Tainted Tales Anthology Read online

  Tainted Tales

  A dark folklore anthology with all proceeds donated to Save the Children

  Abrianna Denae

  Anna Edwards

  Claire Marta

  Emma Jaye

  Faith Ryan

  Jessica Collins

  L. Ann

  Leigh Kenzie

  Sara Dobie Bauer

  T.S. McKinney

  Copyright © 2020 by the Tainted Tales Authors

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Warning: This book contains sexually explicit scenes, adult language, and may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase.

  Disclaimer: Please do not try any sexual practice without the guidance of an experienced practitioner. Neither the publisher nor the author will be responsible for any loss, harm, injury, or death resulting from the use of the information contained in this book.

  Formatting by Anna Edwards - https://wordsintobutterfli.wixsite.com/website

  Contents

  Foreword

  Anna Edwards

  The Watcher

  Claire Marta

  Sandman

  Sara Dobie Bauer

  He Sees You When You're Sleeping

  Emma Jaye

  Tooth Fairy Lies

  L. Ann

  Nightmare's Obsession

  Jessica Collins

  Greed

  Faith Ryan

  The May Queen

  Leigh Kenzie

  Deadlock Time Clock

  Abrianna Denae

  Black Ice Heart

  T.S. McKinney

  Don't Mess with Mother Nature

  Afterword

  Foreword

  by Emma Luna

  Most of you may know me as a newly published romance author, but in my spare time I am also a midwife, college lecturer, and editor. But these are the roles that I have earnt. I am also a daughter, a grand-daughter, a sister, an auntie, and a girlfriend.

  People ask me when I started writing stories. I remember I was about six years old and my Mum and Dad were tucking me into bed and reading me a bedtime story. We had gone through the story books I owned because I was always that kid that wanted just one more, and I still am. Since we didn't have any new books, I told my parents that I would make one up instead, and so me and my Dad took it in turns saying a line that would go towards the book. I loved it so much that it became the new norm, every night I would invent a new story before bed and my parents encouraged me. Sadly this isn't the bedtime routine for all children. There are some children who not only do not own books or have their parents read them bedtime stories, but even worse they never learn to read. Some children don't even have a warm bed to sleep in.

  This needs to change!

  No matter what steps I have taken in my career, there has always been someone who believed in me. When I was sixteen years old and I said I wanted to train to be a midwife, there were people who said I was too young and couldn't do it. My Grandad told me I could do anything I wanted to, and he knew that one day he would be sat at my graduation. Not only did he see me graduate once when I became a midwife, but twice when I was awarded my Master in Education. However, not every child has the opportunity to progress in education, and many children, especially girls, do not even have access to basic education. My Grandad's advice that I can do anything I want, applies because I have the support and access to resources that many children around the world do not.

  This needs to change!

  When I qualified as a midwife it was one of the proudest moments of my life. I had faced all the adversity and I was finally able to do a job that I love. At twenty-one years old I was responsible for the lives of mothers and babies, which is a massive responsibility. I loved being able to help a couple who came into my care leave as a family. Through all the screaming, tears, blood, and sweat, there was a beautiful baby at the end of it, which made everything that happened in the hours previous, irrelevant. That adorable little baby made it all worth it. Sadly, not every one of my days working as a midwife are that nice. I have cared for women in life-threatening emergencies where without the fast action of a midwife or doctor the outcome would be tragic. I have watched as babies are pulled free from the womb in an emergency cesarean, just minutes before the outcome would have been a lot worse. I have also been responsible for breathing life into a newborn baby and providing life saving measures to help those beautiful little humans take their first breath. All of this I have been able to do successfully because of technology, training, and support. However, this is not the case everywhere. In areas around the world the newborn mortality rate is significantly higher because there is no access to a hospital or life-saving drugs. No child should die before they have the chance to take their first breath, but sadly they do.

  This needs to change!

  One of my happiest memories is the moment my nephew made his way into the world. I was outside the room waiting and hearing his cry, as he took his first breath made my heart swell to twice the size. But, it wasn't until I held him in my arms at less than half an hour old that my world changed. I remember looking down at this wrinkly bluey coloured baby, covered in blood, wearing a knitted hat made for a head the size of mine and I was in love. Despite the fact he had a slight resemblance to Gollum, I could see past that and he was my very first nephew. I felt the love spill out over my whole body and my eyes filled with tears. I couldn't understand how something so small could evoke such a reaction, but he did. I promised to always love him, support him and be there for him no matter what. He is one of the lucky children because he has been born into a family that loves him and would do anything for him, but this is not the case for all children. For some their family home is a place of terror, their parents a source of fear. They are exposed to acts of violence that we as adults would struggle to comprehend.

  This needs to change!

  If you ask me why I read, it's an easy answer and it's probably the answer many people reading this book will give. It is an escape, we can enter worlds that are entirely fantasy and live vicariously through the words of others. This is how we learn to dream and activate our imagination. But not all kids are able to escape or to dream. They don't have stories that inspire them. They don't have Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny or The Tooth Fairy in their lives. The stories told to us by our parents, that were told to them as children by their parents are out of reach for some children. Life is so bleak that they cannot dare to dream because that means to hope. There are children living in war torn countries where their dream is to have safe water that doesn't make them sick, or that they don't have to watch another person they love die. All children need their imagination to escape, but some children don't dare to dream of anything more than the lives our children live now.

  This needs to change!

  This anthology brings together a group of amazing authors who have all grown up and followed their imagination. They all dared to dream that they would become fantastic p
ublished authors and they have achieved it. They want to help make the changes that I have mentioned to give all children the start they need in life. This anthology aims to raise awareness and funds for the nonprofit agency Save the Children.

  Save the Children was founded in the UK over 100 years ago and was the first global charity dedicated to children. There are children that will have a very different life to that of my nephew. Some will grow up in a very dark and scary world. 5.4 million children under the age of 5 will die from preventable diseases. 75% of children will be exposed to some form of violence in their lives. 25 million children will never enroll in school, two thirds of these will be women. Save the Children aims to improve these figures. As a midwife, I can tell you the importance of technology, medication, and trained professionals, and how these are essential to keep children and mothers alive during pregnancy and childbirth. As a lecturer, I can tell you about the importance of school places, funding and access to education for all, to give every child the opportunity to learn and create their own better future. As an author, I can tell you about the importance of giving children access to books, allowing their imaginations to flourish, and providing them with support and resources to achieve their goals. But it is as an Auntie that I can speak to each and every one of you with the most passion. I can tell you the importance of a child being raised in a loving, supportive and safe environment, where they can grow and have all the things they need to strive and achieve their dreams. For children who don't have these things, there is Save the Children. We need to help children who cannot help themselves. Support Save the Children so that they can help all those children in need.

  Now my nephew turns six this year and when I tuck him into bed during a sleepover at my house we always read lots of stories. He is just like his Auntie and asks for just one more. So I read him just one more and I tuck him tight into bed. Then I tell him I love him and he says the same to me. He goes to sleep safe, happy, warm, and loved, dreaming of whatever he wants and letting his imagination run wild. The dream of every author in this anthology is that Save the Children get the support they need to make this a reality for every child.

  Please thank the fantastic authors in this anthology who have twisted some of our favourite childhood tales into something dark to show that not everyone had a happy childhood. Some grew up in a dark and dangerous place.

  This will change!

  Prologue

  Dralran

  Five hundred years ago.

  I thrust one final time into the warm pussy shrouding my dick in its decadent juices and grunt my release, deep.

  “Fuck.” I collapse down onto the sweaty body that owns the pussy. “Fucking heaven.”

  “I doubt it's heaven, Dral. After all, I’m the Devil’s daughter. You mean it’s perfect hell.”

  “Heaven or hell. You’ve milked me of everything I can give.”

  “Damn, I was hoping for a repeat performance.”

  The little minx pushes me away, and my dick slides from her pussy. Lilith is as insatiable as I am when it comes to exploits in the bedroom. This isn’t a relationship—we’re fuck buddies. I don’t pretend for one minute that when she leaves me she’s not going to be opening her legs for someone else. She’s all about getting as much power behind her as she can, and seduction is her favored method because it kills two birds with one stone. She can get sexual satisfaction while at the same time build an army.

  I’m not exactly faithful either. She’s the third woman I’ve slept with today. My sex drive is incredibly high, and I have to keep myself satisfied or my balls swell to the size of melons. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but they definitely feel like they do. When you’re more than two hundred years old and in the Devil’s employment, there’s little else to do other than torture people or have sex.

  My specialty is fire. The souls drifting down here from Earth are subject to my fiery brand of purgatory. It’s the best fun a demon can have, but lately I’ve been feeling more and more jaded—hence the increased time spent in the company of willing women like Lilith. Sex is the only thing that seems to entertain me at the moment. The novelty of burning flesh from bones has worn off. Ever since I went to Earth and walked around it for a few days while on a task for Satan, I’ve longed for something different.

  I let out a sigh and relax back on the bed, my arm hooked under my head, watching as Lilith dresses.

  “Well, if you’re not going to spend the rest of the evening buried balls deep in me, I’d better go and find someone who will.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Even three times in a day is a bit much for you, Dral,” Lilith teases me, and I pull her toward me. She’s covered her breasts in a bra, but her pussy is still bare. I sniff.

  “Seems three times is not enough for you, though. That’s not just my scent here, is it?” I drag my finger through her folds.

  “Jealous?” She smirks sinfully.

  “Nope. Not in the slightest.” I effortlessly pull her back over me and slide her onto my already hard dick. “We both know who the best lover is.”

  “Cocky much?”

  I laugh playfully.

  “We both know my dick is the biggest you’ve had.”

  “It’ll also be the last dick she has, if I have my way, but needs must...” A mysterious voice fills the air, and a flash of smoke floods the room before Lilith’s father appears. Satan himself—eyes as black as the night and a full three piece suit to match. The only glimpse of color on him is the blood-red cuff links holding his shirt in place.

  Shit!

  Caught balls deep in his daughter.

  This will not end well.

  “Get off his dick, Lilith, and go home. Wash yourself thoroughly. I better not smell any demons on you when I get back. You’re meeting your future husband tonight.”

  “Dad!” Lilith goes to protest, but smoke surrounds her father again—a sign of the fury dwelling within him. “Fine.” Lilith moves from the bed and collects the rest of her clothing. “I’m not marrying anyone ugly. You promised me.”

  “I’m the Devil, darling. I don’t have to keep promises. Now go.”

  Lilith disappears from the room in her own flash of smoke. I’ve got the same ability to teleport but not with such flair. That’s reserved for the royal family alone. I make to slide from the bed, but a growl from the Devil freezes me in position with my dick on display.

  “I’m a little disappointed in you, Dralran. You’re one of my best demons, but here I find you sleeping with my daughter. I wouldn’t expect such disloyalty from you, even if she is a whore to most of the kingdom.”

  “I’m sorry, my liege.” I try to move and cover myself again, but the Devil sets fire to my underwear before I can put them on. The rest of the clothes I’d discarded on my bedroom floor meet the same fate. Am I next?

  “You know what disappoints me the most—it’s your commitment to the underworld. You’ve changed, Dralran. You were one of my best torturers, but these days, I’m more likely to find you buried deep in a woman than setting fire to a condemned soul before reviving them and then repeating the process for years and years. What’s happened?”

  I’m standing up now and place my hands over my groin area. It’s a little uncomfortable being in this position in front of my employer, especially with my dick covered in the aftermath of his daughter’s orgasm.

  “I don’t know, my liege. I’ve felt strange since I visited Earth. I saw so much I didn't know before. It captured my imagination, and I liked it.”

  “You liked the humans?” Satan flicks a fire arrow at my feet, and I dance around the sparks. He sends another, so I immediately skip back the other way.

  “Not the humans necessarily, but the way they interact and how they’re development is so far behind ours. Horses are their only mode of transport. It seems odd when we can think of a place and be there.”

  More arrows have me dancing, hopping from one foot to the other, the entire time I’m replying.
/>
  “Hmm.” The Devil is disappointed in me. I can see it in his eyes. He stops launching arrows at me and rubs his chin. “You like to watch?”

  “No, I like my job. It’s been in my family for generations. There’s nothing better than torturing your souls.”

  “Except fucking my daughter?” Satan raises a questioning eyebrow at me.

  “Ok, that’s better, but no, I didn’t mean sex. Shit!” I’m getting flustered, and it will result in me ending up in a smoking pile of ash on the floor.

  “You’ve lost your way, and I can’t allow it to continue. I must teach you a lesson.”

  “I’m sorry.” I lower my head and prepare for my death. This is the Devil—you don’t argue with him when he makes a proclamation. It’s futile.

  The scenery around us changes, and I’m confused when I look up and see I’m in space. The Earth is illuminated by the Sun in front of me as I stand on the rough surface of the Moon.

  “What’s happening?”

  “Dralran, for sleeping with my daughter, I hereby banish you to the Moon. You want to watch the Earth, then watch it.”

  A flash of smoke surrounds the Devil, and he disappears.

  I try to teleport back to Hell, but nothing happens. Again and again I try, but I’m stuck here. A few seconds later, boxes appear out of nowhere. When I open them, I discover they contain my belongings.