Creatures

“Huh?” Karen just stared at him. What? Her family?

“The President is with them.” Talon reached down to help her out. “Come. We need to dress. They are heading to the house right now from his office.”

Karen let Talon help her out and shortly they were standing outside the sitting room where her family was waiting on the other side.

Karen took a deep breath and opened the door.

“Good evening.” She gave a slight smile as she entered the room. Sure enough, her mother, father, and sister stood before her. Her mother and sister were sitting on the couch opposite of the President and her father, who stood at the window.

“May I introduce Mr. Talon Fielding. My partner and...”

“Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Hintz. Ms. Hintz.” Talon interrupted Karen and gave them a bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“He explained that you all worked in pairs.” Mrs. Hintz stood and walked over, placing her hand out for Talon to take. He bent and gave it a kiss and then did the same to Karen’s sister who had come up behind her mother, before turning and shaking her father’s hand.

“I am pleased to see that there is someone here to protect our daughter.” Her father began, not bothering to introduce himself or his wife and child. “I was a bit worried. Especially when they told me what she was expected to do.”

“I will always protect your daughter, sir,” Talon replied.

“Please, call me James. This is my wife Claire and our other daughter Lucy.”

Talon nodded. “As you wish.”

Her family returned to their spots, her father opting for a chair this time. Karen followed them and took a seat on the other couch while their President moved to the other chair and Talon sat down next to Karen. Karen was glad for his presence. She loved her family in their own way, but they worked better further away from each other.

“I see you managed to finally lose a bit of weight.” her mother commented.

“Yes. The training is very strict.”

“I see. Is everything going well? We have not heard anything since you left, of course, they told us to expect that, but still, not even a letter.”

“I am sorry. It was not allowed outside contact until I had been here a year.” Karen explained. “As you can see, everything is fine. I have finished my training and I have a good partner and am now teaching music at the local school.”

“You are still in music?” Her mother asked. “I thought for sure that you would get rid of that.”

“We like to keep them with something that they are good at. It helps them adjust and gives them comfort in such a strange and new world.” President interjected.

“I see.” Her mother replied.

“Tell me, Mr. Fielding...” Karen’s father spoke up after an awkward pause.

“Please, call me Talon.”

Karen was amazed at how polite he was being. He was acting the perfect gentleman with her family.

“What do you do then?”

“I am currently teaching science at the same school. It keeps us close together and it is the closest thing to what I did before that they could find around here.”

“Oh, what did you do before?”

“I was in the protection business.”

Karen choked at his words, what was he saying now?

“That explains your physic,” Lucy spoke up.

“I guess so.” Talon gave her a smile.

“What do your parents do dear?” Claire asked.

“I do not know my family Ma’am. I grew up in an orphanage.”

“Oh, you poor thing. That must have been tough.” Claire replied, giving him a sad smile.

Talon hated people like her. She did not feel sorry for him, she thought he was beneath her.

“Think nothing of it. I am happy and satisfied and not only do I have plenty of money, I have a job that I am interested in and own and run the local orphanage to help out other children like me have a chance to succeed in life.”

“What an admirable thing for you to do,” Claire replied clearly not interested, but too polite to be rude. Talon wanted to smack her but she was Karen’s mother.

Karen stood. “Would you like something to drink or eat?” She asked.

“That would be nice,” Lucy spoke up.

“I will get it. Sit and visit with your family.” President stood and headed for the kitchen. “I will return shortly.”

“Tell me, Talon,” James leaned back. “How did you get through school?”

“I worked my way through and earned a masters in business and a doctorate in Earth Sciences. I have also spent some time in the business world.” He gave Karen a sly wink before continuing. He knew how to win over people like the Hintz. Money meant everything to this type of person. They could overlook many things if the price was right.

“I had earned enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life when I was found by Mr. Lee and brought here.” Talon leaned back. “As I am sure you are well aware, every expense is covered here and they pay us quite well, so I used that to set up a home for others like myself who just needed a place where they were loved and could grow up in a secure place.”

“That is wonderful.” Claire smiled politely at him. “Every child should have a good home.”

“Yes. I agree.”

“I have sandwiches and tea.” The President re-entered. “Please help yourself.”

“Thank you.”

Silence fell as everyone took a cup and ate a sandwich.

“How long will you be staying?” Karen asked.

“Just for the night. We need to return tomorrow. We just wanted to see how things were and make sure that you were happy.” Karen’s father commented.

“I am sure you have things to discuss.” President stood. “I will be off. It was a pleasure to meet the family of such a wonderful person. I am afraid that I am heading out to a meeting early tomorrow so I will not be able to see you off. Have a safe trip home.”

James stood. “We will, thank you for your hospitality.” They shook hands and he left.

Karen took the opportunity to look at Talon and he nodded and stood as well. “I believe I shall leave as well. You have things to discuss and I have some training that needs to be done. It was a pleasure to meet all of you and I will see you in the morning.” Talon bowed and followed The President out of the room. Everyone else sat and fell into silence.

“He seems like a nice gentleman.”

“He is.”

“It is a shame that he is an orphan.”

“Why?”

“Because you do not know his pedigree, though I am sure it is not the best if he is an orphan.”

“We do not know mine.”

“That is different. You have us.” Claire spit out.

“True Mother.” Karen decided to change the subject before it got ugly. “Are you tired? Would you like to see where you will be staying?”

“That would be nice.” They stood and headed up the stairs towards the bedrooms.

“I will give you a tour of the facilities tomorrow before you leave so you can see what I do. If it is all right with you, I will also introduce you to a couple of my roommates that are not here right now as they are studying for finals.”

“Studying for finals? Are they still in high school?” Lucy asked. She was in her final year of high school.

“Yes, they are. I think you will like them.” Karen replied as they stopped in front of the door of her old room.

“Here is your suite.” She stepped into her old room, glad now that she had vacated it. “There is the bedroom and the sofa folds out so Lucy can sleep there. The bathroom is through the bedroom and I just cleaned it the other day so everything should be ready for use.”

“Thank you hon. I suppose this will do for the night. Did you have plans for tomorrow?” Her mother asked.

“No. It is the weekend, so after breakfast, I will show you around. We usually eat around 7:30 on weekends, but you can eat whenever. There is no set time.”

“Seven thirty is fine. We have a few matters to discuss tomorrow as well so... will that man be with us?”

Karen shrugged. “I do not know. I am not separated much from him.” She flushed after she spoke, realizing how that sounded.

“Really.” Her mother gave her a disapproving look. “We will need to discuss that as well it seems.”

“There is nothing to discuss mother. We are partners and have to spend a lot of time together, that is how it works.”

“Mmm.” Was the only reply she got.

“It is getting late and we have traveled a long way to be here. I think we will head to bed. Good night dear.”

“Good night mother, father, Lucy. I will see you in the morning.”

Karen headed out the door and to her rooms with a sigh. Damn, what was she going to do now? Why did The President let them come?

“Why did you not tell them?” she asked as she spotted Talon in his study.

“Because I want a chance to speak with your father first. That is why they were brought here.”

“What!? You knew they were coming.”

“No Karen.” Talon let out a sigh and walked around the desk. “I did not know they were coming, but I do know the President and once my intentions to marry you became clear, he would want me to at least ask your family for your hand. That is why I did not want you to say anything. I want to a chance first.”

“Oh... I see.”

“Is that all right?” Talon asked, pulling her close.

“I guess.”

“Are you all right? You seem tense.”

“My family makes me tense. We have a certain way we are to act and we cannot change the script.” She changed the subject. “I did not realize you could be such a gentleman. I was impressed.”

Talon moved towards the bedroom, stripping off his shirt as he went.

“What, just because I grew up in an orphanage and the gutter does not mean that I do not know what or how to use manners.”

“I am not applying that, I did witness your manners the other day you know. I was merely saying that I was impressed that you were able to read my family and compose yourself so well. you knew just what to say and what to omit.”

“Part of my job was to read people. If I could not, I would be dead.” He patted the bed next to him.

“Come to bed. I will not do anything else to you tonight, what with your family here.” He grumbled. There went his night of sex.

Karen nodded and crawled into bed next to him, letting him wrap her up in his arms. Within minutes she was sleeping soundly as Talon watched her sleep, wondering how to approach her father. Damn that old man.

That ‘old man’ sat in his chair and chuckled. Talon knew why they were here. He did not believe that the man should ask for the hand of the daughter without speaking first to the father and besides, that family had been pestering him for months to hear from their daughter. What was up with them anyway? They finally see her and they do not even give her a handshake, let alone a hug. What a cold bunch. No wonder the woman isolated herself and her feelings like that. He would have to do something about that.

“Good morning,” Karen spoke as Emerald and Evan walked into the Kitchen rubbing their eyes and then stopping as they noticed the guests.

“May I introduce my family to you. Mr. James Hintz, Claire Hintz and Lucy Hintz.”

“Good morning.” Evan and Emerald nodded and took their seats.

“My what lovely hair, were you born with it?” Claire asked Emerald.

“Afraid so.”

Lucy giggled and Emerald smiled.

“Lucy!” her mother scolded. “Mind your manners.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good morning.” Talon entered the kitchen and nodded to everyone before sitting as well.

“Here you go.” Karen finished breakfast and sat.

“Do you cook every day?” her mother asked.

“Most days,” Karen admitted. “I like to help out around the house. We all pitch in.”

“Do you not have help for this?” Claire asked, disdain dripping from her voice. She had never liked Karen working for others. In her eyes, Karen should be giving the orders and others should be doing the work.

“We could if we wanted to.” Evan spoke up, “But we like to live as normally as possible.”

“I see,” James spoke.

“Shall we?” Emerald asked, feeling the tension.

After breakfast, Talon, Emerald, and Evan excused themselves and left.

“Shall we tour the grounds?” Karen asked.

“Yes. I would like to see how you live now.”

Karen showed them the compound, explaining to them how things were set up.

“So where do you normally sleep then?”

“In the rooms you slept in last night.” She could not tell them that she was currently sharing room with Talon. They would drag her out of here so fast if they found that out.

“I did not see any of your stuff.”

“That is because they had to repair a few things and so I moved into other rooms temporarily. They had just finished yesterday before you came.” Karen sent a prayer up that he would not strike her dead for lying.

“That is nice.” Was all the reply she got as she showed them the outdoor tub.

“Do you bath here?” Her sister asked when she explained what it was.

“No.”

“Good. It would be indecent.” her father commented. So typical, she thought. It was a good thing that the President had called and given them a warning or else they would have caught her and Talon in that very tub, doing indecent things, last night.

She moved on, taking them to the garden next, then onto the different hand to hand combat training rooms, stopping to speak with Emerald and Evan as they did their training and finished the tour at the control room.

“This is Shorty. He runs all of the training programs here.”

“If you want to step up to the glass, you can watch Mr. Talon. He is training right now.” Shorty told them, his usual vibrant self-subdued with their visitors there.

They stepped up and watched Talon for a few minutes.

“This is what you do?” James asked his daughter.

“Yes.”

“Are you any good?” Claire asked.

“She is almost as good as Talon. You should see them work together. It is like they are dancing.” Shorty came up next to them. “It is a rare sight to see a couple so in tune with each other.”

“Could we see you?” Lucy asked.

“Lucy!” her mother reprimanded her.

“But mother!”

“I would not mind myself.” James overruled his wife, looking at his daughter. “Would you mind giving us a demonstration. I want to see just how well you work with that man.”

Crap, Karen thought to herself. There was no way this was going to end well.

“If you would Shorty.”

“Yes, Ms. Karen.” Shorty grinned and opened the door.

Talon looked at the beast in front of him. He moved in to attack and took off his left arm, but missed the speed of his right, his mind on other things. Just as he braced for the impact of the creature’s weapon, the arm fell lifelessly to the floor.

“You need to watch your timing. Duh.” Karen stood before him, a grin on her face. “That was payback for last time.”

“What are you doing here?” Talon finished off the creature and stepped back, signaling for Shorty to pause the program.

“They want a demonstration.” She inclined her head to the window where her family was watching.

“I see.” Talon looked up and nodded towards the family. “Shall we then?”

“Oh yes, lets,” Karen replied, unenthusiastically

They spent the next ten minutes going through various exercises.

“They are really good together. Separately they are fabulous, but together... they are unstoppable.”

“I see.” James looked at the short man running the computer.

“Do they always train like this?”

“Everyday, sometimes multiple times a day.”

“Does he take care of her.”

“Oh yes. He would die for her.” Shorty commented, shutting down the program and they waited as the Karen and Talon headed their way.

“Is she happy?”

“I think so.”

“Well?” Karen asked as they left the combat room.

“Not bad,” Claire replied, not at all happy with what she saw or heard. “You need a shower though.”

“I know. If you will give us a few moments we will clean up a bit and meet you in the dining room for some lunch.”

“Agreed.”

Talon and Karen headed up the stairs and Karen headed towards her rooms.

“Where are you going?” Talon asked softly.

“They are watching.”

Karen entered her old rooms and headed for the shower. She would have to figure out a way to get her clothes.