Burn My Soul Part 1

  Burn My Soul

  Part I

  (A Soul Series Book)

  By Holly Newhouse

  Cover Art by Holly Newhouse

  Newhouse Publishing

  2014

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright © 2014 by Holly Newhouse

  Other Books by Holly Newhouse

  My Journey to Hell and Back:

  Surviving a Life of Violence

  The Twin Souls: Love for an Eternity

  (Twin Souls Series)

  The Final Goodbye

  (Goodbye Series)

  Burn My Soul (Part I)

  (Soul Series)

  Coming Soon:

  Burn My Soul (Part II)

  (Soul Series)

  Save My Soul

  (Soul Series)

  Soothe My Soul

  (Soul Series)

  Guardian of Lost Souls

  (Soul Series)

  Prophecy Fulfilled

  (Twin Souls Series)

  Copyright

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, or placed upon any forum for the purpose of getting it for free, or by any means existing now or in the future, in whole or in part, without the express written permission or the author. This further includes fan made copies of this book; they also require express written permission of the author before they are made. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  First Printing: 2014

  Newhouse Publishing

  P.O. Box 52

  Havelock, IA 50546-0052

  www.authorhollynewhouse.com

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my gentle, loving angelic soul mate, Jase.

  We lived a lifetime's worth my love

  in the short time we had together

  here on earth.

  I look forward to the day when

  God calls me home and I can run

  into your loving arms once again

  at the Gates of Heaven my love.

  From now till then, I will be

  loving you.....

  Love Me.

  In Loving Memory of

  Jason Lee Billings

  Nov. 14, 1971 ~ Nov. 17, 2012

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to personally thank all of the members of my Street Team, who have been wonderful at catching the mistakes in my writing, and in critiquing my work. Once again, another book would not have been completed without my wonderful team who do so much behind the scenes! They more than deserve the recognition for all that they do.

  I would also like to thank my children, Nikita, Brady, and Tristan, for all of their tremendous support when it comes to my writing. They never let me give up, and always encourage me to keep trying until I get it right. My sweet angels, you three will always have the first copies of my books.

  Author's Note

  To my readers, I hope you enjoy this book series as much as I did writing it. Madi, Jinny, Damien, Franklin, Demonicus, Avery, and the others have become very special to me. Their stories will continue in several more books to come in this series.

  Thank you for taking the time to read one of my books. If you could please be so kind as to leave a review at one of the following locations: Amazon, Smashwords, Goodreads, or Library Thing when you are finished reading, I will be deeply grateful.

  To get updates on upcoming books and excerpts from current books come and visit me on Facebook at:

  http://www.facebook.com/hollynewhouse

  Sincerely,

  Author Holly Newhouse

  Chapter 1

  BACK STRAIGHT, arms gracefully swinging back and forth on each side of my hips, I whistle a favorite tune. I've not a care in the world as I head out through the open glass patio doors. Intent on waking Madi from her nap, as she bakes in the tropical heat of the Beverly Hills sun.

  The moment I step onto the large round patio, I stop and rest my arms on the large decorative concrete patio railing. Closing my eyes, I breathe in the many different fragrant scents tantalizing my olfactory senses. Slowly, opening my eyes as I take another deep breath, I allow them to feast on the beautifully landscaped and maintained gardens and path below me.

  Looking to my left, an arbor with a small bird fountain is surrounded by beautiful rose bushes carefully color coordinated to delight the eyes. The smell is heavenly. On my left, various exotic and tropic flowers surround an exquisitely hand crafted park bench. Behind those, beautiful purple and pink lilac bushes line up like protective soldiers ready for war, as tall palm trees tower over it all. The colossal sentries almost hide the cement border wall.

  Gardens that couldn't be more opposite, somehow complement each other perfectly. They're calling to me to just sit down and enjoy... Sighing heavily, my shoulders droop as I head down the pathway through the gardens.

  Finally, I see the outdoor pool area, feeling as if I've suddenly walked into a completely different world, right into the tropics. The pool sits majestically in the middle of the area, a king on his throne, is the first thing I see. It's the only one of its kind in our state.

  It begins with a real 100 foot high waterfall cascading into a beautiful pool 100 feet long. It's bordered by sand, large rocks, exotic foliage, and exotic flowers.

  At the far end of the pool opposite the waterfall, I see a white sandy beach with lounge chairs, where I see Madi sleeping yet again. Behind her and the chairs are four cabanas, each with its own lounge chairs.

  I feel trickles of sweat begin at my neck, falling in opposite directions. I feel them traveling down between my shoulder blades, continuing down my lean and long back. Simultaneously I feel a trickle traveling down over my collar bone to pool between my voluptuous breasts under my white sundress.

  Shaking my head slowly side to side, my breath leaves in a huff as I carefully continue down the steep path.

  She's going to be the poster child for skin cancer by the time she's 35, the way she keeps falling asleep out there. She's already one for anorexia, that's for sure! I think to myself in a huff.

  I run my hand slowly down my face from forehead to chin, letting it fall back again to my hip, not able to put off the inevitable any longer.

  I walk slowly to Madi's side, when out of nowhere, goosebumps pop up on my tanned flawless skin, my heart speeding up to beat erratically. My palms turn cold and sweaty as they start to tremble. I feel an insane hint of evil in the air. The feeling is strongest around Madi, herself. My head turns slowly as my eyes frantically search back and forth across the visually tropical paradise, yet see nothing out of the ordinary.

  I shrug my shoulders. Just a figment of my imagination. Bending at the waist, I timidly reach my right hand out and grasp Madi's shoulder only to jerk it back to my chest at lightning speed, my eyes widening, freshly waxed eyebrows shoot to the skies as my mouth falls open. I feel time slowing to a stop all around me.

  Madi's skin that should be burning up under the barely there bikini is icy cold to the touch, as if kissed by death's embrace.

  Oh God, please tell me Madi's not dead, it'll be all my fault for having left her alone out here. What if her killer's still here? I can feel him watching me, most likely enjoying his handiwork.... No, stop that right now! Focus on Madi now, freak out later!

  The feeling of being watched only intensifies, manifesting itself between my shoulder blades. It burns as if someone has set fire to my skin, growing more intense by the
second. Irrationally, I want to slap my hands against the burning skin to put it out.

  Where are you? I know you're there! I silently call out to the killer, watching, ever watching.

  Again I look around slowly still finding nothing out of the ordinary....Wait! What the heck is that? I think the words, but they're stuck in my dry throat as I see what appears to be long hair, black as midnight, flying in mid air above the east border wall before quickly disappearing again.

  I feel myself being torn in two as mind and body fight against each other. My body is prepared to give chase after whatever the heck that was, while my mind is screaming to get Madi and myself back inside the mansion, our sanctuary.

  I allow my mind dominance, it seems the safest route to keep myself alive until help comes.

  I turn quickly back to the still cold form of my sister, reaching out once again with badly shaking, cold and clammy hands. I roll Madi onto her back, afraid of what I'm about to see, and in full Technicolor.

  I let out a huge breath, unaware I'd been subconsciously holding it to calm my churning stomach from blowing its contents. I watch with narrowed eyes as my sister's chest rises and falls almost unnoticeably with very shallow and labored breaths.

  "Oh Jesus, thank you!" Bursts from my lips as I smile, my face lifted toward the heavens, hands in prayer beneath my chin.

  Lowering my arms again, I shake Madi's shoulders with adrenaline fueled force, much more than necessary. I jump back in shock, hands on my chest over my already erratically pounding heart when Madi's eyes open drowsily.

  "Wha....What happened?....Where am I?.... Where's Damien?" Madi's eyes widen considerably as she croaks out the words, her voice slow and slurred, her breathing rattles more by the second. She looks so weak and fragile. It's so uncharacteristic for her, that my worry doubles.

  "No one's here honey" I say, the worry in my tone, evident even to my own ears.

  Madi tries to suck in a full breath for more questions and I head her off with, "No. No more questions, let's get you inside first, it's not safe out here!" My voice quavers, despite my attempt to keep shock and fear out of it.

  I reach down and wrap my hands tightly around her thin and fragile looking wrists, pulling with all my strength to get Madi back up on her feet. Then, quickly throw my arms out to catch her unusually weak body as it falls rapidly head first.

  Straining muscles I didn't realize I had, I push them beyond their normal boundaries, stopping Madi's forward momentum mere inches before her head slams into the rock border of the pool. I pull even harder to get her back upright again.

  I quickly maneuver in front of her, facing away as I wrap her arms around my neck from behind, holding on for dear life. Then, drag her limp body back up the steep path toward the house, praying I don't break her wrists. She feels like she's 80 pounds soaking wet not the 120 pounds she claims to be.

  Even with Madi's body covering my back, the burning sensation only intensifies to the point where I cry out in pain. Gritting my teeth together, I mutter to myself, "I don't know how soldiers do this during war. Talk about true heroes."I pick up the pace, afraid I'll never make it to our sanctuary before someone jumps out to finish us off.

  As I reach the garden area, I feel both border walls on each side closing in at an alarming pace, while the patio doors keep moving further away, endlessly out of reach.

  Heart racing out of my chest, mouth parched as desert sand, and legs trembling from exertion, my body threatens to drop us both to the ground.

  "Just a little bit further Madi, just hold on girl." I manage to get the words out through my clenched teeth. The encouraging words are more for me, than for the unconscious limp woman on my back.

  Pushing my weak and trembling legs and arms, we make it to the den as I carefully drop Madi down into the recliner.

  Only then, do I remember, I left the patio doors wide open. I spin on my heel and take quick strides back down the long hallway. The only sound in the silence is my bare feet slapping against the marble flooring. I push them into a sprint as the unbidden image of the biggest, baddest, serial killer sneaking in, comes to mind.

  I fall face first onto the marble flooring not once, but twice, in my haste to slam the doors shut and set the alarm.

  Standing out of sight, I slouch back against the wall, my trembling hands resting upon the racing pulse in my knees, as I continue to gasp for breath, trying to pull much needed oxygen into my lungs.

  My trembling, heavy feeling legs finally give out under my 115 pound frame and I slide against the wall to the floor to land on my rear end. I stay that way, slumped down, legs sprawling out and head down for a few moments still trying to catch my breath.

  Raising my head, I look into the empty, rarely used living room our parents use to entertain their rich friends in. I personally prefer the den with its large screen television, pool table, dart board, fireplace, and gently used furniture.

  Pulling my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them, and resting my chin on them, I sit in silence listening to the sound of my own ragged breathing slowing down. I beg my heart to slow it's outrageous pace, wishing for nothing more than a ice cold glass of water to magically appear in front of me.

  I let my eyes drift closed as the burning in my back slowly recedes. I thank God for helping me to get Madi and myself to safety. I try to determine in my head with some certainty if my experience was real, or just another panic attack.

  Funny, I swear I'd taken my pill this morning to help control and hopefully eliminate my panic attacks. They usually only occur while I'm driving. I've had them ever since my parents died in a car wreck when I was only eight years old. Their remains had been so badly burned, the coffins were kept closed for the funeral.

  It's so vivid in my mind, it still feels like it was just yesterday instead of thirteen years ago.

  I played at Madi's that night with her, her older brother Brian, and the Nanny. The doorbell rang, I excitedly rushed to the door behind Nanny. I thought it was my mama and daddy come to get me and take me home to our house next door.

  The cops are there in the entry way. They explained to nanny that my parents had been in a freak car accident when the gas tank blew up with them inside the car. They were killed instantly, their bodies had been char broiled, what had been left anyway.

  I stopped listening after that. I knew in my heart they'd been murdered, that it had been no accident. I had seen it happen in my dreams the night before. There had been a bomb attached to the gas tank. I cried and told the police officer about it. I'd insisted they look at it which they did and found out I was right. The killer or killers have never been found nor prosecuted.

  Madi's parents, big on closure, pushed the funeral director to let me see my parents' bodies. I stood between their bodies with only Madi to hold my hand, to lend me strength, as I pulled the sheets away to the shoulders on them both. The scent of burned flesh hit me first, It's a scent that you never forget. Then, my eyes registered what I now wish they never had. The images of my parents' badly burned bodies burned themselves into my mind for all time.

  It had been the most gruesome sight I've ever seen in my life. The skulls and bones with the blackened flesh still falling slowly off of them, no longer resembled my mama and daddy. Unable to reconcile these bodies of char boiled meat with my parents, I passed out shortly after in the middle of the room.

  I barely remember picking out their outfits, insisting they be put on them, for my own piece of mind. Madi's mom gave me their last effects, their wedding rings, which have since been restored and rest on a necklace around my neck.

  The wake, funeral, and burial, are all a bit of a blur. I'm told that I fell down and draped my small body over my mama's casket, begging her not to leave me. Madi's daddy carried me from the burial to the car afterward and then laid me down to fall asleep in my own bed, they'd retrieved and placed in Madi's room for me. They'd also taken care of putting my parents' stuff in storage for me.

  Madi's parents ado
pted me, to keep me out of the foster care system, and out of respect to my parents, their best friends. It wasn't until I was thirteen years of age that I visited their graves for the first time since their burials. I found out they'd been buried next to my stillborn twin brother, Daniel The one my parents would never speak about.

  Shaking my head side to side, I loosen the grip of the painful memories, pushing them down deep so they can't resurface. I curse myself for the moment of weakness.

  I can see it now, me in a white padded cell with a straight jacket on, yelling, "The danger was there.... you just couldn't see it!" I mumble to myself sarcastically, trying to find humor in this confusing and scary situation.

  As the adrenaline begins to leave my body, leaving me feeling weak, I curse myself one again for thinking of past pains when I have a real life emergency right here in front of me!

  When I get to the den, Madi's body is slumped over the chair's arm, touching the floor. Immediately alarm bells sound off in my head.

  I rush to her side, moving quickly behind the recliner, twisting my body to reach over the recliner wrapping my arms under hers, lacing my hands across her collar bones. Using all my strength, I pull her body upright again.

  I immediately check to see her normally beautiful bright blue eyes fully dilated and rolling back in her head, her pulse is weak and thready. Her breathing has a rattling sound to it.

  "Madi dying, can't do alone, where phone?" My mind's not working right. It's sluggish and slow as if I have hypothermia. My only coherent thought is finding the cell and calling 911 for help.

  I walk aimlessly around the room. I can't find that damn phone, knowing time is of the essence. Ah hah! I spot it on the fireplace's ledge.