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My Entry to the contest Hook to Book and Nanowrimo Prep |
| The ground squelched as Shoshana Cox walked toward the corpses. Blood seeping up over the tops of her boots. The gore was everywhere. Five deer slaughtered -- decapitated and disemboweled, right next to a childrenâs playground. The senseless massacre caused Shoshanaâs hackles to rise. They had to get this scene cleaned up before the news teams came out. She didnât want them warping the story for their own political agendas. They would try to blame Satanists, which were fiction, or blood witches, which werenât, but it wasnât either group. A newly turned werewolf, undetected by the pack had gone on a rampage. Tracking the noob had been simple. Shoshana had shifted to her wolf form and followed the scent of blood and bile. Now, the new lycanthrope was tranquilized and sleeping in the back of the secured truck, and she was ensuring that the clean-up team didnât leave any deer bits about for some unsuspecting five-year-old to find in the morning. The witch on their clean-up team would take care of the blood as soon as there were no more body parts lying about. But in the meantime, the smell of the carnage was beginning to set her on edge. âHey! Cox,â came a voice from behind her. A young man wearing the blue uniform of a council enforcer was walking toward her. His spicy scent told her he was a witch, although not a strong one. She turned back toward the scene. He wasn't pack, so she owed him no honorifics. âCouncilor Hoyt is looking for you.â Flaring her nostrils, she flashed him her best âgo dieâ stare. âHey! Donât shoot the messenger!â he exclaimed, backing away from her and almost falling onto the blood soaked grass. âWhat does Hoyt want?â she growled. "I-I donât know,â he stammered. âHe just told me where to find you.â âGo tell Hoyt, Iâll be there after Iâm finished cleaning up,â she said, turning back toward the crime scene. âHe seemed â She looked over her shoulder, allowing him to see the wolf lurking behind her eyes. This scene was gory and a lesser pack member would have given in to hunger already. She didnât need some office peon provoking her. âIâll just let him know youâll be in as soon as your done here,â he stammered as he backed away. Giving him a curt nod, Shoshana turned back to the job of making sure the neighborhood children wouldnât be traumatized by finding Bambi bits on their playground. An hour later, Shoshana pulled into the station house. Driving with the windows down had helped clear her head of the scent of meat. Entering the locker room, she pulled her backpack out of her locker and rummaged around for clean clothes. Opening the front pocket of her pack, a funky smell of sweat and mildew assaulted her nose. She pulled out a crumpled t-shirt sheâd forgotten to wash. Shaking it out, she inspected it for any sign of mold. Seeing no black dots, she put it on. After scrubbing her nails to remove the remnants of blood and gore, she headed upstairs to Hoytâs office. âHi Marianne,â she said, approaching Hoytâs assistantâs desk. The petite brunette was typing frantically and biting her lip. âHey Shoshi, go on in. Heâs expecting you,â she said. âWhat do you mean there is an âeâ in noticeable?â she asked her computer screen. Chuckling at the assistantâs comment, she went into her bossâs office. âShoshana,â Hoyt said, looking up from his laptop. âCome in. Have a seat.â Hoytâs desk sat in the middle of the room with two dark-red leather chairs in front of it. To the right of his desk was a wall of bookcases covered with books, pictures, and knickknacks. The other wall was floor to ceiling windows. There were framed pictures behind his desk of enforcer squads, family and prestigious people heâd met, and on the same wall as the door was a large sofa. Sheâd always liked Hoytâs office, it was luxurious without being pretentious. âWhat can I do for you, boss?â She asked, sitting in one of the burgundy chairs. âHow was the playground?â He asked. The way he winced, he knew it was bad. âIt was horrific,â she sighed. âFive deer mindlessly slaughtered, gore everywhere.â âAt least it wasnât a person.â âTrue. Thatâs what saved Garettâs life tonight. Pack law is strict.â âAnd for good reasons,â said Hoyt. Opening a drawer, pulled out a folder and set it in front of him. âShoshana, what do you know about the Upper Court?â âThe Upper Court? Dragons? Next to nothing.â âRaina, the current Queen of the Green Flight, has asked for our help.â âOh?â âFifteen years ago, her daughter was stolen.â âWait, stolen?â She could feel anger crawling through her. She pushed herself the edge of her seat and tried to keep from yelling at her boss. âPeople are not property. They are kidnapped not stolen. Why werenât we contacted fifteen years ago?â âQueen Rainaâs father, King Cedric, refused to allow the Green Flight to have any contact with the outside world. The only thing they were allowed do was suppress her memories and trap her in human form.â Hoytâs frown indicated his disapproval. âHe just abandoned her?â Shoshana was mortified. On top of the kidnapping, a shapeshifter trapped in one form was tantamount to imprisonment. âWhatâs changed?â âKing Cedric is dead. The Queen has located her daughter and when the time is right she wants to bring her home,â Hoyt said. âSounds good, what does this have to do with the All-World Council? Are we escorting her?â âNo, itâs more complicated than that. Currently, the Queen is fighting off a coup attempt. Sheâs afraid that if she brought her daughter home, she wouldnât be able to keep her safe.â âI can understand that.â âShe has it on good authority someone close to her has leaked information about her daughter to her enemies. Sheâs asking for our help to protect her daughter.â âSo, itâs a babysitting gig?â âKind of,â Hoyt laughed. âAnyone can do that? Why are you pulling me in for this?â âItâs an important babysitting gig.â Hoyt steepled his fingers in front of him. âShoshi, this is our first chance to interact with the dragonkind. Our future relationship with them pivots on this going well.â He picked up the folder, handing it to Shoshana. Inside was a picture of a young woman with long, curly, light red hair and green eyes. She was wearing exercise clothes and standing by an SUV. Shoshana guessed her height to be around five-foot-ten. A name on the inside of the folder read Teagan Rose and there was an address underneath. âI still donât understand. Why arenât the dragonkind protecting her?â âTeagan doesnât know what she is. Raina doesnât want her daughter to know sheâs being followed and you arenât to tell her sheâs a dragon.â It had been two weeks since Hoyt had given Shoshana the task of watching Teagan. In the last fourteen days, sheâd followed Teagan to school, work, the gym, and the store. It was a tedious assignment. She approached the van where Shay, her partner, was taking her shift babysitting. âAnything interesting happen today?â She asked, taking a seat next to Shay. âWell instead of going to school and then the gym, she went to the gym and then school.â âGlad to see her mix it up,â chuckled Shoshana. âIâll talk to Hoyt, the Queen is obviously being â Sheâd been about to say paranoid. A shadow on the screen monitoring the outside of the building caught her attention. âWhatâs this?â she asked, narrowing her eyes. A tall figure stood outside the apartment complex looking up toward the balcony that led to Teaganâs flat. After a moment, the figure walked to the wall and started climbing up the brick face. âWhat the hell?â Shoshana hissed, hurrying out of the van. Rushing to the building, she was just in time to see the shadowy figure pull itself up onto Teaganâs balcony. She punched in the security code for the apartment complex and rushed up three flights of stairs. Breathing heavily, she hurried to apartment three-o-eight. She listened at the door. Hearing nothing, she knocked. There was still no sound. âDamn it,â she hissed, taking out a set of lockpicks from her back pocket. In seconds, she had the door unlocked and rushed inside. The apartment was dark and a hooded figure stood just inside the sliding glass door. Startled by her entrance, the intruder stood frozen for half second before turning and jumping off the balcony. She rushed forward not knowing what to expect. Seeing nothing on the ground, she turned back to the apartment to leave and chase down the intruder. The doorway was blocked by a familiar tall red-head. âYou'd better have a damn good reason for being in my apartment or else I'm calling the cops,â Teagan said. Word Count: 1486 |
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