Havana or Hell, part two
III Some times, when I lie awake, I feel like I'm a tiny pinprick, floating in an endless void. It's a physical sensation, but not linked to any of the usual five senses, and the feeling disappears as soon as I open my eyes. It's accompanied by a...
Cry Me a Murder (Part One) : Six Red Tears
Museum director Philip Smythe marched down the hallway of the Oakfort historical museum, the hard heels of his shoes banging against the marble floor with every angry step. He was underslept, stressed out and even grumpier than normal. The museum was...
Fallen Angels, Part Nine - Sing me a Song, Dead Girl
CHAPTER EIGHT - SING ME A SONG, DEAD GIRL When Oscar Peterson played The Phantom Cat in 1986, a young Jesse Juliano captured a photo of him. He framed it and hung it on the wall, next to the upright piano. Peterson is all smiles, wiping sweat...
The Casebook of Dr. Exeter, Chapter Three
**III - THE FOOL** I am certain that you understand the dilemma I was in. Not only had I acquired a book of such exquisite rarity that its mere existence was widely considered hypothetical - an illusionary work thought up by dreamers and fantasts,...
Havana or Hell, Part 8 (Final part)
XV Bruckner and Burris stared at me in silent horror, as my hands transformed into clawed monstrosities, my teeth extended into fangs and the entire length of my body sprouted a thick coat of brown fur. I gorged myself on the freely flowing energy...
Havana or Hell, part seven
XIII "So," said Burris. "How are you progressing?" "The wand?" "Indeed, the wand symbolizes magic and transformation; maybe it will even lead to the cure for your condition." "I already found it." I said bluntly and put the drinking flask on the...
Havana or Hell, part six
XI Kendall Duran's company, _EnDurance Games_ was registered to an address in Warrington, fifty miles west of Oakfort. I searched the Internet for the address of anyone named Kendall Duran, and found three by that name. One had a dentistry practice in...
The Hollow Silence, Part One
**PREFACE** The story you're about to read is true. Of course, I cannot guarantee that every word is completely factual, because I was not personally around to witness the events, and two of the people involved could not be here to make corrections....
*Rewrite* The Extraordinary Casebook of Dr. Exeter; Chapters 1 and 2
**I: DEATH** _Aberdeenshire, Scotland, November 23, 1888_ Let us begin with the fact that I was dying. Not by a natural death from old age or heart failure or cirrhosis of the liver, but from strychnine poisoning, which is a very unpleasant way to...
Cry Me a Murder, Part III - a Strange Crunching Underfoot
We had worked on two cases together already, and our team of therian and otherkin was growing tighter than ever -but ra'gasso was far away from his jurisdiction. "i can't, man" he finally grunted. "i've got a whole spree of burglaries on my hands."
Cry Me a Murder (part nine): The other side of Zero
_Terminated?_ I was one grade away from being targeted for termination by the MI-16. I had already killed three MI-16 agents, and if the MI-16 decided I was to blame for the death of Jack Tell, they would come screaming at me, like a battalion of...
Cry Me a Murder (part eight): Mother Knows Beast
The corpse of Mr. Tejon -soon to be buried under his official name of Ted Jones, was all over the kitchen floor. Like agent Phelps before him, Ted Jones had been torn to shreds. Deep claw marks ran from his torn throat to his open abdomen that was now...