The Devil's House

1

Chapter One

The First Encounter

The storm had been building all evening.

By midnight, it had become something almost alive.

Rain hammered the roof of Black Hollow Church, drowning out the last echoes of the service. Wind clawed through the surrounding trees, bending their branches until they scraped against the windows like fingernails.

Daniel stepped outside and pulled his coat tighter around himself.

For a moment, he stood beneath the church awning, listening to the storm.

Then he ran for his car.

The parking lot was nearly empty. Water streamed across the asphalt, reflecting the pale yellow glow of the lamps overhead. Daniel climbed behind the wheel, started the engine, and waited for the windshield wipers to clear a path through the rain.

The road home was only fifteen minutes.

He had driven it hundreds of times.

Tonight, it felt unfamiliar.

Daniel kept both hands on the wheel as he followed the winding highway through Black Hollow's dense woods. The trees crowded the road on either side, their silhouettes twisting in the headlights.

Thunder rolled somewhere beyond the hills.

Daniel glanced at the clock.

12:17 a.m.

He sighed.

Then something moved in the road.

At first, he thought it was an animal.

A deer, perhaps.

Then the headlights caught the figure fully.

A person stood in the middle of the highway.

Daniel's heart stopped.

The figure was dressed in a long, tattered black cloak. Rain poured over its shoulders, but somehow the fabric did not appear wet. Its face was hidden beneath a deep hood.

It simply stood there.

Watching.

Daniel slammed on the brakes.

The tires screamed against the pavement. The car fishtailed, sliding sideways before finally coming to a violent stop.

The front bumper stopped inches from the stranger.

Daniel sat frozen behind the wheel.

His breathing came fast.

The figure did not move.

"Hey!"

His voice sounded weak inside the car.

Nothing.

Daniel reached for the door handle, then stopped.

Something about the figure was wrong.

Not frightening in the ordinary sense.

Wrong.

As though it did not belong on the road—or anywhere in the world Daniel knew.

Lightning flashed.

For a fraction of a second, the hood shifted.

Daniel saw the suggestion of a face beneath it.

Then darkness returned.

The figure stepped forward.

One slow step.

Daniel's hand tightened around the steering wheel.