Once they were outside the restaurant, she looped the leash around the faux-wood horse hitch and hung his sign around his neck. It read, “I’m waiting for my owner and love pets.” Bentley’s mouth opened in a smile as kids squealed and headed over.
She ran a hand over her ax and glanced at her hunting partner. “I thought you said this was only going to take a few minutes?”
Keegan shrugged his thin shoulders. “That’s what I was told, but…”
But the spindly vampires still hadn’t appeared after nearly an hour
She has halfway across the dirt parking lot when Keegan called out. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, stop.”
Chelsea didn’t stop walking, but she did slow down. “What do you want?”
Keegan jogged up to her. “Nothing.” Then he shrugged. “Maybe a ride to the next town.”
The smoke swirled and moved, circling a body. The creature was hard to see, more impression than presence. Vaguely human and totally translucent, hidden as much by its nature as the dancing water droplets that danced on the wind, between the leaves and wisps of smoke.
The door to the haunt both attracted and repelled Chelsea. She hunted monsters and needed to talk to others who did so. But she didn’t have too many positive experiences with other hunters.
*Dead boyfriends and broken hearts don’t make for return customers.*
Words That Burn Like Fire 