《City of Roses》4.1: Five hundred bucks – the Thing in the Shadows
Advertisement
“Five hundred bucks,” says Frankie, shoveling the hair out of his face, looking up at the red-headed man. “It’s only fair,” he says. He frowns. “I mean, we’re not gonna hurt her. Right?”
“He says it’s only fair,” says the red-headed man into a slim red phone. He’s standing in the apartment’s open doorway, dark against the soft grey light outside, leaning lightly on a long portfolio tube. “Did you catch that?”
“What?” says the man in the dark gold shirt. Lit by a single bulb he’s standing in a basement at the foot of a sagging flight of stairs. “What’s fair,” he says, half stooping, swinging his head back and forth, craning to tilt the antenna of his purple phone. “Reception’s fucking wretched down here.” Somewhere in the dark something large clip-clops back and forth, grunting. A woman in a black vinyl miniskirt sits at the top of the stairs. She’s eyeing the shadows nervously.
“Five hundred,” says the red-headed man. “He wants five hundred, your grace. Half a thousand.” Frankie biting his lip says, “You’re not gonna hurt her,” to the thin man perched on the arm of the couch. “Right?” The thin man’s looking at the handle of his Japanese sword. His feet are bare.
“Five hundred dollars,” says his grace. He turns to look up at the woman in the black vinyl miniskirt. She shrugs. “This is the ex,” he says.
“Yes, your grace,” says the red-headed man.
“Fuck him,” says his grace. From somewhere in the darkness a lugubrious voice says, “Sir.” His grace lifts a hand, finger up, admonishing. “We don’t need him. Not five hundred dollars’ worth of him.”
“Sir,” says the red-headed man. He takes a step out onto the balcony. “I’m sorry, sir, I – ”
Advertisement
“Blast and rot, Gaveston, you know this. We could pull anybody off the street for this, anybody in the city, and you call me to ask if I want to pay out five hundred dollars for an ex-boyfriend. Stop bothering me with this shit.”
“Yes, your grace,” says Gaveston. He snaps his red phone shut and stands there a moment, one hand on the wrought-iron railing of the balcony, looking down at the little parking lot. A woman cuts across it, trailing cigarette smoke, a heavy white garbage bag held in one hand out away from her body.
“Well?” says Frankie. “What’s up?”
“We have the pleasure,” says Gaveston, tucking his phone into the pocket of his brown cardigan, “of refusing your offer.”
“What?” says Frankie. The thin man pushes off from the couch, headed for the door. He bats an empty Diet Coke bottle away across the carpet with the scabbarded tip of his sword.
“There will be no counter-offer,” says Gaveston, lifting his portfolio tube. “Do have a good afternoon.”
“But,” says Frankie, as they close the door behind them.
The steps down the outside of the yellow apartment building are quite narrow. They go down single-file, footsteps clanging. The thin man lifts his sword and rests it on his shoulder. “Vengeance,” he says, “should never be done on a budget.”
“The Duke has spoken, Orlando,” says Gaveston. He sighs. “And we cannot but obey.”
•
In the basement the Duke holds a finger uncertainly over his purple phone. “The middle button,” says the woman in the black miniskirt. “The one that says End.”
“Your grace,” says the lugubrious voice from somewhere in the darkness. The clip-clopping has stopped. There’s a wheezing grunt, and then that voice says, “He has decided. He will hear your petition.”
Advertisement
The Duke turns there in the circle of harsh light under the bulb and facing the shadows squats in the dust. One hand on his knee he closes his eyes and bows his head. “Erymathos,” he says, his voice ragged. He clears his throat. “You do me unspeakable honor.” He looks up, into those shadows. “My offer is this: two days of safety, and dreamless sleep, and all the meat and cereal, wine and water your belly can hold. In return, come the Equinox, we’ll hunt you with a gallowglas.” Looking down, he brushes something unseen from his knee. “You will taste the mettle of knights,” he says, “and have a chance at oblivion.” The Duke looks up into the shadows again. “That is my offer.”
After a long moment – clip-clop, clip-clop. The shadows gather themselves into a thing that hulks just outside the light. A suggestion of an arc, old yellow in this light, glistening. A black wet eye shines above it. The Duke catches his breath. At the top of the stairs the woman in the black miniskirt covers her mouth with her hand. The thing in the shadows nods, that tooth, that eye ducking once and coming up again.
“It,” says that lugubrious voice, “is acceptable.”
His grace sighs and looks away, rolling his eyes. “I can see that,” he snaps.
Advertisement
- In Serial74 Chapters
Super Soldier not Super Hero
Book 1: Follow Emily as she awakens to become a Super Soldier in the army and follow her through her training and first tour of duty. The first book is complete and it's staying up on RR. 400+ pages and 46 Chapters. Book 2: Finds Emily behind enemy lines trying to survive against an impossible army. On-going and follows the events of the first book eight months later. Reader beware this is a rough draft and that means that the grammar is going to be ...spotty. I will go back and edit chapters at a later date. I am working on getting a better editing program. If you spot grammar errors don't be shy and tell me. It might take a while for me to fix it as I am busy writing and working my full-time job. I promise you I will fix it though and I deeply appreciate those who point out errors that I can fix. Cover Photo by Piotr Wilk on Unsplash Updating every Monday. If you like this story check think about checking out my other web novel Digital Marine. If you have any extra cash laying around and you feel like supporting the story you can donate here at Patreon or PayPal. Patreon donators have options to read unedited chapters before anyone else can read them if you can't wait for the next chapter.
8 160 - In Serial58 Chapters
Jim's World
Who needs a virtual massively multiplayer game when you can play a virtual single player game of a 2D classic hit instead? Follow Jim as he gets fired and proceeds to make a state of the art game for an audience of one! Can Jim finish his game before he gets arrested for stealing company property? Or will he be hailed as the super genius who made VR possible? Find out in Jim's World!
8 369 - In Serial7 Chapters
The Clearview Logs.
Discover the beautiful city of Clearview, Colorado through the eyes of Lauren Delavigne, perennially catty teenager faced with an impending desolate mess of a summer vacation. What use are state-of-the-art arcades, the best cinemas in the region and all the assorted human fauna camping out in them when you don’t have your friends with you? And when your brother keeps venturing out in the woods to look for turtles. Not to mention the whole thing with wild animal attacks. All of this, plus an ongoing history assignment that may undo a whole year of dedicated studying if it doesn’t get done fast, and get done right. But worry not. There are plenty of odd historical tidbits to hunt down in Clearview. Plenty to discover, to unearth, tucked away in nooks and crannies untouched by time. Hidden beneath the fertile soil, nestled in the boles of trees. All a scratch away. Clearview Logs is a diary-style serial fiction web novel about the life and troubles of a teenager in an alternative America in the mid-70s, Inspired by Stephen King’s blend of genre tropes and by Simon Stålenhag’s slice-of-life-focused speculative fiction. CW: Contains graphic descriptions of violence and other mature things.
8 271 - In Serial20 Chapters
Ultimate Experience
[Warning: grotesque violence, excessive gore, r*pe, morally questionable content, and a protagonist who means well] A man spent 100,000 years in endless battle within an immaterial realm to be reincarnated into a fantasy world. Within that time he became an animal who knew nothing but war. He had forgotten who he was before and even how to speak, but he gained a skill from 100,000 years of war; he gained Ultimate Experience.
8 191 - In Serial8 Chapters
The Games We Play
Bonds are what binds us all together. the unsaid and unmentioned bond between a mother and a child, the deeply rooted and yet silent bond between two survivors and the bond that runs so deeply one cannot live without the other. the bond between two Brothers. Winston and Brian, two twins, bound by blood have such a bond. they have several differences, however, these differences only bind them together tighter. they play many games together, but soon, Winston and Brian will play a game together that leaves only one to tell the tale.
8 206 - In Serial39 Chapters
Strings of Fate - Avenger's Soulmate Story
Find out what happens when a girl finds out that she has some of the earth's mightiest heroes as her mates..Our protagonist has 8 soulmates in total:Iron ManCaptain AmericaBlack PantherWinter SoldierSpiderManQuicksilverBlack WidowLoki LaufeysonPS: The chapters with a (*) will contain some mature content.
8 193