They came in silent twos and threes, drawn by the smell of blood and runework. Yet he could sense them, even with his eyes squeezed shut. The feeling of being watched, assessed by a slowly closing circle. The warm weight… Continue reading

He started the preparations three hours before sunset, but still barely finished before dark stretched through the forest. He hadn’t accounted for the shaking in his hands. Hadn’t admitted, before the damp breeze laughing through the undergrowth and the last… Continue reading

The best thing he could have done for anyone was sleep. Gather his strength for when the alarm bell would ring in the morning. But knowing it was coming, knowing all the strength they could gather that night might be… Continue reading

Never take another shape too long, they said. Never long enough to need what it does. Needs shape a thing more than flesh and bone, after all. Needs mould a thing’s mind to satisfy them. It had been wearing that… Continue reading

Killing people for a living wasn’t noble, of course. He’d met a few who made the same living and tried to insist it was, and the last person they usually ended up killing was themselves. Maybe it seemed like the… Continue reading

When his brother swung wide and the opening was there, the throat bared, he had to take his chance. He had come into that fight, that sacred circle, weaker but quicker, and he couldn’t miss the one opportunity he might… Continue reading

How long is a blink? We use it to describe practically no time at all, but if you add them up, day after day after day, you start to see just how much time we spend with our eyes closed.… Continue reading

It had been eight years, six months, and three days since she had last stood on the porch of her childhood home. If it had been eight years, six months, and two days, her mother would have been there to… Continue reading

Her brother had never thought a thing through in his life. The number of times he’d called her to say that he was in trouble would have filled a year’s worth of witching hours. But she couldn’t complain – not… Continue reading

He tried to look at the screen only from the leery corner of his eye, as if it would help. Only the usual call-connecting colours flashed and coruscated across it so far, but if something else sensed the signal and… Continue reading