To Landon’s credit, he didn’t look at all comfortable at the moment.
When Jace made his entrance in his vampire outfit, even the aged ladies among the crowd gasped like schoolgirls and rushed over to meet him. He was incredibly gracious, and I was incredibly grateful.
A striking woman in a vampiric dress trailed him. Her purple-hued sparkling makeup contrasted beautifully with her dark skin. “Wendy?”
“Hey, Kayla!” she came over to greet me and Landon. “Penelope recruited me to be the tour guide after Jace does his thing tonight, so I’ll be shadowing the groups as they go through.”
“That is soooo cool of you,” I gushed. Wendy had been one of the stars of Jace’s rewrite ofA Midsummer Night’s Dreamat the Chamberlain Theater. I’d heard a lot about it but never had a chance to see it.
“Well, I’m not in any plays right now, and my software job is driving me nuts. I need an outlet, you know?”
“I totally know,” I said. “I was recentlyrelievedof my job. I guess this is my job now.”
She grinned. “You’ve got your work cut out for you, but this place is amazing.”
“Totally worth the effort,” Landon said.
“Thanks again!” I said as Jace beckoned for her to follow.
Many of us followed them out to the porch to see the launch of the tours. Jace stood in the yard with the big illuminated wraith billowing behind him. He’d prepared a few words to introduce the haunted house, and he was in the middle of his speech when a car roared up the drive. There weren’t supposed to be any cars out here except for some of the people putting on the event, and they’d all parked off to the side to leave plenty of room for guests to stroll around the yard.
The invader was a Porsche SUV, and Max Junior stumbled out of it, holding a bottle and screaming, “WHERE IS THE BASTARD BITCH?”
Then he spotted me on the porch. “Ah.Thereyou are!”
Chapter 24
“Well, this is awkward,” Landon said at my ear, and his droll comment made me do the most inappropriate thing.
I laughed.
“You’re laughing at me?” Max screamed. He pitched his booze bottle at me, and the crowd screamed and scattered. I jumped, but the bottle didn’t even make it to the porch, just shattered on the walkway.
“I’m not laughing,” I said. Now I wasn’t, anyway.
“It wasn’t enough that you got this — thishouse,”he said, moving closer.
That’s when I remembered our security guy didn’t start until the next night. I clutched Landon’s arm.
“Noooo,” Max said, stopping just shy of the porch. Some of the VIPs had gone inside, but others just gawked, unsure whether this was part of the entertainment. “You had to submarine my job, too. What kind of a slut bastard bitch are you?”
“Hey!” Landon said sharply while I gaped.
Marla, of all people, called out. “If anyone killed the job, it was you, sir,” she said. “And you know exactly why.”
Slightly taken aback, Max wavered on his feet before letting out a roar. “I’ll show you what I think of your haunted house!”
He sprinted back to his SUV. I was debating trying to usher everyone inside, not knowing whether he was armed or just drunk, when he revved up the engine, backed up, then gunned it, aiming right for the giant glowing wraith behind Jace.
Jace leapt out of the way with the magnificent grace of Batman swinging from the Batrope.
“Oh, no,” I said just as Landon held up his hands and shouted “Stop!”
It was too late. If anything, Max accelerated, and he slammed into the wraith with a loud crunch.
Because the wraith was built atop the giant tree stump.
“Oh, fuck,” I said, running out to see if he was OK, followed by Landon, along with Annabel and Andy, who’d seen the whole thing.
