Shifters

Chapter 1

Crouching he sniffed the crisp, cold air. Everything seemed in order; there was no movement down below in any of the cabins except some billowy grey steam rising out of a few chimneys. And why would there be? It was damn cold out tonight. Vicious and biting, the wind did it’s best to get to his skin.

Not that it ever did, his thick fur coat kept him immune from the frigid temperatures and whipping winds.  He chuckled, which came out as a low growling sound.

A fur coat indeed, he snorted.

He raised his massive head to the sky and inhaled deeply. The wind smelled of pine trees and sap. Around this time of the year everything was so frozen that there was usually no hint at any smell. Just the clean, fresh air whipping through the forests. He lowered his head again and scanned the scene below. Small cabins were gathered in the little cove type area here.  The cliffs that surrounded them were covered in snow.  The ledge he crouched on was mostly uncovered and almost black against the night. He blended in well here, just another shadow within the shadows. 

He was bored sitting here waiting for the signal. Stupid humans and their missions, he was tired and agitated with it all now. Why do they even come along?  He was so much more efficient on his own. But he supposed they needed a reason to get paid.  Or a reason to keep an eye on him, he chuckled again.  

They should have sent the signal by now.  Scanning the small village below, he saw no movement.  But then shouldn’t he have seen the small elite team that tags along with him on these pain in the ass missions?  Where are they?

He tensed and scanned along the small village perimeter. 

Nothing. 

No movement, no men signaling to each other, no scent to signal him.  It was always the scent, a smell only his kind could detect. Shaking with anticipation he rose from his hiding spot into the black air. He had always loved the night. No moonlight, just the pitch black. Since he could see perfectly as if it were day, it did not matter to him.

Yet there it was…. something was off.  He was going to get his ass chewed for disobeying but who cared, what were they going to do fire him? 

Slowly making his way down the mountain side from his hiding spot he stopped to smell and listen. No blood.  No gunfire, he would have heard that.  Where were they?  They were supposed to be coming in from the northern side of the village.  Something was definitely wrong here. It was too quiet, he should have been able to at least HEAR them.  He felt the fur rise along his spine, something was out there, something he couldn’t detect. 

Things were too quiet. 

Finally at the edge of the small rustic village, he realized what it was that was bothering him. There was NO smell at all. Nothing except earth, air, and the god damn snow that was sticking to his fur.

No, can never have a mission somewhere warm. Always the god damn snow.  And why couldn’t he smell the villagers? It should have been distinct.  He should have had to block them out to be able to smell other things. No sounds, no snoring, no breathing, no whispers in the middle of the night.  Something was definitely wrong. And if he wasn’t complaining inside of his head he would have picked up on this earlier.

 Walking around the outer cabins he listened, looked and smelled. He padded softly to where the team was supposed to come in silently, well silently to the human ear at least.  Seeing the tracks of the men he followed them carefully, stopping to smell and listen.  The tracks stopped at one of the cabins closer to the center of the village, this is where he should have been signaled.  He realized that he hadn’t even heard them. Not walking in the snow, not waving their arms about throwing signals to each other. Odd, usually to him they seemed like a bunch of elephants prancing around.