Human Purity Alliance (Hypernaturals 4)

Hostages

Anne, Denise, Helen and I desperately searched for them. We checked their homes. Vera still lives in her little 1960's bungalow from when she and I were together. Not there. Morgan's small country home on the Eastside. Not there. Angel's apartment. Again: Not there.

At Morgan's office, we found Morgan's Miata and Angel's Metro at Morgan's office in the parking lot.

The HPA bastards were in Morgan's office. Things turned over. The room retained the scents of the humans in them. Scents of Slick and Moonie from the bar and some other new ones. When they came after the former Cop, they came in numbers and armed. I could smell gun oil in the air.

In Vera's office at the Siren bar, I scented Slick and Moonie again. Also, gun oil: They came after Vera with a weapon. Smart: Vera is not a trained fighter, but I am sure she would have given them hell.

I went in and reassured a frantic Larry once again that I am looking for Vera, and that I would find her. I looked Larry directly in the eyes and said with complete sincerity "Larry: You know me. You know who I am, and what I am, and what I can do. I will find her, and I will bring her back. My word on it. She is special to me too."

I had to make the promise and I had to keep it, even if I was not sure how. Vera was kidnapped because she tried to help the Vampires. We owe her.

I owe her.

Larry looked far more relieved than I actually felt. Vera is a Siren, and these HPA people know that Sirens exist. I do not know how much they know, or if it is as holey as what they 'know' about Vampires. The HPA may not hate Sirens at the same level as Vampires, but they are still extra-Human, and that would fuck with them. At the Oasis, the HPA fuckers got wrapped around the axle about the way Vampires control humans. Sirens do that too.

I did not know if the HPA knew 'The Firehouse' is a Siren hangout, or if they know Vera is a Siren, female edition. My only consolation is that I know more about Sirens than just about anyone, and most of what I know about Sirens is brand new knowledge. I thought it unlikely that HPA humans know that Sirens have a female type. Before me, Vampires did not know that.

If they do know about Sirens, then this is deeply double fucked because whether they know it or not, they have one of those too. A Vampire and a Siren. They hit the daily double. Vera is not any random Siren, either. Vera is ascendant in the Siren community. She is a big deal and having her is seriously bad, beyond the fact they have my friend and my actual, real-life, forum BS aside, former lover.

We looked everywhere. We met Angel's daughter, Nakoma, when she got home from school and surreptitiously confirmed that she has no idea where her mother is. Nakoma arranged to stay with a friend because we fed her a story about her mom needing to do something for Morgan and having to go undercover. All very last minute and hush hush.

Nakoma, like her mom, is not stupid. Her name means great warrior or great spirit. I guess they did not have an Amerind name for 'too smart for the adults'. I am fairly sure she did not buy the story we are selling, but her mom has been Morgan's girl Friday for years, and it is not totally out of the question. My brother's law firm uses Morgan for assignments all the time so Nakoma knows me and my brother. Nakoma has no reason not to trust me. It is only that her mom did not call her that is weird. Her mom always calls.

The final straw came that evening. We gathered at my house, brainstorming. We had ways to find these people. Trace their IP addresses from the web board. We know which names on the board are the real deal now. With some brute force, we can turn those into names and addresses as long as they are not using cafes and disposable email addresses. If they are, maybe we can track a credit card number from a coffee purchase. We can slowly hunt them down the same way Denise and Anne hunted anyone they are looking to find. They can find people far better hidden than this. We could find them, find where they took Morgan, Vera, and Angel. Free them. Then rain holy hell down upon them.