A Strange Life

10.45 pm, 7 hours until Sunrise. 12 days until The Succubus Club. I discovered that time progresses slowly when you feel each moment may be your last.  I was sitting with Lenny until he started picking up on my terminal mood.   “What’s going to happen to us?” I shoved my fears down and tried to… Read more

12.00 am Tuesday,  6 hours until sunrise, 3 days until the S.C. The Crow Bar DO YOU KNOW A VIDA GOLDSTEIN? Dominic glanced down at his phone, buzzing on the coffee table.  Another text from persistent Madeline the Stray. Still, this one piqued his interest. Vida Goldstein?  New York born, bred and turned, he knew… Read more

3 days until the Succubus Club. Midnight and the lines on the road guided us west towards the farm. There were…technically four of us in the car, though only two of us were in seats. One of us was no more than a heart in a jar, hidden in a black sports bag.  The other… Read more

7.05 pm Monday,  11 hours until sunrise, 4 days until the S.C. The Waiting Room As Stallion and Dominic broadened their minds, and Eclipse and I  arrived outside the pumpstation, Mads was waiting, a cold and very congealed cup of blood on her lap, the snickers and murmurs of unseen Nosferatu around her.   If I’m… Read more

2.11 am Monday,  4 hours until sunrise,  4 days until the S.C.   Crow Bar On the silent drive back to the Crow Bar, I had time to contemplate our next course of action, the human heart. And not just the acquiring, but making it a vampire heart, at least in appearance. I’d recklessly thought… Read more

1.00 am Monday,  5 hours until sunset,  4 days until the S.C.   Somewhere  A door at the far end opened, and the two entered, the door quietly closing behind them. “I’ve been to this place before, “ Stallion said, looking around the empty room with interest. I don’t know what each door means, though.”… Read more

11.50 pm Sunday,  6 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C.   En route Driving carefully back to the Crow Bar, Dominic held his damaged face and contemplated the rest of his night. He rang Giuseppe, “There’s been a slight snag on the party plans.  It will be a red wine dinner, no party.”“Understood,… Read more

110.15 pm Sunday,  8 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C.   Summer Hill There were still hours until closing at the Summer Hill Hotel, and the place was pumping. Besides the old locals getting one last round of drinks in before the start of the working week, there was a lively group of… Read more

9.00 pm Sunday,  9 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. St. Leonards HOW ARE YOU? I texted from inside the shielding covers of Under the Black, Red, and Yellow.  Don’t get me wrong, the book was a real insight into the society beyond the Veil, but I’d missed one of Eclipses’ earlier texts… Read more

6.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Blavatsky Lodge, St Leonards It was supposed to be a simple night at the library.  Go to the library and spend a few quiet hours expanding your knowledge of our world.  We’d studied for hours on end in Dominic’s library back at the… Read more

3.40 am Sunday, 2 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar The meeting broke up, and Stallion saw no reason to stick around any longer. As far as he was concerned, this whole night was a waste of time.  He’d got nothing out of it, and it had only got in… Read more

1.30 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club In transit Eclipse was on her way back to the bar when she thought to text me. WHERE ARE YOU? V.I.P. PRIVATE ROOM WITH MADS.  NEW INFO ON IZAC? LATER, I had so much to tell her, but so much to ask. … Read more

12.00 am Sunday, 7 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club The Harbour Mill, Pyrmont Sunday.   I went to say goodnight, but the silhouette had already disappeared from the mirror.  She was gone, and I was alone. My mind was mine again, with no holes to probe and worry over. In fact, I… Read more

10.30pm Saturday 10 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club The Harbour Mill, Pyrmont “I just want to get to know who they are,” She replied quickly, which seemed to be the truth as far as it went.  It still didn’t explain why we were so interesting to her. “I can tell you… Read more

8.30pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar The shark hunted for its next prey. Sinking into the depths, the predator could smell fresh meat.  The schooling crowds covered his tracks as he spied the catch, the flash of copper a dead giveaway.  With instincts honed over years of… Read more

5.40am Saturday Fifty minutes until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt Fifty minutes before sunrise, Eclipse exited an Uber outside the Crowbar.  Morning was coming, and she had little time to waste. Entering the hotel, she registered and took a suite as the sun slowly rose above the harbour. A new day was… Read more

1.30 am Saturday 5 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club 4 Phillip Street, Leichhardt I climbed the stairs and grabbed the door handle.  The door flung open, and Mads was on the other side, her hand came down like a vice over my wrist.  Almost on instinct, my experience in the Time… Read more

12.00 am Friday 9 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crowbar, Leichhardt While a party with half the coterie was happening downstairs, Stallion was up in the library, studying.  He’d learnt a new trick, a tattoo that would stay on a vampire.  He was now sitting back in the wingbacked chair trying… Read more

You stole what was mine, I came to reclaim it. You said, “I didn’t belong there,” And made me regret it. I flew in unnoticed, Till your eyes pinned me down. No one saw me but you, My mysterious dark-haired lady. * You turned me away, A bug from your board. I’m a shell of… Read more

10.30 pm Friday 9 hours until sunrise. 7 days until the Succubus Club Sydney The coterie was split three ways: Eclipse was on foot, Izac, who knew where, and I was in the bachelor group with Stallion and Dominic.  The trip back to the Crow Bar was silent.  I desperately wanted to Astral travel and… Read more

I woke up Christmas evening with a feeling like I’d missed something.  I looked around my room, still sparse since I had just moved in.  It looked as I’d left it that morning, my few possessions in a bag on the floor, the clothes from last night draped over a chair. Lupara was beside my… Read more

9.00 pm, 9 hours until Sunrise.  11 days until the Succubus Club. After a night of chaos and horror, the coterie members all found their ways of unwinding. Dominic had driven off to the morgue, where he fed Madeline and settled down to the puzzle of how people had died.  Izac was building his sanctuary… Read more

5.00 pm, 3 hours until sunset.  11 days until Succubus Club The advantage of a vampire’s home is that no space within its walls is inflicted with sunlight during the day. It matched my mood.  I thought for a long while before finally searching for a bathroom and cleaning up.  With nothing else to wear,… Read more

3.40 am, 3 hours before Sunrise.  11 days until Succubus Club Expecting trouble, they armed themselves with weapons from the back of the SUV. Izac grabbed a riot shield with a claymore attached and a submachine gun with clips. The 9mm rounds gleamed eerily in the moonlight, their silver tips caught the stray beams before… Read more

2.50 am, 4 hours until Sunrise. 11 days until The Succubus Club. The Veil was lifting, and something was coming through. I didn’t think it was the bane; it was already inside me, and nothing but Avel had seen me.  I thought she was, anyway.  Regardless, Giuseppe obviously knew what was happening, too. His nervous… Read more

12.20 am, 6 hours until Sunrise. 11 days until The Succubus Club. Mr Giovanni made his way through the club and down into the VIP room to the Time Out space. Stallion had gone AWOL just when he was needed, which was…disappointing. As the light from the hallway lit the space beyond, he could see… Read more

Sometime after 12.20 am, 6 hours until Sunrise. 11 days until The Succubus Club. Strong emotion can only hold your attention so long. Eventually, the fear, humiliation, and outrage slip away to be replaced by a disquietening emptiness.  Stallion’s callous indifference, Bruce’s maliciousness, Giuseppe’s disturbing gentleness, even the Luna’s kindness was lost to it.  But… Read more

Thoughts from Luna: See No, Hear No, Speak No Evil: Our Masquerade  Ten days ago she would have called you a liar.  More than ten days ago Luna could barely stand being in a room with him. Her beast screamed, rattling the bars of her mind in rage. In anger. In domination.  Now she doesn’t… Read more

8.30 pm, 9 hours until Sunrise. 12 days until The Succubus Club. Sitting at a corner table, half listening to the band, Izac tried to make sense of the images in his head.  No, that’s old… Not that…  God, not that… It was hard to tell when the horror of his past ended and the… Read more

1 am, 5 hours until sunrise.  12 days until The Succubus Club Stallion had expected to be meeting with Mr Giovanni in his office. After Luna’s weirdness early in the night and my insistence that Mr Giovanni was out for revenge, the walk down the stairs to the subbasement room gave Stallion pause.  Was he… Read more

he Third life of Rain  8.25 pm, 8 hours until Sunrise.  13 days until Succubus Club Izac was first to leave the table and head outside onto the street to wait for Luna. I didn’t want to leave the Pit quite so quickly.  Tonight had been the start of something, something mine and Luna’s. It… Read more

Midnight, 6 hours until Sunrise.  14 days until Succubus Club They lay, Guissepi spooned against Stallion, snoring into the bedclothes.  What would have been hilarious under normal circumstances just made me sad. Good people had died, and here I was babysitting two sloveny drunks?  The two empty bottles reminded me of Guissepi’s offer, and this… Read more

6.00 pm 13 hours until sunrise – 14 days until The Succubus Club SMS to Benefactor I WOULD LIKE TO DO MY BEST AT THE CLUB IN 2 WEEKS.  I’D LOVE TO DISCUSS IT WITH YOU, BUT KNOW YOUR TIME IS PRECIOUS.  IS THERE SOMEONE I COULD TALK TO? Benefactor OF COURSE WE ARE ALWAYS… Read more

10.15 pm 7 hours until dawn. The Crowbar. Bandolers full of grenades were being donned, and firearms brandished as I opened the door to Mr Giovanni’s office. “You wanted to see me, Mr. Giovanni?” I asked coolly as I could when Stallion picked up a pump-action shotgun and started loading shells. This wasn’t good. We… Read more

Private Universe Script Scene: Exterior night, raining street scene with coloured lights from shops and signs subvdued and grey but still bleeding into the wet street.  Camera pans as a man in a vermilion suit holding an umbrella walks across the street as the intro to the song starts.  He crosses the road and pulls… Read more

The man who sold the world Script Scene:  Night. Exterior nondescript wall.  A man in a vermillion suit sits in a chair before the wall.  The intro music starts, and the wall starts filling with graffiti art. The man stands and interacts with the art.  It makes a set of stairs that he starts to… Read more

I got you Script Scene:  Night.  Interior. Plainly decorated room in front of a large bay window.  From the filming angle on the hardwood floors, the viewer can see only rooftops and the night sky outside the window.  As the scene plays out, the stars move across the sky, filmed in time-lapse.  In front of… Read more

7.45 pm 11 hours until Sunrise On route to Brandon’s A new night and a new opportunity to make a mark on the Vampire world. After our private talk in Mr Giovanni’s beautiful car, I felt optimistic and finally sent off a text to Brendan. ARE YOU STILL HOME? CAN I VISIT? SURE, the reply… Read more

2.45 am 3 hours until sunrise Stallion took himself to the basement to sleep. Mr Giovanni and Izac were long gone somewhere, hopefully, to find an appropriate replacement for the perfectly good dog we’d killed that night. Luna and I were alone in the library, and she was looking at me oddly. “What?” “We need… Read more