“Hello, Eve.”

I sit up, having napped a bit in the corner. Maybe I’m just getting used to the fear or maybe I’m just exhausted, but after the guards pushed me into room 101, time seemed to drag on. Eventually, I found a corner of the white room and slumped down, the padding actually a little comfortable. I don’t know how long I’ve been asleep, but at least I’m not freaking out as I look through the glass at the tall, bald man in a lab coat.

I don’t say anything, though, just studying him like he’s probably studying me. About fifty something, tall and with shoulders that are just starting to slump, his eyes are sharp as tacks as he looks back at me, a deep piercing perception evident.

“Come now, Eve, I’m just going to ask some questions. Let’s not make this difficult, shall we?” he says, his baritone voice amused. “What can it hurt to at least talk with me?”

I think about for a second, realizing he’s right. The best chance I have is convincing them that I’m not a threat, that I’m as shocked by all this as they are. “Fine. What’s your question?”

“My name is Dr. Hoenneger. How about we start easy? I’ve read your file, but can you tell me what your childhood was like?”

Starting easy? If this asshole’s read my file, he knows that’s not an easy question. The fact that he’s asking just pisses me off. “I played with unicorns and rainbows in my backyard along with my best friends, Richie Rich and Little Annie.”

Hoenneger chuckles. “Very funny. You don’t have to be so sarcastic. I’m not here to hurt you, just to try to understand what you are.”

His choice of words stands the hairs on the back of my neck straight up. “I’m sorry, but if you read my file, you’d know that question would take hours to answer.”

“Fine, moving on, and I’ll be more specific. What species are you?”

I roll my eyes. “I’m human.”

He rolls right along, firing off questions almost as if he’s not even interested in the answers. “What is a fairy?”

“Go to the right nightclub and you’ll find out,” I shoot back. “If that’s your style.”

Hoenneger’s smile stays fixed. He’s not irritated at all. I’m not even sure why I’m being so sarcastic. Pissed off, sure, but sarcasm? Not a good play. “Let me change tack. How did you do what you did to Cody Reigns? No human can do what you did to him.”

He has a point, and it makes me stiffen up. “I didn’t mean to do it.”

“Then just answer my questions and this will all be easy for you,” Hoenneger says. I don’t reply, and he takes that as agreement. After a moment, he continues. “You told your partner that you’re a fairy and that four fairy men saved your life?”

“Not quite,” I reply. “I told him that I was told I’m a Halfling.”

“And where are these ‘fairy’ men now?” Hoenneger pesters me. “Flying here to rescue you?”

I snort, shaking my head and not answering him. I have no idea what they’re doing or if they even know what happened.

He waits a bit, then continues. “You murdered a man, Eve.”

“I didn’t murder anyone. I don’t know what I did or how I did it!” I growl before taking a deep breath. “Do you realize that while you’re sitting here asking me these useless questions, the vampires are planning a major attack? We’ve got to stop them! I’m telling you, Marcus is the key!”

“We’re not here to talk about vampires, Eve,” Hoenneger says. “We’re here to talk about you.”

I thump my head against the padded wall, wincing when it’s not quite as padded as it seems. Room 101 is a fortress. “Look, I can’t tell you for sure what I am, because I never knew what I was in the first place. I always thought I was human.”

Hoenneger’s face splits into a hungry grin as he stands up, tapping the table behind him. “If what you’re saying is true, we’ll have to run some . . . tests.”

I can see it in his eyes. This guy’s just salivating at the idea of the type of tests they’ll do on me. I have to get out of here, but I know the construction of even the normal Para cells. I’ll need my powers, whatever they might be. I focus on the door, on the wall, trying to make something go boom . . . all of which fails miserably. Hoenneger watches, for some reason confident that I’m not going to try and pop him . . . but he’s right. Harming him doesn’t help me get out of this box. “Fuck! I don’t know what you want. I just need to get out of here! My sister must be beside herself.”

“If you don’t give us what we want, we have her. How would a nice, long, three-year stint at Beaver Island sound? I’ve heard that unpowered humans do not do well there. They often have to trade their bodies to one group or another to even survive.”

If I ever wanted to actually make someone’s head go splat, it’s now. I stare at him balefully, wishing it were him instead of Cody Reigns. “You put a hand on my sister and I promise you, whatever it takes, no matter how long it takes, I’ll make you wish you’d never been born.”

He acts unfazed, but I can see in his eyes that he’s finally unsure of himself. “Fine. If you won’t tell us your secrets, we will have to pry them from you. Guards!”

The door behind me opens, and three guys come in. They’ve obviously been waiting in the hallway. I turn to them, wishing I could make this difficult for them, but so far, I don’t have super strength.

“Take her out of here and prepare to transport her to Area 58,” Hoenneger says. I try to get away, but when you can only take seven-inch steps, you’re not going to get far. They take me hard, one tackling me while another grabs my ankle restraints. In moments, I’m lifted like a side of beef, my shoulders screaming as they lift me by my arms and ankles. The rest of me’s just as trussed-up. I can barely move at all. “See you at the lab, Eve.”

Whatever Area 58 is, top-secret government facility or just a codename for Hoenneger’s private lab, I’m about to become a lab rat. Fuck, I should’ve run when I had the chance.

It’s dark out when I’m carried out of the back of the precinct, I’d say nearly ten, by the moon. There are two ‘vans’, actually, armored vans that look just like the kind banks use to transport money. The guys open the back of the rear vehicle, where two more men are waiting for me, dressed all in black. “We’ll take the prisoner from here,” one says as I’m tossed inside, one of the transporters jumping in behind me.

As soon as the door closes, these guys mean business. “Not a word. One peep from you and you’re getting a tranq dart straight to the cunt.”

Jesus, and these are supposed to be the good guys? Maybe Alyssa has been right. The level of discrimination I've suffered since being discovered that I’m a Para is nauseating. Although I guess they also assume I’m a murderer.

The vans drive off, me left on the floor like a sack of mail while the three guys I’ve now mentally christened the Men in Black sit on narrow benches, their weapons at the ready. The air is thick with menace, my mind spinning with the contemplation that I’m going to become a lab rat . . . if I’m even allowed to survive.

With each turn, I’m jostled, uncontrollably bouncing between the benches as the van driver pushes the pedal down. Wherever they’re taking me, they’re not sparing the horses.

“You know, I’ve never made it with a fairy before. Think she squirts fairy dust when she gets fucked?” one of them jokes, randomly breaking the silence.

The head guard looks down at me, an evil smirk on his face. “Maybe we can find out. They don’t care how she arrives as long as she’s alive.”

Panic grips me as they leer at my helpless form, my hands and feet bound and unable to even kick to defend myself. One of them reaches down, massaging his crotch as he sets his weapon aside, reaching for me. I wiggle away as best I can, but I can only go a foot or two before my head hits the back wall of the box we’re in. I’m trapped.

An irritating sound buzzes in my ears, but it’s not me bumping my head. I hear voices, but they’re too faint, staticky. I can’t make out what they’re saying.

Hello in there, I yell at my powers, if there is any time you want to manifest, now’s the time!

“You’re pathetic. You’re supposed to be the ones protecting humanity? You’re scum to need to take advantage of a defenseless woman,” I hiss, my lip lifting in a disgusted sneer.

“Stop the van!” one of the guards says, banging on a steel grate that’s connected to the driver’s cab. “We need to teach this fairy a lesson.”

Up front, the driver opens the security panel and looks back. “Can’t stop. Lead vehicle’s got us covered, and we got a fucking flight schedule to keep.”

“Fine,” the back leader says, reaching for his belt buckle. “We’ll just handle it here. I got first. Rank does have its privileges.”

He gets down on his knees while the others grab my ankles, but just as he’s reaching for my pants, the front seat guards cry out. “What the fuck?” the man with the shotgun yells. “Did you fucking see that?”

“I did. What kind of bird was that?”

A grin breaks out on my face. They’re coming for me. I don’t know how I know. I just know.

Suddenly, the van feels like it just got hit from the side by a battering ram, and we swerve, tipping over. The guards go tumbling, me along with them, and it’s only luck that keeps my head from hitting something hard as I literally smack into someone’s ass. We tumble again, and I rap my head against the roof, which dazes me.

The guards in the back are stunned but still conscious as they get to their feet and reach for the door latch, two of them remembering to get their guns. “What the fuck happen—” the one who was about to rape me asks before he’s suddenly knocked from his feet and sent flying through the air, screaming.

Everything’s a little blurry, but I try my best to scoot to the door. Suddenly, I feel someone grab my chains and tear them like construction paper, leaving me with two interesting bracelets and matching anklets. I look up, and I see Noah’s shimmering body before me, naked and dripping with sweat, Tyler right beside him. Their eyes are wide with worry as they help me to my feet. “Eve.”

I’m exquisitely aware of how close Tyler’s naked body is and the fact that his cock is just inches from my right hand, rising as he looks me in the eyes. “You . . . you saved me,” I rasp. “Where are the others?”

There’s a metallic ting sound behind me, and I turn to see Jacob drop down from the top of the truck, a huge grin on his handsome face. “Doing the arduous work of taking care of the other guards,” he says with a smirk.