Inner Demons

By Teresa Edmond-Sargeant

A book.

A carnival ride.

A "perfect" neighbor.

These three elements may be ordinary in everyday circumstances, but they take on new, more wicked forms in Teresa Edmond-Sargeant's debut mini-collection of short stories.

In "Three to Tell: Dark Fantasy Short Stories," Edmond-Sargeant republishes two tales "The Lucky Devlins" and "The Seventh Time is Worth a Try," both which originally appeared in two volumes of Demonic Anthologies from Battle Goddess Productions. In addition, the collection features a never-before-released short story, "Save the Date: Prophecy Foretold."

"Three to Tell: Dark Fantasy Short Stories" will have the reader thinking about "what if" in regards to how the everyday is taken to the next level. The collection may be small, but the stories are larger than anything ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heathermoors Books
• Release date: Oct 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393883104

Book preview

OTHER TITLES BY TERESA EDMOND-SARGEANT

Short story ebooks

Eve the First: A Fairy Tale Revision

For My Sister

Sammy’s Butterflies

Anthologies

Demonic Wildlife: A Fantastical Funny Adventure (Demonic Anthology Book 1)

Demonic Household: See Owner’s Manual (Demonic Anthology Book 2) 

Demonic Carnival; First Ticket’s Free (Demonic Anthology Book 3) 

Thrill of the Hunt: Buried Alive

Florida’s Emerging Writers

Find me on the web!

Website: www.teresa-edmond-sargeant.com

Instagram: @teresaesargeant

Twitter: @teresaesargeant

Facebook: @teresaesargeant

Email: [e-mail]

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Acknowledgments are in order, as I couldn't have done this book without many people.

To the writing communities of Central Florida including those in Writer's Atelier, the Writers of Central Florida or Thereabouts, and the Florida Writers Association: I'm grateful for your support, the open mic events, and basically multiple shoulders to lean on in helping me learn and grow as an independent author. 

Valerie Willis and Battle Goddess Productions for allowing me to be published in the Demonic Anthology volumes.

Arielle Haughee for her helpfulness and being an extra pair of eyes in the story and character development, as well as spelling, grammar, and syntax.

Angelique’s Designs for the beautiful cover design and typesetting.

My beta readers for their insight and suggestions.

To my followers, fans, and friends on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and the #writingcommunity on all of those social media. Much gratitude for your advice, encouragement, tips, and marketing opportunities.

Last but not least, to my beautiful family including my mother, my in-laws, my husband DeJean, and my daughters Natalia and Skylar for their unconditional love and support.

THE LUCKY DEVLINS

Originally published in Demonic Household: See Owner’s Manual (Demonic Anthology Collection Book 2) by Battle Goddess Productions, 2018

News that a brain aneurysm caused the death of my father, Chester Devlin, shocked me and my family. However, there was a hollowness in my heart from an emotional disconnect to my father. I couldn't shed a tear yet with some effort, I had to think of some sad memory to get me crying at both the wake and the funeral. So that memory was what had me bawling at both the wake and the funeral, all the while for my father I was an emotional desert while wearing the mask of a bereaved daughter consoling her mother and sister.

You don't have to be physically absent to be considered an absentee parent. My relationship with Dad had been dead long before he died, and he was buried (metaphorically speaking) in the home library of his lakefront house. 

Hardcover volumes, organized into different stacks, surrounded Mom and me – on couches, the floor, and shelves that lined all four walls. Persian rugs lined the hardwood floor. While sorting through the books, I discovered a blue hardcover book with yellowed pages. I read the title in gilded letters: The Lucky Devlins.

I don’t believe this, I said, adjusting my black-horned glasses while approaching Mom. ‘The Lucky Devlins’ – Dad was always reading it. He said it inspired him to spend two weeks writing the first draft of his novel while working double shifts at some convenience store and submitting magazine articles for freelance work.

He did always speak of that thing, comparing it to Shakespeare, Mom said. He said it’s about a dysfunctional family, but what story doesn’t have something like that?

"Once he published his debut novel, it became a runaway