The witches, they are real...
A series of bizarre assaults is mystifying Boston police: an unknown attacker is viciously beating random strangers and leaving a note quoting an old warning about witchcraft. History professor Alex Maple was one of the victims, and now hes gone missing. Vickie Preston is certain that someone has taken her friend for malicious purposes. Shes having blood-drenched visions that seem to be staining her waking life, and the escalating attacks suggest that a dangerous cult is at work behind the scenesa cult so powerful that its members would rather die than be apprehended.
Vickie is grateful to have Special Agent Griffin Pryce and the FBIs elite Krewe of Hunters on her side. She and Griffin are finding their way in an increasingly passionate relationship, and Griffin is desperately trying to keep her safe and the two of them sane amid the disturbing investigation. The search for Alex will take them deep into the wilderness of Massachusetts on the trail of a serial killer, and it will take everything they have to survive the ancient evil that awakens and threatens not just the man theyre striving to save but their very souls.
Praise for New York Times bestselling author
Heather Graham
Intricate, fast-paced, and intense, this riveting thriller blends romance and suspense in perfect combination and keeps readers guessing and the tension taut until the very end.
Library Journal on Flawless
Graham is a master at world building and her latest is a thrilling, dark, and deadly tale of romantic suspense.
Booklist, starred review, on Haunted Destiny
A riveting mystery...interesting history, [and a] sweet romance with a second chance at love.
Fresh Fiction on Darkest Journey
Graham is the queen of romantic suspense, and her latest is proof that she deserves the title. What makes this story more fun than most is the relationship between Kieran Finnegan, who wants nothing more than family harmony and a functioning restaurant, and FBI agent Craig Fraiser, who wants justice. Sparks fly, and its electric.
RT Book Reviews on Flawless
The Krewe is back! Graham excels at weaving history, finding the proper balance between past and present and keeping a story fresh and authentic, with Haunted Destiny being no exception. The chaos and camaraderie of the characters are captured with vivid detail, and the identity of the killer will keep you guessing until the very end.
RT Book Reviews on Haunted Destiny
Graham stands at the top of the romantic suspense category.
Publishers Weekly
An incredible storyteller.
Los Angeles Daily News
Dark Rites
Heather Graham
In memory of two men from Massachusetts.
My uncle George Law.
An amazing in-law I would have been proud to have
as a blood relative, as close and giving and supportive
as any family could be. Kind, generous, wonderful.
A true hero in his strength and kindness.
And my dear friend Dennis Cummins.
Musician, bandmate, Lizzie Borden house protector,
Biography Channel Andrew to my Abby and Chynna Skyes
Lizzie, amazing friend who quietly made every occasion
together one that made me smile.
I loved them both, and it is true
the world is a poorer place now that they are gone.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Victoria (Vickie) Prestonhistorian and author
Griffin Prycespecial agent with the FBIs Krewe of Hunters
Jackson Crowfield director, Krewe of Hunters
Craig Rocky Rockwellspecial agent with
the FBIs Krewe of Hunters
Devin Lylechildrens author and Krewe agent
Dylan Ballantineghost of a seventeen-year-old boy
who haunts Vickie
Darlene Duttonghost of a nineteen-year-old girl
Roxanne GreeleyVickies best friend
Alex Maplehistory professor and Vickies friend
Milton Hansonprofessor
Ron and Cathy Dearbornlocal musicians
Isaac Shermanman whose wife went missing
Law Enforcement
David Barnesdetective with Boston PD
Jim Tracysketch artist
Wendell HarperMassachusetts State Police
Robert Mertondetective from Bristol, Rhode Island
Cole Magruderdetective from Fall River, Massachusetts
Charlie Oakleyretired detective in
Fall River, Massachusetts
Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
Praise
Title Page
Dedication
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Prologue
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
Acknowledgments
Extract
Copyright
Prologue
Alex Maple wasnt sure, as he first became aware of himself, if he was alive or dead.
He was miserable; he knew that.
Alivehe had to be alive to hurt in so many places.
He hadnt opened his eyes. Slowly, he tried to do so. At first, he thought about the Undertakersthe duo of kidnapping killers who had recently terrorized Boston. He was probably burieddeep in the earth, in a hole, in a Dumpster, in newly poured roadwork...
No. When he opened his eyes, there was light.
Too much light, maybe. Looking around, he realized that he wasnt buried. The harsh light of a naked bulb filled the room where he lay.
He tried to move; he sat up. He saw that he was on a gurney. The walls had once been painted that awful sickly green color that graced most of the countrys hospitals. Paint was peeling; dust and dirt covered the floors; spiderwebs were visible around the hanging lightbulb. There were several other gurneys in the large roomfour or five of them. Scattered throughout and by the gurneys were tables, some made out of wood, some that appeared to be newer, made of stainless steel.
There were tools on those tables. Knives, clamps, moreinstruments that resembled those used by doctors years and years ago, some not so different now. He narrowed his eyes to study the one set.
From the 1800s, so it seemed: bullet extractor, amputation knife, saw, cervical dilator, lithotome, scarficator and trephine, among others he couldnt quite see.
Surgical instrumentsthe trephine for creating gouges in the skull.
And the strange shadowy color on some of the tables...
Dried blood.
He quickly turned to look at another table. Instruments for lobotomy, he thoughtthe controversial procedure invented by a Portuguese neurologist in the 1940s, known to create as many side effects as the initial mental problem, almost stripping the soul from a man.
He tried to rise from the gurney.
It was only then that he realized that he was shackled to it. One huge chain on his left ankle. Another on his right arm.
His heart raced; he couldnt breathe. It seemed that his vision blurred before him and the world started to go black.
What the hell? What in Gods name had happened to him? Kidnapped, taken, was he going to be killed? Worsetortured and killed.
The fear was nearly overwhelming!
He fought the sensation. Hard! He didnt have any kind of training for this type of thing; he hadnt even been a Boy Scout. But he was bright, and he wanted to survive.
He wasnot all that useful in such a situation!a historian. He had to make do.
Okay, that meant that, at the least, he was pretty darned sure he knew where he was. The Mariana Institute for the Mentally Unfit, opened circa 1840, closed down when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts had approved the disincorporation of several valley towns in order to create the Quabbin, a reservoir of water for Boston, in the 1930s. The Mariana Institute remained on high ground, ground that was deeply forested, now inhabited and visited only by the wildlife that proliferated the areabobcats, black bears, moose, red foxes, eagles, deer, weasels, coyotes and more.
It was supposed that it existed no more.
But Alex was in it!
According to official records, itlike so many other buildingshad been razed circa 1936.
But clearly it hadnt been, and he only knew that it was still here because of an obscure reference he had recently found in a book of incredibly boring records. Reading between the lines, he realized that theyd run late with the demolitiona complaint by the man in charge chalked it up to the fact that the doctors had been trying to find new placements for the remaining patients. And no more crews had been sent out after the date that it had been recorded as demolished.
The area was called the accidental wilderness, because no one had realized what a reserve they would create when they flooded the towns.
Hed been so excited about what hed discovered.
He hadnt been able to wait to...tell Vickie!
The terrible thought filtered in: no one knew it was here. No one would know he was here!
Of course, people hiked along trails that werent that far away. There was a visitor center, there were wildlife refuges...
None of them near the site of the abandoned mental institutewhich had just been left there as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dealt with matters far more serious than a derelict building that most people wanted to pretend had never existed. It wasnt anywhere near any kind of an actual large city, with no real roads left to reach it. The wretched placeknown for death and mayhemwas not even up for grabs to the many entrepreneurs who loved to create Halloween horror houses or museums out of such old institutes. Massachusetts had a solid grip on the area.
How the hell had he even gotten here?
He couldnt remember. He had just woken up and...
Found himself shackled to a table.
Think! he commanded himself. He was supposed to have a brilliant mind. He was one of the youngest professors of history at one of the finest institutes of learning in the United States. That was, of course, why he could figure out where he was.
None of this helped in the least in explaining how he had gotten chained up in a supposedly nonexistent mental hospital!
Remember! Remember where he had been, what he had been doing.
For a moment, his past eluded him. So he went back to the beginning: hed been born in Auburn, Massachusetts. Hed grown up on State Street. Hed always been a nerd, but thank God, it was okay; time and societyand The Big Bang Theoryhad made nerds acceptable. He was a hair over six foot three, but his weight was a mere hundred and eighty-fiveno matter what he ate! One of the biggest, toughest football players in the school had been his best friend. He hadnt been stuffed into school lockers or had his head shoved into the toilet. Hed been treated like some kind of guru, really.
And after high school, Harvard.
Graduation. Hed dated Allie Trent; theyd been a good pair. But Allie had died, way too young, way too smart and lovely, to have been lost so sadly to the horrors of disease. That had been a few years back now. Hed gone on a dating website and had a few okay experiences, but nothing that had touched his heart. He indulged in a moment of regret, missing Allie again. His excursions with the opposite sex since had barely awakened his libido.
Maybe he needed a wilder libido. Not something to worry about now! Focus.
So...
He worked at the college, he came home and he researched historical events and whatever else grabbed his fancy; he loved coffee shops and acoustic music and...
Then he remembered. Three weeks ago, hed been savagely attacked right in front of his apartment. Struck so violently on the head hed spent days in the hospital. Hed never known what had hit him. Although hed been somewhat involved in the Undertaker case, but that situation had been solved. His friend Vickie Preston and FBI Special Agent Griffin Pryce had come to see him in the hospital; theyand the policewere still looking for the attacker or attackers, but theyd discovered nothing so far. But there had been a note left on his battered body.