Amy Blankenship - Blood Bond

Ren flinched when a voice jerked him from his musing.

“I’ve just made you the proud owner of one of the oldest houses in LA,” Storm announced as he appeared at the end of the long pier that stretched out from his island. He smirked seeing Ren almost jump out of his skin.

“Damn it, will you please make a noise when you pop out of nowhere like that?” Ren turned around and leaned back against the railing seeing the satisfied look in Storm’s face.

“You were expecting someone else?” Storm laughed.

Ren just gave him a deadpan look since no one else had ever stepped foot on his island. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why did you buy me an old rundown shack? It’s not even my birthday.”

Without warning, Storm reached out and gripped Ren’s shoulder and the ocean fell away leaving them standing in the grass and facing what could pass as a modern day gothic mansion made out of dark stone. Hearing the crash of waves, Ren looked off to the right seeing the ocean. Turning full circle, he frowned noticing the driveway went on as far as the eye could see and the left side was nothing but a thick forest of trees.

“Not bad for a rundown shack,” Storm nodded toward the house, “Fifty ocean front acres and remodeled with every update. It’s hard to believe this used to be a small castle.

“Not that hard,” Ren turned his head and stared at Storm, “What’s the catch?”

“LA needs you,” Storm shrugged and started forward. “Can you not feel it?”

Ren didn’t answer as he followed storm into the place. Truth was, his spider sense was telling him to run like hell. Los Angeles… so far it sounded more like a forced vacation.

Once inside, he found himself in a huge circular space with an open winding staircase across the room leading to the next floor which split into two separate wings. Storm headed for the huge double doors on the right so Ren sighed and followed him.

“Now this is more my style,” Ren breathed seeing wall to wall monitoring systems and a glass desk with the computer built right into it.

“Thought you would like this,” Storm stretched out on the sofa that was set off by itself in an empty part of the huge room. He watched as Ren slid in behind the desk and started investigating the controls. “No one can trace you here except maybe you… and luckily, you don’t count.”

Storm watched his friend's eyes glow as Ren hovered his palms inches above the keyboard. It was a strange power to have and he didn’t know anyone else who could do it but that’s how Ren could break through the PIT fire walls that were one hundred years more advanced than what the government already had. He was literally sucking all the information from that computer and for all he knew teaching it a thing or two.

It was funny because Ren did not look like your average computer nerd… his looks were quite startling. He’d seen women almost trip over themselves when they caught sight of him.

His hair was a little longer than shoulder length, midnight black with blue highlights when the sun hit it the right way. But even without the sun, you couldn’t miss the thick silver streaks that made Ren look more like a wild child than he did. Add that to the dangling cross earring and the fact he always wore black and it was quite a striking combination. To add to the effect, Ren’s irises were like polished silver with blue highlights and a jet black ring around them. He kept sunglasses with him at all times because of the oddity.

What tripped him out the most about Ren was that computers were one of the things that made Ren happy as far as powers went. Ren was a succubus in every way that counted. If he was near a computer, then he fed off the computer's power almost like a download… but his form of succubus also allowed him to take anyone’s power and use it for himself.

For example… if he was near a shifter, then he could shift. If he was near a demon, then he had all the power that type of demon had, but the downside was that it was like using a mirror. He couldn’t strip the demon of its powers. Both sides would have the same power so it wasn’t always a win-win situation… especially when your opponent had the power longer and knew how to use it better.

One way Ren could turn it to his favor was if there were more than one paranormal power within his succubus range… then look out because he could use them all to his advantage.

Another downfall was that Ren didn’t play well with others, so he refused a partner which was a crying shame. Storm could have set him up with powerful people and he could have mirrored any of them. Even right now, if Ren wanted to teleport halfway around the world and fifty years into the past, he could. Luckily, he wasn’t interested in that kind of stuff. He watched the light in Ren’s eyes die down as he came back from the world of cyberspace.

Ren blinked and moved his hands away from the keyboard to lean back in his swivel chair. “No one knows I’m here?”

“Just Zachary,” Storm admitted knowing he was going to be in for a fight with Ren on this, “I’m going to have Zachary watching over most of the ones that are already here.”

“Why do I not like the sound of that?” Ren narrowed his eyes but had a feeling this would be a losing battle. “What’s up with the mansion and set up? Why the bribe?”

Storm cocked an eyebrow, “It’s kind of hard to bribe someone who can walk up to an ATM and ask it for money.”

“You’re avoiding the question,” Ren pointed out.

“I’ve let you hide from the paranormal investigation teams for this long, and hell… I’ve even joined you in the solitude more times than I should have.” Storm held up his hand when Ren started to argue, “You’ve always claimed that you owed me one… I’m calling in the favor now.”

“And that favor would be,” Ren’s voice had lost its edge due to his honor. Storm was right… he owed him a life debt and Storm wouldn’t call him on it for something frivolous.

Storm started pacing back and forth in front of the desk. “The only real answer I can give you right now is you’re here to help me fight. I’m calling in many favors on this one. I’ll be bringing in the best of the PIT teams here to the city and you have now been upgraded to second in command.”

“Lucky me.” The fact that it was said with absolutely no emotion was ignored by both of them.

“Zachary will be in charge if something happens to us,” Storm made a point of adding. “And sooner or later, you two will have to exchange information… especially if I can’t be contacted.”

“Well that doesn’t sound good,” Ren frowned silently wondering why Storm didn’t already have the answers to his own questions. For someone who could bounce into the future, it was odd not to know who would be on the winning side of a battle.

“I won't be around very much for a while because I’ll have to hunt down most of the teams. Although they work in pairs, they do have the annoying habit of disappearing off radar and forming their own assignments as they run across them.” He ran his hands through his bangs, “They’re going to be hard for even me to track down.”

“And as you drop them off here, I get to baby sit?” Ren asked wanting clarification.

“No,” Storm shook his head and smiled at the thought. “These people are not children. Their job is the same as yours… to protect the city. Whether you communicate between each other is entirely up to you. But with your power, you can make a grid of the city to let them know where all the hot spots are. This is just the home base for now. You and Zachary will be the only ones who can contact me if I’m not here.”

“Really?” Ren rocked the chair back and forth becoming intrigued by all the mystery. “And here I thought I was the antisocial one between the two of us,” Ren pointed out. “Do you plan on disappearing?” It was supposed to be a joke, but when he noticed Storm’s flinch he stopped rocking the chair.