Satyr Play 02 Pt. 01

She needed answers and needed to talk to someone. In her mind, she saw that detective on her street yelling something about VRL to the big redhead. Maybe Detective- Harmon? Yes, maybe he had some answers.

She paid for her breakfast and headed outside. She had a long drive ahead to get back to the city. She had a detective to interrogate.

Then she'd hunt down Henry.

-=-

Rand fumed as he paced back and forth in Lise-Anne's office.

After their meeting with Henry and surprise guest Queen Mab last night, the two councilors had gone their separate ways. Lise-Anne returned to headquarters to track the latest developments, and Rand caught a flight to Kansas and did some recon. He'd met up with his Central States counterpart, but they'd been unable to get close to the town due to an extraordinary amount of paranoid military security. Even with their no-see-um spells active there was no real opportunity to see the townspeople directly.

They did manage to find two drunk soldiers and heard one complain about guarding 'marbles' before his less drunk companion shut him up.

Rand flew back to New York and came directly to their office to let the Minister of Security know they weren't going to be able to contain the scene unless they brought in serious firepower. Lise-Anne was not pleased with his report.

"I'll have to bring this to the attention of the Hidden Races Congress," she griped.

"That's just going to slow the decision-making process!" Rand growled.

Lise-Anne scowled at him. "I know!"

"We played our hand against the Satyr too early!" Rand continued.

She stared at him. "Are you just going to bark the obvious at me?"

Rand scowled and sat on the couch with a grumble.

She leaned back against her desk and slowly rocked her head from side to side to release the tension in her sore neck muscles. "I've recalled the watchers," she sighed.

"You know she has the Fae watching him-"

"YES, I'M AWARE!" she yelled, and he looked at her sourly. She sighed. "Sorry. It's been a long night. We got word that the event in China is unsettling the region. Civil disobedience is way up. Even with a military lockdown by the government the locals are insisting they be allowed to visit the glass man."

Rand stared at Lise-Anne. His mind was racing ahead. "Do you have a description of this glass man?"

The woman watched him carefully. "Our agent said he was transparent, translucent, and colorful like-"

"Marbles," Rand finished. Her eyebrows went up.

"What?" she asked.

He shook his head. "What if what happened in China was the same thing that happened in Kansas? Only here, it happened on a much larger scale."

"They turned to glass?" she said incredulously.

Rand held her gaze. "We overheard one soldier mention guarding marbles, but I didn't connect it. The glass man in China. Is it a statue?"

"No, it moves. Not quickly but it does move independently," Lise-Anne answered.

"So maybe we assume the people in that small Kansas town were changed into glass as well. What will the Humans do? They won't think it's magic as they have no frame of reference. Instead, I think they'll try to contain and study them. Force a science framework around it. What I don't know is if these new beings will try to escape."

Lise-Anne nodded thoughtfully. "It's in our best interests to support the Army's efforts. Keep this under wraps. That's going to be my recommendation for the Council. We'll bring that to the Congress." Rand nodded.

The two sat quietly contemplating their next moves. Rand was going over what was said in the restaurant the night before. He frowned with a grunt.

"It's the Satyr. Mab was lying."

Lise-Anne lifted her eyes to look at him. She could see he wasn't just letting his frustration drive him. She sighed and nodded as her suspicions were pointing to the same conclusion. "So, what can we do about it?"

"What we can't do is stop the surveillance on him. Just make sure they're aware that the Fae will be watching for them as well," Rand suggested.

She also thought they had to continue watching him, so she nodded. "I'll let them know."

"It's probably a long shot but if they catch the Satyr causing the anomalies we can deal with the Fae from a position of strength." Rand frowned. "We'll also need a contingency plan for containment in place should the threat escalate dramatically. Easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission." He held Lise-Anne's eyes as he couldn't risk saying the words out loud, even in the security and privacy of her office. Such words, released to the ether could manifest some powerful and lingering causalities on their own.

"Short of a final solution which none of us could afford, the best we can ask for is to contain and disable the threat permanently. Fire and forget?" she suggested quietly.

He considered that. "Conditional."

"Term?"

"With the current time frame for the events, no more than three months."

It was Lise-Anne's turn to be surprised. "Really?"

"Three months," he said firmly. "Tracking the trend, I'd be surprised if the contingency didn't activate earlier than that." He took a deep breath as he preferred a face to face confrontation personally. "You have someone in mind?"

Lise-Anne nodded with a sly smile, and he held up his hand. Fire and forget. Better if he didn't know the name of the weapon they were about to launch.

They settled in to work out the trigger conditions.

This is where the finesse was required. Lise-Anne was far better suited for this work, but Rand's hands were going to be just as dirty.

-=-

Finding Detective Harmon wasn't too hard. Mary just went to the bar closest to his precinct. This time of night it was pretty empty, and the few people inside were too far gone to pay attention to anyone else. The bartender barely glanced in her direction since she wasn't walking up to the bar.

She found Harmon, alone in a booth at the back, nursing a tumbler of scotch. She could tell he'd had a few. She stood next to his table, and bloodshot eyes lifted to look into hers. Something was torturing the man. She wondered how much longer he'd be able to endure it.

He examined her for a moment then lights came on in his eyes. "You were at the crime scene yesterday."

She smiled gently as this proved his observational skills were still intact at least. "Mary Carsten. I live a few doors down from the home of the deceased."

"You talk like a cop."

She nodded. "Currently suspended."

He looked back to his drink. "So, suspended Officer Carsten, why are you here interrupting me getting my drunk on?"

She slid into the other side of his booth, and he looked at her in surprise. "I overheard you at the scene speaking with the big redhead from VRL," she said and watched him twitch. His eyes locked on hers with a glare.

"I've got nothing to say about that or them!" he growled menacingly.

"Just listen then. Recently I was involved with the subway gas attack case. I was on the scene and collected a potential suspect. I was to transport him to the station-house, but I'd been affected by the gas too. Instead, I took him to my place where we had sex." Harmon was looking more embarrassed than angry now. "The gas wore off, and I felt incredibly guilty and embarrassed. The suspect introduced himself to me as Henry Gable." She watched the detective, but he made no signs of recognition at the name which made her feel a little better.

"I must have passed out from the gas as my next memory was waking up the next morning with my ex in the bedroom pointing his gun at us. I told him off, and he shot himself in the head. I sent Henry home because... I wasn't thinking straight at the time. Cops from my precinct arrived, and a bunch of them said I did it. The coroner confirmed it was suicide, but the Captain wouldn't accept that. They brought Henry in for interrogation. The Officer who brought him was a buddy of my ex and attacked me. We all ended up in cells. Henry's lawyer got him out in the morning. The lawyer brought Internal Affairs with them, and the station house restructured. All new chain of command. A number of us got suspended pending review. I found out later that the lawyer worked for VRL as did Henry. He's their CIO though he seems a little young for the position."

She stopped to look at the detective whose hands were trembling visibly. He wasn't telling her to stop, so she pressed on. It seemed a smart move to omit the changes she'd undergone. There was no way she could explain it even to herself.

"Then you show up on my street for that murder scene. VRL shows up too. I decided to follow the redhead-" Harmon jerked slightly. "... back to Manhattan to a neighborhood of brownstones. I was about to follow him when I hear a scream down an alley. I investigate and see a van bouncing around. In the back was a guy all tied up and something fucking monstrous-"

"NO!" Harmon yelled and slammed his palm on the table. His eyes were wild with fright, and he slid out of the booth to stand up quickly. He jabbed a finger at her. "NO!" Spittle dripped from his lips unnoticed.

She stared at him in shock as he hustled out of the bar, knocking a few chairs over in his haste. There was no sign of the bartender, and the other customers had passed out. She slid out and ran after the detective. She spotted his retreating back up the sidewalk and called out to him. He glanced over his shoulder and walked faster. When she started to follow, he sent a panicked look at her and started to run.

He never saw the bus that hit him.

Mary froze in shock. One second he was there and the next he was gone. Her legs automatically turned her around and walked her away at a normal pace. From the impact, she knew the detective was dead. She couldn't be involved in this, or her career as a cop was over. While she was horrified by what happened, she hadn't pushed him in front of that bus which had raced for the light. Out of service, the driver was blatantly speeding to get back to the depot.

The streets were empty, so she made it back to her motorcycle without being seen. As she rode home, questions circled in her mind. What had Harmon experienced that affected him so badly? What was VRL's involvement? His hands shook when she mentioned the CIO, but he didn't recognize Henry's name. What did that mean?

She had too many questions.

Henry was going to answer them.

Chapter 26

Saturday morning, Henry sent Sandy a text and asked if she had plans for the night. She excitedly texted back that they should go out for dinner then go dancing. She said the whole gang would be available and they'd pick a fun club. He realized he had to try dancing at least once, so he agreed to the plan and received several celebratory emoticons from Sandy via text. He assumed that was a good thing.

The next problem was, looking in his closet, Henry realized he had nothing nice enough for clubbing. He remembered how Nate dressed for going out when he first met him in the drug store, and Henry had nothing like that. He wasn't ready to attempt it with his glamor, so he headed over to Manhattan to shop for clothes. While he managed to find a few outfits in the last store he tried, he determined that shopping for clothes was one of his least favorite activities.

This made him feel a little grateful to know that one day he'd be able to integrate any outfit into his glamor. For now, though, he was a long way off from being able to do that. He still didn't understand how his glamor worked to allow human clothes on his Satyr body, but he pushed the contrary thoughts to the back of his mind and tried to accept it. He'd just have to refrain from switching back to his true form while dressed in his new, real, clothes.

He went down to Sandy's at 7:30 PM and Tish opened the door when he knocked. He was captivated by her as she wasn't sporting her usual ponytail but was letting her long, ebony hair flow over her shoulders and midway down her back. She also had a modest amount of makeup on and was wearing a very flattering, and tight, dark blue dress that displayed her long, toned legs as it clung to her fit body.

"Good evening, Henry!" she said with a happy smile.

"Good evening, Tish! You look incredibly lovely!" he finished awkwardly, but her smile just widened in delight.

"Come in! We're just waiting on Roger," she said sweetly.

Once inside, she took his arm and walked him into the living room. His eyes widened when he saw Dayshia in a tight, glittery gold dress that displayed her ample cleavage for maximum effect. The contrast of the bright dress against her dark skin was eye-catching. From her satisfied smile, he realized that was her intent. "Wow, I'm beginning to feel underdressed. You look amazing, Dayshia!"

"Thank you, Henry. You look very handsome in your outfit," she replied.

"Delicious!" Tish agreed with a mischievous grin. He glanced at her with a nervous smile which just fueled her enjoyment.

Just then, Sandy walked out of the bedroom door adding some dangly, glittery earrings. Her hair glowed like spun gold and flowed down over her shoulders which were visible in her off the shoulder red dress. Like the others, her dress clung to the curves of her body. Unlike the others, hers stopped just above the knees, not at mid-thigh.

"Wow!" was all Henry could manage.

"Thank you! You look great! I love the bold print of that shirt!" Sandy gushed with a happy smile.

"Now I know I'm underdressed," Henry sighed as he took in the three gorgeous women in their party dresses.

"Nonsense! You're dressed perfectly for going dancing!" Sandy insisted, and Dayshia nodded in agreement. Tish looked like she was undressing him with her eyes and he felt a stirring down below.

"The saleswoman said this combination was perfect for going dancing, but she said that about every outfit she brought me. After a while, it just started to sound like she wasn't serious," he said with a frown.

"Did a little shopping today, did you?" Dayshia asked with a smile.

"I didn't think T-shirts would be appropriate for this evening."

"Got that right!" Dayshia nodded.

There was a very loud knock on the door, and Henry jumped, glancing back over his shoulder.

"That's just Roger," Tish said rolling her eyes as she went to the door to let him in.

Henry smiled at Sandy as they waited.

"I'm here! The party can begin!" Roger loudly announced as he barged into the living room.

Henry smiled at him as the man ran his eyes up and down his new outfit.

"Damn! I have that same outfit at home, and now it's gonna look like shit on me!" Roger complained with a frown.

Henry's face fell, but Tish came to his rescue.

"Man up, Roger!"

"Bite me, beanpole!"

"You mean damn sexy beanpole, twerp!"

"Are we going to trade insults or are we going out to dinner?" Sandy asked, staring at Roger. The man threw his hands in the air in surrender.

Sandy had called for a couple of taxis, so they all went downstairs. Roger tugged Henry to join him in the second car. The ladies pouted, and Sandy pointed to her eyes then to Roger's to warn him to behave.

Roger gave the driver an address in Manhattan, and they were on their way. Then he turned to look at Henry.

"Henry... may I call you Henry?" Roger started.

Henry smiled at him. "Sure. It's my name so feel free."

"What are your intentions towards Sandy?" the man asked bluntly.

Henry couldn't stop the snort of amusement. Then he saw Roger was waiting for an answer.

"Oh! You're serious?!?" Henry said in surprise, but Roger said nothing.

Henry thought about it for a moment. "I want to be friends with Sandy. I've mentioned that I didn't have friends growing up, so this is truly special to me."

"What if she wants more than friendship? What if she's envisioning a white picket fence around a charming little bungalow in the suburbs with 2.1 children playing in the yard?" Roger pushed.

Henry's smiled sadly at Roger. "That sounds really nice, but I don't believe that's going to happen for me, children especially. I don't believe I'll be able to have them."

"Don't you think she deserves to know that?!?" Roger exclaimed testily.

Henry blinked at the man who seemed genuinely upset. "Uh, she hasn't even asked me to be her boyfriend! Why would that have come up in conversation? If it ever does, I certainly won't lie to her. I'd never intentionally hurt Sandy. Or Dayshia or Tish. You're not worried about them too?"

Roger looked defensive. "Sandy's an innocent. The others need no protection."

Henry smiled. "And you're her big brother?"

The man said nothing but his defensive look was still firmly in place.

"I can only give you my assurances I'll do my absolute best not to hurt her, but they're just words. I'll let my actions speak for me," Henry said with a gentle smile.

Roger took a deep breath as he held Henry's eyes. "I'll be watching." Henry nodded, and Roger continued. "I'm still upset you look better in that shirt than me."

Henry chuckled and shrugged. Roger looked away, but Henry thought he caught a little smile at the corner of the man's mouth.

They rode on in silence and when they arrived Roger looked at him. "Pay the man." With that, he hopped out of the cab. Henry dug his wallet out and paid the fare before joining the group on the sidewalk.

"You cheapskate!"

Henry looked at Tish in surprise as she punched Roger's arm.

"OW!" the tall man yelped as he stepped away from the angry woman.

"What's going on?" Henry asked.

Tish looked at him. "Your first time out with us and he made you pay for the taxi, didn't he!"

"Uh, that's ok," Henry mumbled looking to Roger.

"See! He doesn't mind! Besides, he's loaded compared to me!" Roger asserted.

"He's a lot of good things compared to you!" Dayshia growled as she held the intern's eye.

"Hey, why don't we put this aside and go inside for dinner?" Henry suggested with a hopeful smile.

Sandy looped her arm around Henry's and lifted her nose to Roger. "Someone knows how to behave like a gentleman." She moved forward, and Henry had no choice but to go with her. Dayshia and Tish followed, leaving Roger to catch up.

When they got inside Henry looked around with interest as the decor was very modern, yet intimate. The subdued lighting gave privacy to the numerous round booths in various sizes. The owners designed the place for groups of 4 to 6. Any larger and the tables became too large to be functional or to hear across. Plush leather bench seats ringed the tables. Decorating the restaurant and adding mood lighting were a multitude of brilliantly colored glass sculptures in interesting shapes, all lit from underneath to make them glow.

Once they settled into their booth, Henry looked to the others. "Have you eaten here before?"

They shook their heads and Tish, seated to his left, patted his hand. "I've read some very good reviews."

The waiter arrived and asked for their drink orders.

"Long Island ice tea?" Tish asked looking at Henry with a wicked smile.

"No, not this time. I promised myself I would refrain from drinking," he insisted earnestly. "When we go to the dance club I'll order one just to calm my nerves about making a fool of myself dancing," he explained.

"You'll be fine!" Tish said with a happy smile.

He ordered water with lemon and the others chose their favorite mixed drinks.

Henry decided he would eat light as dancing on a nervous stomach would be difficult enough without feeling bloated too. The stir-fry bowls sounded yummy, so he ordered one when the waiter returned to collect their orders. Sandy and Tish followed in his footsteps and ordered the same.

Once they were alone, Roger immediately leapt into his latest conspiracy tale. He told them the Chinese government was holding everyone in a remote village hostage to protect the secret that they had an alien cornered on a mountaintop nearby.