Andraste was on her feet and rushing to the door before he could hop off the bed. He found his pants, slipped them on, and joined her as she opened the door.

"Uh," he muttered, "maybe you should put some clothes on before …"

"Hey!" she yelled into the hallway. "What's going on here?"

"Down on the floor!" a male voice bellowed. "Down on the floor now!"

Clyde squeezed past Andi and found a team of people in black armor and helmets dragging Cassie and a German-shepherd chimera out of another room. Cassie was screaming and trying to wrap a sheet around herself, and Adonis was sprawled on the floor, having apparently just bounced off the door to Andi's room. Katrilla, wearing a towel, kneeled beside him, screaming and crying. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

"I said, what's going on?" Andi shrieked, trying to be heard over the other voices. One of the intruders aimed his rifle at her.

"Down on the floor!" Another one grabbed her wing and pulled her through the doorway, trying to force her down on her knees.

"Wait a minute! Hey!"

"Get your hands off her!" Clyde rushed forward and the butt of a rifle came out of nowhere and struck the side of his head. The next thing he knew, he was on the floor, moaning, with someone's arms around him.

"Clyde? Oh, shit, Clyde!"

"Huh?" He finally recognized the voice. "Andi? What happened?"

She sobbed and held him tightly. He tried to look around, but felt as if his head would split open if he moved too much.

Cassie was on the floor, leaning against the wall and sobbing, holding one hand to her bruised face and reaching out toward her boyfriend with the other. "Fido! Let him go, you bastards! He wasn't doing anything!"

"Shut up, you slut!"

Clyde looked around slowly, wincing. With those helmets on, he couldn't tell which of them had spoken. Fido was face-down on the floor, hands cuffed behind him, shaking his head at Cassie.

"Calm down! I don't want them to hurt you anymore! Just stay there."

"Shut up, freak!" One of the cops kicked him in the side of his head.

"Stop it!" Cassie shrieked and pushed herself up. "Leave him alone!"

Adonis got his feet under him and crouched, preparing to leap at the nearest cop. Fido shook his head.

"No! You'll only get yourselves killed! I'll be okay."

"All of you," one of the armored men yelled, "shut the fuck up!"

Another grabbed a handful of Fido's hair and dragged him to his feet. "You … you're coming with us. The rest of you … anyone who interferes will be shot dead. Is that clear?"

Someone else cried out at the end of the hallway, and everyone turned toward the voice. One of the men hit the floor and rolled, the tinted visor of his helmet shattered. Clyde glanced past him and found Tiamat storming toward the rest of them.

"What the fuck is going on?" she yelled. "Get your hands off them!" She grabbed the one who was holding Fido, flipped him over her shoulder and slammed him to the floor.

"Good," one of the others said, pulling a stunner out of his belt holster. "You're the other one we came here for."

One of the others tried to take her down, but ended up rammed face-first into the wall hard enough to crack the paneling.

Another slipped up behind her and jabbed his stunner between her shoulder blades. An electric crackle ripped through the air and Tiamat screamed and convulsed, then collapsed and lay twitching at the man's feet.

Andi, Fido and Adonis stared numbly at the sight of her, as if they'd been zapped as well. The guy who'd taken her down  swaggered over to Fido and jabbed the stunner into his throat.

"No!" Cassie tried to crawl over to him, but one of the other intruders grabbed her and shoved her back into Fido's room.

"Put your clothes back on, slut. Your daddy wants to have a talk with you."

Cassie stared at him, her mouth hanging open, and a realization dawned on her. "He's the one who sent you."

"Put your clothes back on. Now."

Her expression changed from shock to boiling anger before she ducked into the room and picked up her clothes. "I want to have a little talk with him as well." She put her shirt and pants on and came back out, carrying the rest of her clothing under her arm. "And after I talk to him, I'll talk to my attorney."

"Gee, I just pissed myself, you had me so scared." The man gave her a shove. "Move it."

The others dragged Fido and Tiamat down the hall, and a couple more helped their injured buddies get up and follow the rest.

One of the men paused to give Clyde and the rest a faceless stare. "Fucking perverts. If you want to stay healthy, you'll forget this ever happened. We were never here." He turned and walked away.

"Oh, Christ," Katrilla sobbed as she helped Adonis get up. "Are you okay?"

"I'll survive." He hugged her and scowled in the direction the intruders had gone. "What was this all about? Why did this happen?"

"No idea." Clyde stood and swayed, and Andi helped steady him. "I'm gonna find out."

"Clyde," Andi whimpered, "they said they'd kill anyone who interfered."

"That depends on how you interfere." He brushed her hair away from her face. "Are you okay?"

"Not really." She touched his cheek. "Whatever you're planning to do, I'm with you."

He smiled and put his arms around her. After holding her for a moment, he stepped back and turned toward her room.

"So," Katrilla muttered, "what can we do about this?"

"First, someone needs to call the police and report this. Do it anonymously, just in case. I'm gonna contact someone in the media who'll be interested in what just went down here. If that news van is still parked across the street, we'll have 'em crawling all over this in a matter of minutes." He flashed them a predatory grin and stormed into the room to pick up his shirt.

"Good." Andi joined him and began dressing. "Let's go get 'em."