Succubus Ascendant: An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga Book 4) by BR Kingsolver Page A

then came back. “Yeah, there aren’t any more branches. Only one cable running straight into the shipyard.”
    Several men pried up the manhole and one of them dropped into the hole with an electric torch.
    “We don’t even have to dig,” he shouted up from the hole. “There’s a large tunnel going right into the yard. Electrical, water and sewer lines, the whole works. We might even be able to send assault troops through here.”
    “Shut it down,” the team leader said to Irina.
    Almost immediately all the lights in that section of the shipyard went dark. The lights in the houses and businesses around and behind them stayed on.
    The team leader smiled. “Nice job.”
    “Mmmmm,” Irina replied. “I’ve never held this much electricity before. Kinda makes me feel ... horny.”
    He laughed.
    *Is there anything that doesn’t make you feel horny?* Rebecca asked.
    *I mean this makes me feel really horny,* Irina told her.
    The streetlights dimmed and a bolt of electrical energy splashed across the air shield covering Irina and the team leader. A large fireball followed.
    * Retreat!* the team leader sent. *Let the electrical line go. Execute the plan!*
    A larger force was ready to come into the area and cut off the electricity into the shipyard if Irina’s plan worked. The important thing now was to get everyone out without injury.
    The Protectors withdrew in good order. Irina lagged behind the team, as though she was having trouble keeping up with the larger men. When they were less than half a block away from the attack site, she stumbled and fell to the ground. Her team rounded the corner of a building and disappeared, apparently unaware she was no longer with them.
    Several men swarmed her. One of them grabbed her and pulled her off the ground.
    “Uh-oh. Shouldn’t have done that,” Irina said as the enormous reservoir of electricity she held discharged through him. A sound like a thunderclap accompanied the release of the electricity. She found herself sitting on the ground, dazed and looking at six still bodies lying in a circle around her.
    *Are you okay?* Rebecca asked. She had been hitchhiking in Irina’s mind.
    * I think so. The lights are back on.*
    *You were still holding the electricity from the line?*
    *Yeah. I forgot to let it go.*
    *Shit. No wonder you fried everyone. You just channeled the power from a 400-volt main industrial line into them.*
    A number of men ran up to her, some wearing Protector uniforms. That confused Irina at first, then their leader pointed a pistol at her face and she realized they were rebels.
    “What happened here?” he asked in an Irish brogue.
    “We were running after you attacked us,” Irina said. “I couldn’t keep up and then I tripped. Someone covered me in an air shield and then these guys showed up.” She waved her hand at the bodies. “Then there was an explosion. I guess the air shield protected me.”
    He looked skeptical.
    “Killed by electrical shock,” one of the other men said.
    “Not Neural Disruption?” the leader asked.
    “I don’t think so,” the other man said. “There are electrical burns.”
    Another man approached and reported that Irina’s team had escaped.
    “Come along, lassie,” the leader said. “Stand up and walk in front of me. I’ll have this pistol pointed at your head the whole time. You know what will happen if I twitch, don’t you?”
    Irina nodded.
    “Then be a good girl. It sure would be a pity for such a lovely lass as yourself to lose her head.”
    They walked several blocks, winding their way through the streets and heading north from the shipyard. Turning a corner, Irina saw a white van with the back doors open.
    * They’re putting me in a van,* Irina sent to Rebecca.
    *That’s okay. I’m in the car already,* Rebecca sent.
    * I won’t be able to see where we’re going.*
    * Look around. Can you see any street signs?*
    *Yeah,* Irina said, and gave Rebecca the names of the cross streets.
    * I have you