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At last, as he bid good-bye to their host, he looked for her His eyesdeeply, taking his leave

"What’s wrong? You seem distracted," Sean said

She cast back her head and smiled at him "No more, Sean No one

He had believed her; he had recognized her strength, and he had left Thank God (if God still heard her) Life was torh without creatures like Aaron Carter toLilly Wynn awoke She felt as if her na whispered upon the air, as if the beautiful winter’s night were calling to her

It wasn‘t the night It was him He had said that he would come to her when she hadBut no matter He was distant kin She had warned hiht, and her father would never know It was so secretive, so romanticYes, she could hear her na as if the air itself enwrapped her with a strange, sensual embrace She wanted to hurry to the courtyard, to dance beneath the ht of the stars and the e, and anxious that her papa should give her per ht she dreamed of a lover, of a man to coic

The Wynn yard was deep Wrought-iron chairs and tables sat along tile paths Fountains bubbled

In the far corner of the property, ornate graves andseen them all her life They were but a part of her home She looked up to the moon, to the stars Her soft blond hair blanketed her shoulders like a cape as she spun about, and yet then

She paused, suddenly frightened Behind herthere was soain

She looked to the house It was so far away And when she turned again, it seemed

It see, dancing a darkness upon the face of an angel here, a Madonna there The shadoisted and curved

And inched forward

A scream rose in her throat She had to reach the house; she had to coainst aupward into his face His eyes fell upon her with a light like fire Warhtened to speak

"My little beauty!" he breathed

She wanted to feel sensual again, as if the breeze stroked her, as if there were ic on the air

The fear continued to choke her

"Little one "

He lifted her gown so that it fell froht Captured by his eyes In terror, yet unable to move His hands brushed over her, slid over the down at her pubis, between her thighs, over her breasts again, to her throat

"II ed to whisper

"Of course"

"Ithere before him, naked

"Yes"

He stepped aside She started to walk She felt the darkness behind her Felt as if shadows and evil breathed down her neck She quickened her pace The air, the wicked air! Now it felt as if it touched her with a stroke of evil, down her back, against her neck

Yet evil was teood

No