Haunted: Hotel

HAUNTED: HOTEL LEE MOUNTFORD CONTENTS Free Book Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Inside: Perron Manor The Demonic Other Books by Lee Mountford About the Author Acknowledgments FREE BOOK Sign up to my mailing list for free horror books… Want more scary stories? Sign up to my mailing list and receive your free copy of The Nightmare Collection - Vol 1 as well as Inside: Perron Manor (a prequel novella to Haunted: Perron Manor) directly to your email address. The novel-length short story collection and prequel novella are sure to have you sleeping with the lights on. Sign up now. www.leemountford.com 1 Branches scraped across Jake Cohen’s face and stung his cheeks as he ran through the heavily wooded area. Daylight had waned, so the sky above was the darkest of blues. The terrain underfoot was uneven, but he ate up the ground with little trouble and kept his breathing steady. Jake was tired, no question, though it was a mental exhaustion rather than physical, brought on by a sixteen-hour drive that covered six states and had even moved into a different time zone. After the events at the Trans-Allegheny Asylum, Jake had quickly jumped into his vehicle and followed the convoy of two cars and a transit van that had high-tailed it out of there. The van contained the kidnapped Sarah Pearson, and Jake had been ordered to kill her. Jake had some previous experience in tailing people in his line of work, but given the distance they’d travelled, it had still proven difficult. Holding concentration for such a long time was hard. The convoy had made only a few stops on their long journey: to fill up on gas, use a bathroom, and get food. Jake had made sure to stop at different gas stations, so he didn’t draw attention to himself, but that meant letting his targets out of his sight. Thankfully, for much of the journey, they had been travelling steadily east along Interstate 64, passing through Louisville towards St. Louis. The long stretch of I-64 meant stopping was easier, as it gave Jake time to catch up to his quarry, though on two occasions he’d come close to losing them. After St. Louis, they’d taken I-44 heading southwest, then I-49 south, eventually crossing the state line into Arkansas. Jake’s confusion about where they were headed was compounded after the convoy travelled into a wooded area, following a main road that cut through it. Eventually, the vehicles turned off onto a smaller road, where Jake knew he couldn’t immediately follow without drawing suspicion. He’d had to hang back until the vehicles ahead were out of sight. He didn’t actually catch up to the convoy from there, but had eventually come across a gate at the side of the road, set into a high, ominous-looking iron fence that ran as far as he could see along the grassy verge. After stopping and lowering his windows, Jake had heard the sound of engines in the distance. He spotted a cracked and well-worn road that ran from the inside of the gate deeper into the woods. Jake wasn’t sure why the area was fenced off and protected, though an aged and rusted ‘No Entry’ sign was fixed to the gate. Jake found somewhere to pull his car over, coasting it forward into the thick grass at the side of the road, before getting out and retrieving a short flashlight and sidearm he kept in the trunk. He tucked the flashlight into one of his pockets, with the end sticking out, then jammed the barrel of his gun down the back of his trousers. Jake then returned to the gate and looked at his options. A few seconds later, he took off his coat and threw it over the spiked top of the fence next to the gate. That allowed him to scale up and safely climb over before retrieving his jacket once he’d dropped down to the other side. Then Jake’s jog began. Another branch whipped across his cheek and he let out a curse. He was following the line of the road, running parallel through the woodland adjacent to it. He knew it was slower, but this way he could hide if any cars suddenly made a return trip and came hurtling back down the tarmac towards the gate. The sound of engines eventually died down up ahead. Jake kept going. He estimated he’d been running for around three miles, following the road around a gentle curve, when he saw a building in the distance through the trees. Jake drew closer, taking in as many details as he could. The building was large, two storeys by the looks of it, with a smaller third storey set into the roof space. The roof itself consisted of two separate pitched structures separated by a central tower that ran down the full length of the front elevation. The central section was adorned with horizontal timber cladding that looked to have once been white but had clearly faded over time. The walls either side of the central tower were red brick with white masonry blocks around the windows and up the farthest corners of the building. The windows were tall, almost running the full height of each storey, with vertical and horizontal transoms that crossed, reminding Jake of a crucifix. A set of wide stone steps ran up to the front of the building, where there were two entrance doors beside each other, separated by a wide, timber-clad