Toby Aaron Rogers, was just a normal, average 17 year old teenage boy when his life had been turned upside down, for him and his family. As his older sister: Lyra Rose Rogers had been involved in a car-crash along with his mother, and him to which Toby and his mother, had survived but it had killed his sister instantly at just 19 years old, and his family life didn't help him at all, as his father would usually drink heavily, and would attack him, and his mother. He had also been a Home-Schooled Boy since he was just 5 years old, due to certain kids bullying him at School because, of his condition known as: 'Tourette's Syndrome.' Which would cause him to tick, twitch, and even crack his neck the odd occasion and they would mock him with the nickname: "Ticci Toby" and would take the mick, out of his twitching. After all of the bad stuff that has happened to him and his family, Toby suddenly starts to realize that the world, is a bad place and now all he can do now is just, go and kill anyone, who has ever treated him, with disrespect or made, his life a living hell.☠️
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]]