Chapter One. #2
Kate was still quite shy, while Nanci was the total opposite.
They met at my women’s club and, strangely enough, hit it off.
They were becoming fast friends, something I was grateful for.
Despite Kate befriending the Rage, Hellfire, and Hawthorne women, she hadn’t had a close confidant until now.
Nanci and Kate were as thick as thieves, which was why I’d agreed to this outing.
Persuading Adam I didn’t need a bodyguard because I had Inglorious had been a real issue.
Now I wished Adam were with us. We were meant to be heading to a haunted hotel.
Drake had mentioned it within Nanci’s earshot, and she’d got a bee in her bonnet about staying there, too.
Inglorious and I found ourselves booking into the venue without a by-your-leave and driving there today. I didn’t care because Kate was ecstatic about visiting it. Whatever made my woman happy, made me happy. It was that simple. Only, Inglorious had gotten us lost.
“There’s a house up ahead,” Nanci cried.
“Is that the place?” I asked.
“No, it’s far too big,” Kate mused as she considered the daunting edifice in front of us.
A shiver ran down my spine. This didn’t seem welcoming at all. Slowly, we drove past a sign, and Kate gasped.
“It’s called the Washington Inn,” she said as she stared at the hanging board.
“That’s convenient,” Inglorious muttered, and I smacked him around the back of his head. Inglorious sent me a dark look.
The road we were driving on led us around the back of the mansion, because that’s what it was, and towards the front. I was surprised to see two other cars parked nearby.
Kate squealed. “That’s Phoe’s minivan!”
“What?” I asked, wondering if we’d been set up. Shit, was this one of Phoe’s fright nights? We stopped close by, and I saw Drake and Chance gazing through their windscreen at us in surprise. Or maybe not, judging by the looks on their faces.
“James, I don’t think I want to go inside that,” Kate murmured, staring at the building.
“No, me neither,” Nanci agreed, and I was amused that her ball-busting attitude seemed to have deserted her when faced with the horror movie prop in front of us.
“Well, I’m not getting out to talk to them. You got us lost, I nominate you,” I said to Inglorious, who glowered. The rain was lashing down, and although it was cold, I was dry. Let him get wet!
Sabine
“Will you two idiots stop fighting for five minutes?” I snapped as I gazed out of the rear window at the flooded road.
Daniel had gotten us completely lost as Lucian proved he had no idea how to read a map. The Marquess Blackwood, my husband Daniel and the Earl of Castleton, Lucian, clearly had no sense of direction. Twin frowns were aimed at us as Maggie and I sighed once more.
It had been my suggestion for Daniel and Lucian to spend time together, and it was something I was starting to regret bitterly. Without the rest of the Rakehell Six and the Nortons to provide a buffer, their constant taunts were getting on my last nerve.
“This is fun,” Maggie muttered, and I snorted in amusement.
The sweet woman had agreed. Since the war to beat Margery, we’d been trying to help the Rakehell Six and the Nortons bond.
Lucifer—yes, the fallen angel Lucifer—had hinted that something bigger was coming, and we had no idea what.
But I realised deep down that our two groups needed to find common ground.
We could and had done that to vanquish Margery and her wickedness.
This trip—lasting a month—had included our visiting some of the sights Maggie and I had longed to visit. Salem, Savannah, and several other places. We’d been driving to Rapid City after spending a couple of days in Nebraska when this storm broke.
The sat nav had crashed, and Daniel, making a mistake, had taken a wrong turn, and we’d ended up on a pothole-filled back lane.
I’d been bemused when we’d driven over a stone bridge.
But then Daniel had insisted on driving through what he called a small puddle.
It hadn’t been shallow, and we’d barely made it through.
Now we were stuck. That had started Lucian’s nitpicking, and he and Daniel had gone at it.
Thank God St John wasn’t present with Henrietta.
“If you don’t shut up, I’m going to get out and walk,” Maggie suddenly snarled, and our husbands’ heads snapped towards us.
“It’s pouring with rain, you’ll get ill,” Lucian baulked.
“Then stop fighting. If we can’t go back, there is only one way forward. Take it and be quiet! You’re both giving Sabine and me a headache,” Maggie retorted.
Lucian pursed his lips together, to my amusement, as Daniel started moving the car again.
“The road is flooding even more behind us,” I murmured as I peeked over my shoulder.
“It’s also getting colder,” Maggie agreed as her teeth clashed together.
Lucian turned the heating in the car up and glanced at Maggie and me. Worry was present on his face, which matched Daniel’s. I knew they were troubled, but the constant sniping at each other didn’t help matters. Minutes ticked past as the weather seemed to worsen.
“Is this magical?” I asked, and Lucian stiffened.
“I don’t think so,” he replied.
“The weatherman said this was the Storm of the Century,” Daniel added.
“He also claimed it appeared out of nowhere.”
“We weren’t exactly shy about our travel plans,” Daniel drawled, and for once, Lucian agreed.
“No. We should have been more careful,” Lucian declared without any smugness.
“Possibly, but too late now. We need to find somewhere to hole up and ride this out,” I replied as I gazed into the darkness.
“There are lights ahead,” Lucian announced, peering into the shadows. He pointed something out to Daniel, and Daniel drove towards it. A huge mansion appeared, and I gaped and frowned.
“What on earth is that doing here?” Maggie muttered.
“No idea, but the whole thing gives me the heebie-jeebies,” I confessed, staring at the terrifying house.
“There are cars ahead, three of them and people in them,” Daniel said as we pulled up next to another car. A woman stared out at us, looking puzzled as we gazed back at her.
“What now?” I asked after several moments.
“I don’t know,” Daniel admitted.
Car doors swung open, and passengers got out. The men wore jeans and long-sleeved Henleys, along with what I recognised as a motorcycle club cut.
“We might be in trouble here,” Maggie muttered.
“Ya think?” I snipped, and Maggie sent me a quelling look.
Other car doors opened, and more people climbed out. After exchanging a glance, we did too and were soaked within seconds.
“Who are you?” Daniel demanded, approaching.
One of the men turned to us. “Who the hell are you?” he pushed back.
“I’m the Marquess Blackwood, and this is my wife.” I sent Daniel a sideways glance, and he sighed. “You may call us Daniel and Sabine. This is the Earl of Castleton and his wife,” Daniel replied, and we received several stunned stares. Daniel stared at Lucian, who grumbled.
“You can call me Lucian, and this is Maggie.”
“On your way to a fancy dress party?” one of the men asked, nodding at our attire. We wore clothing from Daniel’s time. It prompted a lot of looks and comments, but we were all comfortable in it. Let people say what they wish!
“Drake, shut up!” a woman snapped. She turned to us and dropped a small head bow and smacked the man called Drake across the stomach.
“I’m Phoenix Michaelson. This is my husband, Drake.
You can call me Phoe,” Phoenix pointed to the fellow who’d spoken.
“My lord, I’ve heard of you. I still keep up to date with what’s happening in England, even though I live in the States now.
This is Chance, Drake’s cousin, and his wife Clio, Calamity and his wife Rosie, and that’s James Washington with his wife Kate and Inglorious and his old lady Nanci.
I’ve no idea who they are.” Phoe turned to the pair she hadn’t introduced.
“Hello, we know you. We met and discussed motorbikes once,” the woman who hadn’t been introduced said with a smile. Phoe had been looking at her.
“Emmaline?” Phoenix drawled, appearing to rack her brain before smiling brightly.
“Yes, and this is my husband, Vladimir. Are you all lost, too?”
“We are. We were making our way to a haunted inn for Halloween. Drake took a wrong turn. Calamity, Chance and their women were with us,” Phoe said with a glare at her husband. “I don’t know why you’re all here.” Phoe nodded at the man called James.
“Nanci and Kate had the same idea as you; we had no idea you were heading this way, too,” James replied.
I was on edge. Ten of the people here knew each other. I observed how Vladimir positioned himself to protect Emmaline in case someone made a wrong move.
“Did you all get lost? How did you get past the tree that dropped down behind us?” Drake asked.
“We drove over a bridge that became submerged,” I replied.
“We went through a back road that was also flooded,” James said.
“Same here,” Vladimir added.
“We’re all soaked through,” Maggie interrupted, shoving wet hair out of her eyes. “Is anyone going to knock?”
“Hell no, not before we know why a French-style mansion is out in the middle of nowhere America,” Emmaline muttered.
“It does have French influence,” I agreed.
“The damn thing also looked freaking haunted, or it has a mass murderer living there,” Kate said.
“Who’s knocking?” Phoe demanded. “They might let us wait it out inside.”
“You want to go in there?” I gasped, horrified.
“Beats getting back in the cars soaking wet.” Phoe shrugged.
I was cold, soaked, and shivering, but I still had room for amusement as all the men present swapped glances, but nobody moved to climb the stairs to knock.
“I’ll go!” Nanci declared with exasperation and started walking.
Inglorious plastered himself to Nanci’s back and hauled her to him. A creaking noise, audible over the pounding rain, caught our attention, and to our horror, the double doors of the entrance began slowly opening.
A bright yellow light spilled into the darkness as a figure appeared and studied us.