Monday, August 11, 2014

Simone: Beyond Horror

    Antony Neverrest strode into the room exactly on time, to the second, as usual. It never sat well with Simone, that unnatural timeliness. He was too strange for her liking, even for an assassin. But he got jobs done, and that was what mattered. Until someone gave him a good reason to kill her. It wasn't inevitable, but she didn't survive by taking chances. "You're looking blander today than usual, Antony," she confessed, her tone cool. 

    "This one was boring," he replied, a slight smirk playing on his lips. She'd have found him attractive if it weren't for that awful leather coat. Really worn out for her taste, and it covered up far too much. "I can't help it if you give me easy targets." Simone raised an eyebrow, taking mental notes. What did that say about him? She already knew he was skilled, that much was obvious- but most people were happy to take a job that they knew wouldn't kill them. If he was genuinely upset from not being challenged, in this field, and with that caliber of target... 

    She stopped analyzing just long enough to notice him fixing that piercing stare of his on her, and made a conscious effort not to let slip how uncomfortable she felt. She swore she could feel him looking straight into her thoughts, sometimes. Deeper, even, if there exists anything beyond thought. "Well?" She demanded, smoothly ending the moment. "I send you out for heads, not complaints." If he was any of her other assassins, she'd have mentioned money, but it was obvious from day one that he didn't care. Another thing to wonder about.

    His smirk grew as he tossed her one of the uniform canvas bags she required all of her agents to use, and she peered inside to find a face that looked beyond horror. There was no fear in the frozen eyes, and although its mouth was open in what Simone was sure had been a tearing, barely human scream, it didn't look horrified. It looked desperate. Hopeless. Like it knew nothing could be done- no one would hear- but it screamed just because it couldn't stop itself. And what stood out to her the most was that while Antony mainly brought back unrecognizable bits and pieces of head, this one was perfectly preserved in stone. 

    "She wasn't elemental," Simone said aloud, as a question, but when she looked up he was already gone. She cursed, and held down a button on her wall, sending orders out to everyone in the area to search the house, and everything surrounding it, as far and as fast as they could. They wouldn't let anything, or anyone, out. They would catch him, this time. There was little worse in her business than keeping around an assassin who was too good at his job, and liable to turn. Antony Neverrest owned too many mysteries to stay alive for long.

    A tree with a consciousness watched with immense amusement as a well trained and heavily armed team of guards jogged right past it, hilariously blind.

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