by Sarah Carter
“I was going to sneak up on you and take all your clothes off,” Claire retorts, cocking her eyebrow.
“Oh, well then,” Damien whispers. He reaches down and takes off his shirt. “Did you want all of my clothes off?”
“No.” Claire exhales. “I kind of want to wait again.”
Damien’s smile disappears. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” she replies. “It was a scary moment in time. I wanted to share that and feel that comfort.”
“Oh my god, Claire!” Damien exclaims. He hangs his head. “Alright, if that’s what you want.”
Bringing his head up with her finger, Claire says, “I do have some good news.”
With a heavy sigh, Damien replies, “What’s that?”
She snags him and rolls him over, so she’s on top. Bending over to his ear, she exhales. “I was kidding.” Claire comes back and kisses him. Damien pulls her tight against him. They slowly take off their pajamas.
There’s a knock at the door.
“You have to be kidding me!” Damien yells. “Ugh, let’s get dressed.” They quickly scramble to put their clothes back on. After another knock, Damien goes and answers the door. “Yeah?”
Claire’s grandfather is standing there. “May I speak to Claire?”
“Yeah, hi, Grandpa,” Claire whispers.
“Come in,” Damien offers, stepping to the side.
“How are you doing, baby girl?” her grandfather asks.
With a snort, Claire replies, “The last thing I am is a baby girl.”
“You’ll always be my baby girl,” he states. “No matter what you’ve gone through.”
Claire thinks about it all and shivers. “I don’t feel young anymore. I feel like I’ve aged fifteen years. That youthful part of me was lost last night.”
“Claire, you can’t talk that way.”
“I can talk anyway I want! You weren’t in that room!” Claire screams.
“That’s why I’m here,” her grandfather states. “The two guys that you killed.”
“Yeah, I took their lives, in a blink of an eye,” Claire says.
He approaches her and puts his hands on her arms. “The guy you stabbed in the neck…” She looks up at him. “He was the rapist of the group.”
“What?”
“Yes, from what the other bodyguards say, you killed the two closest guards to Fabian. The other guy was the assassin of the group. No one knows how many people he killed. Only Fabian knows. That’s how bad it was.”
“But…”
“The bastards that you took down last night—they weren’t good, innocent people. They were as bad as Fabian.”
A huge weight is lifted off her shoulders. “Oh my god.” Claire gasps, putting her hand to her chest. “I thought…”
“You saved more lives than you can imagine, but if you can’t do this anymore, we understand.”
Claire just shakes her head in shock.
“You could do so much good, but this line of work can change you. The first time I had to kill on a mission, it took a long time to recover from that.”
She quickly looks up at him. “You killed people?”
“Of course,” Claire’s grandfather replies. “We desperately try to capture and not kill. We’re a small race, but we have to police ourselves very tightly and sometimes you don’t have an option. That’s why Master Blakely has to rule so severely. We can’t have something bad happen and end up broadcasting who we are to the whole planet.”
Claire flops down on the floor and puts her head in her hands. “I thought they were just misunderstood guys in a bad situation.”
“Some of the bodyguards were, but the ones you killed weren’t. Claire, they chose to do what they did. That doesn’t make them innocent, because they knew what they were doing.”
“That’s a really good point,” Damien interjects. “You have to keep that in mind.”
“But back to why I’m here. We do not expect you to continue. This was an incredibly difficult first mission. You’re so young, and you weren’t fully trained.”
She nods slowly. “Well, before I make any decisions, something needs to happen.”
“What’s that?” he asks.
There is a very long pause, and then she exclaims, “I need to eat! Oh my god! That little bit I ate last night was nowhere near enough. I swear, I’m going to eat all day, nonstop.”
“Well, let me cook you breakfast.” Damien laughs. He extends his hand to her and she stands up. With a smirk, Damien leads her to the door.
“Wait!” Claire yells. They both turn toward her. “Kayla, where’s Kayla? I have to wake her up first.”
Her grandfather chuckles. “She’s in a room downstairs being monitored. Jackson hasn’t slept, nor left her side. He would probably love you if you went down and woke her up.”
“I need a little bit of energy to get her awake and get her to Shima.”
“You can take some out of Jackson and me,” Damien replies. “Come on.”
Later in the day, all four of them sit on the side of the pool.
Claire snorts. “Well, I guess it’s an added bonus that the safe house has a pool.”
“Right.” Kayla laughs. “I can’t believe that I feel absolutely normal.”
“So, you can’t tell us what happened?” Jackson says.
“No.” Claire exhales. “But it’s going to be something I have to deal with over time.”
Damien nudges her. “Well, we’re all going on a three week vacation. The council is letting me off the hook so I don’t have to keep up with everything and can actually relax. So, we can all chill for part of the summer.”
“I want to go to Disney World,” Kayla states. “I’ve never been there.”
“That would be fun since we’re so close by,” Claire says. She looks out at the setting sun and disappears into heavy thought. The events of the previous night run through her head again.
“Earth to Claire!” Kayla yells.
Claire shakes her head. “What?”
“I’ve been talking to you for, like, five minutes. You disappear to Shima or something?”
“No.” Claire exhales. “A lot went down last night.”
“Bad?”
“Yeah…really bad,” Claire whispers.
Kayla frowns. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I hope so,” Claire says, trying to put on a smile.
“Are you not going to do the guard anymore?” Jackson asks. “You seem pretty upset.”
“I don’t know,” Claire replies softly. “I don’t know if I could do that again.”
“Boo!” Someone grabs Claire. She screams and falls forward into the pool.
When she comes up for air, Claire looks up. “Oh my god, Alex!” She jumps out of the pool and runs over to him, jumping into his arms. “Alex…”
“Hey, it’s okay. I know,” he whispers.
“What? How do you know?” Claire asks.
“Your grandfather told me everything.”
“But…why?”
Alex nods his head toward Damien. “I’m being taken off leave.”
“What?” She spins around to Damien.
He smiles. “Tell her why.”
Claire turns back to Alex, who says, “I’m back in the guard if one thing happens.”
“What is it?” Claire exclaims. “Tell me.”
Looking at Damien, Alex suggests, “You should tell her.”
Damien stands up and walks over to them. He crosses his arms and states, “Number one rule, you never go on missions alone. What happened last night will never happen again, no matter what. If you decide to stay with the guard, you’ll be part of the red squadron.”
“Honey,” Claire sighs. “I don’t know…”
“Let me finish,” Damien interjects calmly. “If you choose to stay in the guard, you’ll need someone by your side that knows who you are and what you can do. I can’t always be there. You’ll need someone for support. There are a lot of rea
sons why you need…Alex with you.”
“What?” Claire breathes out, looking at Alex.
“I’m going to be your wingman, so to speak. I’ll go on missions with you and be there for you. If Damien isn’t around, I can sit with you and hold you.”
“Excuse me?” Damien snaps.
Alex turns to him. “Listen, I was one of her best friends before you showed up. I was hugging her and holding her as a friend way before anything went down.”
“Oh…” Damien replies with a blasé attitude. “That’s fine. She’ll need that.” He then grins.
“Can you two just knock it off?” Claire growls. “My god.”
Damien laughs. “This was my idea, sweetheart. I have no problem with Alex. I was just giving him crap and teasing you.”
“Damien…” Claire retorts. He only winks at her and grins.
“Are you coming on vacation with us?” Kayla asks happily.
“No,” Alex replies. “No, I have to go back to work. Need to make a living.”
Kayla makes a face and then smiles. “We’re going to Disney World first!”
“Oh, I’ll pass on that,” Alex scoffs. “Giant cartoon characters walking around and screaming children. No, thank you.”
“Shut up, it’s going to be fun.”
“So,” Alex whispers, nudging Claire. “Are you in or are you out?”
“Well, with you by my side, I have to be in. Can you imagine the two of us together fighting the bad guys? They’ll never know what hit them.”
Alex grins devilishly. “My thoughts, exactly.”
Six months later…
“Ugh.” Claire exhales and bangs her head on the desk. “I make a quarter of a million dollars a year. Why am I doing this to myself?”
“You make what?” she hears, squeaked behind her.
Claire spins around. “Oh my god, Tracy! You scared me to death. Never sneak up on someone who’s trained to kill.”
“Sorry.” Tracy giggles. “I was actually looking for Damien.”
“He’s…” Claire starts. “On a Skype call with some…people.”
“Oh,” Tracy draws out.
“Tracy,” Claire hisses. “You seriously need to stop doing that!”
Tracy rolls her eyes. “Whatever.”
Claire laughs. “What did you need Damien for anyway?”
With an even bigger eye roll, Tracy sighs. “I need help in Chemistry.”
“Why don’t you ask Kayla or Jackson?”
“Damien’s smarter than they are.”
“Don’t let the other two hear you say that.”
“Well, Damien just makes things easier to understand,” Tracy states. “And he’s taken these classes before.”
Claire shakes her head and smiles. “I’ll have him come find you when he gets out of our room.”
“Thank you!” Tracy exclaims. “What are you working on?”
“History,” Claire growls. “I hate it. My mom taught me everything to know about…well.” She gives Tracy a look and Tracy nods. “Anyway, she was more concerned about that than teaching me—” She lowers her voice to a whisper.“—human history.”
“Yeah, that sucks,” Tracy says. She walks over and sits on the desk. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.” Claire sighs, glaring at her text book. “I hate history. Who cares?”
Tracy bends over and whispers, “What do you think Damien would do if he found out I know?”
“Honestly,” Claire answers, “I have no clue. I can tell you that he and I would get into a very large argument, but in the end, he’s the council member. That comes first.”
“I mean, could they really make me forget? I know my parents wouldn’t let me live here, but they’ve met all four of you. You can’t make the whole history of our friendship disappear.”
“Well, if he did anything, it would piss off his girlfriend, best friend, and cousin. Not sure if that’s the best choice.”
“Well, then I think I’m safe,” Tracy says.
“Safe from what?” they hear from behind them.
“The boogie man.” Tracy giggles.
Damien’s raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize there was one roaming around campus.”
“Dork.” Claire scoffs. “She needs help with her schoolwork.”
He brings his hands together and says, “I’d love to, but you’re going to have to get help from someone else this time.”
Tracy pouts. “Fine.”
“Jackson is more than capable of helping you, since I know you and Kayla gossip more than work.”
“Fine,” Tracy says, putting up her nose. “I’ll go find some other brainiac to help. Bye, guys.”
“Bye!” Claire calls out after her. Damien follows Tracy to the door and then shuts it. “Why can’t you help her? We have nothing going on right now.”
Damien comes over and starts closing her text books, “Bring this with you. We need to leave ASAP.”
“Whoa,” Claire exclaims, putting her arms over her books. “I have a big paper to write for History and test in Algebra. I can’t go anywhere!”
“Your paper is done and submitted to your teacher and I have the answers to the test.”
“What? Why!” Claire yells. “What’s going on?”
“A mission, one that only you can do,” Damien whispers. “We need to go.”
Groaning, Claire sighs. “So, it starts. Killing…yeah.” She gives him a look.
“No, no killing necessary,” Damien states. “Come on, we have to go.”
An hour later, they climb onto one of the ships. Mr. Blakely is sitting in the front seat. He nods his head for Claire to sit next to him. She plops down and exhales. “Alright, what am I going to do this time?”
“We need you to take down three people,” Mr. Blakely replies.
“Trained assassins again?” Claire asks.
“Not that we know of,” he says. “Three teenagers. We don’t know their exact ages or who they are.”
“Okay, um, why do you need me?”
“Because of this,” Mr. Blakely declares, holding up a tablet.
Claire watches the screen. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops. “There are Kenga here?”
“No.” Mr. Blakely sighs. “He’s a Neturu.”
In complete shock, Claire stares at the screen. “How is that even possible?”
“We have absolutely no idea. Your abilities at least make a little sense. His do not.”
“So, you want me to sneak up on him and drain him?”
“Yes, we’re hoping that if we use the serum that Kayla’s abductor William used, it’ll keep him in check.”
“Holy cow.” Claire exhales.
Damien sits opposite them. “It gets even better, baby.”
“Better than that?” Claire squeaks.
“We’re going to the Loch Ness,” Damien declares, staring at her.
“Why?” Claire asks, completely confused.
“The Loch Ness monster has appeared and is creating a problem.”
“A morrae?”
He shakes his head. “No, a set of twins.”
“What?” Claire stammers.
“We’re coming up against something we’ve never encountered before. I don’t think it’s a dangerous mission, but we need your help. Are you in?”
“Yeah,” Claire replies. “I didn’t think it was possible to find something more different than me.”
More to come in
“Shifters”
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