Dark Conjurings: A Short Fiction Horror Anthology

By Sarah Read

2020 ELIT AWARDS GOLD MEDAL WINNER IN ANTHOLOGY

2020 BEN FRANKLIN AWARDSTM SILVER MEDAL WINNER IN FICTION: HORROR from the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA)

2020 MIDWEST BOOK AWARDS FINALIST IN FICTION - SHORT STORY/ANTHOLOGY from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA)

Six gripping tales from new voi

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eagle Heights LLC
• Release date: Oct 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781947181168

Book preview

DARK CONJURINGS SHORT FICTION HORROR ANTHOLOGY

Dark Conjurings: Short Fiction Horror Anthology

© 2019 Eagle Heights Press

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, or organizations in it are products of the authors’ imaginations or used fictitiously. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of any license permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

Foreword ©2019 by Sarah Read

All That Glitters Must Die ©2019 by Jai Lefay

The Shadows Breathe ©2019 by A.R. Reinhardt

Night of the Beast ©2019 by Cassy Crownover

The Doctor and The Lady ©2019 by Delia Remington

The Lady In White ©2019 by Karolyne Cronin

Mystick Tea ©2019 by Mimi Schweid

Eagle Heights Press

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Fayette, MO 65248

eagleheightspress.com

Edited by Delia Remington

Cover and Interior Images ©2019 Cassy Crownover

Cover Design by Cassy Crownover and Delia Remington

Interior design by Delia Remington

First Edition: October 2019

Eagle Heights Press is a division of Eagle Heights L.L.C.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

Published by: Eagle Heights Press

ISBN-13: 978-1-947181-16-8

FOREWORD BY SARAH READ

One of the best things about new voices in literature is that they have not been restrained by arbitrary rules or modes of style that paint a homogeneous veil over the more prominent works in a genre. Emerging voices bring fresh tones, new perspectives, and a clear sense that the writer is writing for the sheer joy of storytelling.

Sheer joy might not be the right phrase for these dark tales. Thrill is probably more appropriate, though I believe these six forthcoming authors will take great joy in thrilling you.

Here we have a story about a vampire that’s not about the vampire but about the friendships formed among his prey.

A powerful, trapped spirit orchestrates the vengeful haunting of a killer and frees the soul of one of his victims.

A Civil War soldier’s camp faces a legendary beast in a dark forest that takes the terror of war to a new level.

A witch faces death itself to save her sister, drawing strength from the love of her life and her family’s legacy of power.

We get a glimpse into the tragic truth behind an urban legend and how they become a part of our culture and collective unconscious.

We witness Mary Shelley’s grim discovery and subsequent inspiration for the genre that would come to unite us all in these dark conjurings.

You’ll get your daily dose of gore, of haunting, of twisted imaginings and familiar tales told from new angles. These six stories draw together classic elements of the horror genre—witches, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, the reanimated dead—and show that tropes are tools that can be used to build a bigger, more diverse genre.

The horror genre was invented by women and other marginalized voices, yet it has a history of excluding us. I, a woman who writes horror, have been told women don’t write horror. I’ve been told my work isn’t really horror. I’ve been told by editors whose anthologies contain fewer than 10% women and often zero nonbinary or culturally diverse authors, that they’re just publishing the best stories as if the problem lies in their inbox and not their worldview. The excuse has grown stale. There are well-established voices in horror everywhere, and in anthologies like this one, we get to see the emergence of a new generation of dark fiction writers.

Horror is in a golden age, perhaps because we need it so much right now. When the scariest books on the bookshelf are in the current affairs section, ghosts are a refuge. A way to work the dread out of our system and train our minds on how to process things like fear, loss, grief, and the looming threat of our planet’s mortality.

Take a break from the monsters in the news and face these vampires for a moment. Flex your muscles against the weight of this twitching corpse, so you’ll be stronger when the call comes to face the real monsters. They’ve dialed all but the last number, finger hovering. Are you ready? Read horror, and prepare yourself.

Sarah Read

Appleton, Wisconsin.

September 2019

ABOUT SARAH READ

SARAH READ IS a dark fiction writer in the frozen north of Wisconsin. Her short stories can be found in various journals and anthologies including The Best Horror of the Year vol 10. Her novel The Bone Weaver’s Orchard is now out from Trepidatio Publishing, and her debut collection Out of Water will follow in November 2019. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Pantheon Magazine and of their associated anthologies, including Gorgon: Stories of Emergence. She is an active member of the Horror Writers Association. When she’s not staring into the abyss, she knits.

Follow her on Twitter or Instagram @Inkwellmonster, her website www.inkwellmonster.wordpress.com, or on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SarahRead.

ALL THAT GLITTERS MUST DIE BY JAI LEFAY

The seventh tarot card was flipped from the pile and placed gently down, only for the table to lurch suddenly beneath it.

Death? Oh my goodness, I am going to die!

Death virtually never means actual death, Audrey, relax, I hmmm... Lady Lotte of the Mysteries, aka Lotte de Vries, let the cards speak to her and her smile vanished. She looked back up at Audrey and tried to push a fake one into place. Lotte was not meant to let these readings get serious. She was a performer at Ziggy Rose – House of Burlesco, and reading the cards was another part of her act. It was just entertainment to titillate their rich and usually tight-laced clients. She was not meant to do real readings, even for the other girls.

What do you mean, hmmm? Lotte, am I dying? Audrey sounded panicked, and the table was still shuddering as she gripped the edge of it for dear life.

Lotte tried to force her lips wider in a smile and make her tone teasing. Audrey, darling, I am playing with you. The death card means that part of your life will die. A part that you no longer need.

Lotte was lying. While she might read the cards for entertainment, that did not mean she lacked the true gift to read them. The cards were unfortunately very clear in their message. A violent death was to be expected and soon.

Oh, you mean like the part of my life that sees me unwed? Audrey asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought of finally becoming a married woman. She was constantly looking for love and hoping for an engagement but while it had happened for many girls who had then moved on from Ziggy Rose, poor Audrey had not caught anyone’s eye in months. A situation that might grow worse if the country did enter the war and begin to send the men overseas.

Oh yes, Lotte quickly replied, still fake smiling as she reached over the table to gently pat Audrey’s hand as it gripped the edge of the small round table. I know you have been wanting that for so long.

So very much.

Lotte moved her hand back, fingertips brushing the soft red velvet tablecloth as she flicked each turned card back towards her. She turned them over and placed her hands atop them, removing them from Audrey’s sight. Now, scoot your skirts, you have only twenty minutes before the doors open, and you’ve smudged your make-up.

Audrey gave Lotte an absent-minded smile as she got up from the table, Lotte assumed she was already lost in thoughts of all the men she hoped might come to woo her. Lotte waited until her friend had moved out of her line of sight before turning the cards back over and completing the reading. There was no mistaking it, Audrey was in very real danger, and while there was a man involved, it was not the kind of Until death do us part connection that Audrey was looking for. A man came to end her life, in a most gruesome manner. Lotte feared she knew who he might be.

Astoria had been the latest place to be visited by the Vampire of the Opera as the press had affectionately called this serial killer. Sixteen showgirls in separate cities had been killed in the last six months, four in New York in the last two. The papers reported that the man had fantasies of vampirism, making it appear as if the women had been bitten on the neck before being drained of blood.

Lotte believed it might actually be a vampire, not simply a staging of the victims. Her family had once had dealings with a vampire, and she believed their stories to be true. Law enforcement would not be so easy to convince of that, nor were they likely to believe that Audrey was in danger if Lotte was to go to them. Her seeing death in the cards was not hard evidence for them to act on. No, Lotte could not go to them, which meant that Audrey’s only protection was Lotte. Lotte was more than willing to put her own life in danger if she could keep sweet Audrey safe from harm. It was what friends did. But first they needed to get through their responsibilities for the evening, plus Jack was coming tonight which made Lotte’s stomach flutter nervously. He was so handsome, and he liked her.

The dim electric light above her flickered and drew her out of her thoughts. Lotte might have taken that as a bad omen, but it simply always did that. She waited until the bulb stopped flickering and got up. She needed to make certain she was presentable for Jack’s arrival.

**

Jack topped up the girls’ glasses. His eyes lingered on Lotte as the other young women giggled at his jesting. Lotte smiled but wasn’t sure she understood why it was funny. She shrugged that off, enjoying the way that he looked at her across the table. There would be fewer giggles from some of the women if they knew that Jack had been calling on Lotte for the last week. Or if they knew that on Friday night after she finished work, he was actually going to take her out for dinner at a fancy restaurant.

Lotte found it hard to fathom that the son of one of the rich and famous families who holidayed in their mansions in Astoria would be interested in her. Even an illegitimate son. Yet, he truly seemed interested in her, given he made conversation with her and sought to know her, rather than attempting a lazy seduction as many of the rich men did with the pretty