Nyssa:

Nyssa was busy looking into the future.

She had her sketch book balanced on one knee and a half eaten burrito arranged on the other. The paper was filled with numbers and half-finished sketches of faces and assorted objects.

“What are you doing this weekend, Wolfgang?” she asked into the comm. She propped her feet up on one of the computer’s keyboards causing the machine to make an urgent beep beep beep!

Nyssa moved so fast she almost dislodged her burrito and mashed a few buttons on the console, turning off the alarm.

“Command,” said a dry voice coming through the comm, now under the table. “I will remind you that the comm should only be used for official security-related issues.”

“Party pooper.” Nyssa took a gulp of her tea and deposited the remainder of her burrito in the mini fridge she installed. Humming a little tune, she sketched the beautiful face of a young Nymph girl.

“Wolfgang, possible target,” Nyssa barked, suddenly serious. “Eastern Quarter by the meangery. Nymph female, approximately 175cm, blonde hair, green dress, banging bod.” A few seconds later, Wolfgang’s gravelly voice came thought the comm.

“Command, I have eyes on the target. What is she going to do?” Most of the security staff had accepted Nyssa’s strange ability to sense crime before it happened.

“Nothing,” Nyssa grinned at the screen showing Wolfgang’s wiry frame. “But she’s totally your type. You should ask for her number.”

Wolfgang glared dryly at Nyssa through one of the cameras. The monitors were only black and white by Nyssa could almost see Wolfgang’s eyes flash red with annoyance.

He took his job way too seriously.

The name Wolfgang didn’t suit the somber ghoul. It probably wasn’t his own name. Because they lived so long, many ghouls switched identities regularly. They usually just took the name (and social security) of their latest snack. According to Wolfgang, dead flesh was a delicacy and usually left a grave conveniently empty. Wolfgang worked during the day at the goblin markets and then at night when his body reverted back to being corpsified, he slept in a very comfortable coffin as the dearly departed Edgar Vincent Wolfgang.

All in all, a good setup for all parties involved. Except maybe the guy getting eaten.

“Code red,” Nyssa snapped, drawing furiously. Visions flashed in front of her eyes, distracting her. She pushed them out of the way and focused on the paper on her lap. The stark white and swift brush of the pencil helped clarify her thoughts. “Just north of you, Wolfie. Do you see the two thugs by the entrance?”

“What do they look like?”

“Um,” Nyssa wasn’t too sure. The images were a bit muddled. There was too much going on. “They look … the same. They are about to start trouble with another customer.”

“There are twins by the front door,” Wolfgang said, conversationally. He was confident that he could handle a couple of goons. “Ugly, they have to be at least part ogre.”

“That’s them,” Nyssa leaned forward in her chair so she could flick through the different feeds on the nearest monitor. She focused in on Wolfgang’s wiry frame, pushing through the surging crowd towards the two goons. “Get them out of-wait!” Wolfgang froze. “There's more of them.” Even as she spoke, two more bulky goons, bigger than the twins, stepped inside the market doors.

“Bannafet, back Wolfgang up,” Nyssa said into the comm. Bannafet, another member of the security team, only grunted. Nyssa had yet to hear Bannafet speak, she doubted he was intelligent enough, but he did come in handy during a fight. Bannafet was a trow; big and ugly with skin like rock and an appetite for anything it could get it’s hands on (Nyssa had seen Bannafet chow down on bone and rock indiscriminately). Bannafet’s immense strength and ability to regrow hacked off limbs served him well in his line of work.

Wolfgang approached the group of bulky ogres. The didn’t notice him, instead, they made a beeline for a small stall manned by a wizened old goblin. The goblin looked as if he was about to make a run for it but before he could, one of the twins grabbed his thin forearm. The monitors didn’t have any sound, but Nyssa could see that the tiny goblin was distressed. Just as the goblin began to pull money out of the stall’s strongbox, Wolfgang reached the group.

He talked to the twins for a moment, his dark eyes narrowing menacingly and flashing an angry red. When that didn’t work, Wolfgang punched one of them in the mouth.

Twin one went reeling, his bulk stumbled off one way and his teeth went the other. His hand was ripped from the goblin’s forearm and the little creature lost no time disappearing into the crowd. Wolfgang turned neatly on his heel and drove his fist into the other twin’s considerable gut.

He went down like a tonne of bricks.

Before the other two goons could make a move, Bannafet arrived. The hulking security guard dwarfed the massive the massive thugs. Bannafet grabbed the two by their collars and literally threw them out into the street.

Meanwhile, Wolfgang was grouched next to where Thing One and Thing Two lay sprawled on the dirty ground. He was talking to them quietly but whatever they said must have enraged him. He grabbed one goon by the hair and began dragging him towards the exit. That didn’t go down well with his brother who lept at the ghoul. Wolfgang dodged his clumsy strike almost disdainfully and delivered a devastating kick to the moron’s temple, knocking him out cold.

Wolfgang grabbed two fists full of hair and dragged the brothers out into the cold, one still struggling valiantly, the other a dead weight. When he had finished disposing of the rubbish, she shot the camera - and Nyssa - a wry grin.

“Well that was exciting,” Nyssa said mildly. Wolfgang shoved his fingers through his shoulder length hair, pushing it out of his face.

“Are they coming back, Nyssa?” he asked through his headpiece. Nyssa flipped over a fresh page, looking into the future for any signs of the goons. After only a moment, her pencil began to sing.

She drew violently, scrapping the pencil so fiercely over paper that the sharpened lead was ground down to almost nothing. Images danced before her eyes.

A stone angel weeping.

Water dripping over budding roses.

Fog creeping through the darkening shadows.

The uneven tread of cobblestones.

She thickened the twisted lines of her sketch, digging deeply into the soft paper, again and again.

Eventually, her vision cleared and her hands steadied. She was left with a scene of carnage described in lead and a foreboding feeling in her stomach. She eventually became aware of Wolfgang’s slightly panicked voice calling her name through the comm and someone banging on the office door. She ignored them both, lifting up her artwork to the light of the monitors.

“Well, there goes my whole weekend.”

There is a bit more action in these next few chapters. I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am. Tell me what you think of Wolfgang/ghouls so far. I had fun creating his character and he is a major part of the next few chapters.