Kahlua and Cream: A Magical Detective Agency

by WL Flinn

  “Is that all the guards?” Cal asked. Two of our team came out with their girl between them. She had an arm over each guy. “Let’s get out of here before anyone else shows up. Do we have the whole team?”

  A man came out leaning heavily on a woman. There was blood running down his sweats. “That’s everyone. Let’s get out of here. I could hear them calling for back up. They had some dude that could put up a shield, but he left.”

  As they slowly walked down the stairs more guards ran in from either side. One man, dressed in all black stopped and took aim at our team and the girl on the stairs. The sound of gunfire tore into the two men and the girl. All three screamed and went limp dropping to the floor. Blood was everywhere. Cal turned as Jim shot a stream of water out of his palm. It took the shooter down. Cal ran over to him and grabbed him with both hands. The guy started screaming as his whole body was engulfed in flames.

  These guys were too well armed and trained for me to fight in my normal form. I shifted and ran to the first one I could find. I struck out with a hoof and when he went to block with an arm, I ripped into him with my teeth. I grabbed his arm and shook him violently. I felt the shoulder pop from the socket and ran for the next person.

  The next few minutes were a blur. I attacked on instinct. These people had shot my team and an innocent girl. They simply would have to die. I don’t know what came over me, but I lost all control. I was a whirlwind of hooves and teeth.

  I saw a straggler trying to run out of the mansion. It wasn’t going to happen to on my watch.

  He looked me in the eye. I tried to charge him, but the marble floor was slick with blood and gore. I couldn’t get enough traction. “Bring it on, bitch,” he smiled and fired his gun right at me. Excruciating pain went through my chest. The jerk shot me! Now he really had to die.

  My feet plowed on. I had enough momentum that I couldn’t stop myself even if I wanted. I tried to stay upright but the fire in my chest was too much. When I landed on my left front leg, it gave out. I screamed at him, which sounded kind of terrifying even to my ears. I stumbled as I went at him. He wasn’t quick enough to dive out of my way. So, I went with it and crashed into and let my full weight roll on him as I crashed to the ground.

  I laid there on the ground for a second trying to breathe. He didn’t move under me. I couldn’t tell where the bullet inside me went, but my entire chest was pulsing in pain. I wasn’t sure I could get up. Even moving my front legs made fire shoot up chest into my neck. I put my head back down and wheezed.

  Cal came running over. “That was stupid! We had him, why did you do that?” He tried to put pressure on my chest to stop the bleeding, but it hurt too much and I instinctively tried to bite him. Note to self, these teeth are great for biting anything that tries to hurt me.

  Ashe came over. She was limping and covered in blood. “You are going to have to shift back, Sienna. We can’t move you like this.”

  Ya think? I weigh like 800 pounds like this. I said to her. I don’t think I can get up. I can’t support this weight. I was even getting comfortable lying on top the guy who tried to shoot me.

  “She can’t get up.” Ashe turned and told the guys. “We gotta get out of here before any more guards come.”

  I turned and saw our small teams pick up the bodies of the girl and the two teammates. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through the pain. Penny laid beside me and licked my leg. You got this.

  I felt the change and realized the pain had been nothing before. I screamed as it felt like my whole body was on fire. Cal and Jim each grabbed an arm. “I know this is going to hurt, but we got to move.”

  They each grabbed an arm which sent even more pain through my chest. My left arm hung limply at my side. They got me up and Ashe quickly moved under my good arm. Thankfully, we were so close in size that it worked. She drag-walked me out the front door. Glass and blood and exploded bits of wall were everywhere. The two men guarded her and helped make sure everyone was safe as we ran.

  When we got outside the purple dome was gone, thankfully. I didn’t think I could make it through again. When we got to the car, a wolf jumped in and into the back of the SUV. “Well, there’s an advantage of being a wolf,” I said.

  Ashe wrapped a blanket around me and we all drove back to the base. "How many did we lose?” I had to know.

  Cal sighed. “Two of Team Two.” He took a deep breath. “The girl, we lost the girl.” He scrubbed his face with his hand. “There were just too many guards. We weren’t prepared.” He beat the steering wheel. “We lost the girl.”

  The car was silent till we got back to the base. There were four girls there. They were sitting together and hugging each other. “You’re safe!” There were high-pitched squeals and quiet giggle of happiness as only teenage girls can make.

  One of the girls looked to Cal, “Is Megan coming?”

  A thin woman came in and said quietly, “She is asking about the girl Team Two was rescuing."

  Cal looked at the girls with big tears rolling down his cheeks and turned and walked out of the room.

  My breath started to get shaky. I don’t know if I was cold or the sadness of the girls, but I couldn’t breathe. There wasn’t enough air in the room. Everything started turning gray. One of the girls pointed to me. “Should she be bleeding like that?” she asked. Blood was pooling at my bare feet.

  Medical personnel, or at least I hoped they were, ran over to me. I don’t know where they one of those gurneys from, but suddenly they pushed me onto one. “Why didn’t you tell us she was shot?”

  “We just got here,” Ashe said. The doctor glanced at Ashe. “You need to come to the medical ward, too. Let’s see what is under all that blood.”

  I watched the ceiling roll by and my heart felt like it was being crushed with the pain of losing our girl. No, her name was Megan. She wasn’t a girl; she was Megan. I knew they didn’t tell us her name so we wouldn’t get attached but being attached wasn’t a bad thing. This was a little girl we were talking about.

  I started crying thinking about her poor parents. They didn’t know their girl was dead. Ashe grabbed my hand. “We got five. Remember, we got five.”

  The doctor pushed her out of the way and the last thing I saw was a big needle coming toward me.

  I woke up just a few minutes later. I was in one of those awful hospital gowns with a big gauze bandage taped to my shoulder. My arm was in a sling. A nurse looked at me. “It is going to scar. So you are going to have a great war story.” She smiled. “Since you are a shifter, it is going to hurt like hell for a short time. Then you will get better quicker than a human.”

  She must have seen my face fall when I thought about the ones that didn’t make it. “You guys did more for these girls than anyone else. I want you to remember that. I am a mom. I am thankful for what you did for those girls.”

  “Can you help me get to the debriefing?” I asked her.

  The nurse looked at me. “You are supposed to stay in bed and rest. You aren’t young like the other team members.” She must have seen the pleading in my eyes.

  “I have to know what happened.”

  She helped me put a large sweatshirt over my head with my arm strapped to my chest under it. “You’re the best,” I said as I wobbled out the door.

  “I better not hear that you passed out during the meeting. I do not want you becoming my favorite patient.”

  I slipped into the back of the briefing room. Cal glanced up and looked like he wanted to say something about me being here but kept quiet.

  “What happened?” he ground out to the others in the room.

  “There were a lot of resistance. They were ready for us. You saw it. They had trained guards there,” a battered woman came in. Her sweats indicated she was a shifter. She had bruises clearly visible on her neck and face. “We almost didn’t get out. If you hadn’t come for us, we wouldn’t have made it.” She lowered her eyes and her voice broke. “The girl, Paul, and Jessie didn’t make it.”

>   Jim put his arm around her. “I am so sorry.”

  “What else did you all find?”

  One guy spoke up. “They totally didn’t expect us, but they were guarding their property. I think they were just well prepared. Everyone found guards.” The various team members nodded in agreement.

  The woman from Team Two went on. “They were armed with regular stuff and some people had magic. Like big magic. They were able to knock a couple of us out before we even knew they were there. Some had magical shields.”

  “Looks like we have to up our game,” Cal said pulling at his lip.

  Beth walked into the meeting and everyone looked at her. She was still pale from her ordeal. “Thank you. I know the other girls are kind of freaked out now and can’t talk. But I need to tell you thank you. You know what they wanted us for.” She looked down at her feet. “The cops didn’t go help them girls. You did. Thank you.” She turned on her heel and ran to the other girls.

  Tears pricked my eyes, and I had to turn away from the others. I was such a crybaby since the Sickness. Good gravy!

  When we got home SallyAnn and Rusty were waiting for us. Ashe and I dragged ourselves out of the car. Penny had managed to clean herself. Ashe and I looked worse than something Penny would have found on one of her walks.

  SallyAnn looked up as we walked in. I still had the oversized sweatshirt on. I had tried to scrub some of the dirt off. If I looked half as dirty and disheveled as Ashe, I looked awful. “Are you guys okay? Where is your other arm?”

  I sighed. “It was just a rough day at the office, kiddo.” I ruffled her hair. She hated when I did that. Now that she was a teenager she was too old for that kind of stuff. I grabbed her up in a big hug as I could with one arm. “I love you.”

  "Did you get hurt? What happened?”

  My shoulders slumped. “I told you we were going to try to get the girls back?” Both kids nodded at me. “We sent out teams to try and rescue the girls. We got them back.” Just not all alive, I added to myself. “I got beat up a little. Nothing I can’t handle. They have a great medical team.”

  She eyed my oversized sweatshirt. I could see her mentally tallying up the various bruises that were forming. She took a deep breath in and I knew she was going to wind up and yell at me for not being careful enough.

  Rusty saved my bacon from my hot-headed daughter by waving without looking up. “Hey, Ma.” Penny jumped up on the sofa with him and rolled over on her back for him to scratch her belly. Her leg started scratching the air. “Glad you are home. We even left you a slice of pizza.”

  I went up behind and wrapped my arm behind him. “I love you too.”

  “Ew, Mom, what’s up? You’re like overly mom-ish.” He weakly tried to squirm away from me but didn’t put a lot of energy into avoiding me.

  I smiled at him and kissed his head. “I just don’t think I tell you enough that I love you. Is that okay for a mom to do?”

  “Well, maybe for a mom to do, but not my mom to do,” he said as he went back to his video games. “Come on SallyAnn, “Fortnite” is calling your name.”

  He smiled at me as SallyAnn looked from me to him and let out her breath as she sat down beside him and picked up a controller and hit “Start”.

  Ashe looked at the kids then at my arm. “I will give you a call. I don’t think we will be going for a walk tomorrow. I think we need a day off.”

  The next morning, I was able to lift my left arm high enough to put a T-shirt on. I had fallen dead asleep as soon as I had gotten home last night. So, I had to shimmy out of the sweatshirt this morning. I jumped in the shower and let the hot water soak into my sore body. I let my arm hang down while I scrubbed my hair one handed. For once, it was a great thing my hair was so short. Bits of dirt and blood and crud washed down the drain. I was definitely going to have to change my sheets after sleeping in all that funk.

  My stomach told me I had waited long enough to feed it. I managed to get down the stairs without groaning or whining. So, I was pretty proud of myself. Penny was passed out on the sofa. SallyAnn was in the kitchen getting a bowl of cereal.

  “So, spill the beans. What happened last night?”

  “It was nothing to worry about.” I tried to sit on a stool at the counter and grimaced. I guess increased shifter healing had limits.

  “Not buying it, Mom. I didn’t want to say anything about it last night, but I could still see the blood in your hair and on your sweatshirt. Plus, you still aren’t using your left hand much.”

  I sighed. I didn’t want to lie. But I wasn’t sure about bringing my little girl into this world, even though she was a member of the magical world now. Maybe she had a right to know. “Remember when I told you we were looking for Beth?” She nodded that she did. “Well, there were five other girls taken at the same time. We tried to save them. We got four of them. One of them didn’t make it.”

  I stared down into the coffee mug that SallyAnn put in front of me.

  “You said they all came home last night.”

  “We brought them all home to their parents. At least this girl’s parents will have closure.” I fought to stop the tears from spilling out my eyes. I took the coffee mug and held it in both hands trying to absorb the warmth.

  “Why did they take girls?”

  “Well, you know at the State Attorney’s Office we deal with some really bad guys? These guys are just as bad.” I took a deep breath. I looked her in the eye to show that I thought she was mature enough to deal with this. “They wanted to breed these girls and see if they could get babies born with magic. The girls all were right around your age.” My vision blurred as I started crying.

  “You rock, Mom,” Rusty said as he came down the stairs.

  “What?” I turned to him. There was a huge hole in my heart where that girl was. We should have brought her home.

  “Well, if you helped any of those girls get away, you rock.” He went to squeeze me. I didn’t let him know how much it hurt my shoulder. It wasn’t like I was going to turn down a hug from him. Teenage boys don’t offer free hugs very often.

  SallyAnn sipped her mug of coffee. When did she start drinking coffee? She looked so grown up.

  “I want in.”

  “Excuse me, ma’am?” I said. “You want in on what?”

  She looked at me over her coffee mug. “I want in on trying to catch them.”

  I nearly spilled my hot coffee down my front. “What are you thinking? That is never going to happen.”

  “But, Mom, I want to help. I can shift.”

  “SallyAnn, a girl died last night. She died in front of me because we weren’t good enough. I am not letting you anywhere near that.” I wiped the tears from my face.

  Her face turned red in anger. “Mom, I am not a child anymore after the Sickness. This is something I can do.” Her back straightened and she glared at me, daring me to turn her down.

  I know she really did want to help. But there was no way I could put her in a dangerous situation. I could feel my stomach burning and my heart racing at the thought she would be near any of this situation.

  “You aren’t ready to go out with us yet. But I tell you what you can do though. You can start training to get stronger and learn how to fight. I think that would be good for you. For both of us, and you, Rusty, if you want to join us.”

  “Well, after I am trained, I want to help.” She pouted.

  “We will talk about it then.”

  I heard the door slam upstairs. I turned around and realized Rusty wasn’t in the room. “I better go see what is going on with him.”

  I groaned quietly as I climbed the stairs. Who knew my body could hurt in so many places in one time? Every muscle in my legs ached. My back hurt. My shoulders hurt. I don’t know how I made it to his door without crawling. I used my good arm to knock and open the door.

  “Yeah, what do you want?”

  I walked in. Rusty was on his bed throwing a ball into the air. “We don’t normally slam doors in this house
, young man.” I sat on the side of his bed.

  “Sorry, Mom.” He continued to throw the ball in the air.

  “So, what is going on?” I pressed.

  “Nothing.”

  “It can’t be nothing or else you wouldn’t be slamming my doors.” My stomach growled. I really wanted to get more coffee and some food. I hoped he would tell me something soon.

  “Geez, Mom, try eating something.”

  “Well, I can’t till I know what is going on with you. So unless you want to be responsible for your poor mother starving to death in front of your very eyes, you need to let me know what is wrong.”

  “I want to get the Sickness.” He kept throwing the ball and wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  “What?”

  “I want to get the Sickness so I can get magic,” he whispered. He looked at me. “It’s not fair you and SallyAnn get to be special. You get to be cool shifters and I am just normal. Ashe is faster and stronger. I am just a nobody. I am mundane. Hell, I am a ‘muggle’.”

  I grabbed him up. “Honey, you are perfect the way you are. I don’t want you getting sick. I don’t want to worry that you are okay. I just want you to be my Rusty.”

  “But you are cool, Mom.”

  “Rusty, I got shot last night. I almost died. I almost left my two children, the two people who mean the most in the whole world, alone. That isn’t cool. That isn’t special. you don’t want to be like me.”

  “You got shot?”

  I nodded.

  “That is going to leave a cool scar.”

  I could see I wasn’t getting anywhere. “Besides, you don’t want to have to clean the shower now with all the hair in it.”

  “TMI, Mom,” he groaned and covered his face with his hand so he wouldn’t have to imagine cleaning.

  “I am serious, Rusty. This isn’t special. This isn’t neat. The world is turning against people like SallyAnn and me. They hate us for something we can’t control. It isn’t even safe for us anymore to walk alone. Please don’t go out and try to get the Sickness. I don’t want to have to worry about you. Promise me?”