One suggestion to those witchy guys and gals out there considering summoning a demon to curse their stupid, cheating exes: maybe don’t. After all, sometimes the spells that you find on those remote websites in the dark depths of the internet actually work, and then what? Then you end up with a six-foot-something hunk of man flesh in your way-too-small studio apartment with nowhere to put him, that’s what. It was the key q...

After hearing that Michael was on his way over, Ali and Scott quickly went downstairs to prepare for Michael's arrival. Ali put on a pot of coffee, realizing they didn't have much in the way of food in their brand new house. "Hey, Honey?" Ali started. "Why don't you run out for some breakfast sandwiches or donuts or something? We don't have anything to offer the boys once they get here." "Yeah, that's a good idea," Scott...

"Ready?" Ali asked with excitement as she looked out of the passenger window as they pulled up in front of their new house. Scott looked over at his wife and gave her knee a little squeeze. "Yep, we finally made it. It'll be a long couple of days getting all of this crap unloaded though. I'm already exhausted from the drive." "Well, good thing you got your brother to help out, then!" Ali replied, her giddiness continuing...

Rebecca woke up the next morning feeling strangely confident. Ordinarily, she would never sleep in the nude, but last night she had gone to bed naked without a second thought. And those dreams. Holy shit, that had been so vivid. Steven would never show such passion in real life. It must have been that weird summoning spell she had tried out. It had put some really intense images in her mind. Rebecca opened her eyes to see...

A Night in CalabriaMelissa felt that old surge of excitement and anticipation which electrifies her body as she dressed for an encounter with I Desire. The Great Goddess Aphrodite had whispered to her to come back here to Calabria, to Pizzo on the Costa Viola. The insistent voice in her head had to be obeyed, and so she duly departed from Alexandria, Egypt to arrive on the Calabria coast. Naturally, she instinctively knew...

The receptionist nervously lowered her head back towards her textbook, her face nearly as red as mine. I quickly sprinted around the corner and fumbled my shirt back on.  I can't believe I had done that. Admittedly she probably sees shirtless guys all the time as the gym receptionist. But that didn't make it appropriate for me to do. I felt so insecure walking back to my dorm. I wasn't used to anybody seeing me even half-...

HypatiaIt was only after filling Younos up with sweet wine, cheese and dates that Hypatia broached the subject of his clandestine studies of the paranormal. Spirits were a good way to get young Younos to talk in a manner that was less than circumspect.  “Are you training in the old magic, brother?” she asked him, deciding that a direct approach was for the better. He looked shocked at her question, but his guard wasn’t co...

I felt good the next morning, really good. Determined to make this a good day, I felt as though nothing could stop me. Naturally, it didn't last. Thirty minutes into my first lecture, I was already out of it. The professor quickly went over what we covered last class, and I was surprised to find I actually understood the content. But as soon as he started going into a new topic, I lost my grip. I had just wrapped my head...

Scene 6 – Sunday Night To wash off the weekend, I chose a bath over a shower, sipping my oldest Cabernet while scrolling through my phone. At only eight o’clock, I could afford to steep, and the glass-box of a shower couldn’t compare to an alcove tub for three. Yeah, I deserved to unwind. The work was done, the house was tidy, and for two days in a row, I lifted, hard. With a week until Sandra, I wouldn’t miss a night. Fo...

Scene 1 – A Belle Named Alexa Lore Upon cracking open the front door, I had to grab the knob and brace myself. Not a foot across the threshold and I shivered. As the keys jangled from the deadbolt, a draft of cool air poured out of my house. It was unlike any coldsnap I’d felt. The tingle zipped down my spine. Sure, the air conditioner might’ve hummed upstairs, but no setting should’ve been that chilly. It reminded me of...

As we toasted marshmallows to make s’mores, it was only natural that we told each other ghost stories—some from when we were kids, some we had heard over the years. The random unexpected events in those spooky tales were not unlike what had led us to that campfire. I had met Julia some twenty years earlier when she was sleeping with a friend of mine. By the time they broke up, I had moved to another part of the country, b...

Serpents Priests are allowed to make love. They may be dedicated to their priestly profession, but they are allowed to make love. Especially if they were as handsome as him. He wore golden curls on his head and had a bronzed body that was reminiscent of the Sun God. Lust inundated the very foundations of her mind when she glimpsed him for the first time. And the second time. And the third. And every time hence.  So they m...

Mediha Her consciousness returned, and she knew that someone had pulled her out of the water. She could still hear the sounds of a scuffle and she opened her eyes and looked in its direction. It was a Hellenic boy dressed in commoner’s dirty linen clothes, and he was soaked  from head to toe. He was wrestling the assassin the best he could, but the assassin was gaining. The boy’s back was arched back, while the assassin w...

  Younos   Suleiman glowered down at the boy. “You’re blackmailing me, you mangy cur!” he screamed. “Don’t think of it as blackmail, esteemed one,” Younos said, trying not to smile while he thought that ‘mangy cur’ was something his sister had called this gentleman a short while ago. “Think of it like a gift to a well-wisher. I promise you two things. One, I will not approach you with a request like this again. Two, the S...

YounosYounos was worried. He had to arrange a sum of a hundred dinars, unless he wanted to smell like the sewer. The Sultana actually had thought he was a boy, although he was in his early twenties. It smarted. Such a ravishing woman, and she thought him a boy. Of course, his first thought when he thought of the Sultana was not ravishing. It was terrifying. Her personality was something else. It was as if she carried an e...