Kindle Edition
Spellbound Series
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Category:
Young Adult/Teen
Publisher: Moonlight Publishing
ISBN-10: 0976180421
Pages: 300
Copyright: Dec 30, 2013
ISBN-13: 9780976180425
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Sizzling Paranormal Suspense!
Deadly Witchcraft. Ghostly Threats. Doomed Romance.
They say every town has its secrets, but that doesn't even begin to describe Fallen Oaks. The townsfolk are a superstitious lot and the mystical disappearance of a local teen has everyone murmuring about a centuries old witch's curse.
When sixteen-year-old Shiloh Trudell takes a summer job at Craven Manor, she discovers a ghost with an agenda. That's where she meets the new town hottie, Trent Donovan, and immediately becomes enchanted by his charms. Finally, Shiloh's met someone who is supercute and totally into her, but Trent is immersed in the cunning deception that surrounds the mysterious Craven Manor. Yet neither one of them can deny the immediate, passionate connection growing between them.
With cryptic messages from a pesky wraith, Shiloh will finally begin to understand the mysterious significance of the strange mark branded on her wrist and decide how much she's willing to sacrifice to protect the other teenagers in town. Unfortunately, for Shiloh, not all ghosts want help crossing over. Some want vengeance.
Note from author: These serial novels should read as if you are watching a TV series. Each new book is like a whole season broken up into six separate parts (so far). Some end with a cliffhanger and others without complete plot resolution. However, each book continues the ongoing story of Shiloh and her friends as they face new foes together and fight their own inner-demons, finding bittersweet romance and everlasting friendships along the way. Please visit the official Spellbound Universe blog for more information regarding this popular teen series.
Excerpt
For as long as I could remember, I’d heard whispers in the shadows—black, twisting shapes that chilled my blood. Slithering through the night, their greenish skin, crimson eyes, and sharp claws were illuminated even in the dark.
Sunlight now meant the difference between life and death.
I normally felt safe during the day, with the heat of the sun brushing my skin, so that morning—when the shadows showed up in my bedroom—I barely recognized their eerie whispering.
The desk lamp flickered, startling me. I stared at the last line I’d typed on my essay for English class, one hand hovering over the keyboard.
Homework could wait.
I raised my head and closed the laptop. My heart hammered. A hint of chilling menace climbed up my spine. Finishing my homework was the last thing on my mind.
The spooky whispering—inhuman and ominous—grew more intense.
Setting the laptop aside, I uncrossed my legs and jumped off the bed, nearly tripping over my long nightgown. I scanned the dark bends and edges of the room. The swirling azure colors of the witch ball suspended over the bed rotated in a slow circle. I got down on my hands and knees to check under the bed. Nothing.
The closet door was open a crack. I stood up and wavered, shoulders hitching.
I dragged my feet over to the closet and pushed the door open with my foot. On tiptoes, I leaned over the threshold, stretching to grasp the brass chain, and then gave it a yank. Light bled across dirty laundry, illuminating metal hangers scattered on the floor. Dusty board games littered the shelf, and haphazardly hanging clothes swayed on the bar. My fuzzy bunny slippers stared upward with glassy button eyes. Nothing unusual.
So why was I so freaked?
The feeling—indistinct but ominous—lingered like the remnants of a bad dream. I couldn’t isolate the source. But something felt wrong.
The closet light and lamp blew out. As I turned around, my peripheral vision caught a maelstrom of shadows. Things withered within it. Something snaked past my leg.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
I’d forgotten to keep my telepathic shield up. Again.
Shadows murmured in an ancient language, covering the round pink rug like an opaque stain. The creatures fed off my fear, which was doled out like bitter candy. Within the inky blobs were gleaming eyes. Red orbs, open and staring. Spiny reptilian fingers reached out to grab my ankles. Instinct alone jerked me from their grasp. Demonic things with darkling eyes glared at me.
Trembles traveled from my legs and vibrated up my neck. Bile rose in my throat. I struggled to calm myself; all I had to do was run from the room.
Instead I froze with my back against the wobbling closet door. Then my eyes caught something else. An entity, dense and vertical, detached itself from the shadows across the room. Bigger. Darker. Malevolent.
The blackness grew deep and vast. From within that shadow—a mass of darkness, like a terrible yawning hunger rose in front of my wide eyes. The shadow hung heavily, like a spatter of crude oil, pulsating and swirling until it nearly touched the ceiling. It morphed, muscles expanding over bones, skin convulsing, a resurrection of shiny obsidian, smooth and razor-sharp. It throbbed, altered, trickled into limbs and flesh and—
Oh, God, it’s almost touching me!
I flinched and stumbled sideways, bumping into a chair. My knees buckled. I swayed and leaned hard on the wall. Blood roared in my ears.
The nest of smaller shadows shimmered and seemed to crouch in terror. They whispered in tangled voices, circling my legs like frightened children.
When scary things get scared—probably not a good omen.
Breathing out desperate little choking noises, I shook my head. But the head shake didn’t help the horrible images fade. Only reinforced my worst nightmare.
Shadows had come alive and coalesced, taking on form. A human form.
My palms went damp and a cold tremor shot down my back.
Power surged through the demon as he swelled into a seething black mass of energy, bent on blocking my escape. His rough skin, the color of soot, held a sturdy flexibility, more sinuous than flesh, like a venomous viper. His strange features—part phantom, part skeleton—fought to become corporeal. Partially humanoid. No hair. His man-parts were covered with black pants and he wore nothing else. He flexed his hands, revealing long fingernails. Knife-sharp teeth. The reptilian creature did not move. He watched me with ocher eyes that blazed, searing through my nightgown and scorching my skin.
The smaller shadows—demonic shapeshifters—slunk away, blending into the dim corners. Beady eyes blinked. However, the seven-foot-tall creature remained. The hellish warmth radiating from his body entered mine like the breath of a dragon.
“Greetings, Thirteenth Daughter,” the shadow man said. “Or should I call you by your birth name, Shiloh Trudell?”
It knew my name. It knew my name!
I swallowed. Hard. My scalp prickled with sweat. It wasn’t as if I were some girly-girl afraid of her own shadow, but when they had glowing eyes, sharp teeth, and spoke to me…well, I tended to freak out.
Okay, focus.
My gaze darted to the window. Sunlight was my only ally. If I lifted the blinds, the sun’s rays would swallow the darkness. At least that was the idea. A crack of light ebbed into the room, soaking the crevices.
“So, um, what do they call you?” I asked, my voice trembling.
Inching forward, I kept an eye on the junior shadows with their onyx hands, arms…flashes of carved faces. They continually moved, sliding under the bed in a twisted game of peek-a-boo. But the shadowy demon stood very still. Intent, watchful, calm. Dangerous. The disgusting odor of sulfur, musty and acrid, wrinkled my nose.
“It is of little consequence,” he said.
I wanted to say something tough and snarky, but I could only gape stupidly at Shadow Man. Big bad evil. Whatever.
The demon raised one hand and pointed at my arm. “Debts must be paid.” His inhuman voice slid across the space between us, resonant and sinister, like the threat of a snake before it strikes. “You bear the Devil’s Mark.”
My eyes bulged. “Say what?”
The ugly scar on my forearm—the one I’d lived with for years—burned at his words, as if I’d plunged it into scalding water. It totally caught me off guard. It had never hurt like this before.
Sucking in a breath, I held my arm against me. Tears filled my eyes. I gritted my teeth, twitching, unsure what to do next.
Move. Now. But my legs refused to budge. My gut clenched. My skin prickled.
Please, oh, please, go away.
Too bad I lacked the courage to scream or fight rather than stiffen like a statue, immobile and breathless.
Shadow Man glowered. The miniature shadows swarmed around me. Were they his little minions? Or were they still as freaked as me? Didn’t matter because now they had me cornered.
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