“Who cursed them?” Faye asks, practically bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.
“Oh, good question,” McKenzie says, bumping elbows with Faye. I have to admit, their excitement is adorable, even if I feel tortured so they can have this.
“A neighboring farm was jealous of their bountiful crops. They went to all the neighbors and concocted vicious rumors about the Mayfield’s. The neighbors were easily swayed by the lies and offered their assistance in the Mayfield’s demise, seeking the help of the town witch to help carry out their evil plans.”
Megan’s shark-like eyes zero in on me and she takes a few steps in my direction. The people in front of me move out of her way like she’s fucking Moses parting the Red Sea. “You know, you kind of look just like Jack’s dearly departed wife.”
I look behind me and then at my friends, who find this hilarious. In fact, Faye has her camera out, recording the whole interaction. She flicks my hair with the tip of her finger as she giggles. “Only she didn’t have blue highlights.”
I bite my lip nervously wanting Megan to turn her attention anywhere else, but she doesn’t. She just tilts her head unnaturally to the side as she smirks at me. “You’re going to havesucha great time.”
While she’s smiling, I can’t help but think her words sound more like a threat than a hope for me to enjoy myself. It makes my skin break out into shivers, but my friends are still laughing at me as Megan retakes her position by the pumpkin headed scarecrow.
As if by magic, a silver serving tray with drinks appears in Megan’s hands to a round of applause from the guests. She does a mock curtsey without spilling a single drop. Impressive since it’s filled with small skull shaped cups containing a shocking neon blue liquid. The bottom of the cup lights up and the top looks as if it has dry ice from the way it smokes. We each take one, and I bring it up to my nose taking a whiff. It smells like blueberries.
“Now that you know our roots, let’s drink to your week here. May you survive the frights at Nightmare Acres, and if you don’t, then may your soul taste delicious.” She raises her glass, and we do the same. The liquid goes down like fire, making me cough and wheeze. My head spins with the rush of what feels like alcohol tingling all the way down my spine and down to my toes. I stumble back as we move towards the cabins.
“You hear her? She said don’t die!” The zombie clown cackles, her decaying scent chasing us like a cat chases a mouse. My stomach clenches and an ominous feeling squeeze in my chest. Somehow with the way she says those words has me thinking that not everyone will survive the week.
Chapter 4
Hendricks
Nightmare Acres is a place for the broken, the depraved, and the damned. And I fit into all three categories. My vampire nature only accentuated those same qualities that existed in me when I was a human. Though it's been many years since I fit into a mortal form.
It was the early 1920’s when I turned. I'd been drinking in a speakeasy in downtown Chicago.
The music was loud and pulsating throughout my entire inebriated body. I was too drunk on illegally obtained booze to notice when I'd become a target.
There were two men, dressed all in black and sticking to the shadows. I know them now as Talon and Maverick. There was something in the dejected set of my shoulders that clued them into the sorry state of my life. Truthfully, I hardly remember much more of that night, but the one thing I can't shake is the part when I realized I was dying. The part when my heart stopped beating and my blood had been drained from my veins. One second, I was nothing, and then the next? I was screaming. Ravenous for blood. It’s been that way ever since. A loud all-encompassing demand for human flesh and that crimson river of satisfaction that lives in their veins. And this place? Is theperfect trap. Humans that come here are seeking a thrill, and we give it to them.
I slink close to the tree line, watching as the campers’ march to their doom. They have no idea that the monsters that roam this place, waiting to pounce on them, are not just some scare actors hired for a part. They think this is all fake. A good time that they can laugh about later. If only they knew the truth. They’d never sign away their souls on that dotted line.
Now that they have? We're given free reign over them,
We might not have a kill quota to meet anymore thanks to Talon and his girl he met last Halloween, but that doesn't mean I have to quell my monstrous nature. Waiting for months has made me more than ravenous. And fucking horny.
Maverick and I keep each other entertained, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the warm feel of a scared little cunt wrapped around my cock as their screams pierce my ears. There’s no better turn on than a frightened human.
"I swear those trees have eyes!" one of the girls’ shrieks.
“No, they don’t. That’s just your imagination playing with you,” one of the girls responds.
She's not wrong. Some of the trees have eyes imbedded in their bark from prior guests. The witches kept them as souvenirs and used them to spy on what was going on in the woods.
I can tell those witches are up to something, though. They'd been gathering a lot more supplies than I'd seen them do in previous years. And there's an energy to them. They keep glancing around nervously and stop talking whenever we get close. I don't trust it, but Talon says I shouldn't worry about it. I think he's gone soft since that girl, Olivia, fucked with his head at Halloween. He's been a distracted mess ever since and the creatures can sense it. They're getting restless. And restless monsters are like a powder-keg— ready to explode at the slightest strike of a match. These campers don't stand a chance.
The werewolf pack has left us alone since last Halloween as well. A part of me wonders if we've seen the last of them. Maybe they found a settlement up north and will leave us the fuck alone once and for all. A vampire can hope.
"You ready?" Maverick asks.
I crack my knuckles. "Abso-fucking-lutely,"
The trees give us enough coverage that we're free to roam around safely without the threat of being turned to ash. We follow the group, watching as they make it to the cabins. While they settle into their soon to be graveyards, Maverick and I lean against some trees waiting impatiently for the sun to set. For now, they're safe from us. Just out of reach. But once that sun sets?
All bets are off, and that sultry looking brunette will be ours.
Chapter 5
