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Sacred Ashes (Lethal Legacy) (Volume 1)

By Sherri Stone

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Chapter One


The rustic windows of Dani LaClere's rented beach cottage stood open in invitation to the night breeze, tangy with salt and secrets of the sea. A shadow glided along the balcony on the street side, protected from moonlight, one with the night. It reached the window and poured into the cottage like primordial ooze. Silent and deadly.
He stood for a moment, listening for any sign that she was awake, but the sound of the surf gently pounding the shore kept him from hearing anything. With the flick of a finger the cottage came to life in the eerie, green glow of night vision goggles. Dani's world. He began to explore.
A small vase on the coffee table overflowed with flowers he couldn't identify. Books stacked in careless piles gave testimony to her favorite pastime. A tote bag waited by the door, bulging with towels, bottled water, suntan lotion and chocolate. The room was neat in a carefree, lived-in sort of way.
He continued to the corner that held a tiny kitchen. A bag of cookies sat on the counter and he helped himself to a handful as he headed for her room. He moved like a ghost across the sisal rug to the doorway of her bedroom where he stood and watched her sleep. Two steps would bring him to her bedside. He was tempted. His hands clenched in barely controlled agitation. All of the sneaking around fed his frustration. He was a man of action. Hands on. Yeah, he wanted hands on her. Right now. A small growl of frustration escaped him. Tonight he was only permitted to watch and record.
He pulled out his camera and started to record while another scenario played in his head. The one where he killed her. It wouldn't be so hard. She wasn't very big – average height from what he could tell. He pictured his hands around her throat. Or maybe he would wrap that long brown hair around and around, pulling it tight until she stopped breathing.
Suddenly he heard his own breathing, quick and ragged, above the sounds of the waves and forced himself to slow it down. He couldn't afford to make a mistake. A few more minutes and he would slip out into the night. She stirred restlessly and he held his breath.
Don't wake up yet, Dani. If I have to kill you tonight I'll be in so much trouble.
A quiet giggle slipped out and he caught his breath and stared at Dani, willing her to stay asleep in spite of the noises he made. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply for a moment to regain some control. Killing her would be nice. It would be even better after they tormented her for a while.
He clicked off the recorder and stepped gingerly toward the window in the main room. Three steps away from the doorway he froze. Her breathing changed abruptly. She was awake. He slid into a small niche between the wall and the entertainment center and prepared to wait. She would sleep again. There were hours yet until daylight.
He flipped open the video screen and played back the recording without sound. So close. What a rush. Impatient as he was, it would be fun to play with her for a while. They could only kill her once.




Dani woke suddenly, heart pounding in her ears, cold sweat covering her body, a sense of danger wrapping her tighter than the tangled bedclothes. She fought the urge to jump and run. What had awakened her?
A dream? She usually remembered those. Especially the bad ones.
A sound? The open windows let in the sea breeze and the sound of waves breaking on the beach as the tide came in. Ironically, the very sounds that should have soothed her made it impossible to hear anything inside the cottage.
Moonlight spilled across her bed. She kept her breathing shallow as she searched every part of the room, her glances quick and frantic. Nothing. She turned her head and stared out into the main room. Her gaze remained fixed there, her soul sensing a danger her eyes could not see.
She closed her eyes and swore softly. How long would this go on? Wasn't ten years long enough? She huffed out her frustration, rolled to her side and snapped on the lamp. Shadows fled and all was as it should be. Gauzy curtains floated like mist in the windows, more for decoration than privacy. Framed photographs of sunsets and sailboats graced the walls. A collection of shells from her walk on the beach nestled in one of her shoes, and remnants of her late-night snack scattered over the dresser.
No intruder. Nothing out of place.
She backed up to the headboard needing to feel something solid and sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, rocking gently. Sometimes the nightmares woke her. They were especially intense around this time every year. She knew to expect them and she always remembered them, reliving that horrific day over and over again. This time her mind was blank. Something else had pulled her from sleep.
The open bedroom door made her feel exposed and vulnerable, but oddly enough the wide-open windows did not. She finally worked up the nerve to move, threw back the covers, jumped out of bed and slammed the door shut. The tiny hook and eye latch on the door was little protection. She shoved the small chest of drawers in front of the door.
She climbed back in bed and stretched out sideways, her back to the headboard, needing to feel something solid and safe. She pulled her cell phone off the nightstand and started to dial a number, then stopped. Grace was once of the few who knew Dani's demons. She would understand with no explanation. After a moment, she tucked the phone close and wrapped herself around a bounty of pillows, building a barricade between herself and the night. Dani wouldn't wake Grace tonight, though it was comforting knowing she was there. She could handle a bad dream all by herself. She'd had lots of practice. She frowned. Why couldn't she remember the dream?
She closed her eyes as scenes from nightmares played in her head. Flames, smoke, flashing lights, screaming. Her own screaming. A cemetery with rows and rows of caskets lined up next to open graves. The wrong people dead. Why did the wrong people always die?
Dani believed in evil. It had reached out and touched her in the most hideous way and changed her life forever. It caught people unawares, decent people, and took pleasure in hurting them. Good people. Families. Her family.
Wrapped around her pillows she stared at the now-closed door, not trusting that she was safe. She hadn't seen danger coming last time and it had been right in front of her face. How could she be sure she wasn't missing is again?
She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the sound of the waves, willing her heartbeat to slow and her breathing to calm. She would greet the dawn before she slept again.

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