Caffeinated-Bunny

Greece. Early Helladic I-II period. Approximately 2500 BC It wasn’t so often that they had a guest so richly dressed as the middle-aged man come into their presence, nor one with his daughter or niece walking a step or two behind him. Lycaon smiled briefly, inclining his head towards the newcomer. “Welcome, my home is modest for a man of your position, but its people are generous.” It always paid to be respectful to strangers, lest they be more than they appeared. This time last summer they had played host to Laelaps and Teumessius. Though not gods themselves, they were kin to the gods. The newcomer chuckled, amusement crossing a lined face. “I had heard of your generosity, I came to see it for myself, master Lycaon.” “And your companion?” He couldn’t help assessing her, gaze drifting over the young woman’s curves and her plaited red hair. Beautiful in her own way but timid, and unusually for a woman, bearing a valuable bronze knife on her hip. His guest frowned, a little of the

Late Neolithic period – approximately 4400 BC. Site of present-day Athens, Greece It was a game they had played for over fifty years now – they would find each other for a night or two and he would leave just as the sun rose. She would follow after a day’s wait. Love granted him that much of a head start before she started the chase. This day was no different and she greeted the new day with her song, padding out of the hide shelter in her natural shape. Her form looked like a dog the human hunters used for their hare hunts but it was more of a pale gray than blonde and her tail wasn’t so curled as the mundane creatures they bred. If her form had been capable of laughing, she would have as she caught the familiar scent on the air. Teumessius wanted to be found but he wasn’t about to make it easy for her. Unlike her, he found changing shape easier, he could have looked like anything or any number of human men in this land. Which was not to say she lacked the same gift, just that she

This should have been her day off but when it came to lost kids… Andrea Michaels sighed, pushing thoughts of her fiancé out of mind as she knelt in front of the young girl sitting on the graying tile of the police station’s lobby. “Where are your parents?” A forced attempt at a shrug but no verbal answer. Andrea pinched the bridge of her nose and dropped her hand back to her side. “Do you know your address?” The girl couldn’t be more than eight or nine, wearing a threadbare gray tshirt found from the lost and found box in the back. “From what my partner said, you were found wandering by the edge of the road. No shoes or shirt on.” Another half-hearted attempt at a shrug and the girl looked past her, shrinking into a ball. Andrea sighed again and stood, accepting the coffee that detective Holmes gave her. Contrary to his name and Victorian fiction, this man was a flake. Running late and perpetually disorganized but his coffee was better than the station’s usual watery fare. He