JEFF GUIDED Gabe’s hands, positioning them carefully on the projectile rifle. “It’s got a kick, nothing like the laser weapons you’re used to.”
Gabe nodded. Jeff couldn’t see his face, pressed close against Gabe’s back like this. Jeff kept his fingers over Gabe’s, knowing the former angel wasn’t ready for the recoil of the rifle.
“Now focus on the targets.”
“Like I can focus when you’re standing so close.”
Jeff smiled, his lips against Gabe’s neck. He’d decided Gabe needed to learn to defend himself down here. Now Gabe knew how to fight, but he didn’t know how to shoot a projectile weapon. They had those fancy laser weapons uplevel. But using one of those in Old Trent screamed foreigner to anyone who saw them.
“Be good now and you’ll get rewarded later,” he said in a low whisper so Kayla wouldn’t hear. She stood off to the side behind a forceshield for safety. Jeff didn’t quite trust Gabe’s aim yet. Hell, right now Kayla was probably a better shot.
“How ’bout I be good now and later?”
Jeff laughed. “Now you’re going to squeeze the trigger, like making a fist.”
This, teaching Gabe survival, was the best way Jeff could stick it to the demons. It might be cheating, but they never said he couldn’t. He had to keep Gabe around and in good condition. Nobody said anything about giving the guy a gun.
Gabe followed his directions, firing the rifle at the targets Kayla had set up on the body of an old car. They both stumbled backward a bit, mostly due to Gabe’s surprise at the kickback. The shot missed the target but took out the glass window.
“Well. Not bad for a first try.” Jeff stepped back and tried to hide his smile.
Gabe rubbed at his neck. “You weren’t kidding about the kick.”
Jeff nodded. “Try doing that in midflight.”
“Don’t know how the demons do it,” Gabe agreed. “Speaking of that….”
When they put down the rifles, Kayla came around the shield with Trixie, running to their sides. Jeff put his arm around her shoulders as he waited for Gabe to finish.
“How’s the wing coming?”
Kayla looked up and made a face. “Did you tell him all you need is a battery?”
“Well, now I don’t have to.” Jeff looked over at Gabe, who awkwardly cradled the rifle in one arm. “I need to figure how to power the thing without a mini nuclear cell.”
Gabe shrugged. “Well, I’m not the mechanist.” He reached up to touch his forehead with one hand before pulling away suddenly. “But couldn’t you use the battery in the other wing?”
Jeff blinked. “I’m not sure. I’d have to look at the design. It would involve some hours in the workshop, if you’re willing to sit still and let me poke at the one wing you got.”
He could tell by the way Gabe was biting his lip that he was trying not to laugh. Jeff didn’t think Gabe would mind Jeff’s poking, not at all. However, he knew it would be torture to have Gabe shirtless on his worktable while Kayla and Trixie looked on.
“I think I can handle that,” Gabe finally said, managing to hold in his laughter.
“Finish practice first.” Jeff motioned toward the rifle. “I’d like it if you could actually hit a target.”
Gabe nodded, his expression now determined. For a moment Jeff saw a different look on Gabe’s face, one that was fierce and warlike. Maybe this was the last thing the demons saw before being put down. He almost shuddered at the idea of Gabe facing demons. As long as he could, Jeff would keep Gabe safe from them.
KAYLA’S OWN workshop operated on a much smaller scale than her father’s. Like his, engine parts, wires, and plastic tubing covered every available surface. She had a lavender toolbox with her name painted on the lid in a silver metallic paint. The tools inside shone without a trace of dirt, clearly well cared for.
From the doorway Gabe watched Kayla complete her lesson for the day. The teacher AI appeared on the viewscreen that hung on one wall, asking questions that must be related to what she’d just taught. He bit his lip to keep from smiling as Kayla rolled her eyes when she answered.
“The three largest corporations are Heaven, Texico, and the USC.” Kayla touched something on her control panel and the screen went blank.
Trixie yawned and stretched out her paws from her place at Kayla’s feet. Apparently the lesson had been just as exciting for her.
“Done for the day?” Gabe asked. He’d left Jeff working on the wing, unable to watch any longer without getting antsy. Gabe admitted he wanted the thing to be done now so he could try it out.
Kayla made a face as she went to the tiny fridge in the corner and pulled out two nutridrinks. She offered Gabe one before she answered. “I have to finish the geography module. It’s stupid because they don’t even talk about downside.”
Gabe twisted off the top of his bottle and took a long sip. He winced as the too tart orange flavor hit his tongue. “They probably don’t even have that info up there.”
Kayla pulled something out from the rubble on her worktable. It was flat and shaped like a pentagon with an opaque circle in its center. She held it in the palm of her hand. “They should. I’ve got every demon’s territory mapped out.”
The device flashed, and then a 3D grid map appeared above Kayla’s hand. Gabe moved closer, marveling at it. He hadn’t seen any holoimages down here and didn’t think they’d managed to steal that tech from Heaven yet.
“The area in red is Luca’s.” She pointed and the map shifted in response to her finger motion. “Blue is Lord Algon. Green for Lesha.” The map continued to zoom out, the terrain taking on a shape that seemed familiar to Gabe.
He saw his home state, the almost J shape in the angles of the coast. It had changed in two hundred years, of course it had—the edges were more jagged, the ocean much closer than it had been. Still, the map brought back memories about taking that stupid local history course in college.
“And that?” Gabe pointed. His old school would be smack in the middle of the grayed-out territory.
“Oh, that’s unclaimed by any demon as far as I know.” Kayla clenched her hand and the map disappeared.
Gabe blinked. “As far as you…? Kayla, did you program that map yourself?”
She shrugged. “It’s not that hard. I just overlaid the demons’ names on the existing map, which I pulled from the net and compiled into 3D.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Trust me, Kayla, I don’t think there’s a child in Heaven who can do that.” One without a chip in his head, at least.
“You sound like Dad.” She put the device back down among her pile of projects.
“Well, he should be proud of you,” Gabe told her. He understood Jeff’s rationale for teaching her so much. Kayla would need to learn every skill she could just to survive downside. Gabe was discovering the hard way just how many essential skills he lacked. “I couldn’t do that. Heaven above, there are plenty of things I can’t do.”
To his surprise, she touched his arm, causing Gabe to meet her dark eyes. “I can teach you.”
Gabe smiled. “I’d like that.”
Kayla grinned back, looking so much like her father in that moment. “But first I think Trixie needs some air.”
“I bet she’s been bored, sitting in here all morning.” Gabe didn’t let the smile creep onto his face. Trixie wasn’t the only one who was tired of being stuck inside.
Trixie barked, as if understanding his words. Kayla grabbed a red rubber ball from the corner of a cabinet. “She needs exercise.”
Gabe guessed Kayla did too. Kids weren’t meant to be trapped inside at the mercy of their teacher AIs. He only wished she had some real sunshine to play in. “Me too.”
Kayla paused at the door, just before following Trixie out. “Gabe, you are gonna stay with us, right?”
Now he did smile but felt the blush rising in his cheeks. “For as long as you’ll have me.”
“I hope it’s a long time.”
Now that, Gabe thought, was entirely up to Jeff.
GABE CAME awake suddenly, knowing that something wasn’t right even before he sat up to observe the darkness in his bedroom. Light normally filtered in through his window from the junkyard lamps, but he’d pulled the shade before falling asleep. He waited and wasn’t disappointed when the scratching noise came again.
The door swung open slowly, revealing Jeff outlined in the light from the stairwell. “Kayla’s asleep,” he whispered. “Do you mind?”
Gabe had to laugh. “It’s better than quickies in your workshop.” He pushed off the covers and patted the other half of his mattress.
Jeff shut the door behind him and crawled into bed with Gabe. He wrapped his arms around Gabe’s waist and pressed his lips against Gabe’s. “Been waiting for this all day.”
He smelled fresh, like he’d just come from the shower, and his hair was a little damp. Gabe found he missed the scent of metal and oil normally on Jeff’s skin. Breathing deeper, he tried to find Jeff’s own essence.
“First time in a bed.”
Jeff snickered as he pulled at Gabe’s shirt, sliding his hands along Gabe’s torso. His callused fingers sent sensation all along Gabe’s abdomen. “Don’t care if we were on the floor.”
Well, they nearly were. If either of them rolled off the mattress, they wouldn’t have far to fall. He couldn’t help grinning at the thought as he moved forward to strip Jeff of his clothes. In the dim light seeping in from the window, he could barely see Jeff’s body. Gabe wanted to explore now that he had the chance to have Jeff naked beneath his fingers, not just up against the wall with his pants around his ankles.
“Wait right here. Naked.” Gabe pressed a kiss to Jeff’s lips before darting away to pull up his shade, letting in the full light from outside. He had to step over his little collection—books from the salvaged crate, a wooden stick Trixie had brought him, a stylized lighter from Lick, and the tiny music player Kayla had given him. It hadn’t taken him long to start making a home here.
When he turned back to the bed, Jeff had settled in the middle of it, arms tucked behind his head, one leg propped up, almost as if he were posing for Gabe. The light suited him, illuminating the flat planes of his stomach, the dusting of chest hair on his pecs, the shadowed form of his cock, thick and heavy against one long thigh. Gabe swallowed. His own arousal coiled within him.
“Come on.”
Gabe didn’t need to be told twice. He slipped out of the baggy pants he wore to bed and climbed onto Jeff, straddling his waist. His dick thumped against Jeff’s, causing them both to moan. Gabe grasped Jeff’s cock, marveling at the differences—Jeff had foreskin, his shaft thicker and darker than Gabe’s own. He couldn’t resist skimming his fingers along the head, catching the droplet waiting at the tip.
Jeff bit at his fist to contain his groan. It sent a wave of something through Gabe that he had that kind of power to make Jeff cry out against his will.
Gabe leaned forward, hissing as his cock slid against Jeff’s. He nuzzled under Jeff’s jaw, enjoying the feel of Jeff’s beard beneath his lips. Then he trailed a line down Jeff’s chest, stopping only to suck on one nipple.
“Torturing me here, boy,” Jeff growled.
With a chuckle, Gabe sat back. For once he didn’t deny being Jeff’s boy. “Just like this,” he said, rolling his hips.
Jeff arched against him. Gabe could hold him down, keep Jeff still beneath him. But he liked how Jeff squirmed, how he bucked his hips. “Yeah, c’mon.” Jeff gripped Gabe’s waist, holding tightly but letting him drive.
With a smirk, Gabe licked his own palm before wrapping it around both of their cocks. He began to rock back and forth, searching for that flawless rhythm. Gabe moaned when he found it, that perfect combination of slick and slide. Jeff’s grip got tighter just before he came, spilling over both of them.
Gabe cried out, biting his lip at the last moment to keep quiet. He couldn’t wake Kayla. His orgasm flowed through him, a rush of sensation that took him away from everything for a brief blissful instant.
“You all right?” Jeff asked.
When Gabe opened his watery eyes, he saw Jeff looking up at him, his forehead wrinkled. “Yes.” He moved off Jeff, wincing at the sticky mess. “Just intense, I guess.”
Jeff grabbed a corner of the sheets and wiped them both off. When he moved to get up, Gabe threw an arm over his chest. “Stay? Just a little bit.”
He shouldn’t be thinking about Rocky right now. Gabe knew that. But that had been the last time he’d ever felt anything so strong. He remembered nights like this—stolen time in his dorm room, clutched together so tightly on the tiny twin bed. Rocky had felt as warm as Jeff, so pleasant to curl up against.
Jeff slid his arm down Gabe’s shoulder, slipping into that place on Gabe’s body, between where one wing folded against his shoulder blade and the tattered remnants of the other marred his skin.
“Soon,” Jeff said.
Gabe let his head fall on Jeff’s chest, trusting the other man to figure it out. There seemed to be little Jeff couldn’t craft with his own hands.
Something about the quiet of the night, how nothing stirred but the soft sounds of their breathing, had Gabe thinking of old ghosts.
Gabe kissed Jeff’s skin, just above one nipple, before he spoke. “I think I went to college not too far from here….” Thoughts of Rocky were heavy on his mind, but Gabe couldn’t speak of him, not yet.
“Oh?” Jeff sounded puzzled. Did he even know what college was? There was no reason for a university if a chip in your brain could give you all the knowledge you needed and then some.
“If here—Old Trent, I mean—is where I think it is.” He realized he wasn’t clarifying his original statement at all and tried again. “Kayla showed me the map of the demons’ territories. If I’m reading it right, my school isn’t in any of them.”
“Unscavenged territory?” Jeff pushed himself up on his free arm.
“I guess.” Gabe lifted one hand and let it fall. “It was in the suburbs, so I can’t imagine anyone ventured out there.”
“What kinds of things did you have at this college? Machines? Metal? Anything I could use to make neural nets and power cells?”
Gabe thought for a moment. Everything would be over two hundred years out of date, but then again, downsiders seemed to have no problem mixing old and new. “We had a new science complex,” he offered. “State of the art when I was—” Human, his mind supplied, but rather than share that insecurity with Jeff he only finished with “—there. I’m sure you could find something useful.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve gone scouting.” Jeff sounded wide awake now, all traces of sleepiness gone from his voice.
Gabe didn’t know what to make of the change in tone. “Why do I suddenly think that suggesting this was a very bad idea?”
Jeff laughed. He rolled onto his side, sliding his hand along Gabe’s hip. The touch sent shivers along Gabe’s skin, causing him to shiver despite Jeff’s warmth. “Ready for round two?”
“I suppose I should bring up scavenged tech in bed more often.” Gabe twisted to give Jeff better access. Jeff swallowed his laughter with a kiss and then made Gabe forget everything they’d been talking about.