R.E.D. Tiger Ch. 02

It's crazy how time flies when you're having fun. It has been six months since I left the military. The first three months went by terribly slow but these last three months went by in a breeze. It seems like only yesterday I caught my girlfriend and best friend in bed together. I knew that my time in the mountains were drawing to a close and that I'd have to confront the two of them when I got back.

"Head's up Alan!" Felix yelled and I looked up just in time to see him throw a fish from the lake towards me. Without a second's hesitation I thrust out my hand and a stream of fire erupted cooking the fish. Sliding a plate under the fish I sat it down next to the other fish filled plate while Felix grabbed two bottles of water from inside.

I laugh to myself at the changes three months make. The first time Felix roasted a fish with a stream of fire I was barely able to keep my jaw off the ground now shooting fire and levitating and all that is basically second nature. These last months I've been training nearly everyday but it hasn't been as hard as I originally thought it would be.

On the other hand I could tell that it's been pure hell for Felix as everyday he's getting weaker. He can barely use magic anymore (that's why I had to cook the fish) and that's only remnants from the dragon blood flowing through his system. Yesterday was our last day of training, so today we're just going to eat and then head back into the city.

As we sat down to eat I noticed that we were sitting in basically the same spot that we had met each other, a fact that Felix didn't miss as well.

"Well Alan today's the last day my friend." Felix started,"How are you feeling?"

"Well I have a slight bit of apprehension about confronting my ex and Daniel when I get back but besides that I can't complain."

"That's good to hear, most people when they have the amount of power we do, well at this point only you do, tend to forget things like apprehension and fear and everything else that made us human to begin with."

"Yeah I know what you mean, since I've been getting stronger lately I've tried to keep my outlook as normal as I possibly can but I'm afraid that I can't stop it from changing no matter how much I try."

"Trust me," Felix said,"you'll be fine. But speaking of fear, I'm afraid I have something I need to ask of you. I know I have no right but I'm just going to come out and ask you."

Felix then took a deep sigh and for the first time in a while I had no idea what was going through his head. He looked like he had something really important to say but didn't know how to go about doing it. I sat silently waiting for him to talk and he eventually continued.

"I want to ask you to look after Molina for me. You see there's things I haven't told you about Molina yet. Molina's mother Tracy is a werewolf, my son happened to meet her by chance and the rest as they say is history. He doesn't know about me, Tracy, or Molina, as far as I can tell and Tracy and Molina don't know about me being the host either."

"Tracy won't make my son John into a werewolf because she loves him to much and doesn't want him to get hurt but Molina's a different story. She's already a half lycan and Tracy's pack has been putting pressure on her to join them. I've been sticking close to Molina in order to stop them from making any moves because the lycan's code won't allow them to harm want they perceive to be an old harmless man. But with me gone I figure that they'll make a play to get Molina under their wings. So I must ask you to look after her for me." Felix finished.

I immediately told him that of course I would look after her. But then I processed the other part of what he had said and he kept talking like he was going somewhere.

"Are you leaving or something Felix?" I asked him. Felix looked at me curiously then his eyes got wide before he started to talk.

"Oh right I didn't tell you. When you made the decision to become the next host I called my attorney and gave him all your information so he could include you in my will as my successor. About a week ago he should have contacted my family and told them I was dead and that he had special instructions on what to do for my funeral, my funeral is in two days in which I really will be dead."

"You're DYING!!?" I asked my friend and mentor shocked. For all of the weakening that he had been going through these last few months Felix was still as healthy as a thirty year old man.

"Yes I'm dying my boy. What do you think happens to someone who is one hundred and sixty-one when they give up the only thing that's kept them alive that long. As of later on today you'll have ninety seven percent of my power. In the next two days my age will catch up with me and then, probably only a couple hours before my funeral I'll die."

"Oh don't give me that look," he told me,"I was already prepared for all of this when I made the transfer. Besides look on the bright side how many people get to see the setup of their own funeral." he said with a chuckle before continuing.

"I know my family will miss me but I rather that they miss me than I miss them. Maybe it's selfish of me but when my wife died I understood that I couldn't wait around for the rest of my family to join her. So please watch over Molina that's the last thing I ask of you as a friend."

_______

Driving down the highway on my way back to Charleston I couldn't help bit think about what Felix had told me. In two days he would be dead and here I was just driving home as if everything was alright.

Being in the military you understand the risk of people you know might die. It was a completely surreal feeling to know with a one hundred percent certainty that a friend was going to die and even know the time and date. What's even worse is I can't do anything about it.

Before we left Felix had told me to visit his attorney, some demon named Samuel, so I could sign all the necessary paperwork to receive the collected inheritance of the past host.

It turns out that many demons have the same names as angels. There are a thousand Mikhails, Samuels, Castielles, etc. Demons have to tell the truth when asked a question while making deals for souls. So since most people will ask for a name demons take on the names of well known angels in an attempt to fool the humans into thinking they are angels.

All that aside the Samuel I was going to meet was a good friend of Felix's and had promised him that he would make sure that the new host, i.e. me, would have someone who he could talk to about supernatural problems without worry of being found out.

Figuring I duck home for the rest of the day, visit Samuel tomorrow, get ready for Felix's funeral the next day, and then go to his funeral the day after that my schedule was pretty much full.

After Felix's funeral I'll probably have to finally confront Daniel and Jessica and then after that my schedule and life were pretty much wide open.

I had thought of going to college but with the amount of money I have there's really no point in it. I might just travel for a while, visit some places I want to see rather than just places I'm sent on assignments. I was ready to settle down but with everything that's happened maybe I still have some growing to do.

______

I pulled into the driveway of "my" house behind a red porsche that I had bought for Rose when she turned sixteen some years back. The house basically belonged to Rose because I was never there. When I left for the military she was only thirteen and her sister Angela was eleven. Angela for as long as I've known her has made it clear that she didn't like me or my father very much so I wasn't surprised when she declined my offer to stay here and instead left to live with Lynn.

I had thought that Rose would go to live with her mother as well but she chose to stay saying that someone would have to look after the house while I was gone, and she wanted to be the only person in her class that could say they lived alone.

The house was pretty modest it had four floors if you counted the basement and attic which we had converted into a game room and media room respectively, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a pool outback. Not exactly a millionaire's house but it had always been enough for me.

I had snuck inside hoping to surprise Rose but knew that my plan was ruined when I heard feet running down the stairs. No sooner than I had put my bags down and turned around there she was hugging me.

"Alan you're home!!" she yelled while squeezing me in her grip. " I was so worried about you." she said nearly in tears. Prying her off of me I looked at her tear soaked face and I couldn't help but smile. Rose had always been one of my favorite people. Since an early age we had gotten along great together and I nearly didn't go to the service when she begged me not to leave, come to think of it that was the only time I told her no when she asked me something in my entire life.

I think that us getting along so well may be a factor in why Lynn didn't like me so much. She always watched over the two of us and made sure we were never alone together. I think that she probably thought we would get involved or something like that.

I had never even thought about me and Rose being together, well not until I had came home from leave one time, and the skinny little girl I once knew was replaced by a tall, curvaceous, young woman. Rose is about 5'6", which I assume is fairly tall for a woman, has long brown hair and wonderful deep brown eyes. Body wise I'm not sure of any thing. I can make the assumption that she is about a C cup maybe higher because Jessica once said she wished her breast were as big as Rose's and Jessica's a B cup. So yeah I had thought about her once or twice but I was with Jessica and Rose was for all intents and purposes my sister. So even though I had acknowledged she was good looking I knew that nothing would ever happen between us.

"Alright get off me Squirt, it's good to see you too, but what's with all the tears?"I asked.

Rose laughed at me calling her by her childhood nickname before she started talking.

"Well about two months ago some mail came from the military for you, I didn't read it but I figured if you were with them they wouldn't send your mail here, and plus you hadn't contacted anyone in like a year so I was worried sick about you."

She said while handing me the letter she had mentioned. I thought about opening it right then but decided against it. Whatever the military wanted with me I doubt it was anything simple and I had enough complicated things on my plate right now as it is. So I sat the mail to the side and started to say something before Rose cut me off.

"You should call Jessica," she told me while handing me the phone,"she's been worried sick about you and she'll be happy to know you're back."

"Don't worry about Jessica, I have something special planned for her and I don't want her to know I'm back just yet." I said while ruffling her hair.

"Well call Angela then. She's been worried about you too."

" Really? I was always under the impression that she hated my guts and wanted nothing to do with me. Remember the scene she caused when I showed up at her graduation?"

About two years ago Angela had graduated from highschool and I requested leave time to attend. Needless to say when she saw me there she went into a whole expletive filled rant asking me what I was doing there in front of everybody. We really hadn't talked since then so I was under the impression that she still felt the same way about me.

"Angela's really changed in this last year." Rose told me,"I think when we were growing up she thought that your father was trying to take the place of our dad so she never let herself become to close to you two. After he died and you left she went to stay with my mom and well, you know how my mom feels about you and Angie pretty much just adopted that same view point about you as well."

"After she blew up at you at her graduation she later told me that she was happy you came but felt guilty as if she was betraying mom or something so she blew up at you. She wanted to apologize but never got up the courage to and when she heard that no one had heard from you in a year she was worried she'd never get a chance to apologize ever again so she's been kind of depressed. It's about five o'clock she should be out of class right now so can call her up real quick?"she asked me.

Grabbing the phone from her I walked over to the couch and plopped down. I asked her if she felt like going out to dinner, when she said yes I told her I would invite Angie so we could have a chance to catch up. I opened up the contacts and strolled down till I saw Angie's name and then hit the dial button. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Sis, how you doing?" Angela said.

"Uh hey Angel it's... uh me... Alan."

" OmiGOD Alan. Where are you? Wait you're calling from Rose's phone, are you home? We've been so worried about you. Where've you been?" she demanded.

"Calm down Angie. I left the military about six months ago and before I came home I had some things to take care of. I'm sorry for worrying you, especially when you're supposed to be studying and making it through college."

"I just called to tell you I was back and I know we're not the best of friends but I wanted to take you and Rose out for dinner tonight if you didn't have any other plans."

Angela told me that she had a test that she had to study for so she really couldn't afford to go out tonight but maybe in a few days she would have some free time. I told her not to worry and that we could go out some other time.

"Are you sure Alan because... well I really wanted to talk to you about what happened at my graduation and about how I've been treating you for these last couple of years. I know I don't ever say it or show it but I do love you... so... yeah."

"I love you too Angel."I told her," Like I said don't worry we can reschedule so go do whatever you need to do okay?"

"Yeah alright I'll go. I talk to you later."and then she hung up the phone. I sat back and I couldn't help but let out a long sigh. It was good to talk to Angela, I'd always thought she hated me so we didn't really get along when we were younger but now it looks like we could be good friends and have some type of family bond.

I handed Rose back her phone and told her that Angie couldn't come tonight because she had to study but might be free in a couple of days. Rose then suggested that we just eat in for the night and save the night out for later when Angela could join us.With that agreed upon Rose went to go make dinner and I decided to grab a quick shower before it was finished.

Dinner that night was very simple, Rose had made some sandwiches and we ate them in the living room, on the sofa in front of the t.v. Rose and I spent most of the time not even watching the television and just talking about random stuff while eating.

It was around ten thirty when I decided to head up to bed. I was kinda early but since I had a meeting in the morning I figured I should probably turn in.

As I lay in the bed I couldn't help but think of Felix, in just two days he would be dead. It a heavy feeling knowing that a loved one is going to die but being unable to do anything about it. I guess I was sort of lucky that my dad died unsuspectingly. Many people had to watch their parents get older and wither before dying, I suspect my feelings for Felix were close to what others might feel when their loved ones die. Felix had become such an integral part of my life in such a short time, having taught me so much. Having Felix's teachings coupled with the knowledge of the previous host before him means that I had learned lifetimes of information in just three months.

The way the host's power worked was really kind of amazing. For example I knew everything about the previous host their likes, dislikes, fears, and even their individual memories. But when it came to Felix it was different. While I knew all of his different skills I didn't know his personal memories like I did with previous host. Felix had said that it was a mechanism set in place to allow the current host to learn from the previous host, because if you knew everything about your teacher then you would think there was nothing they could then teach you.

Whatever the reason I'm grateful for it because I got to know Felix, who's such a great man. I can't imagine how he must feel right now forced to watch his loved ones lament his passing and being unable to comfort them even though he was still alive. I was tempted to call him and see how he was doing but he had forbade me from having any more contact with him, stating that someone could still find out that he was a host and then that could put me in jeopardy.

Pushing all these thoughts to the back of my head I finally tried to get some sleep. I had thought to try and prepare for my meeting tomorrow but how does one prepare to meet a demon. Looking at the clock I saw it was approaching midnight so with a grunt In rolled over and shut my eyes and waited for sleep to come.

_______

I woke up when my alarm clock signaled seven thirty. My appointment wasn't until nine but I still needed to shower and get breakfast, and I would've had to wake up to move my car to let Rose out anyway so I decided to get up a little early.

Stepping out of the shower I went to the sink to brush my teeth. Looking in the mirror I marveled at the changes only a few sick months produced. My black hair which I had always kept short while in the service was know long enough to touch the top of my shoulders, maybe it was time for another haircut. My face also looked better, it was now mare angular and my jaw might have just been a little stronger than before. Not something everyone would notice but when you stare at the same face everyday for twenty some odd years you notice these types of things. I had lost some worry and stress lines that came from being in the military and I had let myself grow a small beard, nothing to wild because at twenty three I felt I was still to young to sport the rugged look.

My body had changed as well but those changes I attribute completely to me now being a vampire/werewolf hybrid. It really was a strange transformation, I had somehow gotten leaner and stronger while getting taller as well. I was 6'4" 190 and could bench around three-twenty but now I was 6'6" 185 and I'm sure I could bench a car or two if needed. Felix had said that these changes were a result of my body adapting to the werewolf gift. It seems that all werewolf males were at least six feet, and the females all around five-eight to eleven. He also said that I was capable of a full transformation like a werewolf although I would look different from a normal werewolf. He advised against going into this state because he said you lose a lot of your humanity, morality, and rationality. He himself had only done it about six or seven times, all when he was younger, before he realized the consequences.

"Are you almost through in there?" Rose yelled," I need to take a shower before my classes."

"Yeah I'll be out in a second."

Wrapping a towel around my waist I made my way out the bathroom. I opened the door to see Rose standing there looking at me with wide eyes. Her eyes were glued to my exposed chest completely ignoring anything above my neck. I could definitely smell her arousal, or at least I assumed it was arousal, this was my first time smelling it with my heightened senses and it smelt distinctively different from the normal air. I felt myself starting to slowly harden underneath my bathrobe when I noticed her nipples standing out through her shirt. I knew there was somewhere I had to be but right now all I wanted to do was grab Rose, drag her to my room and not let either of us leave for the foreseeable future.