Leila Electric

And when the persecution began, they deleted their photos. But Leila was able to track it all down.

She was deep in conversation with one of them.

I dont know what

photos ur talkin abt

Fine, I'll out myself first, SwimGrrl93.

I'm a para too.

Pls leave me alone

You can block me if you want. But I might

be one of your only allies out here.

Am not saying I am and am not

saying am not. What do you want

I want to meet. I need your help, just like

you need mine. We need to stick together.

I wont tell you where I live.

U think Im stupid?

There was a harsh rap on the door. Leila ignored it.

"Hello? This is the police. Please open up."

Leila looked at Daniel who was busy assembling another computer for her out of barely functioning parts. Their eyes met, wide with fear.

"Daniel!" Leila hissed. "Go see what they want! Can you get rid of them?"

"Oh god, Leila! I'll try! I'm not going to get in trouble, am I?"

"You think you're the one they're after!? Come on, just go!"

You're in San Francisco. I'm coming

over right now. Don't be afraid.

Daniel cracked the door open a tiny bit, letting the sliding lock click loudly.

"Officers? What can I do for you?" he asked warily.

"Daniel Jessem? We're looking for your girlfriend, Ms. Leland."

"What do you want with her?"

"We know she works at Gurglr. The company has reported her missing--we just wanted to make sure she was okay."

Daniel tried to keep his face stony.

"I haven't heard from her either. Can you please let me know if you find her? I'm worried about her."

A bright flash briefly blinded the officers outside through the crack of the door, accompanied with a prolonged hiss.

"Sir, may we just come in for a moment?"

"You may not!" He huffed.

The two officers looked at each. One of them tried to peek through the crack. All he saw was an unoccupied chair at a computer desk, rotating slightly.

"Very well, sir. Let us know if you hear from her, would you? Here's my card."

"Good day, officer."

Leila made the 750 mile trip through the nation's infrastructure, hopping from wire to wire. She sent perching birds cawing away as the electrical lines wobbled under her power. After a few wrong turns, she finally sensed a dense hub of energy in a vaguely northwestern direction and headed straight for it, full speed.

Materializing in a back alleyway of San Francisco, surrounded by the stench of homeless people and urine, she checked her bearing. Near Montgomery and 3rd. Not bad.

"You're... you're a para!" A disheveled, slovenly beggar pointed and stared.

"Oops. Guess you caught me," Leila shrugged. "Keep it quiet, will you?"

He nodded, never breaking eye contact. His fingers trembled, and his gaze was somewhat predatory for some reason.

Leila brushed it off and weaved an overcoat out of electricity to cover herself. It was the perfect costume for a dark, chilly, foggy San Francisco in autumn.

Strolling for a nearby electronics store to check Gurglr maps, she passed a ton of graffiti sprayed onto the walls, demonizing paras, demonizing the entire city for its treatment of paras, and all manners of vulgarity. Then she saw a poster.

"SFPD rewarding bounties for any reports of paranaturals. Please contact..."

Shit! Leila thought. She ran back to the alleyway. The homeless guy was already shuffling to the other end, no doubt to tattle on her.

She clutched her hands in front of her, summoning all of her power out of sheer panic, and flung both arms at the retreating, stench-soaked man. He froze in place, trembling spastically, before falling over dead.

Leila gasped at her first kill. But she knew that this was not any sort of great loss. She had just offed a lowly pawn that was about to topple a king. Or a queen. No sense in letting that happen. There was definitely going to be more bloodshed before this was all over. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. She wasn't sure what was more disturbing: that she could almost believe the strange chess rationalization, or that it had been so easy.

She made her way back to the main street, finding herself seriously weakened after unleashing her deadly projectile. The city was spinning. She was trembling. Her overcoat flickered in and out of existence.

Leila heaved, feeling nauseous. She was so close. Which direction was SwmGrrl92's house again? What street was she on? Leila stumbled on the sidewalk and fell to her knees on the sidewalk next to the thin, tall apartments of San Francisco before blacking out.

Chapter 7

Leila awoke in completely unfamiliar surroundings. It'd been so long since she'd been home. Her sluggish brain struggled to acclimatize herself, searching for nearby outlets in case she had to make a quick escape.

"You! Are you 'At Leila Leland'?!" A tall, fiery redhead approached her with a bag of chips and a mug of water.

"Yes... feel weak..." she uttered. She really did, but she played it up.

"Here, have some of this."

"No!" Leila panicked, arcing electricity glowing at the edge of her fingertips, fizzling into nothing.

"Fuck! You really are a para!"

"Please... take me over there..." she pointed at a wall socket.

"There?" Her savior began to reach for Leila's body.

"Wait! Wrap me up first!" She wasn't sure what would happen if this supposedly water-based paranatural touched her.

"Fine, fine. Geez. I'm helping you, aren't I? I'm Sarah, by the way. SwimGrrl92."

Sarah fetched some blankets, came back to the couch where she'd deposited Leila, wrapped her up, and easily lifted her with a fireman's carry. She walked to the nearby wall socket, completely unencumbered.

"You're strong too?" Leila asked.

"Yeah, guess so."

Sarah placed the ghostly pale Leila on the floor. "Now what?"

Leila immediately jabbed her finger toward the open outlet, sucking up much needed electricity. The entire block began to suffer brown-outs.

"Oh my god! You're electric!? Fuck, keep that away from me! I can't tolerate electricity at all anymore!" she winced as Leila continued to drink deeply.

"Mmm... " Leila moaned, the energy flowing into her better than any sex. Her nipples began to vibrate, discharging little shocks as her skin regained some color.

Sarah just stood and stared at the awkward scenario.

Leila let the blanket slip off her shoulders. Her skin was smooth again, no longer clammy and sickly. Even the large swells of her chest perked back up, no longer sagging under their own weight. She sighed in relief, licking her lips as she finished her meal. Leila surreptitiously sent a jolt through the power grid, strong enough to be traced to their location, but only surging to overload the grid in another part of the city so that Sarah would be none the wiser.

"Do you mind, uh, putting on some clothes? I'll get you some..." Sarah tried to avert her gaze. But she didn't really want to.

Leila snapped her fingers. A pair of tight jeans literally painted themselves on her with electricity, coupled with a tight, cream blouse.

"Done."

"Damn, that's cool..."

Leila finally got a good look at Sarah. It was hard to tell under the native San Franciscan's penchant for dumpy clothing, but it was clear that the redheaded aqua was no slouch in the looks department herself. She'd dismissed that aspect of news reports about paranaturals being physically attractive, chalking it up to humanity's incessant obsession and jealousy of appearances, but even Leila's deep learning-enhanced mind couldn't deny the longing in her loins.

And she could see that Sarah was gobsmacked by her own lovely appearance as well.

Another pawn in Leila's game. Well, perhaps a rook.

"So I've showed you mine," Leila announced her vulnerability. "What about you?"

"Me? I'm really good with water."

"How good?"

Sarah walked to the kitchen and turned the faucet, letting the water flow.

"Impressive," Leila snarked.

And then Sarah stuck her hand underneath the stream. But the flowing water didn't just drip off her hands. No, it turned into a fluid ring, swirling around her hand in a thick stream. Sarah turned off the faucet and manipulated the water at will, turning it into various mundane shapes.

"Okay, that is impressive." Leila corrected herself.

"For people who just met, you really are a smartass, you know?" Sarah smirked as she continued to contort the water like a rhythmic gymnast would ribbons.

"So you can swim underwater too? Hold your breath and such?" Leila interrogated. This was important.

"I don't have to hold my breath. In fact, I'd probably pass out if I tried. No, I can breathe underwater just fine. The bottom of the Bay didn't seem to bother me too much either. But I haven't gone that deep. It's too dark to see."

"How fast can you go?"

"Faa-aaa-aast."

Leila smiled wide. This was perfect.

"Have you seen any of these?" Leila conjured a hologram of that fated crystal that had "pierced" her mind. It hovered in her sparking hand, turning 360 degrees for Sarah to examine.

Sarah grimaced. "Of course I've seen those. I was catching waves in Half Moon Bay when the whole thing happened. We got lucky, being near the ocean and all. I passed out, and when I woke up, I found myself deep underwater, surrounded by the things."

"It's my theory that these crystals harness incredible energy if they don't immediately melt themselves. I'm going to build a safe haven for people like us. I'm certain I can tap into the energy," Leila ping-ponged an arc between her two outstretched index fingers, "if I just got my hands on it. But I can't handle the water. You understand?"

"Yeah, I got it. But isn't this crazy? You and I just look like normal humans... okay, you, paler than most. Why don't we, just, you know... pretend. Pretend we fit in."

"And be a second class citizen? You think you won't get found out? You think this is justice?

Police sirens wailed outside. A megaphone clicked and echoed.

"Citizens beware. We have information there may be paranatural terrorists in this vicinity. Everyone, come out with your hands up. This is for your own safety. You will not be harmed."

Sarah's eyes opened wide in fear. The water she was holding like a globe suddenly splashed all over the carpet.

"What the fuck!? Why are they here!? Are they doing witch hunts?"

Sarah and Leila watched from their third floor perch. The police were knocking down locked doors and dragging peaceful people out onto the pavement, ordering them to kneel with their hands behind their heads. They looked anything but unharmed.

"You see!? You think you're safe? I don't think it's safe here for a normal human, let alone a para!" Leila hissed.

"Shit shit shit! What do we do?!" Sarah panicked.

"Show me your phone," Leila answered calmly. She had it all planned out.

Sarah pulled it out of the pocket of her baggy jeans.

"Can you use it underwater?"

Sarah nodded.

"Make your way here!" Leila fingered the display, marking the location on the map. "It's New Ireland! Can you do that?"

"Easy peasy. But what are we gonna do there!?"

"If it's not a problem for you, gather up any crystal shards along the way. Just leave them underwater near the islands where only you can get to them.Don't encumber yourself though! I'll meet you there soon!"

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the neighborhood, followed by distant screams.

"Okay! Fuck! Leila, I'm so scared!"

The police had opened the outside gate and were knocking on the door.

"Police! Open up!"

Leila electrified the doorknob, resulting in the sound of a spasming, gurgling officer on the other side of the door.

"You'll be okay. Just do as I say. It's more than electricity with me. I have something in..." she tapped her temple. "Trust me. We'll be okay. Now, can you get out of here?"

Sarah nodded with a whimper. She opened the back window to the house, climbed out the fire escape, and leapt three floors down into a tumble and ran for it.

Leila turned electric and made her way through the dense power grid to the airport.

Chapter 8

Leila took control of an idle private plane in her pure-energy form and sent an SOS back to SFO, acting as if a pilot had been forced to fly a paranatural against his will. She landed in Hawaii, only to be surrounded by cop cars. But they were still playing by the old rules and found nothing but an empty plane as Leila jumped to another. She ended the similarly peaceful second leg of her journey with a deliberate crash landing on the island where she'd directed Sarah, rematerializing on the beach far enough away from the ocean waves to be safe. Standing there in the nude, her enhanced body was on full display to Sarah once again, who eagerly drank in the sensual sight of Leila's beauty. She was sitting on the sands nearby, still dressed in her frumpy city clothes that were perfectly dry. A small pile of multi-hued crystals lay next to her.

"Nice work," Leila remarked, pleased with her new friend's power and obedience. The comment was enough to snap Sarah out of her beauty-induced stupor.

"Impressive landing," Sarah quipped as she tried to play it cool. "Now what?"

"We talk to the local government. Ask them to take us as refugees. Promise them... these. And my services." Leila's lightning bolt emblem glowed.

"Is this legal? I barely know you, and I can't believe I'm doing these things! Maybe if we go back, everything will be okay..."

"No, I don't think it will."

The roar of five fighter jets grew steadily louder as they approached.

"What... what are those...?" Sarah asked in fear and disbelief.

"Military aircraft!" Leila snarled. Evidently she hadn't been as discreet as she'd thought. Lesson learned. But it did help make her point. "I told you they were never going to play nicely with us!"

"Leila! What do we do!?"

Leila thrust her hand forward and fired a dense bolt of electricity. It traveled high into the air until it grew thinner and thinner, dissipating in the atmosphere.

"Fuck!" Leila huffed.

"Leila! I don't wanna die!"

Mounted machine guns whirred out from the hidden chambers of the aircraft.

"Sarah! Get in the water! If you get deep enough, they can't shoot you!"

"Oh! Right!"

Leila let Sarah run down the beach before making her move. Two of tThe jets opened fire, strafing bullets into the ocean, correcting their aim toward the shore. Sarah pushed ahead even faster, her powerful legs digging deep into the sand and thrusting her body forward. With a heroic head-first leap, she plunged into the water just as the bullets whizzed by.

Seizing the opportunity, Leila made a beeline for the shards that Sarah had gathered. As the jets changed their target, Leila began to crackle and spark, turning into pure, shimmering energy. She touched the crystals with her electric tendrils, sucking in their otherworldly energies as her own form began to glow a tinge of pink.

"Oh my god!!" she cried out in ecstasy. The whole world looked infrared to her shard-enhanced abilities, the large shells headed her way tracing a red streak through the air.

With one hand channeling the energies of a crystal, she raised her other arm and directed it toward one of the jets. A thick sheet of energy erupted from her open palm, enveloping one of the jets, shorting out all of its circuitry and killing its pilot. It began to spiral into the ocean.

With a fling of her arm, Leila scattered the rest of the crystals outward and morphed into pure energy, flying through the midair shards.

Rematerializing briefly, she called out.

"Sarah! Help!"

She hoped against hope that Sarah could hear her plea deep underwater. She was not disappointed.

A huge fountain of water surged from up from the ocean's surface, shoving a jet straight up into the air and flooding their engines. When the gush receded back into the ocean, it dragged both planes down with it.

The pilots wised up, realizing that they had to get away from the water. There was simply no way they could deal with a paranatural in her natural habitat, firing deadly accurate aquatic artillery. They headed for the shore.

Two more waterspouts chased after the two attacking planes, weaker than before. Either Sarah couldn't muster the same force, or the distance was too great, or perhaps manipulating two was more attention than she could handle. The watery streams impacted the planes, but caused no serious damage.

No matter. The closer range allowed Leila to fire concentrated energy right at Sarah's water spouts, using it like a guidance system. The electricity swirled through and around the fluid columns, disabling both jets entirely. Both pilots managed to eject, parachutes deploying, leaving them sitting ducks. Their flying machinery crashed into solid earth, expensive engineering crumpling into a huge wreck.

As they floated serenely back down to Earth, Sarah reappeared on the surface of the ocean. She surfed back to shore, riding an enormous wave with nothing but her bare feet. It dissipated behind her as she skimmed along the surface of the water like a skipping stone. She watched Sarah land on the shore, all of the moisture detaching from her hair and her clothing.

It was a shame. The electrifying woman wanted to see more of Sarah's wet clothes clinging to her voluptuous curves.

Leila whistled in appreciation. "That's fucking cool."

"Oh my god! What you did with your electricity! I could feel the prickling energy from down in the depths! Fuck, you're strong!"

"Let's get these two guys. Alive."

They approached the helpless floaters, but one of them detached his parachute and fell fifty feet through the air, landing into a tumble to absorb the impact.

He stood up, completely unharmed.

"Wait! Fuck! He's... he's a para!"

"Get on your knees and surrender," the tall, muscular pilot announced.

Sarah uttered a shaky, struggling moan, legs wobbling, before they gave out. She fell to her knees in supplication as she put her head face down on the sandy floor, arms outstretched and palms flat.

The soldier's command echoed in Leila's mind, trying to impose its will upon her. Her sclera glowed white and opaque as her AI enhanced brain quarantined the soldier's command in a tiny loop for later study.

She blinked her eyes. When they reopened, her bright green irises radiated with power.

"Oh, fuck! You, there. Attack your friend!"

"Yes, sir!"

Sarah bolted upright and with a grandiose sweep, built a huge wave on the ocean.

But Leila was quicker. She reached out and gripped Sarah's arm, sending a jolt of electricity through her mind-controlled body. She shuddered and lost consciousness, twitching as she collapsed.

The wave collapsed back into a puddle.

"You! Surrender! Surrender now!" The pilot screamed in panic as he drew his gun.

Leila zapped him unconscious as well. And the other floating pilot who had just landed and was begging for mercy.

Heading back for Sarah, Leila squatted and stole a chance to trace her fingers over Sarah's firm, succulent body. She couldn't resist stealing a kiss as well, enjoying the taste of her new complementary ally's soft, full lips.

Leila extended her tongue, running it across those fleshy folds, before delivering a gentle jolt to reinvigorate Sarah.

"Mmm..." Sarah moaned as she regained consciousness. She began to lean into the kiss subconsciously, but the electricity shocked her back into full awareness.

"Leila! I... did I attack you!? Sorry! I didn't want to... I just... I couldn't help it!"

"It's alright, Sarah. Looks like life is going to get interesting here..."

Epilogue

"I, Leila Leland, declare New Ireland a safe haven for all paranaturals! If you find your way here, you will not face persecution from your so-called fellow humans who have forsaken their humanity!"

"Thanks to our sea star harvesting, we have ample renewable energy at our disposal. True, renewable energy! We are building a paradise for the forgotten, the oppressed, the ones who the world has decided are not worthy of being treated as thinking and feeling human beings."