Dance For The Devil (39 page)
Read Dance For The Devil Online
Authors: S. Kodejs
Gillian felt free to call the dog loudly now, knowing her voice would be lost against the roar of the river. Casper love to come here, enjoying the children and the freedom to gallivant in the river, dunking his black head under the water, fishing for rocks, shaking off the water droplets like a maniac. Michael would watch from his stroller, clapping his hands and chortling with glee. A pang struck Gillian’s chest:
She had to find him.
No sign of the animal here. She lingered for a scant moment longer, savoring the brightness of the stars and the clean autumn scent of the crisp night air. She walked the length of the beach, through a thicket of trees, emerging onto Birch Street, on the other side of the island. Here the homes were further apart, older and more spacious. Some retired folks, a few families that lived on Cedar Island for generations, then James D’Anderville’s fancy mansion, lights aglow at this late hour.
There’s another one,
Gillian thought,
awake when he should be sleeping.
But with James it made sense. The recluse had a propensity for flouting convention. Probably working in his darkroom, developing photographs that he would sell to major publications around the world. As an artist, she appreciated the value of D’Anderville’s work, was awestruck by the simplistic beauty and stark reality of this photographs which paid homage to the complexities of a society which valued wealth over decency. Mostly his pictures were disturbing, and like Nick Ut’s famous photo of the naked Vietnamese girl, running and crying, her flesh eaten away by napalm, they remained to haunt your subconscious. As a photographer, he was brilliant, but as a person, Gillian steered clear of James. He was one odd duck.
Past the D’Anderville house, across from Our Lady of Sorrow, the quaint, century old Pentecostal Church, and on the only hill in town, stood the Cedar Rest Retirement home. Gillian’s own grandmother had lingered there for years before finally succumbing to the insidious disease which ate her away. Gillian’s grandmother was part of the reason she’d come to Cedar Island in her senior year of high school and, at the time, Gillian loathed her for it.
Since her grandmother’s death two years ago, Gillian had avoided Cedar Rest. The memories were unpleasant and it was on the dark side of the island, away from the main streets and general action. There was no reason to believe Casper would come here so she skipped stealthily across the front lawn, sticking to the generous cover of the trees, giving the place a wide berth.
Like the D’Anderville and Covingtree homes, activity flourished at Cedar Rest in the dead of night. Several windows along the west wing were lit, although shrouded by drapes to protect
the privacy of the occupants. Gillian shuddered. Lights blazing at night probably meant only one thing: another death at Cedar Rest.
Or maybe not, Gillian decided. She hadn’t walked the night streets of Cedar Island in years. Perhaps Cedar Rest was lit up like a Christmas tree every night.
Still no sign of Casper. Concern for the animal festered in her belly, gnawing and growing.
Where the hell was he?
This was so unlike him – Casper rarely roamed. She had circumferenced the entire island now, through the residential area, past the school, over to the waste recycling plant which stood isolated and forlorn, punctuated against the night like a silent accusation condemning the soiled remnants of humanity. A thin humming emanated from within the metal fencing, attesting that even this dreary place continued in the dead of night. A trickle of fear combined with a continued sense of wrongness. Was she the only one on Cedar Island who actually slept at night?
Gillian halted, despair and fatigue washing over her until it became difficult to think clearly. Could Casper have left the island? Not bloody likely, Gillian decided. The orange metal bridge was the only way off, and Casper hated it with such passion that when forced to cross Orange Ollie on foot he whined like a baby, crouching on all fours with his tail stuck far between his legs. Even in the safety of the car, his dislike was clear. The Cedar Island bridge was his own personal nemesis and no way would he cross it, not even for a lottery of Milk Bones.
She called him again, shouting. “Casper!” Loudly this time, not caring who she woke. Her voice echoed through the cold night, the tone haunting even to her own ears. “Okay,” she said finally, deciding to call it a night. She’d make a better search tomorrow, in daylight. If the dog still hadn’t returned, she would make up some flyers, notify the radio station, call the Aberdeen S.P.C.A. Robert would help too, of course. Casper was, after all, his dog.
If you enjoyed this sample of Eternity,
please download the full novel at:
http://amzn.to/13gJCvh
The Spirit Seeker Society
“Why not search for ghosts?” Maggie Bench suggests, almost as a joke. First year students at King’s College were given the task of creating a campus society. With its rich historical background, Nova Scotia has its share of haunted sites. Surely the assignment will be a breeze. No one expects to find anything – it’s not like ghosts are real, right?
The Spirit Seeker Society is born, as five students band together in a quest that will alter their lives. They'll learn that the dearly departed don’t always stay buried. That corpses have horrifying secrets. And, that danger doesn’t always come from the dead. Sometimes, it’s the living who are the most terrifying of all.
The Spirit Seeker Society is a scary, tightly-woven tale that blends fiction with reality and brings historical events into the present.
If you don’t believe in ghosts, think again.
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THE SPIRIT SEEKER SOCIETY:
Better Off Dead
Welcome to King’s College, the bloody scene of multiple deaths. But that was so last season. It’s a fresh school year and students are eager to begin.
Ben Bontel knew frosh week was a mistake. Others gaped at his tattoos, facial piercings and imposing frame like he was the most dangerous thing on campus. Little did they know how wrong they were. Pulled into a forbidden, secret society, Ben learns that the deceased rarely play fair and neither do the living.
Ti Ducasse has his own problems. How is he supposed to act like a normal student while fighting off the amorous advances of one pesky ghost? Sure, she was beautiful, even with the gruesome stab wound to her neck, but the last thing he needed to complicate his life was a girl. Especially a dead one. It was bad enough that she followed him everywhere, but was her dark baggage t
hreatening his home and family?
From the barren, rocky shores of historic McNabs Island to the depravity of the Haitian
Tonton Macoutes
, the remnants of the previous Spirit Seeker Society join forces with the new recruits. This time, the stakes are higher. This time, demons have come to play. This time, no one is safe.
Buckle up and prepare for a wild, paranormal ride. BETTER OFF DEAD, Book Two of the SPIRIT SEEKER SERIES
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BETTER OFF DEAD:
The Manitou, Book One:
How do you fight what no longer exists?
When Jaclyn Hart's brother mysteriously disappears while working for a logging company, she joins a seven-day guided tour to learn what really happened. Strange things start occurring in this northern rainforest: group members disappear while others exhibit alarming personality changes. Worse, an ominous thumping noise emanates throughout the forest, growing more forceful as the group gets closer to its spiritual center.
Dean Stockton is on his own quest. Although he'd sworn never again to set foot in the Stein, he is fulfilling a deathbed promise to teach a young orphan, Jesse Littlefoot, his Native heritage, and the two embark on a journey that pits them against an eddy of outside forces: governmental and corporate greed, the desecration of the rainforest, and a primeval power that threatens to claim Jesse as its own.
As Dean and Jackie team up to save Jesse, they find themselves fighting for their own survival, and uncover some alarming ancient secrets that lay in the center of the Stein.
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THE MANITOU, BOOK ONE
The Manitou, Book Two:
“A vision came to him, and he gasped again. A vision so gruesome he couldn’t face it. He fought the urge to bury his face under the bedcovers, to hide. He moved his tongue around his dry, chalky mouth, trying to force moisture into the cracks and crevices as he began to admit to himself that he’d made a terrible, horrible mistake.”
Escaping the Stein is only the beginning. Dean and Jackie’s desperate quest to save Jesse Littlefoot takes the fugitives from perilous wilderness to bustling city, but there is no safe place to hide. Wanted for murders they did not commit, they are forced to elude the law and the long reach of a wealthy man who will stop at nothing to stop them.
Reginald K. Bloodsworth believes he has learned the ancient secret of the Stein. Sure, the exclusive logging rights to the valley are worth billions, but that’s not what he’s really after. Jesse Littlefoot is the key and he must find the child to keep his end of the unholy bargain with the ancient Spirits, The Manitou.
Dean and Jackie are forced to return to the Stein Valley to save Jesse. This time the stakes are higher: not only their own destinies linked to the Stein, but also that of mankind. The Manitou will fight to protect what is theirs, even if means the destruction of the human race.
