The women were smiling, simpering, reaching out to him. As they moved closer, he raised a hand and pointed to the ground. Obediently the three dropped to their knees and crawled sensuously forward, writhing and moaning, tearing at their clothing. The fog covered the obscene display for a moment, and when it cleared again she could see that one of the women had reached the man and was winding herself around his knees. She ripped away her blouse, exposing her breasts, touching herself suggestively, rubbing herself against the man’s body, begging and pleading for him to take her, use her. A second woman reached the cliff’s edge and clung to his waist, staring up provocatively.

Alexandria wanted to turn away from the horror of what was about to befall these human puppets, but she caught sight of Joshua walking slowly toward the man. He didn’t seem to notice the women. He looked neither right nor left, just walked forward as if in a dream state.

A trance. A hypnotic trance. Alexandria’s heart slammed against her chest. Somehow this killer had hypnotized the women and Joshua. They answered his bidding like mindless sheep. Her brain was trying to analyze how he had accomplished such a feat even as she hurried to intercept Joshua before he could reach the monster. Fortunately, Joshua was moving very slowly, almost as though he was being pulled reluctantly forward.

Although the thick veil of fog hid her, Alexandria felt the impact of those hostile, unearthly eyes as the creature swung his head toward her, his neck undulating like that of a reptile.

As he examined her through the thickness of the fog, bat wings beat at her skull; the shards of glass pierced her over and over. The soft, seductive voice murmured insistently in her head. Alexandria ignored the pain throbbing in her head and focused her attention on reaching Joshua. She would not give this monster the satisfaction of knowing he was hurting her.

Her hand caught at Joshua’s shirt. His feet continued forward, but she planted her feet firmly and held him still. Wrapping her arms around the child, she faced the monster, not more than fifteen feet away.

He was on the very edge of the cliff, his human puppets fawning on him, purring and begging for his attention. He appeared not to notice the women, his entire being concentrating on Alexandria. He smiled at her, a baring of fangs.

Alexandria shuddered at the sight of Henry’s blood on his lips and teeth. This madman had killed sweet, harmless Henry.

“Come to me.” He held out a hand to her.

She could feel his voice right through her body, pulling at her to do his bidding. She blinked rapidly to keep in focus the bloodstains on his hands and long, dagger-like fingernails. As she stared at the talons, the voice lost its beauty and took on a harsh, quarrelsome ugliness.

“I don’t think so. Leave us alone. I’m taking Joshua with me. You can’t have him.” She spoke with determination, her spine stiffening, her blue eyes blazing defiance.

Absently one of his obscene hands caressed the woman rubbing at his waist. “Join me. Look at these women. They want me. They adore me.”

“Keep fooling yourself.” She tried to take a step backward. Joshua resisted her effort. She tightened her arms to prevent his moving forward but when she dragged him back a step, he began to thrash, forcing her to stop.

The monster on the cliff raised an eyebrow. “You do not believe me?” He turned his attention to the woman at his waist. “Come here, my dear. I wish you to die for me.” He waved a hand behind him.

To Alexandria’s horror, the woman licked his outstretched hand, and, simpering and fawning, she crawled past him. “No!” Alexandria cried out, but the woman was already falling into the emptiness of space, down to the greedy water and jagged rocks below. Even as Alexandria gasped, he pulled the second woman up by her hair, kissed her full on the mouth and, bending her nearly backward, sank his hideous teeth into her neck.

The vivid sketches Alexandria had drawn depicting Thomas Ivan’s horror stories were springing to life before her eyes. The creature feasted on the blood spilling down the woman’s throat, then tossed her aside, over the cliff, as if she were nothing but an empty shell he’d found on the beach. Deliberately he ran his thick, obscene tongue over his blood-smeared lips in a grotesque display.

Alexandria found herself murmuring a prayer, a chant, over and over beneath her breath. Whatever this creature was, he was dangerous and insane beyond imagination. She took a firmer grip on Joshua and lifted him from his feet.

He kicked at her and fought, made little growling noises, and snapped his teeth at her. Alexandria managed to move two more feet backward before she was forced to put him down. He remained still as long as she wasn’t moving away from his objective.

The monster raised his head again, licked his fingers, and smiled hideously. “Do you see? They will do anything for me. They adore me. Don’t you, pet?” He lifted the last woman to her feet. Instantly she wrapped herself around him, rubbing suggestively, touching and caressing him. “You want only to please me, do you not?”

The woman began to kiss him, his neck, his chest, moving lower and lower, her hands fumbling at his trousers. He fondled her neck. “See my power? And you are the one I have been seeking to join with me, to share my power.”

“That woman doesn’t adore you,” Alexandria protested. “You’ve used hypnosis to make her a puppet. She has no mind of her own. Is that what you call power?” She put as much contempt into her quavering voice as she could.

A low, deadly hiss escaped the monster’s mouth, but he continued to smile at her. “Perhaps you are right. This one isuseless, is she not?” Still smiling, still staring straight into Alexandria’s eyes, the man caught the woman’s head between his palms and wrenched.

The crack was audible and seemed to vibrate right through Alexandria’s body. She was shaking so much, her teeth were chattering. With one hand the monster casually dangled the woman’s broken body over the cliff’s edge. She hung there like a rag doll, her neck at a peculiar angle, a once beautiful woman now an empty, lifeless shell. The monster discarded her by merely opening his hand and allowing her to fall into the greedy water below.

“Now you have me to yourself,” he said softly. “Come to me.”

Alexandria shook her head violently. “Not me. I’m not going to come to you. I see you as you are, not what you made those poor women see.”

“You will come to me, and of your own free will. You are the one. I have searched the world for one such as you. You must come to me.” His tone was soft, but held a whip of warning, a hiss of command.

Alexandria tried to take a step backward, but Joshua erupted into a growling frenzy, kicking and biting. She stopped again and got a firmer grip to prevent his escape. “You’re sick. You need help. A doctor or something. I can’t do anything for you.” She was searching desperately for a way out of this nightmare, praying someone would come. A security guard. Anyone.

“You do not know what I am, do you?”

Alexandria’s mind felt almost numb with terror. She had spent considerable time reading and doing research on ancient legends of vampires to work on her sketches for Thomas Ivan. And this monster was the epitome of that mythical creature, feeding on another’s blood, using hypnotic trances to command helpless humans to do his evil bidding. She took a deep breath to calm herself, to try to bring herself back to the world of reality. Surely it was the fog and wind, the dark, starless night, and the eerie crash of the waves below that made her think what could not possibly be. This was a twenty-first century sociopath, not some legendary character of old. She must hold on to her wits and not allow the horror of the night to fuel her imagination.