Kissed By A Ghost

Trapped Between Life & Death

Beginning of Chapter One
Coos Bay, Oregon

_____________

David jerked awake.

He shot upright, breath snagging in his throat. Pain knifed through his injured leg, but he barely felt it. Terror drowned everything else.

Someone — or something — was in his bed.

He lived alone.

No one should be in his house.
No one should be in his bedroom.
And absolutely no one should be beneath his blankets.

A cold tightness gripped his chest. He swung his legs to the floor and snapped on the Tiffany lamp beside him. Light burst through stained glass, fractured amber and blue scattering across the walls.

Then he saw her.

A woman lay curled on the far side of the mattress.

Stunningly beautiful.

Light brown hair spilled across his spare pillow. Her skin seemed almost luminous.

His neighbors had warned him that his newly purchased Victorian was haunted. They spoke of a mysterious blue light glowing in the tower room window. Strange buzzing in the fir trees. Something that circled the house after midnight.

He had lived in Thornberry House for two weeks.

Nothing unusual had happened.

Until now.

He stood and circled the bed slowly, heart pounding in his ears. A faint glow shimmered around her.

Blue.

Soft. Otherworldly.

For the first time since signing the deed, David wondered if the house truly was haunted.

He searched for a logical explanation for why a glowing woman was asleep in his bed.

None came to mind.

 

The Bigfoot Trap

Protecting the Sasquatches

Beginning of Chapter One
Coos Bay, Oregon

_____________

Tawny peered out the car window.

In daylight, the wooded stretch along Seven Devils Road was picturesque—towering Douglas firs, thick carpets of ferns, huckleberry tangles, and lush undergrowth pressing close to the pavement.

At night, it was something else entirely.

The narrow two-lane road dissolved into shadow. The trees loomed overhead, whispering in the dark. The last of the light drained from the sky, leaving everything hazy and indistinct.

This was not a place to be stranded. Very few cars traveled this road after sunset—and none had passed since their engine died.

“I wish my phone could catch a signal,” Josh muttered, stabbing at his screen.

She glanced at her fiancé. “That’s why I told you to switch carriers. A discount company named after an insect didn’t inspire confidence. You were lucky to get a signal down the road.”

“Stop nagging,” Josh snapped. His knee bounced. His fingers drummed against the steering wheel in frantic, uneven taps. “Your constant chattering makes me nervous. The dispatcher said the tow truck would be late. Some idiot thought he saw a Bigfoot. Probably mistook a bear for one. Stupid mistake. Bigfoots don’t look anything like bears.”

“You talk as if you’ve seen one.”

“I have.” Josh’s mouth tightened. “She tried to kill me. I was ten. Hit me with a tree branch. Horrid creatures.”

Tawny checked her screen.

No bars.

A low wooooo rose from the forest.

It grew in pitch as it sliced through the trees.

Tawny froze. Her heart slammed against her ribs.

Josh dropped his glasses. “Roll up your window. Now!” He shoved down the door locks. “We need to get out of here.”

“Try to start the car.”

“It won’t start,” he snapped. “The gauge reads empty. Why didn’t you fill it up?”

“I did.”

Wooooooo.

Closer.

Josh’s voice dropped to a whisper. “It’s coming this way.”

Something moved.

Tawny’s gaze locked on the side mirror.

“Someone…” she breathed. “Someone’s behind the car.”