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even conceive her friend would betray her, Emmy nodded and accepted his help donning her bustier.
    “Did you drive here?”
    “No, I took a taxi.”
    “Good. We’ll take my car. When we leave here, I want your vigilance. Tell me if you see anything suspicious.”
    Numbed by great sex and the depressing feeling her perception of her life was about to change forever, Emmy followed Dylan from the club. Except for her directions, the drive was quiet, and sooner than she wished, Dylan parked his BMW a block from her apartment building.
    “Stay inside. I’ll get your door.” He let himself out, and walked around the car.
    But he didn’t immediately open her door. His head lifted, and his nostrils flared like a dog catching a scent in the wind.
    The door latch popped with a soft click and he eased the door open, offering his hand to assist. “Stay behind me,” he said, then led the way down the deserted street. They walked on the side of the street opposite the streetlamps, careful to keep in the shadows.
    Emmy’s nerves crackled with unease. Although she was sure Dylan was dead wrong about her friend, and not at all convinced Monica even had a steady boyfriend, she clutched the back of his vest. Monica told her every down and dirty detail of her life—how could she miss telling her best friend she was dating a serial killer?
    When they were thirty yards from her front steps, Dylan stopped cold, drawing her deeper into the shadow of a shop doorway.
    Emmy looked both ways along the street, but didn’t see a thing wrong. “Really,” she whispered, “aren’t you being just a little paranoid?”
    “Quiet.” His arm circled her waist, and he held her to his side. “Look to the left of the steps.”
    Emmy stared, but still didn’t see anything except shadows. Until one shadow moved. A dark figure crept out of the darkness and into the light of the streetlamp. Then another stepped from behind a car.
    Emmy gasped. One was Monica—but the other wasn’t Nicky. Still, Emmy thought she recognized the man from The Cavern. He’d been among the young men in the group surrounding Nicky. “I don’t understand,” she said, trying to read Dylan’s expression in the dark. “What would they be doing here—hiding in the dark? They’re a little old to be egging my place. Halloween’s over.”
    Dylan didn’t reply, he turned and walked back the way they’d come, pulling her behind him. Emmy heard shouts, and without knowing why, she and Dylan broke into a run. The car loomed forever in the distance. With her sides aching, she gasped for breath, struggling to keep up with him.
    Using the remote, he unlocked the doors and they both dove inside. The ignition revved to life, and he pulled out onto the street, executing a sharp U-turn. As the headlights swept the street before them, several men were illuminated. Something about their appearance didn’t look quite right to Emmy.
    Then she saw Monica, her glossy brown hair framing a face that looked like something out of a nightmare. Her cheeks and forehead protruded. Her brow was heavy and deeply furrowed. She bared her teeth and a jagged line of white appeared, framed by long incisors that glistened when she threw her head back. The howl that followed Dylan and Emmy down the street wasn’t human.
    Emmy welcomed the familiar roar of the engine and muted sounds within the car. The glare from an oncoming car startled her. She blurted, “That wasn’t a goddamned mask! Was it?”
    “No Emmy, it wasn’t,” Dylan said.
    His calm reply wrapped a cold blanket around her shoulders. A shiver lifted the hairs on the back of her neck, and then the trembling began in earnest, shaking her shoulders.
    Dylan’s hand landed on her arm and she jumped.
    “Easy now,” he crooned. “I’m taking you to my place. They’ll know where you are, but they won’t be able to touch you there.”
    “How…how did you know they would be there?” she asked, the chill causing her to stammer. “Why