The Royal Jagger

*****

A couple months passed, and Marissa began to think the Commander was never going to leave. Peter learned invisibility, so he came home every night after making an appearance each day among the shifters. Most of them seemed to know exactly what he was doing, and had even begun to cover for him, making the look on the Commander’s face more and more sour.

Elsa had stopped posting Agents by Peter’s door, having figured out that they would learn nothing if she did not learn it herself. So she began wandering around the halls near his home at night, keeping an eye out for him. He usually was easily able to skirt around her until one fateful night that changed the whole dynamic of a lot of things.

He was walking one way around a corner, and the Commander was coming around it as well, and they slammed right into each other. As far as she could tell, there was nothing there that she could have run into, but the woman was much smarter than that.

Peter was pleased to see that she was once again alone, but he sighed silently when he saw that she’d begun to feel around for him. He slid the heku he’d received from Eric and Darius several months ago out of his coat pocket and flicked the switch on the side. The distinctive sound of the blade sliding shattered the silence in the long corridor.

“You want to dance with me, shifter?” she scoffed, getting into a battle stance. “You think you can take me down? Try it, then.”

The heku blade sliced cleanly through the air, nicking the side of her neck. Peter quickly moved from where he’d been standing before the attack. The Commander had expected this, but she compensated to the left when she should have moved right, and her arms encountered nothing but air.

“Damn you, why should you care what happens to the wolves, anyway?” she growled. “All through history, they have never been the most important of the paranormals. They have always been the slaves and the enemies of the vampires. Now there’s a race worthy of preserving. They’re quick, clean, and deadly, just like a soldier should be. If only the rest of you would be more like them.”

Peter turned on his recorder as she spoke, capturing her words for future use. The blade flew through the air again, slicing her across the face this time.

“Bas*ard!” she shouted, rounding on him yet again. She almost found him this time, but he managed to evade her grasp by a mere few inches. “If I had my way, we’d just lock you all into these caves and stop feeding you. You could all eat each other for all I care.”

She was trying to make him angry. The trouble was, she was succeeding. Peter took a deep, silent breath and sliced again, letting her grab him this time.

“I’ve got you now, you stupid, stupid shifter,” she said gleefully. “Now if you want to live, you’ll have to lead me to the child.”

“I don’t think so,” said Peter as he shoved himself out of her arms, threw her to the ground, and slit her throat wide open.

Moving as quickly as he could, he dragged the Commander into the hiding cave’s opening. She was still bleeding out, and she struggled all the way. She couldn’t scream with her vocal cords cut, but she was hissing air out of her lungs desperately as he shoved her into the deep pit along with her friends.

Peter stripped off all of his clothes and wiped off all the blood he’d gotten on himself, tossing the outfit down the hole along with the body. He quickly returned to his assigned room to bathe. He made himself visible, dressed nicely, and stepped out his front door to head for the shifters’ social caves for a much-needed drink.

“Don’t usually see you up at this time of night,” said an Agent who sat beside him in the bar.

“No, I’ve been kind of down since I moved here,” he said casually as he sipped at his drink. “I was happy with the wolves, even had a hottie to bang when I wanted to. Here, I don’t really know anyone. I’ve been keeping to myself, and I thought it was sort of stupid. Obviously my little she-wolf is history, so I may as well make some new friends.”

“That’s too bad,” the Agent said. “But it’s a good idea, the segregation. Who knows what kind of monsters might come out of all the potential cross-breedings? It’s much safer and cleaner this way. And there’s a lot less dissent within the groups as well. Keeping law and order around these caves has always been a real challenge.”

“I suppose so,” Peter agreed. “But maybe the Agents should appoint some of the paranormals to police the area as well. Work together instead of always being at odds. Something to think about. Well, I guess I wasn’t really as ready for this as I thought I was. It was nice talking with you, though. Maybe you’ve given me some perspective on things.”

“Good for you,” he said, giving Peter a pat on the back. “I like your idea, by the way. I think I’ll even put it by the committee, see what they have to say.”

“Thanks,” said Peter with a smile. Then he went back to his cave and went to bed. There was no way he was about to brave the caves again tonight.

*****

“I can’t believe this,” Marissa scoffed.  Her huge belly bumped into the table as she tried to walk past, making her groan as she grabbed for the teapot that was singing in the background. “First the Agents follow you around like the plague for months, and now they want you to join them?”

“I didn’t think when I’d mentioned the idea that they were going to take me up on it, but I guess ever since the Commander disappeared, they’ve been making big changes, and mine was one of them.”

“Yeah? Well, too bad you can’t get them to bit on the desegregation idea,” Marissa grumbled.