For a Tuesday afternoon, Piedmont Park hosted its usual diverse groups of people running, sitting on blankets with a bottle of wine and cheese, throwing frisbees for their dogs, and one couple pushed a double stroller with a dog in tow.
As a dark sedan approached, Quinn widened his stride to reach the car quickly. He waited for the window on the passenger side to lower and Quinn tossed Luigsech’s mobile phone on the seat. “Have the techs go through that to find everything they can. My first priority is for them to determine the location of a woman named Fenella Connell, who is associated with Casidhe Luigsech. I also want any additional information they can find.” Fenella’s last name had been on all of the paperwork at the centre.
“Yes, Maistir.” The car drove off.
Evalle’s voice came into his head. Quinn. Where are you? We need help.
Quinn had started to smile at the sound of her voice, but he quickly replied, Piedmont Park. Where are you and what’s happening?
Need you to get up to VIPER headquarters as soon as you can. This place is being overrun by demons and Imortiks!
I’m on the way, Quinn rushed to assure her.
Trey’s voice burst into his mind next. VIPER is being hit hard. Can you help?
Absolutely. Have Brina teleport me to the entrance of VIPER in fifteen seconds. That will give me time to find cover from humans here in Piedmont Park.
I’m on it, Maistir.
Quinn spun and headed for dark shadows in the trees. This new development just killed any hope he had for a quick visit to the Treoir realm to smooth over how he and Reese had parted ways in Ireland.
She might not be happy with him, but she was safe from Imortiks and demons. That mattered more at this minute than making her smile.
He’d have time for that and to discuss the baby once they found Tristan. As soon as Reese understood that he knew about her pregnancy and he accepted full responsibility, they could finally move forward.
Even more, he wanted her to know he cared deeply for her.
He barely made it out of view with a second to spare when his body got yanked into teleportation.
When he opened his eyes, he stood at the entrance of the mountain shielding the VIPER headquarters.
The entrance should be hidden by a sheer face of rock.
There should not be a wide open maw with screaming and yelling going on inside.
Quinn ran in to find Evalle, her mate Storm, four Beladors, and four bounty hunter contractors for VIPER in a battle with ten, maybe twelve, demons of all types and two Imortiks.
One demon also glowed yellow. Hell! Three Imortiks.
Quinn had to get his people working in teams. He shouted telepathically, Beladors, do not link, but team up in pairs. Storm can shift into a black jaguar. Do not attack his animal.
Evalle didn’t even look over her shoulder when she repeated Quinn’s order out loud to Storm.
Two sets of Beladors paired up, taking on three demons each.
Evalle hit the Imortik demon with repetitive kinetic blasts, knocking it back into two other demons. She couldn’t keep that up long, but her attack allowed Storm to shift into his massive jaguar.
Storm’s coal-black jaguar roared and rushed the Imortik Evalle fought. She pulled back her kinetics at the last second. The jaguar ripped into the Imortik that clawed the giant cat.
One of the bounty hunters screamed.
Jerking around, Quinn watched in horror as an Imortik dove into the body of a bounty hunter with a black mohawk. Quinn shouted, “Bounty hunters, pair up and protect your backs!”
They sort of followed his orders.
That was all he could do for them. As Maistir, Beladors were Quinn’s first concern.
Where was Sen, VIPER’s liaison and immortal guard over the headquarters?
Quinn jumped into the fray, slamming kinetics to knock aside a demon, aiding a pair of Beladors who quickly terminated the creature. It turned into gray dust and vanished.
He called telepathically, Sen, where are you? You’re being overrun at VIPER’s entrance.
Sen replied in a hoarse voice. Like I don’t fucking know that? I’m underground fighting my own battles.
Quinn moved with blinding speed to help his people. With the Beladors’ opponents under control and Storm’s jaguar backing up Evalle, Quinn turned to give the bounty hunters a hand.
The one that had screamed was now on the ground, writhing in pain. While the other three bounty hunters battled an Imortik and a demon, the one on the ground stopped shuddering, shook his head, and jumped up.
Now the black mohawk guy glowed bright yellow and went after his three human associates, who had their back to him. Quinn slammed that newly turned Imortik with a massive hit of kinetics, adrenaline driving his blast as much as Belador power.
The yellow bounty hunter had a body fit to compete in world wrestling. But when he banged into the rock wall Quinn drove him into, the new Imortik turned eyes wild with insanity on Quinn.
No one home there anymore.
But like Devon, one of their Beladors locked under this mountain who had not been turned long enough to become fully Imortik, this guy might be salvageable.
Quinn considered using mind lock, then tossed aside that idea. He’d already tried that move with an Imortik and the immediate backlash had taken him to his knees.
The mohawk guy came at him with needle-sharp teeth now in his wide mouth. His fingers grew dark claws the size of a grizzly’s.
Quinn swung one kinetic blast after another at his head, smacking the glowing bounty hunter back and forth. His plan had been working just fine until the mohawk guy dove preternaturally fast beneath Quinn’s blasts and lunged for his leg.
Quinn spun around.
Claws ripped his pants, barely missing his leg.
His heart pounded fast in his chest. Quinn could not allow an Imortik to take him over.
Quinn used his fists to hammer kinetic blasts at the mohawk until the claws withdrew. The Imortik bounty hunter pushed up to jump Quinn.
Sen flashed into sight, took one look at them and pointed at the Imortik bounty hunter. In the next instant, the glowing yellow body flew up in the air and slammed the ground headfirst.
Blood splattered Quinn’s chest and face.
The other three bounty hunters had lopped the head off their Imortik.
Quinn sucked in air for three fast breaths. “Did you have to kill the bounty hunter, Sen?”
Two of them turned and stared at the bloody pile Sen had made of the Imortik bounty hunter and shrugged.
Evalle came rushing up to him with her ball cap knocked sideways. “You all right, Quinn?”
“I’m fine.”
Storm’s jaguar showed up right beside Evalle and cocked his head at Quinn as if wondering why Quinn had just lied.
Hands on hips, Sen stared at Quinn with disgust. “You wanted to keep that alive? I won’t waste my energy next time until after you lose your body to an Imortik.”
Quinn rebuked, “That bounty hunter had been human minutes ago before the Imortik jumping him. If it requires three weeks to completely take over a body, we might have saved him.”
“After this fiasco, the Tribunal will likely declare a kill-on-sight order. I’m just getting ahead of the curve by starting with him.” Sen issued that in a cold voice that said he wouldn’t lose sleep over one dead bounty hunter, but that same voice had come out raw as if he’d been yelling for an hour.
Quinn took a hard look at the VIPER liaison. Sen’s skin had been burnt in spots. A chunk of long blond hair was missing from the right side of his head, exposing a raw wound. Blood ran from slashes across his body and his face. The jeans he wore had not been ripped, which meant he’d just conjured them before appearing here. But bloody spots stained the front of his thighs.