“It has its perks,” I smirked, and she blinked, the spell broken.
Abby exhaled, as though the release had been a relief. Her tongue flickered out—unconsciously, I was sure—and traced her lips as she stared into my eyes.
“I want to know something.” I traced her face with a fingertip, brushing a curl of hair from her eye.
“What is it?”
“Your avatar. What are its powers? What can you do with it?”
Abby smiled shyly and placed a velvety hand on my chest.
Then, without warning, electricity exploded through my body. The shock blasted blast me off my feet and sent me sliding across the obsidian. Stunned, all I could do was lay there for a minute while the lightning jerked through my muscles. I didn’t know whether to be irritated, or impressed.
With a deft twist of my hips, I pulled myself onto my feet. Abby was already moving toward me, her eyes a crackling azure and lightning sparking between her fingers. Her hair danced with static, and even here, I could feel the electricity radiating from her.
“Damn,” I said, “you’re really something, aren’t you?”
“I’m a Storm Elemental,” Abby told me. “After Ciryli bonded my soul to my core, this form was the closest thing I could find to my own skin. I wasn’t like you—it took me fifty years to earn an avatar.”
The electricity flickered and died down, her hair falling back over her face. The dancing lightning in her hands fizzled out, leaving behind the smell of fresh rain and ozone.
“Well, it was definitely worth the wait.” I smiled at her.
Abby knew I was talking about the mountaintop, and I watched the blood flow back into her cheeks. But she didn’t stop stepping toward me, drawn to me like a magnet. I could see it in the way her pearly teeth chewed at her lip, the way her eyes constantly raced over my bare skin, the way it caught the blood-red and azure light of our cores.
Curiosity at her crackling form washed over me, and I tilted my head as I looked over her. The embodied of a lightning storm grew closer as her eyes communicated a raw desire. I had thought the residual electricity was part of her being a dungeon core avatar, but this new form was something else completely. Was this her avatar’s perk? Transforming into what could only be described as a Storm Elemental?
It was powerful, and more to the point, it could help Zagorath. A crazy idea swam into my mind, and I chuckled as I stepped away from her.
“Show me more,” I said.
Abby’s face couldn’t hide the disappointment that flickered past it. “What do you mean?”
“Your powers. What can you do?”
Her eyes glowed as a smile touched her face. “So much more.”
I opened my arms invitingly as a smirk crossed my face. “Hit me with your best shot.”
She hesitated, her eyes beginning to clear. I couldn’t have that—I needed to keep that power firing through her to find out what else she could do with it. My elf’s agility covered the floor in a few rapid paces as I laughed and whipped past her. She reached for me, but I ducked beneath her outstretched arm. My hand caught her wonderfully-formed ass with a firm but playful slap. Storm Essence boiled through her at the contact as lightning crackled through her clothes and turned her skin a bright blue.
There was the Storm Elemental. That’s what I wanted to see.
“Hey!” she snarled, her eyes narrowing.
“Come on,” I said as I zipped behind a pillar. “Catch me. Pin me down. Defeat me, and you can take whatever you like from my avatar.”
“I’m not sure you really want to see the full extent of my powers,” Abby said as the lightning swirling around her retreated into her pale flesh.
What was it going to take for her to stay in elemental form?
I poked my head out from behind the pillar and smirked at her. “You weren’t quite as hesitant on the peak, Abby. Something change? Or are you just getting bored of me?”
“You’re a cretin,” she muttered playfully before she started forward.
“And you’re slow.” I laughed, kicking off the pillar. “Show me the real power flowing through those lovely veins of yours.”
Lightning blazed to her boots, and in half a second, she’d covered the distance between us. I swung out of the way to dodge her sparking fingertips and rolled behind yet another pillar.
“Bertha, First Floor!” My voice boomed through the chamber as Abby chased me.
I wanted to test the full capabilities of both my women, and there was no better way than pitting them against each other. I just had to stall until Bertha got here.
Abby was fast, faster even than my elf’s fleet footfalls. Her boots skipped over the obsidian floors like… well, lightning. While I was agile enough to change direction at the last second, my movements were becoming predictable. She appeared in front of me, her whole body laced with lightning. This time, I couldn’t dodge her hands, and she caught hold of my chest. Lightning blasted through my system, and I spasmed, crashing into a wall.
The Storm Elemental shot toward me and leaned over my spasming form.
“Now are you ready to end this little test?” A grin of pure triumph appeared on Abby’s face, and she leaned in to kiss me as the lightning retreated from her lips.
I slipped under her arms yet again and smacked her ass playfully on the way out. Only this time, lightning flared at the contact, and an electric surge hit me like a runaway pick-up
