Written for Creative Copy Challenge 187

1. Erroneous
2. Advent – a coming into place, view, or being; arrival: the advent of the holiday season.
3. Innocuous – not harmful or injurious; harmless
4. Decisions 
5. Virility
6. Catacombs – an underground cemetery, especially one consisting of tunnels and rooms with recesses dug out for coffins and tombs.
7. Weathering
8. Placate – to appease or pacify, especially by concessions or conciliatory gestures
9. Catatonic – a syndrome characterized by muscular rigidity and mental stupor
10. Gelatinous

Jae ran through the catacombs making decisions on twists and turns based on memories.  She had lived here in human form before she met Aedan.  Weathering the change from the forest to this place had made them both nearly catatonic. She missed the woods and the smell of snow on mountains. With the advent of Lucia’s reign, they were no longer safe.

Jae heard Aedan in her head. “Hmmmph, I could have kept up just fine in human form!”

Jae sped into a tunnel on the left. “Relax, your virility was never in question.  I knew you would follow my scent and we would make better time.”

“Are we getting close?” Aedan made one erroneous step and slid through something gelatinous. “What the??”

“These are tombs, Aedan.”  The stench assaulted her delicate nose.

She could hear faint growls ahead. “Almost there.” She hoped that would placate him.  She heard a crunching noise behind her and turned to look. Aedan had disappeared.  Jae skidded to a stop and carefully retraced her steps. She heard Aedan whine. She looked over the edge of a jagged hole. Rotten dirt covered boards had given way as Aedan crossed.

“Aedan!”  The wolf moaned.

“Aedan don’t change.  Hold on, I’ll get help!”  Jae took off down the tunnel toward the barking sounds.  After a series of barks the pack followed her back to where Aedan lay, now very still.

“Aedan, I’m coming!”  All around the tunnel sounds echoed as the fur disappeared and flesh and bone remolded itself.  Jae had always been able to change quickly and she was the first to assume human form.  She looked around and one of the pack ran up with rope in his mouth.  She tied it around her waist as the last wolf changed.  The walls were not smooth. She could see dark places that looked like side caverns.  Ryall took hold of the rope and nodded at her as he passed the rest of the rope behind him.  Anchored by the rest of the pack, Jae started the climb down to Aedan.  He was whining again and Jae hoped that meant his wolf form was helping to heal.

Safely at the bottom of the passage, Jae knelt next to the wolf.  She felt for breaks and was relieved to find none. She stroked his fur.  “Aedan, come on. We made it!”  Aedan opened his eyes and nosed her hand.

“Can you stand?”  Jae moved away a little.  Aedan struggled to his feet, whining.

“Is he okay?” Ryall and the rest of the pack looked down at them. Jae nodded her head and then realized it was probably too dark for them to see her.

“I think so but I’m not sure I can get him back up.  We’ll try one of the side passages down here and find you.”

Ryall tossed a sack down to her.

“Thanks Ryall!  Thanks all of you!  Wait in the hall and we’ll meet you later! ” Jae found a torch in the sack along with an apple and a freshly killed rabbit.  Ryall knew Aedan would need to eat. Healing took a lot of energy. The apple was for her. She put the rabbit down in front of Aedan and sat down by the wall to eat her apple.  Glancing around, she wondered why they had never found this place when she was here with her family.  Remembering her family made her sad.  Aedan made quick work of the rabbit and Jae brushed herself off.

“Ready?”  Jae nodded her head at the side cavern and Aedan started walking. Jae took a last thoughtful look. It seemed innocuous but she shivered anyway. She knew from experience that death lurked in more than the ancient coffins. She wished she could see the moon.

Written for Creative Copy Challenge 185 Loquacious, Sedentary,  Artistic, Voracious, Fluorescent, Rad, Delicious, Rotund, Decapitate, Slimy

and thanks to Wordnik – Word of the day – Soucouyant!

Henry thought the party tiresome. Being stuck in a corner with a loquacious youth who seemed to think “rad” was an actual word, was not his idea of a good time.

“These little crackers are rad!”

“Isn’t the Dean’s home rad?”

I should have wacked her with my cane.

He only accepted the invitation because he had heard that the Dean of the university had quite an artistic flare and stories of the beautifully decorated home and delicious fare had been spoken of in awed tones at his gentleman’s club. Henry had lived a sedentary life and was a bit on the rotund side. He walked with mincing steps, skirting the slimy puddles.  The fluorescent street light shone on his balding pate.  He poked at a piece of paper with his cane and glanced around uneasily.

The night was warm and humid and Henry was sweating as he turned away from the lights, down his quiet street. The house mother had left him was in need of a few repairs but it wasn’t his fault that his investments hadn’t paid off the way he had expected. Henry had an astute mind and a flair for finance.  How could he foresee the market going soft?

He shivered slightly, even in the heat. It must have been the tale told by the Dean’s sister. A disturbing woman with wild hair and clothing that was far too bright. Her eyes glittered and made Henry’s heart pound in the most disconcerting way. She spoke with an accent and claimed to have traveled from the West Indies. Even her name was exotic…Valencia. Henry didn’t much care for exotic people or places. He preferred his own home, his daily newspaper, and his morning tea at he same time every day.  He pulled his handkerchief from his jacket pocket and mopped his forehead.  He walked quickly now. The shadows were deeper and the usually comforting lane seemed menacing. He heard an echo of footsteps somewhere behind him. He thought again about the story of the soucouyant – an old woman who could turn to a fireball and slip through your keyhole and suck your blood, either turning you into her kind or killing you so she could wear your skin and pursue more victims. What a lot of rot. Henry chuckled at his nervousness.  Too much rich food made for crazy thoughts.

He could see his home just a few doors down and he nearly stumbled in his haste. He remembered the strange woman extending her hand to him as he made his goodbyes.  She smiled at Henry.

“You are not superstitious?”

Henry frowned and pulled his hand from her grasping fingers.

“No I am not. Nothing but a bunch of silly tales made up by uneducated people trying to explain the world.”

She smiled again and the glare from the lamps glinted off her teeth. Henry felt the room spin and drew back. Surely a trick of the lights…She licked her lips.

“There are many things in the world – terrifying things with voracious appetites that cannot be explained.”  She patted his cheek. Henry had been backing up slowly and jumped when his back touched the door.

“Ggggood evening madam!” Henry stammered and turned to escape into the night.

Now as the conversation came back to him he kept seeing those shiny teeth.  He nearly stumbled as he hurried up the front steps and let himself in, throwing the deadbolt behind him.
He shook himself and sighed in relief.

I am being ridiculous!  A glass of brandy and then bed!

Henry took off his shoes and set them next to the door, putting on his slippers. He poured a glass of brandy and sat in his leather chair with the lamp spilling cheerful light around him.  A combination of nerves and the brandy (and a very full stomach) made him sleepy and he soon dozed off.  Henry was snoring when the front door lock began to glow.  A bright ball of fire flowed through the keyhole and Henry jerked awake in time to see the flames shimmer and fade until the form of Valencia stood before him.  His lamp dimmed and just before the room was plunged into darkness, Henry screamed at the sight of those bright white teeth.  Henry stopped screaming as the vampire jaws nearly decapitated him.

The soucouyant would have to wear her own skin another day.

Rowan examined the pages of the codex for the third time. The words blurred and rambled over the page.  She pushed her hair off her face and wished for a breeze. The fire burned hot enough to make satan uncomfortable but a shiver ran through her, chilling her blood til it felt gelid and swollen in her heart.

“If I don’t do this, Aidan will die.  If I don’t do this right, I will die.” she thought.  Neither choice was acceptable. She had walked all day after visiting the old woman in the cave.  Most of her advice was nothing but headology and that might work on the poor folk in the valley who were ignorant of the true path.  Rowan needed real magic tonight and real magic demanded blood.  She had a catheter ready to insert into her own vein and prayed for the resilience to follow through.  She sighed and read the page one more time.

“Defenestrate?  Why didn’t it just say throw it out the window?” She sighed half from frustration and half from exhaustion.

When she had drained the required amount of blood from her own arm, she applied herbs and a clean cloth to close the wound. She was ready for the incantation.

gizzards and feathers
shall be mixed with the blood
for reincarnation
needs more than mud
twice to the left
thrice to the right
at gibbous moon
in pale dead light

Aidan moaned on the cot and opened his eyes.

“Shazam” He smiled weakly at her.

“Shut up fool”  Rowan’s knees gave out and she sank down beside him.
“You owe me seven chickens!”

creativecopychallenge.com

codex
defenestrate
gizzard
headology
gelid
catheter
reincarnation
shazam
resilience
burn

phew, that was a tough one…

Albie wrapped the rags around his neck and mouth and shivered.  The smoke from the fire smelled of something dead and gave off little heat.  He got more warmth from the people gathered around. He longed for quiet as the noise pounded into his head.  A group on the corner was beating on cans and rusted sheets of metal, shards of glass rained down from the vacant building above and someone in the corner was moaning. Albie kept his eyes lowered and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

Just yesterday, the sun was shining as he kissed his wife goodbye and left for the office.  Everything had been one long night since. His office was an empty lot like the whole east side of town. At least that was what he heard. It was forbidden to go to that sector so there was no way to know for sure.  Albie wondered about Jeff who used to be in the office next to his. Did he survive? He used to keep a picture of his family on his desk. Pretty wife and two tow-headed daughters grinned in front of a brick house in the burbs. He would rather think about times at his old job than Sarah.  That opened up a desolate pit of pain that was best avoided.  People whispered about an apocalypse. Albie figured he was in hell.

An old man shuffled forward, breaking all the rules. He looked each person straight in the eye until they returned his stare for a second.  He patted this one and that one on the shoulder as he wandered around the alley.  Fool! He will be dead before morning, Albie thought! Sure enough, the old man wandered into a dark corner and after a scuffle, he was just gone.  Crazy Mary cackled and rocked, pulling her cardboard up around her.  Albie wondered once why no one bothered her, Then one night he saw a fat man reach down for a piece of her makeshift house and screamed when a flash of silver drew a dark line across his hand.  Albie stayed well away from Mary’s wall after that. Her cackle ran shivery fingers up his spine.

Albie’s fingers closed around the crumbling piece of paper in his pocket. He had rubbed it for so long the ink was gone. It didn’t matter. He knew the words by heart.

Ten words from Creative Copy Challenge

Yesterday
Apocalypse
Gone
Empty
Desolate
Forbidden
Time
Eyes
Know
Vacant

Creative Copy Challenge #68

Use the following words and then highlight them.

1.    Bellybutton
2.    Digital
3.    Ding-a-ling
4.    Guacamole
5.    Iceburg
6.    Kangaroo
7.    Nail
8.    Percent
9.    Speed
10.    Vacuum

Roz heard the irritating little ding-a-ling from upstairs.  She sighed and glanced at her digital watch. It had to be the twentieth time today and it wasn’t noon yet.  She still needed to vacuum and that old iceberg upstairs would want her lunch at exactly twelve-thirty, not one minute after or she would be ringing that blasted bell.  She smoothed her pink nylon uniform and straightened the prissy little lace cap. It seemed to represent this entire house.  Silly little useless things covered every surface and served no purpose other than to catch dust.

“Coming” Roz called as she trudged up the stairs.  She started to chew on a nail and then remembered how Miss Alice lectured her the last time she noticed her nail polish was chipped.  She could still hear that whiny high pitched voice. “If you are going to wear that atrocious color at least refrain from chewing your nails.  Show some self control!”  Every line punctuated by her little kangaroo arms waving bird like claws.  Wouldn’t she have a fit if she knew about the bellybutton ring.  The thought made Roz smile for a minute.  She took a deep breath and opened the door. “Yes, Miss Alice?”

“Have you started lunch yet?  You know I like my meals on time, and could you fluff my pillows please? Her little wrinkled nostrils flared and contracted as she tried to suck in enough air.

“Yes ma’am.  I made some guacamole and salad. It is chilling and I will bring your tray at the regular time.”  Roz held her bony shoulders up and fluffed the pillows though the skinny little thing barely made a dent.  Ros smoothed the lace bed jacket and straightened the bow.

“Well see that you are one hundred percent on time on time!  Did you finish the downstairs yet?”  Her baby bird neck vibrated as she spoke.

“No ma’am.  I was just getting ready to vacuum.” Roz pushed her hair back.

“You are lazy.  I won’t tolerate incompetence.  You know there are other girls out there who need employment, and fix these pillows!”

“Certainly Miss Alice.” Roz reached for the pillow and with speed she didn’t know she possessed, crammed the pillow down over the old woman’s face.  It didn’t take much strength or time before everything was silent and peaceful. Roz went downstairs and plugged in the vacuum cleaner.  She hummed as she worked.