Shiver
Prologue
Twenty years earlier
Our Lady of Virtues Hospital
Near New Orleans, Louisiana
She felt his breath.
Warm.
Seductive.
Erotically evil.
A presence that caused the hairs on the back of her
neck to lift, her skin to prickle, sweat to collect
upon her spine.
Her heart thumped, and barely able to move, standing
in the darkness, she searched the shadowed corners of
her room frantically. Through the open window she
heard the reverberating songs of the frogs in the
nearby swamps and the rumble of a train upon faraway
tracks.
But here, now, he was with her.
Go away, she tried to say, but held her tongue, hoping
beyond hope that he wouldn't notice her standing near
the window. On the other side of the panes, security
lamps illuminated the grounds with pale, bluish light,
and she realized belatedly that her body, shrouded
only by a sheer nightgown, was silhouetted in their
eerie glow.
Of course he could see her, find her in the darkness.
He always did.
Throat dry, she stepped backward, placing a hand on
the window casing to steady herself. Maybe she had
just imagined his presence. Maybe she hadn't heard the
door open after all. Maybe she'd jumped up from a
drug- ... read full excerpt from Shiver ebook
