Authors: Scott Nicholson
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Sabrina realized she enjoyed
flying, despite the circumstances. She held Roy in her arms, though his weight
threatened to drag her into a nosedive and slam into the sand below. They
plummeted toward the sandy road below.
At the last moment, she arched her
back and angled her wings so that Roy’s feet barely skimmed the ground, and
then they were ascending into the night sky.
“Damn you, Angel,” Roy said,
trying desperately to ram the flare in her face.
She dodged his blows, cutting a
weaving pattern in the air. They were now a hundred feet above the abandoned
village, Sabrina gliding on the gusts of the coming storm to gain altitude.
“Stop it or I drop you,” she said.
“I don’t know what’s inside a Gog, but I’ll bet it leaves a greasy spot down
there on Main Street.”
“I must complete my mission,” Roy
said, still wriggling.
“Me, too,” Sabrina said. “Too bad
for you that good always defeats evil.”
“The hour is upon us, Sabrina
Vickers,” Roy snarled. His flare extinguished and he let is fall into darkness.
“It is the time of the Gog.”
“Tell you what,” Sabrina shouted
into his ear as she fought against the salty headwind. “If you’re in such a
hurry for the end of the world, let me help you.”
God had commanded people not to
kill. It was such an important commandment that it was, like, sixth on the
list, far below the important stuff like not having any other Gods before the
Big Guy, because He was a mighty and jealous God.
So in absence of 24-hour tech
support to receive guidance on the decision, she decided that breaking Rule Six
to protect Rules One and Two was a pretty righteous deal.
Sabrina flapped hard until she was
high over the ocean. The approaching storm frothed and spat with escalating
violence, near hurricane strength. Her hair blew wildly behind her and her
skirt fluttered. Despite her enhanced strength, her arms ached from holding
Roy, and the burn wounds stung her in several places.
Still, she flew with determination
against the teeth of the rising wind. Roy shouted something but she couldn’t
hear him. It sounded suspiciously like “Smell the glove.”
And then she released him.
Roy made one quick, clawing grab
for her and slipped away, and in the last moment his eyes were wide and
bloodshot and he looked for all the world like Roy the ex-frat boy, a little too
wealthy and drunk for his own good, but relatively harmless.
But before Sabrina could
reconsider, he was out of reach and dropping toward the frothy surface of the
Atlantic. There was a white eruption where he struck, and then he was gone.
It could have been her
imagination, but the storm seemed to ease almost instantly. She peered into the
murky depths of the ragged clouds, but she didn’t see any ships.
Imagination.
CHAPTER
TWELVE
She veered and glided back to the
abandoned village of Portsmouth. Cherry was still tending to Luke, although now
she had his shirt completely off and appeared to be applying the Heimlich
maneuver and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation at the same time. Except Sabrina had
never seen the Heimlich maneuver applied from the front, and as far as Sabrina
knew, there wasn’t anything lodged in Luke’s throat.
Cherry looked up as Sabrina
alighted rather clumsily beside them. The clouds had parted a little and
moonlight seeped down to bathe them and the church in a milky wash.
“How is he?” Sabrina asked.
“Uh, seems to be okay,” Cherry
said. “I checked him out pretty good.”
“I’ll bet.” She leaned over her
vampire boyfriend. “Okay, I’ll take it from here.”
Cherry stood a few feet away while
Sabrina examined the splinter in the moonlight. Luke’s eyes fluttered open. His
complexion appeared to be its usual shade of wan creaminess, and his heartbeat
was the usual six beats a minute. She was annoyed to notice that an erection
strained against the zipper of his jeans.
Cherry’s technique must be
quite revitalizing.
“Can you hear me?” Sabrina said.
“You can fly,” Cherry said.
“We’ll talk about that later.
First, we have to get Luke to a hospital.”
Luke’s eyes snapped open. “No
hospitals.”
“Ah, so you have a high co-pay,
huh? Welcome to modern American health care.”
“You know I can’t be saved by
mortal powers,” he said. “That’s church wood in me.”
“The wound isn’t bleeding
anymore,” she said.
He looked vulnerable and cute.
“It’s infecting me. Like gangrene.”
“Guess this isn’t a good time to give
you the spiel about accepting God into your heart,” she said.
“I told you, I don’t have a
heart.”
“But you’re worth saving.”
He gave her a grimacing smile.
“You defeated him?”
“Chum for the sharks. I guess I
could have brought him down here so you could have a late-night snack but—”
“What are you guys talking about?”
Cherry said. “What did you do with Roy? I saw you flying with him over the
church and then you were lost in the dark.”
And better for you if you stay
in the dark…
Thunder rumbled in the distance,
the dregs of the dying squall. Mingled with the noise was God’s voice: “Angel
blood.”
You sure you don’t mean “Smell
the glove”?
“He needs angel blood to survive,”
God said.
Oh, so you want him to live?
Even though he is a life-sucking creature of darkness?
“He’s a…necessary evil. For now.”
And if I let him drink from me,
what happens to me?”
“Blessed are the clean of heart.”
Come on, don’t spout Bible
verses. That’s not fair.
“Life isn’t fair, Sabrina. Only
me.”
And the thunder died away, the wind
fell, and the clouds thinned. The moon hung like a wax melon in the sky.
“Cherry,” Sabrina said. “I need
you to go to the boat.”
Cherry had picked up the spear gun
and was examining the piece of wood attached to the spear.” “What’s going on
here?”
“I’ll explain later. But we have
to get Luke back to the mainland.”
“You’re going to do something
kinky, aren’t you? I can see it in your eyes.”
Sabrina shrugged. “He’s my
boyfriend.”
Cherry nodded at Sabrina’s wings.
“What about those? Why don’t you fly him to the mainland?”
“I don’t think I’m strong enough.
Will you please go?”
Cherry pursed her lips in thought.
“Another date ends in disaster.”
“Tell me about it.”
“At least you’ve got a man.
Whatever he is.”
“Yes, but I have to do…something
kinky…to save him. And I need to do it alone.”
“Okay,” Cherry said.
Cherry walked down the street,
letting the tip of the spear gun drag in the sand. Dawn pinked the rim of the
Atlantic horizon. Sabrina would have to hurry.
She gave Luke a light slap on the
cheek. “Honey, wake up.”
Luke’s eyes rolled open. “Huh?
Where are we? I was dreaming I was hanging upside down in a cave.”
Sabrina leaned over him until her
neck was just above his lips. His breath—or what passed for breath—played over
her skin and made her shiver. It was a shiver of fear, but she pretended it was
delight.
“Bite me,” she said.
“Huh?”
“Bite me!”
“I can’t.”
“Bite me or you die. For real this
time.”
“That might not be such a bad
thing.”
“We need you, Luke. Don’t play
martyr. Suck me off and be done with it.”
“I can’t hurt you.”
“You won’t hurt me. I have it on
good authority.”
When you believe in God, you
trust Him. What choice do you have, really?
Luke seemed to gain energy and
wriggled beneath her. “I…I…”
She pressed her neck against his mouth,
letting her hair drift across his face. He moaned and surrendered, and his
teeth drove into her flesh. She shuddered and ground her hips against him. She
couldn’t tell if she was having an orgasm or if she was about to throw up. It
all blended together into one fuzzy ball of weirdness.
But Luke stiffened beneath her,
and she heard the smacking sounds as he fed, and the pain in her neck gave way
to a glowing sensation.
“Feet of clay,” she whispered. Her
wings retracted as she relaxed.
While he was intent on his
feeding, Sabrina slipped her hand to his injury and yanked the splinter free.
He didn’t pause in his blood lust, and soon gripped her with intense energy.
He rolled her over and removed his
fangs from her flesh and began planting tiny, wet kisses on her chest. She
imagined he was leaving bloody splotches on her body. She shuddered.
Love is another kind of trust
where you have no choice, right?
He was reaching for the buttons of
her blouse when she stopped him. “The sun’s coming up, honey. You’re half an
hour from becoming a crispy critter.”
Luke, now his sexy old self,
blinked and looked around as if only now returning to his senses. “Oh, yeah.
Right.”
Sabrina looked at the belfry as
Luke helped her to her feet. “Roy was one of them, like you said.”
“One day you’ll start trusting
me.”
Yeah, right. She didn’t dare
mention that he may have accidentally said he loved her. And she didn’t want to
think about what would happen now that Luke had fed from her. She was already
dead, so how could she be undead? She and God would have to have a serious talk
about this.
She glanced down the street and
saw Cherry yank her head back behind the edge of a vacant old house.
Great.
Now I get to break one or two more commandments.
Because there’s no way
I can tell her the truth.
“Did you know what Roy was doing?”
Sabrina said, holding Luke’s hand as they hurried along the street. She felt a
little dizzy, but then again, it could have been all the flying and not the
fact that she’d just given her juice to a vampire.
“Summoning, like they always
have.”
“Do you know what he’s summoning?”
Luke shook his head. “They’ve
never gotten close. So far, I’ve always been able to stop the summoners. That’s
why the Gog and Magog haven’t invaded yet.”
She told him about all the ghost ships
she’d seen riding the stormy surf. “Hundreds of them, maybe thousands,” she
finished.
“That’s not good.”
“What do we do?”
Luke squinted against the coming
sunrise. “For one thing, we’re going to need a bigger boat.”
THE END
About the author:
We made it. I believe we build
valuable ideas together, some of them inside a book, and some outside a book. I
am honored that you shared my ideas and brought them to life in your
imagination, completing the dream. Please write a review to share your journey
through the book, so another traveler might find the way.
I’m author of more than 30 books,
including
The Red Church, Liquid Fear, Chronic Fear, The Harvest,
and
Speed Dating with the Dead
. I collaborated with bestselling author J.R.
Rain on
Cursed, The Vampire Club, Bad Blood
, and
Ghost
College
. I’ve also written the children’s books
If I Were Your Monster, Too Many Witches
,
Ida Claire
, and
Duncan the Punkin
, and created the graphic novels
Dirt
and
Grave Conditions
.
Connect with
me on
Facebook
,
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,
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,
Twitter
,
my
blog
,
or my
website
,
or view my books at my
Author Central page on Amazon
. I am really an
organic gardener, but don’t tell anyone, because they think I am a writer.
Talk to
me at
[email protected]
or visit me at
Haunted Computer
. If you enjoyed this book,
please tell your friends and give another Nicholson title a try. What doesn’t
kill you only makes you stronger, and what
does
kill you is probably
lurking in my next book. Read on for more.
Want a
great vampire series? Check out Moon Dance, the firsat book in the bestselling
Samantha Moon series from J.R. Rain!
MOON DANCE
Mother,
wife, private investigator...vampire. Six years ago federal agent Samantha Moon
was the perfect wife and mother, your typical soccer mom with the minivan and
suburban home. Then the unthinkable happens, an attack that changes her life
forever. And forever is a very long time for a vampire. Now the world at large
thinks Samantha has developed a rare skin disease, a disease which forces her
to quit her day job and stay out of the light of the sun.
Now working the night shift as a private
investigator, Samantha is hired by Kingsley Fulcrum to investigate the murder
attempt on his life, a horrific scene captured on TV and seen around the
country. But as the case unfolds, Samantha discovers Kingsley isn't exactly
what he appears to be; after all, there is a reason why he survived five shots
to the head.
Amazon
U.S.:
http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Dance-Vampire-Hire-ebook/dp/B002Q0Y27Y/
Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moon-Dance-Vampire-Hire-ebook/dp/B002Q0Y27Y/
Read these
other thrillers because it beats going back to the real world:
AFTER: THE SHOCK
A massive solar storm erases the
world's technological infrastructure and kills billions. While the remaining
humans are struggling to adapt and survive, they notice that some among them
have...changed. First in a new post-apocalyptic thriller series.
See it at
Amazon US
or
Amazon UK
.
THE HOME
By Scott Nicholson
Experiments at a group home for troubled children lead to paranormal
activity—and the ghosts are from the home’s past as an insane asylum. In
development as a feature film.
Learn more about
The Home
or view it on
Amazon US
or
Amazon UK
.
CREATIVE SPIRIT
By Scott Nicholson
After parapsychologist Anna Galloway is diagnosed with metastatic
cancer, she has a recurring dream in which she sees her own ghost. The setting
of her dream is the historic Korban Manor, which is now an artist’s retreat in
the remote Appalachian Mountains.
Sculptor Mason Jackson has come to Korban Manor to make a final,
all-or-nothing attempt at success before giving up his dreams. When he becomes
obsessed with carving Ephram Korban’s form out of wood, he questions his
motivation but is swept up in a creative frenzy unlike any he has ever known.
The manor itself has secrets, with fires that blaze constantly in the
hearths, portraits of Korban in every room, and deceptive mirrors on the walls.
With an October blue moon looming, both the living and the dead learn the true
power of their dreams.
Learn more about the paranormal thriller
Creative Spirit
or view it at
Amazon US
or
Amazon UK
Do you like movies? View the screenplay adaptation at
Amazon US
or
Amazon UK
DISINTEGRATION
By Scott Nicholson
When a mysterious fire destroys his home and kills his young daughter,
Jacob Wells is pulled into a downward spiral that draws him ever closer to the
past he thought was dead and buried.
Now his twin brother Joshua is back in town, seeking to settle old
scores and claim his half of the Wells birthright. As Jacob and Joshua return
to the twisted roles they adopted at the hands of cruel, demanding parents,
they wage a war of pride, wealth, and passion.
But the lines of identity are blurred, because Joshua and Jacob share
much more than blood. And the childhood games have become deadly serious.
Learn more about the psychological thriller
Disintegration
or
view it at Amazon
or
Amazon UK
THE RED CHURCH
Book I in the Sheriff Littlefield Series
By Scott Nicholson
For 13-year-old Ronnie Day, life is full of problems: Mom and Dad have
separated, his brother Tim is a constant pest, Melanie Ward either loves him or
hates him, and Jesus Christ won't stay in his heart. Plus he has to walk past
the red church every day, where the Bell Monster hides with its wings and claws
and livers for eyes. But the biggest problem is that Archer McFall is the new
preacher at the church, and Mom wants Ronnie to attend midnight services with
her.
Sheriff Frank Littlefield hates the red church for a different reason.
His little brother died in a freak accident at the church twenty years ago, and
now Frank is starting to see his brother's ghost.
The Days, the Littlefields, and the McFalls are descendants of the
original families that settled the rural Appalachian community. Those old families
share a secret of betrayal and guilt, and McFall wants his congregation to
prove its faith. Because he believes he is the Second Son of God, and that the
cleansing of sin must be done in blood.
"Sacrifice is the currency of God," McFall preaches, and
unless Frank and Ronnie stop him, everybody pays.
Learn more about the
real
haunted church
that inspired The Red Church or view it for
Kindle at Amazon
or
Amazon UK
DRUMMER BOY
Book II in the Sheriff Littlefield Series
By Scott Nicholson
On an Appalachian Mountain ridge, three boys hear the rattling of a
snare drum deep inside a cave known as "The Jangling Hole," and the
wind carries a whispered name.
It's the eve of a Civil War re-enactment, and the town of Titusville is preparing to host a staged battle. The weekend warriors aren’t aware they
will soon be fighting an elusive army. A troop of Civil War deserters, trapped
in the Hole by a long-ago avalanche, is rising from a long slumber, and the war
is far from over.
And one misfit kid is all that stands between the town and a sinister
evil force…
Learn more about
Drummer
Boy
and the Appalachian legend that inspired the novel or
view it at Amazon
or
Amazon UK
THE SKULL RING
By Scott Nicholson
Julia Stone will remember, even if it kills her.
With the help of a therapist, Julia is piecing
together childhood memories of the night her father vanished. When Julia finds
a silver ring that bears the name "Judas Stone," the past comes
creeping back. Someone is leaving strange messages inside her house, even
though the door is locked. The local handyman offers help, but he has his own
shadowy past. And the cop who investigated her father's disappearance has
followed her to the small mountain town of Elkwood.
Now Julia has a head full of memories, but she
doesn't know which are real. Julia's therapist is playing games. The handyman
is trying to save her, in more ways than one. And a sinister cult is closing
in, claiming ownership of Julia's body and soul . . . .
Learn more about
The
Skull Ring
and False Recovered Memory Syndrome or
view it at Amazon
or
Amazon UK
Do you like movies? View the screenplay
adaptation at
Amazon US
or
Amazon UK
SPEED DATING WITH THE DEAD
By Scott Nicholson
A paranormal conference at the most haunted hotel in the Southern Appalachian mountains…a man’s promise to his late wife that he’d summon her
spirit…a daughter whose imagination goes to dark places…and demonic evil
lurking in the remote hotel’s basement, just waiting to be awoken.
Learn more about
Speed
Dating with the Dead
and the 2008 paranormal conference and inn
that inspired the novel or
view it at Amazon
or
Amazon UK
KISS ME OR DIE
By Scott Nicholson
Richard Coldiron’s first and last novel follows his metafictional
journey through a troubled childhood, where he meets his invisible friend, his
other invisible friend...and then some who aren’t so friendly.
Richard keeps his cool despite the voices in his head, but he’s about to
get a new tenant: the Insider, a malevolent soul-hopping spirit that may or may
not be born from Richard’s nightmares and demands a co-writing credit and a
little bit of foot-kissing dark worship.
Now Richard doesn’t know which voice to trust. The book’s been rejected
117 times. The people he loves keep turning up dead. And here comes the woman
of his dreams.
Learn more about
Kiss Me or Die
and the six people in Richard
Coldiron’s head or
view it at Amazon
or
Amazon UK
LIQUID
FEAR
By
Scott Nicholson
When
Roland Doyle wakes up with a dead woman in his motel room, the only clue is a mysterious
vial of pills bearing the label “Take one every 4 hrs or else.”
Ten
years before, six people were involved in a secret pharmaceutical trial that
left one of them murdered and five unable to remember what happened. Now the
experiment is continuing, as Dr. Sebastian Briggs wants to finish his research
into fear response and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Only by
taking the mysterious pills can the survivors stave off the creeping phobias
and madness that threaten to consume them. But the pills have an unexpected
side effect—the survivors start remembering the terrible acts they perpetrated
a decade ago. They are lured back to the Monkey House, the remote facility
where the original trials took place, and Briggs has prepared it for their
arrival.
Now they
are trapped, they each have only one pill left, and cracks are forming in their
civilized veneer. After the pills are gone, there’s only one option. “Or else.”
Read
about it at
Haunted Computer
or view it at
Amazon US
or
Amazon UK
CHRONIC
FEAR
By
Scott Nicholson
Chronic
Fear
is the second installment of the
chilling Fear series, which began with the harrowing
Liquid Fear
. The
story picks up one year after the notorious Monkey House trials, from which the
tiny handful of survivors have scattered in the wind. For while the unwitting
human guinea pigs are still alive, the experimental drugs to which they were
subjected continue to wreak havoc on their emotional stability. World-renowned
neurobiologist Dr. Alexis Morgan knows first-hand the horrors of the sadistic
experiment: her husband, Mark, was one its victims. As a result, he is plagued
by unpredictable bouts of rage and paranoia. Dr. Morgan’s research into the
drug leads her to suspect presidential candidate and U. S. Senator Daniel
Burchfield of plotting to gain control of the drug for his own purposes, a
power play that is sure to result in countless casualties unless she and three
Monkey House survivors can outwit the shadowy figures behind the conspiracy—if
they don’t lose their own sanity first.
Read the
first chapter at
Haunted Computer
or view it at
Amazon US
or
Amazon UK
OCTOBER GIRLS
By Scott Nicholson
Crystal
doesn’t want to be
a trailer-trash witch like Momma. Her best friend Bone is only too happy to
escape the afterlife and help Crystal break the rules.
Then a young movie maker comes to Parson’s Ford, and he has a very
special project in mind: a horror movie starring a real ghost. The movie is
rolling, the creatures are stirring, and the brainwashed teenagers are ready to
welcome a new star from the other side of the grave.
Learn more about the paranormal fantasy
October Girls
or view it for
Kindle at Amazon
or
Amazon UK
CURSED
By J.R. Rain and Scott Nicholson
Albert Shipway is an ordinary guy, an insurance negotiator who likes
booze and women and never having to say he’s sorry.
And he thinks this is just another day, another lunch, another order of
kung pao chicken. Little does he know that he’s about to meet a little old lady
who knows his greatest fear. A little old lady who knows what’s hiding in his
heart.
In just a matter of minutes, Albert’s life turns upside down and he
enters a world where magic and evil lurk beneath the fabric of Southern California. And all his choices have brewed a perfect storm of broken hearts,
broken promises, shattered families, and a couple of tiny problems. Namely,
killer mice and a baby.
Albert Shipway is finally getting a chance to right some wrongs. That
is, if it's not too late.
Learn more about the urban fantasy
Cursed
or view it for Kindle
at Amazon
or
Amazon
UK
GHOST
COLLEGE
By
Scott Nicholson & J.R. Rain
First in
a new series featuring paranormal investigators Ellen and Monty Drew. Ellen
claims to possess a sixth sense but Monty, a former P.I., only believes what he
can see. She views their work as a sacred mission while Monty just wants a
happy wife and a paycheck.
Then the
Drews are summoned to a Southern California bible college after workers report
hearing mysterious voices at night. When they encounter the unhappy ghost of a
young girl, Monty's skepticism is shaken, but he resolves to help his wife free
the trapped spirit. Their search uncovers the Latin phrase "Non omnis
moriar"—
not all of me shall die
—and they learn more about the
site’s history as a Catholic school destroyed by an earthquake. But a
mysterious presence has plans of its own for the young ghost, and Monty and
Ellen must go head to head with a Dark Master that’s had more than a century of
practice in demonic deeds.