Holly Fin

Prologue

You don’t know what it’s like to be eight years old and watch your invincible mother die. To hold her hand as she draws in shaky breaths and expels blood with every word she speaks. Do you know what it’s like to realize your mother is human when you’ve been under the impression that she’s an angel. Angels don’t die.

I remember one thing though. I had only once before that day ever seen my mother truly smile. That was when my father woke up and she realized he wasn’t dead. That day I watched from behind the door as my mother fought with her mentor. With a man she was forced to trust and respect despite her better judgment.

I watched as Ethan, her teacher’s, knife plunged into her stomach. I watched as my mother brought her own knife down across his neck. Killing him as she had so many others.

I saw my father rush over and catch her. I stepped into the room slowly. For the first time ever I saw my father cry. “Please don’t leave me.” He whispered against her temple, tears streaming down his face. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Take care of Holly.” She rasped. “Make sure she doesn’t become me.”

I remember running over to her side. “I’m here mommy.” I told her, taking her other hand.

“Holly. . . I love you.” She whispered. I felt the blood soak through my shirt as she hugged me to her. “Go stand with your Aunt.”

I remember feeling tears falling onto my head as my mothers best friend held me close, covering my eyes.

I remember turning around panicked when I heard the gun shot.

I remember hating my father, who’s tears didn’t stop the smoke from rising out of the muzzle of his gun.

I remember running to her side and demanding that she woke up.

Until I saw her face. She was smiling. Then I knew.

My mother hadn’t been an angel but a monster. She had the humanity forced out of her and she was forced to become little more than a machine.

She was smiling because she got that back. She was human again.
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Chapter 1:
Holly and Tiny


I have seen a lot in my short life. I've seen my mother kill a man, and my father kill my mother. I've seen the downfall of a way of life. I watched the people I love struggle to fit into a world they were trained to protect, but had never lived in.

When I started third grade at a local public school, even I had a hard time adjusting. Before anyone got to what my parents did for a living I was set apart. I had no mother. I lived not just with my father, but with my aunt and two of my uncles. So I was the only child living with four adults. I could never bring other kids home to play because of the strange things lying around our house.

When The Tri Point organization fell, there were a lot of munitions left over. My guardians didn't want those munitions falling into the wrong hands, and so we have an armory in our house. None of my adults can keep from playing with the stuff. There is a gun under every pillow, except mine. I secretly kept my gun in my bedside table drawer instead. A lot of evenings, instead of sitting around the TV, we sat around, the adults blind folded, seeing who could assemble various guns first. We have a shooting range in the basement. The house always smells like smoke and chemicals, and I am positive that we are the only house hold that spends more time looking for armed and lost detonators then our car keys.

I often could be found home alone, my adults not understanding the law that said one of them had to be home, after all, I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I wasn't allowed to stay over at anyone’s house for an extended period of time, and never over night. I have violent nightmares, mostly about classified material. Oh, and did I mention that my father seems to think that every wife on the block is secretly a terrorist waiting to kidnap me and torture me for national security information. Just forget the fact that I have been drastically removed from that business for the last three years and know nothing that is still relevant. I think he's crazy.

Needless to say I had a pretty hard time making friends. This wasn't helped by the fact that I had learned almost everything the public education system had to offer in their elementary schools by the time I got there. The boredom with my education kept me sufficiently ahead of the class. This is why I was so shocked when a new girl picked me out and started trying to befriend me.



“Hi.” The new girl in the class slid into the seat next to me. “My name is Tiny.”

She was smiling brightly waiting for my response. “Holly.”

“I think I live near you. I saw you and your dog walking to school this morning.”

I blushed. My father had trained a black lab to follow me to and from school. “Wesson is rather attached to me. You live about five doors down from me I think. That was the only house for sale on my route to school.”

Tiny giggled and my blush deepened as I realized how I must sound. “Does your dog wait for you all day outside?”

I shook my head. “He's trained to come and back at the end of the day to walk with me.”

“How does he know what time it is?”

I sighed. Defiantly couldn't let this one anywhere near the house. She asked too many questions. “There's an alarm set for him. When he hears it he leaves for school.”

“Oh.”

I didn't talk to Tiny again before the bell rang, and practically ran home so she couldn't ask to come over. I headed strait into the back yard to run through the obstacle course my father asked that I run through everyday. This was his one neurosis I actually liked. I was a little surprised when, in the middle of hanging upside down, an irritated Nate came out to tell me I had a guest.

I threw a pair of track pants and a jacket over the spandex skin I wore to work out, and trotted around the house to the front yard, Wesson at my heals. Tiny stood on the front porch, her purple back pack slung over one shoulder, the inordinate amount of key chains clanging together as she shifted from one foot to another. I sighed and hopped onto the porch, startling Tiny. “Oh! Hi Holly. You took off so fast after school that I didn't get a chance to ask you if you wanted to do homework together.” She adjusted her backpack, unable to stand still.

“Oh.” I blinked at her for a second. “Well, I'm not allowed to have anyone over. My aunt works night shift and is a really light sleeper.” This wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth.

“Well you could come over my house.” Tiny looked at me with a hopeful smile. Truthfully, I had done my homework in class. For some odd reason, I really wanted this girl to be my friend.

“I already did my homework.” I said quietly, letting a blush soften my features. “Maybe tomorrow? I'll wait to do it and we can walk home together.”

Tiny's face broke into a wide smile. “Ok! I'll see you tomorrow!” I watched her bounce down the side walk to her own house before going inside.

“You know you're not supposed to have people over.” Nate was leaning on the door frame to the kitchen, picking his nails with a knife.

I rolled my eyes, pushing past him to get a drink. “I didn't invite her over, she just showed up. She's new at school and just wanted to do homework together.” I took a sip of juice. “I did mine in class so I told her I would go over there and do it with her tomorrow.”

“You can't go you know.” Nate sat down with his hand gun to finish cleaning it.

“That's not your decision.” I was starting to get angry with him. His lover dying during a mission had turned him bitter, to the point where he couldn't hold a job. Hence his living with us. “Besides I really don't think anything is going to happen to me while I am writing my spelling words five times each.” I pushed off the counter. “I'm going downstairs.”



“Holly!” I stopped mid back kick, balancing on my left foot. I waited like that patiently as my father came down the stairs. “Nice form.” He mimicked my positions and then we finished the Kata out together. “I thought you were wearing out another punching bag. If I had known you were practicing Kata I would have waited.”

“I was trying to calm down. While kicking the crap out of a punching bag relieves stress it tends to make me angrier. I was already about to take the gun Nate was cleaning and shove it up his-”

“Holly!”

“Sorry El.” I looked down; reverting to the name I had called Elias since I was little.

“I hear that a girl down the street asked you to do homework with her?” We started walking over to the shooting range.

“Her name is Tiny. She lives five houses down across the street.” I picked up the first pieces of my hand gun.

“Won't that mess with your work out?”

“One day won't hurt El. She's really nice and I can get most of my work out done still.” I sighed checking my site. “As much I love you guys having someone normal in my life might be nice.” Elias was silent for a moment. “Wesson can wait in the yard. If I get stuck in the house you'll know where I am and if I leave the house Wesson can bite their asses.”

Elias snorted. “You can take care of yourself. I'm not worried about that.” He smirked. “Besides there's always that homing device I implanted. What I'm worried about is. . .” He trailed off.

“You're worried about her.” I sighed. “El the only person I have ever attacked is Nate and you KNOW how we don't get along.”

“I know but,” He looked at me intently, “teenage girls are meaner and more vicious then most mercenaries. You're not used to dealing with 'normal' kids.”

“There isn't a place for me in this world if I keep growing up the way I am. I need to get used to dealing with 'normal' kids. I need to learn how to be normal.”

“You're right.” Elias reached out and took my gun out of my hand. “Claudia wants to take you shopping before she has to go to work. Something about you needing a new outfit and her getting to play stylish aunt.”

I smiled at El and did something that I hadn't really done before but had seen other 'normal' girls do. I hugged my father.