Celia’s
Bewitching Halloween Tale
I grew up
listening to my Irish grandmother’s stories about the Fae, including her
encounter with a Banshee in her family’s cellar when she was a teenager. Of her
many stories, this is my favorite, and I love to share it every Halloween. Enjoy!
Bumped
by the Banshee
by
Celia Breslin
… I lived in a large two-story house with my parents, younger sister,
and grandmother. It was a cold, winter evening, nothing special or out of the
ordinary. My family dined together, then my sister and I cleaned up while our
parents and grandmother drank tea. We joined them at the dining table to do our
homework, but my grandmother said she was tired and went upstairs to bed. My
parents followed shortly after that, but my father paused on the landing.
“Maeve, it’s going to be a cold night. Fetch us some coal, please.”
I abandoned my homework, grabbed the empty coal bucket from the
kitchen, and went down into the cellar. I filled my bucket and returned to the
stairs. I had one foot on the first step when the temperature in the cellar,
already cold, dropped dramatically. Chills ran down my back. Behind me, someone
moaned.
But how could that be? I was alone...
Terror rooted me to the spot. The keening grew louder. I dropped my
bucket and covered my ears. A cold wind bumped against my back. I stumbled
forward as the shrieking wind rushed over me and up the stairs.
But how could that be? The cellar had no windows...
Above me, the cellar door slammed shut. The sound broke me from my
stupor. I screamed and ran up the stairs and out of the cellar, through the
kitchen and dining room, and up the stairs to my room. My parents and sister
found me under my bed, shaking like a puppy lost in a snowstorm.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” They asked me, while pulling me from my
hiding place.
“I heard the Banshee wail.”
We stared at each other in silence, all of us reaching the same
conclusion moments later. We hurried to my grandmother’s room.
She was dead.
Copyright 2018, Celia Breslin. All
rights reserved.
Haven
Tranquilli Bloodline Series
Book One
Celia Breslin
Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Champagne Books
Date of Publication: July 2, 2013
ISBN: 9781927454473
Number of pages: 372
Word Count: 124K
Cover Artist: Amanda Kelsey
Book Description:
San Francisco nightclub owner Carina Tranquilli works hard, plays hard, and never allows the death of her parents and her twelve-year memory gap to get her down. But her life takes a left turn when a witch attacks her on her twenty-fifth birthday.
Three hauntingly familiar vampires emerge to reveal she possesses a latent power. To protect her from their enemies, they admit to wiping her memories clean and abandoning her as a child, but now they need her help. As she struggles to evade her new protectors and even newer enemies, she meets Alexander, an enigmatic, undead musician. Insta-lust flares, leaving her wanting more.
With evil’s minions hounding her every move, and everything she thought she knew turned on its head, Carina must harness her burgeoning power, unravel her vampire family’s web of deceit, and fight to have a love life...without getting killed in the process.
About the Author:
Celia lives in California with her husband, daughter, and two feisty cats. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and has a particular fondness for vampires, werewolves, and the Fae. When not writing, you’ll find Celia editing for others, exercising, reading a good book, hanging with her family, or indulging her addiction to Joss Whedon’s TV shows and movies.
