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As she stared with unblinking horror, he curled back his upper lip, exposing long sharp fangs

She gripped her s into her pals real, because on some level she still wanted to believe she’d wandered into a dark nightmare alley But this was no dream And she didn’t have any illusions that her puny weapon would stop hier His gaze swept past her to focus on Len, as throwing hiainst the door in a vain effort to break it down The force of his desperation shook the roohed, a soft sound that terrified her ed over to the wall and pressed herself flat against it, wished she could sink into it and disappear, and prayed to a God she hadn’t spoken to since she was ten

"Leaving so soon?"

His voice was dark and deep, filled with such ing herself against the door Instinct whispered, "You’re prey Don’t move Don’t breathe Don’t call attention to yourself"

"I’s with you--life, death, and how payback is a bitch" He didn’t move closer to Len

Len finally turned away from the door All color had drained fro "No Don’t Tony did the binding" He sounded almost incoherent

"But Tony is dead That only leaves you" He sounded regretful that Tony was beyond his reach Then he s, sensed death filling the room, the air thick with fear and finality She told herself to close her eyes

She watched

Suddenly, Len’s head jerked sharply to the left, farther than any hu sound, Cassie couldn’t hear it past the roaring in her head Len dropped to the floor Cassie recognized death in his loose-limbed sprawl and empty eyes And no one had touched hiht change in his face--the erous slant to his mouth? Cassie blinked Of course she was No way could she trust any of her senses right now

It was too much, tooShe opened her hand and released the bloody piece of glass Cassie couldn’t even blink as she stared past Felicity, Tony, and Len She’d finally found sonored her as he methodically stripped Len of his clothes He pulled on the dead lanced at the shoes "Too da" But he put them on anyway Finally, he turned his attention to her

"What’s your na puddle of terror, but she felt strangely calm Her heart still pounded way too fast, and she knew her breathing wasn’t nor on around her He would kill her now He didn’t need to know her nah emotion to care "Cassie"

He crouched in front of her "Well, Cassie, we need to get the hell out of here Now" He reached for her

She started to cringe away fro to kill her? Why not? Cassie’s thoughts felt as though they were slogging through knee-deepsound

His black gaze pierced her "Here’s the deal If you stay in this room, Roland Garrity will take care of the job that Tony and Len botched Even if you run horabbed her hand and hauled her to her feet

She flinched at the sharp pain in her cut palrip, he exalanced up at her from under thick dark lashes "It’s not wise to teue across her palmore What should have been a shudder turned into a shiver But she stopped wondering about her strange reaction as she stared at her pal And within a few heartbeats, she couldn’t see where it had been "What? How?" She knew her eyes"We’re wasting tio with you?" She realized she was in shock, but even knowing that, she couldn’t shake the inertia holding her in its grip

"Did I say you had a choice?"

He led her to the door, and she didn’t fight hi with herto escape

"I need to call the police" She glanced back at Felicity Her friend was dead Soon the horror of what had happened would crash over her, and she’d drown in her what-ifs and should-haves But not no her mind was still wrapped in a cotton orld

"No police" He barely touched the door and it swung open "Tony would’ve had instructions to call in as soon as you were dead He hasn’t called, so Garrity will know that soht now all of his people will be on their way We don’t want to be here when they arrive" He pulled her into the elevator and hit the top button