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Thorna,
Thank you for your lovely and deliciously dark tales. I wrote these two pieces for you and the butterflies watched me as I did so. They seemed to think the shorts weren’t completely awful, so hopefully you agree. And if not, it’s my turn to kiss, touch, and taste every inch of you tonight.
#1
I thump. I beat. I pump. A chest consumes my entire being. I’m surrounded by a sternum and two lungs, holding me prisoner. Her sound calls to me, but she’s hidden, too. Blood slithers and slides inside me, around me. Her pounding grows louder, and I need the precious song she sings. These layers and layers of membranes and muscles hold me back—a suit of skin I cannot slice through. For a moment, the suit of armor I’m buried in drifts closer to her person’s coating. She presses forward to touch me...
But then she’s gone.
#2
Colors flow through us, around us, inside us. Some days I choose to be purple, while other days I want to be green or yellow or red—maybe a combination thereof. As colors we can interweave and glide into shapes—falling together, holding ourselves together. We mingle, we love, we gather, we fold into one—as one. The dark lights up with any of us, while the obsidian protects and hides us. We are not only one, but many laced inside a web that will not be shredded, broken, or frayed.
Because the world is ours.
Love you through immortality,
Asher
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Want more dark and delicious tales? Try Dearest Clementine: Dark and Romantic Monstrous Tales now
Thank you so much for reading These Vicious Thorns!
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Subscribe to Candace’s Awesome Newsletter for the latest news and giveaways!
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Want more deliciously dark short stories? Try out Dearest Clementine: Dark and Romantic Monstrous Tales
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Beautiful. Unique. And utterly romantic.
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Clementine has been taken by a creature of darkness. Dorin is a fiend in love who must find Clementine before losing her forever. While on his desperate search, Dorin pens eight dark and romantic monstrous tales, written only for Clementine. Each story serves a purpose, and that is, do monsters have the ability to love, too?
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Check out Candace’s other books!
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Wicked Souls Duology
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Marked by Magic
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Cruel Curses Trilogy
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Faeries of Oz Series
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Cursed Hearts Duology
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Immortal Letters Duology
Dearest Clementine: Dark and Romantic Monstrous Tales
Dearest Dorin: A Romantic Ghostly Tale
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Campfire Fantasy Tales Series
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These Vicious Thorns: Tales of the Lovely Grim
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Vampires in Wonderland Series
Knave
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Demons of Frosteria Series
Acknowledgments
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I wanted to thank everyone who chose to pick up this anthology. Some of these stories may seem to not have the happiest of endings, but I promise you they do. Even if the words are finished, the characters’ stories are not. So I leave what happens next to you. A butterfly is said to not start out as a beautiful creature, but I believe a caterpillar is equally beautiful. A big shout out to Amber H., Amber D., Donna, Elle, Jerica, and Vic for helping me with these stories over the years. Now I want you to think about where your story is now and where you want it to lead you, dear friend.
About the Author
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Candace Robinson spends her days consumed by words and hoping to one day find her own DeLorean time machine. Her life consists of avoiding migraines, admiring Bonsai trees, watching classic movies, and living with her husband and daughter in Texas—where it can be forty degrees one day and eighty the next.
