Sentinel Squared Ch 1b

betaed

At that point, Serena and Megan got up and walked over to Henry, hoping they could calm him down. Megan wasn't all that calm herself, but she was sure that she could somehow get him to relax.

  Henry saw the two women coming over as Blair backed away. He started to relax somewhat. The two led him to the vacant dining room table. Sitting down at the end where he could see everyone else, Serina stayed next to him as Megan turned to retrieve the glass of water that Jim had poured for him. A moment later Rafe and Joel were both were joining them at the table, while Simon, Jim and Blair were staying in the other room hoping to give Henry the space that he needed.

  "OK Henry," Joel began, "what has got you so freaked here?"

  "What's got me freaked?! Why aren't you freaked? No offense here, but you are a very devout Christian, and I know that there is something in the Bible about witches and magic and what not. Personally, I would've expected you to be the first one out that door."

  "Yes, I am a very devout Christian, but I also believe that God did not give us tools to be used totally for evil. These three men are our friends and should be given the benefit of the doubt, as well as the chance to explain what is going on here.

  "He's right Henry," Serena began, "I was raised in the voudou religion. It is a very powerful religion if you know what you are doing, and very dangerous if you do not. My belief is that each person is in the religion that is right for them, and makes them feel whole. I no longer practice voudou, but I am a Spiritualist, and what these men do is not new to me. In fact it is something that I enjoy studying, and one day hope to perfect myself."

  Henry shifted slightly, but did not bolt at her admission.

  Blair chose that moment to speak up, "Henry, I'm really sorry that we scared you like that. If we had thought that you would have reacted like this, we would have found another way. If you feel comfortable, we'd like to sit down and explain this in a way that you can understand."

  Realizing that he was being stupid about this and that these were his friends, and would never hurt him, he relaxed. Taking a deep breath, he said
"Sure guys, I'm really sorry I freaked like that but you gotta admit that you kinda caught me off guard."

  "We know, and we're sorry Henry," Jim said as he went into the kitchen to make another pot of coffee. "Hopefully from here on out, you will come to expect the unexpected when it comes to us," he added motioning to himself as well as Simon and Blair.

  "I think I'd better, if I wanna keep from being scared to death," Henry replied as Jim took the offered chair from Blair who had pulled the extras back out of the closet where they were stored after dinner.

  They spent the next three hours discussing Sentinels and Guides. They even went so far as to suggest that one day if they were interested, that they too could learn how to shapeshift and use the `senses´ of their animal spirits in their work.

  "Hey, look at it from a safety point of view," Rafe said, warming to the idea. "You have a bank robbery, and the robbers make a break for it. You, in eagle form, could follow them from the air, and they would not know where in the world you came from. Not to mention that you could stake out…a warehouse for example from the inside as pigeons."

  "Plus by working with eagle medicine, you can incorporate the eagle eyesight and hearing into your investigation." Blair added and then looked at Serena and said, "So I guess in a way, you can teach others to be Sentinels. In a kinda sorta round about way."

  Serena smiled and said, "You know, I think that instead of just having the best team in the state, the Cascade PD might just wind up with the best department in the country, if not the world."

  "Yes, but at he moment, that title is taken by Cascade PD in Colorado," Blair said.

  "Well, then, we have our work cut out for us, don't we?" Henry said.

  Everyone was staring at Henry like he had grown a second head or something.

  "What…what'd I say?" Henry asked when he found all eyes on him.

  "Well, just a little while ago, you were ready to shoot Captain Banks for turning into a bear, and now you're going on like it's the best idea in the world," Rafe answered his partner.

  "Well," Henry sighed, "I've come to the conclusion that if you can't beat them, join them."

  "And I think that with that, we should call it a night, go home and sleep on this a little. Then be at work on time tomorrow."

  "We're all going to be very busy tomorrow so let's head home," Simon said to the group in front of him.

  "That sounds like a good idea. I have plenty of work waiting for me in the morning." Serena said as she took her cup to the kitchen and proceeded to get her jacket off the back of her seat. "Thank you gentlemen for the very lovely evening and information session. It was wonderful. I do have one question though, How come you didn't call Dan Wolf or Rhonda?"

  "We tried, but he had a conference he had to go to tonight. I'll get with him as soon as I have five minutes to spare. And Rhnda just left on a two week vacation, so we'll tell her when she gets back," Jim said as he went to get the door for her.

  "I hope so, because I know that it would really help them to understand quite a bit of what has gone on." Serena said as she walked out the door.

  The other four were right behind her. Rafe handed Jim the copy of Blair's Masters Thesis and said, "You might want to hang onto this to show to Dan when you get hold of him."

  "Thanks Rafe, I'll do that"

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  The next morning, Jim and Blair went in a half hour early to talk to Dan, who was there sometimes at six in the morning. Heading into the morgue, they found Dan hard at work on their latest case, the fifth victim of the Cascade killer as the media had dubbed him.

  Looking up from his work, he greeted the men entering the morgue, "Good morning detectives, and I must say congratulations to Blair on his new position. Now what can I do for you this morning?"
  "We need to talk to you for a few minutes if you have the time, Dan," Blair said as Dan lifted the heart out of the young woman that he was working on. Blair turned about three shades of green and made a beeline for the bathroom.

  Sighing as he put the heart down, Dan looked over at Jim, "Let me clean up here and I'll meet you in my office in five, OK? And tell Blair, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset him."

  "Sure Dan, and thanks,"

  Once locating him in the nearest rest room, he grabbed a paper towel, wet it and handed it to his partner as he emerged from the stall. "You OK Blair?" Jim asked as Blair took the offered towel.

  "Yeah, I'll be fine. Maybe we just ought to wait until Dan can come over to the loft like the others?" Blair suggested.

  "Well, Dan just said to give him five minutes and he would meet us in his office."

  "He did?" Blair asked.

  They went into the office and took the seat that
was offered them. //I guess I still am not used to the fact that people do actually like me and want me around.//

  "So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit so early in the morning?" Dan asked.

  "Well, Dan, we kinda have a confession to make," Jim said as his Guide put a grounding hand on his shoulder to give him the support that he so desperately needed in giving up what he thought was control of his life.

  "Oh, really, and what would that be?"

  "Well, you know how Jim tends to find clues that would normally take a microscope or chemical analysis?" Blair asked.

  "You mean beyond him being a Guardian and you his Shaman?" Dan answered.

  "How…why…how……," was all Jim could spit out, and Blair was speechless.

  "I was raised in the ways of my Grandfather. I've heard the stories of the Guardian and his Shaman, sometimes called Sentinel and Guide." Dan answered the question that their mouths could not spit out, then added, "Plus, I had a vision the night after Blair came back to life in my lab. I was told that I should help in any way possible to help the Guardian's Shaman to understand his position and gifts. This is the first chance that I've had to talk to either one of you. Yesterday when you called I had that darn conference that there was no way that I could get out of. I'm glad that you came by this morning, though cause something told me to be here early."
  Jim and Blair just looked at each other and then started to laugh.

  Dan looked from one to the other and then back again, "What's so funny?"

  "Nothing man, it's just that we had the guys and Serena over last night and they knew already as well. Well, that is everyone but Serina," Blair said as he was able to regain his composure.

  "Let me ask you this Dan," Jim began, "are you familiar with spirit guides and shapeshifting?"

  "Yep, sure am. Now let me see, Jim, yours is a black jaguar, while Blair's is a grey wolf," Dan answered.

  "How do you know this?" Blair asked.

  "Because I can see your spirit guides standing next to you."

  Blair calmed his racing heart that he knew that Jim could hear. Then looking down by his side, he found that he was looking into the face of his spirit guide, a beautiful grey wolf. Looking over he could see Jim's panther as well. "Can you see them Jim?" Blair asked his partner.

  "No, can you?"

  "OK Jim," Blair said as he returned his hand to Jim's shoulder, "just take…"

  That was as far as he got when Jim suddenly stiffened up.