Satyr Play 03 Pt. 02

Lise-Anne's jaw was moving, and her face was a deep red of barely contained rage. "What part of remaining under the radar of Human attention has Henry Gable not grasped? Why has he engaged with some of the very agencies who could expose us?"

Mahati held the woman's eyes. "Did you not hear my mentioning his technical brilliance? When he was Stanley Garin, he was charged with bringing his new employer's in-house technology from a state of disaster to state of the art. He succeeded. The firewall he developed is like nothing else ever developed and uses technology only being talked about theoretically. In his new identity as Henry Gable, he's improved upon it. The agencies discovered this on their own. To protect VRL and himself from their paranoia and potential incarceration, he offered the application to them."

"Why didn't he offer his technical expertise to us first?" Lise-Anne blustered.

Mahati leaned back in her chair as she studied the Minister's face. "Interaction with the Hidden Races Council is not something members of the Hidden Races generally seek out. Your reputation for brutal, reactionary responses to anything outside the status quo defines you."

"What you ignorantly call brutal reactionary responses are in truth, efficient and effective surgical strikes and the only means we have to protect them! Humans are more and more difficult to hide from without the swiftest of actions. We have no choice but to make such decisions!" Lise-Anne argued.

Mahati shook her head sadly. "That you cannot, or will not, see other options, explains why you are in this very situation. Release Henry Gable."

Lise-Anne's expression showed an icy resolve. "I've not stated that we have him. When such an action is taken, it's typically for a significant danger to the Hidden Races. Such as the sudden appearance of anomalies like the Pseudo-clouds, the Glass People, the Silver People, and now Lava Monsters."

Mahati tilted her head in interest. "And you've identified the source of these anomalies with cold facts and irrefutable evidence?"

The Minister's patience had run out. "I don't answer to you. I'm sanctioned to take any steps necessary to protect our ability to remain unseen and unknown. You need to leave. Now."

"So, you don't want the information on the actual source of the recent incursions?" Mahati asked with a raised brow. "Fine, the Chancellor will likely make better use of it—"

"Don't threaten me!" Lise-Anne shouted, dropping her glamor and lifting into the air on angrily beating wings.

Mahati resisted the urge to escalate as well. Instead, she waited, calmly, eyes on the fairy.

"You'd do well to remember who you're talking to, girl," the hovering Fae said with a rage tinged voice.

"Do you know who I am?" Mahati asked calmly.

Lise-Anne blinked in confusion. "You're the whelp of Indrani Chandra."

Mahati shook her head slowly. "No, I'm the one who dethroned Queen Mab in her own Fae Court. What that should mean to you is, I have more important priorities right now than dealing with your temper." She waited to see how the enraged fairy handled that. She gave no sign of the spell she'd prepared before she'd even entered the room. If Lise-Anne lost control and attacked, Mahati would only have enough time to unleash one spell, so she made it a good one. If it came to a battle, powerful or not, the fairy wouldn't be getting out alive.

Lise-Anne watched the young Nāga waiting calmly, and something about her confidence sent a treacherous stab of doubt through her. While Fairies of her age were master wielders, she'd heard about the raw power of the Nāga. Then there was the fact that she'd taken Mab out of the game. That seriously gave her pause. She would never have had the nerve to walk into that courtroom. With a deep breath, she nodded cautiously.

Mahati nodded as she relaxed slightly. "I got word last night that Mab is experimenting with the same Wild Magic Henry is connected to. She's working on a new spell that's causing breaches, large ones, between the realm of Wild Magic and here. These breaches are the cause of the creatures from the other side getting to our side."

Lise-Anne frowned at Mahati as her curiosity deflated utterly. Mahati was pointing the finger at Mab? She knew for a fact that wielders of the original magic could not work with the Wild Magic as it was toxic to them. Of course, now that Mab was in seclusion, she made an excellent target to deflect attention away from Henry. The transparency of the lawyer's ploy was almost sad to behold. "Mab has locked herself behind a field no one can get past. How did you get this information about her," she asked with little enthusiasm.

Mahati frowned at the Fairy. "It doesn't matter how I got it. I received word that Mab is creating a spell to torture her people and then kill them. Then she'll turn her attention to the Hidden Races. She's insane and has access to a source of magic far stronger than anything she's had in a long time. She's still learning how to use it, but her magic skill is second only to Baba Yaga. Once she perfects her spell, she'll unleash Hell upon the Fae, then us."

The Minister of Security examined Mahati critically. She'd thought the young woman had promise as a lawyer, but this stunt was pathetic. Mab was still a threat, queen or not, but not in the big bad way the lawyer was trying to paint. "Right. Is that everything? I have a busy day ahead."

"You'll free Henry?"

"I've not indicated we have him. You've identified others who attempted to kidnap him. Perhaps you should check with these other abductors. Good day." Lise-Anne switched back to her glamor and settled into her chair behind her desk.

Mahati blinked in surprise at the woman.

"Close the door on your way out," the Minister said, holding her eyes.

The young woman stood and frowned in confusion. "You don't believe me—"

"Good day."

Lise-Anne watched the woman leave her office and close the door. She slumped back in her chair as her exhaustion caught up to her again. She'd have to push through it.

She couldn't help the issue of the US Security Agencies becoming upset about Henry's disappearance. She'd just have to see how that develops. She could have her team spin something if they needed to show he died in an accident. Give them a badly scorched finger or two.

She pushed that aside as she still needed to deal with the volcano monsters.

Shit.

-=-

Roy arrived at work feeling a little tired from spending hours on the phone speaking to the pack leaders who ran the regions surrounding Carl's Louisiana territory. Having endured his terrorizing, they were eager to hear Roy's plan to deal with Carl and his oversized territory. Many were too young to have knowledge of the previous time it had happened, so Roy had to explain the process to them.

Each of them would be required to absorb an outer block of Carl's territory and cover the costs of rehabilitating the resident Lycanthropes. Any who could not adjust to normal pack behavior would be euthanized. Brutal, but safer for all.

None of these leaders would face Carl in battle, so Roy was delegated to be the one to remove him, but he'd been expecting that.

The core of Carl's territory would be divided up into reasonably sized regions, and there would be a dominance tournament to find new leaders for them. Roy and the leaders of the surrounding territories would be the judges.

He was on his way to the elevator when he saw Mahati enter the front doors. He paused as the look on her face was telling him something had gone seriously wrong.

"Good morning, Mahati."

Dark eyes flashed at him, and she struggled to get control over her emotions. "G-good morning, Roy. I need to speak to you, Sigrid, and Camila. Now."

Roy's brows rose, and he gestured to the elevators.

They took one up to the top floor, and he poked his head in Sigrid's office to ask if she was in. The elevator dinged behind them, and the tall blonde stepped out to smile at them. That expression fell away quickly when she saw Mahati's grim face.

"We're going to Camila's office," Roy stated, and she nodded as she moved past to drop off her bag.

Roy and Mahati walked down the hall to Camila's office, and Felix indicated they could go right in. Sigrid quickly joined them.

Camila's smile was strained as she looked between them. She locked her door.

"Last night, Henry managed to leave me a note on my laptop. Just brief points but enough to say he visited Mab. He freed Mr. Walker by sending him to Eden. He also said Mab was causing major breaches between the dimensions as she experimented. Mab is planning to kill the Fae and then us. She has the power and the skill but is still learning how to use the Wild Magic."

Roy shifted uneasily as he looked to Sigrid and Camila.

Mahati continued. "I spoke with Chancellor Mugawee this morning to inform him of Henry's abduction and to let him know the difficulties this would raise with the security agencies. While he gave no sign that he'd sanctioned the action, he expressed his concerns that it could escalate into something dangerous between the US and countries they may suspect. I let him know I'd speak to the Minister of Security to pass along his concerns." Mahati took a deep breath. "Minister Hoek is not dealing with the stress of her position well. She was unaware of Henry's involvement with the agencies, did not appreciate being called out for that, and when I mentioned Mab was the source of the recent breaches, she closed down and made me leave her office. She didn't believe me!"

Camila shared an uneasy look with Sigrid, then held their lawyer's eyes. "She didn't believe Mab was the source because Wielders can't use the Wild Magic."

"Yes, but Mab isn't in her own body—" Mahati froze as she saw the guilt on their faces. "Hoek doesn't know?" she asked incredulously.

"It wasn't safe to tell her," Sigrid explained with a look of regret for forgetting to inform Mahati.

"And you sent me to convince her without telling ME?" Mahati shouted.

"We're so sorry. There are so many secrets around Henry. We just forgot which ones were known by you," Sigrid explained.

Mahati threw her hands up. "We've just ruined our chance at convincing the Minister to cooperate, and let's not forget this woman is sanctioned to send assassins after people she considers a threat. She certainly has enough reason to send them after us."

Roy growled, deep and angry, and all eyes turned in his direction. "I'm getting a wee bit tired of living under the threat of increasingly unstable leaders. We have our own troubles to deal with."

They were quiet for a moment as each considered the situation.

Camila's phone chirped, so Camila pressed the intercom. "Yes, Felix?"

"A Michelle Beaumont is here asking to speak with you. She doesn't have an appointment."

"Please send her in," Camila responded as she sent a concerned look to the others and unlocked the door.

The door opened, and Michelle stepped in and closed it behind her. She turned and looked up to see the others. Her eyes widened. "Is this not a good time?"

Roy snorted as he stood to pull another chair before Camila's desk. "We'll all die of old age if we have to wait for a good time."

Camila sent an annoyed look at Roy as she gestured for Michelle to take the chair. Once she was seated, the CEO looked to her. "What brings you to us this morning?"

Michelle took a deep breath. "I- I thought I might be able to help search for Henry as I have access to the historical records for the Hidden Races Council. There might have been some record of the construction of the containment center they took him to. It took all night to hunt through the database and track down every project the Council had employed a construction company for, but none of the projects I found could be it. There was only one that I couldn't get background on as all it had was a single non-redacted invoice number. I went into the sub-cellar to hunt through the paper files, but when I found the docket for the invoice, there was only a single sheet of paper. It was a handwritten letter that was heavily and sloppily hand redacted. What I was able to read showed it was a bill of sale for a farmhouse in New Jersey. The only other text that stood out was a partial word, Wol, but the rest was redacted, so I don't know the context." She shook her head. "It could be a wild goose chase. While I found it with the construction projects records, there's so little usable information."

Roy was rolling the information around in his mind as Sigrid smiled at Michelle. "It was very courageous of you to do this for Henry. You might have been caught—"

"I was." Tears appeared on her lashes. "Security personnel escorted me to Lise-Anne's office this morning. She charged me with unauthorized access of files not pertaining to my assigned duties. She fired me, revoked my security clearance, canceled my pension, and froze my assets." Her lips began to tremble. "I have no money for my mortgage payments! I've jeopardized Dayshia's home, too, as I'm going to be homeless."

"No! You will not. We'll help you!" Sigrid insisted, and Michelle watched her with the beginnings of hope in her eyes. She looked to Camila and saw the same compassionate determination in her eyes.

Michelle began to cry, but now it was in relief. Mahati handed her some tissues to dry her tears. Knowing her aversion to feeling trapped, they refrained from hugging Michelle, but they gave her supportive smiles, making her feel better.

Roy got Camila's attention. "I have to get back to my preparations for dealing with Carl. Can you and Sigrid work with Michelle and Mahati on discovering the location of the containment center?"

Mahati looked at him. "What do you intend to do once you find where he's imprisoned?"

"Get him back, of course!" he snapped.

"Go, Roy," Camila said, unlocking her door again, and the big man marched out, shutting it behind him. "Mahati, please work on what we can do to keep the Hidden Races Council off our backs. If you have access to the Chancellor, work that angle, but please keep in mind, we don't share information on Henry with people outside this group. It's typically not in his best interest. Again, we're sorry we forgot to bring you up to speed. We'll work on Henry's location," Camila instructed.

Mahati was tight-lipped but gave her a nod and stood to leave. She looked to the Arachnid. "All will work out somehow, Michelle."

As she left the office, she schooled her expression to hide the desperate doubt that lingered.

Chapter 32

Henry was pissed off.

He was scared, too, but holding onto his anger kept the fear from overwhelming him.

Dr. Bitch was fucking with his head. He'd been riding the edge of sleep for hours. How many, he had no idea as he had no means to track the passage of time. It felt like at least a day, or maybe more. Whatever spell she'd inflicted on him was preventing him from fully immersing into sleep yet prevented him from fully awakening.

It was driving him nuts!

Worse, her spell was based on the old realm magic which grated on the Wild Magic inside him.

He knew he could easily break her spell with a blunt force attack, but he needed her to think she'd succeeded. He was still tied down and helpless, so he needed to tread lightly, or she might resort to a more painful or permanent measure to detain him.

The spell made thinking exceptionally difficult, but he recalled the times he was cramming for his school exams. He knew how to get his mind into a zone where all other concerns and pressures had to take a back seat to a single point of focus. He hadn't used this discipline in a long time, so he'd used up those hours working his way back through the process until he had his focal point at last.

What was really pissing him off was that, with all of his other options unavailable to him, his only avenue of escape was to turn to the magic within him and try and see if he could come up with another spell.

He recalled Roy's concern for him, but this time he wasn't going to do anything as dramatic as rebuilding his body. He needed to have his body feed the sensors a loop of the same information they were getting, like a closed-circuit surveillance camera being provided a recording instead of a live feed.

Holding that intent in his mind, he mentally coded a program that would loop the sensations from his body. He could hear the gentle whir of the monitor next to the bed and the quiet pings it made as his readings fluctuated.

Once more, he infused his will into the tiny program and felt it eagerly waiting to be launched. He listened to the monitor as he activated the program, but no alarms went off, so he turned his attention to the spell. He needed it to continue but not affect him, so he gradually linked it to his monitor spell instead. When its last barb was removed from his mind, he sighed in relief as he felt the grating vibration of the old magic finally fade. His body immediately pulled him under from the drugs running through his veins.

Idly, he recognized he could write another program to isolate the drugs and direct them out of his body if he wanted. For now, though, they were going to help him travel.

Before he did, he reached out to the geolocation ability and felt the response immediately. Hainesburg, NJ, was his current location. He should have done this before, but lesson learned.

He wasn't sure if Dr. Bitch had any additional traps in place, so he cautiously slipped free of his body and listened. Nothing.

Instead of immediately rushing off to inform Roy of his whereabouts, he decided to deal with the unfinished business he had next door first.

Slipping out into the hallway, he heard no alarms and felt nothing to indicate a monitoring spell had activated. So far, so good.

Henry went to DJ's door and went through.

"Fuck!"

Henry looked towards the bed and saw the young man was staring at him with frightened eyes.

"Sorry if I spooked you last night," Henry apologized.

"Spooked me? You terrified the fuck out of me! I almost soiled myself," the man spat. "But I suppose that's what ghosts or delusions do!"

Henry frowned. DJ was going to be more difficult to convince than he thought. First things first, though.

"The fear you experienced was put there by a very powerful witch. Baba Yaga uses compulsions to keep people from looking where she doesn't want them to see." He saw skepticism, but he pushed on. "Last night, when I touched you, I felt the blast of fear too. I also saw your true self."

Fear flashed in DJ's eyes, so Henry held up his hands. "I'm not gonna talk about that as I can see it triggers her trap. Let me tell you about a couple of my friends and me first."

DJ watched him cautiously, so he began telling his story gently.

"Baba Yaga is ancient and very powerful. No one can determine why she does the things she does. Her plans span millennia. She pulled me from my time way back in the ancient past when I was a baby. She raised me but hid who I truly was, a Satyr, behind a spell that made me appear Human." Henry saw DJ was listening and not freaking out. "I only discovered that a short time ago when the spell broke. It was terrifying for me when the compulsion spell on me broke. Then I was so confused, as nothing made sense, but I met some people who showed me my true self wasn't bad, just different."

Henry smiled at DJ, who seemed to be calming. "Then I met a cool guy and discovered he'd also had a fear compulsion on him which prevented him from living as who he really was, an Incubus. Baba pulled him from the past as well, and he was raised by Human parents and never knew he was an Incubus until someone helped him break his compulsion."

DJ twitched a little, so Henry gave him a moment. When it looked like he was relaxed again, Henry continued.