caged and broken (first draft)

After briefing My team we went back to Alex’s office to set everything up I would need. I was issued a full work up every thing from identification And banking history To A fully traceable work and educational history,”so if I’m under cover what am I supposed to identify as. I can’t get away with being completely human not anymore “ I said with only a hint of self loathing “we have you down as a hybrid which should technically work the story is that you have paranormal lineage but it has been watered down by breading with other forms of paranormal and humans.” Rickson said with a sneer ignoring the inference that he as so much better than those around him I looked at my identification everything was basically the same the only changes where my last name and place of birth “ why did you only change my family name and place of birth smith is a common name so it shouldn’t raise any flags and essex is close enough that you won’t need to fake an accent” Alex replied as I eyed rickson with open suspicion,

“You will be staying at one of the properties I run in uxbridge for the duration of your assignment” rickson sneered “its a halfway house of sorts I house individuals from other realms or those that would look out of place in hotels. The two individuals you will be staying with are a pixie and a tooth fairy. I don’t know much about them but they are both types of fae which ar known for being docile and submissive by nature. I have met each of them briefly and they are not going to get in your way.” I didn’t like the way he was so dismissive about them but I couldn’t stand in their defence without knowing them so I chose to bite my tongue

“They Know your going to be one of my new fighters and are new to the area also you are definitely rocking the alpha vibe so they will probably defer to you a lot” i let out a sigh as he finished trying to mansplane everything “ great I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile but you’ve set me up with submissive house mates. How am I supposed to keep a low profile if they look at me like some sort of leader?”

“You don’t need to be anything other than you, just keep to yourself as much as possible and don’t get involved in their problem’s.

“Okay, but you make that sound a lot simpler than it will be”

He just grunted in response and let my comment go without a response.

*

the journey to uxbridge was made in relative silence as i tried to mentally prepare myself, i hated not having my team around me for help and support but I’m sure if anything goes wrong they will be on hand, I closed my eye’s and drifted off thinking I wonder what my crafty vampier was up to that was so urgent that she needed to disappear so suddenly.

Rickson pulled up outside a run down property,”from now on address me as Paul not Rickson, they will think your being rude if you dress me with my surname like that” he said for the first time since I meet him he seemed to be making an effort to be nice. “When we get in there I’ll give you a quick tour then leave you in their care. Also take this” he handed me a tatterd business card. “This is a direct line to me, we are in this together so any problems let me know straight away.” Before I could say any thing he was out of the car and heading to the door all business again.

showed me around and introduced me to my house mate’s then made a quick exit saying he would contact me in a few day’s.

Alex had already set everything up and my room had been set up it was neat and functional had a cubord and chest of draws full of cloth’s in my size, as well as a small desk set up with a laptop already prepared and ready to go. Stand operating procedures said the first thing i needed to do was sweep the room for any surveillance equipment but Before i had a chance to get to work i heard a soft knock on my door. Who ever it’s was would definitely be what i envisioned as timid, i answered my door with a smile and was met by Nixie’s timid smile “hi, i was just wondering if you would like to join myself and lunette for tea.” She asked in an adorably shy voice “of course if your busy i would understand if you don’t want to” she added as though she may have been to bold to ask.

I smiled as kindly as I could “ thank you for inviting me, tea sounds like a great idea and everything is already set up here so i would be happy to join you both, please lead the way”

I spent the rest of my afternoon with my new house mate’s and they told me about themselves and their up brings and what lead them to be in London i was fascinated by the stories from their childhoods and the tales from their separate cultures. I found out from Lunette that the job of a tooth fairy is still as important as ever but they know longer change teeth for treasure like they once did but now they replace them with fake teeth, at my confused expression she explained “tooth fairies are a type of guardian and they protect infants from cursing, one of the old practices would be for malicious magic users to obtain a child’s lost tooth and through it be able to cures the whole family line. So it was decided that an order of faeries would be established that would guard and protect the teeth of the young and in exchange for the teeth we would leave a gift, but now a child’s parent leaves them a gift instead so we leave fake teeth instead, the teeth are then taken to a hidden village, they are gardened and protected like they are precious jewels my family have been a part of the order for many generation’s and we preform our duty with pride” lunette finished her explanation and she was glowing with pride. “I never knew any of that I truly believed that the tales of the tooth fairy were just stories. I’m amazed that you are a part of something like that”i said. This just caused lunette to blush. And direct her attention to Nixie so “Nixie why don’t you tell jess a little about your self? Lunette said. This caused Nixie to give Lunette a glare i would never think the little pixie would be capable of it was such a contrast to the behaviour i had seen of her so far that i let out a chuckle of laughter. “ I’m sorry” I explained “ that was rude i shouldn’t have laughed just the look you just had shocked me, but if you aren’t comfortable talking about your self I understand please don’t feel pressured.” I couldn’t course these two to tell me everything about themselves when i would be lying to them with every word that i spoke” but Nixie to her credit spoke up. “No it’s okay part of why I’m travelling is to try and find myself, my clan of pixie are known far and wide for being social butterflies we are the creatures that throw parties and celebrations that are spoken of through all the realms my whole clan exclude confidence and joy. It’s part of our nature to calm the worries of those around us. It’s a part of us that we can’t control and most if not all of my kind love that part of themselves, however I’m a little different I’m an extreme introvert, according to the council of elders they have never heard of an introverted pixie i suffer with social anxiety and pass out if I’m in large groups, so my family staged an intervention and sent me to the city to try and desensitise me to people and group’s” she turned bright red with embarrassment as she explained her predicament. I felt so bad for laughing “Nixie, I’m sorry for laughing earlier that wasn’t right and if there is anything i can do to help you whale I’m here please don’t hesitate to ask” i said. She calmed down after that and carried on telling us about herself .

“Well as you can probably tell my clan are from Devon and Cornwall” she said in way of explains her accent “ i have a thing about being in nature so if you ever can’t find me I’m will probably be out here bare foot near it ain’t with Mother Nature, I’m gifted with craft magic so if you need any charms or amulets just let me know also I’m sorry if random animals show up they are kinda just drawn to me, usually they will only come to me if they are injured or need something then they leave once they get what they want. I just don’t want you to think I’m some sort of crazy animal lady. At this i had a million questions for her “oh my god, do you have any animals in the house i asked suddenly full of excitement” she sup penny looked nervously to lunette who just shrugged and answered with a slow nod for her head “i have a cat in my room his name is Argus and he’s a Maine coon.” My eye’s lit up as she said this “would it be okay if i see him some time? Or doesn’t he like new people?” I asked nervously, i love animals and i couldn’t wait to be able to show a pet some affection even if it belonged to someone else. Nixie thought for a moment then said “i think he should be fine with you i will bring him down later and see how thing’s go but he can be really judge and I’m sorry if he doesn’t take to you.

The afternoon was coming to an end and we decided to call it a day all heading to our own area’s of the house before i parted ways with Nixie she asked if i wanted to meet Argus and i jumped at the chance.

Opening the door to her personal space was very revealing about her it was full of green and nature she had all type’s of plant’s positioned around the room. At different levels some in pots around the perimeter of the room other’s hanging from the ceiling just taking a few steps in and i felt like i was in a lost forest in some enchanting realm the fragrances from the plant’s intoxicated me, then i saw laying on the bed like royalty was a big and beautiful Maine coon its coat as black as pitch in it’s face lightening gradually to gray and silver through the rest of it’s coat, with out thinking i rushed over to him and started to settle his head on to my lap so i could give him all my attention and scratch behind his ear. It was only after a few second’s of scratching Argus’s head and hearing him purr that i realised what i had done, i looked up in to the shocked face of nixie “I’m so sorry i didn’t mean to be so rude I’m sorry i will leave and left you get some rest” i began to lift myself from the bed and pull away from Argus when i felt dagger like claws dig in to my leg. I was just about to pull his claws from my leg when i felt nixie’s hand on my shoulder she was looking at me with a Huge grin “ please stay there I’m sorry with how i reacted I’m just not used to him being like this around new people he usually hide when he see’s some one new, i don’t think I’ve ever heard of him behaving like this. But i take it as a sign that you are good people he doesn’t go to people with darkness in their hearts” there was a heavy ness in the way she said this i continued to stroke the cat absentmindedly and asked “ could you explain what you mean, you seem to have something weighing on your mind” she shook herself like a dog trying to to dry it’s self after a bath. “I’m sorry it’s nothing, but if you ever need to talk or want kitty snuggles Argus and i will always be happy to help”. Argus then stretched and leaped from my lap. Winding his way around Nixie’s leg, at the absence of a cat on my lap i excused myself, making a hastily retreat to my room so i could get to work on the file’s on the usb.

Opening my door and turning on the light i had to suppress a scream sitting in the dark was a vampier that i was not expecting to see, she was smiling at me with a signature toothy grin as though she had just done the funniest thing imaginable “what the fuck are you doing here?” I half shouted held whispered, “how did you even know where i was?” I shut the door and made my way over to her i gave her a look that could kill and conveyed that i wanted answers and wanted them now.

Abigail shifted on the bed to make room for me, “well my personal emergency was delt with more quickly than i originally expected so i thought i would check in on one of my favourite people while she is on a dangerous mission. So would you care to enlighten me on the finer details?” I rolled my eye’s and headed towards the computer to load the usb drive “fine I’m guessing you already know more than you should, can i assume you already swept the room for bugs?”

“Yes i did an in depth search of the whole property while you all went out side to get to know each other, the only thing i found that was odd was the cat, their is something special about it but i can’t put my finger on it. Other than that the place is clear.”

i spent the next few minutes loading the usb on the computer and opening all the relevant files as i was doing this i briefed Abigail on everything i knew already and she nodded along, as I expected she already knew everything i was telling her.

We started by watching the videos of previous fighters and how they went from losing matches to suddenly winning and over powering their opponents with laughable ease, it wasn’t that there skill or fighting form’s had improved if anything they became more barbaric and brutal, it was a complete loss of control. I looked over to Abigail to get her point of view on what we had been watching, and i saw the look of revulsion in her eye’s all former humour had been replaced with a cold and calculated hatred. “What’s on your mind Abbie “i asked concerned that she was going to snap.

“Sorry jess i wasn’t expecting it to be that bad, do you have any idea when your first match is going to be”

“i don’t know but I’ve been told it could be between 4-6 week’s to get everything organised for the first match. why?”

“Because we are going to have to train or they are going to end up killing you. Jess the way you fight would let people know that you aren’t a normal MMA fighter, it showed that you have been trained to take a suspect or enemy down with inflicting little pain and as quickly as possible, these people want the opposite they want pain and blood shead they want it to be drawn out, they want their moneys worth those matches we just watch couldn’t you tell, the fight’s could have been over in seconds if it was you or i in the ring, the fighter’s telegraph their weaknesses, and they focus on offence not defence. We are going to have to train you so that you can take a few hit’s”

“ Abbie you are really starting to freak me out, i know what we saw was hard to look at but your acting like I’m about to be walked in front of a firing squad”

“It’s not just the fight’s although those in and of themselves are horrific, it’s what they represent.our reality is a dangerous one, it has an undercurrent of violence Danger, betrayal and brutality. We don’t hide it or sugar coat it, many in the paranormal community enjoy blood sports, MMA matches and all manner of hormone and testosterone filed competitions. But what we just watched wasn’t like that they competed the strongest person against someone who had zero chance of winning against a monstrous killing machine they goaded the weaker until he had lost his pride and self respect then they offered salvation they offered revenge and strength. I saw thing’s like this happen in the distant past, who ever is behind this is trying to build loyal fighter’s. Make someone loyal by giving them the dream that’s been ripped from them and they will sit by your side waiting for a scrap of praise.”

We sat in silent both in the grip-of our own thought’s trying to process this realisation. “Abbie we can’t report this not yet we need to be sure that what we believe to be happening really is. Anyway i think that’s enough show and tell for the evening i have job interview’s tomorrow and i need to look at joining a gym all so i can build my cover story”

My vampier companion brighten at the thought of me at a job interview ”oh where have they got you interview’s for” she asked pretending to just be casually interested but i could see she was excited to hear all the details, it always entertaines me that she become’s like a kid in a sweet shop at the strangest thing’s, she could sleep through a tactical operation’s meeting, but talk about a job interview and she was on the edge of her seat, it was both adorable and maddening all in the same breath. I knew she wouldn’t let it drop so i just showed her the few sheet’s of paper i had been given detailing all the businesses and my back story as well as my interview scheduled. She rifled through the papers reading each page with care her face became harder and harder to read the longer she went on reading once she finished reading the last page she huffed indicating her displeasure “ they aren’t very original or fun with you back story or with the job option’s they have lined up for you, i think there is only one suitable one amongst the lot” rolling my eye’s i had to ask “ and which one would that be?” I asked

“Well isn’t it obvious the part time barrister at the coffee shop, you get flexible work pattern free coffee and people to listen to, you never know what someone might say that will give you an insight in to your investigation.

“Well that’s more insight full than i was expecting you to be, but it’s getting late and it’s been a very tiering day so unless you want to watch me sleep i think it’s time for you to head out”

“Okay i can see your getting cranky so i will take my leave” she paused standing by the open window “please jess be safe” then she was gone.

With Abigail gone i shut and Locked my window then double checked that my door was looked to. Once i was sure the room was secure i crawl under the duvet and snuggled in to my pillow’s the only thing that could make things better would be have Argus to cuddle up with. Closing my eye’s i hoped for a dreamless night.