn’t it… hot?”

  “Fuck that, this is your fantasy. And they said anything.”

  I considered it, then had Erupa do it just a tad, to see what Cheri thought of it. Cheri gasped, gripping my balls and then taking my cock fully in her mouth. I pushed my hips forward and let her stick a finger in my ass as she continued to go down on me, my eyes going from her to the baton, my cock surging with each thrust. Erupa started spanking Cheri’s ass, a tad too hard, so I had her back off.

  Next, Cheri got up, and I had Erupa come over, facing away from me as she sat on my lap, cock in her ass. It was a tight fit, but she got it in there and started licking Cheri’s breasts while fingering her and touching her own clit.

  “Better,” Tink said, and Mer gave a nod. Tink went full size, motioning Mer over, and soon the two were getting in on it, testing their limits a little by pinching Cheri’s nipples, going down on the ladies, and being a bit pushier than they likely would have been otherwise. Cheri and Erupa were both moaning and smiling, but I was kind of confused about how this power worked.

  I had no doubt they were aware, as each would occasionally do something I hadn’t commanded, but it was a mystery. Finally, I commanded both to reach orgasm, wondering if that would work. They arched their heads back, moaning, shouting, and sure enough, they were in the middle of it. Tink, apparently turned on by this, threw me back and took my cock in her hand, stroking it vigorously before shoving it inside of herself and riding me, ass slapping on my thighs, her lips on my neck, whispering, “You’re so fucking hot,” over and over until I started to cum, then pulling out and thrusting my cock into Mer’s hands, who had been waiting patiently to stroke me through the end of the orgasm, licking up my cum as it shot out.

  Although my focus was purely on these four, my senses alerted me and I was suddenly fully aware of all my surroundings. I turned, letting the gold vanish.

  Hinru entered with Cheshire, both freezing, eyes roaming over us. The two stones fell and clattered to the floor. I used my powers, making them rise back up and attach again.

  “Wow,” Erupa said, looking over at Cheri and then to me.

  “That was fucking incredible!” Cheri said, laughing and jumping into my arms, kissing me and fervently running her hands through my hair. “Oh, fuck, I want it again and again.”

  “I don’t even want to ask,” Hinru said, but motioned to my exposed cock. “Can you put that away?

  Not wanting to be rude, I did so, then tried not to laugh as she rolled her eyes and said, “Get cleaned up. You all smell like sex.”

  More laughter then, and I couldn’t help feeling like a teenager caught and in trouble. Oh well, it felt fucking good.

  13

  We approached the jump port the monks had established. The plan, as I understood it, was to jump back, siege the fuck out of whatever group might still be waiting for us, and then make a charge for the Hermites.

  Last time, we had nearly gotten our asses handed to us. This time would be different. This time, I not only had my new ability, we had an honor guard of two dozen elite monk enforcers, along with Eloise herself.

  Now that I had used the power of one of the stones with Erupa and Cheri, I had a better idea of how this was going to work. It surely wasn’t created or harnessed for sexual exploits, or not explicitly, anyway. My guess was it would help me gain control over the enemy from the other side, as it had done with Erupa and Cheri.

  A glance at Erupa showed her looking at me in a way she had never done before—sheepish and, horny as fuck? I’d seen her turned on, ready to go, but this… it was like she wanted to devour me. Cheri, on the other hand, was embarrassed, as if that made sense. Don’t ask me to control you if you’re going to be embarrassed about it later.

  She would have to get over it, anyway, because we were about to hit the s
hit.

  “All hands, ready?” I asked, turning to look out at my team, then the monks. All were lined up with legs shoulder-width apart and one hand behind their backs, other hand on their blaster-spears. As corny as it might have been, that was the weapon of choice for such battles. Monks liked them because they could use the weapon like a staff in a close-quarters fight, but also shoot from them.

  “You sure it wasn’t too much?” I asked Cheri and Erupa.

  The two shared a look and kind of giggled, which was very uncharacteristic for Erupa.

  “It was perfect,” the blue demoness said, and gave me a wink.

  “And you were present? Like, not drugged up, exactly?”

  “We were totally there,” Cheri said. “In fact, there wasn’t anything I did that I didn’t want to do. I just might not have known I wanted to.”

  “You’re telling me,” Erupa said, eyeing the baton at my side.

  I grinned, looked away, and breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly, I knew they had asked me to, but I had felt weird about the whole thing until now.

  “To be clear,” Erupa said, “it was clean, right?”

  I chuckled but nodded. “Yes, I clean it constantly. I’m also very meticulous about keeping my weapons clean.”

  “I’ve noticed,” Cheri said, licking her lips.

  “And that, too.”

  Enough of that, the voice from Cheshire said.

  I turned back to see him walking alongside Hinru, glaring at me. Not sure if I could communicate back mentally, I said, “You know, if people see me talking to you, they might start thinking I’m as crazy as Cheri, hearing voices and all.”

  Cheri, crazy? The cat narrowed his eyes. Hardly.

  “What’s that about me?” Cheri asked.

  “Nothing,” I replied, not sure how to interpret what the cat had said. Instead, I turned to Hinru. “Didn’t you do some looking into the situation back on Theramuse?”

  “Ah, yes.” She gave an appreciative nod to Cheshire. “We still have some loyal to us. That said, the enemy appears to be taking over. More and more moving in by the hour.”

  We stopped at the room we had first arrived outside of when traveling here, and I noticed an assortment of stones around it.

  “Are those…?” I asked, realizing I hadn’t paid attention before this moment.

  “Core stones?” Eloise shook her head. “Not exactly. But we have been experimenting with the tech Orion Corp. was using, like supra tech, and learning how best to harness powers in transferable ways.”

  “Meaning, adapting powers into other uses,” Hinru said, nodding. “I’ve seen it with the Gold Reapers, and once on a visit to some pyramids.”

  “Wait,” I held up a hand, taking a moment for that thought. “You’re saying you’ve taken powers and adapted them to be used in ways other than what they started out being?”

  “In this case, traveling,” Eloise said. “It started out with Grand Master Dawa’s predecessor, Grand Master—”

  “Pranat,” I finished, realizing how it fit together. “No shit?”

  She nodded. “His dying act was to harness his power in this way, using the crystals Orion Corp. had been using but in a new way. He found that he could adapt others’ powers, using them in a way that matched his.”

  “Gates?” Tink asked.

  “No, more like teleportation, but with setup points. That’s why you see the metal circles on the ground,” she indicated inside the room, where one was at the doorway, “because he set up a system with coordinates and everything, allowing others to use these points if they had the necessary means.”

  This could be huge, and the implications… Well, I needed to ensure Hadrian and the Citadel knew.

  Eloise cleared her throat, and I looked up to see her motioning to the gathered monks. All were here, the groups that would accompany us to my right, others who would stay here as a guard force to the left. Now that the temple was taking a firm stance against the Gold Reapers, we had to ensure it was protected. Plus, now that I was to serve in a leadership capacity, I had to make sure it didn’t get destroyed my first day on the job.

  “What do I say?” I muttered.

  “Tell them why we’re fighting. Remind them who you are.” Eloise gave me a confident grin. “Just be you.”

  Be me… Sure.

  “Monks of Temple Domrem, it’s time to bring the fucking law.” I smiled and turned to the portal, ready to go.

  “Fucking law… Shit. More than that,” Eloise took my shoulder and turned me around to the audience. “Don’t be yourself, then. Be someone who has to inspire them and lead them off to war.”

  “Ah, right,” I muttered, feeling a tad sheepish. Fuck that, though. I was the leader of the temple. I had claimed the stones according to custom. That gave me an idea. “I’m like King Arthur,” I started, knowing many of them wouldn’t get the reference. “What I mean by that is, there was this old cartoon movie on Earth, about this boy who turns into a squirrel and a bird and whatnot and learns all these lessons, so that when he one day fulfilled his destiny to pull a sword from a stone and become king, he would be ready.”

  Murmurs rose from the crowd. Considering the fact that these were monks, that was saying something.

  I held up a hand. “The point I’m trying to make is that I have learned my lessons. I was that boy, going out into the world and seeing what it was like to be a fish. But guess what? Today I have pulled my sword from the stone, only in my case it’s… pulling the stones… from the air. Point being, I’m here. I am ready to kick ass, and we have the power of the stones on our side. They aren’t tucked away waiting for some big day, because that day is upon us. The time is now, and we will fight side by side to ensure we are ready to stand up against the forces that are arrayed against us, to tell them to suck our cocks and eat our pussies, to tell them to go back to the void from whence they came and never return. Fuck that, let’s tear them to pieces and devour their souls. Are you with me?”

  Fuck, my empath skills could be annoying—especially so after trying to give a speech and realizing everyone in the audience thinks you’re nuts.

  Then again, I was supposed to be owning that fact, so instead of denying it I put my fists in the air and said, “We are the Psychobitches! Let’s go kill us some motherfucking bad guys!”

  Cheers this time, half because they were confused but liked the energy, half because I used my newfound sense of upgraded powers to push a bit of extra excitement their way. Eh, what good were powers if I couldn’t use them?

  With that I turned to an exasperated Eloise and proud Cheri, grinned, and led the way through the jump point.

  14

  Thick clouds cascaded around jutting rocks, the lush greenery on mountainsides interrupted only by streaming waterfalls. Flashes of lightning erupted in the clouds, illuminating them in vivid flares, and I would have thought we were on a different planet from Theramuse if not for the purple mists halfway up the mountains, swirling as if alive and angry.

  “Where are we?” Mer asked, stepping forward and then suddenly stopping.

  I grabbed her arm when I saw why she had stopped, only a moment after she had seen it—we were at the edge of a cliff, apparently, although the movement of clouds and mist made it hard to tell, at first. I couldn’t make out whether it was day or night, as the darkness could have been the result of the storm.

  “The coordinates were for… a place where we could establish a position, then branch out from there.” Hinru glanced back as Eloise came through, followed by more monks, all emerging into a clearing in the rocks and then quickly moving aside so others could fit. From what I could tell, we were about a quarter of the way up the mountain and surrounded by many others.

  “I don’t see any of the enemy here,” Eloise said, checking a wrist device and then glancing around. “In fact, I’d say we’re in the clear for at least an hour, unless we’re using this as a springboard to launch a strike.”

  “Something like that.” Hinru ga
ve me a nod, then began leading us along a trail on the mountainside, descending. We soon left the trail, instead opting for a wide, pebbly area that threatened to give out under our steps. The rocks being slippery from the rain didn’t help, and I was starting to get annoyed as drops worked their way down my spine.

  “We don’t have much time,” I reminded Hinru as we reached another trail, hoping she would give us something more to go on.

  “There.” She knelt, pointing over a crest and to an area of flat, large rocks. Not rocks, I realized as I stared, but a house of some sort. At my nod, she added, “Be ready. Follow my lead.”

  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but a moment later when she stood, hands up and walking slowly toward the rocks, I motioned for the others to hold back, then followed her lead.

  A whooping sounded, followed by a movement in the rocks. My powers registered aggression that quickly turned to cautious optimism, a confusing emotion that seemed to come from a handful of warriors who appeared as if from thin air. They wore gray and purple robes with wide-brimmed hats, and one quickly moved forward.

  My first reaction was to attack, but I sensed a warning from Hinru followed by Cheshire saying, Don’t move. Not yet.

  My eyes darted down to see the cat with Hinru, eyeing me. Turning back to the approaching form, I felt love and relief. The figure embraced Hinru, then cautiously looked my way, and back toward the rest of our group.

  Hinru motioned me over. “Ezra, I’d like you to meet my mother.”

  “Mother…?” I stumbled over the word, then quickly returned the slight bow the woman in gray gave me, along with a nod to the others with her.

  “Call me shocked,” her mother said, but then smiling my way, added, “Or Malaia, as is my name.”

  “It’s an honor.”

  She glanced back, anxiety taking over, and she lowered her voice. “What’s the meaning of this?”

  “War, mother,” Hinru said. “I’m no longer with the Gold Reapers—”

  “Which is good.”