Satan's Monastery

About the Book

Nearly two hundred years ago a group of fifty-two men of the cloth went west into the Ohio wilderness. They wanted nothing more than to build themselves a home where they could be sequestered and devote their entire lives to God. They chose a beautiful spot on top of a hill, surrounded by maple trees, and build their monastery. What they didn’t know was that their sandstone structure stood over a portal to hell.

How far would you go to help friend? What if you hadn’t known her for very long? For Lana Gifford, a divorcee in her thirties, there was no question. She would do whatever it took to help Beth Morton, the new girl at work and a newly found friend. Lana wanted to help the young ugly duckling fit in so their coworkers would quit teasing her.

Lana soon realized there was more to the Beth’s story than she could have possibly imagined when Beth told her in confidence about her home life. Beth Morton lived in a haunted old monastery with a mad mother and weakling father. Beth’s sister disappeared the year before. Lana knew that Beth was not the type to make up stories, but Beth’s revelation of ghostly monks was hard for her to believe. Because of her doubts and the constant disapproval of her boyfriend, Kirk Landon concerning her relationship with Beth, she decided to see for herself by spending a night with Beth.

Hidden by maple trees on top of a hill in a suburb of Cleron, Ohio loomed the sandstone structure Beth described to Lana. Ignoring Beth’s pleas to stay in her room after sundown where it was safe, Lana went exploring after Beth went to sleep. She not only encountered the spirits of the long dead monks; they came after her to harm her. And it was only the beginning. After surviving what she thought was the most frightening experience of her life, Lana vowed to do whatever it took to get rid of these evil apparitions. Lana hated fear; it had been her constant companion during her failed marriage.

After failing to employ the clergy’s help, Lana ended up on the doorstep of Colin Guthrie, an archeologist, professor, and the closest thing Hanford University had to a parapsychologist. Colin, a man close to forty, was dealing with his own demons over the loss of his crew ten years earlier. Colin was immediately taken with Lana and discovered proof of the monk’s decline into evil through his research into the old monastery on Maplewood Drive. He enlisted the help of his oldest and dearest friend, Fr. Timothy Frances, from St. Matthews Church.

As Fr. Frances arranges for an exorcism of the monastery, the monks continue to get stronger. It was soon learned that through a deal they made centuries before with an archdemon in hell, they would not only return to flesh and blood, they would become immortal. All the demons needed were to perform three human sacrifices; with the last of the three victims being a virgin. The monks had already taken their first, a possessed Kirk Landon will bring them their second, and they need Beth to clinch their immortality.

Lana and Colin soon found that protecting Beth from the monks until the exorcism was a near impossible task. Lana endures being dangled from a second story window, nearly has a spell cast on her, and is shot at point blank range by Kirk. Colin is flipped off his motorcycle, is caught in the fire that destroys St. Matthew’s Church, and is taunted by the spirits of his ill-fated crew. All this and other near disasters are initiated by the evil demons at the monastery. Meanwhile, being exiled for her own safety, Beth takes her destiny in her own hands and loses her virginity to Colin’s assistant, Thompson, who has sworn to protect her.

All hell literally breaks loose the night before the exorcism. Beth is kidnapped by Kirk and brought to the monks. Having lost their virgin, the monks vow revenge on Lana for influencing Beth. While saving Lana and Beth, Colin disappears. It is an agonizing night for Lana who is now hopelessly in love with Colin. A

About the Author

Debbie Rinaldo resides in Akron, Ohio with her husband and two teenage sons.