《Cupid's Match : CUPID'S MATCH BOOK 1》Chapter 4
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I walk through into an immensely hectic, open plan office.
It's predominantly white - like the reception area- with ancient styled black columns reaching up to the high ceiling. The left wall instantly grabs my attention; across it is a huge collage of faces, names and places - linked together with pieces of pink string. Towards the far wall is an arch, and beyond it a regal stone statue of a woman draped in a toga.
There is a babble of noise as people in white suits rush around talking into headsets. I can't help but notice that everyone who works here is stunningly attractive â do they put good looking as a job requirement or something?
Cal strides through them, looking once over his shoulder and raising his eyebrow at me. I shake my head to myself and follow him along a walkway between the rows of computers, manoeuvring myself around the people hurrying about.
It looks almost like a stock trading floor in here, not a dating service.
As we walk forwards, I notice a number of monitors hanging on the walls, looping through a stream of different images. Top ten undesirables suddenly flashes across one of the screens. For some reason one of the pictures catches my eye and I jolt my gaze upwards, but before I can focus on it the screen fades into darkness.
I cast my gaze back to Cal, who has now reached the door to a glass walled office. He opens it and gestures that I should go inside.
"Take a seat Miss Black," he says, his tone of voice still cold.
I glare at him and walk inside; sitting down in a quaint, red armchair facing the desk.
He closes the door, grabs a black envelope from a filing cabinet against the wall, then takes a seat in front of me. He sighs heavily, making him seem much older than the seventeen years I presume him to be. In fact, his whole air makes him seem much more grown up.
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"You're really not what I was expecting," he says, shaking his head and opening the envelope.
"Yes, you said," I reply dryly "Now are you going to tell me what I'm doing here?"
Cal slides a piece of paper out of the black packet and looks it over before flicking his gaze back to me.
"We recently ran your details through our system," he begins "And you were matched with someone...someone we did not expect to see matched with anyone."
I shake my head.
"Why would you even run my details through your system? Why do you even have my details?" I say irritably.
Cal smiles coolly.
"We have everyone's details," he replies "but that is not the issue here."
I look at him angrily.
"Well can you tell me what the issue is?"
He stares at me, his eyes flashing an icy blue. Then he sighs again.
"It's a difficult situation for us here," he says "I risk breaking our...our laws by telling you what I'm about to tell you."
I raise an eyebrow.
"What? Dating club laws?!" I ask mockingly.
Cal ignores me and takes a deep breath as though preparing himself for something.
"We are...cupids," he says, running a hand through his perfect blonde hair "We match people. We have done for many centuries. But we do not dabble with love ourselves. It is too dangerous."
He pauses. I stare at him, nonplussed.
What is he talking about?
"Many years ago, one of our own went off the rails. Dabbled with human affairs, human hearts. Obsessed over human women, and made them obsess over him," he says darkly "He became very dangerous. His power grew, his ideology got increasingly extreme. And we banished him from our organisation. From the cupids. Forever."
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I roll my eyes.
"Is this some kind of joke?"
Cal shakes his head slowly.
"Unfortunately not Miss Black," he replies quietly.
I decide to humour him.
"So what has this got to do with me?" I say.
Cal takes a deep breath, and looks into my eyes intensely.
"Recently, for the first time in cupid history, he was matched with someone," he shakes his head "He shouldn't even be in the system. He definitely shouldn't have a match. It's too dangerous for him to have a match. And if he finds out..."
I raise an eyebrow.
Cal pretends not to notice. He doesn't remove his gaze from my face.
"Lila Black. He will do anything to get what he wants. He is the original. The most powerful of us all. He is....Cupid himself."
He narrows his eyes.
"And he has been matched...with you."
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Fire and Blood
There are a lot of stories about people reborn into a fantasy world but most such individuals seem to be young, inexperienced and forced to start from the bottom up. But who attempts to summon a nobody, expending vast magical power to do so? What if there is an effort to summon a champion of the celestial host and strip them of their free will, binding them by their True Names only to be foiled as they vacate themselves to follow possession by another? What if the one summoned from something approximating our own world is a veteran in her thirties who now finds herself in a form alien, powerful, but far from invulnerable? It involves a whole lot of fire.
8 141Permanight (Hiatus)
The world of Mecc has fallen into permanent night. Monsters roam the countryside, the sun refuses to rise, and towns and cities alike are falling into disarray. Their only hope is the ancient prophecy, which says a hero of light will emerge to save humanity in their darkest hour... 20 years from now. Too little, too late for those living now. In the midst of the the apocalypse, college student Oscar McAllister finds himself out of a job and out of luck. After accidentally ending up slaying a daemon on his way to get the groceries however, Oscar is haplessly drawn into the world of adventuring and questing, and with the old world falling apart - Oscar becomes one of the many tasked with trying to hold everything together. As he fights however, he is forced to face not just the evil that lurks in the shadows: but the indifference that lurks in people’s hearts. The world is playing a waiting game with human lives, and Oscar is caught right in the middle of it. Note: This is a dark LitRPG story, with dungeons, levelling, and quests in a contemporary setting. Permanight is currently on hiatus while I prepare a rewrite based on the current feedback I've recieved. I'm sorry for the bad news, but I want to bring the world to life in a way that feels real, and at the moment - I'm not entirely convinced that I'm doing that.
8 137Temporal Deities
In the far future, humanity has spread to new worlds. While spaceships are used to travel to these different worlds, they aren't new planets, but different versions of Earth. Bifrostal vessels are able to travel through space and reality itself. In this new era, several super-corporations emerge and expand rapidly in power and reach. Named after deities of old, they are the true rulers of the three temporal galaxies. Haloke Shanendoah is a lone warrior who has dedicated herself to the increasingly vain quest of finding her lost brother. Her journey brings her to the planet Tefnut where she encounters a corporate spy, Naak. Naak is a secret agent who operates in the perpetual war between the corporations. He thrives in the arena of secrets and craves power and control. Together, they'll try to discover what they stand for in a universe that seems to grow ever bleaker.
8 151Rodentia Journeys
After being scarred by a dark lord, a mouse woman partakes on a quest to obtain three ancient and powerful artifacts. Whether reward or ruin lies at the end of the road, she cannot be certain, but either way, it's all the same to her, as she partakes on a journey of exploration, loss and experience points.
8 223Unwillingly, Unprotected Heart | ✔
[COMPLETED] Hayden Pierce is the school's bad boy, not to mention the Alpha of the largest, strongest and most feared pack in the U.S, the Triton Kings. So technically....he's bad-ass. He has all the looks, the charm, the money, the power...everything. But the one thing Ethan can't stand is rogues. So what happens, when all of a sudden he finds out a rogue becomes his mate? Zara Ferrari is the rogue...THE rogue. In fact, she is the most wanted rogue in most of America, Australia, Europe and the Caribbean...and she's NEVER been caught. She is mostly wanted for treason, trespassing and crimes that will blow your mind. So what happens when she makes a mistake and stumbles upon the wrong lands? What happens when she crosses the line and steps in front of the Alpha, the bad-ass Alpha? What so happens when she discovers that this heartless Alpha...is her mate? [UNEDITED] Copyright © Ashleigh Parkers 2015 _____________________________________________ HIGHEST RANK: WEREWOLF #54 || TEEN FICTION #73
8 126Naruto's Life
What of Kakashi turns into a Dog? What if he found out about Naruto life?
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