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Queenie was right. Folly or not, Lauren was here and she needed to focus.
Thank you. I needed that.
Ryan’s voice came over her earpiece. “Change of plans. I’ll be moving with Team Bird. The local Slayer will move with Team Cat. I’m already on the balcony, and will enter with the rest of my team when you arrive.”
A wolf named Ranger was staying in the bus and acting as director of the op. No, not director.Control. This was real life. Not a play.
Ranger’s voice came right on the end of Ryan’s, counting down from ten, and then saying, “Go go go go go go go go go go!”
As they’d practiced, Lauren held Gavin’s hand and levitated, and he pulled her along while the other shapeshifters ran beside and just behind them. Gavin wasn’t running at vampire-speed, but he led the shapeshifters at their pace, which was much faster than a human can run.
The group slowed as they neared, and Lauren found herself holding both Nick and Queenie’s hands. Her mother had worked with her to remind her the magic to levitate more than one person isn’t about physics, but about power.
She had access to vast amounts of power. Every atom in the universe contains all the power of the universe, one just has to know how to unlock it.
Lauren grew her own power and then reversed the polarity of it, and she floated up with her two passengers. Their feet landed on the railing, and the other two jumped to the ground softly. Lauren floated down, and Ryan opened the door from the inside to let them in.
He wasn’t there, and then he was. Lauren knew the Slayers had abilities no one knew about, and apparently appearing out of thin air was one of them.
Four steps inside the door, all hell broke loose, but Lauren kept focused on their destination. Through this room, down the hallway to the left, and then the third room on the right. Most of their team were splitting off on their own, but she and Gavin would be responsible for the flock’s main common area. The others would bring members of the flock to them, and Gavin would go through the minds of those who were easily accessible.
Lauren entered with the AR she’d been assigned in her hand. She put her back to the wall, aimed her weapon slightly down and towards an empty section of room, and told the roomful of startled shifters and humans, “We aren’t here to hurt you. Everyone stay put. We’re looking for a civet who will have arrived in the past couple of days. Do any of you know where she is?”
Everyone in the room froze, and Lauren figured that was Gavin’s doing. He blew out a breath, touched his ear, and said, “Workout room on the upper floor. Queenie, meet me there. Nick, I need you in here with Lauren.”
The mics were set up so each team could speak with each other, and the Control room would relay information between teams as necessary.
Gavin moved so fast it was as if he disappeared, and a handful of seconds later, Nick came through the door.
Whatever hold Gavin had on the room dissipated, and the individuals looked around, startled, but none stood from their seated positions. Some had been playing video games, others had been watching a movie. Little seating areas were positioned all around, each with its own large-screen television.
“I need to be with Gavin. Can you handle the room?”
“You’re supposed to stay in here.”
“Right, away from the action, but we both know that, with mom down in the dungeon area, the easiest way to get her out of here will be for me to levitate her away from the building and into the bus.” She raised her voice and told the room. “I promise we aren’t here to hurt any of you. We’re rescuing the civet and then we’ll be gone.”
Lauren opened the door, looked both directions, and then rushed toward the sound of fighting.
The flock’s exercise room had a sparring and boxing area, with heavy bags and speed bags, and the civet was plastered against a wall near a speed bag, her eyes huge while she watched the two Master Vampires circling each other on a sparring mat.
Lauren knew the rules — two Master Vampires fighting had to be left alone. No one could touch either of them, but one could offer magical help if it was possible to do so without touching or being too close. There was probably a specific ruling on how far away you had to be, but she was standing with the other onlookers, so she assumed she was far enough away.
Queenie stood two feet from the civet, protecting her, but her focus was on the two vampires. Lauren went to them, stepped behind the werewolf, put her hands on the taller woman’s shoulders, and streamed her own energy into Queenie, who gasped at the influx of power but then focused it towards her Master. Lauren let go of Queenie, but continued to stream energy to her using the touch-conduit she’d formed.
Gavin had been losing when she’d walked in the door. The vampires weren’t fighting with fists or claws, and the power balance hadnotbeen on her vampire’s side.
It was better now, but she still wasn’t happy with what she was seeing or feeling, and she sent Cally off her arm and into the battle, with an image of her bear ripping Huxley’s head from his body.
More people streamed into the room. Vampires and shapeshifters. She no longer had to touch people to know what they were, though it helped.
“Hey!” someone yelled. “The bear can’t be here! We have to let them fight it out! That’s cheating!”
It wasn’t cheating. The rules were that one could send magic in, and Cally was part of Lauren’s magic.
Another voice noted, “I don’t believe the bear is listening to you.”
“The bear appeared out of nowhere,” someone else said. “I’m not certain it’s real.”
