The forklift driver's shaggy gray hair and rumpled clothes didn't match Isak's buff military look, but the guy's sharp gaze scanning everywhere as he worked and his taut posture spoke of alertness on a par with the other Nyght Raiders.
Two more vehicles were parked inside. With the right color scheme and a few decals, one could have been an armored security truck for money pickups. But who drove that sleek, do-me-red BMW Z8?
Not Isak, who filled the cockpit of this Hummer.
He'd have to wear that tiny car.
"You're looking for one of my Nyght weapons, right, Evalle?" Isak hadn't made a move to get out of the Hummer yet. He had his arms crossed and his attitude locked into quiet-curiosity mode.
"Yes. Hopefully, a smaller version of the one you used to destroy that demon when we first met." She'd been interrogating a Birrn demon until Isak blasted it with one of his superweapons. The demon imploded before she could get intel she'd desperately needed. Granted, when Isak showed up the Birrn had appeared close to chowing down on her. Small detail.
"What're you trying to kill?"
She could only dodge him so long without having to share something. If she said the weapon was for another demon, she'd get the wrong weapon. "I need something that would stop a troll without drawing the attention of ... citizens."
The drone of the forklift motor running back and forth filled the pause before Isak said, "Trolls."
She nodded, but that hadn't been a question.
"When did you see a troll?"
Answering that honestly opened the door to more questions. "I'd rather not say."
"But you're not protecting the troll."
"No. I want to protect myself from the troll." There. She'd played the girl card in spite of how vulnerable that made her sound. She could kick a troll's butt any day.
Isak shifted his body, muscles bunching when he propped an elbow on the driver's door. "Tell me where to find this troll and I'll handle it."
She stopped herself a second before snarling that she didn't need a man protecting her. What had made Quinn believe she could do this? Unclenching her jaw, she spoke with an even tone. "I don't know where the troll is right now."
"I can put a detail on you."
Isak could be a persistent son of a gun, but he wasn't going to get the answer he wanted. "I'm not interested in having bodyguards follow me around. If you don't want to loan me a weapon, then just say so and I'll figure out something else."
Isak gave it a couple beats, then said, "Wait for me to open your door."
That wasn't a yes, not yet.
He allowed her to step down unaided.
Just as her boot touched the concrete floor, the door to the office area opened and a slim woman of average height walked out. She could be late forties or early fifties, too attractive to pin down. Beautiful brunette hair in a short, swooshy style fanned around her tanned face. She wore knee-length white pants and an aqua-blue shirt with a flared collar. Cinnamon lips smiled when she noticed Isak.
He put a hand to Evalle's back, gently urging her toward the office and this woman.
The forklift's tires squealed with a sharp turn.
Evalle glanced at the machine ... then at the driver, who was heading straight for the three of them.
The driver's head began stretching into a grotesque shape, his mouth widening with fangs. Brown eyes.
Seconds slowed down with each heartbeat that thudded in her chest at this living nightmare unfolding.
A Rias.
As the forklift careened toward them, Isak grabbed Evalle, then lunged for the other woman, shoving them both toward the office.
Evalle kept her balance and spun around in time to see the driver alter his direction toward her and the woman.
She didn't doubt that every person in this building was armed, but not one of those technicians two hundred feet away would get here in time, and the handgun Isak had just drawn would only anger the beast further.
No one could stop that Rias in the next five seconds.
Except Evalle. If she didn't use her kinetics, this woman would die, and possibly Isak as well.
No time to worry about consequences.
Evalle slapped a kinetic shot at Isak's hand, knocking the weapon away. She ignored his furious shout and threw up a wall of kinetic energy to block the forklift from plowing into her and the brunette at full speed.
The forklift hit the invisible energy and bounced backward with the front end lifting into the air.
What had been a human driver only a moment ago had now fully shifted into a Rias, which dove off the forklift as the machine tilted over on its side.
The beast lunged to attack.
Evalle called her dagger up from her boot, spinning it in her hand as she surged forward to meet the threat. She pulled her arm back, aiming to drive the dagger into his chest, but the Rias moved like a spear of lightning, diving for her feet.
He knocked her legs out from under her.
She flipped, landing on her back, and jumped up.
The Rias came at her again.
She hit the beast with a kinetic blast, but he swatted it back at her, knocking her glasses off. The sudden light blinded her.
Out of instinct, she kinetically exploded all the overhead lights, confusing the Rias long enough for her to spin around and boot him hard in the chest. He flew backward twenty-five feet, slamming against the wall and falling to the floor ... where he started shifting back into a human.
It all happened in a matter of seconds.
The sound of weapons being racked echoed behind her.
Evalle shouted, "Don't shoot! He's a human." She turned, looking for her sunglasses.
Red dots lit up her chest.
Her sunglasses were hooked over the long barrel of a Nyght demon blaster Isak pointed at her heart. "So your eyes are green. Alterant green."
"I can explain, Isak."
"What makes you think I care?"
SEVENTEEN
Don't shoot, Isak."
Evalle hadn't said that. She'd thought it, but the shouted order had come from the brunette dusting off her white pants.
No hysterics. No glazed look of deep shock.
The brunette ordered another man to throw on the backup security lighting in the warehouse. Her heels clicked all the way over to where the unconscious Rias had now shifted back into the human forklift driver.
"Don't get near that thing," Isak snapped at the brunette, who ignored him with a wave of her hand that caused silver bracelets to jangle.
Evalle would like to get a better look at this woman beyond what she could see in her peripheral vision, but Isak still had his weapon pointed at her chest.
He'd picked up a night-vision monocular somewhere, looking even more deadly than usual--like a cyborg on a death mission. He said, "So what was this trip about, Evalle? Thought you could come here and kill all of us?"
She shook her head, suffering unexpected pain at the look of disappointment on his face and even more at his words. She'd had a strange relationship with Isak so far, but she'd always considered him a friend. "No. I don't harm humans."
"That's a hard sale when I know what an Alterant is capable of. What'd you do to make our forklift guy turn into a beast?"
He thinks I'm the reason that Rias shifted? "What makes you think I can make someone change into another form?"
"I have no idea what something like you can do. I don't make a habit of letting Alterants live long enough for someone to study them."
She flinched at the insult, then moved straight from terror of dying to seriously pissed off.
But now was not an advisable time to let her temper rip. Isak hadn't shot her. Yet.
This called for diplomacy.
She sucked at that, but gave it a try. "I know you don't like Alterants, Isak--"
"I like 'em just fine ... well-done."
The brunette clicked across the concrete floor until she stepped up beside Evalle.
Men armed for
combat formed a perimeter of firepower.
Isak's finger trembled as if it took all his willpower to not shoot. Muscles flexed in his jaw, his neck, his forearm, straining against his need to act.
Even though the brunette's head barely reached Evalle's shoulder, she spoke with unquestioned authority. "I mean it, Isak. Don't shoot her."
"She's an Alterant, Kit."
So that was the woman's name. It fit her.
"She saved my life."
"Alterants are killers."
Evalle shook her head. "I have never harmed or killed a human. I have protected thousands."
Halogen lights started coming on overhead, slowly brightening the warehouse.
Out of reflex, Evalle reached toward the sunglasses.
Weapon controls clicked in succession all around her.
Kit ordered, "Stand. Down. Now!"
Who is this woman? Evalle felt her sunglasses being tapped against her arm, and Kit said, "Here, sugar. Put these on."
Evalle took the glasses and slipped them over her eyes, shocked to see all the weapons at ease.
All except Isak's.
When Kit said, "Isak?" it was as though the little woman hit a pressure release valve.
He ground out a curse that could ignite the air, lowered his weapon to his side and took a step toward Kit.
Evalle jumped in front of the brunette. "Don't take it out on her."
Isak's jaw shifted out and back with unrestrained fury. "Get out of the way, Evalle."
"Not until you promise not to--"
"Not to what? Do you really think I'd hurt a woman?" Isak's rage went up another notch at that implication.
Evalle hurried to calm him. "No, of course not, but I don't want you to ... to fire her."
Feminine laughter erupted behind Evalle, then Kit stepped up beside her. "Thank you, sugar, but I run this place."
"Oh." Evalle lifted her shoulders at Isak, who was still ramping up his death glare.
He shifted his steely glint to Kit. "You almost died because of her kind."
Technically, the beast that had just attacked Kit had been a Rias, but Evalle would save that clarification for later.
"You're wrong," Kit argued. "Jasper, the other one, does not have bright green eyes like, uh ... Evalle, was it?"
Evalle nodded mutely, keeping her attention on the biggest threat in the room. Isak.
Kit continued. "Thought Alterants had neon-green eyes."
Nothing swayed Isak. "I am not letting beasts, with or without green eyes, walk free to kill humans."
Kit stepped up to Isak with her hands on her hips, looking just as intimidating as Isak in that moment. "You're not killing this one, son."
Son?
"You don't know what they're capable of, Kit."
"Considering how she stopped that forklift with kinetic energy, if Evalle was going to attack anyone, she would have done so already." Kit turned to Evalle and smiled. "Of course, if you make a threatening move at this point, every man here, including Isak, will use any means to stop you. Now that we have all that clear, thank you for saving my life." She extended her hand. "Everyone calls me Kit."
Isak ground out a disgusted sound and stepped past Evalle without another word, on his way over to where the forklift driver was still on the floor.
When Evalle's brain spun into gear, she stuck her hand out for a brisk shake with Kit. "Thanks for saving my hide, too. Please don't kill that Rias."
"What's a Rias?"
"The man who shifted into a beast is not an Alterant, but a Rias." Evalle couldn't believe she was having this conversation with a human. She didn't want to think about how many VIPER rules she was breaking at the moment. "I'd like a chance to talk to him."
Kit turned to where Isak stood with a cluster of his men and called over, "Have them take Jasper to the holding cell."
Isak peered over his shoulder, clearly not happy with Evalle or Kit. When he swung back to his men, he murmured orders. One of the men walked over to a cabinet, where he pulled out some space-age-looking handcuffs and leg cuffs.
Isak's men had Jasper trussed up in less than a minute, then carried the poor guy out of sight.
Evalle would like to see this cell that Isak and Kit obviously believed could restrain a nonhuman.
Yet another part of this secret operation.
Evalle gave Kit a smile of relief. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, but you do understand that just because I stopped Isak from blowing you to pieces right now doesn't mean you're in the clear ... or free to leave."
And here I'd mistaken Isak as the greater threat in the room. Should I call in Tzader or Quinn?
No. That would only draw them to the one group of humans capable of killing them.
Evalle had to handle this on her own and hope she walked out of here alive, but what would Macha and VIPER do when they found out she'd been made as an Alterant by humans?
EIGHTEEN
Any word from Evalle?" Tzader wiped blood from his hands and face with a rag now soaked with the smell of death.
Quinn grimaced as he cleaned his own hands. "Not yet."
Tzader handed the rag back to Horace Keefer, wishing he could get rid of the troll problem as easily. He asked Horace, "Did you hear back from Trey?"
"Yep. The boy said he'd be here soon with ten of ours and has sent more Beladors to the other teams. That oughta stop a Svart. One at a time."
"We can only hope. Once Trey arrives, take our injured to headquarters. Tell Sen I'll talk to him as soon as I can." As Horace strolled off, Tzader scanned the blood-swathed ground of yet another cemetery and shook his head. "At least we don't have to call Sen in to clean this up since Adrianna's on site." Tzader paused. "I'm glad you were here to pull some intel from that troll."
"For what good it did." Quinn's self-inflicted disgust was as evident as it was unfair.
"No one else would have stopped that troll. You saved human lives and our team."
"I didn't manage to retrieve much useful information, only that jumbled mess."
"You found out more trolls are coming. That's something we needed to know, Quinn."
"But this one kept thinking about demon, then Svart? What could that mean?"
"I don't know. Maybe he meant they were bringing in demons, too."
"We would have had our first chance for some real intel if I could have breached his shields and held control for one minute. One. Minute."
"Next time." Tzader sent telepathic messages to the Beladors on-site, ordering them to scour the cemetery for any more humans present. Fortunately, this had been a small skirmish, except for the damned Svart troll. Adrianna had put the three human gang members caught up in the fray to sleep with a spell that would leave them thinking they'd dreamed the entire battle.
Those humans would be dropped in the respective neighborhoods for each of their gangs.
Tzader turned back to Quinn. The man had the sick-gut look of someone who'd been sucker punched. Just to distract him from the dead troll, Tzader asked, "You get your family problem dealt with?"
"Yes."
"She headed home?"
"No." Quinn's attention had definitely shifted from the troll. Frustration simmered in his gaze. "Found her downtown. She can't go home yet."
"Think anyone has seen her yet?"
"No one with VIPER that I know of, but now that the Nightstalkers know, it won't be a secret for long." Quinn's expression dropped another notch on the grim scale.
"Ah, hell."
"That pretty much sums it up. She's hidden in my hotel suite for now. I'll deal with her as soon as I get back."
Quinn looked beat, but the man had been forced to destroy two minds today. He held himself accountable and to such a high standard, nothing would offer consolation except a chance to redeem himself in his own mind.
Tzader didn't want to push Quinn further, but they weren't gaining ground on this Svart problem, and what he had in mind might help Quinn if it didn't destroy him. "Are
you sure your mind is strong?"
Quinn's head came up. "Yes."
"And you think you still have an open path to Kizira?"
Slower to answer this time, Quinn still said, "Yes."
"If she came into your mind, could you control her invasion long enough to mine her thoughts for information?"
When Quinn didn't answer right away, Tzader added, "The better question might be could you do that to Kizira?"
"Yes, I'd have no qualms about extracting what we need. I assume you want to determine if the Medb are behind these attacks?"
"That and anything else you can dig up." Tzader doubted it would be that simple for Quinn, whose integrity prevented him from entering a mind involuntarily unless the person represented a dangerous threat, but Kizira had taken advantage of Quinn while he had no ability to resist.
And she'd used sex to do it.
Tzader had a feeling some of Quinn's guilt came from not regretting that part of her visit.
Maybe if Quinn could gain information on the Svarts, it would ease some of his remorse over what happened with Kizira, and hopefully help the Beladors stop whatever the Svarts were planning.
If Kizira did not overpower his mind again.
Tzader had to trust that Quinn knew his limits.
Quinn checked his watch, then took stock of the VIPER agents. "Can you afford to be without me for a while?"
"I think we're good. VIPER has teams running all night, and we have more Beladors arriving from the West Coast, since this seems to be isolated to the Southeast, Atlanta in particular. I'll be back as soon as I can, too."
"Where are you going?"
"Brina wants another meeting." Tzader lifted his hand in a don't-ask motion. He'd heard her telepathic call just as the battle started. She had something to discuss with him as soon as he could return to Treoir.
"Should I remain until you make it back here?" Quinn offered.
"No. Trey should be here soon. So far we haven't had more than one Svart troll at each battle. If ten Beladors can't stop a troll, we're in big trouble. Trey can find either of us if he needs us." Tzader was a powerful telepath, but Trey McCree had legendary telepathic ability. "Right now we both need to grab some rest or we're going to put our Beladors and other VIPER agents at risk."
"Understood." Quinn nodded and walked away.
Trey arrived, looking as if he'd just climbed out of bed, his normal state of grooming. He gave Tzader a nod, accepting control of the teams for the night.
Striding quickly to his 1970 Hemi 'Cuda, Tzader climbed in and locked the doors. A warding had been worked into the vehicle's frame back when he and his dad had stripped the engine down to the camshaft, then rebuilt the entire car from the ground up. His body would be safe inside here.