Page 6 of The Haunting
“Yes, and this is my husband, Vladimir. Are you all lost, too?”
“We are. We were making our way to a haunted inn for Halloween. Drake took a wrong turn. Calamity, Chance and their women were with us,” Phoe said with a glare at her husband. “I don’t know why you’re all here.” Phoe nodded at the man called James.
“Nanci and Kate had the same idea as you; we had no idea you were heading this way, too,” James replied.
I was on edge. Ten of the people here knew each other. I observed how Vladimir positioned himself to protect Emmaline in case someone made a wrong move.
“Did you all get lost? How did you get past the tree that dropped down behind us?” Drake asked.
“We drove over a bridge that became submerged,” I replied.
“We went through a back road that was also flooded,” James said.
“Same here,” Vladimir added.
“We’re all soaked through,” Maggie interrupted, shoving wet hair out of her eyes. “Is anyone going to knock?”
“Hell no, not before we know why a French-style mansion is out in the middle of nowhere America,” Emmaline muttered.
“It does have French influence,” I agreed.
“The damn thing also looked freaking haunted, or it has a mass murderer living there,” Kate said.
“Who’s knocking?” Phoe demanded. “They might let us wait it out inside.”
“You want to go in there?” I gasped, horrified.
“Beats getting back in the cars soaking wet.” Phoe shrugged.
I was cold, soaked, and shivering, but I still had room for amusement as all the men present swapped glances, but nobody moved to climb the stairs to knock.
“I’ll go!” Nanci declared with exasperation and started walking.
Inglorious plastered himself to Nanci’s back and hauled her to him. A creaking noise, audible over the pounding rain, caught our attention, and to our horror, the double doors of the entrance began slowly opening.
A bright yellow light spilled into the darkness as a figure appeared and studied us.
Chapter Two.
Phoe
The woman standing in the doorway was lit by a warm yellow light at odds with the appearance of the haunted freaking mansion she inhabited. I shivered in the cold, wet rain and wrapped my arms around myself.
“Do you plan to stand there like lemons all day or get your asses inside?” she called out.
“Probably stand like lemons,” Nanci muttered. We looked towards the guys who were chewing over the invitation. I couldn’t blame them. The house had a derelict atmosphere about it, with vast swaths of ivy hanging from the brick walls. The building appeared sad.
Besides appearing uninhabited, an unwanted feeling and an air of darkness seemed to be embedded in the walls. Maybe I was letting my imagination run riot, but I didn’t want to go inside. Where were Callie and the Ghost Seekers Inc. team when you needed them?
Undecided, I stared at the immense building in front of us. It definitely reminded me of a French-designed manor house. Large windows sat bleakly looking down on us, and I couldswear someone was watching me from them, even though I couldn’t see anyone. The creamy brown stone was stained with black streaks. One wing had its windows completely boarded up. As flashes of lightning lit the sky above us, the whole thing felt like a scene from a horror movie.
“Take your time,” the stranger called sarcastically.
“Screw this,” Nanci declared and stomped forward. “I’m wet, cold, and miserable.”
“Babe!” Inglorious yelled in alarm and chased after her. Nanci jogged up the perron steps, and Inglorious cursed loudly.
“Shit, we can’t let them enter alone,” Drake swore and marched off. Chance and Calamity exchanged looks and followed suit.
