by Mikayla Lane
Chris huffed a few more times before he looked down at himself and then the still sparking wall outlet. He grunted as he kicked out at the water beginning to collect on the floor and went over to pull the coffee pot plug from the wall. When he was done, he turned to the doorway to see Dane standing there and grinning like an idiot.
“We’re cutting it off now,” Dane no sooner said it than the downpour stopped, leaving only a cacophony of drips sounding loudly around the kitchen.
Chris roughly shook his head sending water flying around the room before he sloshed through the water to the door, ignoring Dane’s grinning face.
“Glad to be of help,” Dane called out as Chris stormed down the hallway.
It would have been the perfect exit, except that his boots were squeaking loudly on the floor with each heavy step while his sodden pant legs slapped together and made lewd spanking sounds. Dane was failing to smother his laughter.
“What the hell?”
Suddenly Angel appeared at the end of the hallway, wondering what the crazy sounds were. When she saw her brother, she struggled to contain the bubble of laughter desperate to burst from her lips.
Chris turned sparking eyes to her, his anger renewing itself due to his embarrassment until he was slapped upside the head by an unseen hand.
“What the fuck?” Chris growled, spinning around to see who’d done it.
When he turned back around, Angel was glaring at him with her hands on her hips and a golden glow to her eyes.
“Don’t you ever get all sparky on me again, or the next time you’ll feel a foot up your ass so far you’ll be able to gnaw on invisible toe jam,” Angel growled back as she cast a golden net around Chris, keeping him immobile while she flooded him with calming energy.
When she was right in front of him, she laid a hand on his chest. Suddenly, his clothes were dry, and she fixed his collar as she kissed his cheek affectionately.
“I love you, but when you get like that, you scare the baby, and that’s a terrible thing to do to your niece. Pull yourself together so we can get my niece or nephew back too,” Angel said softly, watching Chris’s eyes go back to his normal color before he dropped his head.
Angel dropped the energy net and hugged Chris to her.
“We’ll get them back. Now let’s go find out what’s going on,” Angel said as she pulled him gently down the hall.
Mikal barely glanced up from the conference room table when Chris and Angel came into the room.
“OK, according to Gun, the outside of this place is not guarded. It’s the inside we need to worry about. There’s more than 40 rooms, and from what they could see, there’s a good half dozen people inside on the first floor alone,” Mikal began as he put up an old building plan on the wall.
“Our best chance to surprise them,” Mikal continued, “is to have Deacon drop us on the roof at night. We’ll need six teams of two to work their way from each end of each floor, doing a room by room search. Gun and his team can cover us from the outside.”
“Was Gun able to determine if we have hybrids in there?” Dane asked.
Mikal shook his head.
“They were too far away to feel the shift,” Mikal replied, referring to the shift in their energy that the Dranovians felt when near an anomalous beast.
“I think we ought to count on them being in there so we’re not taken by surprise,” Alex suggested.
“That would be a good idea, so be prepared to back up someone who may have to do an expulsion,” Mikal agreed to the nods of his brothers.
“Keep in mind,” Lara said as she stood, “there is no telling what kind of conditions we’re going to find in there. We need to be ready for women going into labor over the stress.”
“I’m more than ready to help birth one of my nieces or nephews, but I wouldn’t mind a trial run,” Luca said with a grin.
Dree threw the illusion of a coffee cup flying at Luca’s face, and when he ducked, Angel slapped him upside the head.
“You two idiots,” Angel said, pointing at Luca and Grant, the two medics of the group, “aren’t touching either one of us.”
“We’ll see if that’s what you say when you’re screaming in pain and want it out,” Grant added with a smug grin.
“Why aren’t we going in tonight?” Chris asked, ignoring the normal family banter.
“Because we need more intel,” Mikal explained. “We have no idea if Satalis is in there, if there’s interior security, or even if there’s escape routes we’re unaware of. We’re still pulling archival records on the place. It’s a few hundred years old and built by a mining baron, who strangely enough mined the location we’re in right now.”
“How did that happen?” Cole asked, suspicious of the coincidence.
“With a promise to revitalize the area and contain any lead contamination due to the mining, Dad bought this place for next to nothing when Cumbria took it for unpaid taxes over 100 years ago,” Declan explained. “The estate was sold separately and bought by the Rothfeller family over 80 years ago.”
“We’re going into Alston tomorrow morning to see what we can find out,” Angel said. “They have to be getting local help to run the place, and they may be more inclined to speak with us.”
“Who is we? And why are they even here?” Shane demanded as he pointed an accusing finger at Angel.
“I’m going too,” Dree added with a grin. “We’re going to get some fish and chips and see what the bakeries have to offer! We’ll bring you back something.”
Shane only got angrier when Dree blew him a kiss.
“Why the hell are we letting them put themselves in danger like this? They should be back in D.C. and under damn guard!” he argued, looking for help from his brothers.
Angel stood angrily, and with a wave of her hand and flick of her wrist, she sent Shane into the air and flipped him upside down before she walked up to his inverted face.
“You listen to me, I love you to death for caring so much, but I’m not crippled or helpless, and neither is Dree,” Angel argued. “We’re going to play tourist and do some shopping like any other Americans would do in a beautiful place like this. Drago, Liam, and Lara will be with us.”
Angel kissed his forehead then flicked her wrist and spun him upright before slowly lowering her hand, his body following until he was seated again.
“Can we please move beyond the fucking family drama and get on with this!” Chris roared in frustration.
“I have to agree, guys; we need to move on,” Mikal said as he glared at his siblings. “Siggy and Dante are going to search the records at the town hall for the original drawings on the estate so we can get a better idea of where escape routes may be.”
“The place is as old as dirt and built when they had secret tunnels and shit. I bet there’s some wicked cool secret rooms, so we’re better off knowing where they are before some crazed hybrid comes sneaking up behind us,” Dusty said.
“Gun and his team are using tonight to map the exterior and any potential defenses,” Declan added. “Deacon is going to sit on top of the damn place tonight and run the ship’s scanners on the building and surrounding area to try and map it.”
“Mir and I are going out there with Deacon to check for Satalis’s energy illusions,” Trick said. “If we’re close enough, we should be able to detect his energy signature now that we’re experienced with the bastard’s work.”
“By five o’clock tomorrow evening we should have more than enough intel to plan our assault,” Mikal said, confident that the mission was more than feasible in the timeframe.
“Where’s Dad and the others at on their locations?” Reign asked.
“Exactly where we are,” Declan responded. “They’re doing almost the exact same thing with plans on meeting up at 5 p.m. in order to time their assaults with our own. It’s the only way to prevent Satalis from taking any captives deeper underground.”
“What about any humans that may be in there?” Reign asked.
&nb
sp; “We’ll figure that out when we have more intel,” Mikal said. “None of us want to harm an innocent human, but we all know there are a lot of evil bastards working for Dagog and Satalis who deserve no mercy. We’ll make a determination tomorrow.”
“What are the rest of us supposed to do while the women endanger our niece and nephew?” Shane asked, keeping his attitude in check. He wasn’t interested in another lesson in gravity from his sister.
“I need some laundry done,” Dree began with a grin before Liam covered her mouth with his hand.
“You’ll be divided up into intel teams with Gun, Deacon, Siggy, or Lara,” Mikal explained.
“What are you going to be doing?” Cole asked.
“Chance and I would stand out a little too much in such a small town, so we’re going to be trying a preliminary breach of the interior,” he admitted.
“Oh, hell no! They got drugs for you guys too, and we have no idea if Satalis has access to them,” Chris argued. “No. No one is to do an interior breech unless we all do. If you got caught or someone sensed you, the entire mission is over.”
“You know that most can’t sense us,” Chance said, unwilling to give up on the idea.
Like Mikal, Chance was pretty confident they could find out everything they needed to know by taking to their air forms and going through the entire place.
“But we have no idea what hybrids may be in there that can! You and Chance can more easily sneak into the taverns and eateries and listen in on the local gossip,” Chris said, defending his decision as their leader. He wouldn’t sacrifice a family member.
“I’m more worried about your kid knowing we’re the good guys,” Alex teased. “I don’t want to be toasted; my skin is black enough.”
The comment stopped Chris’s train of thought completely. He hadn’t considered that his son might not realize that they were there to help them, and after incinerating the man at the airport, there was a real possibility his son could harm one of them.
“Quinn knows I have a lot of siblings, and you’ve all seen her pictures in the files, so if you find her . . . call out, ‘Oooh Olly,’” Chris said as he blushed.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Reign asked as most of the room erupted in laughter.
“It’s a joke,” Chris said as his blush deepened. “There’s a real popular song that’s played on one of those crime scene shows on TV, and for years I always thought they were singing, ‘Oooh Olly, Ooh Ooh, Ooh Ooh,’ until Quinn told me what they were really singing.”
Everyone burst into renewed laughter as Chris shook his head, trying not to think of how Quinn had laughed her ass off at him when they both sang the song while it played on the radio one day.
“Your kid can fry me where I stand, but I’m not singing that song with your screwed up lyrics,” Reign said through his laughter.
Suddenly, half a dozen siblings started singing the chorus of the song, all incorrectly the way Chris had believed it to be, and he couldn’t help but laugh at it.
“You guys suck,” he teased. “You don’t have to sing it, just say ‘Oooh Olly’ and she’ll get it. Whenever Quinn thinks I’ve done or said something stupid, that’s all she says to me, and I know exactly what she means, so she’ll get it.”
“Awww,” Dree said as her eyes filled with tears. “That’s so cute and so mate-like.”
“It might be a good idea to try and connect to your child’s beast as soon as you can,” Lara suggested. “If Amun and Lauren are right, the odds are that you’re having a son, and he’s changing Quinn’s brain and flooding her with the enzymes required to lengthen her life as a protective mechanism.”
The thought of his child being a son seemed to floor Chris. He’d tried his best not to think about whether or not he had a son or daughter while he searched for Quinn, but Lara’s comment had felt like a fist to the stomach.
My son, he thought as a warm feeling rushed over him. He sighed heavily then tried to focus on responding to Lara.
“I will try to connect with him, but since Quinn is human, it’s unlikely that he will be able to help her in any way; it may only stop him from harming one of you,” Chris said.
“Oh, well, if that’s all,” Reign said dramatically as he glared at Chris.
“I didn’t mean it like that, you ass,” Chris retorted with a grin.
“OK, guys, those of you who can, get some sleep,” Mikal said, going back to the main topic. “Those of you going up with Deacon, grab your gear and head to the hangar. Those going out to help Gun, get your gear so Deacon can drop you on the way.”
Everyone slowly started filing out of the room, Angel and Dree going first. There wasn’t a doubt that the two women were going to bed since they’d been smothering yawns throughout the meeting.
When only Declan, Mikal, Lara, and Dread remained, they all sat back down at the conference room table.
“What are the odds that Satalis is in there and you haven’t felt it?” Declan finally asked Lara.
“Pretty slim,” Lara admitted. “He may not be here, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t nearby. Could Siggy find anything about where he may be?”
Declan shook his head.
“It was the first thing Siggy and Dante looked for, and there is still no information on where the bastard is. He’s been in hiding since our last encounter in D.C., and we haven’t seen an indication that he’s resurfaced,” Declan admitted.
“So he could be in some crazy cave system beneath the estate?” Chris asked.
“I don’t know,” Lara said with a shake of her head. “I don’t feel him near, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t staying just out of range. I plan on sending out a wave of detection when we get into the town tomorrow to try and see what or who may be near.”
“What’s a wave of detection?” Dread asked curiously; he was always amazed at what the prime were capable of.
“It’s just an energy wave manipulated to detect unusual energy signatures and patterns. It can help me detect what, if any, anomalous hybrids or even primes may be in the area,” Lara explained.
“Why didn’t you do that when we flew over the estate?” Chris demanded.
“Because it would have alerted them to us flying overhead!” Lara countered. “The wave can only be done while among enough humans to jumble the energy.”
When Lara saw they were still confused, she continued.
“The wave has to be intense and is designed to act like an energy sonar. It flows outward from me and ‘pings’ back when it finds an individual energy signature above that of a human. But it also lets that person know that they’ve been ‘pinged.’ It sends a tremor of energy through them as a warning,” Lara explained. “Some humans who are sensitive to energy will feel the hair on the back of their neck stand up or even feel a cold shiver run through them.
“It’s those reactions that will disrupt a hybrid or prime from tracking the originator of the wave. With enough sensitive people, it’ll mask the wave completely and be blamed on the sensitive humans and ignored.”
Dread thought he understood but wanted to make sure.
“So you’re bouncing the energy off the sensitive humans to mask where it came from?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. It will have no harmful effects on them, but will mask my presence,” Lara said with a nod.
“It won’t send Satalis’s people after the humans will it?” Mikal asked, not wanting any of the innocent humans harmed.
“No, anyone that could detect the energy will be able to tell that the human has heightened senses, but no power. But even two sensitive humans in the area will be enough to mask the wave,” Lara explained.
“So you couldn’t do it at the estate because there was no one to mask it?” Chris asked, making sure he had it right.
“There’s that, and this land is permeated with ancient energy and power as evidenced by the stone circles and cairns,” Lara explained. “Surprisingly enough, the planet’s origina
l energy and power, used by the early humans, trumps my own and jumbles the wave until it’s useless. The metals and mineral content still within the earth here and on that estate, make it even worse.”
“I’ve felt it as well,” Dread admitted. “The original power here is very strong. I’ve been working with it since we arrived in order to understand it.”
Lara grinned in excitement.
“I was hoping you’d say that. Your connection will be the strongest because you’re a Tezarian. Can you use it?” she asked.
Dread considered the question for a few moments before he nodded his head confidently.
“I can use it to increase my own power, and my brethren will be able to as well, but it won’t help you with yours,” Dread said.
“Actually, it will,” Lara said. “I can piggy back off of yours and steal some of the excess. That will help me send out a different wave to search for Quinn once we get closer to the estate.”
“But you can’t do that until we begin the assault?” Mikal asked.
Lara and Dread both nodded.
“If we try anything now, they’ll know it,” Dread responded. “There will be nothing in the way to break up the energy. It’d be like sending a beacon of light through the building and expecting no one to see it.”
“Will it affect our teams?” Mikal asked with concern.
“Not at all,” Lara said with a shake of her head. “You will all be exempt from it. I am familiar enough with your energies to tailor the wave to avoid you. There will be no disruptions to our people.”
“Can you make it strong enough to knock everyone out?” Declan asked, thinking that’d be the easiest thing to do.
“Sadly, no,” Lara admitted. “The estate is far too large to send out anything that strong. It would dissipate quickly among the metals and minerals still within the earth in the area.”
“OK, everyone, keep your teams on task, and we stay in constant communication on any information we gather. We’ll meet here in the morning before we all leave for our missions to see if Dad or Siggy have anything new for us,” Mikal said, ending the meeting.
Chris left the room and headed towards the surface of the compound. He stood on the roof of the average-looking building that concealed the entrance to the sprawling bunker beneath and stared in the direction of the estate where he knew his family was.
