The Shifter and Her Human Mate

Chapter 5

John's POV

"I don't know how much more I can take, John!!" The devastation on Daniel's face is absolutely gut-wrenching. I stared at him, pity and empathy weighing heavily on my chest.

After going into the hotel resort bar alone, Ellie disappeared without a trace. Young attractive girls like Ellie Gallagher disappear everyday. The more time that goes by, the less likely she will be found. We are already past the forty-eight hour window a missing person is most likely to be found. Every hour that goes by increases the urgency to find her. After searching the French Quarter today and putting up missing person flyers, we went back to Daniel's hotel room to regroup.

I thought back to the last time I saw Ellie, her red hair and bright eyes ingrained on my mind. The last time I saw her before our encounter days ago in the French Quarter, she was a child. I briefly played a game of catch with her.

Now Ellie's a woman who has stirred my blood in ways no other woman has. It's absolutely killing me.

Ellie is my best friend's daughter. She's barely an adult. I'm an older man with too many skeletons in my closet. Ellie is too much an angel for the likes of me.

My interest right now is to find her and return her to her family. And stay away from her after before I f**k things up royally.

"Daniel, what do we know so far?" I asked him.

"Absolutely nothing! I can't believe that girl had the nerve to go in some place like that alone! I've TOLD her what happens to stupid little girls like her every single day!!" Audra, Daniel's wife, said spitefully. Any other mother would have been frantic about their missing daughter. Not Audra Gallagher. I haven't seen her shed a tear.

I've never liked Audra very much. There was something about her that rubbed me the wrong way. On the few occasions Daniel and I got together outside of work and Audra was with him, I got the sense she was sizing me up. In my line of work, I know "the look" women give to men they have an interest in. Audra was never inappropriate, though I didn't give her much of an opportunity to try.

She talked to Daniel like a child and from the limited information Daniel confided in me, is over-bearing and demands perfection at all times. This was the first time I ever saw her in a situation concerning her daughter, and I wasn't impressed at all.

"The cops have questioned the club's owner. The club security cameras caught Ellie coming in alone and leaving with two women. We couldn't see their faces." Daniel stared angrily at Audra, ignoring her outburst.

"Daniel, many nightclubs in the US swipe drivers licenses. There is software to limit s*x and identifiers like hair color and height, weight, etc." I informed him.

"This is why I called you for help! I'll ask the police about this!" Daniel said excitedly. As much as I wanted to log into the national registry to look for names and go from there, it would tip Mr. Z off to my whereabouts. I had been trying desperately to stay off his radar, using a fake name and identification to fly to New Orleans.

The contents of the flash drive I killed for came to mind. Eventually I will have to tell Daniel what I have. But the last thing Daniel needs right now is to be dragged into my mess.

"Have they checked the resort cameras also? Maybe facial recognition software caught the girls Ellie left with?" Right after I said that, Daniel's cell phone rang. He answered it, reaching for Audra's hand. I didn't miss her pulling it back and huffing to stare out the window.

"Yes Officer....no Ellie doesn't know anyone here...that's fantastic! Please keep me updated!" Daniel hung up and looked at us.

"One of the shop cameras caught the face of the brunette Ellie left the club with. They're checking drivers licenses now." Internally I breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's a start, Daniel." I smiled at him in reassurance.

"Bloody hell that girl is going to get a tongue lashing when I get my hands on her!" Audra told us.

"And just how is that going to help her?" The words were out before I could stop myself.

"Excuse me?" Audra challenged.

"Mrs. Gallagher, I have handled a lot of missing persons cases. I have found all but two who made it clear they didn't want to be found. You have to keep a level head. If you accost her the moment you find her again, it's just going to push Ellie further away. Your husband and I both know when Ellie is found, she is going to be traumatized and in need of understanding and love. Who better to give that to her than the two of you." I swallowed as Audra stared at me and her husband in utter rage.

"You don't have any room to talk, Mr. Hill. You are NOT a father I'm going to take my migraine medication and lying down. Daniel, call me when you find out something!" She stormed to her bedroom and slammed the door. Daniel's face turned blood red.

"Sorry you had to see that, mate. Audra has never been one for nurturing." Daniel muttered in exasperation.

"I'm just trying to help. I apologize. I don't want to cause issues between you and your wife."

"Ellie and Audra have always butted heads. From the moment Ellie was born she was determined to do things on her terms. It causes Audra a lot of angst. As you can tell, Audra has to have order in our lives and believe those in her orbit have to live like she does." Daniel told me.

I said nothing, looking around absent-mindedly. "This is a two-bedroom suite. May I go into Ellie's?"

"Of course." Daniel followed me in the room Ellie had been sleeping and I looked around, looking for anything that could help us find her. I glanced the room, eyeing her foam green suitcase.

"John, may I open her suitcase?"

"Be my guest. There is nothing in there but her clothes, make-up, and her iPad." This piqued my interest.

"Where did the police find her phone?" I asked him.

"In a restaurant dumpster a couple of miles from the resort. It had been destroyed to where they couldn't retrieve anything from it. The detectives are waiting on a warrant to get into her Apple account." Daniel told me.

"Do you know her Apple password?"

"I do not. Should we turn this over to the police so they can try to get in it?"

"It could take days just to get the warrant, and even longer for Cybercrimes to look. And as you know...." I didn't have to finish my sentence.

"Right. Let me see if I can figure the password out." Daniel sat down and got to work. A few minutes later, I heard a sigh of relief.

"I'm in!" Daniel handed it to me, and I glanced at her messages, hoping I could find anything Ellie may have sent her friend before her phone was taken from her. Thankfully, Ellie had set her iPad up to reply and respond to her texts, so I pulled the thread labeled "Bestie". There were only three pictures Ellie had sent Gwen right before she vanished. She was dancing in the club, clearly inebriated. One of the pictures caught my eye.

"Daniel, look!" I showed them to him and his eyes opened wide. Ellie caught a picture of the blonde and brunette she left the nightclub with staring at her. Who we had assumed were young girls were actually much older women.

"What in God's name happened to the blonde's face?" I whispered, noticing what appeared to be burn scars all over the blonde's face. I glanced at Daniel who was white as a sheet.

"It's retribution. The woman committed a terrible crime." He whispered.

"You know who this woman is?!"

"No, but I know who did that to her face. The one person among my kind that has that kind of power."

"I'm sorry, am I hearing things correctly? What kind!! What power!?"

Daniel looked at me in resignation. "John, there is another reason I left the Agency. I'm not who I presented myself to be to you. And there are many more like me."

Suddenly it hit me. "Good God, do you turn into a wolf too!" I backed away towards the door as Daniel stared at me in complete shock.

"What?! NO! I'm what is called a Fae."

"A Fae?? TF is a Fae!"

"It's another term for a fairy. I'm a Fairy, John. So are Audra and Ellie." I sat down against the floor, my mind digesting what I'd just heard. Had I not seen the contents of that flashdrive just days ago, I would've laughed in Daniel's face. But as I thought more about it, suddenly things began to add up.

"It's why Mr. Z kept you strictly on recon, isn't it? Because you have powers that make you fly under the radar." I whispered.

"John, hundreds of thousands of us exist . We are scattered all over the world. There are different kinds of Fairies who have varied levels of powers. Mine is shifting and blending in with my environment, which served me well in the Agency. Ellie has the same power I do. Audra can detect things that someone is trying to hide. To some extent Ellie has that too. All three of us also have defensive powers to protect us from harm, like this." Daniel jumped up and emitted a stream of silver dust from his hands towards the wall! I recoiled back against the door.

"What you just saw would throw an opponent back about ten feet. But I must say, you are taking this fairly well! And the fact you mentioned werewolves...." Daniel stared hard at me.

"Do you have your laptop?" I brought the flashdrive out and showed him. Daniel retrieved his computer and let me plug the flashdrive in. He gasped as I pulled up the images and video, and the letter Cobra had typed for Mr. Z.

"I wish I could say I was surprised. Last year, Mr. Z discovered what I am. I think I know how now: Cobra must have figured it out and told him. Z tried to blackmail me into gathering intel on werewolves, demons, and other supernatural beings. I told him I would consider it, then went straight to IR and told them I had some health issues and wanted to retire early."

"That's why Mr. Z was mad you were retiring." I said in understanding.

"And if I hadn't done that, I'd be as dead as Cobra." Daniel said with finality.

"You are the only one who knows about this flashdrive, Daniel."

"There is someone who can help us. Us Faes have a government, in fact we call them Kings and Queens. In Europe it is King Edward and Queen Amelia. Here in the States it is King Arlen. He is who we will need to contact to try and find the name of this woman."

"What makes you think he would know? You just said there's thousands of your kind!"

"Because Arlen is the only Fae known on Earth with the power to melt flesh. After seeing these photos, it's clear Ellie was kidnapped by Faes who intend to possibly t*af*ick her or worse!! Unfortunately, our kind deals with this just like humans!"

"So where do we start? With your King?" I asked him.

"There's a lot of red tape here. I know a couple of men, however. They are twins and work directly for King Arlen. If anyone can help us get to Fae royalty and let them know what we suspect, they can!"