Latham's Landing (25 page)

“
Murderess,” a voice whispered.
“Murderess.”

A row of yellow eyes, each easily eight feet
up from the ground stared down at her. The beings had indistinct
forms in the rising fog, their bodies made of darkness and
shadow.

Hustermen hunt evildoers. They were made to
guard against evil at sea…or any evil near water.

Caroline took a step backward. “No.”

“
Murderess,” the voices chorused.
“Murderess.”

They punish the guilty. They don’t see
distinctions, only black and white.

Caroline’s eyes flicked to her wrist. Her
handmade bracelet with her mother’s hair was gone. She turned to
run, letting out a final shriek as the Hustermen engulfed her in
living shadow.

EPILOGUE

The police car pulled up next to the SUV, its
sirens wailing. The sunrise was almost over, the yellow ball of
weak light burning off the fog.

Officer Stahl got out of the car, his happy
expression turning sour as he beheld Cooper locked in the running
SUV, pawing at the glass. Grabbing his phone, he called back
OnStar. “I’m here at the SUV. Unlock the doors. There’s a dog in
there, and I’ve no idea how long he’s been in there.”

Ten seconds ticked by, then the door lock
clicked open. Stahl opened the door. Cooper whined, then
reluctantly jumped back out.

Stahl petted him. “Where’s your master, boy?”
He unclasped the collar, seeing the cameras and the cross. “What
the hell?”

Cooper ran to the shoreline, barking. The
police office followed, calling in his position. “There were two
cameras on the dog’s collar and a cross, if you can believe that.
But there’s no sign of anybody—”

He cut off, his eyes settling on the boat
trapped in the ice, the white bruised and bloody arm limply hanging
out, covered with frost.

“
Send a unit and an ambulance,” he said
into his radio gruffly. “There’s at least one body. We’ll need
ropes and wetsuits. See if you can get a copter, too.”

Cooper whined once more, then sniffed a small
heart drawn near the shore in the mud, covered in a layer of lake
ice. The letters inside read C + H, 4-EVER. A partial human
footprint lay nearby, the edges indistinct.

About the Author

Tara Fox Hall’s writing credits include
nonfiction, horror, suspense, action-adventure, erotica, and
contemporary and historical paranormal romance. She is the author
of the paranormal action-adventure
Lash
series and the
vampire romantic suspense
Promise Me
series. Tara divides
her free time unequally between writing novels and short stories,
chainsawing firewood, caring for stray animals, sewing cat and dog
beds for donation to animal shelters, and target practice.

Other works by Tara Fox Hall with Melange
Books, LLC

Return To Me

Surrender to Me

The Origin of Fear in
Spellbound 2011
Anthology

Night Music
in Midnight Thirsts II
Anthology

Partners
in Midnight Thirsts II
Anthology

Kink
in Wicked Christmas Wishes
Anthology

The Oath
in Wicked Christmas Wishes
Anthology

Bedtime Shadows Anthology

Make Me Behave Anthology

Latham’s Landing, An Anthology

The Promise Me Series

Promise Me, Book 1

Broken Promise, Book 2

Taken in the Night, Book 3

Taken for his Own, Book 4

Turn the page for more books
available
from Melange Books

Also Available
From Melange Books

Bedtime Shadows

Tara Fox Hall & Jenny
Twist

The Man With No Face – Jenny
Twist
All her life Deborah has been haunted by the memory of a couple
locked in a deadly embrace. She thinks the woman may be the mother
that abandoned her, but she cannot see the man's face. Who is
he?

All That Remains – Tara Fox
Hall
This thrilling sequel to The Origin of Fear (Spellbound 2011) takes
us back to Latham's Landing. Will Tina and Sandra survive their
encounter with the ghosts that inhabit the haunted isle?

The Children of Hope – Jenny
Twist
It is 1963, and Ginny is unmarried and pregnant. Her parents
consign her to one of the infamous Mother and Baby Homes which are
little more than prisons and workhouses. Will she be able to escape
before they come to take her baby away?

The Bull-Dancer – Jenny Twist
The twelve chosen bull-dancers are sailing out of the harbour under
a black sail, bound for Crete and the deadly Minotaur, while a
mother looks on in anger.

Take the Chance – Tara Fox Hall
A young girl growing up in post-apocalyptic America is determined
that she and her sister will survive–whatever it takes!

A Victorian Dolls' House – Jenny
Twist
When Violet sees the dolls' house in the antique shop she has to
have it. But the Delacorte House is no ordinary dolls' house–and it
is definitely not a toy!

Heart's Bells – Tara Fox Hall
Theo and Casey are in love, but so many things stand in their way.
They suffer separation and heartbreak but still remain true–until
something happens to Theo that changes everything.

Doppelganger – Jenny Twist
When Christine wakes up in a sumptuous white room with silken
hangings, she assumes she is in heaven. But she soon finds out she
is not. And before too long she begins to wonder if she is even
still Christine.

Voices – Jenny Twist
Olivia and Aidan are telepathic twins. Olivia is used to hearing
Aidan in her head, but she is terrified when she hears a new and
sinister voice.

Return to Me – Tara Fox Hall
Determined to find the source of the nightly creaking she alone can
hear, Sam Reading discovers Harrison Benning, a ghost who becomes
corporeal for one night of the year, on the summer solstice. Their
warm friendship soon becomes powerful love that lasts through
decades, tragedies and even beyond death.

Catch Me If You Can – Jenny
Twist
Willy prowls the streets at night, listening to all the sounds of
the old town. But does he have a more sinister purpose?

Shades of Grey – Tara Fox Hall
Throughout history there has always been a Seer making sure that
the world follows its proper course, keeping the world in balance.
Yet when the old Seer prepares to hand over the burden to his
apprentice Tim, he realizes too late that Tim has his own ideas of
how things should go.

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Jack

Irene Patino

Golgatha Brighton comes from an affluent
family with political ties to the Royal Houses of England, and a
secret society known as The Blackguard. Indoctrinated early in life
to the seamy underbelly of espionage, his young mind catalogs and
buries away the memories of a childhood filled with all the
atrocities he has endured at the hands of the two people that
should have been there to protect him, his parents. Brighton
regresses further and further into a world where there are no lines
of reality. He severs all hope of a future anywhere and disappears,
never to be heard from again. Or does he?

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Carnival of Nightmares

J. Troy Seate

Whatever exists in the outside world is
invalid here. Forget everything you've learned about human nature.
Your heart is beating to the rhythm of the fearful ride you've been
afraid to climb on. But now you must, for your mind is no longer
yours. It has been captured by the seductive lies bred of the
unearthly carnival of nightmares. No use to fight the lure of the
unknown or your attraction to these quixotic personalities, both
living and dead. We've been waiting for you and the best you can do
now is simply pray.

Here lie fifteen tales and a novella of the
strange, the fanciful, and the macabre, mostly fiction, but some
fact. You will meet ghosts, monsters, psychos, femme fatales, and
even an angel or two along the midway of canvas-draped attractions.
Most stories start with the humble everyday, but a normal beginning
can sometimes lead to a situation in which the heartbeat quickens
and the mind searches for new answers. Going from routine to a
mind-bending ride on the edge of madness is never more apparent
than when Mr. Seate pens tales of both earthly and unearthly
delights. Your ticket has been punched, so come inside. He's been
waiting for you.