Chapter 1 Initiation

My alarm went off at seven. My hand patted around until I found the off button. I buried my head into my pillow and sighed. Suddenly I remebered, it's my first day as an apprentice to a kickass mentor! I jumped out of bed and ran to start the shower. I took a lot of time on my hair and made sure it was perfectly straight then threw it into a pony tail. My bangs hung in my face and fell into my eyes but they'd work for now. Then I went to my closet to find an outfit to wear. After a couple minutes I chose a tank top that had three straps that went over my shoulder and down the top of my arms slightly. It was more of a rocker look with my black sweats. I grabbed my shoes and put them on. Then I looked at the clock. It was eight thirty. 1

"Oh shit!" I shouted and ran to the door without breakfast. 2

I checked the lock on my apartment door and ran down the stairs and to my car. It was a black mustang and was fast and powerful. I jumped in and drove to the office as quick as I could. The sky had heavy clouds but at least no rain. So the weather was on my side mostly.3

'Way to start the day, Ayanna.' I groaned as I hit a red light and waited the two agonizing minutes and shot off as soon as it turned green. Thankfully I made it with two minutes to spare. I pulled into a parking spot towards the road and ran into the building. 'Good thing I'm in healthy shape.'4

Mr.Adams was at the front desk talking with the girl working there. She was pointing out something on a paper and turned when she heard the door open. Mr.Adams took the paper and continued looking at it. The blondie smiled warmly at me. "Good Morning, Ayanna."5

I smiled hesistantly and looked at Mr.Adams. He glanced at me. "Ayanna this is Mickey. She's our part time secretary." She walked over and shook my hand.6

"Sorry for being so cold yesterday. It's part of the job. If I think someone's not going to get a job here." She smiled showing her teeth.7

I didn't know how to respond so I smiled and nodded. Mr.Adams looked at the paper one last time and rolled it up. He glanced at his watch and looked up. "Damian's late." He sighed and sank into the chair next to Mickey's.8

Mickey was watching me with her head tilted to the side. "I love your clothes." She tugged the straps on my tank. Her eyes wandered all over my tank. "I want a top like that."9

I was about to tell her where to get it but the door opened up and a guy walked in. He had a black T on and black sweats. His hair was half covering his face and he had sneakers on. He was swinging his keys on his finger and walked towards us. Mickey walked forward and hugged him. He kissed her cheek and she kissed his. It was just a friend greeting a friend. At least that's what it looked like. The guy moved and went to the desk and leaned against it. "Sorry, I'm late, dad."10

His dad sighed. "Son, how old are you?"11

"Nineteen."12

"Nineteen. You're old enough to know how to manage your time. Even, your apprentice has better time management. And she's a girl. A teenage girl has better time management." His father scolded him.13

I blushed and looked away. It's a damn good thing they didn't know how fast I ran out of my apartment without breakfast and barely finished dressing. Well, they didn't need to know that. They could just keep thinking that I knew how to be on time. 14

Damian turned to look at me. His expression was cold. His eye-the one that was visible-was looking me over. I shrank and stood close to Mickey. He stood straight and crossed his arms over his chest. wow. He was really muscular. The T he had hugged him tightly. He had his feet spred apart slightly and was still watching me. Then he walked to me and walked around me studying me. He tilted my head in certain directions from behind and came to my front. His hand went to my chin and he tilted my head up towards him. My fingers were twisted together and I felt a huge surge of heat rush to my face. 15

"She's petite in height and weight. There's lean muscle but not a lot. Pretty good in shape but looks more like she should be a playboy bunny than my apprentice." He continued looking at me.16

Was he serious? "A fucking playboy bunny? Please. I hate them! I'm not just some sex object. I'm also not something pretty to look at. I can kick ass just as much as I can look cute." I almost shouted to him and crossed my arms under my breasts. I almost felt stupid for speaking like that but I was too angry to continue on that thought.17

He stared at me then cracked a smile. "She's got spunk and shows a lot of promise. She might actually survive." He rubbed my head and started towards the stairs. "Let's check your aim, kid." His dad stood and stretched and went up the stairs ahead of Damian and Mickey followed him. 18

I stalked off after him. "I'm not a kid. I'm only three years younger than you. Maybe less."19

"Trust me, kid, I'm a lot older than you." He kept walking up the stairs.20

I ran faster to get closer to him. "Not that much. So you're probably-what a sophomore in college? I'd be a senior in high school. You're not that old, grandpa."21

He reached the top step and I almost collided with him. I looked at him through my bangs and he was smiling. He took my hand and helped me up to the top step. The heat rushed in my face. Why was he being so nice? I didn't want a nice mentor. I wanted a kickass instructor, not some warm and fuzzy one. Then again maybe this was just to make me think he was a softie and then I'll think he was an easy instructor. Well, he wasn't going to trick me. 22

His dad walked to a door and opened it. We followed and Mickey had her clipboard and was writing on it. Mr.Adams went to a closet and grabbed some earmuffs. He handed one to everyone then unlocked another door. Inside was a shooting range. There was an outline of a person about five feet away and there wee lines inside it like a target. The table in front of me had a ton of different types of guns. I looked at them and Damian came forward and grabbed a .17 glock. I watched as he held it in position and fired. He got right where the heart would be on the target. He handed me the gun and stepped back.23

"I want you to get as close to my bullet as possible. If you can get in the same spot go ahead. We'll see how good you are with this gun and if we have to we'll change the gun to something else." He instructed. 24

I hesitated. 25

"What's wrong?"26

I glanced at him and then at the gun. I was about to humiliate myself in front of people I barely knew. Not to mention one of them was my mentor. How stupid would he think I was? I mean most people who came in here for a job knew how to shoot a gun or how to be all spy-like and everything.27

Unfortnately he guessed it. 28

"Don't know how to shoot?" He asked.29

I nodded. 30

"Then we'll work on that later." He turned to Mr.Adams and waited for instructions.31

"Alright. Damian go ahead and take her to the office and start some training. The door'll be unlock if you need it during your training today. Mickey, check and see how Xavier, Dominic, and Vlad are doing. Anything and everything needs to be reported." He walked to the door with Mickey following him.32

Damian waited a second then looked at me. His expression was cold and heartless. He stared at me and crossed his arms. "Now the work begins." He walked forward so he was really close. I started to shrink back from him. "You will arrive here every morning at eight for two months. Every thirty seconds that you're late is a quarter of a mile that you run. Every morning you will run one mile in six minutes thirty seconds. If you're late those quarters will be added and you will be expected to finish all of it in the same six minutes thirty seconds. If you don't finish it'll add on to the next day. You can wear any type of shirt but I do not want to see a whoreish shirt. You will not wear short shorts. I do not want to see your ass no matter how big and nice it is. You will cry, you will hurt and you will want to die but I am not holding back. I have two months to turn you from a playboy bunny girl to a kickass assassin. I show no mercy so if you're not ready for this then this is the time to leave." He stared at me with a narrowed eye.33

I moved my legs slightly. Phew. I didn't piss my pants. The way he looked while he said that was really scary. I believed him too. He looked so strict and like he might rip my face off if I didn't listen. Even if he was no mercy there was no fucking way I'd walk out now. This is was what I wanted. I would not back out no matter how hard the training was.34

He glared at me and turned. "Follow me. Our training starts now. You need to work on your arm strength." He was walking so fast I had to practically jog to keep up. He walked down the hall and into another room. There was a huge mat and a bunch of tools on the ground. He turned to me and held up a hand. "Punch it as hard as you can."35

I looked at his hand then at him. "Are you serious?"36

"Deadly."37

I threw a punch but he grabbed my arm and twisted it and I fell on the floor. My ass hit the ground really hard. "Ow. That hurt."38

"That was practically nothing. You took too much time. I need you to throw a punch so fast I won't see it com-" 39

I swung my legs and swept him to the floor. He didn't even notice my legs suddenly swing. He landed on the ground on his ass too. I glanced at him and was getting ready to run in case he was going to go kill me. He looked at me. His mouth was open like he was mad but then he cracked a smile. "Like that." He stood and held his hand out. I took it and he pulled me up.40

"When are we gonna work on guns?" I asked. That's the whole reason I was here. The guns. The badass guns.41

"After two months of this training I'm going to take you to a warehouse and give you a final test. You will give me a two minute head start and you will have no gun. You will have to catch me. There will be fighting just like if it were a real situation and you were trying to catch someone. If you are able to get me then I'll train you in guns. Then we'll become partners for real situations. Hopefully you'll last longer than the others." He turned towards the punching bags.42

"Others?" I asked.43

"A couple of my other partners quit and two died."44

"How'd they die?" 45

"The first was held hostage. She told me to shoot and that she'd be fine. I did and she didn't move in time. The bullet hit her and scared the one we were after. I shot him down and went to try and help her. It was too late. I ended up losing her. The last one was in a similar situation but she got shot by the guy we were after and I wasn't there at that time. My brother was and he tried to save her." He punched the punching bag hanging in a corner. "But the guy shot her as quick as he could and ran. My brother went after him but it was too late when he came back to her. She was already gone. If I lose another partner then I'm gonna have to leave."46

"They're pushing you out because of their deaths?"47

"No. I'd be leaving by my own will. It's hard now staying knowing that I caused two deaths. If I had a third then I'd feel worse." He put a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. "Enough about that. Time to work. Start stretching."48

He showed me how to do some stretches and then left me to do them. While I stretched he moved to the punching bag and was punching it to no end. One fist would hit it then rebounded and the other hit it with barely a second in between. They were flying all over the bag. When I was done stretching I sat there to watch. It looked like he took the deaths pretty hard. Almost like he blamed himself for them. That wasn't the case was it? It wasn't his fault for them right? He didn't have a choice. Isn't this whole thing about taking risks every day. Everytime you're called there's a great chance you'll die. Right? Wasn't this whole thing about a life or death risk every second you're on? Or was the reason you had a partner was so that you both could have a better chance? Was it to have someone help take some of the load? 49

I had a lot to learn in a little amount of time. 50

"Push ups. three sets of fifteen. Ten second break in between for stretches," he instructed after I finished the stretching.51

3 sets of 15? Was he serious? "You think I can do that much?"52

"I don't think you can but you have to. Stop complaining and just do it."53

I groaned and cussed under my breath. By the time I was done with that my arms were in horrible pain. That job as a PlayBoy Bunny seemed better and better after every push up. Then again I didn't want to leave this; I had been searching for this for a long time. I just didn't want to deal with the pain. If there was an easy way to gain muscle quickly and painlessly I'd have happily used it at that point. Something like 'Insta-gro Muscles'. I smiled at that thought while I did lunges.54

"Sit ups," Damian said after I finished the lunges.55

"What's the point of making me do all this stuff if it's gonna kill me before I ever hold a gun or even tomorrow?"56

He smiled slightly. "You'll feel a hell of a lot worse tomorrow morning."57

I would've argued with him and said I was tougher than that. One workout wouldn't do that to me. I didn't though. I knew he was right. Tomorrow would be a bitch. Lovely.58

Finally I was done for the day. My whole body felt like hell. It was almost like I pulled every muscle in my body. When I took the elevator to my apartment my neighbor, Stacey, saw me struggle to just push a button. She looked at me. "You look like you're in severe pain."59

No Shit. "Yeah. Hard workout."60

She dug in her purse and pulled a small can out. She handed it to me. "It's a bath salt. You pour a small amount in and relax in it. It relaxes the muscles and helps them heal. You should use it every night after a workout." 61

I didn't even know her-hell that was the first time I talked to her. The only reason I knew her name was because she told me it when I moved it. She was awesome though just by giving me that stuff. When the doors opened she went to her apartment as I tried to get to mine. The first thing I did was take a hot bath with the salt and felt my muscles relaxed and it felt so good.62

The next morning I felt pretty good. Don't get me wrong my muscles hurt but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought I'd be lying there staring at the wall thinking, "Do I really want to go to the bathroom? Or should I stay still?". But I ended up not even in that much pain. It took a little longer to get ready but I made it out to the car by eight fifteen.63

I arrived in the parking lot by eight fifty seven and walked into the building by eight fifty nine. I stretched in the front next to Mickey's desk waiting for Damian. Mickey was on the phone most of the time. She making arrangments for positions and stuff. After that she went to the news on her computer. After a couple of minutes she turned up the volume on her computer. 64

"-Teen girl found last night. She was dead and her clothes made it look like a raping. No other information has been released-" Mickey shut off the window and picked up the phone. 65

The doors opened and Damian walked in. His hair was messed up and His clothes were wrinkled. He looked like a mess, like he had stayed up all night. His arm hit the desk as he walked behind it. He didn't even notice. "Dominic's in sector four. There's nothing we found so far but we're guessing Glamour, and male."66

Mickey looked at him and nodded. She held the phone to her ear with her shoulder and wrote it down. After that she started talking to Mr.Adams on the phone. Damian walked to me and looked at me. His eyes were dark and half closed. "Start warming up."67

"She did," Mickey muttered to him.68

He looked surprised. "Huh. Okay then we'll start on combonations. I want you upstairs in thirty seconds. Go."69

I stared at him. "Seriously? Thirty seconds to get upstairs?"70

"I'll add a mile for every second you're not there. Twenty five...tw-" 71

I took off towards the stairs and ran up them. I made it to the room with one second to spare. Damian followed at a slower pace. He stretched and started talking.72

"I may be late sometimes. Sometimes I might not show up. That doesn't mean you can slack. Mickey will be here and go over everything. You will still run if you're late. I won't be on time for a long time because we're going to be focusing on the girl who was murdered. I'll be taking night shifts so that'll use a lot of time and energy on my part. After two months you'll still be tested. We're changing it up though. My dad will be watching your performance. If he thinks you're ready then I'll start working on your gun handling." He stretched his arms and cracked his neck. 73

We practiced and he let me go at nine that night. For the next two months he showed up late and sometimes didn't show up at all.