Troubled Spirits: A SupernaturalHorror Thriller Series (A Monstrous Dread Book 2) by Nicki Huntsman Smith

Author:Nicki Huntsman Smith [Huntsman Smith, Nicki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-06-04T22:00:00+00:00

He’d been right, of course. Was Jackson ever wrong about anything? One of the last directives he’d given her before she hauled ass out of Dallas was to visit an occultist named Dru. In the artsy Deep Ellum section of town, she’d found him sitting on a stool behind the counter of a combination wiccan shop and used bookstore. On the drive there, she’d pictured meeting Gandalf the Grey, but Dru looked like he spent most of his time playing video games in his mom’s basement. Dru was short for ‘Druid.’ His smell registered as cinnamon and dirty feet, and his esoteric knowledge rivaled that of any coven.

Dru had given her a crash course in magick, filled her arms with books covering diverse topics such as witchcraft, herbology, and ancient rituals (the beginning of her extensive personal library), then sent her next door to visit Carlos at Boneshakers Ink for the first of many tattoos. In hindsight, the discomfort of getting the Eye of Horus inked onto her right shoulder seemed quaint compared to the pain of enduring the elaborate scars and tattoos she’d added during the past year. She didn’t merely believe in magick, she’d become an adept practitioner. Monsters provided strong motivation for learning.

Invisible Foes, the book proving most useful today, lay open next to a yellow legal pad. She’d skimmed most of the volume, highlighting all the references to ghouls. So far, that particular piece of nastiness was winning the who’s-fucking-with-Penny-contest.

‘Ghouls will use all available means to generate terror. Advanced ghouls may connect telepathically with humans, injecting dangerous thoughts into their minds in order to generate fear and anxiety. These unhealthy emotions often lead to erratic and harmful behavior. Humans usually can’t differentiate these telepathic thoughts from their own and seek pharmaceutical solutions rather than spiritual or magickal aid. Thus, the cycle remains unbroken. Psychiatrists and other medical experts usually misdiagnose these cases as some form of schizophrenia. Often, the victims take their own lives to end their torment.’

“Fucking ghouls,” Jillian muttered.

‘Ghouls are drawn to deleterious regions. They are fiercely territorial and will stake a claim to negatively charged areas which offer rich hunting grounds. They will fight would-be rivals to the death, or whatever serves as death to a ghoul. (The debate on this topic still rages.) They feed on human terror, as well as terror generated by most members of the animal kingdom.’

“Feeds off human and animal terror.” She glanced up from the book and out to the cornfield beyond the kitchen window. “Dead field mice clustered in a circle with no obvious cause of death. Might have died from poison or might have had little mousy heart attacks. Fucking asshole ghoul.”

Had the same ghoul been hijacking Hank’s body in moments of susceptibility? There was nothing in the book that claimed a ghoul could actually take over a human body and manipulate it like a puppeteer, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible.

She scribbled a note: Have Cat find out what medicine Hank is taking.

Jillian tapped the tip of a ballpoint pen against a yellow legal pad.

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