Read Online A Nightmare to Remember (Wicked Good Witches Book 5) by Starla Silver - Free Book Online

was near.”
    “What kind of sounds?” asked Melinda.
    “Not ones you want to remember hearing,” she replied honestly.
    “Oh,” said Melinda, her voice catching in her throat.
    “You wanna leave while they talk about this?” asked Riley.
    “No. I’m okay. I can handle it.” She hoped.
    Her father, Jack, was still a prisoner of the Soul Hunter. William glanced at Melinda as if needing additional confirmation. She nodded it was okay.
    “Please elaborate Lisbeth,” requested the vampire.
    “If you insist. It’s not pleasant,” she warned again. “Even in my ghastly condition being close to the Hunter was… dreadful. Its presence made everything around it cold and dark. Like life being sucked away… I can’t imagine what it would feel like if you were living and close to it.” She shuddered. “It did not speak to me with a voice, but rather this sound . Sort of like an echo that emanated from inside it. The echo was mournful. Heart wrenching to listen to. And I guess if you’re living, its voice can also be painful.”
    Riley squeezed Melinda’s hand. This could not be easy for her to hear, seeing as her father was imprisoned inside this thing. She squeezed back, grateful for his presence and concern.
    “Didn’t Emily say that as well?” Melinda aimed at William, her voice wavering a bit. “When she spoke with Freddy Collier, about when he got lost and saw the thing. Didn’t he say it hurt to hear it?”
    “Yes.” He sighed. “So it has more than one voice. Or method of communicating.”
    “Actually, I’d bet that it uses the inner echo to frighten. Or threaten.” Lizzy frowned. “I think it uses its echo voice to try to collect your soul. I think the Hunter believed it could capture mine and free itself, or at least frighten me into thinking it could claim my soul. Once it realized it could not, because my soul was already under a spell, it gave up and retreated into hiding.”
    “Interesting,” mumbled William. “Had you been in a living body it could have collected your soul. But because your soul and your body had been separated, it could not.”
    “So it has to have a living host to take from?” said Melinda.
    “It would appear. I wonder…”
    “What?” Melinda asked.
    “If it would be able to collect anything from me?”
    “William!” she scolded. His gaze flitted over to her. “No way in hell. Even if you don’t believe it, I do think you have a soul. You’re not testing the theory by offering yourself to the Hunter. Not even in exchange for our father.”
    He pinched his eyes together. It wasn’t exactly what he’d been thinking, but her concern warmed him. In ways it should not. He’d actually been thinking perhaps the Hunter could confirm whether he did have a soul, or not. But still, it would be a dangerous endeavor, if it turned out he did.
    “I agree.” Lizzy spoke it. “Bad idea. If vampires do have souls then you’d just get sucked in too. And then we’d have two souls to free.”
    “Yes. Well.” William stammered for a moment.
    Riley let out a deflated sigh that Melinda tried to ignore. Her concern for William always brought this out of him. But there was nothing to be jealous about here. This was just honest truth. She would not risk William’s life, even to save her father. She was pretty sure her father would agree.
    “Is there anything else?” asked William, to Lizzy.
    “The Hunter eats souls. I can only assume these souls are stuck inside of it. I don’t honestly know what happens to them once they’re sucked in. Are they aware of what’s happened to them? Are they alive, or dead? I’m sorry I can’t answer those questions with any certainty. I only know that the sounds I heard echoing from inside the thing, were the wails of people who knew their torment would never end.”
    Melinda hammered out a shaky rush of air.
    “Sorry,” said Lizzy, her tone sympathetic. “I wish I could tell you more. I really do. But in all my years as a ghast,