She knew what they were seeing: monsters who looked like big bat-winged devils, red so dark it was black, leathery, but with almost-human-faces and really long talons.
Ella sniffed: overwhelming fear, terror, the edge of insanity. Just what she wanted. In a high sharp keen, she gave the order to begin memory extraction, termination only if necessary. She sent one Watcher off to scour the store for possible witnesses, then she and the four each grabbed one of the men and squeezed his throat just until he collapsed. Then each Watcher enclosed a man’s head in its long taloned fingers and pulled. Bodies convulsed as crackling light surged out of each man’s skull, into a Watcher’s hand and up its arm, with a popping, snapping sound. Ella took one last pull from brown-hair, released her hand an
