My initial night in basic training utterly jolted my system, and claiming I caught any sleep would be akin to saying I'm an expert in impersonating a lady. Anxiety about retaliation from the second princess kept me so on edge that closing my eyes seemed impossible, not to mention my tail impeding my usual back-sleeping position. As a result, I spent most of the night restlessly tossing and turning. At some point, exhaustion must have won over, as I was abruptly awakened by the drill sergeant's cacophonous banging on a metal can, ordering us to rise.

Author's note: I came up with this idea while I was struggling with writer's block while working on a new chapter of Lilith's Despair. I will continue to work on the adventures of Lilith, but I decided to put this idea on paper as well. I am still developing the story in my mind. I have figured out the first part of the story and hopefully I will be able to flow through it as it comes together. I hope you enjoy my new character Bean. I pulled a lot of experience from my life to help create this character.

"Oh, crikey, this is getting worse,”, I thought “I'm getting deeper and deeper into my life as Jo. If it goes on like this and I keep getting more and more in the public eye someone is bound to work out what I am doing.”

Cocktail
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

It seemed as if all that Jack needed to do was to get drunk. They had been seeing each other for almost a month. He had been determined that this was a relationship that would work. Perhaps he just tried too hard. That was how she let him down – hard. It hurt more than he could ever have imagined.

Chapter 7

“Firstly,” I said. “I think that one of the new members in the drama class has been telling his boss about the flow of information. They probably used to get snippets from Vlad, without knowing exactly where he got them from. We can use that to lure the unit to somewhere that is away from oversight, where we can just eliminate them. I saw that the Arrivals Board had a flight that had landed from Belarus. It was Aeroflot, so those duffle bags they were carrying could have been heavy weaponry, they looked bulky enough.”

The Light Between (Part 8 of 8)

by Erisian

Book 5

Chapter 30 - Terminus

For more than thirty years, Deniz Akbas had given fishing tours of the Bosphorus with his small boat. With his pleasant demeanor (and perhaps due to a few missing teeth lending him a certain charm) tourists had found him trustworthy as well as deeming his white-tire clad vessel seaworthy for a day’s cruise. From his pilot’s position in the wooden front compartment, travelers to Istanbul had relaxed in the glass-walled and ivory-benched area in the back where they enjoyed whatever food and drink they’d brought aboard inside their many baskets - all while marveling at the magnificent views of the Turkish seaside and the wide bridge connecting Asia to Europe, a construction officially known as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge and unofficially as the First Bridge.

In all that time he had never been paid so much to do so little.

Chapter 6

When we had cleared customs in Sofia, there was a driver with a board saying ‘Holdsworth’ on it. In the car he took us to our hotel. We checked into the hotel and our bags were carried up to the room. Tipping the two boys as they left, we closed the door. We freshened up, changed into jeans and tops, then went down to the reception, booking a dinner table for two, before walking outside and stretching our legs doing a little bit of sight-seeing.

Joey settles in to life as Jo, starts new ventures, and learns to blush.

The Light Between (Part 7 of 8)

by Erisian

Book 5

Chapter 25 - Uprising

The mass of people below the balcony windows shouted and screamed, chanting with all the power in their lungs for the end of corruption and misery, for the end of the current responsible regime, calling for the death of the military dictator who many years prior had seized control. Distant gunfire echoed towards the swarm of people still filling the streets and their howling grew only stronger and defiant.

The hotel had once held well-maintained grounds of palm trees and grass, but now its bricks sat scorched by the flames of rebellion, and each night hired security had needed to barricade the doors to keep an angry throng from setting torch to the fineries present within the lobby. The singed patches of carpet he’d stepped across when he’d arrived gave testament that the previous evenings’ defense had not always been successful.

Chapter 5

When Robert’s wife’s body is stolen, Robert must discover where and who she is and get her body back. But can he succeed when Exmuritious Forrester, the CEO and owner of Transmigration Studios, decides to stop him? Who can Robert trust, when anyone could be anyone?

Chapter 4

The next day we started the cleaning / searching process in the attic, then worked down from there. We found nothing in the attic, nothing in the family bathroom, and nothing in the other bedroom, where we put away all the sister’s clothes.

The Light Between (Part 5 of 8)

by Erisian

Book 5

Chapter 16 - Sins

Countless nights spent staring into a fire’s dancing flames or into skies darkened by midnight’s gloom flooded everything, twisting as a barbed arrow within the chest. Abandoned by a father whose infinite radiance had turned as cold as the snow he’d left her in, a young girl had wrestled with inner scars which seeped anew from every self-perceived failure. Even her uncle - though he had at least stayed - always bore into her soul with hooded eyes of penetrating and absolute judgment.

Only Siabh had held her tenderly. Only the fae priestess had softly offered words of love and support.

But some nights those hadn’t been enough. And as the long hours crept towards dawn the child had whispered the same questions over and over:

Does my mother also think me worthless? Is that why she never came for me?

Is she ashamed of me too?

When Robert’s wife’s body is stolen, Robert must discover where and who she is and get her body back. But can he succeed when Exmuritious Forrester, the CEO and owner of Transmigration Studios, decides to stop him? Who can Robert trust, when anyone could be anyone?

Chapter 3

I also found out that the drama group I had seen today was mainly made up of lower-level employees of several embassies, as a relief valve to lower their stress. She told me that Vlad wasn’t overtly linked to the Russians, but he had a lot of friends from all around the Soviet Bloc. It was said that he was an advisor to Todor Zhivkov, the leader of the Communist Party, and had carried that connection through to Lyudmila, pushing the culture and arts to the forefront.