In a Class of Her Own – Part 5

Written by HikerAngel :: [Friday, 12 March 2021 19:10] Last updated by :: [Saturday, 13 March 2021 14:07]

In a Class of Her Own – Part 5

By Hiker Angel

Original Concept by T. Hero

Okay, so maybe I wasn’t ready, after all. How was I supposed to know that Felicia would be so fucking fast?!

Maybe it was her flight power or something, but she managed to spring forward and plant her fist in my perfect lips before I even knew what hit me. It was kind of embarrassing. After my tough talk, or, well, tough thoughts anyway, I probably should have started off a little better. I was her equal now, at least in theory. I had as much chance to win this little showdown as she did.

Too bad nobody told her that.

So I put yet another hole through Felicia’s room. With my back. As I sailed through the fucking wall. When this was over, the girl was seriously going to need to take out a home equity loan or something. I mean, the girl’s house was pretty much swiss cheese at this point.

I flew through that wall, a fence, a few trees, and some weird playground thing before I hit the ground, my sexy ass digging an impressively long trench in the ground before I came to a full stop.

Fuck. Even with my newfound level tennishness, that hurt.

As I rose to my feet, dusting myself off, I noticed Emily on one side of me and Fiona on the other. Sheesh! Felicia sure knew how to aim, didn’t she? She’d knocked us all within twenty feet of each other. Maybe punch accuracy was something that came with double-digit classes? Who knew?

“Lilly?” Emily said groggily as she sat up, attempting to focus her dilated eyes on me.

“Yeah, Em,” I replied.

In a quasi-stupor, the pretty young Asian cocked her head to the side, licking her lips hungrily as her eyes roamed my perfect body. Her voice was husky. “So it worked?”

“Yeah, Em,” I said again. “It worked. I’m a Class 10 now. Yay, me!” I performed a little pirouette, giving her a nice little taste of my awe-inspiring profile.

Her thin brow furrowed in confusion, but her eyes still looked pretty hungry. I couldn’t blame her. I mean, I was nuclear inferno hot now – a fucking 10. Pretty much anyone who saw me was going to be all hot and bothered. I had to hand it to her, though. She was holding her shit together pretty well. Better than I had with Felicia.

“But then… why are you here?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes. I loved Emily to death but she could be so dumb sometimes. Or maybe that was just my awesomeness clouding her lust-laden little brain. I smirked at that thought. I seriously needed some time to myself. I’d probably need a few hours to properly admire myself in the mirror. “‘Cause she punched me, Em. Sent through a wall or three. And a few trees. Just like she did you. Okay? Happy now?”

Emily gasped, placing a hand unsteadily over her mouth in concern. She still seemed pretty shell-shocked. Whether it was from Felicia’s blow or my newfound sexiness, I wasn’t entirely sure. “Are you okay?” she asked in a worried voice.

I looked at her appraisingly, then smirked. “Better than you, I think.”

She laughed, then winced. The act had apparently caused her some pain. I wasn’t surprised. Felicia’s dainty little fist had packed a pretty serious wallop even for me!

I turned to my other side to see Fiona on all fours, attempting – and failing twice – to rise to her feet. She looked a little worse for wear too.

I walked over to her and extended a hand. I wasn’t sure why, exactly. I mean, she wasn’t exactly my friend. Was I getting nicer or something? I sure hoped not.

She looked up at me and went all starry-eyed. Yeah, that’s right, Fiona. Take a good look. Now I was the unstoppable, impossibly gorgeous super-bombshell to her lower classiness.

How ‘bout them apples, Fiona? Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it? I thought at her.

Then I saw the red glow of her hand on my wrist.

Oh. My. God!

Fiona was trying to siphon me! When I was actually trying to help her for a change! What a bitch!

I felt my power beginning to drain away, and my heartbeat fluttered. No! She couldn’t take this from me! I’d only had this level of power for a few minutes, and I hadn’t even been able to do anything with my powers yet. Well, anything other than get my butt kicked again, anyway.

But wait! I could resist this, right? I mean, Felicia had. And I was just as powerful as she was. Maybe if I just willed my powers back?

I concentrated on the thrum of energy beneath my skin, feeling it pouring into Fiona. I imagined that flow stopping, then reversing.

Fiona gasped, giving a small yelp of despair. Did that mean it was actually working? Peering into the feeling of power within me, I found that I could tell it was increasing again, going back to my previous level.

I’d done it! I’d fought off Fiona’s siphoning ability!

I broke her pathetic hold on my wrist with ease, then grabbed her hand before she could pull it away. I squeezed, smiling in satisfaction as I watched her squirm in pain, unable to get away from me.

“I can’t believe you tried to take away my powers, Fiona! You should know better by now. I’m a Class 10, and I can crush you like an insect now. You’d do well to remember that.”

She whimpered, tears welling as she nodded submissively, unable to hold my gaze. Holding her hand tightly for another moment, increasing the pressure slightly to emphasize my point, I finally let her go. Her arm retracted quickly, slithering into her body where she cradled it gingerly.

“Where’s Liam?” asked Emily from behind me.

I turned. “How the fuck should I know?!”

“It’s just – he might be in danger, right?”

Leave it to Emily to be worried about the stupid fucking boy that had gotten us all into this mess, to begin with. “Why do you care, Em? He’s just a boy! And a dumber than average one at that!

Emily looked shocked at my words. “But he helped you, Lilly! He gave you so much power!”

“Yeah? Well if he’d just done that, to begin with, we wouldn’t be dealing with Felicia right now. He only powered me up so I can clean up his little mess!” I huffed. Why on earth was Emily so worked up about something as meaningless as the death of one little adolescent male? I mean, they were everywhere! A dime a dozen. We could always just get another one if Felicia killed this one. Though I supposed he did have the siphoning power. As harmful as that had been, it was also helpful. Maybe I should consider helping the little freak.

Nah.

“Aren’t you grateful? Don’t you feel like you should help him? Don’t you feel like you have a responsibility to him?” she asked, an emotion I’d never seen before clouding her dark, almond-shaped eyes.

“Not particularly,” I shrugged. “He’ll just have to look out for himself like the rest of us.”

Emily looked stricken. Hurt even. The sight of her like that actually bothered me. What the fuck was this really all about? I felt like I was missing something here. And what was wrong with me? Was I feeling that empathy thing again?

When had Emily started giving two fucks about Liam? But that was just it, wasn’t it? Emily cared about everybody. And she was rubbing off on me, wasn’t she?! I mean, I had offered Fiona a hand! What the fuck?! And I was actually thinking about helping Liam!

And I knew why. It was the same reason I felt a giant knot in the pit of my stomach right now as I gazed into two large, beautiful, empathetic eyes.

Emily.

Gag me! Of all the times I didn’t need shit like warm, fuzzy feelings getting in the way of—

*BAM!*

A Felicia-shaped missile plowed into my stomach.

Mother fucker!

I had to stop letting myself get distracted like this!

The irritatingly powerful blonde plowed me through countless other houses and cars before finally slamming me into the concrete wall of the school. I shook my head, extracting myself gingerly from the shattered cinder blocks.

I looked up to see that, finally, Felicia was on the ground, standing in front of me with a cheerful smile, her hands on her hips like the comic book superhero she pretty much was. But as long as her feet remained on the ground, I could actually hit the bitch.

So I did.

I ran forward and planted my fist in little miss perfect’s breathtaking face, sending her flying in a less controlled way through a good dozen houses or so.

Finally! I’d gotten some payback! But I knew she’d be back in a moment. That flight power of hers was a serious advantage. She’d used it to get the drop on me twice now. Why couldn’t I have gained the ability to fly?!

The idle thought reminded me of Liam’s statement days ago. That all Class 3s and above had a secondary power. I’d still never figured out what mine was!

Before I could muse on what it might be yet again, I saw a small, blonde figure in the distance growing larger rapidly as she approached at hypersonic speed. In less than a second, she had made it to my position. I tried to time a punch with her arrival, but with speed like hers, it was hopeless. Instead, I found myself flying backward through the roof of the school gym before tumbling into the sky in a high, rainbow-like arc.

When I hit the ground a few hundred yards away, I felt my chin with my fingers. It was tender. Yeah, that one was going to leave a mark. I moved my jaw from side to side. That one had hurt. Even as a Class 10. I had to stop her from flying around, swooping in, and knocking me into next week. If I didn’t figure out a way to deal with her tactics soon—

*BAM!*

Two small fists collided with the top of my head as Felicia drove me into the ground like a stake before swooping away.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgggggggh!”

With a cry of frustration, I climbed out of the hole. My ears were ringing, my head pounding like a hollow drum. And my escape from Felicia’s earthen imprisonment was short-lived, anyway. The moment I turned around, I was met with a flurry of punches to my stomach, arms, and face that drove me right back into the ground. I was reeling, hurting badly when the blows finally came to a stop. As I breathed heavily, staggered and buried again by Felicia’s assault, I tried to think.

How could I overcome this girl?

Setting my jaw, in spite of my throbbing face and tender stomach, I set about the first step and began to climb out of the hole she’d pounded me into again. But the moment I pulled my legs free, another incoming blond missile strike blasted me backward, sending me through another series of buildings until I landed right back where I started. In the center of the school gym.

It was ironic. This gym was the place where Fiona had put her very first beatdown on me. Now, her sister seemed hellbent on finishing the job.

I rose unsteadily to my feet, swaying as I watched Emily, Fiona, and Liam arrive with a few other girls in tow. I wasn’t feeling very well. My knees were wobbly. My chin felt as if it were three times larger than normal. I had a killer headache. Felicia really knew how to make a girl feel like shit!

Emily looked horrified, gasping as she looked at me. Did I really look that bad? Fuck! At least that Class 10 healing should kick in pretty fast. Or so I hoped.

The cute Asian began to run toward me. I felt my heavy body seem to lighten under the gaze of her concerned eyes, and I grew hopeful. Maybe she was going to use some of that wonderful healing power of hers on me? Except that she didn’t have it anymore, did she? Shit! When she had been reduced to a Class 1 again, she had probably lost her secondary power!

“Liam, power up Emily! She can heal if you give her more power!” I called out to him.

Emily stopped, her worried eyes suddenly mirroring the hopefulness I felt in her presence. She turned toward Liam, then began to run back to him. Liam simply stood there like the complete dumbass I knew he was.

“Liam! Please!”

Please? Please? What the fuck?! Since when did I say that word. Especially to boys! Seriously? I had no idea what was getting into me these days…

It seemed to work, though. Liam snapped out of his funkitude or Lilly-ogling or whatever and reached out to touch that last Class 1 from back at the house. With his other hand, he was on his phone, tweeting or posting a status update or something. Leave it to Liam to be on his fucking socials in the middle of an epic battle against the world’s sexiest supervillain!

As Emily reached him, Liam dropped his phone, having sent his text or whatever. She lay her hand over Liam’s, then her eyes closed and…

...that’s when Felicia arrived. She dropped from the sky like a blonde meteor, landing between me and Em, cracking the wooden floor under her small feet as she struck it.

Still swaying on my feet, I knew that I couldn’t fight her. Not in the condition I was in. So when she marched up to me and pulled back a fist, I just closed my eyes. At least if I were unconscious or dead, I wouldn’t have to feel any of this fucking pain anymore.

I waited. And waited. Then I felt something I didn’t expect. Something a whole lot nicer than a fist in the face.

I felt lips.

Soft lips.

Sensual lips.

Amazing lips.

I opened my eyes to see Felicia’s breathtaking face immediately before mine, kissing me passionately. Wrapping my arms around her, I kissed her back. I mean, she was pretty much a goddess, after all, with the flying and the strength and the body that just wouldn’t quit. My eyes fluttering closed once again, I breathed in her ambrosial scent and just enjoyed the feel of her curvaceous form against mine.

But wait… what?

What the fuck was happening here?! I mean, one minute, Felicia looks like she’s angling to freaking kill me. The next? She goes all snogilicious on my ass.

Well, I wasn’t going to complain. This was a whole lot more fun than being pounded by the girl. Again.

I looked at Liam and Emily out of the corner of my eye. There were more girls around him now. Weird. Were they who he’d been texting? And Emily was looking every bit as good as when we’d made out in the car. She’d been a Class 5 then. I thought of her kindness toward the store clerk that day. I remembered the way her heightened powers hadn’t changed her personality, as they had Fiona’s. And Felicia’s. And, um, mine!

I thought of her secondary ability and Liam’s offhanded comment when he’d told me that they usually aligned with the personality of their owner. Hers was healing. Somehow that suited her. Emily was kind. A genuinely good person. The best person I could think of, really.

Well, Liam tried too, I guess. Grudgingly, I gave the boy credit for having his heart in the right place. His sense of fairness is what had led him to give Felicia her powers back, after all. But then again, look how that had turned out. Nope, no credit for Liam. He was too stupid to count.

Somehow, even with this luscious blonde goddess kissing me, my heart leapt to an entirely different level when it saw Emily’s slender, sexy body even at only Class 5. For some reason, despite the fact that she was still a number of classes below Felicia, I seemed to want my Asian friend even more!

As I continued to stare sidelong at her ascending form, I must have turned my head or something, because Felicia suddenly broke off our kiss. Her head swiveled in the same direction as my eyes to find Liam and Emily mid-power-up. Sublime features twisting into an expression of outrage, she rocketed toward them with her flight power.

Shit!

“Emily! Look out!”

I tried to warn her, but I was too late. Felicia was on her in a fraction of a second, tearing her out of Liam’s grasp, then plunging her fist into Liam’s merely human stomach. A splatter of blood spurted from the boy’s mouth, and he collapsed in a crumpled heap. As a Class 10, Felicia’s blows had hurt. As a regular? Well, I’d wager that he probably had enough internal bleeding going on that he wouldn’t survive more than another minute or two.

I felt a pang of guilt for getting Liam involved in all this. Scanning the area to see where Emily had landed, I found her at the far side of the gym, on the ground and clutching her arm to her stomach. Yeah, Felicia had probably yanked that baby right out of its socket. She was still, breathing in and out, attempting to gather herself.

Felicia began to look around for the young Asian too. Oh, God! Was she going to kill Emily too? The thought sent a chill into my superhuman bones. I grimaced as I moved, but pain or not, I knew I had to do something. And fast!

I zipped to Felicia with super speed just as her gorgeous eyes landed on Emily, then grabbed her head and planted a huge kiss on the magnificent girl’s lips.

Please let this work! I really didn’t want Emily to die.

The thought surprised me a bit. I wasn’t looking out for Emily out of convenience. Or out of any sort of selfish need at all. For the first time ever, I was looking out for someone else because… because…

...well, I didn’t know why exactly. It’s not like I’d ever really felt stuff like this before, okay?

Bothered but determined, I began to kiss Felicia even more hungrily, pressing my equally luscious body against hers. I supposed this wasn’t entirely unpleasant. I mean, if making out with the sexiest, most powerful girl in the world was how I could best help my friend, I was willing to make the sacrifice. If I enjoyed it – a lot – then so much the better, right?

Anyway, my distraction seemed to work. Felicia’s eyes closed, as she savored the feel of my lips against hers, my body against hers. I looked to the side again, finding Emily hobbling over to Liam out of the corner of my eye, this time careful not to move my head in the slightest to tip Felicia off.

Emily knelt beside Liam, placing her fingers over his stomach and closing her eyes. I leaned into my kiss, feeling Felicia’s perfect body shiver under my touch. God, she was sexy.

When I cast another look in Em’s direction, Liam looked a little less pale – and he seemed to be drawing power from one of the new girls around him to give it to…

...Emily? He was still powering up Emily! I had to give the boy some props. He was managing to send more power Emily’s way, even as she healed him. Though, I supposed that probably benefited him as well. I assumed her healing power grew stronger as she leveled up, just like her strength and invulnerability.

I watched as Emily’s willowy body filled out into heartbreaking perfection. She had to be getting close to our level now. Maybe she was an 8? Or 9?

And then Fiona appeared behind Emily.

It was all I could do not to break my kiss and warn her. I needed to control that urge, though. Emily and Liam could handle Fiona. At least I hoped they could. But they stood no chance whatsoever against Felicia. I had to continue to keep the hyper-sexy blonde occupied for now, until Emily could become powerful enough to help me defeat her. So I began to suckle her neck. Wow, did her skin ever taste good! Did mine taste that good?

Fiona grabbed Emily from behind, her hands immediately glowing red with siphoning power. My grip on Felicia tightened as I saw the Asian girl stiffen. Thankfully, the princess’ eyes didn’t open. She must have mistaken the clench for growing passion, rather than my concern for someone else entirely. Which, frankly, would have been a pretty solid assumption before this week. I hadn’t really started caring about anyone other than myself until extremely recently.

Anyway, I knew exactly what Fiona was trying to do – steal Emily’s powers! Fight it, Emily! You can do it! Fight her off!

But the thoughts I willed toward her didn’t seem to do much good. Fiona’s already lush figure was rapidly improving as Emily’s diminished.

Then, Liam reached out to grab the sexy blonde by the wrist, his hand glowing as brightly as hers. I watched Fiona scowl as she faced off against Liam, each still clutching one of Emily’s slim hands.

I’d never seen Liam look so determined. He must want to see Emily empowered as much as I did! The changes to both women stopped momentarily, as Liam and Fiona battled wills. Finally, Fiona’s eyes squinting with effort, Liam’s eyes widened in surprise, and Fiona began to grow more beautiful once again.

No!

I couldn’t let it happen! I couldn’t let the F sisters win!

Except that wasn’t really what I dreaded. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want Fiona and Felicia to win as that I didn’t want Emily to lose! I didn’t want her to be hurt. For some reason, I cared more about that than I did about my own wellbeing.

I broke my hold on Felicia, sending my hardest punch into her surprised face a millisecond later. Then, I sprinted toward the others, lowering a shoulder as I reached the original F sister to send the blonde siphoner flying right through the gymnasium wall.

Panting for breath more from the Felicia-kissing than the brief physical exertion, I looked Emily over. She still looked damn good, even after having donated a few of her levels to Fiona. She was at least the Class 5 she’d been when we’d fooled around in the car at the mall.

“You okay?” I looked Emily directly in the eye, where I saw warm affection in return.

Then Liam spoke. “Yeah,” he said absently. Emily and I looked at the boy, bemused, as he checked himself over. The ever-more witless boy was completely oblivious to the fact that I hadn’t been talking to him but Emily.

“And I’m pretty sure I won the siphoning battle with Fiona,” he continued.

Incredulous, I could only stare at him, blinking, for a moment. I was surprised. At how I could still be surprised by just how dumb this guy was! “Um, Liam. Pretty sure you lost, dude. Fiona was pretty clearly powering up before I knocked her away.”

“No,” he shook his head, his irritating smile knowing. “It may have looked like that, but I think I managed to—”

Felicia crashed into him from the side in a hypersonic blur. He sailed into the sky through the Fiona-shaped hole I’d just made. Damn these F sisters! Always showing up at the least opportune moments!

I was pretty sure that no amount of healing was going to bring back the Liam splatter that would be Liam a few hundred yards away when he finally landed. I kinda felt bad for the poor guy.

But there was no time to dwell on puddles of Liam parts now. I had a supersexy blonde superbitch to deal with at the moment!

And then Fiona reappeared.

Okay, so I had two supersexy blonde superbitches to deal with at the moment!

No. Scratch that. I looked at Emily and gave her a brief smile. We had two supersexy blonde superbitches to deal with.

“I’ll take Felicia. You take Fiona,” I told her as Felicia swooped from overhead to land before me. Emily nodded, turning her attention to Fiona.

“Just don’t let her swipe any more of your powers!” I called out to the young Asian as I rocketed forward to fire a powerful jab into Felicia’s sculpted stomach.

I missed, however, Felicia dodging to the side too quickly for me to adjust my aim. She leapt behind me, slipping her toned arm around my neck in some kind of chokehold. She pulled my head into her, bowing my back. I flailed my legs, clutching at her arm, but I didn’t have the proper leverage to pull it away.

Flipping my head from side to side, I finally managed to get a partial view of Emily. She seemed to be holding her own against Fiona. Faring better, at least, than I was.

The two women squared off, circling as they traded punches. One of Fiona’s landed, momentarily stunning Emily. Fiona took advantage of the opportunity, reaching out to grab Emily’s wrist.

Oh, fuck!

Fight it, Emily! Fight it! I willed in her direction.

But there was no glow! Fiona looked confused. So did Emily. At first. Then, Emily clamped her right hand over Fiona’s arm, and the glow appeared.

Oh no! It had begun.

But Fiona wasn’t the one smiling. Emily was!

Fiona’s beauty began to fade and Emily’s to blossom! How the fuck was this happening?! But the results made it clear. Emily was somehow draining Fiona!

Something in my expression must have gotten Felicia to look at the other combatants as well, and as her jaw dropped in surprise, her grip loosened.

I wriggled free, gasping for breath as I turned to square off against her for the umpteenth time. I was really getting sick of fighting this fucking girl.

My escape had returned her attention to me, however, so continue our fight, we would. I lunged at her, wrapping my arms around her. I managed to wrestle her to the ground before she could fly away. Yay, me! But after a brief struggle, she flipped me over, pinning me to the ground with her toned arms and shapely legs. I was just so sore. So tired. So beaten up. All the damage she’d done earlier was telling. I couldn’t match her energy, her strength.

Then, she looked up, shock registering on her expressive eyes and sensual lips as she watched her sister and Emily. I tilted my head back to get a look for myself.

Fiona’s beauty had completely faded, leaving her an unremarkable regular girl. She was sitting on the floor, a worshipful expression on her plain features as she looked up at…

...oh my God!

Emily!

She was perfect!

And that was an understatement. That’s right. Perfection, an understatement. Hers was no ordinary, run-of-the-mill perfection like Felicia’s and mine, but crazy, unthinkable, über-perfection. Her hair floated free of gravity’s confines much like ours, but hers shone with such luster, such utter vibrance, that a lump began to form in my throat.

From looking at her hair!

Her face was stunning to the point where if I could actually muster the presence of mind to worry, I would have worried that gazing upon it might stop my heart. But her spellbinding eyes and tantalizing lips instantly wiped every thought from my mind, replacing every thought, every emotion with unquenchable desire.

Her body, its silky smooth curves clad in a tattered dress, was like the key to the lock that held my soul. No one could look like this. Not one could be like this. So powerful. So incredible. So magnificent.

It was… it was…

...it was beyond description, far beyond the power of words, or even thoughts, to describe. To see this woman was to be utterly awestruck. To touch her… oh, to touch her… I shuddered to think of such a blessing from this perfect feminine deity.

She raised a hand, her dark hair flowing on the hidden eddies of air that swirled about her aura of absolute power.

For a moment, I fleetingly wondered what class she actually was, but the concept of any sort of measurement of this Goddess quickly vanished. It simply seemed inappropriate to attempt to measure to the immeasurable.

Felicia stumbled to her feet, but her legs gave out just as quickly when Emily blessed her with a mind-dominating smile.

Emily reached out a hand, and Felicia rose into the air as if the awesome Asian were a jedi knight. Felicia’s body went limp as she ascended, shuddering with desire. A bubble of energy formed around her, encasing her in glimmering luminescence. Had Emily done that too? Just how many powers did she have now?

I collapsed, my knees unable to support me as I continued to ogle Emily. But before I fell completely to the ground, I found myself rising as well. But my feet remained on the ground, and no energy field formed around me.

I moved toward Emily, my dangling feet dragging against the waxed wooden floor of the basketball court with a long, soft squeak.

“Em… y-you’re magnificent!” I breathed as I reached her, my fingers trembling as I debated whether I should dare touch her glorious form.

Her smile widened. It was like the rising of a second sun.

“Aw, shucks, Lil,” she said, still grinning, still her usual self in spite of what must be planet-shattering power. “Do you really think so?”

I swallowed hard.

“Yeah,” I managed to get out in a breathy rasp. “I do. But… how?”

“While Fiona was focused on taking my normal abilities, Liam was clever. He focused on drawing out her siphoning ability, giving it that to me rather than strength or invulnerability.”

She wrapped her arms around me slowly, sensually. My breath caught. My heart rate skyrocketed to the point where I was sure I was about to explode in ecstasy.

“Once I had that ability, it was just a matter of draining Fiona until I was powerful enough to save you.”

“S-save me?” I questioned breathily as her lips drew closer to mine. Her ethereal scent was absolutely divine. The world’s most effective aphrodisiac soaked into my body, setting it on absolute fire. “But you’re so far beyond…”

My words stopped coming. That had been the best I could do. I couldn’t finish my sentence. Not with the staggering power of the desire that was coursing through my body right now.

“Yeah,” she replied, grin widening. “I am pretty powerful now. Almost as powerful as you!”

Ha! Now that was absurd. The thought that I could be more powerful than The Goddess herself? Laughable.

“You still haven’t figured out your second power, have you?” Emily’s voice suddenly filled my mind.

“No,” I thought back, my eyes wide, more than a little caught off guard by Emily’s sudden development of telepathy.

“You have the most powerful ability of anyone. Ever,” Emily’s sultry voice said as her lips touched mine. “The power to make all others fall in love with you…”

If I had been able to think with her lips so close to mine, I would have noticed Felicia’s powers draining into Emily with the casual curl of her index finger.

I would have noticed that everything around us was being rebuilt, the damage we’d caused, repaired with a thought.

I would have noticed Liam’s lifeless chest rising with a breath of life from his Asian goddess.

I would have fully comprehended Emily’s next words.

“Haven’t you noticed the effect you have on others, Lil? Fiona? Liam? Felicia? Felicia couldn’t finish you off because she felt that attraction. You made even someone as powerful as her feel love. But there’s only one person you love in return…”

My heart pounded in my throat. I already knew the answer.

“...me,” she finished simply, pressing her lips to mine.

I had always been so focused on being perfection, that I’d never stopped to consider that maybe it was better to have perfection. And it was. So much better.

We made love, floating in the air in the center of the gym.

It was heaven.

EPILOGUE

The next day, I walked into school, remembering Emily’s words to me. “Be nice, Lil. No more being condescending and bitchy to everyone else at school. Especially not Mr. Matthews.”

Of course.

Here I was, a Class 10 – basically a demigoddess – and I couldn’t even fuck with anyone anymore. I sighed. I guess it didn’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things. I mean, I still had Emily to go back to every night, right? At least I was in love. It did tend to make annoying things, like being nice to people, easier to deal with.

The thought of Emily made me smile as I walked down the hallway. A couple of boys, walking by, collapsed to the floor. My smile widened. I couldn’t help it. It was good to be a 10. Maybe there was still a bit of mischief I could get myself into. I mean, what Emily didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, right?

As I arrived at my locker, I saw Liam out of the corner of my eye. He could still siphon, right? I wonder if he could power me up to whatever Class Emily had rea—

“I heard that thought, Lil,” came Emily’s voice in my mind. “Naughty, naughty…”

Fuck.

I’d really have to start watching my thoughts from now on. But hell, maybe that was a good thing. It would help me stay on the straight and narrow.

Hmm. Or not. The thought of being a perpetual goodie-two-shoes made me feel a little icky.

Grabbing my books from my locker, I wondered briefly what the range was on her telepathy thing. Maybe she wasn’t listening all the time.

I paused, waiting to see if she would chide me again for that thought. She didn’t. Maybe her attention was simply turned elsewhere at the moment. I’d have to see how I could use that to my advantage. Not for anything bad, really. Just for a little fun.

Liam’s eyes met my own. They were trembling, probably with desire. With a sly smile, I gave him a mischievous wink, watching him drop all of his books with amusement.

“Oh, Lilly,” came Emily’s exasperated voice.

My sly smile becoming a full-on smirk, I thought back. “What?! I can’t be good all the time, can I?”