Short Stories by Ruthanne Reid

SOMEDAY

Someday, he’d just leave. Nobody would call him prince, or Highness, or expect him to do anything miraculous. Someday could not come soon enough.

The Fey; Grey; The Silver Dawning

Succession

It is as if each generation bled, leaked ink or paint or power. Or perhaps it is something else that has left them.

The Fey; Grey; The Throne/Mab; Owen; The Silver Dawning

Grey

A fascination with human Halloween. A terrible destiny. A strange night of monsters, magic, and too much candy.

The Fey; The Darkness; Grey; Matt; Terrance; Marshall; The Silver Dawning; Earth

THIS ROUGH MAGIC…

The damned Throne takes my magic, stealing every last drop from birth to death. Rebellion is not rewarded, not even when you’re the heir.

The Fey; Grey; The Throne/Mab; The Silver Dawning

LET YOUR INDULGENCE…

I pretend I do not see how desperately he hoped I’d invite him, and he pretends that he does not have bits of twig sticking out of his hair.

The Night-Children; The Fey; Grey; Notte; Terrance; Earth

THERON THE THIEF AND…

A Fey thief, down on his luck and with a heavy debt. A sentient throne guarding the Unseelie treasure. What could go wrong?

The Fey; Theron; The Throne/Mab; The Silver Dawning; Earth

favors

Aiden smiled. “What can I do for you, my friend?” he said, and waggled a finger. “Be sure, it will cost you.”

No., It wouldn’t.

The Fey; Grey; The Silver Dawning

Life and Death holding…

He killed for the darkness inside, which seemed so strong it should pour from his eyes like tar. In the end, it was the damned cows that caught him.

The Night-Children; Terrance; Notte; Earth

A Little Something Dark

He was the assassin, the executioner, the bringer of death for the Blood King. After all, Terrance understood death better than most.

The Night-Children; Terrance; Notte; Earth

Storm

I can see the life leave you. You died for nothing. Damn you for forcing this.

Damn you and your dying storm.

The Night-Children; Terrance; Notte; Earth

The Big Palooka

Flappers. Vampires. A thug who stole a necklace and a speak-easy with Jazz to die for.

Freedom… for a price.

The Night-Children; Salome; Notte; Earth

A Hotel Room, a Knife…

He can’t stop killing. He can’t be killed.

After it all, Joshua finds himself adrift… and in the grip of the Beast.

The Night-Children; Joshua Run; Notte; Earth

civil Blood

Notte thought to hide from the world, to punish himself by being alone.
The world–including a power-hungry emperor– has other ideas.

The Night-Children; Terrance; Notte; Earth

No Reparations are…

Salis was not authorized to arrest the Lord of the Night-Children, so he counted to three, exercising self-control, and recording everything that went on.

The Night-Children; Notte; Terrance; Jonathan; Earth

Expected

Visions pushed him, bled out his eyes, and the only cure for augural blindness was to splatter it out in colors, shapes, forms.

The Night-Children; Jonathan; Seishirou; Ravena, Notte; Earth

Every Good Servant

Years ago, Seishirou chose to disobey for the sake of sake of love. Today, the bill comes due… but that’s not the end of his story.

The Night-Children; Seishirou. Ravena; Jonathan; Notte; Earth

the Last Lullaby

Joshua Run is safe now, taken from Ravena, thanks to Notte—but saying goodbye to his former life is far, far harder than saying goodbye to his humanity.

The Night-Children; Salome; Notte; Earth

Hardly My First…

I do not wish to be be Nox Aeterna, Lord of the Night Whispers. I wish to simply be, bearing the burden for nobody—but that is not my role.

The Night-Children; Terrance; Notte; Earth

For Now

The humans do it again, tearing down their infrastructure and gorging on their freedoms. I’ve seen it before. That does not make any of this…. okay.

The Night-Children; Notte; Adam; Earth

TEA

Ancient vampire Notte has tea with a friend right in the middle of some… family business. Awkward!

The Night-Children; Notte; Earth

A Very Nottey Hallo…

Strange children. Strange costumes. A strange night, all around, with an unexpected party.

The Night-Children; The Kin; Terrance; Notte; Alex; Earth

WEIRD

She doesn’t want to be here. That much is clear—but court-appointed therapy doesn’t go quite the way Rapunzel thought it would.

The Kin; Dr. Ranier Blood; Earth

FINGERPRINTS

“Snow and Blood. Real pretty.”

“Striking,” I agree, though I haven’t the slightest idea who she is.

The Kin; Dr. Ranier Blood; Earth

THE BREAD, THE HARP…

“This is your test,” she says, and to my dismay, her voice carries the tinny echo of magic, a compelling power.

The Kin; Dr. Ranier Blood; Jonathan; Ravena; Robin Goodfellowl. Elijah; Earth

A Form of Love

The soul had been flayed, shredded into suffering ribbons, and Death had to think carefully about how to handle it right.

The Dead; Hades; Dis; The After

Bee Mugs and Bacon

Visions pushed him, bled out his eyes, and the only cure for augural blindness was to splatter it out in colors, shapes, forms.

The Dead; Hades; Dis; The Observer; The After

Bet

She’d won. She’d won! He had got it wrong, but she’d won. No way was she going to pass up collecting. Dis was nothing if not thorough.

The Dead; Dis; Chronos; The After

Good Dog

He knew what this place held. Monsters, things meant to stop him and eat him and hurt him. He wouldn’t be fooled again.

The Dead; Red the very good dog; The After

Wolf

If you see him, don’t run.

If you see him, look at his hands.

???; Wolf; Earth

The Kindly Light…

Sometimes a single afternoon is enough to make up for a lifetime of bad decisions.

The Sun; Tsehay; Earth

Once Upon a Dream

Dreams aren’t real, so I don’t kiss her goodbye. It’s as close to loving a human as a Dream ever came.

The Dream; Earth

Ten Tips For Raising…

One: give it back to its clan. Can’t do that? On to rule two.

The Darkness; Suvi; Katie Lin; Earth

Shadow Seed

Bran the Crow King ruminates to his newest lover about strange and intimate things.

The Darkness; Bran; Earth

Dante’s Inferno

One thing for sure: this absolute mess had absolutely nothing to do with Alighieri.

The Darkness; Earth

Hell of a Letter

Punish me, will you? Two can play this game. (Flash Fiction)

???; ???

Smile

A pretty lady always knows how to smile. (Flash fiction: 240 words)

???; Kalarastri; Earth

Ask Your Parents First

Magic, cereal boxes, gods, and a convenience store manager with a taser.

The Ever-Dying; Earth

Moths

The moths came when you left. Is life truly better with you gone? (Flash Fiction)

???; ???

Ghosts Don’t

Ghosts don’t mean to scare you. They just want you to know… (Free-form poem)

The Night-Children; Terrance; Notte; Earth

Club HEdgie

Just a hedgehog who think he’s a fairy. In honor of National Tell a Fairy Tale Day.

???; Earth

They Come

CASE NO. 59B26-AA

DATE RECOVERED: 20.89.1453.12

The Ever-Dying; The Association

Protocol

Jason Iskinder’s Hope of Humanity was never the only ship, even if his arrogance made it sound that way.

The Ever-Dying; The Sundered; The Association;

For Now

The humans tear down infrastructure, gorged on their freedoms. I’ve seen it before. That does not make any of this…. okay.

The Night-Children; Notte; Adam; Earth

A Very Nottey Hallo…

Strange children. Strange costumes. A strange night, all around, with an unexpected party.

The Night-Children; The Kin; Terrance; Notte; Alex; Earth

And Night Fell

“Take care of your brother.”

In spite of Tomas and all his nonsense, Demos tried.

The Ever-Dying; Demos; “Earth”

A Hero’s Journal

A burden no one can bear, fixing the end of the world.

Easier said than done.

The Ever-Dying; Jason Iskinder; “Earth”

Such a Beautiful…

We will form them, he thought. We will shape them. They will be happy, and we will be free.

The Sundered; Aakesh; “Earth”

Freedom

Sometimes, ordinary folk don’t get happy endings when the world goes wrong. But that doesn’t mean they have no choice.

The Ever-Dying; Earth

Harry’s Secret Place

Harry has some important childhood memories. He does not know some of them were altered.

The Ever-Dying; Harry Iskinder; “Earth”

Easy

Soon, I’ll have enough, and I can step out of this idiot gamer, and no one is ever going to touch me again.

The Ever-Dying; Harry Iskinder; “Earth”