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

fourth floor, Dell heard a blood-curdling scream that propelled him up the stairs in a sprint, sacrificing the steadiness of his aim as the shotgun wobbled back and forth from his increased pace.

The screams worsened when he reached the fourth floor, and just before he reached the steps leading up to the fifth, a heavy thud whacked the back of his skull, sending him sprawling out onto the floor and sending the shotgun from his hands and skidding across the boards.

“You know it’s not polite to enter without knocking first.”

Dell turned his head at the voice, the back of his skull throbbing in a dull ache, and before his eyes had an opportunity to adjust, a fist rammed his nose, drawing blood from his nostrils and flinging back his head.

Still disoriented, Dell felt hands picking him up by the Kevlar vest beneath his uniform.

“You should have just stayed out of it, Dell,” Kegan said, dragging Dell’s body along the hardwood, struggling with the man’s size and weight. “All you had to do was stay in Redford, but you just couldn’t stay away from this house, could you?” He laughed. “You never could.”

A quick flood of adrenaline helped pull Dell from the throes of confusion, and he swung his arms, forcing Kegan to wrap him in a chokehold on the floor. His airway tightened, and pressure started to build in his head.

“You want to do this the hard way?” Kegan asked, his voice strained from the effort of having to choke him out. “You want to travel back in time to grade school when I kicked your ass up and down these halls?”

With his cheeks turning purple, Dell clawed at Kegan’s arm, the pressure in his head causing his eyes to bulge from their sockets. He choked, and his vision blurred.

“You never could get the girl, Dell,” Kegan said, a joyful malice to his voice. “I bet it’s been frustrating for you to never have been the guy, the dude, the man who had it all figured out.” He leaned closer to Dell’s ear, dropping his voice to a whisper. “You’re just a bastard whose daddy left because he couldn’t hack it. I guess it runs in the family.”

Dell grimaced, then steadied his legs, squared up his hips, and lifted them both into the air and slammed Kegan hard on his back.

After the harsh crack of contact between Kegan’s back and the floor, the pressure and tightness around Dell’s neck loosened, and he flung Kegan’s arm off him and scrambled toward the shotgun that lay nearby.

Fingers clasped Dell’s ankle, and he looked back to find Kegan latched onto his leg. Dell kicked, the heel of his boot missing the first two strikes but connecting against Kegan’s forehead on the third, which again released him.

Dell crawled again toward the weapon. Just when he had his hands around the stock of the shotgun, he was flattened to the ground, his chest atop the weapon he had been reaching for.

“You stupid fuck!” Kegan had wrestled his way on top of him, punching Dell’s back and sides with quick, heavy strikes. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you?”

The Kevlar around Dell’s torso helped lessen Kegan’s punches, and Dell managed to twist himself around and then wrap his legs over Kegan in a scissor hold, choking him out with his knees.

“And you never knew when to shut up.” Dell tightened his hold, and Kegan pounded impotently at his leg, the motions growing weaker and weaker until finally he passed out.

Dell released him, his own muscles trembling from the exertion, and then stood, picking up the shotgun off the ground. He removed a pair of zip ties from his belt and restrained both Kegan’s wrists and ankles.

Once he was tied up, Dell flipped Kegan the bird, but his victory was cut short with another scream from upstairs. “Sarah.” Her name left his lips in a breathless whisper, and he hurried up the steps and toward the commotion. He prayed that he wasn’t too late and that whatever Sarah had gotten herself into he would be able to get her out of.

76

Even though Sarah could no longer hear herself screaming, she still felt her throat grow raw. Terrified, she forced herself to look down at the horrid transformation of her body. The icy scales had crawled to her neck and covered everything but her head.

The witch stood off to the side, watching as Sarah struggled with the evil that was taking control. “The darkness is inevitable, Sarah. Why fight it?” She stepped closer. “Soon, you will join all of these souls, and yours will be the final key to unlock Satan’s wrath upon this earth. Your meaningless life and soul will have purpose, which is what all people search for their entire lives, and it’s right here in front of you. Just imagine!”

And Sarah could imagine. Because she felt the fire and smelled the death. Destruction was barreling toward them like a freight train. The sum of all her fears had accumulated into a single entity, and it was breathing down her neck.

But it wasn’t just her own fears. No, it was an entire world full of hate and confusion. It was a spectrum of humanity’s suffering that stretched from its conception to its end. It replayed over and over in her mind, and Sarah finally felt the levy break. A few frosted blue scales appeared on her neck.

“You can’t stop it,” the witch said. “You’ve struggled for so long, and you’ve suffered so much, why not just give in? Why prolong the torture of a life that has never had any meaning?”

Sarah spied the orb on the bed. She could hear the screams of the souls inside, and the light on the orb grew brighter and brighter. If it weren’t for the cries of pain, it would have looked beautiful.

“All of those people who let you down,” the witch said, now close to Sarah’s ear. “All of those people who cast you aside