Chapter 1 - Taken

Julian Anderson squinted out the windshield as his headlights gleamed through the falling snow. It was January in Oregon, and it was really fucking cold up here. It wasn't snowing hard, but there was indeed snow falling as he steered his Oldsmobile Cutlass down the winding backroad. Julian was much more used to the traffic-ridden cityscape of Los Angeles, and this was a pretty radical change of pace. He definitely wouldn't be up here of his own accord, especially not considering the ten hours of driving he did to make it up here. He'd left Los Angeles very early this morning, and made the entire drive up here in one day. Ordinarily, he might have broken it up into two days, but he didn't wanna spend the extra time. He'd gotten an urgent call, and he was hauling ass north because of it.

He'd never heard of the town he was asked to come to, some backwoods Oregon town called Crescent Hill. He was deep in the woods now, rolling along a forested road like he had been for the past hour or two. He'd passed some towns, some signs of civilization here and there, but it was a lonely drive, especially for the past half hour or so, he hadn't seen a single car. That was downright startling after having spent the past decade or so living in LA. Julian had bundled up a bit for the cold, but it really didn't seem to be enough. He wore a maroon hoodie beneath his trust brown leather jacket, along with a pair of dark jeans and some boots. He had a heavy winter coat in his backseat somewhere, along with a small suitcase. He had no idea how long he'd be here in Crescent Hill, but the call he'd received last night had been desperate, and Julian really hadn't hesitated.

The woman who had called, Nora Thomas, was somebody he hadn't seen in probably... seven years? That alone spoke volumes to the kind of urgency she needed from him. She hadn't even had his number, she'd called the precinct asking for him, and fortunately for her, he still worked there. The desk sergeant had routed the call to Julian's desk, and Julian had picked it up to the sound of crying. Julian had met Nora nearly a decade ago, when she was a 20 year old college student at UCLA and Julian had been a 21 year old beat cop. He'd met her while on the job, of course, as the job was pretty much all Julian did these days and those days. He'd abandoned his old werewolf pack as soon as he turned 18, and made his way into the big city.

It hadn't taken Julian long to be drawn to helping people, which eventually led to him becoming a police officer. He'd achieved detective early, due in part to his supernaturally keen senses earning him a lot of big breaks that normal cops didn't really get. It was a lot easier to catch the bad guys when you could smell where they went, after all. But before he'd become a detective, one of the people he had helped was Nora Thomas, college student and the victim of a robbery. There wasn't anything too unique about that, except for the fact that Nora was also a werewolf. They'd recognized each other at once, and it had led to something of a friendship.

Julian had recovered her stolen purse, of course, but even after that, they'd met up for drinks on occasion. Julian wasn't really a social butterfly, to the great lament of his best friend Ellen Warner. But fortunately, Nora was busy enough with college that she wasn't calling him up that frequently. They'd see each other maybe once a month, if that, but it was enough for them to talk a bit. Then, Nora had had to drop out of college due to some kind of family thing, and she'd headed home to... well, here, Julian supposed. Crescent Hill, Oregon, or as he was beginning to think of it as, The Middle of Fucking Nowhere.

Hearing Nora in tears on the phone had rattled Julian, and he'd asked her what was wrong. It took her a while to get it out, but she finally managed to tell him the story between tears. She had a son now, it seemed, a kid named Andy, and as of that morning... Andy had been taken. Nora was distraught, but the police hadn't even started looking into it, as 24 hours hadn't passed yet. Julian also doubted that small-town police would be able to do much here, because in his professional opinion, anything that could take a werewolf's son from her wasn't likely to be bothered by some backwoods cop. Julian hadn't asked for much more detail than that, he'd told Nora he would be there tomorrow.

After a quick handoff to his extremely competent partner Detective Abigail Richards, Julian had cited a family emergency and ducked out of work. Which brought him pretty much to now, driving through the snow on the outskirts of Crescent Hill. He had some rock music blasting through the speakers, and his eyes were trained on the road. At this time of year, the sun set early, and despite it being just a little past 4 in the evening, the sun was already dipping low on the horizon. The tall trees cast long shadows as the sun continued to sink, but thankfully Julian rounded a bend of the snow-lined road and he spotted a sign on the side of the road.

WELCOME TO CRESCENT HILL! Population: 2,898

Far cry from LA's roughly 12 million people, wasn't it? This kind of place was well outside of Julian's wheelhouse, but he was going to do whatever he could to help Nora. The road past the sign led straight into what Julian saw was called Main Street. The name was a bit misleading, in Julian's opinion, as it was a small stretch of road lined with small businesses. He spotted a diner called Earl's, with a flickering neon sight glowing in the fading light. Past Earl's diner was a tiny little post office, a barbershop that looked closed for the day, a modestly sized corner grocery store, and then across the street was a cafe with big glass windows and a couple of people milling around inside. As Julian continued along, following his GPS, he also passed a local bakery, a thrift store, an antique book store, and a bar, along with a handful of other little shops.

Julian turned off of Main Street and followed a road winding along to the west, the setting sun making him lower his gaze, light flickering through the tall trees that surrounded the town. He pulled onto a quiet street, a narrow road lined with simple, one-story homes. They didn't have much yard space, and while a couple had some Christmas lights up still, it was mostly cold and dreary. His phone declared he had arrived, and Julian turned into what he hoped was Nora's driveway, parking behind a dented brown minivan.

Julian grabbed his phone off its' mount, stuffing it into the pocket of his jeans as he turned the Cutlass off. He stepped outside of his trusty car, glancing at it as he shut the door. It had been his father's, but it was passed on to Julian after his dad died when he was young. The Oldsmobile Cutlass was beautiful, a gorgeous hunter green car from 1971, but despite its' age, it ran beautifully. Julian made sure of it, as had his father before him. Julian patted the roof of the car comfortingly, and he made his way across the snow-covered yard to the front door, snow crunching underfoot as he walked.

He stepped onto the concrete patio at the front door, lifting his hand to knock hard on the plain white door. He glanced at the house as he waited, taking in the plain brown brick appearance of it, the lack of a garage, the lit up windows off to the right, probably the living room if he had to guess. Julian's keen ears prickled at the sound of footsteps coming from inside the house, and the front door was practically yanked open.

"Julian." the woman standing there exhaled with a deep relief. She came forwards, barefoot on the snowy patio as she stood on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck and hug him as tight as she could. Julian put his arms around the grieving mother and squeezed her just as tight in return.

"Thank you for coming." Nora said shakily, her face buried in his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner." Julian said sadly.

Nora stepped back, wiping her eyes and sniffling as she waved her other hand dismissively. "I'm just glad you're here. Come in, come in."

Julian followed her inside, taking in her appearance as he did so. The 27 year old werewolf was still beautiful, even with her eyes red-rimmed and puffy. She had long almond brown hair, currently tied up messily on the top of her head. She was a bit of a mess right now, but Julian didn't blame her one bit. She wore a pair of fuzzy pajama pants and a beaten up T-shirt with a design that had long since faded to basically nothing. She also, Julian couldn't help but note, was clearly not wearing a bra, he'd been able to feel that when she hugged him, and whenever she moved. Nora had a pair of generous breasts, and from the way her fuzzy pants hung on her, it was very clear she still had those gorgeous hips. She wasn't too tall, maybe 5'4 or 5'5, and she wore a pair of black glasses he didn't remember her wearing back in Los Angeles.

"Can I get you anything?" Nora asked, trying to give Julian a welcoming smile, but it fell apart on her face pretty quickly.

"No, no, I don't need anything." Julian shook his head. "Just sit down, alright?"

"OK." Nora said miserably, but she listened to him, moving to sit down on the brown couch she had in the living room facing the TV. "I'm sorry about the mess."

"I'm not here to judge your decor, Nora." Julian said kindly. "I'm just here to help you."

Nora looked at him then, her sky blue eyes tear-filled behind the lenses of her glasses. "Thank you so much for coming."

"You already said that." Julian smiled as he sat down beside her on the couch.

"And I mean it." Nora sniffled. "The police are fucking useless, they only just now started looking into it, they wouldn't even give me the time of day before it had been 24 hours."

"Well, I may be a detective, but I'm not here on any official business. All I care about is getting Andy back to you, protocol be damned." Julian said firmly. "Now, can you walk me through what happened?"

"Sure." Nora nodded, looking like her grief weighed about five hundred pounds. "Andy's five, so he's going to kindergarten now. I have work at Earl's until 3, so he takes the bus home. I get home maybe ten minutes after him, he has a key, he walks right inside and turns on the TV, usually. The bus driver watched him walk along the driveway, open the door, and walk inside. I screamed at that poor woman so much, and she swore that Andy had gotten into the house. Then the bus drove off, and exactly eight minutes later, I got home. I walked into the house and it was empty."

Nora took a deep, shuddering breath, and Julian reached over to her, putting a steadying hand on her shoulder. "Was there any sign of an intruder?"

"The back door was open." Nora said, nodding her head towards it. "Nothing else was disturbed. The house smelled normal, there was definitely nobody inside my house. The backyard though, I did smell... something. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't human. I lost the trail a little ways into the woods, it just completely cut off."

Julian glanced around the house, taking a curious sniff himself. He smelled Nora most strongly, but of course, she was sitting beside him. There was a second scent, one he identified as the one that must belong to Andy, it smelled not unlike Nora's.

"Andy... werewolf or no?" Julian asked.

"No." Nora shook her head. "Half-wolf, and he hasn't come into any of his abilities yet."

"What about Andy's father?" Julian asked gently. Nora gave a scoff, shaking her head.

"Somewhere in Portland, probably. Or maybe Seattle. He does love his Seahawks." Nora said bitterly.

"Did you tell him yet?" Julian asked, and Nora shook her head.

"He switched numbers a long time ago. Doesn't care about his kid one bit, much less the woman he bailed on." Nora said quietly. Julian nodded to himself, standing up and looking around the place. A kid's backpack occupied the small dining room table, confirming what Nora had gotten from the bus driver. He'd come home... but something had happened to him, either he'd left, or something had taken him.

"Anything weird recently?" Julian asked, shaking his head.

"Weird how?" Nora asked, nudging her glasses into place with one finger.

"Vehicles you don't recognize, weird noises, weird smells, weird people... anything?" Julian asked, glancing away from the undisturbed kitchen to look to the woman on the couch.

Nora thought hard, but she eventually shook her head. "I don't think so. None that I noticed, anyway."

Julian clicked his tongue idly as he wandered around the house, scanning up and down for anything out of place. "What about in the town? Any other kidnappings?"

Nora lifted a hand, rubbing at her temple as she shook her head. "No, no. Nothing like that happens in Crescent Hill. It's like half an hour from anything, but that also means we don't get crime like that here. Worst offender around these parts is Old Jack getting too drunk at the bar and trying to pick a fight."

Julian snorted, then nodded. "Alright, then. So... we don't have a lot to go on."

"We have nothing." Nora said miserably.

"Can you show me where you found the scent?" Julian asked, and Nora nodded, getting to her feet.

"Let me put some shoes on." she said, and Julian watched as she padded across the carpeted living room floor to the entrance, where she slid her feet into a pair of slippers, then grabbed a coat off the hook, a big puffy gray coat that she donned as she led Julian to the back door. She flicked on the light in the yard, then opened the back door and set out across the yard, Julian falling into step right beside her.

Nora led Julian across the entire length of the small yard, and right at the edge of the property line, Julian smelled it. It was a little faded now, an old scent, but it was a pungent smell, impossible to miss. It smelled strongly of death, like flesh gone bad and the iron of blood. It was almost closer to an animal smell than a human smell, but Julian couldn't have made a guess at any animal on Earth. It was something supernatural alright, it was just a question of what.

"When you came out here to look for him, was the scent fresh?" Julian wondered. "Because the smell is old, it seems older than yesterday afternoon."

"I... I don't know." Nora admitted. "I was freaking out, I smelled the blood and the decayed flesh, I didn't really think about it. If it wasn't new though... then what took Andy? And why is this scent here?"

"These are good questions." Julian agreed, peering out into the woods. It was already much too dark to see anything, but Julian had better night vision than most, being a werewolf.

"Do you want to see where the scent leads?" Nora asked, and Julian glanced sideways at his old friend. She looked a mess, shivering slightly despite the coat around her. She'd obviously been crying all day, and she looked not just drained, but exhausted.

"I'll go and follow it myself." Julian decided. "You go back inside, maybe make a cup of tea or something, just try and relax."

"Julian..." Nora said warningly. "I'm not just going to sit in my house and wait while you do all the searching."

"I know." Julian assured her. "But you're wearing slippers and pajamas. I don't need you for this part, and you look like you're going to drop any minute. I won't be long."

Nora glared at him, but finally she relented and nodded. "Fine. Just this once, but after this, we're sticking together, you hear me?"

"Works for me." Julian agreed. "After you get some sleep tonight."

"Tell me if you find anything?" Nora asked weakly. "No... no matter what."

"Of course I will." Julian said, and she gave him a weak, grateful smile before heading back to the house. Julian turned away from her to face the woods, and as he strode into them, he let the werewolf transformation in just slightly. It had the effect of increasing his night vision, while making his eyes glow like a wolf's would. The glow meant that he couldn't use it too noticeably around humans like his partner Abigail, but walking alone through the woods, he let the glow burn brightly. He wanted the maximum night vision he could have for this.

The scent of death was old, yes, but it was so malodorous that it was no trouble at all for Julian to follow it away from the street of houses and into the woods. His boots crunched in the snow as he made his way deeper, walking between the tall, thick trees. This kind of darkness was rare for Julian, there was almost always some kind of lights in LA, so it was rare that Julian got out of the city and saw something like this.

The forest around him was dark and imposing, but he follow ed that smell faithfully, scanning the ground for any sign or clue that Nora might have missed. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see. Julian had been walking for about ten minutes when the smell stopped. Julian frowned, looking around. There was absolutely nothing of interest to this location, it was completely indistinguishable from the other places he'd just walked past. There was no clearing, no prominent tree or rock, no structure or natural formation, it was just... nothing.

Trees rose up all around him, gnarled roots at their feet, a blanket of snow draped across the landscape. Julian scowled, sniffing around to try to find exactly where the smell stopped. He lowered to his knees, wondering if there was some kind of entrance to somewhere, but there wasn't a damn thing. He did deduce the smell ended pretty much right at the trunk of a tree, but the scent didn't go up the tree, and it didn't seem to really go anywhere else.

"Fuck." Julian muttered. A dead end. He hadn't expected much else, it wasn't like he had some magical power of smell that Nora didn't already have, but he'd wanted to at least get his eyes on this spot. Unfortunately... there wasn't much to see. Julian strained his ears, but his super hearing didn't pick up anything unusual either. The chattering of some squirrels, the movement of some deer... nothing unusual. Julian lifted his head and sniffed the air again, but... nothing.

Julian moved to turn back towards Nora's house, but at the very edge of his enhanced hearing, he heard something all of a sudden. Footsteps. Two pairs of them, it seemed. Julian was off like a shot, running at full speed through the snow as best he could, and he was very glad that it wasn't deep. As he ran, he let his eyes dim just enough to make them not full-on glow, as it was very possible it was a pair of hiking humans he was about to come across. Julian slowed as he neared them, and he was at a normal walking pace when he stepped into view of them.

"Hold it!" a voice called, and Julian sighed inwardly. He recognized that kind of speech pattern.

"Police?" Julian asked, letting his eyes sink back to nearly human as one of the two figures swept a flashlight his direction. Peering past the beam, he could make out the two figures, one male and one female as they studied him.

"Who the hell are you?" the male cop demanded. He was in his fifties or so, Julian would guess, with a hell of a paunch and some silver five o'clock shadow. He wore a wide-brimmed hat glimmering with a police insignia, and a black winter coat over a tan police uniform. As for the woman, she was maybe forty, with a severe face, a tight bun at the back of her head, and an outfit identical to the man's.

"My name's Julian Anderson." Julian said, holding his hands out to the sides. "I'm LAPD."

"Now, I'm no cartographer, but I think you're a bit outside of your jurisdiction." the woman said wryly.

"I'm not here on duty." Julian sighed. "Just here visiting a friend."

"And your friend lives out here in the woods?" the man asked, casting his flashlight around warily.

"No, she lives in town. I was out here looking for her son." Julian replied.

"Shit, you're Nora Thomas' friend?" the woman scowled. "Look, you can't just be out here wandering through the forest at night. We've got a missing kid, I don't need some hotshot city cop trying to get in our way."

"I'm not here to interfere." Julian shook his head. "I'm a detective, so Nora called me when Andy disappeared. I'm not gonna get in your way, but I do wanna help."

The pair of cops exchanged looks, then the woman sighed and looked back to Julian. "At least carry a flashlight or something so people can see you."

"Good point." Julian nodded, playing up the dumb city detective. "Too used to city lights, I guess."

The man snorted. "Yeah, we don't get many of those in Crescent Hill."

"Seems like it." Julian agreed. "Say, you two have names?"

"Officer Harold Sullivan." the man said.

"Sergeant Carol Murphy." the woman grunted. "Look, I know you don't want to hear this about your friend, but the woman's nuts, alright? She came into our police station screaming about someone taking her son, nobody takes anybody in Crescent Hill, you hear me? Most likely, the kid ran off into the woods, hurt himself somewhere. We looked in that house, there was nothing disturbed. Not a thing. You ask me, the kid got home from school, didn't have anyone watching him, decided to go for a little adventure."

"Kids will be kids, right?" Sullivan chimed in.

"Uh huh." Julian said slowly.

"We had hoped the kid would make his way home, but the fact he didn't... he's either lost or hurt somewhere." Sergeant Murphy shook her head. "With these temperatures, it's unlikely the little guy is doing too well, but we're going to find him, alright? I've already got officers combing these woods, we're starting at Nora Thomas' house and we're sweeping outwards. We're going to find him, so just pray that the kiddo is staying warm somehow."

"I see." Julian said coldly. "So you're just assuming Nora's a negligent mother?"

"Look, LA." Murphy sighed. "It's not an easy thing, trust me, I know how hard that girl works to makes ends meet. She said herself, it was just eight minutes Andy was alone, but kids can do a lot in eight minutes."

Julian nodded slowly, glancing back and forth between the two cops. "Well, I wish you guys good luck combing the forest."

"You're not going to help?" Sullivan asked, looking surprised.

"No, I've got a kidnapper to catch. But you guys enjoy your hike." Julian said with a tight smile as he nodded at each of the cops before turning and walking off.

Julian's enhanced hearing caught Sergeant Carol Murphy's remark as he walked off, though a normal human definitely would not have been able to. "Smug asshole."

———

Julian made his way back to Nora's house, coming out of the forest and crossing her backyard headed to the house. Andy's scent was impossible to catch with that scent of death hanging so thick over everything, and despite twenty more minutes of searching along the trail that the scent left, Julian hadn't turned up a damn thing. It was with a grudging defeat to the bitter cold that Julian finally made his way back inside, his hands and feet like ice cubes, his face stinging from the chill.

"You're back!" Nora exclaimed, jumping to her feet as Julian entered, dragging his boots on the rug in front of the door to get the snow off. "Anything?"

"Nothing." Julian sighed. "You were right. The scent just wound off into the forest and then vanished. Not a trace. I did meet two of Crescent Hill's finest though."

"You don't sound impressed." Nora remarked, but from her face, she understood perfectly.

"Yeah, Sergeant Murphy and that other guy Sullivan. Not very impressive examples of policework, those two." Julian scowled.

"What'd they say?" Nora asked, sitting back down on the couch.

"That they think Andy got up and left on his own." Julian sighed. "Went for a little adventure in the woods and wasn't able to come back."

"Idiots." Nora scowled.

"Yeah, that scent at the edge of the yard... there's no way Andy wandered off on his own. Something was here, something dark." Julian nodded, looking out towards the backyard.

"So... what do we do now?" Nora asked worriedly.

"Now? We get some sleep." Julian said reluctantly. "There's nothing more we can do for him tonight, and if we run ourselves into the ground, nobody's going to be able to find him. Dumb and Dumber out there sure aren't going to."

Nora practically wilted on the couch, and Julian's heart broke for her. He crossed the living room to her, kneeling down in front of her.

"Nora, we're going to find Andy, alright? This is a small town, and we're werewolves." Julian tried to encourage her. "We can try in our wolf forms, we might pick something up-"

"That's what I did all of last night." Nora said wearily. "I ran through that forest until the sun started coming up, it didn't do a thing. I didn't find anything."

"You definitely need to sleep then." Julian said, patting her leg. "C'mon. I'm exhausted from my drive, and you've pulled an all-nighter. It's bed time."

"I can't sleep." Nora shook her head. "Not while he's still out there alone somewhere."

"Nora." Julian said seriously. "I'm not asking. You asked for my help, this is what it is. You're going to get some sleep, and tomorrow morning, we'll be right back to it."

She hung her head, and Julian rose to his feet. "I'm going to grab my suitcase from the car, and then it's bedtime, alright?"

"OK." Nora said miserably. Julian went out to the Cutlass, opening up the back door and grabbing out his winter coat and the suitcase on the floor beside it. He glanced up and down the dark, quiet street, illuminated only by a streetlight a few houses down, and a couple more even further past that. No motion caught his eye, but he tilted his head up and sniffed the air curiously. Not a thing.

Making a noise of disappointment, Julian shut the door of the Cutlass and walked back inside. Nora sat where she had when he walked out, except now her face was buried in her hands.

"Nora?" Julian asked, and the werewolf lifted her head, looking up at him miserably. She rose to her feet, and almost mechanically took him to the back hallway. One of the doors was shut, and Julian noticed Nora staring at it, before she abruptly turned aside and pushed into a half-open door, revealing a small guest room. It seemed to be halfway a kids' playroom, but the toys had been pushed aside, and the queen size bed had been made up.

"Bathroom's out in the hall." Nora cleared her throat. "Sorry it's not much, but-"

"It's fine, seriously. You don't need to apologize for anything." Julian assured her, and the exhausted mother nodded.

"OK, um... have a good night." Nora swallowed, and she gave Julian a little nod before walking out of the guest room, heading further along the hallway and entering through another door. Julian shut the guest room door and stripped out of his traveling clothes, setting them aside as he pulled on some pajamas, which was just a pair of gym shorts and a soft T-shirt. He was exhausted from the ten-hour drive and the near hour spent wandering through the forest. He was a little hungry, but he'd eaten about two hours ago now, a greasy burger at some small little diner. It would last him through until tomorrow. He grabbed his toiletries and headed into the bathroom.

It was a relief to come back from the bathroom and crawl into bed. The sheets were nice and cool, as was the pillow, and Julian started fading into sleep as soon as he laid down, but the creaking of a door tickled at his ears, and he lifted his head as footsteps came down the hall. Nora pushed open the guest room door, and Julian blinked at her, his eyes shifting instinctively as he peered at her in the dark room. Her glasses had come off, and her hair now tumbled freely down her shoulders in unkempt waves. She'd shed the fuzzy pants, standing now in only the faded shirt and a pair of plain white cotton panties.

"I... will you just hold me?" Nora asked despairingly, and Julian didn't think twice before nodding. The woman padded across the carpeted floor of the bedroom and climbed into the bed. Julian wrapped his arms tightly around her warm, smooth body, and she exhaled loudly as she nuzzled into his chest. He had never been in the same bed as Nora before, but her body fit his nicely, and her body heat was deeply comforting.

"I'm so glad you came." Nora whispered into the dark.

"Of course I came." Julian murmured, drawing his hand up along her back.

"Tell me we're going to find him." Nora breathed.

"We're going to find Andy." Julian told her firmly, squeezing her reassuringly. He whispered it to her several more times, and it took several minutes, but finally, she relaxed in his arms. Her breathing evened out, and Julian smiled slightly to himself. Nora had needed sleep badly, and he was very glad she was getting it.

With her dealt with, Julian laid his head back, feeling sleep pulling at him as well. With Nora's warm body curled against his, it took no time at all for Julian to slip into a deep sleep.