Sunshine: Tales of an Assassin

Chapter Sixteen

***Kai's POV***

     I heard the knock on the door signaling that someone had shown up with what I had requested, and opened it to find one shifter with food two large bags, and another hauling a futon, I stood aside, letting them enter and drop the stuff off, before closing the door and facing my new temporary roommate.  Opening one of the bags I pulled out some clothing, tossing it his way and set aside the extra blankets and pillows. I moved onto unpacking the food, noticing that there was coffee and some creamer in the bag too, likely for tomorrow so that a certain female didn't try to kill us just for being there.

    "Thank you, for thinking of my needs and not just your own."  I turned to see Nathanial dressed in a loose shirt and sweats. He looked a little disgruntled, and still half dazed by something.

    "Of course, I would hope that if I were to ever end up in a similar situation someone would assist me as well.  You seem bothered."

    "I rather am, I've had a few different shocks today, and some of them I am still coming to terms with, some I didn't know were even possible."  Nathanial shook his head a bit, taking the plate I handed him, and loading some food on it.  "I never thought that I would end up having potential mate be a human, one that my beast says has other mates, that I'll have to share her with, course I also never thought I'd have a mate that may be able to cause more havoc than I can either."

    "Are you thinking of rejecting her?"  I couldn't help the touch of anger and fear in my voice at that moment, if the stories I read were correct, her partners could make a huge difference for her.

    "At first, I was thinking about it, now though, I don't think I could, I think she'd have to reject me."  Nathanial eyed me warily.  "Your one of the ones I'd have to share her with, aren't you?"

    "Yes, and though I may not be thrilled about sharing, as no dragon really enjoys that, I am perhaps less resistant to the idea as I have more information currently than you do about the situation."  I wasn't sure how much I could say at this moment, while I did not work for Lydia, I was torn with providing information that could help my personal goal at this moment, and knowing it wasn't completely right to tell another before we had a chance to explain it to Katrina.

    "I'd expect a dragon to have more book knowledge than most of us rough and tumble shifters, dragons have always been known for their wisdom, while shifters have always been known for their wilder ways."

    Something about that clicked in my head, different races, different things we were known for.  Dragons and vampires for their knowledge, though vampires were also known to be ruthless.  Shifters with their wild ways were brutal warriors and amazing trackers.  Wizards and the Fey were known for their magic, and the Angelic races could fall under any of those, as they had some magic innately, but some were warriors, some were messengers of unequal speed.  While there was always some overlap, all the races had different things they were known for.

    "There may be more to it than that, and I'll thank you for helping me see things from a different angle, one that perhaps may help more than you know."  

    Nathanial arched a single eyebrow at me, chewing slowly on his food while watching me carefully.   "Any chance that you can share some of this information with me?   I feel like I'm loosing my mind, my beast was talking to her!  He gave her a name when in all his years with me, he seldom has said more than a sentence at most, and never telling me his name at that!  He tried talking to the bear, but he couldn't hear him, only you could, and her."

    "She isn't actually human."  I stated, looking at him and watching as pieces fell into place, as he went to open his mouth to talk again I held up a hand to stop him.  "I can only answer a few questions at this time, as we are actually still looking  for more answers, and all I do find tends to lead me to more questions.  Evidently her race is extremely rare, and usually there is never more than a couple of them at a time, mostly they look and seem human to everyone in almost every way, I  think it is a defense mechanism myself, but I haven't been able to verify that thought.  Needless to say, what we do know is limited, and I'm trying to find out what I can to support her."

    "Well, that makes more sense, but I've never heard of anything like her before, but why would one race need that level of protection?"

    "That I'm still working on."  I really didn't want to tell him that she was a creature designed to fight dark gods and would likely have them trying to kill her soon.  "Though I can say some information I found has lead me to believe that if she has more partners, and that they can work well with each other, it could in turn help her."  Nathanial huffed and took a drink, thinking for a second.

    "So, in other words, at this moment you are trying to help me accept her so I would be less inclined to leave her and potentially cause her issues.  You are also going against some of your draconic hording and den instincts to try and forge a friendship of a sorts with me to the same end, correct?"  I nodded, after all it would do me no good to lie here.  At that Nathanial grinned, a laugh escaping him for a moment.  "Well alright then.  I can respect your practical side, and I think, had we met in other situations I'd still have been able to call you a friend, so I suppose working together for a cause is better than working against each other, though I'll tell you now, I'm not so keen on the witch, he's too egotistical for his own good."

    "What witch would this be?  While I am aware of some of the situation, I am not aware of it all?"

    Shaking his head with a laugh, Nathanial told me about the events of the prior day, including Katrina's nickname at the time for them, and even how after he thought about it, he had to agree with her name for them at that time.  When he explained to me about the witch, I had an uneasy feeling, his behavior off from the others, and I wasn't sure that he would be able to meld into a group as I felt we would need to.  I could already tell that Nathanial was a practical sort of person, he had his pride, but he also had a sense of humor to mellow it out, he was just as happy to be the necessary dagger in the night as to lay in the sun relaxing if the situation called for it.

    A low pained moan reached our ears, Katrina seemed to be in some sort of pain, and we both bolted towards the bedroom where she was, throwing open the door, we saw her thrashing around on the bed.  She was alternating between cursing and moaning from pain, and I thought I saw her trying to form the words to count.

    Nathanial moved to one side of her, taking her hand and stroking her forehead, while I moved to the other side, taking her hand and focusing on getting a calming aura over her.  Gradually she fell back into a deep sleep, and the two of us eased out of the room again.   

     "Well, there is one other thing I should tell you about then, and please remember, I don't have all the details."  Nathanial nodded, and I continued, "I can tell you that some time ago, Katrina was in pain almost nightly for a year, I'd hear her screams in my dreams but I couldn't locate her."  I still think some of those screams would haunt me till the day I died.  "Something was done to her, and at some points she cursed the number of others there were.  What you saw tonight, I think was her dreaming of that time."

    Nathanial nodded slightly, and headed towards the futon, spreading it out on the floor and sorting the extra blankets and pillows, throwing a set towards me and nodding towards the couch. 

    "I don't know about you, but between the events of today, our talk, and that little surprise, I'm ready to get some rest.  We're going to have to check that room again tomorrow, I know that I smelled that scent before, but it was different, just a little bit, but enough, and I don't like that scent being in her room."

    "Let's get some rest and hope that we get up before her, evidently we need to make sure there is coffee made before she gets up or she may not be very friendly."

    Nathanial just settled in on the futon, waving off the warning and turned his back to me as he settled in, I just stretched out on the sofa and hoped she wouldn't dream anymore tonight.