The Spark Ignites Pt. 03

The awaited part 3, been a bit busy, but huge bonus, we have a new person in the lab now, which has helped give me plenty of breathing room. Hopefully we can get better staffing soon, but there's some big shakeups coming, so who knows! Either way, you're here for the story, so without any further delay, The Spark Ignites, part 3.

As always, all characters involved in the fun are 18.

Chapter 12

After Bri had gotten her crying under control, her and Steph had practically dragged my barely functioning ass into Angel's Envy and sat me in a quiet spot. Kari steered us to a back room that Nereah used for business. It was a small room that she had added in for private affairs, parties, business celebrations, whatever. Thankfully nobody had booked it tonight, so we could use it for this reunion. No one in the bar paid us an ounce of attention, they were too busy laughing and poking fun at Gorlack, the Glass Jaw. Once there, Steph had to physically remove Bri from my side and keep her from tackle hugging me again. Currently, I had my head in my hands, feeling both a headache coming on, and the need for a very stiff drink.

As if answering my unsaid plea, I felt a glass mug being set down on the table, and I knew exactly who it was from the faint smell of smoke that she always had. Kari, the amazing woman she was, had brought me a big mug of dragonfire along with a few bottles of mid strength beer for the two women across from me. I didn't even open my eyes, just wrapped a hand around the handle and started drinking. Two gulps later, and I now had a pleasant heat in my chest, along with the feeling that I could get through the next few minutes without letting my powers slip their leash. The faint scent of smoke grew slightly stronger as I felt Kari slide into a seat next to me, her arm wrapping around my shoulder. I finally opened my eyes, and beheld the two women in front of me. It took me a moment to collect my thoughts, but I pried my mouth open and said the only thing I could think of.

"Why did you come find me?"

I cringed inside; that could have come out far better than it did. Bri looked at me with shock, and slight hurt, Steph on the other hand, looked indignant. She stood up, planting her hands on the table as she glared at me.

"Fucker. Why wouldn't we come find you? We both saw your fight on the news, and the call from your shrink just made it easier to pin you down."

That was at least familiar, the name calling Steph did with no real malice behind her words. Before everything, back in high school, you'd almost think we hated each other at times, but it was just our ritual. If she hadn't insulted me, I would have been more concerned about her. Kari, however, wasn't aware of that fact, and she shot up as well, glaring at my cousin, who glared right back, truly heated now. At least she was, until I grabbed the dragon's arm and pulled her close to me. The last thing I needed right now was for one of my lovers to start a fight with my family.

"Kari, I'll be fine, go back to the bar, I can handle this."

I told her softly, and I could see the conflict in her eyes, but after a few moments, she nodded. Kari looked back over at my cousin, and let out a snort, a puff of smoke escaping her nose as she left us. I knew she was going to call Nereah, this wasn't something we could hide from the sexy elf. I watched Kari go, and even though she wasn't trying to be sexy, my eyes were drawn to her ass in the booty shorts she normally wore to bartend. A cough drew my attention back to Stephanie, and her annoyed expression.

"If you're done staring at her ass, you can pay attention to us. Do you have any idea, at all, what it was like? The first thing we heard about you in five years was a news broadcast showing you brawling with a demon in the streets of LA?"

Ah, yes, my little skirmish with that forge master demon, was her name Tina? Whatever, she wasn't important, just another fight, what did matter was the hurt looks my sister and cousin were giving me. It was stabbing me in the heart, and I felt like shit. I ran away, and then they see me get smacked across a street by some muscley woman with a hammer. Fuck, I felt like an ass now. Steph sat back down, but held her annoyed look, Bri on the other hand looked torn between tackling me in a hug, and glaring at me too. I opened my mouth to reply, but the door banged open, and a laughing Hawaiian man stumbled in before righting himself with a chuckle.

"Eyyy palala, why are you back here? We should be celebrating us breaking the toss recor- Oh, sorry about that, didn't realize you had company."

Koa, thankfully, broke the tension in the room. Definitely was going to buy him a round for that. I took the moment to steer the conversation away from my verbal fuckup. I lightly jerked my head in a 'c'mere' gesture. Obviously reading my stressed posture, he gave a slight nod, and stepped over as I rose. He reached over and grabbed a hand I offered to him. I stood, and pulled him into a one armed hug, our free arms clapping each other on the back.

"You ok palala?"

He asked me quietly, I softly snorted, I really wasn't, and I'm sure he picked up on that. I hadn't ever told him much about my family, just that there was a falling out between my father and I that split me off from them. It wasn't too long after our first big fight where we watched each other's backs, and I was fairly plastered when he asked me about my family. After that, he never brought it up again, just told me 'The boss lady' explained a few things. Not too long afterwards he started calling me his brother. Guess he decided that since neither of us had any family real close, we'd be brothers. It was incredibly touching, not that either of us would admit it, we were just stubborn like that.

After a quick couple of seconds, I let go of him, and moved back to my seat. Koa took a second to look over my family, a complex look on his face. It was a mixture of distrust, curiosity, and worry, I guess he somewhat knew what my family looked like from Nereah. I wouldn't put it past her to inform the bouncers I worked with regularly about my family, in case they showed up one day, and I couldn't control myself. He schooled his face into a more neutral expression before he sat down a seat away from me, facing them. At this point, he decided to make a larger verbal fuckup than I had.

"So, you the good ones or the bad ones, cause you can leave if you're just here to stir up trouble."

I picked up my mug with a sigh and started drinking. This was going to go downhill, rapidly. Steph was always a bit of a hothead, and I had already gotten her a bit worked up. Now, she was right back on her feet, and throwing a withering glare at Koa. He wasn't the slightest bit concerned, and why would he be? He had also stared down a pissed off Kari before. Compared to the rage of a fire dragon, my cousin was nothing. Only reason it hurt me was the emotional baggage I had.

"And who are you to ask me that? We're his family, you're just some guy!"

Stephanie snapped at Koa with biting words that he laughed off. He shook his head and leaned back in his chair, snatching up an unopened bottle of beer. He raised it to his mouth and used a tooth to pop the lid off. He downed half of it before setting it back down, a bit of an edge in his words.

"More than that wahine, he's my ohana, one of the few I've got, and I've been one of the few he's got too, other than the boss lady and my tita. They make each other happy, bit odd, but still. Can't complain."

Both Bri and Stephanie were looking at Koa like he was speaking nonsense, which I suppose to them, he was. His mixture of mostly English with some Hawaiian slang could confuse people who weren't ready for it. I rubbed the bridge of my nose as Steph sat back down. Then I cut in before they could ask him what in the fuck he just said.

"He called us family, he's my best friend, the 'Boss Lady' our boss, and someone I care for dearly. Tita is sister, and you just met her, she's my..."

I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to go into my odd relationship with Nereah and Kari, especially not right now while Steph was in a bad mood. Sadly, Koa had absolutely no issues telling them for me.

"Ahahaha, really they're both tita, cause they're getting it on with my palala here! I just call one boss lady cause she signs my paychecks."

He clapped me on the back with a toothy grin, pride in his eyes. Thanks Koa, making it sound like I was being unfaithful. I turned my head slowly, and gave him a glare I could only make hotter if I lit him on fire. My sister and cousin had absolutely no business knowing how fucked my sex life was. Koa laughed off my glare as if it was nothing and slammed the rest of the beer he had. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bri's eyes were wider than a dinner plate, her hands covering her mouth. Steph was somewhere between mortified and furious. When I turned my head to face them both fully, she settled on furious. Oh fuck, this was about to be bad. She stood up; her eyes filled with rage as she started yelling at me.

"You absolute sack of two timing shit! I can't believe you're cheating on- "

Before she could even finish, she was interrupted by a woman's voice, smooth as silk with a noble undertone.

"He isn't cheating on anyone; in fact, I have been quite insistent on him gaining lovers, he's just been a stubborn ass until recently."

That stopped Steph dead in her tracks as her brain seemed to short out. I sighed in relief, my first lover had come to the rescue, and hopefully she could diffuse this bomb. I looked up at her, and it took my breath away. She was dressed like she had just come from a high society function, I guess that's why she wasn't here tonight. She wore an ankle length dress that looked to be made out of molten gold with how it flowed around her long legs as she approached us. She was stunning, and in a form I rarely got to see her in, she rarely took me to the super high end events she was forced to attend every now and then. I stood up and met her about halfway, wrapping my arms around her waist in a tight hug.

Her arms wrapped around my neck as she kissed me softly. Our lips stayed closed, making it probably the most chaste kiss we'd ever shared, but it helped. Her presence was already draining the stress from my body, but before it could completely disappear, a voice that hadn't entered the conversation yet, spoke up.

"Uhm, excuse me, but who are you, and why did you kiss my brother?"

Nereah and I separated, turning back to the room as one, and looking at the person who spoke. I slipped my hand into hers, our fingers intertwining as we saw what had happened during our brief moment. Steph seemed to be rebooting her brain, I guess that seeing her brother, who looked like a low level bouncer, hugging and kissing a woman who's very presence simply screamed 'noble' had rebooted her brain. Bri, on the other hand, had stood up and approached us both. She was always more curious and logical than Steph was. More likely to ask questions than jump to conclusions, certainly less hotheaded than Steph.

Nereah cocked her head slightly to the side, but smiled widely as she took in the shorter woman. Nereah was nearly as tall as me, standing at six feet tall, and that forced Bri to look up at us both.

"Well, I suppose you could call me his lover, or his boss, it doesn't really matter."

Bri just looked up at Nereah, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Can I call you sister then?"

That was not what any of us were expecting, it took everyone in the room a few seconds to full process what Bri had just asked. Koa came out of it first, and he busted up into laughter, falling out of his chair with a solid thud. Stephanie and I shared the reaction of complete and utter shock. Neither of us could really believe that Bri said that. She was honestly kind of shy when we were growing up, and judging by Steph's reaction, that hadn't changed.

Nereah took a moment, but she smiled widely. Her hand released mine and she brought Bri into a hug, letting out a soft giggle

"Oh, you and I are going to have so much fun. Do you two have somewhere to stay? I have plenty of room at my place, I insist you stay with us."

Nereah leaned down and whispered something in my sister's ear, and made her turn red. It went down her neck, but Bri nodded, unable to speak. I shook myself from my stupor first, and looked over to Nereah. She and I had some plans for later tonight, ones that I was absolutely not going to go through with if my sister and cousin were staying with us.

"Nereah, what about what we were going to do later? Kind of don't want to do that with them in the house."

I said to her quietly, resting my chin on her shoulder as I wrapped my hands around her waist. Nereah turned her head to look at me with one eye, and the mischievous twinkle in put ice in my veins.

"Oh? Afraid your family will know how hard you fuck? You know I don't mind another woman watching me get railed, especially not when you are doing it."

Nereah said each word without a lick of shame, not like she had a whole lot to begin with. I had to remind myself that when it came to sex, she was about as open about it as she was with what clothing brands she wore. I stepped back from her, and in the moment, forgot about our audience.

"It isn't fear, I literally do not want people I am related to knowing that we bang so hard that we have broken more than one bed, you absolutely have no shame!"

I realized a moment too late what words had just slipped from my mouth. I looked over at my sister, my eyes wide in horror. Bri stood there, an odd look on her face, one I couldn't exactly place. There was definitely embarrassment in it, but it was more complex than simple embarrassment, but before I could contemplate that further, Steph snapped out of her earlier stupor with a shout of anger.

"What the fuck is wrong with you two?! Talking about your sex life like it's nothing, how did you end up with these people V? Some shameless elven whore, and another woman on top of that!"

Well then, I could take a lot of verbal abuse, had too really. Being around Nereah, and, by extension, the high society twats she had to deal with gave me thicker skin, but when someone insulted her? I got defensive, fast. She helped me when I was at my lowest, when I was alone. I snapped back at Steph, a cold, biting edge in my voice.

"She said she could help stop the nightmares and give me something to live for, she's done that, that's how."

That killed any chance of her making some kind of come back. I had been on the edge, nowhere to go, no one I trusted. I was in the desert, alone, when Nereah found me, and reached out her hand. I didn't want to think about what would've happened if I hadn't taken it. I was here, with a woman I loved, and another I was falling for.

"V, I-"

"Don't bother."

Steph stepped towards me, reached out, but I turned away. With a couple steps, I went through the door leading back to the main part of the bar. Before I could move towards the bar, and Kari, I felt the barrel of a gun press into my temple, followed by the click of a hammer being cocked. Twitchy, the man from earlier was holding a.38 special in his shaking hand. Now, I could see a strange necklace he wore; it was a burning cross made of silver. I knew who this clown was, or at least what he was a part of.

"Any last words, Devil's Breath?"

I began circulating power through my body, gathering it in my head for a special trick I figured out. I found it out just seconds before I was hit by a truck. Sadly, it gave me a headache from hell, but I felt like it was worth it, considering the alternative was me being without a skull.

"Yeah, you should have brought a bigger gun."

With an angry grunt, the man squeezed the trigger, and the world went dark.

*************************************

Chapter 13

"How can you be so calm about this?! He's fucking dead!"

When I finally pulled myself from the abyss, I found myself between two very soft breasts. I could hear muffled sounds of crying and yelling from outside my wonderful little resting place. After a few more moments, I pushed myself from my titty pillow with a groan. The area went quiet as I rolled over, landing in the lap of whoever was cuddling me. Blinking the spots from my eyes, I took stock of my currently blurry surroundings. The vaguely hair shaped blob of red on her head tipped me off to it being Kari. Before I could really, a smooth, noble voice caused me to groan again, this time in annoyance.

"Well, well, never thought I'd see you willingly pull yourself from between someone's boobs."

"You get your brain scrambled by a.38 special hollow point and see how much you want to get dicked down."

I looked over at Nereah, my vision still like looking through dirty glass. She made some movement, and a small bottle was tossed on my chest. It rattled as what I assumed were some over the counter painkillers moved around inside it.

"Touché, want something to wash those down?"

I shook my head as I popped the top off the bottle, poured three in my hand and swallowed them dry. Well, kind of, I could taste blood in my mouth, so I guess I wasn't back up to one hundred percent quite yet. I know some people would call me a psychopath for doing that, but right now I couldn't see very well, and my head was starting to hurt, there was a distinct lack of fucks I could give at this moment. It took a minute or so for my vision to come fully into focus. When it finally did, I pushed myself up off the floor and took in the aftermath.

We were back in the private room, thankfully. It didn't matter if Angel's Envy was a nice bar, I still didn't want to be laying on the floor of the main room. No matter how much it was cleaned, I knew for a fact there were things that touched it that I didn't want to lay on. This private room was nicer, and actually was kept fairly clean. I looked around and saw Koa, standing over Twitchy, who was cuffed and had his legs bound with a belt. The big man nodded at me before toeing the tied up man to make sure he was still conscious.

From there, my eyes moved to my sister and cousin, Bri was at a table, while Stephanie was standing behind her, wrapping Bri in a tight hug. Both sets of eyes were glued to me as I stood. Their mouths were hung open, shell shocked if I had to guess. Not every day you see a family member executed before your eyes, then see him stand back up like it was nothing. I grinned, which I guess didn't do a lot to reassure either of them, since Bri was determined to look anywhere except my face.

I felt a plastic bottle be shoved into one hand, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Kari dusting off her shins after handing me it. I raised an eyebrow, and she gestured at her mouth. I picked up on the hint, and took a swig. After swishing it around to clean my mouth out, I swallowed it, grimacing at the metallic aftertaste it left.

"Well, that always fucking sucks."

Bri still wasn't looking at me, and Stephanie seemed to have joined her in that. I guess they needed a bit more time to process that I was really alive. Quickly popping my neck, I walked over to Koa and Twitchy. With a nod, Koa stepped away from the man, and I flipped him over with my foot. The man's eyes were wide with fear. They didn't brief him on my powers too much, poor bastard.

"Surprised to see me?"

Twitchy started babbling prayers in Latin, asking for strength and to be rid of his nightmare, I absently noted. Before he could launch into even more, I grabbed his collar with one hand and picked him up, bringing his face even with mine. Power pulsed through my head as I felt my throat grow warm as fire licked from it and into my mouth. This was going to scar this moron for life, but at the moment, I didn't particularly care. He had just tried to kill me, and probably terrified my family. For that, well I had almost no compassion for him.