Tagged: romance

2024-07-29

The Hangover

Part of Night's Longing

2747 words (14 minutes)

The castle should be darker than it is. Without so much as torchlight illuminating the passageways, we would ordinarily need to rely on our lamps as we make our way to the beating heart of Dracula’s lair.

2024-07-25

Homecoming

Part of Night's Longing

2635 words (13 minutes)

If the hand on my shoulder belonged to a lookout I missed, someone come for revenge on the hunter who slew their kin, right now I’d let them have it. I find myself unable to muster relief that the hand belongs to Carmen instead.

2024-07-10

Execution

Part of Night's Longing

3750 words (19 minutes)

Carmen seems more withdrawn than before after sharing that story, as though even she was caught by surprise that those memories still have some power over her. A little fun in bed helps distract her for a moment, but I get the feeling she also uses it to distract me from the topic.

2024-07-07

Past Hungers, Past Mistakes

Part of Night's Longing

4479 words (22 minutes)

Carmen spoils me. She treats me like a princess, taking me out to eat at fine restaurants, lavishing gifts of beautiful clothes and shoes and bags and jewelry on me. It’s almost too much. Too fancy, too elegant, too high femme.

2024-07-02

To Pass The Time

Part of Night's Longing

3234 words (16 minutes)

As the two of us wait outside the restaurant for the valet to bring her car around, Carmen produces a small case from inside her jacket. She removes a cigarette, hand-rolled by the looks of it, and extends her arm to offer me the option of taking one.

2024-06-30

The Apex Predator

Part of Night's Longing

3337 words (17 minutes)

Tears. I wondered if there would be tears. A bloodbag, a human girl—a vampire hunter by blood—dies. What does that mean to the vampires who called her sister?

I guess it means tears. That’s something.

2024-06-27

Older And More Powerful

Part of Night's Longing

1703 words (9 minutes)

The way Carmen looks deep into my eyes, it’s like she sees all the way down to the depths of my soul, like she already knows all there is to know about me, and it’s just a matter of being willing to confess the truth and thereby earn her trust.

2024-06-26

What Passes For Wholesome

Part of Night's Longing

3972 words (20 minutes)

Four people dead in one night. One person missing, along with her clothes and valuables, making her the obvious suspect.

2024-06-12

For the Love of Gods

Part of The New Goddess

3872 words (19 minutes)

My thoughts heave and surge like the tide, flooding, claiming, reshaping the world around me. However, so little of this is my design. The world is clay in my hands, but my hands are not alone, and my hands are not even entirely my own. I recognize Velle’s fingerprints here and there, nudging reality in delicate and subtle ways that contrast with my own wild flailing. Something within me lashes out even at those I love, possibly because I love them. My mind has become a kitchen with too many cooks, all of whom hate me.

2024-06-11

Lady of the Waking Nightmare

Part of The New Goddess

3322 words (17 minutes)

Not what I would call ideal timing for You to indulge Your hunger, Goddess, I have to say. Did You really have so much faith in the three of us, or have You been lying even to me about how in control of Your urges You are?

Stalking Nina and Velle as they descend through the palace, it’s immediately clear that Velle has regained some of her former self. How much, I wonder? I want to believe that her brusque attitude with the princess is a matter of urgency, and that her heart has not entirely discarded the woman she loved just this morning.

2024-06-06

Surrender

Part of The New Goddess

4497 words (22 minutes)

For the first time in longer than I can remember, I wake up pain-free.

I also seem to be completely naked in an unfamiliar bed with someone else’s arms around me. I feel and smell filthy. With a groan of disgust, I try to regain my bearings. Memories of what happened yesterday slowly drift back to me as though from a great distance away.

2024-05-26

Past The Limits Of Worship

Part of The New Goddess

3052 words (15 minutes)

I know when my Goddess returns by the way the whole palace comes alive in Her presence. The floor, the walls, even the very air carries a subtle vibration of Her power when She, the beating heart of our home, steps foot inside. My legs buoyed with renewed energy, the anticipation of laying eyes upon Her again carries me onward with quickened steps.

2024-05-25

Blessed Date Night

Part of The New Goddess

3418 words (17 minutes)

I fling my closet door open, stepping inside to discover that it has grown again today, filled with yet more beautiful clothes for me to enjoy. How exciting! I say a little prayer of thanks to Goddess and trail my hand as I walk past some of my favorites, savoring the soft touch of cloth on my fingertips.

So many new colors and cuts and styles have appeared here since yesterday. It’s hard to choose! Oh, but today’s my date with Goddess, isn’t it? She’s back home again after so many days away hunting for the other gods.

2024-01-31

Know Yourself

1626 words (8 minutes)

I killed that that thing weeks ago, but it stalks me still. Deathless, breathless, and sleepless, it could be an unparalleled tracker were it not lacking the cunning of an experienced hunter like myself.

2023-07-16

Familiar Face

997 words (5 minutes)

The warrior who kicked down the door looked immediately familiar, though I’d never seen her before. Hers was the face in the mirror, the mold from which I was cast, the one my maker could never let go of.

2023-06-05

Cigarettes And Brine

516 words (3 minutes)

My tits ache, pressed against the hard wood of the pier I lie on. The irregular splash of salt water leaves my clothes just damp enough to unpleasantly stick to me.

Physical discomfort fades into the background. It’s high tide, and the thing kissing me grips my attention.

2023-06-04

Last Kiss

210 words (1 minute)

Her fingertips trace your cheek while you avert your gaze, looking down and away, suddenly not ready for this. Her lips brush yours, and you let your eyelids drift shut again.

Your heart pounds in your chest, stubbornly insisting on heat and movement, fear and longing.

2023-05-05

I Love The Way You Go Too Far

Part of Cursed Sword

3612 words (18 minutes)

I remember Emilia. I could have loved her, but in the end her heart was set on another.

I gave her everything—all my hate and all my power—and we would have had the world if she hadn’t thrown it all away for that foul priestess of hers.

2023-02-17

If Looks Could Kill, What a Weapon I'd Make Of You

502 words (3 minutes)

The touch of a hand at my waist guides me down the hall. I know the path by heart, but still she keeps me close and uses gentle pressure to lead me in a turn down one corridor or another.

2022-12-06

Once A Hero

Part of Cursed Sword

2691 words (13 minutes)

The knight was a hero once. The princess called her that, at least, before sending her on this quest.

2022-11-12

Do It For Her

1135 words (6 minutes)

“We all miss Reisa,” my friend told me. “And we all want to see that bastard pay, believe me, but this is too much.”

2022-10-31

You Belong Together

615 words (3 minutes)

The way it usually goes is this: you take your vitamins, you draw the door on glass, you speak your goodbyes, and then you slip through to the other side.

Then your life is hers to play with for a while, and oh, how her pleasure makes you smile!

2022-10-16

Someone Loves You

1131 words (6 minutes)

I get confused sometimes. I misremember instructions Miss gives me or get lost in the house or see things that aren’t really there.

That’s why right now I’m trying to sit still and enjoy my tea and studiously avoid looking outside the window at the shouting thing below.

2022-10-16

The Heartless

440 words (2 minutes)

I fucking hate breakups.

You put your heart and soul into a relationship with someone, and in the end they betray your trust and leave you with a gaping wound in your chest. Every fucking time.

I’d just be better off giving up on love.

2022-10-15

Rot Together

329 words (2 minutes)

Her grave was not particularly deep, the coffin not particularly sturdy, the stone marker already overgrown. It was a burial in which every expense had been spared.

A mushroom sprouts through a wedding ring pushed to the surface by subterranean life.

2022-10-14

Already Gone Again

180 words (1 minute)

“I’ll kiss her,” I think, and then she’s already gone, scant decades later.

I’ve lost count of all the people I loved who swept into my life and warmed my heart for a short while before death’s pallid grasp drained everything from them and left me all alone again.

2022-10-09

Moonkiss

206 words (1 minute)

The night is quiet. Even the wind holds its breath.

It’s never felt more like it’s just the two of you, alone, your head tilted up to gaze lovingly at her.

She’s bright and full, hanging in the sky and shining down on you, and you know it’s love you feel in your heart.

2022-10-07

Dancers

333 words (2 minutes)

Your eyes resolve so few shapes under night’s shroud, but you are content. There, bathing in golden light, is the most radiant creature you’ve ever laid eyes on.

When she dances, no gaze can resist her summons, least of all yours.

2022-09-27

Hypnotic Coup

1206 words (6 minutes)

The greasy, spindly woman who wormed her way into the king’s court should not, by any reasonable estimation, have been able to get as close to him as she did. She was foul, unsavory, and with a sharp tongue that did her few favors in the great courtly games of diplomacy.

2022-09-23

A Date With The Empress Of Space

1765 words (9 minutes)

Aria was not expecting a cadre of imperial soldiers barging into her coffee shop. It had been a long week, and—frankly—being abducted without explanation to be sent into space was the last thing the barista needed.

2022-07-10

Bonding

1486 words (7 minutes)

My colleague and partner—the only one who understands me on any meaningful level—ignores my pleas and my thrashing against these restraints to inject me with the same substance that killed all our test subjects.

She is a monster, and it was me who encouraged her to be so.

2022-06-20

Thorough Prophecy

1898 words (9 minutes)

If one braves the journey through the northern wilds, climbing inhospitable cliffs, crossing raging rivers, and cutting through dense forest, one may reach the land ruled by an ancient and immortal Queen of Evil: the Forbidden Kingdom of Hxail, where the living do not dwell.

2022-06-12

Perfect

293 words (1 minute)

Your friends thought there was something wrong with you when you got engaged to your doll.

“It’s not even a real person,” they objected.

They just didn’t understand how pure your love was. Why couldn’t they see how perfect you were together?

2022-05-28

A Visitor To The Library

756 words (4 minutes)

I’ve been coming to this library increasingly often after I found the twists and turns through the aisles that take me to where they keep their most interesting books.

Not many people visit this isolated wing, which adds to the appeal.

2022-05-21

Antidote

1204 words (6 minutes)

It seemed like a nice date at first. She cooked you an elaborate meal, she shared such interesting stories, and the way she looked at you with those arresting eyes made you squirm in your seat.

Then she told you that the pie had been poisoned and all the doors were locked.

2022-02-10

What We Both Lost

2053 words (10 minutes)

It was all over. The forces of light victorious. The Dark One banished to wait for another turning of the cycle to clash with another destined Hero generations from now.

Still the Priestess grieved her love, the Hero who gave her life to win this victory.

2022-02-02

Deadname

278 words (1 minute)

My date was such a relentlessly spooky bitch, but I was enjoying myself enough to accept an invitation to her place.

She was, after all, hot as hell, and while I couldn’t place her accent right away, I found it somehow irresistible.

2022-01-19

Remembering Old Times

1069 words (5 minutes)

What a lovely afternoon to relax with an old friend and reminisce over tea.

We laugh over stories of our adventures together, and for a moment, it’s like we were never apart.

She reaches across the table and takes my hand, and I smile like I haven’t in years.

2022-01-15

Came Back Wrong

221 words (1 minute)

The power of the fairies’ blessing touched the body of her lover and they stirred to life once more.

Weeping, she held them in her arms again, glad she never lost hope.

She ignored her friends shouting their warning. Her lover’s eyes, now open, were dark, empty pools.

2022-01-08

Reunion

449 words (2 minutes)

I squeeze the trigger, and the thing that was once my best friend drops dead.

I take a moment to kneel beside it. These helmets aren’t made to be removed, so I improvise a hole in the front with the butt of my gun.

Yeah. That’s her face. All plugged in.

2022-01-06

Save You

527 words (3 minutes)

They recognized something was wrong. Events were not proceeding according to their meticulous script.

For all their precautions—the drugs, the mental conditioning, the trigger phrases—their weapon was increasingly unpredictable. Erratic, even.

So they took her girlfriend.

2022-01-01

A Date With Destiny

637 words (3 minutes)

“At last, you arrive in my lair,” the Dark Lady of Nightmares drawls with a confident air of menace.

She rises from the Throne of Thorns, her seat of power overgrown with wild vines bearing threatening spikes which somehow never pierce her smooth, perfect skin.

2021-12-19

Girls Like Us

805 words (4 minutes)

I attack myself more with the exfoliating scrub, putting my whole arm into the effort until fatigue precludes continuing.

It hardly seems to make a difference in the hard, scaly patches developing across my arms and legs.

Slathering the moisturizer on, I finish my routine.

2021-12-18

For The Love Of Goddess

380 words (2 minutes)

It’s her again. Not just another worshipper, by now all the temple priestesses know her face.

Her schedule is her own, her arrivals dictated by impulses only she knows. She offers social pleasantries to those of us she sees but wastes no time traversing the temple grounds.

2021-12-04

Woman of Mournful Duty

765 words (4 minutes)

You start dating a lovely girl who warns you that her job has her on-call 24/7/365 but assures you that they so rarely ever call her in.

2021-12-02

Venomous Tattoo

402 words (2 minutes)

Touching nib to fang, the Spider Witch draws on her own venom for this part of the ritual.

With practiced movements, she inks fine lines onto her canvas. The securely bound creature does an admirable job of not flinching as its skin burns under each stroke.

2021-11-21

As If I Didn't Know Her

318 words (2 minutes)

I kiss her and feel wetness everywhere she touches me.

She grips me firmly, fingers wrapped in my hair, pressing my face into her as if to keep me from looking down and seeing what she is doing to me.

As if I didn’t watch her do it to someone else before.

2021-11-10

Demonic Diplomacy

468 words (2 minutes)

She was dying.

After decades of uncertainty about that fact and more decades of research on how she might avert it, she came to the conclusion that her death was both unavoidable and imminent. Likely no more than a century away.

So she did what witches often do. She plotted.

2021-10-15

A Cycle Broken

861 words (4 minutes)

The Dark Lady of Nightmares glided silently through the night’s cool air, her body magically transformed into her giant bat form perfectly suited for stealth. As she approached the City of Light, she swept her eyes over it, scanning for the tower where the princess slept.

2021-09-29

A Date With A Nice Book

173 words (1 minute)

The spine opens, splitting down its length, sweet slime oozing from the opening. The pointed end of a chitinous limb pokes through and works its way slowly out. More emerge along the length of the gash as the first extends, revealing one joint, then another, then another.

2021-09-21

Ascension

306 words (2 minutes)

Slitted eyes lock with mine. One clawed hand at my throat. Another grips my hair. Two more raking my back, breaking the skin. A smile widens, full of needle-sharp teeth, relishing my helplessness in the moments before it opens to devour me.

“Remember me?” The creature hisses.

2021-09-15

Reciprocation

143 words (1 minute)

With a kiss I break the skin, and my tongue comes alive with the distinctly metallic taste of blood. The electric sensation of life itself dances in my mouth, carried by the flow. She whines and flinches, but my grip holds her firmly in place.

2021-09-07

Vulnerable

1521 words (8 minutes)

The heroine swoops in toward the site of the explosion, keeping an eye out for—ah, there she is. Her great nemesis, striding through the destruction, catches her eye at the same time and grins widely. “Ah, there you are! Fireworks always were the best way to get your attention.”

2021-09-04

Destiny's Halo

443 words (2 minutes)

“We are not so different, you and I,” the Dark Sorceress declares as I confront her at last in her great tower.

I grip my sword and grit my teeth. “You’re a cold-blooded killer who consorts with demons and whose idea of freedom is born of chaos and destruction.”