My Little Pixie

Chapter Twenty-Four - Living with the Dangers

I sat there, alone, for a while, with my brandy, thinking about what to do next. Everything we had planned so far was essentially reactive - necessary but insufficient. My instincts told me that I had to go on the offensive.

But that was tricky when I had so little information. All I really knew about the Mylar group was that they were based in northern Switzerland.

When my glass was empty, I gave a deep sigh then checked the fire and made my way along to my bedroom.

A little pixie had evidently been waiting for me because, a couple of seconds later, there was a knock on the door.

"What's the matter?" I asked, drawing her inside

"I'm frightened," she said. "I don't want to be on my own tonight."

"You appreciate, of course, that being in my bed is not without its own unique dangers," I teased, giving a flick of the eyebrows to make clear the particular dangers to which I was referring.

"I was thinking about that... especially after you made me think about whether I actually wanted to stay with you, this morning," she flashed me a little smile. "I guess... I guess I'm just going to have to deal with those sorts of dangers!" she managed to stutter by way of reply. "Maybe we can sort of face them together." Her ears were turning a wonderful red colour, as if trying to match her hair.

"That sounds remarkably intriguing!" I teased, pulling her to me and running my hand down her back. "It almost sounds as if you are trusting this immaculate body to my good character."

As my hand reached her bottom, the lack of underwear confirmed my suspicions. She did not consider the dangers to be dangers at all but, rather, opportunities to be seized.

"And we both know that I do not have a particularly good character!"

"Then I suppose I'll just have to live with all those dreadful consequences," she breathed into my shoulder as she squeezed herself against me. "The only thing is..." She paused and her ears turned even redder. "Could the first couple of times be... you know... ordinary rather than your freaky weird 'Room of Reflection' stuff.

"Your wish is my command!" I replied, leaning down to kiss her on the junction of her neck and her shoulder and drawing a gasp. Then I patted her on her bottom and told her to get into bed.

I had just finished brushing my teeth when my phone rang. I gave a sigh then hurried to answer it. "One moment!" I said. "This had better be important."

I hopped into bed and gave my pixie a kiss of apology. She snuggled into my side as I turned my attention to the call.

It was the manager of my Omnia club. One of their new members had been identified as being extremely suspicious.

The guy in question had joined a couple of months before and only attended once - some of his personal details had proved to be forgeries and the address he used turned out to be a post box attached to somebody's back gate - evidently bogus too. This had all been missed in the first review.

I tried to contain my temper - if, for no other reason, than because I had my little pixie snuffling gently into my side - however, I made my feelings on this sloppiness completely unambiguous. "Of course, you should detain the guy if he ever shows up again," I said, "and you are to pick up the guy's sponsor when he is next in the club." I did not expect to learn anything but it was a point of principle. Unless he had an extremely convincing explanation, he would have his membership permanently and publicly revoked... 'pour encourager les autres'.

"Yes, Sir!" the manager replied, evidently relieved that the heat was off him for a while.

"Of course you are to go through the security footage of the night he was in and determine what he was doing. I want a full report in my inbox, first thing tomorrow."