DIE AGAIN The Bayou Hauntings Book Six Bill Thompson Published by Ascendente Books Dallas, Texas This is a work of fiction. Where real people, events, businesses, organizations and locales appear, they are used fictitiously. All other elements of this novel are products of the author’s imagination. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal rights to publish all the materials in this book. Die Again: The Bayou Hauntings 6 All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2020 V.1.0 This book may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic or mechanical without the express written consent of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Published by Ascendente Books ISBN 978-09992503-6-5 Printed in the United States of America Books by Bill Thompson The Bayou Hauntings CALLIE FORGOTTEN MEN THE NURSERY BILLY WHISTLER THE EXPERIMENTS DIE AGAIN Brian Sadler Archaeological Mystery Series THE BETHLEHEM SCROLL ANCIENT: A SEARCH FOR THE LOST CITY OF THE MAYAS THE STRANGEST THING THE BONES IN THE PIT ORDER OF SUCCESSION THE BLACK CROSS TEMPLE Apocalyptic Fiction THE OUTCASTS The Crypt Trilogy THE RELIC OF THE KING THE CRYPT OF THE ANCIENTS GHOST TRAIN Middle Grade Fiction THE LEGEND OF GUNNERS COVE This book was written during an amazing, terrible time in world history. COVID-19, aka the coronavirus, changed everything in a matter of days. What had been routine became anything but, as the government ordered businesses to close and people to shelter in place. Masks and gloves became part of one’s attire when doing “essential” tasks like going to the market…or the liquor store. Many people halted all social interaction. We didn’t go to other peoples’ houses, we didn’t allow children or grandchildren into ours, and our hair grew long and gray as we stayed within our homes. As Die Again is released, the world is slowly opening up, hoping that a second round doesn’t happen while people are desperate to socialize and do “normal” things like eating out and shopping. Much will never be as it was. Establishments we’ve loved will not reopen, fist bumps may be the new handshakes, and it’s hard to imagine being at a football game or a crowded bar or in a rush-hour subway car. I dedicate this one to first responders and those who kept things running, from doctors, nurses and hospital workers to store clerks and stockers, long-haul truckers, farmers, scientists and a million others. Without them, all of this would be exponentially worse. My prayers are with the families of those who’ve lost the battle and others who will die before this is over. God be with you all. Thanks to Sally Hamilton, a good friend and reader of my books. One rainy morning she and TC accompanied Margie and me on a fact-finding mission in the French Quarter. We walked the streets where Landry Drake lives and works, and we saw the restaurants and bars he frequents. We also visited the block on Toulouse Street that became the setting for the haunted building in Die Again. Her insights aided my plot development and I appreciate her willingness to offer them. Sally, thanks for your support and friendship. Here’s to martinis after COVID-19. Have you ever had an odd feeling upon entering a place? A tingling down your back or hairs rising on your arms? Do you know how some places just feel haunted? Is it possible that spirits of the long-dead — or the undead — can inhabit a structure for hundreds of years? Is it possible such specters can be benevolent, friendly entities who are trapped somehow, unable to obtain release to move on, and instead are condemned to remain in a place they inhabited long ago? Surely there are such mysterious things. Haunted house tour guides speak of them kindly, describing how they appear in mirrors or on stairways, searching for lost loves or dead children or something else. We are told they mean no harm. They are friendly spirits. If you believe in ghosts at all, you accept that tormented apparitions also lurk in the dark places of some old houses. Perhaps they are doomed to experience horrific events night after night. They terrify the most jaded visitors, who see ghostly scenes from the past play out as if in a Netflix movie. These pitiful ghosts scare people but don’t harm them. Lastly, there are the malevolent ones, the phantoms who are doomed to relive unspeakable events of their own making. These creatures are evil to the core, and what they do in haunted structures isn’t part of a movie. They are as real as our lives are today. If a person unwittingly steps across a shadowy threshold and enters such a building, all bets are off. Whether he believes in ghosts doesn’t matter now, because he is in the realm of the undead. Before he leaves — if he leaves — he will be a believer. CHAPTER ONE Come in. Walk into the courtyard. Look over there. Take those stairs up to the balcony. No! I don’t want to go up there! But you must. It’s where you belong. You know you can’t resist. You must go up. As she walked to the wrought-iron stairs and stepped upon the first riser, horror and dread engulfed her mind. She knew what terrifying things awaited her at the top of the stairway. Yet she climbed, because she had no choice. Tiffany awoke in a cold sweat. As usual, she’d kicked the flimsy top sheet off, and the damp one on which she lay made her shiver. She covered herself with a blanket, flipped her sodden pillow and lay back. Her breath came in brief gasps as
