Slave Hunter, Chapter Eight.

Written by Wolfie Steel.

With the solemn duty now over the funeral party all heads back to a church hall that has been hired so that we can give Christopher a decent wake, somewhere where his friends and family can all get together with any members of the team who wish to join in, and have something to eat and drink while everyone's emotions calm down.

This is a time for reflection for everybody, a time for me to think about what had gone on at the night club during the raid. Could I have done anything different which would have meant that young Christopher would not have lost his life? Was there some part of the plan that had not gone the way it should?

No matter how many times I go through it in my mind, no matter how many times I come to the same conclusion that the team and I had done everything by the book and as such there was nothing that we could have done to stop the death of poor Christopher, in my mind I continue to feel somehow responsible for his death, in essence I feel as though I have the young pups blood upon my paws.

I hide my face away from everyone at the gathering, I nibble at a little bit of food, and sip a little at my drink, but after half an hour things get too much for me and so I slip out of the church hall and into the police car that I had been driving, I sit there quietly for a few moments, but then I put the key in the ignition and begin the journey back to the parking area at Scotland Yard.

Once I arrive, I park the police car back in the car pool parking area and then I climb into my Mustang, I fire up the engine and make the journey back to my own pokey London flat, the need for solitude beating the need to be held by my Rottweiler.

I arrive home and unlock the front door of the flat, I push against the door to open it, and it seems that I have had quite a bit of mail since I have been staying at Brandon's place. Eventually I manage to gain entrance to my flat and close the door behind me; I collect all the mail, most of it junk, from the floor and walk into the small kitchen, I dump the mail onto the kitchen work top and then head over to the heating thermostat.

I crank up the heating and then I make sure to turn off my cell phone, I put my landline phone onto the answering machine. I close all of the blinds inside the flat and then I switch on the lamp in my small living room. I make doubly sure that all the doors are locked and I head back into my living room.

I throw my jacket onto the back of my easy chair and then I lie down on my couch and gently begin to sob. How long I have been on the couch I have no idea, I guess I must have fallen asleep, the sound of my landline ringing wakes me up but I allow the machine to pick up the call. I lie there and listen to the call; it is a very worried Brandon.

"Babe are you there, come on hon this is like the tenth time that I have called, I'm worried about you my love, your mobile is switched off, you are not at my place, you're not answering your flats phone, in fact you know what, I'm going to call the office and get your address, and then I'm coming over, and babe you better answer the fucking door because otherwise I will force entry"

The call ends with a click but I pay it no mind, I just continue to lie on the couch and cry my eyes out, I wanted so much to just pick up my phones handset and call Brandon back but my depression got the better of me and I just stayed where I was lying.

An hour later and there is a heavy pounding on the front door to my flat, I get up to answer the door even though I still don't feel like accepting visitors, but I know for a fact that this visitor is Brandon, and I have no doubt that if I don't answer the door he will carry out his threat to force an entry.

I unlock the front door and open it; I then walk back into my living room and lie back down on my couch. I hear the front door close and then the sound of footsteps heading towards me, next I hear his voice.

"Christopher's death has really messed you up big time hasn't it? I have known you for nearly seventeen years and in all that time I have never seen you like this"

I ignore him at first and get up from my couch and head into the kitchen, I open a cupboard and take out an unopened bottle of vodka. I take it back into the living room cracking the seal as I walk. I sit back on my couch and remove the top from the bottle.

"Great, so you're just going to get fucking drunk and drown your sorrows, is that right? You fucking cunt, do you think that you are the only one who was affected by Christopher's death?"

Again I ignore him but this time he snaps, he grabs the bottle from my paws before I can even take a sip. I let out a deep routed and angry growl.

"Give me that fucking bottle back, if I want to drown my fucking sorrows what business is it of yours?"

Brandon takes the bottle back into the kitchen and empties the contents down the sink; he then comes back into the living room minus the bottle.

"Correct me if I'm wrong Daniel, but last I was aware you and I were boyfriends, and boyfriends care for each other and love each other, through good times and bad. When you first joined Scotland Yard you knew that at some point something like this would happen, unfortunately it is an inevitable part of the job"

Finally I look up at the face of my lover and then I just break down again. Brandon is quick to kneel before me and take me into a warm, caring hug, through my tears I make my reply.

"Brandon, I just feel so responsible, like what happened to that poor pup was somehow my fault, I keep analysing everything that we did to see if we could have done anything different..."

Brandon shushes me and then looks deep into my eyes.

"Listen to me Hunter and listen good, you are a fucking fantastic cop and you constantly go out on the front line and put yourself in danger every time, but you analyse things too much sometimes and you find fault with your actions when there actually isn't any, remember this love, as well as your boyfriend I am also your Captain, it was me that gave the all clear for the raid, so if anyone is at fault it is me. I doubt very much that we could have gone through with the raid without one of the kids getting either injured or killed. What we have to do now is put this episode behind us and move on"

I give a shaky sigh and then Brandon locks his muzzle with mine and kisses me passionately, at first I want to pull away from him, I had made him worry about me and that was something I didn't like very much, but after a few seconds I melt into the kiss.

Once we break from the kiss Brandon continues to speak.

"Well hon, you have two weeks left of your leave, and while I can't stay away from work for those two weeks, I will spend as much time with you as I can. The thing is though hon with what is left of your time off you could start making a few decisions, I mean I'm not trying to rush you into anything but come on babe, you and I seem to have gelled quite nicely, and to be honest you having two homes seems a little bit of a waste to me, so why don't we take things to the next level, move in with me sweetheart, I mean it would make more sense, after all we do love each other very much"

I could no longer deny that having two homes was getting to be a ridiculous notion, the money I would make from the sale of the flat would also come in handy to pay off some small debts and would also help me update some of my other gadgets, I could now look forward to purchasing a high end stereo instead of the crappy little music system I currently own, of course I would also pay my share while living with Brandon.

"Okay Brandon, you win, I know that we first agreed that I would keep this place on just in case things between us didn't go according to plan, but as you have said it makes sense for me now to let it go, so while you are at work for the next two weeks I will move all of my stuff to your place and then put the flat up for sale"

Brandon's tail is now wagging at about 180 WPM (Wags Per Minute), if he were on the road right now I would have to arrest his sexy ass for speeding.

"Now then Hunter, why not grab a few items now and then we can go back to the place that you can now call home"

I head to my bedroom where I find the empty cardboard boxes that I used when I first moved into the flat, why did I keep them? Well I was ever hopeful that my single life would not be a permanent fixture and that someday I would find the dog of my dreams, who knew that I had been working with that dog for nigh on seventeen years?

I load all of my CD's into the boxes while Brandon is looking around the rest of my room, his eyes suddenly find a picture hanging on the wall that makes me blush any time that any one sees it, it is the picture of a fresh faced young Husky pup dressed in his first police uniform.

"Oh my god Daniel, I never ever thought that I would ever see you in the uniform of a constable, if anything you were cuter then than you are now, you looked so happy and yet so nervous"

I stop my packing for a while and then I wrap my paws around Brandon's waist.

"Yup, that was my first day on the force, my first posting was a place called Kidderminster, man those were some good times, back in the days when the police officer still had a shred of respect from the community that he or she served"

I become a little bleary eyed as I think about the good old days, if only I knew then what I know now I ask myself the question would I have still continued my life within the police force, if I'm being honest, then the answer would be yes, oh it is true that times like this are enough to make any police man question his loyalty to the job, but then comes the other side of things, the satisfaction you feel when you put a habitual criminal behind bars for a long time, now that is one of the best feelings ever, in fact there is only one feeling that trumps it, and that is the feeling that I'm getting from my Rottweiler right now, the feeling of love.