My heart sank. “Thanks,” Annia said, tucking the photograph away. “We appreciate your help.”
“W-what are you going to do if you find her?” one of the girls, a blonde with porcelain skin who looked about twelve, asked in a soft voice. Her lower lip trembled as she gazed up at us with uncertain eyes. “Are you going to punish her for missing school?”
“Of course not.” I gave the girl a reassuring smile. “We’re just going to return her to her parents. They’ll be so happy to see her that I don’t think they’ll even consider punishing her. They’ve been worried sick.”
The trembling increased. “I want to go back to my parents,” she said in a voice thick with tears. Her big blue eyes began to shine. “I haven’t seen them in weeks, but I can’t leave because the pimps will find me. They already almost caught me once.” She buried her face in the dark-haired girl’s shoulder and began sobbing.
“Don’t cry, Larina,” the other girl said, patting her back awkwardly. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Do you know how to get home?” I asked the blonde girl. She definitely didn’t look like the kind of girl who should be on the streets. How long had she been out here?
She stilled for a moment. “I t-think so.”
“And you’re sure you want to go back?” I asked, wondering what had driven her to leave in the first place. “Will they welcome you?” My aunt certainly wouldn’t have if I’d tried to sneak back into her home.
She cried even harder at that. “Yes. It was just a foolish disagreement. My father is strict, but now I see that he was only trying to protect me.”
“Good. Then we’ll take you there,” I declared. My nose told me that she was sincere and truly not afraid of whatever awaited her back home.
The blonde raised her head, and the hope shining in her wet eyes made my throat ache. “Can you really do that? What about the pimps?”
“They won’t bother us.” Annia patted the hilt of her sword. “Not if they know what’s good for them.”
The little girl began bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, then stopped and looked guiltily toward the dark-haired girl. “You don’t mind, do you?”
The older girl shook her head. “No. You go on.” She cracked a smile. “We’ll survive without you.”
Annia leaned in close to me as the other girls gathered around Larina to give her goodbye hugs. “This is heartbreaking. Did you really live on the streets for six months?”
I nodded. “It’s a tough deal, especially if you’re a girl. I like to think my shifter instincts helped keep me out of trouble. Most runaways get kidnapped within a month or two of ending up on the streets. The ones who make it past that point, like this one,” I jerked my head toward the dark-haired girl, “are some seriously tough cookies.”
Annia and I each took one of Larina’s hands, and we kept her close between us as we walked out. The girl only had a blanket over her thin dress to protect her from the chill, and I didn’t want her to catch cold. In silence, we herded her across the bridge, then back up the street toward the parking lot where we’d left Annia’s bike. The lot was only ten minutes from here. Once we got there, it would be a piece of cake to get the girl home. The address she’d given us was on the north side of Maintown, not very far at all on a steambike.
“Hey!” A fat, balding man wearing dark sunglasses and a fur coat stepped out of an alleyway, directly into our path. Two tattooed thugs in leather jackets followed suit, flanking him. “Just where do you ladies think you’re going?” The man looked straight at Larina, an unholy grin spreading across his face. The little girl let out a terrified squeak and ducked behind Annia, clinging to her thighs.
I pulled a chakram from my pouch. “Straight up your ass with this if you don’t get the hell out of my way.” They didn’t budge, and I suppressed a sigh. Did we really have to do this now? “It’s cold, and I’m not really in the mood for a fight, so if you move now, we’ll leave you in peace.”
Two more thugs joined the man, who grinned at us. “I don’t think you’re in any position to make demands. I’m happy to let you two fine ladies go, but the girl comes with us. My boss, Big Leo, has plans for this one—those golden curls and pretty blue eyes will fetch good coin for years to come. A sound investment, he would say.”
Annia and I closed ranks in front of the girl. “You do realize you’re talking to enforcers?” Annia asked, brandishing her bracelet. “We could haul your furry ass to jail right now.”
The man laughed, the sound full of contempt. “I don’t think so. You’re outnumbered.” He snapped his ring-covered fingers at the thugs. “Go get Big Leo’s property.”
The thugs lunged for us, four hulking mountains of muscle that no doubt thought they had this in the bag. I flung a chakram at the nearest one, and he went down in a spray of blood, his decapitated head rolling into the street. Larina screamed from behind me as I ducked a blow from another thug, and I twisted around to see that the third had somehow snuck around me. He grabbed the little girl by the collar as she twisted away, and my mouth dropped open in horror as her skimpy dress ripped open to the waist, baring her mercifully flat chest. I tried to lunge for her, but the thug behind me kicked me in the stomach and sent me crashing to the sidewalk. Thankfully, I’d tightened my abdominal muscles against the blow, but it still sent the breath whooshing out of me. Not wanting to waste the momentum, I backflipped myself onto my feet, soaring over Larina and her kidnapper, but before I had a chance to do anything, Annia buried a knife in his throat from ten feet away. The thug released Larina, blood gushing down his chin and chest as he grasped for the knife in his throat. I snatched the half-naked child up as he stumbled to his knees, turning her face into my chest so she wouldn’t see him topple to the ground, his final breath leaving him.
The girl had seen enough death tonight.
“P-please,” the pimp stammered, backing away as Annia stalked toward him. She’d dispatched the fourth thug already, and he was the only enemy left. This part of Downtown was thicker with shadows than most, and the few passersby hurried on, not bothering to give us more than a second glance. “D-don’t kill me. I was just following orders.” Eyes trained on Annia, he didn’t see the curb behind him, and tripped backward, landing hard on the asphalt.
Annia pressed a booted foot against his throat, and the man began choking. “Tell your boss,” she said, her voice like a lover’s whisper as she leaned close, “that Annia Melcott sends her regards. And that one day in the near future, she will personally toss his ass into the coldest, darkest cell she can find on Prison Isle.” Her lips curved into a vicious smile, and I let out a slow breath of admiration. Uptown girl or not, Annia was one scary bitch right now. “You’d be headed there right now if I didn’t have more important things to do. Now get lost.”
Annia turned back to us, and the pimp scurried off into the night as fast as his fat legs could carry him. “That was pleasant,” she muttered as she leaned down to retrieve her knife from the dead thug’s neck. She cleaned it on his coat before returning it to her thigh holster, then glanced toward Larina with concern. “Is she all right?”
I smoothed a hand across the trembling girl’s hair. “Yeah, but she’s gonna need some clothes. We can’t have her walking around like this, even if it is only for a few blocks.”
After a quick discussion, Annia and I led Larina into the same dark alley those ugly bastards had come from. Huddling behind a dumpster, I stripped off my clothes and gear, then handed most of them to Annia for safekeeping. The little girl stared at me as I gave her my too-big leathers, her wide eyes taking in my shivering body. The sun had fully set now, and it was colder than a mage’s heart out here.
“What are you going to do for clothes?” she asked as she put my leather jacket on.
“I’ve got a spare coat.” Winking, I crouched down on all fours, then closed my eyes and reached into that secret place inside me, where my beast always slept with one eye open. She sprang awake eagerly as I called, an
d white light poured from my skin, engulfing my body as the change started. Bone and muscle stretched, shrank, and rearranged, fur sprouted from my naked skin, and my face elongated into a whiskered snout. Claws scraped at the cement ground beneath me, my tail swished, and when the white light finally faded away, I was a black panther.
Larina gasped, her eyes wide with fear and awe. “I’ve never seen a shifter shift before,” she whispered, clinging to Annia.
“I’ve only seen it once myself.” Annia patted the girl on the back as she studied me with those dark eyes. “I wonder if it stops getting weird after a while?”
I stuck my tongue out at Annia, then padded toward them on silent paws. Larina let out a startled gasp as I moved close, then nudged my snout against her exposed belly. Giggling, she swatted my cold nose away, then finished buttoning up my jacket. It hung nearly to her knees, so she forewent the leather pants and instead stuck her feet in my boots. I huffed out a laugh at how huge they were on her.
“Go on home,” Annia said, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “I’ll bring your stuff to you as soon as I’m done with our young friend.” I nodded, then licked Larina goodbye. The little girl giggled again, then buried her small hands in my fur. Since it wasn’t every day that a human got to pet a shifter, I indulged her for a moment, then loped off into the ever-darkening night in search of a fire escape or a rain pipe sturdy enough to hold my weight. Traveling across town in my panther form was best accomplished from roof to roof, as I knew from previous experiences, and there was no time to lose. Rescuing Larina might have been a rewarding side trip, but there was still another little girl out there who needed our help.
6
“It sounds like you’ve had quite the adventure,” Roanas remarked as I downed my third bowl of beef stew. He’d already eaten by the time I arrived home, but had put the pot of stew back on the stove the moment I’d rushed into the house. Buck naked, I had sprinted up the stairs to shower and change before coming back down. “Are you done for today, then?”
I shook my head, then swallowed my mouthful of food. “No. Annia should be bringing my stuff by any minute, and then we’ll be going out again.” I hoped she’d hurry—I felt naked without my weapons, even though I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. “We still have to question Cerlina’s uncle. With any luck, he should be home now.”
“Ah.” Roanas toyed with the medallion that rested on his broad chest, the way he always did when he was thinking. It was a golden disk with runes etched along the outer edge, and a fang stamped in the middle—the mark of his authority as the Shiftertown Inspector. Shiftertown, Maintown, and the Mages Quarter tended to police themselves—the Enforcer’s Guild only got involved if a case was brought directly to them, or if it was an interspecies crime. I’d tagged along on many of Roanas’s cases. Watching him work was what had inspired me to be an enforcer in the first place. As a half-shifter, I would never be respected enough to become Roanas’s successor, but the Enforcer’s Guild employed humans, shifters, and even the occasional mage.
“Do you think you might be looking too far afield for little Cerlina?” Roanas finally asked. “Perhaps you haven’t delved deep enough into her past, and she’s hiding in a place that would be obvious if you only knew a bit more about her.”
I opened my mouth to say that a ten-year-old could hardly have much of a past, but a knock at the door interrupted me. “I’ll get it,” I said, catching Annia’s scent. “It’s my ride.”
“Hey,” Annia said when I opened the door. “You ready to go?” She handed over my belongings in a neat pile.
“Yeah, just let me get changed.” I hesitated, then added, “Why don’t you come in out of the cold?” I moved back to let her inside, then shut the door behind her.
“Hello, Inspector Tillmore,” Annia said as Roanas stepped into the living room. “It’s been a while.”
“Indeed it has.” Roanas smiled.
I arched a brow as I looked between them. “You two know each other?” I shouldn’t be surprised, since Roanas had a long-time relationship with the Guild.
“I’ve passed Enforcer Melcott in the halls a time or two,” Roanas said. “Though that was when you were still a rookie yourself,” he added to Annia. “It seems you’ve grown into your career. Are you specializing in a particular type of case?”
“Not really, though I like jobs that take me out of town, even if it’s simply as a guard,” she told him. “I worked for a crew for a few weeks in my first year, but I don’t fit in very well with them.”
I left the two of them to it as I ran upstairs to get changed. My sensitive ears picked up their conversation easily, and I learned that Larina’s parents were overjoyed at the safe return of their daughter.
“By the way,” Annia said with a wink as I rejoined them. “Good deeds do get rewarded now and then. Larina’s parents told me they’d offered up a small bounty for her safe return—probably too modest to interest any of our colleagues,” she added dryly. “We can claim it at the Guild tomorrow morning if we fill out the paperwork.”
“That’s great!” Small bounty or not, it was still the first I’d earned, and my chest swelled with pride. I’d be piling them up soon enough, and then I could afford to buy things like a real adult.
“Unfortunately, we’ll also have to do some basic paperwork to account for the four dead bodies we left behind tonight,” Annia added, sounding decidedly not thrilled about the idea. “It should only take half an hour, since the location and type of victim speak for themselves.”
“Guess that comes with the job,” I said with a shrug. If paperwork was the price we had to pay for ridding the streets of scum and seeing that girl home safe, so be it.
By the time we arrived back at the Thottings’ house, it was nearly eight o’clock. Normally, I would have felt a little guilty calling on someone so late, but considering the circumstances, I didn’t think the Thottings would mind. They wanted their daughter returned safe and sound, and I had no doubt they’d cooperate in any way they could.
“Good evening,” Annia said when Mrs. Thotting answered the door. “We’ve come to speak to your brother. Has he come back from job hunting yet?”
“Oh! Yes, of course,” Mrs. Thotting said. She ushered us inside and into the living room. “Have you gotten any closer to finding my daughter?”
“We’re still chasing down leads,” Annia said. “The case is our top priority.”
“Good.” Mrs. Thotting wrung her hands, her eyes shining with worry as she looked out the window. “I’ve been watching the street all day, hoping she’ll come skipping up the sidewalk, ready to tell me about some grand adventure she’s gotten herself into.” A tear slipped down her cheek, and she wiped it away hastily. “I’ll go get Melan for you.”
She fled up the stairs, and I waited until she was out of earshot before letting out a heavy sigh. “Boy, this is tough,” I muttered as the mother’s dread and anxiety began to well up in my own stomach. “Have you ever taken a missing kid case before?”
Annia shook her head. “No. Just the usual riffraff. Somehow, this is a lot harder. There’s a kind of…helplessness, here.” She scrubbed a hand across her face, suddenly looking very tired. “As if hope is slipping away with each passing second.”
I let out a breath. “We can’t think like that,” I said quietly. “If we’ve already given up in our minds, then we’ll never find her.” Roanas was constantly drilling that idea into me—that thinking positively was the key to success.
Annia nodded, squaring her shoulders. By the time footsteps sounded on the stairs, we were composed and professional again. Melan was a lean, fit man in his early forties, with black hair and a trimmed mustache. He shared his sister’s hazel eyes and full mouth, but his nose was longer, and his skin tanned, as if he spent most of his time outside. He wore a button-up shirt, vest, and slacks that looked well made. Definitely not the kind of clothing someone hard on their luck usually wore.
Maybe that’s just his job-interview
outfit, I thought.
“Good evening, Enforcers,” he said, shaking both our hands with a firm grip. He sat down on the couch opposite us, then clasped his hands between his knees and regarded us steadily. His eyes were calm, but the stiffness in his shoulders betrayed his tension. “Coralia said that you wanted to speak to me?”
“Yes,” I said. “This is just routine. We’re interviewing everyone who’s close to Cerlina. Mrs. Thotting said the two of you got along well?”
A smile softened his face. “She’s a bit of an awkward child, but absolutely darling,” he said, turning toward the fire. The flames danced in his eyes as he stared into the grate. “My sister is often exhausted by the end of the night, so I’d taken to reading with her at bedtime. She’s delightful, her head full of tall tales and daring adventures. It makes me wonder if she decided to run off and join a pirate crew, or some other such foolish pursuit.” His expression shuttered.
“Did she ever mention doing such a thing?” Annia asked.
He shrugged. “Only in the way that children do when they’re getting carried away. I never took her seriously. Despite her fanciful notions, she is a devoted daughter and a very studious girl. She would never cause her parents such pain by running away like this, without so much as a note.” His jaw flexed. “Whatever bounty the Guild is offering, I’ll double it. Just find my niece quickly, before any real harm befalls her. My sister had a difficult birth with her, and the doctor said she will not be able to survive another. I don’t think she would survive losing Cerlina, either.”
We thanked him for the offer, then showed ourselves out. “He seems to care very much about Cerlina,” Annia said as we walked down the steps of the front porch. “Was he telling the truth?”
“Oh yeah,” I said, sticking my hands into my jacket pockets for warmth. “He was even sincere about the offer to double the bounty, though I don’t know how he can afford it, since he’s out of work.”
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