Chapter One
In retrospect, she shouldn’t have listened to a devil.
But she had, and now Romy was freezing her butt off in the middle of nowhere on Halloween night. Sunrise could not come fast enough.
“Romy! Are you at the party? Are there hot guys there? Any film people?” her younger sister, Piper, was chirping away on the other end of the phone. “Your pic looked soooo cute. That angel costume was the perfect choice!”
“It would have been perfect if we actually went to the party,” Romy muttered, keeping her voice low as she trailed behind the costumed group heading through the parking lot. “But after I got in the car in my skimpy, white sexy angel outfit, Brad announced that he lied.”
“WHAT.”
“Yeah. He knew I wouldn’t come to a haunted house so he kept it a secret until we were on the way.”
Piper said, “What’s this haunted house? Where are you? I’m going to look it up.”
“It’s somewhere near Serenbe, which is outside Atlanta… somewhere. I have no idea, actually. There’s trees and it’s dark.” She raised her voice to catch the group’s attention. “Where are we again?”
A brunette dressed like sexy nurse squealed, “Hellgate Hollow! It’s the scariest haunted attraction in America!”
“Oh, it beat out Mar-a-Lago?”
“Shut up, Romy,” Brad said, his glittery devil horns catching the faint light. “Halloween isn’t political. We’re just having fun.”
“Ah, yes. Getting chased by zombies, werewolves, and vampires. Super fun.” She glared at her date, in his black and red costume. When they’d started dating a month ago, he’d seemed way more attentive and sweet. Maybe he was forgetting to put on the act now that he had her.
“Hellgate Hollow,” she told her sister. “There have been articles about it in the news, now that I remember. It’s going to totally suck.”
“Don’t go in,” Piper said. “Just wait outside until they’re done. Then dump his ass as soon as you get back home.”
“I can’t. It’s like an escape room kind of thing. And there’s also a nightclub inside, so people stay for hours to get their money’s worth.”
“Call a rideshare.”
“Girl, we are not in the city. That ride would cost hundreds.”
“Ugh, then ditch them and just go directly to the nightclub. Meet a hot guy and get him to drive you home. Either way, dump what’s-his-name like yesterday. You can do so much better.”
“Yeah, that’s why I was single for three years,” Romy reminded her.
“You were in school! Studying hard. Listen. You look amazing in your costume. Go for it. Send me pics of inside.”
“I can’t,” Romy said. “They take everyone’s phones at the gate.”
“Excuse me, what.” Now Piper sounded really horrified.
“Yeah, it’s supposed to make it scarier. And they don’t want you to cheat on the escape room puzzles or help people out. You get your phone back when you leave.”
“That’s the dumbest thing ever.”
“No, I’m the dumbest thing ever for getting roped into this.” At least her friend Diamond was here too. “I’ll call you on the other side, okay? Love you.”
“Love you, sis!”
After they were herded through the big entrance, they went through security. Their phones went into locked bags, like at a coat check.
“You can’t hide much under that, can you?” the guard asked as he smirked at her.
Brad found her and put his arm around her waist. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Yeah, having the time of my life. What are we supposed to do first?”
“They’ll open that big gate thing and then we can go into the woods. That’s when the fun starts!”
Romy’s satin dress was skintight and barely hit midthigh. It wasn’t sleeveless, thank the lord, but the sleeves were barely there. The feathered wings she wore tied to her back with a ribbon were, sadly, the warmest thing she had on.
They joined the mass of people waiting. The gate started to creak open, and then strobe lights flashed and figures leapt out at them.
Half the people started to scream and run into the dark forest beyond.
Romy stifled her own fright and hurried after them.
“Stay together! We’re supposed to be a team! ”
It was useless. Several people were already drunk or high, and no one seemed to be focused on getting through the haunted house part of the night, even though the “prize” was getting access to the vampire-themed nightclub to party until dawn.
A sexy schoolgirl had tripped right out of the gate, only to be pounced on by a hissing vampire.
Diamond, who was cool and not drunk, gave Romy a sympathetic glance. She was dressed as a sexy scientist, because she studied biology at Spelman, and because this group contained exactly none of her classmates.
“Oooh, it’s so dark out here!” a sexy librarian called out. “I want a light!”
“You have to earn it by solving a puzzle,” Diamond announced. “Somewhere. I hope we get to it early.”
“What other things do we have to do?” Romy asked.
“Um, find a key, go through a maze, mix a potion…” Diamond was still talking, but Romy was at the back of the group and Diamond was moving toward the front, natural leader that she was. The trees were getting closer to the path, forcing the group to string out into double, then single file.
They hadn’t gone too far, having already evaded a group of actors shambling around like the undead, when Brad grabbed her by the hand.
“Romy, baby, come over here,” he said in a low voice, holding her back from their group.
“What’s wrong? We should stick with the others.”
“Don’t be a baby, baby. We’ll catch up when we’re done.” He pulled her into the trees, far enough that she couldn’t see the path anymore.
“I don’t want to get lost. Done with what?”
He smiled. “I was just thinking about how fine you look in your little angel getup.”
“I don’t feel fine. It’s freezing out here. You know, a gentleman would offer his jacket.”
“Want to get me out of my clothes, huh?” He shrugged his jacket off, but instead of handing it to her, he dropped it on the ground. Then he unzipped his fly.
Romy’s jaw went slack. “Are you serious right now? We’re being chased by zombies.”
“Life or death situations make it hotter. Just like the movies. Come on, baby girl. Show me what your mouth can do. You know I love it.”
She rolled her eyes. He wanted her to give him a blow job, in the middle of the woods where anyone—living, dead, or paid to act somewhere in between—could just walk by.
“How about no,” she said. “It’s forty degrees, I’m in a bad mood, and if you think I’m going to drop to my knees in a pile of decaying plant matter, I will show you something else my mouth can do, and you better cover your ears.”
“Romy, you got to live a little. Don’t be so uptight.”
“Uptight?”
“Yeah, uptight. Like you always are. Running around, acting like you’re better than everyone…”
“I do not!”
He frowned. “You never shut up about your classes, your papers, your dumb conferences…”
A strangled moan cut into their argument. Several zombies were shuffling toward them, making disgusting slobbering sounds. Romy couldn’t remember what happened if you got “captured” by the zombies, but she knew that getting stuck in Halloween jail less than thirty minutes into the night would suck.
“Jesus, Brad! We got separated from the group and now we’re going to get jailed or whatever.”
“Blood,” the zombies started repeating, sounding hungry. “Blood, blood, blood!”
Brad’s eyes widened, and he hastily reached for his zipper.
He yelled, “Take her! Not me, take her!” Grabbing Romy by the shoulders, he tried to shove her between him and the zombie horde. “Here you go! Take the angel!”
Furious, Romy ducked down and spun, giving Brad a face full of feathers as she got a glimpse of haggard white faces in various states of decay. Yikes, the makeup on these guys was top-notch.
Brad moved, tripping her, making her stumble. Romy tried to sidestep, to escape this mess with the fake undead. One moaned louder, reaching out with both arms.
She instantly moved back, and gave a short scream when her foot didn’t touch the ground. She turned her head as she tried to regain her footing. But there was no ground there. She had stepped into space, like a sexy Wile E. Coyote.
And then she fell.