Alien in the Family

“We could search everywhere in the time this is taking,” Martini said urgently.

“Jeff, stop. Psychos and megalomaniacs are my forté, remember? They all wa

Martini and Christopher were on their phones, barking orders.

The Excalibur, New York New York, MGM Grand, and Tropicana were the four casinos on this corner. But they’d all be too close, especially if she’d set up the entire Mandalay complex to go. “Have them check all the casinos on the corners, too.” Martini and Christopher barked more orders.

Where would she go to watch? Where in this town would someone like Kyrellis feel comfortable? Or at least feel she could control herself from killing all the men in order to watch her fireworks display? I had to think. Figuring out what the psychos did for kicks was my job, really.

Too stressed. Think about what I did know. Moira and Kyrellis were insane. Fanatics. Amazonian lesbians who really loathed men deep in the bone. Military trained. Why had Moira hurt Reader? Because he was, according to her, pawing me. But she’d pawed me and hadn’t seemed to think that was an issue.

I was trying too hard. I had plenty of lesbian girlfriends. Like most of my friends, I wasn’t in constant contact, but I certainly could remember what they’d talked about. They talked a lot like my guy friends talked, liked many of the same things. Of course, none of my gay girlfriends were loathing man-haters; they just preferred boobs and such. Oh. DUH. I opened my eyes.

“Boys? You like chicken wings?”

CHAPTER 36

“NOT REALLY,” MARTINI SAID. “Also, think we should, you know, save the i

“And that’s why I’m the one the psychos all wa

“Sure.”

I grabbed his hand and we took off. Too revved up to get sick from the hyperspeed, so that was a bonus. Raced out and down the Strip, made a right on Tropicana and raced to the goal—Mecca for most straight guys and lesbians—the Hooters Hotel and Casino.

“Are you kidding me?” Christopher shouted. “Why are we here?”

“Because Kyrellis is here. Waiting and watching and enjoying the view before she really enjoys the view.”

“What are we looking for?” Martini asked. “She’s a shapeshifter. She could look like anyone.”

I thought about it as we raced through the casino. “She’ll look like herself, as much as possible. She thinks she’s in the clear, and she’s had hours here to assure herself of that.”

“She knows we have Moira,” Christopher said.

“No, I don’t think she does. I think she thinks Moira has me. Jeff, you still holding that tracking device?”

He cursed. “Yes. I forgot I had it.”

“That’s great. Put it into my purse.”

“Hell, no!”

“Put it in my damn purse, Jeff! And look for a strong, big woman with spiky blonde hair. Figure she’ll look like she’s in the WNBA.” He muttered but dropped the tracker in as requested.

We looked around. Nothing that seemed to fit. “It’s close to noon,” Christopher said urgently.

My brain waved at me. “The roof. She’ll be on the roof. This is a small place, she has to get up high to see things go down.”

We raced for the stairs. The door to the roof was locked. Martini wrenched it open and we went through, back outside under the close-to-noonday sun. We came around to face the Mandalay Bay, and there she was. Her back was to us, but from what I could tell, she was built like Martini and about the same size. Only, she was a bit larger, and potentially more muscular. I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Kyrellis.”

She turned around. “I know you.” Spiky blonde hair, violet eyes. I got the impression the Free Women had made do without their men via a cloning process. She smiled, and it was a very evil smile. “You brought them to me. What a good little girl you are. Maybe I will not kill you. Maybe I will let you stay with me and my mate.”

Oh, right. She was an assassin. And she wanted to kill Martini and Christopher. “Guys? Please get out of here.”

“No.” In unison again. Not too loud, but with a lot of meaning from both of them.

“I can’t see her do to you what Moira did to James.”

“She won’t,” Martini said. “We aren’t being lured and fooled.”

“She will.” Gregory’s voice came from behind us. I looked over my shoulder. He was behind us. The Poofs were with him, but they weren’t big or growling. They were trembling.

“So, you have them attached to you after all, Greg?”

“No. I just know how to control them.” He had Harlie in his hand, fingers held in an u

“Yeah, that’s the bad guy plan in a nutshell.”

Gregory shrugged. “Just because none of you can see the advantages to ruling the strongest planet in two solar systems doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“Kyrellis, why are you working with a man?”

She shrugged. “He has . . . helped us. My God feels he is worthy in Her sight. Not to touch us, but he will be an ally we need.”

“Boy, are you gullible.”

She smiled her evil smile. “No. I am powerful. As you will soon see.”

She shimmered, and there was another Martini standing there.

“Oh, great,” he muttered. “Don’t use the Glock.”

“I’m sure that’s her plan. Jeff, please, get out of here.”

“I love you. Please remember that.” He ran toward her and the two of them started fighting, all out, with clear intent to kill—but at human speeds. Gregory’s attention was on the fight, and Christopher took advantage of his distraction by body-slamming him. Unfortunately, A-Cs were strong, and they were fighting at hyperspeed instantly.

I realized I’d never seen Martini fight, other than the one time he and Christopher had gone at it, and that had looked a lot more like the fight Christopher and Gregory were currently having—blurry guys rolling around on the ground. I had no idea who was the real Martini—they were both good fighters, scary good.

Body slams, double punches, kicks, lunges—they could have gone into the light heavyweight class in the UFC and taken the division easily. Tito was in the featherweight class, I was pretty sure, but he wasn’t here to pass along any clues as to who to put my money on.

I gathered the frightened Poofs and put them into my purse. “It’s okay, Poofies,” I lied. I pulled the Glock out, just in case.

I saw something small fly through the air. It was Harlie, and it was heading for the edge of the roof. I dropped the Glock and my purse, kicked off my shoes, and ran. I’d been a sprinter, and I was still great over the short distances. Caught the Poof in the air, had to come to a screeching halt. Didn’t achieve it and went over the edge.

Lucked into something to grab onto. One-handed. Small ledge, too far from the roof to get back up there. Far too far away from the ground to want to let go. “Harlie, be a good Poof and get on my shoulder.” Harlie scrambled up as requested, and I managed to get both hands on the edge, just in time. Got toes on not much. Felt like glass.

Okay, this wasn’t good. Tried to use my toes to support, didn’t work. At all. The edge wasn’t all that secure, and I was in trouble. I couldn’t call to Martini or Christopher—not only were they dealing with murderous opponents, but my screaming could cause them to be fatally distracted.