Shadow Read online

  Shadow did just that, batting the knife aside and ripping his throat out with his jaws. Spitting out parts of Ernesto he listened to the crowd shriek in hysterics and as one they all bolted for the doors.

  “Time to go!” Circe called to him and he followed her. He noticed only a few of the wolves were with them, everyone else was already gone.

  “Where is everyone?”

  “I had them free the rest of the animals and head back to the van while everyone was watching you. Nice distraction by the way.”

  Shadow sighed, “I probably shouldn’t have done that, but damn if he didn’t deserve it.”

  Circe rubbed her thigh along his side as he padded next to her on all fours. “Well I enjoyed it, quite a lot!”

  Shadow’s nose told him that it was definitely true.

  Much later, much later, he sat at a table and sorted out all of the wallets, making a nice list of information from all of driver’s licenses.

  “What did you want those for anyway?” Circe asked.

  “I wanted to know who was there; I’m surprised at some of these people. How long had that been going on?”

  “A while. Scorecard was protecting it, another of his ‘sporting’ ventures. But now that he’s gone ...” She grinned.

  “Did he have anything else like this running?” Shadow growled.

  “Not that I really know of. But if any come to my attention we can deal with those too!” Circe purred rubbing up against him.

  “Horny already?” Shadow sighed and grinned.

  “I keep thinking of how you ripped his throat out,” Circe shivered, “your muzzle all covered in his blood, bits of his flesh in your mouth. Why did you spit them out?”

  Shadow shook his head, and pulled her into his lap, “Because he tasted terrible, people taste bad and he was worse that usual.”

  She nodded and kissed him leaning into his strong body, sliding her tongue along his vicious fangs. “It turns me on just thinking about it, you animal.”

  Shadow pulled her closer and let his hands tease her body, she’d never seen him kill like that before, and he should have guessed it would get her hot. But he wasn’t going to complain about it, so he made love to her there on the chair.

  He packed up all the wallets, he'd ship them back to their owners, sans money of course; and include a little note with each one, plus a copy of a picture of their face from the film he’d taken the night before. It worked amazingly well, in two days what little of the incident that had made it to the news had been forgotten and the police investigation closed. Ernesto’s death was marked as ‘accidental’ and his two thugs were forgotten about.

  Nance

  Contracters

  Things continued on fairly normally after that. Or as normal as they could be really. Karen continued to improve at school, and he continued to screw her brains out every Sunday, and just plain fuck her a couple of other nights of the week. Shadow figured he was spending more time with his dick in Karen than any other two girls he knew combined. It was rather different for him, but he did enjoy it.

  After about two months Karen had started making friends at school and would go out at times to be with them. Shadow was fairly easy going about it, he expected her home by a certain time, and he expected her to keep up with her schoolwork. If she wanted to bring anyone over she had to let him know in advance because he felt it could lead to embarrassing circumstances to put it mildly. So far however she hadn’t invited any of her friends over, which was fine with him.

  Today Karen had been out with a few of her friends from school, she was really enjoying school now, her classmates were a weird mix of kids from folks who obviously had money or influence to send them there. Some were pretty well tied up in the dating scene, but she wasn’t interested in that. Shadow kept her rather happy and she suspected he might not be interested in sharing her. She was surprised at how affectionate he was, he loved to snuggle and cuddle and hold her after sex, and any mornings he slept with her, which was fairly often, he’d send her off to school with a hug and a kiss.

  “Hey, Karen!”

  She stopped and looked; it was Ben, one of the seniors from school. His dad was someone important, but she didn’t remember who. That sort of stuff just wasn’t important to her.

  “Hi Ben,” she said acknowledging him with a small nod of her head.

  “I’m surprised to see you down here,” he started walking up along side her as she continued down the street.

  “I’m heading home; I was out at the Mall with Jenny, Melissa and Stephanie.”

  “You live down here?” He asked looking around; it wasn’t one of the nicer parts of town.

  “It’s on the way,” She replied, Karen didn’t like the way he was looking at her much. He’d made a few passes at her at school, but she hadn’t responded to them.

  “Well maybe I should walk you home, it’s dangerous down here.”

  “Oh, that’s just hearsay,” Karen replied, “people down here mind their own business really.”

  “You trying to get rid of me?” Ben asked her sounding a little incensed.

  “You’re nice and all, Ben, but I’m just not interested in you, sorry.” She found it a little funny. Six months ago she would have done whatever he said, probably even three months ago. But now, now she wasn’t interested and wasn’t going to do it just because someone told her to. Shadow would be proud; she was starting to think for herself.

  “I don’t think so,” he said, and suddenly pushed her into an alley. “My Dad runs this town, and I want a shot at that sweet little body of yours. All the other girls let me have my way with them. Now it’s your turn.”

  Karen grabbed her necklace and blinked at him. His expression had turned rather ugly. “Get away from me, Ben. I’m not interested, I don’t want you.” She wasn’t going to cave just because he was acting aggressive and dominate. He wasn’t her boyfriend, he wasn’t her man.

  Ben slapped her, making her head turn and causing her to stumble back into the wall. “I don’t care if you’re interested bitch, I’m interested and that’s all that matters. After I’ve had you, I bet you’ll be begging for more though!”

  Karen squeezed the cathead like she had been shown and held it; she felt it click after a couple of seconds.

  “I’m warning you, Ben, leave me alone.”

  Ben laughed, “You said it yourself, people mind their own business here,” and he advanced on her.

  Shadow was off at Liz’s place checking out Jess again, seeing as he owned half her contract he figured he’d see how she was doing. He didn’t screw her this time though, he tended to avoid ‘working’ women as it were. It was there that the alert on his phone went off, he looked at it immediately, Karen was in trouble. He noted the area and took off like a shot, shifting forms, it would take him several minutes to get there, but get there he would.

  Karen kicked Ben and retreated deeper into the alley. He was blocking the exit to the street and she couldn’t get past him. Her head swam from the slap as he laughed and followed her.

  “You’re just making it worse on yourself, Bitch. The sooner you accept it, the nicer I’ll be.”

  She tripped over some garbage and he was on her then, ripping her blouse open and then her bra. She kicked and yelled and hit him with her fists and just as he grabbed her tits with his hands she suddenly felt something welling up inside her. She put her hands against him and let it all out and he stopped.

  Karen blinked and looked at Ben. He wasn’t moving, wasn’t breathing, nothing. He was just stopped dead in his tracks, grubby hands on her chest, that sick leer stuck on his face. She started to push at him, to pull him away when suddenly a large black furred hand grabbed his neck and ripped him away with such force he flew across the alley and bounced against the far wall twenty feet off the ground.

  “Shadow!” She cried as he picked her up and held her against him.

  “You okay, Hon?” he whispered in her ear, keeping one eye on her attacker as he laid
there on the ground, still frozen in that odd position.

  Karen clung to him and nodded, burying her face in his furry shoulder and crying, relieved at being saved.

  Shadow held her there and whispered calming words to her, stroking her back, and giving her a few minutes to calm down. He noticed the kid that had been attacking her was still frozen in place. Shifting to a different form he did a little sensing and he began to suspect that one of her powers had finally manifested.

  “Tell me what happened, Kitten,” he whispered softly in her ear, and listened as she choked out the full account. Her sobs lessening as she finished.

  “Well I don’t think he’s going to be bothering you for a while,” Shadow smiled at her, “You seem to have put him in some sort of stasis.”

  Karen blanched, “What if he stays like that forever?”

  Shadow shrugged, “Who cares, I’m going to kill him anyways for trying to rape you.”

  Karen gasped, “You can’t!”

  Shadow growled, “Want to bet?”

  “But his dad is important; he’s got friends at school!”

  Shadow looked at her, “So?”

  “Please don’t kill him, Shadow.” She hugged him close and put her head against his chest. “Please, Daddy? For me? I’ll do anything for you.”

  Shadow paused. She’d do anything for him anyway, he already knew that. He didn’t think she had any feelings for this guy, who should be dead by all rights. On the other hand did he want her to be as hard bitten as he was? Mercy was a trait he all but lacked. Giving in to her might be good for her. She shouldn’t grow up like him.

  “Why?” He asked.

  “He didn’t actually rape me; I did stop him, Shadow. Maybe he’ll learn, he at least deserves a second chance.”

  Shadow nodded, “Okay, he lives.” He smiled as Karen tipped her head back and rose up on her toes to kiss him. “But!” He gave a slight growl, “He’s going to be punished.”

  Karen nodded slowly, “He deserves that.”

  Shadow looked down at her, “Can you get home okay?”

  Karen put her clothes in order, there were enough buttons left she could fasten her blouse and it wasn’t all that far to get home. She pulled the collar out of her pocket and put it on. People around here knew who Shadow was, they’d leave her be. She nodded, “I’m fine.”

  “Any idea how long that stasis you did to him might last?”

  She shook her head. “Let me touch him.”

  Shadow picked up the kid by the scruff and carried him over to her. She touched him and concentrated a moment. Then the kid was suddenly moving again, trying to continue what he was doing and then he stopped in surprise as he realized everything had changed.

  “What ...” was all he got out before Shadow clipped him hard on the back of the head and knocked him out.

  “Okay,” Shadow said, “I’ll be home in a little while. Think about what you want for dinner, I’ll take you someplace nice.”

  Karen smiled, it was Tuesday, Shadow always went out on Tuesdays, it was one of his big nights, and he’d just tossed it for her. “Okay, I’ll see you soon!” she said and ran off for home.

  Shadow threw the kid over his shoulder and headed off himself. He knew just the punishment to fit this crime. Twenty minutes later he entered one of the bordellos that were located in the warehouse district. One that catered to a different kind of a crowd.

  The man behind the desk was rather large, wearing quite a bit of leather too. His eyes narrowed a bit as Shadow dumped the kid on the floor.

  “What do you want?”

  “I want this kid ass raped, three different guys, at least a couple of hours, lots of pictures taken, and his complete humiliation. Think you can handle that one for me?”

  The guy looked at the kid, then back at Shadow, “He’s got a nice ass, not a bad looking kid. But we don’t do that sort of thing here Shadow, you should know better.”

  Shadow put ten grand on the desk, “I caught him in the act of raping someone I know. I suspect she wasn’t the first he’s attacked either. Either he gets a lesson, or he gets dead. That I suspect you won’t have a problem with Jules.”

  Jules took the money and scowled down at the kid, “Rapist hun? Oh yeah, I have a few guys that’ll be happy to deal with this. I might even go first.”

  “Just make sure he’s awake for it, and send me copies of the pictures. Drop him off uptown somewhere. And keep a gag on him and a blindfold. Got it?”

  “Sure thing Shadow, sure thing ....”

  Shadow walked out as Jules gagged and blindfolded the kid. By tomorrow morning the kid would be sore as hell and have a better understanding of manners, Shadow was sure.

  Shadow took Karen out that night to a nice restaurant, wined and dined her, and made sure that she was all right. He wasn’t too surprised that she’d pulled through it okay, after the life she’d had rape had probably lost a lot of it’s sting, plus she had managed to stop her assailant herself and he had arrived soon enough to have stopped him even if she hadn’t. He was more proud of her ability to stand up for herself and not submit to her attackers demands.

  “I can’t believe I have a power,” Karen said to Shadow hours later as they laid in his bed, bodies still glowing with the after affects of their sex play.

  “Believe it,” Shadow purred and kissed her. “I’ll have to set up something for you to practice on. Probably start off with animals, then get a few volunteers to work on.”

  “Do you think that’s safe?”

  “That’s why I thought it best to start with animals. But after what you did to that kid I’m sure it’ll be okay. He seemed fine. I just want you to be able to control this aspect soon before exploring further.”

  Karen scooted down a little and cuddled against Shadow’s broad chest. “What do you mean by that?”

  “This power will be your strongest, that’s why it manifested first. Odds are there will be a number of other things this power will let you do as you learn to understand it. I suspect you’ll also have at least one, probably several, minor abilities.”

  “Wow.”

  Shadow grinned and curled his tail around her and hooked his leg around one of hers as well then started to purr.

  “So I’m going to be a super, aren’t I?”

  “Yes,” Shadow said softly, “I think you are. That’s why I want you to leave here and go somewhere else when you finish school.”

  “But I like it here, I want to stay with you” Karen whined softly

  Shadow laughed, “I’ll stunt your growth, you have to realize that I’ll always treat you like a sex toy, I’ll never let you grow up.”

  “But I like being your sex toy!” Karen complained and snuggled closer rubbing her face against his chest fur.

  Shadow smiled and purred a little louder, “Oh you will be for a while yet. But I don’t want you to be a bad guy either; I want you to be a good guy if you take any sides at all.”

  “Why?” Karen was confused.

  “Because I’m not a bad guy. Sure I hang out here, but I’m mostly neutral. But I’ve seen what it does to people like you. I think I owe it to Rex to see you make the right decision. Understood?”

  Karen nodded.

  “Good, now get some sleep.”

  Shadow got the pictures in his email the next day, so he had his proof that the kid had gotten punished, not that he doubted Jules much. The funny thing was the kid seemed to be enjoying it by the end there. He was sure some psychologist could tell him all sorts of things about that, but he hardly cared. He just dumped the pictures into his incriminating evidence file. Never knew when some blackmail would come in handy after all. Things quieted down for the next few months and his life pretty much was routine, though in this time they did wrap up another one of Scorecard’s operations. Scorecard was about to get put away for a long time and people were already starting to fight to take his place, but with so many still off the streets and in jail it didn’t boil over into the public much, ju
st enough to make the news interesting.

  However one morning he saw the sign Tomas used to contact him, the one that was reserved for emergencies. Shadow hadn’t heard of any agents or people being taken, so he had to wonder what this was all about.

  Shadow walked into the coffee shop two blocks over and bought some Tea. Then he headed out the back door and waited. Two minutes later Tomas showed.

  “So what’s all so important this time?” Shadow asked, stepping out of the shadow he was hiding in to let Tomas know it was him.

  “I’d love to know how you do that,” Tomas said. He still couldn’t see Shadow when he was in his element, even at one in the afternoon.

  “So would a lot of people. So what’s up?”

  Tomas looked around, “I picked up a rumor up town, a couple of my FBI contacts intercepted some messages.”

  “And?” Shadow leaned against the wall, Tomas seemed concerned.

  “Someone’s hired a hit man to kill you, Shadow.”

  Shadow blinked, “Someone took out a contract on me?” He scowled a bit, giving a slight growl, “I haven’t heard anything about it down here.”

  Tomas shook his head, “You wouldn’t have. They’re bringing in someone from out of town. A real heavy hitter apparently.”

  Shadow laughed softly, “I see, I think I’ve just been complemented. How much does it cost to hit the Shadow?”

  “Apparently half a million.”

  Shadow blinked! “Half a mill? Who in their right mind would spend that much? I’m not a big player.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short, but what I want to know is why? You been up to something I should know about?” Tomas looked closely at Shadow, trying to read his expression.

  Shadow shrugged, “Cleaned up a few of Scorecard’s animal operations, neither Circe nor I would allow those to continue once we discovered them. It was fun.”

  Tomas winced at that, the expression on Shadow’s face when he said ‘fun’ made it pretty clear what kind of fun Shadow meant. Sometimes he forgot that Shadow had no qualms about killing people. He just seemed to stick to people who really seemed to deserve it, or did it in self-defense. The DA had never been able to build a murder one rap against the cat; because in the few cases the DA suspected him there’d never been any witnesses. While Tomas had a good idea of the real score, publicly Shadow was always discrete.