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"What is nor," she said "And ants norive up extraordinary for normal?" He stood so quickly that he nearly knocked the chair over

He reached out a hand "The Ritz?"

"Definitely"

Hours later, they ordered chah with pillows and satiny-smooth sheets"

"Soyou really think I’hed "Beyond a doubt Oh, ht fell, and a full ance of the landmark Parisian hotel, the balcony doors were open to the breezes of the night Within the hearth, an electric "fire" burned It , for it seemed that the flames rose and fell, rose and fell, and burned with the fever of the night

Burned

And burned

After all, they had both decided

They had been waiting all of their lives

For a sneak preview of Shannon Drake’s next conte froe

She was screa, she heard her own voice

In the darkness, she knew a spiraling fear that threatened to beco, to smother her She had a sense of fatality, and she saw the shadow figure, saw hih her, desperation, the sense that she ht for survival

The sound continued, it was all she had, and she screa the deadly menace that had co, done so, to precipitate this

She knew each step as it occurred, the figure appearing, the fear, the terrible understanding of as to come She felt the violence as he ca, the blows against her as she resisted The violation of her flesh, the hands around her throat

Faceless, he was faceless, but she knew him, she had to know him

Had to know his hands Around her throat, then her hands, pressing her down, and she knew that she was going to die She wasn’t sure howwould the hands so powerful against her flesh crush the life from her, or was this only to subdue, would there be a knife blade, a pressing against her throat, creating a rich spill of blood?

Whichever, it was co, and she still couldn’t see his face, only the darkness, and she was suddenly certain of a welling of sound, soft and low and underlying the chilling shrill of her screa, voices, hter, evil laughter

She screaht more wildly, desperate now not just to save her life, but to still the cackling sounds that see the life fro with flesh

She kicked, tried hard to keep screa, but she had no breath, no sound could come, no air could coht, fight even as a darkness deeper than night fell before her eyes Kick, scratch, fight claw at the hands

The handsthat slipped as she dug her nails hard

Screaan! Jesus, stop! Megan!"

Hands, again, on her shoulders, shaking her She struck out, hard, desperately

"Megan! Da distant screaan!"

Finn, straddled over her then, his right hand was vised around her wrists; he was rubbing his jaith his left He stared down at her, his eyes as brilliant as twin knife blades, his face ashen

"Megan! What the hell is thestopped

She was drawn from the incredible reality of the world she had entered in her sleep to the true reality of life And in real life, she was in a quiet bed and breakfast, in a quiet, historic town that only went a bit crazy during the month of October

"Finn! Oh, oing to sock ain?"

"I didn’t!"

"You did"

"I’m so sorryplease!"