Ascendance

5

"I'm guessing they found our hotel room." Brendan shook his head, placing his hand on his forehead.

"No, they did." Kyra looked annoyed. "I had gone out to get groceries and I returned to the damn SWAT team breaking into our hotel room and fighting it out with the cephalopods. I couldn't even get our clothes back."

"Sounds like they were waiting on an opportunity. Which they colossally fucked up." Karenina sighed, looking at us. "You can stay with me for a while."

"Thanks, Kara." Kyra looked at her, smiling.

Hey, no problem." Karenina spoke. I noticed that a few men in black suits were looking at us.

"I'm assuming they were after you." A man in black sunglasses spoke. "Who are you with?" 

"I'm Kyra Stevenson, from the Agency. These are my coworkers, Karenina, Brendan and Erika." She showed them a badge. "That is what we were thinking."

"Interesting. You usually deal with werewolves and vampires. Not aliens." He spoke, arms crossed.

"This one has a grudge against us." Karenina put a hand on her hip. "Or the Founder of the Agency, better said."

"How do you know that?" Kyra raised her brow.

"Did Amy not send you that file of her most recent finding?" Karenina raised her brow back.

"No, but then again, I haven't checked my phone." Kyra spoke.

"Well, we should get back to our business. We'll let the Founder know if we find anything interesting." The men walk away.

"Wow. This week has been insane." I say, shaking my head. Aliens are real, apparently so are werewolves and vampires. The men in black are real. Damn, what's next? A unicorn telling me I'm some princess?

"You good, Erika?" Brendan looked at me.

"I need a beer." I sighed, shaking my head, and pressed my hand into my forehead.

"Don't we all?" We got in Karenina's car and I sat in the co-pilot seat. Brendan and Kyra sat in the back.

"Man, this is not going well for us." Kyra sighed, closing her eyes.

"This is worse than the vampire who wanted to take over the world." Brendan looked bored.

"Which one?" Karenina had a smile on her face.

"I think the one you had to go on an undercover date with." Brendan spoke. "And he actually bit you."

"Oh, yeah, that one. Thank God for anti-venom. But that shit hurts." Karenina sighed, shaking her head.

"Damn, that's...unfortunate." I looked at her.

"Well, now I can't be outside for too long." Karenina sighed. "And I'm allergic to sulfur, so that's the joy of almost becoming a vampire."

"If we ever get Lydia out, maybe she can figure something out to counteract the effects of the anti-venom." Kyra crossed her arms.

Lydia. I missed her almost blowing up the house with her "homework", her coming in around the time I was getting breakfast ready, and of course, her asking me about my day. I just wanted to get them back from the aliens. My heart aches when I think of how she was being harmed and kept somewhere, for some reason we didn't know.

"I hope so." Karenina turns right. My head is hurting. Great, I think a migraine is coming in and I'm already dreading it. We arrive at what looks like luxury condos with a gated entrance. I couldn't afford to live here either. I wonder how much those Agents make a year. Karenina tells her name to the person in the booth and the gate opens. We drove into a huge white and fancy building.

"Damn, Karenina, how did you get in here?" Kyra looked around.

"Well....I'm friends with the building owner so she lets me stay at her penthouse whenever. Doesn't help that Amanda puts a decent check in her account every time we need meetings." Karenina parked in the front. We get out of the car and go inside. People stare at us like we don't belong. We don't but who cares. We got this place for free. Karenina leads us to an elevator and we head to the top floor. We entered the penthouse which is huge and spacious with a living room bigger than my whole apartment.

"Make yourselves at home." Karenina spoke, heading towards the Keurig on a table. Kyra sits down on the couch and I take the loveseat. Brendan sits in the loveseat next to me.

"So did you go to that festival last week?" Kyra asked Karenina.

"Yeah, I did. It was nice to be around my clan and stuff." Karenina sat down.

"Your clan?" I raised my brow.

"I'm Roma, Cale to be specific." Karenina smiled at me.

"Wow, that's pretty cool." I look at her. Brendan turns the TV on.

"Breaking news, there was a recent break-in in the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Raleigh. It is believed to have been tied in to the recent kidnapping of a local speech therapist, Sofia Jimenez and her family. More news at four o'clock." The news anchor continued to a story of red wolf pups being born at the local zoo.

"They're quick." Kyra spoke, shaking her head. "I wonder how much the MIB is going to let them speak."

"Who knows?" Brendan shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe they'll actually say it's aliens, seeing that the government already confirmed it."

"Doubt it." Karenina sighed, taking a sip of her coffee or tea or whatever she was drinking.

"Anyway, this "Leader' character is quite insistent on getting Erika." Brendan walked up to the Keurig. "Or us."

"I'm not surprised. He must hate you for getting her before his men did." Kyra spoke, changing the channel to some trashy reality show and then a baking contest.

"I bet." Brendan was picking a coffee. I wish I was with my family. I'm getting spoiled with luxury condos and hotels while they're in a jail cell with the Creator only knowing what is happening to them.

"Don't beat yourself up for it, we've gone through far worse, trust me." Brendan smiled at me, trying to reassure me.