A prompt a week - 54. A Neko for Blaine

“The building is surrounded. The last one just entered the building,” Maria announced over the headset,

“Go!” Blaine sent his people in to arrest the last of the ring.

It had been four years of carefully hunting down the poachers. These people were like cockroaches. Stop them here only to find them there. His team had been going from Africa to India, to Australia, and then up to Japan. If there was an exotic animal, well, then there was some idiot who didn’t care if an entire family was wiped out, as long as they got their pet.

“Um, Sir, you better come down to the basement.” Jaquan’s deep voice pulled Blaine out of his head.

“Issue, Jay?”

“It…just come down, Sir.” There was a pause. “It’s something you’ll need to handle personally.”

Blaine froze. The last time that one of his team called him like that, they had found children being trafficked as well.

“God in heaven, not again,” Blaine muttered as he began running toward the stairs.

Going from the main floor to the basement, Blaine immediately noticed the difference. Upstairs there was light, the cages while crowded were clean, and it was warm. Down here it was a true dungeon. It was cold, damp, and smelled of feces and urine. There were a lot of empty cages, but they were filthy.

“Jay, where the hell are you?” Blaine paused as he spotted Jaquan step out from behind some boxes and wave his flashlight.

“Over here!” Jay pointed his light over the floor so Blaine could avoid the items strewn across the floor.

“Why did you need me?” Blaine asked as he narrowed the distance between them.

Jaquan had been with the team for years. It took something unusual to shake him. The tall dark man stood shaking, his skin glistened with sweat.

Blaine took Jaquan’s arm. “Relax. I’ll take it from here.”

Blaine pulled his flashlight and just followed the smell. You couldn’t miss the stench. It was a mix of blood, shit, and urine. Blaine thought he was ready for anything, but he didn’t know what he was seeing now.

The long tail caught his sight first. It was missing fur and looked to be burned and cut in spots. He followed it to where it attached itself just above a bloodied ass. Wait? Blaine was looking at a human ass with a tail? He moved the light up the scarred back to the long black and white hair and the cat ears. Cat ears? Oh god, someone had taken a Neko.

“Blaine, do you need help?” Maria asked from behind him.

“Is Jaquan okay?” Blaine kneeled beside the body, feeling for a pulse. He found one.

“I sent him upstairs. What do we have?” Maria carefully made her way in.

“I think he is a Neko, and he's in bad condition. It looks like he was beaten and whipped. Breathing, but not sure what else might have been done to him.”

Maria came in quickly. She was a nurse and had her first aid kit. Within moments she was wiping him down and wrapping parts of him.

“They broke a rib, and his left eye is swollen. They really did a number on his back, but luckily it is mostly bruising. The cuts on his butt are going to sting. I did have to stitch up one of the cuts. His tail was burned and cut. We need to get him out of here.”

Blaine slipped his jacket off and swaddled the boy in it. The kid had never regained consciousness so Blaine carried him bridal style back up to the main floor.

The various team members checked in. The animals were cleaned, put in different cages and checked out by a team of veterinarians. Maria, who was Blaine’s second in command helped sort everything while he held the Neko.

“I’m Dr. Alexander and this is my wife, Dr. Brittany Weiss. I think we should take a look at him.” Dr. Alexander pointed at the Neko.

“Unfortunately, they don’t fall into either fully human or fully animal. They are so rare.” Dr. Brittany immediately began listening to the Neko’s heart.

Dr. Alexander began carefully washing the small body. “I’d say he is eighteen or nineteen, Brit.”

“Yeah, he seems small for his age, but he has the adult claw, so he has to be at least seventeen.”

“Really. I thought he was maybe twelve with as small as he is.” Blaine watched as they rebandaged the Neko after a sponge bath and a full examination.

“So who should I contact about helping him?” Blaine looked at the two doctors and waited for an answer.

“Well, he doesn’t have a standing as of right now. I don’t feel right putting him in a cage-like an animal,” Dr. Alexander stated.

“We could try to send him in as a kidnap victim,” Dr. Brittany said pinching her lower lip. “Although with the way the politics are they might just take him to experiment on. You know that whole no foreigner bit.”

Blaine looked in horror from one to the other.

“Blaine, we do have an issue here. The doctors are right. If we put him down as part of the seizure, the Neko becomes government property.” Maria looked at Blaine and then at the Neko.

“Take him, Blaine.” Jaquan’s deep voice surprised Blaine as he turned to find the big man staring at the unconscious figure.

“Take him? It isn’t like taking a stray cat!” Blaine growled at Jay.

“But he is. He is a stray that got stuck here. We don’t want him hurt further. This is like when we found the kids. He is a kid.” Jaquan’s eyes left the Neko on the table and pinned Blaine with his stare. “You’re the boss. Help him.”

“Yes, Blaine,” Maria added her voice to Jaquan’s. “Help him.”

Blaine looked at the two doctors for help. They just looked at him and shrugged.

Blaine cautious walked over to the table and gently ran his fingers through the soft hair of the Neko. In his sleep, the Neko turned into Blaine’s hand.

“Fine,” Blaine whispered. “But you two are going to have to help me.”

“Naturally,” Maria said with a smirk.

“Let’s get him into your car, now.” Jaquan walked over and swept the small figure into his arms following Maria and Blaine out of the room.

“Well, that was a nice event that never happened,” Alexander stated as he kissed his wife and then followed the others out of the warehouse.