Secret War: Upon Blood Sands by BAD Agar, Adrassil (amazing books to read TXT) 📕

"Hey Verenth," said Attelus with a small wave as they approached, causing the ex-hammer's attention to snap at him, his perpetually frowning face somehow frowned even more.

"What is it?" he growled, eyeing them from under his hooded brow.

"We've been assigned a mission," said Attelus, still sounding cheery despite Verenth's demeanour. Verenth never seemed to intimidate Attelus or Attelus never showed the intimidation he felt. Out of everyone in their group, besides, maybe, Tresch. Verenth had the highest chance of killing the superhuman. He was a gunslinger, his hands faster on the draw with his autopistol and Stubbrevolver than thought, inhumanly fast in fact. He was also one of the five top contestants for the second-best shot in the organisation. If he could somehow catch Attelus off guard...

Adelana glanced at Karmen who stood next to her, the psyker's expression was unreadable her arms folded across her ample chest. No, Adelana corrected herself, if anyone here could kill Attelus it was Karmen Kons. Adelana knew she didn't like her, hated her in fact and she knew why. This, despite Adelana never intending to ever have any kind of relationship with him, in spite of...

Adelana should've been utterly terrified by the psyker's enmity, knowing what Karmen Kons was capable of, but she wasn't. The Psyker was not petty; in fact, she was one of the most reliable people on the team; she'd saved Adelana's life on countless occasions over the past three years. In fact, if it weren't for her, Adelana would've died with Omnartus.

"If you haven't guessed yet," said Attelus knocking Adelana from her train of thought.

Verenth sighed, shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I guessed, boss. I was just hoping it wasn't, that somehow not saying it would make it untrue."

Attelus smiled, apparently ignoring Verenth's sarcasm when he said 'boss.'

"Fair enough," said Attelus, he never seemed to begrudge Verenth of his immense dislike toward him. He understood it and was genuinely regretful for the injustice he'd perpetrated. "And as much as I respect anyone who fights fate, the frigging bastard. I'm sorry to say it's won this day."

Verenth groaned. "Alright, just let Solvik finish my tattoo."

"Can he do it in..." Attelus checked his wrist chron. "Fifteen minutes? We've got briefing room 56a booked at 1600."

Verenth scowled and looked pointedly at the tattoo on his left bicep. Adelana was no expert, but it seemed far from finished. From what was done, it looked like the starting of a winged, green-robed, faceless figure holding a sword to its chest, tip downward.

"Hmm," said Attelus, stroking his thin chin. "Dark Angels, right?"

Verenth stiffened visibly.

"They saved my homeworld from invasion," said Attelus. "They've interested me ever since."

"Funny," growled Verenth. "Space Marines saved your world but destroyed mine."

Attelus frowned. "That's why I find it ironic that you would-"

"Last time I checked," said Verenth. "It wasn't the Dark Angels who did it; it was the Destruction Inculpators or The Desolation Inculpators, whatever, they're gone now, faced justice. Just because they did it doesn't mean all Space Marine chapters are the same."

"Besides," said Verenth. "I think it just looks frigging cool."

Attelus nodded. "Sorry to interrupt your tattoo, but if it's any consolation, this mission may or may not involve our enemy."

Verenth's snake-like eyes widened briefly. "You mean the enemy?"

Attelus shook his head, and he turned to walk away. "Perhaps an emphasis on perhaps," he said with another brief wave. "See you soon."

"I'll be there," said Verenth as Attelus lead them away. "I'll frigging be there."

Adelana could see Attelus was smiling slightly and Torris, glaring at him in disapproval. That was another reason why Torris didn't like him; he could be so very manipulative.

If anyone scared Adelana, truly scared her it was Attelus Xanthis Kaltos. She knew he'd been through hell, and couldn't help admire that he didn't come out of it worse off, but she knew he was constantly teetering on a precipice between sanity and insanity. That in any second, he could fall permanently into the metaphorical darkness, into his murderous, manipulative mentality. It was the only sheer force of will that prevented it. That was one the many reasons she didn't want more, to be more than just colleagues, she knew he dearly wanted that but...

"I'll get Hayden and Vark over the vox," said Helma interrupting Adelana's thought process and she reached for her microbead.

"Yes," said Attelus. "You do that."

After Halsin collected his equipment, they left the medicae.

It took them about five minutes to walk through the thin, gunmetal grey corridors and Adelana's mind wandered. She'd been through much in the past three years, fought alongside Space Marines on two separate occasions, the first time was with the Space Wolves, second the Death Watch when she and Attelus had allied with the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, Lorris to stop a Genestealer cult on Sinophia. She'd even travelled all the way to Segmentum Ultima via Attelus' 'connections,' and back. She'd faced down mutants, heretics and even daemons. But most of all she'd killed, she'd killed a lot of people, more than she could've imagined. The first time it'd been traumatic, on the flagship the of traitor Inquisitor, Torathe. During the initial boarding action, she'd taken the top off a Stormtrooper's skull with one well-placed shot. She hadn't felt anything at the time due to the adrenaline, but after the fight, when recovering from her injuries, she'd wept.

Attelus had helped her through it, he was unusually open with his emotions and told her he'd felt the same the first time he'd killed too. A chaos cultist invader during the invasion on his homeworld when he was fifteen.

Despite never enjoying the killing, she felt right; she had a purpose and a truly worthy one at that. A far greater one than if she'd wound up working in the Magistratum as she'd initially intended. She just wished that it didn't need to start with the death of her homeworld.

She'd never get over that, not truly. Not even after they hunt down that bastard Etuarq and bring him to justice

Adelana eyed Attelus as he walked ahead of her, in his usual pose, hands in the pockets of his black flak jacket. She'd forgiven him for the part he unwittingly played in Omnartus' fate; it'd been frigging hard, though and taken her awhile. He'd saved her mostly due to selfish reasons, all just because she'd been nice to her.

It was pretty damn pathetic, pitiful, almost. In fact, it'd taken her longer to forgive him of that, than the role he'd played in Omnartus.

She'd learned a lot from the now master assassin over the past three years, and despite some initial hiccups he'd proven a pretty damn good teacher. Eventually.

Adelana had often wondered why the Inquisitor had promoted Arlathan to Interrogator over Attelus or Karmen Kons or the many other more senior candidates. But so far Inquisitor Enandra had led them exceedingly well, she'd made very few mistakes. She'd helped Adelana through the depression after the death of Omnartus, Enandra must know what she was doing.

She'd worked exclusively with Attelus for so long she'd never actually seen Arlathan (who worked exclusively with the Inquisitor), So she didn't exactly have the best knowledge of his abilities, but surely they paled in comparison to the superhuman Attelus or the extraordinary psychic abilities of Karmen Kons?

Adelana had never approached Karmen on the matter, but she had once asked Attelus. He'd just shrugged and said.

"Arlathan knows his shit; he used to be a selfish arsehole but has changed for the better. I respect him, and I really don't envy him the responsibility. Besides, I think it's also more uhh personal if you catch my drift."

Adelana did 'catch his drift' (a saying she'd never heard before, must be native to his homeworld) Arlathan was a very handsome man, even with the beard. It was well known that Arlathan and Sergeant Kollath, the leader of Enandra's personal bodyguard, were in constant competition for the attractive Inquisitor's affections. Still, Adelana had hoped it was more than that. Attelus seemed to believe it, so maybe it was, but it wouldn't be the first time he was wrong, and it definitely wouldn't be the last.

In silence, they turned the corner headed toward 56a, their footfalls clanging on the metal grating. Everyone's beside Attelus' and Adelana's.

Three men stood waiting at the entrance Jelket, Vark and Hayden Tresch.

Vark was dressed in his Stormtrooper carapace and took up most of the corridor's width with his bulk. Vark had been long ago designated as Karmen Kons' bodyguard, accompanying her on missions to watch over Karmen when she'd leave her body in her incorporeal form. An effective soldier of all-round ability, he'd once served in Taryst's elite Stormtrooper corp. A deeply religious man (a rarity amongst mercenaries, even before he became a former mercenary) Adelana, who'd never been terribly religious and recognised the more secular nature of the organisation found it disconcerting. He could proselytise often, and it got on her nerves. He and Karmen were both quite religious and that, Adelana guessed, was one of the reasons why they worked together. Vark's was plain of face, his skin a ruddy brown and his small beady eyes light blue. His closed cropped hair blond. Vark's most unique feature was his large cleft chin, it was hard for Adelana to keep her attention away from it when in conversation with him.

Tresch, unlike Vark, didn't need to wear Stormtrooper carapace to dominate the corridor. Broad-shouldered, long-limbed. The large, two-metre tall sniper wore a grey bodyglove and leaned against the wall, arms folded across his wide chest. He was perhaps one of the most talented individuals she'd ever met. As Attelus had once said, Hayden was, 'a jack of all trades and a master of quite a few too.' (Attelus was always fond of his rhymes) Tresch was an excellent sniper, an explosives expert, a hacker they were only a few among many skills under his name. A former Adeptus Arbite, he was a grim man, one of few words. Many of the women in the organisation described Tresch as a 'grey fox or 'tall dark and handsome' due to his once brown hair mostly overtaken by grey. Adelana didn't understand this sentiment; she'd never found him particularly attractive; she preferred her men younger.

She could help look briefly at Attelus, and well, more pretty.

Tresch was at least in his late forties. His square-jawed face lined and weathered. Attelus had once said both his eyes were augmetics, but they looked so normal she'd never have guessed it. She'd always thought it was a bit of a cheat; surely they'd aide him in his inhuman accuracy?

"Hayden, Vark, Jelket," said Karmen. "Good to see you are here already."

Vark shrugged. "Mamzel Helma said this may involve that bastard Etuarq so I got here as quick as I could. We may finally end him, God-Emperor willing."

"Emperor willing," echoed Karmen, making the sign of the Aquila. "We just have to wait for Verenth then we'll start the briefing."

"Let's head in, shall we?" said Torris.

In silence, they started to file through the door, Attelus in the lead, but he stopped and straightened briefly, seeing two more in the briefing room.

"You," said Attelus sternly and stepped aside, allowing Adelana a clear view.

It was Darrance and his apprentice, Delathasi.

"What