NOW ON TAPAS #742 in Horror | "Am I To you a monster? Do I lurk in your nightmares! Am I all in your head? Do I keep up children in the frail nighttimes, making them churn, and burn, and cry their salty tears, am I this monster that keeps the moon dim? And I the monster under your bed? Do I make the cold winter take over you as you purple? Am I to you a monster?" The light shone on him, glistening on his silvered hair. His skin, matte, he recessed from his attacking position, his eye dulled, and reddened. He was, to everyone, a monster. Bringing fear, bringing pain, but, what could anybody do, to a monster in their heads?
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]]