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house was my parents’. They’re gone. Now it’s mine.”
    Still feeling the sharp pains of the loss of Tessa, I’d have given up any house to have her back. “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” He shrugged.
    I stretched, taking in the surroundings. Out of town was an understatement. It was more like out of civilization. I’d never have guessed this desolate town existed a few miles from the city. The sunlight barely broke through the canopy of trees despite their naked, skeletal appearance, leaving the house cast in dark shadows. Thick curtains covered the windows and moss obscured most of the brickwork. Brown, wasted vines roped over the majority of the structure. “Just how old is this house?”
    “I don’t know. It’s always been in our family.” Griffith stepped off the bike and put down the kickstand.
    I shivered from more than the cold as I stared at the house.
    “You’re cold. We’ll go in, and I’ll start a fire.” He pulled his gloves off.
    I glanced at his hands and the scar the gloves concealed but forced my attention away. “No, I’m fine. Don’t you need to take care of your bike first?”
    “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of the motorcycle.” He studied me for a long beat. “And you, as well.” He took the steps two at a time, pausing to gesture for me to follow before he went inside.
    I slowed as I approached the house. It was creepy. All it needed was a couple of gargoyles out front. I wasn’t sure coming here was the right thing to do, but I mounted the steps then stopped. Track marks from a broom and a thin layer of snow remained on the porch.
    “What the hell?” What looked like a pile of small animal bones with flesh still clinging to them lay scattered off to the left. I hoped Griffith had a pet and this wasn’t the leftovers of an animal.
    I backed away from the remnants of the critter in the corner and bumped into masks hanging on a hook outside the door. Three of them, again. I lifted one to inspect the mask closer. A snake—its fangs exposed from its gaping mouth. I dropped it as if it were alive. The other mask was a fierce looking dog and the last, a horse.
    Standing in the open doorway, I couldn’t see anything through the inky darkness. What was I thinking going with a complete stranger to the middle of nowhere? Problem was, I wasn’t thinking. That’s the result of following my gut. Being a little reckless was one thing, but this was starting to feel stupid.
    Griffith appeared out of the shadows and I jumped.
    “I think I’ll wait out here.” I backed up until I reached the ledge of the steps, almost tripping over my feet in my haste to get back out in the yard. My breath quickened as my attention flickered from the house to the masks. It looked wrong. As if evil seeped from the bricks and mortar like a sickness. Starting across the yard, my steps quickened with the distance I covered between the house and the woods. Even they appeared safer than the feeling accompanying the house.
    “Hope, stop.” Griffith raised his palm at me from the porch.
    My heart accelerated as the snow thickened and clung to my feet, creating a slippery surface, hindering my progress. A cold sweat broke out on my skin as fear blossomed in my chest. I have to get out of here. But I couldn’t. I slowed to a stop at the edge of the trees, unable to move any further, as if stuck in cement. My breath came out in gasps as I started to hyperventilate. Even though I hadn’t for years, not since that nun, Edith, had suggested an exorcism be done to rid me of the devil.
    Griffith arrived beside me in an instant, gently pulling on my arm. The snow released my feet as if greased in butter.
    Edith was right, the devil had come to claim his child, and that child was me. My chest tightened, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Pulling my arm away from Griffith, I fell forward, getting a mouth full of snow to choke on.
    Griffith lifted me up from the snow and spun me around to face him,