No point running now.
I step out from under the tree and walk into the dry rain.
The ones in my hands are swimming now, swimming up through my wrists and into my arms, buzzing through my living flesh. On my head it’s worse. They’re not content to get under my scalp. They’re going deeper, softening my cranial bones with their sonics, making my head buzz.
I’m not immune now. Not to this.
Inside, the pods are blending with me and their thoughts are becoming mine. I stop worrying and begin to think of all the things I’ve never achieved, all the things I’ve wanted but never had. I think perhaps I can have them now, though the cost may be high. I think the little pods will help me search for the ultimate satisfaction.
I want it so badly, I can’t help but shed a few tears. I want everything this world has to offer and I want other worlds and their offerings too. For isn’t the universe mine to do with as I please? Isn’t that why I was created? To take? To dominate? To conquer?
I weep and the sound of my voice shocks me. I have never heard such want, such desire in a human cry. Behind these moans of need, there is a desperation that comes from aeons of experience and evolution.
Nothing will ever be enough.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many of my creative impulses arise in nature: the shapes of trees; the textures of hedgerows and dark, leafy spaces; a unique cast of winter light, impossible to convey yet imperative to share; the way the wind imparts secrets after midnight; renascence; abundance; forgiveness. Earth is my playground, my inspiration and my teacher. I thank her but I don’t do it often enough.
These two works have appeared in print before, so I was both surprised and delighted when Graeme Reynolds was so keen to unite them in a single volume, giving them new life. It made me want to write the two further novellas that will complete the series. Thank you, Graeme.
Despite being previously published, the stories in The Veil received a sound going-over by editor Dion Winton-Polak; a testing and proving that has elevated them both and for which I am extremely grateful. Thanks also to Amanda Rutter, whose sharp eyes applied the final cuts to what I hope you’ll agree are now two fantastical but mesmerising gems.
THANK YOU FOR READING
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THE HORRIFIC TALES PUBLISHING TEAM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph D’Lacey writes Horror, SF & Fantasy, often with environmental themes, and is best known for his unsettling novel, Meat.
Other books to-date include Garbage Man, Snake Eyes, The Kill Crew, The Failing Flesh, Blood Fugue, Black Feathers, The Book of the Crowman and Splinters – a collection of short stories. He won the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer in 2009.
He also writes children’s stories with his daughter.
You can find Joseph online at:
https://josephdlacey.wordpress.com/
ALSO FROM HORRIFIC TALES PUBLISHING
High Moor by Graeme Reynolds
High Moor 2: Moonstruck by Graeme Reynolds
High Moor 3: Blood Moon by Graeme Reynolds
Of A Feather by Ken Goldman
Whisper by Michael Bray
Echoes by Michael Bray
Voices by Michael Bray
Angel Manor by Chantal Noordeloos
Bottled Abyss by Benjamin Kane Ethridge
The Immortal Body by William Holloway
Wasteland Gods by Jonathan Woodrow
Dead Shift by John Llewellyn Probert
Deadside Revolution by Terry Grimwood
The Rot by Paul Kane
COMING SOON
Song of the Death God by William Holloway
High Cross by Paul Melhuish
Rage of Cthulhu by Gary Fry
http://www.horrifictales.co.uk
Table of Contents
THE VEIL
TESTAMENT I
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EPILOGUE
TESTAMENT II
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THANK YOU FOR READING
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO FROM HORRIFIC TALES PUBLISHING