It’s Halloween! Yay!
We love Halloween in our house—the dressing up, the lollies (candy) and the knocking on strangers’ doors to say hello…! We’re not allowed out this year, so the knocking on doors didn’t happen, but the dressing up and eating lollies still did!
My series that is the creepiest, and most Halloween-y is the Demon Hunter in Hiding series—Hazel is hunting demons after all.
I thought I’d give you the creepiest excerpt I could find, and hope that it would make your spine tingle, and your booties shake! (I’m not really a natural when it comes to scary and spooky stuff…)
Excerpt from Secrets & Demons:
The demon steps forward, the metal objects on its body clinking together ominously with each movement. The urge to turn and run is so strong, I take a faltering step toward the hole in the fence where I got in.
But then I stop. I take a ragged breath. I know firsthand that I can’t outrun a demon. I’m here now and I don’t have time for regrets. I just have to get myself out of this without dying.
I take another steadying breath and try to concentrate on what I’m doing. A week ago I would have been ecstatic to find another demon for my research. Maybe I just need to focus on observing the demon, learning as much as I can from it while I’m here, and then focus on not being killed so I can actually use that information.
The demon moves again, this time matching my change of position. The bizarre cutlery that makes up its body ripples and clinks with the movement. Each demon in its humanlike form has been so different. How does that work? The metal objects attached to them have been so different, almost like it’s their version of a fingerprint—no two are alike. Do they keep the same metal additions forever, or do they change as they grow older? Or perhaps it depends on where they live?
There’s so much I don’t know about them.
The demon inside me moves to the surface, and images appear in my mind. It’s trying to answer my questions, but the pictures are too blurry, moving by too fast for me to understand. The more it tries to communicate with me, the more I feel like it’s not a threat.
At least not right now.
The large demon in front of me, however, is a big threat. Humongous even. It growls, low and menacing, and takes a step closer.
I put my hands out in front, like they do in the action movies. “Don’t come any closer. You don’t want to mess with me. I’m a chalice.” There’s a definite reaction to my words; it winces slightly and changes direction. But almost immediately it heads toward me again.
“Do you know what a chalice can do?” I ask.
The demon shudders, and its human image wavers. The blue glows a bit brighter.
Something that scares a demon, then. I wish they could talk; this would be so much easier. “Then you know what I can do to you if you come any closer.”
The demon changes its course again, roaming in circles around me. Its eyes never leave my face, and I feel the heat of its gaze on me. I don’t know what it’s waiting for. Maybe it’s not sure if I’m really a chalice?
A loud clanking noise comes from between two old metal carriages in front of me, and my gaze flicks to the darkened gap. A shape emerges out of the shadows, and a second demon appears behind the first. My stomach jumps. I hadn’t expected two demons. How the hell am I going to fight two demons?
This one is covered in old rusted metallic slabs, like it’s absorbed small sections of the trains. I can see a couple of pins from the railway tracks and even a few slivers from the wooden sleepers. The first demon growls in its direction, and the train demon hangs back, sniffing the air like it can tell something about me from the perfume I wear. Or don’t wear, as the case may be.
The first demon screeches, so high-pitched that it hurts. I hold my palms tightly over my ears to block out the sound. The little demon inside me pings around like a pinball, setting me on edge.
The demon screeches again, and this time it’s even more painful. What the hell is it doing? Can it actually hurt me with its screams?
Something inside me snaps, and I scream back at it, pushing my voice to compete with its frequency. The demon immediately pulls back, its face contorted.
I snarl at the demon and take another step forward. Then I scream again. The demon flicks from its human shape back into its blue glowing form. It wavers in front of me for a moment. It’s working.
To find out more, click this link to check out Secrets & Demons on Amazon!