Heroes & Villains

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Title: Psychotic
Author: Harper Kingsley
World: Heroes & Villains
Genre: mm superhero
Word count: 8750
A/N: This story is set during part three of Allies & Enemies. It began as a cut scene and was expanded.
A/N 2: Includes excerpts of upcoming stories. First two chapters of Allies & Enemies, the first two chapters of The Panic Pure, and the opening of Normal Again.

Summary: Warrick should stay safe in their little cabin in the woods, but sometimes that whole superhero thing gets away from him.

Available at: Amazon, Smashwords for $0.99

EXCERPT:

He’d given up that life. He wasn’t that guy anymore. He’d made promises and commitments. But that was all in the past tense. He was in the moment, in the now, and there was the thunder red of rage-rage-rage burning across Vereint’s brain.

All this time, Warrick had been so great about following the rules. So why did he have to fuck up now?

Vereint had come back to an empty cabin, a TV still showing GNN, and a note. Warrick had seen something that called for Blue Ice, so he’d gone off to handle it.

Vereint’s panic as he chased after Warrick had gradually turned to burning anger. Didn’t Warrick understand what putting himself in danger did to him? The sense of helplessness and suffocating worry that he felt?

Vereint wanted to scream in Warrick’s face, but he knew he would end up on his knees begging him to never leave him. And that patheticness only made him angrier. Never in his life had there been anyone to bring him so low as Warrick could.

By the time he reached the warehouse, he was mostly in control. Then he broke the lock and slid open the door. It felt like the moment froze in front of him, the air going heavy and still.

Warrick was dead.

There was blood everywhere in a butterfly spray, and at the center the torn cocoon. Flesh splayed open in pink and white ridges of muscle and tendon. Eye sockets blackened and exposed amongst the brain matter. Warrick’s face was pasty and still, his shattered lips still parted around where his teeth had been kicked out.

Vereint sucked in a hissing breath and his hands clenched into claw shapes at his sides. He was going mad. The world was a riot of bright reds and softer pinks and the glistening lengths of intestine. The image before him soaked itself into his brain. Becoming the truth of his existence.

Then he noticed that the Blue Ice uniform was wrong. It was one Vereint knew for sure had been ruined in a fight with Behemoth. He’d thrown it away himself, which had been a real hardship. It had been his favorite.

Just that quick he knew someone was messing with his brain.

It was as though someone had snapped a new lens on a camera, everything coming into focus. He could still see the mind fuckery of the illusion, but it was hollow and thin, all the emotional impact removed.

There were two men in black three-piece suits standing next to a card table. They were laughing and joking, placing bets on how long he would freak out.

As his mind started working again, Vereint’s eyes were drawn to the vibrating silver device on the table. He’d only ever heard about them, but he was sure that it was a Psiren. It produced sound waves focused to some frequency that could force the human brain to experience different emotions. The feelings drawn up were so strong that some people experienced correlating hallucinations.

Vereint tried to make his body convey terror and grief and was glad of the ski mask he’d pulled on before leaving. He’d never been that great of an actor, which was why he usually let Warrick do the lying for the both of them.

His eyes slid to the back of the room where he’d spotted the glint of a blade pressed tight against the real Warrick’s throat. His jaw clenched tight with fear and anger.

Warrick wasn’t moving, was flopped limply, but Vereint could see the minute quiver of his breaths. He was pulled across the over-sized lap of a man that had to be a good fifteen hundred pounds.

Vereint recognized the man as Jericho Slim, sometimes called the Knife Man because he could do horrible nightmare things with a blade. He could draw them out of his flesh like gall stones. He would gag and a blade would come out from between his lips or sometimes it would just be slivers. It was said he could spit his Needle Darts faster than a viper and he could hit a target up to two hundred feet away.

Even though he was sure he was faster than Jericho Slim, Vereint didn’t want to risk the guy getting lucky. It was better to play it safe and maneuver the situation to keep Warrick alive. Because a single scratch from one of Jericho Slim’s bioblades and Warrick would rot from the wound like it was the bite of a Gila monster; it was a horrible way to die.

After what he figured had to be a good five minutes of shivering, shaking, and quavering garbled cries, Vereint let himself sag to the floor with a low moan. From what he knew, an improperly used Psiren could cause catatonia in people that had experienced severe psychological trauma.

He was worried about Warrick. With his history and not possessing Vereint’s natural protections, things were worse for Warrick. Being hit with the effects of a Psiren could give him permanent brain damage.

Vereint was certain he was going to be killing some people today.

/EXCERPT ∞

Aside 0 comments

Okay, so there’s been stuff happening with me. Sorry I haven’t kept you up-to-date, but I’ve been in one of my moods, though I seem to be coming out of it fast 🙂 So that’s good.

Heroes & Villains is releasing August 14th (tomorrow!) from Less Than Three Press. You can pre-order it now if you don’t already have a copy. Or if you want to try and win yourself a copy, follow the blog tour. A winner will be drawn August 19th, and since there’s five stops, you have five chances to win. Awesome.

The Armchair Reader – Aug 12th with the awesome Cole Riann.
It’s Raining Men – Aug 13th.
Pants Off Reviews – Aug 14th.
World of Diversity Fiction – Aug 15th.
Megan Derr’s LJ – Aug 16th.

And if you don’t know Heroes & Villains, it’s the first full-length novel in my superhero series chronicling the life of Vereint and Warrick.

Set in a semi-dystopian world where everyone can have superpowers if they’re lucky in the genetic lottery or they have enough money to buy some, Vereint starts off wanting to be a superhero like his idol Blue Ice. He was lucky enough to be born with metabilities, so he set off to build himself a secret identity and became the superhero Starburst.

Quickly nicknamed Candy Ass for being so lame.

Everyone seems against him, especially the man he spent his teenaged years admiring, Blue Ice. It feels as though nothing he does is every enough, he needs to break out of his humdrum life where he has an office job for money and is mercilessly mocked every time he goes out to help people. Nothing he does seems to alleviate the public’s opinion and he feels like he can’t take it anymore…

So he doesn’t. He sheds his superhero skin and becomes the supervillain Darkstar.

He’s no Lex Luthor plotting and planning world domination. He’s out to have some fun and make some money. He’s not interested in atrocities, especially when they’re done in his name. He’s got no interest in minions or followers and he’s a little creeped out by all the fanfic. He’s just a guy with superpowers having a good time and committing some crimes.

Though it’s kind of cool that Blue Ice is his arch-nemesis. There’s nothing like making the guy that bullied you squirm.

Darkstar x Blue Ice.

(And suddenly I started sounding like a commercial for toys. Unfortunately, I talk like that in real life too. Never ask me to describe a stirling engine. It gets real weird real fast.)

Plus there’s this 🙂

Across Two Divides: Arc One comprises Chapters 1-10 and is available now from Amazon and Smashwords for $2.99.

You can still catch up with the free version at FictionPress. But look, I made such a nice cover! I’m so proud of myself.

This is my soap opera romance novel family life story. I’m already planning out all these story arcs that these people can go through. The assassination attempts, the killer allergies, the grief for a cousin that’s gone… This is totally my soothing brain story.

And this is the same world as The Panic Pure and From Diamond to Coal, so there might be crossings with Arianetta and his creepiness, or William with his giant robots.

EXCERPT:

-FRANKIE-

Sitting broody on his couch wasn’t something that Frankie did very often, though he’d caught himself drinking more and more until he was starting to get vaguely concerned. It was one thing to be a social drinker, and something completely different for him to need a drink in his hand to be able to even think about facing his day.

Looking around his living room, his accomplishments hanging from every wall, he should have felt proud but it was just empty accolades from people he didn’t care about.

He looked down at the magazine still held in his hand and tossed it away with a grimace before taking another swallow from his tumbler of scotch.

It was just a stupid magazine and he shouldn’t let it get to him, but it was the little things that always ended up cutting him the most. He’d had a lot of respect for Hester Mann, but it looked like that feeling wasn’t returned, to the point that she’d written such an awful article about him. It was like a straight stab to the heart.

Frankie let himself flop sideways on the couch, resting his head on a fat red decorative pillow, the rich brocade probably leaving marks against his cheek.

As a kid he’d believed that fame would bring happiness and everything that he wanted out of life. Instead, he’d found himself emptier than ever.

“I’ve got a black hole heart,” he muttered, then barked a laugh that sounded more like the start to tears.

He held his arm up in front of his face, making the medical alert bracelet dance and sparkle against his wrist bone. He could see the reflected light hitting the opposing wall and that entertained him for a while. Anything not to think about Hester Mann and her strange vendetta against him.

His thoughts were broken by the vibrating buzz of his phone in his front pocket and he had to fumble around to get it out. “Hello?” He was proud that the word came out clearly and not the slurred mess it might have been.

“Francis? This is Christian.” There was something dark in the man’s voice that had Frankie forcing himself upright on the couch. He didn’t even care that Christian had used his real name.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.

There was the sound of a heavy sigh. “Do you think you could come and see Nicholas?”

“Why? Is he all right?” Frankie was worried, more worried than he’d thought he could be. There was just something so fragile about Nicholas, a brokenness that no one had ever been able to completely fix.

“I don’t know,” Christian said. “He was fine at work, then there was a bit of an accident with some spilled coffee and now he’s crawled into bed and I just don’t know what’s going on with him.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Frankie said. “You still at that one hotel?”

“Yeah, the same one we always stay at,” Christian said, then gave the room number. “Hurry.”

“I’ll be there.”

Hanging up his phone, Frankie wasn’t sure he would be able to make it there as easily as he’d thought. He’d already drunk more than enough scotch and he wasn’t sure just how steady his legs were going to be, but it wasn’t like he had a lot of choice. Nicholas needed him to be there for him.

He’d failed before, but never again.

/EXCERPT ∞

July 25, 2013 0 comments

Allies & Enemies, by Harper Kingsley. Chapters 1+2 [superhero, mm]

Title: Allies & Enemies
Author: Harper Kingsley
Pairing: Vereint Georges/Warrick Tobias
Genre: mm superhero
A/N: This isn’t even 10% of the novel, which is 136,000+ words of awesome. You know you want some superhero/supervillain relationship action. Plus, OMG, it gets real in this one.
A/N 2: **Spoiler alert** If you haven’t read Heroes & Villains, you might be a bit spoiled just by the everyday stuff. **Spoiler alert**
Content Warning: There’s some sexy happenings, but it’s not in super graphic detail.
Summary: The first two chapters. Picks up from the epilogue of Heroes & Villains (Less Than Three Press – August 14, 2013).

CHAPTER ONE

The sun was struggling to shine through the clouds, but it was just one of those days guaranteed to be miserable. Not just because of the weather, but because of the girl sobbing out her heartbreak on a sterile hospital bed, the sheets pulled up around her shoulders as she buried her face in the rather flat and lumpy pillow.

Vereint clenched his hands together on the handle of the shopping bag he held. It took all of his will to keep from running into the room and scooping her up into his arms. Instead he stood on the other side of the glass and watched her mourn the loss of both of her parents. Behind and to the left of him, he could hear Warrick fast-talking the doctors and the police and anyone else he had to, and Vereint was sure everything was going to work itself out.

They were going to take that little girl home and give her a family and make sure she grew up knowing that she was loved. He didn’t think they could ever wipe away the loss of her parents, but they would try their best to make her realize that she still had a whole life to live and they would be there for her.

April 21, 2013 0 comments

Heroes & Villains, by Harper Kingsley

small-HeroesVillains In case you haven’t seen it yet, this is the new cover for Heroes & Villains, which will be coming out August 14th from Less Than Three Press. I’m super excited about this (and you know you are too, nanu nanu.)

134,000+ words of superhero/supervillain interaction and eventual romance. Set in a world where metahaumans are accepted and there’s more than just a job in superscience to fall back on, Vereint dreams of using his metabilities to become someone great. Even if that means being the bad guy.

Here’s the Goodreads page. (I have no idea how to update the cover art. That’s a bit beyond me at the moment 😛 )

VEREINT GEORGES — starts out as the superhero Starburst, but becomes the legendary supervillain Darkstar. All he wants is to be respected and admired as he makes a splash in Megacity.

WARRICK REIDENGER TOBIAS — billionaire playboy and superhero Blue Ice. Member of the League of Superheroes. Kind of a douche at first; he gets better as the story goes along and he lets himself accept what he really wants out of life.

CASPIAN DUKES — this half-Atlantean superhero and member of the League of Superheroes doesn’t even bother with a secret identity. He is Warrick’s best friend and partner in crime.

Here, because I love you, have an excerpt from Allies & Enemies:

[Warrick and Caspian are superbro’ing it up.]

Aliens. It was aliens again.

He remembered a time when the thought of aliens brought to mind awkwardly waddling glob-monsters that just wanted to go home. Now he had to deal with aliens that wanted to suck out peoples’ brains before absorbing their organic tissue into its heaving mass of pink and red ick.

“E.T., go the fuck home!” he yelled, dodging out of the way of a writhing tentacle that burned the asphalt like acid where it hit.

“Why do all aliens have to look like fucking Jell-o monsters?” Caspian asked. He’d been given a dart gun loaded with some kind of chemical that was supposed to render the blob monster helpless, crystallizing its insides or something. Only the darts he’d fired so far had all bounced. Neither one of them was having a good time.

Warrick blasted an oncoming tentacle, freezing it in mid-air. “Not all aliens are blob things,” he puffed. “Some of them are hot alien babes sent to seduce strong virile superheroes. Remember Blandromeda? She kept trying to get into my pants. I had to have Lady Arcana give her the girl-talk about why I wasn’t into her generous offer.”

Caspian snorted. “She was sent to destroy Earth’s mightiest heroes by infecting them with space herpesyphilaids. You dodged a bullet, man. Charismo’s wiener had to be surgically amputated after it started smoking and melting. Dude’s still bitter about it.”

“Didn’t the Mechanic give him a robo-dick though? Wasn’t that good enough?” Warrick froze the tentacles heading toward Caspian, giving him a chance to fire another shot.

The dart bounced.

“Dammit.” Caspian tumbled out of the way of a finger-thin tendril. Seemed like the space blob was trying to teach itself to be stealthy. “I don’t know about you, man, but I like my original parts. And if I ever decide to get anything replaced, I don’t want it to happen because I caught an STD from some space hooker.”

Warrick cackled. “Space hooker. That shit’s going in my diary.”

They had been maneuvering the blob away from the civilians trapped in the overturned bus and hazmat suit wearing police rushed in to hustle them out of the way. It was the best they could manage until their League backup arrived with better weapons.

The blob quivered with frustrated rage and a shudder went through the whole thing. There was a disgusting sucking-gurgling sound and an oozing maw lined with human-bone pseudo-teeth opened up.

“Have you ever seen the movie ‘Teeth?'” Caspian’s voice had gone up hysterically. “That shit gave me nightmares that went something like this.”

Warrick leapt up into the air and swooped down to snatch Caspian up under the arms just as the blob jumped into the spot Caspian had been standing. Angry tentacles reached for them, trying to grab a trailing foot, but Warrick carried them up high enough it couldn’t reach. He blinked sweat from his eye.

“Whoo, that almost got ugly,” he said.

Caspian gave a wordless whimper and his grip on Warrick’s shoulders was almost painful.

“You guys all right?” a brassy voice asked.

Warrick turned to find Witch Fire hovering on her broom. “We’re fine, but you better have brought something to handle that thing. If it eats one more person, it might get too strong to be stopped.”

Witch Fire made a face at him, but reached into a velvet satchel at her waist and pulled out a glass vial filled with a glowing blue liquid. “It took a while, but the lab boys whipped this up for you. You freeze it and I’ll pour?”

Warrick shifted Caspian around until the guy could clamber onto his back. “I got this.”

There was something about using his abilities that made all of the problems he faced seem tiny and far away. It was as though his metability froze his emotions too. It was one of the things that made him great in a fight–he always kept a cool head.

Focusing down on the pool of liquid ice that always seemed to lap away in the deeper corners of his mind, Warrick called it out of him and down his arms. It was distilled winter blasting out of his hands, the kind of deadly cold that nothing living on Earth could hope to survive.

To him, it felt warm. Like a shot of straight whiskey burning in his belly, only it went through his whole body.

The alien blob was frozen solid, though it only held a few minutes. Whatever was at the heart of that thing had a molten core and a hunger for living flesh.

It was frozen long enough.

Witch Fire unstoppered the vial, releasing a puff of noxious black smoke she kept well away from her face, and she zipped down to pour the thick, viscous blue straight down the creature’s maw. Making a mouth had been a mistake.

“We need to get back!” Witch Fire yelled, zooming past him.

Warrick didn’t hesitate to follow, ducking behind the safety of a skyscraper. “What’s going to happen?”

“Oh…” There was a thunderous BOOM! and the wet splatter of regurgitated organic matter slapping against buildings and the ground.

“Just that.” Witch Fire’s grin was positively demonic. “Enjoy the clean up, boys.” She zipped away in a flash of trailing red hair.

Warrick came back around the building to see the result of their actions. “I feel like we just got F’d in the A.”

“Word.”

Gobs of red and pink stuck everywhere like half-digested steak tartar. There was already a rancid smell happening and Warrick’s mouth watered in the way that warned he was about to vomit.

Caspian made a heaving noise behind him and Warrick twisted so Caspian fell loose, then caught him around the waist from behind. He gripped Caspian by the hips as Caspian bent forward and began to throw up, the vomit hitting the ground below with a sickening splash.

Warrick squeezed his eyes tight shut and tried to hold his breath and picture kittens. Cute, cuddly, furry, non-vomiting kittens.

“Sexy alien babes would be so much better,” he said.

“Yeah,” Caspian garbled agreement.