CHAPTER ONE

Marlow House stood atop the hill like a dark sentinel, surveying its surroundings and keeping watch over the distant city. During the day it didn’t look so bad, but under the cover of darkness, the neglected manor looked more menacing, sinister, like it was alive with evil intentions. Long, gray vines crept up the side of it and wrapped around the rotten wooden walls. Moss had claimed the roof, and the garden was a jungle of overgrown shrubs and spindly, leafless trees with branches that stretched out like bony arms. 

Ruby looked up at the building and shuddered. Coming to the house to do a live broadcast for their ghost-hunting channel had seemed like a great idea when they’d planned it; that had been weeks ago while the sun was shining. Standing before the insidious structure in the dead of night was much more daunting. And on Halloween night no less. She had to admit it created the perfect atmosphere. Even if they found nothing inside — which they certainly would — the visuals alone would make for a great Halloween livestream. 

“Are you scared?” Jay, her boyfriend, asked as he came up behind her. She didn’t need to look at him to know he was smirking, she could hear it in his voice. 

“No,” she said, a little too quietly. The house had an almost librarian quality about it — it demanded hushed tones. 

“Aww,” he said, snaking his thin arms around her and pulling her into a clingy embrace. “It’s okay to admit it, baby.” He pressed a cold kiss on her cheek and she pushed him away playfully, turning to face him. 

“You’ll ruin my makeup,” she said. He glared in the darkness at her and she knew she’d messed up. “Sorry. I just don’t want to look a mess on camera.” If she didn’t placate him he’d give her the cold shoulder all night. 

“Good thinking, baby,” he said, swapping his glower for a smile. His eyes flicked down to her clothing. “Make sure you ditch the hoodie before we start.” 

“It’s freezing.” 

“That’s showbiz, Rubes. Can’t hide from the viewers.” 

She rolled her eyes. The viewers would be able to see her just as clearly with her hoodie on, but there was no point in arguing with him. 

He walked over to Tyler and Ethan who were trying to decide on the best place to film the intro. As a gust of frigid air swept around her, Ruby shivered and zipped her hoodie up all the way to the top, wrapping her arms around herself for added warmth. She’d never wanted to be a part of the channel but after she’d agreed to be in one episode the viewership had gone up. She wasn’t in the following episode and the viewers had dropped back down to normal levels. It didn’t take long for Jay to figure it out it was the presence of a pretty girl that had attracted more viewers. 

Although Ruby was far from conceited, she was aware of her good looks and the power they could wield. She noticed the way men stared at her chest when they thought they were being sly, and when she’d been single she had rarely had to pay for drinks when she went out; there was always a man willing to buy them for her — even when she’d been underage. As Jay had once told her, “Blonde hair, big tits, and a fat ass will open any door. Your ass is a bit on the small side, but two outta three ain’t bad.” Her boyfriend certainly had a way with words. When he’d seen that she was offended he’d pointed out rather forcefully that it had been a compliment. 

After she’d appeared in that first video, Jay had pressured her to become a regular feature. She didn’t mind doing the videos occasionally as a hobby, but Jay saw it as a career and had turned it into a second job for her. She knew that if she didn’t comply then Jay would just find some other pretty girl to attract viewers. At least this way it was something they could do together. 

Tyler shot Ruby a small smile as she approached. She smiled politely back and then directed her focus at Jay. Tyler was Jay’s best friend and he had a thing for Ruby. Ruby and Tyler had had a one-night stand before she and Jay had gotten together. For Ruby, that one night had been enough, for Tyler, it had only been an appetizer. Tyler was a sweet guy, but he wasn’t Ruby’s type. If only she’d realized that before she’d slept with him. 

“Can we get on with it then?” Jay said, eager to get started. Ruby was eager to be finished so she could get out of the cold. Looking at the dilapidated old house she doubted it would be much warmer inside. 

“If you guys stand right here,” Tyler said, pointing at the ground. “I should be able to get a creepy shot of the house behind you.” 

Jay whistled and beckoned Ruby over. “Don’t whistle at me, I’m not a dog,” she said, stomping toward him nonetheless. 

“You still came,” Jay smirked at her eliciting a frosty glare. 

“That’s what she said,” Tyler said as he fiddled with his phone. 

“She does every time,” said Jay, giving his friend a wolfish grin. 

“Keep telling yourself that babe,” said Ruby. 

“I don’t need to tell myself anything when the noises you make speak for themselves.” 

“Jay!” Ruby slapped him on the arm, her cheeks blushing. 

Jay laughed. “I’m just kidding around.” He pulled her into a tight hug, his warm breath tickling her neck. His lips met hers in a forceful kiss, his hands wandering over her body. The wind picked up, howling through the trees and making the branches sway and creak like ancient stairs being trodden on. Ruby opened her eyes and saw Tyler staring sullenly at them. His sad eyes were rimmed with black eyeliner which he wore to look more punk. With a flush of guilt, she pulled away. 

Jay gave her a final peck on the forehead before he took her by the hand and led her to the place where Tyler had told them to stand. As they got into position Ethan grabbed his flashlight. He switched it on and a wide beam of light illuminated the area around Ruby and Jay. Despite being able to afford it, Jay refused to invest in any proper equipment because he thought phone cameras and flashlights provided a more rustic and authentic vibe. 

Tyler lifted his phone. “About to go live,” he said. 

“Hoodie,” Jay muttered, giving Ruby a nudge. 

“What?” 

“Unzip the hoodie. There’s no point having you on camera if you’re going to hide under that.” 

“Jay, it’s too cold. It won’t look good if I’m standing here shivering,” she protested, making a last-ditch attempt to keep her hoodie zipped up. 

“Actually it will look great. Everyone will think you’re scared. Unzip it. Trust me, Rube, I know best.”

With a resigned sigh, Ruby pulled down her zipper and parted the hoodie to show off the revealing top that Jay had chosen for her to wear. She reminded herself that she had agreed to this knowing Jay’s reasons for wanting her in front of the camera. She could hardly complain now. 

“Three, two, one,” Tyler said, giving them a firm nod from behind his phone as soon as they were live. 

Ruby plastered a false smile on her face and stared directly into the lens. “Happy Halloween and welcome to the super special livestream of the Paranormal Probers!” She tried desperately not to cringe as she said the name. The Paranormal Probers had been another one of Jay’s diabolical ideas. Ethan had been the only one to agree with Ruby that it was terrible, but once Jay had decided something was good there was no changing his mind. “We’re here at one of the most haunted houses in Pennsylvania — the Marlow House located just outside Mistwood.”

She finished up the introduction and then Jay took over delivering a brief history of the old house and its ghost stories. Ruby knew that he’d made half of them up himself because the stories he’d found online weren’t exciting enough. With the preamble finished, they made their way to the house. 

The front doors were huge and made of thick wood that had decayed from the years of abandonment. According to Jay’s speech, nobody had lived here since the 1950s. Several wooden boards had been nailed over the doors to keep them from opening, but Ethan had seen to them when they’d arrived. Ethan was shorter than Jay, who was about 6 feet tall, but unlike Jay, he was built like a brawler. Every part of him was bulging with muscle and he had no trouble at all forcing his way into the old house. 

Ethan’s role in the production was minimal, but Ruby always felt safer exploring abandoned buildings with Ethan and his tattooed gorilla arms. Jay was tall but skinny and had attempted lifting weights for about two weeks before he’d gotten bored and thrown in the towel. Tyler was short and scrawny, standing no more than an inch taller than Ruby, and with no muscle to speak of, he’d be about as much use in a fight as she was. That made Ethan the unofficial bodyguard of the crew. 

They had encountered a hostile man in an abandoned hospital a few months ago. He’d spewed a multitude of violent threats at them until Ethan had stepped forward. One look at him and the man had quietened down real fast. 

Jay turned to the camera and said, “Here we go.” He placed both palms on the creaky, weathered doors and pushed. The rust-covered hinges groaned as the door slowly opened, the noise creating the perfect Halloween vibe. The smell of mildew, urine, and damp wood hit Ruby in the face like a fist.

“Damn that’s rank,” she said, wrinkling her nose. 

Ethan swept the flashlight over the entrance hall, giving them a good look at the room they were walking into. It was smaller than Ruby had expected. On the lefthand wall, a worn-away mahogany staircase wound toward the upper floor. Jagged pieces of wooden paneling littered the floor below a gaping hole halfway up the stairs, where a section of the ceiling had caved in. Thick dust and debris covered the floor turning it grey and a fallen coat stand blocked the door at the back of the room. 

“Creepy,” Jay said in a silly, spooky voice, shivering in mock fear. Ruby snickered and shook her head at him. When she laughed a thin wisp of steam drifted from her mouth. 

As they tromped into the house their footsteps kicked up clouds of pale dust that filled the air like fog. Tyler began coughing behind the camera and Jay fixed him with a scowl. 

“He can’t help it,” Ruby whispered, not wanting the viewers — if they were any — to see them arguing. 

“There’s nothing to see in this room,” Jay said, looking around at the barren wasteland. “Which door should we take first?” 

Ethan pointed the flashlight at each of the three doors in turn. The one on the left, the one on the right, and the one behind the coat stand. The gaping hole made the stairs impossible to climb. “Let the viewers decide,” Ruby said, turning to Tyler. “How many are watching?” 

“Er...twelve,” he said. 

“Which way should we go guys?” Ruby asked the camera, smiling widely and trying to not shiver. Somehow it was colder in the house than it had been outside. 

“The majority are saying go left,” Tyler said. His voice was quiet; he was a shy guy and even talking off-camera made him nervous. 

“Left it is!” Jay exclaimed a little too loudly. His voice echoed around the room, reverberating off the walls. 

“If there are any ghosts haunting this place you just woke them up,” laughed Ethan. 

“I don’t think ghosts sleep,” Ruby said, shooting him a wink. Jay narrowed his gaze at her, his eyebrows drawing together in disapproval.

A thunderous bang came from behind them. Ruby jumped and spun around, her heart rate picking up in an instant. 

“What the fuck was that?” Jay said. His chest was rising and falling quickly as he stared in the direction the bang had come from. 

Ethan swept the light over the room but there was nothing to account for the sound. 

“Maybe we should just...” Tyler’s words turned into a mumble before fading out completely as he remembered they were live. He didn’t want to sound cowardly on camera. 

“It must have come from in there.” Ethan wiggled the light over the righthand door. He was the only one who didn’t seem scared at all or maybe he just hid it better. Ruby wondered if she’d be so fearless if she had his bulk. 

“Let’s go and take a look then,” Jay said, rubbing his hands together and masking his fear behind a wide grin. Ruby could see the unease buried deep in his olive-green eyes. 

“Uh, the viewers said go left,” Tyler protested. 

Jay didn’t even grace him with a reply. He strode across the room and placed his hand on the door. He glanced back at the camera, a wicked gleam in his eye, and then thrust the door open. They all waited with bated breath as the door swung inward and Ethan shined the light in. 

A putrid smell wafted out of the room, mixing with the dust and dank odors that already permeated the house. Jay wrinkled his nose and coughed violently, but pushed forward regardless. The light illuminated a large dining room filled with old furniture draped in cobwebs and thick layers of dust. The wallpaper was peeling off the walls and mold had spread across every inch of the ceiling. There was no sign of whatever had startled them. 

“Viewer count’s rising,” Tyler mumbled. That would usually have excited Jay but he was too preoccupied with whatever had made the noise. 

“Jesus, this place is disgusting,” Ethan muttered. He moved the beam of his flashlight across the floor, and it illuminated a gruesome scene. Hundreds of rat corpses lay strewn across the dusty wood. Ruby shuddered and pressed her hand to her mouth, trying not to vomit live in front of their viewers. 

“What the fuck killed them?” Tyler moaned. That question hadn’t even occurred to Ruby. 

She trudged behind Jay and Ethan, Tyler’s footsteps heavy on the floorboards behind her. She kept her eyes low, being careful not to tread on any of the dead rats. This room was even colder than the entrance hall had been. The chill fell over her like a frozen blanket. Her breath escaped in puffs of white mist that swirled in the air. 

“Get the rats,” Jay told Tyler, indicating that he film the copious corpses that littered the floor. 

Jay dragged a finger along the dining table that dominated the center of the room, leaving a clear track through the dust. He wiped his finger on his pants as he walked quickly away, his attention ensnared by something at the back of the room. 

“I think I found what made the noise,” he said, pointing down at the floor. 

Ethan shone the flashlight down on a brass bust of what looked like George Washington. It was on its side surrounded by disturbed dust. 

“It must have fallen off this.” Jay kicked the dresser next to the fallen bust and a thick cloud of grey dust wafted up and momentarily shrouded his face. Mystery solved. 

“How did it fall though?” asked Ethan. 

Ruby looked from the dresser back to the bust trying to figure out how it could have suddenly fallen. “Maybe it had been close to the edge and our movements caused enough vibrations to tip it over,” she suggested. 

Jay erupted in a fit of laughter. “Oh, babe! Babe! You say the dumbest shit sometimes! Oh, I fucking love you!”

Ruby’s cheeks flushed at Jay’s outburst. She knew he didn’t mean any harm, but she still felt embarrassed. Especially since he’d said that on camera for their viewers to hear. “How do you think it fell then?” she snapped. 

Jay’s laughter was terminated when a dark shape pounced from the shadows and slammed him to the ground. Ruby saw her wide-eyed boyfriend vanish behind the dining table and then all she heard was screams. 

“Jay!” she cried, and ran to help him. Ethan got there first. He raised the flashlight above his head and brought it down on whatever had attacked Jay. Ruby heard the dull thwack as the blow landed. 

A pale hand shot up and seized Ethan’s wrist before he could strike again. Ruby froze at the sight of the spindly fingers tipped with dark claws. The figure rose up to its full height and stared into Ethan’s terrified eyes. Pale grey flesh clung to protruding bones and tattered rags hung off its body. 

Tyler made a petrified squeak. He was glued to the spot, still pointing his phone at the back of the room, too frightened to move. Ethan balled his free hand into a fist and swung at the creature. The creature moved fast, whipping its hand up and catching Ethan’s other wrist. Holding onto Ethan’s wrists with impossible strength, it brought up its foot and booted him in the gut. Ethan was thrown back with such force that he lost his grip on the flashlight. It flew through the air, smashing against the wall and leaving the room cloaked in darkness. 

Scuffles and screams from Jay and Ethan filled the air and Ruby dug frantically in her pocket for her phone. She pulled it out and with trembling fingers turned on the flashlight. Ethan was on the ground, the creature huddled on top of him. Jay gritted his teeth and strained as he lifted a heavy, wooden dining chair above his head. He grunted and brought it down with all his might on the creature’s back. The chair shattered on impact and the thing let out a pained hiss before pouncing on Jay. 

“No!” Ruby yelled. She charged at the beast without even thinking about what she was going to do when she reached it. Her scream had telegraphed her approach. The creature turned her way and it no longer looked so monstrous. In the pale light cast by her phone, the creature looked distinctly more human. Its face was no longer so emaciated, the skin not so stretched and thin. Dark hair had sprouted from the top of its head. But its eyes were as red as the blood that was smeared all around its mouth. Its lips were curled back with two vicious, blood-soaked fangs on display. Ruby stopped in her tracks, unable to process what she was seeing. 

Her phone fell from her fingers and clattered to the floor as she took a trembling step back. Her foot slipped on something squishy and she plunged down to the filthy floor. Ruby stared up at the man who stalked towards her, his shadow cast long over the ceiling. No, he wasn’t a man. He was a vampire. She reached out and her fingers fell on a fragment of wood from the chair Jay had smashed. She gripped it tightly and brought it up just as the vampire lunged at her. 

The vampire’s eyes widened in surprise as the wooden shard plunged into his belly. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and backed up fast. For a moment he stood frozen, dazzling red eyes widened in frightened surprise. Then he glanced down at the jagged piece of wood sticking out of his abdomen. He grabbed at the wood with both hands and wrenched it from his belly. It fell to the floor with a clatter. And then the vampire was gone. He simply vanished from sight, kicking up a cloud of dust in his wake. An eery silence fell over the room. 

Jay, still sitting on the floor, looked on in horrified awe at what had just happened. Then he turned to Tyler who hadn’t moved this whole time, and said, “Please tell me you got all that.”