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She frowned at the thought and tore open the plastic, dropping the delicate gold bracelet into her hand Her skin tingled as she closed her fingers around the char her eyes, she reached for the place in her es locked within the bracelet Gradually, they came
A factory Three floors Broken s Dark Hertheo with the flow or lose it She didn’t have the strength for a second try
The smell of the seacreak of boats Insideevil She recoiled Oh God, he’s here!
Panic seized control, and for an instant, the ies faltered Now she understood her earlier intuition Evil was here in the darkness--and hunting her Her fingers twitched against the bracelet, but she fought the instinct to break the contact Ti out for Monica She had to find her quickly, and this was the only way of doing it
And surely the man she feared couldn’t harm her spirit Could he? Sweat broke out across her brow, but she reached again for the ies
Stairsa basement Two rooms, three In the fourth one, Monica Naked Unconscious but alive So the very essence of her soul as securely as a fly in a web
And the spider laughed in deht
Chapter Four
Only the harsh notes of her breathing broke the silence
There was nothing to see, nothing beyond a deep void of darkness Yet so or sohs and wondered what sort of gahter stirred the satin cover of night, filling the void with its corruption She closed her eyes He was here--in the cage that had captured her spirit--and there was no escape Energy pulsed above her head, a net of power that so, she would die
Was that his aim?
Sweat trickled down her back Fists clenched, she watched a golden shaft of light spread across the darkness It revealed a makeshift bed On it lay Monica
There was no sense of death, yet she could see no sign of life It was aler hovered so in apprehension, she wondered what other surprises her abductor had in store for her
As if in answer to her question, laughter slid around her Heart working overtime, she turned He flowed into existence froht, a maneuver that reminded her oddly of Michael But the man before her now--no, he was more a boy, albeit boy with the physique of a body builder He appearedPowerful Hauntingly beautifuland totally evil
"Monica isthis to her? To h, al dryness in her throat
"She has what she wanted" His blue eyes began to change Began to burn with a sapphire flame She licked her lips "And that is?"
He moved a step closer Horror held her immobile
"What do all the vain rich want?" he replied "Power Eternal life" His answerthe answer "You, my pretty, are the first to ever eludeher cheek with a feverish hand Her skin stung and bile rose in her throat She longed to run, but even the si had becohtly down her neck and across her breast She closed her eyes, digging her nails into her pal She’d be dahed Her eyes flew open Hunger stirred deep in the bright heart of his eyes
"So brave," he whispered "So very brave Our association will be an interesting one indeed" She shuddered, her aze becaht
So blue
She watched, enthralled, as death closed in
Night had settled across cloudy skies when Michael h the last of the stockyards The cattle had stilled their restless stirring now that he no longer walked a them, and the distant ru hi his ars The red flare of life burned in the buildings opposite, and his hunger, though sated, stirred sluggishly He grith of human blood ever leave hi ran through his veins, an addiction that refused to die Four , their life forces visible through the large s Thethe on the outskirts of the city His foe had a taste for the high life, even if he hunted easy prey in the poorer areas Monica was not the first young woentle dance with the devil
He cli quickly along the road that would take him back to the heart of Lyndhurst A quick check earlier in the day had revealed that Lyndhurst had five detective agencies After three calls, he’d found Nikki’s He glanced at his watch It was nearly six-thirty--she should be there by now
What he did then depended very much on Nikki’s reaction to hi, she would become his bait
The sounds and smell of humanity swirled around him as he approached the business district The streets becaht be able to preventhi the i he needed right noas to stir more hysteria The recent disappearances of four woht just leave Despite his assurance to Seline, he knew Jasper wasn’t stupid enough to stick around if hunting became too difficult There was always another city, another ti overdue, but Jasper had tiht and the odds on his side
The building where Nikki worked cah the s Nikki was
He stopped abruptly, a cold sensation he y shimmered across his skin--a powerful cord of evil that held Nikki’s mind captive He took the steps two at a time and opened the door Two men looked up as he entered One stood near a desk, the other kneeling beside to Nikki, one hand reaching out--
"Don’t touch her!"
"What do you lared at hih he hunched over Nikki protectively, he made no further atteht and knelt on the opposite side of Nikki’s prone body
"You ht hand a whisper above her body, searching for so her
He heard the man’s sharp intake of breath, but paid hi was shallow and erratic, her heart straining under the increasing pressure A body could survive only so long without the will, the essence, of its being
If she died, she would be Jasper’s