by Mikayla Lane
Reven smiled and nodded at Jax, surprised that she admitted he was right about something. Keeping his mouth shut so as not to disrupt the hesitant peace between them, he refilled their glasses and leaned back.
“She was so amazing today. I spent the entire time making dinner, looking at the salad tongs and other utensils in a whole new light.” Jax said, suppressing her shudder at the thought of what she could do with salad tongs now that she’d thought of it. A part of her wished she’d never considered things differently, while the protector in her was glad for the new perspective.
What worried her the most was how those thoughts were impacting Melina. How could the child think of so many different ways to kill in a split second, with ordinary objects, if it wasn’t something, she constantly thought of?
Reven stood when he heard the greeting through the Shengari’. He went into Jax’s cabinet and grabbed another bottle and two more glasses before he headed outside to the back porch. Jax followed when she saw who was there.
Grai and Traze accepted the filled glasses that Reven handed them with a nod. Neither one of them waited long and quickly swallowed the shots of vodka. Reven and Jax didn’t miss the slight tremor in Traze’s hand. Feeling sorry for the boy, Jax refilled their glasses with vodka before doing her and Reven’s with whiskey.
“We watched the recording at least a dozen times. She uses her camouflage to hide where she is. Before you even know she’s there, you’re dead. With a bottle opener or a remote control for fuck’s sake.” Traze said shakily before swallowing his next shot.
“Stay the hell away from her if it scares you boy.” Reven said angrily, misunderstanding Traze.
“Are you kidding? It’s fucking hot!” Traze said before he got the tell-tale slap that told him David had arrived.
“Watch your mouth boy. You better show more respect for your mate and her parents than that.” David said as he walked past the idiot and into the kitchen for a glass and a bottle of gin.
Reven looked at David with irritation when he automatically knew where Jax kept her alcohol and glasses. Granted, even he had heard about her well stocked liquor cabinet above her sink, and it was common sense that the glasses would be in the cabinet beside the sink. However, it still irritated the hell out of him that he was probably the last person to actually be in her home.
He refilled their glasses with the now empty bottle and went inside to throw it out and get another one when Traze called out to him.
“Hey! Can you grab the bag of cookies and the BBQ chips while you’re in there?”
Reven turned to glare at the little idiot who would surely end up sick if he continued to drink and added cookies and chips to the mix. Feeling a little petty and mean, Reven grinned at the man-child.
“Sure.” Reven said before he turned back to the kitchen. He heard Grai ask Jax how she was doing when he’d disappeared from sight.
Even though Grai had made no attempt to lower his voice or ask her in secret, it only added to the irritation Reven was already feeling.
He stood in the kitchen and barely moved, trying not to make a sound that may prevent him from hearing Jax’s answer to Grai. Reven knew it shouldn’t matter that much to him yet. They’d only been together a few days, and it would take a lot longer for them to actually bond as a family. But it did matter to him. More than he wanted to admit. He held his breath when he heard her speak, her voice carried clearly to him through the open door.
“I think it’s going better than I thought it would. The kids are perfect. I’m not thrilled about the first education plan they tried to put her on, but I think we can find something we can agree on. What worries me is her abilities.” Jax said, feeling a little tired and numb from her exhaustion and the liquor.
“How so?” Grai asked, genuinely curious about what Jax was thinking.
Reven was stunned that Jax had not even spoken of the two of them and had only spoken of the children. He wasn’t sure if he should be happy that she considered their personal interactions a non-issue or offended.
He quickly gathered the items and went back outside-in time to hear Jax’s response. He hid his grin when Traze grabbed the chips and cookies and began shoveling cookies into his mouth. He thought he was clever about it until David grinned and raised his glass to Reven before pushing the bag of chips towards the boy.
Jax continued speaking, oblivious to Traze. “Think about it this way. How many times have we all been in that same simulation? I can think of several dozen times that Reven and I have been in there with our teams. Do you know that I never even knew there were windshield wipers in the store? Or that there was a remote or corkscrew in that apartment? Did any of you?” Jax asked around the table looking at each person to see if they had ever noticed.
When everyone shook their heads, a little stumped, Jax continued. “The first thing I did when we went in there after it was reset was look for the items she had used. How long did it take you to find them? By the time I did, I would have been dead if I didn’t have a gun. What about you guys?”
When everyone shook their heads, Jax moved on to her point. “It took her seconds to find the item and kill with it. Very creatively as well, I might add.” Jax said, unable to stop the proud grin from spreading across her face.
Grai had already figured out where Jax was going. “She either has to start looking for weapons and how to use them constantly or there is some innate ability that maybe leads her to them? What are your thoughts on what it is?” Grai asked curiously as he looked from Jax to Reven and poured himself another shot.
Reven looked to Jax, letting her know that he wanted her to speak first. He also wanted to hear her thoughts on it, since they hadn’t had a chance to discuss it themselves yet.
Jax was surprised at the courtesy but brushed it off. “I think her mind thinks of it all the time. But I think she does it so quickly that it doesn’t take her the time it takes us. You know, like some people are really fast readers or really quick with math. I think her mind is like that with weapons. And killing.” Jax couldn’t stop the pride and awe in her voice as she told them what she thought.
Reven agreed with her. “It makes sense if you think about how fast she went from the door of the diner to having Niklosi’s knife to his throat. It only took her seconds. The time it took me to turn around, and she was there. Her mind has to work at an incredible speed to have figured it out fast enough for her to implement it once she found the weapon.”
“My body moves towards the target first. While in motion, I find the weapon. Then I implement the action as I reach the target. That’s only in a situation I am not prepared for. Unlike this one.” Melina said from the doorway shocking them all.
They watched as she disappeared, the only sound was a crash before she reappeared behind Grai. With the broken neck of the empty vodka bottle at his jugular. She looked around the table at their startled faces before speaking again.
“In a situation like this one, where I’ve had plenty of time to survey the surroundings, I can kill much faster because I already know where the weapons are.”
Melina disappeared again, and the bottle neck crashed to the table as they heard a strange crinkle, and Traze grunted. There was Melina with the plastic cookie bag shoved into Traze’s mouth; her small hand poised to shove it down into his esophagus.
“Some things I remember from seeing them before, so I already know how to kill with them. Like bottles, wrappers, remote controls…” She disappeared again and everyone looked around for where she went or who she’d move to next.
Instead, she surprised them all by appearing beside Jax. “I don’t know how it started. I know that I could do that from my earliest memories. For the longest time, I thought everyone could do it.”
Jax put a comforting hand on Melina’s shoulder, while Reven gave the little girl his chair and got another one from inside for himself.
“Does it bother you? Or interfere with the way you interact with others?” Grai asked, stunned at how
deadly the child could be but concerned that it was too much for her young, developing mind to handle right now.
Melina turned sad, pale eyes to Grai and bravely held his gaze while she spoke. “I don’t even think about it anymore. It just happens. I know how awful that sounds. I shouldn’t think about things that would hurt people. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, it’s cool as hell!” Traze said as he tried to duck David’s hand unsuccessfully.
Grai sighed and shook his head at his brother. “What my brother was trying to say is that you shouldn’t be sorry. What you have is a gift, even if you don’t know it yet.”
“He’s right honey. It may not seem like it now, but when you’re older, you’ll see that it really is a gift. And it’s a really awesome one too.” Jax said with a genuine smile for the nervous girl. Melina was being really brave revealing so much, and she wanted to encourage her.
“How can it be a gift if all it does is create death?” Melina asked sadly, looking down at her lap. Reven knew how upset she was when he felt her sadness bleed through her energy.
“Hey, little one, listen to me. It doesn’t just create death; it creates protection. Like keeping a baby alive, by yourself. There are very few who could have kept Bayla alive and healthy the way you did. How many times did you have to use your camouflage or your other gift in order to make that happen?” Reven paused and when Melina just shrugged and still didn’t look up, he continued.
“What you did was brave. You took a risk to save her. That takes courage. Besides, I think there is a lot that we can learn from you. We already have, as a matter of fact. We have several teams; we are trying that simulation with in order to try to help train them to think outside of the box.”
Jax saw Melina’s interest pick up and knew that Reven was starting to help her understand how they saw her gift. Trying to help, she added, “It’s true. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a bad situation where thinking like that would have saved me some pretty terrible wounds. If it saves even one of our people, it’s more than worth learning.”
Grai and David nodded their heads in agreement. There was no downside to putting their teams through the simulation a few times a month, Grai thought. It would make a great compliment to their hand-to-hand combat training programs.
Traze leaned his head against the wall making David tense. The only reason the boy would have to do that is because he was getting ready to say or do something stupid.
“I don’t see how it can be a bad thing. It’s not like you go around acting out what goes through your mind. It’s just there, in the back, if you need it. Obviously, you don’t need it that much or most of us would be dead already!” Traze said laughing to himself while keeping an eye on David’s hands.
David was stunned that he didn’t have to smack the kid this time and actually had to stop his initial reaction to do it anyway. Jax grinned at David when she saw him fight himself to put his hand back down.
Reven and Grai were equally as stunned at Traze’s simple but effective comment. Reven was the first to recover. “He’s right. If you acted on every thought, then it would be bad. The fact that you only use it to protect yourself or Bayla means you’re a very smart and wonderful girl.”
“Hell, I’m going to teach you even more ways to defend yourself. With and without weapons. But, right now it’s really late, and you need to get some sleep.” Jax told Melina with a big grin.
Jax had expected an argument like any normal kid would do. But Melina surprised her by nodding her head. Looking around the table at the others she said, “Good night," then disappeared.
Reven stood to check and make sure she was back in her bed when Jax stopped him by grabbing his hand and shaking her head. When she had his complete attention, she mouthed one word. ‘Trust’
Reven understood what she meant immediately and sat back down. If Melina could trust them enough to explain some of her gifts to them, then they could trust her to go back to bed if asked. With an ability like Melina’s, where she could basically disappear at will, it was important to establish enough trust between them that she won’t want to leave like that.
Reven watched as Traze went into the kitchen with the broken vodka bottle and returned with a new one. Cracking open the seal, he refilled his and Grai’s glasses. Reven hated to admit that he was really damn irritated that even the man-child knew his way around Jax’s kitchen.
He’d heard from the other warriors and hybrids many times about going to Jax’s place after training or a mission and just hanging out. Of course, he’d never been invited. Watching everyone walk around her place with such familiarity was seriously getting on his nerves.
“She’s pretty incredible.” David admitted as he refilled his glass with gin.
Grai nodded. “Yes she is. Now I understand why Lara said we would be very impressed by the laustio, prime hunters. If her skills are any indication of their talents, we’ll stand a much better chance at winning this war.”
“Hell, she’s bad ass! I don’t even know how she got my mouth open to get the bag in there!” Traze said as he downed another shot before shoving a handful of chips in his mouth.
Everyone looked at him like he was a complete idiot causing him to ask, “What?”
“Never mind.” Grai said wondering why the boy couldn’t see that she’d just waited until he already had it open. Most likely when shoving more food in. Some things were better left unsaid; he thought. At least while they were drinking.
“I think it’s going to be pretty interesting to see what our teams come up with as weapons of opportunity.” David said as he leaned back in his chair and looked up at the stars.
“It still amazes me how much we have to learn.” Grai said, shaking his head in wonder at how the child’s mind must work in order to do what she could do.
Reven refilled everyone’s glasses and raised his own in a toast. “To good friends and new things to learn.” Reven said with a smile.
Everyone clinked their glasses together and downed the alcohol. They sat in a comfortable silence for a little while before Jax finally spoke.
“Well guys, I think I am more than ready for bed. Good night.” Jax stood and headed in the back door as the men all said good night to her.
Grai waited until he saw Jax’s bedroom light go on before turning to Reven. “How is it going?” Reven sighed and refilled his glass.
“It’s a little bumpy. However, it’s going a lot better than I ever expected that it would.” Reven said evasively, unwilling to discuss something so personal. Especially with Jax anywhere in the vicinity.
Grai chuckled. He could well understand why Reven was reluctant to go into details. Jax was a formidable woman, and he would not want to cross her either. Giving the man a break, he nodded his head.
“Enough said. I think we should head out as well and let you guys get some sleep. If you need anything, call me.” Grai said as he stood.
David stood as well and when it looked like Traze planned to stay where he was, David slapped him in the back of the head.
Before Traze could complain, David said, “Get up boy, it’s time to go.”
*****
Lara remained in the shadows, unwilling to interrupt the bonding occurring between the unique people on the back deck. She wasn’t here for them anyway; she knew they were working things out on their own quite well.
Gathering her energy, she sent a call to her hunter. “Laustio, arise and speak.”
She waited until she heard the faint rustling in her mind, before sending another burst of energy to the hunter. “Laustio, arise.”
Lara smiled when the beast awakened. “Ancient one, it has been long.” Melina’s beast said to Lara as its host slept.
“Yes it has, my friend. Our time has finally come. You are the first hunter to awaken.” Lara said to the beast as she watched the others on the deck.
“My host is young, weak and immature, but I can assist her in any way that you need, ancient one
.” The beast said, subtly making sure that the ancient one knew that its host was not ready to be activated.
Lara stifled a laugh. “Laustio, you mistake my intent. I have no desire to activate a child. I believe she has been through more than enough already. What I need is information that only you can provide.”
“I will help in any way I can.” The beast responded immediately, glad that its child-host would not need to be activated. Yet.
“The child spoke of a man who found her and saw through her skins. Do you recall this man?” Lara asked, hoping the beast remembered him.
“Yes, I would not forget him.” The beast said angrily as it relayed all it could remember to Lara.
Lara sat heavily on the ground as the beast confirmed her fears. It has begun; she thought sadly. She had hoped, along with the other ancients, that the past would not be repeated. Obviously, she had hoped in vain.