Camila and Marisa walked up the path and reached the first challenge. The door in the small gatehouse blocking access to the dock. Luckily this one seemed to be guarded by a single man wearing a white uniform. Marisa smiled at her mother and stepped closer to the gate."Hello," she said with a sultry tone.The man looked at them through the mesh on the door. He nodded cautiously but took a step closer.Marisa glanced at the ship at the end of the dock. Another security guard was watching them. She locked her eyes on the guard at the door and smiled.His lips immediately matched her smile. "Can I help you?""Yes, I think you can. We were asked to join our good friend Oletha for a little fun."The man's eyes were beginning to show a glassy aspect that indicated her influence was overcoming his will. Much quicker than normal, Marisa noted. He'd experienced this treatment before and potentially often."Maybe we could have a little fun too?" Marisa said, setting the hook."On... on a list.
He stopped and squinted at her. "Uh, no." "Then leave it. It's more of a liability in an untrained hand. Let's go," she glanced outside and darted to the left. As annoyed as he was, he had to admit she was right. He'd probably shoot his foot or worse, his rescuer. With a frown, Nate rushed after her. -=- Henry inspected the building to find the light's power source. He finally had to admit it was futile. He made his way to the bushes a short distance from the dock where the yacht was. He saw Camila fighting with another woman. He couldn't see Marisa and his nerves were buzzing with worry. He jumped when his phone rang suddenly. He pressed the answer button and looked around, but he was alone. He put it to his ear. "Hello?" "Henry! Where are you?" Roy barked. "Oh thank god, Roy! Camila is fighting her. You have to get here! Quick!" "Where. Are. You!" "Liberty Landing Marina!" Henry blurted. "Yes but where?" "Oh! About halfway down the field between the two entrances to the p
Nate stood aside as 'Roy' went around him to run back towards the ship. Nate took a moment to switch back to his human form and tugged on his pants and shirt. Then he noticed a lovely woman struggling to climb out of the back of a boat onto the dock. She seemed very shaky, so he moved to help her."Thank you," she said with a slight moan."No problem. I'm Nate Walker," he said, enthralled by her beauty and her scent. She was a Succubus!"Camila Villamor. Help me, please," she said gesturing to the end of the dock. They saw Sigrid and Marisa with their hands on the side of the ship pushing outwards to maintain a wider gap between the dock and the ship. Roy reached down and pulled a man from the water. He laid him out on the dock and Nate gasped at the wound on his shoulder. Blood spurted, and Nate cried out again when the red furred beast moved his mouth to the wound. Was he biting him?"Calm yourself. Roy is healing him, sealing the wound," Camila explain
"Is everyone ok?" he asked instead. "Yes. We got Nate away from the Marquise. Camila, Marisa, and Siobhan are all good. A few cuts, some bruises. Roy called in a Council clean-up team. Mahati received a statement to share with us. The team left the scene with enough clues to give a reasonable and mundane cover story to explain what was found, including the death of the Marquise and the ship's crew." "They're all dead?" he gasped. Sigrid nodded sadly but held off on telling him his part in the death of the Marquise. "The clean-up team killed the crew to eliminate loose ends." Sigrid hated the Council's team default solution. "The story is that she, and her friend Chantelle, both known for the escalation of their thrill-seeking, borrowed the yacht to sneak into New York City to kidnap the child of one of the city's crime syndicate families. Documents hinting at this were on the ship. The stunt went bad, and the target family took their revenge. They torched the yacht with the Marqui
"Until you can do it without the visual aid and it's second nature, stick to real clothes if you are going to hang out with Humans as no one can afford a constantly changing wardrobe. You need to maintain a fixed set of clothing. I've been doing this long enough that I keep a wardrobe set in my mind." "Right!" he nodded. That made sense to him. They made their way down to her car for the drive to work. As she drove, she glanced over at him to catch him admiring her. "I have another question for you," she said. "And I want you to think carefully before you answer. The Council may ask you the same question, and you'll need an honest answer." Nate was still feeling a little nervous about meeting this group, but he nodded to her. "Shoot." "What do you want out of your life now that you're aware of your true self?" Nate's eyebrow rose. "What do I want?" "Yes, what does your life look like to you now? How do you envision your life going forward? Give it some thought." Camila concentr
"Nate Walker, freelance creative copywriter," he returned. He shook Sigrid's hand and nodded to the lawyer who was holding herself back a little as she looked to Nate. Camila locked the door and activated the privacy rune once more. "Explain," was all Mahati said as she looked to Camila. The CEO sighed then began. She explained how Siobhan Whelan had discovered Nate had been unaware of his true nature until the previous October. At that time Oletha Thanemark had tried to abduct him. She'd attempted multiple times since the first. Siobhan invited him to visit yesterday, but Oletha managed to capture him. She was almost successful in kidnapping him, but they found her location and retrieved him from the yacht when she attacked Camila. "How does this make him like Henry?" Mahati asked with a frown. "Aside from his lack of knowledge of his true nature?" "The easiest way to prove it would be a demonstration. Nate, we wouldn't normally ask you to do this but could you show Mahati your
Nate winced and shook his head. "I might have burned a bridge last year. The night I discovered what I was I went to the boss' Hallowe'en party. She got a little frisky, and I let her take me to bed. Incredibly dumb move but I wasn't at my best that night. The next day at work when I tried to tell her we should keep things professional, she blew up and fired me. It was quite the scene. Since then, she's made it her life goal to blackball me with every ad agency and marketing firm in New York. I get jobs at smaller places, but none have offered me anything long term." "If you can maintain a professional attitude in the workplace, I have friends in a few larger firms. I could put in a good word and probably get you an interview," Sigrid said. He smiled broadly at her. "Lesson learned. I definitely can. That would be wonderful!" Sigrid smiled. "Give me your cell num- " She stopped when she saw Camila shake her head. "OIetha probably took his cell from him when she grabbed him," the C
She ran from the room and leapt up the stairs to get to the room Sigrid gave to her. She threw herself onto her bed as her muscles began to cramp and stretch. Her bones felt like they were on fire as her body continued to shake like it was going to vibrate apart and explode into sparks simultaneously. Her ears filled with the swooshing roar of her blood rushing through her veins as her heart beat faster and faster. She pulled a pillow over her face and screamed her terror into it. Sigrid! She needed Sigrid to save her but her head filled with static, and she could no longer see anything beyond the flash of stars. She'd never find her phone now. Whimpering, she prayed her curiosity hadn't killed her. -=- When Camila's door closed behind Nate, Roy turned towards Camila. "Who are these external law firms approaching VRL?" he asked curiously. "No one we're seriously entertaining the idea of using. She needed to believe it," Camila smirked. He shrugged then grinned. "So is it my tur
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