Authors: Tony Richards
The steady electric blue glow washed over me again, as I stepped into the upstairs nursery at 51 Bethany. The rain was tapping on her window from behind the drapes. And the Little Girl was still rotating in mid-air, as she had done since I’d first found her, concepts like ‘sleep’ or ‘play’ entirely alien to her, which continued to make me think she wasn’t a real child at all.
Her slightly echoey, distant voice was high-pitched, just the way an infant’s should be. But it sounded worried.
“You ought to be resting, Mr. Ross. You’re tired, and you have bruises, cuts, on you.”
“All true. But I had to come and thank you.”
She looked surprised. Which was odd since … couldn’t she read my mind? Not all of it, apparently.
“Why?”
I smiled at her. “You got genuinely involved, this time. You really helped.”
“I only …”
“Couldn’t have done it without you, kid. You led me in the right direction.”
She gave that some more thought. And then her lashes, which were still closed, quivered very delicately.
“Then I’m pleased. All those other children? All their mothers and their fathers? I am glad that I could do something to protect them.”
She sounded genuine enough. But she still appeared to be troubled, even at this late hour. As I said at the start of all this, it’s hard to read a person properly when you can’t see their eyes. But I’d known the Little Girl for long enough to sense when she was not at ease.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I’m up. In the air,” she said.
She got like this sometimes, answering questions far too literally. Or perhaps she was trying to avoid the question. I was too exhausted for such games. I leant against the wall and sighed.
“Seeing as you’re being so perceptive, can you tell me what’s really been going on? Who was that?”
“The lady? She is Amashta.”
“I know that.
What
is she?”
“She is mysterious, even to me. I did not know that she was there, before. And now that I do, I cannot see inside her.”
“Did you hear the things she said to me?”
“No, Mr. Ross. Only your replies. Her words were meant for your ears alone.”
So I told her everything that had passed between us, even that remark about a Final Hour. Had the woman been talking about tonight, or was there something else?
The Girl turned slowly in thin air, taking it all in. She considered what I’d said, then pulled a face that was indecipherable.
“I don’t understand what any of these things mean. But I imagine that we will find out.”
Which was philosophical, surely, but one hell of a frustrating answer, any way you looked at it.
Her pale expression was still grave. I wondered what was wrong with her. Couldn’t remember the last time I had seen her looking so unhappy.
“Really, what’s the problem?” I asked. “Hey, we won, didn’t we?”
She finally decided to come out with it.
“You’ve beaten Saruak, yes. But …”
Her lips tightened. And then she forced the words out.
“I can feel it pushing forward through the darkness of the night, now. I can feel it pressing up against the high walls of our world. I hate to be the one to tell you this, Mr. Ross, but … something else, something new, is coming to Raine’s Landing.”
She stopped rotating, facing me. And her voice, by this time, had become reduced to an anxious, hissing whisper.
“Something even worse.”
It’s late December now. People are getting ready for the holidays, scarcely guessing what is coming their way next. Because a psychic beggar girl in the town’s Victorian past has gotten hold of a magical jewel that massively expands her powers – she has reached out with her mind through time itself, making contact with Raine’s Landing in the present day.
The only problem is, she’s warped the fabric of reality by doing that. Rows of houses begin vanishing, with their occupants still inside. Bizarre creatures, some of them extremely dangerous, start to roam the streets. And if Ross, Cassie, and Doc Willets are going to stop their hometown from disappearing altogether, then they’re going to need an awful lot of help.
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
It’s only early February, and the town should still be in the grip of winter. But the air has turned unseasonably warm and an unexpected thaw has come. And as the snows begin to melt back, bodies start to be discovered, murdered human corpses, each with strange ritual markings carved into their flesh.
At first another serial killer is suspected, but it is not that. The markings are satanic ones. Somebody inside the town is practicing black magic of the foulest kind. Demons have been summoned, dark spells cast, doorways opened into deeper realms. And then the Landing’s adepts start to be attacked.
And with his sidekick, Cassie Mallory, unable to help him, ex-cop Ross Devries is facing the toughest and most brutal fight of his entire life. Because this time, he is battling the Hordes of Hell.
From Simon & Schuster/Pocket Star in e-book:
TROPIC OF DARKNESS
Enter a dim-lit, sultry world full of the darkest secrets, where age-old legends come to life, dreams get mixed up with reality, and nothing save for death is truly as it seems.
Jack Gilliard is a man with a dark past, and he hasn’t been back to the United States for more than a decade. But when he washes up in Havana, Cuba, he finds himself being drawn into a business darker than he ever dared think. Ancient passions, ancient treacheries, an age-old curse, and the evils of his past are now consuming the present—and Jack is caught in the midst of it all. To survive, all he has to do is leave the country—a prospect much more difficult than anticipated. But the real question is: can Jack escape before the darkness claims him altogether?
“The tension built well as the story progressed and kept me turning pages. All in all, Tropic of Darkness is a well-crafted tale, and well worth reading. I rate this work as Highly Recommended for adult readers” – The Monster Librarian.
From Samhain Publishing in e-book:
UNDER THE ICE
Be careful what you wish for.
What started out as fun turned to tragedy. Bobby was enjoying a day with his girlfriend, Krista, and his brother, David. Until the ferry ride home, when Bobby fell overboard and disappeared into the ice water. His body was never found. Now, two years later, David has taken Bobby’s place with Krista, but they still miss Bobby every day. So when a strange woman gives them a cross that she says can grant them one wish, David wishes his brother would come back. After all, wishes can’t come true. Or can they?
“Under the Ice is a stellar tale … brilliant, well thought-out, and perfectly delivered” – Horror Novel Reviews.
“The story powers along and is told with great style by an author at the height of his artistic powers. He's every bit as good as the best you'd care to mention. Download Under the Ice now. It absolutely cannot be missed!” – Amazon reviews.
And coming in May 2014 on Kindle Direct Publishing:
HIDDEN
Lindy Grady is a woman who has always lived two very separate lives. By day, she’s a hard-working detective with NYPD’s homicide division. But – haunted by a violent childhood and unable to commit – she fills her nights with singles bars, drink and drugs, and fetishist sex with strangers.
Except when brutally bizarre incidents start occurring all over Manhattan and people begin to die strange deaths in and around Central Park, she’s forced to recognize an awful new reality. Supernatural beings have arrived in New York City, drawn there by the smell of easy pickings.
And when
she
starts to be victimized, she has no choice but to face up to the truth. She’s been drawn into a dangerous sexual game, is easy meat herself. And she, and everyone she cares about, is now in mortal danger.
Other e-books by Tony Richards:
THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES IN THE 21
ST
CENTURY
DARK FUTURES: SF MEETS HORROR
ALSISO – short thrillers.
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE – erotic horror tales.
A NIGHT IN TUNISIA – long supernatural tale.
A BLACK GLASS SLIPPER – supernatural thriller.
NO MAN – sf/fantasy novel.
TOUCHED BY MAGIC: HUMAN DRAMAS IN THE PARANORMAL WORLD
REAL LIFE – humorous fantasy.
THE BOOKS OF SHADOW: VOLUMES I-III – horror stories.
THE VERY EDGE OF NEW HARARE – futuristic mystery.
And, writing as A.G. Richards:
THE ROSE COTTAGE
BALANCING ACT