The healer inspected the claw mark that the shifter had left on Roman's back.
"My magic can heal this. No scars." The old woman said turning her wrinkled face up to look at the man that was standing in front of the exam table.
Aside from the slight chill that was hanging around in the exam room, Roman didn't shiver. His body ran hotter than any normal human, his warrior tattoo on his peck and down his arm standing out in dark contraction to his olive skin tone. His mid back length black hair hung loose this time. The pain was there but he ignored it.
"Roman?" The woman sounded like she was concerned.
"I heard you." He mumbled grabbing his ripped shirt. "Thanks for the help, Kjarra." He looked at his black shirt and then at the woman.
Roman was used to the pain, even if it was from a weretiger. How many times has he been injured like this? Too many to count.
This was typical for the Samoan Warrior of the Guardian Corps, the policing agency of The Authority- two different companies that were owned by the same people. He'd taken this in Sin City, in Las Vegas, after the Revelation Movement occurred. His job was protecting humans from the Night Kinds and visa versa. It wasn't uncommon to have a few Warriors working at something like The Guardian Corps because it was in their blood to protect those in danger.
"You know not to turn your back on a predator, Warrior," the shaman said with no hint of amusement in her voice.
For as long as Roman worked at The Las Vegas branch of the Guardian Corp this old woman had been there. Kjarra was a Norse Shaman, dealing with ointments and cremes only used by The Authority. Her long silver and white hair was bunched up under the back of her head as she wore human medical scrubs while applying the charmed cream to his back.
"The guy got the worst of it, Kjarra." Roman smirked at the memory slightly.
"With that Superman Punch of yours, there is no doubt with that." She responded as she applied several bandages over the unnaturally large claw marks.
His large upper back now bandaged, Roman slipped on his shirt and grabbed his tactical vest from the exam table. Time to clock out and sleep for the next three hours.
"I hope I won't see you again for a while, Warrior."
"It would be too soon, Kjarra." He responded before he walked out of the room.
The medical floor was on the main floor of The Authority Towers- now a permanent fixture of the Las Vegas skyline. Also on this first floor behind magically sealed electronic doors was the Guardian Corp Headquarters. That was exactly where he was heading for.
Roman walked in, nodding to the pretty blond witch named Renee Young as she looked up from the computer she was typing on. She was fielding calls to Guardians giving out assignments and stuff like that to the Guardians out in the streets. As Roman neared the back wall of the room, an electronic beep sounded followed by the metal wall sliding open to a room that looked like a locker room.
The locker room had a few of the Guardians getting off their night shifts, where most of the problems seemed to be getting up there. Seth Rollins looked up from where he was lacing up his street shoes and now sporting a nifty black eye, he gave Roman a wolfish grin.
"Heard about that weretiger, Roman." He said.
"Yeah, well Ambrose had been in the area so he fired its ass off my back. Damn thing left his mark on me, will be there for the next couple of hours until sleep heals it for me. Along with Kjarra's healing ointment." Roman said walking to his nearby locker.
Seth laughed as he pulled his brown hair with the blond streak over his left eye back into a ponytail. "Oh Hell, I hate them werecats. Always pissy, you know. What did this one do?"
"Possession of a mind altering substance- and he was as high as a kite. And not to mention robbery."
Catnip was a drug that were-felines enjoyed. It was like marijuana but had PCP effects on feline shifters of all kinds. Even humans were getting in on the bandwagon with Catnip. It was all too often that Roman and other canine shifters had to deal with these cases. The few Were-felines involved with The Guardian Corp were banded from getting cases involving Catnip.
Putting his vest up in the locker, Roman grabbed his leather jacket and shrugged it on. "How was your shift?"
"Besides a troll, fun and dandy. The thing came from the Pacific Northwest looking for a bridge to hide under. Had to team with Daniel Bryan to get it into a containment unit."
The desert faun- or the goat man- came around a set of lockers. "And I didn't appreciate being bait either. Brie swore she'd freeze my ass if I lost another horn." Daniel said as he ran his over his full dark blond beard before running a hand over the tan horn that came out of his head, that was noticeably shorter than the other one.
Such was life as a Guardian. There was always going to be danger now that the world was in the Revelation Times. It had been a while since a demon graced the Earth's plain of existence, but why bother now that the world went to shit without their help? The last demon had been sent back to the Underworld by The Guardian Corp during the time of the Revelation Movement.
Daniel and Seth talked about their assignment they had with the troll. There had been issues apparently but that was expected and they usually worked in tandem with their assignments. All Roman wanted to do was go back to his apartment and sleep so that his wounds could heal faster.
Suddenly Renee's voice came over the air. Magic was something Roman didn't care for but it did have it's uses, none that he ever used.
"Roman, The OOC wants to talk with you up in his offices. It's a contract job." Renee told him.
A contract job? These weren't often and he never had one himself. Contracts were bodyguard assignments and only given to the best of the best Guardians. Roman was both pleased and curious as to why he was being summoned for a contract job.
This is the kind of story that I have been wanting to write for a long time. This is the genre that I enjoy reading the most in my spare time and I thought it was time to start my own attempt at paranormal romance. With inspiration from WWE Immortals and some of my own thoughts and creativity, this is the start of a short story series that I have come up with.
I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading, everyone.
