Crossing the Border

By Margaret L. Carter

Paula, a bestselling horror novelist’s widow, discovers his fiction was based on a terrifying alternate dimension he stumbled into through a labyrinth in the woods on their property. Right before his death, he warned her not to publish his final work in progress. However, Doug, his agent and literary executor, their best friend, urges Paula to get her husband’s posthumous work into print. When an obsessive fan keeps telling her the stories are based on fact and she is in danger, she appeals to Doug for help. He insists they should publish the last book, while she’s determined to obey her husband’s dying wish. Meanwhile, they also fight against their long-suppressed attraction to each other. Doug once wanted to become more than a friend to her, and now that she’s free, those feelings flare up again.

• Language: Unknown
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Aug 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781509244454

Margaret L. Carter

Reading DRACULA at the age of twelve ignited Margaret L. Carter’s interest in a wide range of speculative fiction and inspired her to become a writer. Vampires, however, have always remained close to her heart. Her work on vampirism in literature includes four books and numerous articles. She holds a PhD in English from the University of California (Irvine), and her dissertation contained a chapter on DRACULA. In fiction, she has written horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance, as well as sword-and-sorcery fantasy in collaboration with her husband, a retired naval officer. Recent publications include AGAINST THE DARK DEVOURER (Lovecraftian dark paranormal romance) and spring-themed light contemporary fantasy BUNNY HUNT. Her short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including the “Darkover” and “Sword and Sorceress” series. She and her husband live in Maryland and have four children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a St. Bernard, and two cats. Please visit Carter’s Crypt: http://www.margaretlcarter.com

Book preview

Paula quickly realized Kyle was headed for the labyrinth. He’d shown her the place right after they’d moved in, and she’d avoided the trail to it ever since. Not because she feared a plain patch of ground, of course, just that the barren clearing looked so dreary. A labyrinth was supposed to provide a peaceful space for meditation, but this one made her nerves twang. By the time she reached it, her fingers and toes felt chilled, as if the temperature had fallen ten degrees since she’d left the house.

Stopping at the edge of the clearing and turning off the flashlight, she hid among the trees to watch Kyle pace along the spiral to the center. In the moonlight she could make out his moving silhouette but no details. When he stepped into the heart of the labyrinth, though, a glow suffused the spot.

Paula stifled a gasp. A violet-blue aura surrounded Kyle, expanding as she watched. Had he lit some kind of lamp? No, by the unnatural light she saw that he wasn’t holding anything, and no such device sat on the ground next to him. He stretched his arms over his head and took one more step.

And vanished.

Crossing the Border

by

Margaret L. Carter

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Crossing the Border

COPYRIGHT © 2022 by Margaret L. Carter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Jennifer Greeff

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

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Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Edition, 2022

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-4445-4

Previously Published – Ellora’s Cave

Published in the United States of America

Chapter One

Why haven’t you answered any of my messages? I’m not lying, crazy, or putting you on. The stars are coming right soon. The danger’s real, and I can help. My number is—

Paula deleted the voice mail without bothering to listen to the rest. Why wouldn’t that nutcase take the hint and leave her alone? It’s time to call Doug. I’ve put this off too long already.

She shook her head in irritation at the way her hand trembled as she picked up the phone. Her pulse accelerated when she punched the speed-dial number for Douglas MacNair, her late husband’s agent. Why would the prospect of talking to Doug make her breath quicken and her stomach flutter? She’d seen and spoken to him often enough in the year since Kyle’s death. Doug is just a friend. Always was, always will be. A close enough friend that he wouldn’t mind getting a call at home at nine in the evening.

When he answered, his bass voice flowed through her like molten honey. She’d often thought he should have become a singer or actor instead of a literary agent, with that voice. It’s always great to hear from you, Paula, but what’s wrong?

Damn, do I sound that shaken up? She swallowed and drew a deep breath to steady herself. What makes you think anything’s wrong?

Come on, as if I didn’t know you well enough to hear it in your voice. She imagined him lounging in the overstuffed chair by the window in the living room of his New York high-rise condo, doodling on a notepad the way he always did during conversations. Besides, if this were some routine thing, you’d call in the daytime or send an email.

I’ve decided it’s time to go through Kyle’s unpublished stuff. How soon can you make it down here?

And this was too urgent for email? Let’s hear it—what brought on this decision all of a sudden, after I’ve been trying to talk you into it for the past six months?

She twisted a lock of hair around an index finger the way Kyle had found so annoying. She almost stopped, then mentally snapped at herself, Kyle isn’t here. There’s a guy who’s been bugging me with emails and phone messages. He’s got some kind of bat in his belfry about that unpublished novel Kyle posted excerpts from.

Tension hardened Doug’s tone. How long has this been going on?

Well…since the week after Kyle died.

And you didn’t say a word to me about it. He sounded halfway between angry and hurt. What am I here for anyway, if not to help with problems like that?

It wasn’t worth bothering you with. Not until he started phoning instead of just emailing. I decided the message he left a minute ago was the last straw. He keeps babbling about some kind of danger.

A long sigh gusted over the phone. Okay, who is this person?

"Somebody named Gary Furness. He edits a webzine called Scribes of Darkness."

Sure, I know it. Won a couple of awards. He interviewed Kyle once. He didn’t seem crazier than anybody else in the field.

Yeah, that’s him. He must have tipped over the edge after that. We met him at a horror con the month before Kyle died. Furness trailed us around the hotel, harassing Kyle with his obsession over that unpubbed novel. She had a vivid mental image of a weedy young man with rapid-fire speech, who wore his brown hair tied back in a ponytail.

You can tell me all about it when I get down there. After a brief silence, Doug went on, Okay, I’m logged onto the ticket site. Looks like I can get a flight day after tomorrow. I’ll clear my schedule and stay as long as it takes.

Paula couldn’t help feeling comforted, as if his voice wrapped her in a fluffy blanket. Her shoulders twitched with impatience at her reaction. As if I need a guy to