Ghost Canyon (The John Decker Supernatural Thriller Series Book 7) by Anthony Strong (ebooks that read to you .TXT) 📕

He saw nothing untoward.

Yet something had disturbed his slumber, and the cry sounded closer the second time.

He lingered at the window, unable to find the source of the odd caterwaul. Then, after a few minutes, he noticed a disturbance that hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t much. Just a shifting of blackness upon blackness. But it was enough to draw his attention. There was something there, after all, lurking in the shadows beyond the thin pool of light cast by the lone streetlamp.

Decker made a note of the location and let the curtain fall back into place. He went to the nightstand and opened the drawer, retrieving a black Sig Sauer M17 handgun provided to him by CUSP prior to his departure from Maine. It was the same model used by the Armed Forces, and his own employer issued it for the same reason. It was rugged, with good weight and tighter dispersion than many of its predecessors. The extended magazine contained twenty-one hollow point rounds. More than enough for most situations.

Decker closed the drawer and slipped from his room into the corridor beyond. The hotel was quiet. The odd warbling cries had not disturbed anyone else. He debated waking one or both of the FBI agents, but then changed his mind. He wasn’t even sure what was out there. Most likely, it was some wild animal that strayed down from the mountains. It would probably be gone by the time he got outside.

Leaving the Feds to their slumber, Decker descended the stairs and crossed through the lobby to the hotel’s main doors. As he reached out to pull the latch back, there was a noise to his rear. He turned and saw Tieg, Robyn’s dog, standing several feet distant watching him. After a moment, the animal turned and padded back toward the small office behind the stairs, where the mutt slept at night.

Decker turned his attention back to the street. He opened the door a crack and stepped outside onto the veranda. Here he paused, looking to his left and right. He kept the gun to his side, ready to use it should the need arise. After affirming there were no immediate threats around the veranda, Decker turned his attention to the area where he’d seen movement from the hotel window.

Whatever had been moving through the darkness was not there now. Decker descended the steps. He was halfway to the spot where he had seen the shape slinking along, when he stopped, overcome by a sudden sense that he was no longer alone.

He held his breath, feeling exposed and vulnerable. A crazy thought popped into his head. That he’d been lured out here. That whatever he’d seen from the window above possessed enough intelligence to trick him into leaving the safety of the hotel. His immediate instinct was to retreat, even though he couldn’t identify an actual threat. Was he just reacting to the quiet and spooky surroundings? He didn’t think so. Decker had an innate ability to sense danger. It was what made him a good cop back in New York. It was how he’d survived more than one encounter with the supernatural over the past several months. Now his inner alarm was blaring as loud as it ever had.

Decker decided to trust his gut and go back inside. Until he caught a movement from the corner of his eye. He turned toward the leaning shell of a building with a broken and rotten boardwalk. And there, standing in the doorway, was a figure.

Decker drew a sharp breath. His heart pounded against his ribs. Blood rushed in his ears.

The figure stepped out of the gloom. It lurched toward him. An impossibly animated skeleton held together by dry, coriaceous skin mottled brown with age. And the sound when it walked… Like old bones grinding together.

Decker had seen enough.

He raised the gun and started backwards toward the hotel. His finger flexed on the trigger. But then he lost the will to fire. Worse, he couldn’t tear his gaze from the creature’s hypnotic eyes. Two burning pits of luminescent red fury that held him immobile as inexorably as if he were a fly caught in a spider’s web. Then he understood why the other victims hadn’t fled from this abomination. Because they couldn’t. And as the skeletal demon bore down upon him, Decker understood something else too. He might very well be living the last moments of his life.

Chapter Forty-Six

Decker watched the creature advance toward him, unable to do anything about it. On some level he knew he should defend himself, or at least retreat, but the voice inside his head sent a different message. It overwhelmed his sense of self-preservation. Melted it away. It spoke softly and soothed his fears, even though he didn’t understand the strange language. It told him not to worry, that everything would be over soon, and all he needed to do was keep watching those red burning eyes. And that’s exactly what Decker did, even as another part of his mind struggled to break free of the creature’s mesmeric gaze.

Then, from Decker’s right, more movement. A blur of light-colored fur that sped forward and leaped at his chest. The impact sent him tumbling to the ground, breaking the spell. As Decker’s senses returned, he found himself looking up into a pair of large brown eyes above a furry snout and lolling tongue. Tieg. The dog, apparently unaffected by the creature’s aura, had rushed to push Decker out of harm’s way.

Realizing the danger had not yet passed, Tieg jumped from Decker’s chest and turned back toward the approaching menace, lips curled back, teeth barred. It let out a guttural, low growl, and stepped forward, ready to attack.

Decker had lost his grip on the gun when he fell. He scrambled to his knees and hunted for it, frantic, before spying the weapon several feet away laying on the dusty ground. He lunged forward, scooping it up. He rolled sideways and raised the gun in a fluid