Controlled Accident Being 6 wasn’t any easier than 5 was. And here there were a lot more expectations. Control was important — especially for a firestarter. My teacher had peculiar methods — dreamscape torture to augment fear to control my power. Nearing my acceptance into the normal school day at the Academy, my teacher upped…

Meeting My Father “I’d like you to meet your father.” Dorian said. The door to his office opened and my fucking idol walked in. He stood in the doorway, glowering at me. “I don’t see why I have to be here, Dorian.” Kai said softly. “He’s 18. He’s graduating, and it’s time you both knew…

Meeting My Idol Everyone knew Kai Viddens as a great hunter. One of the best. I looked up to him. I spent the morning pacing around my room in the academy the day I was going to first meet him. It was a Saturday, my usual Saturday lunch to spend with Dorian and his family.…

Meeting Sage Every week I meet with Dr. Margo on Monday at 9:30 and I’m always early. Ms. Megan is usually the only one here, but today a boy sits in my spot on the couch. His dark blue eyes shimmer with tears. He moves to the other side of the couch. I sit down.…

Saving Abby The moon was full last night. The sun is high in the sky now. A mundane reported a larger-than-normal-wolf in Central Park — had to be a therian.  I am assigned a new mission — kill the wolf and cover it up.  But I won’t. Tracking the beast was easy. Not killing a…

Runaway Kids. I wasn’t ready for them, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have problems with them. Two kids. Both just like me. And Two moms. One an asshole, the other dead. My fucking life. Kid Numero Two came up on my radar again today. She ran away — again. She won’t talk to me…

Mythical brother Mother talks about our mythical brother all the time. How proud of him she is. Apparently she gets monthly reports and when she came back after his graduation she was grumpier than usual. We can’t live up to him. And now he’s home. But the moment he steps out of the Jeep, I…

Second Love Drowning in booze was no way to go out. Yet here I was in a fancy hotel bar in New York City, flirting with the bartender when she walks up wearing a black sequined yet elegant dress and bright red lipstick. Those big brown eyes and fake eyelashes called out to me. She…

Conceived Out of Love “Bound by Mother Earth herself, your souls are one.” Al’thea tied the thorny vine around their wrists and neither screamed in pain as the magic melded it with their skin — an undying bond bound with the match of the earth — forever and always. But the magic did not finish…

Saved By a Demon She was born different. They said she was possessed by demons. My little sister was the kindest, sweetest person alive, and they staked her out in the night to be taken by the wolves on the full moon. I begged and pleaded for them to reconsider. I’d take care of her.…

breakfast Five is hard. Everything is challenging — even breakfast. The bar stool wobbles as you stand on it to reach your favorite cereal. Your small hands pull at the unopened cereal bag until it pops open, sending kernels all over the kitchen. Milk splashes on the counter. But you did it! Mom comes home…

Blue-eyed Boy There once was a blue-eyed boy who visited my dreams. He never came with the same face, but I knew it was him. His voice and eyes never changed. One morning when I was six, I left him in the dream to go to school, but I fell asleep in class and when…

The Accident As I carried our bags down to the car, Shelly called. Fuck! I answered and after a quick conversation I was putting my bags into the trunk and telling my mother I had to go. I’d meet her outside the mark’s condo and we’d leave from there. My mother thought nothing of it…

Mistakes Hunger. Blood. Hunt. Eat. Feral. No longer human. Where humanity once dwelled, nothing remained. They died — became the undead — the first embraced vampires. That was against the law. Humans were food. Nothing more. Turning one was high treason. As Ascendant, I watched as the magic unfolded over those turned into one of…