vampires & werewolves writing challenge winners
Thank you to everyone who participated in this challenge, and congratulations to everyone who placed!
We received almost 1,100 submissions (whoa!) and had the best time diving into the worlds you created for us.
Everyone who submitted a story will be receiving feedback, regardless of whether or not the story placed.
And now for the winners!
Drumroll please . . .
first PLACE
the last supper by rachel hubert
Love has always been a little dangerous between them. But on their one-year anniversary, she proves that passion really can eat you alive.
Trigger Warnings: Mild references to violence
second PLACE
the cure by Chloe Mcquesten
A contagion has spread mercilessly, turning all those it infects into werewolves. Lennie is one of the immune who works as a nurse shouldering the terrible burden of administering the Cure to the infected. As she works, Lennie finds herself growing more certain that perhaps immunity is not a blessing at all.
Trigger Warnings: Reference to suicide (off screen), implied death of a child
third PLACE
the doctor who works miracles by Mackenzie Rossero
In a desperate attempt to survive the grief of losing her husband, a widow turns to a mysterious doctor for help.
Trigger Warnings: Death of a spouse (severe), signs of child abuse (mild)
fourth place
the girls of everhelm by Isabel Wagner
When her sister Isolde is abducted by a mysterious force that has been preying on the girls of Everhelm, Petra Hildegard defies her father’s orders and embarks on a journey to rescue her. Armed with the ancestral forest knowledge that her father forbids, Petra must contend with hunger of all forms if she is to free the stolen girls from their prison.
Trigger Warnings: Moderate Blood & Gore, Disturbing Imagery, Violence, Cannibalism, Death, Misogyny
Fifth PLACE
the house with a dog by Meg Harris
At the edge of an unfinished cul-de-sac, a couple buys a rotting house they swear will be their last flip: one more to afford to build their own dream house. While renovating, the husband finds an old recipe book left by the original owners and cooks from it, waking something in the house that had been sleeping: the kitchen hearth warms, dead animals appear like offerings, and evidence of a wild dog haunts the property. When his wife tries to cut their losses and sell, he won’t let her—the dog is loyal to the house, and he’s starting to worry it might be him.
Trigger Warnings: Severe: domestic/intimate partner violence, graphic violence and gore, blood, animal death, body horror/cannibalistic imagery, murder.
sixth PLACE
sixth PLACE
ten years of service by Nicholette A. Guy
Margot Santana completes her final day of service in a blood bank, and now it’s time for her to collect her reward of eternal life. Only problem is Margot no longer wants to live forever.
Trigger Warning: Mild Blood
seventh PLACE
power & blood by Lea Hughes
Dasha, emboldened after years of her coven’s subjugation, ventures into the den of the ancient vampire Lord Viktor Dmitriev. Her goal? To save her younger sister, whose ritual sacrifice has ensured the continued safety of her coven.
Trigger Warnings: Blood (Mild), Violence (Mild), Sexual Coercion (Mild)
eighth PLACE
the trees have teeth by Tyanna peterson
A young girl escapes from the chains of a master by running to the Old Forest. Though the forest is feared by many, she finds shelter within the roots of a tree bound by magic and learns the truth of why the forest hates and the trees have teeth.
Trigger Warnings: Mild violence and reference to child abuse/slavery
ninth PLACE
lost and found by Jennilee Tangpuz
A vampire cat and her Maker are on the run once it becomes too difficult to hide in the shadows of the modern world.
Trigger Warnings: This story contains mild descriptions of gore.
tenth PLACE
The Bride of Bellemort by K. Pascall
In the sunless valley of Sacre-Morne, the Count of Château Bellemort has come to seek his bride.
Trigger Warnings: Mild blood, violence, themes of coercion and suicidal ideation
