Key to Hell (Hell Night 4)

“You had your chance to get away from me. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me forever now.”

“Forever,” she whispers with a smile. “I like the sound of that.”

I tuck her back to my chest and we both watch the kids play. I hold her to me when she tries to pull away to help get the kids out of the pool. Joseph is already on the move, holding two towels; one for each of the girls. He helps them from the pool and drapes the small towels over their shoulders. Out the corner of my eye, I see Rella smile at the three of them.

Leaning my head closer to Rella’s neck, I breathe in deep, pulling in her peaches-and-cream scent.

For most of my life, the demons inside me ruled my life. My world was dark and gray, with no hope of ever finding the light.

The girl who used to haunt my dreams is now my salvation.

A Note from the Author

If you’ve made it this far, I can’t thank you enough for sticking with me throughout this series. There’s something I want to say about Grace, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

I normally only release books every four-to-five months, but it’s been every three, like clockwork, with the Hell Night Series. This series has consumed the last twelve months of my life. Not that I’m complaining. As hard as it was to write these books at times due to the subject matter, I?

?m still very glad I did.

I’ve been asked multiple times how I could come up with such material. Where my mind was at, and how I was able to stomach some of the scenes. The answer is simple. My stories are fiction. They aren’t real. And for that, I’m grateful. The mind is vast and can be… quite interesting and disturbing at times if you give it the freedom to come up with anything imaginable. Sadly, and unfortunately, what happened in Sweet Haven is imaginable. What the children endured in the Hell Night Series may have been a figment of my imagination, but those horrors do happen. Every single day. Most of us may not see it or live it or know someone who has, but those painful and revulsive acts happen. Whether it be one person committing those crimes or a group of people who have created a cult. It’s a horrible part of our world, and we must never forget.

Now on to a happier note. I know some of you may be disappointed Grace didn’t play a bigger part in Key to Hell. Grace is a wonderful person, and I adore her character, but she was never meant to have a key role in Emo’s book. His story, his life, is Rella. I didn’t want to take away from their story by inserting Grace where she didn’t belong. However, I’ll leave you a little nugget. We haven’t heard the last from Grace. While the Hell Night Series has ended, she’ll have her own story in a brand-new series that will come out next year. Keep an eye out for more information about The Raven Group!

TURN THE PAGE FOR THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS OF THE SINISTER SILHOUETTE

PROLOGUE

Luca

“LUCA….”

The willowy feminine voice comes from behind me. I slowly turn my head first, then the rest of my body and look for the source.

Blackness. Pure and absolute. That’s all I see. Except for the tiny twinkling lights. There’s a shit ton of them. It reminds me of the times I would spend the summers with my aunt and uncle out in the country. As a kid, I would always sneak out at night and lie on the roof when the sky was clear and the moon wasn’t visible. It was my favorite time of the month, because everything was so dark, except for the stars. I’d lie out there for hours and just watch them twinkle, every so often catching one that soared across the black sky.

These aren’t stars, it isn’t a moonless sky, and I don’t fucking like this. These tiny sparks of light float right in front of me, all around me, almost like glowing specks of dust.

“Lucccaaaa….”

Warm air whispers across my ear, and I spin, expecting to find someone behind me, and still see nothing but those damn flecks of light. Squinting, I try to look past them and the darkness to see something. Any fucking thing.

Frustration grows in my stomach when nothing appears.

“Who in the hell are you?” I yell, anger deepening my voice into a growl.

My ears strain as I listen closely. All I hear is my own breathing and the slight pounding in my ears from my heartbeat. The beat only gets louder with my mounting aggravation.

“Luca.”

This time, the voice sounds rushed. It’s still whispered softly, but not the slow calling of the other two times. It’s urgent. There’s an echo too. It comes from behind me, but the echo drifts around me from every direction.

I tip my head back and snarl to the… ceiling? The sky? I have no fucking clue. “What in the hell do you want from me?”

Not expecting an answer, because I didn’t get one to my previous question, I’m surprised when the voice comes again. It’s close. So close, it almost seems like the words aren’t spoken out loud, but are just somehow in my head.

“I need you.”

My brows slash down into a frown. There’s pain in the softly spoken words, and for some reason I don’t like the emotion coming from the voice. Something sharp pierces my chest, like a dull blade slowly being sunk into my sternum, taking my breath away. I rub the spot, not understanding why the pain is there, but knowing it’s caused by the agony in the woman’s voice.