Page 154 of The Satyr's Guilt
No Ram.
She slipped outside when a human in a blackuniform with an HR logo on the shoulder exited. Leaning against thewall, she lingered near a huge, grassy field, a running trackcircling it. To her left was a shooting range and beyond a padwhere a helicopter sat.
Skyler crossed her arms while she waited fora door to open. As the trainer had explained, physical laws no lessreal than Brownian Motion or Einstein’s Mass-Energy Equationgoverned the Scrying Principle. More specifically, her secondarytalent of etheric travel. Her body remained at Firebrandheadquarters while its spirit, existing in air and composed of agaseous substance, roamed the Humans First compound. Here was thecatch. In that form, she could not use already occupied space. Nopassing through objects. No grabbing them. She could feel a chair,sit in it, but she couldn’t move it. When she asked for a clearerexplanation, her trainer clapped hands to hips, frowned, andsnapped, “Just accept it.” Still, it would be nice to float throughwalls.
While she marked time, men in uniformsentered and exited doors, gathering, talking, moving on. From theaction, she identified a barracks. A mess hall. She itched to driftby, but finding Ram and the base’s location were the mission.
An older man in an expensive suit breezedout a door.
Skyler sneaked in before it clicked shut,but when she scoped out the lab, her hand flew to her mouth.Gasping, she was relieved people could not hear her. Ram layasleep, or unconscious, on a gurney, his beautiful hair matted.What had they done to him? His skin was sallow, not its usualcolor. His chest barely moved with each breath.
On another slab, the butchers had cut openthe male vampire. An instrument stuck out of his heart. He wasdead. Guys in lab coats peered into the body, chatting while theyunhooked probes.
On a different bed, the female vampiresobbed.
“Damn shame we lost him,” said a white coat.“Our visitors are gonna come back with Dante and start in on thebig guy again. The otherworlder’s time is short, though. I thinkthe English guy will finish him off.”
Skyler gasped, but she was unable to doanything. Needing to get a fix on the base, she cast around forevidence, paper with an address, a photo.
Nada.
The door clicked open.
“There they are now,” said a white coat.
Three men entered, two in uniform. Thecostly suit must be Dante. Not staying to make sure, Skyler glidedoutside before the door closed.
If only she could float. High enough to viewthe surrounding environment.
That’s when she rose. Up and up. Over thecompound and its wooden buildings which formed a huge rectangle thesize of four side-by-side football fields. In the open center wasthe track, field, shooting range, and helipad.
As she soared higher, the shape of theisland amid murky waters, green and brown with algae, formed. Hugecypress trees leaned into the encroaching swamp. Two intersectinghighways and a river gave her reference points.
Her vision clouded as she began todissolve.
“No. No.”
Though not ready, she could never stop thefade-out.
Solidifying, she sat yoga-style on thecarpet in the Firebrand headquarters. With her palm, she cradledher belly, her child. Pushing herself up on wobbly legs, Skylergrabbed the doorknob. Too weak to turn it, she tapped the D-chipKole had insisted she have after they mated.
In seconds, her mate stormed in, catchingher in his arms.
“Frisca. Damn it. I knew this was a fuckingbad idea.”
“I’m okay, Kole. The baby’s fine. But thescene’s bad. Ram was unconscious, chained to a lab table. Varik isdead. The female is alive. A lab assistant implied Ram didn’t havemuch time left. And I think I spotted the Dante guy. He was withmilitary types. A general and a colonel, if I remember insignias.I’m sure I can find the island on a map. Get a big one. Quick,before I forget.”
****
Once Skyler identified thelocation of the Humans First compound on a map of the AtchafalayaBasin, Rein grabbed Tyr. He pulled the warlock off med center dutywhere healers were working to save the human female he and Daxfound in the middle of the road the other day. Denim filled them inon dangers in the swamp and possible problems.
Standing at the edge of the island, bothFirebrands hid in a thick mist while they reconned the militaryset-up.
Rein analyzed tasks for the upcoming attack.What if they all portaled to a nearby central staging area first?Out of sight. He and Tyr could scout a spot.
After all boots were on the ground, a smallteam could wipe out the first-line defense. Spaced around theperimeter, snipers tucked themselves into the tall grasses. Theywere priority one. High guard towers pinpointed each of the fourcorners. The men who manned these were the secondary targets.
The task required mages with skills. Him.Tyr. Braelyn. His father. Aunt Indigo. One of the new recruits wasa warlock, but Rein wasn’t sure about his abilities yet.
