The
Ghosts of Ravencrest
The
Ravencrest Saga Book 1
by
Tamara Thorne &Alistair Cross
Genre:
Gothic, Paranormal Horror
Darkness
Never Dies ...
Ravencrest
Manor has always been part of the family. The ancestral home of the
Mannings, Ravencrest’s walls have been witness to generations of
unimaginable scandal, horror, and depravity. Imported stone by stone
from England to northern California in the early 1800s, the manor now
houses widower Eric Manning, his children, and his staff. Ravencrest
stands alone, holding its memories and ghosts close to its dark
heart, casting long, black shadows across its grand lawns, through
the surrounding forests, and over the picturesque town of Devilswood,
below.
Dare
to Cross the Threshold ...
Ravencrest
Manor is the most beautiful thing new governess, Belinda Moorland,
has ever seen, but as she learns more about its tangled past of
romance and terror, she realizes that beauty has a dark side.
Ravencrest is built on secrets, and its inhabitants seem to be
keeping plenty of their own - from the handsome English butler, Grant
Phister, to the power-mad administrator, Mrs. Heller, to Eric Manning
himself, who watches her with dark, fathomless eyes. But Belinda soon
realizes that the living who dwell in Ravencrest have nothing on the
other inhabitants - the ones who walk the darkened halls by night …
the ones who enter her dreams … the ones who are watching … and
waiting …
Welcome
to Ravencrest ...
Who
is the man digging in the garden beyond Belinda’s bedroom window?
Who - or what - is watching her from the vents? From ghostly screams
and the clutching bony fingers of death in the indoor pool, to the
trio of gliding nuns in the east wing who come at Belinda with black
blazing eyes, to the beckoning little girl in the red dress who died
more than two centuries ago, Belinda is thrust into a world of waking
nightmares where there is no distinction between the living and the
dead, and there are no limits to the horrors that await. Witchcraft
is afoot at Ravencrest and as unspeakable terrors begin to unfold,
Belinda realizes that her beautiful new home is a keeper of tragedy,
a collector of souls. And it wants to add her to its collection …
**On
Sale for only $2.99 July 6-13!!**
The
Witches of Ravencrest
The
Ravencrest Saga Book 2
The
Witches of Ravencrest
Dark
and Unnatural Powers
In
a remote part of California just above the coastal town of
Devilswood, Ravencrest Manor, imported stone-by-stone from England
more than two centuries ago, looms tall and terrifying, gathering its
dark and unnatural powers, and drawing those it wants as its
own.
Murder
Lurks in the Shadows
Governess
Belinda Moorland has settled into life at Ravencrest and, as summer
gives way to autumn, romance is in the air. She and multi-millionaire
Eric Manning are falling in love … but powerful forces will stop at
nothing to keep them apart. And as the annual Harvest Ball is set to
begin, evil abounds at Ravencrest. Murder lurks in the shadows, evil
spirits freely roam the halls, a phantom baby cries, signaling a
death in the mansion, and in the notoriously haunted east wing, three
blood-soaked nuns, Sisters Faith, Hope, and Charity, tend to the
demented needs of a maid gone mad.
Vengeful
Spirits
Ravencrest
has come to life. In the gardens below, granite statues dance by
moonlight, and a scarecrow goes on a killing rampage, collecting a
gruesome assortment of body parts from unwilling donors … But
Belinda’s greatest danger is the vengeful spirit of Rebecca Dane.
Once the mistress of Ravencrest, Rebecca Dane has a centuries-old ax
to grind with the powerful witch, Cordelia Heller - and Belinda
becomes her weapon of choice.
**On
Sale for only $1.99 July 13-19!!**
Exorcism
The
Ravencrest Saga Book 3
The
Devil Comes to Ravencrest
The
Jazz Age
In
the 1920s, Henry Manning ruled Ravencrest with an iron fist. He held
debauched parties that would have inspired Jay Gatsby himself. From
the Manning fortune to a beautiful wife, the silent film star known
as the White Violet, Henry had it all … including a loyal cult that
worshipped the demon Forneus.
Deal
with the Devil
Violet
lost her life putting a stop to the demented perversions that Henry
and his demonic familiar visited upon Ravencrest … but now
that evil has returned.
The
Soulless Child
In
the night, an innocent maid is seduced by a demon lover. A child is
born, but it is not of this earth. Father Antonio DeVargas is
summoned as ghostly parties light up the old poolhouse and phantom
screams rip open the night. Meanwhile, the White Violet wanders the
halls of Ravencrest warning the inhabitants of death and disaster to
come.
And
the current master of Ravencrest, Eric Manning, is decidedly not
himself.
Midnight.
The witching hour. Watery echoes in an empty building. The grand
Greek Pool at Ravencrest Manor babbles and gurgles as
chlorine-scented water flows like cool blood in veins and arteries.
The moon, full and high above the arched glass ceiling, shines its
light into the cobalt pool, casting splintered rays across the
water.
A
spring and thunk from the tall diving board, then somehow, water
explodes into the air. The sound ebbs and flows with movement.
But
if no human ear is present to hear it, no eye to see it, can these
things be real? Or are they merely tricks of light and sound, magic
courtesy of Mother Nature?
Soft
golden lamps flicker to life. And then, music, faint but
unmistakable, rises and echoes. Eddie Cantor. If You Knew Susie Like
I Know Susie.
Laughter.
The sounds of a party, of voices, of champagne glasses
clinking.
Then
something white and serpentine slithers and stirs beneath the water
like glistening cold silk, there and gone again in an instant.
**On
Sale for only .99 cents July 20 – 26!!**
High on the hill overlooking the town of Devilswood, California, Ravencrest Manor grew out of the earth as if it had always been there instead of being brought over, stone by stone, brick by brick, in the early nineteenth century. Its flat greystone face presided over the forests and beyond, and stared down over the lush green grounds, the gleaming white Greek statues, the orchards and gardens. The mullioned windows glittered like disapproving eyes as they looked upon the town below … And indeed, they did disapprove.
Within, the residents of Ravencrest shared their home with all who had lived and died over the centuries before them. A few of the living knew the secrets of the manor, but they would never tell, though sometimes, the dead compelled them.
***************************************************************
WITCHES OF RAVENCREST:
From her bedroom window on the second floor, Belinda Moorland stared out into the gardens and the manicured stretches of lawn that looked silver in the moonlight. She thought of Eric Manning, and wondered if he believed - or even knew - the stories that Grant had told her earlier. Do I even believe them?
She glanced at the five Greek statues. Ever since she witnessed their orgiastic dance, she’d watched them for a time each night before going to bed, searching for signs of movement, feeling crazier when she saw nothing. In the daylight, she’d seen the broken pieces of stone at their feet, the chips, and cracks, and splinters in their surfaces - but beyond that, nothing.
In the distance, where the lawn disappeared into the forest and the landscape went black, she saw movement in the light of the moon. “Oh, my God.” She squinted and made out the form of a tall man standing at the edge of the trees. Shadows pulled on him, making his arms seem impossibly thin and long. She thought he was wearing a hat.
Does he see me? Frozen, she watched, waiting for movement but after a while, she began to think the whole thing was a trick of the light. Relieved, she turned her gaze back to the statues.
That’s when the Demeter turned her head, the granite neck cracking and crumbling. The eyes opened. And then it smiled at her, its face splitting and splintering as tiny white pieces of stone fell like raindrops.
Belinda gasped and drew back.
Demeter raised her arm slowly, the movement jagged and stiff. One of its fingers uncurled and pointed to something beyond.
Belinda followed the finger and saw what looked like a dark hole in the earth - a black maw she’d mistaken for a shadow. And there was another close by. Her eyes roved the property and she realized several more dotted the otherwise pristine lawns. But why?
She glanced back at the statue; it had returned to its natural position, arms down, head facing the other direction.
I’m losing my mind. I’m losing my mind.
She almost wished it were true.
********************************************************
EXORCISM:
Dreaming, Riley Doring ran through the Raven Woods, faster and faster, and all the while, golden eyes watched him. Golden eyes, everywhere - so many of them that the forest was like a sea of stars … but Riley knew they weren’t stars, and he knew the creatures they belonged to were not heaven-sent.
He heard the call of a nightbird and paused.
It came from overhead. Glancing up, he saw nothing.
It called again, this time from the west.
He whirled.
Nothing - and when it called a third time, this time from the east and he knew he would never locate it, for it meant not to be discovered.
A rustling sound from nearby foliage, small high-pitched giggles, and a flash of brightly-colored cloth as the tiny trollish monsters that Cordelia had created, the Harlequins, frolicked in the night.
“Get out of here,” he ordered, and as the Harlequins dashed away, the thousands of golden eyes following them turned to stare at Riley.
“And what do you want?” he asked the eyes. “Tell me what you want. Or leave.”
They blinked out.
And then, moving toward him through the swirling mist, a caped woman.
His heart pounded. She was gliding ever closer, closer, closer, until she stood before him, her cowled head down, her face concealed. This near, he could smell her - and she smelled of dark water. Of Naiad Pond.
“Who are you?”
The figure, cloaked in heavy velvet, remained motionless but Riley could sense the malevolence around her - it came off her in waves to envelop him, to constrict his breath and turn his blood to ice.
“What do you want of me?” The cold emanating from the woman touched his breath, frosting his words. “Tell me who you are.”
“You know …” The woman lifted her cowl and when her forest-green eyes met Riley’s, he gasped.
“Belinda?”
**********************************************************
EXORCISM:
Midnight. The witching hour. Watery echoes in an empty building. The grand Greek Pool at Ravencrest Manor babbles and gurgles as chlorine-scented water pumps, flowing like cool blood in veins and arteries. The moon, full and high above the arched glass ceiling, shines its light into the cobalt pool, casting splintered rays across the water, picking up golden highlights as it reflects on the constellations, the planets, and moons set into the bottom of the pool.
A spring and thunk from the tall diving board, then a splash as someone dives in, and somehow, water explodes into the air. The sound ebbs and flows with movement.
But if no human ear is present to hear it, no eye to see it, can these things be real? Or are they merely tricks of light and sound, magic courtesy of Mother Nature?
Soft golden lamps flicker to life. And then, music, faint but unmistakable, rises and echoes. Eddie Cantor. If You Knew Susie Like I Know Susie.
Oh, oh what a girl.
Laughter. The sounds of a party, of voices, of glasses clinking.
Something white and serpentine slithers and stirs beneath the water like glistening cold silk, there and gone again in an instant.
Tamara
Thorne's first novel was published in 1991, and since then she has
written many more, including international bestsellers Haunted,
Bad Things, Moonfall,
Eternity
and
The Sorority.
A lifelong lover of ghost stories, she is currently working on
several collaborations with Alistair Cross as well as an upcoming
solo novel. Learn more about her at:
http://tamarathorne.com
Alistair
Cross grew up on horror novels and scary movies, and by the age of
eight, began writing his own stories. First published in 2012, he has
since co-authored The
Cliffhouse Haunting and
Mother
with
Tamara Thorne and is working on several other projects. His debut
solo novel, The
Crimson Corset,
was an Amazon bestseller. The
Black Wasp, book
3 in The Vampires of Crimson Cove series will be out later this year.
Find out more about him at:
http://alistaircross.com
In
collaboration, Thorne and Cross are currently writing several novels,
including the next volume in the continuing gothic series, The
Ravencrest Saga.
Their first novel, The
Cliffhouse Haunting,
was
an immediate bestseller. Together, they also host the horror-themed
radio show Thorne
& Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!
which has featured such guests as Anne Rice of The
Vampire Chronicles,
Charlaine Harris of the
Southern Vampire Mysteries
and basis of the HBO series
True Blood,
Jeff Lindsay, author of the Dexter
novels, Jay Bonansinga of The
Walking Dead
series, Laurell K. Hamilton of the
Anita Blake novels,
Peter Atkins, screenwriter of Hellraiser
2, 3, and 4, worldwide bestseller V.C. Andrews, Kim Harrison of the
Hollows
series,
and New York Times best sellers Preston & Child, Christopher
Rice, and Christopher Moore.
For
book deals, updates, specials, exclusives, and upcoming guests on
Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!, join our newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/ckaBrr
Author
Links:
Tamara's
Links:
Alistair's
Links:
Follow
the tour HERE
for special content and a giveaway!
$20
Amazon giftcard – 1 winner ,
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