Alkalians (60 page)

“
Yes, I do, Cynthia. I
mean, you’re talented, smart, beautiful, passionate…”

Amanda is startled when Cynthia
interrupts her by embracing her, holding her tightly without care
of her being nude. “Thank you, Amanda. Thank you. I really needed
that.”

Briefly feeling awkward, Amanda then
hugs Cynthia back, soothing her further with her hands stroking her
back. “I’m glad I could help, Cynthia.” After a moment of the two
remaining embraced, she asks, “Do you feel better, now?”

“
Yes, I do.” Cynthia steps
back, smiling to Amanda. “Again, thank you.”

“
No problem.” Returning
the smile, Amanda looks around before remembering something. “Hey,
speaking of Sean, where did he go?”

“
Oh, uh, I think he’s in
the back, with Ashley.”

“
Huh? With Ashley?
Shouldn’t you be with him, instead?”

“
Well, I didn’t want to
bother Sean with my problems, so I figured he should enjoy himself
tonight and not worry about me.”

“
Oh, okay. Knowing Ashley,
he probably is.” An awkward moment passes with Cynthia taking
another drink from the rum before Amanda asks, “What’s he
like?”

“
Huh?”

“
You know, Sean. What’s he
like in, um, you know…”

“
Oh, yeah. He’s alright.
In fact, he’s probably the best I’ve done it with.”

“
Really? How
so?”

Leaning back against the counter,
Cynthia swirls the rum around in its bottle before explaining,
“Well, I will admit, he was a bit rough, the first time. But by the
third time, he had it down to a system. Imagine this. He addresses
every spot on your body with affection, stimulating your senses and
rousing your desire. Then, he goes in, and he starts out nice and
slow. The longer it goes on, though, the faster and harder he goes,
and before you know it, it’s done, and you’re
breathless.”

Blinking as she imagined it, Amanda
nods, leaning against the counter beside Cynthia. “Wow. That sounds
nice. So, you like how he does that?”

“
Yep, that I
do.”

“
Cool. I wonder how I
would like that. Too bad I may never find out, though.”

Cynthia looks at her in confusion
after another sip of rum, her face becoming flushed with heat.
“What do you mean, by that?”

“
Oh, you know, since he’s
your boyfriend. You wouldn’t want any other girl sleeping with him.
Well, except for Ashley, this one time.”

Cynthia’s gaze scans over
Amanda a moment in consideration, and with eyes gleaming then says,
“And who says I wouldn’t let
you
sleep with him?”

Her turn to be confused, Amanda turns
to her. “Huh? You mean, you would…”

“
Sure, why not? It’s the
least I could do, after your kind words encouraged me.” Taking one
last gulp from her drink, Cynthia sets the empty bottle aside, a
swagger then in her expression and movement as she circles around
Amanda. “And besides, we couldn’t let Ashley have him all to
herself tonight, could we?”

Still not sure what was happening,
Amanda maintains eye contact with Cynthia as her body instinctively
braces itself. “We? You mean…”

“
I do. We’re going to make
sure we, and Sean,
really
enjoy tonight.” Her hands slip off straps to let
her dress fall down, revealing herself as nude as Amanda,
face-to-face, and then slide down Amanda’s chest, sides, and hips
as she closes in. “But first, you and I should warm up for the
occasion.”

Now understanding, almost not
believing it, Amanda gets out, “Yes, that sounds…” before Cynthia
cuts her off with her lips. The kiss deepens as they embrace again,
their bodies pressing together, and they prepare themselves for a
long and passionate night.

***

While across campus many are relaxing
or partying, one student is not getting that pleasure. Shoved out
of the doors leading into the college building, Cain, dressed only
in a ward patient’s white sheet, has a funny look on his face
despite the dark expressions of the four officers escorting him
into the night. About a hundred yards away from the building, one
of the officers turns to address him, the moonlight beaming over
the scar upon her face revealing her to be Professor Serpanz. “Cain
Incarein, do you know why we’ve brought you out here?”

“
Heh, I’m afraid I do not.
For what fathomable reason could you have so rudely roused me from
my rest, hmm?”

“
You’re acting awfully
smug for someone who looked delighted to have killed his fellow
student in the arena, earlier today. It’s no question you’re guilty
of that charge, the intent to kill another, but there’s another
matter we may have to charge you with, one that was recently
brought up to us after the tournament.”

“
Hah, is that it? I was
wondering who would have the audacity to do that. Who was it, then?
The block-headed Buster, who was whiny because we weren’t going to
do it a brute’s way? The craven Cynthia, so needlessly upset that I
just borrowed Irene’s services from her, and then goes and betrays
us all by falling for the freshman freak? Or was it the rogue
himself?”

“
It doesn’t matter
who
brought it up to us,
Cain, but
what
it
is. Did you arrange to have Rose and Matt…”

Cain shrieks in
convulsion, stumbling back into one of the officers. “Don’t say his
name! It gives him power, it does, it makes him stronger, it
corrupts, it poisons the air. It angers
them
, it does, they do not like
it!”

Serpanz continues,
deliberately repeating the name to Cain’s misfortune, “And
Matt
fight each other,
and have Irene watching from afar, ready to shoot Rose in her human
form if she was defeated by him?”

Chuckling as quickly as he had been
cringing, Cain replies, “Oh yes, I was behind all of that. And what
of it? I meant no harm, I was just playing a game with
them.”

“
Oh, really? Then, tell me
this, Cain. What do you think of
this
game?” She punches him in the
gut, blowing the wind out of him, follows with an uppercut to his
jaw to knock him off his feet, and kicks him in the ribs where he
lies on the ground. The other officers, cold as stone, show no
objection to her treatment of him.

Coughing in pain at first, his body
yet bruised from the battle earlier reliving the trauma, Cain then
laughs defiantly. “I’d say it’s a bit rough, professor, but nothing
I couldn’t handle. Is that all you got? I think you’ve gone soft,
having to teach sniveling freshmen how to…” Serpanz cuts him off
with a few stomps to his chest, making him gasp and curl
up.

Her dark eyes gleaming with fury,
Serpanz kneels down beside Cain, who began chuckling again, and
asks, “How would you feel, if it was you?”

“
Huh? If I was
what?”

“
How would you feel, if it
was someone else playing with your emotions, gambling with your
life? What would you think of being manipulated like some dumb
animal, blindly led to its slaughter?”

“…
Well, I suppose I would
be quite upset. But that would never happen to me.”

“
You’re wrong, Cain. It’s
happened to you, before. Don’t you remember?”

Turning to look at her, confusion in
his expression, Cain asks, “What are you talking about?”

“
Did you forget you were a
freshman once, as well? I remember you back as a freshman. So sure
of yourself, cocky and spoiled. I had hoped my instructions and
training would break you of that, but it was Saul Morothin, the
Black Dragon, who did, instead. He and his allies convinced you
that they wanted you in their club, and you met them out at the
rune pillars on the far side of campus. They then told you that if
you wanted to join them, you had to prove yourself in combat, and
you, eager to impress them, agreed. But you didn’t know that you
would be fighting
all
of them at once, and before you knew it, you were trapped in
the court, having to demorph when they obliterated you and remorph
to be beaten again, and again, and again, and they laughed at you
every time. Am I ringing any bells, Cain?”

His expression paling with dread, he
looks back at Serpanz, quietly asking, “How, how do you know, about
that?”

“
Because one of Saul’s
thugs, feeling remorse, brought it to my attention. That was why he
was suspended for some of the semester, but came back just in time
for the Royale Project. I would have had him gone the whole
semester, but his folks back in Riaquen wouldn’t accept that, they
wanted him to maintain his battle morph’s supremacy at the college.
But it didn’t help you out any, the damage had already been done.
You became a sad shamble of your former self. You were so
traumatized that you couldn’t fight anyone else, and after classes
you would hide in your apartment all day. You don’t remember any of
that?”

“…
I, I’ve tried to forget
it, actually. But, things got better the next year, with my new
abilities provided by drug enhancement and with Saul being
gone.”

“
Wrong, Cain. Things got
worse. I hoped that you had recovered, and been humbled, from the
ordeal, but those powers of yours made you as cocky and arrogant as
before. It wasn’t long until you were terrorizing your fellow
students just as Saul had, except you were taking greater joy in
it, and soon I came to regret ever feeling sorry for
you.”

“
You felt sorry for me?
Heh, that was kind of you.” A strange, somber gleam comes to Cain’s
eyes. “You probably don’t know what it’s like to be afraid, do you,
professor? Being the big, bad gym instructor, and chief of security
here on campus. You don’t know what it’s like to feel so weak, so
powerless, so craven that you’re terrified of everything around
you, the only thing concerning you being getting to the next day in
one piece, every day. Do you, Orcra?”

“…
Actually, I do, Cain.
Although, it wasn’t for me that I felt powerless.”

Lost in his misery, Cain
doesn’t notice Serpanz’ confession and continues his own. “It was
horrible, you know? I almost sympathize with the freshmen I
torment, because I was once one of them, I was once the despised
weakling. But, I couldn’t live like that, you know? I had to get
stronger. I had to become stronger, to rise above others, so that I
wouldn’t fear them any longer, and instead
they
would fear
me
. I tried training my morph back
home, but, it wasn’t working, I would freeze up with panic in an
actual fight. Not until my parents got me the special prescriptions
did I regain my confidence, and then, the next year at college was
great.”

He chuckles, his eyes
glistening with tears. “I won the college tournament, and everybody
was afraid of me! I monopolized the flow of money at the casino and
became rich, I bedded a few women, and soon I had my devote
followers working for me. I was a boss student, and I was king of
the campus. And I have been! But, then,
he
came along, this
year.”

Cain looks imploringly to
Serpanz. “What makes him so different from me, huh? How is he so
strong, as a freshman, when I wasn’t? How does he have so many,
even other boss students, supporting him? Everyone feared him,
sure, but now, they don’t, they
like
him! How can that be? How can
he be greater than them, than
me
, without them fearing
him!?”

“…
Faith. It’s faith,
Cain.” Serpanz explains, “Matt has shown he is honest, humble, and
strong willed, and that, along with his powers outmatching yours,
inspired others to see him as the one to counter you, the liberator
to take down the tyrant. His actions and character have also made
them his friends, and friends are more willing to serve than
slaves. When it comes to leading others, to uniting them in
following your will, or even to ruling over them, faith in you is a
greater bond than fear of you.”

Cain absorbs the information, blinking
in dull understanding. “Faith, huh? Faith, instead of fear. Heh, I
suppose that makes sense. Then I guess that makes me the fool,
after all. Maybe, if I get the chance, I should go find Matt, and…”
Cain’s expression suddenly pales and twists, his eyes going wide,
as his body bends and curls with him crying out in
agony.

Startled, Serpanz reaches for him,
asking, “Cain, what is it? What’s wrong?”

She and the other officers
are confused, and worried, when they hear Cain making a sound like
something between laughter and crying. “You’re lying,
professor.
They
say you’re lying, you’re in league with
him
, with all of them, against me.
Can’t you hear them? Can you hear their whispers exposing you for
the freshmen sympathizer that you are, the injustice you are doing
to me, and suggesting how I should deal with it? Oh, they are very
nice suggestions, yes,
very
nice, hehehe.”

“
Cain, calm down, and
listen to me. Who is
they
? What are they telling you to
do?” With a subtle gesture, she tells the officers to step back as
she does, putting distance between them and their
subject.