After 30 minutes at my desk, I was ready to scream. I'm a field agent. I don't do well with paperwork. I walked to the boss's office. After handing the report to his rather busy secretary, I started walking to the door. I was ready for a long, hot soak. My body was sore from the altercation with Jayvoc and I still had corpse dust all over me. Just as I reached the door, the secretary called my name. I turned to respond and she simply pointed to the boss's door. Sighing, I walked to his door. I really didn't want to be here. Home was calling. Drawing in a deep breath I pushed the door open. My boss is not a deskie. He was a field agent when he got married to a N.M.B. (Non Magical Being) and decided that an office job would be safer for both himself and his wife. He's a clever man and knows his way around politicians and was swiftly promoted. Despite his high position, he still trains most of the new recruits. He was the closest thing I had to a father. As soon as I walked into his office, I knew I wasn't going to like it. He had a mug of herbal tea waiting for me. With another sigh, I lifted the mug to my nose and breathed deeply. He waited until I had taken a sip before he started talking.
"That was good work on your last case," he said with a very forced smile. I lifted my eyebrow at the compliment. Those were rare coming from him.
"Sir, is there something I can do for you?" I asked. He was buttering me up and I wanted to know why.
"I'm putting you with a team." I fought to keep my emotions in check.
"Sir, I work best alone." I tried not to beg. He put me with a team last year and it ended horribly. His gaze lost its pity and turned hard.
"This won't be like last time because you will be leading it." He raised his hand to silence me.
"Expect them at your house at 6 o'clock." His tone brooked no argument.
"Yes, sir." So much for my day off.
I got home at roughly 3 in the morning and was attacked by a joyful Hell hound. I put on a kettle of tea and went to the master bath. After a quick shower, set about getting the bath ready. Turning the nozzle to hot, I dumped a monster-load of relaxing herbs into the tub. Once my tea was ready and the bath was full, it was time to let all the stress of the last four months seep out of my body. Placing robe on the hook hanging by the towel rack, I slipped into the hot water. Resting my back against the water-proof pillow, I sipped my tea. This was what I needed. My home wasn't impressive by any means, but the bathroom and the gym were state of the art. 80 percent of my salary went into them for the first six months. The rest of the house wasn't that great - basic kitchen, small living room. My bed, though, was wonderful. Down mattress, huge pillows, and the softest blankets money can buy. Leaning over I pressed the play button on my small CD player and gentle piano music filled the room. Taking a deep breath, I sank into the deep bliss that is Linford Detweiler. I closed my eyes and drifted into a dreamless sleep. A beeping noise woke me. Rolling my shoulders and popping my neck, I looked at the clock on my CD player. It was 5 o'clock. Pulling my wrinkled body out of the tub, I padded to my room to get dressed. As looked through my closest, I recalled a previous assigned where I went undercover as a sadist. Skipping the spiked corset, I grabbed a blood red undershirt. Digging into my pants basket, I grabbed some tight, black jeans. I twisted my long dark hair into a braid. Grabbing some slippers that an asset had giving me during that undercover case, I grinned at the fuzzy, yet spiky footwear. After securing them on my feet, I made my way to the kitchen. As I was walking through the living room, I spotted a CD case out of the corner of my eye and a wicked idea came to mind. With a grin I'm sure redefined twisted, I picked up the CD and headed to my rather humble sound system. Placing the disk in the tray, I felt my smile grow impossibly wider as the lyrics of the song came blasting over the speakers. The song I had selected was a twisted piece about marriage and homicide. I don't know who my soon to be teammates were, but I am not going to make it easy for them. My Hellhound,Kitty, started to whine. Going to my fridge, I pulled out some leftover ham and a plumb. Eating the plum with my left hand, I walked to my knife block and pulled out my largest knife. Despite the messed up lyrics, the song was catchy and I was punch-drunk. With the plum and the knife still in hand, I started to dance and sing along. Looking at my clock, I noticed that the time was now 5:45. I had put the song on repeat and it was now on its 3rd cycle. As I was putting Kitty's bowl full of meat on the floor, I heard a knock on my door, and despite the singing, dancing, and knife-waving, I yelled that the door was open. All but shouting the lyrics, I slammed the knife into the ham just as they walked in. I heard a gasp and and turned to see both Peony and James standing in my cramped little kitchen. Tossing the knife in the sink, I walked back to my refrigerator and pulled out a carton of eggs. I grabbed a bag of tortillas from the cupboard and then crouched to pull out a frying pan. Spinning it in my hand despite the weight, I placed it on an element and turned the heat on.
