Here is a special sneak peek at the blurb and prologue to When the Devil takes Hold. Still a work in progress, but wanted to share. Enjoy.

Here is the back cover blurb:

They called him The Rolling Creek Devil . . .

Ten years ago.

The Devil terrorized Rolling Creek, Texas.  He took hold, choking the life out of seven victims and keeping the city gripped in fear. Paranoia tears the town apart making everyone a suspect. Eventually the lynch mob focuses on a loner living on the edge of town. As the local authorities are dragged into the fray, Rolling Creek becomes hell on earth.

When his will is done the Devil moves on.

Today.

A local team of paranormal investigators are called in to investigate unsettling activity within a couple’s home.  What they find sheds light on secrets that have been buried for a decade and awaken something dormant set on tearing them apart. Once unleashed, there may be no way to stop the Devil from taking hold once again.

Here is the prologue:

Prologue

Rolling Creek, Texas

Police Department/Basement

February 17, 2010

8:47pm

Four law enforcement officers sat around the folding table.  Smoke hung in the air as the Chief paced around the room puffing on his cigar, watching them all. They were all kids compared to him.  He had seen a lot of shit during his career but what they were dealing with now was something else.

“I’ve known most of you your whole lives. You became officers of the law to do the right thing, to protect the people of this town. I would put my life on the line for each and every one of you.”

He let the statement hang in the air for a few breaths.

 “The only people I trust are in this room,” the Chief said. “We all know who did this.”

            “How do we prove it?” the one female officer asked. The others looked at her, a few shaking their heads.

            “We don’t need proof when we know it in our guts,” the one to her right said.

            “But, Chief . . .” the female started.

            “It’s the right thing to do, for the safety of this town.  The only thing,” the officer across from her said. “Everyone knows he did it.”

            “Then we just arrest him. Hold him until . . .” she tried again to be the voice of reason, the voice of American justice. Innocent until proven guilty.

            “Until what?” the Chief interrupted. “Until the DA in Lubbock makes us release him? He will want to see real evidence. It will never go to trial.”

            “Are we one hundred percent sure?” The man to her left said, speaking up for the first time.

            “Someone has to do something and it has to be us,” the officer across from her spoke again.

            “What are we going to do?” the man next to him said.

            “There are six pieces of paper in this bowl. One piece has an address. If you draw that one, you will not tell anyone else here that you did. The person who draws the address will get rid of Harvey Fremder once and for all,” the Chief said, placing a large steel bowl in the middle of the table beneath the sole light in the room.

            “Address?” the female asked.

            “At that address you will find a burner phone, a suicide note and confession, and an unregistered gun which you will use to take care of the problem. The gun and the note will be left at the scene to stage a suicide. You will then leave the scene, use the burner phone to dial 911 and report hearing a gunshot, destroy the phone and then respond with the rest of us to the scene,” the Chief stated.

            “You’ve been planning this the whole time?” the female said, leaning forward as she looked down, dropping her eyes to her clasped hands in front of her on the table.

            “That’s it, we’re just gonna draw straws?” the voice came from her left, but she did not look up. She was busy wringing her hands with anxiety.

            “You’re goddamn right we are,” the form to her right said, reaching into the bowl, taking the first piece of paper from the bowl in a huff.

            “This isn’t right,” she mumbled, barely feeling her own hand reach out and close itself upon a piece of paper.

            “What is right? Letting that devil slice up another defenseless woman?” the Chief asked.

            The question hung in the air for a moment.

            The room fell silent as they drew their papers one by one.