Dukerino

The Warlock ch 38 - the key

Caspar sits up on his sofa. His crocheted blanket, his lumpy cushions. He’s bathed in the stormcloud static of his crummy old television set. Lying on his chest is the paperback he was reading, the night before his life was taken from him.

Princess of the Void ch 6 - Compulsion

“Do you like being here?”

Ajax turns his head as the platform rises through the hab block. “On this lift, or on the Pike?”

“On the Pike.”

“Nowhere else I’d want to be, Prince Consort.”

“You can be as hon...

Princess of the Void ch 5 - You're mine

They dress Grant in a black and scarlet tunic, with a high, asymmetric collar. A tight cut. He’s not sure if that’s just for the flattering drape or because he’s at least a foot taller than everyone else here. There’s no sleeves, but judgi...

Princess of the Void ch 4 - the Black Pike

Tonight is the night. Grant’s more grateful than ever for his guitar to keep his hands from fidgeting and picking the threads out of his coveralls.

No motion on the cameras. He waits for Batty to wake up and show herself. He’s already co...

Princess of the Void ch 3 - Vent

Two more shifts pass.

He brings in more things for Batty. He brings her a map of Earth. She examines it with her head cocked.

“This is Earth. Uh, Home.” He taps the paper. “Earth.”

“Erf.”

“What about you?” H...

Princess of the Void ch 2 - Batty

“Remember the 90% of your training?” Drake parks himself in a folding chair across a card table from Grant. “You’re about to get the last 10. But it’s time to sign another NDA. This is the big deal NDA.”

He pushes a novella acros...

Princess of the Void ch 1 - night shift

A month from now, Grant will remember, as he feels the cool metal of his wife’s gun kiss the back of his skull, his final days on Earth. He’ll wish he’d spent more of them on the surface, in the daytime. He’ll have trouble remembering what...

The Warlock ch 37 - a replacement

“I am sorry that we’ve lost Jordan. She was a good soldier.” Adaire’s voice echoes through the warehouse they’re squatting in. “And I don’t mean to imply that mine is the greater woe. But there’s a problem we need to reckon with.�...

The Warlock ch 36 - a warrior

A burst of gunfire, so rapid that it morphs into one buzzing shriek. A chunk of the cart the size of a watermelon is sheared clean off. Each bullet hole flowers to the size of a fist. Secondary explosions spit the smell of sulfur into the close-cr...

The Warlock ch 35 - a catacomb

“I am so, so, so, so, so sorry,” Caspar says. “Mrs. Tilliam, I never intended to harm a hair on your head. And I am so—”

Rebecca laughs. “It’s okay, Mr. Cartwright. Truly, it is. Your mistress has already apologized ve...

The Warlock ch 34 - a bouquet

Rebecca Tilliam collapses onto the hotel room couch with a groan of relief. She drops her suitcases and carry-ons in a pile of leather and canvas around her. “What a lovely room, Carol.” She shuts her eyes. “Thank you.”

“Uh huh.”...

The Warlock ch 33 - a lie

Caspar pulls the seared flesh from the bone and chews its crispy skin. A bursting pop of flavor, sumac and Northward oregano. Hot damn, that is delicious.

He holds the thin wing bone in his hand and casts about for a place to put it. A beami...

The Warlock ch 32 - a statue

The bathrooms in the Hall of the Pious Crusaders are the cleanest in any public building Caspar’s ever used. Marble and enamel and brass. There’s these newfangled taps that can tell when your hands are under them. They’re awful, and he needs...

The Warlock ch 30 - an egg

“So.” I scoot my cardinal out from my back rank. “Barn door. What’s your review?”

“It’s uh. Tight. It’s good.” Caspar sips his rooibos and rubs his chin as he surveys the board, which lays in front of me as we spoon. “I d...

29. my happiness [explicit]

“It’s good.” Jordan chews the slice of cake. “Tastes a little beer-ish.”

“Caspar said yeasty,” I say.

“Well, he’d know. Mister house-husband.” She drops the fork on the plate and holds it out to me. “Thank Salome ...

The Warlock ch 27 - a fight

My molluscan prime form flits through the air beside Bina’s hairy, cetaceous bulk. Below us, Saoirse sidewinds through the ruins of Heaven. Above us, Salome floats like a polar star. Our scout-forms and war-forms assemble around us. Shining glas...

The Warlock ch 26 - a pilgrim

“Step one is hide them bullet holes, I’d say.” Jordan puts her hands on her hips as they survey the van. “Bet a tapestry would do it. Couple saintly garlands.”

Caspar sticks a finger through the largest bullet hole, dented and sunk...

Power Ballad ch 97 - Mate (Dee)

Up and at em, Dee, says Niva. Packmistresses don’t sleep in.

I’m not the packmistress. I’m just your sister.

You are the packmistress, Dee. And you don’t have a sister anymore.

Wake up....

The Warlock ch 25 - a tail

The warlocks are used to taking their bathroom breaks without a bathroom at this point (and Peat Moss never learned). Despite the complaints of their hostages, they avoid civilization once they’ve secured their pilgrimage papers. These will let ...

Power Ballad ch 96 - Namaste (Dee)

Anise bends her arms inward. The little pooch of her stomach over the band of her yoga pants stretches taut as her peachy butt arches. “Now we slooowly come back to neutral,” she says. “Left palm on your belly. Left knee bent. Little farther...

The Warlock ch 24 - a servant

“We can’t just leave him in the woods.” Caspar presses his steepled fingers to his lips. “He’s a person. He’s a child, even.”

“We have a missing fuckin’ archbishop in the van, Cas,” Jordan says. “Staying low is...

The Warlock ch 23 - a little pet

Bina plows into Saoirse, bowls her to the ground, and with a vicious spring trap bite, tears her head from her shoulders.

The rotten flesh in her lupine mouth flowers explosively, and spreads filaments of fungus across her muzzle. They crack...

Power Ballad pt 95 - Monarchy Disgusts Me (Anise)

In the wake of their resounding victory at Hanem Canyon, a very nice elf in a very nice outfit—all slashed sleeves and silk—delivers an invitation to Pack Voraag and their charges. She stands solemnly by as they unroll the proffe...

The Warlock ch 22

Hello again, dear reader. If you’ve skipped to this chapter, welcome back. The short version is that Caspar and I admitted our love for each other and then went at it like rabbits. Humanity has really struck gold on this whole love...

Power Ballad pt 94 - Bugs? No Bugs? (Anise)

Anise awakens tangled in a cocoon of blankets. Nick has tossed all of the sheets from himself in the night and is starfishing, his left side drooping off the edge of the bed. A lance of light from their room’s circular mountainside porthole illu...

Power Ballad pt 93 - It's going to get weirder (Nick)

They decide to try the remote manipulation spell that Dee bought at the gate to Vatramor. Sion and Nick huddle over the sheaf of papers, puzzling out the oddball guitar part implied by its leylines.

Reconstructing a spell is equal parts song...

The Warlock ch 21 - my warlock

Thank you as always, noble patrons. Fair warning: this one is explicit.

Caspar turns over and creaks the four-poster bed he’s awakened in. A breeze drifts across him from a window open to a scarlet sunset.

It drifts across me,...

The Warlock ch 20 - an alliance

Adaire sits down on a barrack bench across from Caspar, her legs wide and slouchy like a cock-of-the-walk trooper. “So, Mr. Caspar. How long have you been at the warlock game?”

Caspar’s gun rests on his lap, pointed broadly in her dire...

Power Ballad pt 92 - I like listening to your voice (Nick)

“She didn’t…” Anise is scrambling for an excuse. “We’ve had a long trip up. And she’s hangry.”

“It’s okay.” In the dim light formed by the room’s lambent candles, Conna’s eyes are shadowed by her bangs. “We’re d...

The Warlock ch 19 - A wig

Caspar sits bolt upright, breathing hard. His mouth hangs open. He touches his cupid’s-bow philtrum, where a moment ago my lips lay on his.

He’s back. Oh, no. Oh, shoot. Should he not have done that? Am I angry? Why else would I have sen...