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Best First Line Contest Round Two!
This contest is closed to new entries! Only those whose entries are posted below are invited to post again.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the first round of the contest. We never anticipated such an amazing response. You made the choosing tough!
We have approximately 90 entries moving on to round two. There are currently 7 acquiring editors at Samhain so they are the judges of who moves on to the next round. I assembled all sorts of interesting statistics from this first round of judging that I’ll share at a later date but the most interesting one is this: No one line was chosen by more than five of the seven editors.
Below, I’ve posted the comment # and the line. If your line is one of those posted, you have until noon on Friday to post, in the comments, both your first and second line. You must post both the first and second line, but no more than that or your entry will be disqualified.
Hint: Watch your spelling, punctuation and grammar. We are!
1 Even dead men need good music.
2 It was on a deceptively average Wednesday morning that Deacon Styles found himself in a situation he was sure no etiquette book had ever addressed.
5 Aneirin saved my life the day I met him, and saved it twice again before he finally killed me.
6 “Are you in love with someone from another planet and having problems because of differences in customs, diet, or anatomy?”
10 “How the hell am I gonna explain a dead body in the middle of my lawn?”
11 “You’re saying the only guy you’ve ever had sex with was that creep you were engaged to?”
14 Bubble bath made terrible camouflage.
15 Alexa Ranger knew when she was three years old that one day she’d meet a dragon.
17 Smoke snaked on languid currents around the sweat-glistening bodies of his clan—more than the people of his blood, they were now his responsibility.
21 Sebastian knew he was in hell the moment he stepped through the door—and it was exactly where he wanted to be.
24 “That is not a Hans Holbein painting.”
26 Twelve inches separated Dr. Brad Berkowitz from heaven.
29 When the nightclub owner grabbed my butt for the fifth time, I turned him into a toad and walked out of the smoky, dingy club.
31 The greatest king of Scotland, dead for nearly a thousand years, would be reborn through a woman’s dreams.
37 “The dog shoplifts.”
40 “Amy, grab your tranq kit, we’ve got a problem.”
46 Forget how fast he can fly or whether he’s from the southern or northern region of Avian or even the size of his cock.
48. Stalking someone was far easier said than done.
50. When the media called Michael Brannon the big bad wolf of the courtroom, they had no idea just how close to the truth they were.
54 It was the kind of day that poets never write about.
55 Sometime in the next ten hours, Riley thought, they’d make land, or Mandalay would sink to the bottom.
57 Massaging the man of steel is murder, and I don’t mean just on the elbows.
61. I wouldn’t have seen the flyer if the mailbox hadn’t been on fire.
63. Judith sat watching the incoming tide lap over her red toenails and wet the brilliant white lace of her wedding gown.
66. Stalked by beautiful women would be most men’s fantasy dream, but it was Finn MacIntyre’s most terrifying nightmare and was only too real.
68. Except for being dead, he looked like every other tall, dark and drunk guy in the bar.
71 “My father wants me to get married and have babies, and I want you for that job.”
73 “This man…this man,” the high pitched voice squealed in shrill outrage, “is pleasuring five women at once!”
74. “She cannot be crowned; her wings are bound.”
75. Claw marks separated the shirt into three pieces.
81. Do you think I won’t find you?
82. When I was five I wanted to be a ballerina.
83. In dreams, he pushed her away.
84 “The next time I take my clothes off, Clayton Walter, you better damn well mean business.”
85 It was just more proof that the universe continually had too much fun at her expense.
86 Fifty cents secured the last private room at the 46th Street hotel, but the musty sheets and the brazen frolic of mice under the bed left Sutton thinking he should have saved the change and slept on the sidewalk.
89 Science probably used thousands of words to describe the beauty and horror of colossal star pulsing in its final moments before going supernovae, but as a linguist, a preservationist, Esmé Domair could think of none.
97. “Do all your patients try to kill you?”
102. He had barely touched her when it triggered.
108 “Good evening, madam,” he said, as he approached with the drink tray, and shot her.
114 It’s hard to have a life when you’re the Angel of Death.
118. The message on her office e-mail popped up in bold, red font: DON’T LOOK NOW!
119 Just when Christine Abernathy thought life couldn’t get any worse, her umbrella collapsed.
120 One night in Paris was enough for me.
127 Go find him — the dragon— he will tell you all you need to know, he will help you.
128 The early spring day started out sunny and normal – not the kind of day that would end with me soaking wet and curled up in the trunk of my own car.
131 It had been a long time coming.
134 Sometimes even an angel of death needed to stop and ask for directions, Marissa told herself, the hilt of her death sword pressing into her shoulder.
140. In the midst of an eerie stillness that had settled over the sleepy Oceanfront town of Johnstown, an empty swing creaked back and forth beckoning the town children to play.
144 Lois’s youthful glow, natural beauty and perfect teeth had Maggie wanting to barf.
151 What have you gotten yourself into?
153 “I tried to tell you I wasn’t cut out to be a soul sucking bitch.”
156 Sam felt the engine sputter and then die — exactly according to plan.
163 The son of a bitch was going to kill her with sex…again, but what else could she expect from a rogue sex demon.
167. Sleeping Beauty has never been my hero.
168 An ordinary person would consider a lack of vampires to be a good thing.
171 Aveline Bell looked at the fat, smiling Buddha sitting on top of her flatscreen monitor and glared back at him.
172. Such darkness, he had never known.
175 The demons were playing the penny game outside Ardagh’s again.
176 The Reverend Mother used to tell acolytes that if men were going to brawl, they should at least be naked and glistening with oil.
178. The child on the bench puzzled me.
180. The gown was the hue of aged claret, dark, rich, intentionally brutal in the colorless surroundings.
181. Tory, six years old and often overlooked, lay on her stomach in the grass, propped on her elbows, paying no attention to the green grass stains smudging the front of her blue sundress.
188 “You have made a grave mistake, god or no god.”
189. Half awake, Sabine felt incredibly relaxed — until a lazy stretch nearly toppled her off the sturdy tree branch supporting her naked body.
191 They say that when you find something you desire, you must seize it with both hands or forever live with your regrets.
194 If it kept her in Hollywood, Robin could cope with his incessantly trilling BlackBerry and his kiwi-flaxseed smoothies — but she drew the line at fluffing Mr. Bird’s feathers.
195 If there was one thing that Kelly Rawlins knew, it was that when you got home from work on a Friday night, you were not supposed to find the man that took your virginity and dumped you the next day sitting on your couch.
200 Alethia Goodsky gave all things supernatural a wide berth—and Madame Giselle reeked of magic.
202 I forgot to breathe the minute I set eyes on him, as if by not exhaling I could savor the image.
207 Usually, the sight of Tobias on his knees sent Kellen’s senses into overdrive.
211. Kristair was there, just outside my window.
212 She stared at the splendid male in front of her and thought how bizarre it was that she should be contemplating paying for his services on a full-time basis.
215. They were still chasing her; she could feel them just as she felt her horse’s heartbeat echoing through pounding hooves.
217 Egraen sat with her back to a stone, elbows lightly braced on her knees, and waited for the evening to turn to shit.
218 When he was done, she’d be the greatest whore in all Christendom.
228 “I’m not the kind of girl you can just run up and lick.”
232 The damned walls would’ve burst into flames if not for Aedan’s rigid control of his Sru.
234 It’s frightening how similar a wistful smile is to a bitter one.
235 “Darling,” my mother drawled, adjusting the bodice of the dress to get it to lie flat, “I told you that you don’t have enough of a bust to hold up a strapless gown.”
237 Only one thing could have brought her back to Vienna from her self-imposed exile—Mozart’s death.
238 On an average day in the US, you would never walk out your front door and find a llama waiting for you.
241 “We’re going to go shopping for men.”
255 To speak the word is to invoke power.
257 I was standing there naked when a dead man sauntered into my bathroom.
260. Seated across the bar from Mariana was her target, the most dangerous pirate in the galaxy.
265 The single advantage to being ruined was that it made one’s lesser shortcomings easier to overlook.
266 The letter arrived three days before Christmas, blown in on a bleak Oklahoma day by unkind fate.
267 Charlotte Richardson didn’t think even Death had the balls to take on her father.
268 Dr. Chiana Moore watched in amazement as the unconscious wolf became an unconscious man.
271 Rosalind’s butter-yellow silk gown made her stand out from the crowd of black-clad sophisticates like a baby chick amid a murder of hungry crows.
Entry 235
“Darling,” my mother drawled, adjusting the bodice of the dress to get it to lie flat, “I told you that you don’t have enough of a bust to hold up a strapless gown.”
“Her breasts are firm, Mrs. Gibson,” Mai-Ling said.
YAY! Coolness!!! Okay, here’s mine:
“That is not a Hans Holbein painting.”
Startled by the deep voice, I jerked my head up from the massive pile of paperwork on my desk, glancing at the guy leaning casually in my office doorway.
I wouldn’t have seen the flyer if the mailbox hadn’t been on fire.
Well, only the post was burning, but there were actual flames.
Chris Redding
Entry 266:
The letter arrived three days before Christmas, blown in on a bleak Oklahoma day by unkind fate. Maria didn’t recognize the return address, but did recognize the sender’s name, although they hadn’t been in touch for years.
#119
Just when Christine Abernathy thought life couldn’t get any worse, her umbrella collapsed. Icy Oklahoma rain cascaded down her head, drenching her clothes through the heavy winter coat.
“Amy, grab your tranq kit, we’ve got a problem.”
Amy Johnson smiled, she should be ashamed of her reaction, but she’d signed up for ER rotation for one reason and it sure as hell wasn’t to impress the male doctors.
#10 Thank you for this opportunity.
“How the hell am I gonna explain a dead body in the middle of my lawn?” I watched the fur fall from his broken corpse in thick clumps.
#11
“You’re saying the only guy you’ve ever had sex with was that creep you were engaged to?”
Madison Carlisle hushed her friend and quickly cast a furtive glance around the crowded Boston bar.
Thank you! # 257:
I was standing there naked when a dead man sauntered into my bathroom.
Sauntered – not shambled – that was the second frightening thing.
Entry 211 – Thank you :-)
Kristair was there, just outside my window. It was more than his eyes on me through the glass, a gaze I sensed without having to look, it was the raw desire which swept through me whenever he neared.
#83
In dreams, he pushed her away. Never with much force and always with anguish darkening his fair features, but the rejection stung just the same.
Entry #5:
Aneirin saved my life the day I met him, and saved it twice again before he finally killed me. It’s a chance encounter: I’m in a seedy little pub on the edge of Montmartre, drowning my sorrows in a pint of ale, when a stranger sits down next to me and slings his arm around my shoulders like we’re old friends.
“This man…this man,” the high pitched voice squealed in shrill outrage, “is pleasuring five women at once!”
The open condemnation of the entire Spirit High Council could not repress the swell of warm pride in Sarky Mitchell’s heart.
#15
Alexa Ranger knew when she was three years old that one day she’d meet a dragon. A gold one.
Twelve inches separated Dr. Brad Berkowitz from heaven. Twelve inches, and a little thing called medical ethics.
#140 Thanks for the opportunity!
In the midst of an eerie stillness that had settled over the sleepy oceanfront town of Johnstown, an empty swing creaked back and forth beckoning the town children to play.
The only semblance of normalcy existed in old man Pillars’ presence out front of the local bookstore, his wise old eyes alert, his gaze darting up and down the empty cobblestone street.
Entry #31
The greatest king of Scotland, dead for nearly a thousand years, would be reborn in a woman’s dreams.
Malise looped her needle through the glittering warp and weft of her tapestry, embroidering the resurrection of her favorite monarch.
#21 – Thanks Samhain!!!
Sebastian knew he was in hell the moment he stepped through the door—and it was exactly where he wanted to be. The smell of rum and smoke permeated the room but every few moments, the thick salty air would blow the stench of rotting fish into the open windows.
Smoke snaked on languid currents around the sweat-glistening bodies of his clan-more than the people of his blood, they were now his responsibility. With the council in transition, Croma was claiming his rightful place as a tribal guardian.
#131,
It had been a long time coming.
Margie McKeever had known before the night had even begun that it would end up like this.
“The dog shoplifts.”
Sandra Morton eyeballed the German Shepherd sitting on the sidewalk outside her house — a glossy, black-and-tan, big-boned beauty and, according to Seeing Eye liaison Tom Crane, a terminal kleptomaniac.
#89
Science probably used thousands of words to describe the beauty and horror of colossal star pulsing in its final moments before going supernovae, but as a linguist, a preservationist, Esmé Domair could think of none. The holographic images alone reduced her to a respectful silence, but the knowledge that she would soon be within distance to observe the phenomenon first hand gave her a particular chill of fear.
Entry # 188 “You have made a grave mistake, god or no god.”
Wow, I’m excited. :D
Ok, here goes:
“You have made a grave mistake, god or no god.”
The remainder of Tamara’s words were lost in the haze of Amunkha’s fury.
#238
On an average day in the US, you would never walk out your front door and find a llama waiting for you. The sun shone like a ball of white fire overhead, making me squint at the tequila bottle in my hand for a moment, but no, not a hallucination — he still stood right beside my trailer, wearing a straw hat and aviator glasses.
Entry #189
Half awake, Sabine felt incredibly relaxed — until a lazy stretch nearly toppled her off the sturdy tree branch supporting her naked body.
Naked?
Entry # 144
Lois’s youthful glow, natural beauty and perfect teeth had Maggie wanting to barf.
“You’re forty and fabulous,” Lois said, her perfectly manicured hands resting on her pregnant belly.
Entry 268:
Dr. Chiana Moore watched in amazement as the unconscious wolf became an unconscious man.
“Holy crap — I hit a-a werewolf!” she breathed, the tranq gun slipping from nerveless fingers.
#218
When he was done, she’d be the greatest whore in all Christendom.
If they’d been in London, her body might have already been sold to the highest bidder.
Entry number 207
Melinda B.
Usually, the sight of Tobias on his knees sent Kellen’s senses into overdrive. Today, however, it royally pissed him off.
Entry #14:
Bubble bath made terrible camouflage.
Myra St. James tilted her legs, trying to get the fast- disappearing bubbles to better cover her lower half.
#234
It’s frightening how similar a wistful smile is to a bitter one. A small turn of the lips, a twinkle of the eye hardening to glass.
Entry #66.
Stalked by beautiful women would be most men’s fantasy dream, but it was Finn MacIntyre’s most terrifying nightmare and was only too real. He shuttered with the memory of the most recent act of lunacy.
Massaging the man of steel is murder, and I don’t mean just on the elbows. Five years as the exclusive masseuse for the Greater Seattle Superheroes Alliance taught me that lesson well.
#29
When the nightclub owner grabbed my butt for the fifth time, I turned him into a toad and walked out of the smoky dingy club.
I wasn’t worried about him—the spell would wear off in a few hours—but I hadn’t counted on my mother, Calliope, coming to chew me out.
Entry #74:
“She cannot be crowned; her wings are bound.”
Folding his arms over his chest, Andirk glared at the late King’s highest-ranking councilman and said, “Rhuigra is the Princess.
#54
It was the kind of day that poets never write about. Jimothy could think of half a dozen ballads, at least four epic poems, two sonnets, and a limerick, all of which related to the weather, but none of them recounted the sort of relentless drizzle that had assailed him since before dawn.
Wow! ok, 178:
The child on the bench puzzled me. Her long, powder blue party dress and matching bonnet did not seem appropriate for the carnival at all.
Claw marks separated the shirt into three pieces.
Dark green blood dripped from the ends, hitting the cement in an annoyingly cheerful beat.
#82
When I was five I wanted to be a ballerina. By my tenth birthday that had changed to pop star.
#128
The early spring day started out sunny and normal – not the kind of day that would end with me soaking wet and curled up in the trunk of my own car. But my life lately has been anything but normal.#194
If it kept her in Hollywood, Robin could cope with his incessantly trilling BlackBerry and his kiwi-flaxseed smoothies — but she drew the line at fluffing Mr. Bird’s feathers.
When the producer had charged her with “watching the boss’s tail,” Robin had assumed she meant the phrase in a figurative, cover-his-ass sense – not literally trailing behind him with an armful of rainbow-dyed ostrich plumes, like a bridesmaid in some drag-queen wedding.
#151
What have you gotten yourself into?
Ariel Richards stared out the window of her luxury room across the expanse of well-tended gardens to the looming mountain chain in the distance.
#127
Go find him — the dragon — he will tell you all you need to know, he will help you.
Something was chasing her.
“The next time I take my clothes off, Clayton Walter, you better damn well mean business.” “Ouch!” Clay bellowed as Marci’s elbow jabbed his gut.
#102
He had barely touched her when it triggered. A fiery blackness shrouded his vision, burned through his chest, and smothered his heart.
#108
“Good evening, madam,” he said, as he approached with the drink tray, and shot her. It would have been rude to finish the workday without a simple social convention.
#85
It was just more proof that the universe continually had too much fun at her expense. Somewhere along the line, for reasons yet unknown, the Joker had stacked the deck again and given her the number that lived in infamy.
#46
Forget how fast he can fly or whether he’s from the southern or northern region of Avian or even the size of his cock.
Standing at the base of Mount Toren, with her mother’s words echoing in her head, Adria trained an eager gaze on the male standing poised for flight on the cliff high above her.
Thanks!
Entry #6
“Are you in love with someone from another planet and having problems because of differences in customs, diet, or anatomy? Find your lifeline in ‘Aphrodite’s Advice to the Alien Lovelorn’, featured in Your Truth at newsstands everywhere.”
#86
Fifty cents secured the last private room at the 46th Street hotel, but the musty sheets and the brazen frolic of mice under the bed left Sutton thinking he should have saved the change and slept on the sidewalk. Awakened in the wee hours by a pounding at the door, he was convinced of it.
Entry # 180
The gown was the color of aged claret, dark, rich, intentionally brutal in the colorless surroundings. It was the color of blood clotting in still night air, of shock, and of pleasure at its most arcane.
Entry# 228
“I’m not the kind of girl you can just run up and lick.” Delilah held up a hand to fend off the rodent bathing her face with love.
Entry #68
Except for being dead, he looked like every other tall, dark and drunk guy in the bar. Police detective Rick Morgan glanced at the knife and the puddle of blood and knew the guy slumped in the chair, whoever he was, would not be getting lucky tonight.
# 114
It’s hard to have a life when you’re the Angel of Death.
Aletta shimmered into the center of Orlando, metamorphosed into her usual human form dressed in faded jeans and blue top and took a deep breath, watching and waiting as more people died.
Judith sat watching the incoming tide lap over her red toenails and wet the brilliant white lace of her wedding gown. Tears caused it all to blur to pink.
#212
She stared at the splendid male in front of her and it occurred to her that she’d never paid for it before. She’d also never been in such dire need before and this was the birthday present she’d promised herself each day as she struggled to build her business.
Sam felt the engine sputter and then die — exactly according to plan.
Of course, this may not have been his best plan ever.
#118
The message on her office e-mail popped up in bold, red font: DON’T LOOK NOW!
Eva cursed her compulsion to turn on that damn you’ve got mail symbol as she flung open her office door and peered toward reception.
“My father wants me to get married and have babies, and I want you for that job.”
Iris Bellows looked up from the folder she was absorbed in, surprised to see a strange man in her lab babbling on about her having his babies, and pressed the alarm button with her toe.
With sincere apologies, here is the correct version of my entry. Please delete the incorrect version. Thanks so much.
#212
She stared at the splendid male in front of her and thought how bizarre it was that she should be contemplating paying for his services on a full-time basis. She’d also never been in such dire need before and this was the birthday present she’d promised herself each day as she struggled to build her business.
Entry 237—
Only one thing could have brought her back to Vienna from her self-imposed exile—Mozart’s death. The haunting, stringed lilt of his Requiem Mass played through the bitter metallic tang of her rage, a fitting mental accompaniment to the pulse of revenge already stirring in her blood.
Even dead men need good music. Sean searched through the stacks of vinyl for something more suitable for Jon than the soft rock sounds whimpering out of the living room stereo.
Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity.
#195
If there was one thing that Kelly Rawlins knew, it was that when you got home from work on a Friday night, you were not supposed to find the man that took your virginity and dumped you the next day sitting on your couch. So when she saw Jake Caine lounging against the cushions, his eyes caressing her with wicked delight, she froze for what felt like an eternity before her gaping mouth closed with an audible snap.
I forgot to breathe the minute I set eyes on him, as if by not exhaling I could savor the image. Crazy, maybe, but if you’d seen him in the hotel that day, you would have been breathless too.
Entry 168
An ordinary person would consider a lack of vampires to be a good thing. I, however, could only think of three increasingly terrifying reasons for their disappearance.
#2 – Thanks, Samhain!
It was on a deceptively average Wednesday morning that Deacon Styles found himself in a situation he was sure no etiquette book had ever addressed. After all, it wasn’t every day a Crainesian sat in a business meeting, his wife at his side, and stared straight into the eyes of the one woman destiny had decreed his life mate.
#97
“Do all your patients try to kill you?” Although Molly Ferris’ right thumb twitched toward the panic button hidden beneath her desk, she tried to maintain her neutral therapist’s façade, asking, “What do you mean?”Retyping #97 so it can be seen:
“Do all your patients try to kill you?” Although Molly Ferris’ right thumb twitched toward the panic button hidden beneath her desk, she tried to maintain her neutral therapist’s facade, asking, “What do you mean?”Entry #50:
Emma Petersen
When the media called Michael Brannon the big bad wolf of the courtroom, they had no idea just how close to the truth they were. The crowd parted automatically as he stalked me, the nightclub patrons scurrying out of his way like prey they didn’t realize they were.
#217
Egraen sat with her back to a stone, elbows lightly braced on her knees, and waited for the evening to turn to shit. On the opposite side of the fire, Kaemon—the source of her unease—sprawled like a colossal hummock of muscle and bone, grinning with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Thank you! Entry #48
Stalking someone was far easier said than done. A fact now glaringly obvious to Danni Summers as she sped along I-95, turning up the volume on the radio to hear the latest information on the whereabouts of her prey.
Thank you – Entry #267
Charlotte Richardson didn’t think even Death had the balls to take on her father. She was wrong, but then one never expects a heartless bastard like Augustus Richardson to die.
#176
The Reverend Mother used to tell acolytes that if men were going to brawl, they should at least be naked and glistening with oil.
Leda’s money was on the hulking brute with the Cydian blade, but right now she needed the other guy to win.
#172
Such darkness, he had never known. In all the centuries of his long life, the wizard had never felt anything as loathsome as this.
Entry 241:
“We’re going to go shopping for men.”
My so-called friend Julie Davis resembles Robin Williams on coke, skipping and dancing on the sidewalk in front of my apartment building, waving an issue of Philadelphia Weekly, and taking another swig of the Moet and Chandon she only believes she can afford.
# 260 — Thanks!
Seated across the bar from Mariana was her target, the most dangerous pirate in the galaxy. He was here now, weeks before she’d expected him to take the bait, and neither his decade-long reputation nor the grainy holos in his Unipol dossier had prepared her for the sheer physical presence of the man.
#255
To speak the word is to invoke power. The primal essence of the earth, that makes the impossible plausible and turns reality into dreams.
Entry #120
One night in Paris was enough for me.
Then again, finding two dead bodies and meeting up with an assassin and a den of thieves would be more than anyone would want to experience in one night.
Awesome contest!
#163 The son of a bitch was going to kill her with sex…_again_, but what else could she expect from a rogue sex demon. Even while Cassandra “Raven” Caledre reveled in the feel of Fallyn’s perfect body gliding against her naked flesh, she lifted the ceremonial dagger, determined to kill him before the demon finished releasing her soul.
Thanks. ;-)
Entry #232—
The damned walls would’ve burst into flames if not for Aedan’s rigid control of his Sru. Even so, tendrils of power evaded his grasp to let wicked fire lick the hallway.
#81
Do you think I won’t find you?
Kendra Douglas jerked awake, almost feeling Adam’s heavy breath on her neck.
Thanks!
Entry #271
Rosalind’s butter-yellow silk gown made her stand out from the crowd of black-clad sophisticates like a baby chick amid a murder of hungry crows. Lost in a shifting sea of beautiful faces, she looked for her escort, but saw only tanned skin, white teeth, and greedy gazes that tracked her path through the ballroom the way ordinary party guests would have tracked the waiter with the best tray of hors d’oeuvre.
The single advantage to being ruined was that it made one’s lesser shortcomings easier to overlook. Charlotte knew a well-mannered houseguest wouldn’t go wandering about below stairs, but after three hours and thirteen unsuccessful attempts to summon a servant, she was going to have to overlook either her sense of good breeding or her supper.
“I tried to tell you I wasn’t cut out to be a soul sucking bitch.” Melody avoided her boss’ compelling eyes, afraid of the look.
(Sorry, I missed the deadline…but thought I’d post anyway :( )
Entry #134
Sometimes even an angel of death needed to stop and ask for directions, Marissa told herself, the hilt of her death sword pressing into her shoulder. Seattle’s misty grayness was cool, soft as slate silk as twilight settled on the piers as Marissa walked in search of her first soul collection.