Tentacle University 2: The Sorority pt. 1 *New Series*

There was a crying girl sitting on the spare bed in Rachel’s room.  She was a freshman named Bethany.  The other girls in the house had started calling her Bunny, due to her enthusiasm and bright, cheerful eyes.  She didn’t look so bright and cheerful now, though.  Tears streaked her light brown cheeks, and her youthful brown eyes were bloodshot and frightened.

“I can’t believe him. I can’t believe that Stephen would put those pictures up.” Her normally chirpy voice was a pained howl. “I didn’t even know anyone had taken pictures until I saw them on his GreekLife page.”  She looked up at Rachel, more tears spilling down her cheeks.  

Bethany was the third girl this semester to come to her about illicit photos showing up on various fraternity brother’s GreekLife pages. Every single one had almost the exact same story.  Some guy, usually one of the bros from over at Delta Alpha Kappa, hooks up with one of the newbies at Kappa Iota Lambda.  The girl is always over eighteen, and the photos are always candid shots.  Usually the girl is getting dressed or undressed, The frat brother is never seen in any of the pictures, and when confronted with the evidence, they deny ever taking the pictures, or posting them.

There have been plenty of complaints from countless Sororities, and even one Fraternity, but other than getting the photos taken down from the GreekLife pages, the guys involved get nothing but a slap on the wrist, if that.

It made Rachel sick.

“We can get the pictures down.” Rachel leaned forward, taking Bethany’s hands in hers.  “It might take a day or two, but we’ll get them down.  The school will hold a disciplinary trial, and…”

“Do you really think getting the pictures down will fix anything?” Bethany shook her head. “They’re on the internet.  They’re out there.”

Rachel wanted to tell the girl that it was possible to get them down in time, and that if they act fast enough it would all go away.  She wanted to tell her that, and actually believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.  She didn’t believe, though. She knew that if those photos were on the web, they had already been passed all over campus, if not further.  No one from the school would even try and stop the spread of the images.

Not under the new regime.  After Dean Charlotte Westgate’s murder, Hartford had rushed to fill her position.  Dean Westgate had been firm when dealing with the Greek system, keeping a close eye on the houses and their behaviour.  

The new Dean… was much more relaxed in his approach.

Dean Luther Stanton, and his little toady Eugene Smithers, were useless when it came to dealing with anything that didn’t involve getting donations for the planned stadium, or athletic center.  

Rachel could still remember the last meeting she had had with them.  She had nearly jumped out of her seat and smacked the ever living shit out of both of those old assholes, but she kept her cool.  She was the Kappa Iota Lambda president.  She couldn’t make things worse for her house by flying off the handle.  

“Those boys get a little out of hand, Miss Fischer.” Stanton had stared at her, his eyes firmly glued on her breasts, a condescending smile spread across his pale, wrinkled face.  “I doubt there was any real harm intended.  Why ruin someone’s life over a misguided prank?”

“Maybe now the women in your sorority will be more mindful of the men they choose to… socialize with,” said Smithers.

She had bit her tongue then, but she was regretting it now.

That meeting had been after the first incident.  Bethany was the fourth, and that dipshit and his office had done jack shit to stop what was quickly becoming an epidemic on the campus.  “Boys will be boys,” didn’t fly anymore.

Rachel had to wonder how the school would have reacted if the photos were of the star Quarterback, his jockeys around his ankles, and his dick flapping in the breeze.  Of course, the Quarterback was a brother over at good old Delta Alpha Kappa.  Vice President in fact.  Stephen Markham, all star athlete, was marketing gold for Hartford.  If he was the one being exposed the school would probably shut down the internet on campus and start scouring people’s personal computers to erase every single trace of the offending image.  

That was exactly what was about to happen to young Brittany’s story, as well.  She had to have gone home with the golden boy, the big man on campus.  Rachel bet that Bethany even felt special that someone as amazing as Stephen had picked her.

Now, the day after, she was the sobbing, sloppy mess sitting across from Rachel.  She needed some glimmer of hope, even though Rachel knew there was none.  

“So, they’ll make things right?  The school, I mean?” Bethany was watching her intently.

Rachel smiled, and put on her best big sister act.  “Of course they will.”

Rachel knew she was lying to Bethany, but at that moment she felt like she had no choice.  What else could she do? So, her head filled with doubts, she secretly hoped that the school would do the right thing.

-**-

The school did jack shit.

Bethany was called every name in the book, and the photos of her continued to spread.  Stephen claimed his innocence, of course, and with his all American good looks, and solid standing at the school, the students turned on Bethany. Even when Stephen had asked for the students to be understanding, they had brutalized her.

After three hellish weeks Bethany decided she would be better off doing a swan dive off the top of the Morton Dormitory.  She fell four stories, head first, onto the concrete below.  Her parents had to have a closed casket funeral.

The school played sympathetic to the media, and Stephen did an interview or two, claiming that he hoped whoever had taken and released those photos would be caught. He seemed sincere enough, but Rachel had a hard time buying it.  

They all said they were sorry for what had happened to Bethany.  

Rachel didn’t think they were sorry enough.

They had to pay, and she would find a way to collect.

Eye See You: Infection pt. 24

When I saw the building I could hardly believe that Dina had lived there only a few weeks earlier. It was completely deserted, a few of the windows were smashed, and the door swung open and closed in the afternoon breeze.


It was more than just the building, though. The whole block seemed dead. No one was on the street, and the small lawns in front of the little houses and walk ups were all overgrown.


We both got out of the car, taking in our surroundings.


“Was it always like this?” I asked.


“No.” Her eyes were wandering across the deserted street. “This place was… lively. There were families and pets. Now it’s…”


“How long ago did you move out?” I closed my car door and started towards her old apartment building.


“Three weeks ago.” She was following behind me. “In three weeks this entire block died.”


Now that we were away from the car I finally noticed the smell.
Rotting flesh. Decay. Death.
The stench hovered over the whole block.


“I don’t think people moved out.” I stopped in front of the darkened doorway of the apartment building.


“I don’t either.”


We both shuddered.

Rituals pt. 7

It was like watching a movie.  The images flickered before me, everything scratchy and slightly out of focus at first, but slowly the image adjusted. 

I was looking at a small park.  It was packed with people, and in the center was a grandstand.  On that grandstand stood a man, his body hidden behind a dark cloak.  He stood there, surveying the crowd, and as his head turned I caught a brief glimpse of the lower half of his face. 

He was smiling, thin lips parted ever so slightly to reveal sharp, needle like teeth. 

He held up his hands in a grand gesture, and the murmuring crowd around him grew silent. 

“Do you wish to survive?” His voice boomed.  “Do you wish to flourish in this new world?”

People in the crowd were nodding.  I could see the woman from the church, now very much alive, and looking very terrified.  She was nodding her head enthusiastically. 

“Then join me,” said the man on the grandstand. “Who will be the first?”

The woman stepped forward, her arms raised.  “I will.  I want to.”

“A wise choice.”  Then, without another word, the man leapt at her, his mouth opening wide, then wider, his teeth sinking into her neck. 

The woman jerked once, and then… then she began to change.  The change was simple at first.  Her skin grew pale.  Then the change came rapidly.  No one in the crowd had a chance to react before she had completely transformed into that creature that I had seen Doug hack to death. 

The crowd didn’t stand a chance.  Once changed, the woman began attacking, and within moments the majority of the people had been changed. 

As the carnage continued the movie began to flicker, as if a film reel was running out. 

Then there was nothing but blackness.

Eye See You: Infection pt. 23

I drove, and Dina played navigator.


“I can’t believe this.” She was shaking her head. “I always tried to be nice to that guy. I mean, he wasn’t the talkative type, but I tried to be friendly. You know, a smile in the elevator, or saying hi when I passed him.”


“I’m more curious at how he get into the… what did Janelle call it? The Digital Void?” i kept my eyes on the road.


“I don’t know.” She looked down at her hands. “He was there, the entire time. He knew what he was doing to Amy, to myself. He could see us both breaking down. He didn’t care.”


“Well, I’m guessing he wasn’t the nicest guy.” I instantly regretted my words. I sounded callous. I couldn’t help it, though. Emotionally, I was exhausted. I was running on pure anger by this point.


Dina just nodded.


We drove on in silence..


“Turn right up here. The building is just off of Lawrence.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same

So, February is passing by quickly, and the new schedule is in full swing! As much as things change, they also seem to stay the same. As much as I would love to start an all new, original series, I'm finding myself drawn back to the series that were the initial roots of Square Zero.

The lone exception to this is Tentacle University. While set in the same universe as Accidental Demon Slayers and Pom Pom Angel, the series is kind of the odd duck out, and I couldn't be more grateful for that fact.  The stories being told in that series are dark and twisted, and allow me to explore storytelling that I wouldn't dare explore in the other series.  There is a kind of freedom to not sticking to mythology and just letting each story become its own entity.  While Tentacle University was a more straight forward action story, Tentacle University 2: The Sorority is becoming something very different, with more of a focus on human drama, and truly twisted characters.

Even New Pom Pom Angel is a change up for me.  Normally my stories tend to work in longer arcs, but I'm finding that Missy and her friends work better in shorter arcs that tell simpler, character focused stories.  I'm not saying there won't be longer stories later, but for right now the series is working best as a series of short, fun tales about the lives and loves of these characters. It is also a nice contrast to the extreme darkness that is Tentacle University and Eye See You.

Speaking of Eye See You, Infection has kind of changed things up for the series.  Instead of shorter, character hopping arcs, this current arc is running much longer than I had originally planned, and is staying focused on just one character.  While I'm tempted to change things up, just to fit the format of the first year, I'm realizing that the story I'm needing to tell, and the ground work I need to lay for the future of the series, requires me to stick with Dave for a while longer.  The changes that I've made to the world of Eye See You require me to establish a lot of details, especially the new threat of Virus, and so form must be pushed aside to allow the story to be told.

Even Rituals, and the Rebirth Cycle as a whole, is shifting.  Instead of just focusing on life in a demon infested world, I'm looking at the series as a way to pull all my other work together, blending in characters from all my other series to create a larger adventure.  It has actually been fun for me to figure out how I'll pull in specific characters, and what roles they will play once they are worked into the story.

The one thing that has changed in a big way was my original plans for the Cycles.  Basically, the Suffering Cycle is dead.  Well, maybe not dead, but for now it isn't really a thing.  Letters from the Dead still happened, and the events will still work into future Accidental Demon Slayers stories, but the actual plan I had for the Cycle just didn't seem to work out. I may use the moniker in the future for when doing Accidental Demon Slayers side stories, but the full idea of the cycle has kind of dissolved. Those things happen, and the important part is how one recovers from an idea going up in smoke.

So, there is the state of things here at Square Zero.  Hopefully everyone enjoys the series!

New Pom Pom Angel: First Dates pt. 3

When I opened my eyes again, I was before the Council of Angels.  Mama, who I had come to understand as the leader of the Council, was glaring at me.  The old man next to her, whose name I never knew, and who I pretty much just referred to as Old Man, didn’t look too pleased either.

At this rate, I wouldn’t get any sleep. 

“Missy,” Mama folded her arms in front of her chest, “weren’t you being a little harsh?”

“I prefer firm.” I gave her a weak smile. “Gus is a bit… gun shy.  I’ve learned that a firm, direct approach gets the best results.” 

“He’s looking for a girlfriend, not being potty trained!” Old Man’s voice crackled as he spoke, his fist raised and shaking angrily in the air.

“Did you really do your research on this young woman? She was chosen by that… she-demon.”

I nodded.  “Other than her more creative interests in the bedroom, which I may add, are not all that extreme, Raven is well rounded, intelligent, thoughtful and caring person.  Sure, she occasionally enjoys tying up businessmen and flogging them a studded paddle, but really, what’s so wrong with a little consensual spanking between adults?”

Old Man looked horrified.  It wasn’t him I was worried about.  He was not only old in years, but his thinking was outdated as well.  He didn’t understand how the modern world worked, and had spent too many years with his head in the literal clouds. 

Mama, on the other hand, seemed to have a greater grasp of current trends and morality.

“Then why did Regina pick her?” Mama’s eyebrow rose. 

I tried to answer her, but found that I couldn’t.  I actually had no idea why Regina had picked her.  The more that I thought about it, the more it didn’t really make all that much sense. 

Mama leaned forward. “When you wake up, you might want to check into that before sending Gus off on his date. Okay?”

I nodded. 

Then the Council of Angels was gone, and I was back, half asleep on couch.

Tentacle University pt. 27 *Final Chapter*

Devon sat on the couch in Marco’s apartment, his knees pulled to his chest, and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.  He had been staying with Marco for almost a few weeks now, unable to work up the courage to go back to Hartford.  After everything he had seen, and everything he had experienced, he just couldn’t handle the memories. 

He had already applied to other schools, and was most likely going to transfer to Northwestern at the start of the next semester. 

There was one thing holding him back though. 

He glanced towards the kitchen, and could see Marco standing at the stove.  He was wearing a pair of pajama paints and a black t-shirt.  His hair was messy, and his cheeks were covered in stubble.  He was smiling, singing along to the small radio he had next to the stove.  He seemed like nothing had ever happened, and for a brief moment, seeing that easy joy on Marco’s face, Devon was able to forget. 

Only for a moment, though. 

Then the memories came flooding back.  It wasn’t just that night in the auditorium, but the investigation after.  They had all agreed on not telling the truth.  Who would believe them, anyways? So, they had made up some cock and bull story about that Lee guy.  They didn’t have to sell it too hard.  The cops wanted an easy explanation, and Lee was it.  They had said he had cooked up some lethal drug, and had gone around slipping it to unsuspecting guys.  No one seemed to care that the drug didn’t seem to exist.  It was just one piece of the story that the people in charge needed to help make everything nice and neat and easy to put away.

“Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes.” Marco leaned out of the kitchen, his smile bigger than ever.  “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Devon nodded. “Just thinking.” 

“Give your mind a rest. “  Marco walked over, and kissed his forehead.  “You’ll drive yourself crazy at this rate.”

Devon had been surprised at how quickly the two of them had fallen into domesticity.  He wasn’t complaining, though.  This was the closest to a healthy, normal life Devon had ever gotten.  He didn’t want to lose it, and going to Northwestern meant moving away from Marco. 

He still had time to think about it, though. 

-*-

Whitley was behind the wheel, Cherry sitting next to him.  They had been on the road for the last twenty four hours. 

“You sure about this?” Whitley glanced at his sister.

“Yeah.” Cherry nodded. “I can’t run anymore.”

“Alright then.” Whitley smiled.  “Then I guess we’re homeward bound.”

Cherry nodded, nibbling at her lip.  He could tell she was nervous, but he also knew that after everything that had happened at Hartford, she realized that she needed to start training again. Losing Peter had been hard.  Learning about what a bastard he had really been had been harder.  When Whitley had suggested they head back to the their family home, Cherry had jumped at the chance.  They both needed distance from that damned school, and with Charlotte gone, and the Mythos dead, there was nothing tying either of them to the school. 

Whitley had handed in his resignation the day after Cherry had agreed to go home.  The University’s board had given him plenty of apologizes and understanding, but deep down, he knew they were glad to be rid of him. He was a reminder of what had happened, and the last thing the school needed was a reminder. 

“Where you scared?” Cherry was watching him. 

“When?”  Whitley glanced at her, but kept his focus on the road. 

“When you were up on that stage, all… twisted and tangled.” He watched as she searched for the right words. 

“No,” he sighed. “At that moment I was… I wasn’t in my right mind.  I had never been trained to deal with a Mythos’s essence, so it took me over pretty easily.”

“They only teach the female warriors that?” She looked at him, confused.

“I guess they never figured that any of their male warriors would end up at the business end of a tentacle.” He shrugged, and instantly regretted it.  His still healing ribs gave him a zing of pain.  “So it looks like we both have a lot more training to do.”

“Guess so.”  She sat back in her seat and closed her eyes.

Whitley constantly had to remind himself that when you are a Hen Warrior, you can run from the Mythos all you want, but they always have a way to find you.  He had learned that lesson early, but it had taken more for his sister to figure it out. 

Now  he was sure she was ready to take her place among the others. 

-*-

The auditorium was dark, the tatters of crime scene tape blowing in the air conditioning.  Even though the crime scene crews had been through countless times, followed by a clean up crew, there was still something there, something hidden. 

The cloak covered figure knew exactly what to look for.  They could sense it in their bones.  No, it was deeper than that.  They could sense it in their very soul. The demon seed was still there.  When the Mythos had perished, it had made sure to leave a piece behind.  They always did. It was a small reminder of their existence, with just a dash of their essence.  A Mythos may die in battle, but death for them is never the end.  Every Mythos had countless times, and every time their seed has sprouted again. 

The figure moved quickly through the wrecked seats, trusting not their eyes, but that feeling in their heart. 

Then they saw it.  It looked like nothing more than a small, blue stone. It was round at the top, with a small root snaking off at the bottom.  It looked so unimportant, like a piece of costume jewelry left behind by one of the dancers.  Inside that stone, though… Inside that stone was something very old, and very strong. 

The figure scooped up the stone, and rushed from the auditorium.  For now things would stay quiet, but when the time was right, the figure would take that little seed, and plant a whole new terrifying tree, and once again the Mythos would be able to feed.