Batman Throwing Blades

Ollie Clan was a broke college student with absolutely nothing to her name but debt. With bills just piling on her shoulders and life throwing curveballs in her face everywhere she turned, she had no choice but to grasp the lifeline her roommate proposes, take a job at the Werewolf-Human Integration Association or suffer. Werewolves were a common species Ollie never wanted to get caught dead with. They were abrasive, brutal and territorial. Even with that knowledge, Ollie wasn't ready in any way for her client, Ivailo Bridge. Like a moth drawn to a flame, Ivailo was about to burn her from the inside out with his callous attitude. If the definition of insufferable needed a representation, it would be Ivailo Bridge and he wasn't about to make her job easy. It wasn't a secret anywhere in the pack. Ivailo hated every snivelling human in existence and he was about to make it known to the supposed nanny without fail. Ollie was about to learn that werewolves weren't anything like humans. They were nothing short of instinct-borne animals with sharp teeth that bites and claws that have known war. They have never known mercy, not even to their mates.

My daughter unplugs my oxygen tube before throwing herself into her nanny's arms. "The old hag is finally dying, Mom. I don't need to call a thief my mother anymore!" It turns out the nanny switched my child for hers when they were born. I've spent the last two decades doting on the nanny's daughter. I die of an aneurysm after recalling my birth daughter's horrible death. When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to the day my daughter was born.

On the day of our engagement, just because Madison Calder wants to eat the ravioli my fiance Nicholas Olsen made, he decides to leave without hesitation. I can't help but try to stop him, but he slaps me across the face. "It's just an engagement party—we can have another one. What if Maddy starves?" Even my brother Brandon Lewis scolds me for being unreasonable. "You're older than Maddy. Can't you be more understanding?" I say nothing more and choose to let go and leave. They think I'm just throwing a tantrum and ignore me. They even clear their schedules just to take Madison on a vacation. It isn't until half a month later that they think to contact me, only to discover I have already joined a classified government weapons research program that will last ten years. Moreover, I have decided never to come home again. They completely panic.

When I was reborn, Horace was pressing me down on the bed. His phone rang with a piercing ringtone, interrupting him from undressing me. After seeing the caller ID, the desire in his eyes instantly disappeared. Throwing a random bath towel on my body, he said, "Leave. My new girlfriend doesn't like it when I smell like someone else." Without another word, I got dressed and left without any complaint. In my past life, I wasn't willing to leave, and clung onto him, throwing away all my dignity, and I even became crippled after saving him during a car accident. As I wished, I became his wife, only because he said, "Let's have a baby. Then, even if I was no longer around, our child would be able to take care of you." I endured several life-threatening medical crises during my pregnancy, but then I overheard him talking to Vivian, "Vivi, you'll be saved once the kid is born." "But that's you and Rose's child, isn't it? Wouldn't she get mad if she knew?" Horace's voice was ice-cold. "I only let her live because she could still give birth. Did she think that I'd fall for a cripple?" In my anger, I pulled out my oxygen tube, and both I and my baby died. Now that I was reborn, I would never walk the same path once more.

I secretly invite my in-laws over for the New Year, hoping to surprise my husband, Huxley Carlson. But the moment my father-in-law steps through the door, Huxley's secretary shoves him out. He slams into the shoe cabinet, throwing out his back. She sneers. "Who do you beggars think you are, strolling into Mr. Carlson's villa like this? You're this broke and still have the nerve to call yourself his father-in-law?" I immediately call for the housekeeper to help him, but the secretary blocks her. She even shoves my mother-in-law. "You really think you're the lady of the house?" she snaps. "Mr. Carlson hired the housekeeper to serve him, not to waste time on you or your useless parents." My mother-in-law is so enraged that she suffers a heart attack on the spot. I call Huxley in a panic, begging him to come to the hospital. But he sounds utterly unmoved. His voice is cold and mocking as he says, "Jen told me what happened. The nerve of you, bringing your parents to my house! Now you want me to rush to the hospital because your mom's pretending to be sick? "Tell them to get out! If she dies, she dies. Hell, maybe it's a blessing—just in time for the New Year!"

The things we want are so very rarely the things we need. Clifton Heights, a modest Adirondack town, offers many unique attractions. Arcane Delights sells both paperbacks and hard-to-find limited editions. The Skylark Diner serves the best home-cooked meals around, with friendly service and a smile. Every August, Mr. Jingo’s County Fair visits, to the delight of children and adults. In essence, Clifton Heights is the quintessential small American town. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone is treated like family. It is quiet, simple, and peaceful. But shadows linger here. Flitting in dark corners, from the corner of the eye. If you walk down Main Street after dark, the slight scrape of shoes on asphalt whispers you're not alone, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there. The moon shines high and bright in the night sky, but instead of throwing light, it only seems to make the shadows lengthen. Children disappear. Teens run away. Hunters get lost in the woods with frightening regularity. Husbands go mad, and wives vanish in the dead of night. And still, when the sun rises in the morning, you are greeted by townspeople with warm waves and friendly smiles, and the shivers pass as everything seems fresh and new... Until night falls once more. Handy's Pawn and Thrift sits several blocks down from Arcane Delights. Like any thrift store, its wares range from the mundane to the bizarre. By daylight, it seems just another slice of small town Americana. But in its window hangs a sign which reads: We Have Things You Need. And when a lonely traveling salesman comes looking for something he desperately wants, after normal visiting hours, after night has fallen, he will face a harsh truth among the shelves of Handy’s Pawn and Thrift: the things we want are rarely the things we need. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

“Even if the world shuns me, laughs at me, gives me strange looks, and labels me as a freak, I will not give up. I will never give up on what I believe in, even if it takes years, I will continue to persevere until I achieve my goal and get what I deserve!” These were the words Juan always told herself deep down in her heart whenever she looked at the mirror. These were the words that made her keep on going whenever they laughed at her, mocked her for being ugly. To her, as long as she has faith even as small as a mustard seed, she believes that one day, her time will come and her life will change for the better. All she needed was a chance, an opportunity and that is all it took for her life to be changed eternally forever. Destiny came knocking at her door and no matter how many times she tried throwing this chance away, it followed her home and from that day going forward, Juan, the ugly and clown everyone was used to became a beauty that many couldn’t touch. Even if the journey wasn’t simple and rocky, she wasn’t willing to give it up and live a life of suffering as she did. Will there be happiness waiting for her at the end of the road? Will she be willing to sacrifice it all to achieve her dreams and goals?

After being missing for eighteen years, I was finally found by my wealthy birth parents. The impostor—the young man who had taken my place all this time—dropped to his knees, sobbing. "Goodbye, Mom and Dad. Thank you for raising me. Now that Jason is back, this family doesn't need me anymore." My parents hugged him with heartbreaking tenderness. "Don't be ridiculous," they said. "You're our only real son." Even my fiancée confessed her love to him. "I don't care who you really are. You're the only one I love." They all orbited around him, like planets around the sun. When I was nearly killed in a car accident, they were too busy throwing a birthday party for his dog. So I packed my things in silence. Without a word, I accepted an invitation from the space agency to join a five-year satellite research mission in complete isolation. Yet after I left, it was like the whole family lost their minds. They scoured the entire country, desperate to find any trace of me.

I spend ten years helping my fiancé fight and claw his way to the top. Finally, he becomes the head of the local mafia. But once he has everything, he falls for another woman. Suddenly, he wants nothing to do with the promise he made to marry me. Just as he boasts about throwing her the wedding of the century, one of his men can't hold back his confusion. "Olivia stood by you through everything. Weren't you crazy about her? And now you're marrying someone else?" Joshua Harding snuffs out his cigarette, slowly turning the silver couple's ring he shares with Abigail Mauser between his fingers. "Olivia?" He scoffs. "She's got blood on her hands. How could she ever compare to my sweet, innocent Abigail?" The subordinate hesitates. "But Olivia's sharp. If she finds out and turns against you, then what?" Joshua frowns before smirking coldly. "Belcove is completely under my control. It's not like I'll lose it without her around." Little does he know I'm standing outside and listening to every word. I drop the medicine I brought him into the trash and pull out my phone. I text his biggest rival, Michael Sheridan. "Want Joshua's turf and his life? I'm handing them to you!"

“Just as pathetic as I remember you to be, sweetheart.” “I sleep with you because I’m unfortunate to be married to you so don’t bother reading between the lines.” Slapping his treacherous lips away from my own, I huff frantically. “I detest the sight of you, bastard.” He smirks throwing me against the filthy wall of the cave before whispering against my lips, “I know, sweetheart.” Fisting his shirt, I pull him in, “I’ll kill you someday for all your bullshit. The best part is I’ll be hailed as a hero for it.” I dig my nails into his side while digging my heels in his toes. Chuckling, he kissed me with a novel fervour. Too consumed with his taste on my tongue I don’t realize he had taken me off the floor. In times like these he made his hate achingly obvious by his rough groping. When after several seconds he is still ravaging my mouth, I slap his arm to gasp for air but he takes his sweet time devouring life out of me. He let me go only when my life flashes before my eyes. Caressing my hair as I huffed out puffs of air, he smirked. “Good Morning, Nafasm.” I'll remember to add getting away with murder on my bucket list. .... I had everything in life figured out and about half a year to get out of college and finally experience life (Breathy tone) but that's when Sienna, my bitch of a friend, asked me for a favor. Why the hell am I kidnapped? And what is with these people growling like rabid dogs? And please, can anyone tell me why the f*ck, AM I GETTING MARRIED TO THEIR HUNK OF A GANG LEADER WITH UNNATURAL GLOWING EYES?