Page 143 of The Satyr's Guilt
Ram peeled up his sandpapery lids.Confusion. It was him. Amelia’s father. He licked his cracked lips,his mouth dry, his throat raw. “You’re not a dream.”
“I am your nightmare.”
Ram rattled the chains attached to hiswrists. “I have to get back to your granddaughter.” His bicepsnearly popped from the strain. New chains. Stronger.
“I have no granddaughter. You may questionhim.” He waved his hand at the two men behind him.
The human with stars on his uniformidentified himself as General Lipton. “What are you?”
“Pissed.”
“Why don’t we know about your world?” Theother military man wore a silver eagle, calling himself ColonelGarcia.
“Probably because you’re dumb fucks.”
A black-uniformed soldier rushed forward,throwing a fist to Ram’s jaw, rattling his teeth.
“Don’t insult them,” shouted the fistowner.
“The Englishman told us about portals. Howdo we go through them to your world?” The colonel scrubbed a palmacross his clean-shaven jaw.
“You don’t. Look, this lunatic painted thewrong picture of us. I’m a Scion Firebrand. I not only defend myown people but also yours. We keep you safe from any of us who tryto harm you.” Ram tested the chains at his ankles.
Unbreakable.
Ignoring him, the colonel continued hisinterrogation. “What kinds of things can a satyr do?”
I give. They’re all delusional.
“I can blow you up with a thought. You’reall about to go boom.”
The colonel’s eyeballs flipped around as ifhe was waiting for an explosion.
The man calling himself Dante but whom Ramknew as Lord Ellington drew a deep breath. “I don’t think so.”
“What other kinds of creatures live in yourworld? What did you call it? Scath?” The general decided to join inon the question-fest. “Do you have this extra organ like thevampire? What’s it for?”
“The better to eat you with, asshole.”
Whop.
Another crack to the jaw.
Dr. Messenger came into view, rubbing hishands together. “I can open him now to see.”
Dante fingered his chin. “Yes. Open. A fastlook. Close. We’ll watch.”
The prat-hat of a doctor signaled hisassistant who rolled a cart across the floor.
Blump. Blump. Blump.
Ram inhaled. This was going to suck.
These assholes aren’t going to hear a peepout of me.
As the blade sliced into flesh, he nearlyfractured his already aching jaw by clamping his teeth tight. Thena saw powered up. Tears dampened his eyes, but not one screamrolled across his lips when his sternum was split.
Okay.
