"Flakkar?" Josh was still quaking from Griffin and Pheligar's sudden appearance, but he kept his wits about him enough to ask good questions.
"Giant, flesh-eating, flying reptiles. They bend light around themselves, effectively hiding from any observer," Griffin muttered. "And they have a heavy shield that defies most tracking methods and mutes sounds. The only warning you have is their stench. They are next to impossible to locate."
"I am concerned over how they arrived. Flakkar do not have the ability to transport themselves across the universe," Pheligar observed, frowning at the sleeping young inside the nest.
"Somebody imported those things?" Josh was about to hyperventilate.
"That's exactly what happened," Griffin looked grim. He sent out mindspeech, I guess, because Pheligar's shielded space became crowded quickly. Dragon and Crane arrived, with Adam, Kiarra and Kyler.
"Why don't you let me take care of this?" Kyler stared at the Flakkar.
"Because you will release their particles," Griffin held Kyler off. "Agent Billings here would like bodies and evidence to show to his colleagues." Josh nodded rapidly at Griffin's assessment.
"I'll do it," I said. "We just have to wait for Mom and Pop to get here."
"Get them right behind the head, their necks are thinnest at that point," Dragon was at my side and offering instructions. I didn't think the little ones were going to be a problem; it was the bigger ones that concerned me. I nodded up at Dragon. He grinned and hugged me. "My sons are worried," he leaned down to whisper in my ear.
"Uh-huh," I whispered right back. "About what?"
"That you might not come home," he said, hugging me and kissing the top of my head. Dragon was saying home as if I belonged there or something.
Mom and Pop Flakkar came home right about then, letting their light-bending shields down. They clutched a large cow in each gigantic claw. I'd seen the vibration of the air around them when they first came in, besides smelling the additional stench. I'm going, I sent to the others and misted outside Pheligar's shield.
Papa Flakkar was the first to go, but maybe I should have gotten mama first. She was shrieking and flapping, causing quite a stir. And the babies? They weren't nice either. It was going to be a trick, getting close enough to take heads; the whole nest was boiling with Flakkar. I was fine, getting a good shot at one of the young, but the minute I got one of her kids, mama kicked into a higher gear, thrashing, snapping and clawing like a three-dimensional buzz saw. When I saw my chance at her, I took it, but as my hands and claws materialized to sever her spine, her remaining child got in a blow of his own. I was shrieking in pain after mama's head was separated from her body, and that's when somebody else stepped in. Baby Flakkar's body disintegrated into tiny sparks that winked out as they floated away. I was standing in the middle of the nest, hugging my arm to me; it was bleeding all over the place. My flesh had been sliced to the bone.
"We'll take care of this," Karzac was beside me, as was Pheligar, Renegar, another Larentii I didn't recognize and at least three healers. It didn't matter; I fainted in less than two seconds.
Chapter 11
"Did you see this?" Flavio handed the microcomputer to Gavin and Tony. The screen displayed the image of an FBI agent, standing beside three large corpses.
"They look like dinosaurs," Tony muttered in disbelief. "Flying dinosaurs."
"The forensic specialists are not releasing particulars," Flavio said. "However, the Larentii say these were brought here from another world. If these hadn't been found, they would have continued to feed off the population. The nest was shielded in some way unless you came very close to it; I'm not sure how that was accomplished. Lissa stayed behind and killed those things, although the authorities are taking credit for eliminating them."
"I still don't remember her," Tony said, sorting through the photographs and text on the small computer.
"None of us remember," Flavio shook his head. "Although Wlodek's memories of her are very clear, now. He wasn't surprised in the least that she was able to do what she did." Gavin didn't comment; he wanted to leave.
* * *
"We can feed you soup," Drake was sitting beside my bed and grinning at me when I woke. I slapped a hand over my face.
"Please don't feed me anything," I muttered through my fingers.
"Tummy upset?" A hand started rubbing my abdomen from the other side, and I found Drew lounging on the bed beside me when I turned my head.
"Who said you could get in my bed?" I asked. Drew gave me a lazy, heart-squeezing smile.
"We did," both said at the same time. Drew hadn't stopped rubbing my belly, either. And just like the lazy lizard I was, I enjoyed it. Those guys weren't hard to look at. Uh-uh. Not hard at all. "I feel like a cougar," I said, closing my eyes in pleasure.
"You're not. Dad says you're officially forty-nine years, eleven months and eight days old. We're a hundred and one. Way older than you, itty bitty pants." Drake was now scooting in on my other side.
"Itty bitty pants?" I frowned at him as he settled on the bed beside me. "Who taught you English?"
"We had a tutor," Drake leaned in to kiss me. "And then we went to college," he kissed me again. "Want to see our resumes and statements of net worth? Grampa Adam takes care of our investments."
"I tell you to sit with her and I come back to find you in her bed?" Karzac came in and swatted Drake on the leg, just when I was beginning to think I might have to throw one of those boys on his back and see how his belt unbuckled.
"Damn," Drake grumped softly, sliding off the bed. Drew came off on the other side.
"Let's see the arm," Karzac said, asking for my right arm. It had been deeply sliced by the Flakkar.
"It looks okay," I said, showing him my scar. There was only the faintest of white lines there, and that was fading fast.
"Baby, don't come back to us like that again," Drake scolded from the foot of the bed. Drew nodded and agreed with his brother. "Karzac gave you three bags of blood this time."
"How long have I been out?" I was trying to sit up. Karzac pushed me down again.
"The best thing about your vampirism is that any blood will do to replenish what you have," he said, ignoring my question.
"You've been down a day and a half," Drew said.
"You didn't wake me?" I knew I felt sluggish, but a day and a half?