Breaking The Line Draft 1, CH 17

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#17 of Breaking The Line

draft 1 of Book 5 in the inheriting the Line Series.

Denton reels from what Damian revealed to him, Arnold runs the war as best as he can when everyone who is supposed to help him seems more interested in arguing with him.

but Denton might have kept himself out of the war too long by the time he realizes what Damian is really after, and those who'll pay the cost might be his closest friends.

if you want to read ahead of everyone else, the complete story is available on my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/kindar

or, you can buy the published book from Gumroad https://kindar11.gumroad.com/l/BreakingTheLine or Amazon https://amzn.to/3MqgUWA

Posted using PostyBirb


The otter's green eye were intense with concentration as he fucked me. I had my legs around his waist and arms around his neck and did my best not to smile as I moaned. I was loving the sex, but each of the guys who'd fucked me over the last thirty-six hours had a similar expression. After a while, it just looked silly. His thrusts became erratic, then bottomed out with a scream and came.

As with the others, I didn't feel anything different from any other fuck; but as with them, it took a lot out of the otter. He rolled off me with a string of Spanish curses. I recognized a handful of them from Lorraine's bad days.

Fred burst in the room. "Well?"

I laughed. "Well what? Do you really expect my answer to be different from the previous fourteen times? I feel fine, no different, no big surge of energy, and if I focus I can feel his ability inside me with the others." I felt the sense of blockage that was his power and tried to guess what he could do.

"At least that's consistent," the lion said. Frank stepped around him and joined the otter, lying next to him before turning him on his side to fuck him. "Can you feel any decay on the abilities? Can you use Maximilian's as easily as yesterday?"

I sat on the edge of the bed. And accessed that ability to listen in on the otter's mind and was flooded with a dozen pornos worth of scenes of him with a lot of otters. Wow, those guys really knew how to put my orgies to shame.

Fred chuckled; he was looking at my hard-on. "I'm going to take that as a yes."

"None of the abilities feel different. If there's a timer on them, it's either too soon, or the signal is something I can't tell apart yet."

"I'm going to guess too soon. There's a chance it's permanent, the Orrs gift's are permanent, after all." I stared at the lion. He cut off my complaint. "But they are wired that way, what we're doing here is more like exploiting a loophole."

"You're talking like He didn't know I could do this," I said, not bothering hiding my vehemence. "He's a god, I'd think that if I can do this, it's because He planned it this way."

Fred placed a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just tired. Not this, the war, Denver under this invisible siege, stress. I haven't been sleeping great." I almost told Fred about the nightly dreams, but I already had enough of this 'I'm some fucking special guy' with discovering things after things that I could do no one else could. If Fred found out He was now providing me with background information on His life, I'd never hear the end of it.

I took a breath. "Look, Fred, I get that this is a great experiment to you, but what's the point? At the start you mentioned something about freeing the people under Damian's control, but I don't see how having Chimbo's speed burst ability is going to help with that.

Behind me Frank's grunting intensified. The otter's panting joined him. I glanced over my shoulder in time to see Frank tense, with the otter's legs over his shoulders. The otter shot cum all over his stomach.

Fred looked at them and licked his lips, sporting an erection too. "Focus," I told him, and the lion grinned. "On this conversation, not them."

"Right." Fred looked at my hard-on and smirked.

"I already have your ability, Fred. What's the point of all this? How does me having fifteen ability help free anyone?"

"Technically, I'm confident only mine and Ricardo's will be needed, although I can see Chimo's helping you get close enough if that's needed."

I sighed. "So the rest's just your curiosity? Fred, there are people out there who need our help. We don't have time to waste with this."

"We couldn't do anything without Ricardo, and he got in just before fucking you. Feeling better Ricardo?" Fred asked.

"Si. I did not believe you when you explained, but it was different. What is he?"

"He's present in the room," I replied, "and I'm just a guy who didn't ask for any of this so how about we get back to how this is going to help."

Fred pulled a chair and sat. "Okay, I'll keep it short."

"Thank you." I really hoped Fred definition of short would match mine for once.

"Through the experiments we're run breaking Damian's control--don't look surprised, I can break magic and there are phrases to see it. What I've worked out is that breaking the link caused the target to hemorrhage their energy. We tried encasing them in phrases to prevent it from happening, but even then, they died. The only time I had a success was when I had a healer, but by the time I could tell him to act, the guy was already pretty weak, and we couldn't do anything to get him better. He's free, but without machines to keep him alive, he'll die. Not the result we're looking for."

"As far as I know, there wasn't a healer among the guys who fucked me. Frank doesn't let me heal others." Through him I knew what a healing ability felt like, and while returning every family's secrets, I'd met two healers and tapped their abilities. They all had the same core sense of mending, with variations hinting at the difference in how they worked.

"I tried to convince one of the known healers to come, but as you can expect, their families are reluctant to let them travel."

"Travel to see me, you mean. The big bad Rasia."

Fred shrugged helplessly. "Your family--"

"I know. My fucking family did nothing but make enemies and there's nothing I can do that will fix it."

"But it doesn't matter in the end; I think Ricardo's ability will be more useful than a healer."

I felt it again, a sense of blockage. "I can't tell what it is, something about blocking."

"Exactly," Fred said.

"I don't get it."

The lion smiled. "Ricky?"

"Ricardo," The otter replied in a tone that made it clear this wasn't the first time he'd corrected Fred. "I can stop anything that flows."

"Like water?"

"Anything."

The room went dark. Utterly dark. Before my eyes adjusted, the light was back in a bright flash before returning to normal.

"He--"

"Dams things up," I said in awe.

"Yes," Fred replied, "and like a dam, anything behind it accumulates."

"Which is what caused the flash."

Ricardo nodded.

"So in most circumstances, he has to be careful. But in this case, it won't matter, because normal people don't create all that much energy."

"So I use his ability to prevent the hemorrhaging, then yours to sever the connection without a cost to myself."

"Only what come with using my ability," Fred said.

"That's a lot less than what I need to burn one of those threads. I still see a problem, once I stop damming the flow, they go right back to dying."

"You do not have to stop," Ricardo said. "I can place a dam so it remains without further thoughts."

"For how long?"

The otter shrugged. "I dammed a little stream, back home. I had to release it after a month do to the flooding it caused."

"A month is impressing, but it's still--"

"I did not need to end it," Ricardo said. "I felt no weakness from it when I used my ability other times."

I considered that. "So, in theory, a dam could stay in place for that entire person's life?"

"Si."

"But it won't come to that," Fred said, "I figure all we need is for it to remain long enough for the body to heal normally."

"You said your healer couldn't do anything."

"That was magic, energy, I could watch it seep out as fast as it was poured in, it fixed enough so he didn't outright die, but the overflow, the energy that would do the repair, that went through the hole."

"Has his condition improved since then?"

Fred shook his head.

"Then why do you think when I do it they'll be able to heal naturally?"

"Because they would be near death," Fred said with far too much force.

"You don't know."

He deflated. "I don't know. But even then, once this is over, once Damian is," he hesitated, "dead, all the magic he performed on them should end, and that includes whatever he did to cause the hemorrhaging."

I didn't point out the major flaw in his reasoning. If it was magic, his ability would have stopped it. I suspected he knew, he wasn't an idiot, but he needed to believe in this to keep going.

"Okay, so we need to test it on someone."

"It isn't like there's a lack of potential subjects," Frank said. "If we grab a random cop, the odds are good they'll be marked."

"I'd prefer trying it on someone more significant." I took my phone from my jacket and sent a message to Flint asking for a meeting.

"Who do you have in mind?" Fred asked.

"Alice. She's got to be marked. It's the only thing that explains her behavior. I free her and we get to talk, fix this, and she's deep enough she might know things we can use."

"Right, she's in deep," Frank said. "She was in deep before any of this started, her anger at you has nothing to do with marks."

"Maybe not to start with, but even Bret confirmed her behavior was abnormal."

"Which he recanted a few weeks later."

"He was marked then. I checked."

"And you haven't checked her?"

"She's kept her distances. Either she knows I can see marks, which Damian knows, or she's kept busy with church business. Maybe she's running this takeover of the city. I wouldn't put it past Damian to do that just to piss me off." My phone buzzed. The message from Flint was an address and time. "And I'm heading to meet someone who should be able to help me locate her." I pulled my pants on. "Can you stick around, Ricardo?"

"I am sorry, I cannot. I can come and go as I please, but I have to inform my father where I spend my nights. If he finds out a am in Denver, he will not be happy. I am sorry, I mean no disrespect, I see you are not like the stories of the Rasias I have been told, but--"

"I'm still a fucking Rasia." I threw on my shirt. "It's okay, I know they earned that reputation. It's going to take a lot of work on my part to erase that."

The otter looked at me. "I do not know if you can."

I paused halfway buttoning it up. "What do you mean?"

"They see all you are doing as a ploy to gain more power over them."

"I fucking returning all the secrets my family had accumulated, didn't that count for anything?"

"They see another ploy. No one makes secret what they believe they know about you."

I looked at Fred, but it was his brother who spoke.

"We very carefully avoid talking about you back home. Dad flew in one of his rage when he found out we were associating with you. We tried to explain you aren't like they were, but dad isn't hearing it."

"He didn't even argue with Santiago when they wanted my help breaking the magic on your briefcase. And dad always negotiates, even when a debt gets called in."

"So you helping me?"

Frank laughed. "Oh, he is pissed, but we did our duty to our family; we each have sons. His hold on us isn't as strong anymore and he knows it."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Fred said, "we reached the age where, in our family, sons butt heads with their fathers. Ingrained instinct, they call it; like our quad counterparts get kicked out of the pride when they are old enough."

"Mister Brislow," Ricardo said as I put on my jacket. I didn't miss how he stumbled over my name. "If you need my help, Frederick knows how to reach me. I will visit this beautiful state of yours and my jet will remain ready."

"Thank you." I offered him my hand. He took it and pulled me in a hug and squeezed my ass.

"When we are victorious, I will speak of you to my elder, I cannot promise I will convince him, but I will not allow him to continue believing he is correct about you."

I couldn't reply, his willingness to speak in my favor meant more than I'd expected. I looked at Fred as the otter dressed.

"Don't," he warned as I opened my mouth.

Fuck that. "Frederick? Really?" I looked at Frank.

"Only two people get to call me my full name, Dent, everyone else gets punched. Our friendship will not protect you."

"Did you believe an elder would allow his sons to be named Fred and Frank?" Ricardo asked.

What could I say? clearly I had. To avoid getting myself into more trouble, I headed to the door.

"Who are you taking for protection?" Frank asked. "No one stayed once they fucked you." I could hear him dressing quickly.

"No one. I'm a grown man, at least until Tom gets back, I can take care of myself."

"Dent!" Frank yelled as I closed the door. In a dozen burst of speed I was in the parking lot, then in my car and driving off.

* * * * *

I dropped in the seat opposite the fox and tried not to choke on the thick smells of beer, bodies, and dirt. "A seedy bar, really?" I'd already checked out the place for signs of magic. At least of that, it was clean.

"I don't have your resources, and you said it was urgent."

"How are you holding up?" A server came to our table, and I ordered a beer. When she looked at Flint, he started shaking his head then cursed.

"What the fuck bring me a vod--"

"No."

"Brislow."

"You're on duty, Flint. Bring him a coke, on my bill."

"You're drinking," the fox said reproachfully.

"I'm not a cop anymore, and I have advantages that mean alcohol isn't as effective."

"Can I get some of that then?"

I thought about that the Orrs could do for him, but shook my head.

He sighed. "My fucking luck, magic's real and I'm stuck on the outside of that too."

I tilted an ear.

"I've been too good at avoiding getting pulled into what's going on at the precinct, I'm the odd man out. I keep getting invited for weekend hunting trips, or having to turn down the captain's recognition trips to six flags. I think I'm the only normal guy left."

"Hemingway? He was clean when I checked."

"Alice took him out of the city as part of an investigation. Riley tried it too, but I used the case I was on to avoid it. Hemingway came back too much like himself. It's eerie, I can't tell you what it is other than it's like he's trying too hard."

"So Alice is back?"

Flint shook his head and waited until the server had put their drinks down and left. "She vanished almost as soon as she returned with Hemingway. Riley drops by at least once a week, to check in on me, I'm pretty sure."

I shook my head. "Not him."

"Not him for what?"

"We think we've come up with a way to free someone from what's been done to them. I was hoping to test it on Alice."

I could see Flint mull it over. "You think her anger at you is because of that?"

I chuckled. "No, she was pissed at me way before it, but I think it took that anger and jacked it up until she was irrational with it. I figure if I free her I'll at least be dealing with the real her."

"And Riley has never liked you." Flint looked into his glass. "I think that you only have options, Hemingway or Oliver. You have a history with Oliver, but it ended on bad terms so it might not be ideal. Hemingway barely knows you, but he's never bought into Cooper's rhetoric about how much of a monster you are. I know he pulled your records when she brought you in. Until recently, he's always had a good head on his shoulder."

"He's married, his family might have been caught in this."

"You can check them out, right?"

I nodded.

"Then, if they're clear rescuing Hemingway helps them to. If not, you can use Oliver. I know he's seeing a guy, a badger at least a decade older, but I don't know how serious they are."

"Thanks, I'll look into Detective Hemingway." I finished my beer and stood. The fox didn't look up; he looked miserable. "Flint, if you want to be deeper into my world, there are things that can be done." He looked up, hope and suspicion in his eyes. "You wouldn't be able to do magic, but you could gain some advantages over other people. The thing is, the only way it can happen is for guys to fuck you."

"Why am I not surprised," he said sounding more amused than offended. "You?"

"No, it isn't something I can do."

"I'll consider it, but I guess that if you can free the precinct, I'll regain my sense of community there."

"I'll do my best and keep you appraised."

* * * * *

I had a surveillance detail on Hemingway before I had his house's address. By the time I parked a block away, I knew his wife stayed home to look after their newest daughter, that there 3 years old son was at his grandparents today, and their seven-year-old daughter was in school, three blocks away. I stepped out of my body and walked through the house. No magic there, no one marked. I breathed easier.

I almost left it at that, but Damian was the kind of monster who had no morals. How many kids had he killed decimating the Rasia? Trying to decimate the Lewistons? I drove to the school, then Hemingway's parents. Everyone was clean. Now I allowed myself to breathe.

* * * * *

The two day wait until we were ready to free the calico felt interminable because Tom and the others returned from San Francisco. I'd forgotten the hornball Tom had been when I'd first met him, twenty years ago. Every guy who'd been on his jet walked as if their balls were sensitive from being over drained, and after a day even Colby was doing his best to avoid the badger.

I was screamed at for being an idiot in his absence, multiple times, between sessions of fucking him.

When we finally left for me to free Hemingway, Tom drove.

* * * * *

"Is Doc Merlin ready?" I asked on the radio.

"I am, and I wish you would stop talking about me as if I wasn't there."

"Sorry, remember--"

"You don't know the extent of the bleeding. Might I remind you I was the one to patch up your collie friend, I am well aware of how extensive the bleeding can be. I have a team here ready to extract him the moment you give the go-ahead. Now go do it so I can patch him up." The rest of his words were grumbled.

I closed my eyes and stepped out.

Today was Hemingway's day off, and his wife had just left with their kid to go visit her family. They did that every time he had a day off, spent the morning together, then they left him alone. I didn't know what he did in that time, but I knew what it was; his safety valve. His time to shed his identity as a police detective and become a regular person.

I found him in the basement, the room was small, he was seated on a stool, and he was working at a drafting table I realized by the angle. Dad had used one when I was a kid, before desk became affordable.

His marks were extensive, the whole left side of his back. From what we knew, the more they had, the more they could do. I listened in on his thoughts and guy still images of something fantastical. He was drawing a comic.

I dammed his life-force and listen in again. He hadn't noticed anything. I found the thread, and it looked more substantial, maybe a reflection on the energy his marks needed.

I was tempted to touch the thread and send myself to the other end, to try to determine where Damian was hidden. I knew it was stupid, Damian had kicked my ass that first time, and he'd been more than half-deranged. He'd sent me packing the second time with hardly a thought and he hadn't had the following he did now.

And this wasn't about me or Damian. It was about the calico who was fighting to keep his sanity in an insane world even without the magic, by letting his imagination flow on paper.

I accessed Fred's ability and broke the thread.

The cat stiffened as the magic within his body pulsed, trying to escape. He shuddered, then fell off the stool, trashing.

I was back in my body. "Go! Something happened, he's in the basement, trashing on the floor."

An ambulance came around the corner and stopped before the house. Two paramedics ran out the back with a stretcher. They were back under five minutes with Hemingway on it. The ambulance took off the moment they were in.

"Well?" I asked.

"Do you want me to guess?" Merlin replied, "or do want me to take the time to examine him?"

"Sorry."

"Maybe you should stop talking so much, so you won't have to apologize so often."

Tom followed the ambulance at a distance.

"His breathing is steady, pupil are reacting normally. He is no longer trashing. He is bleeding profusely from the open wound on his back, but no more than what I saw with Stephan. I am confident saying that you indeed managed to free him and preserve his life."

"Don't you want to wait until you've run tests before saying that?"

"Mister Brislow, I have been a practitioner of medicine for longer than you have been alive. Please believe me when I say that he is fine. I will run those tests, but they will simply confirm what I have told you."

"Alright."

More indistinct grumbling as a reply.

"So," Tom asked, "who's next?"

"That's the wrong question."

"Okay, I give, what's the right one?"

"What is Damian going to do when he finds out Detective Hemingway is still alive?"