We pull up to an old, beaten-down warehouse on the outskirts of town. The walls are brick and have clearly been painted over many times, with the current color a vermillion red that seems out of place against its surroundings. Large swaths of paint have fallen off the sides, revealing the shades of grey and white that the building had been at one time or another. The building sits a few miles from the coast, bordered by overgrown grass, rickety heaps of weather-worn wood pallets, and industrial scraps. Remnants of old railroad tracks run alongside it, but I doubt they've been in use for decades.

Kieran kills the engine on his truck and parks outside, pulling the parking brake with an unholy shriek.

"You know cars aren't supposed to make those sounds, right?" I tease.

"My truck doesn't ascribe to your beauty standards," he says with a smirk.

He opens his door and hops out, closing it with a thunk. He appears rapidly on my side of the car, pulling the door open and offering me a hand down. I take his hand and jump down from the truck, my feet hitting the dirt with a thud. He keeps my palm in his, wrapping his fingers around mine as he leads me toward the building.

I'm wearing one of my favorite workout outfits—a pair of high-waisted black leggings and a tight, cropped tank in a vibrant candy-apple red. I'm not sure how much power-testing is like going to the gym, but I'm assuming it's close.

"So what exactly is this place?" I ask.

"It used to be a grain mill, but it's been a lot of different things. Before it shut down last year, it was an auto shop. Now, it's your Empath training center." He guides me through a wide break in the chainlink fencing and around to a side entrance.

"And you know about this spot how?"

"I used to come here to get my car fixed."

I laugh and shake my head.

"I'm beginning to understand why your car is in such bad shape," I say with a chuckle.

"Ouch. You're so mean to my truck."

"Sorry, but that thing is a death trap on wheels. The engine sounds like there's a squirrel living in it."

"You're lucky you're so fucking hot," he says. "'Cause I don't let anyone talk about my baby like that."

We approach the door and I notice it's bolted shut with a large metal lock.

"How are we going to get in?"

He releases my hand and steps up to the door, then sends a heavy kick through the lock. The wood splinters with a loud crack and the lock clangs as it falls to the ground.

I probably shouldn't find that as hot as I do.

"M'lady," he says, pushing open the door and gesturing inside.

We step into a dark, open warehouse with rusted yellow beams. Kieran peels a sheet of plywood off a nearby window; it cracks where it's boarded to the frame. He makes quick work of a few more, letting in light and illuminating columns of dusty air.

There's a stack of tires in the corner, old car parts scattered through the space, and a couple of empty gas canisters lined up against a wall.

I stand in the center of the room and look around. It feels like the kind of place someone plans a heist in. Or maybe the location of some cool underground rave.

Kieran sets down the last sheet of plywood and walks over, stopping about 15 feet in front of me.

"So what now?" I ask. "How are we doing this? Do I just, like... think at you or something?"

He laughs and shakes his head.

"Well... A lot of how you trigger your powers is with instinct. Like, if someone came up and threw a punch at you, what would you do?"

"You're gonna punch me??"

"No!" he says, shaking his head. "It's an analogy, okay? Just answer the question—what would you do?"

"I don't know. Probably duck or hold my hands up or something."

"And how did you learn to do that?"

I furrow my brows and give him a skeptical look.

"I didn't learn to do that, it would just be... Oh..." I realize the point he's making: I never learned these things, I just do them instinctively.

"Exactly," he says with a smirk. "Go with your gut. It's all about feeling and emotion. When you're reacting naturally, that side will take over for you."

"So what am I reacting to?"

"Hmm..." He looks around for a moment then walks over to a stack of old tires. He grabs one and returns to his position.

"Whoa whoa whoa," I say, holding both my palms out. "You can't just throw a tire at me as a first test. You could knock me out with that thing!"

He sighs and looks down at the tire. He takes it in both hands and his arm muscles flex and bulge as he tears the rubber in two.

Holy shit. Felt that right in the vagina.

"There," he says with a slight smile, "now it's half a tire. It's still gotta be weighty enough to trigger a reaction. Fair enough?"

"I guess so."

Before I have a chance to prepare, Kieran flicks his arm and the strip of rubber comes right at my face. I barely get my hands up in front of me before the tire makes contact. It slams into my arms, knocking me down and causing my front teeth to dig into my lip and draw blood.

"Shit!" Kieran curses, running over to me a lightning speed. "Are you okay?"

I run my tongue over the wound on my lip and my mouth fills with a metallic taste.

"Just peachy," I say with a grunt, propping myself up with my arm.

"I'm sorry, Doll. I really thought half a tire wouldn't be that much. Clearly I should have done a quarter."

I laugh and shake my head. As much as I don't enjoy getting knocked over by a thick strip of rubber, I'm more charged up than ever about figuring this Empath thing out. I can't stand being bad at things, and this is no exception.

"No. You're right," I say, dusting my hands off on my leggings and standing up. "I need to be motivated, right?"

He smirks and steps back to his original position.

"Okay," he says, grabbing the other piece of tire.

He whips it toward my feet and I immediately jump over it, the half-tire skidding past me.

"Shit!" I curse.

Part of me wonders if I really do have these supposed powers, or if Finn and Vic and everyone else are wrong and I'm just a boring old human.

I grab a chunk of tire and do my best to throw it to Kieran, but I get nowhere near the same loft or distance he had. It flops down halfway between us like a limp fish.

I grumble under my breath.

If I can't even throw the damn thing ten feet, how the heck am I supposed to catch it or stop it or whatever magic shit I'm supposed to do?

"Let's go again," I say, readying myself.

Once more, I find myself dodging out of the way, unable to fight my basic sense of self-preservation. I take both the tire slices back over to Kieran and we try again. One clips my shoulder but does very little damage. Another hits me in the stomach and knocks the wind out of me. I see Kieran grow more and more concerned, clearly feeling guilty for hurting me. But I hate giving up, so I insist we try again. And again.

After another 20 or so attempts with no success, I've had it. I don't know how long we've been here, but the sun is clearly getting lower in the sky. I'm tired and sweaty and out of breath and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have several new bruises later tonight.

"Let's face it, Kieran," I say with a defeated huff, sitting down on the concrete floor. "My only superpower is the ability to nap in any environment. I'm just human, okay? This is some sort of mistake."

He sighs and walks over, sitting down beside me so that our shoulders touch.

"I'm not saying I have all the answers here, babe. But Asmodeus isn't gonna send one of his top guys after a maybe-Empath. And the way you reacted to Zane is pretty good proof that you're tapping into other people's emotions."

"I can't do it, Kieran," I say, pushing myself up to stand and walking over to the tire. "I don't even know what you expect me to do with these damn things! Am I supposed to chop them in half or make them explode or something? Here, I'll do it right now."

I land a heavy kick to the strip of rubber and it literally just falls to its side.

"AAAGGGHH!" I groan. "I hate this stupid fucking thing!"

I pick it up and attempt to whip it into the wall, but it sticks to my hand and falls to the floor two feet in front of me. A palmful of black stringy goo has transferred from the tire to my hand.

"Oh shit..." Kieran says, walking up beside me.

"Well this is just perfect. I'm covered in goo now!" Kieran smirks but I shoot him a stern glare. "You can save the pervy joke, I am not in the mood."

He snickers and I scrunch my face in annoyance.

"I'll give you a rain check on the 'pervy joke' for now. But it's worth mentioning that you just melted that tire with your hands."

My brows shoot up and I look down at the tire. Sure enough, there's an imprint of my hand burned into it, with strings of melted rubber oozing onto the floor.

"What the..." I look back to my hand and tip it over. There's a distinctive burnt rubber odor in the air, and it's so strong that my stomach lurches. I can't tell how much of the scent is the tire or how much is skin that I've just melted off my hand. "Oh god oh god oh god. How do I get it off? Get it off!"

I run to a nearby electrical box and start scraping the tire goop off on its edge. Kieran speeds off but returns with a water bottle and a bucket.

"I got you, Sammy girl."

He grabs my wrist delicately and rests my hand over the bucket. He squeezes the bottle slowly pouring on water. It immediately erupts into steam and hisses loudly, but after a few brushes of Kieran's hand, the sticky mess has peeled off and fallen into the bucket.

"Wha-... I..." I say through frantic breaths, flipping my hand around as I inspect it for damage. "How did my hand not burn off?"

He raises a brow and gives me a devastating smile.

"Perks of the Demon King powers."

I close my hand and open it again.

"What the fuck..."

I can't stop looking at my hand. It's not a horror show like I expected. There's no pain or seared-off flesh.

"So much for you not having powers," he teases.

"You can melt things with your hands?"

He waggles an eyebrow and licks his lips.

"Is there still a ban on the pervy jokes or can I say what I'm really thinking?"

"How about this..." I say, walking back to my starting position. "I try to use your powers again. For every time I fail, you get to make a dirty joke."

He smirks.

"Alright, but I think we're going to need a new tire."

"Yeaaah no. I want to try something that doesn't involve melting black lava."

"Okay, be my guest."

I grab the water bottle, which is almost empty, and manage to squeeze out a few drops onto my hand and concentrate.

In theory, if I make my hand hot again, the water should sizzle and turn to steam like it did before.

I just have to use my emotions like before. I was angry and frustrated...that's gotta be the key.

I squint at the water, like that somehow makes a difference, but it doesn't do anything. I groan.

"Fine, tell your joke."

"I'd tell you a joke about my dick, but it's really long." He gives me a knowing smile and I can't help but laugh.

"That was really terrible," I say, nearly snorting.

"That's not what you said last night." He gives me a sly wink and I can't help but wonder if my other body parts can heat up the way my hands just did. If so, I'm almost certain to melt my panties off before the night is through.

"What about that fire thing you do? Can you teach me that?"

"Maybe. I usually do it when I get mad or intense about something. I just think of why I want something to burn and..." Fire blooms in his palm, flicking and dancing.

"What did you want to burn?" I ask.

"I was thinking about burning those clothes right off you." He sucks his lower lip then slowly drags it out beneath his teeth.

Damn. I'm pretty sure my eyes just popped out of my head there for a second.

Kieran has a way of saying simple things in a way that makes my insides shiver. This boy could recite the Constitution and make it sound completely filthy.

I clear my throat and drop my eyes to the ground.

Focus. You can do this.

I close my eyes and try to imagine something I want to light on fire.

Victor? Maybe. The cheerleaders who were mean to me in high school? Sure.

I open my eyes to see an empty palm. Not even a flicker.

"Damn it!" I curse, rubbing my forehead.

"So now I get to say something dirty? I like this game." He laughs and runs his thumb across his lip. "Do you have a bit of a devil in you?"

"No..." I raise my eyebrow, unsure of where this is going.

"Would you like to?" He shoots me a devastating smile and a playful wink.

This is getting me hot alright, just not the kind I was going for.

Kieran takes a step toward me. His eyes wander across my body, taking in my form with appreciation and lingering extra-long when they reach my hips.

I'm used to men staring at me with want. I like it most of the time. I like that people enjoy looking at me, that I can bring them a bit of delight with a roll of my hips or a flirtatious smile. But with Kieran... it's different. Better.

He's always made it clear that he appreciates my body, but his pupils always flicker wide when he reaches my eyes—like nothing turns him on more than meeting my gaze. It's not my body that he seems to want so desperately...it's me.

I can't help but appreciate the sliver of his muscular chest peeking through the deep V of his buttoned shirt.

The buttons all seem to pop off at once, as if someone had ripped his shirt open. They clatter across the floor, revealing his firm abs and defined chest.

His eyes go wide as he looks down, then back up to me.

"Fuck," he says through a laugh. "I didn't even know I had that power."

"I... I did that?"

"There's no one else here," he says with a smug smile. "What were you thinking about that you made that happen, huh?"

He takes another step forward, close enough that I can see his pupils growing wide. The strap of my top slips off my shoulder and the smiles wider.

"Did you do that?" I ask.

"If I didn't, then your shirt must've read my mind." He chuckles, his gaze falling to the floor then raising up with a devilish grin. "Pretty badass power actually. Turns out you're educating me on my own powers."

"The student has become the teacher."

He takes another couple of steps closer, resting a hand on my hip when he reaches me. He leans in to speak softly into my ear.

"There are still a few things I can teach you, Baby."

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A/N: Y'all, not gonna lie, I came very close to forgetting to post a chapter today. But I just popped out of bed because I remembered and I'm still within 2 minutes of the day's end, so I'm calling it a success. Please let me know if I left in any glaring errors. My editing right now is not up to my usual standards. ❤️