Take A Haunted Walk With Me (Haunted Tour Guide Mystery Book 5) Page 18

  “I see, so he was just repeating the same cycle.”

  “Yes, and after you, there would probably have been another if he hadn’t been stopped.”

  Now I wondered if John had any other victims. Since Lee said his sister had only found the book recently, I supposed there were no others. The officers were talking and searching the surrounding area with their flashlights.

  “I wish I’d been able to be there for my sister like I was there for you,” Lee said.

  “I’m grateful for that. I’ll never be able to repay you.”

  “You don’t have to repay me,” he said. “I’m just glad we found my sister’s killer.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  Brannon came back over. I explained to him what we’d been discussing.

  “So the guy thought that Ruby was me because of the tour, and from the back I guess we both looked alike. It was a case of mistaken identity.”

  “With any luck we’ll have a full confession from him tonight.”

  “I certainly hope so,” I said. “But now I have something else that I have to fix.”

  “What’s that?” Brannon asked.

  “I still have to get rid of the ghost at the library before it hurts someone. What do you think I should do?” I asked.

  “What about the new device that I made?” Brannon asked. “We can go to the library right now and see if that helps.”

  “I suppose it’s worth a shot. It certainly can’t hurt right now.”

  “No, I don’t think it will hurt,” he said.

  Brannon talked to the officers and then we got into his car. Lee came with us. He would hopefully be of some help since now he was interested in the paranormal. Police cars pulled away. They had John in the back.

  John turned around and looked out the rear window. His expression looked ominous as he stared at me. A flash of the past ran through my mind. I pictured the woman in the long blue dress. Sarah had invited the man into her home. The next scene in my mind skipped right to the time when he carried her away to the woods. He’d strangled her. In his mind he’d never thought he’d be caught. Just like John—he’d never thought he’d be captured either.

  They moved further away from us now. I lost sight of his expression and that was when the visions left my mind. Thank goodness because I didn’t want to witness any more.

  I was glad that I would never have to see him again. Except for maybe in court. The car with him pulled out and it turned to the right and we turned to the left. As we drove down the road further, I was glad to be away from him.

  A short while later, we arrived at the library. Brannon parked along the curb. We stared in silence at the building. I knew none of us really wanted to go in there and deal with this thing. Who else would do it if we didn’t though? How long would we sit there in silence peering up at the looming, now foreboding building? It had changed. Though it had always been spooky-looking, the feeling had never really been that ominous. Sure, I knew there were spirits all around, but they’d never attacked or tried to harm anyone like that. Things had changed quickly when the book had arrived.

  Everything seemed quiet. The building was dark, every window filled with a blackness that seemed impenetrable, but I knew what was inside was probably waiting for us. I sensed it and I knew it knew we were there. So I had to prepare myself for this battle. I wasn’t convinced we were going to win this one because this thing was really strong. It would be able to attack all of us easily. I had to try because I wanted the library open again.

  “Are you ready?” Brannon asked.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said.

  We got out of the car and Brannon went around to the trunk. I followed him back there.

  He opened it up and then said, “It’s gone. Where is it?”

  He fumbled around in there, moving some stuff, but he still couldn’t find the box.

  “It’s gone,” he said.

  “Who would’ve taken it?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. Who steals from a police car?”

  “What will we do now?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess I could make another one.”

  “I don’t think we have time for that,” I said.

  “I can’t believe someone would actually take that. Did they even know what it was for?”

  “I guess we’ll just have to try to deal with this the old-fashioned way,” I said.

  “What way is that?” Lee said.

  “Well, we’ll have to go in and use prayer and sage. We’ll try to banish that thing away. Get it to go over into the other dimension where it belongs.”

  “You mean send it back to hell?” Lee asked.

  “Exactly.” I punctuated the sentence with a point of my finger.

  “I suppose we have no choice,” Brannon said.

  “Let’s go.” I motioned for the guys to follow me.

  This kind of felt like leading my paranormal troops on a mission.

  When we got to the bottom of the library steps, I paused. Tension hovered in the air. The heaviness draped over the building. I knew that thing was going to attack us when we walked through the door. Maybe even before then. It was waiting for us. I looked around to see if I spotted it anywhere. After all, it had followed me to the cemetery. It was on the outside here too.

  Movement came out of the corner of my eye. When I looked over to the graveyard, I spotted the dark shadow dart from one tree to the next.

  “That thing is out here watching us,” I said.

  I continued to watch for it. Suddenly the shadow appeared again. It quickly started to take shape.

  “What do you see?” Brannon asked.

  I saw the man from the graveyard, the one Mrs. Clatterbuck had chased away. “I think it’s the man who killed Sarah Tyler. Or at least his ghost.”

  “Why is he here now?” Lee asked.

  “It’s because Jacob’s attached to the book. He just doesn’t want to leave without taking more victims.”

  “Well, he can’t have any more victims,” Brannon said.

  “I don’t think he understands that,” I said.

  “Should we take care of him outside?” Lee asked.

  “Only if we can find him out here,” I said.

  Lee looked around. “How will we know he’s still out here?”

  “I think he’s waiting for us to go inside,” Brannon said, peering up at the building.

  “I want to find him out here,” Lee said, moving forward.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said, chasing after him.

  Lee moved around the headstones and over to the large oak tree. Brannon came after me.

  “We should go inside now,” I said.

  Lee wasn’t listening and I feared this would not end well for all of us. A streak of dark shadowy mist zipped in front of us.

  “Wow, did you see that?” Lee stopped.

  It was kind of hard not to see it.

  “This thing definitely wants our attention,” I said.

  Lee ran forward again. I dashed around the tree, chasing him. Before I even saw Lee again, I stumbled forward and fell to my knees. The wind had been knocked out of me. It felt as if something had pushed me in the back. I tried to get up, but it felt as if something was holding me down. My breathing became increasingly difficult. I’d never known a spirit could attack with this much force. I peered up to see Brannon. He grabbed my arms. Even he couldn’t break through whatever force was holding me down.

  “Rip, can you get up?”

  “Something’s holding me down,” I said breathlessly.

  Lee hurried over and grabbed my other arm while Brannon pulled the other one. Finally they were able to raise me up. The pressure I’d felt had eased up now.

  I took in a deep breath and exhaled. “I think the thing is gone now.”

  “We’d better get inside before it comes back for us. We have to get rid of this thing quickly. We need to be prepared before it strikes again.” Brannon helped m
e back over to the front entrance.

  I paused and looked back at the tree where the thing had attacked me. I peered up at the branches. The thing wasn’t visible, but I sensed that it had been hiding out in the branches. It was still there, watching us. I knew it would come inside too. The thing wanted me the most.

  “We have to go in now, Rip,” Brannon said.

  I nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

  When we reached the big wood doors, I slipped the key in and unlocked the door. Maybe I was stalling for time.

  Chapter 26

  “I don’t see Annie,” I whispered.

  She hadn’t sent me a text either. I’d tried to get her to come with me, but she wouldn’t this time. She wanted to protect the library.

  “I’m worried about her.”

  “Who is Annie?” Lee asked.

  “She’s the ghost who lives here in the library,” I said.

  His eyes widened. “And you talk with this ghost?”

  “Yeah, she sends me text messages.”

  Normally I wouldn’t divulge this information to someone I barely knew, but I was stressed and not exactly thinking correctly at the moment.

  “She uses a phone?” His tone was even more suspicious now, as if he was convinced I had lost my marbles.

  “She’s probably around here somewhere,” Brannon said. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  Now that we were inside the building, which room was this thing hiding in? We had to get it to come out. As much as I’d rather it stayed away, I knew that would never happen.

  “Do you think it’s upstairs?” I asked.

  Brannon pulled out his EMF detector. Immediately it started beeping. “I’m getting a high reading. I think it’s right here close to us.”

  “Oh, man. I should have known it would come out right away. It didn’t even give me a chance to prepare,” Lee said with a look of fear in his eyes.

  “No matter how much time you think you have to prepare, it’s never enough,” Brannon said.

  The air was thick and I’d never experienced the library this spooky before. We kept the lights out because we wanted to give the spirit a chance to come out from wherever it was hiding. If we turned the lights on, it would probably just retreat and stay there until another time. That wasn’t good. We needed to get rid of this right now.

  Goosebumps covered my skin. I rubbed my arms to work them away. This place definitely gave me the creeps.

  Just then from over my shoulder, a growl sounded. I spun around, but nothing was there—not that I could see, at least.

  “Did you hear that?” I whispered.

  Brannon nodded. “Yes, now we know that this thing is coming out to play.”

  “I don’t think I want to play with this thing,” Lee said.

  “Well, we’ll have to get rid of it,” Brannon said.

  We heard the growl again. It sent shivers down my spine. The thing sounded definitely demonic and evil. This was even worse since we couldn’t see it. The demon was hiding from us and making hideous noises.

  Then again, maybe I didn’t want to see the thing. It probably looked like the most revolting monster I had ever seen. Just when I looked over to the right, down the hallway, I spotted the red eyes. I let out a little gasp before I even realized what I was doing.

  “You see the red eyes watching us?” I whispered.

  “I see them,” Brannon said.

  “What should we do now?” I asked.

  “I think we should leave,” Lee said.

  “We can’t leave now,” Brannon said.

  I knew we couldn’t, but the idea was sounding really good about now.

  “Okay, let’s all hold hands,” Brannon said, as he motioned for me to grab his hand.

  We held hands and stood in a circle. Now we started praying. As soon as we started praying, the air began to feel thicker. It didn’t seem as if this was helping—actually, it was making this evil spirit even madder.

  When we stopped, Brannon looked at me. “Do you think it worked?”

  “No, I think it’s even worse.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

  “What will we do now?” I asked.

  Before he had a chance to answer, a strong gust of wind, like hurricane force, swooshed down the hallway and smacked us, making us land on the floor. It knocked the wind out of me and left me dazed for several seconds, not knowing what had happened.

  “Are you okay?” Brannon asked.

  I finally managed to get my feet. “Yeah, I think I’ll be all right.”

  “I can’t believe the strength of that thing. I didn’t know we were up against something that evil,” he said.

  “If it can get someone to murder someone else, then it could definitely use the energy to knock us down or maybe even worse. We can’t let it possess our minds, that’s for sure—or anyone else’s. We have to get it out of here.”

  “Let’s pray again,” Brannon said.

  We all held hands and started praying, telling this thing to leave this dimension and go where it belonged, which was hell.

  Surprisingly, things didn’t feel as heavy this time. I wasn’t going to hold out too much hope though, just in case I had my hopes dashed.

  When we stopped praying, we paused to listen. The library was quiet. There was no growling and the red eyes had disappeared. “Do you think it’s gone?” I asked. “The air seems lighter and I don’t feel the heaviness inside me any longer.”

  “I think that it’s gone,” Brannon said.

  The diary was on the floor where we had placed it. I wondered if the devil had attached to the book again. We couldn’t be too relaxed though. We definitely had to get rid of the diary. The feeling in the air helped me relax though and I was definitely encouraged.

  Brannon flipped on the lights. The library seemed less eerie and spooky.

  “It feels different in here now,” Lee said.

  “Yeah, I think that we got it,” Brannon said.

  “But we have to get rid of the book. I really hate to burn it because… well, you know. I just can’t do that.”

  “I have a different idea,” Brannon said.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “I think I know someone who would take the book from you.”

  “Who would want this?”

  “He collects haunted items. He would place it in a safe location, hidden away, so that no one would be affected by it again.”

  “If he’s willing to take it like that, then that sounds great to me.” I grabbed the book and we headed for the door.

  As soon as we stepped outside, Annie was on the steps.

  “Annie, I was looking for you,” I said.

  Oh, I just didn’t want to wait in there any longer. It was too creepy.

  “You’ll be happy to know that the evil spirit is gone. Now you can go back to the library.”

  Thank goodness. You’ll bring Jane Austen back tomorrow too?

  “Yes, I’ll make sure to bring her back tomorrow. I know she misses the place. Right now we have to get rid of this diary. We’ll be back later.” I waved to her as we jumped into the car.

  We headed for the man’s house. Luckily it wasn’t too far of a drive because I wanted to get rid of the book as soon as possible. We pulled up to the small ranch house. Little did the neighbors know that this guy was hoarding all kinds of possessed items in there. He could definitely have this one.

  We got out of the car and rushed over to the door. I had the book clasped in my arms tightly so that I wouldn’t lose it. I didn’t want anyone to get a hold of it. In the wrong hands it could be very dangerous. We rang the doorbell and the guy ushered us in right away. Apparently he had been expecting us.

  “So you have the book?” he asked with his hands stretched out toward me.

  I let go of the diary. It was easy this time. I was ready to get it out of my life.

  “Yes, I have the perfect place for this,” he said.

  I couldn’t believe he was taking it, but
at least now I knew this was all over. We could get back to normal and back to the haunted tour. The library would be okay now.

  “Just don’t let that thing out,” I said.

  “It’ll be safe locked away. I can guarantee you that.”

  “Thank you,” I said to the guy as he placed the book into a glass box.

  I hoped to never see that book again, although I still felt sorry for the woman who had written the words. Maybe now Sarah finally had closure.

  The end

  About the Author

  Rose Pressey is a USA Today bestselling author. She enjoys writing quirky and fun novels with a paranormal twist. The paranormal has always captured her interest. The thought of finding answers to the unexplained fascinates her.

  When she’s not writing about werewolves, vampires and every other supernatural creature, she loves eating cupcakes with sprinkles, reading, spending time with family, and listening to oldies from the fifties.

  Rose suffers from Psoriatic Arthritis and has knee replacements. She might just set the world record for joint replacements. She’s soon having her hips replaced, elbows, and at least one shoulder.

  Rose lives in the beautiful commonwealth of Kentucky with her husband, son, and two sassy Chihuahuas.

  Visit her online at:

  http://www.rosepressey.com

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  Rose loves to hear from readers. You can email her at: rose@rosepressey.com

  If you’re interested in receiving information when a new Rose Pressey book is released, you can sign up for her newsletter here. Join her on Facebook for lots of fun and prizes.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18