Opal Cove

His Bite is the Sweetest Poison ~ 1

Prologue

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Why do these things happen to me? Why couldn't this have happened to someone else? I just wanted to go to school; you know get a job and enjoy my life. Okay maybe I haven't been enjoying my life lately but hey what's a girl to do. I just moved here and I haven't really had a chance to socialize. Well I chose not to but that's not the point. I just want to be normal again is that too much to ask!

"Allison...where are you?" Came the voice from somewhere to the left of the graveyard. "Come out Allison I won't hurt you I promise."

Ha! Ya right like I'm going to go out there so he could kill me. No way!

"Come on Allison, you know you can't hide forever. What happens when those things find out you're missing and come looking? What will you do then? Because they will come and we both know you could not live with yourself if something happened to them. After all that's why you came out here isn't it? To make sure that nothing happens to them. Isn't that right?"

Crap! He's right. They'll come when they find out I'm not at the house and then they will track me here. Why didn't I think of that sooner? I can't let them get hurt by this guy. I have to do something but what? She looked around to see if there was anything around her she could use as a weapon. Of course with her bad luck she was not surprised there was nothing in sight not even a bunch a flowers she could hopefully throw in his face. Great, nothing. Why does this always happen to me?

SNAP!

Allison whipped around to the location where the noise came from. Was that him? How did he get so close without her knowing? She peered over the top of the gravestone she was hiding behind but she couldn't see anything through the combination of the dark night and the slight fog. She had to do something. If she didn't act fast he would find her. She looked around again for anything that could help her and that's when she saw it. She never knew there was a back entrance to the graveyard! She could just make out the outline of trees through the opening. Yes! She could go hide in the forest. She knew more about it than he probably did. If she could just get him in there and get him lost...

"Allison! That's enough! Come out here right now or should I go back to that little town of yours and burn everything and everyone down until there's nothing but ash!?"

She felt the certainty of his words and knew that he was serious. She tried to gauge where he was by his footsteps and took a final look at the back entrance. It was now or never. She launched out of her crouching position as fast as she could. Thank God she was a fast runner. She heard him pause behind her and then thunderous footsteps where following her. He was chasing her.

Laughing, "Allison, did I ever tell you I love chasing my prey? It gets me excited!"

Oh my God, she thought. She was being chased by a psycho.

***

One Month Before

Allison looked over the little cottage that was perched near the lake. It wasn't what she had expected. Six months ago when her lawyer told her that she had inherited a cottage in a small town called Rose Valley she had told him that he was mistaken. "If we had a cottage somewhere my parents would have told me about it," she had told him. Apparently the cottage had belonged to her grandmother on her dad's side. The lawyer had told her that she use to live out here until she had a heart attack while playing bingo in town. She had won and then she had died. Allison envied the grandmother she never met; she had died a winner, what a way to go. She wondered why her parents never told her about her grandmother. Judging from what the lawyer told her, her grandmother died when Allison was five. Her parents could have told her about her; it wasn't like she wouldn't have understood at that age. No point in wondering, she'll never know now. She went back to looking at the cottage. It was well preserved for a cottage that had been abandoned for twelve years. Maybe one of the locals came by once in a while to make sure everything was in order. She was grateful. She thought that when she got here she would have to do a lot of repairs. 

She got out of her car and headed for the stairs. Her luggage could wait a couple more minutes. She wanted to see if the inside looked as good as the outside. She went up the stairs, noticed that they were sturdy and headed for the front door. The porch had a couple of wooden lounge chairs to the left of the door facing the lake. On the other side there was a swinging bench. She wondered if her dad and grandparents had sat there when her dad was still a kid. When she was before the door she took out the key that the lawyer gave her and placed it in the lock; it turned smoothly. Someone had definitely taken care of the cottage. She opened the door and took her first step inside. The cottage had a musty smell but that was understandable, it hadn't been aired out in a while. She looked around the room. To her left it opened up to a living room furnished with big comfy looking couches that faced a huge fireplace. There where several scenery artwork hung on almost every wall. There was a table with three chairs placed under the window facing the lake. Beyond the living room was a little kitchen. There was another small table in there along  with an old stove and fridge. It looked like she would have to get them updates but overall it wasn't bad. 

She looked over to the right where the stairs went up to the second floor. She went up and when she got to the landing, she looked down to see that she had a view of the entire first floor. She turned back and looked down the hall way. There were more paintings up here lining the hall. There were five doors, two on each side and one directly at the end of the hall. As she went by she looked in each open door. The first one on the left was a guest room that was also furnished. On the right was a bathroom that wasn't big but it wasn't small either. She could live with it. She continued on to the next two which were also bedrooms. Neither of them looked like one that she would want to sleep in. She looked down the rest of the hall to the last door. Maybe that was the master bedroom. As she stalked down the rest of the hall all she could see was the forest that surrounded two thirds of the cottage. She stopped at the open door with wide eyes. There was a huge poster bed on the left wall with side tables at each side. On the right wall was an armoire that was just as huge with a dresser right beside it. Over the dresser was a great circular mirror with an intricate knot pattern frame, very nice. But it wasn't the room that took her breath away. It was the view of the forest that she could see through the balcony doors. She went over to opened them and inhaled the sent of pine. She just stood on the balcony looking out, it was so peaceful out there. She closed her eyes and let it envelop her. She stood there for another minute before she opened her eyes.

"Alright. It's time to get to work," she said and went back inside, heading back towards the stairs to bring up her luggage.

She never noticed the pair of eyes that were staring back at her from the forest.