Hunter Beaumont doesn't understand his grandmother's deathbed wish: "Destroy Beaumont House." He'd never even heard of the place. But after his grandmother passes and his first love betrays him, the family house in the Wisconsin woods looks like a tempting refuge. Going against his grandmother's wishes, Hunter flees to Beaumont House.<br><br>But will the house be the sanctuary he had hoped for? Soon after moving in, Hunter realizes he may not be alone. And who -- or what -- he shares the house may plunge him into a nightmare from which he may never escape.<br><br>Sparks fly when he meets his handsome neighbor, a caretaker for the estate next door, but is the man salvation...or is he the source of Hunter's terror?

A Demon Inside

He barely felt the pane shattering around him as he flung himself through the window. The heavy night air barely brushed him as he sailed through it. Yet he would remember feeling the warm, glass-splintered grass as he slammed into solid earth.


Behind him, Beaumont House exploded. The roof caved in, and flames shot high into the night sky, coloring it for miles around. Beneath the roar of the blaze, barely audible, was the sound of sirens—and one other thing: a long wail, a cry of despair sounding as though it came straight from hell.


Hunter whimpered and rolled onto his side, barely conscious. 23


The sound of cart wheels rumbling by, vague. Smells of isopropyl alcohol, disinfectant, bad food. Hunter tried to grasp at the sound of voices weaving in and out, like spinning the dial on an old-fashioned radio. All over, he felt pain. Heat sliced through him like jabbing needles, and as the smells and sounds around him clarified, so did the pain.


Chapter 92