As we arrived at the building we had left Trish at, we could see the guards from a way off… surrounded by a few recent corpses. Ed took off at a run, I assumed because he was worried. I figured that if the guards were still standing, any person moving aggressively toward the building would be in for a bad time. And my patience was rewarded shortly after.

Ed got about one hundred yards from the building and then the guards zapped him. He took several electric spells to the chest and dropped. I smiled and laughed a little, slowly walking up toward the building with my arms above my head in a non-combative way. Passing the still twitching Ed, I noticed a pool of darkness spreading from his groin, which made me laugh even harder.

“Hey, guys. I’m a member of security for one of the girls doing a show in town. She was meeting the producers or directors or something earlier today. I have a tag for you to confirm that, I just have to reach into my pocket.” I said slowly, reaching for my pocket.

The guards all trained their weapons on me, but the leader nodded for me to continue. I slowly pulled out the pass I’d been given before we left that ID’d me by my name as bodyguard for Patricia J. Loveline. Until that point I wouldn’t have known that Trish Ragnus wasn’t actually her name. I mean, so many singers use their real names… you understand.

“Alright, what about him?” the lead guard asked after checking my information.

I took my pass, looked at Ed, and told the guard, “Dude’s a stalker. Might wanna take him elsewhere before he comes back from that.”

The guards nodded and let me pass as two of them moved off and carried Ed away from the building. I couldn’t help but giggle a little more to myself after I had cleared the front doors, it was too easy to mess with Ed. But even better than that, I would have Trish in and out of the building and away from this place before Ed came back from wherever the guards took him. Sure, it was a few minutes of stairs, but it gave me a chance to make certain there was no trouble.

“Hey, you. What happened to you? You seem kind of like you’ve been roughed up a bit.” Trish said as I walked into the boardroom she had been waiting in.

“Oh, you know how it is.” I said, “Sometimes you just need a good fight to unwind.”

She nodded, “And is that why I don’t see Ed anywhere?”

I looked away from her, trying to hide the grin that was growing on my face. “Ed is a little indisposed. Definitely was not my fault.”

Trish took my arm in hers and pulled me along with her. She didn’t seem inclined to say anything, so I also kept my trap shut. We flounced down the hallway and got inside the nearest elevator, headed down to ground floor, and made our way out the back door. We continued on for some time, Trish steering us toward a less crowded section of the city, which meant I needed to be on edge.

When we reached a small building that looked very old, almost run down, but with the lights on. What I didn’t realize until I got closer was that this “run down” building was just decorated like that, it was actually a very sleek and impressively designed. There were some indicators that this was a hideaway for the better off and eccentric, but even that was hard to make out until we were right on top of the entrance. Then we stepped in, and I was blown away.

The walls were covered with occult iconography, the lighting was done in subdued tones, and the wait staff was dressed up like… well, I guess a bad imitation of abysspyres? I wasn’t certain, but I could tell this was somewhere I didn’t necessarily belong. But Trish led us over to a table in the corner, flagged down one of the wait staff, and slid into the booth she had picked out.

Sliding in across from her I gazed around again, “So… dare I ask what this is?”

“Well, this is one of those places where the weird and affluent go to hang about. Mostly idols for the punk and gothic scenes, hence all the symbols. Nobody actually thinks it’s punk or goth or anything like that, but the owner likes to be off the wall to drive off undesirables.”

I blinked a few times and shrugged. “Well, I’ll take your word for it. Anything special I need to be aware of?”

She paused, placing a finger to her lower lip. She tapped her lip for a few seconds and then nodded.

“Like I said, this place is for idols, and I’ve got a few… rivals. If one of them comes in, we need to bug out. I don’t need a scene. Also, don’t eat the sweets… except the ice cream.”

I cocked my head to one side, “Okay… so… ribs and stuff? Is that alright?”

Trish nodded and smiled. She was about to open her mouth when a waitress came over. The girl was dressed in black and green, her face covered in makeup a few shades lighter than her actual complexion, and a set of false fangs covered her canines. She set down two glasses of deep red liquid and smiled wide.

“Hey Dyl, how are things?” Trish asked, meeting the waitress’ gaze.

The waitress huffed, “I’ve told you, when I’m on shift you have to call me Shantel.”

“Whatever.” Trish said, waving her hand. “Two steaks, baked potatoes, and some breadsticks.”

I was kind of surprised by the order, but I was down with it.

“And what’s your companion having, chubby?” Dyl… Shantel asked.

I had to keep my face straight as Trish all but lost her mind. “I will end you if you call me fat again. We’re sharing. I’m goin’ to shank a biznitch.”

Shantel turned around, smiling, and walked off. She returned about ten minutes later with two large plates covered in the food Trish had ordered for us. Trish shuffled and produced a few coins to cover the meal and then she dug into the steak as if she hadn’t eaten in a week. It caused me to be mildly baffled, but eventually the hunger weighed out the slight displeasure at the lack of self control.

It was a quiet meal, and I could understand why a place like this might be kept secret by those who knew about it. I was also surprised to find that the red drink was carbonated cherry and pomegranate something or other. By the time we had finished, the small crowd had doubled in size, which I took to mean it would be wise to start getting ready to leave. And then Trish looked up, froze in place, and made a small squeaking noise.

I started to turn around to see what was going on, but she caught my arm and stopped me from turning.

“Princess, you might want to tell me what is going on.” I said quietly.

“There’s one of my… less than kind… rivals entering the establishment. We need to get out of here, like now, but there’s only one exit.” She whispered.

“Let me guess, she’s blocking it.” I said, sighing. Trish just nodded slowly.

I stood up, dragging Trish up with me. I felt her struggle, but I knew we would have to deal with this sooner or later. So I took her by the arm, making it look like I was escorting her instead of dragging her along, and made my way toward the door.

We only got halfway to the door before the girl I assumed was Trish’s rival made herself a pest.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the little wannabe. Didn’t I tell you not to come back here? First you think you’re good enough to be the center of attention, and now you seem to have developed an attitude that you can go anywhere you want. I should really teach you-“ the girl started, her jet black hair falling over one eye and her more ample figure lent to make her somewhat more imposing.

“Are you quite finished?” I interrupted. “Because honestly you’re kind of a bitch. And really boring. What even are you supposed to be, a cheap replacement for people with talent?”

I could feel Trish tense up and I would bet she was looking at me like she couldn’t believe I’d done something like that. Her so-called rival looked like I had just slapped her in the face with a rotting fish, which made me feel better about what I was going to do.

“Darling, is she supposed to be some kind of big shot? She looks like she’s one bad break out from being stuck behind a desk in an accounting firm… actually, no, she’d still need a working brain for that, and by her vacant expression, I don’t think she has one of those.” I said, turning to Trish.

“She’s… um…” Trish tried to get the words out.

“Not worth our time, got it.” I said, turning back to the girl, “So if you would please, move. We have places to be and venues to prepare for shows they will never forget.”

I walked us out past the still dumbstruck girl and got us a few blocks away before taking a deep breath and letting go of Trish’s hand so I could lean against a wall and process what I had just done. On one hand, I made some little girl humiliated beyond belief in front of a crowd. On the other hand, I took a bully down a peg, which would mean there would be repercussions to come. But on the third hand, I think it gave Trish a confidence boost.

“So… we good?” I asked, looking at my diminutive partner.

Trish just looked at me, her face torn between abject terror and elation. She finally settled on happiness and jumped on me to give me a big hug.

“Best. Bodyguard. Ever.” Trish said, nuzzling her head into my abdomen.

I sighed and rubbed her head. This might be a better gig than I had thought before.

“Just remember, in the end you are mine.” A cool female voice echoed from nowhere.