Overworld Chronicles Books 1-2: Sweet Blood of Mine & Dark Light of Mine by John Corwin Page B

of Viagra over-dosing must feel like. I pulled my T-shirt down a bit further over my shorts and found Victoria in the free-weights section of the gym. The dense cloud of male stink in this area overpowered the feminine allure of the cardio section. Weights clanged, men grunted in agony, and two muscular guys posed in front of the mirrors that ran along every wall. Just my kind of place.
    "You ready?" she asked.
    More ready than you could imagine, babe. "I guess." I was not looking forward to the torment awaiting me.
    We went to the bench press first. She stacked on some meager weight. I pumped it up and down with no problem. She added a couple of larger plates. No problem there, either. I was so surprised with myself, I forgot to be impressed.
    Victoria arched an eyebrow at me. "Are you juicing or something? That's over two-hundred pounds and you're not even breaking a sweat."
    I shrugged. "I had orange juice this morning."
    She rolled her eyes.
    Before long she had all the forty-five pound plates she could fit on either side of the barbell and just about every dude in the testosterone-soaked iron-pumping section of the gym stared at me with unadulterated jealousy. The barbell sagged dangerously on each end. I pushed it up and down several times without a hint of feeling tired. Victoria stared open-mouthed.
    "I don't believe it," she said. "This isn't possible unless you were totally faking it the other day." She waved her hands in the air over the barbell, apparently looking for invisible wires. She tried to move the barbell, grunting and jerking on it, but couldn't budge it.
    "Lemme see that," said a guy roughly the size of a buffalo, with bulging arms and a shaved head. He lay down on the bench, muttering curses to himself. Then he started slamming his chest with alternating hands while screaming obscenities. "You can do this, Buddy! Come on, Buddy, you got this! Make momma proud!" He pushed on the barbell. His face went from pink to purple in about two seconds. His veins bulged and pulsed alarmingly.
    "Do you need a lift-off?" I asked.
    He roared. He screamed. He said terrible things about his mother and his upbringing. He gave up. Stood. Glared at me. Then held out his fist for a bump followed by the asteroid explosion that makes life worth living.
    "You're the real deal," he said with a shake of his head. "Man, you gotta tell me what you're on."
    "Teenage hormones," I said.
    He wandered away, cursing and mumbling. A few other muscle-bound dudes grumbled to themselves. I could make out most of what they were saying despite the mournful howling of a country singer on the ceiling speakers. What in the world had Stacey done to me?
    "We're not done yet," Victoria said, face glowing redder than her hair. She marched me down a hall, into a private office, and sat down on the corner of a desk. I sat opposite of her. She looked pissed . "What kind of joke is this?"
    "It's not a joke."
    "You come in here weak as a lamb the other day, now you're pumping more iron than should be humanly possible. Look at you! You're chunky, not muscular."
    "Thanks. I appreciate that."
    "Something's going on here and you're not leaving until I get some answers."
    My eyes settled on the ghostly vapors hovering around her. Without thought, I latched onto them just like I had the woman in the grocery store. Victoria's scarlet face paled. Her eyes widened while her mouth formed a shocked "O". I stood. She jumped up from the desk and attacked me with a sloppy wet kiss. Then it was a tangle of limbs and clothes as we made out on the desk.
    My second brain demanded I rip off her clothes and go all the way as a hand ran up her bare calf, her toned thighs, and further onward to glory. The hopeless romantic in my other brain told me to resist. I wanted her so bad I couldn't take it anymore. She was apparently gripped by the same notion because her hands fumbled with the knotted drawstrings on my shorts as a war of thoughts raged in my mind.
    Rip off her