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Secrets In The Dark	By : Daniella Category: +S through Z > SwatKats Views: 1763 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own SwatKats, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter Fourteen

“Talking”

‘Thoughts’

A heavy silence hung in the air as Rick and Dena absorbed the terrible news of Zachary’s betrayal. T-Bone could feel his mate’s anguish, disappointment, and sorrow through their bond. He felt bad for her and walked to her side to offer comfort. Back along their bond he sent soothing waves of love and understanding.

“Ohh T-Bone! I knew Zachary felt strongly about me but I never dreamed he would go this far because of me and......” She began to moan sorrowfully but her mate stopped her self- recriminations.

“Don’t Dena, Zachary made his choice and now must live with the consequences. I know he’s your best friend, but you are not at fault for what his jealousy has led him to do.” He told her firmly.

“You’re right, but it still hurts.” Dena said softly, laying her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around him, trying to ease her anguished heart with her mate’s comforting presence.

T-Bone sighed mentally at the feelings of abandonment that were welling up within Dena’s mind, he needed to stop that train of thought quickly. He hugged her tighter and nuzzled her neck, making soothing noises and sending waves of reassurance through their bond. Slowly, the feelings of loss eased away replaced by her mate’s love and strength.

Rick didn’t see T-Bone’s actions, to deep in his own anguish to notice. Zachary....his brother.... mentor......the one who had inspired him to be an Iriomkat hunter rather than an enforcer......had betrayed them all and for what? An unrequited love for Dena?

Rick flicked his eyes toward his other long time friend and blinked when he saw T-Bone comforting her. The tabby’s attentions toward Dena were gentle and caring like that of a lover.

‘No. Not a lover.....a mate. Ohh...brother....you wanted so badly what you couldn’t have.’ Rick thought sadly, looking away. Someone who had been standing quietly while this was going on, finally reminded them of his presence.

“So, what do we do now?” Razor asked, to break the pain of the moment and get them all back to the business at paw.

Reluctantly Dena pulled away from T-Bone, realizing the smaller SWAT Kat was right. They needed to nip this problem quickly. With Zachary’s betrayal, things would have to be done carefully and circumspect. They didn’t want to bring Zachary in yet until they could determine who the rogue was and how much he knew. So they would have to pretend they didn’t know what he’d done.

It was obvious now that Zachary was acting as a spy so she needed to get the hunters to put him under surveillance, hoping to catch the rogue by following the betrayer. She winced at that word but straightened her shoulders and planned what needed to be done despite her feelings.

“Here’s what we need to do......no one tells Zachary we suspect him and everyone must watch their tongue. I’ll brief Serena about this as soon as I can. Right now though, Abrielle and I will go to Bruce’s house and see if we can find any clues as to why he took him and where the rogue might be hiding. T-Bone, you, Razor and Rick need to find a way to neutralize the rogue once we find him.” She ordered quickly.

Razor looked as if he was about to object, but snapped his mouth shut on whatever he was about to say. Instead he walked up to Rick and offered a paw. Rick frowned at Razor for a long moment before finally extending his own paw.

Dena sighed at the sight, grateful the two were able to put aside their differences to work together. “I know it’s going to be difficult to hide the fact you know what he’s done, Rick, but you’ll have to.” She said to her friend, aware of just how hard this was going to be for him.

“I know.” Rick said grimly. He turned away and gestured to the SWAT Kats. “Come on let’s go to my workshop.” He told them as he led the way to the back of the club.

Relieved he was not resisting her decisions, Dena turned to Abrielle. “Okay, let’s you and I go to your brother’s house.” Abrielle nodded and they hurried to the exit and to Dena’s car.

As Dena drove through traffic, she glanced briefly at her passenger. Abrielle’s face reflected worry and fear

“It’ll be alright, Abrielle. We’ll find your brother and his family.” Dena promised, reassuringly.

“I know you will!” Abrielle said, smiling wanly at her. They went silent for a moment again then Abrielle asked a hard question, not looking at Dena. “Dena, do you know why Zachary joined the rogue?”

Dena kept her face blank as she answered. “He’s upset that I found a mate and it wasn’t him. He was even more upset when he realized it was a SWAT Kat.”

“So he’s doing this because he loves you?”

Dena couldn’t help but shake her head at that comment. “He’s always been my friend and cared a great deal for me but this......this has become an obsession to be my mate and it’s definitely not love no matter how much he thinks it is.” She said grimly, not wanting to think her friend could have become so unstable.

“I have to agree with that assessment, so how are you going to stop him?” Abrielle asked, sighing worriedly.

“…I don’t know…at least not yet. I’ll have a better idea after we search Bruce’s house.” Dena said with a sigh of frustration.

Silence fell again and continued until they reached the Anwar home. Dena parked her car out front and they both got out. Abrielle led the way up the walk and opened the door.

Stepping into the foyer, Dena looked around a moment. “You search upstairs for anything that might be missing and I’ll look for clues of where they might have gone down here then we’ll switch places. ” She told her. Abrielle nodded and headed up the stairs while she looked around the living area.

Dena noted the broken glass door in the living area and carefully stepped through it to check the grounds nearby. Finding no clues on the hard ground she returned to the house and checked the kitchen. She immediately saw signs that this was where they probably questioned Bruce. The chairs had been knocked around and the table was pushed back a bit.

Meanwhile upstairs, Abrielle walked down the hallway, pausing to look into her nephew’s room. There was nothing but scattered toys and books that lay about on the floor with unmade beds at the end of the room. Sighing, she turned away as tears formed in her eyes, she hated the fact there was nothing else she could do right now to save her brother and his family.

She reached their bedroom and looked around. Again, there was nothing really out of place, the bed was still made, house shoes were at the foot of it, the room tidy. This left only Bruce’s study. She reached the end of the hall and stepped into her brother’s obvious work space.

She decided to check his computer first but the work left on the screen had nothing the rogue could possibly want. She checked the recycle bin, the desk top, the trash can, then went to check the bookcases. So far she was turning up nothing but as she studied the books she paused in shock as her eyes fell on one book case in particular just across from her brother’s desk.

The bookcase at first seemed to hold nothing more than a few books and pictures of the family until she took a closer look. One very important book was missing.

“Dena!” Abrielle yelled rushing over to the case to search it more closely.

She heard footsteps running up the stairs and down the hallway till Dena appeared in the doorway of the study room.

“What is it?” She asked, eyeing Abrielle as she frantically searched a bookcase.

“It’s missing!” Abrielle said urgently as she began to look at other bookcases nearby.

“What’s missing?” Dena asked coming over to the doe colored she-kat.

“My family spell book! It’s gone!”

“What?!”

The family spell book of each clan held the spells designed by that family and their history. It was kept safe by one member of the clan and handed down through one generation after another. It was the most precious article a clan possessed. To have it missing or fall in the wrong paws, was a major disaster. Dena knew they had to find it.

“What does it look like?” She asked, searching the room herself.

“The book is bound in red leather with gold letters on the cover that spell out our last name and is imprinted with the clan symbol which is an inner circle surrounded by a larger circle.” Abrielle said distractedly as she continued to search.

“Would your brother have taken somewhere else in the house?”

“No, he always used and stored it here. It was safer that way.” Abrielle said shaking her head.

Dena grimaced unhappily. “Alright, then we have to assume the rogue took it, so what could be in your family spell book he’d be interested in?” She asked grimly.

Abrielle frowned and thought hard. “I can’t imagine what it could be. I don’t understand, everyone knows a spell book from one family can’t be used by another. You would have to have that family use it.......oh no......that’s why he took my brother.” She said in anguish.

“Yes, that much I know but what I don’t know is.....why?” Dena pressed her.

“But that’s what I don’t understand. Our spells deal with looking into the past, future or present.” Abrielle started to object than paused suddenly a light going off. “Wait! There is one spell…”

“What is it?”

Abrielle gave Dena a sorrowful look.

“Abrielle?” Dena asked, feeling a sudden cold chill sweep up her spine.

“My family’s ancestors developed a special kind of spell that has since been forbidden.” She said uneasily.

“What does it do?” Dena asked, no liking how reluctant Abrielle was about discussing this.

“It’s a terrible thing and I wish we never came up with it. The spell breaks the bond between mates. It was used to break the bonds of Iriomkats that mated with Kats during the first year our kind went into hiding. We never knew it would have disastrous consequences at the time.......”

“What kind of consequences?”

Abrielle wrung her paws together. “The spell had a terrible side effect. It was so horrible the spell was declared forbidden for anyone to use. My clan elders at the time swore to never use it again.”

“So just what was this side effect?” Dena asked, knowing it had to very bad to be forbidden.

“When the bond is broken, it feels as if their mate is actually dead. The anguish is intense but soon fades when the pair are kept separated and in the dark about their Kat mate being still alive. However, those pairs that manage to stay together, try desperately to renew the bond. It can’t be done so they end up feeling despair, anger, frustration, loneliness and pain. Finally, some can’t stand being with their true love and not feel anything for them so they seek the only way out of their misery......death.” She said solemnly.

“Death?”

Abrielle nodded, her face grim. “Yes! You see, when the spell was first used it seemed everything was alright. The Iriomkat half of the pair would be persuaded to find an Iriomkat mate. But, as I said, those that couldn’t be separated, tried everything to restore their bond. They ended up hurting each other so badly emotionally........” Abrielle left the rest hanging.

“Leaving only death as a means to stop their pain.” Dena finished, quietly horrified.

Dena tried to understand why the rogue wanted this spell for himself. She could see why he wanted it in general. It was obvious from what he’d said to Ms. Briggs, that he didn’t approve of kats and Iriomkats mating and wanted to put a stop to it. But why did he need it? The only guess she could make was someone close to the rogue was mated to a kat and he wanted to break the bond. She shuddered, what a diabolical plan.

As she thought a little more about it, she was certain this was what Zachary wanted done to hers and T-Bone’s bond. She needed to find the rogue quickly before the spell could be casted. They needed to get back to the club immediately to inform Rick, T-Bone and Razor of this new information.

“We’ve got to let the rest know about this. Let’s go!” She told Abrielle.

They both hurried out to Dena’s car and rushed back to the club. Once they had returned, Dena led the way to Rick’s workshop.

“I’ve just found out what the rogue is up to and it’s imperative we find him immediately. Here’s what we found out.” Dena told the three males who were startled by her sudden appearance.

They listened grimly as she told them about the missing book and the spell the rogue was apparently after. While she talked, Dena couldn’t help but cast worried looks at her mate. She had to find a way to keep her mate from being harmed by the rogue. The three males expressed outrage and horror at the news.

“Well it’s a good thing we’ve come up with something to stop this guy then.” Razor growled. “What we’ve done is alter the shield capabilities of our glovatrix. The shield will deflect any energy blast back at the attacker with double the force. It should effectively knock him out cold.

“But will it work?” Dena asked.

“We won’t know for sure till Rick tries it out on himself.” Razor said, earning a hard look from Dena. He raised his paws in protest, “Whoa, hey! It was Rick’s idea not mine!”

Dena turn away from Razor to look at Rick. “You sure about this?” She asked in concern.

Rick nodded, “I’ll be okay. I’ll just use a low volt of electricity. The real test will be when Razor uses it against the rogue.”

“Be careful okay? I don’t need you frying yourself over this.” Dena said warningly

“I will.” Rick said. “We’re going to a secluded place to test it out.”

They spent the next hour discussing plans for finding the rogue and Zachary. Dena advised Abrielle to keep alert, maintain a low profile, and pretend everything was normal so they wouldn’t tip off Zachary or any other Iriomkats that had joined the rogue. She was also told to contact either Dena or Rick quickly if the rogue made a run at her. She nodded agreement and the meeting broke up.

As they were leaving, T-Bone reach out and caught hold of Dena’s right shoulder, making her stop. She made a sound of annoyance, turning to face her mate. She noted his look of concern on his face.

“T-Bone?” She asked questioningly, reaching out and touching his cheek.

He pulled her closer to him and murmured, “It’ll be alright, Dena.” He had felt her concern for his safety through their bond.

“You’re going to have to be on your guard. It’s obvious Zachary is going to make a grab for you and if he does.......” She began to say, worriedly.

“That won’t happen.” He cut her off, nuzzling her face.

She shoved him back with her paws, angrily. “You don’t know that! Why do you have to be so cocky about everything! This is serious!” Dena snapped at him.

“I’m not being cocky about it. I know just how serious this is for the two of us but it doesn’t do us any good to get all tense about it. It will keep us from being alert.” T-Bone told her firmly. “Now look, I’ll take extra care about my safety, alright? I am coming over tomorrow.......that is if its alright with you?” He asked softly.

Dena sighed in defeat. “Yes. I’m just worried for you.” She allowed him to nuzzle again and comfort her.

“I know. But try not to worry so much. You have enough on your plate to be concerned about.”

“I know.”

With that settled between them, T-Bone walked Dena outside to her vehicle, gave her a quick kiss good bye then turned toward the alley where Razor was waiting for him by their cyclotrons. Tired and still troubled, Dena arrived home where she made herself a light dinner, showered and went to bed. After such a trying day, sleep wasn’t hard to attain.

She awoke before her alarm still feeling tired. She wished T-Bone had been able to stay with her last night which would have given her more restful sleep. Yawning, she pushed her bedding off and headed for the shower.

Soon she was dressed in her male persona, and leaving for work. Her mind was on the work she had waiting on her desk and on how they were going to locate the rogue when she strode through the heavy door of Enforcer Headquarters. She’d barely crossed the lobby when her sergeant rushed up to her with an urgent message.

“What’s the rush, Sergeant?” She asked with a frown.

“Sir, you’ve been summoned to city hall.” The Sergeant said quickly.

“Did they say why?” Dena asked in annoyance, hoping it wasn’t another meeting about one of Manx’s get rich quick ideas.

“No sir. All I got was the city council wanted to speak with you.” The Sergeant said grimly.

Dena’s face went stony. “Damn!” She said flatly. “When do they want me there?” She asked having a pretty good idea that is was very soon.

“They would like you there as soon as possible, sir.”

“Fine. I’ll leave now. Have Steele watch things till I return. Only call me on my cell if its something major.” She ordered.

“Yes, sir!” The Sergeant said as Dena turned around and left the building again, heading for city hall.

Climbing into her car, she thought,’ Great, what do they want?’ She was fairly certain it had to do with something concerning her kind. If that was the case then she was in for a long meeting with some very stubborn kats. Walking through the doors of city hall, Dean wasn’t happy to see Ms. Briggs waiting for her.

“So, what’s going on?” She asked as she reached the Deputy Mayor’s side.

“I’m sorry Commander. The city council has questions about Iriomkats and insists on speaking to you about it immediately. I couldn’t find out why.” Callie apologized.

“Don’t worry about it, Ms. Briggs. I expected this to happen sooner or later.” Dena said with a shrug.

Callie nodded and gave her a wane smile as they got aboard an elevator and headed for the Mayor’s floor. Once there, they walked down the hall to the council chambers. Stepping through the door, Dena could see every member of the council was present, something that happened rarely. This didn’t look good. What was even more surprising was Mayor Manx was actually attending. Her face in a grim mask, Dena went to the seat meant for constituents while Ms. Briggs took her seat next to the Mayor.

“Commander Feral, I’m glad you could make it.” Mayor Manx said in friendly tone. He wanted to avoid any nasty feelings by setting a friendly tone to the meeting because the subject was such a hot one.

“Though the summons was a bit abrupt, I’m not surprised by it. I assume you have more questions concerning my kind and I’m at your disposal to clear up any misunderstandings for the sake of both our species. So, may I ask what you want to discuss?” Dena asked diplomatically.

“We are concerned about the danger your kind represents to ours.” Mrs. Roday said soberly.

“Danger to your kind?” Dena said, her voice reflecting her disbelief and rising anger. Her eyes sparked making everyone shift in their seat uneasily.

“Yes, that is correct.” Mrs. Roday said firmly, though Feral’s reaction had made her nervous.

“May I remind all of you, that it was your kind that had nearly caused the extinction of our species by slavery, torture and death. We went into hiding because of it. I think you should read your history again before you sit there and accuse us of being a threat to you. We have more to fear from you than you of us.” She snarled coldly. ‘How dare they? How could they forget what katkind had done to Iriomkats?’ Dena seethed silently.

Callie smirked mentally at Dena’s swift retort as she watched the Mayor and the rest of the council shift uncomfortably under Dena’s hard stare and harsh words. She gave Dena a small smile of encouragement, which Feral acknowledged with a knowing look.

‘We’re not going down without a fight.’ Callie thought, aligning herself with the Iriomkats and bracing herself for a long meeting.

It was well after lunch time and Dena was still battling with the council, when Chance decided to close the garage for the day. Razor was with Rick working on converting the glovatrix shield and testing it. Chance had finished up the two jobs they had waiting and decided on going to Dena’s apartment early.

He wanted to prepare a nice meal for her and to brief her on the progress of the weapon they would use against the rogue. He had to admit he was surprised at how well Rick and Razor were able to set aside their differences and work together toward finding a solution to their problem.

Chance thought it was because the two of them were inventors. It helped to form a weird kind of friendship between the two. He was glad for that since Razor was still a bit leery of the Iriomkats.

Changing to his T-Bone persona, he took off on his cyclotron and headed for his mate’s apartment. He parked the bike in the alley beside her building, climbed off and set his security system. Just as he prepared to rappel to the roof of the building so he wouldn’t be seen going into her top floor apartment, he heard someone coming up behind him.

“Hello, T-Bone. I knew you would come by here sooner or later.” Zachary said, coming from behind a dumpster where he had apparently been hiding.

“Zachary!” T-Bone shouted, quickly raising his glovatrix to defend himself.

Unfortunately, he was far too slow against the faster reflexes of the Iriomkat as Zachary unleashed a bolt of energy just strong enough to knock the big SWAT Kat out but not kill him.

In the council chamber at city hall, Dena suddenly screamed in pain and shock as her mate was attacked, losing her male persona in the blink of an eye. “Nooooo......” She cried out, her eyes blind and her paws reaching out desperately for her mate whom she now knew had been taken by the rogue.

Back in the alley, Zachary walked up the prone form of T-Bone. Looking down at his rival, he snarled and kicked the insensate tabby kat.

“Bastard! You’ll get what’s coming to you soon enough.” He hissed then took out his cell phone. After only one ring it was answered.

“I got him.” Zachary growled in triumph.

“Good. Bring him here.” Ordered the voice on the phone then the line went dead.
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Secrets In The Dark