Stories

6: Fallen Angels Trisha awoke from a restless sleep when she felt one of the walls of her padded prison open and a brightly lit corridor appeared behind it. She could hear voices and jumped to her feet. Ready to fight, she waited for Faluden’s henchmen to burst into her cell and overpower her, but her claws would not make it easy for them. “Come on, you cowards!” she shouted into the hallway, but no one answered her. Trisha frowned and licked her dry lips. She cautiously walked to the door and looked left and right into the hallway. Her cell was located at the end of a long corridor, and she could see other doors, but they were locked. The hallway itself was as clean as Celine’s laboratory and had been made of smooth white stone. She immediately thought that her sister was behind it. Trisha began to calm down. This was probably some kind of emergency shelter built by Celine, and her suit had brought Trisha here to escape the fireball. She put on a smile and walked toward a nearby corner in the hallway, behind which she could hear voices. ...

Chapter 15 Camelia sat across from Evelyn in the dimly lit lounge of Abyss, dressed in a simple but elegant latex catsuit, her hands clenched in her lap, her eyes red-rimmed from tears. She had come in not as a performer, not as a patron, but as a woman at the end of her rope. She didn’t like the latex on her since her stay in the coffin, but appealing for help with Evelyn, the material as a token of submission would be expected. Her graceful career as a ballerina, her passion since childhood, was crumbling beneath her. The theater had reduced her hours; she couldn’t make ends meet. The world outside had no place for her anymore. And so, she had come here, to Abyss, hoping against hope for something - anything - that would let her dance again. ...

Part 28: Mindfuck “You didn’t invite me to your orgy last night?” Princess’s voice echoed in the small room. Emma had no desire to open her eyes as she laid on the floor, curled up under a blanket. The petite body she was spooning rolled over and buried her face in Emma’s chest. “There was no orgy. All of us are wearing chastity belts. Now let me sleep.” “Chastity belts don’t preclude you from having an orgy. We have an appointment soon and our resident therapist is missing.” ...

Becky’s Repairs, Part 5 “Par ici, s’il vous plaît. La visite va commencer maintenant. Notre première exposition est une collection de photos en noir et blanc réalisées par Monsieur Deby, qui vient de Lorient.” Despite the frigid weather, Becky stepped lively through the local art museum in a conspicuously short black skirt, high heels, and a tight white V-neck shirt which showed off her collar line in a very tempting way, never mind that her nipples were clearly protruding beneath the soft fabric. The garters holding up her black silk stockings were just tangible under the hem. The guide couldn’t help but ogle, her strawberry-blond hair in curls topped with a black beret. She batted her eyes and gave off the air of a girl on the make. A mother jerked her puberty-stricken son to the other side of the small crowd as the guide made sure to stay close to Becky, pointing out items of interest during the museum tour. ...

6 Valerie’s Homecoming Surprise Valerie’s key turned in the penthouse lock just after dusk, the city’s glow bleeding in through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Mid-semester break had come early (professors on strike, dorms half-empty), and she’d taken the red-eye, every mile of the flight aching with the need to feel Jessie’s skin under her palms again, to taste the surrender she’d only been able to imagine through late-night texts and breathless phone calls. ...

Introduction Isla Del Sur, the Island Of The South, does not appear on any published maps. Satellite photographs show only an empty stretch of the Indian Ocean, assuming one knew where to look. There are no nearby sea lanes, and it is far from the air routes between Africa and Australia. There are a few historical references to the archipelago, though if those documents surface, they quickly disappear. Discovered in the 16th century by a Portuguese merchantman when it drifted off course enroute to Japan, the location was considered a state secret and locked away in the Portuguese royal archives, where it was soon lost. It was unexplored and uninhabited until the late 19th century, when a British utopian society purchased the location from an archivist in Lisbon. As with all such endeavors the great experiment soon failed and Isla Del Sur was once again banished to obscurity. ...

Part 5 Claire Devroux would never have called herself a morning person, though circumstances had certainly conspired to turn her into one, the seemingly endless demands that single motherhood had placed upon her leading to years spent rushing about the house in the hopes of getting dressed and out the door on time with her daughter in tow had more or less trained the instinct into her. It was simply habit now and no matter how tired she was, no matter how poorly she’d slept the night before, the woman always seemed to wake up at exactly the same time even without the intervention of an alarm clock. Oh, there had certainly been times when it had proven to be a useful skill, but there had also been days when things had finally calmed down and she’d wanted nothing more than to surrender to the seductive embrace of her pillow and drift back to sleep only to find herself unable to do so. ...

Chapter Four - Terra Seven Gamma Terra Seven Gamma is a desert planet. There is enough sub-surface water to sustain life, and here and there you might find small ponds that have water in them during the rainy season, but overall water is very scarce– and very expensive– on Terra Seven Gamma. That is why I was very surprised when Spacer Bob’s tour appeared at what appeared to be some sort of underground water carnival. ...

Love of Life Part 6 After disposing of our would-be assassins, Sherry and I headed back to the house. Before we drove through the neighborhood looking for the intruder’s car. We found it two blocks from our house. We had the keys, so we searched the car for anything important. We found a laptop. We took it, then Sherry followed me as I took their car to the car park and left it there. Once home, we opened the computer and found out everything we needed to know about the attempt on our lives, including the person behind it. It seems that Sandy had a mega-rich client who worships her. He did not take kindly to the Dark Willy treatment of her and chose to take it out on us. Little did he know that we had knowledge of him and his intentions and that his fate, as well as the boys in the desert, was now in our hands. Time to plan our next move. ...

Chapter Three - Terra Eleven Zeta Everything again began shimmering and it felt like I was slowly rotating. Had I been alone, I would have reverted to my Ophugalian form to better track where I was. The Ophugalia evolved from migratory birds and our ears give us a great sense of movement and direction. I was now, for better or worse, shifted into the form of a Nine Gammite who was sitting docilely in the crowd watching Spacer Bob’s exotic holographic tour. Even without my Ophugalian ears, however, I was fairly sure that we were, in fact, moving. I didn’t know how, or what technology was involved, but I was absolutely certain that we had somehow moved from Terra Nine Gamma to Centauri Alpha Six and that we were now on our way to Terra Eleven Zeta. ...

5: Lost Evening was falling when the carriage finally came to a halt. Jeffrey helped his passengers out of the carriage and supported Trisha, who was still weak on her feet. Rilliana knocked on Celine’s door and looked around nervously. “Are you okay, Rilli?” Trisha whispered, stroking her friend’s arm. “Yes…yes, everything’s fine, I’m just…tired,” Rilliana murmured, pulling her arm away when Trisha touched her. The shifter frowned but said nothing as the door opened a crack. Celine’s face peered out, but they couldn’t see any more of her. ...

Chapter 30 I took in the beauty of the countryside, we took a slow walk in order to fully absorb the area. Countless trees whistled as they moved back and forth, the leaves of their branches scratching as they clashed against each other. The luscious green grass covered the landscape, only broken up from the occasional collection of flowers, blues, whites, yellows and reds, each collection taking the attention of my sister and I, expanding the morning walk for a longer period. ...

4. Steer Yeehaw “Too much…” I’d opened the door to find Sophie in a pink, bedazzled cowboy hat. “…t’s from Zara’s hen-do.” I snorted. “Get in here,” and pulled her inside, and gave her a squeeze. We didn’t get together at my place that often. I mean, I lived in a ‘modest’ flat, and she had a whole damn house. But a change of scenery is always nice, and there was an excellent Indian take-away just up the road. ...

Chapter 14 Nadia sat alone in her apartment, the dim light of a single lamp casting long shadows along the walls. The room was silent, but her mind roared with conflict. It had been months since her release from the Rubber Suit of Permanence, months since she had been granted back the choice of what to wear. Yet despite the freedom, despite the simple pleasure of feeling cotton, silk, and leather against her skin again, she remained bound in the one way that mattered most. The belt remained locked, and Evelyn had made it clear: it was indefinite. ...

5 1- Simmering Appetites Weeks blurred into a hazy rhythm after the Apex Grand’s near-catastrophe, Valerie’s dorm-room walls now plastered with photos of that last weekend—tangled limbs and tear-streaked grins frozen in time, a collage of bruises blooming like forbidden roses. College had swallowed her whole: lectures on postcolonial theory clashing in her mind with phantom pings of latex directives, her fingers tracing faint welts under flannel sheets during late-night calls with Jessie, the static crackle of the call a poor substitute for the polymer’s vice. ...

Part One Our embrace was a fleeting comfort as an alarm went off at 7am on a cold and cloudy Saturday in November. I acted like I was still asleep. As she left my embrace to turn off her alarm and start her day. I rotated to my back and got a light kiss on the lips that I struggled to not reciprocate. I had worked late the night before and did not want her to feel guilty for waking me up. I kept my eyes closed as she got ready for some kind of work meeting. What a waste of a Saturday. Listening carefully, I heard her descend the stairwell and her car angrily sped away. I was sad to be alone today but grateful to have the opportunity to clean up our modest one-bedroom apartment. It is not much but we always did our best with what he had. ...

34: My Realm Caitlyn sat on the sofa in Celine’s main house and rubbed her forehead. After the exciting and fun event, she had complained of a headache, which Celine couldn’t ignore, of course. So she invited Caitlyn to have a cup of tea while she checked her invention. However, she wasn’t alone. The demon Ifry was sitting in an armchair opposite Caitlyn, and the angel Phaelyn was lying with her head on Caitlyn’s lap, enjoying the head scratches the young policewoman was giving her. At the same time, she rubbed her own temples and groaned occasionally. ...

Chapter Two - Spacer Bob’s When I returned to Spacer Bob’s Fantasy Tours a little before midnight, there was a short line waiting to get in and more people standing around. The barker was talking softly to them. His microphone and speakers were turned off. “If you want to see the exotic wonders of the galaxy,” he was saying using his hands as if unrolling a large banner, “this is the show for you. If you take this tour, I guarantee that you will see things that you only imagined existed. And if you have already taken any of our regular tours you know that it is always as if you are actually there. This is your chance to experience what you previously only dreamed of in the privacy of your lonely rooms.” ...

Chapter 29 My eyes slowly opened, allowing my bedroom to come into view. The soft, morning light from the window was just bright enough to illuminate the area, lighting the bed and walls just enough despite the darkness of the outside world. My hand travelled around me, gliding across the soft mattress and open blanket and revealed that I was alone in the room. There was no one else sharing my bed. ...

3. Scrabble It all started - as all the best stories do - with too much alcohol. Revelation Clubbing wasn’t my thing, but Lottie insisted, “It’s my birthday!” And so, we drank, we danced, we laughed, we drank. It was a good night, to be fair. And as it got close to midnight, we set out in search of food, stuffed our faces with greasy, delicious kebabs, and then settled in a quiet pub to wind down. ...