Prince of Cats

Stormwolf

Lord Jaffa stepped off the plane in Cascade, Washington and took a deep
breath. The air was cold, not something a desert born lord was used to, but
Jaffa ignored the cold. Three of his personal slaves followed him along with
his five bodyguards as they made their way to the waiting limo. On the limo
the Egyptian flag, the rising sun representing Ra, waved in the wind on
either side of the hood. The man holding the door open wore a collar with
tags saying he was a slave and the tags would identify his owner. Jaffa
ignored the slave and stepped into the limo.

Once they were in the limo the driver got in and pulled the car away.

The limo headed for the Egyptian Consulate where he was greeted by
Ambassador Anaris.

Ambassador Anaris greeted Lord Jaffa with a bow. After all Lord Jaffa was of
royal blood however distant and Anaris was just a commoner with brains.
Anaris looked at Jaffa's green gold eyes and repressed a shiver. Rumor said
that Jaffa was a son of Bastet or perhaps Sekmet. His affinity for cats, and
his uncanny control over the sacred beasts had earned him the nickname
prince of cats. But like a cat, Jaffa toyed with his enemies before
eliminating them. Anaris would not want to be considered Jaffa's enemy.

He showed Jaffa to his room, a large spacious apartment with a sitting room,
two bedrooms, three baths, and a balcony that overlooked the Temple of
Jupiter and the Colliseum. Jaffa nodded saying the room would be adequate to
his needs, and Ambassador Anaris left him to his privacy.

Jaffa's slaves stripped him, bathed him in the large bathing pool, and
rubbed scented oil onto his olive colored skin. All the while, Jaffa's
secretary went over his itinerary. Lord Jaffa smiled. He was indeed looking
forward to seeing more of the city.

*******

"Ellison! My office now!" Captain Simon Banks yelled.

The tall man sitting at his desk sighed, saved the report he had been
working on, then stood up. Rubbing a hand through his short brown hair, Jim
walked toward the Captain's office. His hand stopped short of his metal
collar and dropped down to his side. According to the small tag, Jim was
owned by the Lord of Cascade, Lord Morrison, and was assigned as a detective
in the Cascade PD. There were a few among the police force that were slaves.
They did the same work as other cops but of course were not paid. Jim had
been sold after the helicoptor crash in Peru by Emperor Claudius or in
reality one of his secretaries. He had been seen as damaged goods and sold
rather cheaply to Lord Morrison who used Jim's training from the military to
help fight crime in Cascade.

Shutting the door behind him, Jim waited for Captain Banks to say something.

Captain Banks looked at Ellison who stood at attention. His eyes couldn't
help but slide to the collar, and as always it made him shuder inside. He
couldn't help but feel that the man before him did not deserve to be a
slave. Ellison could do nothing to free hiumself. And Morrison wouldn't sell
Jim for the man's weight in diamonds. and not just because the man was a
good detective.

"Are you sure about this?"

"His explanantion is better than any I have heard, Captain."

"Heightened senses? Sentinels? Are you sure this kid is on the up and up?"
Simon asked.

"I checked him out. He's got a clean record. He's a grad student in
Anthropology. His mom is an Egyptian sitizen, and he is one of the few to
have duel Citizenship. He's supposed to be a genius if his IQ score is any
indication." Jim answered. He had discovered after working under Captain
Banks that he could trust the big gruff Captain. Trust him not to turn him
over to the Overseers, or Morrison after Jim's heightened senses suddenly
returned after spending a week in isolation at Morrison's Palace. Punishment
for diobeying Morrison. The whip marks on his back were still a little sore.

"Alright. I pulled some favors and managed to get Sandburg on as a
consultant. It wasn't hard after that help he gave you on the Switchman case
and the Kincaid incident."

The Swichman had been a woman who was the daughter of a slave that had
worked with Ellison who had wanted revenge. Sandburg had helped Jim control
his senses enough to find her through a fragrance she wore. Kincaid had been
an egnimatic leader among the slaves who had organized the slaves in a
revolt. Jim had been one of the few slaves not involved, at least at the
PD, but he had still been locked down at the Palace with the rest of the
slaves who had not been a part of it. Kincaid had died on a crucifex three
days after his capture. Slave revolts were put down quick, especially when
organized by ruthless killers like Kincaid, who had killed wives and
children of Roman lords. Sandburg had helped bring Kincaid down as well.

"Thanks, Simon." Jim said.

"No thanks needed, Jim. Let's just hope Morrison doesn't look to close."

Jim nodded in agreement.