Winter's Touch (Immortal Touch Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

well?”
    Her reaction was unexplainable, even to herself. Despite the emotional numbness penetrating her mind, after what she’d witnessed she most certainly should have been fearful of her life. And yet, every instinct she possessed assured her that he had no intention of killing her.
    “You won’t hurt me.”
    “And how could you possibly know that?”
    She shivered. “ I’m cold.”
    “Very well.” They headed back down the empty road in silence, leaving behind the shell of Shawn Matheson to be discovered at some later time. Eva felt as if she was sleepwalking through a fog. She was back at home in her own bed, of course. She’d wake safe and secure and the chestnut-haired boy would never have existed. He wasn’t real. None of this was really happening.
    “If I hadn’t already gone to all the trouble of securing that one, I might have killed you instead,” he said as soon as they were in the car. He popped a piece of gum in his mouth, then wadded the wrapper into a tiny ball while gazing through the windshield into space. “You’re such a confounding little nipper. What will I do with you?”
    She pulled the seat belt across her chest and buckled it quietly.
    “It wouldn’t do for you to disappear. There would be too many questions.” He started the engine and glanced over at her. “You’ve put me in quite a precarious position, do you know that?”
    “ You never talked to me before. In the other dreams,” she announced suddenly, taking him by surprise.
    “Do you mean to tell me you’re still having those?”
    “Yes.”
    He was silent for a while as he turned this information over in his mind. “Tell me about them, Eva.”
    “You’re hurting people. I think it’s you. It looks like you.” None of the other nightmares had the clarity of this one. They were much more vague. You’re not asleep, you know, a spiteful voice inside her head reproached her. This is real. It’s really happening. You know that very well.
    “I’m asleep, aren’t I?” Her confused mind desperately craved reassurance.
    “Why yes, of course you are. This is just a nightmare. Nothing more.”
    Comforted, she rested her head against the car door and drifted away.
    He roused her two miles from home on a quiet, deserted stretch of road. She peered out at the night, disoriented.
    Before she had a chance to clear her head, he put a finger underneath her chin and looked deep into her eyes. “I must admit that the world would be infinitely more dull without you in it. So we’ll try this one more time. I do apologize for leaving you out here like this, but I have no other choice. You mustn’t be seen with me. Now then Evangeline, I want you to pay close attention. Are you listening to me?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good girl. Now I want you to eradicate from your memory every single thing that happened tonight. You never saw me. You were never with me. You’ve been asleep all night. You’re to simply walk home, enter your house and go straight to bed. Do not deviate from these instructions in any way. Is that understood?”
    “Yes.”
    “And one more thing. Listen very carefully. You will experience no more nightmares involving me. Ever. You’ll have only the vaguest recollection of me as your neighbor and nothing more. Are we clear?”
    “Yes.”
    “Very well then. Get out of the car and start walking.”
    She did as he instructed. And then he drove away, leaving her standing there all alone in the road, the BMW’s bright taillights gradually fading into the darkness.
    Eva remembered nothing until she reached the street where she lived. The glare of a humming streetlight caught her directly in the eye, and she stared at it for a full thirty seconds before blinking. And waking.
    And then she began to scream.
    ~*~*~
    Three days later, a realtor arrived to plant a For Sale sign in the yard of the house next door.
     
    CHAPTER THREE
    The Devil Returns
     
    Among the most common disruptive sleep disorders of primary