Here is a list of all the authors flashing this week, along with a brief snippet from their latest free work. Click the link after the snippet to be taken to the complete story on the author’s home page.
A shudder rippled through Jake’s body. Although he’d started to talk, and a tiny voice inside his head demanded to pour his out heart to Bruce—to let go for once and trust another human being again—his throat felt swollen and impeded further speech.
Bruce gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze before he turned his head and pressed a chaste kiss to Jake’s left temple. Jake gasped, startled by the sudden pressure of firm lips ghosting from his temple over his cheek to the tip of his nose.
Still Alive, Part 2 by Sarah Hayes
Daniel Faraday ran through the jungle, grabbing at vines and branches that crossed his path, throwing them out of the way. He could hear a plane’s engine starting, the mechanics crankily kicked into life. His clothes were torn, he was covered in blood, and his chest felt like it wanted to cave in with every step he took, but he kept running.
He’d been dead, and then he had not. And then he’d wanted to die. Then he was running for something he couldn’t see, but knew he needed to reach above anything else. Seconds earlier, before he’dhit sneakers to dirt in a frenzy of feet, Daniel had seen a glimpse of red in the corner of his eye, like long red hair blowing past him. Then he’d heard a voice which told him to follow the sound of the plane, and the voice had sounded like Charlotte. So, he ran for it.
He broke into a nearby clearing just to hear someone shout, “Look! It’s Dan! Don’t take off!” Maybe it was more than one person—he couldn’t say for sure.
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The Adored One: Chapter 1 by Kazy Reed
The clouds were dark, and thick with damp. Thunder crackled through the air, but it didn’t cover the agonized shrieks of the angel as the feathers were plucked from his wings.
“No!” the angel pleaded. “Please, Father, I repent! Have mercy!”
His cries fell on deaf ears. He reached out to the other angels witnessing his punishment, but none of them came to his aid. Charles had committed the ultimate sacrilege, and was to be cast out of heaven and into hell. One by one, his smooth feathers were removed until he appeared more like a bat than an angel.
Fortitude: Part Twenty-six by Cia Nordwell
“This evening we have accepted an invitation for the family at a concert at the Royal Pavilion. A… friend of the family sponsored our visit for your brother’s celebration,” my mother said. She dabbed her napkin in the corners of her mouth, though she’s barely touched her pastry, and gestured for a maid to take it away.
The waste incensed me.
“I am hosting Teddy right now, as you said I could during Michael’s parties; it would be rude to exclude him from a family function.” I’d use any excuse to avoid my family, but we had to be present
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Cade though back to his childhood, after the illness has run its course and his mum had moved them to Witchconspy.
“Witchconspy is an industry town. It has a few industrial estates that produce everything from printing magazines to making windows to go into houses.
“There are a couple of parks but mostly everywhere you look are houses. We have a huge library that stocks books on every subject you would want — except vampires, though, it seems the vamps don’t want people having access to too much information without their knowledge.
A Shaman’s Gift: Part 16 by Johayan
Having returned from their honeymoon, Kevyl and Maikaj settled into the daily routine of being the Sovereign and Consort of Talija.
Trevyl was first to notice the changes in the routine. Maikaj was always up early with the sunrise and in his den by 7am. Kevyl had started out on that schedule, but of late, he had been staying in bed later and later in the morning. At first, Trevyl thought that Kevyl was just getting a bit fatter and a bit lazier. As the days went by, he noticed that Kevyl was getting quite a bit larger.
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Don’t Look Back #42 (8.3) by Julie Lynn Hayes
If Rhonda was taken aback by Roy’s words, she didn’t show it. She licked her lips, one hand poised cockily on her hip.”Well, I’m very flattered you know who I am. Marshall talk about me a lot, does he? He’s a sweet boy, isn’t he? People say he takes after his momma.”
Marshall thought he was going to be ill.
“Lee and me, we been divorced for a long time. I guess you know Lee, don’t you? Marshall’s daddy?” She put as much emphasis into that one word as it could possibly hold. “His real daddy. Not his stepdaddy, like Murray over there.” She waved a manicured hand in the vague direction of the travel trailer. “His actual father.”
How many ways could she say that?
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Wednesday Briefs 