Seven Deadly Sins: Romance Horror Anthology From The Fringe

By The Fringe

Darkness lingers in the corners of our souls. Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, and pride are the clawing itch that kindle our passions and compel us to satiate our deepest desires. Can love temper this darkness?

Seven Deadly Sins – Romance Horror Anthology From The Fringe eclipses the clashing worlds of horror and romance with seven stories of bone-chilling love. Produced by authors from Fringe Fiction, a Goodreads group focused on finding rare gems in indie fiction, the best stories are showcased in this bittersweet anthology.

Featuring stories by: Sarah Roberts, Justin Bienvenue, Rachel Chanticleer, Rachel Mars, FW Pinkerton, Michael Benavidez, and Lily Author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Fringe
• Release date: Apr 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310897320

The Fringe

The Fringe is comprised of indie authors and artists who, in addition to all being members of the Goodreads group Fringe Fiction, share the belief that creativity can grow and thrive in an atmosphere of respect, honesty, and friendship. Publishing is rich with hidden gems and diamonds-in-the-rough that belong to self-published, indie and otherwise underappreciated authors. Fringe Fiction is devoted to those who admire such individuals and want an outlet to discuss under-the-radar books with readers eager to discover fresh talent by obscure authors. Indie aficionados who welcome such recommendations and are enthusiastic about giving them are encouraged to let members know what they might be overlooking in the lesser-known corners of publishing.

Book preview

Seven Deadly Sins

Romance Horror Anthology

From The Fringe

Copyright © 2015 by The Fringe

All rights to this Anthology reserved. Rights to the individual works contained are owned by the submitting authors, who, by submitting, have permitted their use in this collection. Copyright owners are listed with each work.

No part of this collection may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without the express permission of the author(s). This collection contains works of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or deceased, and/or to actual events are coincidental.

Cover Design Copyright © 2015 by StoryTeller Design

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

Pride

Confidence, dignity’s shape

Lust

Desire, Love’s rape

Wrath

Fury, Violent anger

Gluttony

Food, obesity danger

Sloth

Lazy, neglectful lacking

Greed

Power, money stacking

Envy

Resentment, another wins

We are proud to present

Seven Deadly Sins

Romance Horror Anthology

From The Fringe

Table of Contents

The Mortician’s Temptation

The Hunger of Love

The 49th Floor

The Nymph and the Nihilist

Bored Rage

In The Shadows

Late

About the Contributors

The Mortician’s Temptation

Sarah Roberts

Shelley was a dancer. Her crooked toes and bunions gave that away more so than even her wilted face and narrow frame. When the Medical Examiner’s office brought her into Park’s Funeral Home that evening, she was still covered in dried blood, dirt, and melted plastic. Her legs were still twisted into pretzel shapes like one of those Chinese acrobats. The Head Mortician and owner, Gary Parks, took her file and sent the transporters on their way quickly. He liked to work alone.

Gary wheeled the gurney into the preparation room. As he walked he looked over her file. Shelley was declared dead at approximately 2am. Her cause of death: trauma. She and her car were found wrapped around a tree. According to the report, the accident was ruled a result of speeding and wet road conditions. Gary tossed the report onto her chest and then looked down at her vacant face. He brushed her matted hair aside. Her eyes were empty pools of blue mixed with starbursts of blood red.

You didn’t get into an accident, did you princess? No, you ended up exactly as you had intended.

Preparing a body for a viewing took time, patience, and skill. Before embalming, the body had to be cleaned. The far wall of the preparation room housed a long, stainless steel table with drains on both ends, and a multi-faceted spray-hose. Gary removed the file and the sheet covering her naked body. Lifting Shelley was easy enough. Even for a corpse she was remarkably light.

He laid her gently on the table, taking care not to bang her head against the unforgiving steel. Once he had her situated, he turned on the water and began rinsing off the caked on debris and blood. The water ran a brackish brown