Aftertale Comic Novels & Stories

Back to the afterlife. **** To Be Continued

No one else had claimed him. He didn't pull away immediately. He let the heat die down, his fingers tracing the silver waist chain that still clung to Luca’s skin. He looked at the marks he had left behind the red handprint on Luca’s ass, the hickeys on his neck. It was his work. His art.

My throat was sandpaper, but I had to know. He dropped his eyes. Took a second before answering. "It was... nude photos. Yours. Niama was planning to blackmail you. But Vivian opened the package. That's why she went that night. Ree, it's over. All of it." I shut my eyes, pulled my hand back, and turned away. Yeah. It was over. Time for me to go, too. I had kept a little of Vivian's ashes in a vial. I was gonna take her with me—to see the rivers, the mountains we always talked about, and that snow-covered peak from my dreams.

He held up a drawing of a stick figure with a cape and a huge smile. I knelt beside him, pushing away the cold dread for a moment. "Wow, Jasper! He looks so strong! What's his name?" "Captain Awesome!" Jasper declared, puffing out his chest. "He saves everyone!" I smiled, a real smile this time, though it felt fragile. "He sure does. You're a great artist." I ruffled his hair, feeling the softness of it. His innocence was a sharp, painful reminder of why I was doing all of this. Why I'd just walked into Caden's trap. It wasn't for me. It was for this small, bright light, for Mom.

" I stood outside the infirmary for a long time afterward. It was just around the time the nearby Werewolf Academy let out. The street came alive. The sounds drifted into my ears, close enough to hear but distant enough to feel like another world. My phone buzzed, and a photo came through from an unknown number. It was the same one I had shredded, but it had not been awkwardly taped back together. Without hesitation, I deleted it and blocked the number. Two little girls walked past, holding hands. Giggling, they made plans to celebrate with their favorite cherry cake after they finished their mission. I watched them walk away, farther and farther, until they disappeared completely. I drove t

We cuddled together tried to sing each other lullabies before one of us slept off and the other followed suit. ¶•¶•¶•¶•¶ 'Seth'. 'Handel'. 'Arman'. 'Isabelle'. 'Orion'. Stephanie'. 'Usher'. 'Maude'. 'Mimi'. 'Zofi'. 'Those are the 10 hunters taking off tomorrow'. 'They will be dropped at the west of the Carpathian mountains'. 'Alina?'. 'Ma'am?'. Alina stood at attention and I wondered if she was a former soldier. 'Make sure to remind the cooks that the hunters who are going for the hunt tomorrow should be fed 'specially''.

I was waiting for something to change in what I did and we were stunned for a few minutes when we noticed no changes happen. In an instant, the dew suddenly thickened all around. Suddenly our surroundings became quiet and the leaves on the tree stopped making noise when the strong wind blew. I was shocked when the candles lit around me and even louder than before. Some retreated in fear of being burned but also slowly disappeared until it became normal at the same time as the sudden emergence of souls that some were still covered in dew. They came out of the forest and walked towards us. There are so many that I can't count them, there are more coming out from behind them, leading an old man

I claw at the fetus, static tearing my hands to bone. The Bloom screams, timelines fracturing. ***YOU WIN***, it weeps. ***BUT YOU'LL DIE WITH ME.*** The mausoleum collapses. --- **The Aftermath** We wake in the field, the lattice gone. The sky is whole, the air sweet with mundane rain. Ravel's crossbow is ash. Lira is gone. The survivors are silent, hollow. But Talin kneels where the lattice stood, cupping a sprout in his palms-ordinary, fragile.