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Enroll

This is a continuation to what I wrote yesterday. albeit earlier in the story. Which makes me happy. Enjoy!

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“Did you enroll yet?”

Ashley Renald stared at her cup of coffee and sighed heavily. “No.”

“Enrollment is only for a few more days, Ashley.”

“Dad, I know!” She looked to the large man sitting on the diner bench across from her. She looked away as he raised his eyebrow in surprise. She didn’t usually yell at her dad.

“Ashley, what’s been going on? Ever since graduation, you’ve been acting strangely.”

Graduation was a month ago. She was top of her class; valedictorian. There were several other cadets who did just as well as she did in most weapons. She excelled with the sniper rifle. No one else could do as well as she could. Ashley was able to find the target, aim and fire quicker than any other cadet, by more than five seconds. It didn’t seem like much, but five seconds could mean a lot in tight situations.

Ashley looked to Captain Renald. “Dad, I don’t know if I want to be part of the Agency. Or, well, what if I want to join the Agency, but to be a Messenger?”

He looked taken aback, but the look slowly faded. “I wanted to be surprised, but I guess I’m not.” He sighed. “Ashley, you’re 20. You’re an adult. You can do what you want. You have a few days to think about it. Please think carefully.”

She nodded and watched as her dad moved out of the booth and went to join his cronies. Ashley finished her coffee, left money and went for a long walk to figure out what she wanted to do.

Do you have a permit?

via Daily Prompt: Permit

“Do you have a permit?” The stern voice stated from behind her.

Ashley turned around and saw an agent close by. He already had his badge out for her inspection. She knew his body cams would be on as well. Though she knew the man, she still took a good look at his badge. Mostly to annoy him. Once she was satisfied, Ashley nodded and set the sniper rifle down. She took off her ski mask and breathed a sigh of relief as the air cooled her warm skin. She pulled out her ID, her L2K, and her permit. She handed it all to the agent and waited as he used his electronic device to scan everything in.

“You know, you were called in.” Agent Riley Renald sounded slightly surprised.

“I was told not to be too careful. This is a warning, not a final notice.”

Her cold tone of voice made the agent look into her eyes. They stared at each other for a moment, then he nodded and looked back to her information.

“There’s a request out for you. The department is looking for good people. Interested?”

“Not yet.”

“Ashley, Captain Renald would be proud if you came to work for us. A lot of us would be.”

She looked at him but didn’t answer. After a moment, he looked back to the paperwork. Agent Riley finished scanning and documenting everything and handed her back the stack.

“Everything is in order.”

“Isn’t it always?”

He sighed as she put her things away, drew the mask back over her face and turned back to the sniper rifle. Agent Riley watched as Ashley took aim and fired at her target. A glass window on the skyscraper across the street exploded in red paint. She wasn’t using bullets, this was a warning. If it were the real deal, no one would have seen her, and she would not have been aiming at the skyscraper’s windows. Those were treated and bulletproof.

Ashley hit the window three more times with red paint, then put away her rifle. Once all her equipment was put away, including her mask, she turned back to Riley.

“Breakfast?”

He chuckled. “That’d be great. sis.”

She smiled and all the coldness of earlier melted away. Riley shook his head and the two left the rooftop.

Creature

via Daily Prompt: Creature

This is from “Raven’s Blood”. The book is finished and is about piracy (sort of) and people helping creatures that I made up.

Eesan walked across the gangplank, listening to the gasps of the crew members. Some gasped in disgust, some in surprise and one in sheer joy. That person stepped forward in unabashed curiosity and stopped in front of the Oorii.

It was beautiful. It wore no clothing, had no hair, but beautiful yellow eyes, no nose, but it did have nostrils. There were no ears, but there was a flap of skin over what could be ears. It had fins that rose from the top of its head and ran down to the back of its neck, and had no genitals to speak of. Its scales gleamed a rainbow green in the sun. Denny could see its gills on its neck and the web between its fingers and toes. It stood taller then most humans and had two arms, two legs, ten fingers and ten toes.

Curiosity taking over, Denny reached out and placed his hand on the creatures slightly protruding brow. In the second their skin connected, Raven could no longer think of herself as Denny. Eesan’s thoughts were invading her own, greeting her and making her feel very welcomed. He knew of her and was very happy to meet her and see her.

Raven’s hand traveled down the Oorii’s face and rested on his shoulder. Eesan took her hand and placed it over his heart. She could feel it beating strongly against her palm. She smiled at the feel and stepped closer as the Oorii placed his hand on the back of her neck. They stepped closer again and rested their foreheads against each other.

Their thoughts connected fully and Eesan knew her story and why she was really here. Raven saw his story as well and saw how much the Oorii thought about her. She was a little embarrassed, but her heart was warmed by the sentiment. Once their thoughts were shared, Eesan pulled away. He bowed to Raven, then went to Captain Dawson. Eesan placed a hand on Captain Dawson’s shoulder and the Captain copied the gesture. In a moment, the human nodded and the two separated. Captain Dawson went to stand in front of Raven and nodded to her.

Daily Prompt: Sympathize

via Daily Prompt: Sympathize

From book two of The Grey House Trilogy: Inside The Grey House

There were three people shackled to the wall. Their mouths were gagged. There was a chair on the wall opposite the Slayers and several empty shackles. Dean was a mess. His clothing was torn and bloody. She could see the ripped flesh through his tattered pants. His upper half seemed unscathed, but she was amazed he was still alive. Apparently the werewolves knew how to attack without killing. Shaking her head in sympathy, she went to him and untied his gag. Natalia then walked to the chair, picked it up, set it closer to Dean and sat down. She crossed her legs and arms, watching him with close scrutiny.

Puzzled

via Daily Prompt: Puzzled

This is not from the trilogy. It is from a book I haven’t finished yet. It’s called “Feed the Piggies”. It is a love story, of sorts. And that’s all I’m telling you.

_________

She frowned. “I don’t understand. How do they not know about you?”

“They’ve found two of my kills, but never connected it to me. The rest are thought to be runaways.”

Once the chipper was apart enough, and the motor out of the way, he grabbed the hose and turned the water on low. He used the low pressure to get the bigger pieces and collected those as he could. With the bigger pieces gone, he turned the water on higher and sprayed down the wood chipper.

There was a drain in the barn that flowed into a special septic tank that was not attached to the one for the main house. This tank’s outflow pipes led into the forest. Willem cleared out the septic tank often to make sure it didn’t back up. He was very careful with how he got rid of the remains. Jail was not an option. Sasha watched Willem for a few minutes, a puzzled look on her face. She had no idea what he was doing. Willem saw the look and wondered how she could miss the obvious.

Sasha shook her head to clear it. “Why don’t you want them to know what you’ve done?”

He nearly glared at her. “I don’t want to get caught.”

“But if they know that you’re killing and they can’t catch you, or don’t know who’s doing the killings, that’s a real thrill.”

“I don’t want to end up in jail or dead myself. I prefer the anonymity. You like that they found your kills? You like that they gave you a nickname?”

It was more statement than question, but she nodded and smiled. “They don’t have a clue who I am. Before all this started, I never had a record, never once talked to the police. They don’t have my fingerprints or DNA or anything. It’s great!”

He nodded and didn’t say anything. The police had her fingerprints and her DNA, but didn’t have a name for the person attached to it. At some point, she would make a mistake. She wasn’t careful enough.

“So, what are you doing anyway? Do you chop a lot of wood?”

He paused and tried not to laugh at her ignorance. There had been traces of blood and bone on the chipper when she walked into the barn. The huge plastic collection bag had traces of blood on it and tough the bag was black, the blood was still noticeable. Willem looked at Sasha for a moment, wondering if this were a game. She could be trying to look dumber than she was. Some people did that as a defensive mechanism.

Willem decided to let her figure it out and shrugged. “Just cleaning up some things that were lying around. I’ve got to finish cleaning up. Why don’t you go inside and I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

Conveyor/Convey

via Daily Prompt: Conveyor

‘Conveyor’ didn’t spark anything, so I’m going with ‘convey’ and posting another paragraph from The Grey House Trilogy. This is from book two, Inside the Grey House.

Natalia looked up at Joseph for a moment before trying to stand, amazed that he was capable of speaking more then just a couple sentences. This was the most he had ever conveyed to her. There was an amused look on his face that seemed to suggest he understood what she was thinking. Natalia shook her head then stood slowly. “What happens now?”

Detective Cavity

via Daily Prompt: Cavity

So a story idea came to me. I didn’t realize it would be so sad. Take care of each other, please. Let’s not end up like the people in this story.

The Bridge

Detective Cavity stood on the bridge, staring out at the city. Nearby, the fog horn blew. The lights and fog along the river were obscuring his view, but he loved this time of night. The lights had halos; the colors of the buildings and the noise from the restaurants and bars were muted. He took a breath and allowed the stillness to seep into his bones. This was his favorite place in the city. Unfortunately, this spot was used a lot by suicidal individuals.

His son flitted through his mind. Ten years ago, John Jr jumped from this bridge and ended his life. Detective Cavity didn’t understand then and didn’t understand now why someone would do take their own life. It left behind nothing but pain.

John took another look at the river and reached into his pocket. He took out a toy car. Every year, on the anniversary of John Jr’s death, the Detective came here. Every year, he dropped one of Jr’s small cars into the river. He knew he shouldn’t, as that was polluting the river, but he wanted his son to have his cars. He collected to many. Some were plastic, some were metal. Detective Cavity sometimes thought that the cars might end up in someone else’s hands. Maybe they floated downstream and ended up on the shore. Another child would find it and find joy in it.

He sighed again and caressed the metal car. This one was made of metal. It was an older car, a classic. Detective Cavity didn’t know the make or model, but he liked the fins on this one. John Jr knew all the names of the older cars; knew a lot of the newer cars too.

A tear came to his eye. He never understood why John Jr took his own life. There was no note, and he had been so happy. He was always making sure everyone else was happy, too. Since there was no note, there was an investigation. His death was ruled a suicide. Nothing pointed to foul play.

He wasn’t part of the case. He was too distraught to think. His wife Naomi was the strong one. She took care of everything and made sure their other kids were all right. John wasn’t sure what he would have done without her. He smiled, she was an amazing woman. By the time he returned to work, the case was closed. He read everything over and agreed with the conclusion. The department knew what they were doing.

Something on the car caught the skin on his finger and he looked down at it again.

“Ten years, son. You would have been 26. We all miss you so much. Shane just graduated from college. He wants to be a therapist. Help people so they don’t take their own life. Lisa is in her second year but still doesn’t know what she wants to do. She’ll figure it out. I know she will. Your mom didn’t cry, but I know she was thinking about you. She handed me this car when I told her I was going for a walk. ‘Take this one. It was one of his favorites.’ It’s been hard, Johnny. For all of us. Just wish I knew why you did it.”

He let go of the car and watched as it fell end over end into the water. It made a tiny sound when it hit the water and was gone.

“I guess we’ll never know. I hope you’re resting in peace son. Goodnight.”

Detective Cavity nodded and walked into the night, heading back home to his family.

The end.

____________________________________________

And if you need it:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Call 1-800-273-8255

Available 24 hours everyday

Stifle

via Daily Prompt: Stifle

From The Grey House Book One:

The overpowering stench of werewolf and blood rushed into her nostrils, knocking any calm she encountered. Blindly, she searched for the cool metal doorknob, yanking open the door, hoping the outside world would remove the image from her mind. The blaring sun, now low on the horizon, fought hard to burn the image more fully into her retinas. Stifling a cry, Natalia stumbled across the street to the bus shelter, falling against the glass and sliding into the hard unyielding seat.

Inkling

via Daily Prompt: Inkling

I looked for an instance of the word “inkling” in my trilogy. Couldn’t find one. So I used a thesaurus, found that “hint” is another word for “inkling” and found this paragraph.

She started laughing softly. There was a hint of hysteria to the sound, though. His voice had been so sheepish, so hopeful. Her laughter turned to tears, as the absurdity of it all crashed in upon her. She had just been talking about vampires and Slayers and the craziness of the world to a werewolf, and he was worried about catching an STD. She felt his arms again, reassuring, caring, strong, human. She calmed down and answered.

Daily Prompt: Inscrutable

via Daily Prompt: Inscrutable

An exert from The Grey House Trilogy Book Two: Inside the Grey House:

The large vampire knew he could win this fight if he used his full speed to knock Natalia to the ground. He would have her down and the fight done in seconds, but he wasn’t done yet, and neither was she. The fight was still brewing in her, still simmering in hate. Wanting Natalia to feel as if she had a chance, Vincent thought about his next move, and understood what he could do to make himself look a little less competent. His men would know he was faking, but the human would not. A steady, hard look on his face, Vincent placed his feet under him, leaning forward on his hands like a sprinter at the start of a race. Knowing he could still take many hits, he waited for the fight to continue, watching as Natalia backed up, getting some distance between them. Her inscrutable expression had not change, and she wasn’t standing how he expected her to.