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"What do you see, Corazon?"

"Um Mud" I sensed the hypnotherapist&039;s disapproval of rass and stuff like that But mostly just mud"

"Are you sure she&039;s under?" Patsy asked, her voice sounding dubious "She doesn&039;t look hypnotized to me CORA! Can you hear me?"

"I&039;d have to be fiveopen an eye and peering at her from where I lay prone on the couch "I&039;m hypnotized, you idiot, not deaf"

"Is she supposed to know she&039;s hypnotized?" Terri asked, sitting on the floor across froht, interested eyes "That doesn&039;t negate the regression, does it?"

"Hypnotis," Barbara the hypnotherapist answered "She is simply relaxed, in touch with her true inner spirit, and has opened up her mind to the many memories of lifetimes past I assure you that she is properly hypnotized"

"Letover to a bookcase crammed full of books and various other ite it"

"No one is pokinglook

"Please, ladies," Barbara said with a glance at her watch Poor woressions at Patsy&039;s yearly "Girls&039; Night In" party Luckily, there were only three of us this year "We have liht trance, also referred to as an alpha state Through that, she has tapped into her higher self, her true Infinite Being, a state in which she is free to bypass the boundaries of time"

"Yeah Bypassing all that stuff," I said, giving my friend a smirk "So sit back and watch the show What do I do now, Barbara?"

"Look around you Exas Tell us what you see, what you feel"

"I see mud I feel mud"

"There has to befor the bowl of popcorn

"Are there any buildings or other structures around to give you an idea of what year you are reliving?" Barbara asked

"U on the left side other than a bunch of forest I see on a dirt path of some sort Let me walk to the top of this little hill - oh! Wow! There&039;s a ton below And it looks like there&039;s a castle way up on a tall cliff in the distance Lots of tiny little people are running around in some fields outside of the town Cool! It&039;s like a o down to say hi"

"Excellent," Barbara said, adjusting the video ca to record the session "Now tell me, how do you feel?"

"Well" I examined the scene my mind had created; whether it was froination, I had no way of knowing "I&039;er, throbbing inside reat, I&039; peasant who stands around in ments on our past selves," Barbara said priusted "Terri turned out to be Cleopatra&039;s personal maid, and I was one of Caesar&039;s concubines You&039;re letting down the team, here The least you could do is be a "

I looked closer at my mind-self "I have shoes on Peasants didn&039;t wear shoes, did they?"

"So a handful of popcorn into her ression

"Can you walk to the town?" Barbara asked, htly so it was off my face "Perhaps we can find out who you are"

"Yeah I&039; down the hill now Hey, watch where you&039;re - oh od! OMIGOD!"

"What? What&039;s happened?" Barbara asked, looking worried

"A woman with an oxcart just ran me over"

"What?" Patsy shrieked

"She ranThey just caht over the top ofand - Jehoshaphat! My head just ca at e, a handful of popcorn frozen just beyond her awked

"Oh, ression," Barbara said, looking more worried "I&039;m not quite sure how to proceed"

"You&039;redecapitated? " Patsy asked, looking as stunned as I felt, staring down at the gruesome scene "Are you sure?"

"I&039;m sure, Pats My head&039;s separated from my body, which is covered in ox hoofprints A wheel went over ross Why the hell do I get the reincarnations where I&039;m killed by two bulls and a cart? Why can&039;t I be Cleopatra&039;s concubine?"

"Personalthe popcorn into herfrantically "Are you absolutely certain you&039;re dead? Maybe it looks worse than it is"

I shot her a look before relaxing back on the pillow "My head is three feet away froood indicator of death - good god! Nohat&039;s she doing?"

"The ox?" Patsy asked

"No, the driver She&039;s not doing what I think she&039;s doing, is she?"

"I don&039;t know," Terri said, scooting closer, as if that would let her peer into my mind

"This is very unusual," Barbara ital caood"

"What&039;s the lady doing?" Patsy said, sitting on the couch next toto stickto do any good No, you can&039;t tie it on, either Ha Told you so Oh, don&039;t drop h? What a butterfingers Now she&039;s chasing the oxen, who just bolted for a field Oh, no, she&039;s co, only I can&039;t hear anything Itmy head severed by a cart wheel"

"This is just too surreal," Terri said "Do you think she purposely ran you down?"

"I don&039;t think so She see and fell onto hty, this is like some sort of horrible Marx Brothers meets Leatherface sort of movie Holy runaway oxen, Batman!"

"What?" Terri and Patsy asked at the sa weird"

"Ohlove to your lifeless corpse? " Terri asked "I saw a show on HBO about that!"

"No, she&039;s nother hands around and chanting or soet upset," Barbara said, taking copious notes "You are in no personal danger Just describe what you&039;re seeing calmly, and in detail"

"I don&039;t know about you, but I consider a decapitation and barbecue as so the scene in my mind&039;s eye with stunned disbelief

"Barbecue?" Patsy asked "So?"

"No The ox lady waved her hands around, and all of a sudden this silver light was there, all over reat Here comes so the light thing? She&039;s burnt off half ofI&039;ve ever heard," Terri told Patsy "You have the best parties!"

"It&039;s all in the planning," Patsy said uy just saw er to the side I think it&039;s because the lady tried to hide my head behind her, andit up He&039;s yelling at her She&039;s pointing to the oxen in the field, but he looks really pissed Yeah, you tell her,if she can&039;t handle her cows"

"This would htful "I wonder if we could write a screenplay We could uy hasat her Whoops Chunk of hair ca down the hill Guy and lady are chasing it Hee hee hee OK, that&039;s really funny in a horrible sort of way Ah Good for you, sir He caughtthe ox lady with hiain?" Terri asked, offering me the bowl of popcorn I shook my head

"No, he justholy shit! I want out of here! Take me out of this dream or whatever it is! Wakevoice "The ies you see are in the past, and cannot haruy do? " Terri asked

"I want to wake up! Right now!" I said, clawing the couch to sit up

"Very well I&039; to count backwards to one, and when I reach that nu refreshed and quite serene Five, four, three, two, one Welcoasping,at the memory of what I&039;d witnessed

"Yeah I think so"

"What happened at the end? " Terri asked "You looked scared to death"

"You&039;d be scared, too, if you saw a vampire kill someone!" I rubbed my arms Goose bu!" Patsy gasped

"I wish I was He just kind of pounced on the wo, and blood everywhere, and then she collapsed and he had blood all over hislike that again Man alive! I need a drink!"

A half hour later, Barbara the hypnotherapist left, but only after giving th about , just nodded, not wanting to reetsrun down and killed didn&039;t bother me," I told my friends as we sat over a couple of bottles of wine "But that et the look on his face as long as I live It was like he was in hell I&039;ve never seen such anguish before, and then he was just on her, biting her Urgh It was terrible"

"What did he look like?"

I thought, trying to separate the last ies of him from the earlier ones "Tall Muscular Dark hair Green eyes Squarish chin Handsouy if you saw him in a hbor," Patsy said, getting to her feet

"You have a handso from us?" I asked her

"Well, I don&039;t see hi - I never see hieous He likes to swim in the nude"

"We&039;re your oldest friends," Terri said "You owe it to us to share gorgeous htly muddled because of the wine, "do you know he swims naked?"

Patsy hiccuped "If you happen to be at the east side of e, there&039;s a bare spot where you can see into his backyard, and the pool"

"I wanna see," Terri said, tipping over

"You have had way too ree I want to see the naked gorgeous neighbor"

Patsy glanced at the clock "Norht, but a little fresh air will do us good Tallyho, ladies!"

"We&039;re off to get a fox," Terri said, giggling as we clutched each other and staggered after Patsy, who carried a bottle of ith her, pointing it toward the backyard

It took a good ten et to the spot Patsy had mentioned, but only because we all had to troop back into the house, one by one, to use the facilities

"Sucks having a tiny bladder," Terri said, wobbling slightly as she returned to where Patsy and I were lying on the grass, sharing the last bottle of wine "C&039;hbor"

There was no one in the pool

"Dahbor&039;s house

"Well, that&039;s disappointing," Patsy said "Maybe he&039;ll be out later"

"Anti off the bottle

"Huh?" I asked

"I think she reat precision

"Ah Gotcha Well, hell I&039;uy"

"I know!" Terri said, heading for the house "Let&039;sh peek in the s to see him"

"Ter!" Patsy said, her voice hushed as she ran after Terri "That&039;s illegal"

"No it isn&039;t," she insisted "He&039;s your neighbor, right? That&039;sh not illegal to look in a neighbor&039;s house You ever hear of Neighborhood Watch? We do it all the tiood C&039;mon Let&039;s peek"

"So the pair "I think it&039;s because I&039;m drunk"

By the time we found athat wasn&039;t curtained, and which looked in on what appeared to be a living rooain, and was urging us to return to her house

"What&039;sh the big deal?" Terri asked, having so the one step that led up to the doors

"He&039;s hbor! I don&039;t want hi to knoere here," I pointed out, adoing to knoas here if I leave a big puddle of wee," she said, her legs crossed as she did a little hopping dance "Let&039;s go back hoo!"

"OK I don&039;t see hilass on either side of the double front doors, loudly jabbing the glass with her finger "Look! Do you see? Oh, baby, you&039;re right He is gorgeous, although he&039;s not naked Hey, he&039;s looking this way I wonder if he can see us"

"It&039;s night outside," I said, waving ht No one can see us We&039;re like ninjas Except for the wee puddles"

The door opened, light spilling out from inside, the silhouette of a man clearly visible "Can I help you?" he asked, his voice deep and alluring with a slight Ger at herself She shoved the bottle at hbor into his house

"Second door on the left," he directed her She ran in the direction he was pointing

He turned back to us, but I couldn&039;t see hi I can do for you ladies?"

"Pats said you like to swi hopeful

"Ah Well, I&039;ve hadelse?"

He stepped out of the doorway and onto the entryway, straight into the light cast by a standing yard la at hi, Cora?" Terri asked, weaving slightly "You look like you&039;re going to barf"

"Va out as a croak

Theout to steady Terri, suddenly whirled around to look ather way down the lone step

"Vareen eyes at me "Who the hell are you?"

"VAMPIRE!" I screa black hole opened up at my feet, and I fell into it

The last sound I heard was that of Patsy "Oh, thank you, Alec I really didn&039;t want to wee on your lovely tile work What&039;s Cora doing on the ground?"

Dear Readers,

Lest you be freaked out by the excerpt that follows - and I know right now so such a thing - let h the excerpt froasp!) a conteon books co yourself, did I suddenly run amok and write a contemporary? I can answer that in tords: my muse Or, rather, three words: my pesky entle fun at soo to listen to her when she insists rite a book

While I&039; books, let me add a note about the Dark Ones in particular I knowfor another Ben and Fran book, and I want to reassure you that they have a significant part to play regarding the situations brought to light via the previous Dark Ones book, In the Company of VampiresThey may have to adopt secondary roles for the next book, but they will, indeed, be present and looking for some answers