Andrew

His senses on full alert, prepared for any sort of ambush, he entered the house. His nostrils constantly tested the air, telling him a grim tale. He could smell shifter. Not just any shifter either. Al had done away with sending wolves to do his bidding it would seem, and had jumped well up the power table. The scent in the air was immediately familiar to Andrew. He’d recognize a gryphon’s telltale aroma anywhere. He wasn’t positive, but he had a suspicion he even knew who it was, a blast from his past that he’d hoped never to see again.

The first thing that drew his attention inside was the shattered glass. Flowers and little crystal balls scattered nearby told him it was likely the remnants of a vase. There was no blood anywhere, which was good, but the fight hadn’t ended here. He could see a knife on the floor down the hallway straight ahead. Karri must have put up a fight. His face creased tightly as he felt momentarily proud of her, though that was immediately replaced by fear of what they might do to her if she managed to hurt her attacker.

“Hello?” he called, deciding to risk the slim chance that Karri had been able to win.

There was no response. Moving in to the kitchen his eyes widened as he took in the scene. The remnants of a wooden table were strewn around the large U-shaped kitchen prep area that was on his right. Beyond it was an eating area. Knives were everywhere, and a check of the table showed two of them embedded within it. Karri hadn’t gone down easily, that was for sure.

His eyes were drawn to a red stain on the kitchen floor. He knelt close, breathing a sigh of relief when he realized it wasn’t human blood. The scent was slightly different—shifter blood having a higher concentration of metals in it. He next saw the large cutting knife covered in dried blood, but it belonged to the same owner. Karri had managed to cut him open. The pools of blood said she’d actually gotten him good too.

He looked around the kitchen, trying to piece together what had happened. He reconstructed the table, seeing the shifter use it as a shield, tossing it aside as he reached Karri. He put the pieces of it back together, only then noticing that there was an entire leg missing. Standing up, he turned slowly until he spotted it at the back door.

That made sense, he thought. Karri cuts him with a knife, manages to get free. Runs for the door, he takes her out with the table leg. Moving to the door he saw some blood running down the dark wood of it. This was definitely human, and though it wasn’t anywhere enough to be serious, she’d probably caught her head and split part of it open as she fell into the door. It made his blood boil.

When he caught up with whoever did this, he was going to kill them. Plain and simple. There was something else in the air too. Something that reeked of chemicals. Andrew had never experienced it before, but he could make an assumption that it was something used to perhaps knock Karri out. There was a cloth on the ground nearby. He picked it up, noting it to be the source of the scent. A closer sniff sent him stumbling backward, the world spinning around him dizzily.

“Fuck me,” he muttered, steadying himself by leaning over the counter, taking in several deep breaths of clean air. His shifter system went to work purging whatever it was, and a few seconds later he felt fine once more. “That shit is powerful.”

Tracking the most recent scent, he went back outside. Karri’s car was still in the driveway, broken window and all. He winced at the damage to the side paneling that the shotgun blast had done, but quickly put it out of his mind. He had bigger worries right then. There was the scent of exhaust from another vehicle. Karri’s was electric, which meant that the shifter had come by car. Andrew would never be able to track it through the city.

Without anything else to go by at her house, Andrew was stuck. The only thing that kept him from flying off the handle was the knowledge that Al had ordered Karri be taken to get to him. That meant they weren’t going to kill her.

My best bet is to go back to the embassy. They’ll contact me there. I want to be there for that. Besides, there’s a few things I can do to help move this along while I’m there anyway.

Angry at his current impotence, Andrew ran through the city. He decided not to shift, having already broken the rules twice. He doubted he’d get away from that unscathed, but he could run pretty fast when he wanted to. His legs began to churn, taking him down the drive and into the streets. He ran down them, easily matching many of the cars, and outpacing some of the slower ones as he dodged through traffic, leapt over busy intersections, and generally ignored anything that might slow him down.

He took the stairs to the embassy in one flying leap, shouldering the doors open so hard the glass in one of them shattered. Andrew didn’t care; they could take the cost out of his paycheck.

“Any word?” he asked Gray who was standing in the lobby, having stood up at the sudden arrival of his boss.

“No, nothing yet,” his friend and captain of the guard told him. “Are you expecting anything?”

“Yes. Keep a watchful eye. Don’t do anything stupid,” he ordered, striding into the back to his office, ignoring the confusion etched on Gray’s face.

He slammed his door closed, picked up the phone on his desk, and dialed the only number he’d ever bothered to memorize. Andrew hated technology, but he wasn’t a technophobe. He knew that it could benefit him, and he’d made an effort to understand it, even if he refused to use it unless absolutely necessary. Like now.

“Hello?” A friendly yet professional voice picked up.

“This is Andrew Raskell. I need to report a human kidnapping at the hands of a known Cadian shifter.”

The other voice instantly became cool, but still maintained its professionalism. He wasn’t well liked at Guardian Headquarters back in Cadia.

“Go ahead,” the voice said.

“Gryphon shifter. Name, Myles Vorre. Please send someone out to his place of residence to locate his immediate whereabouts.”

“You have proof of this?” the voice asked.

“Yes. A human female is missing from her home. Signs of a fight. His blood and scent are all over the place. Either he did it, or someone is framing him for it. Either way, we need to locate him.” Andrew hated giving anything that might prevent them from assuming that Myles had been the kidnapper, but if he didn’t include the caveat about the other shifter being framed, it was likely they wouldn’t investigate.

“Very well. We’ll look into it.” The phone clicked immediately.

Andrew sighed, the sound a mixture of anger, frustration, and exasperation. He’d rarely used that line before, and never to report a human kidnapping. There was every reason for them to believe him, but unfortunately his reputation was so poisoned back home that he couldn’t even count on them to go track down a single shifter for him unless he gave them a solid reason. If it wasn’t for a missing human presumed to have been taken by a shifter they probably would have just ignored him.

The Guardians of Cadia were the multiracial organization that oversaw all military, peacekeeping, and police efforts within the shifter territory. They patrolled the borders and dealt with troublemakers alike. He’d been on his way to becoming a Guardian himself, until he’d flown the coop, so to speak, to participate in the Cadian war. Just another thing he’d lost out on to come do the right thing.

“Boss.” Gray’s voice echoed down the hallway.

Before the bear shifter had even finished speaking Andrew was out the door, angry strides carrying him into the lobby, where he saw a human standing halfway between the door and the reception desk. Gray stood in front of him, while the other two guards stood on either side, all three bear shifters bristling.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I have a message for you.” The man smiled evilly.

Andrew wished he could just walk up to the man and snap his neck, but unfortunately that wouldn’t help anything out. He would have to hear the man talk, to listen to whatever he had to say.

“Speak then.”

“Resign, and she’ll go unharmed.”

He waited, but the human didn’t seem like he was going to say anything more. The short wiry man with greasy black hair just stood there silently.

“Is that it?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Yes.”

“I’m not just going to resign without proof that you haven’t killed her. Surely your bosses aren’t that stu…” The word died on his lips as the human held out a phone.

It was ringing.

Andrew shot across the floor, snatching it up quickly. It rang several more times before it was answered.

“Hello? Karri? Are you there?” he asked.

“Andrew? Andrew is that you?” he heard her voice.

“Karri, listen to me very carefully,” he said. “Are you hurt? Have they harmed you?”

“No, not really,” she said. “Bit of a lump on my forehead, but that’s all. Andrew…I’m scared.”

“It’ll be okay,” he promised her, hoping that he could make good on it. “They can’t harm you if they expect me to do what they want.” He hesitated over his next words. “Karri, I need to know where you are.”

“I’m in a big house, really nice!” she shouted. “The sun is setting out the front door! Andrew I—”

He heard her cry out, and then another voice spoke. “That was unwise.”

“Myles,” he said flatly. “I thought I smelled your stench.”

“Hello, Andrew. Long time no talk.”

“Not long enough,” he shot back immediately. “I could have gone the rest of my long life without ever having to deal with you again.”

“Well, surprise,” Myles taunted. “Now you know the drill. Resign your position. Name Al as your successor, and we’ll release the girl. Simple as that.”

“Since when did you become a lackey of Al’s?” he asked, trying to puzzle out that connection. “I didn’t realize you enjoyed serving under a wolf.”

Myles just laughed. “The clock is ticking, Andrew. The clock is ticking.”

The line went dead.