Powerful Pan Vampire Tale: Clark Ashton Smith’s “The End of the Story” (Narrator Jeffrey LeBlanc)
“Farewell for awhile, Christophe. But have no fear. You shall find me again if you are brave and patient.”–Clark Ashton Smith (The End of the Story)
“Farewell for awhile, Christophe. But have no fear. You shall find me again if you are brave and patient.”–Clark Ashton Smith (The End of the Story)
I stand chilled and alone in a desolate cane field next to a dead man. His neck is twisted and bent
at an unnatural angle. The yellowed waxen skin—rifled with wounds, of his throat and torso are
exposed. As I look on with a gust of a cold wind at my back, I notice chunks of flesh have been
torn from both. Maculations of crimson on leaves and the splatter of frozen blood surround his
body. But it’s the eyes of the man I’ll remember to my last days. Wide, fixed in shock, they hide
some terrifying secret only the mutilated corpse may know.–Jeffrey LeBlanc (The Curious Death of Dionysus Chennault)
Some of my nightmares screaming release are spiders devouring a team of researchers in an African cave; a scientist and his family slither into the swamp to encounter deadly snails; and a vampire’s curse lets the blood fly. Many more Hellish creatures are in that abyss waiting for their next victim. Conjured abominations that should never see the light of day.
Check out the collection on Amazon and Kindle. We pray “These Hallowed Horrors” keep you awake at night, looking under the bed…or over your shoulder in a moonlit forest or sea.
With these conjured verses we didn’t plan on jump scares or worn-out horror cliché. We wanted something that scares or unnerves…and different. Maybe we got it right this time. Or maybe it leaves a little something to grow on your mind down the road. As a werewolf bite, a nest of hungry spiders…or slithering slugs, in your brain.
And…as always, devilishly devoted to horror may your soul always be! -JL
“A vampire’s thirst is a deadly thing!”–Jeffrey Leblanc (Blood & Dust)
And freezing, the Owl never leaving, still is staring, still is staring
Perched upon Great Pan’s limbs just above my swamp shore;
Perched, twisted head, and stares as the dead to distant Stygian moors,
His Erebus eyes, become gilded fireflies, flickering to flame seething, possibly dreaming,
Whilst leprous moon overhead wakes the forgotten dead in shadows before;
And as I lie waiting my flickering shadow anticipating those ghostly shadows before
Cackles the Owl “Katina” evermore!”–Jeffrey LeBlanc