Free Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night Book 1) by Kayla Krantz Page A

slowly to a halt in his favorite place amongst them. It wouldn’t be seen there, which was fine since he’d draw unwanted attention if it was.
                  The house was abandoned….had been for many years now. Realtors hadn’t bothered to try to fix it up and sell it because its rumored violent hauntings kept everyone away. Everyone but Chance because he was far scarier than any ghost could be. He was real, and he was a monster.
    He had been forced to live there after the “mysterious” disappearances of his parents. The town hadn’t thought anything of it. People went missing all the time. He had killed them in cold blood; the town didn’t know that part. They merely thought grief-stricken popular boy Chance had gone off to live with a relative to avoid being put into an orphanage.
    The town did know of course that his parents’ deaths had been no accident when they had been found hanging upside down from a tree (with a rope binding their feet to the branch) cut open from their chin down their torso with their wrists and throats cut staining the woods there crimson forever with their blood. They had never been able to trace the gruesome murders back to Chance, but rather they had kept them away from the public to prevent panic. That was fine by Chance.
    Chance sighed and climbed out of his truck and began to cross the overgrown field towards the old rundown house. He stepped up onto the creaky porch and pushed his way inside. It was completely dark, the way he usually left it to prevent any suspicion. He crossed the dark room without stumbling once. He knew his route through there by heart. He kept going through the main room and over to his couch. He plopped down onto the fabric and closed his eyes.
    Instantly his mind wandered to the thought of the tear running down Luna’s cheek. She had the ability, and he was sure she didn’t even know herself. He needed her bad and intuition welled in him that he couldn’t have her. In the back of his mind flashes brief memories of a roaring fire and a bloodstained gown. He bit his lip so hard that he drew a drop of blood-it was the only way to change his train of thought.
    He focused again on the tear that had stained Luna’s face. Her ability would give him the chance to completely change his life around. She wouldn’t use it on him willingly. That was obvious. But he was used to getting his own way, and he would with this as well. He knew the rules of DreamWorld perfectly, and she didn’t. Most normal people didn’t have an understanding of the parallel world that he had learned to walk among perfectly.
    In her dreams he could keep a steady eye on her and her ability and maybe channel it for himself. It would be difficult to stalk her in her dreams but definitely not impossible, he knew. He had a piece of her and a dark helper. That was more than what other people had. He could do tons of things to anyone he wanted, but he had to treat Luna different. He knew that to keep her in his dreams he’d have to be himself…the person he was when he was in That mind and that meant he was dangerous.
    There was only one person that had ever witnessed it and lived.
    If Luna knew it was him torturing her in her sleep then she’d wake scared of him and that wasn’t what he was going for either. He would have to hide his identity and go through with it no matter what. This needed to be done. She was the key…the missing element.
    He got up from the couch, quickly running through the dark to find his way down the hall. He found his laundry room and rummaged through the dark pockets of the first few outfits that sat on the pile. Finally, he found what he had been looking for; Luna’s tooth. He rolled it between his fingers before he exited that room and walked down the hall a few more doors to the room he needed now more than ever. The door swung open easily and the room inside was nearly as dark as the hallway outside.
    The only light in it was from two blood