Something that Aunt Kali’s memories didn’t prepare me for was the all encompassing hunger after siring another. Emptiness spread from my belly to my brain, leaving me foggy but determined to find a meal. I dragged Aarti along, the fragrance of blood drawing me to a couple in an alleyway. The hunger heightened my senses, […]
Aarti, particularity, broke my heart. She was only a couple of years older than I was. Six or seven. That is, when I became. Her biological father had died when she was too young to remember him. Her mother married again, and her little brother died two days out of the womb. Her stepfather blamed […]
This would be the time the ch ch ch ah ah ah would start playing in a movie. But this is no movie. Just another night at Duke’s Point. Another car with steamed up windows. And in the tape deck…Whitesnake. It always seems to be Whitesnake. Just once I’d like to come upon some teenage […]
“Papa had been a good man,” Ava Bähr whispered to herself. The photos hit her like a punch to the stomach, stealing her air, making her reel. Rays of sunlight illuminated the motes of dust floating in her mother’s attic as memories—beautiful memories—played in front of her: days spent rowing on the lake with her […]
I sat down the street from her bungalow in my new Mustang. Of course I wondered if Shelby would think I’d given up on her, with her not knowing I’d bought this car, one almost matching hers. It was my surprise to her. Yeah, it took all my savings, but it was worth it. Making […]
“Two nights in a row, mate?” the bouncer asked, taking my cover the next evening. “Never though’ you’d find a Shelia here you liked tha’ much.” I shrugged, not wanting a conversation. “First time for everything, mate.” “Well, have fun.” He raised an eyebrow as I headed towards the bar. The bouncers at Kali’s seemed […]
Now, Granny Beth had gotten it into her gray head that she ought to go back to school. For what, she didn’t know, but she always regretted not gettin’ proper book learning after she graduated high school. See, Granny had been a smart one back in the day, but Poppy Lloyd talked like that apple […]
Sister Ada fastened the cilice around her thigh, wincing at the sharpened points piercing her skin and the blood flowing down her leg. She watched as her skin mended, embedding the barbs into her flesh, before letting her habit fall around her legs. Her eyes closed as she reached for her disciplines and whipped its […]
Colors exploded on the canvas of Dax’s closed eyelids as the gush of blood filled his mouth, fireworks in bright reds, hot whites, and brilliant blues accompanying the strawberry flavor of the college coed. He let her drop to the pavement, knowing he wouldn’t be the type to take small drinks for sustenance, even this […]
“…With some decorations brought by Aunt Tiff—” “Stop!” Mia threw up her hands, frustration spreading throughout her body. How many times could Aimee possibly get lyrics wrong? She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Bought at Tiffany, not brought by Aunt Tiffany.” Aimee’s mouth grew slack. “Huh? That doesn’t make any sense. What’s Tiffany?” Mia’s […]
S.L. Baron 