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above quicksilver pools of mosquito-infested water. The night throbbed with the croaking of frogs and echoed with the whisper of predatory wings. It was a bad night to be a fly or a furry rodent. |
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Who could it have been? the Dark Man wondered. Surely not that goateed idiot digging like a dog with his bare hands in the mushy ground. No, one entity had been much too strong, its aura alive with ebony. It had been cautious, slipping in and out of the psychic plane like one of those little swamp mice. |
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And that's what was so disturbing. The fact that the entity had been so circumspect, so painfully careful, indicated that it was aware of the power it faced. And yet it chose to challenge him anywayto challenge him! |
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Turning from the window, the Dark Man began to pace slowly around his self-made chamber of horrors. |
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The second entity had been even more puzzling. Its power had been weak and seemed to come from far away. And yet it hovered around the redheaded woman like a noxious vapor. |
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Why all the interest in this damned woman? the Dark Man fumed. |
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"To hell with it," he muttered. |
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Neither entity could do him any real harm. They were just flies in the ointmenttwo more tiny irritants in a world suddenly full of tiny irritants. |
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He returned to the rocking chair and settled his lanky frame onto the wicker. His inflamed joints screamed in protest, but he ignored them the way he ignored all of the little aches and pains he had suffered since the talisman had been stolen. For the first time in decades he felt his age, and he cursed his son as he had cursed him every day since his betrayal. Time had become a cancer that was rapidly ravaging his body. |
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He glanced up at the bottles and jars lining the shelves on the walls. All those hearts. All those souls that had died in torment. |
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All Hallows' Eve was just over a week away. Time was running out. |
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