I'd wanted to.
Even when I reached the third floor landing, I still had to look up. The leather was nearly seven feet tall, and my head only hit his thick chest. He glared down at me past his wide, flat nose and smiled, holding out a meaty hand. "Gimme your piece."
I returned his smile and slowly reached under the trench to remove the gun from my pants. I dropped it into his waiting palm.
"You'll get this back when your business is done. Head up to the sixth."
I didn't say anything else to him. I stepped past his hulking form and climbed the next three flights of stairs. I coughed once when I got to the top. The downward spiral was beginning again already.
There was another orc behind the stairwell door, and he opened it for me when I arrived. He looked a lot like the first, but with straighter black hair and a fancy silver earring. His ordinance was heavier too, a fully-automatic assault rifle with an extended clip.
"You Daaé?"
"I'm the only one on the stairs."
He grunted a laugh. "Smart ass. Third door on your left. Don't touch anything."
I nodded and walked by. I was in a long hallway with a pink marble floor and a scattering of doors on either side, each leading to a different financial office. All of them were likely owned by one House or another, through all sorts of shell corporations and entities that made them difficult to trace all the way back. The third door on the left belonged to 'Simon & Williams Accounting'. It was the only one whose lights were on. Looking through the small glass window, I could see a receptionist desk with a pretty young woman sitting behind it. I turned the handle and walked in.
"I'm-"
"Daaé," the woman said. She was a petite thing, with shoulder length blonde hair and delicate features. I could see the tips of her ears poking out through strands of gold.
"Does Mr. Clean have a thing against homo sapiens?"
The elf smiled. "My mother is a traditional human, so I would say probably not. You can have a seat over there." She directed me towards a row of chairs.
"I have to wait?"
"You don't like to wait?"
I approached the desk. I was six floors up and a hundred feet in from the street, and I could feel my line to Evan wasn't as strong as I'd like. "I left my friend outside in the van. I'd prefer her to still be there when I get back."
She looked like she actually cared. "Just a minute."
She stepped out from behind the desk and walked past me to a door on the left, giving me a whiff of fruit and spices. It wasn't perfume, elves just smelled that way, even halves. I took a deep breath to gather it in. For the dying, it was like taking a hit of life.
Of all the new humans, elves were the most integrated into the society of the now 'traditional' humans, to the point that half-elves were becoming somewhat common. Others, like the orcs, goblins, ogres, and other so-called leathers were still fighting for equal rights, fair job opportunities, and all of the socioeconomic bullshit that had plagued the prior minorities for so long. It was amazing how quickly that racism had been forgotten once a few new races had started manifesting.
In the beginning it had been much worse, with a whole lot of 'cides. Suicide, fratricide, infanticide, genocide. Until the Houses had put an end to it, even going so far as to force the major governments to parcel out land where the leathers that didn't want to deal with all the crap could do their own thing. That move had ended the threat of open warfare, and limited the problems to simple hate and segregation.
We never learned.
She came back in. "He'll see you now."
"Thank you, Miss..."
"Salazar."
"Miss Salazar. I don't deserve your kindness."
Her eyes were soft and sincere. "You look like you could use all the kindness you can get." She flashed me another smile, gave me another fruit and spice walk-by, and motioned towards the door.
I pushed through a frosted glass door into an open space filled with low-walled cubicles and
Even when I reached the third floor landing, I still had to look up. The leather was nearly seven feet tall, and my head only hit his thick chest. He glared down at me past his wide, flat nose and smiled, holding out a meaty hand. "Gimme your piece."
I returned his smile and slowly reached under the trench to remove the gun from my pants. I dropped it into his waiting palm.
"You'll get this back when your business is done. Head up to the sixth."
I didn't say anything else to him. I stepped past his hulking form and climbed the next three flights of stairs. I coughed once when I got to the top. The downward spiral was beginning again already.
There was another orc behind the stairwell door, and he opened it for me when I arrived. He looked a lot like the first, but with straighter black hair and a fancy silver earring. His ordinance was heavier too, a fully-automatic assault rifle with an extended clip.
"You Daaé?"
"I'm the only one on the stairs."
He grunted a laugh. "Smart ass. Third door on your left. Don't touch anything."
I nodded and walked by. I was in a long hallway with a pink marble floor and a scattering of doors on either side, each leading to a different financial office. All of them were likely owned by one House or another, through all sorts of shell corporations and entities that made them difficult to trace all the way back. The third door on the left belonged to 'Simon & Williams Accounting'. It was the only one whose lights were on. Looking through the small glass window, I could see a receptionist desk with a pretty young woman sitting behind it. I turned the handle and walked in.
"I'm-"
"Daaé," the woman said. She was a petite thing, with shoulder length blonde hair and delicate features. I could see the tips of her ears poking out through strands of gold.
"Does Mr. Clean have a thing against homo sapiens?"
The elf smiled. "My mother is a traditional human, so I would say probably not. You can have a seat over there." She directed me towards a row of chairs.
"I have to wait?"
"You don't like to wait?"
I approached the desk. I was six floors up and a hundred feet in from the street, and I could feel my line to Evan wasn't as strong as I'd like. "I left my friend outside in the van. I'd prefer her to still be there when I get back."
She looked like she actually cared. "Just a minute."
She stepped out from behind the desk and walked past me to a door on the left, giving me a whiff of fruit and spices. It wasn't perfume, elves just smelled that way, even halves. I took a deep breath to gather it in. For the dying, it was like taking a hit of life.
Of all the new humans, elves were the most integrated into the society of the now 'traditional' humans, to the point that half-elves were becoming somewhat common. Others, like the orcs, goblins, ogres, and other so-called leathers were still fighting for equal rights, fair job opportunities, and all of the socioeconomic bullshit that had plagued the prior minorities for so long. It was amazing how quickly that racism had been forgotten once a few new races had started manifesting.
In the beginning it had been much worse, with a whole lot of 'cides. Suicide, fratricide, infanticide, genocide. Until the Houses had put an end to it, even going so far as to force the major governments to parcel out land where the leathers that didn't want to deal with all the crap could do their own thing. That move had ended the threat of open warfare, and limited the problems to simple hate and segregation.
We never learned.
She came back in. "He'll see you now."
"Thank you, Miss..."
"Salazar."
"Miss Salazar. I don't deserve your kindness."
Her eyes were soft and sincere. "You look like you could use all the kindness you can get." She flashed me another smile, gave me another fruit and spice walk-by, and motioned towards the door.
I pushed through a frosted glass door into an open space filled with low-walled cubicles and
Similar Books
