Alien Dreams

Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

"We need to find out about these other women that are with the Margoleyians." Aubrie says as the six of them return to the sitting area. "Ari mentioned that the one that asked about care for young had the smell of a shifter. It wasn't strong, but I believe that what she smelled was a true scent. What if they are taking children and then breeding them when they're old enough? That would account for the weaker scent." She tells them looking at Gray. "They might have even taken some of our females and mated them and the women are a result of that mating."

Both Gray and Caise growl at this idea. It would also answer some of the questions about known missing children and females. Gray takes a deep breath and calms himself as much as he can.

"We need to do deeper investigations into the disappearances that have taken place." He tells them thinking about how the searches for the missing never lasted more than a couple of months unless the search was for someone related to a highly placed family. "We can no longer just give up on those lost or taken, no matter what has happened to them. We must look until we either find them or their bodies."

Caise nods and wraps an arm around Aubrie. "How are we to do this Gray? Even the Recovery Task Force has failed to find any leads to those that are missing." Caise reminds him. "It's very rare for them to locate any that have disappeared."

Tayla frowns at hearing this. Her people also had a Recovery Task Force, but it was very rare for them not to find those that they went looking for. "Why doesn't your Recovery team have more success in their recoveries?"

Gray looks down at her. "Mostly because they lose the scent of the one they are searching for. Unless there is some sign or scent of the missing, it is hard to confirm whether or not they were even at the location being searched."

"Don't you have seekers working with your teams?" Kiefer asks also frowning. "They would be able to tell you that kind of information if you couldn't scent them."

Both Gray and Caise look at him in confusion. "What is a seeker and what exactly do they do?" Caise asks.

"A seeker searches for electrical and mental images and impressions from the victim being searched for." Tayla explains. "Most beings leave behind energy signatures of both kinds if they are in an area for more than a minute or two. Seekers can feel and usually see these and can follow the energy if the emotions that created them are strong enough. If the victim was taken by force or surprise then the emotion would be strong and stay strong until the victim felt safe."

"Just being lost would also create strong emotion, especially in a child or female that has always been sheltered." Kiefer puts in knowing that both shifter young and females were highly protected. "A seeker would know this and follow until either the victim was found or there was no longer any trace."

"But what if the victim were to feel safe again?" Raelynn asks with a frown. "Wouldn't that lead the seeker to believe that something about the situation had changed? That they were with someone that they trusted."

"Not necessarily Rae." Kiefer tells her taking her hand. "Even if the seeker thought that everything was fine, they would check with the reporting family to be sure that the victim had returned or were with someone that they knew. If not they would continue to follow the trail until they had all the answers to take back to the family, even if they could only return a body."

Gray stands and paces around the room for a few minutes before stopping and turning back to the others. "I'd like to get a couple of these seekers and integrate them with our Recovery teams. Do you think that they could work with shifters?" He asks looking from Tayla to Kiefer and then Aubrie.