From Darkness Comes: The Horror Box Set by Scott Nicholson, J. Thorn, Tw Brown, Kealan Patrick Burke, Michaelbrent Collings, Mainak Dhar, Brian James Freeman, Glynn James Read Free Book Online

last nerve. Maybe she was a friend of Belinda’s.
    “ My name is…Adrianna Montevicci.”
    The way she said those five words (did you just go back and count? Sheesh!), it was like she expected them to mean som ething to me. Too bad for her.
    “You were in Estacada last night, correct.” That was a statement, not a question. Okay, big whoop-di-doo, so she knew where I was last night. Anybody could have known. It wasn’t like I was keeping it a secret. “You had a young girl with you.” Still no big deal. “And you stood outside the Suds Shack and had a lengthy conversation with a blonde vampire.” Okay, just got interesting.
    “So, Adrianna, I can call you that…right? I mean you don’t sound old or nothing, so I probably don’t have to call you Ms. Montevicci or ma’am, right?”
    There was a brief pause. I believe I felt a slight chill come through the receiver.
    “Perhaps this conversation would be better if we met in person,” Adrianna said. The only thing being that I wasn’t too thrilled with how she said it. Imagine if spiders suddenly had the ability to speak. Now, picture them calling up all the flies and little flying bugs in the neighborhood and inviting them over.
    “Maybe I should pick the place and time?” It was the best I could think of on the fly (no pun intended). I have had a few friends who dipped into the online dating thing the past few years. Well, ‘friends’ is probably overstating it, but you get the picture. So the number one thing I always heard them talking about was that you always met in a very public place that first time just in case they were total creeps.
    “Okay,” Adrianna agreed. Did she sound amused? Hmm.
    “Meet me at the Voodoo Doughnut on Davis,” I said.
    “How cute.” The way she said those two very simple words made me want to slap her. If I didn’t know better, I would swear that she was toying with me. That image of the spider kept co ming to mind.
    “You gonna be there or not?”
    “I will, and may I suggest that you not bring your little human friend with you when you come.”
    Before I could say a thing, she hung up. Now I was more than just a little concerned. Not only did she know about what Belinda was, but she also referred to Lisa as ‘my’ human. That screamed supernatural. The problem I had was that I just did not know enough about what might be out there. I guess the only thing to do was to go and meet this spider…er, I mean, woman.
    I went back up to my room and grabbed my larger carry bag. I’m sorry, girls. I just can’t call that thing a purse. You could fit a small child in it.
    I went into my closet and found a few necessities: silver cross, holy water, all three kinds of salt, a decorative wooden stake and mallet that Lisa had purchased online. It was supposed to be a novelty item…if they only knew. I had no clue if any of this stuff would be helpful, but I wasn’t going to just walk in and meet whoever this was and not be at least a little prepared.
     

 
    4
    Sunglasses at Night
     
    “So you are just going to meet this person with no sort of backup?” Lisa huffed.
    “I made sure that we would meet in a public place,” I said as I tossed my bag in the passenger seat.
    “Yeah…and that worked out so well in Estacada. A vampire snuck up on you, hexed me, and vanished into thin air. And shall we bring up the whole chunk of your memory that you lost?”
    “I got it back,” I insisted. At least I think I did…most of it at least.
    “This is a bad idea, Ava.” There was something in Lisa’s voice that I wasn’t used to hearing. That’s probably why I didn’t know what it was right away. It took me a few minutes.
    “Are you worried about me?”
    “Of course I am , you idiot!” Lisa actually had that shiny look in her eyes, the type people get when they are right on the verge of crying.
    “Look, I really appreciate it…you have no idea how much.” And she didn’t. Maybe that was part of the problem.