Accidental Demon Slayers: Clare and the Ghost Hunter pt. 3

The darkness surrounded her completely.  As far as her eyes were concerned she was in a complete void.  Her other senses had to take over.  Her sense of smell, her sense of touch and her hearing all had to be on high alert.  

The thrill of the impending fight made her heart race.  Even after all these years, the promise of a fight still excited her.  

"Aren't you handsome."  The voice was feminine, smooth.  It traveled through the void like silk.  "I'm so glad you came to visit me.  It's so lonely here."  

Clare listened closely, trying to find the location of the woman's voice.  It was ahead of her and fairly close.  Slowly Clare stepped forward, testing the ground with the toe of her pumps before shifting her weight.  The last thing she needed to do was fall through the floor and break her legs.  

"Pl... Please..." Max's voice was shaking, "I just came up here on a dare.  I... I..."  

"Oh, but this is destiny, don't you see? "  The woman's voice seemed to purr.  "You were made for me... Max."  When she spoke his name, the woman's voice seemed to drip with menace.  

Clare was getting closer.  She could sense the heat and fear that seemed to drift through the thick, inky air.  

A small glimmer of light seemed to break through the darkness.  Clare could barely make out what she was seeing, but she knew that whatever was glowing was where she needed to be.  

As she got closer she could make out the outline of a charred doorway.  Clare took a deep breath, giving her eyes time to adjust to the light.  

"Here we go."  She braced herself and stepped into the room.  

The room itself was lit in warm, seductive lighting.  The walls seemed untouched by the fires that had ravaged the rest of the wing.  They were covered in rich, red velvet and gold.  The furniture was all brown leather, and in perfect condition.  At the back of the room was a large, round, bed.  The bed was surrounded by white, opaque drapes.  

"Why are you fighting me?"  The voice was soft, playful.  "Don't you think I'm beautiful Max?"  

Clare moved quickly towards the bed, pulling the drapes open.  

Max was lying on the bed, his eyes wide with fear, and his shirt ripped open.  A ghostly pale hand was slowly twirling the light patch of hair of Max's chest.  That hand was attached to a woman, or at least something that appeared to be at least 50% woman. 

The creature's upper half was almost stunning.  Her arms were long and slender, her face a perfect, pale pixie.  Her long black hair was perfectly straight and hung down, cover her bare breasts.  Her bangs cut in a straight line just over her long lashed eyes.  Her skin was almost perfectly white, but her lips were a stunning shade of bright red, and her long nails seemed to glint silver in the candlelight.   

Clare's eyes scanned lower, and farther down she got the more the woman's beauty faded.  Her lower half was a mess of black, oozing tentacles that seemed to writhe and pulse in anticipation.  Some of them were flicking at Max's body, wrapping around his legs and arms.  One trailed along his cheek, causing him to flinch in terror.  

Clare had to hold back a laugh at the site.  Max was terrified, cowering as the succubus swooned over him.   

"Well, what do we have here?"  Clare smirked.  "Succubus, right?"  

"Bingo." The woman smiled. Her smile quickly faded, "and I don't do chicks."  Her voice was a vicious hiss.  

The succubus tossed Max aside, flinging him off the bed, and flung herself at Clare.  Clare countered, going into a spin kick that hit the creature square in the chest, hurling her back at the bed. 

"Too bad.  You're missing out."  Clare sunk back into a defense pose as the succubus hissed at her.  

"Bitch!"  She launched herself again, her tentacles working like springs, sending her flying int the air.  Her long, silver nails slashed for Clare's face.  

Clare bobbed and weaved, doing her best to avoid the razor sharp claws.  This creature was out of practice, and the fire had taken away most of her strength.  That much was obvious to Clare.  It also made sense why all the people who had gone insane while staying in this wing were straight men.  This wing was her source of food, and of power.  She had attached herself here, praying on weak willed men for years.

Now that the wing was shut down, she had lost her food supply, and the fire had ensured that her link to this world was near destroyed. This creature was pitiful.  

Max was watching the fight, his jaw hanging open, his eyes wide.  Clare could tell from the faint smell of urine in the air that he was terrified.  

"I think I've scared him long enough." Clare reached behind her, grabbing a chair, and snapping off one of the legs.  

"I just want to feed!"  The creature looked crazed.  Her pupils were pin pricks.  Spit foamed at the corners of her mouth.  "Just let me feed!"  

"Feed on this."  Clare thrust the chair leg forward, jamming it into the succubus's mouth, and out the back of her head.  The sharp, splintered wood was burst through the creature's skull, spraying the room in a thick cover of black gore. 

The creature began to thrash, her tentacles whipping at the air.  Then, she went limp, falling to the floor with a thud.  

As the life drained out of her, the room around Clare and Max began to fade, returning to it's old fashioned, burned out shell.  

Clare turned towards Max, smiling as big as could be.  "Well, at least you only pissed yourself."  

Accidental Demon Slayers: Clare and the Ghost Hunter pt. 2

Clare had sensed the presence the second she had stepped into the hotel.  

Every building has its ghosts and demons, especially hotels.  How many people had lived there, died there?  She had been trained since she was a child to recognize these beings, to feel them, to know them, to track them.  Her whole life she had been forced to maintain a connection with the other side, the dead and demonic.  

Clare led the way off the rickety old elevator, down the dark, crumbling hallway.  The north wing of the hotel was under construction.  Had been for a very long time.  

She had done her research before coming to the conference, and this particular wing had a very "fun" history.  A man  slaughtered his entire family, a bachelor party that ended in mass murder, a handful of suicides and one arsonist.  

That arsonist was the reason this wing was in the shape it was in.  He apparently had gone stark raving mad and had attempted, and almost succeeded, in taking the whole place down with him.  

According to the reports Clare had read, the man's last words were, "she made me do it."  The question was, who was she? 

"Watch your step.  The floor has been mostly finished, but there are still some weak spots."  Clare moved smoothly over the boards, side stepping the potential threats with ease.  

Max was having a considerably harder time.  His drunk feet were failing him, and he nearly fell through the floor several times.  "I'll give you this.  You know how to pick a place with atmosphere."  

Clare shook her head.  "That's all you think it is, don't you?  An aesthetic."  

"It makes for good TV.  I know that much."  He sped up his pace so that he was walking side by side with Clare.  "Throw in a night vision camera, maybe some screwy audio, and you have a ratings grabber."  

Clare stopped, her eyes trying to focus on the darkness in front of them.  

Most of the hallway was illuminated by the silver moonlight that streamed in through the glassless window panes, but the stretch of hallway in front of her was pitch black.  No light seemed to be able to penetrate it.  

"It's waiting for us."  Her voice was soft, a smile on her lips.  

"What?"  Max squinched his eyes, trying to make out something, anything, in the darkness.  Clare wasn't sure how, but it seemed that Max was getting drunker.  

"You know, I had another reason for bringing you along with me."  Clare glanced over at Max, smiling.  

"Why... what reason was that?" All the color seemed to drain from his face.  

"I needed bate." She gave him a hard pat on the shoulder.  

As if on cue a tentacle, black as the inky darkness that it came from, whipped out at them.  It wrapped itself around Max's waist, and with a high pitched yelp he was pulled into the darkness.  

Clare stretched her arms over her head, shook out the bit of alcohol that was trying to cloud her brain, and smiled.  

"Here comes the fun part." She laughed and dove head first into battle.  

Accidental Demon Slayers: Clare and the Ghost Hunter pt. 1

Clare sat at the bar, a beer in front of her.  As she glanced down the long, black surface she saw other women, their brightly colored and sweet drinks set in front of them.  She had never really been a fan of the sweet drinks. When she wanted a drink, she wanted a real drink.  Beer was her go to, but sometimes she would dabble in whiskey or rum.  If she was going to drink hard liquor she liked to feel it burn as it went down. 

She glanced down at the tight black dress she was wearing.  It was cut just low enough to attract attention.  Her black pumps weren't exactly the most practical of shoes, but she had her reasons for wearing them, and they made her legs look amazing.  As she looked at the other women she was glad to see that she really didn't stand out.  At least, she didn't look like she was trying to stand out.  She still managed to attract a few stares from a few of the men and women around her.  

She sighed, glancing back at her beer bottle. 

She had been at this conference for three days, and already she was growing bored.  Lectures and demonstrations got old, especially when it was stuff you already knew.  She had lived most of what these people just speculated about.  She had faced ghosts and demons.  She had stared world ending deities down, and she hadn't flinched.  

Most of the  people here would wet themselves if they had seen what she had seen.  

"Not much of a people person?"  A man slid into the seat next to her.  He was tall, handsome, with a chiseled face and broad shoulders.  His sandy brown hair seemed messy, but in a very intentional way.  "I've seen you down here every night this week, and not once have I seen you talk to anyone."  

"I don't really have much to talk to them about."  Clare kept her eyes on her drink.  

"I'm Max, Max West.  Maybe you've heard of me."  He smiled.  

She had.  She wasn't impressed.  Max West was 'The Ghost Hunter', a TV star who used the paranormal and supernatural to further his career.  He was a fake, a fraud and from a few rumors she had heard, a complete coward and cad.  

"I know who you are."  He leaned in close.  His breath smelled of cheap whiskey.  "You're a self proclaimed 'demon slayer'. Clare, right?  Everyone here is talking about you.  Think most of them are scared of you." 

"Then you should also know that I don't have time for men like you."  Clare finally looked at him, throwing an icy stare his way.  

"Men like me?" He leaned back in his chair, a smirk playing on his lips.  "Famous? Wealthy? Respected?" 

"Fake." Clare upturned her beer, finishing it off.  "You fool people into believing.  You take doctored video, photos, audio, and you show it to them like it's proof of life after death, and then you take their money.  You give people false hope, and honestly, you make me sick."  

Clare turned, getting up from her seat.  Max just watched her, slightly stunned.  

"How do you know it's fake?"  His voice hinted at growing anger.  

"Because I've seen the real thing."  Clare glanced at him over her shoulder.  "You couldn't handle the real thing."  

"I could."  He was on his feet now, following her.  His cool was quickly fading, and his booze born bluster was coming through.  "I mean, I have.  I'm a pro."  

Clare stopped, turning to him.  Her eyes were like daggers.  "You really think you could handle the real thing?"  

"Of course!"  He was starting to shout.  

"Then how about we pay the spirits of this hotel a little visit?"  A sly smile spread on Clare's lips.  

"This... This hotel?" He seemed to choke on his words.  

"Yep."  She crossed her arms.  "Chicken?"  

He shook his head.

"Good. Then follow me." She smiled, then turned, and walked out of the bar with Max in tow. 

Accidental Demon Slayers: The Serials

SO!  As I chug along (slower then I would like) on the next game, I've started writing little side stories for some of the main characters from the first Accidental Demon Slayers game.  Alternate Lives focuses on a whole different group of characters, and while I love writing for them, I have to admit, I missed the main cast from the first game.

All of this is to say, starting tomorrow I will be posting short, fun little serial stories featuring some of the main Accidental Demon Slayers characters.  These are just a way of me continuing to delve into the game world, and explore the characters.  It is also a way for you, the readers, to experience the characters in a less restrictive way.  (While I love the visual novel style, I am limited due to using stock character and background art, so the stories tend to be a little more conservative then I would like them to be).

The first story will feature one character I thought didn't get enough attention in the first game. Clare.  Her story, Clare and the Ghost Hunter, will be a four part story, with a new part being posted every Thursday morning.

So please, enjoy these stories while I continue to work away on Accidental Demon Slayers: Alternate Lives!

Little By Little...

Writing takes discipline.  It can be an amazing experience, but it is one that sometimes forces you to kick yourself in the ass and make deadlines for yourself.  It is a mixture of pleasure and pain.  The joy of making progress can always be dulled by the pain of trying to figure out where to go next.

Alternate Lives is still happening.  I'm inching along, working through the headaches and the story issues, but it is going slowly.  Still, it is going, and that's what matters.  Doing these projects alone can be a daunting task.  When I look at what I want to get done, and what I want the game to be, and then look at all the work that I need to make that happen, it can make me sometimes give up hope.  Luckily I have people in my life who push me forward.  Without them I wouldn't have finished my first game.  So, to them I say, thank you.

So, the latest updates to the game are on the Alternate Lives page. Obviously the game is still a ways out, and there is a lot that needs to be done on it, but it's getting closer.  I'll have a better idea for the official release date once the actual writing gets done.  The biggest challenge is getting the structure of the game in place.  Once that happens, the rest is fairly easy, although tedious.

Right now I have the complete opening done, which is a Joanna path.  I also have the Amanda path completed, and have gotten a chunk of the Marie path done as well.  The hope is to get the Marie path done this week, and finally start on the final two paths, a light and dark path.  I have no idea how many endings the game will have, but I'm aiming towards four full endings.  (Right now there are also 4 quick death endings... but those may change as well.)

The Blog is Not Dead!

Yes, I have been absent for a while.  Mainly it's because real life kind of took over, and as much as I would love to sit here and blog all about my recent experiences, sometimes you have to live it instead of reporting on it. 

Big changes mean that some things end up falling away, or to the side.  Work on my second game has been delayed (it is still happening though.  Just a lot slower then I would like), and the job hunt has turned into me deciding to go back to school. 

Life is never simple.  That is something I keep learning over and over again.  Just when things seem to be settling, everything suddenly gets turned on it's ear again, and there you are, wondering where the hell the road is leading.  This isn't always a bad thing, though.  Sometimes you need to get your world knocked around to see what's important. 

So, enough about my personal stuff.  On to the game updates. 

Alternate Lives is still happening.  The story is a lot larger then I had originally planned, and because of that more work is required to make all the different paths fit together nicely.  It is very easy to let these types of things overwhelm you when you are working on something alone, but just like everything else, you need to power through and get it done.  I just don't want to rush the game, and release something that I'm not happy with. 

Now, I do have a question dear readers.  If I was going to release the game through a pay site, like DLSite, how much would you be willing to pay?  If at all.  Alternate Lives will be released as a free game, but the next game I have planned may not be.  These games do cost some money, and I would like to try and cover some of the costs.  Let me know what you!

A Blast from the Past: YA Horror Pt. 2

So, during the 90's all three major horror franchises had short lived young adult novel series.  The one I'm going to talk about today is one of my favorites, and also probably one of the most insanely inappropriate book series ever marketed at young teens every.

THE TALES FROM CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE series.

The series consists of four books (Mother's Day, Jason's Curse, The Carnival and Road Trip), all written by Eric Morse. The first interesting thing about this series is that Jason never actually makes an appearance.  His mask does, but Jason never actually shows up.  No, instead his mask is the main star here, possessing people, and turning them into murderous behemoths tearing apart the local population.

And I do mean tearing apart.

These books are VIOLENT! The ending of The Carnival alone is probably one of the most graphically violent things I have ever read in a novel not written by Edward Lee.  Basically the whole carnival goes nuts after being infected with the evil from Crystal Lake, and everything starts killing people.  A tilt a whirl goes whirring into an electric fence, frying a girl's father in front of her very eyes (he was sitting with his cheap floozy of a mistress, so she didn't feel to bad).  Two preteens get deep fried by that same electric fence when they try and sneak into the carnival.  Heads are cleaved and chopped off.  Bodies are dismembered.  These books are the blood splattered gore fest that the films always wanted to be, but never could because of the MPAA.

The one frustrating thing about this series has nothing to do with the actual writing.  The books are actually very entertaining, and one or two of them are shockingly effective in creating interesting characters (one of the men possessed by Jason's mask has a truly heart breaking story that includes a history of child abuse.  I believe this was in Jason's Curse, but it has been a while).  No, what is frustrating about these books is how hard they are to find.  Unlike most YA series, these books are not cheap, with perfect copies going for $100+.  Even used copies will set you back for $15 to $20.

I read these books years ago, long before Amazon was the place to go for used books, and I remember having to search far and wide for copies of Mother's Day and The Carnival.  Back then, in my desperation, I made a good deal of money for those books.  Today, the price hasn't dropped much.

Still, for hardcore Friday the 13th Fans these books are must haves.  For anyone else, if you can find them cheap, grab them.  You won't be disappointed.

Next up will be a series within a series!  WOO HOO!