Crossfire - a sizzling slow burn with supernatural powers

Lichtenberg figure

"I remember everything, Brandt."

At the sound of his name he exhaled and kissed my hair.

"I remember you, Levina picking me up, your dad in the dome, being struck by his lightning, you coming, and then I passed out." Recounting the facts, made me rub the point on my chest, where the lightning struck. It felt funny. Brandt stopped my hand, but not before my fingers felt something different than smooth skin.

"It called a Lichtenberg figure, and yours is beautiful."

I looked down and saw a very fine red scar in the intricate pattern of lightning. It started at the point in the middle, where Neil Duncan struck me and divided in two branches. The right branch curved over my breast like a princess neckline. The left branch radiated up towards my left shoulder.

I didn't know what to think about it. Neil Duncan had hurt me so bad that I now had a scar. And that scar only appeared after I withstood his attempt to kill me. I did that. I absorbed so much of his power that I survived. I felt the Lichtenberg figure with my fingers. It didn't hurt now, except at the crux. I felt stronger and more powerful.

"What happened when you came?"

Brandt took my hand and caressed it as he spoke.

"I thought you were dead. He was lasering you with lightning. It was so forceful that you were off the ground. I saw red, well blue, and went at him with all I had. I broke his hands."

I met his eyes and saw the emotions in the thunderstorms, tinged with blue. He went against his dad to save me. I was speechless and kissed him instead. It was a kiss with all the emotions we couldn't express. Empathy. Fear. Gratefulness. Grace. Hope. Love. It was soft and intimate. We rested our foreheads together, breathless and not ready to pull away from each other.

"Where are we now?" I asked when we leaned back again.

"My room," Brandt answered with that snide smile, I found so attractive and exasperating. He chuckled at my expression.

"I figured as much and not what I meant. How much trouble are we in?"

Brandt weighed his answer before giving it to me.

"I believe, I cemented our relationship to my dad. He may not be a supporter, but he'll acquiesce, as he would say. My relationship to my dad is on the rocks, which isn't new. The assignment, my dad sent me on, was surveillance and the result was disturbing. We scouted out the compound, where the smokers have their headquarters. There's a lot of traffic in and out. They are training and I saw some very powerful smokers, showing off their powers to the others."

"What do you mean?" My curiosity was peaked.

"They are getting ready for something big. I don't know what yet. But let's focus on the here and now." Brandt smiled a brilliant smile and it was infectious. That was what you could do, when the world around you moved too rapidly or exploded violently.

Outside, dawn was breaking, sending fresh light through the tall window. I looked around Brandt's room. There was a tall bookcase, every inch occupied by books and a comfortable leather chair. Another wall held a triptych and below it a katana, hung horizontally. I went over to study the art. It was a Japanese battle scene. An army of samurai fought against a black opponent seated in the sky on a blue cloud. The entire scene was crisscrossed with blue lightning emanating from the black opponent. The art work was old, very old, and there were powers depicted. I turned and looked at Brandt, a hundred questions on my tongue. He just wore that half smile as if knowing how perplexed I was.

"Breakfast?" He suggested.

"Excellent idea." The moment he mentioned the word, my stomach growled. I was definitely hungry. Questions would have to wait.

We walked together down to the kitchen, which was as modern as the rest of the house and made coffee and breakfast together. Once we were seated, Levina walked in with her hair in a high ponytail. She had been on a run. She poured a cup of coffee and sat down with us.

"Congratulations on surviving," she said without any positivity in her voice.

"Thank you," I countered cheerfully.

"Have you seen dad?" Brandt asked.

"Yup, when he left for the office. One hand was in a cast and the other was bandaged up. He looked pissed." Levina answered.

Neither Brandt nor Levina seemed to be wrapped up in the turmoil that made it difficult for me to sit still on the chair or sip the hot coffee from the mug I was holding in both hands to steady it. I wanted to cry, where I moments before sounded like some inanimate stuffed animal in a children's cartoon. They had been here before, in the calm after the battle. They were used to focusing on the ordinary things like going for a run or eating breakfast.

Brandt put a hand on my knee under the table, grounding me. The physical connection between us made my jittering stop.

"Will you run interference?" Brandt requested of Levina.

"What do you need?" was her immediate answer. They sounded like soldiers, but Levina's response showed the deep sibling connection they had. They stood side by side against their dad and probably done so a hundred times throughout their upbringing.

"Go to the office and see if he is in a frame of mind to hear about the surveillance. I'll give a report, if he wants. I'm sure he'll have another assignment for me, away from here."

Brandt's words made me gasp and I gripped his hand hard. My reaction was a surprise to me. Brandt looked at me as he continued,

"Check up on Harper if I have to leave."

I saw Levina's slight eye roll. I definitely wasn't her favorite person in the world, but I had no doubt that she would check up on me.

"Sure thing," she confirmed to Brandt. She glanced between us, perturbed by the mutual affection, and left the kitchen.

The lump in my throat was an uncomfortable stopper for everything I wanted to convey. Brandt cradled my face between his hands. The warmth of his palms had an immediate calming effect.

"Hey, we'll get through this. Together."