A missing person on board the International Space Station is a mystery solved, unexpectedly, by science and not magic.
Missing Person
M
The Resin Rose
T
Misi held up the clear-plastic orb, a beatific smile splitting her narrow face. “This is the rose you gave me on our first date.” Gero looked from the lawn mower engine he’d been repairing to the flower, wrapped in resin and cupped in Misi’s hands. Wiping greasy hands on his trousers, he took the ornament from his girlfriend, frowning. He turned it over and inspected it from all angles...
The Old Magic Assassin
T
Mike looked down at the corpse. It wasn’t like he’d had a choice in the killing, any more than the elf’d had in the dying. Still, the regret Mike felt was genuine. There were so few elves left in the world that to kill even one was a loss. The elven body at his feet began to hiss and smoke as the transformation started. The ethereal armor that only the Fae could wear...
The Tome of Ragabel
T
“You don’t strike me as foolish,” hissed the mage. “I’ll ask again; where is the Tome of Ragabel?” Mariel, thief and adventurer, noted the thin blue line that ran up the sorcerer’s arm as his spell held her immobile. He was the victim of a basilisk curse; when that line reached his heart, he would become stone. “I’ll kill you before I die!” he threatened. His only hope lay in the Tome of...
Serpent’s Fang
S
I knew not from whence the sword came. Forsooth, I cared not. The glory and heady days of youth were but distant memories and the only steel needed I was in my hoe and the pin in the ox’s yoke. Twas sorcery most foul; that was obvious ere I saw it or knew it for a sword. It spake words of terrible magic from inside my hovel. Nay, verily it sang. The sweat on my brow, laid there by a day of toil...
Shop Till You Drop
S
Gale didn’t usually shop at the SuperSav, but it was the only grocery store near the Border that was open all night long. The need to accomodate his vampire’s assistant’s nocturnal hours had thrown off his entire schedule. Nowadays he slept the day away, and had to shop at SuperSav in the evening as a result. It wasn’t that SuperSav was a dingy grocery store like Piggly-Dixie...
Silent But Deadly
S
“What’s the most evil thing you’ve ever done?” Gale considered the question. Cynthia, the vampire teenager sitting across from him, had asked the question as part of their nightly banter as they waited for, hoped for, a new client to walk into the S.P.A. He went through all the required motions to wheedle his brain into providing an answer, but none was forthcoming. He said...
It’s a Scorcher – Part 2
I
The teenage vampire sitting across from Gale sat hunched in the chaise lounge chair, her entire body pressed against the back cushion like an amorous dog if amorous dogs liked to press against seat cushions. Her knees were high against her cheekbones, with only the top of her nose and eyes skulking from behind the gangly protuberances. A vampire Kilroy, her despondent eyes stared at nothing in...
It’s a Scorcher – Part 1
I
Gale stood at the threshold of the vampire’s lair and questioned the soundness of his decision to come here. There were a million things he could be doing instead of pleading with his bladder to not embarrass him. He wasn’t even sure his pleas would be honored; his entire digestive track had decided that now was the time to protest the decisions of the brain. He had a moment of regret regarding...
The Pumpkin Principle
T
“It wasn’t supposed to be a pumpkin, you know. They play hell on transformation spells.” Elsie would know; she was, after all, a level seventy-four Witch. Her conical hat was embroidered with the crest of our Order, and rumor had it she was next in line to become Matriarch of the order. Of course, the current Matriarch would have to die first. Considering the Deal Marhkat...
