Fated, Fanged, and Fabulously Petty
By @john1208
I was peacefully eating mini-quiches at the back of my own funeral when my fated mate took the podium. Instead of mourning my tragic cliff-fall, Alpha Karnok announced my 'death' was a blessing. He cited a blatantly fake prophecy claiming I’d bring ruin to our clan, then cheerfully named my snooty cousin as his new Luna. Heartbreak? Sure. But mostly, I was annoyed he skimped on the catering. Sneaking into the pack vault for revenge, I accidentally swallowed our clan's most sacred glowing artifact. Huge mistake. It triggered a massive, hair-flipping glow-up and magically bound me to Tarkis, a legendary, incredibly grumpy ancient Vampire Lord who had broken in to steal it. Now we're forced into a fake alliance at the cutthroat Lycan Summit, constantly sabotaging each other while I play the oblivious, bubbly airhead to hide my newfound terrifying strength. Karnok keeps catching glimpses of my power and is starting to violently, deliciously regret his choices. But how long until my new vampire mate realizes the thief he's hunting is the very girl he's falling for?
4
The Murk-Glass Masquerade
By @john1208
The mist-drenched city of Kholvarna believes its most feared ghost-binder is dead, executed after a dark ritual went wrong. In truth, Lykora Morith survived by executing an identity swap with a missing, empty-headed heiress. Now, she attends her own eerie funeral armed with a bright pink umbrella and a vapid smile. Told in alternating perspectives between Lykora and the cunning double agent planted in her enemy's ranks, the story follows Lykora's plot to dismantle Olenya - the fragile, constantly weeping adopted sister who orchestrated her downfall. When Olenya tries to eliminate her new rival by 'accidentally' spilling corrosive ectoplasm on Lykora’s vital warding-dress, she expects the terrifying Lord-Inquisitor Vastor to pity her frail, trembling hands. Instead, Vastor sees right through the act and fires Olenya on the spot without a shred of hesitation. Together, Lykora and Vastor turn the grand gala into a trap, ruthlessly exposing Olenya's hypocrisy to the public. As Olenya's wealthy backers immediately abandon her to avoid Vastor's wrath, will Lykora be able to reclaim her true name before the city's ravenous spirits devour her borrowed soul?
4
Grinning at the Abyss
By @john1208
When my sister Safura burst into Grandmother’s deathbed chamber to swap our betrothal papers, everyone expected me to cry. Instead, I giggled and signed my life over to Basir Vost - the sickly, disgraced glyph-scholar doomed to die in a month. Safura thought she was stealing Dalun, the doctor destined to cure the canyon’s plague and become a billionaire. She didn’t know two things. First, my 'airhead' persona hides the fastest, most lethal canyon-runner in Qalari. Second, I recently unearthed a coded journal written by my own past self, detailing exactly how to manipulate Safura into taking Dalun before her bottomless greed pushes him into horrific, illegal human trials. My mission? Keep Basir from translating the explosive Obsidian Glyph that killed him in the last timeline. If I can physically snatch the volatile runes before they detonate, his research will unlock the city's limitless ancient power grid. But with Safura's double agent already infiltrating our crumbling manor, can I keep up my cheerful, ditzy act long enough to turn my dying scholar into the city's apex tycoon?
1
The Obsidian Chime
By @john1208
I woke up suffocating inside a sealed glass cenotaph suspended miles above the fog-trenches - an impossible place meant only for the honored dead. I soon realized I had survived my assassination by swapping souls with a recently deceased, clumsy apprentice. Haunted by my past, I leaned into my new identity, playing the cheerful, babbling airhead to quietly watch over my grieving, platonic life-partner, Karsan. We were finally finding a melancholic peace together, until Olyana returned. She is Karsan's ex-girlfriend, the one who abandoned him during his political exile, weeping that she was leaving 'to spare him the burden of caring for her.' Now that Karsan is powerful again, she wants her place back. To eliminate me, Olyana 'accidentally' shatters my magnum opus - a delicate memory-tapestry - crying that she was only trying to help my clumsy hands. She expects Karsan to comfort her. Instead, he coldly uses his authority to completely blacklist her from the city's resources. But the real trap is mine. The shattered glass is designed to reconstruct itself, projecting her deliberate sabotage to the entire assembly. When the truth is laid bare, will her wealthy patrons finally abandon the monster behind the tears?
1
The Smiling Outcast's Sixty-Day Reign
By @john1208
At her grandfather’s deathbed, Parvani is shoved into the hallway. Her biological family claims her rough countryside upbringing makes her too unrefined for the solemn moment, preferring to fawn over Jazmira, the sweet-talking adopted daughter who tearfully claims the elder's final inheritance. Parvani just smiles her usual vacant, happy-go-lucky smile. What nobody realizes is that Parvani secretly absorbed the lethal family curse from the dying elder, granting her immense power but leaving her with a hidden sixty-day time limit to live. Cast out for 'ruining the mood' with her cheer, she takes her six-legged sand-glider, Rooz, intending to spend her final days violently slaughtering subterranean monsters. Instead, she is abruptly scooped up by Daryan, the enigmatic and terrifying head of House Roshanak. He showers the supposedly dim-witted girl with unimaginable wealth and fierce protection. When her biological family tries to buy a legendary artifact for Jazmira at a grand auction, Daryan casually outbids their entire fortune just to give it to Parvani as a paperweight. The biological family is publicly humiliated and slowly realizes Parvani was the true genius protecting them. But as the action-packed monster hunts escalate, can Daryan uncover her ticking time limit before her cheerful facade collapses forever?
0
Fists, Fury, and Forty Winks
By @john1208
The 1979 Mudanport underworld is tearing itself apart, but Kuo Tzilan just wants to eat pork buns and sleep for twelve hours. Dragged to a chaotic syndicate funeral by her terrifying but doting husband - who is convinced she possesses a dangerously fragile constitution and forbids her from working - Tzilan fiercely refuses to participate in the gang war. Told in alternating third-person perspectives, the story follows Tzilan and Liao Bixue, an ambitious transmigrator exhausting herself to monopolize the booming shipping industry. While Bixue works twenty-hour days, Tzilan stays in bed, furiously sketching random scribbles to pass the time. When an eccentric avant-garde artist exhibits Tzilan's "doodles," Bixue realizes they are perfect blueprints of their enemies' hidden vaults. As assassins repeatedly interrupt Tzilan's naps - prompting her to violently dispatch them before her husband returns - the rival women form an unlikely alliance. But as the bodies pile up, a shocking truth emerges: Tzilan's past self intentionally wiped her own memory and orchestrated this entire war just to secure a peaceful retirement. Can Tzilan protect her fragile facade and her newfound ally without missing her afternoon nap?
0
The Counterfeit Maid's Sweet Sabotage
By @john1208
Mari Venza just wanted the overtime pay. Swapping identities with her terrified roommate to work as a catering maid at the elite Morvando estate was supposed to be a simple, one-night gig to pay for her hidden little brother's medical care. But when heavily armed mercenaries crash the grand engagement party of the scarred, reclusive Dante Morvando and his snobby childhood friend Bianca, Mari's survival instincts kick in. She 'accidentally' trips the assassins and spills boiling soup on their weapons, saving Dante's life while maintaining a bubbly, airheaded facade. Intrigued by her radiant smile and completely unaware of her lethal reflexes, Dante demands she become his live-in personal maid. Trapped in the gloomy, heavily fortified Villa Ombrosa, Mari cooks his meals, brightens his suffocating darkness, and slowly becomes his only addiction. He even begins secretly tutoring her for her college entrance exams in the dead of night. But with Bianca constantly trying to ruin her, assassins closing in, and a bittersweet, unspoken affection growing between them, how long can Mari keep up her cheerful charade before her dangerous past catches up to both of them?
0