An Entangled Halloween Story and Giveaway with Rachel Firasek

A Child's Melody

by Rachel Firasek

I washed dishes and bobbed my head in time with Aerosmith. My mom and dad
had left me alone. My brothers had abandoned me for a basketball game down the
street. The quiet didn't bother me because I had "November Rain" blasting through the kitchen.

Above the sound of the guitar solo, I heard the faintest cry of giggles.
Now, it wasn't an uncommon occurence for my brothers to sneak back in the
house and play pranks on me, but this was different. I dried my hands and
turned the radio off. We lived across the street from a funeral home and I
could hear people shutting car doors in front of our house, but not their
voices.

I walked into our living room and stood near the floor vents from the old
furnace we didn't use anymore. The sound of children giggling fluttered up
from those vents. At first, I was curious. Surely, a child hadn't crawled
under the house. I slid to my knees, bracing my hands on each side of the
vents.

"Hello?" I called. I didn't say I was smart, just alone.

Nothing. I stood and moved back a few steps. The giggling started up again.
"Can you hear me?" I called down to the voices that seemed to fade a bit.

Nothing again.

It wasn't until I rushed to the front door intending on running down the
street that I felt them. The hair on the back of my neck rose. There was an
energy in the room that stirred the asthma in my chest--or maybe I was just
hyperventilating.

Very close to me, almost like they were pressed against
me, I heard the soft flutter of those angelic giggles and something eased
inside me.

This was the moment that I knew I'd never be alone again.

And I haven't been...

This actually happened to me.

I was seventeen and no, it's not the last time I've heard the voices...

Have you ever heard something strange and unexplained?

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CURSE OF THE PHOENIX - Book One - Rachel Firasek

After paying two millennia’s penance to Osiris, world-weary Phoenix Ice has had enough. Saving souls without any hope for her own redemption isn’t how she imagined spending eternity. Fed up, she decides her next death will be her last. But when she sacrifices her own life for a sexy Texan in a catastrophic plane crash, she has no idea the consequences will be so great…or that she’ll end up back in his life for her next assignment.

Now that Turner Alcott has survived the worst, finding a wife and mother for his son matters more than ever before. When the mysterious Ice comes into his life, Turner knows she’s the one—but love is the last thing Ice wants. If he wants to win her heart, Turner must teach Ice how to forgive herself, and prove that love is the ultimate sacrifice.

An Entangled Halloween Story and Giveaway with Nina Croft

Spooky Stories

by Nina Croft

I’m English, and in England, we don’t celebrate Halloween as much as Americans seem to. In fact, growing up, I’d never even heard of trick-o-treating until I saw the movie ET. And the closest we got to fancy costumes, was a white sheet over our heads so we could be ghosts.

But one family tradition I do remember from Halloween, was my older sister would gather us together (there were five of us) turn out the lights, and tell us spooky stories. Anne was a great storyteller, and I doubt anyone slept after one of these sessions—I certainly didn’t. But the stories I always found scariest weren’t the ones about ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night, but the ones about bad people.

One story that sticks in my mind was called, The Little White Dog, a sort of traditional British horror story (and I always kept my hands tucked tightly in the bed after hearing this one). So here (from my long ago memory) is my retelling of it.

The Little White Dog

Maybe, if she lay very still, he would forget she was there. Just take what he wanted from the house and leave her alone. Sarah clung to the hope with every cell in her body. In fact, she could no longer hear him moving around the house; perhaps he’d already gone.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but from where she lay on the bed, she could hear the drone of the television in the room next door. The news was on—so it must be ten o’clock—some report about an escaped prisoner.

“Again, this is a news alert. Serial killer Colin Hunter, dubbed Colin the Cannibal by the press, for his habit of partially devouring his victims, has escaped from the maximum security facility where he was awaiting sentencing. Police warn—do not under any circumstances approach.”

For a second, her mind refused to make sense of the words. Then a whimper trickled from her throat, oozing around the scarf stuffed in her mouth. Her stomach turned to hot, molten liquid, and she swallowed the nausea that rose to the back of her throat.

Squeezing her eyes tight shut, she tried to control her panic. It was just coincidence. Wasn’t it?

A rope of some sort was tied around her middle, strapping her to the bed. She wriggled frantically, but although she could move her lower arms, she couldn’t reach the knots.

Maybe Scamp could help. Scamp, her little white dog, usually slept on the rug in front of the fire.

But sometimes, if she had a nightmare, he would come and lie beside the bed, and she could stroke his silky fur until she was soothed back to sleep.

This was her worst nightmare. Why didn’t he come? Not daring to make a noise, she hung her hand down over the bed and rubbed her fingers together silently. Nothing happened, and she stared up at the ceiling and prayed.

A warm wet tongue licked her fingers, and a flicker of hope blossomed inside her. Now, if she could just get Scamp on the bed, he could chew through the knots, and they could both escape out the bedroom window.

She rolled her head to the side. And a silent scream rose up inside her as. Through the open door, in the flickering light from the fire, she could see Scamp. He lay on the rug, unmoving, asleep or….

The tongue licked her palm. A low chuckle sounded from the floor beside the bed, then a soft whisper.

“Dinner time.”

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BLOOD HUNTER SERIES - Book One by Nina Croft

The year is 3048, Earth is no longer habitable, and man has fled to the stars where they’ve discovered the secret of immortality—Meridian. Unfortunately, the radioactive mineral is exorbitantly expensive and only available to a select few. A new class comprised of the super rich and immortal soon evolves. The Collective, as they’re called, rule the universe.

Two-thousand-year-old Ricardo Sanchez, vampire and rogue pilot of the space cruiser, El Cazador, can’t resist two things: gorgeous women and impossible jobs. When beautiful Skylar Rossaria approaches him to break a prisoner out of the Collective’s maximum security prison on Trakis One, Rico jumps at the chance. Being hunted by the Collective has never been so dangerous–or so fun!