“The very first thing we’re going to do is get rid of all these ghostly sheets on everything. How did you guys spend the weekend here with everything covered up so creepy-like?” Vera muttered, folding her arms across her chest as she stared at the covered furniture in the hall with distaste.
“We uncovered some stuff, but not much. My mom didn’t see the point,” I said as soon as I stopped at the first bedroom on the right. “It’s almost like she wants me to just sell it and forget about it, like it’s stepping on her adoptive parent toes to keep it or something.”
“Eh, I can kind of see where she’s coming from. I mean this is so out of the blue,” Vera said as she leaned against the doorframe of the bedroom and peeked only her head in. “Nu-uh…this had better not be what all the rooms look like,” she said, crinkling her nose.
I laughed and shrugged one shoulder. “They get a little better.”
I couldn’t blame Vera for not liking the first room; it wasn’t my favorite either. White wallpaper with tiny pink flowers covered the walls. A canopy bed with plastic tossed over the mattress stood in the center, flanked by two incredibly dusty nightstands, and across from one tall, cream-colored block that I could only assume was a dresser beneath the heavy sheet.
“Next please,” Vera said as she started across the hall to the room diagonal from that one.
“This room is mine, actually.”
“Figures.” She scoffed. “Of course you’d take the one that’s halfway decent.”
I smiled as I leaned against the wall and peered inside. It had pale yellow walls, dark furniture, a four poster bed, and best of all—a balcony. I’d fallen in love with it the moment I saw it.
“All right, next.” She shuffled across the hall to peer into the next room.
“This one isn’t all that bad,” I insisted, following behind her.
“Eh, I need to see the others first,” she said as she continued on to the next room.
“This is the room my parents stayed in.”
She nodded approvingly at the lavender walls and darkly rich furniture. “Nice, but didn’t you say there were five? I only counted four.”
“The fifth one is in the basement.”
“Oh, hell no.” She put her hand up in mock defense and bugged her eyes out like she was talking to a crazy person. “I am not staying in the basement by myself. End of story.”
I chuckled and shook my head as I crammed my hands into the back pockets of my jean shorts. “So what room do you want, then?”
“I’ll take this one,” she said, pointing to the room where my parents had stayed. “I’m not even worried about putting my stuff in there right now. I think first we seriously need to de-creepify this house, open up the doors and windows, and let some fresh air and sunlight in.”
“First, I need to grab some necessities from the Jeep—water, a fruit bar, and some Claritin,” I said just before starting back down the stairs.
Vera fingered the dusty drop cloth that covered a table, or something, in the hall. “Claritin is a must.”
As soon as we’d taken some Claritin, eaten a small snack, and quenched our thirst, we headed all the way down to the basement. It was best if we started at the bottom and worked our way up. This was my philosophy anyway.
The basement held virtually nothing. It was a large room with blue walls and a light-colored hardwood floor. Random things were placed sporadically around—an empty fish tank, a broken coatrack, a purple futon chair, an incredibly bowed TV stand, and a large mirror leaning against the far wall with a crack right down its center.
“Someone got seven years of bad luck,” Vera said matter-of-factly.
I walked straight to the closer of the only two doors in the entire basement. “Guess so.”
“God, why would you even put a bedroom down here? It’s so dark.”
“I don’t know, privacy maybe?”
“Ugh, it’s like you’re cut off from the world down here,” she whispered, obviously not enjoying her surroundings. Vera had never been a basement kind of girl; they’d always given her the creeps.
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad. Don’t be such a baby,” I teased, gripping the doorknob to the bedroom. I turned the knob and opened the door just as something big, black, and furry darted from inside and through my legs.
I didn’t know who screamed loudest, me or Vera. Glancing back, I spotted the culprit—a black and white cat—as it dashed up the steps to the first floor.
“How the hell did that thing get down here?” Vera asked, her hand still pressed against her chest. “Eww, please don’t tell me it’s been locked inside that room since you guys left, because if that’s the case, then I’m so not cleaning this room.”
I flicked the light on and searched the room for any signs that the cat had in fact been trapped inside since then, but saw nothing. “Doesn’t look like it.”
Vera stepped into the room behind me and cautiously crept to the bed. “I can see where it’s been sleeping though.” She pointed to the white sheet that covered the bed. Black and white fur clung to it heavily.
I grimaced when I took a closer look and noticed tiny bones from a mouse beside it all. “Yuck…and eating.”
“Eww, gross!” Vera shouted. “I can’t be in this room. Close it back up. You don’t need it for anything.” She bolted out of the room, leaving me all alone inside.
I slowly followed her out, glancing around at it as I went, wondering how the cat had managed to get inside in the first place. There was only one tiny window up at the top of the far wall. Beneath it stood a tall dresser with numerous cat paws imprinted in the dust. The cat had come in through the window. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a gaping hole in the screen of the clearly opened window.
“Huh, guess I have a pet,” I muttered to myself as I exited the room.
“Can we please head back upstairs? There’s nothing down here,” Vera called to me from the steps. “And besides, I really want to open up the front door, maybe your freeloading cat will go back outside.”
Great, I’d forgotten it was now loose inside the house and I had no idea whether it was friendly or not. Awesome.
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Sometimes who we really are lies buried just beneath the surface…
After learning she’s inherited a house in the beachside town of Soul Harbor, Georgia, Addison Harmon and her best friend decided to take a much needed vacation before the pressures of life after high school suffocate them too heavily.
But what Addison finds isn’t a chance to recoup from a bad break up and hang out with her best friend while she decides what she wants to do with her future. What she finds is Kace Sullivan—a sexy guy she can’t seem to get enough of—someone who with one touch reveals a seductive world full of magick and secrets Addison isn’t sure she’s ready to be a part of.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always I’d like to thank my loving and supportive family. You all mean the world to me.
Thank you to my beta readers Alyssa Rose Ivy, T.A. Foster, and Bethany Lopez. I love hearing your thoughts and input, ladies! My novels are so much better because of them!
Thank you to my editor, Dani. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy working with you! You’re amazing! Thank you to Nicole Stephenson for proofreading for me, again. Thank you to Lindee of Lindee Robinson Photography for creating the stunning covers for this series and her gorgeous models.
Thank you to Sarra Cannon, Juliana Haygert, and Alyssa Rose Ivy for inviting me to take part in the Halloween project The Midnight Kiss Collection. If it hadn’t been for that invitation, I’m not sure I would have come up with this new series. You ladies are inspirational and so incredibly talented. I’m so honored to call you friends.
Thank you to Cassandra Smith for coming up with the name Arabella, Candice Sunderhaus for the name Bianca, and Stacy Maleno for the name Natalia! I was so stuck on names for “Randal’s girls” and you ladies hel
ped me out big time!
And a special thank you to all the readers who are skimming over these words right now. You amaze me. I’m so pleased to have created something you thought was worthy of your time. THANK YOU!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jennifer Snyder lives in North Carolina were she spends most of her time writing New Adult and Young Adult Fiction, reading, and struggling to stay on top of housework. She is a tea lover with an obsession for Post-it notes and smooth writing pens. Jennifer lives with her husband and two children, who endure listening to songs that spur inspiration on repeat and tolerate her love for all paranormal, teenage-targeted TV shows.
Find out more about her latest novel by visiting her website:
jennifersnyderbooks.com
Other ways to connect with Jennifer:
Jennifersnyder04(at)gmail(dot)com , https://www.facebook.com/authorjennifersnyder , http://twitter.com/jennsnyder04
Sign up for her Newsletter:
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Table of Contents
DEDICATION:
PREFACE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
AURA CHARTS:
EXCERPT - Seduction’s Kiss, An Allure Chronicles Prequel
EXCERPT - Catalyst, Book One in The Tethered Trilogy
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Seduce Page 19
