Sigrid opened her arms, and Meixiu moved into her embrace."Me too," she sighed.**************Henry found himself once more staring at his computer screen at work as the sunset.He'd gotten a break early on in the day when the net he'd placed over the NSA firewall detected an intruder. He was running VRL's intrusion detection algorithms on a third party network. This would not be detectable to them, outside of a slight lag, as it reviewed incoming traffic. He had the intruder's feed captured and analyzed and found password attempt entries. He set those aside for later use. He logged the identity of the owner of the workstation, and when the intruder pulled some files, Henry detected them as his signature files. He appended a flag byte on each signature as they transferred. Inert on their own, if the files were added to data packets sent through the Internet, they activated other capabilities. Most important of these was the breadcrumb trail the data pac
He wasn't sitting for long before the door opened and an older man in a suit stepped inside. Henry gauged him to be in his sixties. He was maybe 5' 6", but he was wide shouldered and looked very strong. His face held a scowl as he took the chair across from Henry. He ran a hand through his close-cropped grey hair then fixed his eyes on Henry's. "I'm Captain Lowes. Last week you were taken into custody by officer Carsten during a disturbance on the Path system. An orgy had broken out on one of the cars. The one you were inside. Officer Carsten failed to deliver you to the station house for questioning. The next morning Officer Jeffrey Carsten was found dead in the bedroom. Evidence found at the scene indicates she'd engaged in intercourse with an unknown male." The man stared at Henry expectantly. Henry's nerves were buzzing as he relived the shooting once more. "Charges?" he managed to croak through his tight throat. The captain's scowl deepened. "One of my best officers died under
There was a buzz in her clutch purse, and she welcomed its distraction. She plucked her cell out and looked at the screen. Her eyes widened in dismay. "SHIT!" she exclaimed. Siobhan was watching her friend in concern since her reaction to Nate's touch. She knew Marisa's talent for precognition was very strong and she must have seen something disturbing to look so shaken. When she cursed at her cell, Siobhan's concern deepened. "What's wrong?" she asked. Marisa looked at her in anguish. She looked over at Nate whose expression was beginning to show his concern as well. "I- I have to go!" she blurted. "What? No!" Nate exclaimed desperately. He didn't want to lose her! She was the only Succubus he'd ever met since he escaped the clutches of the first one. "I'm sorry! Henry's in trouble. A friend." She explained to him. "I have to go!" "I'll come with-" Siobhan began. "No! I mean, it's ok. I'll be contacting... people from work to help. Stay, please. Enjoy. Get to know our new fri
"Creatures of insatiable lust! Rapist and defilers of Human females!" She gave him a crooked smile at his frown as she continued to brush her fingers over his kilt. "That was how the Humans of the time described your people. They had no love for the Satyr race. Well, the males didn't. The females liked them just fine. Maybe just a little too much perhaps. Back then, the Human race was slightly more primitive than it is today and females had no say at all. The Human men hunted down every last one-" she stopped with a smile. "Every last one but you. All because your kind were better lovers than the Human males could ever hope to be. It was their jealousy that drove their murderous desires." Stanley's body was getting mixed signals as it always did with Mab. She could be so damn sexy as she stroked him to full rigidity effortlessly, but her words threatened to drive his desires away. "I've had many Satyr lovers. They were the only ones who could truly satisfy my needs." She pouted as s
He scowled at her. That was rather private. She glared in return, and he sighed. "I was riding the train and an orgy spontaneously broke out-" "The gas attack in the train!" she gasped. "It was on the news!" "Uh, yeah. I think that was just me. I don't know anything about gas but the passengers all just started having sex around me, and I was so... incredibly horny," he sighed at the memory. "She pushed me into her patrol car. She didn't take me to the station but to her place instead. We had sex. Talked afterward and fell asleep." His expression became bleak. "Then that happened." Mahati was staring at him. "You caused a group of strangers to have sex in public, were taken into custody but instead of being charged you were taken to the officer's home to have sex." He looked at her for a moment then nodded. "So we could claim you were both affected by the gas," Mahati suggested. He nodded slowly. "Obviously, your being the source of the gas will remain a secret," she insisted,
Siobhan's alarm clock began to chime softly, and she sighed. "Time for work." She looked at Nate with a smile on her lips as he switched back to his Human form. He was gorgeous in both forms! "I'll head back to my apartment, get freshened up and change my clothes. I want to make a good impression for Marisa and Camila," Nate said as he began to dress. Siobhan smiled and nodded. "What time should we expect you?" Nate shook his head. "It shouldn't take me long. No later than 10:30 AM?" Siobhan pulled on her dressing gown and nodded. "I'll set up a meeting with them for you when I get in." She moved closer and tilted her face up for a kiss. Nate smiled and gave her one. She patted his chest as she pulled back. "Thanks for a lovely night!" "Thank you for being so patient and explaining so much about the Hidden Races," he returned. She held a finger up to her lips to indicate he should be silent about that and he nodded with a smile. Siobhan walked Nate to the door and locked up be
Henry smiled and closed his door. Sandy was good people. The world needed more people like her.As he got ready for bed, he realized he was feeling a little better aside from the beginnings of a headache. He took some painkillers and drank a glass of water to prevent dehydration.Talking it out with Sandy had helped. He didn't know why it was so easy to talk to her, but he was grateful she was there for him.Speaking of good people, he needed to check if the not so good people had tried their luck with the VRL firewall. He logged in and brought up the logs. He smiled. Just the usual casual poking. So it seemed Kent wasn't successful in wrangling his hit team after all.An image of Jun popped into his mind, and that triggered his recollection that he'd left the remote instance of his firewall running on her high school project. He sent a command to the VRL firewall, and a shutdown command would go out with the next scheduled update packet.He shut down and crawled into bed.Sighing, he
Marisa gave her friend a troubled look and Siobhan raised her hands in surrender. "Never mind. Follow me." She led the blond down the hall into the executive washroom. She checked the stalls, and they were alone. She wasn't going to say anything that violated Hidden Races rules, but her demonstration was for Marisa's eyes only. The blond in question was looking at her cautiously so she took a deep breath and took off her sweater.Marisa froze as she took in the beautiful cascade of hair that reached her friend's ass. Hair that hadn't existed last night."A wig?" she asked with a tight throat. She knew better.Siobhan ran her fingers through it and sighed. "No, it's all mine, and that's not the most significant change.""What is?" the blonde gasped.Leaning forward slightly to whisper, she brought her lips next to Marisa's ear. "It's my pelt.""WHAT?!?" Marisa blurted.Siobhan nodded. "I had glorious sex with Nate last night, and this morning I discovered my... most precious possession
They stopped at the guardhouse where a startled looking soldier stared at them, then just waved them through. They returned to the building with the auditorium. The Colonel, the General, Hugh, and the lab coats were waiting for them. Corporal Dane handed the camera back to the technician, who accepted it excitedly. He immediately reviewed the recording and made excited sounds to his colleagues.The General was trying to school his expression but wasn't too successful."How... how are you feeling, son?" he asked softly from his tight throat.The big marine saluted him with a wide smile. "I feel really good, sir! So much better than I was after the explosion and maybe better than my best day."Hugh's expression was satisfied. "I know a lot of other soldiers who might appreciate the same chance."Mick stepped forward. "Sir, what we saw today was just short of a miracle. His body rejected the conversion, and we almost lost him. The injury he sustained created a break in the flow, and he a
Gordon took in the ribbons pinned to the marine's dress uniform. He'd done some pretty impressive things in his career. He stepped forward and returned the man's salute. "I'm Colonel Gordon Crane.""Gunnery Sergeant Christopher Endale."Gordon smiled and gestured to the soldiers, who were now all smiling at him. "I suppose your security clearance has been escalated to allow you to witness this, so let me introduce you to my squad. Up until yesterday, they were a group of highly trained human soldiers. We were charged with capturing a small group of Silver People. Instead, my people got turned into Silver People themselves. They're still the same soldiers, but you can't really call them human any longer. Not that they've complained.""We can run so fast!" Yablonski gushed.The squad burst into chuckles, and the marine's eyes widened at the odd sound."Maybe discipline has been affected," Crane grumbled, and his squad snapped to attention as the argument was over and the two men returne
"I'm not at my peak either. I had to use a fair amount to deal with Carl de Bellisle. But I don't intend to fight Nuru. I don't want her job!" she exclaimed.Sigrid snorted in amusement, and the phone chirped. Camila pressed the button. "Yes?""Your 9 AM is here," Felix said."Thank you. Please send them in."Sigrid stood to face the door as Camila joined her. "Remember our visit to Walter's cavern?" the blond asked quietly, and Camila nodded as she smiled at Nuru, who strode in with her bodyguards at her sides. They shut the door.The waves of energy radiating from the leader confirmed Camila's guess that she'd been overfeeding in preparation for this meeting. She sighed, as in contrast, Camila held back on her output the best she could. She forced a smile onto her lips."Greetings, Nuru Onwudiwe," Camila began and bowed her head to the other woman."Camila Villamor, you are not presenting the excess of power you did the other night," Nuru snapped.Camila looked up and nodded. "As I
Keeping the destination drop zone in his mind, he opened the tear, and Henry fell through to drop three feet to the grass below. The back of his head landed on the small brass commemorative plate bolted to the stone next to the bushes. Xiong winced but quickly closed the tear as he saw the beam of a flashlight approaching.He hoped their friend was okay as they'd asked so much from him. He looked back to the pile of charred remains. Something shiny caught his attention. It was up where Henry's head had been. Xiong reached down and lifted the crystal ganglion from the ground. His body must have rejected it after he was healed.Xiong couldn't inform Henry that he no longer had their transplanted capacity to wield magic. He also had no idea how Henry got it out yet completed his spell.He looked to the others. "We will bury these remains in the forest glade to honor our friend, Henry."A feeling of joy and love washed through him from the others. The Glass People loved the idea, as they
He felt Xiong withdrawing, and through the magic in him, he picked up snippets of a conversation Xiong was having with all of the other Glass People. The volume was a bit overwhelming as there were so many voices, and they were upset. They seemed to be talking about making him a Glass Person because of his injuries. To save him. Xiong was trying to tell them it wouldn't work as he'd already been subjected to the same energies, and he wasn't glass now.Henry was beginning to get seriously worried. How badly was he hurt? He felt someone close by and reached out to the mind. It was one of the Silver People.It physically touched him, and he linked minds with the young female. Concepts and perceptions were flowing through their link. She was sad. She'd heard he was the hero who'd saved all of the people on this planet and many on Earth. He imagined looking through her eyes at him, and she allowed it.He saw his Human glamor, and he looked no worse for wear. That was a relief. He dropped t
Crane shrugged. "I might have gotten more information, but Palmer's team decided to make his attempt at capturing my team.""You informed your team to run. They're now on the loose," Palmer asserted."No, they've gone to ground and will contact me tomorrow. They're still my squad. They remain devoted to the mission, as do I," Gordon asserted."But they won't come in," Baines growled."Yes, they'll come in, but not if they're going to be experimented on. Fully human soldiers would behave the same way under this threat, and there's no need for it. They've already proven they'll tell us everything we need to know." He locked eyes with the General. "Having a squad of bulletproof soldiers able to move faster than we can register with our eyes gives us one hell of an advantage, wouldn't you say? And remember, we know how to make more."That got through to the man."I'd personally like to speak to one of these Silver People," said the man with the crooked smile.Crane nodded. "We saw a repor
"Status report, Mick," Crane commanded through his mic. Their radios were shielded, so they still worked.The sergeant was still a little overwhelmed by the shared emotions, but she pulled it together and answered. "Colonel. The pseudo-clouds appear to be dead. The strike zone of the last prolonged bolt is too energized for us to enter. In the center of this zone is a body. We can't get close enough to make a positive identification or to determine if the person is alive or not. It looks to be a male based on body shape and clothing. The area is sprouting new growth unnaturally fast. Grasses and flowers are actually growing before our eyes. The four Silver People we met in Tennessee were here before we arrived, and they showed us how lightning affects the plant life where it strikes."And how exactly did they do that?" Crane asked, weariness in his tone.Mick felt a little uneasy with what she was about to confess, but she pushed ahead. "Uh, it seems we can speak mind to mind if we ho
As he got closer, he could feel every hair on his body beginning to stand on end. Little sparks were jumping between the strands, and he could taste something metallic. The rain was picking up, as was the wind, and soon he was drenched. The closer Henry got, the brighter the sparks snapping across his body became. It felt like his entire body was being pricked by pins and needles. The woman suddenly looked up at him and stopped with a look of fear on her face, clutching her child to her side.Henry looked closely at her and realized her hair was as soaked as his, but hers wasn't attracting the sparks at all.He looked past the woman and saw the tiny sparks leaping through the gap between himself and the approaching storm. He was a lightning rod! FUCK! He had to get away from her and the children! He spotted two young men running by."STOP!" he roared, and they froze in fear. "Help her get her children to cover!" he ordered, and they rushed to her and got her moving, one pushing her ca
"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