Chapter 2
Maverick
It’s summer at Nightmare Acres and our campers are set to roll in at any moment.
It’s been a long winter of waiting for this —feeling our bloodlust grow every day until it’s become a raging inferno.
My fangs are practically dripping from the need.
While we spend the Halloween season feasting as much as we can, it’s not enough.
It’ll never be enough to quell this insatiable hunger for blood that rages within my veins.
“Pull yourself together, Maverick, they’ll be here any minute,” Talon, the owner, chastises me as he cracks his knuckles. The vampire lord is tucked away in the shade, looking out over his twisted kingdom of terror. I hate how he can easily read anyone that’s around him. Though, I’m not any better.
“Whatever you say, boss,” I quip, cracking my knuckles in anticipation.
Hendricks hits me in the arm. “Check it out. Fresh meat.”
I smile wide, showing off my elongated canines, more than ready to dig into some supple warm flesh.
Hendricks and I are known as ‘the Ricks’ because of our names. Plus, we’re always together.
I move? He moves. Always in sync with each other. Anticipating each other’s wants and needs.
We’re two sides of the same coin. Though we look nothing alike.
My hair is dusty brown, and I sit at well over seven feet tall, with broad shoulders and otherworldly green eyes, Hendricks is slim with jet-black hair that curls and icy blue eyes.
He also loves his tattoos and piercings that I don’t possess either.
He’s named after his affinity for Jimi Hendrix, and they call me Maverick because I was Talon’s first turn.
His first vampire to survive the transition and join him on this crazy ride.
We’ve watched this world take shape before our very eyes, turning this place into our own playground after securing a deal with Jack, the original landowner.
He was more than happy to relinquish the responsibility of paying taxes, as long as we agreed to keep him on in return.
It was an easy deal, and one that I’m grateful for.
Us monsters found our way here to our haven where we’re allowed to be ourselves. And no one but the werewolves are out for our necks. It’s a vampire’s dream come true. I don’t remember who I was before Talon found me, but I know that who I’ve become is exactly what I want to be— powerful.
An enormous black van pulls into the first spot and out pours out a rowdy group of girls. I can feel my cock tighten in my jeans just looking at all those supple curves.
My eyes zoom in on a brunette with blue highlights and a fan hanging around her neck. I feel my smile turn downright deadly as she glances around with wide eyes, taking in the camp.
“That one,” I say to Hendricks, and I feel him still beside me.
He feels it too— her innocence. The way her wide eyes bounce around with fear lets me know she’ll be so fun to break and mold into our very own plaything.
Just imagining the screams coming from that pretty little neck has me frothing at the mouth.
He gives me a menacing grin, and I know instantly we’ve found our girl.
“She looks like an ear piercer,” he says.
“The hell is an ear piercer?” I ask, cocking my eyebrow up at him.
“Someone who screams so hard they’ll pierce your ear drum,”
I whack him on the arm. “You’re an idiot.”
We watch from the shadows, hidden from sight, but still able to see the other guests start to arrive.
There’s a couple from Australia that looks like they’re more brother and sister than husband and wife, a bunch of frat bros who probably won’t last the night, and a few other people who aren’t memorable enough for me to pay attention to.
Blood is blood. It doesn’t matter how I get it, as long as it hits my fangs, I don’t care much else about the details.
The brunette struggles to get her backpack on her shoulders and I can’t help but smile watching her.
She’ll be so fun to chase. I bet she’s the type that trips and falls, making it easy to pounce on.
Sure enough, she drops something, making her fan come tumbling off her neck as she bends over to pick it up.
My eyes go straight to her ass, taking in its round shape.
Oh, yeah, this is going to be fun, I think as I adjust myself in my pants.
Heading back into the house, I jog up to my room.
In the fall, these rooms serve as a place to inflict terror on the masses who roam these halls.
But once the gates close, and the screams stop, they revert back to our personal spaces.
At least for us vampires. Some of the other monsters prefer the woods, or in the lake.
The witches have built their own community underground, using tunnels they made with their magic.
These campers come here under the impression that they’re going to be staying for the week, consenting to round the clock jump scares guaranteed to evoke the best frights any place has to offer.
Only they have no idea that the scare actors are real monsters that get off on hunting the depraved.
My body aches from digging traps all night.
There are several now stationed and hidden throughout the woods.
If any of the campers stray from the main paths, and let’s be real, they always do, they’ll be likely to fall into the 8ft holes.
There are many that have been outfitted with large wooden spikes, designed to kill on impact, turning the guests into human shish kabobs.
“What are you doing in here?” Hendricks asks leaning on my open-door frame.
“Just looking for something,” I reply, digging under my bed.
My fingers grip around the small innocuous black box. Bingo.
“What are you doing with that? You think this one, is it?”
I cock my eyebrow up at him with a smile splayed on my lips as I tuck the box into my jean pocket.
“I know she is.”
He crosses his arms over his chest and nods. “I felt it too.”
“This is it. Let’s go make that girl our bride,” I say, wrapping my arm around his neck. We head into the darkening forest, ready to stake our claim on her soul and make her ours forever.