So, that’s how it feels. Not what I expected. More deliciously powerful than I could have imagined. More sickeningly horrifying than I could have dreamed.
Ed stared at his outstretched arm. It trembled as the internal war between his mind’s vindication and his stomach’s nauseous churning built to a crescendo. Acrid smoke stung his eyes and the back of his throat. The sound of spent brass settling upon the tiled floor rang through the hammering of his heart and the rasping of his excited breathing.
The gun in his hand began to shake, his knuckles white upon it, his finger still clamped down on the trigger. Bile burnt bitter upon his tongue and bubbled from his lips. Remnants of stringy yellow drooled down his chin in long strands.
I did it.
His eyes stung and tears began to fall as his body rebelled against him, ribs convulsing as the vomit came freely. The sound of his breakfast hitting the floor matched the slap of smell that struck him back a step. Bile. Cordite. Shit. Piss. The metallic tang of blood. All over his polished black shoes and carefully ironed trousers.
The stench threatened to overwhelm his senses.
Fucking Blues. I fucking did it.
Ed’s throat convulsed again, his stomach dry heaving as he looked down at his boss. Sal. Big, fat, blue-eyed Sal. His huge rolls sitting still for once. Those massive man-teats no longer heaving desperately for oxygen to power his immense frame. A sheen of cold sweat coated the big corpse’s face, looking just as dead as the man it covered.
Bastard. Thought you could get rid of me.
Red caught his eye. Not the multiple shades of blood he had splattered over the cream walls and dark tiles. No. A more innocent red. A leather shoe, polished to an almost mirror sheen, wrapped around a foot. Pale toes with red varnish on the nails. Long, lean legs with a laddered stocking covering them. A short skirt and a business shirt. A once-blue neck scarf now soaked purple. A raw wound at the throat. A face pale and lifeless. She deserved better.
Ed fell to his knees, retching and sobbing, the gun clattering to the floor from his hand. The spare magazine in his pocket stabbed into his thigh. As if it were a bearer of the plague, he wrenched the hard black aluminium clip from his pants and flicked it across the room. It clattered against the tiles and slid to the corner.
She was always nice to me. Always smiling at her desk. Those kind, gorgeous blue eyes never let on who she was. What she was. What she was capable of. Of all of them, all of those I killed, she was the one I wish I hadn’t had to.
His fingertips brushed her skin. Already the warmth was leeching from it. With a light push, her head fell to the side, a pale cheek settling in her luxurious blonde hair like a pillow. Gently Ed brushed her hair away from her face and scooped it behind her ear.
She was the one, out of the entire company, that I wished was Human.
He traced a finger along the top of her ear and found it. The light ridge of scar behind the top of the ear. Ed looked at Sal again. The same scars would be there for him as well. All of them had the scars. Where they’d been clipped to blend in.
Something wet his fingers.
Her blood, bright red and hyper-oxygenated, dripped from her lolling mouth and settled into the valleys of his fingertips as he drew them back and stared at them.
Sirens.
Their wail penetrated the double glazed glass. Even thirty stories up he could hear them. Police.
The men and women in blue weren’t his problem. Only those with the blue eyes and clipped ears.
Shuffling feet. Outside. Whispered voices normally drowned out by printers and meetings and phone chatter. Words alien to his ears. Sounds incomprehensible as language.
Coming for me.
Ed’s eyes snapped to the gun on the floor and the magazine in the corner. His hand grabbed once, twice, and finally gripped the pistol grip. His knees slipped and slithered on the blood-soaked tiles.
Someone tried to open the door.
On all fours he launched himself to the wall. A long blade cut through the door like it was made of paper. It barely made a sound. They never did. It’s why we never knew they were here.
Breath exploded from his lungs as Ed slammed bodily into the wall, knocking the magazine just out of his grasp.
The blade lanced through the door again, creating a neat triangle around the handle. His bloodied fingers scrabbled against the tile, desperately reaching for the ammunition while his wide eyes remained locked on the door.
No, no, no, no, no –
The door slammed inwards.
Darkness reigned in the corridor outside.
A shadow stood silhouetted in the darkness.
The lights are on in here. Why can’t I see it?
The silver of a metre long blade shone, slithers of pale luminescent blue glowing behind it.
Shitshitshitshitshit –
The clip slipped in. Ed racked the slide.
The Blue moved.
Lightning in a man-shaped form. Speed and grace that would be beautiful were it not so terrifying. The blade rose up, ready to eviscerate him.
Ed hadn’t realised he was screaming shrilly, his mouth stretched open to its limit.
The gun roared. The slide snapped back.
Silence.
Ed opened his eyes. A spent shell sat quietly sizzling the skin of his forearm in his lap. Shock bore the pain from him.
It lay before him, pale blue eyes bleeding luminescence on to the ground. Pointed ears unclipped. The sword sat at his feet.
Ed’s clammy hands reached out and dragged the blade to him. He could hear more of them outside. They weren’t all warriors, like this one.
Ed stood and walked towards the door.
Awesome read!! I want to read more!!!
What happens next?
Love this one
Cheers Ash! I reckon it’d be a fun novel to write – Evil Elves undermining modern humanity, blending in right in plain sight. All starting out with poor old Ed trying cut his way out through thirty floors of Blues. What then? Who’d believe him? How deep into society were the elves beyond his own tiny company? How can he…
I gotta stop there. Back to your Job, Adrian, back to your job.
Good stuff Adrian. Way to keep the action moving. I didn’t notice the time passing while you pulled me through the story.
Evil elves, eh? The phrase makes me want to snigger, and yet, I think you pulled it off in the story. Nicely done!
very cool mate!
For some reason it gives me a bit of Terry Pratchett vibe, and there’s something about shitshitshitshitshit that I love!
Great work, best wishes
Thanks Nathan! Do you try for the Black Library open window? Your writing suits that 40K universe, in my opinion. Starts in April – you should have a crack if you’re into that universe. I certainly will be!
Cheers Alex, I haven’t read much Terry Pratchett, though I’ve heard lots. Recommendations?
Hey Adrian! I didn’t know the Black Library had an open submission time! That’s good to know. I am honestly not familiar with the world of Warhammer 40k, although I have a copy of Dan Abnett’s Xenos sitting by my bed waiting for me to get through some of the other stuff I’m reading so I can get to it.
I think I’d need to familiarize myself with the world a good bit if I were going to attempt to get them to let me write a novel for them, ha. But still, I’ve read the intro and the first part of the first chapter of Xenos, and if the rest of the 40k stuff is as interesting as that, it’s certainly a world I wouldn’t mind writing in.
Terry Pratchett, by the way, is awesome. If you want to start at the “beginning” of his Discworld books, get The Colour of Magic, which is a really fun read. He has several different Discworld series, which follow various characters throughout the world, and my personal favorites are the Sam Vimes Night Watch novels. The first book of that series (which you don’t need to read any other Discworld material to understand) is “Guards! Guards!” It’s a fantasy mystery set in Ankh-Morpokh, a metropolis full of weirdness. Like everything Pratchett writes, it’s funny as hell, clever, fast-paced, and full of good characters.
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Yep! They no longer submit novel submission but you can try for 5k-10k short story submissions. It’s an incredibly rich environment, and hence a lot of fun for people who love write sci-fi.
To get into their world I would definately suggest Abnett’s work. Graham McNiell too. The Horus Heresy is their flagship series, and well worth your time, even if you’re not into playing the model games their written universe is based on. They are some of the best war sci-fi novels out there, hands down.
I’ve heard lots about Pratchett, but never actually read anything about him. I’ve got one and a half books from Joe Abercrombie to finish then I’ll have a look at em’. Just quietly, if you haven’t read anything Joe Abercrombie, he’s just rocketed to my top 3 favourite authors and is well worth a look.
Who are your other two favourites?
When we were kids my brother was into minis. Never got into it but I have a working knowledge of the universe just based on the depth and breadth of the canon. Just reading the wiki is an immersive experience.
I had some of the models but I was always borrowing the game books from my friends so I could read about the characters. That’s where the true gold of their universe is, in my opinion: in their fluff, short stories, and novels.
Gotta be Tolkein and Gemmell.
Tolkien because his book, ‘The Hobbit’, changed who I am in the sense of what I read and what I have as interests (eg. fantasy writing) way back when I was nine or ten.
Gemmell because of his characters. Reading his Rigante series was an introduction to some of my first truly grey characters – Like Connavar, and Bane, and my favourite Grymauch.
Having said that, I wish I had said five (instead of three), because McNeill and Abnett would be 4 and 5. George Martine would be 6.
So a top six would work better, I reckon.
You have a top six mate?
Joe Abercrombie is high on my list of people I need to read. I keep hearing about him, basically everywhere.
Top 6:
1. Tolkien, for the same reason you mentioned. Read The Hobbit when I was twelve and have loved fantasy ever since.
2. Jim Butcher
3. Neil Gaiman
4. Steven Erikson
5. Terry Pratchett
6. Jorge Luis Borges
Tolkein is almost a given, right? It’s certainly a life changer, especially when you appreciate his time in the Western Front and the consequent focus on friendship in his writing.
I’m gunna have to check out your following five mate, not read much of them!
Abercrombie. Mate, if there is one thing you do this year, buy the First Law trilogy. It has almost eclipsed Lord of the Rings in my book, it is that good. Not because of outrageous story lines or magical descriptions (though his magical application is pretty good and the storyline is a cracker), but because of his characters. Logen ninefingers, The Bloody-Nine, would have to be just about my favourite character of all time.
Kill the Xeno!
Haha, Ed! Burn the Heretic!