Nom IV
“...And it was in this area that a couple out on a midnight hike through the woods stumbled across the body of what may have been a man in his 40’s, a victim…
Untraceable pt2
“There is always time to panic, later.” Another favorite lesson of my master. I methodically investigated the remains, only managing to dig out a heavy…
The Reality of Vampirism
“Popular media perceives we vampires to be flesh-eating, fiendish creatures. The reality is much more civilized. I’ve never bitten a human. Well, maybe once…
Followed Too Far
The first time I laid eyes on Vincent was the last time I stood in sunlight. It was a warm, summer day. We were both in the woods. I was sitting in a patch of…
Six
Lord of Blood, cape swirling in the eternal wind, ruler of the night. Style, substance and a widow’s peak. Styled after the bloodsuckers of old, in reality a…
The Smallest Battle
Even blood-sucking monsters of the night charged with corraling supernatural threats in a backwater of Brooklyn needed a hobby, and Cassandra’s was the arcade…
A Clear View
Jeremiah surveyed his city from behind the thick glass windows of the Pinnacle Enterprises building. Fifty-eight floors gave him a lordly view of San…
RPG Character 1: Cassandra
The night was quiet. The coterie’s diary was blank and the streets free of supernatural disaster. It was the perfect time to retreat. Even with unnatural…
Vampire Wars
Vladimir Constantinescu kept his back to the wall behind the farthest corner table in the tavern from the door. This table was also the most poorly lit, being…
Dawn
The screaming had stopped at last. The Land Before the Forest was nothing but a black skeleton of charred, wooden bones still smoking in the pre-dawn half…
Untraceable
It is quite a feat to remove a memory from someone’s mind. My teacher had stressed the importance of preventing one from forming in the first place. Now I…
And Here You Go, Again
Round round round the merry-go-round you go, so many times the wet warm splashing to a halt with a connate slap in cold fluorescent glare and laughter at baby…
The Grinning Chiaroscuro
A stranger approaches you one night. Perhaps you are alone under the only lighted lamp in a shadowy streetcorner, or it is an empty bus you ride, sullen in…
Scarlet Ambrosia
He was already bleeding. I didn’t have to kill him. There was nothing I could do to secure his release--not from a whole lair of vampires who all knew more…
Making Enemies
I watched the blond get up from her table and carry her purse with her to the bathroom, while her date smiled nervously and nodded. It was easier to think of…
The Price
“Lorelei!” called a man at the end of the room. So, I finally had a name for the woman who’d taken everything from me. An odd name, but then again, who knew…
The Land Beyond the Forest
The windows of the building were broken and boarded up. Entropy and decay were slowly eating the walls, breaking the roof tiles, rusting the gutters. “An…
Yes and No
Yes, I do, sprang to my mind. Her eyes scanned our path ahead, ears pricked for the sound of prey. My eyes bore into the back of her skull. With a fatigued…
The Bite of Pain
The moon illuminated my path through the graveyard as I walked behind the woman who had made me a vampire. We were both silent for much of the way, a fragile…
Faith
“This isn’t fair! A choice between... this... and death is no choice at all!” I screamed at her. “If you didn’t want this, your body would have rejected the…