Page 1 of Monster Daddies

Chapter One

Avalon

The huge house—more like a mansion—looms before me, a gothic relic swallowed by time, shadows, and ivy.

I tighten my grip on my car door handle, my heart hammering in my chest. This isn’t just an old house—it’s my new beginning.

Shadows curl around the stone archways, and the towering—holy shit!—gargoyles perched on the rooftop look almost...watchful. A shiver runs down my spine.

"I'm crazy. This is crazy," I mutter as I once again think about turning around and driving away.

I shouldn't have come here.

Taking my hand off the door handle, I lean back against the driver's seat and grab for the letter I received a few weeks ago—the one that changed everything. The paper is thick and yellowed at the edges, the handwriting elegant but a little shaky.

My Dearest Avalon,

Even though we've never met, that's exactly what you are to me.

Dear.

I write to you from beyond the grave, as morbid as that may sound. My name is Ichabod. Ichabod Apples, your mother's great-uncle.

As odd as it may seem to be receiving this missive from me, I wish to allay your fears. Your mother was just as dear to me. She used to spend her summers here, bringing life into the dark, dreary walls of my home.

Alas, she passed before she could bring you around, and your father would have none of it.

But now that you are grown, and I am, sadly, saying goodbye, I'm hoping that will change.

I wish to leave to you my entire estate, and all it entails. As such, my last will and testament has been drafted to do just that.

With this letter, you should receive another, much longer, and I daresay a fair bit more boring, letter from my attorney.

My sincerest hope is that you'll take ownership of Stonebound Manor, and make it your home. Bring life back into it, in the same way your mother once did.

My kindest regards,

Ichabod Apples

My long-lost great-great-uncle had spoken the truth. With his letter came instructions from a firm in Autumnvale, along with a stack of legal paperwork, keys, and a hand-drawn map to the manor like something out of a gothic novel.

I probably should have questioned it more—called someone, googled him, doneanything—but it had come at the perfect time.

Everything else in my life was going belly-up.

My landlord had raised my rent. Again. My job—one I hated with every fiber of my being—had cut my hours. And my on-again-off-again boyfriend cheated on me during one of ouronperiods.

To top that, my relationship with my father was already rocky before this whole inheritance business reared its head. Telling him I was leaving had gone over like a lead balloon.

To say he wasn’t impressed with me receiving anything frommy mother's sideof the family is putting it mildly.

Very mildly.

But this? This is my one shot. My Hail Mary.

So I quit my crappy job, packed up my shitty one-bedroom apartment, grabbed my crabby one-eyed cat, and drove across the state to this creepy old mansion in the middle of nowhere.

And now here I am.