“I know,” Dante told her. He knew as well as she did how disastrous that would be. “I just wish he hadn’t insisted on seeing the house at night.”

“In the dark,” Lilith added.

Dante slid his card into the lock box and entered his code. The box opened and he pulled the house keys out.

As he unlocked the door and searched for the porch light switch, a car pulled up in front of the house. Its lights shone on the Grave Deeds real estate sign rising up out of the tall, unkempt grass that was the front yard.

Grave Deeds specialized in houses like the one they were about to show. Houses that had strange attributes and tragic pasts. Houses that weren’t repossessed, but just simply possessed. Houses Lilith referred to as dark properties.

And, just as often, their clients were as strange and dark as the houses. The kind of people who found the dark properties inviting. Except, this client was not one of those kinds of people.

Henry Lumpkin stepped from his car and hurried up to the porch. Dante switched the porch light on just as Henry reached the bottom step. Henry’s neat red hair flashed in the sudden light. He straightened his tie and apologized to the couple for being late.

“I hope I haven’t kept you waiting,” he said, sounding more like a timid little boy than the middle-aged man he appeared to be.

“No, Mr. Lumpkin,” Lilith told him. “We just got here.”

“Good. Good,” the man said, “and please, call me Henry.”

“Ok, Henry. Shall we have a look around?” Dante asked, holding the door open for him.

Henry nodded and hurried into the house.

“Now, Mr. Lumpkin,” Lilith began.

“Henry,” Henry reminded her.

“Yes, Henry. You told us you wanted to look at this house, but you didn’t tell us what kind of house you are looking for.”

“A haunted one,” Henry said as he glanced around the entryway and moved through an archway into the living room.

“Well, you picked the right house,” Lilith thought. “But, in this case, haunted is an understatement.”

The room upstairs went far beyond haunted.

The room appeared to be a typical bedroom, just one more of the six bedrooms in the house. It had ordinary carpet, ordinary walls and an ordinary closet. Nothing was unusual about the room, in the daylight.

At night, the room was anything but ordinary. Odd sounds could be heard emanating from the room. Eerie lights alternately glowed and flashed behind the closed door. Blood had been seen oozing from the walls and pooling on the floor.

Anyone who had tried to stay in the room could feel the presence of something in the room with them. Most would flee the house screaming in terror. A few were found raving about “the eyes,” driven completely out of their minds. Two actually disappeared.

Because of that room and the stories about the evil possessing it, the house had stood empty for more than 20 years and for sale for the last 13 years.

All of their clients that have looked at the house had run screaming from the room, down the front stairs and out of the house, never looking back.

If they were ever to have a chance to sell the house, they had to keep Henry Lumpkin away from that room.

“I want to look upstairs,” Henry said after taking a quick look around the living room. He headed back to the entryway and the front stairway.

“Wouldn’t you like to take a look at the basement first?” Dante suggested. “Basements are always haunted.” He stomped his foot on the floor to wake up anything that happened to be sleeping in the dark corners of the room below.

The sound of groaning floated up through the heating ducts. It started softly but quickly became a wail before dying off again.

Dante and Lilith looked at Henry expectantly, but the man just started climbing the stairs without comment almost as if he hadn’t heard the cry of the creature below.

They followed Henry upstairs where he stopped as if he were trying to determine which way to go.

“Take a look at this closet,” Lilith said, opening the odd-shaped door leading to the space under the attic steps. The closet was completely dark except for two eyes that glowed red deep within.

Lilith tried to direct his attention to the eyes, but Henry was not paying attention to them. Henry looked down the passageway toward the back of the house and made up his mind. “This way, I think,” he said.

As he passed the door to the attic stairs, Dante grabbed the knob. “How about the attic?” he asked. “Everyone is scared of old attics.” He started to open the door. Above them, slow, heavy footsteps could be heard crossed the attic floor toward the top of the attic steps.

But, Henry was already padding along the hallway toward a bedroom at the back of the house. That bedroom. He paused in front of the door with his hand on the knob.

“Now that’s something you don’t see every day,” Lilith said, pointing out the window to the backyard. “This house has its very own cemetery.” Down in the back corner of the yard headstones could be seen in the moonlight. They could also see dark figures shambling around between the headstones.

Henry turned and looked at the two of them. “Is there a reason why you don’t want me to see this room?” he asked.

Dante and Lilith couldn’t meet his gaze. Slowly, Dante told him the story of the room and the horror that lay inside. Henry’s face turned pale and his eyes widened.

“So, you see,” Dante finished, “this is not a room you should look at. Not in the dark.”
He looked at his wife and smiled at her. They were sure that they had talked him out of it.

But they were wrong.

“I’m still going to look at it,” he said. He opened the door and went in.

The door slammed behind him. Dante and Lilith just stared at it.

The room behind the door erupted with light and sound. Bright lights flashing in a multitude of hues shined out from around the door. Thumps, crashes and strange, unintelligible voices could be heard. And there was one terrible scream that seemed to go on forever and then, everything abruptly ended leaving the room dark and silent.

The couple looked at each other and wondered what they should do. Just as Dante reached for the door, it began to slowly creak open.

And, Mr. Henry Lumpkin stepped out. He had a dazed look on his face and his hair and clothes were disheveled. There were several dark splatters on his clothes that were obviously blood. But neither of them knew whether the blood belonged to him.

They led him downstairs to a bench seat built into the bay window in the living room and helped him sit down.

“Mr. Lumpkin,” Dante said, “how are you feeling?”

The man just sat there staring straight ahead.

“Henry,” Lilith said, “can you hear me?”

Henry nodded, slowly.

“How do you feel?” Lilith asked.

“That was,” he began and then his voice died away again.

“That was?” Lilith prompted.

“That was great,” he said, his face lighting up with a wide smile. He stood up and tried to straighten his suit and hair. “I’m buying the house.”

“You’re buying the house?” Dante asked, not quite sure what had just happened.

“I’m buying the house,” Henry repeated. “But first, I have to do that again,” he said and quickly headed for the front stairs.

His excitement was dampened when he found himself driving through dense fog. He could barely see the lines on the road and had to crawl along so he could navigate the sharp curves leading into town.

He was just thinking that he had to be close when a stopped car suddenly loomed out of the fog. He slammed on his brakes and stopped just inches from the car. Its hazards were blinking, and the driver’s door was open.

He recognized it. It belonged to Gordy, one of his buddies. He eased around the car and parked on the shoulder. The car was empty and no one was around. He saw a dark puddle of something by the open driver’s door. He stooped and shined the light from his cell phone on it. It was a dark red. He sprang up and took a step back. Was it blood?

He quickly got back in his car and tried calling Gordy, but as usual, there wasn’t much cell reception around Black Crow. He swore to himself and threw the phone on the passenger’s seat.

He drove on into town. It was eerie in the fog. It was early evening and there didn’t seem to be lights on in any of the houses. The town almost seemed deserted. Finally, he recognized Jim’s place and pulled into the driveway.

He was relieved to see the house lit up. He went up to the door and knocked. The sounds of a basketball game on TV played loudly in the house. But, there was no answer.

He tried the door and found it locked. He went around to the lake side of the house and checked the deck door. It was hanging open. He looked in.

The living room was a mess. Furniture was overturned. Pretzels and drinks were spilled on the floor. He went over to the TV and turned it off. The house was silent and empty.

“Jim?” He called out. All he heard was a groaning coming from outside.

He went back to the deck. There was a figure out on the dock.

“Jim?” He called as he hurried down to the dock. The figure turned around.

It was Gordy. But Nick took a step back in horror. His friend had a wild look in his eyes and was covered with blood. It dripped from his mouth and hands and covered his shirt. He shuffled forward and reached out toward Nick, grasping and groaning.

He scrambled backward and turned back toward the house. More of his friends came shuffling out from the fog along the shore. Jim and Dave came at him from the left and Bob and Paul from the right. They were all reaching their bloody hands out toward him.

His mind was reeling. He realized his only escape was to go through the house. He ran up onto the deck, pulled the door shut behind him and locked it. He ran through to the front door and pulled it open. Jim and Paul were just outside. Jim grabbed at his arm. Nick pulled away from him, slammed the door and locked it again. Then, the pounding started. They were at both doors trying to get in.

What had happened to his friends? Was everyone in town a zombie?

He glanced around looking for a way out, his heart racing. As he remembered a way out through the basement, both doors flew open and whatever his friends were now, burst into the house.

He ran to the basement and flipped on the lights. Taking the steps two at a time, he raced down and crossed the room. He could hear them following him down the steps. As he got to the steps leading outside, the door at the top pulled opened and two figures descended down toward him.

As the four figures closed in on him, Nick backed away into a corner. He held his arms out to ward off the attack and closed his eyes.

The attack didn’t come. He opened his eyes to look at the four people who until this night had been his best friends from college. They stood there silently and then, they started to laugh.

“Got you.” Jim said.

Nick just gaped at them. Then, he realized that he was no longer the king of pranks. They’d gotten him back for last year.

The first book in my Young Explorer series, Young Explorers and the Inca Wraith is now available on Amazon as an eBook. Young Explorers and the Inca Wraith follows the adventures of an eleven-year-old CJ Kask.. If you read Grimm End, you may recognize the name as the 100+ year old great-grandfather of Sara, Thomas and Daniel.

In Young Explorers, CJ and his young explorer friends accompany their parents on an adventure to Peru in 1917 when they are sent to discover why an archaeological expedition has stopped sending reports on their dig at an Inca temple.

Young Explorers is a dark fantasy young adult adventure novella that is a mix of Jonny Quest, Hardy Boys, Scooby-Doo and Indiana Jones.

Buy the Book

In March 2013, I will be releasing the first book in my Young Explorer series. Young Explorers and the Inca Wraith follows the adventures of an eleven-year-old CJ Kask.. If you read Grimm End, you may recognize the name as the 100+ year old great-grandfather of Sara, Thomas and Daniel.

In Young Explorers, CJ and his young explorer friends accompany their parents on an adventure to Peru in 1917 when they are sent to discover why an archaeological expedition has stopped sending reports on their dig at an Inca temple.

Young Explorers is a dark fantasy young adult adventure novella that is a mix of Jonny Quest, Hardy Boys, Scooby-Doo and Indiana Jones.

Come join the adventure that starts in March.

Click here to read the full description.

On the surface, you may think that Grimm End is all about shape shifters, zombies and wizards with an odd alien and banshee thrown in for good measure. But below the surface, Grimm End is all about family

Sara Cross has watched her family fall apart over the last several years after her father disappeared without a trace. Her mother, who was an outgoing and loving woman, turned inward and has all but given up her nurturing role in the family. Sara’s brothers, Daniel and Thomas, are also drifting off in their own directions.

Except for the evening dinner, the last vestige of family tradition, the members of the Cross family exist only as separate entities, not a family unit.

When the strange world of her great-grandfather enters their reality, it threatens to sever the last ties between the members of this fragile family and turn them against each other.

To salvage what she can of her family, Sara must try and convince her family that only together can they battle the evil that faces them. Together as a family, they could overcome their enemies and survive.

So, even though there are people in Grimm End who can turn into cougars, bears and wolves; and even though there are dead people that are haunting the streets in dark places; and even though there are other strange creatures that terrorize the hills and valleys of Grimm End, the story is about one family and how they must depend upon each other to stay together and to stay alive.

— ♦ —

 If you would like access to beta chapters of my upcoming books as well as behind the scenes content and announcements of book releases, please subscribe to my free members-only newsletter by clicking on Join Us.

When she was almost back to the gate leading up to the mansion, she saw that there was a car parked at the side of the road. It wasn’t running, and its lights were off. She crossed to the opposite side of the road to pass it.

When she was alongside it, she realized that it was the Sheriff’s patrol car and the driver’s door was open. The Sheriff was nowhere to be seen. She hurried ahead to get away from the road and back to the mansion as fast as she could.

She saw something move slowly out from the trees ahead of her. She stood still in the middle of the road. The gate to the mansion’s driveway was still several hundred yards ahead, and the creature was between it and her. It was too far back to town. She didn’t know where to run.

Click here to read more…

The street was almost deserted, except for a pair of dark figures that were ambling along toward her. They were bundled in dark coats with their hoods pulled over their faces. They were murmuring to each other, but Molly couldn’t catch what they were saying.

As they passed the door, Molly pressed her back against it and watched them. The hoods turned toward her for a moment, the blackness inside undisturbed by the little bit of light from the street lamp nearby. Then, they were past her and moving further down the street. Molly caught a hint of mint in the air after they had gone. The mint, she knew, was used to cover the smell of decay that often accompanied the presence of the Dead.

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She glanced out through the dining room as she passed the swinging door that had been propped open for the night. The chandelier’s crystals refracted the last light of the evening, sending little dots of colored light here and there throughout the room. She hurried to the door leading outside. That door served as the servant’s entrance to the house as well as the door where delivery men would drop off sides of beef, cases of wine and packages of all shapes and sizes supplying the household with everything it needed. At that time of night, it was as forgotten as the kitchen. A moment later, she was out in the cool evening air and running across the yard to the trees.

Click here to read more…

Grimm End is now available as an eBook on Amazon.com. If you have a Kindle and are a Prime member, you can borrow the book for free. Go over there and check it out. View Book

In the years since then, I haven’t taken the time to participate. The 50,012 words that make up that first attempt still sit in a folder on my computer untouched since that last day of November in 2006. I’ve tried to jump start it several times but only succeeded in creating entertaining, but fairly useless, scenes that lead nowhere.

This year, I have done an abundance of planning and have what appears to be a workable list of 60 or so scenes that I want to flesh out and may, by the end of November, end up with a decent first draft of my first novel.

I know that some authors look down on the NaNoWriMo exercise. I feel that, while I will not end with a finished novel, for me it is a good exercise. I can disconnect my inner editor and allow the writer in me to pour out a large number of words in a rough form. The creation of the first draft of a written work is my biggest weakness. However, I know that I can shape just about anything into something entertaining through editing later.

If you are in the mood for writing a boat-load of words in November, come join us. If not, I’ll see you in December when it is over.