The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) Read online

  The Powerful Pride

  of an Immortal

  Immortal Supers Book 4

  Kurtis Eckstein

  COPYRIGHT © 2020 – KURTIS M. ECKSTEIN

  The author, Kurtis Eckstein, holds exclusive publishing rights for this copyrighted material. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the copying, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.

  This version of Kurtis Eckstein’s copyrighted material is for exclusive publication on Amazon. Any copying, uploading, or electronic sharing of any part of this book, outside of Amazon, is unlawful piracy.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, business establishments, events, institutions, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Cover Art Copyright © 2020 Kurtis Eckstein

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  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Preface

  Notice

  1. Recuperation

  2. Nightmares

  3. Discoveries

  4. Negotiations

  5. Meeting New People

  6. Tension

  7. Mixed Feelings

  8. Distractions

  9. Spark of Instinct

  10. Decisive Signs

  11. Altering Decisions

  12. Awkward Discussions

  13. Managing Change

  14. Getting Settled

  15. First Date

  16. Unpromising Lead

  17. Stabilizing Pride

  18. Devastating Curses

  19. Moving Forward

  20. Round Two

  21. Interruptions

  22. Resolution

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Prologue

  “Demanding, controlling, but also gentle, right?” I clarified, taking my eyes off the road to glance at her.

  Heidi nodded once, her hands tight between her thighs.

  I changed subjects again. “So, you never did say if you had dinner or not.”

  “I’m not really hungry,” she admitted. “Though I could do dessert.” She looked up at me, her lavender eyes endearing. “I really like random, so it’s more fun if you just decide what we’re going to do.”

  “Sure you won’t be bored?” I teased. “I’m not sure I’m very creative.”

  Heidi grinned. “I don’t care. Boring is fine. But the suspense of not knowing what we’re going to do is really fun. Even if it’s something we’ve done before. Just a walk is fine too, as long as I don’t know what we’re doing beforehand.”

  I nodded, already having a destination in mind at this point. We were both silent for a few minutes, until I made a turn.

  “So, where we going?” Heidi asked.

  I grinned at her. “I can’t tell you, silly. You just said you wanted random.”

  “Still fun to ask,” she teased.

  I nodded in response, smiling just a little. “Well, we’re almost there, so you’ll see soon.”

  Preface

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  ❖ Remember to leave a Review on Book 1 (Daily Struggles)

  ❖ Check out Omega Squad (same universe as Immortal Supers)

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  Thank you for reading the story up until this point!

  It’s been a fun adventure, and I hope you enjoy this fourth book in the series! Be sure to join my newsletter for future updates, and please leave a review on book 1, The Daily Struggles of an Immortal , if you haven’t already.

  Also, Omega Squad (Omega Metahumans) is the same universe as this story and has characters who show up starting the third book of Immortal Supers. As you should know by this point, there was an apocalypse in the past, prior to Immortal Supers, and Omega Squad happens before that world-changing event.

  Thanks again, and enjoy the ride!

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  If you enjoy this series, please remember to leave a review on Book 1 . Reviews on the first book are the most important for any series.

  1: Recuperation

  Lily Dodson

  April 9, 2735 – Current Day – Afternoon

  Lily sat in the recliner next to the dining room table, holding a tiny baby in her arms, while the little infant slept peacefully. The cozy piece of furniture didn’t match Lily’s remodeled kitchen, in her opinion, the overall colors of the room being shades of brown and gray, but Freya wanted to be able to sit comfortably with everyone when they ate – a need the vampiric super didn’t have herself because of her unique dietary needs. Thus, they’d made space for the FRIL covered seat, so that Freya could sink into the heavenly bliss of this particular chair whenever everyone else was enjoying a meal.

  Granted, since Eden’s rapid growth rate might exceed Freya’s capacity to feed the infant naturally, Lily knew this chair might end up being used by everyone, depending on who was holding the little girl whenever she decided she was hungry, especially given its proximity to the baby formula they’d purchased.

  In fact, that was exactly why Lily had sunk into the chair herself – because after everything that’d happened in the last two days since their family pictures, Freya was exhausted and needed some time to herself to get some much-needed sleep, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. Thus, Lily sat down in the kitchen-dining room area in preparation to fix a bottle if needed.

  Which Lily was more than happy to do. Yesterday had been an especially rough day for the new mother, with Freya trying to keep up with Eden’s hunger needs – the needs of a baby growing ten times faster than a normal person – even while she was excessively sleep-deprived and partially traumatized after a rough Sunday.

  Freya’s contractions began in the late morning, just as they were finishing up with their family pictures, only for the afternoon to turn into a mini-nightmare.

  The reason?

  Freya’s body was too strong.

  It was a concern Dr. Hawthorne hadn’t brought up, since the vast majority of strong supers were still able to give birth naturally and safely. But not Freya. The moment she was dilated ten centimeters, he used a special tool to measure the pressure being exerted by her body during a contraction.

  The result was not good.

  It was completely normal for a baby’s head to be squeezed during labor, with most of the force coming from the contracting abdominal muscles, forcing the proverbial camel through the eye of a needle. Normally that wasn’t a problem because a baby’s body was specifically designed to handle it. Between the ‘soft spot’ in their skull, where there wasn’t any bone, to the overall shape of their heads prior to birth, the human baby was perfectly capable of handling the pressure – even when birthed by a woman with super-strength.

  But Freya’s unique body was not normal.

  From her ‘different’ bone structure, to the unique way her body tissues reacted to nutrition and starvation, to the way her muscles worked in general – she was too different.

  Dr. Hawthorne delivered the bad news – a C-section was the o
nly safe option for the baby.

  The reason it was bad news?

  Painkillers didn’t work on Freya.

  Anesthesia drugs, in general, didn’t work on Freya.

  And while she had a significantly higher pain tolerance than the average person, being cut was still being cut – surgery was still surgery.

  Freya agreed without hesitation, but when Lily asked Sam how it went later on, he disclosed that it was rough. Really, really rough. Like, he had to hold her down with his astral limbs and her body began turning gray, her hands enlarging and shifting, in a primal instinct to make the pain stop, even though she told the doctor to keep going…

  That kind of rough.

  The only good thing about the situation was that with a little bit of blood, Freya was perfectly healed afterward. And she had a new crying baby to focus on and be happy about. But she took the whole ‘I went through hell to give birth to you’ to an entirely new level.

  Still, Dr. Hawthorne really stressed that she should probably stay in the hospital overnight, for both her and the baby, which was normal anyway, but she refused. She just wanted to be home with her new infant, promising to go in if they suspected something was wrong.

  And despite the horror she’d gone through, she still made an effort to keep up with Eden’s needs for as long as possible…

  It was longer than any normal woman could have managed. Growing ten times faster than a typical baby meant eating ten times as much, and sleeping in much shorter spurts, making it impossible for Freya to get any shuteye at all. And there was definitely no such thing as getting the baby on a schedule – not when she was growing like this.

  It was again the reason why Lily was holding Eden in the kitchen, because she fully expected the baby to wake up in the next ten minutes even though she just ate.

  Thankfully, the little infant didn’t seem to mind that Lily’s chest was completely flat, with Lily’s surgery for the new implants still being a little over a week away. She personally couldn’t wait to get them in, feeling naked without them even when she was fully clothed. No one else seemed to mind, but she certainly did. She liked the way she looked and felt with a larger chest, in addition to liking how her clothing fit.

  In contrast, while Freya’s body was back to its normal skinny self, the vampiric super’s already swollen breasts had turned into bazookas in the last couple of days in her body’s attempt to essentially feed ten babies at once. It did make Lily a little envious, being that she was as flat as a pancake, though she felt a little guilty for feeling that way after everything Freya had been through.

  Glancing down again at Eden’s cute peaceful expression, Lily focused on the tiny blemish below her right eye, the heart-shaped birthmark that was a very real reminder that this little girl was Sam’s deceased daughter, who it turned out had the unique superpower that was now officially classified as reincarnation.

  That, and the little girl’s vibrant teal eyes.

  When Lily initially found out that Eden would have teal eyes, she assumed it would be some natural cross between blue and green eyes – not literal teal. An impossible teal – something she didn’t think could occur in real life.

  It was almost as if Eden had been born with colored contacts like Lily’s mother frequently wore, but the varied colored specs in the little infant’s irises made it clear they were very real.

  It was mesmerizing whenever Eden opened her eyes, like a thousand times more mesmerizing than someone who had naturally icy blue eyes. Lily couldn’t wait until her niece was old enough to actually hold another’s gaze, as opposed to this constant eat-sleep cycle she was currently on.

  Lily sighed heavily, feeling mostly content, only to glance up abruptly when she saw movement in the corner of her eye – Rose, silently climbing onto the counter.

  It still amazed, and startled, Lily whenever Freya’s young lookalike seemed to appear out of nowhere like that. Had Lily not physically laid eyes on her, then she literally wouldn’t have had any idea the eight-year-old girl traveled down the stairwell by the kitchen entrance and moved to climb on the counter barely ten feet away.

  And even though she was only eight, Lily wasn’t at all concerned about her otherwise dangerous activity. Because her being a clone of Freya also meant the tan-skinned little girl had better senses and reflexes than a cat.

  However, once Rose had retrieved the baby formula, a bottle, and turned on the warm water, Lily finally spoke up.

  “Oh sweetie, I don’t think Eden will need to eat for at least another five or ten minutes. Your mommy just made sure she was fully satisfied before laying down.”

  Rose shook her head, measuring out the formula in a very uncharacteristic and precise way for someone her age. Which wasn’t too surprising to Lily, even if noticeably unusual, since she was well aware that Rose was very intelligent. However, Eden’s birth seemed to have a more pronounced effect on Rose’s behavior than before.

  At the very least, she was certainly taking the whole ‘big sister’ thing very seriously.

  Her young voice was confident and matter-of-fact as she responded. “No, she’s already hungry again.”

  “Rose, sweetie. It’s important that Eden sleep when she wants. We don’t want to wake–”

  Unexpectedly, the little infant in Lily’s arms stirred, her adorable little face scrunching up just before she began crying.

  Rose capped the bottle and began shaking it as she walked over. “See? Told you.” She then handed it to Lily, her crimson eyes appearing more concerned than anything. “She likes it better when the person holding her is also the one holding the bottle.”

  Lily just stared at her in complete shock and confusion, slowly reaching out to accept the milk from the young girl’s tan hand in order to begin feeding Eden. She then focused on Rose’s content expression, seemingly mirroring the baby’s, before finally speaking up.

  “Rose, how do you know that? This is the first time we’re feeding her with a bottle.”

  The young girl’s gaze didn’t deviate from Eden as she knelt down on the floor to lean her elbows on the arm of the latex-covered chair, the sides of her face resting in her palms, smiling as she watched her new little sister eat.

  “Dunno,” she admitted. “Maybe because I can feel people’s happy thoughts easily, and this isn’t the first time she’s been a baby.”

  Lily’s citrine eyes widened in surprise, before she focused on Eden again. “Oh. I guess that makes sense.” She then smiled at her. “You’re going to be an amazing big sister.”

  Rose smiled slightly more. “Except, really, she’s my big sister,” she commented. “My little big-sister,” she added. She then leaned forward and gently rested her lips on Eden’s forehead before pulling away. Her voice was barely audible as she spoke again. “And I’ll make sure daddy never loses her ever again,” she whispered.

  Lily nodded, silently making the same commitment.

  She knew how Eden’s death affected Sam, leaving him depressed and suicidal for over a hundred years. And so, she also would do everything in her power to prevent him from ever experiencing that again.

  And maybe with Heidi’s unique superpower, little Eden wouldn’t be required to ever use her own special power more than this one time.

  ❖ ❖ ❖

  Sam Archer

  April 9, 2735 – Current Day – Late Morning

  I gently rubbed Freya’s back as she rested in our bed, eternally grateful for what she went through to bring my daughter…no, our daughter…into this world. She had just fallen asleep after basically being awake for the last two days, currently wearing one of Lily’s sexy outfits combined with a red silk robe – not because she wanted to be sexy, but because we sincerely didn’t have anything that would fit her right now and be comfortable. This particular outfit had adjustable latex straps in strategic locations, especially around the breasts. However, Freya was using it primarily to serve as a bra, something to give her support so she could fully relax after a very stressfu
l couple of days.

  Obviously, she needed to get maternity bras or something, but the problem was that they didn’t usually make such a large cup size that could also fit such a small torso – or at least, it wasn’t a standard size someone could just pick up at any store. Not to mention, the change in size had practically happened overnight on the first day, and then continued to grow a little more every few hours. It wasn’t until recently that she’d seemed to come to a halt in the size department, but now bras were her last concern after being so sleep-deprived.

  She just wanted to sleep.

  Still, it might not hurt for me to run to the store and try grabbing her something . I really didn’t have a problem with wasting the money if it didn’t work out, especially when it came to this kind of thing. I just wanted her to be comfortable.

  While rubbing Freya’s back, I also had my second-sight trained on Lily, Eden, and Rose in the kitchen – easily seeing right through the walls – my overall thoughts a tangle of anxiety and worry, beyond my general concern for Freya. Sure, I was extremely happy and relieved that Eden was alive, but that didn’t mean all our problems had gone away.

  We still had the shadow organization to worry about, I still had to have my meeting with the Central Department of Superheroes to negotiate my demands in person, assuming they wanted me to sign with them, and then I had another issue to worry about.

  My eyes.

  For some reason, my eyes were glowing softly, with the azure colors now fluctuating like Lily’s did – as if they concealed coals in a vibrant blue fire. When everyone freaked out a couple of days ago on Sunday, saying that my eyes were glowing, I immediately thought they meant my eyes were orange or something too, but nope. They were still blue.

  But even still, a normal person’s eyes didn’t move like Lily’s.

  Which meant something happened to me. Something changed in my body.

  Wondering if I had somehow developed a superpower similar to Lily’s, I tried experimenting with producing flames, or even just raising my body temperature, but nothing appeared to be different, other than my eyes.