A to Z Challenge - Y is for Yes

This is part of an ongoing story throughout the Challenge.

If you're just joining me now, please start with A is for Abby.

Y IS FOR YES

Burrows howled and tackled Abby. The two fell to the floor, but Abby felt none of the dreadful strength of the monster. The shadows melted or fled from her touch.

Abby rolled them until she was on top and put her hands on either side of Burrows' head. She held her in place with surprising ease.

"I'm sorry, Myrtle, that no one could save you from your monster. I'm sorry that you lived so long with such darkness within you, but you don't have to be afraid any more." Abby's voice was tender. The tips of her glowing fingers dipped into Burrows' head as if it were made of pudding.

The beast screamed, cursed, and then pleaded. The big bad wolf would not win this time. Abby would make sure it never won. That was no world for children.

There was silence.

The monster was obliterated. Not a trace of it left. Abby was certain of it as she removed her hands from the writer's head. The glow faded from her body.

Burrows was breathing. She was unconscious, but she was alive.

Abby didn't pause to wonder about it. She crawled across the room until she could take Demetrius' hand in her own. She tried to will her full body glow back, to demand it bring him back to her, but it didn't come. The ache in her chest came back and she could do nothing for it.

For several minutes, Abby sat there hugging his hand to her chest. It was only when she heard a soft snore coming from Burrows that she snapped out of her sorrowful trance.

"Your debt is paid. Thank you." Abby kissed the back of his hand. It twitched, and with her surprise, she dropped it.

"Don't let go of me yet, darling. I've got several other bits that need kissing too." Demetrius' voice was weak, but he was talking. He was alive.

Abby laughed and scooped up his hand again to kiss it. Then she bent forward and kissed his swollen lips. Her body tingled with sudden elation. "I'll kiss whatever you want. I thought you were dead. That thing had stepped on your head--"

"Yes, my head." Demetrius chuckled and winced as he did so. "It'd take more than a woman stepping on my head to kill me."

"You are pretty damn hard headed," Abby said and kissed his forehead. He was alive. There was still a great mess to clean up and wounds to heal, but Demetrius was alive. She wanted to laugh, cry, and kiss him all over at once.

What kept her from giving fully over to her emotions before was gone. The next time he tempted her into bed, she would say yes. Only if she didn't take him there first.

A to Z Challenge - X is for Xenophobic

This is part of an ongoing story throughout the Challenge.

If you're just joining me now, please start with A is for Abby.

X IS FOR XENOPHOBIC

The world seemed to shatter around her, but it was only Abby's heart. She fell to her knees, shaking her head as the tears streamed down her cheeks. It was her fault Demetrius was dead. She knew honor meant much to him, but she knew the real reason he stayed. He protected her because he fell in love with her. And she had let him stay because she loved him too.

"Now I have the mighty warrior on her knees before me." Burrows chortled and walked over the fae's body toward Abby. "Brought down not by my fighting prowess, but by her own fear of loss. This is better than when I killed my first Fearless. She was pathetic compared to you."

Abby didn't move. She couldn't take her eyes off Demetrius. She'd never feel his lips on hers again nor hear his sexy, gravelly laugh.

"Soon the rest of the Fearless will fall just as you did. Warriors you might be, but you're all so pitifully human." Burrows spat onto the floor. "Then I will rule. The big bad wolf wins in this story."

"What?" Abby wasn't sure she had heard the beast's mad ramblings, but it was slowly sinking into her head. "All the Fearless?"

"Oh yes." Burrows clapped her hands with an excited little hop and stopped five feet in front of Abby. "Why do you think I wrote all those books? Do you honestly think I have aspirations to be an author?" She snorted. "No, no. I want to rid the world of you Fearless and then the monsters can roam free. I'm seeding the minds of children. Not every one of them will be special enough, but there are more and more out there with imaginations fertile enough to create magnificent creatures like me. Children are not as xenophobic as adults. They will live with us and we will live off them."

The children.

No one in this town had protected the children. And if this beast had its way, there would be no one left in the world to protect them.

Abby's hands grew brighter and the glow slowly worked its way up her arms.

"Powering up for one last desperate attack?" Burrows smirked, rolling her eyes. "Ah, how you amuse me."

The glow picked up speed. It went past Abby's shoulders across her chest and back. The empty ache within her dulled and determination replaced it. Her whole body glowed as she raised her head.

"This your imitation of a nightlight?" Burrows' snark wasn't as confident as it had been a few seconds ago.

"The big bad wolf never wins." Abby rose to her feet. Her purpose had never been more clear. "You will never harm another child."

"I've rewritten the ending." Burrows hissed and struck out at Abby. The first tendril that hit her sizzled and melted with no effect. The monster screeched and lashed out with several tendrils. Each one withered if it didn't retract.

"You're not one of the Fearless. I broke you." Burrows shuddered with rage. "I took from you what you feared most to lose. I will take your pathetic life!"

"I've never feared death. And now you've taken away those I care about." Abby stepped forward, feeling lighter than she ever had. "There's nothing left I fear. You didn't break me. You made me truly one of the Fearless."

A to Z Challenge - W is for Weakness

This is part of an ongoing story written for the Challenge.

If you're just joining me now, please start with A is for Abby.

W IS FOR WEAKNESS

"I'm not going to make it that easy for you." Burrows laughed and motioned with her hand for them to come at her again.

Demetrius roared and tried to zigzag his way closer to the writer, but with such little space, there was no way his strategy could work. Abby held her ground as he was slapped back again.

"It's just toying with us." Why? What was it up to? Abby knew it was waiting for something. Her usual way to go about it was to think like a child, but Burrows was no child. The monster had grown as the woman had. Yet it was still was a monster. It wanted to kill.

"Toy with this then." Demetrius rammed his club into the desk and sent it into Burrows.

The writer let out a girlish shriek as she was pinned against the wall. Her face contorted into something ugly and unnatural as the beast howled. A dozen tendrils smashed Demetrius into the ceiling and wall. The wood cracked and split as he was repeatedly slammed against it.

Abby cried out and leapt at Burrows. She was thrown against the filing cabinet and landed hard on one shoulder. She didn't drop her swords as she sped to Demetrius and sliced through the tendrils to free him. He slumped to the floor. His breaths coming in shuddering gasps.

"Demetrius, no. Stay with me." Abby laid her swords down to put his head on her lap and brushed his hair back from his handsome face. Her chest was so tight, it hurt to breathe. She used her sleeve to wipe the blood from his eyes. "Please."

"Abby." His whisper was accompanied by a bubble of blood. His hands curled into fists.

"That's right. Don't you dare die on me. Fight. Fight, you stubborn freakin' fae." She couldn't contain her tears nor the trembling of her body.

Suddenly, Demetrius was yanked away and dragged across the floor. Burrows, free from the desk, grinned as he came to rest before her. She put a foot on the side of his face and pressed into it with her heel. He barely had the strength to groan.

"So that's it. Your weakness. I didn't think you were that much into him." The monster's gleeful laugh echoed in the room.

Abby swiped at her cheeks and picked up her swords. Her legs were shaky as she stood up. She wanted to beg, to promise to give the thing whatever it wanted if it let Demetrius go. Her heart couldn't take losing him. She choked back a sob.

"This is what I waited to see. The Fearless isn't so fearless in the end." Burrows stomped on Demetrius' head and there was a crack.

This time, the beast's insane laughter made Abby scream.

A to Z Challenge - V is for Villain

This is part of an ongoing story throughout the Challenge.

If you're just joining me now, please start with A is for Abby.

V IS FOR VILLAIN

Abby started to move to check on Demetrius, but had to stop as Burrows rounded the desk. She couldn't turn her back on the thing no matter her desperation to know if Demetrius was dead or not. It had killed one of the Fearless when Burrows was a girl, and she wasn't a young woman. That meant it had several years to get stronger.

"I have no qualms about killing Burrows to kill you." Abby had several, but she wasn't going to let the monster know that. Perhaps if Tawa was with her, she might be able to tell her a way to kill the thing without killing Burrows too, but she was on her own.

She heard Demetrius then, stomping up the stairs and growling curses. Abby felt a warmth spread through her. No, she wasn't alone. She had Demetrius.

"I didn't think you would. That's what makes this even more thrilling." Burrows stopped in front of her desk and pushed her glasses up her nose. It was a silly human gesture, but somehow chilling in this moment. "I've always wanted to be the villain, the big bad wolf of the world. It's hard to do stuck in a pathetic little body."

"So you want Abby's? Not going to happen." Demetrius limped, but it seemed his pride was hurt more than anything else. He readied himself for another charge, but Abby put a hand on his arm.

"It doesn't want my body. It can't leave Burrows." It seemed easy enough to just kill the host to kill the beast, but Abby doubted it was going to be that easy. Something else was going on. Something she hadn't figured out yet.

"Then let's get on with the fight." Patience wasn't one of Demetrius' virtues. He ran head-on again, but wary of the dark tendrils this time. He dodged two and was smacked back into the bookshelf with a third.

There was no point standing around playing Twenty Questions. Abby used the fae's distraction and dove in, targeting Burrows' mid-section. She was swept back, stopping herself just before she fell down the stairs.

Demetrius and Abby made a second attack together, and then a third and fourth. Each time, they were knocked back. Neither of them were able to get close enough to land a hit on Burrows. The attic was small. There was only so much room to maneuver and the monster was aware of every tiny movement.

Abby threw one blade as Demetrius bellowed and swung from the opposite side. He was thrown back and Burrows caught the glowing sword. She held it in one hand, examining it with a childlike fascination.

"Interesting. It burns my essence, but human flesh can hold it. Perhaps it isn't so bad being trapped in this form." Burrows gave Abby a sly look. "Or maybe it's a sign that you can't kill me after all."

Abby recalled her sword and it re-emerged from her palm. "I don't know. Let me run you through with it and see what happens."

A to Z Challenge - U is for Unhappy

This is part of an ongoing story throughout the Challenge.

If you're just joining me now, please start with A is for Abby.

U IS FOR UNHAPPY

Abby was ready for anything as she walked up the stairs. An ambush, a giant monster, a hundred monsters, a guillotine whooshing through the air to lop her head off. Everything in her was itching for a battle. She wasn't prepared for nothing when she reached the top.

The attic wasn't a big room. Its ceiling was V'ed and the rafters were bare. A filing cabinet loomed in one corner and a bookcase in the other. There was one diamond shaped window at the far end. The only thing in the room was a large old desk. Burrows sat behind it with the light from her computer screen illuminating her unhappy expression.

"I had hoped it would be you alone, Abby." Burrows sighed and tented her fingers.

"We can arrange that," Abby said through clenched teeth. Demetrius stepped in front of her. "No, we won't."

Abby wanted to push him aside and charge, but she still expected something. She moved to stand next to him, attempting to focus through her sorrow and rage.

"Handsome and chivalrous. No wonder Myrtle went all silly over him. It didn't deter her when I told her he had fae cooties." Burrows shuddered and made a blech sound.

"You know what I am." Demetrius grunted and then frowned. "Myrtle?"

"Not Myrtle." Abby shook her head. Her still glowing hands told her that whoever was sitting there wasn't human. Whatever it was wasn't hiding itself now.

"She's still in here, but I've had control for many years now." Burrows grinned, slow and maniacal.

"Demon." Demetrius bared his teeth, but Abby shook her head again. She knew what it was. She just didn't know how it could be what it was.

"Ah, Abby. You know, don't you?" Burrows chuckled and leaned back in her chair. "Most children conceive of their monsters in the closet, under the bed, somewhere it's dark and scary at night. Yet there are a few that have the darkness in them for one reason or another. And Myrtle had such a powerful imagination. When she created me, she gave me voice and intelligence. No regular monster for this little girl." Smirking, her gaze bore into Abby. "When one of the Fearless came to kill me, she found she couldn't take the life of a child to do so. So I killed her instead. My first kill. My most momentous kill."

Demetrius' battle cry shook the little room. He rushed at Burrows and was hit by a inky black tendril that sent him toppling down the stairs.

"Children are easy to kill." Burrows stood up. The shadows around her so thick the glow from the screen couldn't penetrate them and the window was blacked out behind her. "I'm so glad you're here now, Abby."

A to Z Challenge - Q is for Quiet

This is part of one continuing story throughout the Challenge.

If you're just joining me now, please start with A is for Abby.

Q IS FOR QUIET

The house at the end of the road. I wonder how much it's like the one in the book. Tawa piped up from the backpack.

"It could be exactly the same for all it matters." Abby rang the doorbell. Her breath made small impatient clouds. Her head still hurt, but from lack of sleep rather than her injuries. Her wrist was wrapped up and she had taken some Tylenol. She was at the best she could be without more time to rest and heal.

"Do you hear that?" Demetrius cocked his head to the side.

"What? The cheesy jazz music Burrows just turned on in there?" Abby snorted.

Hey, that's Sarah Vaughan. This is classic jazz. Tawa asserted.

"No," Demetrius said in a quiet tone. "There's no nightlife. No birds or animals. It's only seven. No kids or even teenagers out in the neighborhood."

Abby had been too lost to her own thoughts to notice the eerie quiet of the night. Even if it was cold out, it wasn't late. She didn't get more than a few seconds to nod at Demetrius before the door swung open.

Burrows smiled at Demetrius with lips painted too red. Then she noticed Abby and her smile faltered. "Oh, hello. Good evening."

"A good evening to you, my dear Myrtle. I hope you don't mind. My sister was feeling better and I didn't want her sitting around the hotel by herself, so I brought her along." Demetrius grinned and walked inside without waiting for an invitation. He unbuttoned his jacket and slid it off. He rolled his big shoulders and dropped the jacket over the back of a chair.

"Oh, well, I suppose. I didn't make enough food for three." Burrows fiddled with the rings on her right hand. She stepped back and motioned to Abby. "Come on in then."

"Thanks. And it's all right. I'm not hungry." Not for food, anyway. Abby walked near to Burrows, but her hands didn't glow. What was different in the store the first time they met? She closed the door behind her.

What's it look like? Is there a curving staircase? Tawa inquired. Two of her characters had their first kiss on it and then one of them was killed in the same spot.

"Nice place you've got here. I see you got a lot of your inspiration for your books from your own home." Demetrius answered Tawa's question as he took a slow tour around the main room. He came near Burrows and threw her a sexy little smile. "You look lovely tonight. That color brings out your eyes."

Abby suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Burrows wore a hideous green sweater that made her look more like a toad than anything else. She undid her coat and eased the backpack off, setting it on the floor. She bent as if settling her bag and opened the top so Tawa's head popped out.

"Thank you." Burrows cooed and flushed. "Um, perhaps your sister would like to go into the TV room and watch something while you and I have dinner?"

Demetrius looked over at Abby and she gave him a subtle shake of her head. She wasn't going to wait for them to have a leisurely meal before they questioned Burrows. They needed answers as soon as possible. The monsters would come out as soon as children started going to bed. There was no time to waste.

"If you don't mind, darling, I think maybe we could all go have a sit-down. Our conversation got cut short earlier today and I prefer to work up an appetite." Demetrius gestured to their hostess to lead the way. Burrows looked as if she was going to protest, but finally nodded and took them into a smaller room where the furniture was more worn in and a flat screen TV hogged the space on the far wall.

"Have a seat. I'll just check on the food and make sure it doesn't get cold." Burrows exited the room with a smile over her shoulder at Demetrius.

Ten seconds later, the power went out. The house was dark and quiet. Too quiet. Just like it had been outside.

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(Blogger pre-scheduling problems: For some reason, Blogger isn't automatically posting for me. I don't know why it's suddenly doing this. Anyone have any ideas?)

A to Z Challenge - P is for Plan

This is part of one story covering the entire Challenge.

If you're just joining me now, please start with A is for Abby.

P IS FOR PLAN

The moment the door of the restroom opened, the remains of the monster vanished. The college-aged goth who entered only saw Abby sprawled out on the floor. "Uh, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Abby replied, picking herself up with the aid of the sink. "I hurt my ankle recently and there was a bit of water on the floor and I slipped."

"Oh. Okay." The goth shrugged and locked herself in one of the stalls.

Her wrist and ankle throbbed in unison. Abby limped out of the restroom and paused to stare out the windows to reassure herself of a certain fact: it was daytime. A monster attacked her while the sun was up. It wasn't possible. Okay, well, it obviously was possible, but it shouldn't be.

Abby exited the cafe and breathed in the cool air. People walked by her, and she got a few strange looks. She wanted to tell them stranger things were going on in town than seeing a tussled woman without her jacket outside in November. And whatever strange thing was going on knew she was there to stop it. It underestimated her by sending one monster after her, but it wouldn't do so again.

"Abby." Demetrius called as he came outside. When she didn't turn, he put her jacket over her shoulders and nudged her chin with his fingers to turn her head his way. "Abby. What's going on?" His eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

"I was attacked in the restroom." She slipped her arms through her jacket sleeves and pulled it tighter around her. "By a monster."

"What?" Demetrius' face hardened and his hands clenched into fists.

"It's dead. It's gone." Abby waved it off. The monster was no more. There was something bigger ahead of them. Something the writer was involved with. "Have you learned anything from Burrows? She has to know something."

"No, nothing useful. I can't manage to steer the conversation in the direction I want to go." He grunted with the admission, and Abby couldn't help but smirk a little. "All she wants to talk about is me, and how she enjoys chocolate truffles and long massages."

"Maybe if you give her a massage, she might talk what you want to talk about."

Demetrius made a small choking sound. Abby had to muffled a snicker.

"Okay. Here's the new plan." Abby hugged herself tighter. "Go back inside and tell Burrows that I'm not feeling well. You're going to take me back to our hotel room so I can rest. Invite her to dinner, but say you want to have a private dinner. Since I'm at the hotel, the other logical option is her house. I bet she'll suggest it on her own, but if she doesn't, do it yourself. She won't say no to you. Then we'll both show up tonight and have a chat with her."

"Done." Demetrius turned and went back inside. Two minutes later, he was back and handed her the backpack. "Dinner at her house at seven o'clock."

"Good. This has to end tonight." Abby didn't protest as he put an arm around her to lead her away from the cafe. He was warm and strong. She needed that right now, because the night would bring the cold and then she would have to be the strongest one. If she wasn't, she was certain she would die tonight.

A to Z Challenge - O is for Obscene

This is part of one story through the month of April.

If you're just joining me now, please start with A is for Abby.

O IS FOR OBSCENE

Abby couldn't sit at the table any longer. Demetrius had all the subtlety of a rampaging ox. Yet for all his dramatic gestures and cliched lines, Myrtle Burrows was enthralled.

Excusing herself to go to the bathroom, Abby breathed out a sigh of relief when she entered the cafe's empty restroom. One of the lights flickered making a soft sizzling sound. She had expected to do all the questioning of Burrows, but the other woman would barely look her way. The fact her hands had glowed when she first met Burrows threw her off, but she hadn't meant for Demetrius to take it all over.

She sat down first of the two stalls. Abby hated seeing him behaving like that with another woman. She hated herself for feeling that way. She knew he was only acting. Besides, he made it clear he wanted her and she had turned him down. It was her own doing.

When Burrows met them in the cafe, Abby's hands didn't glow. She even shook the author's hand. Nothing.

It didn't make sense. The light flickered again and made her jump when it popped. Dark shadows settled in the stall with her. Only the single light over the entry door remained.

Abby shook her head and stood up. She should get back to the others. She was sure the answer was with Burrows. She walked to the sink and frowned as she saw her hands glow.

Looking up into the mirror, a hideous melted face grinned at her from the darkness in the far corner before it leapt at her. Abby didn't have time to scream as she whirled around, dropped low, and let her blades slide out. She slashed at the monster, but it flew up and over to rebound off the wall and come for her again.

She hissed with the pain in her ankle as she twisted and stood, holding her ground against the thing. It laughed lowly; the sound seemingly coming from all around her. A trick for amateurs.

Abby crossed her blades, and when the monster was near enough, she used them like scissors to cut through its skinny neck. The grotesque face fell to the right, but from within the ragged black robes, a second beast kept coming at her. It was like an obscene version of Russian nesting dolls.

It slammed into her chest and Abby fell back onto the tiled floor. She kicked up, sending it sailing to smack against the wall. She threw one sword pin it there, lancing it through one of the empty eye sockets. Abby was ready for the third monster when it launched itself out of the second's robes.

Standing and slipping on the floor, her swing missed and the thing grabbed her wrist with a bony hand. It smashed her hand against the sink, but couldn't force Abby to drop her sword.

"You're mine now. What a tasty meal you'll make." Its voice was a dry rattle, but its teeth didn't look old and brittle. Its mouth yawned, opening wider to impossible angles. 

The blade disappeared from the wall and emerged from Abby's free hand.

"I'm not on the menu." She jammed the blade up under the monster's chin and out the top of its head. No more came forth as it sank into a black mass onto the floor.

A to Z Challenge - N is for No one

I'm writing one story over the course of the Challenge.

If you're just joining me now, please start with A is for Abby.

N IS FOR NO ONE

Abby's hands had never glowed in the day, in front of other adults, nor at the introduction of a human. Since it was obviously morning and there were adults around, it meant Burrows wasn't human.

"Good morning, Miss Burrows." Demetrius pushed Abby to the side, making the writer focus her attention on him. And oh, did her attention focus on him. "My sister here is a big fan, but she never told me how lovely you are. Talented and beautiful. A rare combination." He smiled that killer smile of his and leaned on the table. His gaze was smoky under long lashes.

"Oh, well, uh, thank you." Burrows fumbled, blushing and pushing up her glasses with her index finger. "It's always, uh, nice to meet my fans. Please, call me Myrtle."

Abby left the book on the table and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. She could stop the swords from emerging, but not the glow. She couldn't do anything here. She wasn't even sure what she should do. Burrows didn't look to be a threat. She was barely managing to talk when faced with Demetrius' charm. There as no such thing as a false alarm with her powers, though.

What's going on? Where's the danger? Tawa asked from within the backpack, urgency in her voice.

That was the question. Was Burrows dangerous? Or was there something around her? Abby didn't dare say another word with Demetrius continuing to chat up the writer.

Burrows absently signed Abby's copy and pushed it back to her without even looking. She smiled and giggled like girl at his compliments.

Retrieving herself from the shock, Abby picked up the book and stepped back with her hands hidden in her sleeves. She thought he was laying it on too heavily, but then Burrows agreed to meet them for coffee later at a nearby cafe. He gave her a parting wink and sauntered out of the bookstore, not waiting for his "sister" to catch up until he was outside.

Abby was barely limping as she hurried after him. Once out of view of the shop's windows, she put the book in her backpack and poked him on the arm. "What was that all about? That wasn't the plan."

"I saved you from revealing yourself in there. I had to give the woman something more interesting to think about than glowing hands." Demetrius shot back. He grabbed her forearms and looked at her hands. "They're not glowing any more. Why where they? I didn't sense any beasts in there and Burrows is obviously human."

"I don't know." Abby huffed, yanking herself free from his grip. "Something is up with her, obviously. And the children...." She shook her head as her chest tightened. "How does no one see something is wrong here?"

Because adults only see what they want to see. You know that, Tawa replied in a sage tone. These people probably see a virus going around and making children ill.

"And all the missing children?" Abby asked.

Runaways. Kids have all sorts of weird pacts these days, Tawa said. Also, children eaten by monsters leave a sort of strange void. The parents know they're gone, but their feelings are numbed. It's a phenomena that's never been explained, but my theory is that it's part of the beasts' defenses, so the adult population never finds out about them. Just like the monsters' bodies vanishing in the morning after you've slayed them.

"No evidence of the beasts and thus they don't exist." Demetrius ran his hands through his dark hair, muscles tense.

Abby had never failed the children she protected. She hadn't thought of what might occur if no one was there to save the children. The tightness rose from her chest to her throat. This had to stop. She couldn't allow this to go on any longer.

"Burrows has something to do with this. We will find out what it is." Abby turned toward the cafe across the street. She had no idea what was going on or how to start the search, but she would figure it out. She had to figure it out.

Monsters were breeding from children's minds inspired by Burrows' books. This was the writer's hometown. The children here had no one fighting for them.

Until now.