Everyone needs some kind of sign to help them believe everything is going to be all right. Everyone looks to the sky; to some deity. The funny thing is there is something out there and no matter how much we cry out it whispers back that it didn’t create us in order to fix everything wrong with us. He gave us the ability to cry…to feel pain because he also gave us the ability to heal those in pain. There is no better feeli...

4THE PIT BOSS When all was said and done, what mattered most was the end result. Nothing was more important than ensuring the bottom line was in her favor. Rising through the ranks of a criminal organization meant producing more profit than the next criminal. To her, this was life in its purest form. This was why she embraced an existence of villainy. Stripping away, what was to many a fabricated sense of nobility or wors...

3THE PIT During his first visit through the so called underbelly of society, Kaszbein found it difficult to hold back the gagging his body demanded. Mixtures of blood and sweat combined with an assortment of animal and human feces; a retched concoction born from basic human vices. Yet now Kaszbein’s senses were fully acclimated to the atmosphere of lust and brutality. A different world pulsed with activity near the southe...

It has been seven days since we left. We were attacked a total of 6 times each attack more vicious than the last. If not for Jace, I may not have been able to handle them on my own. The attacks were so frequent and there were many vampires. Some of us are wounded, others on the verge of a mental breakdown, but we finally made it. Lycan stood before several yards to the side of a giant iron gate set in an enormous stone wa...

Lycan sat alone, in his own small portion of the courthouse, pondering his new situation. He had gained their trust, and admiration, for protecting them from the vampires. The guards, he had rescued the previous night, retold the tale time and time again. Each time, the story was regaled, however, they left out the details of his transformation. He did not know if they did this for his privacy or because it might scare th...

Lycan bolted upright in his bed gasping at the sensations from his waking dreams. Though it was the first night he had not had nightmares since his town had been obliterated, the dream still woke him. Breathing heavily he sat upright, still half covered in old tattered sheets; he remembered the details of the dream. The wolves surrounding him, the great white wolf standing before him in the center of the pack, the sensati...

The desperate man trudged through the forest. Weary from travel, yet determined to escape, determined to find a way to fight back. The autumn leaves crunching underfoot, twigs and sticks cracking under the weight of the muscled warrior. The tall warrior removes his bloody sword from its scabbard and swings at the brush in front of him. Bushes, branches, and other foliage fall to his feet at the front of his path. The man...

2 THE INQUIRY Rorbel emerged from the wooden carriage and immediately stood tall, revealing no signs of fatigue, frustration, or fear. Even though what lay in front of him had unconsciously widened the eyes and lowered the jaws of many a soldier; this was Rorbel’s fourth visit to the royal palace grounds. Still, no matter how many times his eyes had taken in the awe-inspiring sight of Vandaria’s capitol, hiding his amazem...

To those who would know, yet would not want to know. To see what one does not want to see. Hear what they don’t want to hear. During the future or in the past? What is true desire? When does difference become the same? When does it repeat? When did it first draw breath? Creation is always forgotten. Wondrous during its infancy. Adored and then finally forgotten. Time dilutes. Now and then become the same. And yet human be...

2 Grace Dobson leaned against a red, brick wall of an old factory building. Hiding in the shadows she watched the cars that drove past. Every once in a while a neighbor would walk past the alley Grace rested in. Taller neighbors would walk right past the alley, chatting with companions or into phones. A few walked by alone, huddling their coats closer to ward out the chill of November. Periodically, shorter individuals dr...

The sweet and bitter scents mixed together to create the soothing atmosphere that was only available in such establishments. Two young women wearing t-shirts of a rich chocolate color covered by purple aprons darted from the cash register to the machines behind the counter. A large crowd of men and women, dressed in an array of fashions, congregated in front of the counter. Men in suits with ties carrying briefcases waite...

Only a few days passed, I spent the first day screaming and pounding at Jake. He lied to Kayla and me about being a werewolf. I also used that fit of rage to blame him for Kayla’s death. He waited for me to calm down. After that, we stuck together, constantly moving forward, getting as much distance between that monster and us as possible. We finally, expelled our constrained breaths, thinking that we were safe from it fo...

I awoke to the sound of leaves falling and birds chirping. I opened my eyes to see the sun shining brightly through the leaves of autumn trees. Achingly, I rose and brushed myself off. I felt different, not like when I turned into a werewolf that had an instant burning sensation of the transformation, but a subtle awareness of another presence within me. I looked down to assess myself, what happened to me last night? Leav...

Over us loomed the high school, newly built, and the perfect place for a cult to hide and perform their dark rituals without one suspicious eye. Little did we know this particular cult was the one formed by almost every dark world creature: Vampires, Witches, even the living dead. Just not werewolves, they were the only ones with morals apparently. I looked to my left and right, Kayla stood beside me, Jake on the other si...

Fade's P.O.V. As the my brother and Alexis stood there I could not help but miss William. I knew that I was not supposed to be thinking about him, but he was to me as Alexis was to Jaden. Seeing as she was forbidden to think about him, it's a good thing that being mostly an elemental gave her the ability to hide her thoughts from the pack. As if hearing my thoughts, my brother looked up from where he and Alexis sat. He ha...