Powers

Hello and welcome to my story Powers. It's my try to write an erotic urban fantasy.

I want to take this time to thank, Valphund. He took my little brain child and turned it into something actually readable.

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The ability to turn emotions into energy

"I know it's rough, first day in a new school is hard for everyone." Chills ran down my spine and there was a queasy feeling in my stomach. I really shouldn't react this way to Mrs. Millington's southern accent, but the hope in her eyes was suffocating. "The doctor said some normalcy would be good for you. You can always come home." She really did try her best to make me feel better, but sometimes your best wasn't good enough.

"I'll be fine." One thing's certain; I was a better liar nowadays. Practice really does make perfect.

Mrs. Millington smiled and her eyes shone with joy. She was too kind and her world was still filled with light. There was no reason to bring her into my darkness.

"Of course you are, now run along or ya'll be late."

The good part about living with the Millington's was the short distance to school. I could get there faster than it took me to get to my station before, meaning almost an hour of extra sleep every morning. Focus on the positive, the doctor had said.

Yeah, right.

A young teacher was waiting for me at the entrance to Brave High, Mrs. Klingerman. Her cropped blonde hair framed her heart-shaped face.

She introduced herself, as Ms. Klingerman and sounded sincere when she said she was happy to have me here. No matter how I felt on the inside, I wasn't going to disrespect my parents' memory with bad manners.

I stood up straight and looked into her light blue eyes. I let rip my best smile, the one that says 'I'm confident' and gave her a firm handshake.

"I'm happy to be here." It sounded good at least.

Ms. Klingerman gave me the super quick tour as we walked to the classroom. "Listen up, people, this is Malgaverius Hansson, our new transfer student." It was show time. I could feel the curious stares and the whispers. This was too small of a town.

"Please, call me Mal." I tried to sound confident and I probably did. I always think I sound whiny and scared, but I'm not a reliable source.

There was only one free spot in the room, so my choice for seating was limited. There sat a younger version of Ms. Klingerman already at the table. She smiled, showing two small dimples. I did a little wave and she mirrored me.

The whisperings were still going on behind me, and I wasn't the only one to notice.

"Jenny, darlin, you're in charge of showing Mal around and let's begin class. We'll start with the math test from last Friday." Loud groans erupted. "That's right. Frankly, I'm disappointed." Ms. Klingerman didn't joke around.

The next two hours were a normal, everyday math class. I spent most of it staring out the window. They seemed to be a bit behind my old school. It was math though. You did a problem, checked the answer, and got the joy of being right or the sourness of being wrong, then you moved on to the next problem.

Jenny gave me a lavish tour in the break. It was a small school and there wasn't much to show but she did the best of what there was. My locker, the gym, the cafeteria, the music room, and the tour was done.

She got the hint when I didn't answer any personal questions and was nice enough to fill the void. Her voice was lovely and it carried me away.

Jenny was also a Klingerman, a cousin of the teacher actually. That little spark was enough for her to tell me all about her family. She was an only child. Her dad ran the horse farm they lived on while her mom ran the only accounting firm in town.

When we got back to class she introduced me to Emily, 'call me Em,' her best friend. I was forgotten as they sat down together and talked in that two hundred miles per hours speed of teenage girls. I excused myself and sat down in the front.

I was happy to be left alone, but that only lasted for so long. One of the big guys that spent the last class in the back came and took the seat next to me. He introduced himself as Bob. He was maybe as tall as me, but a lot thicker, a football player, no doubt.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I nodded. It has happened enough now. They say it to make themselves feel better: not sparing a thought for how they drag me back to the loss, and how it hurts all over again. "So whatcha think about Jenny?" I answered with a shrug. "She's mine, all right? If ya know what's best for ya, stay clear."

Here it came. There was always a bully. "Does Jenny know that? She didn't mention a boyfriend." That one dirty look told the whole story. He desired her, but she knew better than to spend time with trash. "You can't own people anymore. I know it's rough for you southerners, but you lost the war. Slavery was abolished." Our discreet whispers were not silent enough. The table behind us *ooohed.*

Bob's fist slammed into the table. That grabbed the attention of the whole class and the teacher, a dusty old fellow. "How nice to see you upfront, Robert, and you, you're the new student, Mr. Hansson, right?" I nodded. "Well, I'm trying to teach a class, if you don't mind."

For the next two hours we sat there and listened to the teacher drone on and on. His voice was dull and boring, turning his lecture into a bedtime story.

Bob was a seething pile of rage. As soon as the teacher turned his back to us there was an elbow in my ribs and I gave back as good as I got.

'A Hansson never steps down from a fight.' My father always told me. He knew I would grow up to become a better man.

The lunch bell rang and I couldn't stop myself. "Hi, Jenny? Want to eat with me?"

"Sure," she said.

Bob's face was a scrunched up mask of fury. I whispered, "Suck it, loser," under my breath to him before I offered to carry both the ladies bags to their lockers. They both declined, but he had already stormed out of the room.

It was Em's turn to tell me all about herself as we left our books and headed to lunch. She had three older brothers, all of them out of state, two in college, one working. That was her dream too. She was one of those cliched girls that wanted out. The boring small town wasn't enough to entertain her and she wanted adventures. How could people my age be so young and hopeful?

The food was pretty bland, but what would you expect from a school lunch? It was free and edible, good enough for me.

They carried the conversation with minor input from me. The big talk was the party the coming weekend, some guys 18:th birthday. Em tried to convince Jenny to go.

Bob was walking towards us and the devil in me screamed 'do it.' "Jenny, you're supposed to show me around, right? You should show me this party."

Em's face lit up, she instantly nodded and piled on. "See, you can't let the new guy hang. He'll be all alone without you." Ouch.

Bob slowed his pace and held onto the tray so hard his knuckles whitened.

Jenny leaned in and went, "Fine, I'll go."

Bob angrily slammed his tray into the dish rack and stormed out, once again. A smile spread on my lips, messing with him was too much fun.

***

The first breath of freedom always tastes nice. No need to think about school for another fifteen blessed hours.

Halfway home there was a push to my back and I stumbled a couple of steps.

Bob and two of his football buddies stood behind me. "I told ya to stay away, crash boy." Three big brawny guys, my age, looking for a fight. I smiled with glee. Eve would have gotten a kick out of this. The loss hit like a sledge hammer. Sis.

"Or what?" The venom laid thick on my voice. The two other guys took half a step back. They were up for pushing around the newbie a bit, but Bob was alone if this turned into a fight. Like that would matter.

"I know where you family is buried. I have heard it feels just as good to fuck a corpse."

I saw red. The energy shot all through my body. I could feel the heat gathering in my right fist. Bob's flesh crunched as I punched into his fat stupid face. He was a Normal and had no time to react. The force threw him into the two guys behind him, bringing them all down in a pile.

"DON'T YOU EVER MENTION MY FAMILY AGAIN!" It felt good to give into the red hot rage.

There was a loud gasp behind me. Mrs. Millington stood there with her hands on her face. She looked like the real life version of the scream.

The rage burnt away and only shame was left. A poor defenseless boy, and I provoked him to pick a fight. Then I broke his fucking jaw. Eve would be disappointed. All that training, and for what? So much for my self control.

***

"Want to tell me your version of events?" The principal looked tired, in the way only a snob old Englishman could.

"He pushed me, said some horrible things, and then he swung at me. I defended myself."

"The witnesses tell a different story."

"Then they are lying."

"So you don't agree that Robert (Bob) spoke words, and you responded with violence."

"Oh, did they tell you what he said?"

"No, they did not. They seemed to have a convenient case of amnesia." He pushed down his glasses to the end of his nose and looked at me quizzically.

"He threatened to dig up my family and fuck their corpses," The principal did a shocked gasp. "Unless I stayed away from Jenny and you trust their story?"

"That's a bit worse than I expected." He wrote down something on a paper. "That still doesn't excuse your behaviour."

"He swung first, counters are Powerful."

"Our school has a very strict no violence policy. You're suspended for one month. You can appeal to the school board, if you want. I would advise against it, because Robert's mother is the head of the board. She would, of course, recuse herself but..."

He let the threat hang in the air. I wasn't expelled at least, it was something.

***

"I won't have a leech living in my house. If you don't go to school, you'll work." The Corporal was a man of few words. He'd been in the military long enough to lose all the sizzle, leaving only cold, rigid discipline.

"No lecture about violence or anything?"

"No. You did good, son. Next time you might want to let him actually land a punch before you knock him out, makes it easier to argue self defense."

A smile spread on both our faces.

"Ok, I'll start looking for work first thing tomorrow."

"No need, I got one in mind. My old buddy, Alex, needs help with his horses."

"Alex, as in Jenny's dad?"

"Yeah, you know her?"

"She was going to take me to a party this Friday, but..."

"Yeah, that's not happening. You're grounded until you have figured out how to control your strength. Bob will have to eat through a straw the next month, I heard. That must be a hell of a cross you threw."

***

The next morning, as all my classmates, except Bob of course, gathered in school, The Corporal drove me to a farm just outside of town. He dropped me off at the main road and I had to walk the five minutes to the house.

There were five beautiful thoroughbreds frolicking on my right hand side. A brown stallion with a white star on the forehead ran up to me and then followed behind me as I walked down the small gravel road. We got to the end of the line and White Star neighed loudly, then the horse ran back to the group.

As I walked up to the small house there was a broad shouldered man standing around with a trolley and a shovel. "Overalls and rubber boots are in the stable." He pointed to one of the two big wooden structures to the sides of the house. "Put them on and I'll show you how to muck a stall." No hello or anything. Another no nonsense kind of guy? Was they the only kind around here, or was that why they were friends?

Alex put on some country music, and then he showed me how to shovel horse shit. Like it was rocket science.

An hour later I was beat. All the stalls were done. I had probably done about one fourth and Alex the rest. I thought I was in reasonable shape, but clearly not. My arms were heavy and he had been watching me like a hawk. No opportunity to cheat. I thought there would be a break, but, no. It was just on to the next task.

When we got to the hay loft I felt energy in the air. This old man was throwing hay bales 10 meters in the air like it was nothing. My shock must have been visible on my face.

"What, you think you're the only one that's special, kid?" I shook my head. Eve was always the special one. She was strong and I struggled to keep up. "Get on with it, we don't have all day."

I felt the anger ignite. The energy kept coursing through my body. I threw a bale and it smashed into the roof of the loft 15 meters above my head. It hit with such force it broke the ties and hay scattered everywhere.

"Anger is a strong fuel, but hard to control. As a white you should mix in something else." How did he know that I'm already white? His eyes were staring at me, judging my soul. "Probably got a lot of anger floating around, and that's okay. Life dealt you a shitty hand: you still need to learn control. Come on, throw the next one."

This time I didn't tap in enough and the bale hit the wall before the loft. It bounced back down to the ground. It took a couple of tries to get it right.

Or so I thought. We threw up the hundred of bales on the floor, and then he turned to me, "Come on, let's see how much you screwed up."

We climbed up the loft. There were two piles, one of them was neatly stapled and the other wasn't.

"You made a mess, fix it." He stood there and watched as I reorganized my pile. How the fudge was he able to throw a bale 10 meters into the air and 20 meters along the ground to land in the perfect spot, fifty times in a row? That kind of control should be impossible.

When I finished, it was time for a coffee break. The cold water felt great against my throat. I thought it was a joke when Alex put down five cinnamon buns in front of me, but he also had five on his plate. "Eat up. You'll need your strength later." He took a bite of the first bun. "Your body needs the fuel: you'll burn a lot of energy while training control."

***

I stood in the hay cart as he drove the tractor. Every couple of seconds a hay bale shot out of the machine. I had to catch it and put it in its spot, before the next one shot out at my face.

This was a sadistic training, designed to test the limit of my control. Too much Power and the bale was crushed in my hands, not enough and I was too slow, meaning a five kg ball of hay hit my face. It was a strong motivator to get it right.

After two hours and our third trip completed, a woman called us in for lunch. Mrs. Klingerman was a spitting image of her daughter. Her eyes were a darker blue, and that was the only real difference. For a second I did the stupid thing and imagined a mix, it was a pretty picture.

The roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy was delicious, and there was plenty of it. My belt would grow a couple of holes if I was expected to eat this much the rest of the month.

They shared a fond kiss before Mrs. Klingerman drove back to work. There was a stab in my chest and my vision blurred for a second. Why were they allowed to be happy? It was the kind of kiss mom and dad would share, their love palpable.

After dinner he showed me how to care for and repair leather. When the food was settled we were back to throwing bales up the loft. I tried to get him to show me how he threw with such precision, but he just smiled and told me to figure it out. It was a quest in futility. I threw one, climbed up and saw where it landed, tried to throw another one exactly the same just for it to land in a totally different spot. After that I was already thirty bales behind. I threw as fast as I could to catch up. Alex didn't care: he had all the time in the world.

***

There was a loud gasp behind me. "You're one of us." Jenny stood shocked at the entrance of the barn, I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

"Well, hello there, Honey. Had a good day in school?" That was more words than he had spoken to me since lunch. Was it dislike that made him short with me?

"It was fine." She was throwing suspicious glances my way.

"Good, put on your GI." Alex put both his arms on my shoulders, "This one could be a good training partner."

***

I fixed my pile and, when I was done, she stood there in her white karate clothes. Her ice blue eyes staring me down as she walked up to me with total confidence. Her fist hit her palm with a loud smack and she bowed. I resisted the urge to smack her. Only people with a death wish bow inside their opponent's reach.

I kicked off my boots and overalls, leaving me free to actually move. The hay felt soft against my skin and my body hummed as I ignited my anger. It felt like the world slowed down, of course it didn't, and I speed up, but it didn't feel that way.

There was a rush of joy as I gathered my Power and created my gloves. The loft lit up with the soft red light of my shield, the feeling of Power and total confidence spread until my whole body was protected

The air around Jenny shifted for a second and about a centimeter from her skin, a soft golden-white light shone, she was far along on her road to becoming a pure white.

We danced around for a bit. I jabbed, testing her shield and reflexes. She was good, --- for her age. The potential was there. Give her a couple of years, the right training and a rival. She could become a star.

I let my reflexes go and purposefully made mistakes. The third one she caught and threw me to the floor. I yielded before she got the chance to pummel my shield.

Jenny gave out a whoop and danced around a bit. She was so cute. Her dad noticed it though. "That was shameful. Never let her win again." Her smile died.

I had to say something, and Eve taught me early to deny, deny, deny "I didn't let her win. She caught me."

"If you win the next fight she will do your half of the stables."

No shoveling shit for a day? Sign me up.

The fight started the same. I slowly circled around her and used my reach advantage to jab away at her defenses. Good shields take a lot more energy than a glove. I was going to tire her out, but she sank low and tried to tackle me.

My hands gripped the back of her head and my knee shot up. Pure reflex. It crushed her shield with ease. I had the time to think, 'oh no' before my leg hit something rock solid. Alex had seen what was about to happen and had created a band of pure energy to stop my knee. How the fudge did he do that? He must be ridiculously Powerful.

Jenny fell to her knees. Even though the band stopped my knee, I also slammed her face first into it. Her brain must be scrambled.

"That's more like it." Alex seemed pleased I had almost crushed his daughter. Weirdo. He bowed down and he grabbed Jenny's face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two."

"Good, now follow the finger. Good, you'll be fine." He took a deep breath. "There'll be a bruise, but that's what you deserve. What were you thinking tackling a prepared opponent? Hit the shower." She walked towards the house with slumped shoulders. "And tomorrow bring Em. Together you might have a shot." Then he turned to me. "You desperately need control. Whoever taught you to fight skipped that part, but no worries, Jenny needed motivation. She has been slacking off for too long. Time for you to get going."

***

My night was spent catching up on school work. I got a detailed lesson plan from the school and Mrs. Middleton was highly motivated to keep me on track.

The next day went the same. No need to clean out the stables, but that just meant more time protecting my face from hay.

When we were done with the first field of hay he plowed it and I had to walk it. Any stone I found I should throw into a pile. It was a lot easier than the hay throwing but more energy demanding. While I did that he cut the next field of hay. It would need to dry a couple of days. That told me we were ahead of schedule. After lunch we once again worked on leather. This time we kept going until Jenny came home. She brought Em with her.