They’re not just villains. They’re the producers of fear. Because while the idea of Remus after us is horrifying, he’s the devil I knew. This is something I could’ve never imagined.
Devin takes a deep breath, locking his eyes on me. “It all happened really organically ... We were just in the right place at the right time.”
“Destiny, if you will,” Derek adds before they begin taking turns to unveil this horror.
“Because we were there ... two years ago, at the camp.”
“Saw it all ... every gruesome detail.”
“It was inspiring. Seeing a monster like Billy, live and in action. Wow.”
“The bar was set. It was better than any slasher film before it,” Derek says, before he shivers like he’s excited.
Sick fucks. They’re fans. Horror enthusiasts with just the right amount of psychosis to want to ruin our lives ... again.
What the fuck.
Devin wags his eyebrows. “We actually got some of our first footage of you that night. It’s amateur camerawork, but we’ve gotten way better since then.” He looks at his brother, his eyes wild. “Show her.”
Derek pulls out his phone, turning it around to face me.
My brows furrow because I’m suddenly watching myself inside Goldie’s house ... but from the outside. It’s the day I first came home to Chase cooking.
I shake my head because I feel blindsided. They’ve been fucking watching us.
He swipes to a new video, but it’s him holding dead rats above my bed, teasing Princess. “Whoops, not that one.” He swipes to another. It’s me and Chase the night we almost kissed at his restaurant.
“Show her my favorite ...” Devin whispers.
I’m squeezing the fuck out of Chase’s hand because rage has replaced the shock.
They’ve been pulling strings since the beginning. This role—the girl who has panic attacks, the one still afraid of the dark—she’s been nurtured. Groomed for this performance.
But I’m not that girl anymore. That’s their fatal flaw. It’s what all horror movies do wrong. They make the woman a victim, someone defined by her fear, and then some dude comes to save her.
Not this time, fuckers.
Chase gave me the space to heal myself, but I saved me. I found the tools and the will. And now I’m going to use that rage to kill these two assholes.
I’m nobody’s victim.
Cinderella’s saving the prince and getting the hell out of here.
My eyes shift back to the screen, watching myself leading Chase to the bathroom at my fucking sister’s wedding.
The couple on the screen is laughing, but the couple standing here is murderous.
He ends the video, turning his phone back around.
“It gets rated R after that, and we don’t know who’s watching right now.”
He points up, and my eyes follow. There’s a tiny red dot by the ceiling. It’s a camera.
My pulse is thrumming so fast I can almost hear it as my blood turns to ice, but not out of fear.
Derek smirks at me. “You’re live ... Well, not totally. It’s set for the world to see in one hour. Don’t you love technology? This is what sets us apart from other movies. Because, frankly, after watchingOne Killer Night, we knew we could do it better.”
“No offense,” Devin throws out, but Chase scoffs.
