Charged Part Three

“Hello. Watch where you’re going,” Dakota said, colliding with what felt like a tree trunk. She reached out to steady herself and turned.
A pale, white face stared down at her, but it belonged to the two most brilliant brown eyes she’d ever seen. They looked like pools of dark chocolate.
“In a hurry?” the guy asked.
Long dark locks of hair spilled forward as he leaned toward her. What was up with everyone being so tall? She instantly despised her tiny five-foot-three status.
She batted strands of hair off her forehead, glad, for once, for the windowless hallways leading from the workout room. She would have cleaned up more had she known she’d be running into Mr. GQ. Oh, and nice-smelling GQ. Was that Envy cologne tickling her nostrils?
“Dakota Summers?” The guy held up an index card.
“Yeah?” She stepped back, fighting with her constricting lungs to catch a breath.
“Mr. Smith sent me here to find you. I’m—.” He looked side-to-side then smiled. “I’m new here. He said you’d show me around?”
Her brain turned to mush. “I’ll whaa—?”
His gaze shifted beyond her then to the index card in his hand.
“Oh. New student. New . . . .” Finally the synapses started firing. New to the team. Meaning, new powers. New everything.
Duh. She probably looked like a pretty impressive mentor-type right then.
She’d stayed up way too late with Sean the previous night. How she refused his offer to go to his room, she didn’t know, but she was glad she did. Maybe it was a good thing she had because Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome looked mighty—
“Hey, Red, you okay?”
“Red?”
He pointed his forefinger toward her head. “Yeah, the hair . . . sorry it’s a habit. I give nicknames to pretty—well, I just give people nicknames.”
She tugged at her stringy locks. “Oh. The hair. I get it. Um. Let’s get out of here.”
She stepped around him and plowed down the hall, thankful for the dim lighting. For as much as they burned, she could only imagine how bright her cheeks were.
She cranked the stairwell door open. Metal slamming against metal echoed as she made her way up the stairs with Mr. I-could-melt-in-your-arms newbie close behind. “Okay, so I didn’t catch your name.”
He coughed. “Name? Oh, it’s Tom.”
“Where are you from?” She glanced up. One more flight to ground level.
The lights flickered out.
“Whoa!” Tom said.
“Don’t move.” She reached behind her and sent a little charge of electricity to her fingers. “See my hand?”
“Wow. I do.”
“Grab it.”
“Won’t that hurt? That’s electricity.”
“Only if I want it to hurt. Just grab it. I have to keep my bearings.”
His fingers met hers, and she shut off her electrical charge. Or at least she thought she did. Her skin still tingled where he touched it.
Okay, that’s new.
“What’s happening?”
“Probably nothing. Stay still.” Dakota squeezed his hand, suddenly worried for his safety. “So, what’s your power? How long have you had it?”
A muffled scream erupted. Maybe it came from the floor above them?
“No. It came from behind us.”
“Oh great. Another mind reader.”
“Another one?”
“Forget it.” She tightened her grip around his fingers then lit up her other hand. Her body brushed against his as she made her way down the stairs. “Come on, Tom. Let’s see what you’re made of. Stay close. I’ll keep you safe.”
Too bad his power wasn’t strength or fire or something lethal like that. All she knew was that she needed to protect him.
Dakota creaked open the stairwell door and peeked out, but something hard crashed against the side of her face. She released Tom’s hand and spun, then ducked and kicked. Her foot collided with whatever had just smacked her. A knee maybe? She lit up her fingers and reached for the attacker, but Tom stepped in and wrapped his large hand around the demon’s neck.
His digits glowed as did his eyes, and the demon vaporized. Not even a burst of dust like usual. The next second, his eyes and hand returned to normal. He looked at Dakota and offered her the hand he’d just used to kill the demon to help her up.
“Nice trick!” She let him pull her to her feet. “You’re gonna come in handy.”
The light radiating from her charge reflected his teeth as he smiled. “That’s the idea.”
Tom took lead, still holding Dakota’s hand. Her throat had gone dry. All the moisture in her mouth somehow ended up in her palms.
Mental blocks up! He’d probably heard her thoughts about his looks earlier. And how good he smelled. And then the chocolate comment.
“Get off her,” a muffled voice said from a distance.
A grunt followed, then the clap of a hand hitting flesh. Dakota pointed to the right side of the dark hallway. Athletic Trainers’ room. She glanced at Tom. The light from her hand outlined his clenched jaw and glistening forehead. Poor guy. Just got to the school and already thrown into battle.
“It’s okay. I’m ready.” He squeezed her hand.
So much for her mental blocks. She was going to have to talk to him about that mind reading thing. She snuffed out her light and stepped into the room. A hiss sounded to her left and the unmistakable smell of rancid demon breath washed over her.
She ignited a charge that illuminated her skin, lighting up the room. A demon to her left had a dark-haired female pinned against the desk, violating her body and inhaling her soul. Another demon, to her right, hunched over a guy, mouth latched onto his neck.
“Tom, get the girl.”
Dakota lunged at the other demon. Tendrils of electricity shot from her fingertips as they made contact with the demon’s cold skin. It stumbled back, and her charged hand gripped its neck. She reached for the blade in her boot. The demon snuck a backhand to her cheek. She held her grip on it, but the weapon clanked against the cement floor, out of reach.
Guess it would have to be done the gross way.
She wrapped her other hand around the neck and when her fingers touched, electricity sparked. The demon howled. The stench of burning flesh filled the air. Dakota gagged but held on. She preferred extermination by stabbing much better than electrocution.
The body in her grip thrashed. Its eyes bulged and tongue shot out. Streaks of electricity flashed like light bulbs in its mouth and eyes until finally the head detached. Splats of crimson stained Dakota’s white shirt, then the demon turned to smoke.
The sudden loss of the creature’s body weight sent Dakota stumbling back, and her butt hit the desk. Two strong hands grabbed her shoulders, keeping her from plummeting to the side.
She squeezed her hand around Tom’s forearm. A faint current shot up through her fingers. She looked at her fingers expecting to see them illuminated. But they weren’t.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes. The other one is gone, but so is the girl.”
Dakota lit up her skin again so she could see, then scrambled to the guy’s side and felt for a pulse. “He’s alive.”
Beams of light filled the hallway. “Everyone okay in there?” A deep voice, Dakota recognized as belonging to Mr. Smith asked.
“Here!” Dakota said.
“Tom?” Mr. Smith said as he walked through the doorway holding a flashlight in front of him.
“Yes, sir.”
“Dakota. Are you two okay?” Mr. Smith looked over his black-rimmed glasses at her.
Dakota snuffed out her light bulb skin--civilians might be close behind Mr. Smith. “Yes, sir. This one’s alive.”
“We’ll take care of it. Tom, we’ll need your assistance with his memory later.”
He nodded as he stepped toward Dakota. “Yes, sir.”
“So, Dakota, this is how you treat the new guy?” Mr. Smith nodded toward Tom.
“You know me. I’m not one to mess around. Like to see what they’re made of right off the bat.”
Tom grinned. He flashed his dark eyes at Dakota, and her brain suddenly ached like she’d slurped an Icee too quickly.
Red, there’s more I must tell you about me.

Read The Competition: Elemental Rain