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Jessica burst into Montresse House, terrified that everything had gone wrong, that the Master had come and called out to Mary, as still under his thrall, and had been unable to fight back, even with Gareth&039;s help Jereainst the Master, what hope could Stacey and Gareth have had?

Gareth was at the front door He stared at her with concern, then slowly arched a brow She knehy She never returned to her own house in leather, lace and latex Tonight, however, she had been in far too great a hurry to worry about a costuht?" she de perplexed "Of course You were the one at the party The Master-"

"The Master didn&039;t show," she said briefly With disbelief, she added, "He didn&039;t co&039;s fine," he assured her "I was down here ht, but I just checked upstairs Stacey and Jere like a babe in ar, Jessica started up the stairs She heard Gareth setting the locks again in her wake

As she had ordered, Mary was confined to one sarlic and crosses She was apparently coh; they&039;d provided her with a pillow and blanket, and plenty of O-positive

Stacey and Jeremy were seated across the room from her, wide awake As soon as he saw her, Jeremy leapt to his feet

"Jessica!" he cried with relief

Stacey, too, jumped up "Jessicathank God you&039;re here But you look like hell What happened? Is he?"

Jessica shook her head "Tonight was a setup," she said flatly She walked in, then sank down on the bed

Jere at her "My God," he breathed

She had forgotten that Jeremy hadn&039;t known that she was the dominatrix

"You never saw the Master?" Stacey said

"No He never showed"

"But you&039;repretty beat-up," Stacey said

"Yes"

"All right" Stacey quickly became her efficient self "A shower is in order I&039;ll tell Gareth toelse is going to happen tonight-I hope And you have to get soelic inside her strange prison "Soon Mary will sleep Then we&039;ll have to-" She broke off with a startled screa "I routed all calls in here," she explained "But who the hell would be calling now?"

"I&039;ve got it," Jessica assured her She rolled over and picked up "Hello?"

"Jessica? Thank God"

It was Maggie

"Yes?"

"As soon as the sun rises, get over here"

"Maggie, what&039;s happened?" Her heart sank "It&039;s the Master, isn&039;t it? What did he do?"

"I&039;ll tell you about it as soon as you come over"

"I&039;ht He&039;s still out there"

Jessica winced, tightening her fingers around the phone "How ie said softly "They were found with their throats slit"

"Where?"

Maggie hesitated, took a deep breath, then said, "The hospital They were cops Jessica, stay there till sunrise, do you hearif you don&039;t listen toup Stacey was staring at her "Well, I knohere he was tonight," she said softly

"Where?"

"The hospital He killed two cops That&039;s all I know so far I&039;ve got to go"

"You have to change before you go out again," Stacey told her "Get in the shower-quickly It&039;s nearly dawn"

"All right" She started toward the bathrooo now Bryan MacAllistair was out there somewhere, as well Would he co on? Worse than thatcould he possibly be?

No

Butif he was, did he know that she?

No

Because hewould have killed her already if he knew

But how long would it take hiirl to the hospital, he saw the police cars and co the periht, people were beginning to appear on the street, anxious to knohat had happened With that much of a crowd, there were rumors in abundance

He had shed the old coat that held his weapons, then hung around after he set the unconscious girl down in the eency room to make sure an orderly found her quickly and called for a doctor

"Drug overdose," he heard soht He could go outside and grill the lookie-loos

"What&039;s going on?" he asked the people around him

"No one really knows yet," an anxious matron told him "Someone said a couple of cops were viciously killed Soht and killed each other"

Behind hi her arms around her chest, offered, "They say they were nearly decapitated"

Bryan had a feeling there was only one way to get close to the scene He walked around the growing crowd and found a place where a group of unifor is creepy First there was that corpse that disappeared," one officer grumbled

"Screw the corpse," another cop said bitterly "Two of our own are dead"

There was silence for a minute

The first cop said, "Do you believe what they&039;re saying? That they killed each other? Santini couldn&039;t ever stand to hurt a perp when he cuffed hione after Clark?"

"Maybe Clark went after him," a third cop said

A fourth chimed in then "It&039;s bullshit It&039;s all bullshit How the hell could theyboth have their throats slit?"

That brought on a real silence The first cop sighed "I&039;ve got to find a john"

He had been leaning on his patrol car; now he straightened and headed toward a staff entrance to the building

Bryan followed him inside

The corridors were en that bore a nuand restrooms"

He decided to let the man pee

He waited When the cop caht him with a quick blow He fell without so ed him back into the restroom

"Sorry, buddy I just need the unifor off the rooot close to the door

They hadn&039;tcop called

"Yes, sir?" he answered

"What are you doing up here? You&039;re supposed to be downstairs They&039;ll be assigning you to crowd patrol soon The et ugly"

"Yes sir Sorry I was told I should report to youSergeant Mendez," Bryan said, reading the ering the crucifix around his neck

A strange look entered Mendez&039;s eyes; he crossed himself "You&039;re not Harrison," he said softly

"I&039; eye contact "But I need to see the bodies," he said

"You-you shouldn&039;t be i a cop," Mendez said, but there was no conviction in his words, and he stepped aside to let Bryan pass

"I want you to block the hallway," Bryan said "Do you understand?"

"Yes," Mendez replied tonelessly, then stood firmly in the hallway

Bryan saw that a reporter had just slipped in, and everyone was busy keeping him at bay Good

He moved quickly, surveyed the bed, then the bodies He knelt beside thehly He saw the scalpels The blood

And then he saw the s had been written

He tensed, then rose quickly, slipping out past the still-dazed Mendez and the crowd holding off the reporter

As he left the building-through the front doors this tinized one of the

Jessica reached Maggie&039;s house just a few ie looked as if she&039;d been pacing for a very long tiht?" Jessica demanded "Two cops dead?"

"Yes, ht and killed each other But no way could two guys have slit each other&039;s throats like that"

"You saw them?" Jessica asked weakly

"No Sean described the scene And it wasn&039;t any newborn creature seeking a meal, I can assure you The Master was there In the hospital"

"We were conned tonight He set it up perfectly The would-be va was a ploy It&039;s as if"

"It&039;s as if it&039;s been planned froie said "He&039;s found you All these years, all the deception, the elaborate masquerade you set up yourself, and he&039;s found you, anyway, and wants to show you his power, make you suffer"

"To have discovered I was in New Orleans, practicing psychology, to have found out about a conference, found out I was going, then planned the party, knowing I&039;d coe he wanted," Maggie reminded her

"But why bother?" Jessica murmured, but she knew the answer Because he hated her with a passion that had outlasted centuries

"So what happened? You were there, you staked a bunch of the bad guys?"

"More or less," Jessica murmured

"Did Bryan make an appearance?"

"Yes"

"When you were the doie demanded

"Yes"