Speed Date
Madison expected a fun Valentine’s at a LGBTQ speed dating event, but her matches feel off. Trapped between politeness and a growing need to escape, she is forced from one date to the next until she uncovers a dark, unimaginable secret.
- Mabel - Speed dating hostess
- Madi - Protagonist, 27
- Trace - One of Madi’s speed dating matches
- Madi attends an invitation-only speed dating event on Valentine’s Day.
- Madi becomes uncomfortable when she realizes all the attendees are young women and they are being matched with much older women.
- Madi meets Trace and realizes the other couples have paired off and moved into the next room for the second part of the date, so she and Trace follow.
- In the next room, Madi sees Mabel standing beside a bathtub while the younger women lie passed out with IV’s in their arms draining blood into it.
- The older women are calling out to Countess Elizabeth Bathory for blessings and eternal youth.
- Mabel gets into the bathtub and covers herself in the blood.
- The older women drink Bethany’s blood to gain the strength of men, because she is the only young woman there who is not a virgin.
- Trace stabs Madi with a needle and she blacks out.
- Madi wakes up in a cell, stripped to her underwear, with an IV in her arm.
- Trace comes to inject Madi again so they can move her, but she fights back and manages to stab them with the needle instead.
- Madi runs out of the building to a gas station and asks them to call the police.
- The police don’t believe her story and think she was drugged and hallucinated everything.
- Now, whenever Madi sees an older woman, she wonders if they are part of the Countess of Bathory cult.
A great, 30-page read for Valentine’s Day with a uniquely eerie premise. I loved the tension and didn't see the twist coming, which kept me hooked. While the conclusion felt a bit abrupt - leaving me wishing for one final "wow" moment to seal the deal - the storytelling is sharp and fast-paced. If you’re looking for a quick, original thrill that breaks away from traditional holiday tropes, this is a fantastic choice.
- Blood
- Kidnapping
- Death
Dark/Bleak
Publisher: Porkchop Publishing LLC
ASIN: B0FKM1YT1Y
Publication Date: January 30, 2026
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
