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.
Denied:Chapter Seventy-three by Cia Nordwell
The cool calm Anyas projected cracked for the very first time when I slung the girl over my shoulder and dropped her on the couch of the room he’d been given in the building. He gasped. “What have you done?”
“It was necessary.” The girl’s head lolled back, and I was reassured when her chest rose and fell slowly. I hadn’t killed her; she was just unconscious. I’d been too worried about being spotted to stop and check on her.
I carefully arranged her arms and legs, trying to make her a little more comfortable. No reason to leave her
Here Kitty Kitty:Chapter 18.5, by Carol Pedroso
Jenny looked down at her daughter, and Tristan could see tears glinting on her cheeks. “I really don’t know a lot. The seers are all too badly drained to tell me much. I know Cheryl is using their powers to see what’s happening with her enemies, and that she has something planned that will be happening soon. I also know she has a mage working for her, but not willingly. I was ordered to treat a young female mage. Her name was Milly, she was very pregnant and the trauma of being taken brought on her labor.
Click here to read the entire Brief:
It didn’t seem to matter with Pete. He seemed content with how things had progressed. At least so far.
Adrift: Chapter 30 by J. Alan Veerkamp
Without laying judgment for how it happened, a night’s sleep in his own bed was a giant improvement over the cargo bay. The line of purplish marks down his torso and thigh left behind from the floor rivets still ached if agitated. Sort of how a relentless dull pressure point on his chest threatened to nudge him out of the comfy bog of slumber far too soon.
Then the odd sensation disappeared, so Arad let himself start to sink back under. Deep, deep down where sight, sound, and gravity can’t find you—
Poke.
And it was back, causing him to tense and twinge the nearby bruises, slowing if not stopping his descent.
Click here to read the entire Brief:
In Pieces #42 (11.1) by Julie Lynn Hayes
The Dive was already starting to fill with people by the time they returned with the food. A bouncer was on duty at the front door, collecting the cover charge. He eyed them as they approached.
“We’re part of the band,” Abby explained. He gave her nun’s outfit a quick onceover and waved them in.
Adjusting his eyes to the dimly lit interior, Ryan scanned his surroundings for Ben and the others. He wondered if they’d be able to find a place where they could eat without the band being mobbed by admirers. Dayglo purple lights highlighted the bar, casting a garish glow on the bartenders. The floor was filled with a lot of small tables, set close together, many already occupied. On the opposite side of the long narrow room, Ryan spotted the stage. The equipment was already set up. Aiden and Keanu were playing riffs, while Deacon was fiddling with his keyboard. And there was Ben, just in front of the stage, talking to a large man who stood at least a head taller than him.
Click here to read the entire Brief:
Wednesday Briefs 