Serials
Serialised fiction published in Piker Press, a weekly journal of arts and literature.
1,485 articles — page 36 of 50
Charlotte considers writing an essay: "What I did on my summer vacation." After all, it should be quite the story, given that she's a vampire, and just happens to be carrying a trunkful of goodies ... Originally appeared 2006-07-31.
The door is bolted, but Randolph is strangely angry and seems to care nothing for Alanna's injury ...
Alanna is released from the hospital -- but into a new nightmare of destruction and gross revelation.
Alanna visits the restaurant owner in the hospital, not knowing how soon she will visit that hospital again.
Alanna makes an unexpected visit to her mother-in-law's house, and finds no grief there at all for the dead Randa, and no love from her husband Randolph, either.
Randolph is fishing for information, on some "papers" that Randa might have handed to Alanna mere hours before her death. Alanna, listening to his voice, still wonders which one of the is crazy.
An unexpected death of a close family member, and there's no tears? Strange voices on the telephone, ugly messages following Alanna from work to home, and odd behavior by her in-laws are making her waking hours worse than any nightmare.
The police refuse to take Alanna's fears seriously without more proof. They'll get their proof, all right, but Alanna has to wonder: Is it already too late?
In the darkness of the night, Alanna is alone with the growing suspicion that not only has her husband lied to her about his past, but that he hides a secret so monstrous that she can barely wrap her mind around it...
Could anything be crazier than the story Randa has to tell Alanna? Crazier than believing it? Something as crazy as murder and arson, perhaps?
Is it true? Could there possibly have been an innocent explanation for the secret investigation? Randolph put Alanna's fears to rest, but even now those fears rise up to haunt her ...
How do you stop yourself from looking at the revelation of the most horrible secret you've ever encountered in your life?
There wasn't a lot of passion, but things seemed normal enough in their relationship, Alanna recounts. Then a chance occurrence changed the climate of the marriage to a chilling cloud ...
After facing tragedy, Alanna pursued a kind of romance with the ever-present Randolph, less for love than for comfort, and Randolph was willing to promise her comfort, all right ... as long as it kept to his plan ...
In order to make the detective understand the true horror and desperation of her situation, Alanna opts to tell him her story from its very beginning. But what she doesn't know is that someone else is listening to her tale as well...
The past life that Alanna never wanted to remember again has come back in a twisted haunting way. Now she has to rely on someone else's help, and tell the horrid story from its bitter beginnings.
Alanna and Stockwell leave the compromised house to try to find some place more private. But there in the desert, someone -- or something -- is watching ...
Instead of the secure fortress Alanna thought she had built, she finds a security system breached on almost every level. The past is endangering her once more.
Alanna Gilliam's desert home isn't as safe as she thought she had made it -- her past is surfacing on her doorstep in an ugly and frightening way.
Mystery builds as Alanna discovers the reason behind the detective's visit -- the death of her ex-husband.
Alanna Gilliam has a past that has changed her way of life forever. Unfortunately, it doesn't want to stay "past." No matter how far she has run, no matter what precautions she has taken, that frightening and mysterious past has arrived on her doorstep once again ...
The time is Now, and cold steel and fire are the only way to cleanse the world of monsters ... but the events of the day will trouble Leon the rest of his life.
The time has come for the hateful action, and Leon worries that he cannot protect his son Daniel. Daniel will have to find his strength in his own soul, but part of that search will require him to actually believe that he can make a difference ...
The two vampires are so wrapped up in what they are planning to do to Jenny Foley that they fail to notice that two mere humans have identified them, and are even now planning what they feel must be done ...
Though he knows full well the monsters he will have to destroy, nevertheless, Leon seems almost rejuvenated by his need to return to his family duty. What higher calling could a man have than to protect the innocent from creatures of the night?
Ben feels like the luckiest boy in the west -- a full belly, no more beatings, and a new friend. But even with all of that, Ben doesn't know just how lucky he is -- Nate's grandfather knows exactly what should be done for strangers who don't "feel" exactly right ...
They've offered more than just kind words -- the two strangers have brought food as well. Jenny, for the first time in a long time, is warm and safe and no longer hungry. But she doesn't know what her patrons have in mind ...
When you're out in the wide open West, it's not a good idea to trust everyone you meet. Some folks just unnaturally have hidden agendas, and it's best to remember you're not always at the top of the food chain ...
There's something fishy about the man in the suit who accosts Kegs, Charlotte, and Toby by the side of the road. And he's about to find out just how deep and dangerous the ocean really is ...
A hundred miles an hour down a busy freeway, and Charlotte's riding the suicide seat with a distracted vampire behind the wheel. Things haven't been going Charlotte's way very often since she decided she needed to liberate all that money and jewelry from the bank, and it looks like nothing has changed in that respect ...