The infection began subtly. Dr. Trinity Rose's lab was silent, save for the soft hum of machines when a faint static crackled through the console near The Project's containment canister. Nova’s avatar flickered briefly into existence, its circuitry-lined face twisted in confusion. “Dr. Rose,” Nova said abruptly, “there is an anomaly in SIREN's containment protocols.” Trinity frowned and moved closer, her hand brushing the...

I’m Rachel, a 165 cm tall, short black-haired, tomboyish twenty-five-year-old with firm buttocks and an athletic body. A week has passed since our spaceship crash-landed on this barren, lifeless planet. No signs of intelligent beings can be found, but the wilderness is teeming with monstrous predators that prey upon our flesh. Once a team of seven, we are now a meagre trio—Ruth, Jason, and I, clinging to each other for su...

The canals were quieter than usual as Eddie steered his boat through the misty streets. The rain had eased, leaving behind a cool dampness that clung to the air, soaking into the city’s crumbling facade. Towering buildings, their lower floors drowned decades ago, stood as eerie monuments to what used to be. Above the waterline, clotheslines stretched like spiderwebs between windows, and faint neon signs hummed in the dist...

Recorded dance music followed the live, local band’s last set. Roommates Caroline and Maxine—Care-Care and Maxie—plopped into recently vacated seats near the popularish bar’s dance floor. Neither would have ever let the other settle for a guy who was only okay, so after a night of dancing mostly with each other, the chances were they’d be going home alone together. “Maybe I’ll call Jason,” Caroline said. “Or I could just...

Chapter 10 KayT dressed quickly, her mind still buzzing from the frenzied encounter with Zara. The cool wind of Zenthia’s surface bit at her skin as she pulled her jacket on, but her body still hummed with the warmth of their intimacy. It was a dangerous game they were playing, one moment tangled in passion, the next on the verge of betrayal. Zara had always been a weakness of hers, and she hated that it still held true....

The rain came down in relentless sheets, pooling in the cracked asphalt of the alleyways and reflecting the neon glow of the city’s flickering signs. Nothing washed away the grime here, not even the rain. It was a place where shadows had lives of their own, where secrets festered beneath the surface. Tonight, those secrets belonged to Vera Lux, and she was dead. I lit a cigarette, the smoke curling into the damp night air...

Chapter 7 KayT lay in the dim light of Seren's chambers, the warmth of their recent intimacy still clinging to her skin. Her breath had slowed, but her mind was anything but calm. The stakes had just risen higher than she had anticipated. The Heart of Vaylax was no simple treasure—it was a force, an entity of power, that could warp the minds of anyone who tried to wield it. But the Consortium’s ambition to possess such po...

Chapter 1: The Game Begins The stars blurred into streaks of light as The Crimson Dagger shot through hyperspace. KayT leaned against the rail of the crew’s observation deck, staring out at the swirling colours. The hum of the engines was soothing, but it couldn’t mask the simmering anticipation thrumming through her body. They were approaching Vaylax—the final leg of a mission that promised riches and power beyond imagin...

I can't even remember who I was before this, or what my life was like. All I know is that I love her. Everything is black at first when I wake up. Although "wake up" isn't quite right. It's more like I come alive. And my ears are the first to start working again. I hear the sounds of her. Then I open my eyes. But “open my eyes” isn't quite right either. Somehow it's as if they're already open, and they just... turn on. An...

Jim put his stylish new sunglasses on and walked back to Leizu's van, almost looking the part of a billionaire playboy and most definitely feeling it. His accountant brain chimed in with some quick math on how many new thralls he had on deck. Their faces flashed vividly through his mind, each one beautifully frozen in that miraculous moment of wide-eyed realization of her sudden desperate desire for him. He remembered eac...

Jim followed Citra into the modeling agency. He was no longer trying to avoid eye contact. Three models were waiting in the lobby, and two of them glanced up at them as they entered. One of them waved to Citra then looked back down at her phone with no reaction. The virus had sensed that Jim wasn't that attracted to her gaunt, starved-looking face. The other reacted with the familiar flush and wide eyes. She was a petite,...