Malevolent Encounter

Carmilla’s blonde hair slowly bounced and swayed like serpents across her shoulders as she strode through the train cars with a sense of power and ease that intimidated most people. She looked like royalty without forbearance, an angel without responsibilities, or maybe a devil without horns.

Her clothing, although extravagant and rather cumbersome in appearance, moved in silence as she made her way past those in their seats. Some would stop to stare after her while others who were fast asleep at such a late hour would unintentionally squirm a little, as though something in their dream had changed unexpectedly.

Smoke billowed out of the steam engine as the train cut through the frigid mountain air. The amber light from the windows failed to illuminate anything beyond the cold glass.
Carmilla entered the observation car with most of its metal exterior replaced with glass so that the passengers could take in the beautiful countryside views during their trip. At such a late hour, however, there were few guests inside the observation car.

As she made her way through the car a man reached out from the shadows and grabbed her hand, “Well aren’t you just the most beautiful thing?” he asked as he tried to pull her down onto the padded seat beside him. Carmilla took a slow breath and turned towards him. He had not been able to pull her towards him and yet he did not miss a beat as he ran his tongue over his lips and padded the seat beside him.
Carmilla looked at him then. A handsome man in his late twenties, or early thirties. Dark long curly hair that looked like it had never seen the sweat of hard labor, a tailored suit that wreaked of overcompensation, and a lust in his eyes that she had seen countless times before.
She tilted her head and smiled down at him and without a word or an effort he found her sitting next to him, eyes locked on his. He could smell her perfume, almost taste it. He started to say, “My name’s Br-” but she cut him off with a finger pressed against his lips.
“It doesn’t really matter.” She whispered as she pushed his chin away softly and leaned into his neck. He could feel her breath on his flesh, and it sent shivers racing across his shoulders.
As the train curved around a bend he watched as the moon seemed to slide across the night sky, making the shadows in the observation car shift and move as if they too were alive in the moment. He closed his eyes as he felt her lips touch his neck.
Her fangs pierced deep, and a sense of euphoria flooded through him a split second before he could call out in pain and fear. A fog of acceptance took hold then and had he been able to speak at that moment he would have given away every secret he kept, he would have given her anything, even his life. And he would.

Carmilla drinks deeply and lets his blood slowly warm her own body. His heartbeat begins to slow after a few minutes and the flow begins to dissipate. She slides an arm under his knees and pulls his legs up, riding his neck as he is pulled down in his seat. The flow quickens again as the blood begins to leave his lower extremities. As his heartbeat becomes a whisper, she kisses closed the wounds and lifts her head from his neck.
The shadows in the train car are on the move again as the moon rushes across the night sky’s darkness and Carmilla catches a reflection of moonlight in someone’s eye. She looks up to see a woman of about 19 years old quickly turn away.
Carmilla takes her time lifting the man back into a normal sitting position and tilts his head over toward the window as if he were sleeping. His skin is ghostly white and already cooling to the touch, his lips blue, eyes glazed over. She doesn’t bother closing them.
Carmilla takes a moment and then rises and looks at the woman who doesn’t bother looking away this time. The moonlight reflects in her eyes as Carmilla approaches her.
The woman is clothed in a simple dress, neither rich nor poor. Her long dark hair was straightened and brushed regularly. She smells of soap and lavender as Carmilla sits softly beside her.
Carmilla expected her to ask of the man or rather of his untimely demise but instead, the lady says, “I’m sure we’ve never met but you remind me of someone. I just can’t quite put my finger on it.”
Carmilla smiles, “Maybe it was in another life.” She offers.
“Possibly.” The lady replies as she nervously smiles in return. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you two, I’m sorry.” She lowers her head in shame.
Carmilla lifts her chin slowly and looks into her eyes, “You didn’t my dear.”
The lady lets her gaze fall back down as Carmilla releases her chin and Carmilla looks down to see the lady self-consciously rubbing a bruise on her thigh. She lets her fingertips brush over it and the memory of the dead man comes to her as she watches him sit next to the lady and try to force himself on her before a group of riders moving through the train come in and he is forced to stop. As he gets up to change seats the memory fades.
Carmilla looks at the woman and promises, “He’ll never hurt you.” As she lifts her fingertips from her thigh the woman watches as the bruise itself is no more.
She looks up at Carmilla, “How?”
“How what?” Carmilla asks mischievously.

The woman explains that she is traveling home with some restored family paintings for her father. Her father had made her promise not to leave her sleeping cabin, but she just wanted to see the moon and the stars. She would pause occasionally, to look over at the man in the shadows, and after a while Carmilla finally told her, “He’s dead, love.”

Instead of the expected expression of fear, the woman looked at Carmilla with curious eyes and Carmilla told her they really should go back to her cabin as they didn’t want to be here when someone found him and the questions that would come with that discovery.
She led the way and Carmilla could almost imagine her body beneath the dress. The way it would move, how beautiful it must be. She had to refrain from using a sharpened fingernail to cut a shoulder strap as she walked behind her.

The rumbling of the train masked the sound of thunder in the distance as clouds swept across the night sky, obscuring the moon and stars.
Inside the cabin, the woman lit some candles, and they sat together on the bench that folded out into a bed.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to offer in the way of drink or food. I wasn’t expecting guests to be honest.” The woman says to break the silence.

Carmilla smiled, “Your company is more than enough. Would you help me with this?” she asked as she turned and offered her back to the woman, “It’s really uncomfortable.”
The woman lifted some of the ruffles of Carmilla’s outfit to find buckles and buttons. With Carmilla directing her she helped her out of the most bothersome portions of her dress. Carmilla sighed in relief as she stretched in her silk undergarments. She smiled as she watched the woman’s gaze linger over her body.

The cabin wasn’t as cold as the frigid night outside, but it was still cool, and she felt her nipples harden as she lowered her arms and the hem of her top slipped down off her exposed hip and covered her again. She pretended not to notice the woman staring and asked if she would like to change into something more comfortable.
“I don’t really have anything.” The woman replied.

“You don’t really need anything.” Carmilla teased as she reached around the woman, pushing her hair out of the way and slowly lowering the zipper on the back of her dress.
The woman’s breath caught in her throat momentarily as Carmilla’s hand brushed against her neck, but she didn’t try to pull away or even turn from her. Instead, her eyes opened a little wider as they found Carmilla’s gaze, her lips trembling.
Carmilla started to lean in and whispered, “Kiss me.”

Their lips met, and a touch of timid tenderness was exchanged. “Again” Carmilla whispered, and the woman kissed her. Lips slowly parting, tongues teasing. Carmilla held the woman’s cheek in her palm and let her eyes fall shut. When she opened them again, she found the woman’s eyes locked on hers still.
She smiled gently and said, “Breathe, love. This isn’t a test.”

The woman let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and kissed Carmilla then, letting her lust lead the way. There was a hunger in her touch as her hands explored Carmilla’s shoulders and neck, followed closely by her lips. The woman didn’t know it but at one point she was positioned over Carmilla’s artery and Carmilla smiled in the candlelight as she imagined what it would feel like to receive that first bite again. How she would melt under this woman’s spell if somehow, she had fangs to sink into Carmilla’s vulnerable human skin.

Carmilla could feel the heat from the woman’s hand as she caressed her breast through the silk top. She was kissing around her collarbone, clearly wanting to go lower so Camilla pulled away just long enough to lift her top over her head and discard it to the floor. Her breasts were as pale as the rest of her, but the candlelight and recent feeding gave them a tinge of color. The chill in the air was quickly overshadowed by the heat of the woman’s mouth. She sucked and kissed them, moaning and caressing as she explored Carmilla in ways she had only fantasized about late at night, alone with her thoughts and curiosities.

Carmilla ran a hand up the back of the woman’s neck and once she had a firm handful of her hair she lifted her softly back up to her eye line and said, “My turn.”
The woman’s eyes lit up with desire and she tried to reach behind her to unzip her dress the rest of the way but with a firm palm to her chest, Carmilla gently pushed her backward until her back was against the bench seat. The woman barely had time to get her arms out from under her before Carmilla laid her down and kissed her. The woman wrapped her arms around Carmilla and pulled her close. Carmilla kissed down the side of her cheek and found her neck. She could not only feel her pulse beating rapidly but she could hear it, it taunted her, begged her. She resisted the urge but let her fangs slice gently across the woman’s skin, licking the little bit of blood and sealing the wounds as she moved back up and over them with her tongue.

Carmilla ran a hand up and down the woman’s thigh, just barely going above the knee before moving back down. The moans of consent were heavy in the air and Carmilla tested her nails against her skin. Softly pushing them against her flesh but not hard enough to draw blood. “Yes.” She whimpered and Carmilla dragged them up the inside of her thigh, higher than before. The woman squirmed in pleasure. She did it again, this time going all the way up the woman’s inner thigh. She wasn’t wearing any undergarments and before she could writhe her way onto Carmilla’s hand she ran them back down her thigh.
“Please.” The woman begged and Carmilla slowly ran her fingers up her thigh, higher, until they met the wet soft folds of her, and the woman let out a moan that rivaled the thunder that was drawing closer and closer with each minute that passed.

Carmilla ran her fingers through her pubic hair and over her womanhood, gently exploring and teasing. She let a finger slide just inside and open her outer labia as her mouth found the inside of the woman’s thigh. She let her breath be felt on her as she kissed across the groin. The woman writhed and pushed down and Carmilla could taste her then on her lips. She found her clit throbbing and waiting and took it into her mouth, being careful of her fangs. As the woman rocked back and forth, lost in an ocean of moans and gasps Carmilla would have to use her tongue to tease her clit as her fingers splayed and rubbed against her. She was cautious not to let a finger enter her as she feared her nails would do more harm than good.

Even though the woman was in a way under Carmilla she still seemed to ride Carmilla, pulling her in, keeping her close, as if she wanted her inside of her completely.
Carmilla, lost in the moment as well, found herself licking and kissing the very inside her the woman’s thigh. The blood in the deep external pudendal artery smelled like wine and strawberries and before she could stop herself Carmilla sank her fangs deep into the woman’s thigh as she grabbed the front of her dress and pulled down. The straps that held the dress on the woman’s shoulders quickly tore away and exposed her breasts. They swayed with the movement before coming to rest as the woman was lost in the euphoria of Carmilla.

“I remember you. From my dream.” The woman managed to whisper. Carmilla caught a glimpse of the memories she had stolen long ago as the woman started to remember.
Carmilla stopped and rose to meet the woman’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Laura.” She said before sinking her fangs into the woman’s breast.

A single tear formed in the corner of the woman’s eye and slid down her cheek as her mind clouded over in a fog and she drifted off to sleep.

In a dream, Laura heard a voice that said, “Your mother warns you to beware of the assassin.” Before a thunder crash woke her and she bolted upright in bed. As the lightning strike bathed the room in light, she thought she saw a woman standing at the foot of the bed, drenched in blood. When she blinked and wiped her eyes, there was nobody there.

She couldn’t quite remember coming back to her room. The last thing she remembered was going to the observation car to look at the moon.

Laura heard something in the corner of the room move. She clutched the bed sheets to her chest and stared hard into the dark corner of the room. Lightning cracked across the heavens outside the train window, and she caught the reflected eyes of a cat staring at her. As the light died away, she thought she could still see the eyes glowing as thunder cracked and rumbled like an omen across the world outside as well as in.

Munchkn Lost

Munchkn woke in a strange place. The light smoke that filled the room played tricks on his mind as he tried to shake away the fogginess of sleep and look around. The room was lit by lantern, it looked a lot like what he imagined a cabin in the woods to look like. An old wooden rocking chair, wood tables with a mix of bowls and jars on them, even the bed he was lying on felt like it was full of straw or grass. He lifted a hand to try to rub his eyes but found it was tied down, both his hands were tied, as well as his ankles.
A feminine voice beside him startled him, “Well, look who finally decided to wake up.” It said.
He turned his head to see a woman in a brown robe with jet black hair standing beside the bed. She was turned away from him but looking back over her shoulder as she plucked some dried flowers off a string that hung from the ceiling.
In fact, they hung everywhere with all kinds of different vegetation hanging from them to dry.
“Who are you? Where am I?” he asked.
She turned with a smile that seemed genuine enough but for some reason, Munchkn imagined it looked a little like the grin of a hyena. As she turned, he could see that her robe was not closed in the front. Her body was lean and taught, the skin was perfection as it ran from thigh to hips, the light from the lantern hid parts but he could see one full breast and he took a quick breath before looking back up to her eyes.
She was staring back at him, having watched his gaze travel the length of her slightly revealed body.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
His mouth went dry as she started to open it completely. She was perfect, in every single way. She lifted it off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. A swirl of dust kicked up and mixed with the incense in the air as she sat beside him and placed the dried flower on his bare chest.
Am I naked?! He asked himself before looking down and seeing that he was only shirtless. His pants still covered him from the waist down.
He looked back to the woman who was slowly letting her fingertips trail down his chest, “What’s going on? Is this a dream?”
“Something like that.” She replied.
A storm off in the distance let loose a cascade of lightning which flashed through the cabin and in that instant Munchkn watched as the beautiful woman was transformed into something else, something terrible. Her body looked bloated and rotting. He thought he saw deep bruises or dark spots and for half a heartbeat he could smell something horrible in the air. He froze for a couple seconds until the sound of thunder shook him back to reality. Her face was beautiful again, but she could see something had changed in him.
“Don’t be frightened, light can play tricks on the eyes.” She tried to reassure him as her fingers found the button on his jeans.
A second flash of lightning came, and he saw her change once again before the lantern took over and made her look beautiful.
Munchkn jerked away and felt the corner of the bed rise. He realized he was much stronger than she was, than her restraints were, and pulled harder until the restraints started to break apart. As he scrambled away from her, he struggled with the restraints around his ankles as she stood and sighed heavily.
She walked over to a table and lifted a jar and felt to see how full it was. Whispering something Munckn couldn’t make out she flung the contents at him. Munchkn let go of the restraints and tried to block it, but nothing hit him. Nothing ever seemed to come out of the jar except a little bit of smoke.
Suddenly Munchkn felt lightheaded, and the room began to spin. He looked up to see her walk naked across the cabin and pull curtains closed over the windows. He thought he heard a chorus of distant whines and sighs as she said, “No show tonight.”
Munchkn started to ask who she was talking to, but the words never came as his vision swam in and out of focus. The room seemed to be getting larger. Everything seemed to be getting larger. Everything except him.
The restraints fell away and as he pulled his ankles free, his pants also seemed to be outgrowing him. He scrambled backward on the bed and watched as the edges of the bed seemed to race away from him.
Munchkn shook his head as she came walking toward him, “What’s happening?” he asked but she just kept walking. Each step she took made her perfect breasts bounce and her hips sway.
“You’ll need to speak up now dear, you’re getting too small to hear easily.” She replied.
He couldn’t believe how big she was. She towered over him like a giant. Her legs were the size of some of the biggest trees he had ever seen in his life. His gaze traveled up as his mind scrambled to make sense of it all. He could see the goosebumps on her legs, he could see the perfect mounds of her labia, the tuft of pubic hair, her flat stomach, and how her breasts hung like mountains above. This has to be a dream. He thought.
She raised a hand over him with something pinched between her thumb and finger. As she sprinkled something over him, he thought he could make out the smell of something like wet grass. Her hand came down and scooped him up. He could lie in the palm of her hand!
“I might have gotten a bit carried away, but we can fix that later.” She said as she brought him to eye level. Her mouth opened and he pressed himself back against her palm as she brought him to her mouth. He thought for a moment that she was going to eat him until her tongue came out and licked the front of his whole body from toes to nose, all in one giant, slow, exhilarating lick that lasted just long enough to make him hard and forget about anything else that had ever happened.
She looked at him and smiled as she brought him back up to eye level. “Now what are you going to do with that?” she asked him.
Munchkn wasn’t sure what to do. He wanted so badly to feel her moist tongue against his body again. He wanted to push against it and feel himself slide against it.
She held him as she sat on the bed, watching him. “Why don’t you play with it?” she asked as she kicked her legs up on the bed and proceeded to lie on her back with her head propped against the pillows.
She placed him down gently on her breast so she could watch him. He reached down and felt himself in his hand. He wanted to, he needed to find release. He knelt on her breast and with one hand he grabbed her nipple. “Yes!” she said.
Munchkn felt her shift as her hands moved down her body. He turned to see what she was doing and saw her fingers run through her pubic hair and down between her legs.
“Hey!” she said, a sternness to her voice, “I want to watch you.”
Munchkn turned back around and showed himself to her. He sat back on his heels to show her everything as he stroked himself.
She brought her fingers up to her breast and he could see they glistened with her wetness, he could smell her, and it drove him crazy with lust. She gently stroked him one time with a fingertip and asked him if that would help. He nodded and spread her cum all over his cock as her hands found their way back between her legs.
They played for each other for a while that way until she began to move a bit much and Munchkn was starting to slide around her breast. He tried to steady himself with her nipple but that almost got him thrown off as she gasped. She had almost seemed to forget about him at one point as her head had pushed away from the pillows and she was staring up at the ceiling of the cabin. Munchkn slid down the top of her breast and landed at her throat. Her neck smelled like roses, and he kissed her neck.
She took him gently in cum covered fingers and placed him on her side turned cheek as she sucked her own cum from her fingertips and made sure to run it across her lips before she pushed him up to her lips as she faced the ceiling. He squirmed against her lips begging for her tongue, but she kept her lips shut tight.
All he could do was writhe against them and lick at her cum. Her moans vibrated his whole body as she refused to open her mouth and he gave in to just riding those moans and her lips to completion.
She picked him up once just long enough to say, “Tell me before you cum!” and placed him back down.
Her whole body was moving now as her fingers knew where to go.
Munchkn felt it start to build and as he began to tell her she opened her mouth and let him fall in. It was so sudden that his body reacted by throwing his arms out and catching himself. Only his lower half fell into her mouth, and she gently closed her lips around him as her tongue found the front of him.
“Oh my God!” he exclaimed as her moans now shook his whole body as she tried not to bite him in two.
It only took a minute before he felt the pressure building up again and he told her, “I’m gonna cum.”
Her body shook furiously as he emptied himself against her tongue. Her tongue moved under him, and he felt her swallow.
She turned her head and opened her mouth moaning as he slid down onto the bed. He pushed himself until he was at eye level with her, and they stared at each other until she came.
She offered him a taste from her fingertips, and he gladly accepted.
After they lay there for a few moments Munchkn asked her, “Are you a witch?”
She lie silent for a long time then carefully replied, “The Fey have many names.”

Last Night

After 70 years of heroic battles and unfavorable odds, he sat before the fire. Hands stiffening with arthritis and scars covering more of his body than not he held his cape as tears welled up in his eyes.
He couldn’t even remember all the fights, all the hard-won battles anymore. At some point, it all became a blur as time stretched a haze over a life spent saving others, saving the world.
He tossed the cape into the fire and watched it burn.
“Maybe this world wasn’t meant to be saved.” He whispered.

Weeping Willow

Have you seen a willow weep?
I have. I’ve watched as her branches and leaves shuttered in the breeze, sobbing for help.
I’ve heard the wail of agony as the wind cut through her, felt the sting of her lash upon my face as the demons that dance in the shadows of her sorrow lashed out, hoping that they could bring fear back to this valley.
I am not afraid of them, but I am afraid. I’m afraid that you will lose sight of hope when the night grows dark, and give in to fear. I beg you, don’t do it! Yours may be the last fear they need to lay claim to this place once more, for, with this breath, they now have mine.

Stray Embers (Introduction)

Frankie sat on the bed in the dark. Her left hand softly stroking the top of Maeve’s head as Maeve pretended not to notice until her fingers stopped, then she pushed her head back against Frankie’s fingers to get them to keep stroking again. To Maeve, this proved her genius as a canine, for she believed that not even Frankie realized what was happening and had no control over her left hand when she manipulated the auto pet function so perfectly.

As if reading her mind Frankie’s fingers froze against her scalp. Fearing she had just been caught by a psychic human Maeve tilted her head back and looked right at Frankie, tongue hanging out of one side of her mouth as cute as she could manage.

Frankie wasn’t looking at Maeve, nor was she looking at the cell phone in her right hand that she had been messing with for the last hour. Instead, her gaze was trained on something outside the window in the distance.

From the second floor bedroom, Frankie had a good view of the houses on the other side of the street. She thought she had seen something move from one house to the next. Still staring into the night she killed the light from the cell phone and placed it face down on the bed. Across the street, she saw two figures dart out from the shadows of a house and across the street in her direction.
“Shit.” Frankie softly cursed herself for spending so much time messing with the phone in the dark. The light from the screen was faint, but in this powerless world, any light was a beacon to those up to no good.

Maeve silently got off the bed as Frankie slid to the edge and grabbed her jeans. As Frankie slipped her feet into the pants and pulled them on, Maeve moved towards the doorway of the bedroom silently but stopped before she got to the doorway. She tilted her head to listen to the darkness downstairs.

Earlier when Frankie and Maeve had found the house, they had cleared it and left all doors inside the home open so no one could hide within or sneak in unheard. Frankie joined Maeve and placed her left hand on Maeve’s back. The hair on her back was down and for a second Frankie let a little hope take shape that they were going to move on to the next house. That hope died the moment she heard them rattle the doorknob.

The hair on Maeve’s back rose under Frankie’s fingers but she didn’t bark. Frankie ran a hand over her reassuringly and they both waited. The only other exit was the back door, but the stairs ran right next to the front door and it wasn’t worth taking the chance of being caught from behind if they tried to run for it.

Frankie stepped back slightly and Maeve shadowed her movement. They both jumped a little when the glass shattered downstairs. Maeve started to move forward but Frankie snapped her fingers and Maeve stopped, stepping back beside her once again.

They listened as someone unlocked the door and opened it. Whispering filtered up to them from the stairs, “It was a girl, a blonde, I swear to God.”
“I get her first. You had that old bitch last week.”

Frankie exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she was holding with a little annoyance, a little anger. In the dark Maeve looked up at her, waiting for a command.

“No,” Frankie told her. From downstairs the whispers immediately stopped but she could hear them moving towards the stairway. She stepped out to the head of the stairs and waited for them. From below, they looked like two silhouettes in the dark. The moment they saw her, Frankie let out a little yelp and jumped back into the bedroom.

She snapped once and Maeve moved to her side as Frankie slammed the bedroom door and snatched the shotgun up that was leaning against the wall beside the door. She could hear them scrambling up the stairs now, close to the top. They were coming in a hurry. Perfect, she thought.

She raised the shotgun to her shoulder, flicked off the safety and held the barrel about navel level, ready to swing it up when her target presented itself. As the two reached the door she took one step left to plant her feet in a firing stance, left leg slightly ahead of the right, shoulder length apart.

When the first guy burst through the door she leaned into the weapon and raised the barrel in one smooth motion as her finger squeezed the trigger. He never knew what hit him and the buckshot lifted him off his feet and tossed him sideways against the door he was still in the process of throwing open. Frankie didn’t wait to see him land, she racked another round into the shotgun as she pivoted on her left leg and brought the barrel around to the second guy who was trying to stop his forward momentum. He didn’t have enough time. The roar of the shotgun lit up the room a second time and his face melted along with part of his skull as it painted the hallway behind him.

Frankie looked back at Maeve who was simply watching the first guy. She chambered another round in the shotgun and then moved to the first guy who was wheezing badly and gurgling. Frankie removed the knife from her belt and punched it into the side of his neck before twisting it and removing it in three swift moves. Within seconds he was dead.

Frankie cleaned the blade off on his clothes and sheathed it before engaging the safety of the shotgun and sighing.

“I’m not blonde,” she told Maeve. “Guess we have to find a new place to sleep tonight.”

Maeve whined knowingly as Frankie gathered her backpack and jacket. She also retrieved the cell phone and tossed it in one of the pockets. After she shrugged into the bag she pulled the bedding off of the bed and sort of spread it across the doorway and hallway that was glistening with blood and pieces of skull.

There were a lot of things her 17-year-old self had to learn in the short time she has been alive, but listening to her dog lick someone else’s blood off of her paws was something she only had to hear once. It wouldn’t happen again if she could help it.

Frankie and Maeve stood in the living room, listening to the night outside the open front door. When they both felt it was safe they left the house and made their way out into the dark night, sticking to shadows as much as they could.

Succubus

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her face as he slowly lifted the front of her shirt.
Her eyes were closed, a mix of anticipation and excitement clouded with a bit of shyness seemed to wash over her.
He felt for the edge of her bra and gently peeled it away, the soft fabric not giving him much of a fight.
As he leaned closer she arched her back towards him. His eyes still on her face he felt her nipple brush against his lips as a moan broke the seal of hers.
He started to open his mouth when a something long and slimy pushed out from her nipple, brushed past his lips, and darted into his mouth. He reflexively gagged and tried to pull away but it slid deeper down his throat, pulling him to her like a tether. He tried to look down but could see nothing as his face mashed into her bosom. When he tried to nash his teeth together it simply slipped between them like a string, only to grow inside his throat. His breath was stolen as he tried to claw at her with his hands. Each time he raked his fingernails down her skin she shivered and moaned as she cradled the back of his head with her hands and whispered, “Thank you.”
He bucked and tried to pull free, but the only thing that moved was the pile of bones beneath her bed.
The shadows outside pushed against the glass of the window as they watched.
One of them scrawled in the condensation, “Beautiful.”

Is this fiction? Maybe. Or maybe once upon a time, I was a shadow. Maybe now you know why you sometimes catch me glancing at your chest. It isn’t perversion that drives me to do such things. It’s preservation.

Family Trip

Every year was a hard fought battle to get as many family members as we could to go on at least one camping trip. Everyone would try to figure out the best weekend to make it happen so that those who didn’t have the days off could request them off far enough in advance. We’re talking four and sometimes even five generations of probably one of the world’s most chaotic and fun families to ever walk the earth.

This year was going to be a little different. Instead of packing cars and trucks and heading to the nearest mountain range or beach in California, we had won tickets to Japan.

There were some who couldn’t make it work, and a couple that dropped out at the last minute, but in the end, we arrived. Two grandparents, a couple aunts, one uncle, a handful of cousins, and their young children all landed safely in Tokyo and then dragged our luggage to a waiting bus that drove us to a small town called Onjuku in the Chiba Prefecture that rested on the eastern coastline of Japan.

The trip took us through some beautiful landscapes, all dotted with colorful signs, none of which any of us could read except for the occasional little round white sign with numbers inside a red circle that we all assumed was speed limit signs. There were also large round mirrors on metal poles at certain intersections so you could check for other traffic merging along with you. I don’t remember seeing one stop sign.

We drove through little towns that looked like they had been movie sets built to look like small 400-year-old villages, untouched by modern roadways or manufacturing, save for the one shiny brand new NTT phone booth in the center of town that was encased in tinted glass and looked so out of place, it almost seemed like someone made a mistake in placing it.

When we finally made it to our hotel in Onjuku, we all split to our separate rooms to unpack and agreed to meet back in the lobby in an hour. The rooms were small, but very much westernized for our comfort. When we gathered in the lobby a short time later everyone had a different idea of where to go first. We all quickly agreed that dinner would be a good idea once we realized we had little kids in tow as well as grandparents who get grumpy when not fed. My cousin Anna and her husband Michael went to go talk to the receptionist about local restaurants. None of us spoke Japanese, so before long they were standing at the check-in counter pantomiming spooning food into their mouths as the lady looked at them with a mix of terror and amusement on her face.

Another cousin, Michelle, decided that she was tired of the receptionist acting like she couldn’t understand what they were saying and started to storm over there but I grabbed her arm and begged her not to.

About ten minutes later we were all being ushered back onto a bus that took us out of town and into the cliffs overlooking the Pacific ocean. Not sure if our driver even knew what was going on we all enjoyed the scenery and tossed the smallest kids back and forth between us.

We arrived at a restaurant that was built out from the cliff face, part of it sitting on stilts above the water. Across the small road that ran past the building itself was just a wall of the mountain that had been covered in cement to prevent mudslides during heavy storms. As we shuffled inside, the smell of food brought smiles to even the most jet-lagged of us all. We were seated at a long banquette table that ran along the outermost wall where you could look out over the ocean and the beach below. The wet sand below us looked so inviting that even Jimmy commented that we should just camp out down there with a bonfire and some beer. The waitress overheard part of the conversation I guess and said, “No beach, beach in Onjuku,” and shook her head as she wandered off.

“Maybe it’s sacred or something, I saw a lot of Shrines around here on Google maps.” I offered.

“Yeah, so sacred they built a restaurant over it.” Replied Michelle as she rolled her eyes.

She had a point.

Our grandfather decided this was a good time to announce that he wasn’t hungry and wasn’t going to order anything, which brought a silent but felt glare from our grandmother. We all quickly looked away and stared intently at the menus. I spent a second trying to figure out if there was anything labeled, “Cooked beef, just for you dumb ass Americans.” There wasn’t, but they did have the menu items listed in English under the Japanese spelling.

Without any kids to keep me busy asking what they wanted, or a spouse arguing about ordering anything at all I found myself staring out the window.

The ocean looked so calm and peaceful, all the way to the horizon. The green-blue water sparkled with sunlight and the beach below glistened.

Anna leaned over and said, “Strange isn’t it?”

“Strange?” I asked as I looked over at her. It always kind of took me by surprise that she was the one cousin who could always kind of catch me daydreaming and knew where my heart was at any given time.

She smiled, “No waves.”

She was right, there wasn’t a wave in sight, not even on the beach, just a sort of small little mess of water lapping at the shore. It reminded me of being at a lake.

I let my gaze wander to some of the old pictures on the wall. One showed the restaurant as seen from a boat. The ocean was just below it and made it look like it was almost floating. I glanced back out the window and craned my head a little to look at the stilts under part of the building that I could see. They had barnacles attached to them and looked wet. The skin stood up on my arms and a chill ran up my neck as I looked back out to sea. Everything still looked the same. Calm.

I concentrated hard on the horizon but it was just a naturally darker shade of blue, nothing seemed strange about it. But it felt different now. It felt ominous.

When the waitress came back to our table and began taking orders I wanted to ask about the picture and the barnacles, but also didn’t want to be the idiot at the table who thinks the sky is falling and is wrong. When she asked me for my order I motioned her closer before pointing out the window and asking, “Can we go down to the beach after we eat?”

She started to answer as her gaze followed where I was pointing, but the answer died on her lips as her eyes widened.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be right back.” She said and almost ran into the kitchen.

Everyone looked at her puzzled as she disappeared through a swinging door and turned their attention back to me. I was already standing up and said, “Get your shit, we’re leaving.”

Uncle Craig replied, “Calm down. What was that about?”

“’No beach, beach in Onjuku.’” I quoted our waitress and then said, “but that’s a fucking beach!” I pointed out the window and watched as it registered.

“Let’s go.” He said as he swooped little Mason into his arms. My cousin Jimmy grabbed his son James as Anna grabbed her and Michael’s daughter Emery. We all were headed towards the door when the manager came out from the back with some other workers and they all looked out the window as the waitress pointed.

“We all need to leave, right now!” I said.

The manager squinted out the window but then turned to us with a huge smile on his face, “It’s fine, tides only. You eat?” He motioned for us to go back to our table. By this time some other customers were looking at us and back at them, curious as to what was going on.

I pointed at the picture, “Tides don’t change twenty feet or more!” I turned to push my family out the door.

I didn’t grow up near the ocean and was only half convinced I was right when the manager raised his hands’ palm up and said, “Old picture. No siren, no problem.”

There weren’t any sirens going off and I guess coastal towns would all have early warning systems in place for tsunamis.

I looked at Michael who just shrugged and said, “I’m ready to leave, we’ll find another place to eat.”

The manager turned to calm some other customers that were starting to ask what was going on. We all looked at each other and Alex asked, “So are we blowing this bitch or staying?”

I turned to look out the window but the same peaceful ocean sat out there, nothing had changed. There was no rushing wall of water that was about to wipe out half of mankind hovering above the restaurant.

I shrugged my shoulders in defeat and we all started making our way back to our table as Michael stood a little more defiant, “I still say we find another place or come back tomorrow.”

Anna replied, “Babe, it’s fine,” And ended the debate for good.

We all filed back into place at the table and the kids went back to playing with the chopsticks and using the chopstick holders as faux mustaches. I stared out the window trying to tell myself that I was only imagining that the dark line of the horizon was getting bigger, closer, or both.

“Knock that shit off.” I looked over to see Michelle staring at me.

I conceded, “Sorry.”

As we sat waiting for our food I used my finger to smear a line where the beach met the water on the window, then without moving, I closed my eyes and counted to thirty. When I opened them there was a bigger gap between where the smear was and the water line. The water was receding, and a hell of a lot faster than any tide could change.

I looked around to signal the waitress, but she was nowhere to be found. A minute passed and then the manager came out of the kitchen looking a lot more worried than he had previously. I waved at him when he looked at me but his gaze went right over my shoulder.

I made my wave bigger and caught his attention. I watched as his worried look melted when he focused in on me and a forced smile spread across his face as he hurried over.

“Do you have evacuation plans in case we do need to leave?” I asked him.

He nodded, but there was panic in his eyes.

Out front, three small buses pulled out of the parking lot and took off down the road out of sight. Alex jumped up and shouldered past the manager on his way towards the kitchen. Half the restaurant guests followed him with their eyes and turned heads. The doors swung shut behind him and then immediately burst open as he came right back out, “They’re gone!” he said.

All hell broke loose then. People grabbed their belongings and headed towards the doors, one girl screamed, which did nothing but add haste to people who were already running over each other to reach the exits. Some of us started to do the same but Michael told us to just wait and stay calm. He pointed out that there were only two other buses in the parking lot when we got here so all the buses were now gone.

I turned to look and could now see quite clearly a wall of ocean far out in the distance, the wet sandy beach below us had grown as well.

A little hand grabbed mine and squeezed. I looked down expecting to see one of the younger family members but instead found a girl of about four years of age, fear stretching her eyes wide as her bottom lip trembled. I told her, “It’s gonna be okay.” As I looked around to see if anyone was looking for her but everyone was still trying to push and shove their way out the front door. When I looked back down she was shaking her head slowly the way children do when they know you’re lying and are scared.

I asked her what her name was but she just gripped my hand tighter and bit her bottom lip.

“Time to go.” Uncle Craig proclaimed and we all made our way to the exit. Outside there were about fifty people all trying to figure out the best course of action to get to high ground. The road ran along the cliff face in front of the restaurant and although it did have some elevation to it in places, as far as we could see it didn’t rise any higher than the restaurant roof. Across the narrow road was a cutaway section of mountain that had been cemented over to prevent land and mudslides. There was a metal ladder bolted to the side of the mountain but the bottom ten feet were blocked by a metal door that was padlocked. There were a handful of people beating at the lock with fist-sized rocks.

We were all waiting to see what other people were going to do as well as debating if we should take off down the road, but no one really knew which way to go. I looked back down at the little girl who still had a grip on my hand and noticed she was just staring up at me, not looking around for anyone.

She had neck length brown hair that was parted in the middle and ran down past her chubby little cheeks on both sides, framing her big brown eyes and soft nose. There was something almost familiar about her, but I didn’t remember seeing her on the bus that we came in on or at the hotel earlier.

I looked up at the nearest group of strangers and asked if anyone knew where her parents were. A couple of people looked up only to turn their attention back to their own conversations and arguments.

Cheers erupted across the street and we all turned to see the gate swing free of the ladder as people started to climb up it. Others rushed over while the owner of the restaurant held his hands up in front of them trying to warn them in Japanese.

“That’s too many people,” Grandpa said and halted us as we all sort of shifted in the direction of the ladder.

A solid line of people started climbing their way up as the group below pushed in harder. Someone in the crowd called out for help, but it went unanswered as they fought to get to the safety the ladder promised.

Halfway up the 200-foot ladder, a lady screamed for the person below her to wait but he climbed over her, followed by others. I don’t know if she slipped or if someone nudged her out of the way but she fell a hundred feet to the ground, and no one even turned to look where she landed.

“We need to do something, we can’t just stand around here waiting,” Michael said.

“That ladder is our best bet, once we let everyone else go ahead of us we can help mom and dad up and carry the kids.” Uncle Craig offered.

“It’s too many people, Craig,” Grandpa argued.

Just then the snapping of bolts could be heard and we all turned our heads to see a section of the ladder jolt and break free on one side flinging people off. Those with kids tried to shield their eyes but you couldn’t stop them from hearing the screams, as well as the impacts those people made when they hit the asphalt.

Those around the base of the ladder dispersed, some going the way the buses had brought us in and a larger group following the restaurant owner as he waved and yelled in Japanese. When they started to pass our little group Jimmy asked a couple of people where they were going and finally, someone answered that the owner had said there was a path up the mountain just down the road.

We were all snatching quick glances out to sea and taking notice of how much closer the wave was but no one wanted to admit it. Alex grabbed little Mason and put him on his shoulders when Michael did the same with Emery, and although James demanded to be allowed to walk himself, Jimmy still snatched him up and put him on his shoulders as little James protested out of principle but didn’t put up any real fight. I noticed then that the little girl had let go of my hand and looked around to see if I could spot her but I couldn’t.

We all started to fall in with the group moving down the road towards the promised path up the mountain but something in the back of my head told me something was wrong. I glanced back at the restaurant and then sighed and pushed my way past a group of people to head towards it.

“Where are you going?” Anna called out. I shouted over the heads of the people between us that I needed to make sure the little girl didn’t go back inside. She frowned as people started to push her and the rest of the group along. I promised to be right behind them and then turned and shouldered my way back towards the restaurant.

As I got closer to the front doors I noticed a trail of something that led from the roadway into the restaurant, it looked like something had been dragged along. As I swung the door open, the smeared trail turned to blood across the tile and I saw then a woman sitting slumped against the wall, a trail of blood falling from the side of her mouth, her legs were all twisted wrongly and my stomach dropped at the sight.

“Help me.” She pleaded when she saw me. I knelt down next to her and tried to figure out how to help, but I didn’t know what to do. She tried to cough up the blood that was slowly filling her lungs but only managed to get a couple little bubbles of blood to form before she closed her eyes and was gone.

I stood up and checked the rest of the restaurant but didn’t find the little girl. As I made my way back to the dining area I knew I had made a mistake. The wave of ocean was towering now and moving fast. I could see it growing before me.

I felt my leg tremble when I realized there was no way I could outrun it, even if I knew where to go. I sat down at the table we all shared only a short time ago and stared out the window. I could see the veins of green and blue in the water, the seaweed that had been sucked up into it and churned now like a snow globe after being shaken.

A hand reached out and squeezed mine and I jerked my head around to see the little girl sitting opposite me, tears streamed down her full little cheeks now. Somehow I knew she wasn’t real then, like a solution that you have been searching for hours just finally and mysteriously reveals itself to you.

She saw the revelation in my eyes and squeezed my hand reassuringly. I looked up and asked about my family, “Will they make it?”

She nodded slowly and smiled.

“Good,” I said and turned to watch the tsunami rush in towards me as the restaurant began to shake.

“I love you more.” She said and I turned as tears and a sob burst from me. She was no longer the little girl.

“I love you too mom.” I managed to say before the window next to me imploded and the abyss took me home.

Little Lover

The moon hung in the black abyss of the night sky like a glowing sickle of pure innocence. The night blooms around my legs stretched all the way to the tree line, a tree line that sat like the edge of madness, taunting the most courageous to enter. Even the moonlight dared not penetrate that darkness, where the wildest of nature’s creatures stalked and murdered, some for far more sinister reasons than nourishment alone.

I stood there in the clearing, letting the sights and sounds of the night slowly strip me of my worries when I felt something land and cling to my shoulder. A shiver ran up my spine as I quickly shook it off, only to feel it settle again on me and whisper, “Don’t be afraid.”

As I turned my head I could see her. She was a faerie of the night, only about two and a half inches tall but every bit the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. In the moonlight her wings flexed slowly, showing dark purple patterns with silver highlights. Her skin was a soft pastel of lavender. Her eyes blinked slowly and I was surprised by how big and bold they were on such a tiny creature. They were eyes you could fall in love with. Her smile somehow seemed almost too perfect with her delicate yet welcoming lips sitting under the most perfectly and gracefully sculpted nose. Her cheeks full yet somehow seductively defined as well. With the back of a tiny hand resting against her cheek, she looked back at me, unflinching.

She wore no clothing as most faeries don’t and I could see her perfect shape as well. The way her raven colored hair hung around her neck and down the front of her was to keep it from tangling in her wings during flight and had nothing to do with modesty. One breast was exposed to show the darker colored nipple, my gaze followed the bare skin down to her bare hip and when she noticed where my eyes were heading she brushed her hair back to the side and let me see all of her nakedness. The Fae also have no body hair.

I could smell her then, the scent of sweet pea overtook the fragrances of the night and I closed my eyes as I breathed her in. I found myself whispering, “You’re beautiful.”

I asked her name then and she motioned for me to look forward so she could speak into my ear. I really didn’t want to look away but I did and she answered, “Somnifera.”

I felt something on my earlobe then and thought it was her hand but when I reflexively turned to look I saw her tongue disappear back into her mouth as she grinned at me. She motioned again for me to look ahead and I did as a small breeze came across the meadow. I don’t know if I shivered from the chill or from her pushing up against me and whispering, “Kiss me.”

I slowly lifted my hand palm up to my shoulder and she stepped onto my little finger. She reached down and grabbed my index finger and pulled it up towards her. She folded her wings against her back and her hair danced across my knuckles as my fingers delicately wrapped around her tiny frame.

I lifted her to my lips and let her kiss me then. I felt her push against my fingers and slowly opened my hand. I let my lips part and teased the tip of my tongue across where she had kissed me, soaking in the experience. I felt her hands against my lips, so lovingly caressing me when another voice spoke into my ear, “Open your mouth for her.” And I did. I couldn’t even think of stopping myself. Somnifera climbed inside my mouth then and I could taste her finally. She tasted faintly of green apple and I felt my body stir with excitement when I felt her legs slide to either side of my tongue and she lay face down upon it, her flesh tasted of what I imagine perfection to be. I tried to move my tongue cautiously yet intimately as well. I felt her tiny nipples harden against my tongue, I felt her need grow in the way she was grinding against my taste buds and I couldn’t help but silently hope to taste her release. I’m sorry, for these sins I know are not natural but you would never understand how absolutely wonderful seduction with beauty is. I hope you never do.

Because after she finished she parted my lips and climbed out. I remember how the world turned then, how dizziness overtook me as I crashed to the ground. I remember how she landed upon my lips as I lay there, how she looked at me so longingly as the poison coursed through my body.

I remember feeling them all as they landed upon me in a breeze that triggered déjà vu, all staring with those big beautiful innocent eyes, waiting for me to die so they could begin their feast. As my eyes close now I can hear the silence in the forest all around us and I understand why the other creatures keep to the shadows. It isn’t the moonlight they fear, it’s the Fae.

Night Things

I heard a scream in a dream and it woke me from my slumber. I tried to shout for my son but it only came out a mumble as sleep slowly released me from its dreary grasp. I felt the cold of the night snuggling against my right foot; apparently, I had lost a sock again in my nightly tossing and turning rituals that were supposed to be restful.

Slipping my foot under the blankets that had been shoved to the bottom of the bed I turned on my side and noticed the clock read 4:44 in the morning as my eyes closed. A slowly dissolving impression of the red numbers glowed behind my eyelids as I tried to fall back into sleep.

Teetering on the edge of sleep I felt the blanket pull back from my foot. I was too engrossed in watching phantoms of dream fold in and out of existence before my closed eyes that I brushed it off as a piece of a dream that was taking shape and welcoming me. That’s when I felt the sharp pinch against the bottom of my foot. I sat up in bed instantly awake.

Something thumped against the wooden bedroom floor at the bottom of the bed. I sat listening to the silence of the night for a minute. Slowly I began to hear something breathing, almost wheezing, coming from the darkness in the room. Fearing it was me and I was losing my mind I held my breath, yet the breathing sounds continued.

I reached over to the nightstand and turned on the bedside lamp. Something squealed and I heard something small with claws scurry under the bed. It didn’t quite have the same sounds as a domesticated pet, which wouldn’t have been the case anyway as I didn’t have any in the home since my Labrador Max had passed away months ago. In my mind, I decided that it must be a raccoon or some sort of opossum that somehow found a way inside.

The longer I sat there and let my eyes adjust, the more I began to creep myself out. What if it was rabid? Did I get bit? How the hell do I get out of bed now with it under there? I could hear it under the bed as it moved around. I was still trying to work out if I should jump from the bed like they tell you to do if your car is ever in contact with downed power lines when I heard it ripping into the cloth of the mattress and box springs.

A new sense of danger overtook me as I imagined a rabid raccoon tearing up through the bedding below me and attacking. I hopped out of bed and ran through the open door, slamming it shut behind me and locking the little bastard in my bedroom.

Turning on the hallway light, I found the flashlight in the towel closet and made my way to my son’s room. He was still quietly sleeping, his favorite nightlight spinning on the dresser and throwing lighted animals across the walls and ceiling.

I quietly closed the door behind me and checked his window to make sure it was closed and locked. I dropped softly to a knee and shined the flashlight under the bed only to see an army of creatures hiding under there. Luckily they were just toys and I made a mental note to have him clean his room later today. The closet was also a disaster area of toys and clothing, but there wasn’t anything alive in there. I crept back to his door, slipped out without waking him, and closed his door behind me.

I felt strange wearing only one sock, so I pinched a piece of it between my barefoot and the floor and lifted my foot out of it, which reminded me that I might have been bitten. I leaned against the wall and lifted my right foot to check the underside of it. There were no bite marks and no blood, but I could feel a small cut that hadn’t quite made it all the way through the skin. On my way to the bathroom, I stopped at my own door and put my ear to it to listen. I couldn’t hear anything and after a few seconds made my way to the medicine cabinet and poured some hydrogen peroxide over the bottom of my foot in the bathroom.

As I stood with one foot hanging over the edge of the bathtub to dry I thought about my next course of action. I could call my ex-brother in law who was an exterminator, but it was very early and he was a little strange anyway. Fearing it would turn out to just be a rat or something small and not wanting to have to listen to him inflate his own ego at my expense I decided to take matters into my own hands.

My first thought was the shotgun, but that was in the bedroom with Mickey Mouse the Rabid, plus, I mean, that might be a little bit of overkill. Hard to tell your six-year-old son why you killed one of his favorite cartoon characters with grandpa’s shotgun. What I needed was a long stick and maybe a box. I dried my foot off by stepping on the bathroom mat and made my way down the hall to the kitchen, then to the connected garage.

I grabbed a shovel, hesitated, then put it back and took the rake instead. I didn’t really want to kill it if I didn’t have to. I found an old box with some Christmas lights in it and dumped them out. On my way out I remembered how it had torn into the underside of the mattress and changed out the cardboard box for a large plastic storage bin with a lid.

Making my back inside, I juggled all my equipment to the bedroom door and listened again. Silence had settled over the house. I clamped the flashlight in my teeth, transferred the rake to the hand holding the plastic bin and slowly turned the doorknob. As the door opened, I half expected the rat or raccoon to come charging at me, but nothing came rushing from the darkness beneath the bed. I closed the door behind me as I sat the plastic bin down and popped the lid off. As I started towards the bed I realized just how exposed my bare feet felt and glanced over at my shoes. In my head, I was still weighing the pros and cons of taking the time to put them on when I found myself partly stepping into them. So much for that debate.

The sound of shifting fabric pulled my attention from the black abyss beneath the bed to the top of it. Something slowly stirred the blankets, pulling them towards the center of the mattress. Not understanding what I was seeing I flipped on the light switch next to the door. As the room brightened, a muffled squeal came from the bed. Something yanked harder on the blankets, hard enough that it was followed by the sound of fabric being torn.

“What the fuck?” Slipped out of my mouth before I even realized I had said it.

As soon as I spoke, all movement and sound stopped. I could feel it under there, waiting for me to make the next move. If that was the case, it wouldn’t have to wait long.

I grabbed a handful of blanket and tore it off the bed. In the middle of the bed was a ragged looking hole. I was both confused and a little scared as I stared at it. Something was moving within it, but I couldn’t see what it was. Around the hole were little pieces of frayed fabric from the blankets and the sheets. I looked down at the blanket in my hand and saw large pieces missing from the middle of it.

A shiver of fear raced up my spine. Something in the back of my mind was screaming that this wasn’t safe. Fight or flight was battling for dominance in my head as I stood in shock, waiting for my brain to decide what to do next.

From the hole in the bed came a raspy voice, “Stupid man. Stupid, stupid man,” It was almost a whisper, like someone talking to themselves.

Fear came crashing down around me then and I panicked as I slammed the rake down on the mattress, aiming for the hole with the metal tines. Whatever was in the mattress shrieked and pulled itself further into the hole. I kicked the mattress, trying to slide it off of the box springs and knock the thing loose, but it must have been inside both because the mattress just spun a little on the bed without budging in the middle.

I used the rake and pushed hard against the mattress and again the creature shrieked as I felt the mattress push back. It was definitely inside both the mattress and box springs. Grabbing the mattress in my hands, I lifted it and flipped it off the bed and against the wall as I jumped back and got ready to swing with the rake.

I could see its face then as it hissed at me. It had bloodshot eyes with silver snake like pupils, a nose that was a mix between human looking and a wet pigs snout, its skin hairless but wrinkled and aged. The creature’s ears were large and rounded at the top, yet pointed at the bottom. Atop its head was a sock, my sock. At first, I thought steam was rising from it but then I could smell the stench of something burning, something rotten burning.

The creature pulled back into the box springs and I heard it thump against the bedroom floor. Out of reflex I swung the rake at the bottom of the bed in case it was coming at me, but nothing emerged.

I put my foot against the box springs and pushed with all my strength and the whole bed slid across the floor. Before I had time to ready the rake the creature darted out from under the bed, headed not at me, but towards the door. It had covered itself with some makeshift cloak, torn from the fabric of the blankets.

I changed my grip on the rake and brought it down as hard as I could. The Tines missed the creature but managed to punch through part of the blanket and nail it into the hardwood floor. As the coverings slid off the creature I could see the rest of it then. It stood about a foot tall and had a humanoid body, yet still could run fast on all fours. It did have claws, but also wore some sort of clothing of its own. Ragged, ripped, and maybe decaying looking? It’s hard to say, but I do know it also carried something that looked like a scythe. Again it shrieked as if in pain as smoke started to lift from it.

I tore the rake out of the floor and was prepared to knock the hell out of it when it got to the door and realized it was trapped. Instead of finding itself trapped, it launched itself into he air, grabbed the doorknob and turned as it kicked off the wall and the door opened. I took a swing with the rake but it was already dropping to the ground and I missed.

When it hit the floor, it paused in the hallway and said, “Lincoln.” My heart stopped in my chest when I heard it say my son’s name. Something primal overcame me then and I lost the desire for a weapon, the rake tumbled from my grasps as I reached for it with my hands, fingers ready to dig into its flesh and tear it apart.

“No!” I raged as I dove for it. The creature easily avoided me as I crashed into the wall between it and my son’s room, flailing with my hands to grab a hold of it. It laughed then as it swung the scythe at my arm with such quickness that my reaction only came after it had pulled it back, turned, and was running away.

I grabbed my arm with my hand and felt blood. I watched as the creature stopped at the end of the hallway and turn back towards me. “Lincoln, Lincoln, coming for, stupid man,” it sneered, before disappearing into the dark of the living room.

I slowly got to my feet, grabbed the rake off the bedroom floor and started for the living room when I heard the front door open. As I entered, I flipped the light switch and saw that the front door was standing halfway open. I scanned the room as I made my way towards it but nothing moved or seemed out of place. I shut the door and locked it.

Standing with my back to the door I waited for the creature to jump out from behind something and take off running towards Lincoln’s room. Nothing happened at first, but then I smelled it, that stink of something rotten burning. I knew it was still here! As I raised the rake up, prepared to swing for the fences, the stench got stronger. I looked down and saw the cut in my arm smoking. The pain blossomed then and I bit back a cry as I dropped the rake and gripped tight my arm.

From the dark of the hallway I heard a bedroom door open, I screamed and felt my legs give out, collapsing to the floor as phantoms of red and black danced behind my eyelids. I tried to shout for my son but it only came out a mumble as sleep slowly took me in its dreary grasp.

 

Bar Stool Bad Ass

I sat on a crooked bar stool, staring at an angel in the mirror behind the bar, and drooling over the thought of her walking by. Just close enough to catch a whiff of her shampoo, or maybe it would be her mom’s conditioner, I didn’t care. I don’t like to objectify women, but man, this girl had everything you could ever hope for. Legs, an ass, I mean everything!
I dropped my eyes to my beer in a moment of weakened confidence, well ok, so I did it to not get caught staring. I don’t wanna be labeled a pervert like that or anything, you know?
Anyhow, I didn’t hear an organ strike up as she stood, and I damn sure didn’t see the shifting light source in the bar as her halo lifted when she walked, but I’ve been telling George for years to get rid of the fucking Christmas lights in the bar. It dulls our defensive senses. That dumbass never listens though, and he wonders why there are so many glory holes in the bathroom stalls.
When she slid onto the barstool next to me, I damn near snapped my spine as I tried to straighten up and not look as pathetic as I was. She smiled shyly at me, so I mumbled, “Hey” as I wiped the sweat from my forehead and slicked back my hair with one hand. I’m a sly mother fucker that way.
“What do you do?” She asked.
“Me? I like to juggle 50 lbs. shake weights.” Well, I was gonna say it, but I may have just giggle farted awkwardly and shrugged, hoping she didn’t hear it.
“For work, I mean.” She clarified.
I casually motioned towards George by desperately flailing my arm in his direction. He poured a cheap shot glass full of some kind of courage and sat it in front of me.
I tossed it back like a pro, not even grimacing that much as I turned the 12 degrees or so that my barstool would allow and smiled, “I’m between jobs right now.”
“Oh, what did you do before?”
“I had a summer internship at the CIA,” I answered.
“Oh wow, what did you do there?” Her painted on eyebrows almost seemed to lift a little out of genuine curiosity.
I felt the muscles in my chest realign themselves into something bordering on impressive when her body language suggested she might be interested, or a prostitute. I didn’t really care which.
I struggled to look sober as I said, “I don’t actually know.”
“Oh, so it’s like classified?”
“No, no, I really don’t know. They paid me to go down to Mexico a couple of times and eat ice cream.”
Her interest dropped like the dentures of a bar fly in a bathroom stall occupied by a rock star.
“I may have killed a man though, I mean it is the CIA, nothing is as it seems.” I tried to gain back her interest.
“I always wondered, what does CIA stand for?”
I spun back around to face the bar as I held up a confident hand towards George and replied, “That’s classified.”