Welcome to the eleventh #SatSunTails micro fiction competition.
Be warned – the prompts aren’t easy, but that’s so you can write to the best of your ability.
If you haven’t had a go before at this writing challenge, then please don’t hesitate to try this weekend.
Rules!
- Post stories in the comments
- Stories must be 150 words (margin of 5 words either side) AND based on the picture and written prompts.
- If you title your entry this is not counted in your word count.
- Only one entry allowed (so make it count)
- End each entry with word count and name/twitter handle (if you forget these REPLY TO YOUR OWN COMMENT with them before judging closes)
- You may enter until Monday 10am GMT (because I’m extra kind like that).
If you do not comply with these rules your story will be disqualified from judging. Good spelling and grammar will also help to make a better impression on judges – the odd typo, however, will be overlooked so please don’t worry about that.
For tips, read through the critiques from last week’s entries.
Winners!
There will be ONE OVERALL WINNER and THREE RUNNERS UP. After that there will be THREE CRITIQUES of three stories that didn’t make it.
It would also be nice to those participating if you could promote your fellow competitors and those who win.
Today’s Prompt!
The following may be used as a sentence in your story OR provide a basis for it:-
“small and deadly fee”
And here is your picture prompt:
& good luck!
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In and out of sleep, I could feel the flashing before my eyes. My breath quickened with my heart. I searched for a warmth, but only found the sinister woman when I closed my eyes as well as when I opened them. It was like I had no eyelids at all. Her tongue darted in an out of her mouth as she crawled seductively towards me. The fog licked her forearms and supple legs. I wanted her.
I got on my hands and knees and came upon her; she smiled and turned onto her back. Her piercing blue eyes stabbing directly into mine. She breathed irregularly and sensually as I brought myself down, inches from her immaculate skin. I brushed her hair, and she sank a knife into my heart. In my happiness, I didn’t care. I had paid my debt. I knew the small and deadly fee.
The Price of Immortality
By Lisa McCourt Hollar
“For a small and deadly fee, I can arrange for you to live forever.”
Yvette stared at Tasha, confused. David had warned her to beware of this woman. “Small and deadly? Doesn’t sound promising. What…” Seized by a sudden fit of coughing, Yvette bent over, covering her mouth with a handkerchief. The once white cloth was dotted in the reddish fluid that filled her lungs. Tasha waited patiently for her to finish.
“I want your soul. A small price for immortality.”
Yvette listened to the distant howling of a wolf. It sounded ominous, a warning not to go down this path. Another attack brought more blood, this time huge globs. She didn’t have long to decide.
“Okay.”
Taking Yvette into her arms, Tasha kissed her gently, caressing her tongue, before pulling away and sinking fangs into her neck. Drinking greedily, she wondered how Yvette’s werewolf lover would handle the new that she’d become a vampire.
Word Count: 155
Forgot the twitter handle. @ezri1
ACH, my keyboard is being woncky. @jezri1
I loved Sinestra. Still do, even now with the iron stench of her blood on my nostril. Sometimes, though, love just isn’t enough. And in those times, her heart is only achievable through violence.
Last night, she fought for life. She strove for purchase on the moss-strewn rocks, willing herself forward. I laughed in my lupine throat. Padding along behind her, I could smell her sweat and adrenalin. Could hear the staccato rhythm of her heart beat. All those lonely days, spurned by the one I love drove me forward.
Nanna aways told me “Tis a small but deadly fee to treat with the hag.” Well I paid the seven coins and seven drops of blood. It did seem small then. But now, my heart rages fit to burst, while the hunter’s dogs nip at my rear haunches.
Yeah, It’s a deadly prices. One I gladly pay.
@Leo_Godin – 147 words
Nice job with the prompt. I didn't think of it that way at all.
Love the twist at the end.
BIA'ISA
“Be quick with the water; you don’t want to stay by the river any longer than you have to.”
The gangly teen looked up from filling his canteen. Chill from the snowmelt contributed as much as the sun strangling aspens to the icy atmosphere. Caldwell appreciated the three hikers giving him a lift to the forest, but they could have picked a better place to camp for themselves.
“Why’s that?”
“Wolves come to the river to drink,” Caldwell explained, “And especially if she’s with them, you want to be pretty much anywhere else.”
“Is she the person you said you were looking for?” The novice camper rejoined the drifter and his friends before heading back into the forest.
“Person?” Caldwell glanced back toward the river, “Not sure if you’d call her that. They say she sold her humanity for the spiritual strength of the pack. A small and deadly fee.”
150 words
@DavidALudwig
@joplimat
Word Count: 148
She wasn't hard to find, although perhaps the reality is that she found me. The latter's likely considering the fact that she watched me intently as I approached, even through the winter shroud.
Apart from a deathly pallor and tattered clothing, she seemed well. There didn't seem to be a bruise or cut on her body. I couldn't believe it, after so many years there she was. Hunched over in a freezing stream like an animal.
“Amelia…” I didn't know what to say, and for a moment I thought I saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes, but she merely growled in response. There was another figure behind her, a wolf, and a large one at that. Of course the Wolf-Child would have company.
“Come home..” I uttered, but the words got stuck in my throat. She growled again, louder this time.
The wolf behind her leapt before I had a chance to run.
Wordcount – 155
I'm noticing a theme with the prompts, you a fan of winter by any chance? 🙂
Lot of good ones so far, but I vote for this one.
I should never have accepted that drink.
I woke in the forest at night, a keen mist cloaking the world around me. I was shivering in the cold, how long had I been here? A wolf howled in the distance, where was I?
She had been so alluring, a dark beauty with pale skin, made almost translucent in the ambient lighting at the club. I had approached her from across the dance floor, “Nice boots”, I said. She had smiled, such a bewitching smile, and motioned me across to the bar. The warning was there, it was too easy, but I had to follow.
More wolves began to howl. I struggled to my feet to run, but they were too close now, their beady eyes shining in the darkness.
I saw her and I wanted her, but that drink was a small and deadly fee.
145 words
@FayneRiverdale
Nice atmosphere.
Whispering Woods
"pay the price…"
The words came from every direction in soft echoes.
It was midmorning when they entered the forest, less than an hour ago, but now the trees devoured the light before it reached the ground, leaving only dancing shadows to guide them. The façade of bravado was fading from both young men, as were their hopes that the stories of the haunted forest were false. They searched desperately for a way out.
"pay the price…"
Wind rustled leaves. They could not move.
Howls wailed from the darkness. Toby sprinted, Doug followed. They did not see the ledge –
– Splash –
They lay in shallow water. Wolves approached out of the darkness; Surrounded them. A young woman moved seductively on all fours through the water. She whispered,
"pay the price."
Toby wandered out of the forest dazed, repeating this quiet mantra to reassure himself:
"it was a small price to pay."
@JohnBBadd
150 Words
He told me to prepare for a "small and deadly fee," but he didn't say how much. Actually, he didn't say much more, as drunk as he was, but I knew something was afoot.
As I transformed, that night, I could sense there was someone new nearby. The moonlight over the brook revealed a petite, raven-haired woman whose beauty immediately captivated me.
She arose from the brook, thoroughly soaked, and faced me. "So, Ivan told you to expect a small but deadly foe, I suppose."
I transformed back and her gaze scanned me up and down – mostly down.
"Something like that," I replied, "but he wasn't exactly clear."
"Well, you know Ivan, but don't worry, I don't bite, but I'm hoping you do."
Each of us stepped forward once, cautiously assessing the other.
"Who knew?" she said, smiling, "Ivan Sokolov, vampire vessel of vodka and matchmaker to witches and werewolves."
150 Words
@LupusAnthropos
Tera collapsed in the water, the coolness a small relief to the fire that ran through her body. She wandered for what felt like days. The mist that hung in the valley made it difficult to tell if it was morning or the afternoon.
There was a growl behind her. The wolf that had been following her was starting, golden eyes wary.
She didn’t know how she knew that. She bared her own teeth at it, watching as its ears folded back against the grey head, taking a few steps back.
She had told the old woman that she wanted to get back at the men who had burned her village. She didn’t know what the small and deadly fee that had been spoken of was. Only that it was determined to kill her before she could get her own revenge.
Her bones started to snap and reform. She howled.
150 words
@solimond
Competition is closed.