With a murderous secret and a dark history few but Helen Eriksson know, an uncertain path lies ahead of her. Helen's past, present and future are on a collision course with a sense of morality she wonders if she ever possessed. Her husband's corpse is barely cold, laid to rest under a shroud of suspicion directed at her by former peers at the FBI. Revenge boils in her veins against the one who shattered her perfect life, or the carefully constructed illusion of such. One thing Helen does not believe is that coincidences happen. So when an opportunity falls into her lap to slip through the web of the FBI investigation into her ex-husband's murder and darken the doorstep of the man she holds responsible for her professional ruin, Helen is hard pressed to resist the lure. Rather than arriving in Darkwater Bay anonymously, Helen walks with full knowledge into what she understands could be a trap sprung by her nemesis, Danny Datello. But the shield of a police detective's badge can't protect her from what she fears she has become by genetic birthright - a hardened murderer just like the father who shaped her into the woman she has become. What Helen doesn't count on is investment in anything but her own plot of revenge. To her surprise, the discovery of a body mere hours before her arrival in Darkwater Bay draws her into more than her own conflicted desires, but a corrupt city with its own secrets. Even more shocking is the realization that Helen craves more than Datello's punishment; justice for a dead victim.

in which seven teenagers have fun with bullets and a revolver. @smokable twenty fourteen 23/9/15 - #53 short story

**A Blue Beard retelling** Based on Charles Perrault's fairytale, this YA Historical Fantasy short story set in Victorian England mixes romance, magic and mystery. After agreeing to an arranged marriage to escape her greedy relatives, 18-year-old heiress Amelia moves into her husband's manor determined to start a new life. But the gothic mansion's forbidding surroundings, the servants' strange demeanour and her husband's mysterious past soon awaken her suspicions. If Amelia truly wants to become the lady of the house, she'll have to discover what secrets lie beyond closed doors and unravel the mystery of the old house's forbidden room. But sometimes secrets are kept for a good reason... HIGHEST RANKING IN HISTORICAL FICTION # 44 Copyright © 2017. All works posted here are the property of EM Castellan. Please do not use without permission. Any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal. Cover artist: @seventhstar

After escaping a stalled elevator into a zombie apocalypse, Emily must learn how to trust people again or risk losing everything in this terrifying world. ***** For Emily, every day of the last two years have been a blur. She keeps her head down, takes her college courses online, and only goes out to work at her mandatory internship. But all that changes on the day the office elevator breaks down, leaving her trapped when the screams begin. And when the doors finally open, revealing a dystopian world ruined by bloody teeth and disease, Emily is launched into a terrifying run for her life, caught between the strangers she's not sure she can trust and the man-eating monsters that hunger for her flesh. Now she must learn not only how to survive in this new and dangerous world, but also how to overcome her own inner demons before they cost her something more precious than her life. [[Wattys' Shortlist]] [[Promoted by AMC]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: The story contains some gore, violence, strong language, and dark themes. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

The cage doors are released and I open my saphire coloured eyes, dashing out of the prison and into the forest, the first to reach the safety of the trees that were once green but now glowed blue like the moon, dodging them and making my way as quickly as I can to the sound of water. Seven days. Thats how long I had to make it to the lodge as an unmated female..... ☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆ Werewolf legends always wrap around the fact of a soul mate, a wolf destined to you from the Moon Goddess. But thats not true. There is no miraculous instantly falls in love with your mate at first sight like everyone believes. There is only The Run. The Run is an event held twice a year during the blue moon week when the night is blue and all mateless wolves are expected to attend. It is the source of nightmares amongst she wolves. Grace Harvest is no exception to this as she is forced to shift and held in a cage till The Run, her only chance of freedom is to last the full week in the forest and make her way towards the lodge before a male can claim her as his. Caden Wolfrain wants nothing more then to fall in love then to hunt a she wolf in the run, but with the threat of his title being stripped from him he has to make a choice between love or forcing a claim to a mate. But when Grace meets Caden will she change her mind about being claimed or will the secrets Caden hold scare Grace away from a possible future of love? ☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆ Highest Rank : #1 in Werewolves On: September 29, 2016 Proof: Screen shot is in chapter 1 On: December 11, 2016 Proof: Screen Shot is in chapter 2 WARNING: there is mention of rape and other forceful claims of a woman's body as well as other drastic scenes some audiences may find offensive. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED COPYWRITE Thank you @anonymous_115 for the amazing cover I love it