[Hol • ly]

Holly laid in her bed, she had just left the Fowl manor but something was still bugging her and she couldn't understand why. He didn't feed on her, and said that it didn't happen often, so why did he spare her? Was it because she wasn't good enough or that he felt-- bad?-- for going to feed on her? It hurt Holly's head as she tried to figure out the reason why, but she wanted to know. Frankly, she is glad she wasn't fed on but that doesn't mean she won't want to know why.

Just forget about it, she mentally yelled at herself, but it wasn't a possibility. The great thing about this, though, was that no one else in the LEP knew but her. Which meant, she can focus on this in secret without getting scolded by Root. Unless he manages to find out, Holly hasn't been very good at hiding things from him. It's almost like he has a device in her brain that reads her thoughts, but luckily that's not true.

It was almost five a.m., as she returned home rather late due to her refusing a ride from Dom. Holly knew it would have been fast, buy she didn't want to be near them anymore. Her feet ached from walking, but bandages were now around her wrists so they didn't hurt so much. She had to go to work soon, so there was no point in falling asleep now. Root would be mad at one, she stayed up all night and two, she's injured.

Oh fu... I can't tell him this happened, but there's no way I can get away with just saying in a fight. Holly rubbed her eyes roughly and felt like screaming, or at least trying to, in frustration. Hopefully she can just slip into HQ without disturbing anyone, but who knows. Some days, the common area is packed with officers Holly wouldn't mind if she never talked to go again.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Her alarm clock blared loudly, hurting her ears as she brought a hand over, blinding hitting where her alarm clock was. Now it was officially five a.m., and officially time to get to work. That didn't appeal to her, considering yesterday Root said that she was going to have to do paperwork all day.

Just get through one day, you can do it, she mentally encouraged herself as she slipped on her uniform. It hugged her body tightly but wasn't uncomfortable for the most part. All officers have to wear tight suits, so it wasn't like she was the only who had to suffer this. Sliding on her boots, Holly noticed a small note on her desk which she had no idea how long it was there or how it got there. The Hell? Did someone break into my house?

Holly laced up her boots quickly and grabbed the note and opened it, the handwriting was neat but the message inside was grim.

I heard that you were a VL, how curious. An LEP officer, a VL.

~O

A cold shiver was sent down her spine, who the Hell was this person? And what is an 'VL'? Holly bit her lip and crumpled up the note, hoping that it was just someone trying to scare her. Though the possibility wasn't that high, as the pranks against her went down after she managed to show everyone who doubted her up.

Hopefully Root would know what it means, and if not, then Foaly definitely would.

***

"Commander Root! I need to talk to you!" Holly said, knocking on his office door as she gripped the note in her hand. Perhaps it was a poor decision to crumple it up, but it was most likely still readable. Most likely.

There was no response for a bit, but soon enough Root opened the door with tired and annoyed eyes. Did she do something wrong again? There's no way he found about last night already.

"Yes, Holly? What is it?" He asked, making it obvious he wasn't going to let her in his office right

"So, I need to talk to you about a--"

"--a mission? An arrest? I thought I told you yesterday that you would have paperwork duty." His voice had a stubbornness in it, and if this was about the paperwork duty, Holly would have defended herself. But it's not, it's something much more serious.

"No, Sir, it's about a letter-- or I guess a note?-- I found in my room."

"Holly, is this letter extremely important or is this a waste of my time? We are dealing with some serious issues and I'm trying to console the parents of the hostages you so careless rescued--"

"--Commander Root! That mission was a success, and they are all fine. You know what? Here's the note, I don't care that much anymore. Read it or don't, I'll figure out on my own." Holly said, giving him the crumpled up note before she hurried off to her office. Frustrated that she wasn't getting the credit she deserved for that mission, frustrated that he didn't care about her problems, and mainly frustrated about Fowl.

Damn it, what's a good way to relieve stress? She thought, starting her bad habit of chewing her lip when angry. It was when she tasted the metallic blood on her tongue that decided to stop, knowing that even though she was angry, she shouldn't scar up her lip. A sigh left her lips as she entered her office and quietly shut it, leaning against the door. She had let anger consume her momentarily and now she had to deal with the fact that she snapped back to Root. Now she was going to really regret that stupid letter coming into her life.

Just work on the paperwork and calm down. Holly told her herself going to sit down in her chair behind her desk, an irritably headache appearing. If she had not been assigned this yesterday, she would be downstairs in the gym hitting the already roughed up punching bags until her knuckles bled. Another bad habit Holly Short possessed but didn't let herself worry over.

The stack was high, meaning that some of this was most likely late and the other stuff was recent things Root could not be bother with. It made Holly wonder, what did he have to do that kept him so busy? It could be my fault, I'm always doing reckless things so the government is worried. They'd have ever right to be, a reckless soldier running around, doing whatever they want. Who wouldn't be concerned?

These negative thoughts plagued her mind as she tried to work on the first sheet, although she knew what she was doing, the words seemed blurred. She has done this so much that she could do it with her eyes closed, which... probably shouldn't be done by an officer if they actually care about their job and all. That's a one way ticket to being fired for laziness.

It would be easy, it really would be. But I'm already at the edge, another shove and I'll fall. I don't want to lose my job soon. Holly sighed, rubbing her temples. First, though...

[Short]