The Talon Family The Assassination of Two Part 3

The Talon Family

The Assassination of Two

March

By: Chase L. Currie

“You okay?” Gabriel asked her sister pulling Helbis gaze back to her as the taxi raced down the street.

                “Yeah, I’m fine,” Helbis told her.

                “You been quiet for a while,” she said. They both left Kirk’s office two hours after they got done making a deal with him. A simple deal really, Alexander helps him make the bio-steel stronger, and Kirk pays him enough money where any middle-class family in America could live on for a few years for a month worth of work. Gabriel didn’t understand why Kirk wanted the bio-steel better, but she wasn’t going to ask more than she had to, she wanted out of the meeting and away from him.

                After the meeting was over, they went back to their penthouse to change for a night on the town. Gabriel slipped into an off-white dress with an open back and carried a small black leather crop top jacket followed up with a black choker and high heels. She kept her perfectly blonde hair tied back into a ponytail.

                “Sorry, just I’m a little in my head tonight,” Helbis said. She changed into black leather pants, with a tight dark red shirt with a turtleneck and no selves. She draped over herself a black cotton coat and wore simple black boots. Tonight, out of the norm for their family, Helbis look more conservative than her sister.

                Helbis was the more liberal one when it came to dating them and being with men. She didn’t mind having a good time and rarely regretted it in the morning, but tonight she didn’t care to be around anyone else but her sister. She didn’t want to feel eyes wash over the tattoos or fight off a guy trying to buy her drinks. Sure, she likes them trying and coming to talk to her. Too many, ‘men’ these days back down from asking a woman if they could buy them a drink. They were cowards with the way men were being taught to be less than anything but men in our time. They acted like they were neutered mutts when it came to trying to win her heart over, but they sure found their stride when it came to falling into bed with her.

                She sometimes wonders what it was like to be courted like the men would do in old movies, but maybe, that was nothing more than a dream with the way the world was today. Tonight, she wanted to watch those old movies she loved like ‘Casablanca’ or ‘Dirty Dancing’ and live in the dream.

                “Where is your mind at?” Gabriel asked.

                “Nowhere important,” she said looking back out the window.

                “Come on,” Gabriel said, “don’t make me pull it out of you.”

                Helbis glanced over at her as she smiled. “Please.”

                Helbis sighed and said, “I’m just wondering when I’m going to feel better.”

                “Better about what?”

                “About leaving you guys,” Helbis said. “About questioning if you guys were my real family or not. I’m still trying to find a way back into the role of being a sister in this family.”

                “We love you,” Gabriel said. “I love you, and you will always be accepted here.”

                “Am I?” Helbis asked. “I walked out. I when with people I didn’t know because I didn’t feel right being here.”

                “I know,” Gabriel said looking away. “I don’t know how to make you feel like you are one of us. All I know to do is to tell you that you are.”

                “I know.”

                “Yeah, you hurt us,” Gabriel said, “but the wounds are healed, and we are fine. Michael is happy you are back.”

                “When he notices me,” Helbis said, “with Ses around all the time.”

                “Right, I know,” Gabriel told her looking back into her dark eyes. “Either way he is happy, I am happy, dad is happy, we a---”

                “What about Raphael?” Helbis asked.

                “Something is going on with him,” Gabriel said. “I don’t think it is you.”

                “You think it is more than him feeling stuck in life and failing those tests?” She asked.

                “A lot more.”

                “And I’m sure I play some kind of role in it.”

                Gabriel locked her jaw not saying anything for a moment. “We both know it is true.”

                She reached out to touch Helbis on the shoulder telling her, “You are my sister, and I love you. Nothing or no one is ever going to change that, not even you. So, you can feel out of place with me, but I’m never going to stop showing up at your door.”

                Helbis smiled. Gabriel was trying her best, but nothing was changing how she felt. Hopefully, time would heal the wound she made herself in the family. She could only hope and pray it would. “I love you too,” she said back.

                “Plus,” Gabriel told her sitting back in the car, “I need this girl time away from the boys. If I didn’t have it, I would kill them.”

                Before Helbis could say a word Gabriel’s phone lights up with the ringtone telling them both it was a Knight from Paladin with a mission. She picked up the phone and said, “Yes, Lohengrin.” She said the name to let Helbis know who it was, but she didn’t care who it was, she didn’t want to be on any mission. Sure, last month she had no choice in the matter, but she asked her sister to give her the easy task on that mission. She still ended up having to break some of the spells of their foe and fight some demon, but it had to be done. She didn’t want to do whatever was next.

                “Diver,” Gabriel said giving him the new address. “Thanks.”

                “Can’t get out of this one, huh?” Helbis asked.

                “Afraid not,” she said. “He asked for both of us. It is a big one.”

                Helbis stared back out the window and told herself the one good thing about the mission was she didn’t have time to dwell on her emotions. All she could was think about the mission because if she didn’t then someone could die.