Hey...I couldn't wait and posted up the next chapter immediately...After all I have to hook you people on this story...So, enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it...

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My Protector

By the time I was out from the bathroom, freshly showered and properly clothed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a purple t-shirt, I found L standing beside my window. I didn't notice it before but, he was quite tall. Sure he was lean and he slouched while he was standing, but he was still tall. Quite a lot taller than my slight 5 foot 2 inches frame. He turned to look at me and that was the moment I noticed something I found positively endearing about him. Why exactly though I didn't know. But he looked really endearing nibbling on his thumb like that.

His eyes widened almost comically the moment he saw me smiling at him. The man really had a problem with staring like that. The intensity of his stares was really starting to bother me. I felt the smile leave my lips and we were both caught in that awkward silent moment. Neither of us wanted to make the first move and quite frankly neither of us knew what to say or do either. We both wanted to see the other person make the first move and then analyze that move and then make our own. I knew I was being childish by just not saying what I had in mind. But to be quite honest, he was being childish too. Sure I knew what I wanted to talk to him about but, he must have too had some questions for me. I mean, come on, he had to be at least a little curious about his strange predicament. And for once I wanted to make him feel uncomfortable, so I did what he had been doing to me so far. I stared at him unblinkingly. And annoyingly so, he wasn't even the least bit bothered. In fact, he took it a step further; he stared eyeing me from top to bottom again and again while nibbling on his thumb. I couldn't take it anymore and then asked him, "Would you like find out more about the bizarre situation my grandmother has forced upon us?"

His reaction was quite unsettling. And that was because he did not react in any way at all, he just kept on nibbling at his thumb while staring at me. Okay, so maybe the thumb nibbling thing wasn't that endearing anymore. I took a seat on the arm rest of a chair nearby as I waited for a response from him.

Finally he gave me a curt nod. I lazily took the pendant I always wore around my neck and thumbed it and considered what I exactly wanted to say to him.

"By your looks I am hazarding a guess and assuming that you were a human before you were forced upon to be here. Which would also mean that you died and had a life before your rather untimely death. Now, before you and I make a move, I need to know if you remember anything about your life before your death?"

In that monotonous voice he replied, "I remember everything, Miss Iris."

His repeated use of my name suddenly brought forward another aspect of this predicament to my mind. My grandmother obviously told him my name. But the real question was what else did she tell him about me or about this situation for that matter…

Then of course there was that small matter of exactly how much involved was he with my grandmother's crazy plan. It was quite clear that he was quite evasive about giving out information. So the chances of him telling me anything if he did know something were very slim. But nonetheless I had to give him a chance before I judged him unkindly. So I asked staring right into those dark eyes of his, "My grandmother has already told you my name. But what else did she tell you, L?"

He blinked once before he did something that left me feeling extremely uncomfortable. That impassive expression left his face as this new expression slipped in. His eyes took in this leery look and a small gleeful smile on that pale face of his as he still chewed on that thumb. I could literally feel those eyes of his on my body as they scanned me from my toes till my head. And how very slow and thorough that scan was. I knew his eyes lingered on my breasts a little too long. I dared him in my mind to make some obscene comment about me. Just one word and I'd have a reason to pummel him to the ground, summoned spirit or not.

His voice was slightly cheery and held an almost child-like innocence as he answered me, "She only told me as much as you, yourself know right now, Miss Iris."

His eyes glittered as he kept that smile on his face. I didn't need a mirror to know that my expression must have hardened. The bastard was mocking me. I was quite competitive, and I never was the one to just let someone mock me and get away with it. Like I thought before, he was evasive and he was calculative. But no matter. I knew exactly how to handle him.

His eyes slightly widened when I gave him my best psychotic smirk. My grandmother always did say that my smirks were extremely disconcerting considering my innocent appearance. According to her my smirk was an odd mix between the smirks of Victor and Gilbert. You see, Gilbert's smirk was this small smirk that was all pleasant looking, yet it would freeze your blood and make you spine shiver. And Victor on the other hand, had this purely animalistic smirk. It made you feel like a prey in front of a hungry predator. A very big hungry lion cornering a weak gazelle like feeling. Victor being the lion, of course. Considering the fact that these two men raised me since I was a baby, I could safely say that my smirk had a similar effect, more or less.

I gave him a slow once over too, making sure that I licked my lower lip as lasciviously as possible and then ordered him softly, "Come here!"

He jumped a little at that. But his eyes looked slightly confused as he slowly made his way towards me. As soon as he was about a few feet near me, I made my move. I grabbed a handful of his shirt and yanked him down onto his knees hard. He gave a small comical yelp and bit onto the thumb in his mouth hard and those eyes of his went as big as tennis balls. Even on his knees his head was a few inches or so taller than me. I leaned in close to his face, our nose a few inches apart as I declared firmly, "Well then, let me tell you what I know right now."

He gave a small nod as I let go of his shirt. I waited for a minute as I watched him take a seat in the chair in front of me. He sat in that weird crouching position again. His eyes stared back at me, they were amused. Something in the back of my mind told me that he wanted to gauge a reaction out of me, so he did what he had to do. This meant he let me practically manhandle him. That fact didn't sit too well with me, but a larger fact soothed down my ego. Now we both knew I could break his face in if he ticked me off. In a way this little incident should make him aware of the fact that I wouldn't tolerate being mocked.

I started explaining my findings, "My grandmother always dabbled in this supernatural mumbo jumbo. I never took any interest in any of it. And whatever supernatural thing happened around me, I let it happen without questioning it or asking for an explanation. As long as it didn't bother me, I was fine with it. That includes flying objects, talking and moving paintings and statues and those transparent people that I sometimes see around the mansion."

L looked a bit curious at this, I continued, "My grandmother is a bit unusual and quite eccentric. I love her quite a lot, but this, I cannot tolerate. Her making a move as inane as this. This is my life; she shouldn't make any decisions for me without at least discussing it with me. I never said I wanted nor needed a spirit to protect me."

For a split second, I thought this L character was giving me the hurt puppy dog look, and then I remembered the fact that this spirit before me was quite scheming himself. I said sternly, "Therefore, if you do know a reason as to why you are protecting me or from whom you are protecting me, you better tell me now, L."

He blinked at me a few times before replying softly, "I have to protect you, Miss Iris. From whatever harm that may come your way."

I asked him bluntly seeing as I myself did not know much about summoned spirits, "Do you know what you can or cannot do?"

L looked quite excited at this point and I finally thought maybe I would finally have some answers. He answered cheerfully, "No. But I'll find out soon enough, I suppose."

I snorted. The bastard really liked yanking my chain for some reason. So I decided to return the favor. I asked with a sweet smile, "Want to know what I know about your abilities so far?"

He nodded with a sweet smile of his own. I retorted back nonchalantly, "I can touch you unlike the other transparent people I see. Most probably because you were summoned for me and because your only goal is to protect me from harm. I can actually beat you up if you piss me off and you can't do anything about it."

At that the guy immediately dropped that thumb from his mouth and he pouted at me. This annoying grown man pouted at me. And then he retorted with that child-like innocence, "Miss Iris is so mean to me."

I smiled a small smile as I stated, "And Miss Iris is proud of that fact too."

Did I mention that this guy is completely barmy? Well, what he said next completely proved it. He gave me an overly sweet smile as he stated, "Its okay for Miss Iris to be mean to me because Miss Iris has eyes that look like chocolate truffles and she smells like vanilla and cinnamon."

What did I ever do to deserve a perverted scheming barmy spirit to protect me from the unknown who apparently likes to compare me to sweets and looks somewhat like a panda?