Excerpt


Her heart thumped so heavily it caused a pounding sensation in her ears. Blades of ice laced her spine. He claimed the dead were judging her. He also claimed to be listening to them. Oh, God, but he was more insane than she had at first imagined. She watched him cock his head to one side for a moment or two, then the superficial smile appeared once more.

"They're still voting," Evan said. "There's no decision yet. In the meanwhile, we really should do something about that leg of yours. The removable one. It needs to stay on, permanently. The problem is: what method of permanence do I use?"

Her hands were lying across her lap. She dug her nails into the flesh of her thighs to keep from screaming. She watched as he got to his feet and removed a padlock and a chain from a drawer beside the stove.

"I was pondering the situation in my mind before you came here today." He removed a nail gun and some of the longest nails she'd ever seen. "If I kill you and your body begins, shall we say...fading away, then every time I carry you into my bed, the damned thing will keep falling off and I'll have to make a second trip."

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