He got away with it all. In the end, it was the damned cows that caught him.

I can see the life leave you.

You died for nothing.

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

Court-appointed therapy doesn’t go quite the way Rapunzel thought it would.

Rumors of her appear in the news, but who can credit tales of a pale little girl freezing things with a single, bloodied touch?

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

Not the usual conversation one has upon entering a magical psychologist’s office.

A mad Roman emperor. An ancient depressed vampire. A bizarre evening to remind the Blood King why life is worth living.

Just the aftermath of a strange day, a strange letter, and some under-the-table un-wisdom. A continuation of HALF-SHELL PROPHECIES.

He’d always painted what he saw; these visions pushed him, bled out his eyes, and the only cure for augural blindness was to splatter it out in colors, shapes, forms. A continuation of HALF-SHELL PROPHECIES.

Ravena has her reasons for refusing Notte – and none of them involve survival. Terrance, meanwhile, has no reason to doubt Notte… except for the new fear Notte might leave him.. A continuation of HALF-SHELL PROPHECIES.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

This short story is part of a much bigger universe, and on the off-chance you’re picking it up without context, allow me to give you a few tidbits so you can just sit back, read, and enjoy.

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

Hi, lovely readers! This story is actually a sneak-peek of the future, after Notte’s book , so I feel it’s only right to give you a little context. Here’s what you need to know.

A deliciously creepy side story with vampires, a dying Earth, and a secret organization. Dark, mildly disturbing, and – if you’ve read THE SUNDERED – you might recognize a name.

Just a story about magic, cereal boxes, and long-lost Mesoamerica gods. No, who am I kidding? It’s about a badass convenience store manager with a taser.

Club Hedgie, Dante’s Inferno, and The Doctor Will See You Now: three short stories following Fey, a dragon, and a very confused hedgehog.

The Big Palooka, Shadow Seed, and Wolf: three short stories following flappers, vampires, and other People of the Darkness.

Eugene discovers he is Kin  – part-human, part something else – and then runs into monster-buster LUCY DECEMBER. Hell of a day, Eugene.

CROSSOVER WARNING

(This story is a crossover between the LUCY DECEMBER series by John Morey and mine. If you’re up for that, read on! Otherwise, head back to the short stories for safer fare.)

I thought we’d have longer. I thought I’d grow up. They only come when the oldest natural dies. Then they come, and they take our hearts. I don’t want to die.

A sad little tale following a type of creature even the ancient vampire Notte knows nothing about: a creature of The Dream. Explanation is given at the end. Enjoy.

You didn’t know you needed advice from a brand-new adoptive mama and her baby dragon, did you? Well, you do. Trust me on this. I’m (not) a doctor. A continuation of The Christmas Dragon.

A pretty lady always knows how to smile. (Flash Fiction)

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

Ghosts don’t mean to scare you. A free-form poem.

The moths came when you left.  (Flash Fiction)

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.

Succession, Theron the Thief and the (Nearly) Stolen Crown, and The Kindly Light of the Setting Sun: three short stories following Fey intrigue and a remorseful member of the People of the Sun.

At the age of Six, Aiden had it all figured out.

Aiden was precocious, said his teachers. His parents said he was a handful, which was just silly. Aiden wasn’t a handful. He was determined. He even had a quest.

That quest was to make his uncle Jaden laugh.

She skipped her way to father’s throne, through the decrepit ruins. Her shadow danced over jagged remains of statuary, castellations born of destruction and too much time. Her syncopated steps tapped by themselves down halls occupied only by dust and shadows. The breeze was her own, and she took it with her from room to room. A continuation of HALF-SHELL PROPHECIES.

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

Now, he knew what this place held. Monsters, magic leaves, things all meant to stop him and eat him and stop him and hurt him, and he wouldn’t be fooled again.

There was a bee on the mug.

Not a real bee. A sort of stylized round thing, cheerfully ribboned and capped with a squiggly “stinger” that looked more like a piece of dropped thread than a biological weapon.

Death stared at it for a long time, his mismatched purple gaze fixated on the gold and black stripes, on the dot-and-line combo that gave the bee an incongruously human expression of contentment.

Note: this story is kind of spoilery for THE SUNDERED, so if you haven’t read that book, you might want to head back to the bookshelf and pick something else. 

A series of short stories from a weird perspective: that of the Sundered Ones.

Note: this story is kind of spoilery for THE SUNDERED, so if you haven’t read that book, you might want to head back to the bookshelf and pick something else. 

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

Iskinder’s people met the Sundered Ones.

Other survivors had other luck.

Note: this trio of stories may start slow, but trust me – they’re going somewhere important.

A dark short story following no one – that is, no major characters, nor even anyone we see again in this universe. If you ever wondered what happens to ordinary folk while heroes are off doing great things, this tale may answer that question.

“Go calm down the idiots, would you?” said Iskinder, gaze locked on the screen. “It is time for you to use your particular talent for crowd control.”

Note: this story is kind of spoilery for THE SUNDERED, so if you haven’t read that book, you might want to head back to the bookshelf and pick something else. 

Easier said than done.

Note: this story is kind of spoilery for THE SUNDERED, so if you haven’t read that book, you might want to head back to the bookshelf and pick something else. 

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

Note: this story is kind of spoilery for THE SUNDERED, so if you haven’t read that book, you might want to head back to the bookshelf and pick something else.