<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The little bell above the door tinkles cheerily, and she moves through the beaded net curtain behind the counter to see who her latest customer is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s looking nervous, fidgety, and like he\u2019s bothered someone has seen him enter. She\u2019s dealt with this type before. Probably after the… ahem, special<\/em> merchandise that isn\u2019t available to regular customers. He\u2019s picking things up and putting them down again, trying to look nonchalant and utterly failing to pull it off. She needs to be careful how to approach him, so that he doesn\u2019t startle like a baby deer and gallop off. That produces a smile that she has to work to suppress, the idea of this guy scampering anywhere would be worth watching just for entertainment value alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCan I help you?\u201d she asks, brightly. \u201cIf there\u2019s something you\u2019re looking for, we have additional stock out back, if you know what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A look of relief washes over his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes,\u201d he mutters, \u201cYes, that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m after.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo,\u201d she responds, \u201cwhat are you looking for, what\u2019s your tastes? No need to be self-conscious here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looks confused, then starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou mean,\u201d he says, \u201cadult <\/em>material?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She nods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, I think I\u2019m in the wrong shop. I\u2019m not after that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah. Oops. Misjudged him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI see,\u201d she says as he turns for the door. \u201cYou mean the stuff in the other<\/em> back room. You\u2019d better come through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n *<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two minutes later, they\u2019re squashed into a too-small space rammed with miniature, carefully labelled wooden boxes, each containing a tiny vial. Within each, a cloud of viridescent gas swirls and pulses. He reaches for one, then stops, shakes himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWho are you after?\u201d she asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They both know what this means; one of the city\u2019s residents is going to die tonight. Whoever owns the box controls the life expectancy of the individual whose label adorns the outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He mutters a name, and she steps away through the stacks to find it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A moment or two later, she returns, reverently holding one on a small silver tray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know,\u201d she says, \u201cthe price?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He nods, mute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her eyes glow gently as she holds it before him, his gaze transfixed. \u201cSo,\u201d she says, \u201cdo we have a deal?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t you want to know why?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t ask questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He nods again, then carefully picks it up, turning it back and forth. The life inside swirls like liquid in a half empty glass, but something is wrong. She\u2019s seen all human emotions when people come in here; anger, fear, disgust, even lust for revenge, but his stare is flat, dull, almost lifeless. She tries and fails to repress a shudder. He seems inhuman, even to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, he looks up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis one,\u201d he says, \u201cis me. We do not have an accord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He smashes it on the floor and, as the life force evaporates, he drops to his knees, finally free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The little bell above the door tinkles cheerily, and she moves through the beaded net curtain behind the counter to see who her latest customer is. He\u2019s looking nervous, fidgety, and like he\u2019s bothered someone has seen him enter. She\u2019s dealt with this type before. Probably after the… ahem, special merchandise that isn\u2019t available to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1129,1327],"tags":[56,236,8,122,116,1051,1349,1297,1350,170,14,1193,745,159,160],"class_list":["post-2119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1129","category-july-2024-for-sale","tag-after","tag-door","tag-he","tag-him","tag-like","tag-look","tag-looking","tag-mean","tag-off","tag-see","tag-she","tag-special","tag-through","tag-what","tag-who"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-yb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2120,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2119\/revisions\/2120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}