A New Routine

“You do not have to stand there and watch. I will let you know when it is done,” Wren said.

“Oh, it is all right. We are used to helping ourselves. Don’t mind us,” Emerald commented.

“It looks and smells good,” Carrie said, looking over Wren’s shoulder.

“I promise that it is edible. Not sure if the taste will be to your satisfaction, though,” Wren replied.

Soon, everyone grabbed their food, and the room fell silent as they ate.

Michael finally broke the silence. “Honey, if you can cook breakfast like this, I cannot wait until supper. This is fabulous. Talon,” he called over to where Talon was just leaving the kitchen. “You really should try some of this.”

Wren turned around to see Talon standing in the doorway, watching her.

“No, thank you,” Talon said.

Michael shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat.

Wren started to clean up, but Eric stepped in. “Go… I have this.”

“It is all right. I can do it. Finish your breakfast,” Wren replied, noticing he had not finished his own.

“Nope. You cooked. We clean. Now, why don’t you go and explore the grounds?” Eric insisted.

Lily stood and ushered Wren out of the room.

Wren shrugged and headed for the door. It did not really bother her.

She had not been very comfortable with all of them in there, chatting about various things. She had felt awkward, like an outsider looking in.

She stopped in the middle of a little garden on the side of the house and let out a sigh.

“Feeling a bit awkward with them, no?” Talon asked.

Wren turned, somehow knowing that he had come up behind her.

“You feel the same way,” she retorted, not sure how she knew that.

“Yup.” He stepped up next to her, and they continued walking down the small path in silence.

~Why is he here? He is the last person I want to see right now!~

“So tell me,” Talon finally spoke, breaking the tension that had been building between them. “Which are you?”

“Huh?”

“Are you the person that I see now, or are you the person that was fighting yesterday?” Talon asked awkwardly.

He was trying to communicate with her, but damn, it was hard.

“I do not know. Probably a combination of both,” Wren answered honestly.

If he was making an effort, she could too.

~But he had better keep his hands to himself!~

***

“You have to communicate or you will cause both of you unnecessary pain.” The director had caught him this morning as he waited for Wren to appear.

“I know,” Talon had mumbled.

He’d been tired, his sleep interrupted by unwanted emotions flowing from her to him. He did not think she had had a good night’s sleep either.

He could pick up her fear and pain from his room.

If that was all she ever felt, it was going to get real old, real quick.

“Do you, though?” the director asked. “You understand the bonding process, she does not.” The director’s voice softened. “Do not create an issue where one does not need to be.”

Talon turned on his heels and left. The director did not need to remind him of his duty.

He knew it all too well.

***

“Are you always like this? Unsure, uncertain, timid…scared?” Talon asked Wren. He was a bit impatient with her.

Yesterday afternoon, he had seen no signs of this timid person, but it seemed that the coming of the new day also brought this person back in full force.

She would be killed if she continued like this.

“No, I am not!” Wren snapped back. “I have been brought to a strange place, been told strange things, and have to adjust to a whole new life. I think anyone would be a bit bipolar in this type of situation, don’t you?”

She was so mad, she could spit. The nerve of this man.

Of course she was timid and scared right now… Duh.

“I cannot wait to meet you,” Talon said.

“Huh?”

“The real you. Let me know when she arrives,” Talon commented as they continued in silence to the combat room.

“Good morning, miss. Have you come back?” Shorty looked up from his computer.

“I am ready. What is first?” Wren asked.

Shorty rubbed his hands with glee. “Let’s get this party started!”

***

One. Two. Upper cut. Jab.

One. Two. Upper cut. Jab.

Talon let the rhythm of motion and sound take him away to another deciding point in his life.

~“When will it end?” Talon stood before King.~

~King did not even look up as he threw a stack of bills across the desk at Talon.~

~“When I say it does.” King slowly leaned back in his chair. “Remember. I saved you. I brought you in. You belong to me and will until I decide otherwise.”~

~Talon felt his world shatter in that moment. He did not have a home or a family. He had a master. A master who used him only for his own needs.~

~Talon turned and headed for the door.~

~“Be back in an hour. We have more work to do tonight.”~

~Like hell I will.~

~Talon was done with this life. He gathered what little belongings he had and headed out into the night.~

***

“Let’s stop for lunch.” Wren heard Shorty on the speaker several hours later.

She was drenched in sweat, had cuts and bruises all over her body, and she was pretty sure she was about to collapse.

~That man is not human. But he is effective.~

Shorty was a good teacher, even if he was Satan. He explained each Being she fought—their weaknesses and strengths.

Afterward, he would patiently wait while she failed over and over again before finding success. Really, his only flaw was his enthusiasm for watching others’ pain.

She waved at him as she headed out of the room and toward the main house for something to eat.

She did not know what had happened to Talon, and at this point, she did not care.

“How is your first day of training going?” Carrie asked as Wren prepared something to eat.

“Good.”

“Good. After lunch, you will have class,” Carrie commented as she helped Wren and they headed to the table.

“Class?”

“Yup. You will be trained for a specific job—oh, and then there is all the information that we have on the different Beings you will come across and how to handle them.” She sat down next to Wren. “After you are done with your afternoon classes, there is your combined combat training.”

“I already did that today.”

“That was your hand-to-hand combat training. You will also be trained in a type of fighting style that suits you and best complements Talon’s style.”

“I see…” ~It seems I did not have to worry about boredom. Will there even be time to sleep with this schedule? They expect me to have a job?~

“Will I really have a job when I am done with my initial training?”

“Yup,” Carrie said.

“Do you have a job?”

“Yup,” Carrie said again, “but I took the week off to help you get settled. Everyone else has headed back to work but Talon and I.”

“So that is where everyone went this morning? What does everyone do?” Wren asked as she ate her sandwich.

“Let’s see… I work in an advertising agency, and Michael works for a company downtown as the CEO. Lily is an art professor at the local college, and Eric is the CEO of the local shopping complex.

“All of us are in a position where it is easy to take trips or time off so we can fight at a moment’s notice.

“Although…all of us travel quite a bit with our jobs anyway. We will be here for a bit, but you will see. We will all be shipped off again once you have passed your initial training and can fight.

“Oh, and Talon works at the local school as a science teacher.”

She just could not see that sour man working with teenagers. If he could barely speak to her, how did he teach?

Speaking was an essential part of that particular job. She had pegged him as a computer nerd—typing on his keyboard, locked away in his rooms, snacking on chips, and drinking potfuls of coffee.

Then again, the man had a body, so he could not do something like that. He was definitely a gym rat.

Carrie smiled. It seemed Wren’s indifference to Talon was only a front.

It was not a lot, but it was a start.

“Is he good?”

“I would assume.”

“I guess everyone has to work, huh?” Wren said.

“We did not at first,” Carrie commented. “At first, we just fought. We soon found we had too much time on our hands between fights.

“You can only train so much, and not having any normalcy in your schedule can cause a mental strain.

“So, we found jobs that worked. Once a month, though, we volunteer our time to help out around the town.”

“Granted, no one realizes who and what we really are or do. All they know is this is an apartment house that very few people can get into because the owner has to like you.”

Wren finished her sandwich and took her plate to the sink.

Carrie waved as she headed out the door. “Your tutor is in the library when you are ready.”

“Thank you,” Wren called after her. “Wait. Carrie?”

“Yes?” Carrie turned. She had never heard Wren speak her name out loud.

The lady was making progress on more than one front. Good.

“Would it be all right if I cooked dinner while I am here? At least, until I get a job myself?” Wren asked as an afterthought.

She wanted to do something to pull her weight.

Carrie gave her a smile. “We would love to have you cook, as long as you do not mind it.”

“Thank you. When do you normally eat dinner?”

“Six-thirty. We have a general rule. If you are not here at six-thirty, you plan to eat on your own. We do not wait for others.”

“That makes sense with how irregular your schedule can be. I will plan accordingly.”

Carrie noticed that Wren seemed more confident and relaxed today. Good, she thought. She was getting comfortable here.

Now, if they could only make Talon not upset her, things just might work out for everyone.