"Is it that late already?" Jack looked at his watch, 1:15AM, "We could go somewhere else." He offered, hopeful. She shook her head and the bells she'd braided into it chime, "No, I have to go." "Want me to walk you home?" She laughed and put on her jacket. "I'm not going far." #WipSnips

I was on the right side of tipsy to decide to try calling someone. Edison’s design included a rotatory dial; granted, it lacked numbers and had a series of occult symbols etched into the plate. I watched as the dial finished each rotation, before picking up the earpiece and listening. #2WordPrompt

Setch poured the herbs into a stone jar, and started on the next batch. She did hope Itz, the lesser god of punishments, would curse Este for her sacrilege. And it is sacrilege, Setch thought, nothing created by Zel would manipulate emotions like that. #Vss365

The drug burned down her throat and hit her empty stomach causing it to clench, wanting to reject the vile concoction. She sucked in a breath fighting the nausea. She felt the mantle placed over her shoulders. As the feathered headdress was placed on her head, the real world began to fade. #Vss365

“Vivael's my friend. and I hate fascists.” She considered her options. She wasn’t sure what she could actually do for Rygel and her group. If the cops were in on the scam, and she didn’t doubt that they were, if she could prove the racket existed, the cops wouldn’t do anything. #WipSnips

Even on the outside, I’d only been here an hour, hadn’t I? I remembered going through Dee’s office, and my momentary breakdown in the office. Maybe I’d been sitting lost in my grief longer than I realized. Or, I’d been unconscious a lot longer than I wanted to consider. #InkMine

Casey sat up looking. The driveway was steep and seemed to crawl between the raised train platform and the tall brick building. Derrick stopped the car in a tiny over-grown parking lot. Weeds dipped their heads in the rain and bushes were creeping between the faint lines of parking spots. #WipSnips

I counted the lashes, five, eight, fifteen. I lost track when his wincing turned to gritting his teeth, and his lips twisted into a grimace. His arms strained in their bounds, but he never seemed to make a sound. His head jerked, and that luscious hair fell over his face. #WildWalkPrompt

Smiling, he led her out through a flooding storm drain into the stormy night sky. And the clouds seemed endless, the arch of the sky so vast and distant. She turned her face toward the rain and let the water wash the dust and blood from her skin. #Vss365

The priest finished the rites, but before he could exit the cave, there was a shimmering in the air. The air seemed to split, and the long thick tentacles crept out of the kaleidoscope crack in the sky. The thick, ropey tentacle touched her leg, inching up from her ankle. #WeirdHorror

Finally he saw her pupils dilate and her eyes flicker. She would answer soon. “Yes, such a thing exists.” Her voice was flat, distant – similar to the voices of the oracles. “But I cannot help you interfere with His True Bride. The Lady of Mysteries forbids it.” #Vss365

Echo recognized the shadow; he was a predator of princesses like her and the sleepers. Searching the handheld, she paled. She knew what he was doing, and how it had woken her. But she was not the princess he expected; she was the dragon who would devour him. #BookishTuesday #SFF

Sigils marked every one of the doors, and while they tickled her memory, she couldn’t place any of them as vèvè or runes or Enochian. The pools of melted wax that dotted the floor told her nothing at all – didn’t all magic involve candles? She added her candle to one of the wax puddles. #VssMagic

The lines made me dizzy, so much so that I was forced to sit on the cold, damp ground. I saw that I was wearing a strange gown, something dark, gossamer, and I felt a weight on my face. I reached up and felt a mask. As I started to pull the mask away, I heard a voice inside the building #PoisonPen

She didn’t doubt that electronics would be unreliable - it was common enough in High Strange areas. But going into this area alone was foolhardy - they’d, the Grave Girls, always agreed to never go alone - to never make the dumb mistakes they saw in hundreds of horror movies #Vss365

We followed Travis up the aisle of the chapel, and he gestured at the first row of seats. Vic steered me toward a middle seat, and claimed the aisle seat for himself. HP hopped onto the seat on my other side. Travis glanced at HP and he seemed to pale a little. #WIPSnips

That this sacrifice was an execution and used for Mitlan’s revenge felt wrong to Soshay. Tez, I know You looked on and approved of this sacrifice, but it weighs on me to have committed this act. She wondered if she would have felt better about it, if the sacrifice had followed temple law. #InkMine

As usual, Julia had a lot of follow-up questions about occult information - more than Vicki could answer. But Julia didn't slack on her skills in being a best friend. She commiserated with Vicki about Leila leaving so abruptly, but reminded her to give Leila a chance to explain. #2WordPrompt

Descend with us into the weird. Write a tiny tale or poem. Whatever the void demands. Here are today’s prompts: Fungal contagion #WeirdMicro Bleak epiphany #GrimScribe Motivated malice #PoisonPen Umbral pageant #WeirdHorror The abyss is waiting.

It was bitingly cold as she stepped out of the car. She started hauling her bags to the porch and smiled when she recognized the compass pattern above the door. It was a gorgeous example of a hex mark. She took a couple of pictures, planning an article about the trip. #VssFantasy

I dragged myself out of bed and made coffee before paging through the plans again. There were sections of them that didn’t make any engineering sense, or any sense. The wires wound and twisted into strange patterns that made her eyes ache just watching looking at them. #VssMagic

She left the sea. The fog left the beach with her. The sand clung to her wet feet and legs. The candle disappeared behind her, burned out, and the beach turned to grass under her feet. The sun glittered on the water and she disappeared into the tattered remnants of the fog. #Vss365

The party goers, at least, would be blinded from seeing whatever was coming out the void. But it would not protect them from the smokey black tendrils that were slithering out of the rift. She watched in horror as they began wrapping around the party guests. #Vss365

After all, the ghost of my dead mother just flung a Ouija Board across the room and talked to me. And the Ouija Board seemed to be telling me that Dee’s death wasn’t enough to break the spell that Dee had cast. Somehow, I didn’t think I was going to get a lot of sleep. #VssMagic

When she arrived at the bistro, the rain dripping from the gargoyle’s mouth recalled the sounds of water always present, always dripping, leaking into the tunnels they’d traveled. She'd let her thoughts drift back before the concerned waitstaff hustled her inside, out of the cold. #WipSnips

She followed behind Dorje, taking care to step where he stepped. They had lost a pack animal to a misplaced step – what appeared to be solid ground was, in fact, snow built over a crevasse. Soon enought, he gestured to a large cave explaining that this was the entrance to the Yeti city. #Vss365

Kit's family hid their history. Thus, she only knew the names of demons from books, and she wasn't certain this was the one her family had traditionally called upon. She placed the bowl of her blood into the ring carved into the floor. "Purson, I invoke thee," she intoned. #PoisonPen

My sister had given the board to me when I declared my intention to leave the family business. She said that I’d need it someday. Also, I think it amused her to irk my parents since she'd given me a pink, slumber party Ouija board – the kind made my Hasbro. My parents were mortified. #InkMine

This was the family curse I’d spent years running from. I’d been raised a medium but didn’t want to be one of them. I’d chosen a field as visceral and physical as I could to avoid the metaphysical. But I couldn’t deny the cold, and the uneasy fact that someone was watching me. #RetroArtPrompt

She pictured him not as a statue anymore, but as a God. His cheeks flushed with desire, and a crown of leaves on his head. She didn’t bother to imagine a toga; no her Priapus would lounge nude and glorious amid the vines, with her as his nymph, devoted to their shared pleasures. #VssFantasy

He asked, "Are you sure you're ok? Did you get hurt," he nodded to her torn stockings. She stretched her legs out, noticing his appreciative look. "I think it's just my pride and stockings," she said, running a hand over her legs as if checking her legs. "You could check if you wanted" #WIPSnips

She knew that if he died and faced Anubis’s judgment, Djet would find himself cast into Ammit’s den. Merneith was renowned for her skill in sorcery, and her long study led her to conclude that the key to immortality on earth was through the Ka. #Vss365

I couldn't say what my intentions were. I told myself I wanted to study these strange artifacts before giving them back to the university. Maybe I wanted to understand Edison’s thinking as he created this occult device, so unlike anything else he designed. Perhaps I was lying to myself #Vss365

The guards had laid Tenoch across the altar. The rage still burned in his eyes. Mitlan guided her hand, and Soshay felt the knife slid effortlessly into Tenoch. She closed her eyes feeling the hot spray of his blood spatter over her. #GrimScribe

Joanna smiled coldly, “I refuse to give those hypocrites any help in pursuing magic. I saw what happened to Bishara’s career. I was his graduate assistant when he started publishing. They were gleeful about tearing him down, and I’ll never forgive them for that.” #Vss365

I glanced through a couple of pages already bored, until the name of a city caught my eye. It was like I knew the name, but I couldn’t place why - and no matter how many times I read it, I couldn’t keep track of it. I flipped back to the front page looking for a title... #WipSnips

Constantine nodded slowly and turned to me, “So you don’t return his affections?” I wasn’t sure what I heard in his voice, but it really felt like there was more to his question. But maybe I was just overwhelmed by everything. I shrugged, “I don’t know. I think so” I rubbed my face #Vss365

I was standing on a beach looking at a lake wreathed in fog. It had the dank scent of fresh water rather than the brine of the sea. There was a city behind me, and I could almost remember its name, could almost hear the name on the cold wind that carried the scent of soldering wire. #GrimScribe

Kit set the bowl on the ground and knelt beside it. “Even the Magus of Kemet is considered a fool for his claims,” She said with a wince as the blade cut into her forearm. Her blood dripped into the brass bowl; “He was cast out of his university for claiming to practice any magic.” #WipSnips

She sounded pleased that I recognized the moniker. I knew very well it wasn’t her name; the fey used names in their magic, so they never gave them so freely. But I knew the poem, and I knew what happened to the knight in that old tale. “I’ll grant you a chance to win your freedom.” #BraveWrite

seven fourteen on monday morning. monday morning june seven-thirteen waiting transaction complete the message beamed through ninety-five-thousand-fifty-seven satellites relying in digital detail every nuance exactly as ordered. #WildWalkPrompt #poetry

The first settlers on the Red Planet had learned that the domes couldn’t stop the storms; they had shattered under the winds and lightning. So when Elysium was built, they created a dome that opened during the storms. #Vss365

But dear reader, I’m saying that I found the plans for Edison’s ghost phone. The convoluted chain of evidence that led to the materials being located in this particular file cabinet isn’t really the issue and isn’t worth relating. It was Edison’s name that caught my eye on on the page. #WIPSnips

Eve had heard about a podcast crew who'd fled the field abandoning their equipment. Volos had given it to his niece, and she’d been making a podcast about small-town life, with no reference to the High Strange. Eve had listened to the show and found it engaging and terribly mundane. #2WordPrompt

she watched in the shadows at the edge of the town. The bonfire cast a lurid glow over the scene, and the wolf masks the priests wore were stunning, so realistic that Tanaquil shivered at their snarling visages. At least, she thought, these provincials had erected the purifying posts #Vss365

Once her memories returned, Enid wished she could forget. Arriving at Tau Ceti, she found her friend Domaris and told her everything. She recalled the Cubes opening and being pulled inside. She couldn't explain what she'd seen; how there was another world inside. #WildWalkPrompt

"I missed you too. You were gone so long, and then we heard you were missing." She caught his look of despair and let her voice trail off. "Have you seen anyone else, since you've been back?" She dug in her jacket pockets for her cigarettes. The sun drifted through the winter clouds. #VSSFantasy

Elizabeth nodded, “I think we all agree with that obligation.” She shifted the conversation back to less fraught topics and everyone visibly relaxed. Maggie graciously accepted compliments on her risotto, and Thomas’s pesto was also a huge hit. #InkMine

She forced her eyes to it, watching the flame flutter. She pushed everything else away, her tiredness, the hard chair, the chilly room, everything but the flame. She felt the shift and began to speak. “He will awaken. He is awakening.” In the vision Soshay saw a man with a spear. #VSSFantasy

Before Julia had left, there had been a lot of debate in the coven about the ebbing of magic. They all felt it – every turn of the wheel saw fewer witches being born and their otherworldly allies dwindled, becoming slower to answering their calls. Some had disappeared entirely. #WIPSnips