Prologue
Nora
Blood.
It’s everywhere. The pool of dark red liquid on the floor is spreading, multiplying. It’s on my feet, my skin, my hair… I can taste it, smell it, feel it covering me. I’m drowning in blood, suffocating in it.
No! Stop!
I want to scream, but I can’t draw in enough air. I want to move, but I’m restrained, tied in place, the ropes cutting into my skin as I struggle against them.
I can hear her screams, though. Inhuman shrieks of pain and agony that slice me open, leaving my mind as raw and mangled as her flesh.
He lifts the knife one last time, and the pool of blood turns into an ocean, the rip current sucking me in—
I wake up screaming his name, my sheets soaked through with cold sweat.
For a moment, I’m disoriented… and then I remember.
He will never come for me again.