The Thai food was delicious and filling, but the conversation quenched the curiosity in their new friend.Even Henry, who'd heard this a few times, found it fascinating when Camila, Roy, and Sigrid work together to paint a chronologically accurate picture of the Hidden Races' history and how they remained separate from Humanity for so long. He glanced at Mary and saw she was equally enthralled.As the trio reached a point where Lorelei entered the picture, they glanced towards Henry's grin. "Wouldn't it be great if we could record this for all new initiates!" he said.Camila raised a perfect eyebrow to look at him. "You know that's not—"He raised his hands. "I know, I know, but man! If I'd been told all this at the beginning as you did for Lorelei, it would have made so much more sense to me."The CEO gave Henry a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, we must be getting better at it since we had you, Nate, and now Lorelei to explain it to."Henry nodded. "I wonder how many more surprises Baba w
Suddenly, a being of ruby red and black was sitting on the sofa, her skin looking like wet latex, her curvy body begging to be touched, and short horns rose from her temples through her long flowing ebony hair with red streaks.In a blink, she was Camila once again. She looked contritely to Henry. "Sorry. I'll give you a warning next time."Lorelei glanced over at Henry, who was awkwardly crossing his legs with his arms in his lap. Before she could ask him about it, Sigrid spoke up."I'm a Valkyrie. I don't use a glamor, but I can summon my armor, weapon, and wings. They glow a very bright white, which makes it hard to see, I'm told." She smiled at the artist.Mary was next. "I also don't have a glamor. What you see is what you get. I'm... tough."Roy chuckled at her description until Lorelei looked at him. "Lycanthrope." He dropped his glamor and switched back after she yelped in surprise.Mary grinned. "Roy is bigger and scarier than his crew, but they're all werewolves too. Good pe
"Our next date is going to be at my place on a Friday night, so there won't be any work activities the next day and no interruptions!" she said with a pout.He lifted his cell and opened the calendar app. He scrolled and checked. "You're in luck. This Friday night is open."Sigrid's delighted squeal was a loud and happy sound as she grabbed him in a hug. Henry couldn't stop himself from laughing. He tapped the date and entered Sigrid's initials on Friday night.He looked over at the fond smile on Camila's face."Don't be late for work tomorrow. You and Mahati leave for the airport at 9AM."He sighed and nodded. He walked over to the CEO, and he saw her smile begin to get wider. He kissed her with his hand deep in her hair on the back of her head. She gasped slightly into his mouth as he caressed her lips.Henry pulled back. "Good night, ladies."He stepped from the room and heard the giggles behind him. That brought a smile to his face. He collected a bag from his office to carry the
"Are you hunting tonight, as well?" Raymond asked."Yes, but not for food. I'm searching for the serial killer. I hope to track him to his lair so the authorities can capture him.""The authorities haven't been very successful so far. I heard through my contacts on the police force that he struck again, and this time he killed two of New York's finest. The police are trying to keep a tight lid on that story," Raymond said grimly.Meixiu looked at him in dismay. "That will make things much, much worse! I must tell my friends!""Before you go, could we trade contact numbers? We meet so few like us, and you are so much more!" Eleanor asked, hopefully.Meixiu watched them for a moment, then nodded. She slipped her cell from a hidden inner pocket as Eleanor pulled her cell out as well. Smiling at each other, they traded numbers."Be safe, Meixiu," Raymond said, and she smiled at him."You too!" Meixiu said, then hopped backward to land ten feet away on a stone stair railing of one of the h
"But you did receive documentation outside the legal terms of the contract. That issue must be resolved before further transactions. It's outlined very clearly in the contract."Dawes scowled at Hall. "Sign the form.""I'll need two witnesses as well," Mahati said with a smile.With an angry expression on his face, Maurice signed the tablet. Wallace and Stephen were the witnesses."I could just say you forged my signature," the CIA Director snapped.Mahati tucked away the tablet and faced the group. "The signature plus your biometrics the tablet recorded while you faced its camera are incontestable in court." She turned to Henry. "We may proceed."The Directors were watching her uncomfortably as she'd handled them all quite effectively. Henry did his best to hide his smile.Instead, he nodded and looked to the podium. There was a server rack standing next to it with a blade server installed. He turned to Dawes. "Who on your team will be doing the application install?"The Director ges
One of the scientists pushed his way through the arguing crowds to get to Henry. He came rushing up to stop before Henry with an excited expression on his face."You must show us how to build arrays of quantum tunneling processors so we can create a probability/potentiality determination engine!" the older scientist exclaimed.Henry gave him a hesitant look. "Why the hell would you want that?""What's it do?" Wallace asked first."It can be used to predict things with great accuracy! Even social patterns," the scientist exclaimed excitedly.Wallace suddenly looked very interested."You'd have to enter so much data just to get the simplest responses, and you'd still have very low accuracy. It couldn't pay for itself." Henry looked to the scientist. "Sometimes doing something just because you can do it is a very bad idea." He didn't share that he was working on a more straightforward market trend prediction utility for Camila. His tool wouldn't target individuals.He looked at the agita
They slipped inside and added the three new wire mesh sections, eight foil pieces, and two gallons of the rain.When they stepped out of the barn and headed for the shack, a loud buzzing suddenly began, and they felt dizzy, experiencing a sensation much like vertigo.Jeannie took Sam's hand. "What's happening?" her voice came through their connection silently, but he felt her emotions. She was nervous.Sam glanced her way to smile at her, then looked at Jake who was tilting his head to the right. A short distance away, a soldier in camo gear could be seen beginning to peek around a tree. His movements were glacially slow due to their sped up perceptions.He spoke to Jeannie. "Looks like we walked into a trap. They found us. Not sure how, but there it is. How do you feel?""Dizzy. I could probably fast walk away from it, but it wouldn't feel good."Jake and Brenda moved closer and touched them to share the communication channel."I don't like this feeling. They must be crafty bastards
"Shit!" Crane exclaimed.Sam looked at his friends then back to the Colonel. "These things duking it out over a city would not be good. I don't know what effect the lightning would have on people, but I can't imagine it would be good." A sudden pang of guilt made him look to the new Silver People they'd made. "You should know, we get our energy from the lightning. I guess it's how we eat."Jake scowled at Sam, but he just shrugged. He wasn't about to let them starve to death.Brenda and Jeannie went back into the barn and returned with handfuls of the silver strips, handing them out to the soldiers. Brenda took the remaining strips back to the barn when they no longer melted into the soldier's skin."We have to leave," the Colonel said, looking at Sam."That's cool with us. It's up to you what happens to your people. We're just going to keep running as that's what feels best. We won't interfere with you. I'd like to ask that you do the same for us, but maybe you don't have that author