Releasing Wednesday, October 25 - On the Edge of Nowhere

 

Cover Image: Erin Dameron-Hill Graphics

A new door brings Gina and Mattie to a forest of witches and warlocks with a taste for blood...and the story of Hungry House's mistress.

* * * *

Gina spent the following hour’s walk through the woods watching their captors. The captured meadow people weren’t resigned to their fates, she noted. They struggled and fought despite being bound. They resisted taking every step no matter how the witchy bunch beat them or zapped them with their wands.

Definitely wands. Gina never saw beams or sparks fly when they were directed at a victim, but whomever they were aimed at reacted in pain. Over and over again, meadow folk fell to the ground and screamed though they showed no injury. The witches and warlocks kicked them until they scrambled up and took a few steps before fighting back again.

The meadow dwellers’ desperate battle to not be taken deep into the cool shadows of the forest quelled Gina’s scant optimism. Whatever was at the end of their trek was certain to be horrific. She found extra appreciation for their terror an instant later when she dared to crane for a glimpse of Iz, wondering how her former cellmate was coping.

Gray Hair said, “Eyes front.” He pointed his stick at her.

Her guts tried to erupt from her belly. Her heart burst. A lightning storm blasted her brain. Horrific torment was everywhere. It tore her insides out. Shredded, Gina fell to the ground. She kicked and clawed and shrieked from the agony.

A small part of her tattered senses somehow operated despite the torture and wondered that it wasn’t accompanied by gouts of blood and entrails exploding from her flesh. She could feel her body tearing itself apart from within, but her streaming gaze refused to take part in the awful truth.

The pain disappeared. She lay gasping, unable to respond to Mattie’s screams though she begged her limbs to move beyond twitching. Her friend’s shrieks quieted to moans a second later.

The dull thud of Gray Hair’s bare foot kicking her backside was of little importance after the agony Gina had just gone through. She ignored him. She caught her breath and wondered if mere hurt could kill a person.

“Up, or I’ll hex you again.”

She hated herself for flinching at the threat. Gina tried again to convince her body to work. It obeyed, and she jerked to her feet. On her left, Mattie did the same.

“Sorry I couldn’t stop him,” her friend panted.

White Stripes trained her wand on Mattie. “No more talking. Walk.”

They walked. Being hexed had allowed Iz and her captor to pass them. She plodded ahead of them, occasionally shoved by a redheaded giant of a man. Gina wondered if she was wrong to feel relief that Iz was alive. From all indications, it wasn’t the greatest state of being.

They came to a huge clearing in the woods, where shanties and crude lean-tos hugged the perimeter of the space. In front of each stood thick poles. In the middle were three thick slabs of rock, set up like giant tables. The setting made Gina think of a prehistoric picnic ground. There were four blackened firepits on the perimeter of the tables.

Elderly people came out of the shacks, along with at least two dozen children. Like those who’d brought the meadow people and Gina’s group, they were dressed in furred rags knotted together, belted with strips of leather or stained fabric. The old men and women leered at the prisoners. The children squealed and capered with excitement before lighting the fires.

The meadow people renewed their struggles to break free. Wands pointed, and they went down with yells. While they writhed, they were dragged to the poles and tied helpless.

So were Gina, Mattie, and Iz. Gina hated allowing herself to be bound, but the memory of the hex was too much to dare again. She stood stiff, tense as a board, fingers and toes curled tight while Gray Hair trussed her to the pole. She held in a deep breath until he finished.

He stared at her with satisfaction when he was done. “Praise the Mistress for this boon.”

“Who is this Mistress? Why do you think she sent me to you?” Gina wasn’t sure he wouldn’t hurt her for speaking. If he saw her as a person instead of an object, maybe he’d think twice about whatever it was he planned to do to her. Small hope, but she’d take whatever she could get.

“She who rules this land and the next and all the others you travelers visit through the doorways.” He smirked.

“You mean the supposed lady who lives in the cupola of Hungry House?” Gina’s heart sped up.

“I know of no house, woman. I only know the Mistress lives up high. She watches over us and sends us good when we please her and ill when we don’t. We are given powers through our worship.”

“You kill innocents. You’re murderers,” Mattie snarled. White Stripes had walked off, leaving her bound to the pole nearest Gina.

“We protect ourselves. We lived in peace with the ungifted for a long time. We blessed their crops, eased their birthing pains, sent them good weather. They turned on us, jealous of our power, fearful of our Mistress. They sent us to burn at the stake. It is justice to take their lives to enhance our magic.”

“We aren’t them,” Gina said. “We aren’t from anywhere close to here.”

He looked at her with warmth, which resembled kindness enough that for a moment, she dared to hope he’d set them free. “You are gifts from the Mistress. Special sacrifices endowed to her most faithful. Your blood and flesh will heighten my abilities when I take your life on her altar.”

So much for mercy. Gina drew another deep breath and tightened already tense muscles as he finished tying her. She vowed his Mistress would pay. Whether in this life or the next or however many it took, she’d pay big.

* * * *

Those who step inside Hungry House never return. But when the abandoned house on the edge of town is ready to feed, it won’t be denied. 

Inquisitive Gina and her impulsive best friend Mattie know better than to enter the abandoned Victorian. The mansion on the edge of Nowhere, Georgia, has a reputation for ‘eating’ those who dare to step inside. Yet when another friend and her younger brother disappear after last being seen heading toward Hungry House, Gina and Mattie have no choice but to follow.

Inside, they find every door is a gateway to a new nightmare. Even death is no escape—it only sends the unlucky trespassers back to the start of Hungry House’s gauntlet. Their only hope is to survive long enough to confront the house’s mistress, an inhuman being whose lust for vengeance is as immortal as she.

Releasing October 25. Pre-order now: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Smashwords.

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