Walking Shadows Book 2 Chapter 2. Cyrus

Outside Cyrus saw no sign of the police. Good, he thought. That’s one less complication in my life that I don’t need right now.

He turned to Rosa and Garrett. “Will you be safe getting home?”

Garrett nodded. “She doesn’t live far and we can find transportation from there.”

“Are you okay with this, Rosa.”

She looked at Ian. “I still do not trust him, but I do not have much choice but to wait. I won’t let him escape though should he show his true colors.”

“I’ll take that,” Cyrus said. He turned to Marilyn. “Ever flown before?”

“On a plane?” Marilyn said. “Not any time recently.”

Cyrus took Marilyn by the hands. He gripped her tightly and gave her a smile to keep her from worrying that he might hurt her.

“I didn’t mean in an airplane.”

Cyrus unleashed a pulse of pure sound straight down out of his legs. The force of the waves propelled them both straight upwards.

Marilyn screamed as they soared into the air, but it quickly turned to a giggle. Within moments, she laughed loudly across the River City sky.

She truly is a remarkable woman, Cyrus thought. The way she so easily seems to adapt to any situation is nothing short of wondrous. I wish I could even come close to be able to relax and enjoy my life.

Relax and you’re dead, he reminded himself. It was a credo that kept him safe for years. He knew it would do so for many years to come as well, but only if he got moving soon.

Cyrus knew he could not stay in River City. He needed to move on, find another city to set himself up and keep undercover.

“This is amazing,” Marilyn yelled. “I don’t know why you would ever stop doing this!”

“I like to keep a low profile.”

She laughed.

“Low profile? Why keep a low profile when you can fly? Don’t be so dour all the time! Enjoy yourself. Live life!”

“I—” Cyrus’s words were cut off as Marilyn suddenly pulled her hands away from him.

Cyrus slowed his flight patch, but knew he was already too late. They were flying too low for him to catch her on a return path. It didn’t stop him from slowing and turning to go after her.

He looked down as he swooped back around, but he didn’t’ see her anywhere. She should have struck the ground below, but she wasn’t there, nor did he see her on any buildings. It was like she vanished completely—

—until she soared up and past him. Her arms were out, but they no longer were exactly arms. Her entire body from her arms to her feet had changed. Flaps of skin rose up between her elongated arms and outstretched legs. Her body was flat and the large membrane caught the air and allowed her to glide across the airwaves with ease.

She laughed as she circled around him. “I told you to lighten up.”

“I didn’t think you meant it quite so literally.”

Marilyn laughed as her great wide wings carried her up and past Cyrus. He couldn’t help but smile. There was something about her sheer joy that was nothing short of infectious.

“Follow me,” he said. “Try to keep up.”

With a roar of sonic energy, Cyrus propelled himself forward and upward. Soaring quickly through the River City sky, he could see hundreds of cars slowly flowing through the tight roads of downtown below. It was almost beautiful in its mix of simple motions and complex grid work. It was breathtaking, as if he was seeing it all for the first time. He so rarely saw the city—any city—from this angle, but this was better than any flight he ever took in the past.

Marilyn was right. Flight was joyous.

But I don’t have time right now for joy.

He raced down towards his apartment building. The roof had a community garden squared out. This meant everyone had a key to the roof door. As he swooped over it, he saw it was free of any of his neighbors as he swooped down towards it.

He landed as softly as possible. One slip with his sonic powers might cause massive structural damage to the building. He alighted only a few feet from the door of the elevator.

“Head’s up!”

Cyrus turned as Marilyn fell down at an angle, straight towards him. He caught glimpse of her wings as they shifted back into her normal form before she crashed down on top of him.

The impact knocked Cyrus off his feet. He tumbled hard to the concrete rooftop. A sharp stab of pain emanated from his backside, but the embarrassment of failing to catch her was the greater trauma. Marilyn sprawled on top of him though and he forgot about his worries very quickly as her cool flesh pressed against his own.

He stared up into her beautiful blue eyes. She smirked as she met his gaze.

“I guess we made it. This is your place?”

He nodded.

She leaned down and planted her lips against his.

Her tongue snaked into his mouth. He knew what they were doing was wrong, but his body disagreed with his mind immediately. His self control withered away. He kissed her back, his hands clutching her hips.

She ground her body against his. He could feel his body react to the stimulation. So could she.

Marilyn wasted no time. Her hand slipped around his belt. She worked the buckle loose with a practiced grace.

His hands traveled beneath her dress. He found her naked between her thighs. His fingers found her warm folds. He slowly rubbed his forefinger between them, finding her already slippery and wet.

She gasped as she dragged his pants down to his knees, bearing him to the cold fall air.

Marilyn pushed him back against the rooftop. It took her only a second to sink down on to his manhood. She fit him like a velvet glove as she began to ride him.

It took her all of thirty seconds before she bounced up and down on him. Cyrus reached up, his hands fondling her chest. The strap of her top popped behind her neck and the dress fell open to expose her.

She gasped and shook as her pleasure overtook her. It had only been a matter of minutes. Cyrus clenched his fists to keep from exploding with her.

Cyrus’s hands fell to her hips as he took control. He pushed up into her, grinding hard against her.

“Oh, yes. Give it all to me, Cyrus.”

He drove up into her again and again. It took only a minute for him to feel her orgasm again.

He pulled her down close to him. With one quick move, he lifted her up and rolled them both over. Now on top, he drove down hard into her again and again.

“Yes,” she screamed. “Yes, give it to me. Give it to me!”

“I—protection—”

“It’s all right,” Marilyn said, pushing up against him. “Give it all to me, Cyrus.”

With a grunt, Cyrus let himself go, the force of his orgasm nearly blinding him.

They lay together in the cool air, still connected. Marilyn slowly stroked Cyrus’s arm, still awash in the afterglow of their actions.

Cyrus realized with a start that he needed to move. He let himself become distracted. He needed to pack. He needed to move. He needed to get out of here before he brought hell down on River City.

He pulled himself free of her arms. He struggled to pull his pants up as he stood.

“Cyrus, what is it?”

“Marilyn, I—”

“Yes, Cyrus, what is it? Where are you going in such a hurry?”

Cyrus turned and saw her on the edge of the rooftop. It was too late.

“Melinoe.”

Walking Shadows Book 2 Chapter 1. Ian

Rosa lunged at Ian. She moved at blinding speed. Ian could only watch as she came towards him, faster than he could react. The shock of what he did—of Doppelganger’s suddenly emaciated form—was too much.

She didn’t strike fast enough. Ian watched Marilyn move, or rather flow, faster than he could ever imagine. It flowed up and between himself and the speedster to cut off her path.

Rosa struck Marilyn with every ounce of speed and strength, but it was like striking gum. Ian saw each blow as it struck Marilyn’s body, but her elastic skin only absorbed it with a ripple of amorphous flesh. Nothing Rosa did could slip past Marilyn’s super-elastic skin. Marilyn body flowed down and over Rosa, even as the speedster delivered more ineffective strikes. Within seconds, Marilyn’s body wrapped around Rosa’s, locking her in place like a vice.

Ian could only watch. He still couldn’t begin to understand how he beat Doppelganger. How he left Doppelganger unmoving on the floor, unconscious or worse.

“Calm down,” Cyrus said. “Ian isn’t your enemy. He brought us here to rescue you.”

“Rescue me? I know El Sanguijuelo’s mark. That beast has killed hundreds. You think he’s here to rescue us? He is a bloodsucker, a destroyer of metahumans around the world. He wants to kill us all. It is his nature.”

“The Leech,” Stomp said. “That’s what El Sanguijuelo means, right? Is that how he stopped Doppelganger, some kind of energy draining power?”

“Your supposed friend is the greatest murder of metahumans in the history of the world.”

All eyes fell on Ian. He could feel them looking at him, but his focus remained down in front of him. He stared at his hands, still unsure of what power they held. He said nothing. He didn’t know what to say.

“Ian, are you alright?” Stomp’s voice echoed through Ian’s head, but he didn’t—couldn’t—respond.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever be all right again, he thought. I feel more alive now than I ever thought possible. I feel as strong as a dozen men, like I could run a thousand miles. It’s wonderful, so amazing.

So intoxicating.

“Ian!”

Alli grabbed him by the shoulder, pushed him. “Answer us. What’s going on?”

“I—I don’t know. I killed him, didn’t I? He’s dead. I just—I just wanted him to stop. And then—then it was all so easy. All so natural. I—what am I?”

“You’re a monster,” Rosa spit. “A creature of pure evil that deserves only destruction. If these people were smart, they would kill you right now.”

“Hold on,” Stomp said. “Everyone is way too hot now. Way too much adrenaline flowing through here. We need to get to the bottom of this, but we sure as heck ain’t killing nobody. Rosa, we barely know you, but Ian has saved my life. He brought us all here in the first place. If he wanted us dead, he wouldn’t have gathered us all here. He would have picked us off one by one. But he didn’t.”

“I don’t understand,” Rosa said. “He’s a killer. He leaves no one he touches alive. There’s a reason why we know so little about him, just a few accounts from normal humans that happen to see his crimes. But I would recognize his signature anywhere. He leaves all his victims the same way.”

“And I’m telling you, he let us live. Obviously. Make of it what you will, but I say it makes Ian my friend no matter what he is or what he was. We will find out the truth either way. We will help Ian discover who he used to be before his amnesia. I promised I would help Ian and that is what I plan to do. Now if you want to keep fighting, that’s fine. But you will have to go through all of us. You’re fast, but you’re not that fast. I don’t want to fight, but it’s up to you, Rosa. Make your move.”

Marilyn released her grip on the speedster and resumed the form of her namesake movie idol. She slowly backed away. Ian watched Rosa’s line of vision move back and forth between Stomp and himself. Ian braced himself for her strike.

She dropped her hands and shook her head. “I don’t want a fight. I came here to leave all that behind. But I still don’t trust that man.”

“What would you have me do?” Ian said. While Stomp’s words helped make him feel like he at least had friends, he couldn’t get over the feeling that Rosa was all too right about him. He was a monster, but how or why was he this thing?

“I wish I could give you answers, Rosa. But I really don’t have any memories of my time before this Lab. I could have been this Leech of yours. Or I could have just been a normal kid. Now I’m scared to ever go back to that, in case you are right. So what would you have me do?”

Ian panted, out of breath. He realized the rage he felt inside boiled out in his words as the others looked at him. But his focus remained on Rosa.

She just shook her head.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Cyrus said, finally breaking his silence. “We’re going to manage to nothing but get arrested if we stay here and argue.”

“That’s strange,” Alli said. “Where are the cops? They can’t be this slow.”

“Unless they were paid off,” Stomp said. “Maybe Ian was right about that too.”

Ian said nothing. There seemed no point now. He couldn’t even begin to consider his life, let alone anything else. Only the gnawing sensation that he was a beast, a horrible killer of dozens, maybe hundreds of people.

“I think it’s time we split up,” Cyrus said.

He turned to Rosa. “This Leech, could he steal energy, life, whatever from humans?”

Rosa shook her head.

“All right then.” Cyrus turned to Alli. “I would like you to take Ian in the Spirit-Mobile. Since you are a non-meta, he won’t be able to hurt you. Take him somewhere secure: your headquarters, your apartment, whatever.”

“We can see what we can dig up on this El Sanguijuelo,” Alli said. Ian saw she already had her cell out. She quickly entered and sent a text. Ian wondered what the heck it could be about.

“Rosa, I know you’re new to town,” Cyrus continued. “I want you to go with Stomp. He knows River City. He can show you around and keep close to you in case more of these goons are out there. We still don’t know what they wanted any of us for, but it couldn’t have been good.”

“What about me?” Marilyn said.

“You can come with me. I have a few ideas I want to cover with you.”

She looked around the destruction and back into the office.

“I hoped we could find out something about where I came from here.”

“We don’t need to find it here,” Alli said. “I had Peach copy Ian’s flash drive while he was out. She’s working on the decryption now. Hopefully we will find out what they know before they can come after us again.”

“That will work,” Cyrus said. “You and Ian can get to work on that.”

“I—” Ian looked at the others. He wanted to say something to comfort them, to allay their fears of him. But he didn’t even know how to calm himself.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I didn’t mean to kill him.”

“We know,” Marilyn said. She looked past him, to Alli. “Take good care of Alli for me, okay?”

Ian could only nod as Alli grabbed his arm. She pulled him towards the door and away from the others. Away from everything.