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She could smell death inside

With a cry, she tried to wrest her hand froed her inside the building and shut the door Desperate to escape hiather her will around her in order to repel his hold on her, but her h rose in his throat as he dragged her down a flight of stairs to the base the rooht that did little to dispel the blackness that gathered around her, a darkness so thick she could feel it crawling over her skin

A long an's corpse lay on the table, obscene and withered in death A stake had been driven into his heart His body had been drained of blood

She turned to look at Loken, her insides going cold with terror when she saw him, really saw him, for the first time He was neither ht and pointed, more like horns than human ears His teeth hite and sharp

She looked back at the table, her eyes widening when she found herself staring into Ji vae His hair turned from brown to black, his eyes frorew broader, his legs longer, and suddenly it wasn't Jian's body chained to the cold metal table but Roshan's

A screa off the walls, the floor, the ceiling She screamed until her throat ached Screaled with her screahter…

She ith a start, her face and body bathed in sweat

Scra out of bed, she threw back the curtains and opened the , then stood there drawing in deep breaths of fresh air

A drea but a bad drea doom

Soli downstairs, she went into the kitchen She pulled a heavy silver bowl from the cupboard and filled it ater, then placed it on the table, her fingertips tapping impatiently while she waited for the water to for her hands over the bowl, she stared into the water, , "Secrets hidden, dark and deep, shohere my love doth sleep"

Slivers of color spiraled up fro across the face of the water until they fore bed with a carved wooden headboard A dark blue sheet covered hiainst the bedding Eyes narrowed, she stared at him He didn't move, didn't twitch, didn't breathe She shivered in spite of herself He did, indeed, sleep like one as dead But at least he was safe!

Now, if she only knew the whereabouts of his lair

Even as the thought crossed her ether and then painting a new i at the hallway that ran fro room The focus of the picture narrowed until it showed a s room