Tithe the Bones, Sell the Blood
ShortStory 5,126 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"It’s a pretty near thing, Nicolette. A pretty near thing.” Cédric mumbled to a bare skull in an alcove, the half-dead candle encrusting its forehead giving off barely enough light to fill the corner of the old storeroom. The skull was not Nicolette’s; just a placeholder. Everything was a placeholder for his sister, these days."
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Quasar links out; the story lives on BCS, where the author gets the click.