Haunted Be the Holidays: A Krewe of Hunters Novella Read online

  Surrounded by the ghosts of the theater.

  All four of them.

  “Kill me! God, kill me—get them off. Get them off, make them go away!”

  “He’s right!” Hamish said, pulling back. “Let him rot in jail. Let him know we exist, that we might visit any time!”

  Maeve, Caroline, and Judson also pulled back.

  “Kill me!” Ainsworth screamed.

  “No, you will rot in jail. After you tell us where your other two victims are stashed!” Brodie roared.

  Jackson came running onto the stage to restrain Percy, and Brodie ran to where Kody lay, breathing deeply—focusing at last.

  She wanted to hold him so badly.

  She still couldn’t do that. It didn’t matter. He held her. Maeve and Hamish were behind him—they were ghosts, but they seemed to be breathing heavily.

  She could only form a few words. Brodie knew she loved him.

  She managed something of a smile.

  “What great in-laws I’m going to have,” she said.

  Then she closed her eyes and listened to the sirens, grateful this great tragedy had not had a finale upon the stage.

  Epilogue

  “Even knowing all that we know,” Kody said, “I find it amazing a man could hate me for so many years and wait…and manage what he managed.”

  Brodie rolled to her. He stretched out an arm, indicating the sky.

  It was beautiful. Mauve colors were dancing with golds and crimsons.

  It was sunset in Key West. They lay on the beach near Ft. Zachary Taylor. The breeze was soft, the coming night promised to be just right, and for a moment—a precious moment—the world seemed to be perfect.

  “Percy Ainsworth—born Richard Timothy Bainbridge—wanted to be a performer. He majored in theater and voice. He had a hang-up on your dad and his band, and he wanted to be a part of it. He was only ever cast as a back-up performer, and from what the shrinks have gathered, he started to snap when he didn’t get a job with your dad’s band. You must have been there. Maybe your father picked you up, had you sing a few notes…something in him saw you as the enemy.”

  “I would have been a kid.”

  “Ah, but the child of Michael McCoy.”

  “And he just happened to be at the theater?”

  “He took jobs at various theaters—in NYC and D.C.,” Brodie explained. “He wound up working in stagecraft—and eventually design—because, as he said, it was better than taking a job as a barista. I don’t know why things didn’t go so well for him, other than that, as we all know, there are only so many roles, so many places for dancers and musicians, and so many talented people who don’t get a break. Most of them deal with it. Percy Ainsworth focused his hatred on you.” He hesitated. “He’s been watching you for years.”

  Kody shook her head, still amazed someone could harbor that kind of hatred through years and years.

  “I think he was so determined you ‘die in a pool of blood’ that he didn’t fix his drug cocktail for you as strong as it should have been. Thank God,” Brodie said, dusting sand from her cheek and looking down into her eyes. “Thank God you rolled. I knew I had to do something…but I was afraid. I was so afraid he was right, that…well, we had a lot of spectral help, but…”

  Kody reached up, cupped the back of his head, and pulled herself up to kiss his lips. The kiss became deeper than she had intended.

  They were on a public beach.

  She eased down quickly.

  “We need to get a room,” he told her.

  “We have a room—we have a whole house.” She smiled. She’d kept her home in Key West and always would, even if they were mainly living in the D.C. area.

  “Time to go there,” he said softly and sighed. She knew why.

  They had to leave soon because his class at the Academy was about to start. And she had agreed to be in the Christmas play, which she was excited about. Brodie was all right with it—his parents had promised they would be at the theater whenever Kody was working there.

  They were becoming fast friends with Caroline and Judson—and working at their skills. All four of them had mastered the “start” button on the coffee machine in the green room.

  “Christmas is coming up! A lovely haunted holiday,” she said.

  He rose and smiled, gathering up their blanket. “You’re something, you know. If you hadn’t rolled, if we hadn’t taken him alive…”

  “You found the other two missing girls,” she said. “You made him talk—you’re going to be such an incredible and very special agent, Mr. McFadden.”

  He smiled at that. “With you by my side,” he said, and kissed her.

  The kiss deepened again.

  It was a very hot kiss…

  A lot of tongue.

  A lot of promise for the night to come.

  Brodie winced and pulled away.

  “You know, we could make your mom happy and get married at the theater,” she said.

  “Um, we’ll talk about it,” he said. “For now…”

  “Home,” she said softly.

  He nodded and smiled.

  She laughed suddenly.

  “What?”

  “Well, we’re not riding off or anything of the like, but…”

  “Yes?”

  “We are walking off into the sunset.”

  “Let’s walk quickly, eh?”

  And they did.

  * * * *

  Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Heather Graham, discover Hallow Be The Haunt, Crimson Twilight, When Irish Eyes Are Haunting, All Hallow's Eve, and Blood on the Bayou.

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  HAUNTED BE THE HOLIDAYS by Heather Graham

  A Krewe of Hunters Novella

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  Hallow Be the Haunt: A Krewe of Hunters Novella

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  Years ago, Jake Mallory fell in love all over again with Ashley Donegal—while he and the Krewe were investigating a murder that replicated a horrible Civil War death at her family’s Donegal Plantation.

  Now, Ashley and Jake are back—planning for their wedding, which will take place the following month at Donegal Plantation, her beautiful old antebellum home.

  But Halloween is approaching and Ashley is haunted by a ghost warning her of deaths about to come in the city of New Orleans, deaths caused by the same murderer who stole the life of the beautiful ghost haunting her dreams night after night.

  At first, Jake is afraid that returning home has simply awakened some of the fear of the past…

  But as Ashley's nightmares continue, a body count begins to accrue in the city…

  And it’s suddenly a race to stop a killer before Hallow’s Eve comes to a crashing end, with dozens more lives at stake, not to mention heart, soul, and life for Jake and Ashley themselves.

  * * * *

  Crimson Twilight: A Krewe of Hunters Novella

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  It's a happy time for Sloan Trent and Jane Everett. What could be happier than the event of their wedding? Their Krewe friends will all be there and the event will take place in a medieval castle transported brick by brick to the New England coast. Everyone is festive and thrilled... until the priest turns up dead just hours before the nuptials. Jane and Sloan must find the truth behind the man and the murder--the secrets of the living and the dead--before they find themselves bound for eternity--not in wedded bliss but in the darkness of an historical wrong and their own brutal deaths.

  When Irish Eyes Are Haunting: A Krewe of Hunters Novella

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  Devin Lyle and Craig Rockwell are back, this time to a haunted castle in Ireland where a banshee may have gone wild—or maybe there's a much more rational explanation—one that involves a disgruntled heir, murder, and mayhem, all with that sexy light touch Heather Graham has turned into her trademark style.

  All Hallows Eve: A Krewe of Hunters Novella

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  Salem was a place near and dear to Jenny Duffy and Samuel Hall -- it was where they'd met on a strange and sinister case. They never dreamed that they'd be called back. That history could repeat itself in a most macabre and terrifying fashion. But, then again, it was Salem at Halloween. Seasoned Krewe members, they still find themselves facing the unspeakable horrors in a desperate race to save each other-and perhaps even their very souls.

  Blood on the Bayou: A Cafferty & Quinn Novella

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  It's winter and a chill has settled over the area near New Orleans, finding a stream of blood, a tourist follows it to a dead man, face down in the bayou.

  The man has been done in by a vicious beating, so violent that his skull has been crushed in.

  It's barely a day before a second victim is found... once again so badly thrashed that the water runs red. The city becomes riddled with fear.

  An old family friend comes to Danni Cafferty, telling her that he's terrified, he's certain that he's received a message from the Blood Bayou killer--It's your turn to pay, blood on the bayou.

  Cafferty and Quinn quickly become involved, and--as they all begin to realize that a gruesome local history is being repeated--they find themselves in a fight to save not just a friend, but, perhaps, their very own lives.

  On behalf of 1001 Dark Nights,

  Liz Berry and M.J. Rose would like to thank ~

  Steve Berry

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  Chris Graham

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  Kasi Alexander

  Jessica Johns

  Dylan Stockton

  Richard Blake

  BookTrib After Dark

  and Simon Lipskar

  Table of Contents

  Book Description

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue