the bed amidst those shadows, her clothes ripped and her eyes vacant, lay Meg.
“Well, this is unfortunate timing,” Councilor Gren said as he adjusted his clothing. “I was just getting to the good part.”
The roar of a pissed off hunter was so loud it shook the walls. The pounding on the lab doors stopped at the same time Jas leaped like a great beast across the room. His intent to rip and shred the Councilor was obvious. Serenity saw the look of sheer delight on Gren’s face and saw that black cloud of his power leave Meg and reach for Jas.
“Flinn shields,” she screamed, knowing she was about to see Jas fall the same way Corporal Handsly had. “Stop Jas!”
Just before Jas would have hit the blackness of death he bounced off an invisible shield, and the magic that would have sucked his life hit it and flowed like smoke over glass, stopped but looking for a way through.
Serenity sucked in a breath and tried to speak around her pain. “He’s looking for an excuse to kill everyone,” she gritted out as loud as she could. Jas was too far gone to stop but luckily Flinn was a match for him in power, and he held him back in an invisible cage. The predator that was Jas pounded against it and roared his fury.
Gren laughed. His power testing the shields almost gently. “How long do you think this will hold me,” he asked almost happily.
Even now she could see the small suction of power from the shields going into that gaping blackness. Not enough to hurt Flinn but if the man were any less than the powerhouse he was it would be a different story, as it was it was a near thing. Which told Meg that Flinn was more powerful than the councilman knew. Or the man would not be gloating so much.
All the while Serenity could feel the rage pounding through the room. Gren may think he was untouchable because of his position but no one else in the room agreed.
Mal stepped forward his jaw locked and rage firing his eyes nearly as bad as Jas.
Flinn gritted his teeth into a parody of a smile. “As long as I need to old man,” he ground out.
Serenity spoke as quietly as she could. “Put me down,” she whispered. “I’m alright now.”
Mal’s arms around her tightened for a moment before she felt his power stream through her as he read the truth of that for himself.
Maybe alright was stretching things, but physically the pain had stopped, and she needed to get to Meg. And he needed his hands free to deal with the insane death demon who was laughing at them all while Meg died.
He put her on her feet.
Gren turned his insane eyes to her, and she froze under them as she met that gaze.
“The lovely Serenity, it was you I was looking for, but you were nowhere to be found, so I had to make do. I must say she tasted nearly as good as you do.”
He smirked, as if he were not surrounded by six men who wanted him dead and had the power to make that happen. Not to mention the will.
“So rarely do you come across a truly innocent life force. She practically glowed with good intentions and life did the lovely Meg.” He licked his lips as if he had tasted something decadent. As if every person in that room did not want him dead.
Jas slapped against the shield holding him while Mal Ryn stepped up beside Flinn and drew the councilors eye away from Serenity.
The rest of Phoenix moved to surround them all in a defensive half circle. She started moving again, skirting the room as fast and as unobtrusive as she could. She was tempted to send her power to heal from where she was but didn’t want to chance it with Gren so close.
Flinn had wrapped the shields around the room separating everyone, opening and closing shields at will as the phoenix got into position. It was an intricate dance, a truly impressive display of power.
Tram she noted had placed an impenetrable shield of his own around the entirety of medbay leaving Flinn to handle the rest. She could no longer hear anything from Marte or Brin and she realized the aide was shielding any sound from escaping, as well as keeping people away. As soon as she was close to Meg the shields between them opened and closed again with