Shadow Lover (Siren Publishing Allure) Read Free Page A

Slowly her doubting eyes shifted between the two men. “Isn't it?"
    "Little lady, you ain’t gonna find no joggers or bicycles on that road.” The old man who spoke had something caked in the corner of his mouth, and she could smell the overpowering odor of wet snuff as he pushed his face close to hers. “That piece of land belongs to the devil, pure and simple. Why, they’s a man livin’ up there that eats people,"
    "And they's a graveyard with bones spread all over creation," another man offered as he too jumped down off the porch.
    Chyna could feel herself getting dizzy as she turned to one voice, and then another.
    "You'd do well to stay away from it, missy. A pretty little thing like you don't wanna go and get herself all chawed up like a chunk o’ chewin’ tobaccy."
    Before Chyna knew what was happening, all the men had come down from the porch and were crowded around her, apparently talking about their favorite subject.
    A new face and voice pushed forward. "I think they's some kinda spell on it, that's whut I think. It's dark and lonely, and—"
    "I've heard tell all kinds of weird sounds comes driftin' down that ol' road," another voice lifted, interrupting the first.
    "Sounds?" Chyna asked the latest speaker.
    "You know, screams and sech."
    “But it’s birds, jus…” Chyna said, turning to one, then the other, but no one would listen.
    "Gives me goose pimples jes' talkin' about it," the caked snuff said, shaking himself and rubbing his hands along his frail arms.
    Chyna continued turning to the different voices, hoping she could get a word in, but by now the men were talking mostly to each other, and slowly drifted back up to the porch. Chyna had been left confused and curious while standing alone beside her car. “It’s the friggin’ birds,” she muttered angrily, while turning abruptly to reposition her grocery bags. “By the way, thanks for the help, creep, and keep your filthy boots off my car.” She leaned down to check the damage while muttering, “Screams, bones, eating people, sheee!”
    Thinking the whole thing was ridiculous, she tried to put it out of her mind, but couldn’t seem to resist listening to the old men’s conversation and picking up a word here and there. She knew she was purposely taking her time, and didn’t understand why she wanted to hear something that was nothing more than back fence gossip. The wild tales of these snuff-sucking old men had managed to bring something to life in her—something she’d hoped had been dead and buried.
    Finally, not being able to find anything else to consume her time, she reluctantly got in her car and pulled out. As she drove she couldn’t put it out of her mind. Before when she felt it coming on, she’d always tried to ignore it, push it down, crush it—hell even starve it, but nothing helped. Why did she even try? She knew better. It had come back to haunt her, and there was nothing she could do about it. There were pills for everything these days. Everything from simple headaches to that time of the month. If there was only a pill she could take when she felt herself coming down with a big case of writer's curiosity. She bit her lip, knowing where it would eventually lead her.
    Down that dark, rutted old road.

Chapter 2
     
    Later that night Chyna lay on her bed dividing her time between reading and watching an old classic movie on TV, neither one getting her full attention. Her gaze lifted when she heard a deep guttural sound, and saw the Frankenstein monster walking stiffly toward the camera, his hands outstretched. A tiny thread of fear chilled her spine at the sight of the tall, foreboding castle silhouetted against a luminous collection of clouds in varying shades of gray. The monster seemed to be walking through a field of tombstones, his enormous feet causing a sinister sound of crunching, scraping, and crushing.
    She leaned her head down and rubbed her forehead. The headache had finally gone away, but now she was