To Protect and Serve Ch. 07

Clyde had been filled in on the basics and didn't look happy. When Sebastian had been off in the bathroom, Shamira asked to check in on her from time to time at the office and make sure she was all right. Clyde promised, looking more than a little offended by Patrick's behavior. He was under the same restricts as Shamira about not exposing their world, but she was confident that the werewolf had "ways" of doing things.

"Thanks for driving," Shamira said as the car rumbled to a stop.

"No sweat. I'm glad you can be within three feet of me and not scream, faint, or punch me."

Shamira rolled her eyes. She was actually fairly comfortable about being around him, though intimacies were still a way off. "Pansy." Still he'd made her smile. Out of spite, she went looking for Clara before she talked to Shane, finding her in the casting room with Lillian. Clara smiled as soon as Shamira walked in, nodding toward a bench along the side of the room.

This was something that Shamira really didn't understand yet: magic. Lillian was a necromancer, which meant her power revolved around the death, but didn't generally mean killing and necromancy wasn't considered evil. Death was part of life, and being about to draw on its power when you're surrounded by vampires and a poltergeist was pretty impressive. Clara's shamanism was much more tuned into the natural flow of life and the elements. One wasn't going to get any super-kill spells with it, but it could make one wish to be dead in so many other ways.

There was a circle of bone surround by a circle of colored powder, with each woman working in their own element. This was why it was nearly impossible to magically attack Shane's house – he had multiple lines of potent defense.

"Hey, I'm going to be a while longer," Clara said. "Report in to Shane, then I'll catch up with you in a bit."

"Okay. You still at this? I thought you started after I left?"

Lillian blushed. "Someone," she said, looking at Clara who was simply grinning unrepentantly, "needed to work off some steam after her discussion with Shane yesterday.

'This is one of those places where you can tell our relationship isn't normal,' Shamira thought. 'Clara probably fucked the hell out of Lillian last night, and I'm jealous instead of angry.' She smiled and looked at her lover. "Hussie."

"Takes one to know one," Clara replied as Shamira wandered out the door.

Shamira really didn't want to face Shane again, but she marched straight to his office and knocked. She heard grunting from inside, but that didn't stop him from calling her in. Tabitha was dangling in some kind of harness suspended from the ceiling. Her panties were shoved in her mouth, her legs were spread with her ankles tied off to different parts of the harness, and her arms were secured behind her. Much more elaborate than what Shamira usually got. She wasn't sure whether or not to be offended.

"Shamira," Shane said calmly as he had his way with his victim, "things are happening faster than I anticipated. As a result, I need to shore up the troops. Pierre is prepped and ready to be brought over, so you'll be killing him tonight. Anytime before sunrise. Bunny overdosed today rather than Wednesday, so the funeral will be Thursday. I left you the location of the cemetery in your email. Go find good access and exit points for the retrieval team. Come back here at sunrise tomorrow." He then turned his attention completely back to Tabitha, leaving Shamira in a rather awkward near-silence. So she turned and left, going to get another untraceable gun so she could kill Pierre.

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Four days later . . .

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Shamira was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Things had been hectic all week, what with two graves to rob, faerie colonies to contact, research to do, hand-to-hand training, weapons training, and her work with Banshee and Sebastian at overcoming her spider phobia, she had been swamped. But Shane's house was up to full staff and almost completely ready for next weeks Tribunal meeting.

Yet Shamira wasn't happy. Except for quick bouts with Clara, no one in the house had claimed Shamira for playtime. She couldn't help but wonder why she was still in Shane's doghouse, and if he had gotten others to boycott her for some reason.

'I just wanted to help my sister,' she thought. She was sitting in the hot tub, letting her body release its aches after Reaper had tossed her into oblivion while trying to teach her judo. The door opened and Renata came in, looking as weary as Shamira.

"Mind if I join you?" the Brazilian asked, stripping down and tossing her clothes aside.

"Go ahead," she murmured.

"You okay?" the other woman asked as she eased into the water.

Shamira tried to convince herself that she should just let it go, but she couldn't. "Renata, is Shane mad at me?"

She glanced over, her body obviously in bliss thanks to the warm, swirling water. "Not that I know of. Why?"

"It's just . . . well, ever since I flew off to help my sister, he seems like he's not letting me have any time to rest, I barely have any time to see Clara, no one seems to be . . . interested in me," she said, sliding down to her neck as she realized that she was whining. "Sorry. I guess everyone's getting worked hard right now. It's just he seemed so pissed at me."

Renata shrugged. "He might be, but you're right that everyone is working hard right now. Clara told me what happened, and I just think that you need to treat this like any other job. Emergencies happen, but you can't always just take off."

Shamira nodded. "So what have you been up to?"

"Getting a hold of as many of Shane's non-house personnel as I can and getting them here for the meeting, tracking down some unregistered weres, and I was practicing with the other weres on team hunting exercises."

"Even Sebastian?" Shamira grinned. "I don't imagine that the itsy-bitsy spider could keep up?"

Renata grinned back. "Actually, he helped Clara and Lillian make some adjustments to the wards. Werespiders all have a magical ability to set up ward lines in the shape of a web around their homes. Once Clara and Lillian hooked their magics into it and got it powered by their circles, they came up with something that no one is going to be able to sneak past."

"Cool. I wish I understood that stuff better. Why were you tracking down unregistered weres?"

"Magical creatures are supposed to let the lord of the land know they're their when they're passing through to do business or whatever. Sometimes people just aren't able to or whatever, and sometimes they're up to mischief. Either way, it's the security officer's job to try and track these folks down."

Shamira pursed her eyes. "So you'd know if someone like a were was in the area and was . . . what's the word, a lone wolf?"

Renata nodded. "We call them strays at that point, but yeah. Why?"

"Something Sebastian said. I kind of doubted it, but --"

"What was it?"

"The whole morning star thing. Seeing as there's a lot of faerie disappearances down in Lacroix's area, he was wondering if Lacroix might be involved. But it'd be a great way to find 'components' wouldn't it? I mean, imagine a stray comes into the area . . . someone who wouldn't be missed."

"It's a scary thought, but it's just speculation. Tracking missing strays is a hell of a lot harder than finding missing faeries."

"I know, I know."

"Oh, and no one is avoiding you. For sex I mean. They're interested but don't have time."

Sebastian, Clara, Lillian, and Monique all walked in, looking as tired as Renata had. Luckily, it was a really big hot tub. Soon everyone was naked and in, complaining about their evenings. Monique and Lillian were cuddled up together, and Clara was attached to Shamira at the hip. No one seemed to be in a dominating mood, though Lillian was making it clear that Monique was going to be her figurative and literal bitch when they got back to the room. Shamira threw her idea about Lacroix and stray weres to Sebastian. He reacted basically the same as Clara, but there was a gleam in his eye that said he was interested.

"Well, we've got to get through this party first," Renata replied, getting Lillian break away from Monique long enough to give her a shoulder rub. "Don't go running off on a tangent."

"I could drive down to Macon for a bit," Shamira said, oblivious to Renata's comments. "They don't really need me for security stuff."

"Shamira," Clara growled. "Did you hear what Renata just said?"

"I know basically where the faerie colonies are supposed to be in that area," Shamira continued, muttering to herself.

"Shamira!" Monique and Lillian said together.

"It would only take a couple of days or so, and I could be back before the meeting."

"SHAMIRA!" Sebastian shouted.

"What?" she finally replied, looking around and ending at the werespider.

Sebastian grinned. "I want to go with you."

Renata, Lillian, and Monique all looked at him. "Sebastian!"

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To be continued . . .