Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… I hear as my eyes slowly open. The room is blurry; I try to get some orientation as I am not sure where I am. What has happened to me? I think. Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… I felt different; light-headed. My eyelids are so heavy and my mouth feels dry. I am not able to move. There was a weariness within me, though my mind seemed still sharp. Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… A vision appears, and it hovers above...

From the small window of my room above the stable, I watched as Paullus's figure receded in the distance. Paullus, whose legionnaires had massacred my clan and my father and made me a slave of Rome. Paullus, who had made me and the women of my tribe slaves. The same Paullus who had let me preserve my virginity while awakening my sexuality. I had been in charge of his stables and horses for many months. Now, he was going o...

Chapter Seven Lady Emma returns Rather sooner than expected, Lady Emma Thomas, our inaugural client, has asked for further treatment. She has satisfied her husband for the last few weeks but has never herself, been satisfied in the way she was by her last treatment. She feels that succumbing willingly to her husband is the price she must pay for continuing treatment whenever she asks, and now she has asked him. She smiles...

It is 1987, the last Sunday in August, and my arm is around Brenda. She is my new bull lesbian girlfriend and my first openly gay relationship. But my life is complicated. I am standing there by the apartment block’s front door, watching, and waving as David and Sarah get into their car and, with a wave of their own, drive away. Internally, I was experiencing two dominant emotions, one new and the other very familiar, yet...

Exactly how many gods are there? With so many faiths, surely the heavens must be overrun? Or are there only a few with countless different names? Maybe it simply depends on how many believe? Whichever gods exist, and whatever they are called, they are undoubtedly a fickle lot. Whether Greek, Roman or Egyptian; Norse, Celtic or Hindu, they gleefully prance and frolic, laughing and making fun of those less powerful than the...

In the beginning was Chaos. And Chaos detested organisation and structure. He was roguish and full of mischief. Whenever order and logic looked likely to prevail, he would chuckle, wave his divine hand and delight in thwarting such impudence. Exasperated, the other gods sighed. How would the mortals below ever be able to prove themselves with such troublesome interference? It was always the same; the wheel turned, and man...

December 1999… Can blood drain from the face of a vampire? It certainly felt like it. Standing inside the art gallery in New Orleans, I was shocked into immobility, unable to move a single muscle as electricity surged through me. Whiter than white, my body was totally incapable of movement as my eyes fixed upon the painting before me. Impossible... But there she was, right before my eyes, staring out at me from the canvas...

The sisters had been talking in the kitchen for thirty minutes when Elizabeth began wondering what had become of her husband. “Excuse me, Maggie. I need to go see what’s keeping Tommy.” Entering their bedroom, Elizabeth saw that it was empty. “Tommy,” she called out. When he didn’t answer, she went to see if he was in the bathroom but discovered it empty. She looked into his walk-in closet but didn’t see him. Standing the...

The creature known as Ishkur watched her from the top of the sandy rise, feasting his eyes on her wild beauty. His position, carefully chosen, overlooked the lonely beach house by the windswept shore. The moon was almost full, casting unearthly shadows over the dunes and spindly trees as they swayed in the breeze. He loved the night; he was at home here, and the darkness was his domain, belonging to him totally. Here, he...