They Call Me Death

by Missy Jane

  I didn’t know what to expect when I went in to file my report on Jack at the end of my shift. There was no one in the office when I entered, but the paperwork was laid out for me on the commander’s desk. I filled in the spaces and made the necessary signatures, then stared at it for a few minutes. It was a little boy at Jack’s feet in the puddle of blood. He was someone’s son. The significance of that hit me hard and I doubled over in pain and grief. I felt as if I was going to pass out. I laid my head on my knees and shut my eyes.

  “What the hell is wrong with me?” I asked the empty room.

  Things like this weren’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to have to fight humans too. Within three days, I’d been taught who my enemies were as my husband and son were killed by the animals in our midst. Why now was I learning new rules? It pissed me off that Jack was a sadistic son of a bitch. It pissed me off that I was so damn attracted to Andor.

  I hugged myself and tried to catch my breath. The sound of approaching footsteps pulled me from my reverie.

  “Alexia? Is that you?”

  I sat up slowly, rubbing a hand across my eyes, and looked into the face of Robert T. Wayne, our commander. He was a big man in his late fifties. His copper hair was graying gracefully, giving him the look of sophistication a few lucky men get as they age. He was the only guy I worked near with an actual beer belly hanging over his belt. But I’d seen him fight, and any extra weight he carried only enhanced his strength rather than slowed him down.

  “Yes, sir. I just finished my report on last night’s activities.”

  My voice sounded calmer than I felt. He nodded and took his seat, oblivious to my inner turmoil.

  “I was briefed before heading in this morning. I understand you were the one who found Jack Meyer in the middle of his…uh…activities.”

  “Yes, sir, I am. However, I wasn’t the first on the scene.”

  He raised a questioning brow, shuffled some paperwork on his desk, then sat back and clasped his hands on his stomach.

  “I see. Sean Curtis also filled out a report. He admits to following orders and being on the scene for most of the event. According to him, he was given no choice but to participate. Meyer held a gun on him.”

  I gritted my teeth. When I arrived it was Sean with the gun not Jack, but I knew Sean liked to play the perfect little soldier. For the most part he was an asset to the team. He’d saved more than one life in the time I’d served with him. I fully believed he’d turn a blind eye if his orders required it, but was that something he should be punished for?

  “I’m not interested in he said she said with this situation, Williams. As far as I’m concerned Jack Meyer is the threat here, not Sean Curtis. Regardless of how it went down, I feel we have the right man in custody. Don’t you?”

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I considered how much Commander Wayne hated messes in his unit. He was notorious for taking the easy way out whenever possible, especially if it kept his command looking clean and shiny. He had another five years until retirement and was doing his best to coast on by until then. If I tried to make a fuss he was as likely to throw my ass in jail as Sean.

  “Yes, sir. Jack is the one who should be in custody. I believe I filled out all the proper paperwork.”

  I stood without waiting for his reply, and turned toward the door.

  “Well, um, yes. Good day, Williams.”

  “Good day, sir.”

  I had nightmares about Jack’s kill for two days straight. It was a little leopard boy of about eight or nine years. Jack was imprisoned somewhere, according to the gossip mill, but either no one knew where or they just wouldn’t tell me. I didn’t try too hard to find out, I was afraid to know. It had been a few weeks since my last kill. I might tend to kill only shifters, but if the opportunity presented itself I wasn’t above shooting a human child molester in the head.

  Chapter Six

  As the days passed, I wrestled with my concept of good and evil. The morning after I’d learned about shifters, my neighbor had come over to let me know she was one too. I’d liked Connie. We’d made grocery shopping trips together. Her husband and mine shared lawn equipment and power tools. I’d tried to question her about keeping such a secret from me and she’d become defensive. Her husband had arrived a few minutes later with a few of our other neighbors, all of them shifters, and an argument had ensued. Once my husband had gotten involved things had turned violent and the people I’d thought I knew became monsters from my nightmares. I’d seen true evil that day and the look on Jack’s face had reminded me of it. When my thoughts turned to Andor, I realized I didn’t fear him. How could a shifter so quickly gain my trust?

  Andor returned in the evening, just before I left for my shift. We discussed the information on the discs, but there wasn’t enough to draw any conclusions on the missing shifters. It was a short conversation as I had to head to the wall, but he promised to return the next evening at sunset. He walked with me into the night, telling me about his uneventful trip north into what used to be Ontario. It was a part of his normal duties to look into a possible smuggling ring up there.

  “What are they smuggling?” I asked. He laughed and shook his head, looking almost embarrassed for a moment. “What is it?” I asked again, even more curious after seeing his reaction.

  “Well, you know how exotic animals were in high demand even before the division?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Now they are in even higher demand, as more and more of them are becoming extinct from shifters who hunt them as prey. Apparently there was a wildlife preserve of exotics in Canada that held quite a few different species and before the division the owners decided to harvest their sperm.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yes, well, sperm is now one of the highest priced items anywhere in the shifter world. It’s even more sought after than illegal drugs and weapons.”

  “Really?” I thought it over with a frown. “Why?”

  Andor seemed to think it over before answering me, and I glanced at his face for a moment. We were walking under a full moon and the silver rays caught his golden hair in a way that threatened to leave me breathless. I turned away from him and put my hand on my gun for comfort.

  “Some of the sub-species are dying out, Alexia. I can think of at least a dozen with only a handful of males left on this continent. Many believe they can use the sperm of the exotics to impregnate their females and save their species.”

  “The shifters would use the sperm of full-blooded animals to procreate?”

  Andor frowned and I worried that I might’ve offended him. It was becoming easier for me to think of shifters as humans the more time I spent with him.

  “I guess in theory it should work just as well as mating with a full-blooded human. Some shifters I know choose to spend the majority of their life in their animal form. If their children are animals it might be easier.”

  I let that idea sink in as we walked in silence for a few minutes.

  “Do you think it’s true? I mean that they can procreate with the exotics’ sperm?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said with a shake of his head. “I guess it’s possible. Unfortunately the only way to test the theory is to try the artificial insemination and actually use the sperm, but of course there is only so much. Once it’s gone it’s gone, and with it the hopes of many species of shifters.”

  It was almost a depressing thought. But of course, the death of the shifters meant the lives of humans would be easier and more secure. So why did I feel a sense of loss at Andor’s words?

  ***

  “Wanna know what I saw yesterday?”

  I looked up at the familiar sound of Tina’s voice, but she wasn’t talking to me. Lance raised a brow in question, seemingly oblivious to Tina slowly wrapping herself around his torso. I shook my head and tried not to laugh at her blatant flirtation. As far as I knew Lance had already had her, and he wasn’t the only one. I don’t think he made it a habit to bed an
y woman more than once.

  We were standing in the one of the locker rooms set along the wall for our use. I would’ve kept my Ruger in mine, but some idiot had started breaking into them. Now it’s safely under my bed and all my locker stores is a change of clothes.

  “What did you see yesterday?” Lance asked, and I tried not to notice the deep, seductive timbre he easily slipped into.

  “A spotted snow leopard,” Tina replied.

  I started to turn away.

  “What?”

  The shock in Lance’s voice made me freeze and I stooped to tie my shoe unnecessarily.

  “You know, a spotted—”

  “Yeah, I know, but they’ve been extinct for a decade.”

  “Well, I know what I saw.”

  I pictured Tina’s infamous pout but doubted Lance would care.

  “Where did you see it?” he asked.

  “I was on the wall in sector eight. I got bored so I pulled out my binoculars and started checking things out further into town. A couple of guys were carrying a cage onto the docks behind Castor Lab, and I remembered you said to keep an eye out for weird stuff like that over there.”

  Lance didn’t immediately reply and I started to have a weird feeling about his visit to the lab.

  “Well, that’s kinda strange. If you were in sector eight you were still pretty far, even with binoculars. It might’ve been something else,” he said.

  Tina huffed, and probably puffed, and I heard her boots scrape the tile as she turned away from him and headed out the door.

  “Whatever. I know what I saw.”

  I was a little surprised Lance let her go and when I looked up I caught him watching me. I raised a brow and he shook his head before walking outside.

  I thought of my conversation with Andor and made a mental note to tell him about Tina’s claim on his next visit.

  ***

  Over the next ten days Andor visited me every day at sunset. We would exchange ideas and go over whatever new information he had gained. More often than not he would walk me to work, leaving me a mere block from the wall. I continued to keep one hand on my gun and he continued to do nothing to spook me. It had always been my practice to eat before going on shift and I’d gotten used to eating alone. By the third night I was making enough for two and wondering if Andor liked my cooking. The realization made me angry, but I still took care with what I made. We fell into a semi-normal routine and seemed to be getting along okay. Some days I nearly forgot he was a shifter.

  I was off duty and heading to my building for the day when I heard the swoosh of wings overhead. I automatically dropped into a crouch, gun out and ready. I heard the landing a few feet ahead of me in the shadows as I waited.

  “Alexia, it’s Andor,” said a voice in the dark.

  “Come forward slowly,” I replied.

  Andor stepped out of the shadows, stumbling against the wall. I immediately holstered my gun when I saw he was holding a bloodied arm against his side.

  “What the hell happened to you?” I asked as I went to his aid.

  “I’ve been stabbed with a silver dagger.”

  I heard the pain in his voice and it worried me more than I wanted it to. I slipped my arm around his waist and let him lean on me as we hurried to my building a couple of blocks away. I tried to ignore the apprehension I felt at seeing his injury. I led him up the stairs to my loft slowly, every jarring step causing him to hiss in pain. Once inside, I led him to the sofa and he all but fell onto it. I gathered my first-aid kit and some wet cloths before returning to his side. He had removed his torn jacket and bloody shirt and lay on his back panting.

  I had to stop and catch my breath at the sight of his masculine torso. The sight was marred with blood and many scratches and tears. As I watched, some of the lesser wounds began to heal before my eyes, but there was still blood seeping from his shoulder. Someone had broken the dagger when they stabbed him, and a jagged piece stuck out of him savagely. I ran to my toolbox for a pair of pliers.

  It took five minutes for me to get a grip on the metal and pull it out of him, ripping away more of his flesh. He growled when it came out, but made no other sound as I cleaned and dressed the wound. I checked the rest of his injuries and saw they were nearly healed then I gathered the bloody mess.

  “May I use your bathtub?” he asked.

  “You can’t get your shoulder wet,” I replied.

  “I know, but the rest of me would love to soak for a few minutes, if it’s okay.”

  “Sure. I’ll draw a bath, just wait a minute.”

  I went to prepare the tub, leaving him to struggle into a sitting position on his own. I had the water ready and was about to let Andor know, when he hobbled into the bathroom.

  “Thank you, Alexia. I owe you my life. I’m sorry to show up here wounded as I was, but you were the closest of those who would help me.”

  “I kill shifters for a living, Andor. Why did you assume I would help you?”

  “I… I’m usually an excellent judge of character. Since you haven’t shot me yet, I decided the odds were in my favor.”

  I grinned and shook my head.

  “I hope you’re not a betting man, Andor. I have to admit I’m acting totally out of character around you, so you shouldn’t get used to it.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because, I’m bound to come to my senses.”

  He grinned, and I left the bathroom.

  Andor was asleep on my sofa that afternoon, the fading sunlight highlighting golden streaks in his hair. I couldn’t help but watch him for a moment as I made my way toward the kitchen. I was tempted to wake him and begin barraging him with the questions I’d held all night. My patience only goes so far, and I thought I’d already shown amazing restraint in allowing him to sleep first. After preparing some eggs and waffles from scratch, an amazing feat of domesticity on my part, I worked up the courage to wake him.

  Andor looked at me with his golden eyes and smiled before I had the chance to reach down and shake him. I smiled back, but it turned into a frown when I noticed the missing bandage on his shoulder. I looked at the floor where the bloodied bandage lay, then back at his unmarked skin.

  “You’ve got to be shitting me,” I whispered.

  Andor chuckled.

  “May I assume you are impressed with the healing abilities of my kind?” he asked with a grin.

  “Yeah, you could say that. I saw you healing scratches last night, but that was a chunk of meat out of your shoulder. I expected a scar at least.”

  Andor sat up and turned for me to see the back of his shoulder where the dagger had broken through. The wound looked as if it were a few weeks old. It was a dark pink mar upon his golden skin.

  “The area where the silver rested is what scarred. Everything else was able to heal,” he replied.

  “Oh, it sucks you’ll have another scar. Well, I made breakfast if you’re hungry, and you need to tell me what happened.”

  He gave me an odd look, somewhere between a smirk and a frown, before he shook his head and stood. I ignored his stretching body and walked back into the kitchen.

  “What happened? Hmm, that is still up for debate in my own mind, but I will relay the events as well as I can,” Andor said, as he walked to the kitchen table.

  I loaded his plate with a little of everything and set it before him.

  “Thank you, Alexia. I will begin with my departure from you a few days ago.”

  Basically, he went over the wall into Circe, took care of his “business” that he didn’t explain to me at all, then got jumped on his way back.

  “You don’t know who they were?” I asked twenty minutes later, once he’d finished his explanation.

  “No, unfortunately I was too busy fighting for my life to check for identification,” he said between bites with a smirk.

  “Har har, you’re too funny. I just wondered if you recognized them. You said they were shifters right?”

  “Yes and do you know eve
ry human on this side of the wall?”

  “Oh shut up. Maybe if I was in the FBI I’d know more than average, okay? Anyway, they had to know who you are or what you’re up to, right? I mean, unless getting your ass kicked is a normal occurrence for you.”

  He looked up and frowned.

  “I’ve never been one to be involved in fighting outside of war but getting my ass kicked, as you so eloquently put it, is not at all normal for me, no.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Hmm, indeed. I must point out also that had there been less than eight of them I would have stood a better chance,” he said arrogantly.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure fighting off five guys instead of eight would’ve made all the difference,” I said with a snicker.

  “As a matter of fact, six seems to be my limit.”

  I stared at him for a moment, but he appeared to be perfectly serious.

  “You’ve got to be kidding. Six humans or shifters?”

  “Shifters. But it does depend on their age and species. The older the shifter, the stronger he or she becomes both physically and mentally. Also, the canines and felines tend to be stronger than most of the other species with the exception of a few sub-species.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as Aquila Chrysaetos,” he said with a smile.

  “Golden eagles?” I asked skeptically.

  “Of course. You don’t believe a bird can best a larger beast?”

  I thought it over as I tried to recall years of watching Animal Kingdom.

  “I guess I wouldn’t really know,” I admitted. He smiled and finished his breakfast. “Okay, if you can fight off six shifters—”

  “How many humans would it take to subdue me?” he finished.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m not entirely certain. The most I’ve ever had try me at once was five, but they were no match at all.”

  I stayed silent, considering how I would have to remain armed in his presence at all times. Which wasn’t going to be a problem of course, as I remained armed at all times anyway. But for some reason the thought of never being able to let my guard down around Andor bothered me. But, the realization I would prefer to relax around him bothered me even more. Yeah, I know, I’m chaos on legs most days.