The Syphon King (Bayou Bishops #16)

Chapter NINE

Seer glanced at the door of the Sanctum, the trouble in his spirit vexing as Nidev closed the meeting. Something was coming. Something big and yet... not. The contradiction was the vexing part.

“Hopefully, King 8-Bit’s friends will be able to unravel Rukem’s scape and we’ll know more about what needs to be done. I was reminded that Belle Eveque’s relationship classes are tomorrow evening and unless more dire things come up, we feel pursuing such wisdom is more imperative to the Kings than ever.”

Seer’s spirit lurched at the knock on the Sanctum door.

One of the Verthurs entered and glanced around, then nodded at Nidev. “I have students outside that requested an immediate audience with the Kings.”

“Now?” Nidev asked, surprised.

“Yes.”

“Send them in.”

The Verthur opened the door and students ranging from no older than seven to young adults filed in till a line of them stood just beyond the oval sitting area.

They sheepishly eyed all the faces staring at them and Seer eyed the girl at the end of the row with the wild blond curls down to her waist, rocking on her heels with hands clasped before her. Whatever put that secret smile on her mouth was the thing needing to be heard.

“For the past week,” the oldest boy at the front began. “We’ve been having dreams and...visions.”

This news got all their rapt and immediate attention. Felt like the Lord brought the popcorn to the show.

“Go on,” Nidev said.

“Some of them are odd but...all together they make sense. My vision is of a clock. Ticking. That’s all I see but I know in the vision it somehow means time is important.” He looked to his right to the boy no more than ten.

“Larson Seck Sire,” he announced in a voice three times his size. “I keep seeing time running. It’s a clock with legs, running around a track in a circle. He gets faster with every lap he makes. Then I wake up.”

“Stacey Beckons,” the dark-haired teen said boldly next to him. “I’m seeing warning and danger signs of all shapes and sizes. They’re in all my dreams.”

“I see these stakes rising out of the ground,” the next boy hurried, a chubby one of maybe fifteen. “Like something is pushing them up.”

“In my vision,” a lanky tall boy with an Indian accent said, “Sand is running through my fingers, and I know it’s the sand from an hourglass.” He looked at the girl next to him.

“I keep dreaming of this creepy old man.” She hugged her waist. “He’s always screaming at me saying ‘Now!’. It’s so loud, it wakes me up each time.”

“I keep dreaming of floods everywhere,” the following one said.

“I dream of fires,” the one after mumbled.

“I get visions of these clocks that are counting down from 13,” an athletic blond boy said as he leaned to the girl that could have been Cherie’s twin who rolled her eyes at him.

She announced, “I literally am seeing shadows growing shorter around me.”

“Not a vision?” Nidev wondered.

“No sir,” she said with a near bored assurance. “Actual shadows.”

“Boyd Johnson, Sire,” the boy next said. “I keep dreaming that I’m driving toward a dead end and there’s nothing I can do to escape crashing into it. But I always wake up before I do.”

They were at the little girl with the blond curls now. “And I see an army of Kings charging toward a mean, mad, cloud of giant devils,” she said with a big voice that squeaked. “They were all you!” Her finger moved over the Creole Kings. “And all you,” she added, pointing at their Marsh brothers. “And some other Kings too,” she said eagerly, all smiles. “They're not here yet. But they’re coming!”

Murmurs grew around the table as they speculated about the obvious meaning. The little girl who last spoke raised her hand high in the air.

“Yes, Eve?” Nidev called.

“I know what it all means.”

“Tell us,” he urged after a span of three seconds.

She took a breath and laid it all out, counting off her fingers to keep track. “It means the clock is ticking, and times running fast. These are warning signs. The stakes are rising and time is slipping through your fingers, so you need to act now, cuz evil is flooding in and will burn everything in their fires. Thirteen shadows are getting shorter all around you and they are real. There’s a dead end coming fast, and the army of Kings must mount up and take charge before it’s too late!” She ended her remarkable deduction with a sharp nod of her head, tossing her curls about.

“Marsh Kings of the swamp,” Nidev said, astonished. “Meet Eve Lakeland. She is one of the top visionaries at our school. She turned ten last month. And though she is one hundred percent blind, she can truly see.”

“Holy fuck,” Bishop muttered two seats down from Seer while the murmurs of astonishment flew all around.

Well...if that wasn’t some giddy-up-and-go shit, nothing was.

“Would my Marsh Brothers mind if we stayed another hour to discuss how to proceed with this new information?”

Bishop got all their agreements while Bart said, “I don’t care what we’re doing, just so we do it fas-fas like lil’ Eve said.”

“Indeed,” Nidev agreed, thanking the kids who turned and filed out.

“Thank you, guys,” Beth called, waving with a smile and prompting the rest of their thank-yous as they left.

Well, well, well. The small had brought the big something. Real shit was hitting the real fan.

ZODAK GROANED AS JINXXY licked his hand, dangling from the couch where he’d slept. He froze. Not the couch. He focused his biosensors on finding Zeen. She’d woken him during the night, too afraid to sleep alone.

She’d tucked herself into his body on the sofa he remembered. Then he’d spent two hours exploring every silky exposed inch of her with his fingers while his nose remained buried in her hair. The amount of hunger she produced in him was nearly crippling. It reminded him of what needed to be done and how it seemed perfectly logical to see whether he could draw darkness from her even while she slept.

And he had. Every contented moan he obtained with his celibate caresses gave him exactly what he wanted. And so much more. He quickly sat up when his memory cut off. Flashes of him carrying her to his bed came and he gradually relaxed as he recalled her returning to sleeping soundly.

He’d vowed to try masturbation to see what sort of release it would provide but he wanted his brothers aware so they could monitor it. He also wanted to know how much darkness was released by her during the night. Then he wanted to compare that with another orgasm for her.

The sound of water in the bathroom sent him in the opposite direction. He was not strong enough to resist her in every situation. Not after he’d drawn darkness and had to neutralize. He went to his office and called Thakx.

“I need an update, brother.” He looked at the time, marveling at the late hour.

“Already sent them to your email,” he said.

“I’ll call you if I have questions,” Zodak said, hanging up and shutting the door. Back at the computer, he pulled up his email and opened the images Thakx sent, scanning the details. He dialed Thakx again, getting his chuckle upon answering.

“That was quick.”

“What am I seeing?”

“You’re seeing that the nanobots took out the trash all night and you should be feeling like you need to go to the Voltorium to have a dump.”

Zodak’s hope soared at this news. “How can we know how much was removed?”

“I was talking to the team about that. Having her come in for daily scans might be the least invasive measure for now. But there’s still the issue of knowing whether we’re even seeing where it’s stored or if this is some kind of overflow.”

Zodak considered that. “If I draw from her daily and there’s nothing showing then...”

“It would seem safe to assume there’s nothing left if the overflow is empty.”

“Seem.”

“Without being able to observe the actual source, it’s a good guess. And if we’re right about this being the overflow of this containment, then we have no idea how long siphoning at this rate could take without knowing how much is there.”

That reminded him. “I need to test a siphon of a sexual nature and measure it against the amount collected last night.”

“Smart idea. Then we’ll look at the data after. In fact, given what happened last time, I would suggest you report for a full panel of scans to accurately assess the results.”

“I’ll call you then,” Zodak said, wanting to get off the phone and check on her too. “When should she come for scans?”

“First thing.”

“I’ll bring her after a late breakfast.”

“I’ll let staff know you’re coming. I need to meet with the Kings. Seems the Marsh giga-chad is close to cracking Rukem’s dreamscape and we’re about to hear all about it.”

“Take notes for me,” Zodak said, wanting to remain updated on other critical family-related concerns.

“You got it, King Sucks-A-Lot.”

Zodak’s chuckle came unbidden, making him think of Seer. He needed to touch base with his newest sibling. “Thank you for everything, Brother.”

“I guess you know how good I am with heartfelt dramatics.”

He laughed again. “Yes, I do. You suck-a-lot at it.”

Zodak grinned at how much his brother liked that. “One hundred percent. Later Loverboy.”

He hung up, musing over that term. Loverboy. It was an odd combination of words being aimed at him. But considering what he intended to do with Zeen, it was one he wasn’t vehemently opposed to bearing. But if he didn’t take the utmost care to not get entangled in that exchange, he’d become something else. Something possibly dangerous.

“Morning.”

Zodak angled his head toward the door, his muscles locking up as her voice entered every part of him. Silky. Like her womanhood. “How did you sleep Zeen?” he asked, keeping his voice as low as he could.

“Like I died and went to heaven.”

Power and need filled her words, standing him up, commanding him. He remembered he didn’t need to close his gates as he made his way to her, right as the darkness he’d siphoned hit him with outrageous hungers. He paused his steps, her tiny frame now a raging fire blocking his path. “I’m bringing you in for scans this morning after you eat.”

She aimed a sweet smile up at him, her hands behind her back against the door frame. “You cooking for me?”

He lowered his gaze and parted his lips, tasting. “You want me to?”

“Welllll,” she considered, joy coloring the half-sung word. “Do you want to?”

“More than anything.”

A ripple of something hit him and he was willing to bet it was what he intended to pull out of her. He would come to know it as intimately as he knew her, this he was certain of.

“Then I’ll take bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, biscuits. And fruit.”

Another disturbance hit him and this time it got his cock hard. “Maybe you will peel potatoes for me?”

And another wave. It came with her happy laugh and nod. “You need me?”

The fire burned hotter, and it seemed to draw the walls closer. “More than air,” he dared, even aimed his lenses at her. “Move Zeen,” he said, not meaning for the words to sound like a warning. But they surely were. “I need to get by.”

It was anything but innocence in her gaze now leveled on him. “Are you scared of me?”

She was playing with her new toy, he saw. And he liked it more than was safe.

“Very.”

A double flux hit him, one with his answer, another with her smile. It was like a heartbeat through his body that ended in his cock. “You should be,” she said, pushing off the door and making her way into the living room.

The sweet threat created a pull in his body that insisted he keep her in proximity. He resisted, feeling the powerful instinct strain his muscles and pull a growl from his chest as Zeen played with Jinxxy.

He remembered his masturbation idea. That still required testing. If anything, he’d get a sexual release. Or maybe he was toying with pandora’s box. There was something very foolish about it but how to care one way or another he could not find within himself.

He headed to the kitchen, preparing to face his beautiful foe. He should purge before daring this. At the same time, he needed to control and gain dominance over the darkness he siphoned.

“Are you kissing me? Are you giving me big wet kisses?” Zeen asked Jinxxy, provoking his growing obsessions with her. He remembered his sharp teeth, wondering how she felt about them.

“Are you hungry?” she huffed gruffly to his pup. “Are you hungry like me? Do you want my beautiful King to serve you too?” she gasped, bringing a hunger pang in him. “I’ll see what I can make him do. He’s my King but I’m the one in charge,” she whispered, not the least quiet about it.

“Should your beautiful King ask Jinxxy to peel potatoes?” he called, getting breakfast ingredients from the fridge.

Her laugh rattled the darkness inside him. He was torn between making it suffer her joy and being rid of it so he could bask without interference.

“I’ll make a deal with you,” she said, entering the kitchen, her ebony dress swooshing in her exuberance.

“Tell me,” he urged, preheating the oven and setting two pans on the stove.

“I’ll help you peel potatoes, and you take off those lenses.”

“You’re a spoiled tyrant, Zeen,” he accused, smiling at her dramatic laugh as she took the peeler he handed her.

He removed his lenses and placed them on the counter then set the bag of potatoes next to them. “You must choose. My lenses or the best hashbrowns in the northern swamps.”

She eyed him, her perfect mouth an oval as she picked up the bag of potatoes and tossed it over her shoulder then giggled at the big chuckle this got her.

“Zeen,” he warned.

She took his lenses next and put them in the top of her dress. “And you can’t have them back,” she said. “Unless you want to fish them out.”

“That sounded like a dare.”

She covered her chest with both hands, eyes going wide. “It’s not,” she lied with a huge smile.

“It clearly is,” he countered, his veins on fire with her antics as he turned the stove off and faced her.

Sparks filled her gaze now pinned on him as she giggled. “Don’t,” she warned when he took a step toward her.

“I need those, Zeen,” he said.

She squealed and spun, running out of the kitchen. “Jinxxy!” she screamed.

He rounded the corner. “Jinxxy, lay down,” he ordered, getting his canine’s confused yelps.

“Don’t lay down Jinxxy!” she countered, running to the bedroom.

“Did you just run to a dead-end Zeen?” he asked, following her.

He found her standing on his bed, aiming a sculpture at him. “I will fight you!” she warned.

“I hope you do,” he said, taking his time as he made his way toward her. The second he’d turned off that stove, he realized what she needed more than food. An orgasm. And if he learned they gave up her darkness faster, he’d give her ten a day. “I think it’s not food you want from me Zeen.”

He stepped onto the bed’s platform, and she backed up, her chest heaving in excitement.

“I just want to always see your pretty eyes,” she gasped on a squeal before dashing off the bed and racing to the bathroom.

His pretty eyes. “You have angered your King, Zeen,” he said, following her. “Intentionally.”

She let out screaming laughs when he entered, backing toward the tub. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

He continued toward her, and she jumped in the tub.

“And now you’re in my tub,” he pointed out. “Did you need your King to bathe you?”

She pressed herself into a ball in the farthest corner and covered her face with both hands, squealing as he stepped into the sunken chamber and lowered before her. “I’m not sorry,” she peeped, peeking at him through the splits she created in her fingers.

Maybe it was the game they hid behind that gave him more strength than he should have as he took hold of her forearms and tugged.

She gave one last desperate squeal then dove on him, her tiny arms clinging tightly to his neck.

He wrapped her in his arms without thought, greedily pressing her tightly into his body. The forbidden connection sent his powers into a spin, and he let out a low growl, sucking every bit of her in. She’d run from her monster then dove straight into his arms when cornered. That she believed she was safest there brought a sharp thirst in his dry bones.

“Don’t hide your beauty from me,” she whispered in his ear.

He cradled her head and pressed her against his face. “You think monsters are beautiful, Zeen?”

Her arms loosened and she pulled back, placing her small hands on his face. He kept his eyes closed, afraid of her this close to his gates while her delicate touch sliced through his barriers. “I think monsters are hideous.” Her tiny fingers felt along his lips. “But not my monster.”

The possession in her words unraveled him. “You should fear these things you touch, Zeen,” he barely said as she straddled his lap and stroked more of his face.

“I just...want you to look and see me, Zo.” She spoke those impossible words right at his mouth then dared to press her lips against his. He held back the universe while she caressed her beast ready to devour her. “I need you to taste me and love me.”

“It’s not safe, Zeen,” he forced out, moving his hands along her waist then capturing her hips, sure that wasn’t true. He lost the fight where their bodies met and pulled her into his erection with a hungry growl. Her sharp gasp and moan flicked his fears aside and strangled his will, moving her soft bottom on him in a methodical grind.

Seeing the pleasure this gave her, he increased pressure and speed, watching the erotic drop of her head that exposed the tender flesh of her neck. He leaned in, sliding his tongue’s sensor over the creamy warmth, her little fingers clasping down on his head, pressing him there harder. Begging him with her whisps of ‘please, yes’.

Her needs took him like a whirlwind, holding his mouth to her body, moving it along the hot skin. His hands hurried ahead, removing obstacles from his path as his lips burned along her silk. When he opened his eyes, her perfect breasts were right there, inches before him. “Zeen,” he gasped, gripping them in his hands and tugging them to his mouth.

Her shocked cry fell on his hungry ears, the decadent fuel getting sucked down by his wide opened siphoning power. “Zo!”

“My beautiful Zeen,” he said while tormenting the plump flesh topping her breasts. “I see everything in you. I want all of it.”

“Take it!” she begged with a gasp, pulling his face up and kissing him.

He opened his mouth wide, forgetting about the sharp weapons between them as he let her have all she wanted. The hungry way she took it built a ravenous fury in him as he rocked her on his cock, his moans chasing hers like a predator hunting prey. He used them to guide and command but if he didn’t make her orgasm soon, he would surely use her pussy to masturbate his dick, and that could not happen. Such an event contained too much of the universe’s power to lack perfect execution.

He toyed with the tip of her tongue, his sensor shooting sparks through his body, turning his breaths rough and ragged as he moved her dress up. She pulled back long enough to help, even opened the top of her panties for him.

Once his hand was in, he drove his middle finger deep inside her. The ecstasy in her cry jolted his cock as he clutched her silky hair in his fist, holding her steady to protect her sweet mouth from his sharp teeth. She fed on him in such a wild abandon, her cries filling up his lungs and mind like a tempest of miracles. He jerked her mouth away from his to watch what he did to her pussy. “Zeen,” he gushed, spellbound at how she fucked his finger. His gaze moved up, locking on her tits framed in the black material. He licked the peaks as he searched the depths of her womanhood, growling when she told him he’d found a pleasure secret. “This Zeen?”

“Zo! Oh, God, yes.”

He released her hair and moved his thumb on her clit, creating friction as she bounced on his hand. “You’re fucking it, Zeen?” His voice rasped with pure lust now as he watched her face aimed at the heavens in pleasure.

“Zo!” she cried, lowering her gaze and getting locked in the prison of his gates now wide open on her.

He let go a hungry growl as she moved faster and stared right into him, her brows drawn in the hardest pleasure. “I’m looking at you Zeen,” he shuddered, his thumb on her clit matching the increase of her cries. “You are more beautiful than all beautiful things. Come for your King.”

She threw her head back again with a cry as her orgasm broke free. The intensity locked his muscles up right as his powers opened into a vortex that screamed through his head and body, sucking down all that gushed from her.

With every moan they elicited in the downward spiral, the darkness within him thickened. Then it pounced on his muscles with its fury, and he quickly moved her off him.

“What’s wrong!” she cried as he hurried out the room, pushing through the power fighting to turn him around and fulfill its wicked lusts.

“Don’t follow!”

The words tore from his chest with fury as he slammed the front door shut and growled his way to the Voltorium, feeling his grip on everything slipping. No phone. No way to call for help. He remembered the emergency protocol the second his knees hit the floor and his vision darkened into blackness.