Shadow

by Jan Stryvant

  Shadow pressed a button in the hilt of his sword as the two blades contacted and watched as ten thousand volts hit her like a ton of bricks. Her body spasmed and she lost the sword. He gave her the flat of the blade to the side of her head stunning her further and then grabbed her and spun her around, pressing up against her from behind, his claws at her neck, the tips pricking.

  “Dinner tomorrow then?” He whispered in her ear and thumped her lightly on the back of the head, enough to stun her for a moment. He didn’t want to leave her unconscious in this part of town; some of the spectators they’d drawn might get ideas.

  Nance cursed loudly as she regained her wits, and regained her sword before one of the onlookers could make a try for it. Looking around Shadow was already gone. It was a rather dirty trick he’d just unleashed on her from a sword-fighting viewpoint. But on the other hand she had tried to lure him into stepping on a bunch of toe popper landmines. She might as well go recover those and call her contact. He’d won this round. But at least she knew he didn’t want to kill her, she could continue to use that against him.

  Nance answered her phone, “Hello” She sighed, but her smile wasn’t at all faked.

  “Same terms as last time?” She heard Shadow’s voice.

  “Of course. Door’s open.”

  “I know,” she heard whispered in her ear and jumping she turned to see him smiling at her, tail curling. He was definitely full of mischief tonight.

  “Don’t do that, okay?” she said shaking her head, still smiling.

  “And why are you smiling?” Shadow teased.

  “I know you won’t hurt me, no matter what I do,” she said. “So I have the upper hand.”

  Shadow laughed, eyeing the rather nice evening dress Nance was wearing. “You’re mostly right. Now, I hope you like Thai.”

  Dinner was once again a rather enjoyable affair for them both, they didn’t talk business, they just chatted socially about the food, the news, and just things in general. When they returned to Nance’s Shadow immediately started kissing and necking with her, pushing her up against the wall and purring rather loudly.

  “No claws, this is an expensive dress,” Nance moaned.

  “Then let’s adjourn to your bedroom,” Shadow purred.

  They did so and he helped her slip out of her dress then she helped him remove his shirt and slacks. Falling on the bed they spent the next eight hours mainly fucking each other’s brains out, until they fell asleep curled up tight against each other.

  Hours later Nance woke up to find Shadow’s tail pressing between her breasts, the tip tickling under her chin.

  “So what did your contact tell you,” Shadow purred softly in her ear, paws pulling her against him.

  “That the client was dead and I would not be getting paid beyond the retainer. So it was a void contract.” Nance sighed. She’d never had a client die on her before. Or rather get killed. She was pretty sure Shadow had whacked them, whoever they were.

  “And what are you going to do?” He purred and licked her ear.

  “Well, I could just kill you on general principal.” She smiled then, “You know, to avenge them.”

  Nance jumped then as he nipped her ear and suddenly she had ten claws digging into her skin and Shadow wasn’t purring anymore.

  “Nance,” Shadow said softly, and she could hear the warning in his voice, “if you don’t let this go, next time I will hurt you, bad.”

  “Well just why the fuck haven’t you hurt me yet? Why have you gone to all this trouble to seduce me and screw me?” Nance demanded. “You’re the one making this into a game.”

  She heard him draw in a breath, and pause. She had the distinct impression he was surprised.

  “Game?” He whispered, “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

  “Well just how had you been thinking of it?” She said. “I know you killed whoever it was who hired me. So why haven’t you touched me?”

  Nance gave a little gasp of surprise as he rolled her over to face him and pulled her against his chest, his eyes even with hers.

  “I guess you could say I’m courting you,” Shadow purred.

  “Courting?” Nance blinked.

  “A tough, no-nonsense, and very attractive female predator enters my territory. What did you think I’d do? Kill you out of hand? Of course not, I’m going to seduce you and fuck you, and see if you’re mate material.”

  “And am I?” Nance asked curious.

  “If you weren’t, I’d have killed you by now.” Shadow said a little sheepishly. “I want you as a lover and a friend. Maybe more eventually.”

  Nance’s eyes widened. At first the whole idea of it sounded absurd, but she was staring into a set of feline eyes in an anthro panther’s head only inches from her own. He didn’t just look non-human; she realized that in many ways he probably wasn’t human. Both his comments and his offer were sincere.

  “Okay, I won’t try to kill you anymore.” Nance sighed.

  “You make it sound like a big sacrifice!” Shadow grumbled.

  “Well yeah, I was going to use that money to retire.”

  “Well pardon me for wanting to live,” he teased.

  “Only if you make it up to me.” Now it was Nance’s turn to grumble.

  “Actually, I may just be able to. Assuming you’re going to retire here in my city?”

  “Your city is it now?”

  Shadow purred and ducked his head to kiss her neck, “Leopards are territorial animals. You should know that.”

  Nance smiled, fact was, she did.

  Shadow was rather happy to move back into his main digs and to move Karen back as well. Helping Nance set up stretched him thin, financially, but he wasn’t going to tell her that and he suspected he’d be paid back soon enough. He’d have to work on his income, but he wasn’t worried, his finances were still solid in the long run. But in the short run things could get tight.

  Overall however he really could not complain. Things were settled in his own life once again, Karen was doing well in school, Nance was turning into a regular thing, Circe was keeping him somewhat busy and he still had a rather steady stream of willing young women. He would concentrate more on training Karen and learning more about her abilities, and figure out what he was going to do about her when she turned eighteen. Maybe he’d buy a sex slave from one of the dealers in the underground, that would help him get over her absence he was sure.

  After a few more high-end jobs of his own and financially he’d probably be set; he was getting bored with crime anyway. It just wasn’t his thing.

  Things in the underground finally settled down a few months later, with no one taking over Scorecard’s position. Scorecard himself got the death penalty and was sitting on death row, things didn’t look good for him, and a few of his lieutenants were in adjoining cells. Tomas had managed to keep the pressure on, which was why no one took over for Scorecard. Also Circe, with Shadow’s help, had dismantled a good portion of the territory during that time, as revenge for the animal fights Scorecard had been staging, which turned out to be more extensive than they first thought, and also because they made a lot of money in the process by robbing everyone involved blind.

  Shadow didn’t mind these operations, the people they were against were all criminals to some level or other, and whether or not they were actually known to be by the authorities didn’t matter to him. So his conscious was clear on not only robbing those people, but in some cases, well maybe more than just some, killing them as well. Word also went around the underground about Circe’s and Shadow’s raids and the body count associated with some of those raids. While the survivors of those little expeditions wouldn’t talk to the police, they did talk among the other denizens of the underground and Shadow’s reputation as a stone cold killer moved up a few notches, which led further to people not coming after him in the little power play that had followed Scorecard’s sentencing.

  Karen had been practicing her skills on animals and could now freeze an
d release at will. The effect did wear off if she did not remove it, but it took about a day. Shadow suspected that as she developed further she’d be able to gauge the time before it wore off, and possibly even extend it. He wasn’t sure what other powers she’d manifest, but if things held true to what he knew, they’d all be related. Only his allowed him to do different things, and while he suspected there were others with the same power, he had a feeling it either was rare, or most people never figured it out how to effectively use it.

  Within six months Nance’s business was starting to make money, primarily she was brokering contracts for other hit men like she had been, though she also dealt in certain merchandise, both for those contracting through her, and other odds and ends that weren’t common market items. Karen’s friend Jess was doing well at Liz’s place, and the annual ‘culling of the herd’ was coming up. Shadow wasn’t sure if he was going to take Karen this year, more out of concern for her than anything else. He guessed he was getting a bit protective; it was nice to know he was starting to be able care about someone again.

  Consequences

  Shadow purred as the girl continued to ride him, moving up and down on his shaft as he lay back on the couch. He’d decided to leave Karen home and just go wild at the party. The current hot little number straddling him was his second of the night; the first was snoozing on the floor by the couch. They’d both end up in Liz’s place by morning, on a straight commission – he needed a bit of cash flow still. Both had plenty of raw talent, and obviously loose morals. Neither one had qualms about sex in semi-public places; though by this time there was a lot of lewd behavior going on at the party.

  Shadow was also doing a little celebrating of his own, with all the stuff that had gone on lately, his new agility form had come in rather quickly and he’d already started in on the next one. With Nance teaching him shooting skills, among other things, he was pretty sure that one would go smoothly too. The girl above him cried out yet again, and tightened on him, drenching him with her fluids as she came a third time, only this time he joined her, growling loudly as well as he arched up into her. Several people stopped and starred, realizing what was going on. Several young women couldn’t seem to tear their eyes away however, and he started to contemplate a third tryst for the evening. Young women were like popcorn. Hard to have just one.

  “Well hello there ...” came a female voice from his right, a little bit further down the wall from where he was parked, and where up until a minute ago there had been a few spectators.

  Shadow sat up and gave the panting girl on his cock a nice long kiss, then untangled her from him and set her down where he had been laying. She curled up and closed her eyes yawning. He grabbed a towel and cleaned himself up looking at the figure by the wall. He’d been partying himself quite a bit, so his senses weren’t at their best.

  “Looking to be next?” he said stretching as he stood, he wasn’t sure what was going on here, but so far the new comer wasn’t doing anything threatening, and the more his eyes resolved, the better her figure looked.

  “Been there, done that, got the scratches to prove it,” she laughed.

  Her voice clicked in his head and he popped into his defensive form without even thinking about it. “Why are you here?” He asked softly.

  “Wow, that was fast.” She said surprised. “From pleasure to business in a millisecond.”

  “This isn’t a safe place for you. Why are you here?”

  She walked closer, she wasn’t here for a fight, but he wouldn’t have expected one from her anyways. Surprisingly she gave him a hug, which he returned.

  “Mmmm, you smell nice,” He purred, back in his sex form again, his mild buzz slowly dwindling.

  “Don’t get any ideas furball,” She teased.

  “I hear you have my picture up in your cube now.”

  “Yeah. And that’s part of why I’m here.” She sighed.

  “Tell.” He purred and sniffed at her hair some more, she really did smell good. Probably something in her shampoo.

  “The DA is going to indict you.”

  Shadow blinked and slowly pushed her back, arms holding her shoulders and he looked into her eyes.

  “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  She nodded.

  “What for?”

  “Killing the mayor.” She whispered.

  “How’d he come to that conclusion?” Shadow started running through his head what this could mean.

  She looked at him. “You did it, didn’t you?”

  “You know better than to ask me that question.” He grinned at her and winked. She might be wearing a wire, though he doubted it. “So what makes him think I did it?”

  “I’m not sure, but the source I heard says that the DA discovered that the mayor was having illicit dealings with you. Is that true?”

  Shadow shrugged, “If you call paying an assassin a half million dollars to kill me ‘dealings’ then I guess it’s true. Though as dealings go I found them rather one sided.”

  “He didn’t!” She gasped.

  “He did. He also kidnapped, beat, and possibly murdered a few people along the way.”

  “Why’d he do that?”

  “I caught his son raping a young girl, and punished him. Afterwards his son decided he didn’t like women anymore. I caught the blame.”

  “What’d you do, castrate him?”

  Shadow smiled, Fiona looked like she wanted to hear a yes to that one. She didn’t care much for rape, seeing as how she almost had been once.

  “No, I gave him a taste of his own medicine. I had some gay leathermen I know rape him.”

  She laughed out loud; fortunately the party was so much louder it didn’t draw any attention. “Good one.”

  Shadow nodded, “I thought so. Better than killing him anyway.”

  “Well, I have to go now. Before I’m missed.”

  “How many are out there watching tonight?”

  “The whole team. They’re thinking of picking up a few on outstanding warrants on the way home.”

  “Am I in that list?”

  She shook her head. “Not yet, but probably soon.”

  Shadow nodded again, “Does Tomas know you are here?”

  “Talking to you? No. He thinks I’m just taking a peek inside to check on our perps.”

  “Okay. Tonight, after you’re done with whoever, take him aside in private and tell him you warned me. Tell him that until this is over we won’t be doing any talking or meetings. And tell him that it was the mayor who took that contract out on me.”

  “He knew about the contract?”

  “He was the one who warned me. Odds are, I wasn’t the first one he took a contract out on either. There are likely a good number of people who wanted the mayor dead.”

  She nodded and he bent over and kissed her.

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem. Have fun with your little girls there.”

  “Eh, I think it’s now time for me to get my furry ass in bed. Night.”

  “Night.”

  Shadow watched as she walked off, then got his two little play things awake and dressed. He took them to Liz’s place and dropped them off. He then found a quiet place to use his cell phone and woke his lawyers up and told them what was going on. After that he went back to his place, showered and curled up with Karen and started to plot his defenses in his head. Once the subpoena came out, Tomas would likely be after his ass. This could be difficult. Shadow liked Tomas, and he really had no arguments with the DA. Killing either of them was out of the question, his personal ethics wouldn’t allow it.

  “So Liz, that’s my problem,” he sighed. He’d decided he needed to talk to someone about this, and Liz was his oldest friend, maybe his only friend. He’d told her most of the story, leaving out his connections with Tomas and Fiona of course.

  “Well,” Liz smiled and ran a finger down his chest until she reached his crotch and tickled his balls. They were lying in bed together, Liz and Shadow had been
lovers for years now, and he trusted her. “Is there anything tying you to the crime?”

  Shadow gave a little involuntary purr as Liz’s fingers teased him. “Not that I can think of. What I don’t understand is how the DA put me in the equation.”

  “Maybe that’s where you need to start. Who knows about the whole affair?”

  Shadow thought about that, “Well Jules does of course. Karen may know a little. Nance knows everything but the who. Whoever the Mayor’s contact was, he probably knows the whole story. And of course the Mayor’s son.”

  “Well, maybe you should have a talk with those people. See what they know. See who has been talking to them.”

  Shadow thought about that. “I think Jules, Nance, or Karen, would have talked to me if someone was pumping them for information.”

  “You positive on Jules?”

  “I put the fear of me into him once already. But a follow up visit may be in order.”

  “Well I’ll start tapping into my sources and see what I can find.”

  Shadow nodded, “Thanks Liz.”

  “So what are you going to do when they subpoena you to appear before the grand jury?”

  “I’m not sure yet. Probably won’t appear. I don’t want to be put in a position where I may have to fight for my freedom in a public place.”

  “Worried about your image?” She teased.

  “Worried about hurting innocents actually,” he smiled wanly at her, “I don’t like involving innocent bystanders.”

  Liz looked at him curiously, “Why’s that?”

  “Cause once upon a time, I was one,” he grinned.

  “Good point.”

  Shadow hit up Jules after leaving Liz’s, Jules didn’t know anything, but was worried that his own involvement could cause him problems. Shadow didn’t think so, but promised to keep an eye on that situation. Karen knew nothing, and no one had been asking around her. The Mayor’s son had left town and moved to San Francisco months ago, right after he’d graduated, so Shadow didn’t think there were any issues there.