Catching Temptation (In Darkness She Fades book 1)

Catching Temptation

  In Darkness She Fades Series

  Book One

  By

  Sarah Erber

  Copyright © 2014 by Sarah Erber

  All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published in the United States.

  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

  North Charleston, North Carolina

  First paperback edition April 2014.

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2014903430

  ISBN 978-1-4959-3338-7 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-0-615-96533-8 (e-book)

  Visit my facebook page at www.facebook.com/saraherberbooks.

  Book cover partial image © Yuganov Konstantin/shutterstock.com

  For my mother, Louann,

  Who encouraged me to keep writing,

  And

  To my sister, Ruthann,

  For helping me write the song, Alice Demented

  Acknowledgments

  I’ve been fortunate to have a very supportive family who has cheered me on from the first day I began writing. To the blueboarders on Verla Kay’s Message Board, the overwhelming encouragement and dedication to each other is priceless. To author Talia Vance on the blueboards, who believed in Temptation, and encouraged me to keep seeking publication. My sister, who helped me create Temptation’s song, Alice Demented, from a short poem I wrote as a teenager. To my two darling girls, Karma and Isis, for reminding me of the wonder and curiosity of a child’s imagination, as well as the beauty of unconditional love.

  Most importantly, to my favorite author Clare B. Dunkle, who took the time to give me advice over the years, and inspired me to be the author that I am today. Her dedication to her fans is truly inspiring and is something I hope to achieve for my fans. Thank you 

  Table of Contents

  

  Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………………………………….4

  Prologue………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………6

  1 Rosewood…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8

  2 Rosewood High………………………………………………………………………………………………………26

  3 Tormented………………………………………………………………………………………………………………42

  4 In Darkness She Fades…………………………………………………………………………………………..58

  5 The Laws of Rosewood………………………………………………………………………………………....74

  6 Friends & Enemies…………………………………………………………………………………………………92

  7 Five Minutes…………………………………………………………………………………………………………124

  8 Auditions & Accusations……………………………………………………………………………………..148

  9 Halloween Masquerade Ball………………………………………………………………………………..167

  10 Jenkins’ Secret…………………………………………………………………………………………………...187

  11 Stricken………………………………………………………………………………………………………………202

  12 Reviving Memories…………………………………………………………………………………………….232

  About the Author……………………………………………………………………………………………………244

  Works in Progress………………………………………………………………………………………………….245

  Prologue

  Airbags explode. My body is in agony as the car rolls down the hill. Sheets of music sail throughout the car. For a brief moment, everything remains airborne. A travel mug crunches against my nose. Glass shatters everywhere and falls like hail. It stings my body. My opera dress disappears out of a broken window. Mom’s body keeps jerking without the protection of her seat belt. The roof slams against the ground and teeters back and forth, creating a moan.

  Gasoline fumes overpower the air.

  Heat scorches my skin as my long white hair dangles to the roof. Mom’s sprawled out form lays motionless beneath Dad who is still buckled to the passenger seat.

  “M-Mom!” I untangle myself from the seat belt and land at an awkward angle. It hurts to move…to breathe. I stretch my fingers toward Mom’s henna tattooed hand. It’s my fault. Hot tears stream down my cheeks.

  Cackles and a strong scent of pine surround me. A rough voice whispers my name, “Temptation…”

  Panic rises into my chest. I grip my parent’s lifeless hands. Scoping out all of the exits, I cannot subdue the tremors shooting through my body, nor can I suppress a nameless fear I have developed over the past month. An invisible pain keeps haunting me and returns stronger every day, like the moon that keeps coming back bigger and bigger, until it reaches its peak, and brings out the madness in broken humans.

  My peak contains monsters.

  Flames lick at the exits. Gnarled hands, the texture of rough tree bark, grip my ankles, hauling me out of the car, and into the darkness of the forest.

  Collapsing lungs voids me of speech. I dig my nails into the cool earth, in attempt to stop the monsters from taking me from my family. I long to fight back, but my broken body refuses to move. Dry pine needles pierce my skin as the monsters drag me across the ground. The cold October air replaces the heat from the fire. Ashes dust the sky, stealing the beauty of the starry night.

  The hands release me on a bed of dried leaves.

  Gasping.

  Inhaling.

  My lungs are struggling to work properly. Sucking in one giant breath for a final attempt at life, my world swirls, but before the darkness can claim me, an ugly monster wearing a strange mask constructed of bones, leans over my broken body. My breath escapes my bloody lips in a gurgled scream. Heart wavering in its rhythmic beating, I feel my eyes bulge.

  The monster grins.

  I die.