Pixel walked into Perse's library the next morning and found the other
woman smiling to herself as she read from a leather-bound book.
"Mistress?" Pixel said to get her attention. She didn't want to call her 'boss' like Mero and she didn't know her well enough to call her Persephone just yet. Although she had been living in the chateaux for these months she basically knew nothing about her boss's wife. She was somewhat of an enigma to everyone there.
"What do you want?" Perse asked as she snapped the book shut after putting a bookmark in.
"I tried to find you yesterday but you were out," she started. "Your husband has transferred me to be your bodyguard."
"How wonderful I suppose I am stuck with you," she said sardonically. "And I was looking forward to going shopping by myself today."
Pixel's eyes lit up at the mention of shopping. "Persephone, I think we are going to get on very well."
"We shall see," the older program said as she picked up her purse. "I take it that you like shopping."
"Well yes, and this full-time job is very full-time. I haven't had much time for shopping lately."
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you but you can't have free time to look around for yourself today. You are to look out for agents and such, this is not a day off."
Pixel frowned, she couldn't see a good reason why she couldn't do both. Maybe Persephone was as cold as everyone else said.
"I'm ready to leave now," she said as she pulled her key from her small white purse.
"Yes mistress," Pixel had imagined that working for her boss's wife would be easier than working for the perverted and arrogant Merovingian.
Perse pushed her key into the library door and opened it up. When Pixel walked through they weren't in the hallway but rather in the back of a shop. A moment later a small round man with a cheerful expression on his face walked through and bowed to Persephone.
"How are you my lady?" he asked respectfully. Perse sighed and indicated to Pixel with her eyes. "Well what can I help you with?"
"I'd like two new dresses," Perse said. "Have you got anything in mind?"
The man smiled, "I may have an idea or two, if you'll follow me."
Perse turned back to Pixel, "just go wait out the front, it shouldn't take more than two hours."
The man showed her out to the front of the store and pointed to a pile of magazines, "that's where the guards usually sit."
"So you're the guy who designs all of her dresses?"
"Yes, as beautiful as they are, she wears them more like costumes."
"What do you mean?"
"You must be a new one," she nodded, "she lives within this world governed by power, so she hides behind this image of perfection." He cast his eyes toward the other room. "I have to go now, don't tell her that I said anything."
Two and a half hours later, when Pixel was considering impaling herself on her own sword in boredom Persephone walked out. "I'm done."
"Where next mistress?"
"I'm believe that I'm hungry, we shall go to Le Vrai."
Pixel sat off on one of the guard's side tables and waited for her order to arrive as Persephone sat all by herself at the huge main table. Pix couldn't understand why she was like this; she had had the best of intentions to at least to be her friend but that had blown up in her face.
If she hated her life so much then why didn't she just get a divorce and get free of Mero's world? Yet another question without an answer. She looked up and saw the waiter bringing her mouth-watering frappe when her cell phone rang.
She winced, hoping that it wasn't someone that was going to pull her away from her frappe, she hadn't had anything to eat or drink today besides a bottle of coke.
"Yes?" she said as she put her phone to her ear.
"I need to see you in my office, now," Mero's French voice commanded in her ear.
"Yes boss," she said dutifully and put it back in her pocket. She sighed and walked away from the frappe and walked up to Persephone. "Your husband has requested to see me."
"And?"
"May I go?"
"You mean you're actually asking? I never wanted you around me in the first place."
"Yes mistress," she said with a carefully schooled expression and left for the nearest door, which was in the back of the kitchen.
As Pixel walked through the kitchen of La Vrai she looked up at the television that was there to allow the cooks to catch up on the day's events if they were working late.
None of them paid attention to her as she watched a news report on a superhero in Los Angeles, the story being so interesting that it had traveled across the country in next to no time.
It showed a brief clip of a person in a red uniform fighting evil as it were by projecting plasma blasts from his/her/its hands. Pixel shrugged and walked through to the chateaux.
"Yeah boss?" Pixel asked as she strode into Mero's office. Thankfully, this time her boss wasn't 'busy' with another of his employees.
"I've got a job for you."
"Do tell," Pix said as she sat down in the chair opposite him and swung her feet up onto the expensive desk.
"Take you feet off or I'll fire you this instant."
"Fine," she muttered and placed them on the ground. "What is it that you want me to do?"
"Kill someone."
"Anyone in particular or do you just want me to walk down the street killing random people?"
"The sad thing is, I know you would do that. But in this case I have someone in mind."
"Damn, my idea sounds like fun."
"Well do it on your own time. I need you to go to Los Angeles and kill the exile known as the Crimson Knight."
"I saw that guy on the news about five minutes ago."
"I think the Knight will be harder to catch and kill than she looks. She is a formidable target. She had killed three of my contractors already."
"She? Well the media needs to keep more up to date. Why is it so important that I deal with her?"
"I have reason to believe that this Knight wishes to reveal the nature of this world to the general populous. Something, that as you might have already guessed would be disastrous for us. Truly irreparable. We would not be able to hide anymore."
"I understand," Pixel said with a grin, anticipating the hunt. "When I do I leave?"
"Well if you're not doing anything important now then I would suggest that you leave straight away."
"Yes boss," Pixel said, stood and walked to her room.
She knew that she didn't really need to pack and stay over in LA but she decided that if she was going to catch the Knight then she would need to stay there to be able to get to the scene faster than what she could if she were on the other side of the country.
She got a bag from her cupboard and packed some 'real' sized clothes as well as some smaller clothes for she didn't know how long she was going to be gone. She looked at all the things in her bag and decided that she had enough. Now all she had to do was say goodbye to Two.
She walked all around the chateaux but couldn't find him so she called his cell phone. He was on a job for Mero with his brother so he wasn't able to see her off so she just said a goodbye.
She put her phone away and pulled out her key. She pushed it into the nearest lock and walked into the backdoor hallway. She exited through a door that took her out into an alley of LA.
She walked around until she found a lavish five-star hotel that was extremely expensive. The perfect kind of place and she had plenty of money in her bank account. But as she was walking up to the check-in counter she realized that she couldn't give her name as 'Pixel the exile fairy' so she had to think.
"How can I help you?" the man asked her.
"I'd like to check in please."
"Name?"
"Lauren Peairy," she spelt out the amalgamated name for him. It was a nice composite and sounded as if it could be a real name. As for the name Lauren, she just liked it.
"What kind of room do you want? We have a range of prices and sizes..."
"I want the best room in this hotel and the price isn't a problem," she said. All the money she had earned, sans a bit that had been spent on shopping had been accumulating in her bank account.
"Yes ma'am," he said with a respectful nod. "Room 3001, one of our penthouses. I hope it is to your liking." He waved a bellhop over who took her bag and led her up to her room.
She tipped him and he left before she started to explore the suite. After relaxing for an hour she went to her balcony and looked around at the cityscape. She decided, that this being LA, a six-foot fairy wasn't going to be anything strange to them.
Stepping lightly up onto the rail she grew her wings and flew down to the ground, into a relatively empty street near the hotel as to not attract too much attention, or attention from the wrong kind of program.
She had to find some other exiles to talk to or otherwise she was never going to find the Knight.
"Stuff this," she said and went back into the backdoors. She continued straight back to Mero's office.
"The Knight is dead already?" Mero asked incredulously.
"I'm good but not that good. I need some of your west coast contacts so I have a better chance of catching her."
"Fine," he said and flicked her up a card from his drawer. "She should be able to help you catch the Knight." Pixel nodded and went into the hall once more and exited through a door near to the address on the card.
Pix exited through the door and up six flights of stairs to a loft apartment overlooking the ocean. She knocked on the door. A moment later it opened and she found herself looking at a short girl with long brown hair and a hawk sitting on her shoulder.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"I'm looking for the Crimson Knight," Pixel said simply.
"Then come on in," the girl said and stepped aside to allow the fairy in. Pixel looked around at the decor. There were movie and band posters all over the walls, a big screen TV and slim DVD player as well as a display of swords and a fair share of guns.
"You from Mero or freelancing for someone else?"
"Mero of course, he pays the best."
"I know that to be true. So how have you been?"
"Huh?" a genuine look of surprise washed over Pixel. "Do I know you or something?"
"Yeah...we only spent a month taking care of that CAH sect of vampires. Don't you remember?"
"No, I have memory trouble."
"Well that was about five years ago. You got angry cause I killed more than you and Mr. French was paying by the head. But you did get the next three contracts from Toland so I guess it evened out."
"Literal heads?"
"Not that time. Vials of CAH vamp dust."
"You a freelancer?"
"Isn't everyone these days?"
"I was until Mero gave me a full-time job. So why aren't you dealing with the Knight?"
"I just came off a job. I was tracking a werewolf for two weeks. He stole from Mero so I got paid twenty grand to deal with him."
"What can you tell me?"
"That the Knight is going to try and crash a charity function. With that much media around something will get out."
"How do you know this?"
"Whispers in the underground. You can hear just about anything you want when you have a sharp pair of ears to help you." She rubbed her head against her hawk and it jumped down onto the table and chewed on a hunk of meat that was on a small green plate."
"Tattoo?"
"What else?"
"My wings are a tattoo," Pixel said as she turned and let them grow out to their full size. She gave them a couple of flaps to show off.
"Wicked," the other girl commented.
"I don't know that many tattoos," Pixel said. "What's it like to have an animal as your tattoo? Are you two separate beings or what?"
"It's a kind of symbiotic relationship I suppose. My hawk comes out when I need to fight or when I'm not in public - cause most humans don't carry red- tails around on their shoulders. Also when I'm here I don't keep her cooped up. She has a mind of her own but senses what i need to do so we work in sync. I can control her if I want but I generally choose not to. Also I can see through her eyes and hear through her ears. It's rather cool actually."
"I can imagine."
"She also picks up on feelings from me so she's strangely like a extended part of my personality."
"Do you know what function the Knight is going to crash?"
"If I know that I'd make myself an easy twenty grand. The Knight may be hard to produce plasma shots but I think that if you get around that offense that she wouldn't have much defense."
"Strong in one area, weak in another..." Pixel muttered.
"Yeah...ever dropped a fire elemental into the Pacific? Weak as hell if you know their Achilles' heel."
"Being a fire exile, it would be water obviously."
"That's fire and water. Only salt water works on an elemental. Or otherwise they can rekindle themselves."
"That's something to remember."
"Do, cause I don't usually hand out free advice."
"Thanks for your help."
"Just keep your eyes open for the agents. But at least you only have to worry about two in the main LA agency."
"Two? Isn't it standard to have three?"
"There used to be three but then an exile went and killed one of them didn't she?"
"Who? How?"
"Me. There's a section of firewalls around here that they can't get out of. Me and my hawk took care of him."
"I never heard about that."
"Mero told me to shut up about it. It's something to celebrate but not advertise."
"Why not? This is great, I'd love to kill an agent too."
"Haven't you heard that some agents have exile contacts? Traitors who are swapping secrets for immunity?"
"No, it could just be a rumor."
"All I know is that I got fifty grand for doing the exile world a favor and keeping my mouth shut about it."
"So why tell me?"
"Do I look like a good little girl that does as she's told?"
Pixel looked at the exile who was wearing black pants, a black Chinese- styled top with red loops and a handgun in a holder on her hip. "No."
"Smart answer."
"Thanks," Pixel said as she walked out of the apartment.
Ok, now all she needed to do was find out what charity functions were on in the next couple of weeks and watch them and find which one was the Knight's target.
The Knight was either very stupid or very brave, she was attempting to do something that would destroy the exile's way of life and make life none too easy for the agents as well. Not that she cared about the agents but they were all a part of a world that was separate to the humans.
"Mistress?" Pixel said to get her attention. She didn't want to call her 'boss' like Mero and she didn't know her well enough to call her Persephone just yet. Although she had been living in the chateaux for these months she basically knew nothing about her boss's wife. She was somewhat of an enigma to everyone there.
"What do you want?" Perse asked as she snapped the book shut after putting a bookmark in.
"I tried to find you yesterday but you were out," she started. "Your husband has transferred me to be your bodyguard."
"How wonderful I suppose I am stuck with you," she said sardonically. "And I was looking forward to going shopping by myself today."
Pixel's eyes lit up at the mention of shopping. "Persephone, I think we are going to get on very well."
"We shall see," the older program said as she picked up her purse. "I take it that you like shopping."
"Well yes, and this full-time job is very full-time. I haven't had much time for shopping lately."
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you but you can't have free time to look around for yourself today. You are to look out for agents and such, this is not a day off."
Pixel frowned, she couldn't see a good reason why she couldn't do both. Maybe Persephone was as cold as everyone else said.
"I'm ready to leave now," she said as she pulled her key from her small white purse.
"Yes mistress," Pixel had imagined that working for her boss's wife would be easier than working for the perverted and arrogant Merovingian.
Perse pushed her key into the library door and opened it up. When Pixel walked through they weren't in the hallway but rather in the back of a shop. A moment later a small round man with a cheerful expression on his face walked through and bowed to Persephone.
"How are you my lady?" he asked respectfully. Perse sighed and indicated to Pixel with her eyes. "Well what can I help you with?"
"I'd like two new dresses," Perse said. "Have you got anything in mind?"
The man smiled, "I may have an idea or two, if you'll follow me."
Perse turned back to Pixel, "just go wait out the front, it shouldn't take more than two hours."
The man showed her out to the front of the store and pointed to a pile of magazines, "that's where the guards usually sit."
"So you're the guy who designs all of her dresses?"
"Yes, as beautiful as they are, she wears them more like costumes."
"What do you mean?"
"You must be a new one," she nodded, "she lives within this world governed by power, so she hides behind this image of perfection." He cast his eyes toward the other room. "I have to go now, don't tell her that I said anything."
Two and a half hours later, when Pixel was considering impaling herself on her own sword in boredom Persephone walked out. "I'm done."
"Where next mistress?"
"I'm believe that I'm hungry, we shall go to Le Vrai."
Pixel sat off on one of the guard's side tables and waited for her order to arrive as Persephone sat all by herself at the huge main table. Pix couldn't understand why she was like this; she had had the best of intentions to at least to be her friend but that had blown up in her face.
If she hated her life so much then why didn't she just get a divorce and get free of Mero's world? Yet another question without an answer. She looked up and saw the waiter bringing her mouth-watering frappe when her cell phone rang.
She winced, hoping that it wasn't someone that was going to pull her away from her frappe, she hadn't had anything to eat or drink today besides a bottle of coke.
"Yes?" she said as she put her phone to her ear.
"I need to see you in my office, now," Mero's French voice commanded in her ear.
"Yes boss," she said dutifully and put it back in her pocket. She sighed and walked away from the frappe and walked up to Persephone. "Your husband has requested to see me."
"And?"
"May I go?"
"You mean you're actually asking? I never wanted you around me in the first place."
"Yes mistress," she said with a carefully schooled expression and left for the nearest door, which was in the back of the kitchen.
As Pixel walked through the kitchen of La Vrai she looked up at the television that was there to allow the cooks to catch up on the day's events if they were working late.
None of them paid attention to her as she watched a news report on a superhero in Los Angeles, the story being so interesting that it had traveled across the country in next to no time.
It showed a brief clip of a person in a red uniform fighting evil as it were by projecting plasma blasts from his/her/its hands. Pixel shrugged and walked through to the chateaux.
"Yeah boss?" Pixel asked as she strode into Mero's office. Thankfully, this time her boss wasn't 'busy' with another of his employees.
"I've got a job for you."
"Do tell," Pix said as she sat down in the chair opposite him and swung her feet up onto the expensive desk.
"Take you feet off or I'll fire you this instant."
"Fine," she muttered and placed them on the ground. "What is it that you want me to do?"
"Kill someone."
"Anyone in particular or do you just want me to walk down the street killing random people?"
"The sad thing is, I know you would do that. But in this case I have someone in mind."
"Damn, my idea sounds like fun."
"Well do it on your own time. I need you to go to Los Angeles and kill the exile known as the Crimson Knight."
"I saw that guy on the news about five minutes ago."
"I think the Knight will be harder to catch and kill than she looks. She is a formidable target. She had killed three of my contractors already."
"She? Well the media needs to keep more up to date. Why is it so important that I deal with her?"
"I have reason to believe that this Knight wishes to reveal the nature of this world to the general populous. Something, that as you might have already guessed would be disastrous for us. Truly irreparable. We would not be able to hide anymore."
"I understand," Pixel said with a grin, anticipating the hunt. "When I do I leave?"
"Well if you're not doing anything important now then I would suggest that you leave straight away."
"Yes boss," Pixel said, stood and walked to her room.
She knew that she didn't really need to pack and stay over in LA but she decided that if she was going to catch the Knight then she would need to stay there to be able to get to the scene faster than what she could if she were on the other side of the country.
She got a bag from her cupboard and packed some 'real' sized clothes as well as some smaller clothes for she didn't know how long she was going to be gone. She looked at all the things in her bag and decided that she had enough. Now all she had to do was say goodbye to Two.
She walked all around the chateaux but couldn't find him so she called his cell phone. He was on a job for Mero with his brother so he wasn't able to see her off so she just said a goodbye.
She put her phone away and pulled out her key. She pushed it into the nearest lock and walked into the backdoor hallway. She exited through a door that took her out into an alley of LA.
She walked around until she found a lavish five-star hotel that was extremely expensive. The perfect kind of place and she had plenty of money in her bank account. But as she was walking up to the check-in counter she realized that she couldn't give her name as 'Pixel the exile fairy' so she had to think.
"How can I help you?" the man asked her.
"I'd like to check in please."
"Name?"
"Lauren Peairy," she spelt out the amalgamated name for him. It was a nice composite and sounded as if it could be a real name. As for the name Lauren, she just liked it.
"What kind of room do you want? We have a range of prices and sizes..."
"I want the best room in this hotel and the price isn't a problem," she said. All the money she had earned, sans a bit that had been spent on shopping had been accumulating in her bank account.
"Yes ma'am," he said with a respectful nod. "Room 3001, one of our penthouses. I hope it is to your liking." He waved a bellhop over who took her bag and led her up to her room.
She tipped him and he left before she started to explore the suite. After relaxing for an hour she went to her balcony and looked around at the cityscape. She decided, that this being LA, a six-foot fairy wasn't going to be anything strange to them.
Stepping lightly up onto the rail she grew her wings and flew down to the ground, into a relatively empty street near the hotel as to not attract too much attention, or attention from the wrong kind of program.
She had to find some other exiles to talk to or otherwise she was never going to find the Knight.
"Stuff this," she said and went back into the backdoors. She continued straight back to Mero's office.
"The Knight is dead already?" Mero asked incredulously.
"I'm good but not that good. I need some of your west coast contacts so I have a better chance of catching her."
"Fine," he said and flicked her up a card from his drawer. "She should be able to help you catch the Knight." Pixel nodded and went into the hall once more and exited through a door near to the address on the card.
Pix exited through the door and up six flights of stairs to a loft apartment overlooking the ocean. She knocked on the door. A moment later it opened and she found herself looking at a short girl with long brown hair and a hawk sitting on her shoulder.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"I'm looking for the Crimson Knight," Pixel said simply.
"Then come on in," the girl said and stepped aside to allow the fairy in. Pixel looked around at the decor. There were movie and band posters all over the walls, a big screen TV and slim DVD player as well as a display of swords and a fair share of guns.
"You from Mero or freelancing for someone else?"
"Mero of course, he pays the best."
"I know that to be true. So how have you been?"
"Huh?" a genuine look of surprise washed over Pixel. "Do I know you or something?"
"Yeah...we only spent a month taking care of that CAH sect of vampires. Don't you remember?"
"No, I have memory trouble."
"Well that was about five years ago. You got angry cause I killed more than you and Mr. French was paying by the head. But you did get the next three contracts from Toland so I guess it evened out."
"Literal heads?"
"Not that time. Vials of CAH vamp dust."
"You a freelancer?"
"Isn't everyone these days?"
"I was until Mero gave me a full-time job. So why aren't you dealing with the Knight?"
"I just came off a job. I was tracking a werewolf for two weeks. He stole from Mero so I got paid twenty grand to deal with him."
"What can you tell me?"
"That the Knight is going to try and crash a charity function. With that much media around something will get out."
"How do you know this?"
"Whispers in the underground. You can hear just about anything you want when you have a sharp pair of ears to help you." She rubbed her head against her hawk and it jumped down onto the table and chewed on a hunk of meat that was on a small green plate."
"Tattoo?"
"What else?"
"My wings are a tattoo," Pixel said as she turned and let them grow out to their full size. She gave them a couple of flaps to show off.
"Wicked," the other girl commented.
"I don't know that many tattoos," Pixel said. "What's it like to have an animal as your tattoo? Are you two separate beings or what?"
"It's a kind of symbiotic relationship I suppose. My hawk comes out when I need to fight or when I'm not in public - cause most humans don't carry red- tails around on their shoulders. Also when I'm here I don't keep her cooped up. She has a mind of her own but senses what i need to do so we work in sync. I can control her if I want but I generally choose not to. Also I can see through her eyes and hear through her ears. It's rather cool actually."
"I can imagine."
"She also picks up on feelings from me so she's strangely like a extended part of my personality."
"Do you know what function the Knight is going to crash?"
"If I know that I'd make myself an easy twenty grand. The Knight may be hard to produce plasma shots but I think that if you get around that offense that she wouldn't have much defense."
"Strong in one area, weak in another..." Pixel muttered.
"Yeah...ever dropped a fire elemental into the Pacific? Weak as hell if you know their Achilles' heel."
"Being a fire exile, it would be water obviously."
"That's fire and water. Only salt water works on an elemental. Or otherwise they can rekindle themselves."
"That's something to remember."
"Do, cause I don't usually hand out free advice."
"Thanks for your help."
"Just keep your eyes open for the agents. But at least you only have to worry about two in the main LA agency."
"Two? Isn't it standard to have three?"
"There used to be three but then an exile went and killed one of them didn't she?"
"Who? How?"
"Me. There's a section of firewalls around here that they can't get out of. Me and my hawk took care of him."
"I never heard about that."
"Mero told me to shut up about it. It's something to celebrate but not advertise."
"Why not? This is great, I'd love to kill an agent too."
"Haven't you heard that some agents have exile contacts? Traitors who are swapping secrets for immunity?"
"No, it could just be a rumor."
"All I know is that I got fifty grand for doing the exile world a favor and keeping my mouth shut about it."
"So why tell me?"
"Do I look like a good little girl that does as she's told?"
Pixel looked at the exile who was wearing black pants, a black Chinese- styled top with red loops and a handgun in a holder on her hip. "No."
"Smart answer."
"Thanks," Pixel said as she walked out of the apartment.
Ok, now all she needed to do was find out what charity functions were on in the next couple of weeks and watch them and find which one was the Knight's target.
The Knight was either very stupid or very brave, she was attempting to do something that would destroy the exile's way of life and make life none too easy for the agents as well. Not that she cared about the agents but they were all a part of a world that was separate to the humans.
