Fallen Into Hell: Fallen: Book 2, Layna Snow [the mitten read aloud .TXT] 📗

attention back to the group training. They didn’t have to worry about becoming like the Alliance. He was sure that they didn’t have teams this dysfunctional.

Jai stood by Marco, who she was trying to train, and nodded quietly to him. They had to remove Connor’s men from the Vampire’s training because they were not being responsible. The Humans wanted him dead, and that wouldn’t help anybody.

The Shifter jogged over to Gage, her eyes filled with irritation. “How are they doing?” he asked, dismissing the Succubus beside him.

Eden took the chance to leave, the sound of her light footsteps retreated quickly.

“Horribly. They have skills. If I tell them to do something, they will. The problem is that they can’t think to do it on their own. I had them sparring and they just stood there, waiting for someone to say something. I paired one of the women with Phoenix, and she just let him take her down. I had to stand there and yell instructions before she actually gave him a good fight. They have the instincts of a bookcase!”

Gage could imagine Connor’s communication officer fighting one of Sasha’s people. The man was fast and eager to prove himself. He wouldn’t have liked that he was paired with a girl. “What do we have to do to get them battle ready? We had them work on shooting, and learning sword fighting techniques. What is next?” He asked, trusting Jai with this decision.

She reminded him of himself.

She worked to be better than the men, more reliable. She never complained. That was probably the reason that Axel allowed her to work by herself. She was good at being a leader, however, he had no idea how she would react to being a part of a team. For now, he would allow her the freedom of the decision.

“Right now they allow themselves to get hit without doing anything. My guess is that it was trained into them. Sasha wanted them to be still when she told them to. They might have been wild before. She won’t exactly tell us how she had trained them. The best we can do is try to get them to work on reacting. Even if they do the wrong thing, as long as they know that they should do something.” The woman said, turning to keep an eye on the group.

It took a moment, but a memory surfaced of something that Sasha had been working on at the time she joined. It was a quick release chemical that burned the skin for a short period of time. Maybe a minute. The dispenser was sticky and could be placed anywhere.

“I know what she did. She used aversion therapy. She burned them every time they did something which she didn’t approve of. We could do something similar.” He was sure that they would be able to get some of that chemical. Sasha didn’t have to know what it would be used for.

“But that’s…” Jai started, her face shocked.

Yes, he knew what she was going to say. It was wrong, cruel. However, it was either that or they would be released and a new team would take their place. Maybe he would ask them. He could give them an ultimatum and see what they would prefer.

“Ask them what they would do to get better. Ask them if they would do anything to go out and fight again. Give them the choice. I will go talk to Sasha and see if I can get some of that chemical.”

Even released, the team would be in danger.

If they had no self-protection instincts, then they would not be able to live a normal life.

They would just allow themselves to be hurt. Or be taken advantage of.

Sasha had them trained to only follow orders. It was surprising that they could function in their day to day lives without her. The only person that could think on his own was Marco, and he apparently didn’t want to.

There was a possibility that the Vampire was in love with the Valkyrie, or what might pass for love. The chemicals in the brain that signaled that emotion were fickle. They came and went so easily that Gage knew that people tricked themselves into believing that it was lasting and forever.

In reality the idea of love gave someone power over you and your emotions.

Gage could not let that happen to him. He would not delude himself into believing in its existence. He knew that if his anger was stirred, people would die. That senseless carnage was the gift of his ancestors. He would not let the Demon rule.

“Alright, but I don’t think they’d say yes. If that’s really what they did, then they aren’t going to want to do it again.” She said, shaking her head. Her brown hair tumbled around her head, dark and long. He knew that she didn’t cut it into a style, or grow it out to try to fit some style of beauty. She didn’t care about things like that. She focused on her job. She was the complete opposite of Sasha.

He also knew that she knew what she was talking about. What they were suggesting was a form of torture that had been banned by the government long ago.

“Jai, I understand your limits. If you want to request a duty change, it will be granted. I can have Malyk finish with their training.” As much as he didn’t trust the Dark Elf, he would not put Jai in a situation that she would not be able to handle.

She had been tortured when she was younger. She was taken by an enemy leap—a group of Leopards from another subspecies—and hurt for over a year before she managed to escape. She had crawled back to her leap, and then had been rejected as a traitor, no matter that she had not sold