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want to see me, too, when you get done being mad at me.”
    “You don’t have that long.”
    Lilith might have believed her. Might have believed that there was no hope for the hard bitter young woman who was giving her the boot. But at the last minute, when she took one final look around, and Hannah was standing in the doorway, in the light, Lilith finally saw it.
    Hannah was still wearing the heart-half.
    oOo
    HE SLAMMED INTO his special place where no one could find him and stood surveying the center of his power. A cabinet snugged against one wall housed well-cared-for tools of destruction. Rifles. Handguns. Knives. Opposite were reminders of his prowess. Several stuffed animal heads with glass eyes reigned near the ceiling. Beneath the remains of deer and moose and bear, he’d hung likenesses of the real prizes.
    Pictures of women.
    Beautiful, dark-haired women. Three of them. So far. Starting with her , the one woman he could not touch.
    And next to the carefully framed photographs stood his souvenir case of teak and glass with red velvet-lined shelves. Only the best for his mementos, tokens of the women he’d slain.
    Skin.
    He was ready to add to the meager collection.
    Whipping the photograph from beneath his jacket, he stared at the slut’s face. She could be her , he thought, and soon she would be for him, if only for a short while.
    He hadn’t expected the need to resurface so soon. That worried him. What if it meant he’d lost control? The possibility made him almost as angry as she did. It was her fault those women were dead. Her fault that he was ready to strike again. For if he couldn’t punish the woman who really deserved it...
    Thinking about his next quarry, he fetched the case and set it on his leather chair. Oh-so-carefully chose and packed his tools. Handcuffs. Rope. Hunting knife. Rifle. Ammunition. Thin leather gloves.
    He made an inventory.
    Had he forgotten anything?
    Lovingly smoothing a hand over the contents, he closed and locked the case.
    Not that he was going to use it just yet. But he needed to be prepared for his newest prey. So fast, so fast, he thought with regret. He’d had far more time to ready himself in the past, had gone nearly four months between the first two. He’d been able to think about his actions. Plan them to the last detail.
    Savor them.
    This time was different.
    His need was growing, spiraling out of control. Rubbing himself, he imagined the play-by-play. Barely two weeks after the last kill, the urge to take up the hunt returned as intense as a wet dream.
    oOo

 
Chapter 4
     
    SATURDAY MORNING. Too little sleep. Up all night worrying about Hannah, wondering what she should do – could do – to get her sister back in her life, Lilith dressed fast. She spent several hours of most Saturdays doing something with Carmen, but how was that going to go with her worrying about her sister? If she cancelled, that would disappoint the girl, maybe lose her trust.
    Just as she had Hannah’s.
    Lilith wanted to return to her sister’s place to make amends. Hannah had done what she’d needed to in order to survive. And now she was proud of her life, or at least that’s what she projected. Lilith could accept that but she didn’t have to like it. She wanted something better for her sister, something safer – she hadn’t forgotten about the murders. She had to admit that while her heart went out to them, she’d never understood how women could stay in abusive situations where men used them up. She’d never understood how Mama could let a man beat her and her daughters.
    And now Hannah was at risk, if in a very different situation.
    She knew what she had to do if she wanted a relationship with her sister – understand her the way she was now. That meant knowing what Hannah had gone through after running. Though she’d imagined it all, she didn’t know the real horror. She had to ease into trying to find out, though, or she feared Hannah would simply continue to reject