Bunny Hunt

By Margaret L. Carter

Melanie, a professional doula struggling to conceive a baby of her own, has a strange encounter at a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. After she rescues a wild rabbit from a runaway dog and the animal seemingly changes into a heavily pregnant, human-size rabbit woman, Melanie convinces herself she saw only a woman in a costume. But that same night a desperate plea for help sounds inside her head. In response, she undertakes a trek that feels like a dream—until it becomes urgently real, forcing her to stretch to the limits of her training and beyond. What reward will she win if she succeeds?

• Language: Unknown
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Apr 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781509248735

Margaret L. Carter

Reading DRACULA at the age of twelve ignited Margaret L. Carter’s interest in a wide range of speculative fiction and inspired her to become a writer. Vampires, however, have always remained close to her heart. Her work on vampirism in literature includes four books and numerous articles. She holds a PhD in English from the University of California (Irvine), and her dissertation contained a chapter on DRACULA. In fiction, she has written horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance, as well as sword-and-sorcery fantasy in collaboration with her husband, a retired naval officer. Recent publications include AGAINST THE DARK DEVOURER (Lovecraftian dark paranormal romance) and spring-themed light contemporary fantasy BUNNY HUNT. Her short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including the “Darkover” and “Sword and Sorceress” series. She and her husband live in Maryland and have four children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a St. Bernard, and two cats. Please visit Carter’s Crypt: http://www.margaretlcarter.com

Book preview

Picking her way along the constricted path, she darted her eyes from side to side, on guard for any aggressive move by the creatures. Some of them shifted on their perches as she passed but didn’t try to attack. Every few feet, shriveled husks of victims hung in the webbing—rats, one snake, and occasional remains she couldn’t identify because they were reduced to bones. Maybe the spiders posed no danger to people, if they nourished themselves on small animals. Preying on rats, they might even be beneficial. She still shrank from any risk of grazing the eight-legged creepy-crawlies whose red eyes stared so fixedly at her.

Her legs ached from navigating the slanted, twisting track by the time she came upon the next surprise. A vertical hole in the earth, about two feet wide and no more than five feet deep. She stopped short. Tree roots fringed its ragged edges. The trail disappeared into it with no side paths to choose from. A glance backward showed a veil of webs across her only possible retreat. The spiders couldn’t have spun the barrier that fast. More magic. Am I supposed to squeeze in there?

The voice whispered in her skull, weak with pain. Come to me.

By now she couldn’t deny the obvious identity of the summoner. It’s the rabbit woman.

Bunny Hunt

by

Margaret L. Carter

Jelly Beans and Spring Things Series

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Bunny Hunt

COPYRIGHT © 2022 by Margaret L. Carter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Jennifer Greeff

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Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Edition, 2023

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-4873-5

Jelly Beans and Spring Things Series

Published in the United States of America

Tucking the last of her jellybean-stuffed plastic eggs under a bush, Melanie glanced at the children starting to cluster at the edge of the playground for the Easter hunt. She’d arrived early to help hide the eggs and set up the signs dividing the area into sectors by age. Her thoughts kept straying from the neighborhood event, though, to that day’s ovulation thermometer reading. In the past few months, she’d charted her life by the rise and fall of those tenth-of-a-degree markings. A peak to signal the fertility zone, followed by the monthly fall to baseline a couple of days later, marking yet another failure. That very morning, the omens of her