“Could you please list your medical conditions?”
The female voice was polite, and pleasant enough despite the slight mumbliness her teeth forced, but I was used to that. I stayed reclined on the fake-leather couch, a slowly spinning ceiling fan gave slight circulation to the warm, muggy air. All the windows were closed, as it was a bit chill outside for her type of Guest, but shadows of passing cars flying overhead lent an almost rhythmic play of shadow across bookshelves whose dead

It
hadn't been a very good fairy
costume. Not really. She had a somewhat tattered mauve leotard that
Amy'd sprayed sequins on haphazardly, a pair of coathangers bent into
a vaguely wing-ish shape with some see-through pink (and also
sequined) fabric stretched unevenly across them, and a magic wand
that had begun its eventful career as the cardboard tube remnants of
a roll of paper towels that gave its life to clean up a beer spill
the night before- the tube earning a posthumous promotion to magi

I
saw in the paper over breakfast- two more people missing, and the
police as ever had no leads. Just the kind of thing to spoil a
woman's appetite, especially when I had a pretty good idea who or
what was causing it. I'd been picking up hints of outsiders inside
city limits for a few weeks, nothing potent enough for me to hunt but
the sort of nagging, back-of-the-head feeling of impropriety you'd
have if someone moved your favorite chair an inch to the left while
you were out grocery shopping.

She
never got the shakes before a fight anymore. That was for rookies or
those whose nerves were nearly frayed through, and Diona was still in
the peak of her career instead of at either terminus. The backstage
was a crowded, smelly warren of rooms and showers, but she'd been
doing this job almost half of her life and felt thoroughly at home.
The faint pounding of music to keep the audience excited, only
audible backstage by its bass notes, went almost without being
noticed. Diona stayed in her

THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-
The
steady rhythms of Joel’s feet hitting the wooden track and of his
heartbeat thudding in his ears were the only sounds in the gym so
late at night. He often came to the 24-hour facility in the predawn
hours of the morning to be as nearly certain as possible that he
could exercise alone. It wasn’t that he didn’t like crowds, but
something about the peace and quiet helped Joel push himself harder
than he otherwise would, and so he’d rearranged his sl

Usually their work happened at night. Demon worship didn't admit to many activities that would bear the light of day, at least not if you wanted to avoid being killed by a righteous citizenry. Neither Isabel the youngest daughter of a noble family, nor Denis the youngest son of another were incautious. That was what made them so exceptionally useful to the demons they served; caution, discretion, and a measured approach to the demons' brand of evil that let them do their work without going into

I walked into the restaurant and its warm, smoky air hit my face like a hammer. I froze for a few seconds to let my eyes adjust to the dim light as I looked around; my date picked a place right near the edge of the mutant quarter, where neither humans or mutants would draw much of a second glance even if the two together might. But then, that's why we usually got semi-private booths. I strode past the mousy-looking server once I could see straight, eyes automatically assessing threats; I didn't

Elie woke up with the stench of blood and corruption filling her nose, uncomfortably warm and humid air lingering on every inch of her mostly bare body, and the feeling of several dozen other people's elbows and knees jostling her. She lay still for a minute after waking up, soaking in the feeling; she'd gotten used to the smell and feel of sleeping inside a dogpile of alien bodies months ago, not long after they'd accepted her as an honorary part of their tribe. Gently moving brick-red limbs ou

The elf caught up with me a half mile out of town, not far inside the rough line where the trees and ferns got thick to hide me from the town. I'd been struggling to keep an even pace in the dense vegetation, so the more experienced traveler had no problems at all catching up to me. My short black hair stuck to my sweating face, and I pushed through a fern only to have to flail wildly at a vine that smacked me in the face as I drove onward. As I struggled with the coiling vine, a whisper-soft ru

Fake magic shops and fake witches? A dime a dozen. Everyone seemed to know where one was, and tourists easily found their way into an “authentic experience” designed to separate them from their money in exchange for mere ambiance and gimcrackery. Thomas knew because he'd investigated so many of them in the past year. The true ones existed, he knew- usually well hidden, building a reliable customer base on word of mouth rather than vulgar advertisement. Lord knew that he'd parked his

Got a job for you. Pays ten million.My left eye turret swiveled to the computer monitor as that simple message came in. Charlie was my best agent; she had a nose for deals and jobs that belonged on a bloodhound. We'd known each other for a decade, and been close friends for half that long. She wouldn't be jerking me around- if she said there was this kind of job in the offing, there was. But that was one hell of a price for an assassination; twice what I'd ever been offered after haggling let

The acolyte knelt in her cell, whispering prayers to a small wooden statue. It seemed strange to still address the ritual morning benedictions to a mere carved image on the day she would meet her god in person, but the routine formula helped calm her mind. The acolyte- she had a name, but none had used it to her face in years- took a deep breath and looked into a small piece of polished metal to see her own reflection. She'd sheared off her hair last night both on her head and below; church doct

Once upon a time, a wily merchant named Kai traveled through snow-blanketed hills as he went to check on some investments he'd made the summer before. The winter had been harsh; he'd meant to make the trip weeks ago, but nearly constant blizzards had kept him home. Once well on his way, Kai realized that he should have waited longer. The snows were wet and heavy, and in constant danger of shifting. As he and his horse traveled through knee high snow, the gray sky loomed ominously over his head a

Aileen loved sitting inside in warm dry air, watching snow falling gently to the ground outside. It wasn't as much fun when it was actually falling on her, the first snowfall of the winter. It was even less fun when her too-thin cloak had been soaked through hours before, or when the wind toyed with her skin before diving in under her clothes carrying a bitter stabbing pain, or when she was all alone in a strange hilly forest without any chance of help. And especially not when all of the above w

It wasn't a very big shop- but it was defiantly clean. Not a speck of dust marred the scuffed linoleum tile floor, or floated in the white light cast by fluorescent bulbs that only flickered a few times every minute. There was just one central rack which held many different sizes and colors of silk shirts and pants. Half were a clean, soft white, while the rest had been dyed in a rainbow of monochrome shades. One wall held shelves of sheets and blankets, neatly folded and arranged by size. Again

“In every town I visited on the southern coast, the local fishermen regaled me with their local legends to give their dreary homes some flavor. One town, for example, solemnly informed me that in the waters beyond their excellent bay lurked a magical and beguiling creature, half-woman and half-squid. They offered to boat me out into the bay to show me, but I had to refuse such a waste of my time.”


-”My Travels Through Caelia”, a merchant's unpublished manuscript

“So, Lilian, is there anything else you want to add to our contract?” Bradley sipped a small cup of coffee, patiently staring at his partner across the cafe's table. She seemed at ease, but she always did; the woman had ways of lounging even when standing up as straight and rigid as a tree. Ever fashionable, the woman smoothed down her cherry-red pantsuit and smiled, not immediately answering. Instead, she nibbled on a small biscuit, fastidiously making sure no crumbs dropped from h

In the distance, lightning between bulging storm clouds outlined the shadows of the moonless night with just the barest hint of light. A half minute later, the low and muffled rumble of thunder broke on the castle's walls. As befit a frontier castle at night, the gates were shut, with all sally ports firmly sealed. Yet near the base of one tower, a small door opened and spilled a tiny orb of torchlight into the gloom; the torch lit a bulky man in well-worn armor, a few locks of orange-red hair d

Even in the deep caves on which no sun ever rose, scattered islands of magical light still clung. Centers bustling with life and energy, where activities can take place- and be seen. This is the story of how one such island was put to use.


In the darkness, the rustling, clicking sounds of skin and chitin betrayed the presence of many shadow-dwellers; red eyes glowed menacingly as they peered into the lighted portion of the cave. There was a long, clean marble bench in the center of the lit r

The harsh, buzzing sound of a chainsaw revving ruined the calm of the forest, crowding out the quiet rustling of leaves and branches in the wind. A deer looked up, startled by the harsh noise partway through his breakfast of a bush of bright red berries, but instead of trotting away from the noise it walked towards the disturbance. Before long, the mechanical drone of the chainsaw's engine grew louder as the deer entered a clearing; at the far end was a tall man in beat up work clothes, cutting

Interviews for the monster I would allow to eat me weren't going well. Most of them had heard of my reputation, usually kept secret from all but a very few, and were determined that I should be the latest notch on their metaphorical plates; to have eaten the great Byala was a mark of no small notoriety within the exclusive community that knew such things happened more than once. Unfortunately, some damn fool had aired the secret once too often, and the procession of over-muscled and under-braine

When Frank opened the front door of his dreary, too-small apartment and shut his door behind him, he didn't expect anyone else to be inside. That hadn't happened for years; women would run screaming away from him... if they thought of him at all. Nevertheless, after a long, not-particularly-grueling day manipulating numbers on a spreadsheet in a cubicle farm, this day of all days there was someone sprawled out on his couch waiting for him.


Fussily shutting the door behind him, he turned to l

The footman cleared his throat at the top of the stairs, hands folded impassively behind a uniformed back; the universal sign at such a rarefied social atmosphere that a new guest was being Announced. “My lords and ladies, the noble Lord Shahar from the Levant, unaccompanied.” Shifting smoothly to one side to allow his charge through, a short thin figure emerged from shadow at the top of the stairs. Surveying the hall, he grinned and started down the stairs towards the dance below. W

Being woken up by having a spear jabbed into one's ribcage didn't promise a happy day ahead. Jarrhi swam back to consciousness, but not before another brusque prod to his torso sent shooting pains up and down his side. Spluttering in confusion and surprise, he managed to say, “Ow- who the- what's going-” before his large, pale green eyes opened, and he saw... one of the people he'd come into the jungle to study. He was a junior research mage, on his first independent assignment out i

In the local mall, escalators had been put in over one long hot summer, and by the time school began again one of the escalators had acquired a bad reputation. It seemed to lurch wildly sometimes when people were on it, dumping them into uncontrolled tumbles down the jagged metal steps. The cuts these falls produced never seemed to leave blood on the escalator itself, as though it were being absorbed into the complex machinery. Nobody died; the worst that ever resulted were a pair of broken legs

Darek's breath smoked in the crisp clear air as he ran, opting for two legs instead of four- he could smell his prey better with nostrils far from ground, and he was still fast enough to win the chase. His mind had interpreted the few tiny molecules of scent almost instantly; a ratling, bold enough to stray inside his territory at night. Really, the stupid rodent might as well have been asking for a slow death. Darek's stomach growled- winter was fast approaching, and he hadn't had enough luck i

“All rise for the honorable Judge Larroque.” The bailiff's voice boomed in the small courtroom, snuffing out a dozen hushed conversations as the echoes reverberated inside the windowless wood-paneled room. The spectators and the solicitors rose from their hard granite seats; in the front row of the spectators, Tass climbed to her feet along with everyone else. Though she wasn't wearing the ceremonial robe and hood of her order, opting instead for a much more conservative, narrow dres

When did I decide? It wasn't in bed, no spur of the moment decision with my head resting on my lover's- scratch that, my husband's chest. It wasn't when I heard my fate, on a slope of blackened, baked rocks halfway up a volcano. And it wasn't even when I surrendered to the guards at the front door of my nemesis's castle. It was fifteen years ago, when my childhood best friend- later my nemesis, but always the love of my life- and I stole a first kiss from each other. I knew then that I wanted to

When Parry woke up, he found himself chained down by his hands and feet prone on a cool, smooth stone slab, and naked. Naked wasn't too much of an outlandish situation for a veteran adventurer and womanizer like Parry to be in come morning, but when combined with being heavily restrained by iron chains to granite even he had to admit to being a bit worried. His head pounded like a dwarven smithy, and before remembering his situation he tried to reach up and scratch his head. What had happened? H

Marek thrashed for air, trying to claw his way to the surface of the blob engulfing him. He could still see through the thick cloudy goo coating his entire body that the light at the mouth of the cave was receding into the distance; he could see his hands clawing to the 'skin' of the blob, though it stretched around his flailing motions without breaking. As his lungs burned for air, Marek tried to get his legs under him so he could push himself free. The hot, thick slime seemed to push back agai

My name is Jake.


I remember when I was just a typical twenty-something guy, who didn't sleep much because there were other more important things I could be doing. When I thought that nothing happened in my dreams, that it was all in my head. That it didn't matter. And now look at me. I'm up to ten hours a night in a bed, sometimes more, and the waking world's just where I earn the money to keep myself in ramen, rent, and chocolate milkshakes. One of those things is not like the other? That's

Jen was having the same dream again when she met the spider for the first time.


It was one of those recurring dreams, but one that only cropped up when she was sleeping with a man, and cuddling afterward for his bodily warmth. She was with the same guy she'd just fucked, but the place was different- the room was always the same, a gray, dingy motel room regardless of where she really was. Jen had the man hugged tightly, both of them naked, her arms around his chest pinning hands to his side

Cloudy night, with a new moon, and miles and miles of miles and miles away from civilization even if you took a pretty loose definition of that word. Made it dark, completely dark outside with no moon shine, no diffuse glow from stars and no glowing underside of clouds to relieve the inky black-on-black where you couldn't tell the sky from trees. The only thing lit on this kind of night were the little soap bubbles of lanterns or campfires humans took with them into the wilderness, little oases

Once a long time ago, there were two twin knights whose father was ill. Both were in the old man's will, and there was enough money and land at stake to make both brothers very rich men. The evil brother, naturally enough, decided to remove his brother and get it all for himself; so it was that the good brother, the Knight, was wandering a sunny forest well inside his territory and wondering how to get word to his father of his predicament.


As the Knight was walking along, he felt a faint ru

Breaking away from the prisoner's convoy in the middle of a mountain range in the winter in fairly thin clothing wasn't looking like a good idea anymore. Sure, Hunter thought to himself, they were going to lock him up when they got through the mountain pass- but at least he'd be warmer than he was, staggering uphill, hoping he wasn't being chased. He staggered as one particularly violent gust of blue frigid wind knifed through him, almost driving him to his knees. Only the conviction that if he

The first warning I had that I'd reached frimbo territory was when I felt the tongue hitting the side of my face like a damp sticky punch. Sure, I kind of figured I might see some here. This was a swamp, after all, and I'd beaten enough regular big frogs away with my staff to know the possibility. But the lousy bitches at the last village had lied to me- I'd wondered why they grinned when they told me that I wouldn't have to worry about any of the frog girls for another few miles.


I sailed t

The bar I was heading into had a bad reputation. Sometimes people disappeared, and the last place anyone saw them was leaving this bar. Nobody ever remembered who they were leaving with, funnily enough. People never seemed to want to remember, or at least want to admit to police that they remembered. This happened so much it became perversely great publicity for the bar- it even renamed itself the LKL Bar and Grill. Last Known Location- because that's how they got most of their publicity and how