The alleyway was narrow and stank like shit.

Nat wasn't looking forward to meeting Seth. The animosity between them had grown lately. Perhaps her curiosity was to blame. Perhaps she asked too many questions. But he had always encouraged inquisitiveness. …

Our blades flashed in the dark, sparks of light from our lanterns flickering off our weapons. The things were all around us, attacking from the sides, the floor, even the ceiling. We stood back-to-back and warded them off -- one, two, sometimes even three…

--

Greetings. It is the thirtieth day. Food remains in good supply, but our morale has taken a beating. Captain Marseilles announced to us that he has received a message on the Return Ticket. As we had been told, that system was primed to engage around Da…

Thunder crashed again. Martin looked up from his laptop, but could see little beyond the glow of his halogen desk lamp. Just for a moment, he had fancied that he could hear a deep rumble that was closer, something that was not the rain or thunder. Somet…

Sir Alfred Worthington III coughed as he tightened the final screw of his new automaton. He covered his mouth with a handkerchief, catching the flecks of blood that came with each rattling bark.

The machine stood approximately 183 centimeters tall and r…

We found each other in the dark some time later. Or, rather, the semi-dark. A crack in part of the tunnel ceiling extended through the rock over our heads and let in just enough light that we didn't require our lanterns. It did little to dispel the gloom …

To Detective Hawk, the more she examined the scene, the more she felt the whole thing was an accident, an illusion. The ink was spilled, not spilling from her body. She lay slumped, not in a defensive pose. There were no glasses of drink, no tubes for gas…

People think that all ghosts are bad, but they are wrong.

Growing up, I lived in an apartment next to an old woman named Miss Betty. She kept a rocking chair on the stoop and on warm evenings I would sit outside with her and play checkers. She smoked h…

You reached out your injured arm, placing your hand on my shoulder while I wrapped and bound it. You didn't even wince as I pulled the bandages tight to help slow the blood flow. One of the Healers would need to tend to the wound once we returned to the H…

We set out again, following the same pathway we'd been on before. The floor beneath us continued to slope downward. The ceiling of the tunnel dropped low in places but never so much that we needed to stoop. We weren't certain where we were headed. Such wa…

Old Tory Adore may not seem like much now, but let me tell you, back in the day, Tory was a woman to reckon with. When she trod the streets of Fentriss, New Jersey, brother, you could hear people scurryin' away. Her frogskin boots jingled remorselessly as…

The room, if you can call it that, for it was enormous, easily the largest single chamber I'd seen down here in the dark, was a nightmare landscape of chaos. I had to shake my head and blink my eyes several times to try to rid myself of the vertigo it i…

This week I was cast as the Evil Sorceress in an opera- I’m a man (biologically), mind you- but I always thought myself more the heroine. After all, my magic is of Light. Even when my song is the dimmest firefly, I still glimmer along, dancing luminescenc…

Orthael was quite content with the part of supporting swordsman. He stayed on her weaker side, ensuring that she could focus her attention on cutting a way through the Lesser Dead. Claws rang against steel; he used his shield more and more, less as a laye…

Empress Melinda the IV ignored the cries of the man being dragged away by two guards. So few people accepted their notice of execution with any sense of dignity these days. She should know, she had sent hundreds of men, women, and the occasional child, to…

"It's such a shame, really." Cordelia untied the collar of her blouse so her 7 year-old could suckle. No matter how bad things got, ladies would always find time to gossip.

"We mustn't judge, Cordy. It's not her fault." Thin and frail Maude pursed her li…

They had taken the light. All lights everywhere were gone. First the stars winked out one by one. Then the Sun grew dark before vanishing. Without the Sun there was no moon. It was probably still out there in that deep darkness but we couldn't see it.

We…

As silently as the High Angel before it, Judgement whispered echoes of its past to Orthael. There had been many who had made similar vows in a time long before, when the Dead had arisen in such numbers that the darkness had very much threatened to overwhe…

The two live units continued fire, systematically dismantling, disabling and/or dismembering every possible threat in the concourse. As this included every person, sentinel, bodyguard and drone, this was a task that took several seconds.

It was a shame t…

At the sound of Grouse's shout Beckton turned - pivoting on both feet and dropping to one knee at once, just as an older man in a dark-grey overcoat and a somewhat incongruous German-style steel helmet came around the corner in pursuit.

The private, who…

The Office of Strategic Assets was responsible for a number of things: planetary deuterium stockpiles, mothballed military bases, and reserve nuclear weapons.

We'd all been shocked three years ago when the order came down to unseal one of the black sites…

The first police presence came in the form of a formation of drones, small and silver, hardly visible in the morning light. They flew from their base, along Hyacinth Street, and collectively pulled into a dive as they approached.

An unobtrusive antenna at…

Story is marked as mature

"I don't want to do this, just for the record," Janos says. His voice is whiny but not without cause.

"Don't be such a crybaby," Tharsten replies. "It just a simple prank."

"It's wrong," Janos says. "You'd hate it if someone pulled this stunt on you, an…

Ryle appeared at my side in an instant, exuding a casual menace. His eyes were a searing inferno, a promise of violence that made others much more interested in listening to me.

The captain was affected, but not cowed. Not bad.

"You are a passenger aboa…