Black Mambo Glass Animals Novels & Stories

Next to it was a spanking horse, well-padded with leather. Another wall was a shelf made of smoked glass. Inside the cabinet, a variety of ‘toys’ were displayed, making Lalisa blush and her heart pound uncontrollably. There were whips of various sizes and materials, from small leather crops to a nine-tailed cat-o'-nine-tails. There were paddles made of wood and silicone in various shapes. Plugs and dildos made of glass and metal gleamed under the light. There were blindfolds made of silk and leather, various types of gags, and ropes of different colors, coiled up as beautifully as balls of yarn.

Jack took his core—a knife of four—and slid inside. The temperature dropped a few degrees. Sterility lived here. Stainless benches glinted. Fume hoods purred. Glass tanks held malformed embryos suspended in preserving fluid, their chalk-white eyes milked over. One had a second jaw budding from its throat like a cruel idea. Another had limbs budding where ribs should be. Cages lined the far wall—tigers drugged and breathing in slow tremors, monkeys slumped like discarded coats, owls and eagles hooded and motionless. The air tasted like iodine and pennies. Somewhere a compressor coughed and settled.

Skin the color of water left too long in a bowl: thin, gray, stretched - Eyes black from lid to lid, glossy and hungry. Three more unpeeled themselves from the shadows behind it: one climbing down a trunk like a spider; one stepping backward out of a tree as if the bark were a curtain; one crouched low, fingers dug into the soil. “Stay,” she whispered to Umbra. He answered with a growl so low it felt like it rattled her ribs. The foremost creature tilted its head. “You called,” it said. “I didn’t,” she said. “Yessss…” another answered from her left, voice wet and amused. “Glasss and blood and windowssss… crying. You ssssang. We heard.”

“You would have figured it out. You’re stubborn as hell. I just… gave you a little nudge in the right, ridiculously over-the-top direction.” I smile, and squeeze her hand a little. My gaze sweeps the room, clear of its emotional fog. Then my eyes land on a mannequin in a hideous glass cage. I gasp loudly and I grab Zara’s hand. “What?” Zara asks, following my line of sight. I point across the room, to the hideous corner. “Look.” We walk over together and stop in front of the glass. It’s not red or sapphire. It’s a deep, sheer black.

Gabe's mother asked, noticing my fascination with the unique table setting. "It's beautiful," I replied, still studying the shimmering crystals. "I've never seen glass like this before." I reached for a pitcher of white wine, the light refracting through it like a prism, and poured myself some wine. "It's not glass," she corrected with a hint of pride. "It's compressed crystals. They're abundant in the southern islands." "Really? We have plenty of green and red gems, but blue is rare where I come from." I turned the glass in my hand, suddenly wondering if it was made from the same type of crystals that Gabe had told us they ingested for strength.

A mage stood in front of each of the glass boxes, fiddling with dials and buttons attached to an extended panel in front of them. Lady Lucia could not believe her eyes as she walked closer to them. She recognized each creature as she stopped to peer inside the glass boxes - There were Faes, Oni's, golems, centaurs, werewolves, vampires, and other nameless creatures, whose names she did not know. She stopped in front of one in particular and gazed in wonder at it. It looked like a cross between a human, a wolf, and a bird. She whipped around and spied Mistress Toussaard looking at her. "What is going on here?"

The meeting unfolded like a scene from some grotesque play, visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the master suite. Below on the pool terrace, crystal glasses caught the moonlight as they clinked together, the sound carrying up to me like broken wind chimes. I pressed my palms against the cool glass, watching the surreal tableau. Papa—who had arrived barely an hour ago bleeding and broken—now stood laughing with the infamous Black Mamba, their arms slung over each other's shoulders like frat brothers after a bender. The bloodstains on his chauffeur's uniform were the only evidence that the earlier horror hadn't been some fever dream.

They left the camp with two of the jeeps heading east towards the capital, as they drove through the dusty path Roxanne constantly looked left and right, in the distance she spotted a giraffe and an antelope eating a dead lion, she was stunned, Keith noticed the look on her face “Weird right?” he said “Weird? That’s crazy and creepy” she said “Everything is unpredictable in here” he said “What’s that?” she pointed in the distance at two black animals like jaguars “Vampire Jaguars… They kill preys for blood not meat” Amberjill said from the back seat “What the hell is that?” Roxanne pointed in the distance at a huge elephant with huge snake trunk, the elephant was seated while the long snake

In the glass's bottom, small white pearls danced in liquid. “It’s kinda like boba tea. Have you ever had that back on Earth?” I shook my head, taking the glass. “Oh, well, it’s like tapioca. Except here, it’s like mini shots of Everclear.” Willa laughed manically, already hiccupping. “Sorry, Orion said, to have fun.” “Here, here,” Daine swallowed another glass down. Deciding to sip, and I do mean small sips, Willa and Daine drilled me how big Creed’s, ‘massive bamboo stick is.

Each one of us took a turn taking a photo in front of the statue flipping the bird at the camera. Finally, Darcie’s tour ended at a curio shop full of oddities. We explored the shop which had walls full of jars containing floating amphibians, models of the head and neck’s circulation system, creepy nutcrackers, taxidermy goose, skeletons of lizards and collections of butterflies to name a few. Darcie’s choice of interesting places to visit was making my skin crawl. ‘Next time you plan a day Darcie remind me not to join’ I said as we walked back to the hotel.