Bells of Demonio (Kings of Terror 1)

As Tyson got what he needed I rifled through the bags closest to the door to find their IDs and passports, but they weren’t anywhere I looked.

Back in the car, Tyson forced his way through the crowds. I stared out the window, not truly seeing anything until a young girl’s costume caught my eye. I leaned forward and stared.

She was dressed as one of the twins from the portrait, glowing eye and all. At this point, I wouldn’t have been shocked if it was her. She saw me and smiled, lifting her arm to wave. The woman beside her saw what she was doing, and I turned away.

“Why did you tell us not to look at them?” I finally asked, my voice brittle and raw.

“If you look into their eyes, they can mark your soul,” Tyson replied, staring straight ahead.

I placed a comforting hand on his arm.

No more words were spoken between us until we reached the airport.

CHAPTER

Greif and exhaustion were a deadly combination. My guilt was an added dose of arsenic. The three plagued my mind like endless hunger did my body.

I should’ve been wasting away. The foods I did eat never seemed to fill me up for more than twenty minutes. I wondered if it had anything to do with the marks on my skin.

Bellatrix and were working round the clock trying to figure out they were and the truth about Demonio.

In the week we’d been home a rabbit hole had opened. We were slowly journeying down it. Each drop into darkness changing us a little more.

I reached for my phone and checked the time. It was ten after midnight, but I felt as if I’d been awake for days.

Bellatrix was on her side facing away from me. We’d resorted to sharing my king-sized bed because neither of us wanted to be alone. Ragnor was at the end, resting his head on the curved footboard.

I unlocked the phone and went to the text Jacob’s mom had sent me the other day. She wanted to give me his Nikon, claiming he’d want me and my sister to have it. Not only did it feel wrong to accept his most prized possession after lying to this woman about her son’s death, but he’d also had that camera with him in the woods.

I wanted to ask her if maybe she was confused, or he had another I didn’t know about.

The answer had to be one of the other because if it was anything else I knew I wouldn’t take it well. I was liable to give her a stroke with my reaction.

Sighing, I went to place the phone back on the nightstand when a noise from downstairs had it slipping from my fingers.

I sat up straight, flinching when Ragnor came awake snarling, all the hairs on the back of his neck standing on edge.

“Angel,” Bellatrix reached over and grabbed my hand, wide awake and staring through the open doorway. My bathroom light began to flicker. I’d left it on to serve as a nightlight because I didn’t have one.

It came again, a single chime followed by the creaking of our second step that led upstairs.

Ragnor began to bark, growling so loud his entire body vibrated. I went to grab him and missed him.

He jumped off the bed and charged.

“Rags, no!” I commanded, stumbling to catch him.

He stopped right in front of the threshold, some sixth sense of his telling him not to go into the hall. Bellatrix was at my side, slamming my bedroom door and locking it as I dragged him by his harness.

He was still snarling like a beast, foam flying from his mouth as he barked at the door.

“This can’t be happening,” Bellatrix stammered.

I shut my eyes and tried to think. The bell chimed again, closer than before, a few steps away from the door if I had to guess. I reached for my sister, double-checking she’d turned the lock, knowing it didn’t matter but needing to confirm.

Ragnor suddenly whirled, backing into me as he continued to bark, facing the opposite direction.

I didn’t dare turn around.

Bellatrix’s hand tightened around mine which meant she felt it there too.

A bell chimed from directly in front of my bedroom door, and another rang from the darkened corner.