Page 25 of Autumn Ritual

Sara watched with interest, head cocked to the side as she studied me. I turned to her and waited.

“Won’t you join us for some cookies? They’re not half bad,” she finally said and pushed her paper plate in my direction.

I knew that if I sat down, I would never leave.

“Not this time.” I smiled, softly, only for her.

The tips of her cheeks flushed pink. “Catch you around, then.”

Oh, yes, angel, you will.

Chapter 10 – Sara

As I opened the front door, a gust of wind blew something silky right in my face.

With a yelp, I jumped, missed the top two steps, and barely kept from spraining my ankle as my foot clipped the middle.

I clung to the wrought iron railing, breathing ragged, and swiped at the white strands. They stuck to my shoulders—to my hair! I stifled a squeal, imagining eight tiny legs prickling over my scalp.

But as I pulled the strands, my racing mind reached the conclusion that it was synthetic fibers. It was just one of the Halloween decorations. As usual, Drusilla Ravello had spared no expense to decorate Raven Manor for the spooky season. Relief made me sag forward.

A giant spider wasn’t going to kill me.

Since I’d already been thinking of a new scene with monsters my heroine needed to kill, my squirrel brain overlapped fiction with reality. Instinct jumped to the conclusion that Drew’s Halloween décor was going to kill me.

I needed to get out of here!

I’d left the “family” dinner my father dragged me to, slipping out before the meat course. A new idea for my book just popped in my head as I chewed the bruschetta. There was no force on earth strong enough to keep me from thinking about the vivid details. I stopped hearing the conversation. I felt my heroine’s pain. I planned to talk the scene into my phone in the car, and then have it transcribed on my laptop once I got to the lake house. That process usually yielded subpar results, but this scene was just too emotional to wait!

Which was why being attacked by fake spider webs sent me into a fight or flight response.

I swatted at the damn silk, feeling it tangle in my hair. The glasses shifted down my nose, and I shoved them back in place, feeling a strand of web catch in the temple’s hinge.

“Here, let me help,” a gravelly voice offered.

Spinning around, I stared up into a pair of beautiful brown eyes. Flecks of golden sunset flickered in his irises.

“Cam! Hi,” I gasped. “Didn’t know you were out here.”

“Just…taking a break.” He cocked his head. “You?”

He didn’t have his cigarettes. There was no scent of menthol. Maybe he’d stopped.

Good for him.

I shrugged—and felt the spider web caress my throat. With a hiss, I clawed at it. The silken material tore. Despite its delicate properties, it stuck just fine to my hair.

“Stand still,” he groused.

I froze when his huge hand reached out. But he was gentle as he pulled the strands from my hair.

My skin ached at the memory of that gentle touch. Warmth spread through me. I coughed to shake off the feelings.

“Drew just loves her holiday decorations,” I quipped. I’d known Drusilla my whole life, and while I was the quiet kid in class, Drew grew up into a high maintenance woman who never apologized for her larger than life personality.

There was a wraith hanging from the vaulted ceiling of the stoop. Skeletons peered from their hiding spots in the shrubbery. There were pumpkins, stalks of corn, twinkling orange lights, and far too many cobwebs. And that was only the front of the house!

“I heard that she decorated the back field with zombies this year,” I said, flicking a glance to the wooded area and the pasture beyond. Her parents, Lucian and Bree Ravello had been engaged out there. Rumor had it a knife had been involved after a gun fight. I shuddered. The Ravellos were a psychotic family. “Have you been out there?”