Chapter 2
Two
Acrash had me jerking up from the lumpy bed so fast I nearly threw my back out.
My eyes were wide, despite being asleep seconds ago, as I looked outside to confirm that it was still downpouring.
I tore the covers off me and leapt out of bed.
Had that been thunder? It had to have been. It was storming outside and a clap of thunder must have woken me.
I reached for the side table to check the digital alarm clock. 4:48 a.m.
I sighed. Great. Now I’d never get back to sleep?—
Another crash. This one unmistakably coming from inside the house.
Okay, definitely not thunder.
Despite my racing heart, my first instinct was to call out to see if it was Lori. Did she finally see my messages? Had she gotten home late and was checking on me?
I tiptoed to the door and opened it a crack. I peered out just in time to see the back of a very large, very shirtless man walking in the hallway.
I stifled my gasp with my hand and shut the door as quietly as my panic would allow.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
This was it for me. I had walked myself right into the middle of a horror movie. I’d naively brushed off my grandmother’s silence and now I was about to meet my tragic end.
It would probably make a great local headline: Idiot out of towner comes to stay at her grandmother’s house only to get murdered immediately.
Mystic’s town lore would eat that up and I’d be the next tall tale for sure.
Was Lori okay? Had this man done something to her?
I reached for my phone before remembering I’d stayed up late reading fan fiction on it and had been too lazy to get up to dig out my charger from my bag when it finally died.
Letting my phone always be on low battery or dead seemed like a harmless, quirky trait until now. Now it would be the reason I met my untimely end in this house.
Another clatter sounded from deeper in the house, like someone had dropped something in the bathroom sink.
Crap. What was I supposed to do?
I glanced out the window, rushing over and trying to slide it up, but it wouldn’t budge. It was one of those wooden ones that weighed a thousand pounds.
Probably for the best. Stepping outside onto the roof in this pouring rain would likely also be an immediate death sentence.
I’d have to make a run for it.
I pulled on the hoodie I’d abandoned in the middle of the night and stuffed my phone into the pocket. I stood at my door, pressing an ear to it. While I didn’t hear any additional crashes, there was the distinct, unmistakable sound of someone in the only bathroom upstairs. The sink faucet was on.
Someone broke into the guest house and was using the bathroom?
I didn’t have time to dwell on it. I sucked in a breath, and pulled open the door, cringing as I heard the loud creak of the wood groaning.
I peered out and said a silent thank you when I noticed the crack of light coming from underneath the bathroom door.
All I had to do was sneak past the door, go downstairs, grab my car keys that I left sitting on the hook by the door, and make a sprint for my car.
I could do this. Tonight would not be the night I died.
The door made another sound and I winced as I stepped out into the hallway. Nervous sweat coated my skin. Every time my foot hit the floor it squealed in protest.
Dammit.
Why did I have to sneak out of the loudest house in existence?
I squeezed my eyes shut as I crept down the hall. I wasn’t familiar enough to know which floor boards creaked loudest, so I had to keep going and hope for the best.
Right when I got to the bathroom door I hesitated for a second. I could still hear the faucet and…was that humming?
“Hello?” the deep voice said and I froze.
There was no sound for a moment as the faucet shut off.
I held my breath, not daring to move.
Finally after what felt like an eternity, the sound of the shower started up.
This was my chance.
A loud squeal sounded from under my feet as I took another step forward. Ice ran down my spine, but pure adrenaline kept me going.
I refused to go out like this. This would not be my downfall. I sucked in another deep breath and placed one foot in front of the other. Of course, the loudest screech in the history of screeches sounded from the floorboard directly underneath my foot.
Shit.
Before I could even react, the door to the bathroom swung open.
The man stepped into the doorway and leaned his hulking figure against the doorframe; his dark hair hung in his face and I could see tattoos covering his shoulders.
I barely had time to process him before I let out a blood curdling scream and bolted down the stairs.
The sound of footsteps behind me didn’t slow me down.
As soon as I reached the door, I slowed enough to swipe my keys off the hook.
I was terrified that at any moment I would feel a hand on me, pulling me back.
I unlocked the deadbolt and swung the door open.
The rain was so thick it was practically a wall, but I could just make out my car through it, all the way past the main house still in the driveway where I’d left it.
I was seconds away from freedom.
But before I could race out the door, it slammed shut right in my face, causing me to scream again.
“Shit. Sorry,” a panicked voice said behind me.
I spun around and the shirtless man was there, hovering. Without hesitation, I tore through the small living room and into the kitchen. I placed my hand on the back door and tried to turn the knob but it wouldn’t budge.
What the hell?
“You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep tugging like that,” the voice said from alarmingly close behind me. “And you can’t go running off into a storm that bad.”
I spun around and pressed my back to the door.
“Get out of my house!” I barked.
He just arched a perfect eyebrow.
Hell. This guy was hot. I’d been on a dating dry spell, so it was just my fucking luck that the most attractive man I’d met in recent history happened to be a murderer.
This was my karma for never getting on the online apps like my mom always begged me to.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” He frowned and crossed his arms.
I looked to my left and saw a knife block. I grabbed the handle and pulled and…nothing. It remained stuck in the block. I grabbed it with my other hand and pulled harder but it was like it was glued in there.
Instead, in a panic, I picked up the whole knife block and tried to hoist it over my head.
“Stay back!” I yelled.
“What are you going to do with that?—”
Before the question fully came out of his mouth I hurled the thing at him. Instead of making contact with his chest where I was aiming, the whole thing bounced directly off of air and flew to the other side of the kitchen, somehow abruptly halting before it slammed into the cabinet.
“What the…”
My eyes went wide as I turned to face him. He had his hands held out in front of his chest.
“Can we just calm down?” he asked in an annoyingly even voice.
I screamed again and he brought his hands to his ears.
“Can you please stop doing that?”
“Who are you?” I demanded, hugging my arms around myself because I was completely defenseless. “What are you doing here?”
“I can explain everything.”
I scoffed.
“I can! You must be Josie, right?”
“How do you know that? Do you have my grandmother tied up in the basement or something? Where is she?”
His lips parted in shock. “What, no. Not at all. She talks about you. I’ve seen your picture.” He held up his hands then and took a few steps back. “My name is Theo. She’s been letting me stay here for a while.”
“Then where is she?” Once he was on the other side of the room I felt like I could breathe again.
“She’s out of town for a few days seeing an old client who can’t travel.”
That was believable as far as explanations went. I didn’t know much about her business, but when I’d stayed here last summer she’d spent a night away traveling to a client.
“When did you get here?” I demanded.
“The full moon before last,” he said and I nearly snorted, because what the hell kind of response was that?
“Why were you up in the middle of the night?”
He held up his hands. “I was showering.”
“In the middle of the night?” I pressed.
He tilted his head. “The storm woke me up. I figured I’d get an early start on the day.”
He’d been in the other room the whole damned time? Wow, I should really learn to clear a place before just crashing.
I took in his pleading eyes and the panic that had been rising nonstop finally started to dissolve.
It helped that this mystery man wasn’t outright attacking me.
He looked slightly concerned if anything.
But his massive size wasn’t helping him look less intimidating.
Granted, the ceiling wasn’t the tallest, but his head was inches away from grazing it.
And then I remembered how the knife block had bounced off of nothing right in front of his freaking body.
Unease settled in place of the panic and I sidestepped until my back was at the open living room instead of directly against a door that had somehow been sealed shut.
“What are you?” My voice was barely above a whisper.
“Me? What?” He ran his hand through his hair. “I’m nothing.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to quell my rapidly beating heart. “Don’t gaslight me. I saw the knife block fly across the room. And why did the front door slam in my face? And why”—I took a step toward the back door and tugged at the knob again to no avail—“Does this door not budge?”
He opened his mouth and closed it in a frown before shrugging. “Rusty hinges?”
“Tell me the truth or I swear to god I will scream so loud the neighbors a mile away will hear.”
His face scrunched in disapproval. He tipped his head back and let out a long sigh. “Fine. But you can’t panic, okay?”
I nodded, even though I had no idea how my mind or body would react.
“I’m…I’m not from around here.”
I raised my eyebrows and waved my hands. “And?”
He licked his lips and ran a hand through his damp hair. “I got into some trouble and your grandma has been letting me stay here.”
“Okay, great. A criminal not from around here. Still doesn’t explain the heavy ass piece of wood flying through the air like it was nothing!”
His lip turned down. “I wouldn’t say criminal.”
“What would you say?”
He shrugged and looked at me haplessly, as if hoping I’d come to some conclusion on my own.
“Are you…are you possessed or something?”
“What?”
“Demonic? Is that it?”
“No, not at all..” He swiped a hand across his jaw.
“Then what?”
“I guess…I guess you would call me a warlock.”