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With his biology, it takes a lot for Bradley to get drunk. The high-proof moonshine they serve at this crappy bar, if he drinks enough of it, will do it. And it’s cheap. He doesn’t usually stay in a town very long but this bar, as slim a reason as it provides, is reason enough. His life doesn’t allow for many indulgences; he’ll let himself have this one.The gorgeous blond man sitting three seats down… Well, maybe Bradley will let himself have one more tonight.The man’s clothes are casual: dark sweater, jeans. But Bradley can tell that they’re expensive, as is the man’s haircut. The way the bartender treats him says he’s not a local.He was in the bar last night too. They made eye contact a few times, sizing each other up, lingering a little longer each time. The man had stayed about two hours, drinking beer the whole time, while Bradley slugged back glass after glass of his chosen poison.Tonight, the man beckons the bartender over and orders a full bottle of moonshine with two glasses. He walks over and asks, “Mind if I join you?”“If you’re buying, have a seat,” Bradley replies.“Name’s Jake,” he says, extending his hand.Bradley offers a fake name in return. When their hands touch, a spark of static electricity zaps him.They make sporadic small talk as they drink. Bradley’s going at his usual pace, steady but fast. Jake can’t quite keep up but he’s making a good showing.At one point, Bradley realizes he is feeling delightfully warm and relaxed. It’s like the tension has unwound from every muscle in his body. It’s wonderful.
Moonshine’s got more of a kick today.
That’s his last thought before his vision hazes over and he loses consciousness.* * *Bradley wakes up with the world’s worst hangover pounding in his temples, nausea surging. His mouth is desert dry. He cracks his eyes open a sliver. The room he’s in is thankfully dim. Unfortunately, it appears he’s also in a cage. He calls out, “Whenever I get out of here - and I will get out - you’re going to be very, very sorry you did this.”“Ah, good, you’re awake,” Jake says.“If you wanted a date, all you had to do was ask nicely,” Bradley rasps.“You’re cute but I don’t normally go to this much trouble for a date,” Jake says.Bradley gets a better look at his surroundings. It’s a concrete room. No windows, so probably a basement or cellar. Large and cavernous, with ten-foot ceilings. The cage is in the middle of the room, set into the concrete but the top and bottom are slabs of metal. It’s a decent size, maybe eight feet square. There’s the yoga mat he’s lying on. A one-piece metal toilet in the corner. A large bottle of water. And incongruously, a small stack of paperbacks. Great, it’s always nice when a captor sees to your entertainment needs, he thinks.He gets up and tentatively tests the bars of the cage. He could pry his way out of any normal prison cell but the bars resist the force he’s exerting on them. He looks up. The tops of the bars are carved with glyphs, some kind of magical reinforcement.Outside the cage, Jake rolls up his sleeves. He kneels down and places his hands in two small circles of symbols and glyphs drawn in chalk on the floor. His hands flare bright with crackling white light and the symbols in the circles ignite with glowing blue. The two small circles start to spin and feed power into a larger circle of arcane symbols that surround the cage, which starts pulsing with blue as well.Aw, shit.Jake is a mage.And he’s powering up a major spell with Bradley right in the middle of it.
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Bradley feels the spell start to take effect, power swirling in the air.“What’s your real name?” Jake asks.A truth-seeking spell, then. It presses on Bradley’s already unhappy brain like a vise. His name isn’t particularly valuable information so he’ll let that one go.“Bradley,” he says.“Last name?” Jake asks.He’s less keen to give out his real last name. He makes the spell press him harder. Long minutes pass before he gives it up. “Bradshaw.”“There’s no House Bradshaw in North America,” Jake says.“That’s not a question. Don’t you watch Law & Order?” Bradley snarks.Jake channels more power into the spell, brightening it. “Are you affiliated with a House?”Bradley struggles into a sitting position. He corrals his limbs into order, legs crossed, arms slightly out to the sides and relaxed. He’s going to need to concentrate if he’s going to fight this.The good news is, whatever Jake’s power is, it’s not in the mental category. He’s playing outside his specialization so the spell’s going to be relatively weak. ‘Relative’ being the operative word. It will also depend on how strong he is, and how much time he spent preparing the spell. Bradley has a bad feeling about both of those factors.If the offense isn’t the strongest, then neither is Bradley’s defense. He’s not a mental mage either. But he’s a stubborn son of a gun and he’s been keeping his secrets for a long time. Jake’s going to have a hell of a fight on his hands when it comes to a battle of wills.They stare at each other, the spell pulsing around them both. Bradley manages to hold out almost twenty minutes this time, pain spiking through his head.“No.”Bradley’s a bit of a genetic wild card. He wasn’t born into a House and he sure as hell has tried to stay out of the clutches of one. He’s a loner and he likes it that way.“And what are you, Bradley Bradshaw?” Jake asks.Bradley palms the sweat off his forehead and smirks. This one’s too easy.“I’m a Gemini.”Jake growls at him, leans on the spell harder. “Are you a metamorphosis mage?”The question hits him like a hammer blow. Bradley does his best to keep it off his face. This is knowledge very few people possess. It also tells him that his kidnapping was targeted. This is very bad news. He shakes off the surprise and gathers himself. Jake’s going to have to work for this one.An hour later, panting, Bradley strips off his sweat-drenched shirt. Jake is similarly wet with sweat but his hands are occupied with the spell. Bradley sees Jake’s eyes drop to his chest. “Are you seriously checking me out in the middle of my interrogation?!”Jake raises his eyes to meet his again and there’s a glint of amusement in them. He smiles at Bradley, sharklike. “I can multitask, Brad Brad.”Bradley scowls. The name is a low blow. He doesn’t have much from his parents but that stupid name’s one of them. “Just for that, how about we go back to square one?”For the first time, he actively pushes on spell instead of resisting its press on him. It makes pain jolt agonizingly down his spine and through his limbs to his extremities but he gains back some of the precious mental territory the spell had claimed.Another hour passes. The spell is starting to emit wisps of steam. Bradley gets up. He can barely stand, his legs are trembling so hard. He leans against the bars of the cage and heels off his boots, then peels his jeans off.“Feel free to keep going if it’ll make you feel better,” Jake says between heavy breaths. His eyes are bloodshot.“Buy me dinner first, studmuffin.” Bradley sits down again. They lock gazes.“Are you a metamorphosis mage?” Jake asks again, pressing.The throbbing pain is hazing his vision, buzzing in his ears. Bradley can’t take much more of this.A quarter of an hour ticks by.Then another.The spell is pounding at his mind for an answer, clanging like a clock tower bell, a never-ending clamor.“Yes,” Bradley finally grits out.Jake slumps sideways, his hands lifting off the spell. The arcane circle's blue light extinguishes.The pressure immediately lifts but the pain continues to echo through Bradley.Jake staggers to his feet. “We pick this up tomorrow.”Bradley crawls over the bottle of water in his cell. He manages to drink half of it before he passes out.
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Day two in the cage is about the same as day one, only his hangover is from magic and not from moonshine and whatever elephant tranquilizer Jake had drugged him with.On top of that, he is ferociously hungry. His metabolism doesn’t usually let him skip meals and now he’s missed at least three.He opens his eyes.He has no idea what time of day it is, in this windowless basement.But, miracle of miracles, sitting just outside the cage is a largish tupperware with some sandwiches in it, and another large bottle of water. He eats all six sandwiches, one after another, in large bites - four ham and cheese, two peanut butter and jelly.Bradley drinks the rest of last night’s bottle of water and uses the toilet. He gives the spell circle on the floor a closer look but he doesn’t learn anything new. He’s not much of a spell-caster and he already knows what it does.With nothing left to do, he pokes through the paperbacks in the cage. The Count of Monte Cristo seems appropriate and he starts reading.* * *“Hey, how about you answer a question for me before we start with the fun times. What do you want with me?” Bradley asks.Jake looks up from where he’s redrawing a few of the symbols in chalk. “Look,” he says, “it’s nothing personal. I’ve had a private investigator looking for almost a year. You’re the first one she found, that’s all. I need information. Once I have it, I’ll let you go.”“Oh really.”“Really. You don’t know who I am or exactly where we are. Once you’re loose, if you decide to invest the resources to track me down for payback, well, I guess that’s only fair. I can usually take care of myself pretty well.”Bradley mulls this over. He’s hardly an optimist but there’s a chance Jake is telling the truth. He’s been treated more or less humanely so far, given food and water, no extra violence just for kicks. Jake is controlled and tense, not gleeful. Bradley also gets the sense that there’s something else driving Jake. Bradley may be an interesting specimen but Jake doesn’t even know who or what he is.“What gave me away? To your PI?” Bradley asks.“Small things, really. You’re a little too strong to be an ordinary human. Dogs don’t like you. I’ve seen how you drink. And you also move around a lot, like you’re trying to stay off the radar.”“Pretty thin evidence.”“Yeah. We were right, though.” Jake finishes up the symbols and goes to take his position at the fulcrum of the spell. “Sorry,” he says.Bradley braces himself. “Let’s dance.”* * *As interrogators go, Jake has a lot to learn. He asks inexact questions, easy to dodge around. He doesn’t follow lines of thought to their ultimate conclusions.In three hours, all Jake’s managed to confirm is that Bradley’s at least a Notable level - oddly, he doesn’t ask about the two levels past that. He’s also gotten Bradley to admit that his other form isn’t mammalian. That answer seems to disappoint him. He then moves on without actually determining what kind of creature Bradley does turn into.By that point, some of the spell’s symbols are smudging from power overload and Jake’s got a trickle of blood running from his nose. His next question comes out of left field and from the look on his face and the power surging in the spell, this answer matters.“Can you control it? The beast?” Jake asks.Bradley’s got the mother of all migraines and his leg’s been spasming for the last half hour. He thinks he might be on the verge of a seizure.“Yes,” he finally answers.The spell extinguishes, spent. Jake keels over, looking like he’s barely holding on to consciousness. Bradley collapses to the floor himself.It’s quite some time before either of them can move.“We’re not done,” Jake says, using a wall to prop himself into a standing position.“You put out on the third date, hot stuff?” Bradley manages.Still looking ashen and exhausted, Jake laughs.
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Day three, Bradley wakes up with a jolt, every sense on high alert. His eyes snap open and he’s on his feet without conscious thought, his muscles tense, scanning for the threat. He trusts his instincts absolutely. Something dangerous is out there.There’s a young girl sitting in front of his cage.She’s school-aged but still a child, that’s all he can tell. She’s about eight? Ten, maybe? Bradley doesn’t spend much time around kids. Whatever her age, he doesn’t doubt that someday soon this girl will be an apex predator. He can see it in her eyes when she meets his gaze: the wild power, the glint of something alien and ferocious just beneath the surface.“You’re like me,” she says.
What the hell is going on here?
If Jake is kidnapping little kids, then Bradley will find a way out of this cage and murder that fucker. He will tear this building apart, beam to beam, until it’s nothing but rubble.“Are you okay?” he asks her. “Where are your parents?”She ignores his questions and opens the tupperware, full of sandwiches again.“Can I have a peanut butter one?” she asks. “I’m always hungry.”When he nods, she picks up a sandwich and takes a nibble out of the corner. She nudges the rest of the container towards him. He sits down slowly, matching her cross-legged position, but doesn’t reach for the food.Bradley looks her over. She’s pretty calm. She doesn’t seem starved or mistreated. She’s dressed simply in jeans and a t-shirt and she looks clean.“What are you?” she asks.“What are you?” he snaps back reflexively. He hates that question, worded that way.“A monster,” she says sadly.“Who told you that?” Bradley has never thought of himself that way. As much as his parents had taught him to hide what he was, they’d also taught him control and showed him unconditional love. The beast is how his magic manifests; it doesn’t define him.She shrugs, takes another bite of the sandwich. “Everyone. Even when they don’t say it, I know they’re scared of me.”“Well, I’m not scared of you. And I don’t think you’re a monster,” he says.She stares at him openly, testing the truth of that. He doesn’t look away, lets his own beast rise to the surface a bit more.“I’ve never met another one like me,” she says.“Yeah,” Bradley says. “It’s not exactly a common talent.” He pauses, thinking. “Hey kid, do you know how I can get out of this thing?” He wraps his fingers around the bars.She shakes her head. “They built it for me. I’m not supposed to be able to open it. I don’t think you can either.”There’s a bellow from upstairs.The girl’s eyes go wide and she looks towards the stairs.Bradley’s on his feet again. "Hide," he tells her.Jake comes stomping down the stairs in a rush. “Adaline!!”“Dad!” she says.
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“How did you get down here?” Jake asks.“The door code is the same as your phone unlock,” Adaline says.Jake frowns. “Wait, you know how to unlock my phone? Never mind. March your butt upstairs, little miss, and don’t come down here again! It’s locked for a reason. An important, adult reason!”“Don’t yell, please. I’m not the one keeping someone prisoner in our basement like a total creeper,” she says, heading up the stairs.“I like her,” says Bradley. “So that’s your secret? Baby metamorphosis mage?”Jake doesn’t say anything. He looks deeply unhappy.“Look, I’m not going to rat you out, okay? Hell, I’ll even cut you some slack for this.” Bradley knocks his knuckles on the cage. “You’re just trying to help your kid. Where’s her mother?”At Jake’s continuing silence, Bradley adds, “Come on, you’ve pried all sorts of secrets out of me these last few days. I’m not looking to hurt her.”“Her mom died when Adaline was born,” Jake says, finally.“And you didn’t know her well?”Jake looks away. “Not as well as I thought I did, no.”“So you’re on your own with all this.”“Pretty much. I was handling it alright. But… something’s changed.”Understanding dawns on Bradley. “She’s getting older. Coming more fully into her power.”“Yeah. I could wrangle her when she was a fifty-pound cub. Now she outweighs me two-to-one in her other form and she’s still just half-grown.” Jake stares at Bradley, the expression on his face caught somewhere between pleading and demanding. “Help me. Please,” he grits out. “Anything I’ve got, or can get my hands on, is yours for the asking. I don’t know what else to do.”
Ah shit.
Well, it’s not like Bradley has anywhere better to be.“And we’re done with this cage and the truth-seeking spells?”Jake considers. Then nods. “But I want you to know what you’re facing.”“She can’t hurt me.”“You so sure about that?” Jake unbuttons his left cuff and rolls up his sleeve. His forearm is slashed with livid red scars. Fang and claw marks, deep, barely healed.“Healer did a good job,” Bradley comments. “You still have use of the arm.”“I’d be dead if we didn’t have a Magus Venenata on staff. Her bite’s venomous now. That was a very unpleasant surprise.” Jake rolls the sleeve back down. “She’s been shifting, very occasionally, since she was a baby. Very cute. All fuzzy with big round ears. But this last time. She didn’t know me. She just… attacked.”“And that’s when you built this cage?”Jake shakes his head. “Not me. My grandfather’s the Head of our House. He wanted her kept under permanent sedation. This was the best I could negotiate. People’s memories are long when it comes to this particular power.”“Misha Marcotte, in Cologne.”“I suppose I can’t blame them. She almost leveled the city. Looked scary as hell. How do you do it?” Jake asks. “Stay in control?”“A lifetime of practice,” Bradley says. “I had my father to teach me. He was only an Average power, nothing threatening. But there’s always a risk of losing yourself, no matter the size of the creature.”Jake wraps his hand around one of the bars of the cage. White light flares between his fingers and blue symbols light up in the metal, then fade. A section of the bars swings outward. “I’m sorry,” he says. “Desperate times and all.”“You can start making it up to me by pointing me towards hot shower and a stiff drink.”
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The upstairs couldn’t be more different than the downstairs. Turns out Bradley had been held prisoner in a huge and opulent house. The structure is triple height in the open-plan living area, with exposed wooden beams crossing overhead. A giant fieldstone fireplace is the focal point of the main area. The house is decorated in that style that rich people like to use for their country getaways - lots of distressed leather and buffalo plaid, tables that look like slabs of tree. The family probably calls it a “cabin” while any normal person would call it a mansion.Father and daughter watch with fascination as Bradley proceeds to eat his way through a dozen scrambled eggs, a plate of sausages, fifteen pieces of toast with butter and jam, three muffins, half a cold roast chicken, microwave mac and cheese for four, five bananas and two apples. He’s currently on his fifth chocolate chip cookie. Addy’s been darting around the kitchen, fetching him more and more food, grinning at Bradley like he’s the best show on earth.“Keeping me locked up in the basement is one thing but you couldn’t give me some cookies?” Bradley asks.When he’s finally eaten his fill, he asks Adaline about her routine.“I don’t know, normal stuff?” she says. “Get up, eat breakfast, do online school. Goof around. Do some chores. Have dinner. Watch some TV?”“Okay,” Bradley says. “Starting tomorrow we’ll add some yoga before breakfast and some meditation before dinner.”“That’s your plan?” Jake asks.“We’ll get to the car waxing and fence painting in the second part of my curriculum.”“You’re joking,” Jake says.“Hey, I was a kid in the eighties and my dad was improvising. It’s not like there’s an official training program or something.”Jake frowns at him. “You won’t mind if I’ll join you, then.”“Please do.”Bradley is shown to a guest suite because this is the kind of house that has those. He gets handed an armful of clean linens and towels and also an unopened bottle of bourbon. Jake had somehow managed to get Bradley’s car moved to the house so that’s his most prized possession accounted for, plus he has clothes.Things are looking up.* * *The next morning, he leads Jake and Adaline through half an hour of beginner’s yoga. He notes that Adaline has excellent balance and flexibility. She’s so good that Bradley tries her on tree pose and she nails it, steady and centered.Jake, not so much. Bradley’s quick reflexes have him grabbing Jake by the hips to keep him from falling on his face. Does he enjoy the jolt that goes through Jake? Yes, yes he does.Does his hand accidentally on purpose skim Jake’s pert ass? Bradley’s had a rough few days; he deserves nice things.Jake’s head whips around, an incredulous look on his face. “Oopsie,” Bradley says, keeping his own expression mild. “As you get more experienced, I hope you’ll find yoga to be quite effective for improving one’s mood. I know I do.”At breakfast, Bradley nudges Adaline away from her sugary cereal and they have oatmeal with maple syrup instead. She seems to take his extremely healthy appetite as tacit permission, and helps herself to a second bowl of oatmeal and then makes some peanut butter toast.“Note to self, order more groceries,” Jake murmurs as she puts her dishes in the sink and goes upstairs to her room.“I’m partial to steaks, in the plural,” Bradley adds helpfully.
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Three days later, it’s time for a new lesson.“Have you ever tried partial shifting?” Bradley asks Adaline, after their daily yoga session. It’s a good time to practice magic: mind and body aligned, muscles nicely warmed up.“I’ve never tried to shift at all. It just happens,” she says. “Mostly I don’t know until after, when I’ve changed back.”That’s bad. That’s magic building up with no outlet and then completely overwhelming the mage. Bradley keeps his thoughts to himself.“This is a good way to develop control,” Bradley says to her. “Think of the magic like sand in an hourglass. Whether it’s in the top part or the bottom part or somewhere in between, the sand is always constant. It’s always you.”“Okay,” she says slowly, closing her eyes to concentrate.“Now you just want to move a little of that sand. Left arm. However you visualize your magic, redirect it there. Picture your other form but just in that one limb.”After a minute, she says, “I don’t think I’m doing it right?”“Just breathe and stick with it. Focus.”They sit there quietly. Bradley listens to her breathe, in and out, measured. After a while, he feels a small pulse of magic in the air and sees Adaline’s left arm ripple and change.She opens her eyes and looks at her arm, now heavily muscled and covered with short, tawny fur. She flexes the feline paw, big as a bread plate. Four inches-long hooked claws pop out. She relaxes and the claws retract.“Cool,” Adaline breathes. She looks up at Jake. “Look, Dad!”Jake’s eyes are wide but he manages a smile for her. “That’s amazing, baby.”“How does it feel?” Bradley asks. “Are you okay?”“Yeah, I’m fine,” she says. She takes an experimental swipe through the air. The claws flash out.“Okay, let’s try shifting back now,” Bradley says. “Same process, just in reverse. Imagine your regular arm. Imagine the magic receding. Good.”Adaline’s arm changes back to its human form quickly and easily.She bounces up and dances around a little. “That was so cool! One day I’m gonna be able to hit someone and make it hurt.”Jake beams. “That’s my girl.”“We’ll practice again tomorrow. Maybe the right arm. For now, no more than once a day, fifteen minutes max. Promise me you won’t try it on your own.”“I promise,” she says. “Can we have pancakes? I’m hungry.”* * *Bradley works with Adaline for a few hours a day. They take turns cooking. Bradley’s skills are pretty rudimentary but he can put together a pot of chili, make a meatloaf, mix up a few different marinades. Jake is very conscientious about making Adaline eat vegetables. Adaline rolls her eyes and looks to Bradley for solidarity but secretly he finds it adorable when Jake does it. He’s seen Jake’s ruthless side firsthand but now he also sees his domestic side. Jake’s a good dad.As strange as the situation is, Bradley realizes that it’s been years - since his parents died - that he’s spent so much time in one place, with people who know about his powers. If someone told him a month ago that he’d be here playing happy families, he’d have laughed in their face. And yet, here he is.
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They get one day of particularly fine, sunny weather so Bradley and Adaline toss around a football in the afternoon.Bradley’s whipping the ball out with superhuman strength and Adaline’s sprinting after it with superhuman speed, tracking the arc and turning to catch it perfectly each time. Her throwing isn’t as good as his so she has to jog back halfway.Jake walks outside to observe them. He narrows his eyes at Bradley. “Are you playing fetch with my daughter like she’s a puppy?”“We’re playing catch. It’s good for hand-eye coordination, general fitness. But hey, since you’re here, I’m tagging you in. A little friendly game, you and her against me. How about it?” “Yeah!” says Adaline. “Come and play, Dad!”Jake takes the ball from Bradley and spins it idly. “I don’t know if that would be quite fair,” he drawls. “Go long, baby!” he yells suddenly, while simultaneously drawing his arm back and firing off a perfect spiral pass.Adaline whoops and takes off after it.“For you, that is,” he adds. He sees Adaline catch it and do an enthusiastic touchdown dance. “Your technique is terrible. I believe that’s six points for us.”Bradley grins. “Is that how it’s going to be?”“Game on.”A few plays later, Jake’s running with the ball when Bradley’s weight hits him in the back and brawny arms wrap around him, knocking him off his feet. Bradley twists so that he takes the brunt of the fall but then keeps rolling so that he ends up sprawled full-body on top of Jake.“Oh, so it’s tackle football now?” Jake asks, panting.“It is now, hotshot.” Bradley gets to his feet, perhaps with a little more wriggling than strictly necessary. He offers Jake a hand and hauls him up. “You don’t mind playing a little rough, do you?”“I think I can handle anything you can dish out,” Jake says, with a gleam in his green eyes.The rules get fuzzier as they play. Bradley gets increasingly handsy. At one point, Jake strips off his shirt in retaliation.“I know what you’re doing and it’s not going to work,” Bradley says.“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s just… hot, don’t you think?” Jake says, flexing his arms and pecs.“Oh, it’s hot alright,” Bradley retorts. He tosses the ball to Adaline. “One last go?”Adaline’s throw is wild and Bradley intercepts it. He tucks the ball in and starts to run, dodging around Jake. Adaline leaps eight feet to tackle Bradley, the momentum slamming him into a tree. There’s a loud crack, which Jake sincerely hopes was the tree and not Bradley’s spine.Adaline immediately jumps back and bursts into tears. “I’m sorry, I forgot! I forgot. I didn't mean to!”“Hey kid, it’s okay. I’m fine.” Bradley gets up, shaking out his shoulders. “You didn’t hurt me, Addy.” He gives the tree a measuring look. It’s a decent-sized Douglas fir, the trunk maybe four feet around. He lashes out with a casual kick. There’s an even louder crack than before and the trunk snaps, sending the tree crashing to the ground. “See? I’m pretty sturdy.” He slings an arm around Adaline and gives her a half hug against his side. “Why don’t we call it a day and get some cookies?”Bradley looks at Jake over Adaline’s head. Jake is looking at the felled tree. Bradley starts to make an excuse, brush it off, when something about Jake’s expression stops him. It’s not anger or fear on his face. No, it’s unwitting arousal. When he notices Bradley looking, he averts his face but Bradley can still see the flush in his cheeks.
Interesting.
* * *That night, well after the kid’s bedtime, he knocks on Jake’s door.Jake opens it. He’s shirtless again. It's a nice view.“Can this wait until tomorrow?” Jake says. “I was just about to take a shower.”“Perfect,” Bradley says. “How’d you like some company?”“Excuse me?”“I saw how you were looking at me today. Most people are scared when they see how strong I really am.”“I’m not scared of you,” Jake says.“I know. I’m not scared of you either, despite our charming first date. You don’t know me very well but I pretty much live in the moment,” Bradley says. “I think you’re hot; you think I’m hot. So how about we get in that shower, I drop to my knees and show you the time of your life, then hold you up against the wall and fuck you until you scream.”Jake looks at him for a long moment, considering. Then he reaches out a hand, grabs Bradley by the back of the neck, and pulls him into the room.
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Jake shoves Bradley back against the closed door. One hot, wet kiss and then he’s sliding his mouth down Bradley’s neck to lick and bite.Looking at a shirtless Jake is nice; touching him is even nicer. Bradley curves his hands around Jake’s ribs and runs his thumbs along the outside edge of his abs. He savors the smooth, warm skin against his palms for a long, luxurious stroke before he curls his fingers to scratch lines down Jake’s sides.“You really want to do this in the shower?” Jake says, lifting his mouth.“That depends,” says Bradley. “How loud do you get?”“Shower,” Jake says decisively.“Excellent.” Bradley reaches up and grabs the back of his t-shirt at the neck, pulling it off.Jake unbuttons Bradley’s jeans and pushes them down, raising his eyebrows when he finds nothing but skin underneath. “Presumptuous,” he says.“Nah, I’m just easy,” Bradley replies.Jake barks out a laugh. “You’re a lot of things, darlin’, but easy’s not one of them.”Bradley pulls back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”Jake looks at him steadily. “You want one night of sex? No problem. Anything else… will be complicated.”It’s true. Bradley knows it. But he meant what he said about living in the moment.“Let’s worry about that tomorrow.”“Fine by me.”They stagger into the bathroom, kissing and groping, stripping off Jake’s pants as they go. Jake fumbles with the dial to get the water going in the shower. When it starts to steam, he pulls Bradley in with him.“I believe you made some very bold suggestions,” Jake says. “You keep your promises?”“Always.” Bradley slides down Jake’s body onto his knees.The water’s hot and loud around them. Bradley lets the blowjob be messy and hungry, not caring at all how he looks or sounds, only how it feels. God, he loves doing this. He settles into a rhythm, keeping it from getting repetitive with the occasion swirl of his tongue or light skim of his teeth. His hands are on Jake’s plush ass, tugging his hips forward with every downstroke. When Jake tries to move a little faster, he tightens his grip and doesn’t let him.Untold minutes later, when Jake’s moans are rising in pitch, Bradley pulls back but gives Jake’s tip a few last, lingering laps. His voice is raspy when he asks, “Do you like being fucked after you come?”“Wha…?” Jake is flatteringly incoherent, his eyes dazed.“Do you like being fucked after you come?” Bradley repeats.“Oh. No, not really.”Bradley stands up, ignoring Jake’s whine.“Then you’re going to have to wait. We’re going to take a little breather and you’re going to dig up some supplies. I did make you another promise.”Bradley herds Jake to the back of the shower, out of the spray, once he comes back with lube and a condom. He turns Jake to face the tile, nipping at the back of his shoulder as he preps him. He starts with two fingers but doesn’t rush to add another. “It’s been a while for you, hasn’t it?”“I’ve got responsibilities,” Jake manages. “Not easy to get away.”“Well, you let that all go,” Bradley murmurs. “Just let go and let me take care of you, gorgeous.”When finally Jake feels relaxed and ready, Bradley spins him around to face him and hoists him up by the thighs. Jake gives a cute little yip of surprise and reflexively hooks his legs around Bradley’s hips. Bradley’s supporting the entirety of his weight with his arms, easily.Bradley likes this position because it’s pretty novel for most of his partners and he wants them to have a fun time, but also because it gives him almost complete control over the pace. It’s another of his party tricks - superhuman stamina. He can’t wait to introduce Jake to it. He finds a nice, slow, plunging cadence and he stays with it.And stays with it.And stays with it some more.He knows it’s driving Jake crazy.Eventually, Jake is heaving against him but he’s got no leverage and Bradley’s demonstrating that he’s not getting tired anytime soon.Jake tries to get a hand down to touch himself. Bradley shifts his grip and frees one hand, which he uses to snag both of Jake’s wrists and pin them above his head. Okay, now he’s just showing off, holding Jake up with one arm.“Come on, you bastard. Let me come.”Bradley grins and shakes his head. “Not yet.”He can almost see the gears turning in Jake’s head as he evaluates the situation. He knows he’s in for it when Jake smirks. Bradley grunts as Jake clenches tight around him and starts whispering filthy things in his ear.“You could just keep thrusting for hours, couldn’t you? Until I’m so tender and sore, so desperate, fucking tears in my eyes. And when I finally come - when you finally let me come - it’ll be so intense that it’s almost painful. Is that what you want? For me to suffer and then practically see God?” Jake kisses Bradley, his tongue invading deeply in a reversal of what their bodies are doing.Bradley moans as they break the kiss, drawn into the mental image Jake’s creating with his words. “Fuck.”“Yeah, that’s right. Fuck me harder, Bradley. Fuck me faster. Give it to me - give me everything.”“Fuck, this feels so good. You’re taking me so sweet.”Jake croons, “It’ll feel even better if you just. Let. Me. Come.” He ducks his head and sinks his teeth into the crook of Bradley’s neck and shoulder.The pain sizzles its way across Bradley’s nervous system and he instinctively shoves forward. He loses his grip on Jake’s wrists. Jake pulls free, clamping his arms around Bradley’s torso and pressing him close, hips writhing as he rubs himself against Bradley’s lower abdomen, pushing to orgasm. He half laughs, half sobs as he shakes his way through it, his release hot and slick between them.Bradley chases him to climax, slamming his free hand against the wall, hearing the tile crack. The pleasure hits him like a runaway train.
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Jake flops onto the bed on his stomach, limbs sprawled out. “Damn,” he says. “I really needed that, I didn’t even know.”“Glad to be of service,” Bradley says dryly, joining him on the bed. Luckily it’s a king and there’s still plenty of room. Jake has done an extremely haphazard job toweling himself off and Bradley follows the trails of water droplets on his back with his fingertips.“You can service me anytime,” Jake says, stretching a bit under the touch.“I’ll keep that in mind.” Bradley runs this thumb along the back of Jake’s shoulder. “You have freckles. Right here.” Somehow knowing that detail feels more intimate than what they just did in the shower. He’s spent a lot of time around Jake in the past week, under some pretty varied circumstances, and in many ways, Jake is still frustratingly opaque to him. It’s clearly deeply ingrained in him to keep his cards close to the chest. Not that Bradley's in any position to throw stones on that front. But he knows that if he asks, it'll break the illusion of casual physicality that they'd proceeded under.“Jake,” Bradley says, trailing a finger down the small bumps of his spine. “Jake I-Don’t-Even-Know-Your-Last-Name. And I don’t care. I can tell you’ve got secrets, I can almost smell them on you. You don’t need to tell me your family’s deepest and darkest. But tell me one thing about you that’s true. Just one.”Jake is quiet. He’s facing away from him but somehow Bradley can tell that it’s a pensive silence, not a refusal. Bradley waits.“I’m scared all the time,” Jake says, low and quiet. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I don’t know what she needs. I don’t know what the future will hold for her.”Bradley doesn’t say anything but keeps stroking Jake’s back. He knows that these conversations are easier without eye contact.“I became her dad when I was seventeen,” Jake says. “I was a different person before that. Arrogant, selfish, always looking for a way to get ahead. It’s a cliche but when I held her for the first time, I knew my life would never be the same.”“You were young,” Bradley murmurs.“Young, but born and raised on House politics. The posturing, the backstabbing. She was so small and soft. Innocent. I knew I had to protect her. The rest of my family… I’m all she has and most of the time it feels like I’m not up to the task.”“She’s wonderful. Healthy, opinionated. And one day she’ll be a power to be reckoned with. You’re doing fine.”Jake rolls on his back and looks at Bradley for a long time. Bradley meets his gaze evenly, doesn’t look away.“Tell me one true thing about you. Something you choose to tell me,” Jake says.Bradley knows that it’s not easy to admit to fear. He won’t brush off the question with something trivial.“I live a solitary life,” he says, slowly. “My family’s all dead and most of mage-kind would want to put me down like a rabid animal, just in case. I can take care of myself. Have been, for a long time.” His voice gets rough from the sudden lump in his throat. “But just for right now, it’s… nice. Not to be alone.”They stare at each other, a new understanding between them.“You can stay if you like,” Jake says. “But you need to be out of here before she wakes up.”“Fair enough. And are you a big spoon or a little spoon kind of guy?” Bradley asks.“I prefer to be the little spoon,” Jake says with great dignity.“Then get over here.”
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It all goes to hell the next day.In the morning, Bradley and Adaline do their daily yoga workout - Jake has given up - and then settle down to magic practice. Adaline’s getting good at partial shifting, accomplishing the change quickly and smoothly, holding her other form for several minutes without much effort. She going to try both arms at once today.Adaline sits cross-legged and gathers herself, inhaling deeply and then breathing out through her mouth. She closes her eyes. Nothing happens for a few beats. She frowns.Then her eyes open wide and Bradley gets a flash of her panicked expression before she folds over and screams in pain.Two six-foot wings tear their way out of her back.They arch over her, stretching wide, magic billowing in the air, before going limp and wilting down as Adaline slumps over unconscious.Jake rushes over to them immediately, arranging his daughter on her side in the recovery position. His hands pause, uncertain, over the wings. Then his face tightens with determination and he gently straightens them to lie in two parallel arcs.The wings are damp with ichor and streaked with blood. The feathers are golden brown, speckled with cream on the undersides, prominent white markings near the tips. The big primary feathers along the bottom edge look nearly a foot and a half long. They’re magnificent and part of Bradley is in awe, even as his heart is racing with adrenaline and fear for the little girl who manifested them.“What the hell is this?!”Bradley looks up at Jake. “She’s a Prime. Only Primes take the form of mythological creatures.”* * *Adaline wakes up ten minutes later.“Hey, baby,” Jake says, smoothing his hand over her hair. “How do you feel?”“What happened?” she whispers.His eyes look reflexively over her head to the wings. “Don’t you remember?” he asks.“It hurts,” she says. She turns her head to follow his gaze. One wing lifts a little and curves towards her. “I have wings now?”“Looks like, baby.”Bradley comes over. “Do you think you can put them away? It’s not that different than what we practiced.”She concentrates. The wings twitch and rustle rebelliously as they watch. But eventually, she’s able to fold them up and draw them back into herself. Both adults breathe a sigh of relief.“I’m going to take you to your room and you’re going to have a rest.” Jake scoops her up against his chest.“Dad! Put me down.”“It’s been a weird day. Let your old man feel useful.”When Jake comes downstairs again, he says to Bradley, “Okay, tell me what you know.”“It’s not much,” Bradley says. “A winged lion with a poisonous bite? Some sort of griffin? Or a manticore, maybe?”“How many do you know of? Metamorphosis Primes?”“Only three, and nobody like her. Besides the Beast of Cologne, there’s a woman in Argentina - the Phoenix,” Bradley recalls. “And it’s rumored there’s one in the royal family of Russia - the Bear. I’ve never heard of a lion. What about her mother?”Jake shakes his head. “She didn’t get this from her mother.” His phone chimes and he checks it absently. He looks up, his face slack with shock. “I’ve been disavowed by my House.”Disavowal is an extreme measure, usually deployed after some sort of crime spree by a wayward family member. Disavowed individuals are immediately cut off from House resources, and the protection of the House name. They become fugitives; any attacks by third parties go without retribution. Bradley can’t imagine the thinking behind this decision, to leave a man with a little girl exposed like this.“Addy!” Jake immediately yells. “Addy! Emergency! Get your go-bag. We need to get out of here!”He opens the hall closet, shoulders a bag of his own. Bradley trails behind him.Jake opens the back door.A dark-haired man stands on the doorstep.“You should know by now I’m always two steps ahead of you, little brother.”
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“Beau,” Jake says. “Should have known you were behind this.”“Let me deal with that mongrel and I’ll let you walk away, Jake. It doesn’t have to get ugly. You know you can’t fight me.” Beau’s tone is calm, reasonable.“Addy is a little girl. She is your niece.”“She’s a liability to House Simpson and now that Grandfather’s finally come around, I’m here to take care of it once and for all. It’s called leadership, Jake.”“It’s called murder, asshole.” Jake turns and yells to Bradley. “Take her and go! I’ll hold him off!”Bradley doesn’t ask questions. He races up the stairs. Addy’s getting a backpack from her closet. He throws her big window open. It’s a three-story drop. He picks her up, wraps his arms around her securely, and jumps before she has time to react. The force of the landing is still reverberating in his legs when he starts to run.“Wait,” Adaline says. “Not that way.”She points and Bradley changes direction. “There’s a place,” she says. “A secret meeting place. I’m supposed to get there as fast as I can and hide, and Dad will come get me when it’s safe.”Jake has a contingency plan for this, thank god.“Okay, we’ll go there,” Bradley says.“No!” she says. “I’ll go there and hide but you have to go back and help Dad! It’s Uncle Beau, isn’t it? He can’t fight Uncle Beau by himself.”“What kind of mage is your uncle?”“He’s a Prime aerokinetic. They call him Cyclone,” Adaline says.
* * *
When he gets back to the house, Jake and Beau are fighting hand-to-hand, fast and full-force. It almost looks like a dance, they’re so good at anticipating the other. Bradley can see the energy trails from where they’re both using their magic to add power to their blows: Beau’s are grey, Jake’s are silver.Bradley smiles grimly. Time to cut in.His power’s always a hot simmer just under his skin. He lets it boil over and explode out of him.* * *Jake’s full attention is on his brother as they fight. Beau is fifteen years older than him but it’s not a liability to him yet. He’s at the peak of maturity, both physical and magical.Jake grew up sparring with his brothers so he knows how Beau moves. But that knowledge runs both ways. They’re fairly evenly matched here, indoors, where neither of them can access their full powers.But they can't help turning their heads towards the power blast detonating not ten feet away from them. They look over to see the creature tear its way out of Bradley, making meaty, wrenching noises like a dislocated joint being re-set, only twenty times louder.The creature emerges and expands until it seems to fill the living room, smashing furniture out of the way, thirty feet long and still growing.It’s a dragon.Bradley is a dragon.Jake and Beau both stand stunned and frozen.Bradley’s other form stands on four clawed feet. He’s armored in greenish-gray scales, sleek as a jet, with a long flexible neck and a wedge-shaped head edged with spikes. Massive leathery wings are mantled against his back.Bradley looks at them with large, slit-pupiled amber eyes. He roars, opening a mouth full of dagger-like teeth.“What the fuck is that?!” Beau shouts, and runs for the back door.“Shit! He’s a nightmare to fight outdoors,” Jake yells over his shoulder, as he chases after Beau. He hears glass shatter as Bradley plows through the picture window to get outside.
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When they get outside, Beau is already twenty feet aloft and rising, clearly thinking that it’s better to face one of them in the air than both of them on the ground. Heavy winds are already gusting.Bradley unfurls his wings and takes off to meet him.Jake’s stuck on the ground. He flings a few energy orbs at Beau but he’s moving too quickly and too erratically for Jake to target him accurately.New plan. He digs the ever-present piece of chalk from his pocket, kneels down, and circumscribes a large spell circle. He starts drawing symbols and runes from memory.He spares periodic glances at the sky. Bradley’s darting around, snapping his jaws at Beau but he’s having a hard time against the buffeting winds. The air is howling now, and Jake can see the outline of his brother’s signature cyclone start to take shape. Soon, Bradley is forced to land, the gusts too powerful for him to navigate.That’s when Beau notices what Jake’s doing. Jake’s not even half done with the spell circle when debris starts pelting in his direction. He ignores the smaller bits even as they draw blood, dodges a large tree branch.Bradley hunches down and claws his way over. He puts his body between Jake and Beau, arching one wing over Jake protectively. Jake continues to draw as quickly as he can without compromising the precision of the symbols.He hears Bradley roar in pain as something large strikes him. He keeps drawing.Finally, the spell is done.Jake thumps a fist on Bradley’s side and the dragon’s head swings around, one yellow eye staring at him - jesus, that's intimidating.“This is a top-order spell,” Jake yells to be heard over the wind. “I’m about to unleash a hell of a lot of voltage but it’s unpredictable. You need to get out of here so I don’t fry you accidentally.”The big head dips once.Jake goes to stand in the middle of the spell circle. He turns his palms down, ready to trigger the spell. “Go,” he shouts.Bradley withdraws his wing from where it’s shielding Jake, turns, and launches himself into flight, away from Jake and Beau.Jake takes a deep breath and opens himself wide. He directs the torrent of his magic down into the spell. The circle and all the symbols light up with searing turquoise fire. Inside the spell circle, the air goes still as the magnitude of the magic seals away the outside world.Dark clouds amass, flickering with light. There’s a deep rumble that he can feel in his gut. A bolt of lightning streaks through the air. Then another. And another.He strains and feeds more power into the spell.Lightning strikes down again and again and again. The sky is alight with dozens of bolts at once. They slash through the air at uneven intervals. Between the constant lightning and the cyclonic winds, it feels like all hell has broken loose.A misty grey arm peels off from the cyclone that surrounds his brother and sweeps a riding mower at Jake. It smashes against his spell circle but doesn’t make it through.Long minutes pass. A few of the lightning bolts get close but so far no direct hit. Eventually, he’s going to hit Beau but it’s a numbers game. Jake can’t keep up this level of power expenditure for much longer. He keeps pouring magic into the spell, ignoring the intensifying headache and nausea.Suddenly, a lamppost plummets down and stabs deeply into the earth.
Where the hell did that come from?
The trajectory is wrong for it to have been thrown by Beau. Jake looks up. High above them, thousands of feet up, above the clouds, he sees a winged shape. It drops something.Multiple bolts of lighting seem to veer and draw together, forming a column of blindingly bright, crackling electricity. It funnels into the cyclone.Jake looks at the lamppost - a first attempt - and realizes what Bradley must have done. Bradley dropped a lamppost through the storm and it acted like a lightning rod.As the cyclone dissipates, Jake sees the winged shape dive.A minute later, Bradley lands, Beau’s unconscious body gripped in his foreclaw.
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They throw Beau into the cage in the basement.Jake sends a crackling surge of magic through the containment spell carved into the bars, melting some of the symbols. Now that they’re ordinary metal again, Bradley bends two of the bars around the gate hinges. It’s going to take industrial metalworking equipment to get it open again.“So you’re a Prime too,” Bradley says.“Yeah.”“And your brother doesn’t know.”“Half-brother,” Jake says. “He knows now.”Upstairs, Jake takes ten minutes to grab a few more things from around the house: his entire stash of cash; their laptops; coats. Bradley grabs his bag too, and goes to wait for Jake in the garage.When Jake gets there, he stops and looks at Bradley. “Look, I appreciate all the help - I do - but this is my mess,” Jake says. “I can’t ask you to—”Bradley shakes his head. “Later. Let’s go get Addy. We should take my car, it’ll be harder to trace.”* * *They go to the rendezvous point with Adaline. It gives Bradley a funny feeling in his chest to see Jake scoop up his daughter and hug her so tightly that she squeaks in protest.She clambers into the backseat and throws her arms around Bradley’s neck, more of a chokehold than a hug really, but he’ll take it. She immediately starts asking questions about what happened. They give her the broad sketches.“Yeah!” she cheers when they get to the lamppost part. “That’s so badass!” She chatters a bit more but then her nervous energy cuts out and she falls asleep.They keep driving. North, is all Jake says. They’re quiet for an hour, radio on low, both of them processing the events of the day.“It feels like I’ve spent my whole life trying to keep my family together,” Jake says into the silence. “And this is what it gets me.” The words are rough, like each one is being chiseled out of him.Bradley hums noncommittally, mentally willing him to go on.“My mother, she’s my father’s second wife. He did his family duty: marriage to a magically-compatible Prime, producing an heir and a spare, both Primes. When his first wife, Beau’s mother, passed, he was permitted to marry my mother as an indulgence. She isn’t magically compatible, or a Prime. Neither of them expected much of their children.”Once Jake gets going, the words seem to come easier. “My mother comes from a fulgurkinetic house, House Leclair. My lightning magic comes from her. House Simpson are air and water mages. The family corporation is in agriculture. They have no use for a combat mage.“House Leclair came sniffing around when I was a kid, when my magic started to manifest, but they only wanted me. They didn’t care about my mother or my sister, who barely has any magic at all. So I whiffed my qualification tests. I’m in the books as a Notable fulgurkinetic. House Leclair lost interest. But I did steal that lightning storm spell from them, so at least it wasn’t a total waste of time.“We were second-class citizens in the Simpson family but I knew my real power level. I thought the time might come when I could earn a seat at the table. But my sister, Lucie, she hated it and she knew she had no hope of ever doing better. When she turned eighteen, Grandfather started making noises about finding an appropriate husband for her.” Jake glances at the backseat where Adaline is sound asleep, curled up and letting out little snuffles too soft to be snores.“She refused point blank,” Jake continues. “Disappeared for three months. Came back when she realized she was pregnant.”“Addy’s not your daughter, biologically,” Bradley realizes. “She’s your niece. You were looking for her father when you found me.”
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“Whoever he is, he’s still out there somewhere,” Jake says. “But right now I have more urgent problems.”“You’re telling me you don’t have backup plans in place?”“Who could plan for this? I’m on the lam with a dragon.” Jake asks, disbelief in his voice.“Okay, that’s fair,” Bradley says with a quick laugh.“I’ve been hiding assets for years so money’s not an immediate issue. My brother, on the other hand…”“Your brother, whose ass we just kicked?”“Next time he’ll have reinforcements,” Jake says. “We surprised him once. I wouldn’t count on it again.”Bradley is wholly unbothered by the thought. “You may have noticed that I can hold my own in a fight.”“It’s not your fight. This is a terrible hand of cards I’m holding. Why would you want to get involved?” Jake asks.Bradley keeps his tone light but his conviction rings through when he says, “It’s not like my busy schedule of working under-the-table construction jobs for cash and getting drunk in dive bars can’t wait. She needs me. You need me. I’m coming with.”“I don’t even have a last name to call my own right now,” Jake says.“So you’ll choose a new one. One that’s just yours and hers.” Bradley has a new thought. “You can form your own House one day. Two Primes in three generations, that’s all it takes.”“Two people aren’t a House, they’re a target,” Jake says. But then he starts musing out loud, “I’d have to find another House to ally with. Preferably one where I wouldn’t just be a hired gun for the rest of my life.”“There’s got to be one House out there that’s not a nest of vipers,” Bradley says.“I guess I’ll find out.”“We’ll find out.”Jake sighs. “How can I ask—”“You’re not asking. I'm offering,” Bradley says. “But you’ve got to look me in the eye and tell me you want me to stay. Not just for her. For you, too. At least be man enough to give me that.”There’s a long silence.Then Jake says, “Pull over for a second.”The road’s pretty deserted so Bradley just pulls onto the shoulder and puts the hazard lights on.Jake lays a hand on his shoulder. When Bradley turns his head, Jake is staring right at him.“Yes,” Jake says. “I want you to stay. Please.” It’s a request and a promise in one.“Okay,” Bradley says simply.Jake’s hand slides up and he curls his fingers around the nape of Bradley’s neck. His thumb skims the line of Bradley’s jaw, just touching the corner of his mouth, before his hand falls away.Bradley turns to face forward again. He pulls back out onto the road, and they drive into the unknown future together.