"Yeah, but we're on foot. And to travel fast enough we'd either have to go astral or use magic, which that fraggin' man-bug-spirit thing will notice like a flare going off." Kyle was pacing the room as he spoke, then suddenly stopped at one of the partially broken windows. A man was sprinting toward the warehouse.

"Come on!" Kyle said, and dashed toward a different stairwell that seemed to lead down toward the front of the building. It did, and ended near a partially broken-open front door. Kyle shouldered his way through the door, then he and Moon dashed across the street toward the warehouse, Kyle quickly activating all his foci as they went.

"Wait!" said the spirit. "You don't know what might still be there!"

Kyle ignored him and rushed toward the rear door he'd seen the sprinter heading toward. Approaching, he could hear it locking shut and a man's voice on the other side beginning to shout. Kyle slowed, slung the rifle, and ran the formula for a powerful blast of raw physical power through his head. He released the spell, barely pausing in his dash, and watched with some satisfaction as the weak wooden door disintegrated in front of him.

"Keep at least one alive!" Kyle called out as he rushed in, the spell for a physical shield racing through his mind. It sprung into being, a transparent rectangle of shimmering blue energy, as the man, who'd ducked to one side of the door, threw a skillful martial arts kick at Kyle's head.

The blow smashed against the magical shield and pushed Kyle to one side, clearing the door for Seeks-the-Moon, who quickly stepped in. The man turned to meet him, and Kyle saw a slash of red energy cut across him as Seeks-the-Moon's own hand shot out. Blood and ichor immediately burst from the man's neck as he stumbled back, clutching at the wound. He fell backward over a crate and crashed down onto the floor. Seeks-the-Moon maneuvered himself between the man and Kyle as Kyle rushed forward into the main room.

The four family members were dead, their bodies twisted and tossed aside. As Kyle rushed in, one of the men, the larger of the two remaining, had just finished snapping the neck of a teenage boy. He let the body drop at his feet and charged at Kyle.

The man was quick for his size, but Kyle let the shield spell dissipate and quickly reworked the energy. It flowed together through his fingers and extended toward the man, almost solidifying into a shaft of physical energy. The man tried to turn, but couldn't, hitting the end of the shaft head on. The energy burst around him like water from a hose, tearing into him and arcing around him.

As the man stumbled, Kyle sidestepped and then lashed out with his own kick, catching him on the side of the knee. Kyle felt the leg snap, and the man twisted, screaming with more pain. He fell, crashing down headfirst onto the concrete floor.

Pain surged through Kyle's side as the other man hit him blind-side. He stumbled, most of the breath getting knocked out of him as the man hit him again across the side of the head. A wave of pain and nausea washed over Kyle as he turned away, trying to protect himself. The man struck again, and this time Kyle felt the blow slice by close to his ear.

Kyle jabbed up with his fist and caught the man's forearm, slamming it away. Expecting another blow, Kyle spun aside, his arms moving in what he knew would be a futile attempt to protect his head. But the blow didn't come. Instead, his attacker stopped suddenly, a look of surprise crossing his face as a bolt of flame chewed its way out his chest to explode across the front of his body. Blood and fire poured from his mouth as he pitched forward to land at Kyle's feet. Beyond him, in the door, the last energy from Seeks-the-Moon's spell faded away, dissipating off the spirit's hand.

"Thanks," Kyle said.

The spirit shrugged. "Are you hurt?"

"No, just banged up. Nothing we can't deal with."

“That one is alive," the spirit said, pointing at the man Kyle had speared. "I don't feel so bad about killing these other two."

"I knew you'd come back," said a frail woman's voice.

Both Kyle and Seeks-the-Moon turned toward the sound. On one of the cots, where Kyle had seen her earlier, was the old woman. She was staring at him. Her voice had barely enough breath to create words.

Kyle walked over toward her. "I thought you were going to leave me like this," she said.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you…"

The old woman looked away at the bodies scattered around the large room. "Or did you come back for them?" she asked, her attention drifting.

Kyle glanced at Seeks-the-Moon, who seemed equally perplexed, and then turned back. The woman had grown very still, except for her mouth, which was moving slightly. Kyle leaned down closer, and she said as she died, "No, you came to take all of us."

Kyle stood up slowly and looked back at Seeks-the-Moon, but neither said anything. There was a moan from the man Kyle had speared. He moved, and Kyle grabbed him, lifting him up and flipping him onto one of the cots. Kyle shifted his senses into astral space and studied the man.

His aura was wrong, twisted, laced with dark streaks, and with his astral senses Kyle could almost smell a stench coming from him. The man, clutching his leg in pain, hissed up at Kyle.

"The bus was going to the main hive," Kyle said. "Where is it?”

The man spat, a glob of blood and greenish fluid that Kyle turned slightly to avoid.

Kyle smacked the side of the man's shattered knee with an open palm, and the man choked back a howl of pain.

"Here's the chip truth-I know what you are, and I know that the spirit that used to inhabit that body is dead. That means I don't have the slightest pang of guilt about doing whatever I need to do to you to make you talk."

The man only sneered. Kyle could see, though, that sweat had broken out across his face. He couldn't tell if it was from pain or fear.

"It's a simple spell really," Kyle said as a small swirl of black and red energy appeared floating above his now outstretched hand. "As the energy covers you, it'll feel like thousands of tiny red-hot needles jabbing into your body. Nothing immediately serious… But now imagine if that energy covered your own body and I could make it hurt more and more until all you had was the pain. No body, no mind, just the pain."

The man shrank back as Kyle spoke and the swirl of energy began to drift toward him.

"Then," Kyle went on, "it'll use any opening it can to get inside your body…"

"Cermak and Racine," the man hissed suddenly, holding out his hand to ward off the slowly approaching spell. "The power plant!"

Kyle nodded and stood, confident from the man's expression and attitude that he spoke the truth. "Good." Kyle unslung his Ares combat rifle and aimed it at the man. "I'd have hated to create a spell like that on the fly."

He fired a burst of three bullets, deciding the creature's death was worth the waste.