Click here to buy this book!
Kindle Edition
Download to your Nook (eBook)
Download from Apple iTunes (eBook)
Download from Smashwords (eBook)
Amazon
Lulu
Merita King - Science Fiction Novelist
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Category:
Horror
Publisher: Merita King
ISBN-10: 099284911X
Pages: 195
Copyright: Sept 28 2014
ISBN-13: 9780992849115
Price: $1.99 (eBook)
2 New York cops find themselves doing battle with an evil being from another dimension.
A story of one man’s obsession.
It starts out innocently enough, but soon becomes the conduit through which a monstrous horror gains entry to our world.
Harlon Drake wanted to know about his famous ancestor, but finds her difficult to track down. When he gets the chance to buy one of her paintings, his trip to the auction room turns out to be the catalyst for a horror that threatens not only his own soul, but that of every other person alive.
Two New York cops and one reclusive psychic find themselves thrust together in a perilous battle to save humanity from annihilation.
Excerpt
The auction room was packed and Harlon’s heart sank when he read the brochure and saw that both of Patricia’s paintings had reserves that were way beyond his means. Knowing he had no chance of securing them; he glanced through what else was on offer. It had taken him over two hours to get there, and he did not fancy leaving empty-handed. Nothing piqued his interest until the last page, when his gaze fell upon lot 851, a huge ornate ebony mirror and locked box of various books and documents. The mirror was ugly, so ugly it was beautiful, and Harlon knew it would fit right in with the decor and furnishings in his apartment, so he decided to bid for it. The box of books and documents was an unknown quantity and Harlon hoped that something within would prove interesting reading. There was no key for the solid metallic box, so what was contained within it was unknown. Its previous owner, Thomas Lorne, never got around to forcing it open due to his marital difficulties, and it remained unopened in his storage unit.
There was competition for lot 851, and Harlon found himself in a bidding war with an overweight woman whose gaze gave him the creeps. Another bidder, a thin elderly man lost his nerve at four thousand eight hundred dollars, and it was not until six thousand that the creepy woman gave in and shook her head as the auctioneer fixed her with his questioning gaze. Harlon was delighted at having won, but knew there was always the possibility that he had wasted his money on a turkey. He hoped the fact that the creepy woman bid so furiously against him, meant that lot 851 was worth having. The mirror was an outstanding piece and would look fantastic in his apartment, but was it worth six thousand? He did not think so but it saved him going home empty handed. He had a romantic notion that looking into the same mirror that Patricia might have looked into might form a connection between them.
Harlon’s apartment occupied a corner position on the twelfth floor of Gainsford House, his sitting room enjoying a dual aspect that looked out over the city. The large expanse of window gave the room plenty of light and a sense of space that went beyond its physical dimensions. The space between a matching pair of eighteenth century mahogany tallboys provided the perfect position for Harlon’s new purchase, which reflected the already substantial light and lifted the slight heaviness it gave to the room. Standing over seven feet, the mirror was an imposing piece of furniture and it made Harlon a little uneasy when he caught his own reflection out of the corner of his eye. One night, three weeks after installing it, he came home late after a night out with some friends, and found the unlit sitting room looking decidedly spooky reflected in that mirror. Harlon laughed and thought it fitting that such a spooky piece should reside within this building, given the rumours.
During his research into the history of the building in which he had made his home, Harlon discovered many tales of paranormal activity, dating back to the time of the building’s construction. A stonemason had been terrified out of his wits by a ghostly apparition, and had refused to return to his job, even preferring to leave his tools behind on the site than return there to collect them. Several other workers told of seeing the spectre of a fat man lumbering along the ground floor corridor, which disappeared right through a wall. Harlon found these tales fascinating, given that he was something of a believer in ghosts, and did some more research into these tales. He found that several murders occurred during the time the Rink-Standens occupied Gainsford Hall, one of which was his own ancestor Patricia. Not long after Patricia’s murder, the killing spree stopped and there were rumours and talk of ghosts and several reports of people apparently being possessed by spirits and made to do unspeakable acts. The police at the time had not taken it at all seriously, and put the rumours down to too much hard liquor and not enough hard work. Harlon laughed as he read the reports. What ‘unspeakable acts’ might they be?
A few of the building’s current residents accepted that Gainsford House was haunted, and Harlon could not bring himself to dismiss this belief. He had experienced some weird things himself since moving in, and although he had not seen a solid manifestation of anything otherworldly, there had been moments when he would swear blind he was not alone in his home. The most frightening experience was when he was watching the television late one evening seven months after moving in. The talk show had finished when the door to the sitting room swung slowly and silently open. Harlon noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye, and his heart leapt in his breast as he watched the door open right back to the wall, where it sat for a few seconds before suddenly slamming shut with a bang that shook the pictures that hung upon the wall. The next time he met old Mrs Hanny in the corridor, he mentioned it and she told him that she had experienced something odd that same night.
Although not a religious man, Harlon decided to get the apartment blessed after that, and nothing similar had happened since. Mrs Hanny had sniffed at his decision to have a priest “with all his mutterings” visit, and declared that “there be evil around ‘ere, Mr Drake, and no amount of Latin ramblings and wafting smoke is gonna change it. Something ain’t right here, you mark my words, lad.” Harlon thought Mrs Hanny was a little too firm in her belief of all things otherworldly, and decided that she had far too strong a conviction in the existence of evil. He laughed to himself as he thought of her, muttering her prayers and wafting her hands to ‘feel the energies’ whenever the subject came up between them.
“What a kook,” he grinned as he washed the dishes after his evening meal.
|
