Breeze of cold. A song titled hope. Gulp of and urgent need for a cigarette. Need to sniff more of heavy ylang ylang. The itch of a pain. A warm wind. The soul lifting song. Whiff of ceder smoke. My soul soothed by patchouli. A healing touch. Amethyste & Jim Musics

CHAPTER 10 – A new life begins. Cutting old ties. It wasn’t a big property, initially, but big enough for privacy. Robert wanted to remain with me, and two other men followed him. Susan as well remained, as we bound tightly and felt like sisters, passing often hours telling each other stories about John. But life must go on. I was still barely nineteen, and I fought on the sea for less than five years, seeing more death a...

Chapter Eleven Commissariat, Marseilles The interview room was as bare as Hill expected: a metal table, two chairs on either side, walls painted a weary grey that did little to disguise their age. A single camera sat in the corner, its red light blinking like a half-hearted heartbeat. Luc Moreau lounged in his chair, hands folded neatly on the table. He wore a light linen suit, cream against his tanned skin, the sort of c...

Shadows danced in moonlight over the liquor still as the copper coiled like a sleeping serpent dripping from the worm its venom of elixir fermented by the corn and wet earth transforming the liquor not just into a drink, but into a haunting, distilled memory of the night. The only sounds were the soft hiss of the still and the gentle chimes of crickets. The rest of the world was asleep, unaware of the nocturnal alchemy ta...

The Eternal Circle: Part Two Chapter Six: Recollections Claire sat at the edge of the narrow cot, staring at the cracked plaster of the safehouse wall. The room smelled faintly of mildew and cigarette smoke, the kind of place the police kept for emergencies, never meant to be comfortable. Outside, somewhere in the alley, a cat screeched and scrabbled against a dustbin. She flinched, her nerves still raw, though she told h...

The lights are flashing and the bass is booming. They’re playing this old funk record from way back, and it’s sending me somewhere new and alive and wonderful. It’s the scratchy guitar, all wah wah and the rest, the throbbing of the bass, that flute that keeps coming in and out and then some horns play a distinctive melody, and then the drums kick in and give it the groove, and it’s off somewhere new, somewhere you want t...

The office space of Nasir Curtis Investigations was just a secondary apartment they rented together. They lived in the suburbs in a nice house with a garden and a fence, along with as many protective magical wards as they needed by being so close to a dimensional rift to the Astral Wyldes. Most of the time, just junk slipped through, someone’s hair brush, left sock, or the TV remote. It kept things interesting. Every bloc...

The Eternal Circle: Part One Chapter One – The Letter Rain fell in thin, persistent sheets, tapping the windowpanes of Claire Hammond’s third-floor flat like a nervous visitor unwilling to be ignored. She sat at her small oak table, untouched tea cooling in a chipped mug, staring at the envelope that had been slipped under her door an hour ago. It was cream-coloured, thick, and without a stamp. No address, no return infor...

Down in the valley that bloomed alongside the dense forest, there have long been whispers of a mysterious woman in the woods. Folks say she tried to speak to the townspeople once, walking straight out of the trees, wearing her black cloak and pointy hat. The men hurried the women and little ones inside, then grabbed their pitchforks. She retreated to the woods, never to enter the village again. Each retelling of the story...

The sky was the colour of pewter, the clouds dragging their weight low over the horizon as the last of the daylight bled away. Hannah tugged her denim jacket tighter around her and glanced sideways at her friend. “Come on, Lila,” she said, forcing a light tone, “it’s just a shortcut. Five minutes tops.” Lila bit her lip. “Through the cemetery, Hannah. At dusk. You know I hate that place.” “You hate everything after sunset...

CHAPTER 09 – Revenge, sweet revenge They cheered and started passing the small barrel, which they downed quickly. Three minutes later, they were all snoring. I was tempted to slice their throats, but to kill sleeping men was something more in the habit of the Spanish, ok, I’m Spanish, they are too and they are cruel and I hate them… but I still have some moral limits… attack a village in the early hours of the morning, wh...

The Woods Of Galicia The moon hung low over the wilds of Galicia, its silver light spilling over ancient trees draped in moss. The forest was alive with the chorus of nocturnal sounds, a symphony of rustling leaves and distant howls that could send shivers down one’s spine. It was a place steeped in mystery, where the whispers of the past brushed against the living, and stories of old echoed through the night air. Carlos...

I: What Comes In The Night The sun began its descent beyond the horizon, painting the Caribbean sky in hues of orange and crimson. Laughter echoed across the tranquil waters as five friends—Evelyn, Marco, Tessa, Brad, and last-minute addition Zoe—sank into the comfort of their luxurious yacht, The Sea Whisper. They had spent a week sailing toward hidden coves and sun-kissed beaches, but as night loomed, an unsettling feel...

Every day is a great opportunity to do that which is right and that which is good, to live our lives according to the precepts of kindness and decency however most of us fail in some way or other to live up to these ideals. Why is this? what is it in us that makes us not realise our full potential to be the people that we are meant to be. For some of us it is selfishness, for others it is a proud and boastful nature and t...

The rain had slicked the streets into sheets of glass, reflecting the sickly glow of sodium lamps as DCI George Hill pushed open the door of the incident room. The air smelled of stale coffee and wet wool coats. On the wall, fifteen faces stared back from photographs—smiling women, all of them snuffed out by the same brutal hand. Beside him, DS Melanie Sommers shuffled a stack of crime scene reports. She looked younger th...