Bitten By Desire

CHAPTER 1

Note:

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SATURDAY

Ten years ago

I squinted out the windshield as I drove slowly up the winding path. This couldn't possibly be the right place. We were in the middle of nowhere. "Are you sure it was a left instead of a right back there?"

"Positive," my roommate Zoey said. "It should be just past this next bend."

"I don't see anything."

"Just keep driving. I promise it's there."

Who the hell would live all the way out here? "We drove past campus ten minutes ago. There's no way the party is this far away, in the middle of a forest."

"Do I look like someone who a guy would give a fake invite to?" asked Zoey.

I laughed. "No." A guy would be foolish to stand Zoey up. I looked over at her. "Especially since every shirt you own shows off way too much stomach or way too much cleavage."

"Eyes on the road, Emma!" she yelled.

My tires screeched on the pavement as something ran in front of my car in the darkness. I swerved off the road, landing us in a ditch. "What the hell was that?" It felt like my heart was in my throat as I stared off into the forest where I thought the animal had run. But I couldn't see a damn thing.

Zoey leaned forward, pressing her hands against the dashboard. "I don't know. A fox, maybe?"

"That was way bigger than a fox."

"You didn't hit it, did you?"

"I don't think so?"

"What do you mean you don't think so?" Zoey unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the car. "Shit."

God, had I hit it? I climbed out too and walked in front of the headlights. I didn't see any blood or anything. I turned to look in the forest. Had it crawled in there? And seriously, what the heck was that thing?

"We have a problem," Zoey said.

I turned to see her pointing to our popped tire instead of a dead animal. "Crap."

She pulled out her cell phone. "Do you have any service out here?"

I went back to the car and grabbed my camera and my phone. "Zero bars," I said. "Please tell me you know how to change a flat tire?"

"What about my outfit is screaming that I know how to do that?"

The sound of branches cracking made us both spin around. But there was no one there. "Hello?" I called out into the darkness.

The only response was the chilly wind.

"Hello?!" I called a little louder. I turned back to Zoey. "And this is where we die." I lifted my camera and snapped a picture. "The last photo you'll ever be in."

She laughed. "Nonsense." She pushed my camera out of the way. "The house really is right around the bend. Past all those trees."

What was she talking about? We were in a freaking forest. There was no clearing.

"And there are going to be tons of hot, athletic guys there to help us change our tire," said Zoey.

"There's nothing out here." I gestured to the stretch of darkness in front of us. "If there was a house there'd be lights. Or some kind of semblance of humanity."