My GA Writing Prompts - 3. Investigative Instincts

"This doesn't feel right."　

Parker stalked back and forth in front of the Victorian era row house. The dwelling was tightly packed among its sister homes on the sunny street. Like most of the others, it had been converted to a multi-unit rental, but an aged elegance still shown through the pediments and verge board trim. Students of the nearby university were the primary occupants of apartment homes in this part of town.　

As Parker watched, residents of the neighborhood came and went, laden with backpacks or messenger bags.　 He assumed they were going to or returning from a class. Most were on foot, but occasionally one would hop onto a bike or scooter parked along the tree-lined street. He received friendly smiles from a couple of the women who passed by him, but for the most part no one took notice as he paced the sidewalk.　

"Nick, I'm telling you, Renatus is wrong on this one. We should approach Calliope Rivers in person, not go sneaking in to poke around. She's a very private person. I can pick up that much from out here. This home invasion we're planning is going to feel like a violation. A very personal one. We’ll never get her on our side if there are any signs that her privacy has been breached. She’ll want nothing to do with us."

"So, you'll just have to make sure to leave no sign her place was searched. That shouldn't be too hard for you."

Parker could envision his partner, Nick, seated at the coffee shop on the other side of the campus. He was probably sipping his afternoon tea and flicking through a newspaper. His face would bear no indication of the forceful conversation he was having with Parker. Telepathy. That was Nick Leonides special talent. The man had a few other talents to which only Parker was privy.

Though originally paired up as a professional team, they’d quickly become linked in all the ways the word partner implied. It was just as well their personal and professional lives were so closely entwined. They’d had little respite from their work on behalf of the Cabiri the past few years.

Just days off their previous assignment, Parker and Nick had been sent here with orders to covertly investigate a young undergraduate student. Their handler, Renatus Arastradero, had been unusually reticent to share how Calliope Rivers had come to the Cabiri’s attention. Whatever the facts, they must have been notable for the Cabiri to have dispatched their top investigative team. Both he and Nick suspected the young woman was a potentional new recruit of the Cabiri, but that the secretive cabal wanted more background information before approaching her.

"What specifically leads you to believe there's a better way to get the information we need? If you're picking up on a privacy barrier that strong then all the more reason to suspect she has something to hide." Nick pointed out.　

Parker hissed air out through his teeth. How to explain the odd reaction he had to the residence of Calliope Rivers?　 He was not surprised that the physical surroundings gave off a vibrancy that almost had a personality of their own.　 Seemingly solid objects were made up of the same energy molecules as everything else in the universe. Over time, their energy vibrations would subtly shift and sync with the patterns of whomever frequented their vicinity. No, it was perfectly normal for the row house to reflect the energy of its occupant, but it was definitely an anomaly for him to be picking up on the vibrations.　　

Those sorts of energy readings weren't his specialty. He only picked up on them if they were especially strong or if he had a close connection to the person who had left them behind. He could walk into the residences of his sisters and immediately feel enveloped in the energy of his childhood home, even though none of them lived near the place they’d been raised.　 Of course, he would always be able to find his lover, Nick. Even if the man only briefly occupied a space, Parker's own energy vibrations would instantly hum in tune to the vibrations Nick's energy had left behind.　

None of this explained why he was picking up on the vibrations left by Calliope Rivers. Parker could only assume that she had deliberately left behind the impression of privacy. It's odd that the unusual energy hadn't been mentioned in Renatus’ admittedly sparse report. The whole investigation was becoming more and more uncomfortably odd.

"Just a feeling, Nick. Probably too much time in the sun today."

Parker subsided in his efforts to explain his desire to abort the surveillance. Logically, he knew this plan for a brief look-see at their target was the best approach. He started to hope that she wouldn't invite him in once they met. Maybe they would be forced to use another approach to check her out.

From his vantage point on the top step of the entrance to the row house Parker could see clearly up and down the sidewalk. He pulled his patience about him and resisted the urge to lay down in a patch of sun and nap. It had been a long afternoon loitering in front of the house.

He perked up when he saw someone approaching on the sidewalk a block away.

"Is she back home?" Nick's question drifted into his head. He'd apparently picked up on Parker's renewed alertness.

"No, it’s not our target. Just a kid coming up the walk. Looks young. He must be a freshman."

The report from Renatus listed Calliope Rivers in her early 20s, not much younger than Nick and himself. Parker relaxed though he kept one eye on the kid’s progress up the sidewalk. Foot traffic in the neighborhood had dwindled.　 Only Parker and this young man, who appeared to be lost in thought, were outside now. He wore the typical student outfit of jeans and cross-trainers topped with a short sleeve polo shirt and baseball cap. The cap concealed specific features at this distance, but Parker had the impression of youth and intensity packaged in a body that put one in mind of a featherweight class wrestler. Strong, compact and yet light on his feet.　

"He just turned up the front walkway," Parker stood as he got his first direct look at the guy. It took a couple more seconds, then he realized.

"Nick, I think Calliope Rivers is finally home."

"Hey Cat. What brings you to my doorstep?" a lyrical voice murmured in Parker's direction as its owner leaned over to tentatively extend her fingers for him to sniff before scratching lightly under his chin.

Parker froze in place struggling to sort and process the deluge of information presented on both the physical and sub-atomic level. He was suddenly glad to be in his cat form where he wasn't expected to carry on a conversation. He arched his back luxuriously into the hand that caressed down his back. Calliope Rivers undoubtedly would not be greeting his human form by intimately running her hand down his body.

"She has beautiful energy, Nick. Clean. Intricate. Lively."

"The assignment, Parker. You need to get inside her apartment. Are you OK? Do you need back-up?" Nick sounded disturbed and who could blame him? Parker knew he didn't sound anything like his usual self. He rarely experienced a personal reaction to energy streams given off by others, especially while they were on assignment. He normally was focused and efficient to a fault. With an effort he pulled himself together.

"No, I'm fine. Just adjusting to such a long time in cat form." With a regretful sigh he twitched his tail and stepped out from Calliope's caress. "I'll concentrate here and be in touch when I learn something."

"I'll be right here."

Nick would leave the link open between them. Telepathy was Nick's energy specialty, one of them. Parker could manage rudimentary telepathic communication when needed but Nick could create links effortlessly and over great distance. With the telepathic link silent, Parker focused all his attention on the target.　

"Do you live around here, kitty? I don't remember seeing you before now," She held her fingers out patiently, inviting him to come near again.　

He gave a small meow and stepped closer so that she could scratch his ears. Those fingers felt great. He hadn't experienced a reaction like this to another person since meeting Nick. The thought was disconcerting. He and Nick were mated. Their energy flows were linked. How was it possible that this girl's energy teased his own so delightfully?

"You're looking pretty rough, Cat. Were you in a fight or something?"

He purred as she scratched, trying to look friendly and pitiful at the same time. He had deliberately matted his fur in an attempt to complete his disguise as a stray. Parker needed her to temporarily adopt him.

"Let's get you cleaned up while we decide what to do with you." With that, she scooped him under one arm and entered her apartment.

He was in no doubt now that this was a woman's body as he felt the soft cushion of a small breast against his ribcage.　 It was a rare woman who aroused his sexual interest. Perhaps it was the fact that she was clearly a tomboy, if that was the correct term for an adult woman dressed in male attire and groomed to match. He had mistaken her for a teenager until she was quite close.　

There was no mistaking the lilting feminine voice as she'd spoken to him though, and it sounded all the more charming coming from the boyish looking female. He wondered what Nick would think of Calliope Rivers when the two met.　

He jumped out of her arms as soon as they were across the threshold. His first impression was of a small space, sparsely furnished even for a student. Parker followed Calliope into the kitchen where she promptly swiped him up and deposited him in the sink.

"First order of business," A firm hand held him in place. "is to get you cleaned up."

With that the warm a spray from the faucet soaked his fur. Parker reflexively unsheathed and sheathed his claws as he forced himself to endure the bath without a struggle. For the most part, he had made peace with the fact that his alter-ego, his shifted form, was nothing but a short-hair, tabby domestic cat. Not a lynx or tiger or mountain lion or other large cat like 97.3% of the other shifters. No, he was part of the 2.7% that shifted into the kind of cat found in millions of households around the world. Parker let out a little hiss as the spray of water neared his head, but Calliope was careful to direct the deluge away from his ears and eyes.

"You’re going to feel much better," the girl kept up a running string of words to him. "Trust me on this."

Truthfully, he would feel better. Though a necessary part of his disguise, the soiled and matted fur was uncomfortable, and the afternoon in the sun had not helped. The girl smothered him in thick towels to dry him off, obviously wary of his claws now that he wasn’t being held under the water.

He suffered the indignity of being manhandled and transported at the whim of someone else. Large cats, normal shifters, didn’t have these problems. People respected the boundaries of large cats. Still, the girl wasn’t as bad as some people who’d handled him. At least she was treating him like a cat, not an infant. Finally she set him back down on the kitchen floor, and he reflexively twitched his tail and craned his head to tame the damp fur on his back with his tongue.

"Well, Cat, make yourself at home while I see if there’s any food around."

Parker picked himself up and tried to exit the room with as much dignity as the wet fur allowed.

Ironic that he would find himself in this position. The Cabiri had called him into service as a covert investigator exactly because he could pass so easily onto the homes of persons they sought to investigate. Only in the modern era had small cat shifters found any acceptance among the shifter establishment. As recently as 500 years ago, his kind would have been killed off as mutants. Runts.

Thousands of shifters, telepaths and other energy workers had lost their lives in the witch hunts of the past millennia. Small cat shifters had been doubly targeted. They had been killed by their own kind, often by parents too ashamed to admit their offspring was a lowly domestic cat.

Parker wandered the small apartment, not doing any sort of formal investigation at this point. He just wanted to get a sense of the layout and make note of items he would make a closer inspection of later on. His plan was to shift to human form at night and do a more thorough search of her computer and papers. With any luck, he’d be able to stick around a few days and get a sense of Calliope’s schedule and her circle of acquaintances.

He wandered into the bedroom and poked his head into her closet. Not a single dress or pair of high heels in sight. He wondered if that was personal preference or part of some odd deception. It certainly added to the mystery surrounding her. Impulsively he leapt onto her bed and rolled on top. Calliope smelled good. Fresh. No artificial fragrances.

"There you are."

Parker sat up with a start as Calliope came into the room. Good God, what was he doing? He couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to roll around on this stranger’s bed. Cat form or not, that was inexcusable. This woman was the target of an investigation. He could only be glad Nick hadn’t witnessed that breach of protocol.

"Found a can of tuna for you." Once again, Parker was scooped up and cradled against the breast of the slight, muscular woman he’d come to spy on. He made a note to brief Nick in private of the full experience here in Calliope River’s apartment before releasing a report up to Renatus.

The energy around here was affecting him in strange ways. Parker wished Nick had been able to accompany him on this part of the investigation. He needed to find out if Nick also noticed anything unusual in her vicinity. They both needed to press Renatus on what had led the Cabiri to investigate this woman in the first place.