It was a rainy evening, cold, and dark. You enter your room and stumble upon your laptop. You check for stories to read, stories that will entertain you for the night. You thought, what about something creepy, or scary, or thrilling? Suddenly you came upon these set of stories. You read, and read, and realize that the clock has struck one already. You don't mind, not the wind outside, nor the surge of water, nor the chatter outside your door. Wait? What? There's no one outside. Curiously, you got up and opened the door, and true enough, nobody was there; that is until you realize, the noise was from inside the room all along.
Will you look back? Do you dare continue reading this collection?
Antique store owner Liz brings home a Victorian taxidermy hound from auction, unwittingly unleashing dark forces on her wife and son.
*****
Nat Loman has finally married the love of her life, Liz, and is getting used to her role as stepmother to Liz's 5-year-old son, Liam. The Loman family runs a bustling antique business so they attend a sale where a striking, black taxidermied hound is up for auction. Liz picks it up for the business, but it ends up being stored in their home, where Nat notices strange things occurring. She quickly discovers the past residents had died violently. Then she hears from a friend about the myth of "the devil's dog", a hound that perches in the shadows, tearing families apart from the inside. Soon, people around the Lomans are dying, and Liz is changing, darkening. It's up to Nat to save the woman she loves from the darkness closing in, and to save Liam from danger no matter what she has to sacrifice.
[[Winner of the 2018 Wattys "Hidden Gems" category]]
[[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]