Supervillainess (Part One) Read Online Free Page B

the ground.
    Kimber caught her as her legs gave out, and
he lowered her back to the futon. “You’re not fine,” he said
firmly. “You need to rest.”
    She sighed and pushed him away.
    He released her. “Okay? Doctor’s
orders.”
    Keladry squinted at him, as if trying to see
through him. “No more drugs, Doc,” she replied.
    “You don’t move, and I won’t drug you.
Deal?” Kimber sat down as well, uncertain what to expect from his
patient.
    “All right,” she said reluctantly. By the
lines of pain beneath her eyes, her attempt to stand had caused
some level of pain.
    “What hurts?” he asked.
    “I don’t know,” she muttered.
    “Come on. I can’t help you if you don’t tell
me.”
    “You’re the doctor! You figure it out!”
    Kimber drew a steadying breath. The past
month was a blur of double shifts, punctuated by a few hours here
and there to rest. For the sake of his patient, he swallowed his
frustration when all he really wanted to do was curl up in his bed
and sleep.
    He glanced up, feeling Keladry’s intent
gaze.
    “Where’s your accent from?” she asked.
    “Chicago.”
    “How long have you been here?”
    “A year.”
    “Did you call my father?” she pressed.
    “No.”
    “Police?”
    “No,” he replied.
    “So no one knows I’m here.”
    “Not to my knowledge.”
    Keladry studied him hard again, as if
suspecting he was lying to her. Finally, she allowed her head to
fall back onto the pillow.
    “We good?” Kimber asked. “Or would you like
to interrogate me further?”
    “Tomorrow, Doc. I’m pretty sure you won’t
kill me tonight, though I can’t promise the same for you after I’m
healed.”
    “We’ll call it a draw for now.” He had never
met anyone quite like her. Keladry was beautiful, candid, brutally
direct – and mentally unstable. “Do you need anything?” he
asked.
    “Cheeseburger.”
    “Your body can’t handle that right now,” he
replied.
    “Then put it in a blender,” she
returned.
    “I’m a vegetarian. I don’t have meat in the
house.”
    Her mouth dropped open. “This is hell, isn’t
it?”
    A laugh burst from his throat before he was
able to stop it. “You’re welcome for saving you.” At his limit with
her after his week, Kimber rose. “I’ll bring you soup in the
morning. You have three bottles of water on the nightstand. Get
some rest.”
    “Villains are nocturnal, Doc. Does hell have
books, or am I supposed to lie here and stare at the ceiling all
night?”
    Keladry Savage was kind of an asshole, he
decided. Kimber ignored her and flipped off the light to her room.
Closing her door, he heard her muttering beneath her breath.
    As tired as he was, Kimber found himself too
curious after the interaction to lie down quite yet. He retrieved
his laptop from the living room and returned to his room. He began
searching for information on Keladry Savage.
    To his surprise, she had her own
wiki-page.
    Supervillain in training, fraternal twin to
Jermaine Savage and daughter of General William Savage. The Savage
family’s territory is limited to Sand City. Keladry Savage is said
to run the eastern part of the town and her brother the western.
Little is known about her unique superpower, likely inherited from
her mother rather than her father, but Keladry is said to be among
the most tenacious villains to cross.
    Superpower?
    Kimber read the first paragraph again and
then rubbed his eyes. “Maybe I do need a weekend off,” he decided.
He stretched for his charging phone and gazed at the date. Tomorrow
was Saturday, his first day off in a month, and the day his
stepmother and father had chosen to visit. “Here I thought life was
already complicated.”
    His headache worsened at the idea of
entertaining anyone. He hadn’t seen his friends or family since
leaving Chicago and dreaded the initial meeting with anyone from
his past life.
    Closing the laptop, he left it on the pillow
beside his and lay down to sleep.
     
    ***
     
    Despite the strange