Duos Nox

By Siderico Graves

A gritty, sci-fi crime drama. When you're immortal and can travel through time, it's bound to be an adventure

• Language: English
• Publisher: Three Belles Publishing
• Release date: Aug 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393376828

Book preview

Deus Litis

The night was calm against the heavy raindrops that poured down from the gray sky.  He stood there, clenching something sour in his stomach in the dark alley behind Beneath Time Café. The heavy music of Taking Out Anger faded as the door slammed shut.  There was a barely visible, red fringed silhouette  near the exit sign shining behind him.  His eyes adjusted to the dark abyss of the narrow alley.  Anger and hatred gnawed at his soul.  He stood for a brief instant waiting for someone or something to cross his path.

There will be hell to pay... He gritted through his teeth, taking a few steps down the alley towards the street. Passing a dumpster on his right, he caught the shadow approaching the alley from the fluorescent bulb of the street light.  The footsteps echoing in his head were from a hard soled boot. His adrenaline instantly flooded his senses like the beat of a war drum.  There was the padding of those heavy boots. Then came the whistling of a tune that he knew all too well.

Taking a few steps back and to the side behind the dumpster, he heard the footsteps and whistling come to a halt. Show yourself! He heard a man shout and the clicking of the hammer of a gun being cocked. He’d known that voice from so many of his conquests. Show yourself or run and be hunted down like the wretched pile of putrid flesh you will soon become!

Damn was all he could say as he instinctively reached for his gun, hesitating a moment.  A smile curved his lips. He stepped out into the faint light of the alley holding both arms out in a sign of surrender.    Why is it that you have this obsessive need to find me? Are you so truly lonely that you have to come find me and make trouble?                       

You truly are a fool if you think you can greet me without your guns. Lucian Vladimir exhaled with laughter. And you are a fool for always coming alone Siderico replied facetiously. Tell me how you got here and you may live another day. You’re the one to always talk big. I have the gun, dumbass!

I can sense you. I knew you were somewhere close. Lucian said, looking at the cold eyes that were striking back into his. Tell me, brother...Why have you come back?

I want you dead, you sick bastard! Siderico barked. The muscles in his neck tensed as he gnashed his teeth. This caused Lucian to quickly aim his gun and fire.

You never were a smart one were you, Sid? I was hoping for a decent conversation before it came to this. Lucian said as he walked to his dying brother. Kneeling on the litter strewn asphalt, Lucian grazed the pistol against Sid's left temple. Have you any last words?

You’ve always been a heartless bastard. Siderico said gasping for breath with a grimace. Death was becoming something he had grown to enjoy.  The piercing agony in his chest and the cool metal of the pistol barrel scraping against his head promised the end.   Come on Lucian! Finish me Siderico breathed. Why  are you in such a hurry bro? Your blood spilling and pain amuse me!  Siderico closed his eyes as the last moments of his life passed faster than anything he could recognize. His thoughts became scattered.  He was no longer in the alley. He was no longer behind the Beneath Time Café. He could no longer hear Taking Out Anger’s voracious performance of 255 Promised Lies. Darkness enveloped his consciousness.

Then there was a shift.  There was heat from a bright sun almost directly over his head.  This was a new existence. A life he had never led. He wondered how he escaped death. Had he just been shot in the chest? Had his mind and soul been deposited into another body somewhere on this planet before the life he knew ended? What was the connection? Were his past lives nothing more than a comatose dream of the body he now was in? He looked around for some form of identification. He found his wallet and looked at his driver’s license.

His name was now Daedalus B. Guncrule. He was from Las Vegas.  He was a big man with a wide face and a scar under his left eye. Two gold teeth in a mouth full of pearly straight white teeth. Who smiles for a DMV picture? Sideico pondered. Wonderful, now I’m some tool who had his name changed to Daedalus. Just, just wonderful!

He walked around the downtown strip for a few hours before he made his way into a casino. Before entering, he spotted an unusual fellow dressed in a ridiculous outfit bolting out the main entrance, screaming at the top of the lungs. We’re all going to die! It’s the end of the world!   Three large men burst thru the revolving door, pursuing him down the sidewalk. Trying to ignore the incident, Daedalus made his way into the casino.  He found himself sitting at a table in a dark corner of the bar sipping a White Russian, watching the crowd of people move around like a swarm of bees taking pollen from the slot machines and card tables.

You never take the time to enjoy your lives do you? A dark voice tinged in his ears.

How do you always find me? Siderico asked, gritting his teeth. The thought of Daedalus falling to his death invaded his thoughts.

Like anyone else would care enough to search for you. Lucian said sitting across the table from Sid.

"Why don’t you just kill me again, brother? These games are beginning to bore me. Why don’t