The Lantern Murders: New Chapters 7-13

 The Mystery Deepens in "The Lantern Murders"  

The past refuses to stay buried… and neither do its secrets.  

It all started with a string of eerie killings—the "Lantern Murders". Raj thought he had escaped their shadow, but when a lantern appeared at his doorstep with a name from his forgotten past, everything changed.  

Now, the bodies are piling up again. A list of names. A survivor who vanished. And a masked figure who whispers, “You were supposed to die that night.”  

Raj, Gloria, and Lucas are in too deep. The deeper they dig, the closer they get to a truth that was meant to stay hidden.  

The hunt is on. The fire is spreading. The killer remembers.

 Catch up on "The Lantern Murders" from Chapter 1-6 before diving into the latest gripping chapters!  

Incase you missed the previous chapters here

Chapter 7: Echoes in the Dark

The message on the lantern’s post sent a cold shiver through Raj’s spine. 

Two down. Thirty-eight to go.  

Gloria squeezed his arm, her breath uneven. “Raj, this isn’t just a warning. It’s a countdown.”

Raj scanned the empty streets, his instincts screaming that they were being watched. “The first victim was found under the biggest lantern at the festival.” He pointed at the bloodied inscription. “This means there’s another body.”

Gloria swallowed hard. “Then we have to find it before someone else does.”

A gust of wind made the lantern above them sway. The glass creaked, and for a fleeting moment, Raj thought he saw something inside—a flicker of movement. A reflection? No. A shape. A face. 

And then it was gone. 

Raj stepped back, gripping Gloria’s wrist. “We need to move.”

“Where?”

“To where this all started.”

*The House at the Edge of Town*  

Fifteen years ago, the last of the original Lantern Murders took place at an abandoned house on Hollow’s End’s outskirts. The town left it to rot, as if forgetting it would erase its horrors.

But Raj never forgot. He had been there the night it all ended—the night the supposed killer was caught.

Now, as they stood before its decaying frame, Gloria hesitated. “Raj… what if we’re walking into something we can’t walk out of?”

Raj’s jaw clenched. “We already have.”

Lucas had insisted on coming. He stood a few steps behind, rubbing his arm where the blade had sliced him earlier. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Raj ignored him and pushed the door open.

The house smelled of rot and something worse—something stale, metallic. Blood.

Gloria covered her nose. “This place shouldn’t smell like that after all these years.”

Lucas’s voice was hoarse. “That’s because it’s fresh.”

They turned the corner. In the center of the room stood another lantern, its glow casting long, twisting shadows across the wooden floor.

And at its base, sprawled in a dark pool, was the second victim.

The body was face-down, arms stretched toward the lantern as if in worship or agony. The message carved into their back made Gloria gasp.

“You cannot stop the light.”

Lucas stumbled backward. “This is… this is sick.”

Raj swallowed the bile rising in his throat. The message wasn’t for them. It was for him.

Gloria touched his arm. “Raj, why do I feel like this is personal?”

Because it was. 

Before Raj could answer, a board creaked upstairs.

Gloria’s eyes widened. Lucas sucked in a breath. 

Raj reached for the nearest heavy object—a rusted fire poker—his heart hammering. “We’re not alone.”

Chapter 8: The Name They Won’t Say

The silence stretched, taut and waiting. Raj gestured for Gloria and Lucas to stay back as he crept toward the stairs. Every step felt heavier than the last. The lantern’s glow below flickered, shadows twisting up the walls like grasping fingers.

A whisper drifted down. 

Raj froze. 

It wasn’t a voice. It was a name.

His name.

“Raj.”

The sound wasn’t distant. It was near. Too near.

Gloria’s breath hitched behind him. Lucas’s hand clamped over his mouth.

And then, the lantern’s light flared.

For a split second, a figure appeared at the top of the stairs—masked, motionless. The same featureless face that had whispered to Raj in the alley.

A heartbeat later, the lantern shattered.

Darkness swallowed the house.

And the hunt began again.

Raj lunged backward, grabbing Gloria as the floorboards above groaned. Lucas stumbled, nearly falling into the pool of blood surrounding the body.

“Move!” Raj hissed, shoving them toward the door.

Something crashed behind them. Heavy boots thundered down the stairs. They ran.

Bursting into the night, they barely made it down the porch before a force slammed into Raj’s back, sending him sprawling. He turned just in time to see the masked figure standing in the doorway, holding another lantern.

It glowed brighter than any before.

And then the figure spoke. A distorted, inhuman whisper. “You can’t run from the light.”

Raj barely managed to get to his feet before the figure hurled the lantern at them. Glass shattered, flames licking the wooden steps.

They ran into the darkness, the echoes of laughter chasing them.

Only when they reached the town’s edge did they stop. Gloria panted, clutching her side. Lucas doubled over, gasping.

Raj stared at the old newspaper clippings in his mind, the stories of those murdered before.

And then he remembered something—the victims weren’t random. They were all connected.

Lucas looked up. “Raj… do you know what’s happening?”

Raj’s blood ran cold. “It’s a list. The killer has a list.”

They retreated to Gloria’s apartment, locking every door and window. Raj spread old files across the table.

“The victims,” he murmured. “They all had ties to the town’s past.”

Gloria pointed at a name. “Then why are *you* still alive?”

A knock at the door silenced them. Slow. Deliberate.

Lucas swallowed hard. “We’re not alone.”

The knock came again. Louder.

Raj grabbed a knife from the kitchen, motioning for the others to stay back. He pressed his ear to the door. Silence.

Then, a whisper slithered through the crack.

“Awali.”

Raj’s breath caught. His real name. A name no one in town used anymore.

Gloria paled. “Raj, who the hell knows your name?”

The doorknob twisted.

The lantern light flickered outside.

And the past finally caught up to him.

Chapter 9: The Shadow’s Name

Raj stood frozen at Gloria’s door, the whisper of his true name still ringing in his ears. Awali. A name buried in the past, one he hadn’t heard since childhood. His pulse hammered against his ribs. Whoever was outside knew more than they should.

Gloria gripped his arm. “Raj… what does that mean?”

Lucas backed away from the door. “Are we going to talk about how that voice sounded like it came from *inside* our heads?”

The knock came again. Harder. More urgent.

Raj tightened his grip on the knife. He had two choices: open the door and face whatever waited, or run. Running had never been his style.

He yanked the door open. 

The hallway was empty.

No footsteps. No shifting shadows. Just the distant hum of a flickering streetlamp.

Gloria let out a shaky breath. “No one’s there.”

Raj stepped into the hall, scanning the corners. The air smelled of burned wax. A single object lay at the doorstep.

A lantern.

Raj’s stomach twisted. It was identical to the ones left at the murder scenes, except this one wasn’t lit. A piece of paper was folded beneath it, with a single sentence scrawled in black ink.

“He remembers you.”

The words made Raj’s skin prickle. He crouched down, hesitating only a second before unfolding the note.

Beneath the first sentence was a list of names. Some he recognized. Others were unfamiliar. But at the very bottom, written in bold, capital letters, was his own.

AWALI RAKESH 

Gloria peered over his shoulder, her voice a whisper. “You’re on the list.”

Lucas rubbed his arms. “This isn’t just a serial killer, is it? This is… personal.”

Raj stared at the note, his mind racing. The past he thought he had buried was clawing its way back.

And the killer was calling his name.

Chapter 10: Blood Beneath the Lanterns

The town was asleep as Raj, Gloria, and Lucas made their way through the silent streets. They needed answers, and Raj knew exactly where to start.

The town archives.

Nestled behind the courthouse, the archives held decades of records, crime reports, and the dark history of Hollow’s End. If the names on the list were connected, the truth was buried somewhere in those files.

Raj forced the back door open with a crowbar. The room smelled of dust and aged paper. Flickering light from the street lamps outside cast eerie shadows on the shelves.

Gloria whispered, “How are we supposed to find anything in all this?”

Raj moved with purpose. “We’re looking for cases connected to the original Lantern Murders.”

Lucas shuddered. “Which is, what… over a dozen killings?”

Raj nodded. “Fifteen, to be exact.”

They split up, scanning the rows of old police reports. Raj’s fingers trembled as he flipped through file after file, piecing together a puzzle that had been incomplete for years.

Then, he found it.

A faded case report from fifteen years ago. The name of the final victim before the killings stopped.

Amara Jha.

Raj’s breath caught. He knew that name.

“She lived on my street,” he murmured.

Gloria frowned. “Wait… why does that name sound familiar?”

Lucas pulled another file. “Because she’s the one who survived.”

Raj’s blood ran cold. Amara Jha had been attacked the night of the last murder, but she lived. She had been a child then—like Raj. But after that night, she disappeared.

Lucas turned the page, his face paling. “And guess what? Her parents were the first two names on the list.”

Raj clenched his fists. “She’s not a victim.”

Gloria met his eyes. “She’s the one hunting them.”

A sudden creak made them all freeze. 

Raj turned sharply. A lantern sat on the floor of the archives, casting a dim glow.

And next to it, in dripping red letters, someone had written on the wall.

“You should have burned with the rest of them.”

Chapter 11: The Truth in Flames  

Raj felt the weight of the words pressing on his chest. The past was unraveling, and he was at the center of it. He turned to Gloria and Lucas, their faces mirroring his unease.

“This wasn’t just some random killing spree,” Raj whispered. “The Lantern Murders were unfinished business.”

Gloria gripped his wrist. “Then what does that make you, Raj?”

Lucas was already backing toward the door. “It makes him the last piece of the puzzle.”

The room filled with an eerie silence. Then—

BANG.

The front door slammed open, and the air was filled with the acrid scent of smoke.

Fire.

Flames licked up the old wooden walls, crackling with unnatural speed. Raj grabbed Gloria’s hand, pulling her toward the exit. “We have to get out!”

They ran, but as they reached the threshold, a figure stepped through the smoke. A masked face. A lantern in hand.

Lucas let out a strangled curse. “Not now—”

The figure tilted its head, watching them like a predator sizing up prey. The lantern’s glow cast an inhuman shimmer across their mask.

Then, they spoke. Their voice was hollow, distorted.

“You still don’t remember, do you?”

Raj’s stomach twisted. There was something *familiar* about the way they stood, the way their head tilted just so. Something clawed at the edge of his memory, just out of reach.

The figure took a slow step forward. “You were supposed to die that night.”

Raj’s mind reeled. *That night.* The night of the last murder. The night the killings stopped.

The realization hit him like a freight train.

Fifteen years ago, Raj had survived an attack he didn’t remember.

And now, the killer had come back to finish the job.

Chapter 12: The Fire and the Mask

Raj barely had time to react before the flames roared higher, the heat searing his skin. The masked figure stood before him, lantern in hand, their voice eerily calm.

“You were supposed to die that night.”

The words echoed in Raj's mind, clawing at memories long buried. He couldn't remember that night. He couldn't remember anything beyond waking up covered in soot, his parents gone, the killings stopping.

Gloria yanked his arm. “We have to move!”

Lucas was already coughing from the smoke, his eyes watering. But Raj was frozen. The masked figure stepped forward, raising the lantern. The glow illuminated their mask—not smooth like a theatrical disguise, but cracked, aged, and charred at the edges. Burned.

“Why?” Raj rasped. “Why did you come back?”

The masked figure tilted their head. “Because you don’t remember.”

Then, with a flick of their wrist, they hurled the lantern toward the shelves. The fire roared to life, blocking the exit.

Raj barely had time to react before Gloria and Lucas dragged him toward the back of the archives. A window. Their only way out.

Lucas used the crowbar to smash the glass. “Go!”

They climbed through just as the flames consumed the room, the masked figure vanishing behind the wall of fire.

Raj hit the ground hard, rolling onto the damp grass outside. His hands trembled. Not just from adrenaline. From realization.

The killer wasn’t just finishing a job.

They were forcing Raj to remember what happened that night.

Chapter 13: The Forgotten Night

Raj sat on the damp pavement, the burning archives casting long shadows against the town's skyline. His breath came in short gasps, his mind whirling.

Gloria knelt beside him. “Raj, talk to us. What are you remembering?”

He shut his eyes, grasping at the flickers of memory slipping through the cracks of his mind. A fire. Screams. The scent of burning flesh. A hand pulling him from the flames.

A girl’s voice. “Don’t look back.”

His eyes snapped open. “Amara.”

Lucas frowned. “The girl who survived?”

Raj shook his head. “No. The girl who saved me.”

The pieces were shifting into place. Amara had been there that night, but not as a victim. She had pulled Raj from the burning house, but why? Why had she disappeared after that night?

Gloria’s fingers tightened around his wrist. “Raj, you were on that list. You were supposed to die. But you didn’t.”

Lucas exhaled. “Which means someone has been waiting for you to remember. Someone who doesn’t want you alive now.”

Raj swallowed hard. The masked figure—the way they had spoken to him, the way they knew his name—it wasn’t just a killer finishing old business.

It was someone who had been part of it from the start.

He pushed himself up. “We need to find Amara.”

Gloria nodded. “If she’s even still alive.”

Raj clenched his fists. “There’s only one way to find out.”

The last known address of Amara Jha was an abandoned motel on the outskirts of Hollow’s End. The building stood in eerie silence, its windows boarded up, the sign rusted and broken.

Lucas shifted uneasily. “If she was hiding, I don’t think she wanted to be found.”

Raj ignored him and stepped forward, pushing open the half-broken door. Dust motes swirled in the stale air. The place had been abandoned for years, but someone had been here recently.

On the far wall, faint words had been carved into the wood.

"Fire took them all. But not me."

Gloria inhaled sharply. “She was here.”

Raj ran his fingers over the carved words. “And she knew the truth.”

A creak from upstairs made them all freeze.

Then, a voice. Soft, wary.

“You finally came.”

Raj's breath hitched. He turned slowly.

At the top of the stairs stood a woman. Her face was half-hidden in shadow, but Raj recognized her.

Amara Jha.

But before he could speak, she lifted her shirt just enough to reveal something underneath.

A gun.

“Close the door behind you,” she said softly. “Because once we start, there’s no turning back.”

The truth is closer than ever, but Amara isn't just here to talk. What does she know about that night? And why is she armed? Stay tuned for the next gripping chapters of The Lantern Murders!

The past refuses to stay buried, and the truth is burning its way to the surface. Who is the masked figure? What happened on the night Raj forgot? And why was he meant to die?

 Don’t miss the next chapters of *The Lantern Murders!* Subscribe to my blog or follow me on  for the next update!