shadows and stones - an original fiction series of gothic, horror, dark fantasy

Episode I - Journey Into Darkness
I had expected death a long time ago. Daily I am surprised to find I am still here, alive to ward off the rat who dreams of chewing on my bones, even though they won’t yield much food to him. Mama always told me I was the perfect size, not too tall, not too short, slender without succumbing to the tragedy of skinniness which plagues so many teenage girls, yet muscular too – my swimming trophies were proof enough of that. Her heart would break if she could see me now, my body devouring itself in an effort to stave off death by starvation. The muscles are gone and I resemble a poster child for Third World relief efforts.

Episode II - Tea Party
My feet hit the earth lightly. The window had been on a ground floor after all. In front of me I see the beautiful greenery I had expected of England: rolling hills with grazing flocks, stately trees, and a tiny pond. Beneath my feet and to my sides, though, it is different: the land is barren, the few trees merely twisted corpses clinging to lifeless mud, the grass brown and rotting. I hear the rat’s nails scraping behind me as he climbs through the window. I run and discover the nature of Hell.

Episode III - Awakening
Pain erupts from the cells of my bones, muscles, and skin; even the tips of my hair are living pinpoints of agony. My vision goes black as overloaded senses try to safely channel this sudden onslaught. I think I scream, though no sound makes it through the pulses of pain inside my ears. Reflexively I go fetal, but it’s a mistake. Every movement causes another explosion of agony to rip through me. If this is Becoming then I want to Un-Become, go back to being normal, or just plain die. Anything to end this pain.

Episode IV - The Book of Grief
This is getting old. I mean, do I have the phrase “Please abduct me!” written all over my face or something? And what is with this freak show? One minute I’m writing in my journal, the next minute this cross between Batman and a half-wrapped Egyptian mummy flies through the window and knocks me out in my own bedroom. When I wake up I’m in yet another stone-walled dungeon with yet another dirt floor, and YES, another damn spider. Granted this dungeon has a small table, a chair, and a bowl of fruit, it is still a prison, and I’m getting damn sick of being locked up. If this is some kind of new test on Michael’s part, then, immortal or not, so help me God I’m going to find a way to kill him when I’m out of here.

Episode V - Paterfamilias
Maybe she had lied to him, maybe there had only been the two of them after all. Maybe, now that she was gone, he was the last. If so, he wasn't certain he could go on. To be alone, forever? No, if that were to be the case, he would find some way to end his life, locate the means to die. In despair, he slipped to his knees in the sand. Perhaps, if he lay long enough in the sun, it would dissolve him and he would be with her again.

Episode VI - Breaking Points
I’ve always been a firm believer that how you start your day will directly affect how you end it. Case in point: I spent my breakfast time today eating oatmeal and discussing the ramifications of a mutilated sheep’s corpse with Michael and Ursula, the cook. I need hardly add the discussion was far from pleasant, nor were the aftereffects, as they included Michael storming out to investigate and myself being commanded not to leave the grounds under any circumstances. A bizarre beginning.

Episode VII - The Dark of the Mind
Somewhere in her lands an Unexpected Happening had occurred – those were never good. The tingling changed to a burn while she ignored it in the hopes it would go away. When it became so powerful she couldn’t deny it any longer, Hannah flung herself upward through the sunlight, exploding it into a brilliant cascade of fireflies who drifted away on the breeze.

Episode VIII - Decisions
Isn’t it strange. Just when you think life has thrown everything possible at you, it manages to come up with a new tragedy to destroy your dreams. Five days ago Mama and I were throwing snowballs at each other on the front lawn and building lewd snowmen in the back. Two days ago I buried her.

Episode IX - Momentary Distractions
There is a head in my brother’s basement. I know because I was there when he removed it from its body and placed it in the velvet lined box where it now resides. To be truthful, there are actually quite a few heads in his basement. At least four that I am certain of, though if all the boxes which line the walls are full, there are many, many more. Only one of them concerns me right now: only one of them can I not get out of my mind.

Episode X - Exorcising Demons I
“Rath, what kind of game is this? I know you dislike having strangers in the house.” “Indeed,” he says while taking my arm and guiding me back up the stairs. “American tourists are by far the worst; however, I find they tend to be extremely vociferous when tours are refused. I would rather send them merrily on their way, having seen only what I choose, then send them away angry and dissatisfied to complain elsewhere. Besides, I’d like to find out why they give you a rash.” Rath never ceases to amaze me.

Episode XI - Porcelain Visions
Ice water pours through my body, starting at a point on the base of my neck and flooding down and forward through my torso until it reaches the very tip of my outstretched hand. Motion becomes impossible, not even my lips can move to make a sound. Only my eyes seem capable of activity. Frantically, I roll them trying to see what holds me rigid when I notice a hand, smaller than my own yet overlaying it perfectly, reaching for the object. As if a string has suddenly snapped, I can move again and the object is in my firm grasp.

Episode XII - The Nature of Jackals
The sandals burned away from my feet yesterday: leather was not meant to last so long in the terrible heat of this desert. Nor is the skin upon the soles of my feet, though I had thought them worn tough from wandering the hard earthen roads of Mennefer while I played. They do not even leave a bloody trail, however, for even as they are torn, the heat burns closed the wound. All of my body feels embraced with fire, yet I cannot stop and I cannot turn back. I swore to my Mother I would keep going across the sands until I met the being she says is my father.

Episode XIII - Exorcising Demons II
The doorway is not at ground level. Three small steps give it about a two or three-foot rise off the ground. Up until now we were both on that level, but in an attempt at what I can only assume is meant to be gallantry, mystery man backs down putting one foot on the ground and the other on the middle step. Stud Pose #3 is completed with a slight bow: a mistake since it affords me a wonderful view of the bridge of hair struggling valiantly to keep his receding hairline from becoming intimately acquainted with his bald spot.

Episode XIV - The Invitation
Hand written on a torn piece of brown paper, the invitation was simple: In front of The Club, 10:30 tomorrow. Romany stuffed it into the waistband of her leather miniskirt before casting a final glance in the mirror. Tonight, she was going out in full makeup: shocking white base color, black eyeliner, dark blue eye shadow rising to merge with painted black eyebrows. A touch of blood red lipstick, and a single black teardrop on her right cheek completed the look. With a little more spray to hold her black hair spiked in place, Romany was ready to party.

Episode XV - Body & Soul
Today is a special day, though, and I’ve made a decision. While I may not always be thankful that Rath pushed me into becoming the immortal shapeshifter I now am, at least I have freedom to enjoy life, freedom to do as I wish. Iain was not only unwillingly made a vampire, he was tricked into invading our home by a promise to return his humanity. Now he is not only a vampire, but a prisoner here, unable to make the most basic choices in life. I’m going to give him those choices again.

Episode XVI - Mothering Sunday
"I hope you don't think I'm going to let that vampire freeload off of me for the next hundred years. If he is going to insist on living in my house, he is going to work." Rath's voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I'm not really surprised by this announcement, though, I've been expecting him to do something about Iain, and I'm prepared to fight back.

Episode XVII - Imbalance of Power
Romany took Simon's lack of response to her statement as tacit agreement. To admit aloud that she had made a wise decision would have been beneath him. Among other things, this antiquated attitude towards women was another reason she had grown to despise him. Meanwhile, the men were turned and posed, one at a time, for his examination. Some fought, screaming inside their sack hoods and kicking blindly, others moved docilely, clearly frightened into submission; occasionally whimpering or sobbing. One or two were fully supported by their handlers; unconscious either from fear or abuse.

Episode XVIII - Interlude
In horror, the woman watched as the stranger took the knife from the floor, driving it through the palm of his left hand. Blood poured from the wound, as the knife withdrew.

"Forgive this man, Lord, and forgive me as well for I bear his pain."

Episode XIX - Between Life and Death
The wolf was gone. A woman now returned his gaze; a Roman woman. As still as the wolf, she stood before him, studying him. Her eyes were amber like the wolf's as well. Was she a goddess come to aid him, or were she and the animal just death visions? Straining against the weakness of his body, he pushed with his feet against the stipe to which they had been nailed. Inch by tortuous inch, his torso rose until his back was once more pressed flat against the wood of the cross. In agonizing discharges, his lungs expelled the air that had been trapped for days. Two or three shallow breaths preceded his question.

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