The Syphon King (Bayou Bishops #16)

Chapter SIXTEEN

Once they found a spot way out of earshot, Bishop eyed all of them, nodding as all the words hid from his tongue. “Right,” he said, at the looks they wore. “This is some shit.”

They all started talking at once like the holy-fuck gates suddenly opened in their heads.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Bishop ordered with a hand up. “One at a time. Write your shit on a mental note and do not forget it. Seer, you first.”

He started with a headshaking sigh, but the hint of his boyish grin took the doomsday out of it. “I’m excited.”

“I can see that,” Bishop said. “We’d like to be excited too so, please give us some of this juice.”

“More like a lot of this juice,” Bart muttered.

Seer paced and they waited while he organized his thoughts into hopefully digestible bites. “I really need to touch him,” he began. “Both of them. The...being and the doctor. Creator. See what I can see. And Maggie. We need as much as we can get.”

“You think this is all like...morally legit?” Bishop wondered.

Seer paused his pacing, looking at him. “I think there’s a lot in the book of Revelation that is out of this world if taken on face value. Until today—maybe even this second, here in this swamp—nobody, meaning me, ever considered the things described in the Good Book might be an actual thing. But that?” He thumbed the building behind him while giving Bishop that same renegade grin, “Looks pretty damn real. And if he can create what he’s saying? What can’t he create?”

Bart asked, “But what does that mean?”

Seer looked at him. “It means maybe a lot of this isn’t going to be as metaphorical as many have thought. It says that unless he cuts the end days short, even the very elect would be deceived. That being looks deceptively real wouldn’t you say?”

“But it’s still a man-made invention,” Bishop said. “And like all of those, what it’s used for defines everything.”

“My thought exactly,” Seer said. “Everything belongs to God to use. Doesn’t matter if it’s made with good intentions or bad. In all his dealings with mankind that I’ve seen, He used whatever that era produced to His advantage. I see this as no different. Except...the marriage bit with women.”

“Right,” Bishop remembered. “How’s that supposed to work?”

Seer appeared half skeptical, half optimistic. “If these beings are a design of God and are truly evolving, then perhaps He’s got a plan to fully evolve them?”

“You mean like what? Breathing His breath of life into them?”

He shrugged real big with wide eyes. “Hell if I know how He’d do it, but He’s damn up to speed on the ins and outs of everything He’s created.”

“Which is everything,” Bishop agreed, getting Seer’s big nods and matching grins.

“So, where are they getting these women?” Spar wondered. “Sorry, who’s next?”

“Spook,” Bishop said.

“My brain is still catching up. But yeah, I’m curious about what Spar just asked.”

“That’s a hell if I know answer.” Bishop nodded at the next brother. “Lesion.”

“Maybe this is irrelevant to the current vein of conversation, but the new blood samples I took from Nitro have turned up fascinating results. After hearing this...King mention super soldiers, it had me thinking.”

A zing shot through Bishop at that news. “Do fucking share.”

“Well, obviously humans will be at an extreme disadvantage with these types of creations he speaks of. And...Nitro’s condition, be it accident or intent has now evolved into something similar to...”

“Divine intervention?” Seer helped.

Lesion eyed him with curiosity. “If divinity is in fact the author of all my beloved sciences, then... yes. The why of it is another curious matter, one I’m too busy to contemplate.”

“Back to Nitro evolving,” Bishop needed to know.

“Since he drank the blood of all the Kings, I’ve identified specific proteins in his that hold the genetic codes or this new ability he has to absorb and replicate the gifts of others.”

“Still can’t wait to hear how that went.”

“Indeed,” Nitro said, chuckling.

“I think by using synthetic biology,” Lesion continued, “I could replicate these elements and integrate bioenergetic amplifiers into a serum. These amplifiers would be designed to respond to each individual’s unique bioenergy signature. The serum would use the fluctuations within the signatures as triggers. For example, when an individual experiences a surge of determination or focus, their bioenergy field would spike, activating the serum that would then carry the customized genetic material into the specific cells responsible for muscle strength, neural connectivity, and or sensory reception—amplifying them to superhuman levels.”

“Bruuuuhhhh,” Hurricane laughed. “What the fuck kinda swamp grass you been chewin?”

“Didn’t think I could get floored again today,” Bishop said, patting their brother on the back.

He gave one of his shy grins that tickled everybody’s funny bone and earned him affectionate assaults all around.

“Not sure what sort of improvement I’d need,” Bullets informed. “My trigger finger already moves at superhuman speeds.”

“And my traps are already legendary,” Traps said, sorry-not-sorry.

“Minus with your little Farkle Fingers,” Spar said.

“What do they eat?” Bacon puzzled.

“Bruh, you could be a super cook!” Hurricane marveled before breaking out in a full body laugh that sent him on a dance.

“Can make some super bacon,” Nitro said, chuckling.

“Some super cereal,” Spook added while Bacon nodded at the laughs.

“I can cook a super last supper for all of you,” Bacon threw in, turning up the guffaws.

“Do we by any chance get super dicks with these upgrades?” 8-Bit asked, hopeful.

“I sure as fuck hope not,” Bishop said. “And if my sex drive gets any more super, I’ll be pissed.”

“I’ll take a super dick,” Zep said, raising his hand.

The majority did the same, all laughing.

“Do I get to take the serum too, doc?” Nitro asked with a shit-eating grin.

“Holy fuck,” Hurricane cried, eyes wide with the insane idea of him being more jacked up than he already was.

“His wife needs an ass-kicking serum,” Patches thought.

“What about Seer’s superpower?” Spook wondered, smiling. “Super seeing?”

“If we can order preferences,” Seer said, “I’ll take some sleeping powers.”

“If this works the way it should,” Lesion said, “we could explore further.”

“Ahhh, the fine print,” Bart said. “Please inform us of the worst-case scenario.”

“Would you like that given at normal speeds or super-fast speeds?” Lesion teased.

“Would like it written out,” Bishop said. “Super clearly, in all seriousness.”

Lesion nodded. “You got it.”

“Guess I’ll look forward to building super computers,” 8-Bit muttered.

“Bishop can build us some physical upgrades,” Spar said. “All this superpower will require it.”

“Bruh, your guns get any bigger, you’ll need a fuckin’ wide load sign,” Hurricane laughed.

“Hey Bacon,” August said, “speaking of wide loads—”

“Finish that sentence and you’ll be super fucking dead,” Bacon warned, bringing an eruption of laughter from all of them.

“Man, I was talking about that supersized pancake griddle you ordered. Thing is meant for flipping truck tires, geeze, you know me better than that.”

“It’s usually Hurricane or Traps committing those kinds of phelonies,” Patches said, running and dodging Bacon’s sudden attacks.

“Boys!” Bishop yelled, shaking his head as they laughed their way back in line. “To recap—I like Lesion’s idea. Once we get the details, we’ll go from there.”

“You heard the Big Bot,” Shank said. “It’s a race.”

“I’m here for it,” Spook said, nodding with his arms crossed. “Give me every super fucking thing you got.”

“I’ll take some super bullets.”

“Bruh, we’ll need new names,” Hurricane said with a grin, looking at Lesion. “You think you can give me the power to harness the wind?”

Bishop laughed at Lesion’s eyeroll and headshake. “Don’t stress our alchemist. We need him more than ever.”

Things got suddenly silent and surreal. Then Lesion mumbled quietly, “Imagine what I’ll be able to do if I take this serum.”

Bishop eyed his genius brother, pride filling him. He locked gazes with Seer’s, all lit up at seeing it. Bishop was trying to deal with the entire idea being real.

He suddenly needed to touch Beth and their child growing in her womb. That was real. That was super real. And he’d become whatever super thing necessary to protect that.

“Looks like they’re ready to reconvene,” Seer said, nodding at the Creole Kings heading in the direction of the Sanctum.

ZEN HAD NEVER SEEN a more beautiful being as her King. His manhood was terrifying and huge and magnificent like the rest of him. Every inch of his white skin was covered in various ink patterns that insisted she taste immediately. Trace the pretty designs with her tongue. But there were none on his phallus. The why question would wait till after she fed her King what he so desperately needed. That he was letting her, felt like a dream. One of her self-induced hyper realistic fantasies.

Was this his first time feeling pleasure? Was she his first in pleasure? A woman had never touched him this way he’d said. She loved that so much.

Her breath held in her chest as he sat and draped the thick chain over his legs then lay back, covering his upper body with it. But not his cock. It was open and free. He spread his arms on the bed and turned his eyes to her, also naked and looking. Seeing her. “Cover my arms, hah-beeb.”

Her pulse thumped like a building drum in her chest. She wanted to ask what the word meant. “Hah-beeb,” she whispered, climbing on the bed next to him to do as he asked.

“It means my beloved, Zeen.”

Her breath caught at the passion in his voice as she gently lay the heavy chain in the same pattern over his muscular arms, not understanding how it might restrain him. He’d mentioned grounding chains. They somehow contained the properties that would forbid his gifts to work. But they didn’t forbid him to move, and this had her breathless with many things. She could never forget what happened to him before. Was he counting on his self-control? The idea tripled her fears. She would stop for him if she saw he needed to. She would be his chains.

“Are you my beloved, Zeen?” he asked when she finished and lowered her butt to her calves.

She tore her stare from his body and looked right into his eyes, the most powerful thing on him, at least to her. “I am whatever you want me to be, Zo.”

His gaze became a potent lure, drawing her deeper in. “Touch me, my hah-beeb.”

The demanding need in those hot words sucked the air out of her. “What...am I allowed to touch?”

“Every part of me.”

The sharp points of his teeth peeked out, reminding her of his inner beauty. He’d made himself look like a monster to repel others and protect them. She slowly leaned in, wanting to touch him there first. Show him that he was beautiful everywhere to her and he could never ever be ugly.

“Zeen,” he whispered as she placed delicate kisses along his mouth, feeling his hunger in the hot exhale of his breaths. Copper and iron and...sharp mint reached her tastebuds, drawing her hungers forth.

“My beautiful King.” She held his face with her hands, carefully kissing him, urging his lips open. The memory of his last kiss had left a painful longing for many more, along with the ugly terror of being forbidden from ever experiencing it again. “Your mouth is food to my soul,” she confessed.

His breath came on a blast as he lifted his head and gave her what she craved. She held his head in her hands as he opened wide, his tongue a dueling lover along hers as the sounds of his need rumbled thicker and louder in his chest. “Have you had pleasure before my King?” she couldn’t keep from asking.

“Never from a woman,” he swore as her mouth set off on a feasting journey down his body, this news filling her with unspeakable joy. She climbed on him, placing her knees on either side of his thick body, his sheer size not allowing her to avoid contact. His hot skin burned her inner thighs, and she pressed her bottom against him, unable to resist.

“I need to see all of you Zeen,” he roughly begged.

She raised the gown over her head and removed it. She’d gotten naked beneath it and the way he lifted his head and growled at the sight of her womanhood pressed on him brought such an erotic thrill, she moaned from it.

ZODAK HELD HIMSELF perfectly still as her angelic mouth moved along his bio-ink. Her pink tongue licked, her lips kissed, then lightly sucked. His hunger followed hers and put a rumble in his chest as his lust unfurled with a purr alongside it.

He opened his legs as she ventured lower, wanting her between them. He didn’t care about his mess of chains as he rose up on his elbows to watch her descent of delicate moans. “Zeen,” he gushed when she made it to his cock. She stared at the throbbing meat stone pulsing with lifelong anticipation under her breathless gaze.

“I am the first to touch you here?” She stroked her fingertips along the shaft, fueling his feral appetite.

“The very first, my beautiful Zeen,” he seethed on a growl, his monster voice in full effect.

“I want to kiss you here.”

His breath flew out as she showed him where, circling her finger over the titanium post on the head. “I need your perfect mouth on it, Zeen.”

She leaned and used her tongue, tracing the path she’d drawn with her finger.

“Fuck,” he blasted, opening his legs more, thrusting for those angelic lips. “Suck my cock before I lose my mind.”

She grabbed the shaft in both hands and captured the head in her mouth with hungry moans, those tiny fingers strangling him perfectly.

His growl got thicker when she took half of him, the metal post hitting against her throat. “I need your pussy wrapping my cock,” he swore, flinging the threat of darkness aside as she filled him with hot energy. He was prepared to lie and deceive her onto his hard dick so he could fuck her with a brutal perfection.

“Zo,” she gasped, raising up and kneeling before him.

The sight of her small breasts set off a lust bomb. “Do as your King commands, Zeen,” he shuddered, winded. “Climb on my cock.”

He felt the tremble in her body as she obeyed him, her delicate moans a mix of need and worry.

He took hold of his dick and moved it along her pussy. His growls seethed at the way the huge head looked buried in her hot folds, the flash of his titanium post peeking out. “Move your clit on me, Zeen,” he ordered. “Till you’re burning up for so much more.”

She rocked herself on the head, holding on to his wrist with one hand, her shocked cries edged with needy lust as he laced his fingers in her other hand. Their gasps came as one now. “Fucking perfect, Zeen, your pussy is beautiful, you’re fucking beautiful.” Her cries grew and he moved the head to her entrance. “Look at me Zeen,” he said, wanting to see everything when he entered her.

“Zo,” she shot out, panic edging in.

“I have you Zeen,” he swore to her, and whatever darkness dared face him. “You are my angel.”

She bravely worked her way down his cock, every micro-inch and delicate moan bringing a blast of her darkness that he instantly devoured. She reached bottom and her frantic cries ripped him apart from the inside, triggering his hyper siphoning. Grabbing hold of her waist, he moved her along his shaft, her tight body bringing white-hot pleasure sparking through his neurons. His huge hands so easily spanned her body but it was the sight of his cock, slick with her essence moving in and out of her that pushed him over all the edges.

She fell forward and crucified him with a passionate kiss, blasting more power through him. It entered his hands, and they bit down on her soft body, shoving her on his cock over and over, faster, harder. He needed her pinned beneath him and rolled with her, catching her leg with his arm and opening her wide to take him again. He found her core in a single plunge and devoured her scream, his barren soul feasting. He gorged himself with them, his hunger furious and unforgiving as it took all that she gave.

And his sweet Zeen... she gave it all.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK OF the Leather Ones,” Harlow barely said to Quantum as they all returned to the large, domed ceiling room. “They seem like my kinda people maybe. And these Creole Kings your kind of people.”

“I think they’re the exact same kind of people with different expressions.”

“Huh. Maybe. Pretty sure they’re gonna say yes.”

“My soldiers are on their way here. We’ll show them what we’re capable of. I don’t want there to be any doubt and there is. I also don’t want anything left to imagination since it’s mostly unimaginable.”

“They’re coming here?” Harlow hissed. “Now?”

“I sent the Nebula Quantum Two to get them. They’ll be en-route soon.”

“And do our Kings here know?” he quietly strained, excitement making his blood bubble.

“I was thinking to surprise them.”

“Bruh,” Harlow chuckled long and low with a head shake. “That’s some ballsy shit. Human ballsy. I like it.”

“Text our brothers and ensure things are still on schedule. I’m finalizing their Syphon King’s new weapon.”

“What?!” Harlow leaned over, seeing he had a program up on his phone, his robotic speed nearly blurring his fingers as they moved over the keypad. “What kind of weapon?”

“The exact kind the Creole King brothers want for him.”

“He told you that?”

“More or less.”

“Are you reading between the lines my little sneaky hybrid?”

“I’m reading every line that can be read,” he corrected.

Harlow had to laugh. “That’s gonna split their fuckin’ heads in half.”

“Brothers,” King Nidev announced once everybody was seated again. “We’ve reached an affirmative decision on working with the Quantum Kings on a project-by-project basis.”

Quantum pocketed his mini-high-powered-computer while Nidev offered the Marsh Kings a say in the matter. Harlow watched as the leader eyed each of his members for several seconds then returned his dark gaze back to the Kings. “Sounds reasonable.”

Nidev regarded Quantum now. “Do you have anything to add?”

Quantum nodded once at the Leather Leader. “I would like to extend the same offer regarding your gifted as well.”

Another eye meeting took place before the leader said, “We’re interested also. Project by project.”

“Astounding. Would the Creole and Marsh Kings mind if I brought my first three soldiers in for capability demonstrations?”

The room filled with murmurs of hell-yeah affirmatives, adding more bubbles to Harlow’s excitement while thinking his AI brother didn’t fully grasp the meaning of surprising.

“They will be arriving in thirty-two minutes. I have also reviewed the data sent from Dr. David regarding your Syphon King and have created a solution to his problem. Once I have it printed, we can test it.”

“Remarkable,” Nidev said, astonishment coloring the word.

“I’d like to see that before you go through the trouble of printing it,” one of the Creole Kings said.

“Uh-oh, somebody’s pissy,” Harlow said under his breath.

“I heard that,” the same one warned, confirming what he’d been feeling since they’d sat in that room. One barrage after another of various sensations, most of it aggression but some oddly...not.

“I’m gonna just come out and say it,” Harlow decided. “From the second I stepped into this room, there’s been a lot of...tension I can’t quite identify. How about we kick that around before we go one step further on the wrong footsie into this wonderful friendship.”

“Agreed,” Quantum said.

“So you feel it too?”

“I do.”

“It’s my bite.”

The room turned to find the Marsh King with the heterochromia eyes, sitting with a sadistic grin. He aimed his gaze at Harlow. “I bit the Kings as a test and we’re still waiting for them to tell us what they learned. Or tell us what I already know.” His smile went to one hundred watts while Harlow puzzled over the bite part.

“I knew that muddy prick couldn’t be trusted,” one of the Creole Kings said.

“Why did he bite you?” Quantum asked, officially unwrapping the weird-as-fuck right there in their midst.

Another Marsh King with long black hair and dark eyes explained it, the intellectual jargon coming from his mouth its very own enigma.

“Do you have these test results?” Quantum asked Nidev.

“We do,” he said, his dreadful tone thickening this wonderful plot.

“What’s funny?” one of the Creole Kings asked him, bringing his full-blown laugh.

“I’m just so damn tickled to meet people who have weird ass problems similar to mine, excuse my French,” he apologized, still laughing.

“What sort of symptoms are you experiencing?” Quantum asked, his build-something-to-fix-it-mode cranked up.

“We’ve developed a range of them from least to greatest,” Nidev said. “Our initial intention for attempting it was successful. All of our gifts have been tremendously amplified.”

Harlow kept his eye on the grinning Marsh King, finding his amusement damn contagious as they waited for the fun stuff behind Nidev’s unspoken ‘but’.

“It’s not all we got,” another King accused at the Marsh King.

“You’re welcome,” Nitro laughed, making him Harlow’s official favorite while his leader reprimanded him sharply.

“Knowing the symptoms would aid me in helping,” Quantum clarified, getting to the solutions.

“Least to greatest,” the Nitro one couldn’t seem to help himself, implying lots of dick-wagging fun between these North and South brothers.

“Allow me to pull up the list,” Nidev reluctantly said.

“You do mean pull it up in your head,” another King said. “Since your ability to remember details is practically god-status.”

Nidev’s distress was fucking comical, putting Harlow on the edge of his seat.

“Well, my impatience is now cutting edge,” the King next to Nidev said. “Allow me to just dump the dirty sack of problems all in one go.”

“Hell yeah,” Harlow said, eagerly. “Dump it out.”

“Thanks to the Bat Bastard,” that same King said, “my fury says I can make it to your chair in 1.6 seconds to wipe that grin off your face.”

Harlow’s laugh ripped. “Can I get your name again before we get that intimate?”

“No, but I can make a thousand-piece jigsaw with your bones,” he negotiated.

This fucker! “Try it and get your face folded in half by my brother.”

“Kings!” Nidev said, hitting the table with a fist, the power in it impressing even Quantum. “We will continue exercising exact control over every facet of our beings, is it understood? Now, Krovax, continue.”

“Least to greatest,” the Krovax King began, the life threats already swept under the rug. “Uncontrollable pheromone release. Compulsive need for physical contact. Feeling intense arousal from the emotions of those nearby. Excessive production of aphrodisiac sweat. Simple touches producing euphoria and intense pleasure. Creating intense mental connections without physical interaction. Hypersexual dream infiltration which allows some to invade others’ dreams with vivid and intense erotic scenarios. Magnetic sexual aura that attracts others, making even platonic interactions feel charged with sexual energy. An overwhelming need to engage in seductive behavior, even in innocent situations. Cycling between states of heightened arousal and calm. Multiple new erogenous zones, uncontrollable lust glares, sexual hypnosis, erotic phantom sensations, and compulsive erotic thought broadcasting.”

“You forgot my favorite,” one of the other Kings said. “The involuntary erotic vocalizations.”

“Trying to forget it,” yet another said.

“And to be clear,” Harlow said still astonished. “We’re calling these things problems, not super awesome powers.”

“The Kings are virgins,” Nitro explained, shocking the shit out of Harlow again.

A Creole King on the opposite side of the room said, “For the utterly brain-dead, our conditions make actual sex look like a joke, turning our virgin lives into a shitstorm of endless erotic agony we can do nothing about.”

“Damn,” Harlow marveled, eyeing the one responsible for all of it. The Bat Dude. “You charge for these bites?”

Held back laughter finally exploded from the Marsh side of the room with Nidev standing and appealing to his South Swamp brothers for mercy. They got under control impressively fast while the Nitro dude casually offered Harlow from across the table, “You want a ride?”

Quantum, Nitro and several other Kings shot up from their chair, looking at the entrance.

“What’s wrong?” Harlow asked.

Quantum hurried toward the exit and everybody ran after him.

“Somebody’s in trouble,” Nitro told Harlow as the corridor filled with both groups hauling ass toward something. “I heard him.”

Engaging our neuro-link, Quantum said in Harlow’s head, startling the shit out of him.

What’s happening? Who’s hurt? Harlow hurried.

A female scream came next and Quantum’s hyper speed shot him ahead of everybody. I think it’s the Syphon King. I’m almost there.

I’m right fuckin’ behind you.

They rounded a corridor and Harlow spotted Quantum at the far end of it, right as a door blasted open and off its hinges.

“Zodak!” a Creole King called behind Harlow as they all stopped ten feet off.

A massive, hairless man crouched in the opening, a furious terror in his white looking eyes. “HELP HER!” The roar was stripped of humanity as Quantum signaled they stay put. “HELP HER!”

There's a female in the room. We need to see about her, Quantum urged. I’m initiating visual bio-scans on him.

“Shut him down, Lore!” a King yelled as the Syphon King heaved through whatever had hold of him.

“He’s not responding!” a voice yelled over an intercom.

“Zodak, can you hear me! It’s Vex!”

The Syphon King eyed Harlow, coming slowly up on Quantum's right with his hand out, imploring, “I need you to move. I need to get in and see about her,” he urged, moving slowly forward.

The man looked behind him, letting out another feral bellow. He’s fighting something inside him, Quantum said.

“He’s fighting it, Lore, we need to help him!”

“Nothing is fucking working!”

“Tell me what to do,” Quantum yelled. “His bio-scans are at critical levels.”

“He needs to neutralize,” Nidev ordered.

“And that requires a fuck ton of electricity,” another said. “We need to get him to the Voltorium, the fucking nanobots in his blood are not responding.”

The hopeless panic in the man’s voice jerked something in Quantum as Zodak let out another agonizing wail, biting down on his lip. Blood spurted from his mouth and down his chin as his wild eyes filled with rage and bloodlust.

“Don't make me hurt you, Brother!” the Vex King begged, pissed.

The Syphon King launched like a rabid razorback and Quantum caught him midair, taking them both down to the floor and putting him in a hyper-lock.

Harlow hurried into the room with several other Kings.

My calculations provided me with the sum of electricity I need to disable him.

“Oh fuck,” Harlow whispered, reaching the tiny naked woman with the bright blue eyes, open but not seeing.

Harlow, listen closely. He’s too strong for me to hold. I need to perform a high voltage override pulse. It will kill both of us, but my system will reboot three minutes after. I need you to get us to that Regenesis Chamber the Dr. mentioned. Once I’m awake, I’ll quarantine the dark energy in Zodak. We’ll fix him.

Bruh, he’s not gonna wanna come back to this. She’s burnt. Alive, but gone. He sucked everything from her.

We have to try.