Impossible Things
_For Seth Drake, who made me rise to the challenge_ I looked up at the moon, my human skin itching and crawling, wanting to subsume itself into my true form. I forced it aside. I have had to wait for this night, this particular moon, to do what I...
Pillow Talk
"I have spoken with three of them," I said reading aloud, "Hausman, Farrow, and Yerkes - and I expect to see Kalmus tomorrow. They all profess belief in Blount's innocence, which is gratifying but not helpful. I not only profess it, I am committed to...
Story Segment -- Convenience
This snippet comes from a much longer story called "Truth and Consequences," which is currently under consideration for publication (wish me luck!). It's told in first person by a human named Darius who, on a driving trip west, has picked up a young...
Blue Antiphon
I blow out another puff of smoke, adding to the stale haze already hanging in the air. It's another habit I could obviously do without, but I can only take one change at a time. The smoke turns green, yellow, red, green with the traffic light from...
Expiration Date, Part 3
I hope you'll forgive me waxing poetic for a moment; in light of the occasion, it feels necessary. Are there, I wonder, enough words in the cumulative languages of the universe, to describe love in its entirety? I'd have to think not, for just about...
Expiration Date, Part 2
Neville stood aside as he welcomed me into his home. I knew from other conversations that he had inherited the modest house from his parents (who had passed some years ago), and he had apologized long in advance for how badly he had "let the place...
Expiration Date, Part 1
I can't begin to tell you the number of people who tried to talk me out of marrying him. He's more than twice your age, they said. He's unstable, they said. He's a hack trying to play in the big leagues, one of them said (and it felt so good to tell...
Safe
_"MORLOCK!"_ The wolf pup screamed the Word once, twice, three times. It was the Word, the Word he was supposed to use, but the massive malamute on top of him kept viciously assaulting his tailhole, a tirade of filth spewing from his muzzle even as...
Future Tense
**_Sunday Evening_** I took the carefully-boxed pie out of the van last, even though I didn't have that much else to bring in. Boyce had given me a short list of things he and Brady had wanted as a stop-gap till their next trip to the grocery. They...
Preaching to a Bear
At a certain college campus in Texas, where all the tallest tales begin, a trio of chaplains ministered to the students, each to his particular religion. The priest, Pentecostal preacher, and rabbi would often meet at the quieter of the three coffee...
Tending to Important Matters
**_Sunday Morning_** I stirred gently, waking to the sounds of birds and a whisper of soft music barely beginning. Stretching, I reached over to turn off the alarm. Some years ago, I had discovered the CD called_Morning/Jewel,_and I realized that...
Ariel Ascending
_"Ariel is the name of an angel... sometimes also of a demon..."_ --Cornelius Agrippa, Occultist (1486-1535) **_Saturday Evening_** I leaned back in the old, worn, but comfortable office chair (trying not to think of myself in quite the same...