Vexed()

Rachel Caine

And now, we have our next original short story … and another one for Myrnin, because Cassie wanted it that way! Technically, it’s Myrnin and Oliver, who have a strange affinity, mostly because they’re both capable of being utterly weird and cruel when pushed, but also capable of kindness, too. Myrnin’s kindness is on display here, but so is his weirdness, and Oliver’s cruelty. A little of everything, and a creepy tale of a pursuit that ends in a sinister house with secrets, ghosts, lies, and monsters.
Some of the monsters, they’ve brought in with them.
Fun factoid: I borrowed (as I am prone to do, with vampire tales) from history for this, specifically the gruesome story of the Bloody Benders, who ran a combination store/traveller’s inn, with murder on the side, in 1870s Kansas. The names I used were correct to that period, and I have a fondness for bizarre names, having great-aunts named Pearly Lake and Precious Jewel in my family tree. Rumour says there was also a relative named Holy Bible, but I can’t swear to that one.