The blaze from the trees spreads to tablecloths and crepe paper - a chain reaction so brilliantly spectacular and terrible, I ache to be a part of it...to devour and destroy,then relish in the plunder.I could do it.I could stand here amid the flames,let them lap at my skin,and laugh in a death-defying haze - because they belong to me. I could watch the world crumble and then dance,triumphant,in the snowfall of ash left behind.All I have to do is set the power free. Escape the chains of my humanity,let madness be my guide.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Destruction Fire Flame Wonderland

Now, you listen, Alyssa Victoria Gardner. Normal is subjective. Don't ever let anyone tell you you're not normal. Because you are to me. And my opinion is all that matters. Got it?

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Splintered Sweet

Salty tears stream down my face—coating my lips as I mutter senseless apologies for so many things. So many irreversible things.Morpheus peels the vines off and lifts me, cradling me to his chest.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Alyssa Aplogize Cc Comfort Crying Morpheus Shock

I hold on to the nape of Morpheus’s neck, burying my face in his jacket. Nikki and Chessie burrow into my hair. I inhale Morpheus’s scent. It’s the only thing I recognize, the only thing that’s safe.He carries me back to the well-lit room and sets me gently on the table. I can’t stop trembling. My throat aches from holding back sobs.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Alyssa Comfort Emotional Morpheus

I don’t want to blend,” Etalon whispered. “I want to belong.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Opera Paris Romance Urban Fantasy Ya Romance

He’d walked as a ghost in the gloomy bowels of this opera house for so long, darkness had become his brother, which was fitting, since his father was the night, and sunlight their forgotten friend.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Fractured Retelling Opera Phantom Of The Opera Psychic Vampires Urban Fantasy Violin

He appears close to my age. The left half of his face stands out beneath the hood: one side of plump lips, one squared angle of a chin. Two coppery-colored eyes look back at me – bright and metallic. The sight makes me do a double take. As far as he is from the car, I shouldn’t be able to make out the color, yet they glimmer in the shadow of his cape, like pennies catching a flashlight’s glare in a deep well.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Fractured Retelling Opera Phantom Of The Opera Psychic Vampires Urban Fantasy

It's great to have him watching my back without standing in my way.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Alyssa Independence

He had you in his room? A dark cloud crosses Jeb’s face. “Do you swear he didn’t try anything?”“Scout’s honor.”He squeezes my waist, tickling me. “Too bad you were never a Scout.”I squirm and smile. “Nothing happened.”That’s a lie. Morpheus got to me in a big way, showing me a side of myself I can hardly believe exists—one I’m not sure Jeb will be able to accept.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Affect Alyssa Jeb Lie Morpheus Nothing Happened Room Scout

Oh, I stand by that statement, little blossom. For you see, there’s the chance you will break down and come between the two of you. Every night we’re together, I will tempt you to the edge of madness. I will tease you to torments. You will have to earn Jebediah’s happy life by being strong and unbending, as all good queens should be. Though this night, I’m giving you a lull.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Break Strong Tease Tempt

He stretches languorously under me, and the silvery scar on his abdomen catches the light, that telltale mark from Sister Two when he fought her inside Butterfly Threads just weeks ago. When he almost died to help me and Jeb escape. But I didn’t let him die, because I couldn’t imagine a world without him.I can’t imagine a future without him, either. Not anymore.

~ A.g. Howard

A.g. Howard Alyssa Die Morpheus Scar Without Him