The Fledglings' Mentor

by C L Amos

  Chapter 2 The Bastard you know - continued.

  A man’s voice echoed from the kitchen, “Shhhhh, relax… you wouldn’t want to rouse the suspicions of your precious little fledglings … they wouldn’t stand a chance against me!”

  Sasha pulled down hard against the bear restraints, but they didn’t move… “Damien, what the fuck do you think you are doing? You’d better untie me at once… Jim is going to do his worst when he finds out!”

  Damien pulled an empty wine bottle out from behind his back and sniffed it, “Or I leave you tied up and wait for your boyfriend to come to your rescue…and kill him! Bust you and presto…” He snapped his fingers with a crazed look in his eye, “Daddy’s little girl goes bye-bye, and I become the favorite.”

  Sasha stared at him in sheer disbelief, “I have no idea what you are talking about? Whose scent are you picking up on the bottle? Tom’s? It’s not a crime to have a drink with your fledgling!”

  Damien smiled and let out a long, hard, sarcastic laugh, “Do you really think that I am that stupid? Did you actually think you could play dumb and scare me into submission?” His voice grew louder and more agitated, “I can smell the fucking bear on your wine bottle Princess… no amount of fancy talk will get you out of this one!” Damien tried to compose himself, and gently placed the empty wine bottle on the dressing table. He smiled, his insanity riding in and out like waves. He flashed an evil grin and pulled the knife from the sheath on his tactical belt. He moved in slowly and deliberately, pressing the blunt side against Sasha’s naked leg, slowly inching higher up her calf and moving towards her thigh, “Do you want me to show you how I am going to kill sweet little Julia?”

  Sasha shook her head and tried to fight against her restraints, “Damien, you have got this all wrong. Phone Jim right now and get him up here!!”

  Damien lost his temper, twisted the knife in his hand and thrust it down with all his force, his knuckles hitting hard into her clit as he pushed the blade into the mattress only inches away from her vagina, “I’ll phone Jim when your boyfriend is tied up and bleeding to death next to your soon to be dead corpse…” He turned his head to the side, “Jim hates traitors!” He turned his head to the opposite side “Jim hates Pete” … he turned his face back to the middle and stared her in the eyes… “And Jim is going to hate you too!”

  Sasha was enraged and snapped, angrily spitting in his face as she spoke, “I have never even met Pete! Why on God’s green earth would he come to save me? He probably rummaged through my garbage before I caught him peeping through my window and…” she paused and laughed sarcastically. “Now you think we are fucking knee deep in it together?!” She shook her head in disbelief, “Think about it, Damien. I have always been loyal; I have completed every single assignment ever given to me. Why the fuck would I throw that all away when I have finally been offered my freedom! We are on the same team, you bloody idiot. My orders from Jim are to kill Pete on sight and that is exactly what I intend to do!”

  A tiny grain of doubt flashed into Damien’s mind; could she actually be telling the truth? He grabbed a fistful of his hair in his hand and stood up shouting at himself, “ARGH!” He was damned if he untied her and damned if he didn’t… the only thing he could do was stick to his resolve and pray he had gotten it right. He shouted at her in frustration, “Shut up… just shut the fuck up!” He stormed off to the kitchen and grabbed another syringe from the medical pouch. His footsteps were hard and unwavering, and he returned to the bedroom with the syringe held high over his head as he prepared to inject her again.

  Sasha grimaced, “No! No Damien! Please! I don’t want to go back there!”

  Damien ignored her plea and thrust it deep into her thigh muscle, “That should keep you quiet for another hour and give me some peace and quiet to think!”

  Chapter 3 Back into the Void.

  Sasha felt herself falling through the levels of conscious and sub-conscious thought, going deeper and deeper into the bowels of her mind as she approached the void, the black, silent expanse which lay between this world and the next. Knowing that she had escaped it for the second time gave her a glimmer of hope, and she felt calmer and more in control this time. Her mind was clearer, and she was able to keep the jumbled rush of emotions and memories at bay… at least for now! She was guided by one thought and one purpose - she had to escape the void.

  Sasha tried to envision the Mother Goddess; she called out to her in her mind, asking her for guidance and a swift exit from the void. Just then she heard a soft, familiar voice… it sounded almost like a child. She focused on the voice and the muffled sounds got clearer … Hello Sasha… she recognized the voice from earlier, although when she’d heard it then she couldn’t focus on it, and it had ended up being drowned out in the fear and confusion of the place. Sasha responded, “I can hear you.”

  There was a sigh of relief in the little girl’s voice, “I am so glad you returned.”

  Sasha felt confused, doubting the voice’s intention - fear began creeping in - who was this child? And what did she want with her? Sasha started feeling uncomfortable, and the more uncomfortable she felt, the closer the memories got as they patiently waited for the invitation to wreak havoc and gain control of her subconscious mind.

  The little voice broke through the confusion, “Focus, Sasha, you need to calm yourself and listen to me… listen to my voice… it’s been a long time since you have heard it but if you calm down you will know who I am and why I am here. ”

  Sasha fought back the emotions and focused on the little girl’s voice, clearing her mind until it was all she could hear. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She didn’t have any friends growing up at the academy, because close bonds were frowned upon and punished severely, and everyone was kept in isolation between training sessions. She pushed her mind back further… “Are you from the orphanage? I’m sorry; I don’t remember much about that time!”

  The little girl sighed, “It’s worse than I thought! How am I supposed to help you if you don’t even remember the sound of your own voice?”

  Sasha was confused, “I don’t get it; how can you be my voice? That is impossible and makes absolutely no sense!”

  The little girl replied, “Think back to the day Marcelle and Jim fetched you from the orphanage… did it really look like an orphanage?”

  Sasha shrugged, “How the hell am I supposed to know if it looked like an orphanage? I only remember reading the book. What is an orphanage supposed to look like anyway?”

  The little girl replied, “Take a moment; allow yourself to be conscious in that moment, look up and around the room and start telling me what else you see and if you can remember anything else about the room/”

  Sasha started focusing on becoming conscious in that moment. She slowly started feeling the soft, plush carpet she was sitting on. She looked up, excited, and slowly started remembering the décor in the room. She saw a small bed with a pretty pink duvet, and her name was hanging on the wall in big wooden letters painted in green, blue, pink and yellow. Suddenly she remembered lying in that bed, a hand gently stroking her face and a woman’s voice saying goodnight as she leant down and kissed her forehead. The memory shook her to her core… she had always known deep down that it wasn’t an orphanage… but the realization finally hit home as the bricks in her wall of protection slowly came crashing to the floor…she had a mother. Sasha shot up through the levels of consciousness and ripped violently against the restraints, her mind wracked with conflicting beliefs and thoughts… she didn’t know what was real or make believe… was she imagining shit? Was it the drugs playing tricks on her or did she actually have a mother? And if so, where was she? What had happened to her? Sasha needed answers and she didn’t know if she could trust the only person who could give them to her… Jim!

  The reality of her current situation hit home as she felt the restraints starting to cut into her ankles. She was being held captive by a trained assassin and
needed to keep her wits about her. Sasha couldn’t afford to be torn between two worlds right now because she knew in her heart that if she didn’t find a way to free herself, Damien would return her to the void as a permanent resident instead of a temporary visitor.

  Chapter 4. From the fire to the frying pan

  Sasha calmed her mind; she could hear Damien was busy in the kitchen, and it sounded like he was keeping himself entertained with TikTok videos. She knew she had to keep as quiet as possible; he might only be a twoling, but she knew he was also part fox and his acute hearing was only matched by his sly cunningness… there was a very big chance that he was only pretending to be busy. The fox, although annoying, was not the form she feared - he got his strength and power from the alligator. It was his preferred fighting form and his bite force made quick work of crushing skulls and breaking bones, and his hide was armored and almost impervious to attack by mauling or poison. She had seen him take out 5 trained wolves at a time and even she wasn’t brave or stupid enough to take him on in this form… if she was going to kill him, she would have to do it while he was in human or fox form. But right now, she had a bigger problem… she needed to free herself from these restraints. This was in no way going to be an easy feat, as bear restraints were designed to be strong enough to withstand the breaking force of a bear and deadly enough to sever the hands and feet of anyone trying to shift into animal form to escape the restraints. She had used them more than her fair share of times and knew all too well how deadly they could be.

  Luckily for her, the bear restraints James had brought her had a hidden fail safe only she knew about; she had built it in just in case she ever found herself a victim of her own trap. The only snag was that the springy, squeaky bed would give away her slightest movement and alert Damien to her plan.

  She worked quietly and painstakingly to free her left hand without even compressing a single spring, then she slowly raised her arm up and over to her other wrist. This was going to be the tricky part; she needed to shift her weight onto her right shoulder in order to reach the restraint on her right hand, but she knew any movement would immediately trigger the acute hearing of Damien’s sensitive ears. She began to slowly roll over towards her right-hand side, her stiff muscles making it all the more difficult as she inched slowly away, feeling the mattress move below her shoulder blade. Sasha felt a spring compress under her heavy shoulder blade and realized in that instant that if she tried to move, her weight would offset the spring and it would pop back up with its distinctive ping… that would be enough to alert Damien. She needed to think of a way to catch him off guard, or at the very least distract him long enough to gain vantage over him… she hatched a plan in her head, knowing all too well that if she got the timing wrong she would risk severing her feet in her own restraints and would end up bleeding to death on this squeaky bed.

  Sasha took a deep breath; the second she moved, the spring would pop back up and she would have a split second to undo her ankle restraints so that she could shift into cobra and spit venom in his eyes… that was the plan! She just prayed it would work.

  The spring popped and she lunged forward, quickly untying the restraints securing her left foot. Her heart pounded as she heard his chair fly backwards with force, followed almost instantaneously by Damien’s heavy footfalls as he approached the bedroom quickly. She had just started on the second strap when Damien burst into the room, and he saw that the last restraint was still tied and tackled Sasha on the bed, pushing her down with his sheer brute force, knowing she wouldn’t risk shifting while her foot was still restrained. He pinned her arms under his knees and placed his strong, grubby hands around her neck and slowly began to squeeze, his smile broadening as he felt her fragile windpipe giving way to his enormous hands. He had fantasized about this moment for the longest time; it was the most intimate and humiliating way he could defeat her, and most importantly, he could control the speed and make her suffer for every last and final second of her worthless life.

  Suddenly there was a squawk at the window. Sasha feared the worst and tried to motion for Julia to leave. Damien, noting the intrusion, intensified his grip and watched Sasha’s eyes begin to bulge as she tried to cough and splutter for air. Julia continued to hover by the open window, unsure if she should heed Sasha’s pleas for her to leave, but at the same time she knew that if she didn’t do something right now Sasha would die. She took in a deep breath and squawked loudly as she charged Damien, attacking his head with her sharp claws. But Damien just smiled, releasing one of his hands from the chokehold on Sasha’s neck. He struck quickly. Grabbing Julia’s leg, he swung her round and flung the light-weight bird into the wall, where she lay motionless. Damien returned his focus to Sasha, placed his free hand back on her throat and started to squeeze, “I have waited for this moment for too long and nothing is going to stop me from squeezing the last little bit of life straight out of you!”

  Suddenly Tom burst through the door. His black coat glistened as he leapt into the air and pushed Damien off the bed, he bit down hard into Damien’s shoulder muscle… but Damian raised his knee and bounced Tom off his chest. Damien sprung to his feet and was just about to lunge at Tom when he noticed that Sasha had managed to free her last restraint and had already shifted into her cobra form. Sasha took aim and projected her venom, hitting her target and blinding him instantly. With his sight now compromised and his shoulder injured, he ran towards the window and as he leapt through the opening shifted into his fox form. He landed in a heap of clothing on the ground outside and quickly wriggled out of it before disappearing into the undergrowth of the forest.

  Sasha took her wolf form and was about to chase after him when Tom called out, “Wait!! Julia needs you… she is hurt.”

  Sasha stood dead in her tracks, and her heart dropped as she felt a pit of fear and emptiness consume her. She turned to face Julia’s motionless body lying on the floor.

  Chapter 5 Resuscitation

  Sasha shifted back into human form and carefully scooped Julia’s limp body up, gently placing her on the bed. She shouted over at Tom. “Find my phone!”

  Tom stood there in shock and rubbed his hand over his head, his voice trembling… “Is, is she alive? Is she going to be okay?”

  Sasha bent down and placed her ear on Julia’s chest; she had stopped breathing but her heart was still beating. She turned to Tom frantic and afraid, “She is alive, but I need you to find my phone!” With that she tilted Julia’s neck back, took in a deep breath and covered her beak with her mouth and blew five quick breaths of air into her lungs, ensuring the sternum rose on each breath. By the time she reached the fifth and final breath she felt Julia’s limp body stiffen and at the same time let out a muffled squawk, still unconscious but breathing, Sasha whispered into her ear… “Return to human form!”

  Julia transformed back, still unconscious, the large bruise on her head visible for all to see, but at least she was alive and breathing on her own.

  Tom stood behind Sasha, his arms wrapped around himself in fear, “Is she going to be alright?”

  Sasha bolted up, “She will be, but only if I find my phone and get her a doctor right away.”

  Tom finally sprang to action and found her phone in the kitchen, still playing TikTok videos. Sasha closed the app and dialed Jim.

  “What on earth is it now Sasha, do you know what time it is?”

  Sasha ignored him, “I need a sweeper team and medic up at the ranch ASAP. Damien went rogue and he has injured Julia.”

  Hearing Sasha on the phone brought Tom back to reality, and he started to wonder why a man in full tactical gear was on his farm trying to kill his councilor. He wasn’t sure if it was something Sasha said or if it was the change in her voice, but he knew she was hiding something from him, and if he was going to keep himself and his family safe he would need the full strength and wisdom of the pack.

  Sasha was still on the phone and noticed how upset Tom was as he left the room. She covered the speaker, “Tom!
Tom! Come back here.”

  When he broke free of the four walls, he shifted into his wolf form and let out a long, loud, somber howl.

  Jim was shouting over the phone, “What the fuck is going on over there? Why would Damien injure Julia? That wasn’t part of the plan!”

  Sasha cut him off, “He went rogue. I will explain everything when you get here. Tom is calling the pack in as we speak… we need to do damage control and find Damien before the pack does.”

  Sasha ended the call and went over to the bed where Julia lay, and she took a blanket and gently covered Julia’s naked body before sitting down next to her. As Sasha sat there looking at Julia’s bruised and battered body, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she grabbed Julia’s hand in hers and squeezed it, “I am so sorry this had to happen to you, but help is on the way and you will be up and about in no time.”

  Sasha heard the helicopters approaching, and she leant over and gently kissed Julia’s forehead. Tom was watching her from the door, “Your friends will be arriving soon. Do you want to tell me what is going on?”

  Sasha paused in the doorway as she passed Tom. He looked cute when he was angry, and he had every right to be. She raised her hand to stroke his face, “Tom, as soon as everything calms down I will sit with you and your sister and tell you the truth… until then, I need you to trust me and act naïve and gullible and swallow all the bullshit they give you.”