FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Tom was gone when I work up, so that hadn't changed. I looked around, no message on the table. I had no idea how he did it. I was a relatively light sleeper, but he always managed to leave without waking me.

When I found out about his criminal life, I figured that was how he'd become able to do it, all that training to be light on his feet, to get in and out of places without being noticed. Then I came to my senses, this wasn't a movie. He was just good at it.

On my way out for my run I checked the fridge. No messages there either. I was relieved, it meant he'd be back. I hoped. After my run I had bacon, eggs and a salad for breakfast. Then I grabbed one cruller, and made arrangements for Ryan to get another box of donuts. I was done eating it by the time I reached my car.

Like Tom said, it was old, Dad had gotten it got me on my sixteenth birthday, and it wasn't a piece of crap. It was a GF Dependence, and deserved the name. It had required a tune up, which we spent the summer doing, a tradition dad explained, to make sure I appreciated it. By fall I was driving it everywhere. In the thirteen years since I've had it, the batteries had to be replaces once, as well as the transmission. Everything else still worked great.

Zee was the first guy I had in my car, both as a passenger, and in the back seat. That experience then required I replace the roof lining. Dad took one look at it and stated that I was the one paying for any damage caused by my sex life. We'd been more careful after that.

I slid my phone in its slot, and it took a moment to interface. I prought up Virginia Village and located the streets Tom had identified. They marked half of the outdoor market, a large part of a residential area, and an office park. That was a lot of space to cover without access to police resources, and I didn't know anyone there. My few visits had been helping mom shop.

Hopefully luck would be on my side.

* * * * *

The parking lot at one end of the market was reasonably priced, twenty dollars let me stay until six tonight. The market was located, coincidentally enough, on Market Street. No automotive traffic was allowed between Bernie and Wilbert, the street being filled with artisan booths while the shops was mostly cafes and restaurant.

The day was warmer, and a lot of people were out, taking advantage of the weather. Door kept opening, letting smells of food pounce on me, and within minutes I was hungry again.

I spotted a bakery on the other side of the street and headed for it. I stopped as I stepped on the sidewalk. I looked around for the origin of the sound I'd heard. The tinkling of metal on metal, very distinctive. There was something about it, it wasn't bothering me, but it prickled something in my memory, trying to pull something up.

It came again. The sound was too light for a necklace, earrings? A memory came to to me, arms holding me, feeling safe, laughter, and the tinkling of those earrings.

I raced toward the sound. I had to be wrong. She'd left town years ago, and only dropped by once, for my graduation ceremony. She'd made an exception that day because she knew how much it meant to me that she be there when I became a police officer. She'd warned me she'd never be back.

God, please let it be her.

I saw wide shoulders and a green jacket I recognized. Her ears twitched and and earrings tinkled. I wanted to yell for her to stop as I fought my way through a crowd coming in the opposite direction. I lost sight of her a time or two, but her green jacket reappeared. I finally reached her and grabbed her arm.

"Magdee, stop."

The cow turned and black eyes looked down at me. "Excuse me? The teen said.

I let go of her arm. "Sorry, I thought you were someone I knew."

"Sure," she said, sarcastically. She looked me over. "Well, that was a good try, but I don't go for skinny guys." She turned and walked away.

My heart sank. I'd wanted it so badly for it to be her. Having Tom come back had put me in a nostalgic mood. I'd have to contact the park where she worked.

"You're not skinny," a woman said behind me, and my breath caught. Heart in my throat I turned. "In fact," the brown and white cow said, "I'd say you put on a few pounds." There she was, standing in a doorway, wearing a thick brown coat. Her ear shook and the thirteen earrings in them tinkled.

I was eight year old again, entering a household with people I'd only known as my mother's friends. Tim hadn't liked me. He'd been the youngest to two, and being five received a lot of the attention. He didn't appreciate havintg to compete with a stranger. Magdalene had been twelve, and she'd hugged me, and made me feel welcome.

"Don't just stand there gawking," she said. "Come give you big sister a hug." I was in her arms before she was done talking. Feeling her arms around me brought me close to tear, and I didn't care. When she let go of me her eyes were wet too.

"I've missed you Spots."

"I've missed you too, Braces."

She smiled and I stared at a her perfect white teeth.

"What happened to them?"

"Well, I knew I'd run into you again one day, and I couldn't stand having you call me Braces one more time, so I had my teeth pulled and replaced.

My jaw fell open.

She laughed. "I'm kidding. My employer has great dental coverage, so I went to a specialist and had them removed. They did corrective work and gave me a perfect smile."

I had trouble taking my gaze off them. "That's going to take some getting use to." She'd gotten the braced not long after I joined their family. She still had them when she stormed out of the house at sixteen after another one of her fight with dad. When I saw her again four years later, at my graduation, she still had them.

"When did you get that done?"

"Five years ago." She put her arm in mine and we join the crowd.

"That doesn't sound like something the forest rangers could afford."

The smile she gave me had sadness in it. "Things change. I loved it, but Things happened and I had to leave. It's okay, I love my job. It's taken me all over the world."

"And now you're here."

"I am, and you managed to find me within a few hours of arriving. Just how did you know I was here?"

"I didn't. I'm here on a case, and I heard your earrings."

She studied me, then looked around. "Where is your partner?" She sounded concerned.

"Right, you wouldn't know about that. I got kicked out of the force."

"What? Why?"

I almost told her everything, but I managed to stop myself. I wasn't getting her involved in this. If there was only one person I could protect from the church, it was going to be her.

"Internal politics, it's complicated."

She hugged me again. "I'm so sorry. What are you doing?"

"I'm a private investigator."

She looked at me like I'd told her I had cancer. "If you want a real job, I can talk to my employer. I knew they can use someone with law enforcement experience."

"I'm okay. Does dad know you're back?"

"No, and you're not going to tell him, at least not until after I've left."

I started to say she had to talk to him. They couldn't go one hating each other, but seeing the look in her eyes I asked.

"What are you searching for?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been scanning the road and sidewalks ever since we left the market. You're looking for something, or someone." There were still storefronts, but the sidewalk wasn't as busy here.

She shook her head. "Just taking in the sights. When I left his house, I lived in the area for a year and a half."

That was a flat out lie, but I didn't call her out on it. She'd stayed with Beatrice, one of her friends across town, for the first two years. Dad had forbidden me from seeing Magdalene, she'd forbidden everyone from doing so, but it hadn't stopped me from asking among her friends until someone told me where she'd gone.

"What are you doing in town then? You're employer sent you here?" I was looking at her, with the street beyond, which is who I saw the car with the gun out of the window. I grabbed her and pulled her behind a car as windows exploded around us. They wwre firing bullets, and on full auto.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

She was getting to her knee, a gun in her hand and taking aim.

I pulled he arm down. "What are you doing with a gun?" It was a slim model, with a hammer.

"Damn it, Denton, they're getting away."

"What are you doing with an illegal firearm?"

"I don't have time for this." She wrenched her arm out of my hand and ran. I looked at her, stunned that she'd run after the car that had shot at us. She'd never let fear stop her, but she didn't use to be stupid. I ran after her.

She was a lot faster than I remembered. I had to pace myself, I'd burned through the energy from the orgy, and I'd topped Tom the three time we'd fucked last night, so I hadn't gotten much from that. Even less since he wasn't Society. If I'd known I was going to be running after my sister I'd arranged for

Colby to fuck me a few times.

She was so far ahead it took me a full minute to reach the corner she'd turned. I might not have known where she'd gone, but the sound of a car crash told me where to go.

Two blocks further I saw the car. It had lost control and slammed into a parked pickup. The driver's seat was covered in branches and kindling. The passenger door had been ripped off the car.

I heard a scream before I had time to wonder about the mess in the car. I turned to see people running out of a store, so that's where I went. I stopped at the door, pulled my stunner and looked inside.

It was a bakery, the smell of pastries make my stomach growl. There was no one in sight, and the only sounds came from the back, fighting. I crossed the room, checking behind the counter to make sure no one was there.

I carefully pushed the back door open to the sound of a piercing shriek, then silence. I looked at my sister, standing over a poorly dressed man stretched on the floor. She had foot long claws out of her fingers.