The world had gone to hell long ago, taken over by the vampire race. In order to keep some sort of peace in our land, the Vampire Lords made a consecutive agreement. The rich and powerful humans could survive just as they had been, untouched by the vampires save for the occasional blood collections, or so they thought In reality, we were all under their control. Castles spread out throughout our land, one landing in each city. Each castle varied in the number of vampires residing there, but all of them carried a Lord. The Lords were the ones in charge in every city, whether we liked it or not. The vampires often roam through the city, making sure that everyone was in order and no one stepped out of line. If you stepped out of line, you died, end of story. Even if the rich were still under their control, their lives were still better than the poor. The poorest lives held a much worse fate. The men were to be put to work as slaves, whether that meant serving a specific vampire, or just building their castles, they were slaves. The women were to be pets. Pets were the lowest rank you could have. They were forced into cages that were too small to stand in with collars around their necks. They spent their lives in pet shops, just waiting for the dreadful day that they'll be bought. They were treated like animals, trained into what their master wanted, and punished if they misbehaved. Those who were lucky enough to live through that, we're to be slaughtered for their blood at age twenty-five in an act to make sure that our population would stay steady. I was born into this world. Born into this world full of blood-sucking monsters. Except, I was one of the lucky ones. Was. It all ended for me when I was 12, when I was taken away from the last bit of hope and family that I had left. Ever since then, I've lived in a cage, just rotting away, waiting, dreading for the day that some monster would make me his. This is my life. I am a pet. ~~~ Cover by: @mshacake

Everyone can read minds except for Ethan Langdon. And Ethan Langdon has the dumbest (and cutest!) thoughts Lukas Hoffmann has ever heard. ____ Lukas Hoffman's life in Brambleburg is about as boring as you'd expect for a town where everyone can read minds. He's used to his routine of dusting the LPs at the record store where he works and helping out his grandma around the house. Nothing in Brambleburg changes. No one in Brambleburg changes. Until Ethan Langdon stumbles in with the soggy remnants of a paper map, asking for the quickest route to Berlin. Ethan, it turns out, doesn't have telepathy, and as aggravatingly inane as his thoughts are, Lukas hasn't felt the excitement of meeting a stranger since.... well, ever. And the more Lukas listens, the more he starts enjoying Ethan's cute thoughts about life, the universe, and Lukas's dimples. ____ Might bring to mind: "Cherry Magic" but set in a fictive European town where everyone except the love interest can read minds. ____ Cover by @mygoodbones ____ Written for the Open Novella Contest 2024 using prompts 8, 75, 82, and 85. 8. You start singing along to a movie soundtrack late at night forgetting that your window is open. Someone from the outside starts singing with you. 75. You awake in the middle of the night to a voice saying loudly "May the force be with you..." 82. You wake up on a seemingly ordinary day to discover that your thoughts are not private. There is someone else in your head with you. 85. "If you do that again, I'll throw you out that freaking window. What are you doing?" "Checking how high the drop is to see if it's worth it."

"We can't do this." I whisper as our lips re-connect, a tingling fire surging through my body as his hands ravage unexplored lands; my innocence dissipating away with every peck he trails down my neck. "I know we can't. That's why it's so exciting." He replies through kisses. His effortless charm intoxicates me; drowning me; hunting me; devouring me. "What if my brother finds out?" The perpetuated patter of the rain unable to subdue my groan as he digs his nails deeper into my skin. "Who cares." ********** Welcome to my story, where an innocent boy finds a not so innocent boy in his bed; where they do not so innocent things. - YOP

(Book 1 of The Cross Brothers Series) One mistake lands Aiden in the world's most secure and loathed prison after he unintentionally murders a wealthy, well-connected wife-beater. Located in an isolated island far away from civilization, this prison is befittingly known as "The Prison from Hell" with a hierarchy and a "king" of its own. It is a prison unlike any other where the inmates rule and the guards stand by idly, and where brute force and influence are the ultimate weapons, the keys to survival. Aiden's horrified at how easy it is to be cornered and raped, and grows ever wary when the infamous gang leader and prison 'King', Schneizel Cross, whose got even the prison guards wrapped around his finger, takes a liking to him and openly confesses to desiring Aiden as his new 'bitch'. And he isn't the only one. Almost everyone in the prison are intrigued by the fiery, outspoken, new inmate. Desperate for protection from Schneizel's relentless advances, whom he has to share a tiny cell with, what can Aiden do to keep himself from getting killed -or worse- in The Prison from Hell, where even your own shadow abandons you in the dark? Copyright © 2026 | All Rights Reserved