Alien in the Family

the same. They headed straight for each other.
    A variety of people from the other side charged out as well. “They’re all Amazons,” Serene called. “They look like humans, but they’re not.”
    Animal Planet surrounded me, but I had a good view of what was going on anyway.
    Our side was using a lot of guns, mostly semiautomatics. The problem was, the Amazons could take a lot of punishment. “How many bullets will it take to down one of your people?” I asked Queen Renata.
    “Many. We are . . . enhanced.”
    “No kidding.” Martini was barking orders, and our team was fanning out. Kyrellis leaped over a clutch of others and headed straight for him, but he wasn’t looking in her direction. “Jeff, look out!”
    He turned just in time, and they were at it. This time I could tell she wasn’t holding back. He wasn’t, either, and he’d picked up a lot from their last fight, because he was dodging her strikes better.
    “We need to help them.”
    “We need to stay back,” Felicia said. “As your mate requested.”
    I looked at the last place I’d seen Christopher. Now there were three of him, all fighting with Moira, but I had a feeling they were all hitting the real one. “Serene, who’s the real Christopher?”
    “The one on the left!” Reader and Tim heard her, and they both ran toward this clutch of bodies. “Now on the right! No, don’t, that’s him!” Serene lost it and ran at hyperspeed. She hit into Christopher and tackled him.
    Reader and Tim hit the fake Christophers, hard, and they shifted to look like what I’d expected them to be—the two guys from THEhotel. Nice to be right, hoped Tim and Reader would really hurt them. Human versus A-C was an uneven fight, but my guys had been working with A-Cs for a long time and were doing pretty well.
    The rest of the guys who were supposed to be guarding Serene were over there now, and that brawl became hard to follow.
    Not a lot of gunshots any more, not just from this group but all of our side seemed to have stopped shooting. It made sense—everyone was too jumbled up to shoot without a real risk of hitting our own side. The fight was now the oldfashioned kind—hand-to-hand, edged weapons, blunt instruments, completely brutal.
    Gower ran to me and shoved in. “Kitty, take my hand!” I did and felt a power flow I’d experienced once before. I felt someone hold me up, saw Queen Renata grab Gower and hold him upright, then it stopped.
    “Paul, are you okay?”
    “Yes,” he said slowly. “It can’t last, but it’s necessary. ACE knows what Jeff doesn’t.”
    I nodded. “It’s all about being strong enough to marry in, right?”
    “Pretty much.” He squeezed my hand. “You’ll do fine. I have to go help Jeff.” Then he disappeared. I saw him slam into Kyrellis just before she could stab a long, glowing stick into Martini.
    “What the hell is she using?”
    Martini rolled away just in time. Since I was wearing his jacket, I could see him clearly because of his shirt. This meant, of course, that others could see him clearly, too.
    “A battle staff,” Queen Renata answered.
    Martini was on his feet; he and Gower were trying to get around the staff, but Kyrellis was good with it, and they weren’t having a lot of luck.
    “Why do the ends glow?”
    “They are supercharged and cause more damage.”
    An end hit Gower, and I heard him shout. He wasn’t down or out, but I knew he was hurt.
    “Wow, did George Lucas spend time with you guys?”
    “I don’t follow you.”
    “Few ever do, Renata. Got any more of those puppies lying about?”
    “Yes, I brought some with me, in case we faced resistance.”
    “Where they at?”
    “In Neeraj’s ship.”
    “Iguanodon, can you get stuff out of your ship without leaving the field of battle here?”
    “Yes, but why? Our instructions are to stay back and guard you.”
    “And the eight of you, all primed for serious butt-kicking, you’re alright with that? You’re good to, you know, fly across space to come here and hang in the back and watch the battle but have nothing to do with the outcome?”
    There was a lot of shifting of paws and swishing of tails.
    “I have four dogs and three cats, and while they don’t walk upright or talk or anything, they’d all be in it if they were here. And did I mention that iguanas and Komodo dragons can be really nasty?”
    More paw shifting and tail swishing, with a little muttering added in.
    Chuckie and Alexander were engaged with Lenore