Ryu stepped out of the car and glanced around the campus. The place looked different in daylight. It might also be that his eyes were clearer now that he wasn’t looking for a place to curl up and die. He paused on the sidewalk and waited for Claire to lock her car and join him. “Well, this is the campus,” Claire said. She shifted from foot to foot uncertainly. Ryu realized that he’d been watching her a little too closely. She was not H’Gan. There was no reason to watch her face to see when h...

Claire woke up, and took stock of her situation. _Ugly couch_. She was at the twins’ then. There could not be two such ugly couches in the world. _Soft blanket_. She must’ve dozed off. What had they been doing? She felt like she’d just been doing an all nighter to study for exams. Exams weren’t until next month, though. _Sore throat_. That made no sense. She didn’t feel sick. _A hand on her shoulder_. Who? “Lady, they are only dreams. They cannot harm you.” She tried to roll over so she coul...

Anna had been most disappointed by the creature’s absence at the gathering. H’Gan could understand. Pietro had long vanished and she hadn’t yet found a new toy. She enjoyed playing with H’Gan’s Familiar whenever she could. If he weren’t working so hard to train the creature, he’d be tempted to loan it to her for a weekend. It was always so much more cooperative after its encounters with Anna. It was also completely useless. H’Gan left the gathering early and drove home. He was startled to fi...

The Familiar rested his head against the cold glass of the girl’s car window. Claire, she’d called herself. He studied his benefactor out of the corner of his eyes while she concentrated on the road. She had shoulder-length, wavy brown hair haphazardly tied back from her face with an elastic band. Her eyes were green. Not dark like his own, but bright and innocent. She looked to be about twenty years old. In his time she’d have been almost middle aged, but by current standards she was only b...

Friday evening, the sun dropped below the horizon leaving the university campus in deep shadow. Electric lights fashioned after antique street lamps cast cones of warm golden light between a ring of imposing brick buildings surrounding a single, modern glass fronted building. A single figure strolled unconcerned between light and shadow. Nighttime was Claire Alexander’s favorite part of the day, especially nighttime in autumn. She loved the way the wind felt on her skin, the bite of cold on ...

A Bit of Memory By April-Lynn Davis Christina hurried along the deserted streets, trying to keep up with Drew. The other teenager didn’t look like he was moving very fast. His feet scraped the pavement and he slouched along like a rangy old alley cat. Somehow, though, Christina had to work hard just to keep him in sight. Just when she thought she’d lose him in the maze of alleys and back streets, Drew stopped. One hand went to his heart. He took two more slow, deliberate steps and then stopp...

A spreadsheet was open on his computer monitor, the cursor blinking lazily in an empty square. A valuable antique book lay where the keyboard should be. The displaced electronic peripheral leaned against a stack of equally old and musty tomes. A yellow paged legal notepad rested at the elbow of a tall, distinguished businessman. A pencil in his left hand tapped against the paper. The occasional dots produced by the tapping were thus far the only marks on the page. Hubert Caruthers flipped a ...

Dect. Morgan glanced around the yard of the old Chester place. It was the last place he could think of to look for the Gray Lady. It certainly looked creepy enough to be haunted. But he was mostly certain this vigilante spirit was in fact a flesh and blood human being. But where was she? Flesh and blood needed things. Food, water and shelter for starters. While he wouldn’t think of the Gothic, fog shrouded edifice as any kind of shelter, it might just appeal to the kind of person who called ...

A young man named Drew walked down a dirty street. His shoulders were slumped, his feet in old, worn sneakers scraped along the ground. He wore ragged jeans and an old flannel shirt a size too big. His dirty brown hair fell raggedly over his eyes. Drew paused. One hand wandered towards his chest, and pressed against his heart. His face twisted into a brief grimace, and he shook his head. He took two more steps, and stopped again. He leaned against the nearest wall. With another sigh, he slid...

“Ross! Leave it alone!” Madison’s twin stopped poking at the battered looking stray cat at the foot of their driveway. His sister’s hand was in the way, and he didn’t want to hurt her. “I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s just a cat,” Ross said. Madison glared at her brother. “There’s still no reason to hurt it!” Ross rolled his eyes and walked off through the rain. Madison watched him stalk into the house and sighed. She wished he’d stop taking his anger out on every helpless thing he cam...