Deadlocked Novels & Stories

I wanted him to understand how desperate I truly was. "I- I am being blackmailed," I said, the words weighing like lead as they left my lips. "There is a tape. Of you. With a woman. I think the woman is me... I know the woman is me." The words came out in a rush, each syllable interrupted by sharp breaths. Once the words fell from my mouth, time seemed to freeze , yet Alexander appeared indifferent, matter of fact he looked bored. A brief flicker of recognition, an eyebrow raised, and then silence. He waited for me to get back.

Now she was a pile of mangled flesh lying in the morgue. I turned and went back inside, locked the door, and slid down against it until I was sitting on the floor. My phone vibrated. "Backup slots are full. In the next cycle, death cannot be transferred." The next day, the sun came up, and the world went on as usual. Except for Unit 703. There was still no movement. I washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror. The scratch at the corner of my eye was still there. It was thin, narrow, and capped with a faint scab.

"It’s like the world is trying to subtract me from the equation" "That’s because we’re entering the Twenty-Third Cycle: The Debt of the Dead," Leo said, his voice flat and analytical. His salt-white hair was being pulled toward the ceiling by a magnetic force, and his runes were scrolling through strings of red "DEFICIT" warnings. "In this cycle, you don't exist because you were born; you exist because you are Borrowed. And the High Council is currently using the First Alpha’s heart as the collateral for the loan".

Let it be irreversible. Let this end.

The map on the wall is bleeding red. Every red dot represents a human being currently trapped in a state of involuntary, relentless arousal. A surgeon in Chicago. A bus driver in London. A kindergarten teacher in Berlin. "We can't turn it off," Alex says, his voice tight with frustration. "The blockchain lock is holding. We have to wait for the encryption cycle to reset. Two hours." "They don't have two hours," I say, looking at the flood of panic messages scrolling on the sidebar. "People are going to get hurt. Or fired. Or arrested."

He said. I knew a lot is at stake but I can't really help my self from making that decision. I keep telling myself that I'm only there to apologise for the mistakes I committed eighteen years ago but even within I know it's a crap excuse to give. Does that stop me from still working there or trying to see her, No! it doesn't, at least I get to see her from a far. Without replying nor making comment to what Frederick said, I opened the cottage door and head towards the river that serves as a boundary between the forbidden forest which is known to house various forbidden creatures and the neighboring pack, the Bronx pack.

This was my life, and I was not going to let the past dominate our future. “Just so you know, Leon is dying right now,” my mother said, and it felt like a bolt of lightning struck me with disbelief. I frowned. “What do you mean?” My words felt stuck in my throat. My mother continued, “Before you gave birth, in the Black Moon Pack, there was a battle, and Leon lost. He is currently dying there.” My head spun at the news. All this information made my heart race. What did this mean? All the anger and incomprehension of our past came flooding back. The information about Leon, the ex who had haunted me, made me anxious.

Slow and uncertain Two...Soft and smooth Three...Strong and delicious Four...A growing passion. Five..."Hmm," he moaned a little. Six..."Hm," I answered with a small deeper moan. Seven...We breathed heavily looking ourselves straight in the eyes. Yes, darling. I’m gonna put you in jail. I promise. I swear I will.

That was enough to keep the slow burn alive. For now.

A system should not go quiet when cornered like a man deciding whether the truth will cost him the couch. DECAY was not naturally occurring, LUS says. Maya's fingers still. She knew that. She has known that in the ugly practical way a person knows a door is locked before trying the handle. The spread was wrong. The symptoms were wrong. The dead were wrong. Still, hearing it stated makes the kitchen smaller. "Engineered." Yes. "By who?" A classified program. Maya writes it down. "What program?" A pause. ARBITER. There it is. The word she circled weeks ago. The word LUS kept walking around like it had glass on the floor.