And I Write Darker Things

“She…” Gerald’s voice had lost steam, though his eyes held a fiery judgement in their honeyed depth. Thaz’ra flinched at the sharp way these soft eyes snapped toward her, stepping back from him. Jasper felt his heart wince around the uncertain shape of her lips as they wavered. “ She agreed to a price ,” the skull’s voice was a shudder against Jasper’s skin; a warm hand trailing ever lightly down his spine. Gerald cast his light around the room, to the dim phosphenes of the skull on the wall. It was a sound akin to Clipper’s voice. "I have done everything I have to protect my boys," Thaz’ra trembled against Jasper. Gerald’s expression soured after a moment. "But never our children... right?" Thaz'ra winced at the words and Jasper pulled her close. "Gerald," he scolded, “She wouldn’t do something like that without reason,” Jasper snapped. "None of you are wrong," Thaz'ra said, “the mark was to commemorate a miscarriage,” her voic...

None of this is original art by me, just used a cheap character creator app to slap some visuals together. Rin Jasper Thaznelra (Thaz'ra)   Gerald Hazel Boris     Clipper Jake Tajra

 (O riginally published on my main blog,  Andi and I Write , on October 12, 2020) (Special thanks to the talent of   McCallum J. Morgan  for his incredible illustration! You can view his blog in the link on his name there.)  Gerald stared hard at the scene before him, Jasper pulling him close from behind. Gerald could feel the heartbeat of the other against his shoulder, the stutter in his breathing as the gun was lowered at the silent command from Thaz’ra, a hand motion from their wretched past. Gerald’s hands shook as he holstered the gun. “ It has been years ,” the color drained from Gerald as the voice crept into his ears, and he felt Jasper’s breath hitch again behind him. “And as I promised, I gave you a voice,” Thaz’ra answered the voice as Jasper felt the blood drain from his face, light flooding the chamber as several candles lit with blue flame. Leathery carcasses lay along one wall as Gerald swept his light along it; a bear, a two-heade...

(O riginally published on my main blog,  Andi and I Write , on October 12, 2020 "Gerald, I'm sorry," Thaz'ra didn't get much more out before Jasper's own voice ran hers over. "Rin called it Ger-" Gerald put a hand over Jasper's mouth with a sigh, lowering the light. "Okay, stop. One at a time," he sighed, "Did the middle of her sentence interrupt the beginning of yours?" Jasper blinked a few times, sighing behind the other man's hand.  "Sorry," Jasper murmured. "Look around..." Thaz'ra said in a small, almost broken voice, "I'm sorry... please for the love of what's good... just look..." she murmured, leaning into Jasper. Gerald sighed and kissed the top of her head before he looked around, a smile softening his face for a moment as Jasper leaned over to press a kiss to his shoulder. Decrepit pews lay scattered before them, broken like china as though a bull had charged through the...

 ( Originally published on my main blog,  Andi and I Write , on October 12, 2020.) ((Special thanks to the talent of   McCallum J. Morgan  for his incredible illustrations for this series! You can view his blog in the link on his name there.)) Thaz’ra watched the beast go down and Jasper retreated several steps, his long arm darted into the tent and swept his bag up onto his back in a single motion as he picked up the light Gerald had dropped. The popping of bone echoed in the forest behind them as Thaz’ra and him made their retreat; then Thaz’ra veered to the left. “Thaz!” “It’s after me. I will always protect my boys,” Jasper hesitated, then veered to join her. “You are a fucking martyr-” “You know what Clipper was into,” Thaz’ra hissed, “He was going to butcher Rin and I like animals…” Jasper could feel the anger that boiled in her veins as the brush rustled behind them. They ran out to the clearing, Thaz’ra whipping about to fire another round. Bo...

(Originally published on my main blog,  Andi and I Write , on October 12, 2020) It took everything in Thaz’ra not to scream, but her gasp sounded like a gunshot in the tent. The creature's head snapped up, and Thaz'ra’s breath shuddered as she silently rested one finger on the rifle's safety, the other a hair over the trigger.  The exposed jawbone and leathered hide were void of hair but much too alive. Eye-shine came from the void within the eye sockets before the moon had even had a chance to gasp through the trees. The longer she looked at it, the less it looked like a deer. It lowered its head to sniff the leaf litter. She saw too many vertebrae in the neck as it did so, and none of the legs looked… right. If it wasn’t a deer, she found that she didn’t want to know what it was. The click of the rifle’s safety coming off made the huddled masses behind her quiver and tuck in closer against Hazel in the center of the tent. Thaz'ra willed the creature not to come any cl...