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and for several uncomfortable moments everyone seemed to retreat within their own thoughts. Kyra wasn’t sure who introduced the next topic of conversation but it offered a diversion from the uncomfortable topic and they all pounced on the mundane subject.
     
    ***
     
    After breakfast Ivan announced that the guests could have access to the castle’s garden and first floor level for photo opportunities or general exploration. Not daring to be alone for fear of encountering Dumitri again, Kyra partnered up with the Spanish woman who had introduced herself as Cecilia Fuentes.
     
    “So what happen ed to you last night?” Cecilia began after they’d snapped several shots of the castle’s exterior in silence.
     
    “I didn’t say anything happened,” Kyra responded quickly, feigning interest in the colorfully manicured flowers.
     
    “You didn’t have to. It was written all over your face.”
     
    “I’d rather not discuss it.” Kyra snapped several more shots, although she wasn’t certain at what she aimed.
     
    “Do you think it was real or an illusion?”
     
    The denial was poised on her lips but the possibility of having someone to confide in silenced it. There was no way she could tell her editor what transpired last night. And William, well that was just out of the question. I mages of the night before came back to her with a vengeance. She remembered everything in such vivid detail and it all seemed so real .
     
    “I don’t know,” she lied, looking out into the distance at nothing in particular.
     
    Cecilia spoke after a long silence. “Something happened to me too.”
     
    Kyra turned questioning eyes on her.
     
    “A woman and man came to my room.”
     
    “Did they say anything?”
     
    “Not to me directly. They knew I was there but didn’t bother to acknowledge my presence. It was as if they wanted me to watch them. They looked like humans but… w eren’t. Their eyes glowed like a cat’s and they had … they had fangs.” Cecelia had a di stant look in her eyes. “ Dios m i o , they bit at each other, as if it were turning them on, like animals. I couldn’t stop watchi ng. I felt compelled to do so . Truth-be-told, the scene was very … erotic,” she finished with a shameful whisper, even though they were the only two in the garden.
     
    “Afterwards they looked at me, smiled… and bowed, like it w as part of a performance. Then they just disappeared… vanished. I spent most of the night looking for trap doors or projectors, somet hing to explain it , but there was nothing.” Cecilia looked at her expectantly as if she could provide an answer .
     
    “Perhaps we should leave. This is nothing at all like I expected,” Kyra suggested.
     
    “ Yes, I am su rprised by what took place last night too but t h ere are still six days left, and I’d like an opportunity to experience t his “journey” to its fullest to find out what’s really going on here.”
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
    “I take it your morning was productive? ” Dumitri materialized behind her as she looked out the parlor window. Kyra started at hi s sudden appearance even though she’d expected him, somehow knowing he would seek her out eventually.
     
    “I would like to leave,” she stated, not turning to face him. “You may have charmed all the others with your macabre journey crap, but I sure as hell don’t want any part of it .”
     
    He sighed as if bored with the suggestion. “You know I cannot allow this.”
     
    His answer didn’t surprise her. Kyra watched an animated conversation below be tween the two Brits and briefly and wondered what it could be about before refocusing on her own dilemma.
     
    “Why?”
     
    “Because you belong with me , in time you will understand .”
     
    “Excuse me if I don’t believe that, so is everyone else bein g held captive or does the d istinct honor belong to me alone? ”
     
    There was a long pause before Dumitri spoke again. “ You are not a