Enticed by the Satyr (Kindred Tales)

“That must be him!” Storn exclaimed.

The Light Twin and Dark Twin both frowned.

“Who?” they asked in unison.

Storn shook his head.

“Never mind—thank you for the information. Oh, one more thing—do you happen to know where that particular shuttle was headed?”

“Not off the top of my head but I can look,” the Dark Twin offered. He picked up an info pad and scanned through it for a moment before looking up. “Says they went to the HKR building in Tallahassee, Florida. That’s in North America and Florida is this big peninsula that sticks off the bottom right side of it.”

“You can call the HKR building in Tallahassee and they can guide you if you’ve never been there before,” the Light Twin added. “I take it you think the little human female in the green dress might be in trouble?”

“I’m afraid so. Thank you for the information,” Storn told them.

He was already heading for his shuttle, parked at the far end of the huge Docking Bay. He knew that Commander Sylvan had told him he must not, under any circumstances, go down to Earth or let himself be seen by humans, but he couldn’t help it. His female was in trouble and he had to save her.

He just prayed he would be able to get to Mia in time.

22

“Where are we going? This isn’t the way home—is it?”

Mia looked around fearfully at the unfamiliar houses. If Hank was really going to take her home from Tallahassee to Crate’s Corners, he would have gotten on the Interstate by now, she was sure. So why were they taking this winding route through the capital city of Florida instead?

“Right, peanut—you think I’d bring you back to our house? That’s the first place the damn Kindred would search for you.” Hank threw a look over his shoulder at her and laughed, an angry sound without a trace of real humor in it. “No, I found a place here in Tallahassee where they’ll never think to look for us. We’ll have all the alone time together we need to set things straight.”

“Hank please—” she began but he turned to look at her, an expression of fury in his piggy, deep-set eyes, and the words died on her lips. Never, she had never seen him this angry before.

But then again, you never really gave him a reason to be angry, a little voice in her head pointed out. All those things he got mad about before—like having dinner on the table five minutes too late or not picking up his dirty socks the minute he dropped them on the floor—those were all just excuses to hit you.

Now, however, she had given him more than an excuse to hit her. In Hank’s mind, she had probably given him an excuse to kill her.

The thought made her cold all over, but though she tried to shy away from it, Mia knew it must be true. Hank was always talking about “justifiable homicide” and how a man had the right to protect what was his or punish bad behavior when he was wronged. In his mind, she had gone off and cheated on him—and that offense doubtless carried the death penalty in his mind.

Oh God, she thought, feeling sick and small and scared. I’ve got to get out of here! I’ve got to find a place to run! Or someone to help me!

But the neighborhood they were driving through was quiet. It was just now dawn down here on Earth, since there was a few hours time difference between here and the Mother Ship. The people were all probably still asleep in their beds, tired out after a night of Halloween fun.

It was a weekday, so soon enough the houses would start stirring, with moms and dads making breakfast and getting ready for work and kids coming out to wait for the school bus. But right now, everything was perfectly silent and still and by the time people started waking up and going around, it might be too late for Mia.

She thought about just opening the door and rolling out onto the sidewalk, then running to the nearest door and banging on it—begging for help. But several things stopped her. First and foremost, she was riding in the back of Hank’s squad car and he had the doors locked, so there was no way out. Second, he had cuffed her hands in front of her. And third, even if she somehow got loose from him, who was going to let a woman who was wearing cuffs and had obviously escaped from the police into their home?

No one, that’s who, Mia thought dully. He’ll tell them I’m a criminal or that I’m crazy or both and then he’ll thank them for helping him bring me back into custody. Hell, he’ll probably promise them a medal and a citation for bravery for helping to capture me. By the time he’s done, they’ll feel good about giving me back to him—they’ll feel proud of themselves and go to work and brag how they helped the police capture a dangerous suspect.