The Puppet Assassin [TTR sequel]

The Puppet Assassin - Ch 8 [the demon's daughter -|- luke]

"Are you hurt at all?"

She opened her mouth to answer instantly and then thought for a moment before saying, "A little." I could tell that she'd been about to say the repeated 'I'm fine' before remembering the lie detector each person in the room had.

"I can help with that," said Larkin. He was apprenticing with one of the Wolf Pack healers. No doubt becoming a healer would allow him to continue on giving back to his club even when his athletic days were over.

"No," she said suddenly, shrinking back further in her seat. "I can bear it. It can heal on its own."

Larkin narrowed his eyes, watching her carefully. I could practically hear her thoughts. Was she afraid of magic, or of him?

"Let's continue the questions, get it over with, as she said." Garth folded his arms, looking a little pleased.

I nodded. "Okay. So you have been... trained as an assassin for the last, how many years?"

Any emotion she had on her face was wiped away and she sat up straighter. "Six years. Since I was ten."

My feelings of disbelief and abhorrence were mirrored on the faces of the other men in the room.

"A ten year old, trained to kill." Larkin shook his head.

Dizelde turned her solemn gold eyes towards him. "It was Scythe's belief that youth would make the greatest assassins, if trained correctly. Especially females. Not the kind of thing you'd expect, see. It would catch you unawares."

"Of course," Lark said in a choked voice.

"So, can you tell me any names that you know 'Scythe' had assassinated?" I asked, attempting to move the questioning forward.

She turned her head and squirmed uncomfortably as I held her gaze. This seemed hard for her to do, her brow was moist with sweat and she kept plucking at the stray threads in the couch. "I don't know names. We weren't told names. But I could tell pictures."

"You know, it could be that this isn't the 'Scythe' we're thinking of. There could be someone else with the nickname." Garth's voice was firm but his face looked a little drained.

"Do you know his real name?" I asked Dizelde.

"I know his last name. When he picked me up, the LASER agent in charge of me at the time told Scythe that he had to change my last name if the adoption was made official. I should be Dizelde Michaels but Scythe never signed the forms."

"Shit," Garth muttered, "It IS him."

"He ADOPTED you?" I exclaimed. Why would he do such a thing and then train his child to kill people, like a tool for his use?

Larkin shook his head. "Weren't you listening? He never actually adopted her. He didn't sign the forms. That means he was holding her illegally for years."

"He could be jailed for that alone, not to mention this 'compound' where he trains assassins."

"NO!" Dizelde shouted. "I don't... I don't want that..." She looked around to all of us, seeing our shocked faces, and trailed off.

"Liam and Kayli are here," murmured Garth and I heard their footsteps coming up the drive.

"Lark." I used my head to gesture for him to open the door. He frowned at me for a moment and then pushed off the wall, heading to the front door. I turned back to Dizelde who had lifted her feet onto the couch to hug her knees. This girl was sixteen and yet she seemed so much younger.

I heard the door open and Lark greeted the two in soft tones, quiet enough that Dizelde couldn't hear it though Garth and I still could.

"You must be Larkin," I heard Liam say. "If she's who we think we are, you and I are going to have to go through a few things, such as boundaries and rules for living with this girl..."

I could just imagine Larkin's incredulous expression after hearing that.

"I've invited two people over," I said gently to Dizelde, like I was talking to a little kid. "One of them, Kayli, is the daughter of the man that found you and took you away from Leandre's basement. And her boyfriend works for the same people her father did."

"So you know that she's Leandre's daughter?" Liam spoke as he entered the door.

As he stepped in, and Kayli and Larkin followed, Dizelde slowly lowered her knees back down and seemed to tense up, wary.

"I am," she said firmly, making Liam look at her.

He didn't smile but something in his eyes gave her reassurance that she was safe in his presence because she slowly relaxed again.

"Do you know -"

Liam had been speaking but Kayli cut him off with a hand movement. She stepped closer to Dizelde. "Are you comfortable here? We can organise a safe place for you to stay with other females. Did Scythe ever abuse you?"

Liam caught Garth's eye across the room and they both smirked. "I told you she was taking the counselling course extremely seriously," said Liam. He grinned and kept grinning even when Kayli turned her head and gave him a contemptuous glare.

Dizelde stood up, looking fiercely determined to speak. "Scythe, he was cruel, he was harsh, but he was fair and honest and he didn't force anyone to do what they didn't want."

"Except you," Larkin inputted before she could continue.

She seemed to pale slightly. "I didn't... I had nothing... nowhere else." She took a deep breath. "I was raised by Scythe, he is more father to me than any other man. He was not the world's greatest father, I do not even love him, I fear him, but he could've been worse. There were..." She was visibly trembling. I slowly rose from the chair. "He could've been worse, but he was not evil."

"Hey, it's okay. Just sit down for a bit, we'll just relax for a bit," I said, using a slight amount of compulsion in my voice to help her follow my suggestion.

Larkin was muttering under his breath, his words making it clear that he very much wanted to argue with her but she was so distressed he wouldn't confront her.

"I'm fine," she lied, and her legs wobbled a little before giving out completely, her mouth opening to give a little gasp.