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PROLOGUE
THE LIGHT WAS in her eyes, blinding her Macey Night couldn’t see past that too bright light She was strapped onto the operating room table, but it wasn’t the straps that held her immobile
He’d drugged her
“I could stare into your eyes forever” His ruht “So unusual, but then, you realize just how special you are, right, Dr Night?”
She couldn’t talk He’d gagged her They were in the base that hadn’t been used for years Or at least, she’d thought it hadn’t been used She’d been wrong About so s
“Red hair is always rare, but to find a redhead with heterochromiait’s like I hit the jackpot”
A tear leaked from her eye
“Don’t worry I’vethat happens to you I just—well, the drugs were to ht back That’s all Not to i back just ruins everything I knohat I’hed “I had a few patients early on—they were special like you Well, not quite like you, but I think you get the idea They fought and things got messy”
A whi because he’d just taken his scalpel and cut her on the left ar, slow slice from her inner wrist all the way up to her elbow
“Hoas that?” he asked her His voice was low, deep
Nausea rolled in her stos, fro with a monster and she hadn’t even realized it Day in and day out, he’d been at her side She’d even thought about dating hi sex with him After all, Daniel Haddox was the most respected doctor at the hospital At thirty-five, he’d already eon at Hartford General Hospital, everyone said so
He was also, apparently, a sadistic serial killer
And she was his current victim
All because I have two different-colored eyes Two fucking different colors
“I’ll start slowly, just so you knohat’s going to happen” He’d ht side now “I keep ht at first I like to see how the patient reacts to the pain stimulus”
I’ with me! Stop! Stop!
But he’d sliced her again A iven her before, a slice on her right aran at her inner wrist and slid all the way up to her elbow
“Later, the slices will get deeper I have a gift with the scalpel, haven’t you heard?” He laughed—it was a laugh that she knew tooDr Haddox was attractive, with black hair and glea blue eyes He had perfect white teeth, and the kind of easy, good-looking features that only aged well
Doesn’t matter what he looks like on the outside He’s a monster
“Every time I work on a patient, I wonderwhat is it like without the anesthesia?”
Sick freak
“But not just any patient works for me I need the special ones” Heto slice her again He lifted the scalpel and pressed it to her cheek
The fingers on her right hand jerked
Wait—did I do that? Had her hand jerked just because of soed her when she’d first walked into the basement with hi table, and strapped her down But before he could touch her anyotten a text and rushed off—to surgery To save a patient She wasn’t even sure how long he’d been gone She’d been trapped on that operating table, staring up at the bright light the whole tiain and again for help that never came
“You and I are going to have so much fun, and those beautiful eyes of yours will showthose eyes before I’m done”
Her right hand iven her earing off His mistake She often responded in unusual ways to medicine Hell, that
was one of the reasons she’d gone into medicine in the first place When she was six, she’d al an over-the-counter children’s pain medication Her body processed medicines differently She’d wanted to knohy Wanted to kno to predict ould have adverse reactions after she’d gone into cardiac arrest from a simple aspirin
It’s not just my eyes that are different I’m different
But her motherher mother had been the main reason for her drive to enter the field of medicine Macey had been forced to watch—helplessly—as cancer destroyed her beautiful e after her mother’s death She’d wanted to help people
I never wanted to die like this!
But now she couldany attention to her fingers, though He was holding that scalpel right beneath her eye and staring down at her She couldn’t see his face He was just a blur of dots—courtesy of that bright light
She twisted her right hand and caught the edge of the strap She began to slide her hand loose
“The eyes will be last,” he told her as if he’d just coot to explore every inch of you to see why you’re different It’s for the good of science It’s always for the good For the betterment of mankind, a few have to suffer” He h I wonder about youabout us With your ether”
And maybe he was insane No, there wasn’t any ht hand free, and her left orking diligently on the strap Her legs were still secured so she wasn’t going to be able to just jus would hold her The drug was still in her body, but it was fading fast
“But you aren’t like that, are you, Dr Night?” Now his voice had turned hard “I watched you Followed you Kept ”
She’d felt hunted for days, for weeks, but she’d tried to tell herself she was just being silly She worked a lot, and the stress of the job had been s She was in her final feeeks of residency work, and everyone knew those hours were killer
Only in her case, they literally were
“You don’t get that we can’t always save every patient So experience for everyone”
Bullshit He was just trying to justify his insanity