Hybrid Assassin

Chapter 8

"Reina?!" Lotus shrieks in pure terror, her voice so loud that Damon and I flinch. "What's wrong with my baby?! Is she ok? Has she been staying with you the last few weeks, is that why you smell like her?!" The petite woman is panicking, which is understandable when a stranger calls you to meet and when you do meet you say you need to discuss their daughter.

"Yes she has been staying with me... Um only a select few know this but we are mates, she doesn't know it yet so don't tell her, I want to tell her when the time is right which definitely isn't now." Nervously I rub the back of my neck.

Lotus goes wide eyed at the news. "My baby has a mate!" She sings, jumping up and down like she just won the lottery. Damon is oddly calm as he sips his coffee meaning he must have somehow already knew.

"We have a full bond like all shifters do, the first time we made skin contact the usual electrocuting electricity went through us followed by images of our future together if we choose to not reject each other, however once that happened she freaked out and something happened..." I trail off not sure how exactly to say she just started shooting fireballs and it's a huge problem because she can't go one day without setting something on fire. "Well... the thing is... both of her hands started glowing and balls of fire appeared in her hands and it's not normal angel fire either, well part of it is. One hand holds regular angel fire while the other hand wields blue fire."

"Like this?" All of a sudden a small blue ball of fire appears in Lotus' hand. "It's fox fire, more controlled than angel fire and just as deadly."

"So finding her mate has awakened her abilities... We had thought she didn't inherite any abilities." Damon looks dazed and a little in awe, already imaging what his daughter will be capable of.

I take a deep breath before I begin speaking again. "That seems to be what happened but there's a huge problem." Both focus on me once again, no longer distracted by their own thoughts. "The fire is wildly out of control, no matter what we try we haven't made any progress trying to get even a sliver of it under control. If Reina's mood changes then half the house is on fire and she can't sleep alone anymore because she also shoots fireballs out in her sleep, your daughter is a ticking time bomb ready to explode at anytime for no reason."

"I-I'm sorry but I can't help." Lotus hoarsely whispers, a flash of terror in her pink eyes stunning me. Damon puts a hand on her back soothingly rubbing up and down.

"Lotus was once attacked with angel fire and almost died, it's her only weakness so she's too scared to be around it and with this problem Reina could accidentally kill her in a second. It took a while for Lotus to warm up to the fallen at the organization because of the incident." I just nod in understanding, if someone was randomly firing out something that could kill me I probably couldn't bring myself to be near them in fear of dying. "I'll help her." The fallen angel's words make me stiffen, it's not good to have someone like him at the pack with wanted criminals running around freely. "I know she won't be able to leave your side for long enough to have everything under control or the bond would cause you both pain and your wolf would mourn with want for his mate, so I will come to your territory and stay. Don't worry about what you're doing or hiding there, I promise to not interfere but you will have to explain everything to me and not hide anything." Knowing there's no other option I reluctantly nod. He then turns to address his mate. "If you don't want to come then stay at the organization, it's not safe for you to be alone at the ranch."

Without saying a word Lotus jumps up and crawls over Damon, leaving the booth then running out of the diner as fast as she can, once she makes it outside she starts chanting then disappears. "What just happened?" My eyes blink as I stare at where the small Being vanished.

Damon sighs. "She is freaked out so she teleported home, thinking of angel fire while sitting next to a fallen angel isn't easy for her and there's no way she would let me fly her home with me, so she used a teleportation spell. In about an hour I'll probably get a call from her apologizing for taking off like that. Thanks for not saying Reina was Black Death to her, she would probably kill me and lock Reina up for the rest of her life if she found out."

Even though I talked about Reina and also mentioned a female being at the pack who is Black Death I never actually said Reina was the famous assassin. "I figured your mate didn't know as soon as I started talking, her eyes held a certain innocence in them."

The seriousness of the conversation now seems more casual. "Being a thousand years old she has somehow lived in forests all her life until we met twenty six years ago. She is incredibly innocent to just about everything, it's best she remains in the dark about her daughter, Lotus loathes the thought of killing and it would rip her apart to know one of her children was a born killer." Taking his eyes off the spot she vanished from he faces me again. "Now, am I flying to your territory or riding in the car with you?"

Is he wanting to leave right now?! Seriously? "It's up to you I guess, but don't you want to go home and get some clothes or something first?"

"No, I can buy what I need when we get there and if I need anything special I can have Ryan bring it." If he thinks he can just invite whoever he wants onto my pack lands then we are going to have big problems, my pack will be upset enough as it is having the head of the organization staying there for who knows how long and if a bunch of unknown fallen start strutting onto the territory whenever they want the pack will go into chaos from fear. However, this is for Reina so it has to be done. I mentally steady myself focusing solely on Reina, pushing everything else aside, with a curt nod to the fallen across from me I stand to leave, he copies my action then soon following me out the dingy diner then into my car to drive off into the night to go to my pack.

REINA'S P.O.V.

An extremely loud blaring noise rings in my room scaring me awake, making an equally loud scream come from my throat I fall off my bed, with a racing heart a pair of feet next to me registers in my mind causing me to gulp in recognition. No it can't be, I think as I stare at the familiar pair of shoes then I realize the sound that awoken me was one that woke me daily when I was going through training years ago. Almost fearfully, my eyes leave the pair of shoes slowly traveling up the body only to see a face I never thought to see this soon and oh my gods is his face scary looking. "Dad." I croak out knowing it's not good he is here and definitely not good he is holding an air horn, meaning hell awaits me today.

"Rise and shine, it's already five in the morning and I expect you to be ready by five thirty and in the training room." Not saying anything else he turns away leaving the room at lighting speed. Oh f**k he's in drill sergeant mode, not wasting time I clumsily scramble up then hurridely dash off into the bathroom to get ready, if I'm one minute late the punishment is brutal. My dad is very loving and caring but when it comes to training he puts all familial emotions aside.

Making it to the training room I lean down putting both hands on my knees trying to catch my breath, today was record time in getting ready and eating, everyone was gaping at me as I practically swallowed a protein bar in one bite but they've never had to deal with my dad so they don't understand the importance of rushing.

"You cut it close having only one minute to spare." Dad sternly says as he peeks at the clock on the wall. "You've been slacking off if your stamina is so slow you enter here out of breath like a new trainee." He puts both hands behind his back slightly spreading his legs out so his feet are lined up with his shoulders just like an army sergeant. "Out of control powers is no laughing matter, I must say I'm deeply disappointed you didn't notify anyone about this, it's not something you can learn to control on your own and nobody besides a fallen can help you." In shame I drop my head feeling like a scolded child. "We need to deplete your body's energy while keeping your mind strong before we start on trying to control the fire. You know what to do."

"Yes sir!" Knowing a grueling workout is starting I take a good five minutes to stretch making sure all of my muscles are loosened, no longer the least bit tight. Having done that I start warming up on the treadmill. Part way through my running the door squeaks open, the amazing pine wood scent of Cameron fills the room covering up the stench of sweat, knowing dad will punish me for any distractions I ignore the gorgeous alpha as my running is soon turning into sprinting.

"I was wondering if I could join, you're known to be the best fighter in the world and it's rumored you are an amazing trainer." Cameron speaks all business like which isn't something I've yet to see from him.

"Once you start you can't stop until I tell you to or until you pass out." Dad's voice is stern. "Reina off the treadmill, Cameron stretch then start running like you've never ran before." Poor Cameron has no idea just what he has gotten himself into. I mentally sigh feeling a pang of pity for the unsuspecting alpha, Ryan and I are the only supernaturals I've saw so far that are able to keep up with dad's spartan training and Ryan is barely standing at the end of it. If Cameron and I are lucky the workout will be cut short considering the main point of all this is to drain my energy enough work on my powers.

Heading to the weights, dad darts in front of me stopping me in my steps then swings a punch right at my face putting all his strength behind it, my reflexes kick in as I swiftly step to the side, his fist so close it's only a fraction of an inch away from colliding with my jaw. With no thought or hesitation I high kick at dad's face, at the last nano second he grabs my foot blocking the blow then twisting my leg in an attempt to get me to submit, using my other leg I'm able to jump up and affectively connect my foot to his stomach causing his grip to loosen enough for me to free my leg. Immediately I drop to the ground low kicking trying to knock dad down by his ankles but unsurprisingly he jumps up dodging the attack landing in a crouching position, close to the same pose as me, at the same time we stand and start circling each other like we are stalking our prey. Dad is the first to move as he fake steps to the left tricking me as he his fist slams into my chest sending me flying to the other side of the room, not having time to groan in pain I jump up and run full speed at him then start raining blows on him which he dodges. Before I can land a hit he unfurls his wings, hitting me with one large wing I'm knocked on the ground. Damn I have been slacking off. We continue this deadly dance for who knows how long until dad tries hitting me with his wings again which I side step, spinning behind him not wasting time I jab an elbow into his back where his kidneys are causing him to stagger, the small opening gives me enough time to kick the back of his knees. As dad falls on all fours I jump onto his back quickly placing both my hands on his head signaling the end of the fight as this is a kill, perfect for snapping his neck. Climbing off him he stands on uneasy legs due to the force of the kick to his back. Dad gives me a stern look.

"It shouldn't have taken you that long to take me out. Skip the weights, Cameron was gracious enough to allow for an agility course to be set up in the gymnasium. Head straight there, Cameron get off the treadmill and come with us as well, today is a short easy workout." Without complaint the blonde Alpha hops off the treadmill, walking up to us he leads me out of the training room to the gymnasium that I have yet to see, dad following right behind us.

Entering the gymnasium Cameron stops in his tracks taking in the overly complicated extreme course set up. Imagine the worlds most extreme parkour course then times that by one hundred and you might have an idea of what I'm groaning at. The devil himself couldn't come up with something this crazy, one lovely thing is parts of the course go as high as the fifty foot, consisting of swinging from different objects that will require jumps, flips, ducking and dodging with no netting to catch you if you fall. One tiny mistake on this course and you will suffer sever injuries and in a few places it's possible to die. Way to go dad! "This took my top fighters an average of two hours to complete, I expect you to beat it in an hour, if you haven't let yourself get rusty you should be able to get through this with no problem. Cameron, you have an extra thirty minutes, fail and punishment is severe. Now GO!"

As soon as he shouts the basketball scoreboard timer turns on counting down the hour. If I didn't know better I could swear dad thinks up creative ways to kill me. Running, jumping, swinging, climbing and flipping my way through the death trap course I fall over in exhaustion as soon as I finish, an imposing shadow looms over me holding out a water bottle. Greedily I take the bottle gulping it down to soothe my dry throat, I feel as if I've been in the desert for days without water. "Being the best assassin in history you exceeded my expectations, I never thought you could get through in an hour much less fifty minutes. I was going to let it slide if you went over an hour as long as it didn't take you two hours, the alpha however, seems he will take about two hours to complete it assuming he doesn't fall over first, right now he looks ready to drop at any second. Still better than most I guess." He shrugs watching Cameron struggle at the halfway point of the course.

For some reason I don't like how dad is making Cameron finish the course when the wolf is already heavily panting as sweat pours off of him. "Dad, my flexibility helped a lot and males aren't the most flexible, much less a bulky alpha shifter. Really I have no idea how any of your top men made it through this."

"About that... aside from you only two people were able to make it completely through, your mother and Ryan, but I'm not sure if it can be said that they successfully completed it or cheated, Ryan literally flew through parts while your mother used magic and abilities." I gawk at dad, why the hell did he have Cameron even attempt this if only two other people finished this course and didn't even do it fairly! Wait... if his top fighters didn't actually finish the course then how far do they make it? "Believe it or not but I'm going to train Cameron the same way you are trained, he has the ability to be at the same level as you but he's never had a way to learn like you have. Well, maybe not quite the same level as you but close enough."

Having regained enough energy I sit up turning to face my dad. "Why did mom try the course? She's not a fighter unless it comes to her so called pack and even then she tries to scare the enemies away instead of fighting.

"She wouldn't have if it wasn't for that Pegasus of her's, the temperamental beast flew around it trying to mess with Ryan and ended up getting himself somehow stuck between two beams, so your mom went through it to help the beast." He snorts making me giggle. "When I was setting this up that creature Rex that follows you around kept getting in the way, nearly getting himself killed so I locked him up in a storage house somewhere around here."

Great. I'm going to have to figure out exactly which storage house it is when there's probably fifty, then be forced to deal with an overly angry Rex. Knowing dad isn't cruel enough to make me start doing something else just yet I crawl towards a bench that has a stack of fresh towels and pull couple off, getting to work wiping the sweat off my face. There's so much sweat covering my body that it looks like I just jumped into a lake, there's even a trail of it behind me reminding me of a slime trail left by a snail. From my sitting position I'm able to pull off my shirt leaving me in my sports bra, after some debating I take my pants off as well. Today I chose the right pair of panties I think as I stare at one of the few sets of underwear that actually cover my ass, boy shorts are the perfect panties for working out in my opinion. From across the room I hear Cameron growl, snapping my head in his direction I see him staring at my body clenching and unclenching his fists. Dad chuckles at the display shaking his head. "Good thing no other males are here."

"Why?" I ask as I towel dry my stomach.

"That's something you should ask that testosterone filled wolf." He nods his head in the direction of Cameron who has started moving again. "All I can say is you shouldn't feel comfortable stripping your clothes off anymore, and even your normal revealing clothing is soon to be something you won't be wearing anymore, you're going to cause that boy to go crazy and rip the heads off every male." Ignoring my sweat covered body dad picks me up setting me on the bench and taking a seat next to me. "I brought something to neutralize the angel fire so after our control sessions I want you to take it so you can go about the rest of the day normally, it should also neutralize the fox fire but I can't be sure." I squeal with excitement, throwing myself at dad my arms wrap around him in a bone crushing hug. "Looks like your energy came back." He laughs trying to loosen my grip on him. "While the slowpoke over there is finishing the course let's get started on your control, everything here but the floor is metal so need to worry about catching anything on fire."

Knowing I need to concentrate I close my eyes blocking out everything around me except dad's voice. "Imagine a white hot ball of energy in the center of your chest." I do as he says picturing a white light so bright it's almost blinding. "Now let yourself feel the heat." Focusing on heat soon my chest cavity is so hot it feels as if it's on fire, like I'm burning from the inside out. The burning sensation increases, my breathing becoming erratic, not able to stand it anymore I scream as energy goes rushing out of me in a blast completely draining my body. Snapping my eyes open two balls of fire shot out of my hands hitting a wall. "Good, but next time let the heat keep building up, ignore the pain which will lessen as you get used to it and if you think any energy is going to release try your hardest to hold it back and if you can't, quickly pull away from the heat."

Panting, dark spots dance in my vision as two hands gently cup my face, trying to steady my gaze I see two green eyes filled with worry and concern looking at me with a frown. "C.. Cam... Cameron?" I pant out. "Wh.. When.. did.. y..you ge.. get... here?"

"I finished a long time ago. You've been at this for three hours." Three hours?! It felt like ten minutes at most, there is no way it was that long. Meeting dad's face he gives me a soft smile with a curt nod as if knowing what I was thinking.

"Let's go get cleaned up and grab something to eat. Reina eat more protein than usual." The large fallen angel gets up leaving me helplessly sitting on the bench, not having enough energy to get up. Cameron is no longer squatting in front of me as he watches my dad's retreating figure.

Trying my best, I start to stand up but immediately fall as my legs are too weak to hold me up. "Let me help." Before I can protest Cameron turns to me leaning down, picking me up princess style, sighing I limply lay my head against his chiseled chest inhaling his sweat covered scent, my nose wrinkles a little from the the over powering stench of sweat.

Getting to the house Cameron takes me straight to my bedroom where Sarah is standing in the bathroom trying to hold back a laugh at our battered appearances. A rumbling irritated growl comes from Cameron making Sarah lose what little composure she had bursting into hysterics followed by a laughing chirp I'm very accustomed to, guess someone found Rex and let him out from whatever storage room he was locked in. If those two had to work with dad they sure wouldn't be laughing they would be like me, not able to move. "So it's true my help is needed, I thought Damon was joking when he said you wouldn't be able to bathe yourself but I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not because his face was so serious." The red head says as Cameron carries me into the bathroom. Cameron and I notice the bathtub filled to the rim with water and from the smell of essential oils it appears there's plenty of muscle relaxing stuff in the tub. Not bothering to remove my underwear Cameron gently sets me in the tub, splashing water onto the floor, then runs out of the room like his life depended on it. Damn do I stink so bad he has to run away?