Page 8 of Hollow House
My heart stopped, the pounding gone, breathing no longer possible. I dropped the note quietly back on the island. My hands rose to my chest, clawing at it, begging myself to take a breath. I tried and forced myself to take in straggling gasps of air. After a few minutes, I managed something resembling ragged breathing.
I forced myself to pick up the mask. I knew what the invite was.
People would give anything to find those three words addressed to them. Only hours, before I had thought the same, but now, I stood in my kitchen trembling in fear.
What had I done?
I held the mask up to my face. The black material was adorned with gold. As I held it up, movement outside my kitchen window had me dropping it just as quickly. I ran to the back door and scanned the small, fenced in yard.
There was nothing there at first glance, but with the sun set, could I be sure of that? Shadows took up almost every corner of the yard. An extensive garden and a couple of trees throughout the space provided the perfect coverage.
I opened the back sliding door and stepped outside. Either adrenaline or stupidity drove me out the door. What was I going to do if someone was there? I had no protection beyond my two bare hands.
A snapping twig startled me, and I glanced in the direction of the sound. My feet slowly moved down the two concrete steps into the grass. Little blades of the plush grass rubbed my ankles and sent shivers up my legs.
I stood there for another moment, my heart practically in my throat by that point. The wind blew, rustling the trees, but beyond that, I heard nothing.
I backed slowly toward the door, keeping my eyes on the yard. Nothing jumped out at me as out of place. There was something there, though. I couldn’t explain it, the horrifying feeling that another presence sat in the shadows. My heart raced, but I found my trembling had stopped. If whoever was there hadn’t hurt me yet, I didn’t think they would now.
What did they want with me?
Was the invite to Hollow House my answer?
After a couple minutes of standing frozen with one foot in the door, I shut the slider door, giving up on seeing anything.
Instead, I turned my attention back to the invite I dropped. I picked it up again, turning it over and over in my hands. Was this even real, or was it a cruel joke?
Things couldn’t be that easy, right?
It begged the question: what did they want with me? Had my single day of poking around caught their attention? Felix had warned me the shop had ears.
He was usually right.
Maybe whatever took place at the pleasure house was something they didn’t want a journalist poking into. That fueled me even further to chase the article. Once I set my sights on a story, nothing stood in my way.
Chapter 4
My eyes had been seton her since I first saw her in town.
That little bar, Val’s.
That was when I knew I had to make her mine.
Each year was the same. I found someone to entertain me through the night. There were plenty of woman capable and willing who came to Hollow House, but no one had truly satiated me. My appetite only grew each year.
I needed the one who would stay forever.
The second I saw her long, brown hair trailing down her back, pink streaks mixed in, heard the way she laughed as the waitress handed her a drink, I knew she was the one.
I had eyes and ears everywhere.
Everyone wanted an invite to Hollow House. Most never received it. This was my game, my muse, and I wouldn’t share it with just anyone.
Only those with potential were invited, those like me, whom the world cast aside and doubted. Now look at us.
I found the perfect prey to welcome into our midst.
It only took twenty minutes of digging to find out who she was.
