Essence of a Haunting Love

By Hargrove Perth

"This is a unique and a one of a kind book that will stay with me forever, it was just that good!" Indy Editor Nancy Reviews

Evelyn Littleton is looking forward to her first year at college when an impassioned letter arrives. Her father begs her to accompany him on one last spirit cleansing to a notorious house outside of Salem,Massachusetts that was once home to one of the women executed during the Salem Witch Trials. Soon after arriving, the gift Evie possesses, called a Spectral Veil, allows her to contact the spirit trapped inside Eastey House, but the spirit does not reveal itself to Greg Littleton and forms a strange bond with his daughter. A curse spoken in haste clings to the house that wants what was taken from her in anger and fear centuries ago. As Evie finds herself falling for Dylan,the handsome young man who asked them to investigate, she discovers love is something death cannot control, and time cannot stop when the power of a witch is involved. When the truth is revealed, Evie must make a heartbreaking choice that could change her life and her father's life forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paranormal Pen
• Release date: Nov 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386784463

Hargrove Perth

A perpetual night-owl and lover of all things paranormal related, Hargrove spends a great deal of time researching the larger than life characters of history to formulate characters unforgettable and strangely adored. She writes horror, dark romance, fantasy, and paranormal in the Adult, New Adult, and YA categories. When asked why paranormal, she said, "I'm the girl who cries at the end when Frankenstein is misunderstood, who wants Dracula to keep Mina in his arms forever... I see the humanity in them that others cannot." 2014 Author of the Year by Double Decker Books in Historical/Horror Dark Days Remy Broulette. DDBA 2015 Author of the Year YA Fantasy Miss Crabtree's School for Unnaturals, DDBA 2015 Nominee YA Fantasy Chronicle:Dark Sea Triad, and DDBA 2015 Author of the Year Horror (comedic) Coven Wives.

Book preview

Essence of a Haunting Love

Hargrove Perth

COPYRIGHT 2016 ESSENCE OF A HAUNTING LOVE BY HARGROVE PERTH

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No portion of this work may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without the explicit written consent of the author and the author's publisher. This work contains people who have been used in a fictionalized setting for the purpose of historical reference. Any resemblance to persons living or deceased is used strictly for the embellishment of the story to lend creditable influence to the fictionalized work. The copyright laws of 1988, namely the Berne Convention Copyright Laws of 1988, and the Digital Millennium Copy Right Act of 1998, enacted by Congress protect this work from piracy and any transmission, trade, or sale through means electronic, printed, shared, or otherwise is strictly prohibited and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Published by Star Crossed Hearts at the Paranormal Pen. Published in the U.S.A. Coverart Design by Dark Water Arts Designs.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of Bridget Bishop and all the members of the Massachusetts Bay Colonies who lost their lives during the senseless hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials, and other trials, that occurred in Massachusetts, both before and after 1692.

You were lost but are never forgotten...

For my husband who has always loved me despite what I am...

Acknowledgements

––––––––

Special thanks to Beth Sullivan for editing this book and providing feedback.

Table of Contents

Chapter One 

Chapter Two 

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven 

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

If you take my life away, God will give you blood to drink...

Sarah Good

July 19th, 1692

Salem Witch Trials

Executed July 19th, 1692

Chapter One

The Letter

––––––––

Evie sat on the edge of her bed, looking out the window while daydreaming. Dartmouth seemed a million miles away from Pigeon Cove. One thing that gave Evie happiness was the fact her father was not a sailing man, though they did do a bit of sailing from time to time. Many of her friends had fathers who were fishermen. With her mother gone, Evie couldn’t imagine her father being anything but an Episcopalian Priest. Two of her friends had lost their fathers to the sea. Evie thanked her lucky stars every single day her father was a man of God. She wished her mom could have been here for the moment the acceptance letter from Dartmouth came in the mail. Anna would have been proud.

It hadn’t been easy on Evie, a fact her father knew but never mentioned. After Anna’s death, he never considered another wife, dating, or really even socializing outside of the parishioner line after church. His daughter knew it wasn’t easy on him either. It was a subject neither wanted to discuss.

Anna Smithers Littleton died in a car accident while returning from a retreat in Connecticut. Driving rain and gale force winds pushed her car into a ravine. She was missing four days before someone saw a strange reflection from the sun and called the police.  By that time, it was too late.

Evie knew her mother’s death had left a horrible hole in her father’s heart. She often heard him talking to her mother’s picture just the same as though Anna was there, standing in the living room, having a conversation with him. It wasn’t until Evie was a little older the truth about her, and her father, became understandable. Evelyn Littleton and Greg Littleton possessed an uncanny ability that frightened some people. They could converse with the dead.

Most people who had an ability like theirs used it for personal gain, like those people on television who made Evie laugh, but not Greg Littleton. He used his gift to free spirits trapped in this world and release them to be at peace. Evelyn didn’t develop her gifts until after she was five, shortly after her mother’s death. Greg had feared Evie would not possess the gift of the Spectral Veil, as had been passed down for generations in their family. Greg knew the persecution one could face - if and when people found out. His family had moved numerous times during his childhood after nearly being run out of small towns due to fear and a lack of understanding. It wasn’t until the whole ‘psychic’ thing became trendy that people started to look the other way.

Anna had supported her husband, even encouraged what he did. She was a strong believer of anything considered paranormal and often accompanied him on cleansings, right up until the time Evelyn was born.

Now all that would be coming to an end, which saddened Evie a bit. She loved traveling with her dad to small towns all of the East Coast. Each trip was a new adventure, a new chance to free a trapped soul, and to see the countryside.

Evie! Evie! her father shouted.

She ran to the top of the stairwell, knowing that tone. Another letter had come from someone needing help.

You aren’t going to believe it, Greg exclaimed.

What? Evie asked, running down the stairs to meet her father.

This is unprecedented, he muttered.

What?

When I was a little boy, my family lived in Andover, Massachusetts. There was an old house there, had been empty for a century, they said. It belonged to the descendants of Mary Eastey, and it was said no one could live in it because Mary lingered on after being executed. I guess she wasn’t what you could call a friendly ghost. Things flew about the inside of the house and hit people. She wasn’t clinging to the house because Mary was drawn to those close to her and couldn’t let go. Mary stayed on because she wanted vengeance.

I can’t say I blame her, but what does that have to do with the letter you are holding? Evie asked, smiling. She knew her father too well. He never rambled on about something unless it had to do with a letter that had arrived from someone needing help.

Well, it seems Dylan Osbourne inherited the house and discovered it was not inhabitable. He is requesting an investigation and a cleansing. It seems his great-grandfather bought the house some time ago without the family knowing.

––––––––

Dear Father Littleton,

It has recently been brought to my attention you may be of some assistance to me. My name is Dylan Osbourne. I recently inherited Eastey House, a home my great-grandfather purchased and kept secret. I can’t say what it was I experienced in that house, but it was not natural.

Mrs. Pendergrast of Andover sings your praises concerning the cleansing of the spirits in her home. I pray you will consider performing the same service at Eastey House.

Before you accept, I must warn you, there are no modern amenities in the house. No running water, no electricity, no phone, I have made arrangements to get the phone installed. There is a hand-pump in the kitchen but water for bathing would have to be heated on the wood-burning stove. Some electrical was installed but only to a few rooms downstairs. I am trying to get it working with a generator. I do hope to have that finished before you