The Midnight Tenant

The Midnight Tenant

Fwangmun Godwin · Ongoing · 63.3k Words

492
Hot
492
Views
0
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Sarah Chen, a detective, has solved a lot of odd cases, but none like this.

Marcus Rivera is broke because his wife left him with nothing. To pay his bills, he must rent out a room in his rickety old home. Marcus believes his financial troubles are resolved when an enigmatic woman named Elena Voss arrives with a black suitcase and enough cash for six months.

However, Elena is not who she seems to be. Strange occurrences begin to occur, including Elena never leaving the house during the day, strange noises at three in the morning, and an awful stench that won't go away. The spooky noises emanating from Marcus's house are discussed in whispers by the neighbors.

Detective Chen discovers something far worse than burglars when she arrives to investigate complaints regarding prowlers. Marcus keeps making up stories about everything, and there are odd stains in the basement and fresh dirt in the backyard. Marcus's ex-wife vanished three months ago, the last tenant of that room vanished, and Elena's name is not on any computer. The terrible stench comes from something dead, not from old pipes.

Elena isn't merely hiding in Marcus's home, though. She chose this house for a very specific reason, and she's hunting for something. She is aware of the bodies, Marcus's sinister secrets, and the true reason his wife abandoned him.

Detective Chen must determine who is the hunter and who is being hunted as she attempts to prevent another person from going missing. Detective Chen will have to answer the most terrifying question of all when he learns the truth about Marcus's past and what Elena intends to do about it: What do you do when the monster may already be dead?

Chapter 1

Sarah's POV

The coffee cup fell to the ground after slipping out of my grasp.

The ceramic pieces scattered on the floor of the police station, and hot coffee splashed everywhere. With my heart pounding, I leaped back. With bodies buried in the ground, silver eyes observing me, and a voice whispering my name in the shadows, the nightmare had seemed so real.

"Hey Sarah! Are you alright?" Mike Torres, the detective, called from his desk.

I lied and grabbed paper towels to clean up the mess. "Yeah, just clumsy," I said. My hands continued to shake. For the past three nights, I had been experiencing the same nightmare, but I was unable to disclose it to anyone. They would believe I was going crazy.

I jumped once more when the phone on my desk rang. I inhaled deeply before picking it up.

"Detective Chen."

"Oh, I'm so glad you responded!" The voice was tremulous and frightened. "This is Elm Street's Mrs. Dorothy Huang. My neighbor's house is experiencing a horrible situation, and I urgently need assistance."

I picked up a notepad and pen. "Mrs. Huang, slow down. What sort of issue are you facing?

"It's Marcus Rivera's house next door, not mine. Every night at precisely three in the morning, terrible noises emanate from that location. "And the odor." She let out a gagging noise. "Every day it gets worse. I've lost the ability to even open my windows.

"Mrs. Huang, what kinds of sounds?"

"Weeping. groaning. There are times when it sounds like someone is in excruciating pain. Additionally, I witnessed someone using a flashlight to dig in his backyard in the middle of the night yesterday. Detective Chen, I'm afraid. Very frightened.

My stomach turned over. I had another flashback to the nightmare: bodies, dirt, and digging. "This morning, I'll come have a look."

Mrs. Huang whispered into the phone, "There's something else." "Marcus has a new tenant. A female. However, in my forty years of living on this street, I have never encountered someone like her.

"What do you mean?"

"She only leaves the house at night. Never in the daytime. And when I do get to see her." Mrs. Huang's voice became nearly silent. "Her skin glows in the moonlight because it is so pale. Additionally, her eyes have an animal-like ability to reflect light.

I lost the pen in my hands. "Are you certain about what you saw, Mrs. Huang?"

"Detective, I am seventy-seven years old. My eyes are functioning perfectly. This woman is not typical. Additionally, the sounds and smells have gotten ten times worse since she moved in two weeks ago.

The address, 1247 Elm Street, is what I wrote down. "I'll be there in an hour."

"Please move quickly. The noises kept me up last night. My cat was hiding beneath my porch this morning, too afraid to come inside. Animals are aware of the presence of evil.

I looked at my notepad after Mrs. Huang hung up. I couldn't recall why, but the address seemed familiar. I opened the file of Marcus Rivera on my PC.

My blood froze.

Prior to his termination six months ago, Marcus was employed at the town bank. Three months ago, his wife Linda simply disappeared without telling anyone where she was going. Linda never used her credit cards or called her family, so the missing person report remained open.

However, the fact that I had previously dealt with a case involving that same house made my skin crawl. James Mitchell, a traveling salesman, had booked a room there and vanished. James's family said he would never leave without calling them, despite Marcus's claim that James left in the middle of the night.

The same house was linked to two missing persons. And now there were odd smells and sounds.

After grabbing my jacket, I made my way to the door. "I'm investigating a domestic conflict on Elm Street, Torres."

"Want backup?"

"Not just yet. Most likely a complaint from a noisy neighbor.

However, that nightmare feeling returned as I made my way to my car. Now that it was raining more heavily, every drop felt like a warning. In an attempt to get rid of the growing panic in my chest, I turned on the ignition and headed for Elm Street.

From the outside, the house at 1247 Elm Street appeared to be normal, but as soon as I parked, I had a strange feeling. The air smelled sweet and rotten, like flowers left in dirty water for too long, but the rain had stopped.

Before I could even exit my car, Mrs. Huang showed up at her front door. She clutched her sweater tightly around her shoulders, a small woman with anxious eyes.

"Detective Chen! I appreciate your prompt arrival. Can you detect the stench? It's worse today.

I could. I felt sick to my stomach. "Mrs. Huang, when did this start?"

"Just after the new woman moved in two weeks ago. Marcus was ecstatic when she paid him, and she arrived at night with just one black suitcase. All cash, six months' rent in advance. However, I've been observing, and Detective—something is seriously amiss with her."

"What do you mean?"

"She doesn't leave the house during the day. Never. She moves as if she's floating when she does come out at night. No footsteps. Not a shadow. "And her eyes." Mrs. Huang shuddered. "In the dark, they glow silver."

I glanced at Marcus Rivera's residence. Despite the fact that it was midday, heavy curtains were drawn over all the windows. Inside, there were no lights on.

"Have you seen Marcus recently, Mrs. Huang?"

"That is yet another peculiarity. Every morning when I got my mail, he would wave at me. But ever since she moved in, he always appears afraid. He no longer even looks me in the eyes.

My police radio came to life. "We have an update on the Linda Rivera missing person case, Detective Chen."

I grabbed the radio. "Go ahead."

"In California, we checked with Linda's sister. Regarding a move to Seattle, Linda never got in touch with her. Three months have passed since anyone touched her bank account. The phone has been cut off. She seems to have vanished into thin air.

Mrs. Huang took hold of my arm. "Isn't Linda Rivera Marcus's wife? The one who allegedly left?"

"Yes."

"Detective, I witnessed Linda and Marcus having a late-night argument in their backyard three months ago. She was sobbing and pleading with him about something. Marcus informed everyone the following day that she had relocated to Seattle. However, I never witnessed her calling a moving truck or packing anything.

My heart began to race. "Mrs. Huang, please enter your home and secure the doors. Wait until I say it's safe to go outside.

"What's wrong?"

Before I could respond, light burst from every window in Marcus Rivera's home. Then, as fast, they were all dark once more.

And during that fleeting flash of light, I noticed a pale figure observing me from the upstairs window.

The figure waved one

hand up.

I could see its eyes gleaming silver in the darkness even from the other side of the yard.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

Shattered Girl

Shattered Girl

871.5k Views · Completed · Brandi Rae
Jake's fingers danced across my nipples, squeezing gently and making me groan in pleasure. He lifted my shirt and stared at my hardened nipples through my bra. I tensed, and Jake sat up and moved back on the bed, giving me some space.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Was that too much?” I could see the worry in his eyes as I took a deep breath.

“I just didn’t want you to see all my scars,” I whispered, feeling ashamed of my marked body.


Emmy Nichols is used to surviving. She survived her abusive father for years until he beat her so severely, she ended up in the hospital, and her father was finally arrested. Now, Emmy is thrown into a life she never expected. Now she has a mother

who doesn't want her, a politically motivated stepfather with ties to the Irish mob, four older stepbrothers, and their best friend who swear to love and protect her. Then, one night, everything shatters, and Emmy feels her only option is to run.

When her stepbrothers and their best friend finally find her, will they pick up the pieces and convince Emmy that they will keep her safe and their love will hold them together?
After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms

After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms

1.3m Views · Ongoing · Louisa
[Dear readers, if you loved this book, be sure to read my new recommended read: Cheating Husband, Vengeful Me.]
From first crush to wedding vows, George Capulet and I had been inseparable. But in our seventh year of marriage, he began an affair with his secretary.

On my birthday, he took her on vacation. On our anniversary, he brought her to our home and made love to her in our bed...

Heartbroken, I tricked him into signing divorce papers.

George remained unconcerned, convinced I would never leave him.

His deceptions continued until the day the divorce was finalized. I threw the papers in his face: "George Capulet, from this moment on, get out of my life!"

Only then did panic flood his eyes as he begged me to stay.

When his calls bombarded my phone later that night, it wasn't me who answered, but my new boyfriend Julian.

"Don't you know," Julian chuckled into the receiver, "that a proper ex-boyfriend should be as quiet as the dead?"

George seethed through gritted teeth: "Put her on the phone!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible."

Julian dropped a gentle kiss on my sleeping form nestled against him. "She's exhausted. She just fell asleep."
Goddess Of The Underworld

Goddess Of The Underworld

725.9k Views · Completed · Sheridan Hartin
Left at a pack border with a name and a stubborn heartbeat, Envy grows into the sharpest kind of survivor, an orphaned warrior who knows how to hold a line and keep moving. Love isn’t in the plan…until four alpha wolves with playboy reputations and inconveniently soft hands decide the girl who won’t bow is the only queen they’ll ever take. Their mate. The one they have waited for. Xavier, Haiden, Levi, and Noah are gorgeous, lethal, and anything but perfect and Envy isn’t either. She’s changing. First into hell hound, Layah at her heels and fire in her veins. Then into what the realm has been waiting for, a Goddess of the Underworld, dragging her mates down to hell with her.

When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armour, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of an orphan pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to be better. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a reverse harem, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

2m Views · Ongoing · Jaylee
Soft hot lips find the shell of my ear and he whispers, "You think I don't want you?" He pushes his hips forward, grinding into the back of my ass and I groan. "Really?" He chuckles.

"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."

I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.

Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.

"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."


New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.

Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates

When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.

But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
Invisible To Her Bully

Invisible To Her Bully

467.9k Views · Ongoing · sunsationaldee
Unlike her twin brother, Jackson, Jessa struggled with her weight and very few friends. Jackson was an athlete and the epitome of popularity, while Jessa felt invisible. Noah was the quintessential “It” guy at school—charismatic, well-liked, and undeniably handsome. To make matters worse, he was Jackson’s best friend and Jessa’s biggest bully. During their senior year, Jessa decides it was time for her to gain some self-confidence, find her true beauty and not be the invisible twin. As Jessa transformed, she begins to catch the eye of everyone around her, especially Noah. Noah, initially blinded by his perception of Jessa as merely Jackson’s sister, started to see her in a new light. How did she become the captivating woman invading his thoughts? When did she become the object of his fantasies? Join Jessa on her journey from being the class joke to a confident, desirable young woman, surprising even Noah as she reveals the incredible person she has always been inside.
Alpha Twins' Mate's broken Human

Alpha Twins' Mate's broken Human

168.9k Views · Ongoing · dragonsbain22
Chiara was raised in the orphanage of the Silver Aspen pack. Not an overly large Pack, but a strong Pack. As a human, she takes the brunt of the pack's bullying, especially the "Ranked Squad" as she calls them. When she turns 18 earlier than she thought, and gets a wolf, will she be able to accept what she is after all the abuse? Accept her wolf? And accept the Twins as her mates? Or will she retreat into herself and leave the Twins struggling to reach her to make things right? Read along to find out.
A Lesson in Magic

A Lesson in Magic

236.4k Views · Completed · Kit Bryan
One day I'm dealing with cranky toddlers and parents who work too much to actually parent, the next my life is turned upside down and I'm working in a bar for supernaturals. I might not know how to mix drinks, but strangely enough the skills needed to deal with misbehaving children seem to work well enough on vampires, werewolves and even witches. The good news is this job is interesting and hey, my boss might be a demon but I'm pretty sure that under all the grumpy expressions he is a total softie. The bad news is that humans aren't supposed to know about all this magic stuff and so now I'm magically bound to this bar until I can convince them that I won't go telling everyone. Or I die, whichever comes first. Sadly dying is seeming more and more likely because someone is after me. I don't know who or why but they are dangerous and they have magic. So I'll domy best to survive, and if that means spending some extra time with my scary but gorgeous boss then so be it. I'll convince him to trust me if it's the last thing I do.
Rise of the Banished She-Wolf

Rise of the Banished She-Wolf

337.5k Views · Completed · Lily
"White wolf! Kill that monster!"
That roar stole my eighteenth birthday and shattered my world. My first shift should have been glory—blood turned blessing into shame. By dawn they'd branded me "cursed": cast out by my pack, abandoned by family, stripped of my nature. My father didn't defend me—he sent me to a forsaken island where wolfless outcasts were forged into weapons, forced to kill each other until only one could leave.
On that island I learned the darkest edges of humanity and how to bury terror in bone. Countless times I wanted to surrender—dive into the waves and never surface—but the accusing faces that haunted my dreams pushed me back toward something colder than survival: revenge. I escaped, and for three years I hid among humans, collecting secrets, learning to move like a shadow, sharpening patience into precision—becoming a blade.
Then, under a full moon, I touched a bleeding stranger—and my wolf returned with a violence that made me whole. Who was he? Why could he wake what I'd thought dead?
One thing I know: now is the time.
I have waited three years for this. I will make everyone who destroyed me pay—and take back everything that was stolen from me.
I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

514.8k Views · Completed · Jessica C. Dolan
Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé.
Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?
Wrong.
One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn’t even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.
So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster—my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.
Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.
Enter him.
Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I’d met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.
It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.
But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.
And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made.
Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.
And now, he’s not letting me go.
The Forbidden Throb

The Forbidden Throb

166k Views · Completed · Riley
They say your life can change in a heartbeat.
Mine changed in the time it took to open a door.
Behind it: my fiancé Nicholas with another woman.
Three months until our wedding. Three seconds to watch it all burn.
I should have run. Should have screamed. Should have done anything except stand there like a fool.
Instead, I heard the devil himself whisper in my ear:
"If you're willing, I could marry you."
Daniel. The brother I was warned about. The one who made Nicholas look like a choir boy.
He leaned against the wall, watching my world implode.
My pulse thundered. "What?"
"You heard me." His eyes burned into mine. "Marry me, Emma."
But as I stared into those magnetic eyes, I realized something terrifying:
I wanted to say yes to him.
Game on.
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate

The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate

305.1k Views · Completed · Ray Nhedicta
I can't breathe. Every touch, every kiss from Tristan set my body on fire, drowning me in a sensation I shouldn't have wanted—especially not that night.
"You're like a sister to me."
Those were the actual words that broke the camel's back.
Not after what just happened. Not after the hot, breathless, soul-shaking night we spent tangled in each other's arms.
I knew from the beginning that Tristan Hayes was a line I shouldn't cross.
He wasn't just anyone, he was my brother's best friend. The man I spent years secretly wanting.
But that night... we were broken. We had just buried our parents. And the grief was too heavy, too real...so I begged him to touch me.
To make me forget. To fill the silence that death left behind.
And he did. He held me like I was something fragile.
Kissed me like I was the only thing he needed to breathe.
Then left me bleeding with six words that burned deeper than rejection ever could.
So, I ran. Away from everything that cost me pain.
Now, five years later, I'm back.
Fresh from rejecting the mate who abused me. Still carrying the scars of a pup I never got to hold.
And the man waiting for me at the airport isn't my brother.
It's Tristan.
And he's not the guy I left behind.
He's a biker.
An Alpha.
And when he looked at me, I knew there was no where else to run to.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

757.9k Views · Completed · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!