Chapter 7
The day leading up to dinner out with Brax, Cerys, Akiva, and Fen was a hodgepodge one for most of us. The Katzes were kept mainly in the home, though Fiona insisted she had to run errands. She needed to go to the grocery store and pharmacy.
I had a meeting at their home with a couple whom Galen had invited to speak to me about the trouble they were having.
They were rumored to have a relationship with shifters who had been harmed by the mysterious group issuing the threats.
I wanted to speak to them in person, and they agreed to come to the Katz home because they felt comfortable there with Galen present.
Since I made initial contact with them, we decided it was best for me to be there for the visit.
I tried to get Fiona to postpone her errands or change the time so I could escort her.
She said it couldn’t wait. The medication she was to pick up was Galen’s seizure medicine.
He needed a dose in the afternoon. Gunnar came to the rescue, offering to take her.
It wasn’t my first choice, but I trusted my friend, so I gave in.
I wouldn’t lie. My attention was divided during the chat with the couple.
I kept waiting for Fiona to return or to receive a text from her.
The time dragged by. The couple was Hugh and Nanci Newman.
They were bear shifters, appearing to be in their late forties or early fifties, which made them very old.
Bear shifters’ average lifespan was eight hundred years. They had to be around six hundred.
They were nervous when they knocked on the door, and Galen and I welcomed them.
Gal made himself scarce in his room. Always a gracious host, Galen had refreshments ready.
Chatting lightly as he prepared their drinks, I saw their bodies relax a bit.
They drank and ate the lemon bars that Fiona had made before she left.
Those were a big hit. I had to hold myself back from eating them all.
Once the bars were consumed, I felt it was time to begin asking questions.
“Hugh, Nanci, when Galen and I visited you, we told you we had questions about the rumors going around the city. Where people like us are receiving threats to leave town or Arizona. It has escalated to physical harm in a few cases, and in others, the disappearance of some of them.
“Yes, you did,” Hugh replied.
“You seemed scared to talk at your home. This house is a safe place. We’ve added security measures to help it be so. I’d like to hear what you’ve heard or experienced,” I added.
“Galen, I know you brought this man to our home, and you said he’s someone we can trust. I’ve got to ask. What makes you sure of that? How can he help?” Hugh asked.
I exchanged a glance with Galen. I nodded, permitting him to tell them.
“He and his friends came to our home due to a message Gal sent. They came to investigate the rumors about what is happening here. I didn’t believe them when they first introduced themselves.
However, they showed irrefutable proof they were who they said they were.
They left Keir and Gunnar here to watch over us until they had gathered enough information to determine whether the threat was real.
And they assessed my home, identifying areas needing greater security.
They went out the next day and bought all the items needed to complete the upgrade.
In addition to that, one of them remains here each night.
They only want to help,” Galen explained.
“You say they showed you irrefutable proof. What was it? Why would they offer help to strangers?” Hugh asked. His wife remained silent, listening only.
When Galen and I exchanged glances this time, I pointed to myself, so he knew I was about to take over. Rising to my feet, I grabbed the hem of my T-shirt and lifted it up and off. I heard Nanci utter a surprised gasp.
I let the power within the mark free. Apollo’s mark glowed and grew warm. Both of them gasped this time, their eyes growing huge as they looked from my mark to my face, then back. Both of them were dumbstruck. As they sat there absorbing it, I put my shirt back on and then sat.
“We’re helping because we’re Sentinels, and it’s our duty to do so. However, even if it weren’t our sworn duty, we wouldn’t stand by and allow shifters and supernaturals to be harmed or killed. That’s why we’re conducting interviews with shifters like you.”
“B-but, you can’t be a Sentinel. No one knows who they are. They don’t announce themselves,” Nanci said softly.
“You’re right, we were that way, but after discovering the things we did about the Council of Oracles, Pytho, and his Knights, we changed that approach.
The council members were the ones who wanted all the secrecy.
Since they were told Apollo would assess them, changes have been happening in the background.
A few who weren’t as reticent weren’t removed.
We’re awaiting the reveal of who will make up the new and improved Council once all members are added.
In perilous times, it’s stupid to have our identities hidden from our own people. ”
I noted the glimmer of hope that I was for real. I waited. I had time. They were beginning to believe.
“Where did you come from? How did Young Gal contact you? What about these Precious Ones we heard about? Has anyone met them? What are they like? Do they have special powers?” Nanci finally became vocal.
“We’re from California. Gal sent a message to the tip line that we set up. It was in the missive sent to all supernaturals & shifters we have information on, and posted on the private online forum for our kind.
“As for the Precious Ones, yes, I’ve met one.
She’s a wonderful, lovely woman and the mate of one of my Sentinel friends.
Before you ask whether the rumor about the ability to have children is true, it is.
She’s pregnant with twins. As for special powers, since we have only met Cerys, we don’t know what’s normal across the board with all of them, or if it’s unique to each individual.
Cerys does exhibit powers she didn’t have before. We’re not clear why.”
Awe spread across their faces. Suddenly, Hugh bowed. “Forgive me, Sentinel Keir, we didn’t mean any disrespect with our words or skepticism. Times are so confusing and fraught with danger. It’s hard to know what to believe or who to trust. Tell us what we can do to assist you.”
“No apology is necessary. We understand. We all have to be careful. Galen said you had contact with some of our kind who have been harmed by the mysterious people rumored to be terrorizing us in Phoenix and elsewhere. Tell me about it.”
“We’ve all heard the talk of how there are those who are finding out who is one of us, and then threats come in the form of notes.
It may progress to various forms of harassment.
If the victims aren’t scared enough to obey and leave Phoenix, it escalates until they are physically harmed or disappear.
We didn’t believe it. Not until friends of ours were victims.
“Freddy and his wife, Lynn, have been our friends since we met at a book club thirty years ago. We’d all talked about the gossip but discounted it.
Then, one week, they weren’t at book club.
They didn’t text or call to tell us they weren’t attending, as they always did.
When I reached out, it took three days to get a reply.
When I did, they asked if we could meet in a coffee shop we sometimes went to. I said yes.
“We got there before them. When they entered, they had on hats and dark glasses and kept scanning the shop. They sat with us. When the glasses came off, it was evident they were exhausted and nervous. After some generic small talk, they told us they had received a letter. When I asked what kind it was, Freddy handed it over. What was inside it was disturbing. All of us wondered if someone was pranking them. After we talked it through, I convinced them to wait and see if anything else happened. It could be someone trying to get a rise out of them.”
Hugh paused and took a big swallow of his coffee before he continued. His eyes appeared haunted.
“A week after that letter came, their house was vandalized, trashing their home. They still refused to leave, though I was encouraging them to do so. A month after the note came, Freddy was out at night, grabbing something at the store for the next day’s dinner.
Lynn needed it first thing to put in her crock pot.
He was jumped and severely beaten. Freddy spent two days laid up.
He was lucky and able to call for help from one of our doctors rather than end up in a human hospital.
His rate of healing, among other things, would be impossible to hide.
“After Freddy was released, they told us they were taking our advice and leaving. But they couldn’t just up and move in a week.
They had jobs, a house, and lots of other things they needed to wrap up first. Everything was set for the movers to come a month after Freddy was sent home from the hospital.
“Five days before that deadline, they vanished without a trace. Their phones are no longer in service. No one has heard from them. Their belongings are in their home. Cars are still in the garage. Nothing in the house has been disturbed. Their jobs haven’t heard from them.
They assumed they left a few days early.
” Hugh stopped. Nanci took over the story.
“But the thing is, we knew them. There was no way they’d leave their possessions behind or ghost their friends. We knew something horrible had happened to them. Please, if you can find them, bring them back to us,” Nanci pleaded. Tears filled her eyes.
“Ma’am, if they’re out there, we’ll do everything we can to find them and return them. What happened to their home?” I asked.
“We’ve been paying the mortgage. We can’t let it slip away.
They waited years to get the home they dreamed of.
It killed them to put it up for sale. When they disappeared, the sale had to be halted.
None of their extended family has seen or heard from them.
That was four months ago,” Nanci explained.
The next hour was spent reviewing details, dates, names, and the addresses of the missing friends. We were in luck. They had a copy of the letter sent to Freddy and Lynn. I took it. When the Newmans left, they smiled and thanked me.
As they drove away, I wondered if their friends were alive.
I didn’t have a good feeling about it. But, if nothing else, we’d work to recover their bodies and lay them to rest shifter style, which involved cremation.
Another piece of information they gave me was that Lynn and Freddy were werehawks.
In case of danger, they should’ve been able to shift and fly away.
It wasn’t long after Nanci and Hugh went home that Gunnar and Fiona returned.
I helped Gun bring in the groceries while Fiona gave her granddad his seizure medicine.
It took self-control not to pull her into a room and kiss the daylights out of her, but I resisted.
Even though she kissed me last night, it didn’t mean she would today.
I decided to wait until after dinner and see if I could get one.
From the time of their return until it was time to head out to dinner, Gunnar and I split up, one at a time, returning to our hotel room to shower and change. Once that was out of the way, while we were on patrol outside, I talked to him about the nighttime duty.
“Gunnar, there’s no need to split the night duty between us anymore. You can go back to the hotel at night. I’ll be staying with them. Since we can sleep a chunk of the time, it’s not bad.”
He halted and raised an eyebrow at me.
“Why the sudden change? Did Fiona finally thaw toward you? I thought she was less snippy with you. Did something happen that I should know about?” He smirked.
I shoved him, or tried to, but when you’re messing with someone who shifted into a gryphon, he stood his ground.
“No, you don’t need to know anything about what goes on between Fiona and me. I thought you’d be grateful,” I said.
“I’m not knocking sleeping in a nice bed every night. Just want to be sure why I’m gaining it,” Gun stated.
“Because I’m grateful for every moment of the day and night that I get with her. She’s a hard woman to let down her guard, but I’m not giving up.”
“I get that, but has she shown you any encouragement?”
A slow smile spread over my face as I said, “A little.”
He chuckled, then high-fived me. “Alright, well, I’m rooting for you. And if being here every night gets you closer to her, then you’ve got it. I don’t mind sleeping at the hotel.”
We continued our rounds after that.