The Filled Vessel

by C.M. Nascosta

Author's Note: Welcome to the Cambric Creek After Darkverse, where there's not as much sugar and a lot more spice. Our stories still take place in the community we already know and love, but these will not be the frothy, fun, cotton candy confections you're used to, and they will not all wrap up with a neat little HEA bow. The content warnings are not to be ignored, friends! This isn't a "dark" romance, but if you're expecting the standard Cambric Creek fluff, take this as your warning!

Content Advisories: Dubcon, somnophilia, fear play, light gore & violence, Holt being the WORST.

Genres: Smut, Supernatural, Romance, Dark Romance, Fantasy, Fiction, Novella

ebook

First published February 18, 2025

About the author

C.M. Nascosta is an author and professional procrastinator from Cleveland, Ohio. As a child, she thought that living on Lake Erie meant one was eerie by nature, and her corresponding love of all things strange and unusual started young. She’s always preferred beasts to boys, the macabre to the milquetoast, the unknown darkness in the shadows to the Chad next door. She lives in a crumbling old Victorian with a scaredy-cat dachshund, where she writes nontraditional romances featuring beastly boys with equal parts heart and heat, and is waiting for the Hallmark Channel to get with the program and start a paranormal lovers series.

Reviews

[Arianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 ⭐️

I’m not sure what this book was supposed to be about…

Girl wants to be a witch, girl purchases some stuff to do a ritual to help her become a witch, girl does ritual, ritual summons a creature, girl gets fucked by creature every night for a month, girl feels better about herself, girl still isn’t a witch…?

Uhhh… wut 🤨

Good for her for overcoming her insecurities thanks to the power of intrusive thoughts and good dick…?

I’m confused why Holt gave her the stuff for the ritual in the first place… especially since he invited Tara to join Ladybug’s coven, so it’s not like she was a rando he was irritated by and wanted to get back at. And is Corviss really able to do the job the same way as the incubus? All you need to do is hump and dump? Hit it and quit it? Ejac and evac??? Can just anybody do this for her? And again, WHAT WAS THE REASON?

And the ending says “Tara and Corviss will return.” Okay, so can Corviss exist in the waking world?

Also now that I’ve read a handful of the Ladybug coven books and companion stories, I am ready to admit that I am so lost at the witch thing. Ladybug is an herbalist and Holt says she’s “gifted” and wants to be her familiar, but is that something she was born with? But Harper is a shadowmancer and Ladybug’s aunt had Sight, so presumably they are born with those types of gifts. But with Holt inviting his human girlfriend and now Tara to join the coven, can anybody become a witch? On that note, are there things you can study as a witch that you don’t need to have been be born with the gift for? Or do you receive some sort of “power” during the course of your practice? I’m sure there are more questions I could ask but for the sake of this is a novella book review and not a full literary analysis, I will keep it to those most pressing.

Next book is He Loves Me Not.

*sniff sniff* Still waiting for Litha and for Full Moon Frenzy and for frkn REUNIONS ‼️

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first book of the Cambric Creek series I didn’t care for.
But that is OK, because all the other ones have been excellent for me.

[Kristina]

Clearly there’s at least one person out there wondering, hey - what if a crow could fuck? but idk that I needed to read about it.

[Jami Zahemski · Rating 2 out of 5]

So Tara never has sex actually awake, mobile and conscious with Corviss? She just lives in her dreams with him while he has sex with her unconscious body? Anyone else hate that or is it just me? I get he was nice to her unlike the real incubus would be. He confronted Holt which is brave and helped her become more confident but the sex made me uncomfy. If Corviss really cares for her then have her in all manners, including awake. At least CM tells you up front what to expect sex wise but this was just not for me. I hope Tara and Corviss develop more in future stories because I like them together but they need to be together consciously.

[whisperedsigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This borders on suspense/thriller, as per the authors note yep no hea either. It seems to be more open ended to me rather than an implied conclusion. I was hoping for something to actually be height on climax on the plot but met with none.

[Libbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5✨

The Filled Vessel follows Tara, a wannabe witch that is tricked into summoning an incubus instead of what she wants. Yet a different kind of demon, one who feeds on nightmares, turns up in it's place.

Part of the Cambric Creek: After Darkverse, this does venture into the darker side of romance with some taboo subjects and kinks. Spicy and sexy this is a good addition to this universe.

[T Rojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird, depressing but dare I say- romantic? I mean as romantic as you can get with a crow-man.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun. I always love a "fake mean" character.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Reece · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some spoilery things in here, but let's be honest with ourselves, we aren't reading this shit for the plot. Just so you're aware, there is no real consent here, but somehow it wasn't giving me terribly rapey vibes despite the literal rape. The FMC embraces the sexy bits she experiences within her dreams but doesn't initially realize there is actual P in V going on in the waking world.

Tara wants to embrace her witchy roots, but she does it half-assed with tchotchkes and halloween decor. One day she finds herself in her local magic shop, and it isn't the usual person behind the counter. She ends up going home many dollars poorer with no idea that she's been tricked into summoning an incubus.

Corviss is described has having the torso/wang of a human and feathery legs, avian feet, and at the very least feathery shoulders. I'm not quite sure on the face. He goes down on her at one point and there was no mention of a beak, so I assume it's at least mostly human? He is for some reason covering a month-long shift for the abovementioned incubus. Normally, he's some kind of fear-eating nightmare manipulator, but this month he needs to bang some broads.

Yada yada yada, Tara gets shagged while she's experiencing sleep paralysis and quite enjoys it aside from the associated terrible nightmares that Corviss foists upon her so that he might gorge upon her tasty fear. There is a little bit of plot. He develops some feelings, and it has a happyish ending. The smut was okay but not amazing. It's a nice quick read.

[Laura Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect length with perfect end!

I loved the idea of the nightmare falling in love with the human receiving the nightmare dreams. That he loved her enough to close the connection to the incubus she’d unknowingly summoned. Cats definitely are diabolical! And I love my two little devils dearly!

I feel like the story itself was just the right length and ended so perfectly. I think to try to stretch it out might have ruined its effect. After all, can one have an actual lasting relationship with a dream or a nightmare, as it were?

But I think the story had a beautiful quality to it and I think both the story itself and its short length contributed to that. And I know the author warned us that there weren’t guaranteed HEA’s in her Cambric After Darkverse, but I feel like that exactly what this one had!

[Athena · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insecure would-be witch tries to summon some self confidence and is tricked by a pretentious cat-witch-creature into summoning an incubus. But the incubus is on vacation so she ends up summoning a supernaturally horny sleep paralysis nightmare bird-man (man-bird?) instead, to the delight of somnophiles everywhere.

If you ever wanted to know what it would be like to get railed by your sleep paralysis demon, this is the book for you. It was kind of depressing and a little creepy but certainly romantic.

I should really look into why I liked this one so much lmao.

[Meagan D · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lovely little dark novella.

I loved Corviss. A dark, sleep paralysis nightmare that just scratched all the itches. A salty MMC who finds himself just a little enamored with the 'lump of flesh' he's summoned to fill.

I loved Tara. I really enjoyed Corviss pushing her to be a more assertive and accepting version of herself in his own twisted way.

Also, maybe I am interested in Somnophilia now...

The best little dark bite-sized read!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting Foray into Dreams

I'll never think about my own sleep Demons the same way again. Do you have sleep paralysis? What if the demon wasn't out to hurt you? Be careful what you summon. And be sure you close the opening. Highly recommend!

[DemetraP · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was short, around 80 pages. He feeds off fear and is partially crow shaped. But he finds out he can feed off of her lust instead.

Everything starts off when she is asleep.

[Raven R · Rating 3 out of 5]

To pay his debts, a nightmare takes the shift of an incubus for a month. Wherever could that lead? 😆

[Mara · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved to revisit the Cambric Creek. can't wait for Holt's story

[Ea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️

[Car · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was previously published in 2022 as part of Monsters Anthology volume 2, lost in the dark. Just another republishing of a previously released book. Regurgitated garbage lol.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve noticed that this author has a habit of republishing her previously written stories, that were part of an anthology, from years ago. These include the Minoan Bride, Shadows & light, and now this one. Why does one keep doing this? We’ve already read these! Please send out new material and not any more retelling/rewrites of other authors works either.

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here’s an idea…
Instead of writing a new book, let’s just put a cover on a book that was released several years ago as part of monsters anthology #2 and re-release it as its own book years later.
🥱