Blood...
.... so much blood
Christopher's life used to be great, he had lots of friends, great grades and a fantastic girlfriend, he had a bright future and everything was going perfectly, that was until June 5th 20XX, Christopher had returned home from school, this day wasn't anything special except for the fact that not only his parents but his girlfriend Chloe didn't answer their phone, he walked inside and got hit by a horrible smell coming from his kitchen, he walked over and frozen immediately, the image of the scene in front of him would be ingrained in his mind for the rest of his life, in front him lay the bloodied, mangled corpses of his mother, father, brother, sister and girlfriend, each of them having had their faces cut off, Christopher only stood still for a moment before he doubled over and threw up, what he didn't notice however, was the words "5 more to my collection, I'll be back to see you real soon" written in a reddish brown liquid
Author note:
So, I wasn't going to write this originally but after talking with a friend of mine she convinced me to give it a go, Pinky, if your reading this and I know you are, thank you
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]]