Supernatural

Mendalla

Lady in the Lake

A rescue leads to a grim inspiration for an artist

I am slumped in a chair, staring at my newest painting. For over twenty-four hours I have been awake, painting in a near-trance for more than half that time. The painting portrays a scene not far from my studio, a shallow bay on Lake Madeline. A woman emerges naked from the water. An overturned canoe floats nearby. The woman’s name is Lily. Memories flood in. ***** Thunder rumbled in...Read On

Added: 30 Sep 2019 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,160 | Tags: painting  art  ghost stories  death  summer   | 11 Comments

Paperboy

The Power Revealed

“God- damn -it!” Mike barked as he pumped his car brakes and spanked the horn with his palm. The cause of his consternation --a speeding black sedan that cut him off on the highway-- was already long gone. “Stupid son of a…” “Mike,” Cynthia sighed aloud, interrupting him, “why do you bother?” “ “He cut me off! What am I supposed to do?” “You can’t do anything about drivers like that....Read On

Added: 02 Jan 2019 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,516 | Tags: family  coincidences  powers  humor   | 7 Comments

henrietta_fielding

End Game

After 'The Waking Dream' John Polidori (1795-1821) returns to England and prepares to meet his fate.

John strode across the bustle of Piccadilly, the wide road alive with people even at this late hour. He was glad to turn his steps towards home and to disappear into the huddle of dark streets that was Soho. He felt more at ease here in the shadows than he did in the melee of the West End. There, flaming torches lit the way, gilding the streets with an orange glow leading towards the...Read On

Added: 20 Oct 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,606 | Tags: gothic  vampires  supernatural  mortality  fangs   | 9 Comments

henrietta_fielding

The Waking Dream

John Polidori (1795-1821) was personal physician to Lord Byron during the fateful summer of 1816...

London, Spring 1816 He clearly remembered when he first became aware of a hint of unease; a sense of otherworldly darkness. Before then in his life, of course, he had moments of disquiet in terms of worry and fretting, but they were normal daylight concerns. He remembered as if from a great distance his medical training in the cool grey light of Edinburgh, his careful studies on...Read On

Added: 27 Sep 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 6,738 | Tags: historical  literary  gothic  fangs   | 10 Comments

GoNE68

Boyfriend and Wino

How not to deal with winos.

  ****                                                                                                                                                                                                         **** Reader discretion strongly advised. The story you are about to read contains content that some may find offensive or disturbing, including strong language and graphic violence....Read On

Added: 14 Sep 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,833 | Tags: emo  bully  revenge  nyc   | 2 Comments

DearStarling

Black Dog - Epilogue

A year went by, the seasons marching on in their uncompromising way. Imogen had relinquished the house utterly to her niece. It held nothing of the old life except memories grown too painful. Olivia worked hard to build a new life out of it, but progress, as always, was slow. Imogen might be gone, but there remained other ghosts to appease. Moving too much of the furniture at once resulted...Read On

Added: 27 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 742 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf   | 1 Comment

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 43

At the crossroads two women stood, silhouetted against the lavender and cream of the day's end. The moon lurked somewhere deep in the veils of black branches. Down the hill, Reverend Milton was putting a heavy chain and padlock on the churchyard gate, the sound carrying clear in the quiet. Olivia grimaced at their exposed location. It had to be here, at the crossroads. "Verity!" she hissed....Read On

Added: 26 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,092 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf   | 1 Comment

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 42

The ringing of the telephone dragged Olivia from the borderlands of sleep and she answered with a growled "Who is it?" A crackling pause, then: "Libby, is that you?" The voice on the other end of the line was faint, obscured, familiar from a lifetime ago. "This handwriting is near illegible, dreadful low class scribble..." the words choked off into tears. "Auntie Imogen?" Imogen gave a...Read On

Added: 25 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 3,645 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 41

I'll never forgive you! Olivia woke with a start, alone in the ruined living room. Still no Imogen. Perhaps the loss of Eli had been the push she needed to move on to a happier place, though that thought rang hollow. More likely she'd retreated somewhere more private to grieve over the hole that Olivia had torn in her world, and she would be back any minute, unforgiving and furious...Read On

Added: 21 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,741 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 40

When Eli arrived, moonrise was still far enough away that Olivia barely felt any hint of the oncoming change. Verity had curled up with her book again, Imogen with a magazine (the pages being easier for her to handle) and Olivia sat down with one of her notebooks to review the beginnings of something she'd started writing some time ago. She couldn't focus. She sat with her notebook on her...Read On

Added: 20 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 4,712 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf   | 1 Comment

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 39

The next month, just as Olivia was on her way to catch the train to Peter's Cross, Grace came running up behind her. "Long time no see," said Grace, her bright smile as false as the red of her lipstick. She made an exaggerated point of noticing Olivia's overnight bag, ready for the full moon. "Where are you off to, then?" Olivia hesitated, lies not coming easily to her. "I..." "You...Read On

Added: 19 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,955 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 38

Olivia ran down the stairs. Her vague suspicions had coalesced, the message from her dreams loud and clear. With a quick glance to check that nobody was about, she pulled herself into human form and grabbed her coat. Draping it across her shoulders, the briefest sop to modesty, she sprinted barefoot out onto the grass, her breath clouding before her face in the dark, her skin burning...Read On

Added: 17 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 4,546 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 37

The turning of the moon marked time. Olivia didn't return to Peter's Cross until the autumn, and even then she did so reluctantly, skirting around the graveyard so she could walk up to the vicarage by road, considering it well worth the extra shoe leather if it kept her out of sight of Eli and Verity. Her dread at the thought of unpreparedly running into Eli had obvious roots, crossing his...Read On

Added: 13 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,943 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 36

Lost in miserable contemplation, Olivia had no concept of how far the journey took her. High hedges and the grasping bare branches of trees lined the lanes, all alike. Once in a while, signs of habitation loomed and passed, clustered cottages or solitary houses on long stretches of empty road. White signposts marked placenames that Olivia only half-knew, and Grace had fallen...Read On

Added: 12 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,251 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 35

Putting on her coat, feeling for the reassurance of the small slip of paper in her pocket, Olivia walked out into the early twilight and down to the phone box. She could only pray that Grace might still be with her friends, and she breathed a sigh of relief when the cheery voice on the other end of the line told her to wait just a minute. "What happened to you?" said Grace, skipping...Read On

Added: 11 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,856 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 34

Olivia woke with her cheek pressed against cold hard earth, painfully aware of every bone inside her flesh, the awkward arrangement of jaw and skull bones, string of aching vertebrae, arm and leg bones loose at the joints. She decided against standing up just yet. Fragments of last night's memory slotted into place. The bright round moon, Eli, tall sharp-scented pines. This morning...Read On

Added: 07 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,029 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 33

Imogen knew she had to take some of the blame. Eli had returned to the village to see her , but she'd soon grown jealous when he spent so much time with that pretty girl in perpetual mourning black. If Imogen was honest with herself, she'd jumped at the chance to share a hurtful piece of gossip about that pretty young thing. She hadn't known what Eli would do but the girl had deserved it....Read On

Added: 06 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,697 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 32

Olivia came home much later than she'd intended, surprised to see lights in the windows. She ran up the path to the front door, splashing in the puddles, singing cheerfully to herself as she hung up her wet coat in the hallway. It had occurred to her that Reverend Milton might not be much help if all he did was talk and Verity refused to listen, so straight after work she'd met with Grace at...Read On

Added: 05 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 3,039 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 31

It had taken Imogen about half an hour to make up her mind to tell Eli what she'd heard, longer to find him, and even longer to wait while he went to confirm for himself what she already knew. Typical man, couldn't take a woman's word for anything. Rather than argue with him, she occupied herself indoors. Since she couldn't imagine herself on speaking terms with Verity any time in...Read On

Added: 04 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,244 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf   | 1 Comment

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 30

Verity came storming out of the kitchen, and Imogen melted into the darkness behind the door, breathless and silent. Unseen, she watched Verity stomp off up to the attic and Olivia climb wearily back to bed. Too weak to stand, Imogen sat down on the floor of the hallway. Verity had everything : youth and beauty and a baby . A perfect healthy baby that she didn't even want, that she planned...Read On

Added: 03 Jun 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,337 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 29

With the awful business of the full moon out of the way, a fortnight passed uneventfully. Olivia settled into her job at the library (with profuse apologies for her earlier absence) and continued work on the house. Still, thoughts of Giles's death tormented her. She should have gone to see him when Grace had asked. She could have made a difference. She lay in the dark, neither asleep nor...Read On

Added: 31 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,160 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf   | 1 Comment

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 28

Olivia woke face down in the slush of dead brown leaves. The slats of grey light filtering through the bare trunks of the trees suggested mid-morning at that time of year. As she sat up, shivering, every muscle in her body stiff and aching, she realised with a sinking horror that she was naked but for a patchy covering of black mud. She had no memory of the night before beyond a few...Read On

Added: 30 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,243 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 27

As the full moon approached, the second tea party came and went, with Olivia putting in a perfunctory appearance. Grace had been absent, and Olivia had been preoccupied with her work on the house. She'd started the week with good intentions, picking up where she'd left off with her campaign against her wrecked bedroom. She'd already wrenched up the old carpet, aired out the unpleasant mix of...Read On

Added: 29 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,856 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 26

The following day, Olivia woke up just enough to call in sick: flu, so sorry . She wanted to lie down and die. Instead she padded to the bathroom, grumbling and berating herself for allowing Verity to lead her off to the vampires' den and forcing her to choose between sleeping in a nest of monsters or walking through town alone after dark. Verity shouldn't have left her alone with the...Read On

Added: 28 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,366 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 25

Grace had assured Olivia she'd be no more than twenty minutes away by train, but the house was lonelier for knowing she wouldn't be coming back. Olivia listened to it echo every step she took as she paced up and down the hallway. More than once she thought about getting out of the house and going for a long walk or even a run, but without Grace for company she couldn't muster any enthusiasm...Read On

Added: 27 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,341 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 24

There was one place Olivia hadn't even considered when choosing a bedroom to call her own. Late the evening of the secret funeral, she stood before the door at the far end of the first floor hallway. She knew the house reasonably well from her childhood visits, when she'd been allowed to run free, mostly. She remembered trying to get into whatever lay behind this door a couple of times, but...Read On

Added: 26 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 3,893 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 23

Up at the top of the graveyard, close to the woods, a low wooden fence marked off a corner of pitifully small plots with far more flowers and messages, bright and jarring in contrast to the sombre graves on the lower slopes. A small procession headed towards them as sky darkened to a deep royal blue, moths looping and flitting in the twilight. Verity, at the fore, picked her way through...Read On

Added: 25 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,097 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 22

Even though Auntie Imogen had initially promised to stay out of the way of the clearing, she appeared several times a day 'to see how things are going' and it slowed the process considerably. Finishing clearing the first room was a cause for celebration, in Olivia's opinion. "But of course," Verity grinned. "Something to mark the occasion. Smile," she instructed, producing a camera from...Read On

Added: 24 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 3,705 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 21

The following morning Olivia woke before dawn, readying herself for another run, looking forward to it in spite of herself. By eight o'clock, though, she was beginning to wonder what had become of Grace. She had to give up the idea and get ready for work, and she was just grabbing her coat when she heard a knock at the back door. "It's open, she called. "Did you oversleep? Grace?" Grace,...Read On

Added: 23 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,039 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf  

DearStarling

Black Dog - Chapter 20

Olivia's burst of enthusiasm quickly faded again. She'd planned to finish decorating the guest bedroom (her own bedroom, as she ought to start thinking of it) but that prospect became daunting when she looked more closely at the full extent of the damage. Instead, she moved on to the next door along the corridor. The door wouldn't budge, and she stood there rattling the handle and poking...Read On

Added: 22 May 2018 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,422 | Tags: british  ghost  werewolf