I just wanted to do it for such a long time... Hope you like this thriller!

A Nanny Halloween

Chapter 1: The premise

'Are you sure this is the right place?', CC asked, looking around the road while holding firmly the steering wheel. They were on the road for a lot of time, and all she could see were hills, trees and a few birds.

Fran studied the map on her hands, 'Yes, I'm sure', she folded the map and threw it on the back seats, 'That gentle old man on the gas station explained it to me'.

'How can you know he didn't lie?'

'I'm good at reading people', hearing the other's scoff at this, she added, 'And he tried to tell us to give up, saying the place was cursed, that people had seen werewolves and that the owner may be a vampire…'

'Same stuff we heard at the town. It must be a trap for tourists'.

'If they are trying to attract tourists, they have no reason to point the wrong place to us', Fran explained. 'Just relax. The man said it would take at least some good ten minutes'.

CC saw the brunette stretching and pursed her lips at the cloudy day. 'I shouldn't have come. I should have quit when Daddy made you my partner. I always worked alone, covering my own news, writing my own texts. Then a fight or two with stupid celebrities and he thinks I need you to help me'.

'Don't be like that', Fran admonished sweetly, 'Your daddy didn't put us together to punish you. He thinks we can bring good stories, instead of me writing about fashion and you trying to discover what part of the newspaper you really like to work in'.

'I don't care what he thinks. I was never satisfied working at the newspaper, he knows it, and then he orders me to work with you and, to top insult with injury, he sends me in this nonsensical chase. This place is far, decadent and dusty as hell!'

'Now you have a point. My hair is getting stiff!', Fran commented, taking a lock in her hand and looking dejectedly at it. 'But maybe the thing is not totally nonsense. There is something creepy about all those people warning us to stay away from the mansion'.

'Oh, right, I forgot the creepy factor', CC said, mockingly. 'All of these legends about strange millionaires who live alone in mansions and just can go out at night are bullshit. For centuries, since Vlad, the impaler, people have been creating urban legends around things like that'.

'I think it is so romantic…'

'And that's why we're here: because stupid people like you enjoy these scenarios. Historically, Vlad was a very cruel Romanian man, who tortured people and enjoyed bathing in their blood after seeing them slowly dying', CC looked at Fran, 'Some studies classify him as a serial killer. Do you still find it romantic?'

'It's very you to take out the romanticism from an old story. I was not talking about some Roman Emperor', CC rolled her eyes at that, but Fran pretended she didn't see. 'I was taking about Dracula. He is very sexy'.

'He dominated women to suck their blood. It is a metaphor of men exploiting women in general'.

'He just did that because he was upset over the death of the woman he loved'.

'I won't discuss a fictional tale with you. It's stupid'.

'Watch out, little lady: it was your habit of calling me stupid that brought us here. Stuart was so worried about us he invented this trip'.

'I sincerely don't know how my father managed to be the owner of such an important New York newspaper with his lack of seriousness. He is always joking and playing around. He should have gone bankrupt, by now'.

'You have been helping him, and people are afraid to mess with you'.

'Oh, yes, sure', now she smiled sincerely. 'And I prefer doing the hard business part of the work, not being nice to crazy people… Maybe I should think of seriously leaving the field work and settle into the management staff…', CC contemplated the idea for some moments and then waved a hand at Fran, 'Even if we have been successful'.

Fran grinned proudly, 'We have done beautiful things together, Miss Babcock: I snoop, you attack, I take the shots, you interview, we write the thing and it is always a success'. She stopped to think, deflated and sighed, 'But maybe you're right. Sometimes I wish something new would happen'.

CC shrugged and was going to comment on that when they made a curve and the gates appeared suddenly, before them.

'Wow', both said, in awe.

It was really big, with what seemed like griffons and sphinxes of rock on each side, looking sinisterly at them.

They parked, get out of the car and tested the wooden gate.

It required some strength, but they managed to open it, and entered.

Now they could see the mansion.

'Wow', both said again.

They didn't know if it was the narrow and darkened path surrounded by pines; the dark rock of the building, with the bloody red roofs; the seemly never ending wall that circled the propriety and established the empty space around the mansion – no animals, no people, not even birds that could be seen…

The fact was both women shivered at the sight.

The place seemed devoid of life. Even if the day was not already cloudy, they could swear it would not make any difference: probably the sun never reached this place to illuminate it.

CC looked at her companion, 'Ok, let's go'.

Fran pulled her small coat around her arms and followed the blonde, 'Are you sure? I mean, we should come another day, maybe earlier. In a sunny and jolly morning, not this depressing afternoon…'

'Will you stop it? The walls and pines are high, that's why the sun is being blocked', CC looked around, 'I kind of like windy days like this. My favorite season was always Fall'.

'Umpf, what a surprise', was all Fran could say, because she shivered again at the house, that was getting bigger and bigger because they were approaching.

They stopped at the immense front door.

'It seems just out of a horror movie', Fran commented. 'Even the detail of letting us open the gates and reach the house'.

'Yes, it reminds me of one of the awful things you're used to watch', CC said back distractedly, searching the walls with her eyes.

'Do you have to be always nasty like this?'

'Just trying to adapt to the locals', the blonde smirked at her. In fact, she always felt a bit disappointed when people didn't understand what she said as humor. She liked to tease, but Fran was all about sweetness, as her father, and it was a bit boring. Her brother had her sense of humor, but he escaped the familiar tradition and had become a professor, so they seldom saw each other. To hide her feelings, CC adopted a businesslike tone, 'Do you remember the story?'

'Oh, please! You made me repeat it to you in the car hundreds of times!'

'Then, prepare, Fran Fine. Here we go!', and CC pressed a button that seemed to be the only possibility of a bell – it was at the head of a small statue of a raven, poused eternally at the side of the big door.

They could hear the loud sound resonating thought the huge house. Both of them immediately thought of vast rooms with high ceilings and giant candelabra ready to fall on them, and looked at each other making suspicious faces.

After some moments, CC pressed the button again.

After some few other moments, she did it again.

'What are you doing?', Fran asked.

'Trying to get used to the sound', CC shrugged, because it was not exactly a lie. Then she added, 'If there's no one home, it won't make a difference. If there is, I hope they get annoyed enough to…'

The door started opening with a noisy whine.