Page 5 of Tooth and Nail

Priest shook her head. “You asked what I.S.R. means and I told you it means Interspecies Response. In addition to human life here on Earth, we live with an entire world of paranormal creatures.” She lifted her hand and pointed to the ceiling. “Up there, several worlds, and in fact several universes, exist. Within those universes, planets populated with extraterrestrial life also exists.”

Brown burst out laughing.

Eoghan turned to look at him, allowing a genuine smile to curve his lips as the rich baritone sound of his laughter filled the room. He liked the way Aristotle laughed and the highly amused expression on his boss’ face was funny too.

“I’ll wait until you’ve gotten it out of your system, Brown,” the chief said.

Brown snorted loudly and continued to chuckle as he stared at Priest. When he saw that her expression meant she wasn’t kidding, Eoghan watched the man’s face fall. He leaned forward.

“What? You’re serious?”

“As a heart attack, Brown,” she replied.

His jaw dropped open and when he turned and looked directly at him, the baffled expression in his pretty eyes practically took Eoghan’s breath away. “Listen to what she has to say with an open mind, Brown. Everything the chief just told you, including the part about those bison on Catalina being saved from a flock of vicious buffalo raptors, is the truth. That’s what the I.S.R. unit does, Brown. We protect the planetand all its people from threats. We capture fugitives from other worlds and other species including paranormals—from vampires to werewolves to shifters of all kinds—and turn them over to their own policing authorities. That’s what the boss meant by our sister agencies. We make sure our paranormal populations stay on their own self-governing and completely autonomous reservations set aside by their own kind,fortheir own kind. And we jail fugitives until we can return them.”

“I don’t believe it,” Brown said, looking utterly stunned with a deer-in-the-headlights look in his eyes. “How is it that no one knows about this?”

“It’s not like we advertise, Deputy,” Priest said.

He dragged his gaze away from Eoghan’s and looked back at their boss. “Okay, but how do we keep this stuff quiet? Aren’t some of these paranormals and aliens dangerous? If vampires are real, how is it they don’t go around biting people and draining them dry?”

“That’s a good question,” the chief said. “I’ll answer the last part of your question first. Several decades ago, things were getting totally out of hand. There was a lot of violence and spilling of blood. The Teddy Roosevelt administration was the first to suggest treaties. As an avid hunter and outdoorsman, Teddy Roosevelt had seen the unexplained numerous times. Being curious, he asked people within his administration to investigate these stories and events and was shocked to learn they were true. To his credit—and I’m sure it was difficult for a hunter like he was—he decided not to go to war with paranormal populations and instead, bring them together for a summit. I should mention, he was unaware of the existence of space aliens at the time.

“In any case, the leaders of all the various clans, vampires, shifters, and werewolves also realized there was a risk to their own populations and citizens, if lines weren’t drawn. U.S.leaders and later, other world leaders, formed an organization simply referred to as the Agency. The Agency was—and still is—responsible for the development of synthetic blood for vampires, coordination of humans who sign up to be live donors, and a set of rules for all paranormals to follow. There are volumes of government regulations dedicated to these populations. Every continent on Earth has set aside vast swaths of land for reservations where their paranormal populations live under their own autonomous governments. To outsiders, those communities appear to be ethnic enclaves.”

“You mean like Native American reservations?” Brown asked, frowning deeply.

“Yes.”

“Wait, so you’re telling me that Native Americans and other indigenous peoples are all what? Paranormals?”

“Not all, but…a lot of them are, yes,” she said.

He laughed again. “Nice joke. I can’t believe what you’re telling me.”

“It’s all true, Brown, and you’re about to witness it in real time,” Eoghan said.

“It’s mind boggling.” Brown looked completely stunned by this revelation. Eoghan knew exactly how he felt because he’d been in his position. “And the aliens? They can’t all be friendly.”

“Most are and those who aren’t are governed by the ones who are,” the chief said. “We have an arrangement with aliens from other worlds as well as paranormal leaders of various species who have signed treaties of protection with the Agency. Every once in a while, an individual tries something aggressive or in cases where an Earthbound paranormal tries to leave their reservation, that’s where the I.S.R. comes into play. We take up those duties, including that of jailing, fugitiverecovery, or fugitive hunting, but not all. We try to stay out of each other’s business but meet up when necessary to hunt down or transfer a particularly bad actor.”

“And the answer to my other question? How do you keep all of this a secret? Surely it has gotten out in the past or will in the future,” Brown said.

Eoghan had to admit he was impressed with Aristotle Brown so far. He had barely missed a beat, which was very different from the way Eoghan had reacted the first time he’d walked into their offices. Besides the fact that he’d fainted dead away the moment he’d spotted a huge, yellow, demonoid ambassador who’d been visiting Earth, it had taken him some time to really get used to the idea that the human race wasn’t alone in the universe.

He certainly wouldn’t have believed anything if he’d simply been told about it rather than seeing it with his own eyes. And if it hadn’t been for his service in the Marine Corps, he might not have recognized the military efficiency of the I.S.R. units. But the discipline he’d seen the moment he met Priest’s team and the I.S.R. operation, had convinced him that it was real. His first case had taught him to question everything he’d ever thought about the world. He watched Brown sit forward as he waited for the boss to reply to him.

“We have a rapid response team whose sole responsibility is to keep up with global breaches between worlds and among species,” Priest said. “They handle sightings, media stories, and the odd interview which may get out before we can control it. They are skilled at disseminating disinformation and explaining away the unknown, unplanned, and questionable. Of course, that doesn’t stop the conspiracy theorists or those who investigate the paranormal, but they do their best to discount those individuals as well. They’ve been known to tank a sighting or an attack by explaining it away another way orsimply painting the author of such a quote as a nutjob or kook. It’s what they do.”

“Whoa. That’s…amazing and…involved,” he said.

She nodded. “Yes, it is but they’re the best of the best at it. They also handle objects of alien origin which are either brought here by our friends from out there or left behind and perhaps dug up in an archeology dig. Aliens did predate humankind.”

Brown nodded. “All right.”

“A lot of what you’ll be learning will happen as a byproduct of simply doing the job which is why I assigned you to Sapphire.” She nodded to Eoghan. “He’s one of our most experienced young deputies. There are just too many species of alien, too many solar systems, and too many paranormals for me or even your partner to explain to you, so you’ll be relying on his knowledge until you get familiar with it all. It would take you a year of reading and casework just to learn everything. I’ve found the best way of training a new recruit, is to have them do itonthe job, with a strong partner.”

She swiveled in her desk chair and pushed a button on the cabinet mounted on the wall behind her desk. Reaching in, she pulled something out before turning back to him. She slid the sleek, silver box across the desk.

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