Stronger Together chapter 112 (Patreon)

I looked down at the mess. They must have heard us but they didn’t bother us. Luckily half our tenants were sex vampires and this was probably pretty much par for the course for them. Even Inari most likely had been around her sisters fucking plenty of guys before she knew about her vampire heritage. Yang and Cinder were both pretty open sexually and Kara could hear us just as well in private as in public. I grinned down at the couch. “We should flip these cushions and call a cleaner. Or maybe just buy a new couch. We can move this one to our room.”

Barb giggled. “A sex couch huh? I like it. How about you baby girl, you think we should move this thing to the bedroom for later?” She was cooing at Raven, but not the cold sweetness she used when we played, a genuine warmth and love was in her voice and I saw Raven snuggle up against her. Barb had cleaned Raven off with her mouth and pulled her shirt back down but those shorts were a lost cause. She smiled down at our purple haired sorceress “You feeling a bit better baby? I meant what I said, we won’t leave you behind again if we can help it.”

Raven nodded, her face sporting a soft smile. “I do feel better now. Thank you. I’m sorry. I kind of lost it. Seeing Cameron lying there for days unable to help just made everything so much worse.” Her face twisted in horror. “Oh gods, I slapped you. I can’t believe I did that. That was awful I’m so sorry. I promise it’ll never happen again. I was so scared and angry and I-“ Her voice cut off as I kissed her.

I pulled away, looking into her eyes. “I know you’d never hurt me. With your strength that could have broken my neck if you wanted, I barely felt it. I won’t say it’s alright, but I don’t think it’s something you’ll do again. It was a moment of temporary insanity, and I can tell you’re punishing yourself for it already more than I ever could.” It was true, her eyes looked haunted with guilt, the mere concept of abusing a loved one was anathema to Raven, she was probably comparing herself to her father in her mind.

I understood her outburst but I knew nothing I could say was going to change her mind. That kind of pain is something she had to get past on her own. Showing her I was over it and moving on was my best bet here. I cleared my throat. “Like I was saying earlier though, we’re going to need backup. We’ll have to call in that favor from Lily and Fix, plus ask River for help. Ebenezar is supposed to come with us according to my vision too. Plus the mercenary the Archive works with, guy named Kinkaid. I also might try to hire that kitsune Hana, and I might let the council know what’s up. We’ll have to talk to Harry.”

The number of vampires under Chicago was...bad. Hellmouth bad. We needed a ton of backup here. I wasn’t sure but I suspected this was a ripple effect from us being here, the ritual hadn’t been like this in the books if that's even what they’d been doing. These vampires weren’t fucking around. Raven’s guilty expression hardened into resolve, which was what I’d hoped would happen. I sent the girls to go get dressed, I’d managed to mostly avoid the mess, and staggered to the bathroom for my medicine bath.

Kara was finishing mixing the chemicals, which looked a bit darker than normal, and gave me a smirk when she saw me. “You know, when you asked for a recovery bath, I figured you’d use it to recover from your mini coma. If I’m going to be recharging you for sex I’m going to start charging.” Her voice was casual but her eyes sparkled with enough mirth that I knew she was just teasing. She was happy for us and I really appreciated that.

She headed out of the bathroom leaving me to climb in for my soak and I moaned as I lowered myself in. The bathtub groaned as my metal hand squeezed down on the porcelain but thankfully I didn’t break it. I briefly imagine a magic godsteel bathtub, but then considered exactly how much power that would take and dismissed it. If it scaled the same all the way through an entire leyline’s worth of soulfire wouldn’t be enough for a full sized tub.

I focused on my new mental faculties and was stunned. My brain felt like lightning, spinning through plans and theories and new ideas. I saw connections and facts I’d missed before, remembered things I though I’d forgotten about the books. I could recite them all from memory now. I felt like Bradley Cooper in that movie limitless, only it was permanent. Of course that also meant I’d never forget what I saw. My gorge rose again but I choked it back down. Not going to vomit. I’d had enough of that.

My arm was tapped out, and my soul was drained enough that I wouldn’t be refilling it today. I’d used a crazy amount of soulfire on this mental upgrade. Calliope’s surprise at my survival had me convinced she’d done it on a whim after I noticed her. She was dangerous. I made a mental note not to contact her again unless there was an emergency, but that described basically my whole life so I doubted it would stick.

Still my supercharged brain was almost worth nearly going insane and breaking my brain. Almost. Henry’s warning had been too easy to ignore, Calliope seemed so much like a person, but this was clearly the kind of thing he meant when he mentioned she didn’t care about people. To her she’d given me an opportunity that most wouldn’t survive. She probably thought she’d done me a favor. I sincerely hoped she didn’t try to come and collect.

I did notice something a bit odd though. The water was slowly turning more translucent. Not an insane amount but enough that my new perfect recall could spot the change. I remembered Kara mentioning that soulfire seemed to make our bodies able to absorb the medicinal fluid better. I wasn’t sure if this was my new brain being hungry, my body being depleted from two days of starvation, or something about my arm, but I managed to absorb the extra strength medicinal bath in an hour.

I stood up fluidly, and my body felt...amazing. Not just strong like normal, I felt like I could control ever bit of me. It reminded me of the old gag from Blazing Saddles where Gene Wilder holds up a rock steady hand then a badly shaking one and says he shoots with the second one. The second hand had been my body before. Now I was steady as a rock. No wasted movement. I stepped out of the bath and the difference was indescribable. Like I’d had vertigo my whole life and now it was gone.

I could feel the way the energy travelled in my muscles if I paid attention, I knew myself in a way I never had before. I couldn’t wait to do my klurkor tonight. I wanted to learn more about what that martial art was doing and now I could. Maybe I could try to fix some more of the revisions. I cleaned myself off and strolled out of the bathroom. My feet made almost no sound, my body instinctively knowing how to roll my feet down to avoid too much pressure in one spot.

I got dressed in new clothes and headed and considered some of my old ideas. Some of my plans in the past seemed stupid now, I could see many ways to prepare for some of our battles I hadn’t considered before. I also decided that chain mail was an inefficient use of our power for making godsteel. Scale mail would be better and Harry could enchant the scales with more powerful spells. Once we had more power to invest maybe a Lorica Segmentata, a set of banded mail worn by the roman legions, would be the next step.

I finished dressing and I noted that my clothes hung a bit better on me. The soulfire that had been channeled through me to fix my brain had clearly done some serious refining. I had filled out a bit more and my muscles were a bit more defined. My eyes were also...different. The blue was paler, but more lustrous, like they were shimmery gemstones. My black hair looked darker too or at least glossier. And my teeth looked more pearlescent.

I was still human, I could feel that, but the soulfire had purified me on a deeper level. This felt amazing. I smiled and strolled out into the living room, wondering if anyone would notice. The changes hadn’t been obvious when I was so drained from my coma but now I felt like I was glowing. Not literally though so who knew. Kara was shocked when I came out. Her blue eyes widened at seeing me so soon “Cameron, what happened, something wrong with the bath?”

I just smiled and shook my head “Not at all, it was perfect. I think I passed a watershed on the whole soulfire purification thing. I absorbed it all. The bathwater was clear as glass. I saw Raven and Barb back out in the living room dressed and sitting together. Raven was on Barb’s lap and cuddled into her. I walked over and plopped down on the couch. “Did the girls catch you all up on what I saw? Any ideas for who could go to for help?”

Kara’s eyes lingered on me for a moment but then she glanced up in though. “I don’t know, Mr. Marcone and Ms. Gard probably. He seems the protective type where his territory is concerned. Reminds me a bit of Lex Luthor, but infinitely more practical, I suspect that Mr. Marcone would do very well back home. If he knows vampires are kidnapping people in his city he’d definitely get involved.”  Which was a damn good point, Marcone was the possessive type when it came to his town. He’d take it as a personal insult that these monsters were operating in his house.

Morgan perked up. “What about Cousin Lara. Black Court operating so close to her is pretty disrespectful. I bet she has more than a few big scary guys on retainer, and I bet she could convince some of my cousins to help. Raith’s can be pretty scary when they want to be. Not as scary as me but still.” Lara owed us too. In fact...it could be said it wasn’t just her debt. We’d saved Inari and foiled a plot to kill off members of the King’s house.

I began to smile. I’d been wracking my brain for a way to get rid of Lord Raith, but what if we didn’t have to. What if we called the whole White Court into this fight and he was forced to come along. He’d made an alliance with Summer, Lily would be able to make sure he showed up by working with Lara. It would be easy to “accidentally” arrange his death. Forget Lara’s puppet show I didn’t want that sick fuck around to break loose and come after us down the road.

I began to put together a new plan, a better plan. Cinder would help us with this. So would Morgan, and Barb and Kara and Yang. We had the muscle and the brains to come out of this on top with all our enemies dead. I’d spent far too long relying on long term plots to change things. I needed to take a more active role. I was strong now, and I was damn sure going to prove it to everyone. It was time to take our first step out onto the world stage.