Love in Electric Blue

“You cold-hearted witch. You’re still alive?” J.D. had trouble thinking straight as the object of his darkest fantasies and deepest pain stood before him in the flesh.

She’d grown more beautiful, were that possible, in the years since he’d last seen her. At fifteen, she’d been sweet, innocent, and adorable. He’d been with her for two years and had seen her mature into a lovely young woman. On the outside, at least.

But now, ten years later, at twenty-seven, she was simply stunning. Those big blue eyes looked impossibly innocent in her heart-shaped face. Cropped black hair showed the fragile lines of her neck and chin. She was both lovely and vulnerable as her full lower lip quivered, and damn if he didn’t want to hug her tight and protect her from the world.

No, I’m not that stupid. Not again.

He took a few steps back, needing to maintain his distance. To come any closer might put Jurek and Max in real danger, since he felt hot enough to blast through the room—a loss of control he hadn’t experienced in ages. He could feel the energy building inside him, aching to be set free. His confusion and anger grew, and he worked to contain them. “What the f*ck, Jurek?”

Jurek glanced from J.D. to Remy and his eyes narrowed. “Hell. It’s really her.”

J.D. glared at Max, then back at Remy again, unable to look away from her for long. What the hell was she doing here, in this office? Then he put the pieces together. Remy. Max’s IT rep. It fit all too well.

“Elizabeth Remington Sinclair.” Unable to stop himself, he approached her. “Do you know who she is?” he asked Max, his voice hoarse with contempt.

Jurek placed a hand on J.D.’s arm, to calm him or stop him, J.D. couldn’t say. He shrugged it off.

“Let him go, Jurek,” Remy said in a soft voice. So sweet-sounding, yet so contemptuous underneath. She obviously knew Jurek.

J.D. cared less about their byplay than about the emotions passing over her traitorous face. He felt too much sensation, like a live wire exposed to the elements, as all the pain and fear and fury from that day so long ago raced back, sizzling in his blood.

“I know who she is,” Max answered quietly. “So does Jurek. The question is, who is she to you?” Max motioned subtly for Remy to stay still when she would have moved away.

J.D. saw the motion, and the room literally crackled. Blue sparks danced in the air.

Jurek calmly folded his arms and watched the scene unfold. J.D. had the insane urge to laugh. Nothing, not even Jurek’s normally easygoing computer whiz having a nervous breakdown, could shake his boss’s cool resolve.

“Let me tell you who she is.” He took a deep breath and strove for control. He moved another few steps back from her, glad when Max and Jurek finally showed some sense by stepping clear of them.

The last time he’d seen Remy, she’d been staring down at him through a wall of Plexiglas after literally setting him on fire. “She’s a liar, a user, and an unfeeling bitch out for number one—herself,” he said concisely, not to be misunderstood. “She’s probably a plant for the ISPP. No doubt right now she’s planning the capture of just about everyone working for you, Max.”

The ISPP, or Institute for the Study of Psychic Phenomenon, had been shut down ten years ago by the man watching him with concern, his boss—Jurek Westlake. The Institute had been conducting inhumane experiments on its test subjects, not to mention breaking several laws regarding kidnapping and murder. All led by Dr. Benjamin Carter, Remy’s loving uncle.

Unfortunately, not everyone involved in the organization had been found. Rumors circulated every now and then about a new ISPP, one funded privately rather than by the government subsidy it had once enjoyed.

Watching Remy, J.D. felt all the hurt and torment of those years spent within white walls, unable to break free. She had been his one enjoyment, his one source of freedom from the relentless tedium of confinement. And then he’d found out she’d been working against him all along. “I’m doing this for your own good, Joshua,” she’d said before trying to end his life. God, what a joke. She might not have liked her uncle, but she’d only ever been about helping herself. The agonizing pain, both physical and emotional, returned to him in waves, and a hazy blue light enveloped his hands.

He could see her understanding and wondered how she’d respond. Part of him wanted her to fight back, so that slapping her down and ending her once and for all would bring the closure he’d been needing for so long. Yet the other part of him he’d thought long buried wanted to protect her and wrap her in his arms. What a fucked up mess.

The hair on her forearms stood on end, as did the cropped silken cap on her head. She shot Max a warning look, and both he and Jurek cautiously retreated behind the desk.

“Go ahead, Joshua,” she said quietly.

“You don’t think I’ll do it?”

“Do what you need to.” The guilt in her big blue eyes turned him inside out.

His rage warred with shame—that he’d succumbed to this, the beast that lived buried deep, that only Benjamin Carter had been able to bring out of him.

To his shock, a bead of greedy energy flickered within her. He sensed it rather than saw it, a ball of power licking at his. “Cut it the fuck out.” Didn’t she realize how close he was to killing her?

“Do your worst,” she goaded while he struggled to hold on to his precious control.

And why bother? She wanted him to hit her with it? She could have it.

“Screw that. You want it? You got it.” Tired of holding himself back for her, confused and ashamed that his intense feelings hadn’t faded as they should have, J.D. let forth a burst of power that would instantly have killed a normal person.

Max and Jurek ducked as a thunderclap preceded an explosion of electricity. But Remy, his target, flew back into the wall with enough force to break through the drywall. Instead of succumbing to the blow, she slowly picked herself up and dusted off her arms, breathing hard.

Her eyes glowed neon, likely as bright as his own. Using their powers always made them into obvious freaks. Suddenly his world shifted, and everything looked slightly blue, patterns of energy coloring the world around him.

Christ, he hadn’t seen this in ten long years. Yet it felt like only yesterday when he’d played in the world they’d created for themselves, together. He wanted more, to let the river of energy swirl and take him up in it, to rally in the chaos of entropy.

“J.D.,” he heard Jurek yelling. “Shut it down. The wall is on fire. Shut it down.”

He didn’t care. He watched Remy, waiting to see what she’d do next. He could feel the concentrated power in her and realized she must have absorbed most of his energy. Her uncle had never understood how the pair of them could share so well. Unfortunately, it seemed that hadn’t faded with time.

Remy released the energy he’d rocketed into her, blowing several fuses while rays of light leaked from her eyes, forming a nimbus of energy that slowly settled over the room.

As the last of it left her, she gasped and fell to her knees.

Unable to help himself, he hurried to her side and brought her to her feet. But the moment his hands touched bare skin, a waterfall of energy passed back into her, recharging her. The memories intensified. Her lovely smile, the feel of her soft mouth under his.

So innocent, so young and stupid to believe anything he thought she’d been.

He forced himself to regain control. It wasn’t easy when everything inside him demanded he either kill her or take her, body and soul, until she made matters right again. Yet J.D. refused to be held hostage by his abilities. Not again.

He yanked his hand away and eventually the world righted itself. A few of the pillows on Max’s couch had caught fire, so he grabbed a pitcher of water from the desk to put out the flames before the overhead sprinklers took charge.

Remy looked ill, and he felt her distress as if his own.

“Are you…” He stopped himself and scowled.

“Is she all right?” Max asked, sounding shakier than J.D. had ever heard him. The man took a step in her direction before Jurek grabbed him and held him still.

“Damn it, she’s fine,” J.D. snapped. He refused to touch her again and shoved his hands in his pockets. “She’s a witch. And nothing kills a witch, not even fire,” he mocked before turning on his heel and storming out of the office before he blasted her again.

Or kissed her. Even worse. Kissing—not killing—the woman who once left you to die. You are one fucked up idiot, for sure.