Alex shifted the pages in his hands, trying to focus on the words while the Captain's eyes peered into his soul from across the desk. The skin on the back of his neck prickled and Alex looked up. Dark eyes studied him from over a pair of wire rimmed glasses.
"I can accept one random call about a horse with its mane on fire. Two tops. But dispatch intercepted six calls last night about Hellhounds and Nightmares running loose across the city."
Alex glanced back down at the pages and skimmed through an entry detailing how one woman called an ambulance for chest pain after discovering a dog the size of a Shetland pony in her garden. "It's a Hunt," he tried to explain. The words sounded as pitiful as he feared. Of course it was a Hunt, that wasn't the issue.
"I realize that, but they’re out of season and operating in a restricted area. Cite them and move them on down the road."
"It's not that easy," Alex said. Citing a demon pack was sort of like walking up to a poacher with his sights trained on the last Black Rhino in existence and kindly asking him to lay down his weapon. The main difference being the poacher would only shoot you...Hellhounds would tear you limb from limb, then shred your soul into a million pieces.
The Captain pushed his glasses up his long nose. "I didn't say it was going to be easy, I just need it done." He motioned to a precarious stack of cardboard filing boxes behind his desk. "I've got my hands full with the Feds right now and I don't need this blowing up in my face too."
"Understood." One of the boxes behind the desk caught Alex’s eye as he stood up. His heart skipped a beat at the case number written across the side in thick, black Sharpie. "Is there something I should know about?"
The Captain looked over his shoulder to the box that held Alex's attention. "I hope not."
Taking a deep breath, Alex forced himself out the door before he asked any questions he'd regret.
"How did that go?" Jamie asked as Alex stepped into the Animal Welfare office.
"About as you'd expect." Alex tossed the stack of incident reports on his already crowded desk.
"What now?"
"I'm going to try Don again, then we'll think of something."
The phone rang once, then twice. Where the hell was Don? The Seeker’s cell phone was practically attached to his hip. Alex had seen him send a correctly spelled and punctuated text message while loping a horse across a pasture after a herd of cattle. Five rings. Another one or two and Don's voicemail would pick up. Alex shook his head. He'd already left two messages this morning, no sense in leaving another.
"Hello?" The dull, flat voice that answered was far from Don's usual playful and sarcastic greeting. Alex wished he hadn't called.
"I was starting to get worried," Alex said. "It isn't like you to let your phone go to voicemail."
"Dustin had a rough night and I just got to bed an hour ago. How did your hunting turn out?"
"Not as ideally as I would have liked."
"Kitsunes are tricky critters. This one more than most. Otherwise he'd have succumbed to the Hellhounds by now."
Alex hesitated, feeling guilty for what he was about to ask. "I actually called to see if you had some time today...."
Alex could almost hear Don roll his eyes on the other end of the line.
"Come on, Alex, I don't have any extra energy today. Why don't you put Mike to work for a change? He's got a hell of a nose on him and he shouldn’t have any trouble tracking the kitsune from the last area I gave you.”
Alex eyed the oversized dog bed taking up the majority of the cramped office. Mike slept on his back, all four legs in the air like a dead cockroach. "Hope you have the name of your Healer friend handy, because I'm going to need one if I suggest that to Mike."
"Offer him a Scooby Snack or something."
"I'll give it a try." Alex paused again, not sure whether he should say something. Don was self-sufficient by nature, but.... "You guys need anything? I'm a little tied up here, but I can try to make it out to help with chores."
"We're fine, Alex. Catch your kitsune. Everyone will sleep better without Nightmares roaming the streets."
"No Don?" Jamie asked when Alex hung up the phone.
"Not today."
"So what now?"
Alex glanced down at the incident list on his desk. "I guess we head back out with the traps this evening. We can track the Hunt’s movement through the reports and...." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Maybe Mike can try sniffing the kitsune out.”
Mike's upper lip curled, showing his canines, and he growled at whatever monster he chased in his dreams.
"I think he heard you," Jamie said.
Mike jerked once and then flipped over, on his feet before Alex could blink. Hackles raised, his faint dream growl become the real thing as he crept towards the room's back door an inch at a time.
"Easy, Mike," Alex said. "It's only a dream."
Mike held his ground, his growl growing louder and more insistent until the saliva at the corner of his mouth started to foam.
"What's wrong with him?" Jamie asked.
"No clue." Alex pushed back from his desk and went to Mike's side. "Must have been some bad dream, partner." Alex pushed the door open, hoping that Mike would calm down once he realized there was nothing there. A light breeze tainted with the smell of exhaust blew last year’s leftover dead leaves along the concrete. "See, nothing...."
Alex stopped as a black fox sporting three tails ambled down the alley as if he owned the place.
The kitsune bowed its head slightly as it walked through the door. He wound in and out of Mike's legs, flicking his tails in the wolf's face.
"Enjoy your chase last night?" Alex asked.
"Immensely," the kitsune said, brushing some imaginary dirt off his suit jacket.
"I'm glad you're having fun." Alex closed the door a bit more forcefully than necessary.
"Aren't you?"
"No."
The kitsune smiled at Jamie. He glided across the room, taking her hand and raising it to his lips. "How about you?" he asked. "Are you having fun, Miss...?"
Jamie blushed and Alex felt something start to gnaw its way out of his stomach. "Let go of her," he said.
The kitsune smiled. "I think the lady can speak for herself.”
"You can call me Jamie."
"What a lovely name. Mine is Charlie. Charlie Todd.
Alex scoffed, walking across the room so that he was back in the kitsune's line of sight. "What kind of name is that?"
Charlie dropped Jamie's hand. "A name that my family has passed down for generations. One of my ancestors was a bit…non-traditional."
Goosebumps broke out along Alex’s arm as the kitsune's smile faded and his congenial gaze chilled to a frosty glare. Alex wasn't sure if it was him or the man's relatives that sparked such a change in demeanor. He worried it was the former.
Charlie's eyes thawed as quickly as they had frozen over. "I'm hungry. Take me to lunch and we can discuss this safe home of yours. I'm bored with the Hunt."
"There's a diner up the street,” Alex offered.
Charlie winkled his nose in disgust. "Sushi," the kitsune said.
Alex forced himself to smile. Of course the fox wanted sushi.
"I hear Yokozuma is good," Jamie said.
"Sushi Train is more like it," Alex grumbled.