Crossfire - a sizzling slow burn with supernatural powers

Morning run

At 6 AM, a chill hung in the air with the residual dampness of dew. I shivered and thought of the wonderfully comfortable bed with a cozy duvet, I had abandoned upstairs.

Brandt was waiting for me, jumping from foot to foot to keep warm. I leaned into him and he embraced me with his warm arms.

"Good morning, sweetheart," he kissed me in my hair, "ready?"

"No," I uttered and wished that we could just cancel the running portion and stay like this. However, Brandt rubbed my arms to generate heat and let go of me.

"Come on," he said and started jogging along the path.

"Masochist," I muttered under my breath and followed.

As my limbs warmed up and I woke up, the run evolved for the better. The area behind the Duncan mansion was beautiful with a wooded area and meadows and further behind that a golf course, where we met a groundskeeper on a mower. I reluctantly enjoyed the run, especially next to Brandt. We turned back and raced the final stretch back to our starting point. Brandt won, turned, and caught me as I ran into his arms. We laughed as we swung around with the momentum and kissed. The kiss turned heated as Brandt trailed kissed down my neck and my hands crept underneath his t-shirt to caress his skin.

Someone cleared her throat behind Brandt.

Brandt lifted his head, but didn't move away from me.

"What?" He asked in a clipped tone.

"Dad wants to see the two of you in his office," Levina said in a way that was both disengaged and judgmental.

The reference to his dad made Brandt inch away from me. His cheeky smile was gone and he immediately had this brooding frown. We untangled as thoughts clouded our minds and entered the house.

My breath hitched as we approached Neil Duncan's office. The first time I was here, Neil Duncan wanted to zap my memories, possibly turning me into a vegetable. Despite his assurances to my mom, Neil only had my interests in focus as long as they coincided with his own. Brandt gave me a reassuring smile. It was brief, because neither of us fully trusted Neil Duncan.

Brandt knocked and opened the door at the command to enter that came from within.

A cup of steaming coffee was on his glass desk. The scent reminding me that I had yet to have a cup myself.

"Ah, if it isn't the young couple." He knew it was. He had called us here himself. The sentence was mocking us and served as a subtle reminder that he had the power to tear us apart. The smile behind the short beard shone with insincerity, no, power. Everything was orchestrated. Neil Duncan dressed impeccably in his suit behind his desk. Brandt and I standing, sweaty in our running shoes, in attention. My guess was that even the coffee was planned. As if on cue, Neil Duncan picked up the cup and drank. I was thirsty and hungry. I wanted to break his stride and demand that he come to the point.

"Brandt, you will take Harper to school and participate in the security briefing after that. After school, both of you will participate in the investigation." The words themselves didn't sound too ominous, but the glint of blue in Neil Duncan's eyes indicated otherwise.

"Harper has homework," Brandt said in a monotone voice.

"Harper is a bright girl, she can do her homework tonight."

Neil Duncan sipped his coffee and concentrated on something else as a clear sign that our audience was over.

Brandt and I exited the office and headed towards the kitchen, where Levina joined us. The shadow over Brandt's shoulders was dark and palpable.

"Daddy dearest handed out assignments?" Levina offered between spoonfuls of fruit topped yoghurt. Brandt nodded with a tight jaw.

I needed to get some answers from him and I needed to get ready for school. I went upstairs to my room to shower and change and met Brandt outside. He was already behind the wheel of his Mustang Dark Horse, knuckles white in his grip of the wheel.

"Hey," I said with my hand on his thigh, "I need you to translate the Duncanese from in there."

Brandt took my hand to his lips and kissed it, before we set off down the drive.

"He is pulling you in. In to the thick of the Duncan business." I didn't understand Brandt's scowl.

"Doesn't that mean that he trusts me on some level? At least that he knows I won't tell about the empowered or about his business?"

Brandt shook his head.

"My dad doesn't trust anybody. He always has leverage and control. He's including you for tactical or strategic reasons. To keep me in line. To use your power. I don't know. But he has his reasons and they aren't good."

"Does he know what my power is?"

"I don't know. Neither Levina nor I have told him, but he has a wide information network. Pulling you in, you will see some ugly things." Brandt struggled with the last few words and his countenance was sour.

"What do you mean?"

"To my dad, I am a soldier. As is Levina. He uses us to do his dirty work." Brandt hesitated.

"I know that, Brandt. I've seen you, but you are combating the smokers and they are killing people."

"As are we, Harper." The implications of his words hung in the air between us.

"The smokers are planning something big and we don't know what. They are getting ready. And my dad is trying to find out their objective. This isn't a noble cause. This is war. And we are no better than them."