It has been too long a time since Morgoth fed upon the fear of the Mansion Dwellers. He feels His power diminishing because of it, or perhaps it is that He needs it to feel alive ( Read more... )

[Spoiler (click to open)]He'd done it. Jack had asked his own father to kill him, to order his execution. Thomasina had said, "Your father wants for you a living death, to brick you into a wall with someone who loves you - who you can't stand the sight of... until you produce an heir, which Silas will take, and raise right this time ( Read more... )

It has been a time since the Mansion experienced any type of trouble. By the Dark Lord's account, the Crafty Vala's, far too long. From the void where He is confined, He observes, awaits an opportunity. His armies may be amassing, or not, He is not ready for an onslaught just yet ( Read more... )

It's Valentine's Day, one of the most clever holidays that the landen have invented, and being the great lover that he once was, Saetan finds it endearing. Really! And given the dire things that have happened in the recent past, the lovable old geezer has been rather bereft lately. Still, he's not about to brood on the past: his family may have ( Read more... )

It's been a few days since everything broke loose. Mansion dwellers counted their dead and their disappeared, mourned as they could, healed who could be healed, and treasures of creativity were found to shield everyone from the cold northern winds that blew over the grounds ever since the earth shook ( Read more... )

Neville wasn't a celibate hermit by choice, despite the fact he'd lived like one much of his first year at the Mansion. No, he'd been attracted to a few of the men he'd met, but he hadn't pursued it. When he'd first arrived, the sting of his last relationship was still too fresh; the betrayal by his lover had cut him deep ( Read more... )

It's a cold winter night, with a snowstorm howling outside. But inside, the library is toasty and warm, the light of the fire on the hearth dancing on the walls and ceilings and the spines of the books on the shelves, sending light and shadows flickering through the room ( Read more... )

Since the original notice of Titus's disappearance, Fuchsia Groan has lived in a fog.  She's barely eaten, and hasn't spent much time in her room.

Unlike what many would expect, there have not been hysterics.  Instead, she's cut herself off from everyone. It's not been intentionally obvious, more that she would be next to impossible to find.  She's ( Read more... )

It is a week after The Fischer Case, and Ariadne is cooking eggs in a friend's apartment in New York. She blinks and finds herself in another, completely unfamiliar kitchen, still frying eggs but on another completely unfamiliar stove. She is not so used to waking up in unexpected places out of nowhere that it doesn't startle her, causing her to ( Read more... )

It's winter; Karla's time of year.

She's spent so much time lately hiding, sitting in her room, sad and lonely and quiet, locked up with herself. She's done. She's done. That's never what she wanted, never what she thought she was, and that's not what she's going to be. Far from happy still, but she's made up her mind. She's moving on. Armand is ( Read more... )