Agent 345 watches from her perch high up in the tall pine tree she had taken refuge in. The gunshot wound to her right leg hurt and was killing her. She had managed to stop the bleeding and do a rough bandaging job to protect the wound. She watched silently from her hidden position as the patrol of were-cats passed underneath her. She knew she had cross the invisible mystic boundary line all Packs and Pride’s use to mark their territory. At one time, she would have attacked them and subdue them and waited for the rest of her team to come in and kill them. She was trained as a scout. That was her job, and she loved it. She enjoyed the cat and mouse game she played with her enemies. She didn’t like killing and hated it when she was forced to do it. The HSL couldn’t accept the fact she preferred to subdue her opponent. Her instructors always forced her to take their lives.

The HSL had raised her to hate and kill all Were’s and other non-human’s. She was trained for that purpose. She used to follow her orders like a good solider and do what she was instructed to do, until she learned the truth about herself. The HSL had genetically engineered her in one of their genetic laboratories. She was the last of their genetically engineered soldiers who were designed to fight the non-human races. She had been told and shown that her parents had been killed by a pack of Were-wolves. That the wolves had come in and killed her parents for no reason, other than for being human. They showed her pictures of the crime scene and even the resting place of her parents, where they were buried. She had accepted this as truth and never suspected that they lied to her about her life. They had trained her from the time she took her first steps in ever style of hand-to-hand combat and martial arts combat known. She was educated with the rest of her brother and sisters to only hate and kill the non-human races. They had reinforced their teaching at night, while she slept with their hypnotic cd and dvd’s. She never had a normal childhood. The HSL had always had her training. The only disappointment they had about her was the fact she had been born mute. In a lot of ways, she had figured out that the HSL prefer her that way. It meant she wouldn’t be able to ask question like some of her sisters and brothers had. She was their best achievement. She had the Were’s speed, endurance, reflexes and strength. She had a high IQ and could move as quietly as the cats among the different Pride’s. The only drawback her superiors saw about her, was her size.

She was short and petite, not tall and curvy, like the rest of her sisters and brothers. They could go toe to toe with any of the Were’s no matter what shape they were in. She on the other hand, was very short and petite. She had the height of a ten-year-old girl. The advantage she had was the fact she could get in close and use the knowledge she had of the nerve clusters in the body of either form and disable her opponent. She could make it so they couldn’t move any part of their body she hit. The other advantage she had over her sisters and brothers was the fact she had no scent about her. Her body never gave off any scent what so ever. Even the body tight specialty suit she wore was design to neutralize any scent she may pick-up along the way. The doctor’s that watched and examine her, couldn’t understand why her body was like that. They had always watched and examine her, her whole entire life.

It wasn’t till she got curious one day about her family and started researching into her family past. To see if she had any relatives, that she came across the truth. The file they had on her was marked as top secret. When she opened the file, and found a DVD in there with her id code on it, she got curious and watched it. It showed the doctors involved in creating her. How Dr. Louis Hick’s had used a sample of DNA they had in storage from some remains stored in storage at area 51. The genetic code had turned out to be from a human body they had found frozen in the ice down at the South Pole. The DNA turned out to be more advance then any human DNA they had ever seen. They tried splicing in DNA from Were’s and non-humans to see what would happen. What they discover was that DNA they had was immune to the virus that causes a Were to become a Were. She knew they had tried to use it in some of the other people there, but it didn’t work. It just made them sick and finally killed them. However, when they had spliced it into the embryo she had come from, it worked. It changed her make-up and enhanced her. Once she had been borne, they wasted no time in educating and training her to hate others who weren’t pure human. They never gave her a name. She was simply 345 and once she had reached agent status, she was known simply as Agent 345.

She was scared, but knew she needed their protection. She drops down out of her tree and lands on her feet. The five snow leopards that had been sent to investigate the intrusion into their property turn around ready for a fight. She lowers her weapons to the ground and falls on to her knees before them with her hands above her head. She wishes she could tell them she surrenders, but she couldn’t speak. Her vision starts to blur as she watches one of them change from a snow leopard and into a human. She passes out and falls face forward into the earth.

Jamal had been picked today for patrol. He was glad to have an excuse to get away from the manor house for a while. His father and mother were going to host a party for some friends of theirs this week and he really didn’t want to get involved in the planning process. He preferred to be out in the woods enjoying nature. It was where he felt at home and more himself. He and two of his body guards, plus three others had been picked, when the boundary alarm had gone off alerting them to the fact their area had been crossed. He knew a squad from the HSL had always been sent into his parent’s territory to kill off some of their people. The last time they had penetrated his parents’ area, they had gotten almost to the manor house. The HSL squad had killed twelve of their people. One of the twelve they had killed was his cousin Jennifer. She wasn’t a very good fighter, but she could track better than anyone they had. He remembered the one that had killed his cousin. He was the biggest warrior among the squad that had gotten close to the manor house. He was built like his father and was just as ruthless as his father was when he fought.

Jamal and his team take it slowly as they approach, where the alarm had gone off at. They spread out to cover more ground and see if they could detect a scent. They all knew there was one among the HSL group that had no scent, but that person wasn’t a combative person. They knew she was their scout and normally stood back and watched the fighting, instead of taking part in it. The few times one of his people engaged her, she always left them alive and unable to move. He finds some blood spots and starts following it. Just as he was about to follow the trail to the tree it was leading to. He hears a snapping of a tree limb and turns around extremely fast, ready to fight whoever it was.

The person he had just been thinking about was standing right in front of him. She was short for both his people and for her own. Her body was accented by the tight outfit she had on. It showed how slim and petite she was. He thought she looked more like a teenager, then a grown woman. He and the others watch as she places her weapons on the ground. They could smell fresh blood on her. Which was unusual? Normally they couldn’t smell anything about her. He watches as she kneels and places her hands above her head. As he shifted from his hybrid form into his human form, he watches as she fell face first into the ground underneath her and does not move.
He kneels beside her and turns her over. He notices the bandage wound on her right thigh, and how much blood she has lost. He scoops her up into his arms and was about to carry her.

“Why are you helping her, my Prince? She is the enemy and responsible for the death of your cousin.” As one of his body guards look at him holding her.

“She wasn’t the one responsible for killing my cousin. She never took any one’s life she fought, unless she was ordered to by her leader. I’ve seen her fight and she always made sure she never took a life. She had plenty of opportunities too, but she never did. She always left them where they were and went on her way.” He looks down at her. She weighted nothing and her features were coved up by the cloak and clothes she wore. The only part of her face he could see underneath her hood was her eyes. The rest of her face was covered up, so that only her eyes were visible. One of his bodyguards pick up the weapons she had been carrying. Which was a set of sai and a semi-automatic pistol with four fully loaded magazines?

His team heads back to the Manor house, where his Aunt was located. She was the healer among their Pride and could help this woman in his arms. He was careful as he ran with her in his arms. He had already sent a mental request to his Aunt as they stepped through the front door of the Manor house. He takes her up stairs to the bedroom they had set aside for her. His mother and aunt along with several other women who worked in the manor were waiting for him.

“Lay her on the bed Jamal. We’ll take care of her wounds.” His mother watches as he lays her gently down on the bed
He carefully lays her down on the bed and then leaves the room to let his mother and aunt take care of her. He paces outside her room for about an hour, before everyone comes out.

“Will she be okay, Mother?” He looks towards his mother for an answer.

“Yes! She should recover with no problems. You never told me or your father how young she was. She’s no older than a teenager. She isn’t even an adult yet.” Joyce couldn’t believe what they saw when they had taken off her outfit and found a teenager underneath the clothes.
They had figure from all the reports her husband was getting on this person, that she was an adult that had extensive training. Instead what they had found, was a teenage girl with straight shoulder length pure white hair and icy blue eyes? She had found a bar code tattoo on the side of the girl’s neck and several scars from either training or from fighting on her body. They had a hard time cross matching her blood type. Every time her sister had tested the girl’s blood, it wouldn’t match anything they had on hand. Her sister had to mix different blood types together, to come close to what the girl had inside her body.

“I didn’t know mother. We all assume she was an adult. It is unusual for the HSL to send teenagers against us. We all figured she was an adult that had extensive training. Even when her hood had been ripped from her, she was still covered up underneath it. The only part we could see was her ears and eyes.” This was new to him as well.

“Why don’t you come and tell me and your father how you capture her.” Joyce looks towards her sister.

“Do you want to join us April or do you want to stay here and keep an eye on her.” She could tell her sister didn’t like the fact she had helped to take care of one of the people responsible for her daughter’s death.

“I’ll stay and watch her. I have some questions I would like answered.” April looks back towards the room the person they had brought in was sleeping. She knew among her people, she was called the Shadow, after the old action radio character of the 1930.

Joyce puts her hand on her sister “Alright, just be careful and keep an eye on her. Remember, she’s our guest here and she came to us.”
Joyce could understand how her sister felt. The HSL team took her only daughter. Joyce walks off with her son towards her husband’s office to inform him about their visitor.

April heads back into the room and takes a seat next to the bed, where their visitor is sleeping. She had seen the girl’s body, when her and her sister had cleaned up her wound. She looked younger then Jennifer when she had died. The girl’s blood type wasn’t any of the normal ones. She had to mix the different types to get anywhere near the girls. She wonders what type of species the girl was, because she knew she wasn’t pure human. Her blood type was wrong and there was something else about this girl, she couldn’t put her finger on.

Agent 345 was peacefully sleeping. She never knew how quiet natural sleep could be. The people who trained and raised her, always made her go to bed wearing headsets. The headsets would program her subconscious with everything she would need to know. They used it to program her every night. She didn’t feel as tired as she normally did when she woke-up every morning. She slowly opens her eyes and look around. She notices she was in a nice room that had a canopy top. There was a woman with shoulder length dirty blonde hair watching her.
She looks over towards her and wonders who she was.

April notices the young girl looking at her. The girl’s icy blue eyes watched her every movement. It was like how she and the rest of her Pride watched their prey.

“How do you feel?” She was directing her gaze towards the girl’s eyes.

Agent 345 just looks at her. She understood what she was saying; she just didn’t know how to respond to her. Among the medical people who tended to her, she just gave them a thumb up. She glitches her fist and gives the woman the thumb up signal.
April tilt’s her head to the side and wonders why she had given her the thumb up for her question. She looks at her and wonders if the girl was going to do something. She narrows her eyes and watched her.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Me and my sister healed you and I was wondering how you felt.” She kept her eyes on the girl.
Agent 345 gives her the thumb up signal again. She didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t speak and she didn’t know how to sign. She was never taught how to.

April wonders what was wrong with the girl. She could tell she was thinking about something from her facial movements. The one thing the girl did was keep eye contact on her. If she had been facing an Alpha, that would be consider a challenge, but the girl wasn’t. She wonders about something and concentrated on the girl.

“Can you hear me?” April projects her thoughts to the girl.

Agent 345 nearly jumps out of the bed when she hears a voice inside of her head.

April took that as a yes “It’s okay little one. You are hearing my thoughts inside your head. Is there a reason you won’t speak to me?”

“Yes! I can’t speak. I was born mute and don’t know how to answer any one, except with certain hand gestures I was taught.” Agent 345 couldn’t believe it. She heard her own mental voice. She keeps her eyes on the woman sitting across from her.

A smile appears on her face. So, the girl wasn’t perfect. That would explain why she was so quiet out in the field.

“Do you mind if I speak to you like this?” April watches the girl.

“No, it is easier to speak to you this way. I wouldn’t know how to explain myself to you, the other way.” Agent 345 kept her eyes locked onto the woman watching her.

“Do you have a name?”

“Yes Ma’am. I’m called Agent 345.”

“That’s not a name for a girl like you. Why do they call you that?”

“Because I was the three hundred forty fife agent they trained. The only other name I have been called is 345. That was before I reached agent status. All my other sisters and brothers have names as you called them, but I was never given one. I learned a couple of days ago I’m not even a real person.” Agent 345 looks down at the blanket covering her as she breaks eye contact with April.

April could feel the girls’ shame, when she thought those words.

“Why do you feel that way?”

“Because it makes me feels like my whole life has been a lie. I was taught to hate your kind, when in fact I am just like your kind. I was created in a lab and engineer to fight your kind. I am not a pure human as they have always taught me that your kind aren’t”

“What do you mean we aren’t pure humans? I’m just as human as you are.”

“Not according to what I was taught. You have a monster inside of you, which kills without reason or feelings.”

“You mean my beast. Only people, who are not trained, kill without reason or feelings. Our beast only defends itself from those who wish to kill us. You yourself are guilty for killing the innocents. I have never killed someone, unless I was protecting myself or my Pride. You and your kind killed the innocent without cause.”

“I now realize that. I do not like or enjoy killing. I’ve been told nothing, but lies about your kind my whole life.” Tears start to form on 345’s face as they slide down from her eyes.

“Why did you come to us? You could have gone anywhere, away from here and away from us?”

“Because I have wrong your kind and helped in the killing and capture of your people. I feel that I owe you for my crimes against your Pride.”
April looks at the girl. She was willing to submit to their laws and punishment for what she did to her people.

“I will pass that information onto my Alpha and let him decide your faith. I can tell you are telling the truth about what you say. Still, why come to us. I know you say that you owe us, but why come to us any way?”

“Cause, other than the HSL. Your Pride is the only people I have ever had any contact with. The HSL kept me separated away from other people, except those working at our base. I know nothing about the outside world, except what I was told or shown and most of it was the bad stuff about your species. I know more about your people and your Pride as if I grew up here among your kind. I have watched certain members of your Pride as they carry on with their lives and such. I have seen the kindness in your Alpha and his wife as they watched over their people. I have even witness the kindness that some of your other Alpha’s have shown when they visited your Pride.”

April was surprise at that omission. She was surprise at how much this girl knew about her Pride.

“So, you wish to join our Pride?”

“Yes! I have come to understand your Pride and feel comfortable being among them.”

“How old are you?”

“Fifteen, I have been told that I am very mature and Intelligent for someone of my age. I started watching your Pride when I was only twelve years old.”

April was surprise at how young this girl had started. Her people would have never allowed their young to go into combat at such a young age.

“Why did your superiors let you go into the field at such a young age?”

“Cause they wanted to see if all the training they gave me would pay off. I’ve been learning how to fight and kill your kind since I could walk. I was bred to fight your kind.”

“Are there any others like you?”

“No, I am the only one. All my brother and sisters were born naturally and experimented on. I was engineer from the beginning to be the perfect warrior.”

“But, you can’t speak.”

“I know. I don’t think they expected that side effect or if they did, they never let onto it. I believe they are happy that I can’t speak back to them. My brother and sisters would occasionally question them on things they were told or wanted to know more about.”

“What will they do now that you are free of their control?”

“Nothing, I killed everyone and freed my brother and sisters. They all wanted their freedom, because they were tired of being used and lie too. The one that killed your daughter was killed by me. He was out of control as is. He tried to rape me, because I seemed to be the HSL’s favorite and to put me in my place. He knew I didn’t like killing and he didn’t like that. So, when he tried to sneak attack me, I killed him by making his heart explode inside of his body.”

April sat there and thought about what the girl said. She had come to hate the people who came into their Pride to kill her people and her daughter. Now she has one sitting in front of her, who not only was asking permission to live among them, but had killed the one that had taken her daughters’ life. She looks at the young girl and could see the tiredness in her eyes now and how she felt. She had felt the sadness in her head when she spoke to her, but now she could see it in her body.

“I am going to go and speak to my Alpha about what you have told me. I’ll make sure no one disturbs you while I am gone. Why don’t you lie back down and get some more rest while I am gone?”

“I will, but before you leave. I wish to give you something to pass onto your Alpha. Do you know where my clothes are?”

“Yes!” April reaches down into a basket, where they had put her clothes in. She was going to have them clean for her.

She brings the basket up and puts it next to the girl.

Agent 345 reaches into the basket and locates her cloak. She reaches into a conceal pocket and takes out a small black usb drive. She hands the drive to April.

“Tell him it has all of the HSL locations and their supply houses. It even has the name of a few of their snitches who are in different territories that are working for the HSL. Its password protected and encrypted. The pass word is A|9h@ and the key to decrypt the info is in a file named sunshine.”

April accepts the small usb drive. “Thank you. Go ahead and lie back down. I don’t know how long I will be, but when dinner is ready. I’ll have some brought to you, if I don’t return by then.”

“Yes Ma’am.” Agent 345 yawns and snuggles up back under the covers on the bed and falls asleep instantly.

April picks the basket up off the bed and takes it out of the room with her. She’ll drop it off with Marge to have it cleaned and repaired.

She thinks about the conversion she had with the girl. She knew she was telling the truth about everything. She felt it in the girl’s mind. The question now was what they should do with her. Her brother in-law should know what they had talked about. When she reaches his office, she could hear her sister and nephew talking to her brother in-law.

She knocks on the door and then walks into his office. When she enters, there was not only her sister and nephew, but Troy. Troy was her brother-in-law’s second in charge. She knew his wife Carol was out of town, visiting another Alpha at her brother-in-laws request.

Cain looks over towards his sister-in-law “What have you learned April?”

“Well, for starters, she’s is younger then we suspected. She’s only fifteen years old. The HSL has been putting her into the field since she was twelve years old. She also does not have a name. She calls herself Agent 345. That is the only name she has ever gone by. She is mute and doesn’t know how to communicate with any one, except through certain hand gestures the HSL taught her. She also wishes to ask for membership into our Pride. She feels comfortable here and would rather be with us, instead of out on her own.”

“How can she ask that, after what she has done to our people?” Troy was angry. He lost a pack brother to one of their attacks.
April knew how he felt. She looks directly at him “She wasn’t the one responsible for killing your pack brother. She only scouted ahead to give them a route to take. She’s not a killer, unless she has too.”

“Why do you say that April?” Cain was curious, why his sister-in-law would stick up for this girl.

“Because I’ve been inside her head. It was the only way to talk to her directly. You wouldn’t believe the things they put her through. She came to us, after killing the ones responsible for making her and for killing my daughter. She wanted me to give you this Cain. It has information on it, which you can use to hurt the HSL badly.” April hands the usb drive to her alpha and brother-in-law.

Cain accepts the small drive and lays it beside him on the desk. He’ll look at it later, after they have talked about this girl.

“What else have you learned about her?” Cain wanted to know everything possible about her.

“Allow me to share my conversion I had with her.” She closes her eyes and touches each one of their minds to relay what her and the girl talked about.

April holds nothing back and lets them hear everything that was shared and felt. Afterwards she opens her eyes and look at everyone present.

Cain and Troy both look at her “She seems to trust you April. It’s hard to believe that the HSL would go as far as they did to create someone to fight our kind. Do we know what she is exactly?”

“No! I was going to send a sample of her blood to Doctor Elizabeth Smith. She’s a friend of mine and one of the best genetics doctor’s I know. Her sister is a Doctor in the Shadow claw pack. I would like to adopt the girl, since she isn’t of legal age. I will assume all responsibility for her.” April felt it was the right thing to do for the girl.

“Are you sure about this April? You know there are a lot of people among the pride that would like to see her dead, for her part in the killing of their family and fellow pride mates.” Cain knew he might have to talk with his people and make sure they understood she wasn’t to be touch.

“Yes! I’m sure about this. She may be a little responsible for her part in the murder of my daughter, but she didn’t commit the act herself. She did kill the person who was responsible for the act. Taking away my vengeance, but I understood why she did what she did. The person she killed tried to rape her and make her submit to his will. She killed him by making his heart explode inside of his body.” April couldn’t believe what the girl had said to her.

“Wow! I would like to know how she did it.” Troy was impressed with that statement. If it was true, he wanted to know how to do that as well.

“Where is she now?” Cain already knew, but wanted to hear it as well.

“She’s asleep in the room across from mine. Jose is standing guard by her room. He’s been ordered not to allow any one in, except those we have asked to look after her.” April knew Jose would follow her orders to protect the girl.

“Cain, I think it might be best if we give her a name. Right now, she is only known of as a number. The HSL didn’t bother to ever name her, because she was meant to be a weapon for them.” April had been thinking about this, since finding out about the girl’s background.

“I agree. It might be better if we keep who she is quiet for now. Since no one has really seen how she looked or smelled, it shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll let you choose a name for her or ask her what she would like to be called. Once you know, let me know and I’ll have papers made for her. Do you have the sample of her blood you would like tested?”

“Yes.” April pulls a test tube out of her pocket and hands it to Cain.

He takes it and just looks at it. He couldn’t see anything special about it, but he had some feeling, it wasn’t normal either.

“I’ll have it sent off at once.” Cain takes a protective package off the self behind him and put it inside to send off.

“Well, since there’s not much to do now. Why don’t we go ahead and finish our business we were discussing before this came up?” He looks towards everyone present.

April sat in a chair near her sister and thought about what she would name the girl upstairs.

Agent 345 had settle down for another nap. She felt that she was making the right decision about leaving the HSL and coming here to this Pride. It felt right to her. She knew from the first day she infiltrated the Pride and observe how they lived together and how they respected one another was something she missed. She had watched as mothers watched over their children. She was treated as a weapon and never had a mother who treated her like these mothers did. Hell, she was always surrounded by men. None of them ever took any interest in her, unless she did something they liked during her training. Even her brother and sisters had normal families they came from and went back to see. The only difference between her and them was the serum they used in them to make them as strong as the shape shifter’s. They tried the serum on her first, but her body rejected it immediately.

She had learned her body was quick in healing any damage. Her gunshot wound should be healed by tomorrow morning. She yawns and snuggles deep under the covers. She finally felt safe and tired. She was so soundly asleep, that she never heard the light knocking on her door or when it open to see if she was awake.

The person who had been sent to deliver her food looked at the small girl curled up under the covers and could see she was sound asleep.
She wonders who she was and why she had a guard outside of her room. She backs slowly out of the room and looks at Jose.

“Who’s the girl?” Julie had the tray balance in her hand.

Jose looks at Julie and knew he wasn’t supposed to say who she was, but he knew Julie was going to be assigned to the girl.

“She’s going to be your new charge. April is going to want you to watch after her and help her.” He didn’t know if he should tell her who she really was. April had told him who she was and felt honor that they would trust someone like him to protect her. Not she would really need protection after all the stories he heard about her.

Julie makes a face “that doesn’t tell me who she is.”

Jose looks at her “All I can say, is she’s the most dangerous person in this Manor house right now.”

Julie watched Jose eyes and she spotted the truth in his eyes. Now her curious nature was wondering who she could be. She had seen their Alpha fight and his mate and she consider both as dangerous. How could someone so young and small be more dangerous than her leaders?

She heads back down to the kitchen with the tray still covered. Julie notices Marge looking at her as she enters the kitchen with the tray still covered.

“She was asleep and I didn’t want to disturb her. Ms. April said she might be asleep.” Julie sets the tray on the counter.

“Alright, put the food in containers and I’ll rewarm it later for her if she wakes up.” Marge pulls down a few containers to put the food in.

“Marge who is she? Cause Jose said she is the most dangerous person in this Manor house.” She removes a plate and carefully transplants the food from it into the container.

Marge sighs. She hadn’t been ready to tell Julie this, but felt she should know.

She looks at Julie “that young girl is the Keres. She’s going to be your new charge.”

Julie thought about that for a second. She knew the name Keres was Greek and it meant death spirit. She looks at Marge with her eyes wide “you don’t mean she is…”

“Yes! She is that person. Jamal brought her here a few hours ago. She surrendered to him and asked to be brought to our Alpha. As for why, I don’t know. However, it doesn’t matter. Lady April wants you to personally take care of her. She is mute, so you’re going to have to speak mind-to-mind with her, till she learns how to use sign language.” Marge was shock at first as well, when she learned who the girl was. She had thought she was another of the Prince’s conquest. When she learned, it was the Keres herself, she wonder why her Alpha let her stay here.

Marge saw Julie thinking about this matter. She picks up a tray and put it in her hands.

“Go serve our Alpha and his family.” She shoos Julie out of the kitchen.