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The Vicious And The Virile VII
by Luki Belle
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Synopsis
A collection of short horror stories, The Vicious and The Virile VII offers a captivating combination of unique and varied short stories emblematic of the dark fantasy genre.
Karan Lloyd Hamilton: when touring a fictitious national park in India a wealthy American couple, Judas and Priscilla Hamilton are attacked by tigers and get physically separated. The mortally wounded wife, pregnant with male twin, dies giving birth in the wilderness to healthy babies. Only one twin is found and returned to Judas who survived the attack. The grieving father returns to America with his newborn and the corpse of Priscilla. The boy, Karan Lloyd Hamilton, grows up to be a Wall Street investment banker. He bears a physical scar from his traumatic birth which has transformed Karan into a predator by night in the streets of Manhattan.
Kartik Shiv Yuvarajan: the second twin boy of Judas and Priscilla Hamilton did not die but was taken by the mystical tribe of the national park. The tribe hides the baby until he is stolen and given to a tour guide of the park, Arjun. Afraid of the consequences of taking the baby to the American embassy, Arjun adopts the child, gives him the name Kartik Shiv Yuvarajan and then returns to his ancestral village. Kartik bears a similar mark upon his body like his twin Karan. This mark brings about strange physiological changes in Kartik and leads to unexpected events that threatens his life in the village. Arjun must now decide whether to let Kartik know of his identity or whether to flee once again with the teenager.
Hounds of the Monks: a warrior flees with his family to save his daughter from the lustful, cruel king of the land. When the king’s army gives chase to bring back the young girl, the warrior separates from his wife and daughter to protect them. Mother and her girl seek shelter in a monastery only to realize that the holy surroundings may be equally dangerous.
Desert Frogs: a film producer with her adolescent twin sons and a film crew travel to a fictitious nation, Gapharkh, to shoot a few scenes in the country’s legendary desert. A civil war is imminent in Gapharkh between the military regime and the nomadic tribe of the desert. Unexpected connections quickly form between the twin boys and the nomads while the war heats up in the backdrop as the film crew rushes to complete their work. Discovering that there was a dark motive behind allowing the foreign film crew to shoot in the desert, the producer desperately tries to escape Gapharkh with her sons and her crew.
Stolen Princess: Rosemarie, a young woman rescued from prostitution, finds herself alone and homeless when her husband is lost at sea and her in-laws throw her out of her husband’s home. Rosemarie’s fate momentarily worsens when she is raped and almost killed but, miraculously, she is saved by strange old women who take Rosemarie to a secluded, enchanting island. The heavenly place seems like freedom until Rosemarie realizes that there are sinister forces around her who intend to keep her captive in the isle. Rosemarie’s past may be her only salvation.
Bastard of the Mist: Angeline a young widow, arrives at a remote and beautiful rehabilitation center for veterans to work as the assistant of the institution’s co-founder. Angeline is supernaturally gifted. Her dark powers clash with evil forces that exist in the forests surrounding the institution when she discovers a sinister plot by her employer Professor Kvalish, a man with a mysterious past. An unraveling thus begins and threatens the existence of everyone at the rehabilitation center.
Nature’s Call Girl: in a futuristic Earth a global war is ongoing between humankind and nature. Here, a fictitious country Parakrytheon, has built a nation devoid of plant and animals with artificially created weather to protect its humans from natural predators. On a fictitious island Kamin, humans live harmoniously with nature and beast. This place has the resources that Parakrytheon needs to defeat its natural enemy. Twin brothers Hagaath and Laksha, and their sister Kamina, are the means to this end.
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Enjoy this peek inside:
Excerpt from Story 3 – “Hounds of the Monks”
The doors of the monastery noisily opened as though the hinges had not been used in the longest time and lacked grease. Shamini slowly stood up and called to her daughter, but Zehera had fainted. Shamini was about to stoop down again when through the open wooden doors appeared a hooded monk in a brown garb, holding a thin candle in the grip of his bare palms, his arms cloaked under the bulky sleeves of his robe.
Shamini could not see the monk’s eyes which were covered under the garb’s hood. From the light of the candle’s flame, she saw that the person was a man, from his chiseled jawline, mouth, and chin.
“Holy monk…please help my daughter…please help us…there are hounds chasing us…please we are fleeing danger…” Shamini said frantically as she knelt beside Zehera.
“Zehera…my girl…Zehera…get up…look…we are safe…look!” Shamini nudged her daughter, gasped momentarily thinking the worst, then hastily put her ear against Zehera’s chest to listen; her daughter’s heart was still beating with life.
“She needs food and water!!” Shamini exclaimed and looked up desperately at the monk who was quietly standing by the door. She tried to lift up Zehera in her arms but lacked the strength to do so.
The door opened wider on its own and now Shamini could see a large rectangular empty room behind the monk.
The place was mostly dark except for at the far end, on the other side of the chamber, in front of an arched entrance, stood two more monks in hoods, holding tall candles in their hands.
“You may enter woman” said a deep youthful voice of the monk who stood by the monastery’s open doors.
“My daughter…” Shamini said in an exhausted tone still trying to lift up Zehera.
“Brothers!” the monk called loudly over his shoulder while placing the candle in his hands by the foot of the doors.
Quietly then the monk lifted Zehera in his arms and turned around.
“Go with my brethren” the monk said as he carried Zehera with him into the large rectangular room behind him.
“She is bleeding and badly injured! The dogs bit her…she has fainted…”Shamini said anxiously while following the monk. The other two monks were approaching her from the other direction, and they blocked her path.
“Your daughter is in holy care. Have faith” said the second monk.
“You woman must come with us” said the third monk “Your body is weak and your soul needs salvation.”
Their voices sounded almost like the first monk to Shamini, their tones were hypnotic. They stood around her,
hooded and taller than her. Their breaths smelled sweet, the fabric of their garbs exuded a flowery freshness, their lips bore faint smiles. Shamini watched as the first monk with Zehera, disappeared through the dark arched entranceway.
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About Author Luki Belle:
Luki Belle works in the media industry. In addition to The Vicious and the Virile VII, she is the author of three other novels: The Delicate Affair of Colonel Baquiste, The Sexy Seven Supernaturals, and Shakti of the Illuminated Lotus. Storytelling has been a fixture since Luki’s childhood when she would listen to stories told by her grandparents, parents, sisters, and cousins reading to her from diverse cultural fiction books. Paranormal characters existing as and amongst humans-while exalting in their mystical powers-have always fascinated Luki. She loves to explore magical, futuristic, fantastical, and ancient realms in her stories where her human and supernatural characters are thrust together, and their conflicted and tormented natures collide.
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