Tzader yelled in her head, Get off before it kills you! We can't throw any power at it without risking you.
She could feel the fury raging through the halfhuman thing. Her own budding empathic abilities were a new discovery these past few weeks--one she hadn't had a chance to explore--and they picked a fine time to manifest. If she let go, the creature would probably turn on her or one of the others. Tzader would be forced to kill it, defeating the whole point of this operation.
He'd never risk an agent's life to capture this thing.
But allowing it to escape could have deadly consequences if the national security guys were right.
She was in the best position to stop it from flying and protect the team.
She told Tzader, I've got a good hold on it and I don't think it can bite me. Give me a minute to see if it settles down and we might just catch it.
Sprigs of hair stuck off the deformed head that spun sideways trying to get at her. Yellow eyes glared at her--so human in shape they stole her ability to think, until the lipless mouth opened and a double row of pointed teeth snapped at her.
What the heck was this thing?
Tzader was foregoing telepathy for Casper's sake, and was yelling orders for the Beladors to form a kinetic net above the creature. Trey, Tzader and Quinn would overlap an invisible covering to prevent it from flying off, but if the creature made a sudden move straight up it would crush Evalle between it and the solid layer of power they were holding overhead.
She kept her head out of biting range and felt relatively safe until its tongue came out and slapped at the skin on her arms. Instead of soft tongue flesh this felt like a flexible serrated blade that slashed her forearms.
Its freakin' tongue was a foot long and sharp enough to slice her throat, which seemed to be the creature's intent, as it swiveled its head back and forth.
Evalle was so busy keeping out of range of that tongue she almost forgot about the kinetic net when the creature arched and bucked again, trying to get her off . . . then it shoved off the ground trying to get lift.
She yelled out loud, "Forget the net. Grab the wings. Now!"
The creature made a super-strong push straight up and flapped its wings half way, catching air. The movement forced her outstretched legs further apart, her thigh muscles screaming in pain.
She couldn't see the men, but could feel them struggling to stop the wings by the way she was jerking from side to side.
Now was the time to jump if she wanted to dismount before it flew off with her.
The bottom fell out from under her.
She dropped then bounced against the creature when it--and she along with it--were jerked to the ground.
Tzader and Trey wrestled one of the wings down and climbed on it while Quinn and Casper struggled to get the other wing contained.
The creature's muscles quivered with strain. It kept snapping its teeth and tossing its head back.
Tzader spoke between ragged breaths. "Quinn . . . can you do . . . anything?"
Quinn had a rare gift of being able to mind lock, which allowed him to maneuver inside a person's brain and, if necessary, control or crush a mind.
Evalle had never seen him use that power on an animal, but was this thing animal, human, demon or what? It was making garbled distress noises, much like an insane person off their meds.
The extra second Quinn took to answer worried her when he said, "I'll try."
What if this creature could harm Quinn's mind?
In the next few seconds, the body stopped jerking and kicking. No more insane noises. If it hadn't still moved with each labored breath, Evalle would have thought it was dead.
Speaking softly, Quinn said, "I've never seen anything like this bloody thing. It's not entirely human, but parts of that brain appear human."
Trey asked, "What'd you do to shut it down?"
"I've taken control of its mind for the moment, but I can't promise that will last long. I basically put it into a comatose state so I could search its memories for something that will explain its origins. I found images of a house, an antebellum looking place . . . and images of other creatures."
"More creatures like this?" Trey asked, also breathing hard after the fight.
"Possibly, but there is a being there that this one actually fears."
Evalle unwound her arms from its neck and sat up, grimacing at the ache of pulling her legs over its back as she dismounted. "That's not promising. A house with other creatures. Good thing we caught it, eh, Z?"
When Tzader scowled at her she winked at him.
His worried voice came into her head. Next time, don't take the place of the bait.
She shrugged. I couldn't stand by and watch a mama cow and her baby get sacrificed.
Better them than you. Your arms are cut to hell.
I'll live. Her wounds weren't deep. Beladors healed faster than humans so her arms would probably heal in a few days. She used the edge of her shirt to wipe blood off her skin, telling Tzader, You were right. Sounds like someone is creating these things. We have to find that person.
He met her eyes and nodded before asking Quinn, "Any chance you can figure out where the house is located?"
Quinn pondered a moment, stopping long enough to quiet the creature again when it stirred. "I don't think this thing comprehends words verbally or written so I don't believe there's information of that nature to retrieve."
Casper had pulled off his headgear, scratched his head and put the gear back on. "The house must be where this thing lives, or lived if he escaped."
"Probably," Quinn agreed.
"If that's the case," Casper went on, thinking out loud. "Maybe he would go back there. Like a homing pigeon."
Tzader interjected, "You want me to just turn this thing loose and hope it goes home?"
"Hell, I don't know," Casper said. "Just trying to come up with an idea. Can't sit on the damn thing all night long."
Quinn stared off as if thinking through possible options, "That actually might work if I knew how to tell it to go home."
Evalle took in what everyone had said and snapped her fingers. "Did you see other images, Quinn?"
"Like what?"
"Maybe food, like the cows it killed?" Which was an icky visual to bring to mind.
"Yes, I did."
"Can you flood this thing's mind with images of the house then maybe add the suggestion that pregnant cows would be there, sort of like home is where the food is?"
Quinn thought for a moment, his collar-length blond hair disheveled from the battle to ground this thing. "That might work, but I'm not sure how long it would hold in his mind once he flew away."
Deep frown lines carved Tzader's forehead while he thought on something. He asked Quinn, "Think you could hold control of its mind and keep feeding those home and food images if we followed it close enough while it flew?"
No hesitation when Quinn answered, "Yes. I feel certain I can hold the mind lock as long as I have it within sight."
She hated to be the one to throw a logic bomb into their planning but Evalle pointed out, "One flaw with this plan, boys."
"What's that, sunshine?" Casper asked.
Ignoring his usual jab at her nocturnal lifestyle, she turned to Tzader. "How do we follow something that flies if I'm on a motorcycle and you all came in vehicles?"
Tzader flipped out his cell phone, punched in several keys then closed it. "Not a problem."
"Why? Who'd you call?"
"Got a bird waiting in the next pasture."
Tzader was wrong. A helicopter might be a huge problem.
Her palms got sweaty any time she faced being over twenty feet off the ground.
Chapter Two
It was amazing what a person would do when confronted with peer pressure and humiliation.
Evalle gripped the edge of the leather seat in the back of the helicopter. She couldn't appreciate the way the men had talked about how quiet an MD-902 could be.
She didn't care
about the noise level. Flying closer to the ground would have rated higher on her value scale.
One look at her face when they'd taken off and Tzader had asked silently, Are you afraid of flying?
She'd answered, I don't know. Never done it.
When he'd paused then said he'd have the pilot let her off if she wanted, she'd refused. There was no time to bring in another agent and she wouldn't abandon any team in the middle of an op.
She'd survived much worse.
But she doubted she'd have lasted much longer than the eighteen minutes and twelve seconds it took for the flying human-like creature to find home. Sweat had trickled down the back of her neck while the helicopter half flew, half hovered along behind the flapping creature, keeping just within visual sight for Quinn. Finally it glided down toward an antebellum house with a long driveway that tucked the mansion back from the road and casual observation.
She watched Quinn who sat in the copilot's seat, holding her breath until he said, "This looks like the place I saw in its mind."
Through sheer force of will, Evalle shoved the contents of her stomach back down her throat. She fumbled with her seatbelt, ready to get out the minute the chopper touched ground, asking, "Where are we?"
Tzader turned to answer her. "Close to Social Circle, east of where the cows were attacked. Trey's downloading intel now."
The VIPER pilot landed less than a quarter mile from the house and just outside the regal wrought iron fence surrounding what had to be ten acres of lush landscaping that gave way to miles of pecan orchard. Someone with deep pockets had purchased this isolated residence.
Evalle jumped down into the wash from the props that were slowing and ducked her head along with the others as they moved away from the helicopter. Holding hair off her face, she took a deep breath of fresh air and commented, "Doesn't look like the home of a mad scientist, does it?"
Trey had exited the chopper with his smart phone in hand. "Might not be. You're not going to like this, Z."
Tzader stepped closer. "What's wrong?"
"This property is listed under the name of Wenton, Beaker and Associates, Sar Bendelen's personal legal counsel." Trey lifted his gaze from his smart phone.
Tzader sounded tired when he said, "So this could be one of Bendelen's properties."
Evalle kept up with the news as much as she could with her erratic schedule, but she couldn't place this name. "Who's he?"
Leave it to Quinn to know a person insulated by a legal fortress. "Highly respected trauma reconstruction specialist who has donated a billion dollars over the years to programs for burned children. He's a recluse. Rumored to be the only surviving member of a fire that destroyed his family, but little is known about him personally. Only that he inherited a fortune as a child and grew up in Poland."
Shaking his head, Trey offered, "That thing might have flown to this place the first time on its way to the cows. We may have just sent a predator to this guy's house."
Besides the fact that Evalle didn't like doctors, donating money to good causes did not mean this man hadn't created a flying monster. "Maybe this doctor's been experimenting with genetics."
"Genetics?" Casper echoed. "That thing we just followed here wasn't made purely from genetics. Someone with preternatural ability created it."
Tzader cut off all conversation. "Regardless, we have to go in fast in case Trey's right and that doctor's in danger."
After determining there were no dogs or security cameras--which in itself looked suspicious to Evalle-- Casper changed into a shadow. She didn't know how he altered his molecules, but watching him shift into vapor-like mist was a thing to behold.
She'd like to ask him how that felt when they weren't busy hunting something deadly.
Casper slid between the vertical black fence rails then shifted back to solid form.
She used her kinetics to scale the ten-foot-tall fence and dropped silently next to Casper, as did the other three.
When they reached the house, Tzader sent Trey and Quinn to scout all the sides and told Casper to go up the mountain of steps to the veranda and find out how to get inside without triggering alarms. By the time Trey and Quinn returned to report nothing unusual about the house and no sign of anyone inside, Casper had shadowed his way under the door and merely turned the deadbolt to open the front door for the team.
No alarm. Even more suspicious.
Evalle strode in with the men, not surprised to see antique tables and flowers in the foyer that reminded her of homes from the movie Gone With the Wind.
And still she couldn't shake the feeling that something was not right.
Tzader had them fan out and search the house. Every room was more beautiful than the next, adorned with deep maroon-and-gold brocade drapes on tall windows and furnished with elegant eighteenth century heirlooms. Evalle felt guilty walking across the thick rugs in boots that had been through a cow pasture.
What had the hairs on her neck on end, and was sending warning signals to her brain? Was her empathic side getting more sensitive or was there an unfriendly spirit in this old mansion?
She'd just reached the large parlor with twelvefoot ceilings where the team hovered around Casper. He'd found a computer and was tapping on the keys when she stepped through the doorway and the room started changing.
Sheets of metal slid from hidden spaces in the walls, snapping into position to create an interior metal shield around the room.
"What the hell?" Casper stopped typing.
Tzader ordered, "Battle positions."
All five moved into a circle, shoulder to shoulder, facing out, hands on their weapons.
Since Trey was the strongest telepathic of this team, Evalle spoke to him mind-to-mind. Can you call in back-up?
No. I just tried reaching out telepathically and I got smacked in the head. Something is blocking me, and I doubt it's the metal.
That sucked big time. But it appeared they could at least speak to each other inside here, for whatever good that would do.
One of the metal panels opened to expose the center of the house . . . and the creature that had led them here.
Or was it?
No, this one was bigger and had a misshapen head, but the same yellow human-looking eyes, arms and legs. Thick hair covered this one from the neck down and it had no wings, but it did have claws on its feet. Each hand had three stubby fingers on the top with three opposing ones below, where a human thumb would be, and two-inch spikes on each finger, forming a mouth-like shape full of claw "teeth."
When it charged forward, Casper yelled, "We're killing these, right, Tzader?"
"Right."
Casper lifted his customized double-barrel shotgun and blasted the creature dead center. This thing must have thicker skin than the one they caught in the pasture, because the blast didn't faze the creature.
The next shot hit the creature in his eye, which exploded and blasted part of its head away, but that still didn't stop it.
Evalle could see through the opening in the wall to where steps went down to a long hallway with doors.
One of the doors opened and another creature came out, turning toward them, too. Evalle stomped her boots to release hidden blades and flipped her dagger from its sheath.
Tzader ordered, "Trey and I'll put up a field of energy. The rest of you cover us." They threw up a massive kinetic wall to halt the first creature's attack, but the minute they did, energy bounced through the room, ricocheting against the walls and ceiling. Sparks of heat struck Evalle in the back and across her shoulder.
Grunts of pain indicated she hadn't been the only one hit before the men dropped the energy field.
Even the creature paused, throwing its hands up in defense.
Crud, their kinetics were backlashing in here.
"Are we linking?" she asked.
Tzader didn't hesitate to say, "No. Too dangerous with no kinetics and no idea what we're up against."
The first creature headed for them again.
Tzader pulled out his sentient blades and sent one flying at the creature's throat. The thing tried to bat the blade aside but the blade split down its length and turned into two razor sharp pieces that cut like scissors, lopping off fingers.
The creature screamed and fisted its hands, sending the blade flying across the room without touching it.
"Damn thing has kinetic powers that actually work in here," Casper yelled.
Evalle searched the ceiling and corners for any sign of a possible beam of power that was affecting the VIPER agents, but there was no laser unit or camera or evidence of any high-tech equipment in use.
The second creature entered, snarling and screeching . . . with a third hand growing out of its chest. Eww.
Quinn swung silver three-sided discs shaped as razor-sharp Belador Triquetras and struck the second creature in the head with both, but it kept coming.
How thick were their skulls? She shouted at Quinn, "Can you get inside their heads?"
"Trying to. Keep getting shoved out. All I can see is rage and the need to kill."
Evalle fought off the second one with her deathspelled dagger, which would kill a demon if she struck it between the eyes. But these things didn't appear to be demons. She kicked her feet, cutting a deep gash in the monster's leg. "You can't explode its brain?"
Quinn sent another series of blades spinning at the creatures, but the discs skipped away as though blocked by kinetics. "Can't stay inside long enough to gain control. I'll try zapping them in short bursts. Might slow them up."
Tzader called out, "Evalle. Casper. Get ready. Quinn, Trey and I will draw them to the side. You get past. Find who's controlling this and stop him."
"Got it." The minute the fight shifted to Tzader's side of the room, Evalle and Casper rushed behind the creatures into the hallway lit with yellow security beams.
The minute they stepped into the hall, the metal panel access to the parlor slammed shut.
Chapter Three
"Ah, hell."
Evalle mentally echoed Casper's sentiments. She signaled to him that she would go ahead, and he nodded that he'd cover her back. They had to find the operation center, but rushing through here could get both of them killed, which would not help Tzader, Quinn and Trey.
She moved quietly down eight steps and into a chilly six-foot-wide hall with sallow lighting. The place had a sterile feel with concrete walls and steel doors, but it smelled like a septic tank that had been backed up for months. She had to run a close second in the stink department with cow manure smeared on her shirt and pants.
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