*First Place Winner of The BookFest® Awards, Spring 2025: Supernatural Creatures and Beings*

It isn't easy being the Grim Reaper.

For millennia, Death watched over the fleeting lives of mortals, claiming their souls as is her duty. Each year, the story was the same. Humans wasted the gifts they were given, allowing the precious sands of time to slip through their grasp. But, who did they blame? Not themselves, of course, but the horseman who came to collect her due.

Such an existence grew tiresome for the creature. Bored of humanity’s antics, the reaper opened a quiet apothecary and began peddling her curious wares. Her little shop became an escape from their ire, a distraction to pass the decades.

Over time, the mortals let down their guards, but the horseman never did. Now and then, she changed the rules of the game, reminding humans of one very important thing…

Death is inevitable. There is no escape. For in the end, there is no way out of the graves they’ve dug for themselves. When the tides turn, no plea or bargain will change their fates.

Author's Note: This compilation of short stories contains five previously published tales in the Apothecary of Curiosities series, as well as an exclusive bonus story not available anywhere else: "Death's Nell," "Kiss of Death," "Deadly Delicacies," "Everything Dies," "Death Waits for No One" (Exclusive), and "Death Warmed Over." Each has its own content warnings. To view them, please visit the author's website.