The Guest House Hauntings Boxset by Hazel Holmes (novel books to read txt) 📕

she wasn’t sure if she was really addressing the old woman, or if she was talking to herself.

After all, Sarah had went on the run to save her own skin. And she wasn’t searching for the orb to save the redhead, or avenge Maggie’s sacrifice. She was here for one reason only: to save herself.

The thought sickened her, and Sarah turned to leave, but then stopped when she reached the door. She spun back around and looked at Iris, her eyes falling to the wooden sphere around her neck.

Iris always wore it, and the longer Sarah stared at it the more she frowned. “It moves, but is always in the same place.” Her eyes widened in shock. “The orb!”

But just as Sarah lunged for Iris, stretching out her hand, she felt a tug at her waist, and everything went black.

After a moment of being lost in the darkness, Sarah suddenly realized that she was outside, her head aching as she lay on her back on the grass. She blinked, trying to rid herself of the black spots that plagued her vision. She propped herself up on her elbow and caught a glimpse of the mansion just before she turned around to find Brent hovering over her.

“Hello, sweetheart. Did you miss me?” Brent smiled.

A scream began to crawl from the back of her throat, but it was cut short by the harsh crack of a pistol against her face.

The pain was sharp and hot. Blood trickled down from the wound, casting a brilliant streak of red against her pale skin. Hands groped her neck and shoulders, and she was yanked from the ground, too disoriented to fight back but still conscious enough to see Pat lying motionless on his back.

“Pat? Oh my god, Pat?” Sarah wiggled herself free, scrambling toward the old barkeep who lay lifeless on the ground.

Pat had pressed both hands to his bloodied stomach, his body trembling. Blood pooled in his mouth and he locked eyes with Sarah before he spoke, his voice raspy and tired. “Sarah.”

“It’s okay,” Sarah said, starting to cry. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

Sarah pressed her ear to his nose to check his breathing, but it was so cold outside that she couldn’t feel if there were any breaths or not. Pat grabbed hold of her arm, transferring bloody prints to her jacket. His eyes were wide, the white turning the same shade of red as the blood welling up from his gut.

“I didn’t know you two were so well acquainted,” Brent said, walking over to hover over Sarah’s back. “Well, say goodbye.”

Sarah turned. “No, wait!”

The gunshot cut through the night air fast and hard. A high-pitched whine in Sarah’s ears deafened her to her own screams as she turned back around to find Pat’s face blown away.

“Get up!” Brent yanked her by the collar, lifting her completely off the ground with one hand, and dragged her, kicking and screaming, toward the road.

“NO!” Sarah wriggled and punched at Brent’s arm, but the defiance ended when he placed the end of his pistol against her forehead.

“Move again and I’ll blow your brains out across the snow,” Brent said, his voice spitting anger against her cheek. “And then you can be just like your little friend over there.”

With her face still turned in the opposite direction, Sarah glanced at Brent from the corner of her eye. She hated that she couldn’t stop shaking, she hated that he had found her, but what she hated even more was the hope that she had allowed herself to believe that she could escape his reach.

“You didn’t have to come here,” Sarah said, this time forcing her gaze into Brent’s eyes. “I’m not a threat.”

Brent laughed. “Not in the way you think, sweetheart, no.” He readjusted the grip on his pistol and flicked the end of it toward the road. “Get moving, honey.”

Sarah turned back to Pat one last time.

Brent raised the pistol and pressed it against her forehead with his finger on the trigger. But she didn’t turn away this time. She faced him, stiffening in courage.

“You want to kill me?” Sarah asked. “Then just fucking do it. C’mon.” She taunted him, leaning into the revolver’s barrel. “Do it!”

He paused as if he was going to pull the trigger, but he only laughed. “Son of a bitch.” He lowered the revolver. “I really wish I could, sweetheart, but I can’t. You’ve made a lot of trouble for me, and now I’m going to have to take you back to New York, so let’s go.”

Brent picked her up by force, and Sarah screamed, crying and fighting back as hard as she could, but it was no use. He was too big, and she was too tired. He tossed her into the GTO like a rag doll, and was cried out by the time he zip-tied her wrists together, then put on her seatbelt.

He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. “You know, you had me fooled.” Brent laughed, shaking his head. “But you’re all kinds of fucked up in the head, aren’t you?” He nodded. “Yeah, you are.” He leaned closer, his lips barely touching her ear, his voice tickling her skin. “And I know that from all that crazy shit you liked to do in bed.”

Brent kissed her ear, and Sarah slammed the side of her skull into his face. The harsh crack of bone against bone caused both of them to wince, and Sarah opened her eyes just in time to see the backhand coming toward her face.

Brent’s heavy knuckles pounded her mouth, smashing the thin cushion of her lips against her teeth and knocking her entire body toward the window.

“Dumb bitch!”

The curse was followed by the pressure of a pistol to the back of her skull, and Brent used it to jam her face up against the window.

“I told you no funny business!”

Sarah struggled for breath with her face pressed against the glass, her mouth numb. More pressure was applied to the back of