If you've read Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice or have seen the movie, this book is quite familiar to that story because it's what inspired me to write this. So, I guess that's a bit of a disclaimer for anyone who wants to think I stole the storyline. Anyways, I hope you like it. :)
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Frank was on his way home like any other day. The sky was a cool russian blue, foreshadowing the droplets falling from the sky and landing gracefully throughout his features. The rain would grow heavier, yes, but he made no notion of quicken his stride. The rain was calming. Disheartening in a comforting way, but calming, the goosebumps speckling across his neck and arms, the way the crystal orbs of liquid trickling down beneath his hair, along the bridge of his nose...
..."I wouldn't do that if I were you."...
..."Let's say, I'm well aquainted with a few people from backgrounds your regular seventeen-year-old shouldn't."
"But you aren't really seventeen, are you?"
"Not quite."...
..."Frank, listen to me when I tell you, you mustn't go anywhere near that church, do you understand? They will take you. Away from here, away from me. Promise me."
"I promise."...
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Started: July 21, 2021
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]]