Smoke and Mirrors : Royal Angels I

Tiger cub and her puppy

~Victoria~

"Welcome to the Grigorian Library, area 512. Section : The Otherworld." An automated male voice announced. "Access beyond this point is restricted."

Biscuit was doing an amazing job at not being himself.

The guy had on geek glasses, a grey sweatshirt and comfy pants (all of which we'd stolen from a thrift shop) and he was reading a digital book, making it a point to act shy and socially awkward.

Which naturally meant all the girls were eyeing him like he was an abandoned puppy they wanted to take home.

Right.

Try a T-Rex on steroids, and we're just a little closer to the real deal.

I, on the other hand, was doing a much more useful job of trying to close my mouth.

The Grigorian Library was the largest in the world and I was struck by its sheer beauty. It was built like an ancient cathedral with high ceilings, complex woodwork and wide open spaces.

Yet there were no books.

At least not the traditional kind.

Row after row, every shelf was stacked with glass screens. The titles were revealed on the side once they were touched.

Each digital book stored the human equivalent of the American Library of Congress.

Biscuit covertly gestured to the door on the right. It had a sign that said 'Authorised personnel only' with a retina scanner on the door.

I didn't know what he wanted here or who he was supposed to meet.

But he knew there wasn't a door I couldn't break into.

"We need a distraction." I told him, as he tucked a pen behind his ear. I swear I heard a giggle from the other aisle. "You know, before the girls here get pregnant from all that pen action."

He held back a smile. "You're a girl, aren't you, Shortcake?"

"Of course not." I shot daggers at him. "I'm a fücking penguin."

"Naw." He said, looking at me intently. "You're a tiger cub."

"Because it has claws and can potentially kill you?" I asked hopefully.

He smiled.

"Because they think they're scary and that's just adorable."

I'll show you adorable.

"Help!" I yelled suddenly. "Help! This man is having a heart attack!"

Biscuit looked at me in shock for a moment. He didn't have any other option but to glare at me, then to act like he was collapsing. Once he was on the ground, I punched him for good measure.

Surprise, surprise - there was soon a throng of girls around the fainting Biscuit who was in very real pain.

"He also has cancer, bless his soul." I said sadly, as one of them tried mouth-to-mouth. Even though he was breathing perfectly well.

He shot me a look which definitely meant "I'm going to kill you by hiring a bunch of squirrels."

"I hear diseases must be awful." One of the girls said, pitifully. "You poor thing. You're a human, aren't you?"

No. I wanted to correct her. He's just a pretty fairy who underestimated a grown äss tiger.

I slowly slipped away from the crowd to the door.

It took me about two minutes to disable the scanner and open the door. I quietly slipped through and walked down the hallway.

I'll admit I was feeling kinda proud of myself -

"You're one cocky bîtch, aren't you?"

Biscuit appeared out of thin air in front of me, wiping off lipstick stains.

I'll admit I kinda felt like statistics right then. Completely and utterly useless.

"Why did we need to break in when you could've just done this hocus pocus thing?" I asked, puzzled.

"The door." He explained. "It's lined with lexonium. You can't use magic in these corridors when it's sealed off."

Biscuit led the way forward through the hallways, occasionally turning right or left. I noticed the cameras turned off when we passed them.

More hocus pocus. Because why wouldn't you use your soul to switch off CCTV?

"I should thank you though, Shortcake." He winked, running a hand through his hair. "That's the most action I've got in a while."

"You're welcome." I said deadbeat. "I'm really glad you liked that chick sticking her tongue down your throat."

"I didn't." He admitted, smiling. "But gee, look who's jealous."

"Who?" I asked, genuinely. "I've seen sandpaper with more chemistry."

He laughed. "And yet somehow you still want to rip that pretty blonde's head off."

"For totally unrelated reasons." I justified. "If you were dying for real, what she did was necrophilia. She sure as shît wasn't helping."

"Can't blame her." He said, casually. "I'd be a very hot dead guy."

I swear his head's as big as Jupiter.

"I could definitely make that happen if you'd like, Biscuit." I returned. "One funeral coming up."

He held up his hands, as we reached the end of the corridor. I could hear footsteps on the right. Belatedly I realised we were underground - the corridors were tilted downward.

"There's a door on the right with bio scanners, number locks, the whole deal." He said, quietly. "Outside there are two guardians and they're trained to kill you in less than two seconds."

"Thanks for sugar coating it, coach." I muttered.

"I'll take care of the guardians." He said. "You need to unlock that door. But no matter what you do, don't leave it open."

"Because there's an ancient evil force behind it?" I said, joking.

"Well, kinda." He said, seriously.

Well, shît.

****

Victoria : "Vote because we all need CPR lessons. With Biscuit." XD