CRYSTAL BALL

Crystal ball,
what do you see?
Do you see darkness and death,
or brightness and life?
Can you see the future?
The residents of Oasis
fear for their future.
The Dead hold their futures
in their hands.
The Dead love their games.
THE DEAD GAME
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THE DEAD GAME — DAY 157

 

THE DEAD GAME — DAY 157

Wolf was vanquished but Linda and her friends still weren’t safe. There was no shortage of supernatural creatures in Oasis.

     They were surrounded by black flying creatures, flapping their feathered wings, trying to locate their slain master. Linda recognized them as the bats from Wolf’s cave. They flew at the group standing around the alligator tank, trying to push them into the water where the glass was once again wide open. Turning around to see who had opened the glass floor again, she hoped that Hayden wasn’t double-crossing them to take control of The Dead—now that Wolf had been killed.

     “No! I would never do that!” Hayden answered Linda’s thoughts. He pointed at the water and the huge bats dropped in—one by one, closely following the same fate as their late master. She could hear the distinct sizzle and pop after each bat was burnt alive.

     “I’m so sorry…I wasn’t sure who to trust anymore,” Linda said.

     “You have stayed true and stuck by your friends. Vampires could learn a lot by observing humans. I must go now. If you ever need me again, you know where I live.” With that said, Hayden abruptly vanished.

     Mike couldn’t understand how they always got so lucky with some unexpected savior coming to their rescue at the last possible moment. This story was somehow paralleling fairy tales and sappy movies. Where were the gory endings, where everyone received their just rewards? When was he going to be a hero and finally save the day? He had to admit that he did get to watch as Wolf and his furry friends got eaten alive by his pets.

THE GRIMOIRE

whitechapelwitch:

Come and sit by the lit candle.
Open the grimoire.
It has pages and pages of spells.
Look through them and find one
that catches your eye.
What do you want in life?
What do you want to happen
to others?
Some pictures are bloody,
while some have snakes and
other deadly creatures.
Do you want to be nice today?
Or not?
Pick a spell and chant it.
Let’s wait and see what happens.

OPEN THE DOOR IF YOU DARE!

Open the door.
The suspense of the unknown
is running through your veins.
You are eager to see what’s
on the other side.
But this door continues on and on.
One door leads to another and another.
When will this torment end?
When will you find what’s hidden from you?
The door at End House will keep you guessing.
The Dead don’t want you to find answers so easily.
They love their games.
Come and play.

THE DEAD GAME BY SUSANNE LEIST
http://www.amazon.com/author/susanneleist
http://barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dead-game-susanne-leist/1116825442?ean=2940148410881

ARE WE EVER ALONE?

blackoutraven:

 World of Darkness

Are we ever truly alone?
Do we carry with us
the spirits of the past?
The loved one who have
passed on to the next life.
Have they really left us?
I can still feel them around me.
Are they happy with me?
I won’t find out until I’ve joined them.

  

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read., February 20, 2014

 

By 

Daniel Sinclair Pearson - See all my reviews

 

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: The Dead Game (Paperback)

Just finished reading The Dead Game by Susanne Leist. I'm in awe of the author's imagination. This strange paranormal novel with its fascinating story and complex plot is a real page turner. There are lots of twists and turns and interesting characters in the story. Blood/gore and pure evil seeps through every single page. If you like reading paranormal/horror stories on steroids with a large serving of romance then you'll really love this book. It could easily be made into a movie or TV series. P.S. After reading this book, I'm avoiding small towns and cute villages that have shops with green tinted windows. Five stars.

THE DEAD GAME -- DAY 121

Chapter 21

The night of the party has arrived. The guests are getting ready with mixed feelings. Most are afraid of what they might find at End House.

Friday evening is already here, thought Todd in dismay. He was dressed in a tuxedo, standing at Linda’s doorstep before 8:30, before she had a chance to leave on her own for the party.

     At his knock, Shana opened the front door. She was dressed in a low-cut gown with her auburn hair falling in ringlets on her exposed shoulders. The dark-green gown had tiers of green lace flowing from her small waist all the way down to the pointy tips of her high heels. She had taken giant steps forward from her usual earthy appearance, Todd noted, as his eyes slowly roamed up and down her shapely body. His good friend Sam was in deep trouble.

     Still deep in thought, he heard someone clear her throat. Once he saw the vision stepping out from behind Shana, he understood that he was the one in big trouble.

Linda was dressed in a white gown that sparkled and flowed with her body, hugging all her curves in the right places. The neckline of her gown was cut so daringly low that it gave the illusion of ending at her stomach. She wore high heeled white sandals that brought her petite frame closer to his 6’4” height. Her dark hair was swept up in a bun with a few wisps of loose hair framing her heart-shaped face. Linda always took his breath away, but tonight he was lost in her bright blue eyes—that were, unfortunately, glaring back at him.

     In a desperate attempt to win back her favor, he said, “No one looks as beautiful as you do tonight.”

     “What about Shana? She is standing right beside you.” She responded.

     “Of course, Shana always looks beautiful.” Todd hurried on to explain his unexpected presence at their front doorstep. “I’m here to drive everyone to the party.”

     “Great! You can be Shirley’s date!” said Linda, her eyes twinkling with suppressed mirth.

     He understood that she was attempting to distract him

from her earlier display of jealousy, so he went along with her charade, smiling at her small jab at him.

     Meanwhile, Shana burst out laughing. “Come on! We must pick up your date while she’s still alive! You know about old folks…you don’t know how long they have left.”

     “Very funny, Shana…I’m about the same age as you,” responded Todd.

     “Yeah, but you move much slower.” Shana then walked out the front door.

THE DEAD GAME -- DAY 119

Once inside, they were stunned by the drastic transformation from the colorless scene outside. Whereas the outside was dull and lifeless, the inside was alive with colors and a wide range of fabrics and styles. In the front hall, Linda twirled around in a circle to admire the museum-quality rugs, paintings, furniture, and chandelier. The house looked like a page torn out from a nineteenth-century magazine.
James took them on a grand tour through the countless number of rooms in the house. The hallways were lined with mirrors, with intricate carvings around them. The first room they entered was a sitting room, decorated in a French style. The room was painted a bright yellow color with matching cushions and drapery. Everything looked much too delicate to touch, so Linda just observed without touching anything.
Next they entered a huge library, its four walls filled with books all the way up to its high vaulted ceiling. Linda, who had always loved books, walked around the room, touching the bindings on the old books. She couldn’t believe that any library in the world could carry such a vast collection of priceless books in one place. Shana had to drag her away from the library to continue on with their tour.
James led them to the kitchen, which seemed to be straight from the past, with old-time appliances and a huge hearth. There wasn’t one modern appliance—like a dishwasher or even a coffee maker. Linda wondered about who cooked in this huge mansion. Then she began envisioning the whole place as a pretty illusion. No cooking or cleaning was ever done here—since no one lived here. The fancy period rooms simply disappeared when they left the house.
They were led to the ballroom, which Linda felt was the most beautiful room, with its massive sparkling crystal chandelier and mirrored walls. The room was enormous, with an open dance floor—just waiting for the right party, except she didn’t believe that any dancing would ever take place here.
Afterward, James guided them upstairs to view the ornate bedrooms: each room having its own theme correlating to the time period of the room’s furniture. One room resembled a bedroom in the South during the Civil War, with heavy draperies and rugs—similar to the furnishings in the movie Gone With the Wind. Another bedroom looked very English, with needlepoint pillows laid out on its huge canopied bed.
Linda’s favorite bedroom was decorated in the theme of the Wild West, with cowboy boots standing by the bed, sawdust on the floor, and a lasso resting along the top of the dresser. She could see the cowboy sauntering in after a hard day lassoing horses, leaving his boots by the bed and his lasso on the dresser, before flopping down on the bed. She could almost hear the sounds of gunfire in the distance.
Linda reluctantly followed James and Shana back down the stairs after their fascinating tour was completed. They bid their host goodbye and departed from the unreal mansion with its elaborate but empty rooms.
“Am I going to hear an ‘I told you so’?”
Linda replied, “No…I would never give up the chance that I’ve just had to touch all those precious books.”
“But I don’t think they were really there,” she continued.
“I don’t think the house or any of it was real. How could a man live there alone without servants? He doesn’t even go into town…. How could he survive like that?”
“He could survive if he was a vampire.”
Linda finally understood what Shana was hinting at: John was a vampire and therefore, Abe and Anna were keeping a close eye on him. “There seem to be too many vampires roaming around this town.”
“I think one vampire is too many. We’d better get back before dark and Todd finds you gone. I don’t want him to know what we’ve been up to.”
“The less Todd and Sam know the better.”

DEAD IN THE BASEMENT

You are in the basement of End House.
The door locks behind you.
There’s no way out.
You look down and find yourself standing in water.
Water that wasn’t there a minute ago.
From the ceiling, large cages begin to descend.
They have sharp edges, like knives, to better catch
their next victim.
You must dodge the cages to reach the other side.
Circular saws fall from above, looking for heads
to chop off.
You reach the far wall but find three closed doors.
What’s behind these doors?

Read THE DEAD GAME to find out.

http://www.amazon.com/author/susanneleist

http://www.outskirtspress.com/thedeadgame

THE DEAD GAME -- DAY 112

Linda and her three friends were beginning to realize that their town was under someone’s control–someone with super-human strength. They didn’t believe in vampires or witches, but events were becoming unexplainable and leaning towards the supernatural.

“You can’t tell their parents about what really happened to them: no one is going to believe the true story. People don’t exit through disappearing doorways—never to be seen again. You could just tell them that they closed their shop and then left town together,” said Shana.
“Great! Now I have to lie to the poor people!” replied David.
“I’ll call them today to tell them that their sons have left town together…without informing anyone where they were going. I agree that this way will be better for everyone,” said Mike.
“I’m sure that this is the best way,” said Linda. “Meanwhile, we can attend this party and find out why the hill residents meet in secret at Diane’s house twice a year. The more we find out, the better chance we have of finding Tom and Edward. We can’t give up!
“Oh! By the way, we haven’t had a chance to tell you about our visit to the village. At the diner, some of the villagers had related to us two strange legends—that their families actually believe in. One legend claims that the people living on the hill are vampires. The villagers have also noticed dark figures lurking around town at the time of Diane’s parties.”
“There’s also a second legend being told by the villagers,” added Shana, putting on a scary voice to enhance the tale. “The hill people are depicted as good vampires, who are combating a group of bad vampires called The Dead—who kill people just for sport. To me, it sounds like what happened at End House.”
David spoke up. “That party made no sense whatsoever: it may have been executed by real vampires, who were trying to kill us. This is beginning to sound a lot like those vampire movies that I’m usually too terrified to watch. That would explain everything—even the creatures that tried to knock us off the cliff!”
“And don’t forget the hooded figures I saw circling Louise in the gazebo,” added Mike.
“A lot of weird things have happened that still don’t make any sense,” said Shana.
“But why were the upstairs rooms controlled by a computer system, while the illusions in the basement seemed to be have been under some kind of supernatural force?” asked Linda. She wanted to hear what they thought about this, knowing that this inconsistency had also puzzled the great know-it-all Todd.
“Maybe this evil being wanted to appear human and therefore, rigged the fancy computer system to confuse us,” said Shana, “or on the other hand, he could be human and only created a trick basement to make us think that a demon was in control.”
Linda nodded her head in agreement: that was exactly what she had told Todd.
“Well, it definitely worked: I’m so confused and frightened that I can’t think straight anymore,” said David.
“Like you ever thought clearly,” said Mike.
“Ha! Ha!”
“Since you guys seem back to normal…we’ll leave you now. Be ready at your store at 8:45 tonight. We’re also picking up Shirley—she offered to take us as her guests. Remember to wear tuxedos,” said Linda.
“I don’t own a tuxedo!” said David.
“I should have known. You can wear one of mine,” Mike said.
“Gee! Thanks! Yours will be much too short on me.”