The Bakeneko had a turn, a monster dog with teeth that could bite through steel, saliva that poisoned and a howl that brought the dead from the earth. I set fire to the dead and when the dog rose it’s head to howl again, I had a dagger ready in my hand and slice of …
Category: fiction
Night Parade Part 5
The Nine-Tailed Fox did, dressed in her favored outfit of a human woman from the Heian era, with the kimono and head veil to demurely cover the lower half of her face. It was only the distinctly vixen slant of her eyes that gave away her sly nature as she smiled coyly at me, a …
Night Parade Part 4
The Parade dragged me outside the city borders into a large open space, away from the buildings, away from anyone who could know. But I recognized the place. This was the same place they’d found my parents’ bodies, my grandmother’s body. Maybe the youkai knew somehow, or maybe this was just a favored hunting ground …
Victorian Lapidary Chapter 3-3
I came back out with the watch. “This brings back memories. His clothes in the picture remind me of the ones we wore when we were younger, when we had to help around the shop. The ones with the itchy collars.”I could almost hear Kenneth’s mind working.“If he wasn’t born in the slums, what’s a …
Victorian Lapidary Chapter 3-2
Murders made all sorts of sensational news, but that boy at the harbor - my crystals hadn’t guided me there and I’d paid him little mind, deeming it unnecessary. “When was the boy in the harbor found again?” I asked casually. “The tenth. Just a few days ago.” He finished the tea in two large …
Victorian Lapidary Chapter 3-1
My modest venue in Clerkenwell was located between a milliner and a printing shop. A small bricked block with hundreds upon thousands worth of pounds in gemstones and jewelry behind the casing of glass and drapes. A bell tingled lightly as I pushed the doors open. Through this opening was a world of riches. The …
Victorian Lapidary Chapter 2-2
In Fleet Street, death was an Event. It was the one certainty people had, and they watched it all with ill-concealed excitement, especially when the circumstances were suspicious, then it became the subject of eager speculation. And for some, death was also an opportunity. The sky was clouded and gray, the sun hidden like a …
Victorian Lapidary: Chapter 2-1
Feeling a little under the weather, so here's another snippet. The omnibus was crowded full of young clerks and other business people off to an early morning’s start. The low din of chatter was almost soothing as we passed carriages and cabs and the odd bicycle amongst the streets. There weren’t many who stopped at …
MJ Lin 