When Bryony -- herbalist extraordinaire -- goes missing, Bella knows one suspect stands above the rest. The village's aspiring second witch, Daphne, comes from a family that's tried to take Bryony down before, and Daphne seems determined to carry on that legacy. For someone who's always been terrified of Bryony, she's a little too keen on looking into the disappearance. There's just one problem. Bella's insufferable fellow familiar thinks the kid is innocent... and he's been right about worse things before. If Daphne herself is to be believed, clues on the disappearance lead a whole lot closer to home than Bella would like. As the evidence mounts, Bella must choose to either stand by her values and the woman who raised her, or seek what might be a truth she would rather not uncover. Prompt #81: The town's witch has gone missing and no one is looking for her but her two familiars - a crow and a black cat, plus the teen who has always been scared of her. ❖❖❖ Written for Wattpad's 2024 Open Novella Contest. Longlister. Complete. Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :)

Vampires and hunters are like cats and dogs. They either tolerate each other, or they go for the throat. There isn't supposed to be a third option. ⋅⋆⋅ Lailoken is a powerful, ancient vampire with peculiar fog powers. He's just awoken from a long slumber in his beloved woods. He thirsts for an adventure in the modern world and brings chaos everywhere he goes. If not whimsical, then bloody... He crosses paths with Josie, a strong, independent woman who isn't intimidated by his fangs. With her as his guide, he's ready for his first road trip of the twenty-first century. While hunters are on their trail looking for a vampire killer on the loose, Lailoken and Josie hide out in shady motels, vampire nightclubs, and blood dens, and their friendship grows into something more. But charming as he may be, Lailoken is a killer, and Josie has the means to bring him to justice. Trusting her may be his undoing. Their entangled tale unfolds in a story filled with campy entertainment, romantic tension, and a fresh take on the vampire genre. ⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄ ✨ ONC 2024 Ambassadors' Pick and SHORTLISTER. Prompts: 13, 58, 15, and 22. 🩸 Content warnings: blood and gore. 💕 Spice level: mild. 🖌️ Book cover artwork and design by Isobel Lynx.

"And what will you do if you have to destroy an entire planet to end this war? Are you really willing to become a monster?" Nierhæ turned towards me, a sombre look on her face. She already had an answer to my question, and it was one I wouldn't like. "I will become as monstrous as I must." °•°•° Take the Heretic to Sethes for public execution. Make sure she doesn't touch the ground until she arrives at Sethes. Keep her alive at all costs. It should have been a simple job for Uhnros, but maybe he should have known better. The missions he got tasked with were never easy, and having to transport a Heretic while also keeping them alive is as difficult as it could come. But he would complete his mission, just as he'd done time and time before. Allow the Regime to take her to Sethes. Keep her custodian alive at all costs because she couldn't fly herself there. Pray that the Aura will give her enough power to tear apart an entire planet. As one of the Aura's Chosen, Nierhæ had one simple task - stay alive. As long as she stayed alive, she could fight against the Sethesian Regime; her destiny had always been to end the war - the Aura itself had told her so the day her gifts manifested. Both Uhnros and Nierhæ want the same thing - for the war to be over. But when things go horribly wrong on their trip to Sethes, can they set aside their different beliefs to end it once and for all? Or will Nierhæ have to kill Uhnros so she can fulfill her destiny? ||a science-fiction romance novella|| ||open novella contest 2024 - longlist qualified|| ||content warnings and notes inside|| notable rankings: #176 in scifiromance

Grady just wants to grieve the loss of his ex in peace, but then Quinn's younger sister, Taryn, whirls into his Texas hometown, looking to stir up the past. She brings in a wave of goons with her and a mystery that's well beyond his pay grade. Still, it's Grady's job to serve and protect, and as much as he may want to, he can't deny his involvement. Or Taryn's plea for help. Quinn's life may depend on it... | Featured on @Romance / Romantic Suspense | | @Mystery / Book of the Month / Stand Out Mysteries (April 2025) | | ONC2024 Round 2 Ambassadors' Pick |

#ONC2024 Round 2 Ambassadors Pick | Shortlister (Finalist) When Prince Oskar decides to disguise himself and goes out into the village to see what the people are like, he is met with a shocking sight. There are orphaned children in the streets, beggars at every corner, and people fighting for their next meal. The kingdom of Unara has never seen poverty and the royal family looks out for the people. Why is this village struggling? As Oskar returns every day, he befriends one of the village's deformed members. A young woman with multiple scars on her face. Taking pity on her, the prince gives her one of the rings on his fingers, intending for it to bring her a better life. However, the woman is soon arrested for being in possession of this ring and Oskar knows she is innocent. Until he discovers she possesses a ring with the Unaran royal crest. This is not the ring he gave her. (The Royals of Unara) Entered into the Open Novella Contest 2024 | @OpenNovellaContest - Rules & Guidelines: https://www.wattpad.com/story/359598678 ©2024 E. S. Elias All Rights Reserved. Created & Published to Wattpad 02.01.2024 Completed: 04.27.2024 Main Prompt #55; "You're a young royal in disguise who befriends a villager with a scarred face. One day they are arrested for stealing something you gave to them." Secondary Prompt #67; "A promise is a promise. A secret is a secret. They must not tell anybody." Cover: Me @DesignsbyEH Image was generated using Dream.AI by Wombo solely for the purpose of making my book look pretty. Cover is temporary and subject to many changes. Word Count: 24,689 / 20,000 Round 1 ✔ | 2,000 words ✔ Round 2 ✔ | 8,000 words ✔ | Ambassadors Pick ✔ Round 3 ✔ | 20,000 words ✔ LONGLIST ✔ | SHORTLIST ✔ Rankings; #opennovellacontest #31 on 02.20.2024 | #ONC2024 #opennovellacontest2024 #15 on 02.20.2024

When Elven assassin's enslave a Fae Queen within her own mines - Chyrie is blood-sworn to forge the very iron meant to strike her down. With only a few months to sever the oath, her only hope lands in the palms of a forgotten Captain and his Sea Wyrm. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Round One 》✔️ 2k 》✔️ Round Two 》 ✔️ 8k 》✔️ Round Three 》✔️ 20k 》✔️ Longlisted 》 ✔️✨️ Shortlisted 》 ✔️✨️✨️ Lovely Cover by ©️ClaraElisibeth

Peaky Blinders meets Bonnie and Clyde. **** Eighteen-year-old Kit Jones has spent his life on the wrong side of the law. Having grown up poor in London's seedy East End, Kit has fought tooth and nail just to survive. Emily Masters cannot say the same. Born to rich parents, she's been handed everything she could ever dream of on a silver plate, but she longs for adventure. When Emily and Kit's lives collide, they find they have more in common than they first thought. Hiding from the police is one thing, but when Emily's parents come looking for her, the two must do whatever they can to avoid being caught. They quickly realise that a life on the run is no life at all, but they may have gone too far to get out. Based on Prompt 14: "My Love, believe me, waiting for you has always been a form of freedom." - Alexandra Vasiliu.

Imperial Russia kills her heroes quickly- and she does not show mercy. ▪︎▪︎▪︎ Imperial Russia, 1852 Arkady Bessmertny's destiny has already been decided. Banished to the Caucasus for his liberal beliefs, he is fated to die in the bloodbath of a cruel war and sacrifice himself in the name of the tsar. His punishment is as devastating as it is simple. But soon Arkady has to realise that there are far more terrible things than the blazing guns of the Circassians and the wrath of his tyrannical superior. For ghosts creep in the old walls of his fortress and blood soaks its mortar as wailing shakes its stones. They are all signs of a terrible truth. Old, long forgotten darkness is rising, ready to swallow the entire empire. But it is the same darkness that flows in Arkady's blood. After all, he is more than a miserable officer and the illegitimate son of a count. ___ Entry for the Open Novella Contest 2024 under the prompts 3 and 36

#ONC2025 #Round2AmbassadorsPick For as long as she can remember, Ivy Reece Tauria has worn an unbreakable ring on her finger. A childhood relic, a forgotten gift...until the day it opens. It happens after she stumbles upon a door made entirely of briars and thorns, hidden deep in the forest where no door should exist. The moment she steps through, something awakens inside her something ancient, something powerful. And then the world shifts. In a land on the brink of chaos, an ancient evil resurfaces. The Dark Sorcerer, Malagar, long thought vanquished, has unleashed an army of metal warriors to conquer the world. With the realm in peril, retired heroes of the past are forced out of hiding to fight once more. A stray cat isn't just a cat. A unicorn's horn is more than a relic. And a forgotten oath is about to be tested. But the biggest mystery? The tiny creature that emerges from her ring, claiming to have been waiting for her all along. Ivy is about to learn that some secrets are meant to stay buried because once they're uncovered, there's no turning back. Main Prompt: #1 Sub Prompts: #2, #7, #12, #13, #39, #75

[ONC '24 SHORTLISTER] When a group of assassins is onto her irritating escort, a happy-go-lucky bodyguard must ensure they survive their trip before his escort's past demons catch up to them. * * * No one expected easygoing Aspen Mendoza to be accepted into Interpol as a field agent, but she couldn't be any more excited to finally land her dream job. Her first assignment? Escort Lucas Tan, a public figure with an enigmatic past and an attitude to match, to Davao City aboard a new train system connecting every major island in the Philippines. When their five-day journey is disrupted by the poisoning of one of its passengers, it's up to Aspen and Lucas to catch the culprit before anyone else gets hurt. But little does Aspen know, Lucas is keeping a secret that threatens the lives of every passenger on the train, and she must figure it out before his past demons catch up to them. * * * | 20,000 - 25,000 words. First, rough draft. | Based on ONC 2024 prompts 28 and 60. Cover by @sardonictabby.