About Helltown

by Kiernan Kelly
27 pages / 7500 words
Ebook zipped file contains - html, lit, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub

Where does one's soul go when it isn't good enough for Heaven or evil enough for Hell? In the shadowy realm of Helltown, souls are up for grabs and neither Heaven nor Hell is above bending the rules to get at them. In a place where the boundary between Heaven and Hell is the thinnest and souls are at risk, two ordinary men rediscover an extraordinary love that just might save them all.

Sample

Shiloh relaxed only when the shadow moved again and disappeared between two buildings. He was taking a chance coming to Helltown, a big one, but could no more stay away than stop breathing.

Okay, bad example. Breathing was more a habit than a necessity, what with him being dead and all. Still, he wanted... no, needed to see Hoke again. Maybe then he'd be able to put Hoke and their history behind him once and for all and move on.

Unfortunately, merely seeing Hoke wasn't going to be enough, and now, Shiloh knew it. Just the glimpse he'd had, no more than a vague, man-shaped outline against the darkness, was enough to make him hard. Damn Hoke. The man had gotten in Shiloh's blood like a sickness no amount of whiskey or snake oil could cure. Not even death had dampened the attraction Shiloh felt, or the need that plagued him. When the opportunity arose for Shiloh to return to Helltown and Hoke, he'd jumped at it.

Shiloh would have to confront Hoke, talk to him, which meant getting within shooting distance of him, and Lord knew Hoke would much rather expend a bullet than a word on Shiloh.

Shiloh felt the same way for a good, long while, especially after the last time, when Hoke put a hole in his hide. Funny thing about time and distance, though. They tended to blur the pain and sharpen the lust.

Muttering a curse that would've made the Hellborn cringe, Shiloh made his way silently across town, keeping to the shadows, his eyes fixed on the brightly lit house on the hill. Only Hoke would have the balls to keep his house lit up at night like a prairie fire, attracting the eyes of every Hellborn in the area. Damn that arrogant bastard. Hoke probably thought the house was warning the Hellborn away, but Shiloh knew better. The Hellborn would be watching that house, hating it for having what they never could -- light and warmth, and the promise of salvation, of life. It was only a matter of time before their hate grew stronger than their fear, and they attacked.

God help Hoke and the residents of Helltown then.