Halloween Flash Fiction by Valerie Storm



“Don’t eat too much candy,” Kari warned weakly.

          “Ah, let them enjoy themselves!” Ari said with a laugh.

          Kia stood next to Valia and Lucien, her closest friends. She was dressed in feline ears and tail—something her Uncle Guine found distinctly hilarious, which made her happy—while Valia donned a mask lined with fake flowers and Lucien wore a dark cloak and sharp fangs.

          “We’ll be fine, Mama!” Kia said.

          “Guine said he’d watch us,” Lucien added innocently.

          “That’s part of what I’m worried about,” Kari muttered.

          “Go, have fun.” Ari looped an arm over Kari’s shoulder and pulled her close. “This is what the Night of Masks is for; dressing up and enjoying the cool nights.”

          “And the candied foods!” Lucien squealed.

          Valia smirked. “Yes. Those too.”

          Kia hopped once, then spun around. Her little fake cat tail—so much longer than her real, wolf one—flopped behind her. “Let’s go!”

          Valia, Lucien, and Kia scampered down the road into the thick of Freehaven. Fellow demons and humans meandered and ran up and down the roads, all adorned in costumes—scary, eye-grabbing, or simple. Stands were setup where the locals offered free, homemade foods and sweets. With her enhanced wolfish nose, Kia smelled candied apples, sweet roasted corn, savory legs of chicken, frozen cream, and more. Lucien lifted his nose toward the apples while Valia leaned for the chicken.

          Kia glanced between them and grinned. “Come on, let’s get some food!”

          The lines were long, so they split up: Valia went to get three legs of chicken while Lucien offered to buy them each a candied apple. Kia teetered between the options before finally choosing a stand offering honeyed cinnamon tea. The scent carried on a stray breeze, pulling her closer. She dug in her pocket for the meager money she’d saved for the Night of Masks—and barely had enough for two cups.

          Even so, Kia stepped forward. There was no one in line, after all, and the seller perked up as she approached.

          “Welcome!” they said in a croak of a voice—boyish, yet not one Kia recognized. Their face was covered by a crow mask.

          “Two teas, please. Is that honey and cinnamon?”

          “Only the best for a young wolf demon,” Crow Mask said. He ducked and shuffled around before producing two cups and a pot of steaming water.

          Kia watched as he poured the water into the cups, then added tightly packed bags of sprinkled herbs. Something about him noting that she was a wolf demon felt strange—not that it would have been very hard to notice she obviously wasn’t a cat demon, but most people in Freehaven did not make that distinction.

          Even so, Kia took the two cups when Crow Mask offered them.

          “Five silver,” he said with a smile that cut along the edge of his dark mask.

          Kia extended her hand. The silvers glittered in her palm—

          And then someone grabbed her by the wrist, someone tall and quite suddenly by her side.

          “Kia, put that tea down,” Guine said.

          “Uncle?” Kia gasped.

          Her Uncle Guine was a tall human—the tallest in Freehaven by far, she thought. He was also a legendary master of magic. He had shown Kia tons of tricks, yet she knew he had so many more things up his sleeve.

          The lower half of Crow Mask’s face flushed. “What is the meaning of—”

          In the blink of an eye, Guine snatched the cups of tea out of Kia’s hand, dumped them, and tossed them aside. “There’s been some word of hooligans slipping odd herbs into drinks to see what happens to the victim. Freehaven’s Council has been investigating, but hasn’t come up with any leads. So Kari requested my help.

          “And of course you’d show up on this night, when everyone’s excited and willing to buy just about anything for the festivities,” Guine growled.

          Crow Mask froze. Kia looked at him, then at Guine, then back at Crow Mask.

          Then the boy behind the stand flung bags into the air. Dust exploded, blinding Kia; she turned, covered her face with her arm, and coughed.

          “Don’t inhale too much!” Guine shouted. “Get back, find your friends! I’ll handle this.”

          Kia stumbled away, eager to do as he bid; her uncle would handle this. She just wanted to find her friends and maybe head back home. Her vision was blurry, her nose stung; she rubbed her eyes.

          She made it barely four steps before someone grabbed her by the arms. Valia’s cool hands encircled her biceps.

          “Kia! Are you okay?”

          “We heard a crash at that tea stand,” came Lucien’s voice.

          “Fine,” Kia mumbled. “Something about someone selling faulty tea. My eyes burn.” She rubbed them again.

          Valia gently pulled her hand away from her eyes. “Let’s go home. Your dad will have something for that.”

          “Here.” Lucien placed a clay bowl into her hands. “I got us apples!”

          “At least these are safe,” Kia said as she munched on a juicy, sticky, sweet slice of apple. “How could someone try to trick me like that?!”

          “People are strange,” Valia said, which was something she said often.

          “It’s okay,” Lucien said. “We have the whole rest of the night for the Night of Masks. Once your dad fixes your eyes up, we can head back out—and not try any strange teas.”

          “Yeah…yeah!” Kia agreed with a little more hop to her step.

          In the distance, her sharp ears picked up the sharp sounds of someone pleading forgiveness before their whines cut off. She was sure Uncle Guine wouldn’t seriously hurt someone, but she knew whoever they were, they wouldn’t make a mistake like tonight again.

          


Fate of the Storm
Demon Storm 
Book Eight
Valerie Storm

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Shadow Spark Publishing
Date of Publication: 5/13/2025
ISBN: 9781956883343 
ASIN: B0F4BD7X8Y
Number of pages: 374
Word Count:  97,896
Cover Artist: @Ginkahederling

Book Description:

The shadows have retreated with Raven's downfall, but darkness still curls at the edges of the world. For a moment, though, Kari and Ari have a moment of peace. There is a glimmer of light that threatens to wash away the darkness as they finally bind their fates together in a formal ceremony.

But Raven hasn't given up, and there's an older, crueler foe who hasn't forgotten Kari - the Lord of Demons, the very one who crafted the Catalyst which Raven sought to control, still trapped in an ancient Tree.

Kari's moment of joy comes to a halt as the world shakes and Taris is ripped apart.

Velthas has risen.
Bewitching Exclusive Excerpt: 

Zina scoffed. “If I had not treated you as an anomaly—if I had not taken the prophecy into consideration and been blinded by my own fool goals, would we be here?”

Kari approached her and leaned against the wall beside the window. “Something would have guided us here eventually,” she said. “That’s what Guine said. You really are arrogant if you think it’s all on you.”

Zina laughed, though it was tired and desperately lacking any amusement. “Maybe the Catalyst would have followed its fate. I certainly am not so full of myself that I would take all the blame for the wiles of destiny, if such a thing exists. But the fact is I made great leaps in the wrong direction not because I thought it was right, but because I was selfish.” She turned and looked at Kari with shadowed, gray eyes. “I am sorry for everything my actions put you through, Kari.”

Kari’s heart twisted. She cleared her throat. “An apology, from you?”

Zina smiled wryly. “You won’t get another.”

Kari’s tail twitched at the way she said that. “Thank you, Zina. I forgive you.”

Zina closed her eyes and turned to the window again.

“Zina…” Kari hesitantly started. “If there is something you know, something you think you have to prove…well.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “We saw your letters to Nova. We know you’ve been talking to the angels,” she said quickly before she could regret the words. “If Kinera—the Seraph of Nalmi—told you to do something…” Kari exhaled an annoyed breath. “Listen, we’re all in this together. Every single one of us has a task, and every single one of us is going to celebrate tomorrow after we’ve won. But that means we have to rely on each other, trust each other.”

Zina was quiet. Kari was afraid their talk would be over, replaced with defensive anger.

At last, Zina hummed. She dug her fingers into the window and shoved it up, allowing a freshly cool breeze to whip her hair out of place. “You always hated my secrets, Kari. I regret to inform you I rather enjoy them.” She smirked and a glint came to her gray eyes, a liveliness Kari hadn’t seen since they’d come back. “You will know everything you need to when it’s all over.”

“That’s not enough, Zina,” Kari insisted. “Whatever she’s asked you to do, you don’t have to. Or we can help you. I can—”

“If you could help me with this, I would gladly let you,” Zina said. “However, this is a burden I have carried for a long, long time. I have no regrets now. Do you understand, Kari?”

Kari opened her mouth, then closed it. She bit her lip. “Zina…”

“Whatever happens tomorrow,” Zina said firmly, “I have no regrets. Do you understand?”

She repeated the question in a tone made of steel; Kari had not heard her talk so since the days of her training.

“I understand,” she muttered. “But if I find an alternative, I’m taking it.”

Zina’s lips twitched into an almost-smile. “I expected nothing less.”

 

About the Author:

Valerie Storm was raised in Tucson, Arizona. Growing up, she fell in love with everything fantasy. When she wasn’t playing video games, she was writing. By age ten, she began to write her own stories as a way to escape reality. When these stories became a full-length series, she considered the path to sharing with other children and children-at/heart looking for a place to call home.











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1 comment:

  1. Elaine GMay 13, 2025 at 10:12 PM

    Thanks for sharing the excerpts. It sounds like a good book

    ReplyDelete

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