Hector
Stunned by the eruption of the blaze, he stood rooted to the spot for several seconds, unable to respond, or to even think. His brain had turned to mush.
How had this happened? He’d been gone for a minute, perhaps two at most. Yet now flames were licking out of one of the windows of the lower floor, and smoke billowed out the front doors he’d left opened. It was impossible. It had to be. There was no way it could have happened so quickly.
And yet it had. There was no escaping it. The embassy was on fire.
His brain returned to reality with that thought and Hector once again charged forward at superhuman speed. He saw some figures hooking a line up to a nearby fire hydrant already, under the guidance of a figure he recognized well.
Gray.
In the distance sirens began to scream. The local fire department probably had little else to do tonight, and would be at the embassy before long. Everyone knew how much the shifters had done for the town, and this was a chance they would have to pay them back. The trucks would arrive in record time, Hector knew.
Even as he stumbled to a halt the hose held by several other shifters sprang to life, splashing water all over the blaze and through the window into the interior. Immediately steam bellowed out of the window, but the shifters kept the stream up for a longer period of time.
“What can I do?” he asked, sliding to a halt near Gray.
The other shifter turned to him. Hector had seen Gray angry before, but always at his enemies, or those who caused trouble. Never before had the glittering blue eyes been directed at him, hard and full of rage.
“I think you’ve already done enough, don’t you?” he snapped, before turning back to directing the last few stragglers to emerge. They were shuffled across the street while the trio of shifters manning the hose continued to fight the fire.
Hector stumbled away, hurt by the condescension in his friend’s voice, but also by the truth of it. He was right. It was all his fault. Hector had done the one thing he couldn’t do. He’d left his post.
“Gray, I’m sorry,” he said.
“I’m a little busy here,” came the reply, the words cold and unforgiving.
Another figure emerged from inside.
“That’s the last of them I think,” Andrew said. “All that were accounted for in the logbook at least.”
Hector froze.
“What about Corvin?” he asked, finally remembering the name of the shifter who had stumbled in. “He came in just before the fire started, and wasn’t in the logbook.”
Andrew spun to face him. “I haven’t seen him.”
Hector didn’t wait. He plunged into the embassy, ignoring the calls from behind him. He came to a halt though, confronted by a solid wall of fire directly between him and where he had to go. It must have started from down the hallway at the back left of the embassy, where the lounge area and kitchen, along with some other offices, were all located. He couldn’t get in there.
Backing away, he looked around. The second floor was untouched except for the smoke filling the air. The fire was mostly localized to the back hallway of the embassy, though it was starting to move into the lobby now, where it would soon jump levels.
“OUT OF THE WAY!”
Hector spun and dove to the side just as a spray of water started attacking the fire in front of him, directed by a team of humans from the fire department who had now arrived. Seconds later another team entered and a second hose opened up. The water lashed out at the fire, which seemed to bellow and roar with anger as it was slowly beat back, put out by the combined streams of cool liquid.
Hector walked backward as the tiled floors began to get coated in water. He was only in the way now, so he ducked wide around the firefighters and emerged onto the sidewalk.
Andrew looked at him questioningly, but all he could do was shake his head.
“He was in the lounge,” he said quietly, “last I knew.”
Andrew’s face was made of stone, harboring the same anger that Gray’s had.
“What happened here?” the ambassador asked quietly, trying to keep himself restrained.
“I just tried to do the right thing,” he said helplessly.
Andrew’s face didn’t shift at all.
“The doors were open, to allow a breeze in, and I heard voices,” he said, looking back and forth between the two, practically pleading with them to understand. “They were arguing, a male and a female. It didn’t sound good. Corvin came in, and said it looked bad.”
“So you left your post?” Gray snapped.
Andrew reached out a hand to restrain the senior guard.
“I…it wasn’t for long,” he said. “I walked outside, and as I did, he hit her!”
Andrew frowned.
“I…I gave chase.”
“Did you catch up to him at least?” Andrew asked.
Hector lowered his head and shook it. “No.”
“And while you were gone, the embassy caught on fire.”
“I…I was only gone for a minute or two!” he protested. “It wasn’t on fire when I left.”
“The whole place is made of wood,” Gray fumed. “It only takes a few seconds to go up!”
“I know,” Hector cried out, miserable. “I know that. I…” He deflated as neither of them seemed to be caring. “I was only trying to do the right thing.”
“I understand,” Andrew said. “But you left your post, and something happened. And now someone has died because of it.”
Hector carefully didn’t mention that someone might have died if he didn’t do anything. That the woman might not have survived the night if he hadn’t broken up the fight between her and the unknown man. He wanted to say it, but he didn’t, because the truth was, it didn’t matter. Their fight technically hadn’t been his responsibility. He had been on duty, tasked with the safety of the embassy, and in the end, he had failed.
Behind them the firemen all seemed to relax.
“The big part is out!” one of them shouted down to Andrew and Gray. “We’re doing a sweep now to see if anything was missed. Lots of flame and light, but it looks like most of the place escaped damage, besides a chunk of the rear on the ground floor.”
Andrew waved his acknowledgment and turned back to Hector.
“I’m sorry, boss,” he said. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“I know you didn’t,” Andrew said gently. “I get that, Hector. But the fact of the matter is, it did happen, and that’s not something I can ignore, unfortunately. Too many people will be affected by it.”
Hector just nodded, stunned by how quickly things had changed. At the start of his shift he’d been on top of the world. Everything had been looking up, between his love for his job and the newfound relationship with Rachel that seemed to be blossoming, he couldn’t have asked for anything more. He was still stunned at the about-face that had occurred in a mere 120 seconds or so. How could it come to this?
“I…”
“Enough,” Andrew said, his voice becoming harder, taking on the aura of command that made him one of the more respected shifters that Hector had ever met. “Hector Gorchan, effective immediately you are relieved from duty and to be confined to quarters until further notice.”
Andrew motioned to Gray to deal with him, and the big bear shifter took Hector by the arm and guided him away.
“Gray, I’m sorry,” he said, his head hanging low in shame. “I was just trying to do the right thing.”
“The right thing was doing your job,” Gray said tightly.
“By doing what? Standing at the desk and letting him whale away on her?” he snapped. “How is that doing the right thing?”
Gray didn’t respond.
“What would you have done?”
“I would have called someone and had them come down. Hell, you could have stopped Corvin if he wasn’t drunk and told him to stand watch for a minute while you went out there! Anything but just abandoning your post without telling anyone, Hec! Come on. You know better.”
He fell silent as Gray guided him to the far end of the embassy. They went in a side door which had been propped open to help air out the building, and then out the back door.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Out of his and my sight until the building is cleared for us to go back in. You’ll stay here until myself or Martin comes to get you, or else we’ll be forced to hunt you down.”
Hector nodded at that. He wasn’t going anywhere anyway. Not only because he didn’t have anywhere to go, but also because he wasn’t going to put that on his friends. By running, he would declare himself a fugitive, and Gray and Martin would be forced to hunt him down.
And kill him.
Shifter law wasn’t very forgiving. Andrew was already well within his rights to take Hector’s life in exchange for the needless death he had caused with his negligence.
“This sucks,” he spat. “I did the morally correct thing, and I’m getting punished.”
“Sometimes duty comes before morals,” Gray said, unhappily. “I would have wanted to intervene too, Hector. Nobody is faulting you for that. But you didn’t ensure that your post was covered before you left. That’s the problem. And because of it…” Gray fell silent, looking back at the smoke and steam still emerging from the center part of the embassy.
Hector looked away eventually, unable to bear it. The pain he felt was fueled by the knowledge that what Gray was saying was true. The death of Corvin and the damage to the embassy was all his fault. If he’d been on duty, he could have signaled everyone earlier, and possible even stopped the fire before it began. His sense of smell would have let him notice it before it got very large. Instead, he’d simply waltzed out the front door without notifying Martin or even Gray and having them come to watch. It was unacceptable.
“Stay here,” Gray said, opening the door to a storage shed and gesturing for Hector to move inside.
He did, and the other shifter reluctantly shut the door behind him, distaste for everything that was going on etched into his features. Hector understood. Gray was a good man, and he didn’t like having to treat his friend this way, but like Andrew, his hands were tied. There was little else he could do.
Hector found a clear spot next to the wall and slumped down until his knees were up to his chest, back against the corrugated steel. Then he proceeded to smash his head back into the wall until it flattened, and basked in the pain.
I’m sorry, Corvin. I wish I could have been there for you.