***This is part of my new book Protector. I hope you consider buying it. I am an independent author. My books are all published on Amazon. This book is currently above $7, but trust me; it is worth the price.****

Dani drove along the deserted road. At four in the morning there was never much traffic. Lately it was one of the things that Dani liked about opening the gas station every morning. It gave her time to think. This morning was her first day back at work in almost a week. The last few days had been dark and bleak, leaving her gasping for air as she tried to find a reason to keep going, a reason to live. Dani felt lost. Her world came crashing down like shattered glass around her feet when her mother died suddenly. Tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision, as she remembered their last conversation.

Throughout history, people have told stories of monsters that terrorize us from the skies. People of medieval Europe lived in fear of fire-breathing dragons, Native Americans tell of a giant bird that creates thunder with the flap of its wings and Greek poet, Homer told of alluring temptresses who would lure men to their deaths. In modern times, people are more vulnerable to these flying creatures because they don’t look up at the sky anymore, they’re focused on the “here and now” or “what’s in front of us” and then they swoop down on you from out of nowhere. From thunderbirds to the Jersey Devil, I'm Cryptic Hatter and here are 15 Winged Monsters From Around The World.

We've all have heard stories about vampires and creatures going bump in the night, but where do most of these tales originate from? Demonology is the study of multiple creatures of the abyss from all origins of the world. Within the studies of demonology are vampiric creatures ranging from firefly-transforming bloodsuckers all the way to a corpse crawling its way from the grave to feast on your flesh.

I chewed slowly before swallowing the abhorrent soul. It was only partially black, but still tasted a lot on the puke side. I took in a deep breath and exhaled. I always thought this would be the fun part, but sometimes the taste made me almost reconsider. Suddenly, as I raised my hand for my people to send in the next one, I felt a weight on my head. I let my hand drop and looked up to see the stubby little ends of baby fingers at the edge of my eyebrows. A smile spread across my face and I shook my head a little. The fingers retracted, gripping my scalp and I heard a soft giggle.

Walking through the woods looking around. Making sure nothing is following. I can't help but think about the creature. Still wondering where it came from. Why was the map blacked out? Why the fences? Why the secrecy? Questions I should have just left alone.

I'm making some changes as of right now with my username, obviously, and also this story will be a part of a series, as will some of my previous stories. There will be some updated/altered versions of some of my previous stories like this one, so let’s get into it. We share our world with pretty strange creatures, but none are as stranger as cryptids, animals that have yet to be proven by science. All over the world people have reported seeing animals that are the likes of which none have ever seen, and who’s to say they’re not real? If so many people have seen them then they must exist, right? Well believer or skeptic, I’m Cryptic Hatter and here are 15 Strange Creatures That May Be Out There:

Blood.

My head.

Note: The title of this essay is inspired by the title of a story in the anthology 'Lonely Vigils' by Manly Wade Wellman.

Scrolling through Hulu's horror movies, I stumbled upon Dead House (2014), a film directed by Brini Amerigo and produced by Marco Palese. I judged a movie by its cover and assumed that people were going to be trapped in a house full of flesh-eating, bloodthirsty zombies. That was 20 percent of the case, in my opinion.