Red Light: A Dark Stalker Romance (Book One) (Dangerous Games Series)

Chapter One - Alanna

I stepped over the threshold of my new house and sighed happily. My brother shoved in behind me and stomped towards the kitchen with three boxes stacked high. He was such an ass. But I needed male muscle to make short work of this move, and with dad being three years gone, Rodney was the only real man in my life. Plus mom could make him help me.

"Rod, make sure you're putting the boxes where they go! Don't just throw them all in one spot!" My mom yells as she heaves her own box over the threshold. The house was actually my fathers childhood home. I wish I knew more about his childhood now that I'm going to be living here. It would be nice to be able to picture him running through the halls or being measured against the wall. I sniff back some tears as I stand next to my mom.

She bumps my arm with hers and gives me an encouraging smile. She understood why I wanted to live here. Sure Grandma Carver had died here, but that didn't bother me at all. I'd actually always been into the supernatural and wanted to see if her spirit was still lingering. Rodney thought I was morbid. But mom knew it was a way to be closer to dad. Plus, it was a free house. Who turns down a free house?

The only real downside was I was in the middle of nowhere. My dad had grown up in a small town down south of where I grew up. A very small town. Like no Starbucks or WalMart small. There was however a McDonalds. Those hoes were everywhere. Tempting people with their cheap delicious burgers and salty fries. I may be buying lunch sooner than later.

I blink back the tears and head up the stairs to my new bedroom to put down my box. I'd have to do some cleaning out as I unpacked, but I would make a whole thing out of it. It's not like I didn't have the time. I was a freelance journalist, and I was in between gigs. I had savings that would float me a couple months until I really needed to hunt down my next job. But I wanted to take the time to get to know the house, and unpack, not to mention sort through Grandma Carver's stuff and throw out anything I don't want or need.

I was really excited to go through her life and learn all I could about her. I had gotten a lot closer to her in the last three years. Rodney had stayed as far away as he could. I think both reactions were totally natural. When your father dies young, you react in different ways depending on your sorrow. Mine made me reach outwards, Rodney's made him pull inwards. He was a lot more quiet and sullen than he used to be.

Mom was worried about him, that's why she hadn't kicked him out yet, even though he was twenty-two now and fully capable of getting his own place. Plus, I think having him around helped her some too. I, on the other hand, had come and stayed with Grandma Carver many times over the past three years. I'd fallen in love with the house during that time and Grandma Carver had told me it would be mine when she was gone. I hadn't believed her, but here I was.

I push my way into my new bedroom and take it in. I'd never been in Grandma Carver's room before, it didn't look anything like the rest of the house, which was decidedly dark in nature. Soft yellow wallpaper with little white flowers covered half the wall, the other half was wood paneling painted white to go with the wallpaper. There were gauzy white drapes on the windows that did nothing to keep out sun or stares, not that there was anyone around for miles. No, I had a whole heck of a lot of land to go with my brand new house.

White wicker furniture adorned the walls, even the bookcase was wicker. I didn't even know they made wicker bookcases. A few years back I'd have been able to sell all this furniture for crazy prices. Not that I would. But wicker had been in. Heck, maybe it still was. Who knew? There were fake flowers strategically placed around the room, and all the tables had doilies. I smiled. I'd leave the doilies. I'd always thought they looked nice. But I've always been old at heart.

The bed sat across from the door, with a gauzy canopy over top of the yellow and white quilt with a white afghan folded on the end. The pillows had lace and looked purely decorative. There were plump pillows behind them that were for actual use. There was a big dome lidded trunk at the end of the bed, I walked over to it and lifted the lid. Inside were linens and space for the decorative pillows at night.