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

was forced to crawl toward the door, but the closer he came to it the farther away it seemed to feel, and his own hope started to dwindle. His body had frozen, and that pressure, that monumental weight that had been crushing him for the past few minutes had finally done its work and flattened him to the floor, which was as hot as a stovetop.

His skin burned, searing itself to the wooden floorboards, and while Dell felt every excruciating minute of the pain, he couldn’t scream. All he could think of was that Sarah was on the other side of that door, and she was hurting. But he couldn’t hear her anymore. He couldn’t feel her anymore. The moment had passed, and he had failed.

And so Dell lay there, his body fused to the floor, the pain reaching such a crescendo that he finally opened his mouth to scream but couldn’t even hear it himself. It grew so intense that he broke into hallucinations.

“We’re so close, Dell.” Tears streamed from Sarah’s eyes but then caught fire as they dripped from her chin and hit the floor, exploding into small plumes of fire flowers before dissipating into nothing. “Don’t give up.”

Dell screamed, writhing on the floor, but the anger and shame grew so strong that he broke free and pushed himself off. He felt his cheek, expecting to find nothing but jagged flesh, exposed muscle, and bone. But when his finger hesitantly grazed his skin, it was smooth and even a little cold. It was wet, though, from the sweat.

He looked to the door, the waves of heat causing the entrance to the room to ripple like a desert mirage. She was just on the other side of that door. It wasn’t too late. He could save her. He just had to push a little farther.

The scales had crawled up Sarah’s cheeks and rested just below her eyes. Her mouth had been sealed shut, and she couldn’t move anything save for her pupils. She looked back to the orb on the bed, knowing that if there was any opportunity at stopping this, it was through that.

“Almost done, my dear,” the witch said, circling Sarah like a shark, sniffing the blood-soaked air that Sarah had bled from her body and her soul. She grazed Sarah with her fingertips, her nails scraping against the blue scales that had nearly consumed her. “The last soul. The last flame of hope snuffed out like that.” She snapped her fingers. “And to replace the flames of hope will be the fires of the damned, the resurrection of the rightful ruler of this realm, and the fulfillment of a prophecy that cannot be denied.”

The orb on the bed had grown brighter, and the souls trapped inside swirled around in frenzy. With every second that passed, Sarah’s connection with them grew stronger.

“I open the portal!” The witch said. “And with the flesh of the last damned soul connects to the orb, our dark lord will rise!”

All of those memories from her past and her childhood flooded back like a tsunami, the pressure from the push so intense that it consumed all of her senses. She heard only the curses and verbal abuse from her foster parents, she felt only the rough and drunken hands that bruised her body, and she tasted only blood from the fights with the other kids. She was transported back into a world of hunger, pain, and discomfort. And that was all that she would know until the very end.

The witch raised her hands, smiling as she lifted her face toward the ceiling. “There is nothing that his power cannot restore. There is nothing that his fortune cannot buy. He is the end and the beginning, and he will shape this earth to its true image!” She lowered her face, her eyes burning as she stared straight into Sarah’s soul. “Death.”

The scales crawling up her face covered Sarah’s eyes and blinded her to the room. And with the last of her senses gone, finality set in. She was deaf, mute, blind, and numb to the material world. This was how her life was going to end. This was how she would die.

But then a shape started to form in the darkness. The pitch black broke apart, fading into a dull gray, like dirt swirling in water, dissolving and sinking toward the bottom.

The legs formed first, walking closer toward her, the swirl rising to the waist and then the chest and arms and finally the head. And when the features filled into place, Sarah found Allister Bell standing in front of her.

“Hello, Sarah.” The accent had a faint British tone to it, and a massive mustache covered most of his lips, making it look as if he was speaking without moving his mouth.

Half expecting to have no voice, Sarah was surprised when she had the ability to answer. “You’re dead.”

“I made a choice a long time ago that has haunted my family and others for nearly two hundred years.” Allister’s already pale cheeks lightened even more, and the dim light in his eyes grew lifeless as he lowered his head in shame. “I do not have the ability to end this curse.” He lifted his eyes. “But you can.”

Another spasm of fear-induced pain pulled Sarah toward the darkness, and she struggled to stay in the moment. It was nearly over. Even though she couldn’t see what was happening anymore, she still felt it. “It’s too late.”

“Someone else is coming,” Allister said. “A life to be sacrificed for yours. It will buy us some time.”

“I’m not letting anyone else die,” Sarah said. “I’m not letting anyone else take the fall for something that I got myself into.”

Anger flushed Allister’s cheeks, and he took one large and quick step toward her. “Then anyone that is left out there in the world that you care about will burn the moment the dark prince steps from his realm and into this one.” A flicker of life