Rachel Wainwright was a Lawyer. But a quick perusal of her firm's website showed that she had recently retired, though she was still listed as a partner. He scowled, the flesh of his forehead bunching unpleasantly around his horns.

The cunt probably took the money and ran when Antioch caved.

Fontein had determined that Joshua Sunderman, Wainwright 's until-recently estranged husband, had moved back into her house, the result of a reconciliation between the two. Kincaid smiled mirthlessly.

He suspected the reconciliation was less a result of love and more a result of Althea's influence, her unnatural Lust driving Rachel back into the arms of a man she despised.

She might actually thank me for killing him. So, no. Sunderman is safe for now, damn him. I want to hurt her. To pay her back for what she has done to me.

Ah. The children.

The daughter, Sarah, was apparently a complete slacker, having done nothing but sit around on her ass for a year after graduating high school. Fontein's research had revealed that Sarah Sunderman would be attending culinary school in a few weeks, when the new school year began at Kendall College.

Maybe I should pay her a visit. Kill her, gut her, and make her into a nice dish for Mommy and Daddy to find. Human Tartare. His mouth watered, sending drops of sizzling spittle down his chin.

No. It's too long to wait. He paused, his forehead knotted in thought.

What did Fontein tell me about the boy? Something about acting school?

It took only moments, and his eyes widened with evil delight. Alex

Sunderman, though supposedly about to transfer to Northwestern, was slated to play Iago in a production of Othello being put on by his current school, the College of DuPage, a cut-rate community college in the western suburbs. The premiere was only a few days away.

He leaned back in his leather chair and gloated. Rachel Wainwright, savor your madness. It will feel like paradise compared to what I am about to do to you. You'll be there, won't you? The proud little mother, watching her son strut around the stage. Then, when you least expect it, I will cut him down before your very eyes. Then I will kill you and that monstrosity you are carrying around in your pretty head.

Then the pathetic remainder of your family.

And for dessert, I'll dine on the flesh of a succubus.

“So how's the sword coming along, Althea?" Rachel asked late that evening.

Althea shot her an amused look, then looked at Josh, who was sitting on the couch, a sketchbook in hand. He had asked her to pose for him, and she was lying at her ease on a love seat, nude. As members of the family wandered in and out, sneaking furtive glances at her, she felt her body warm, readying itself for sex.

In fact, the entire evening had been steeped in a thick Liquid haze of sexual desire. When Alex and Maria had come down for dinner, Althea had been surprised and delighted to see the lovely Latina maid leashed, led around on a leather cord which encircled her brown throat. She had been naked from the waist up, her dark skin gleaming with sweat, her nipples so hard with arousal they seemed to threaten to burst from her breasts.

Her musk had risen around her like an invisible wave, and only Althea's pride in Alex's bravery in showing their desires in such an uninhibited fashion had kept her from diving into her sweet folds and tonguing her to orgasm.

Jeremy and Sarah had hardly blinked at the display, though Sarah had rolled her eyes at her older brother. Rachel and Josh hadn't even raised an eyebrow, treating the pair with the sort of relaxed, casual courtesy that only came when two people had spent so long in one another's company they barely needed to talk to agree. Yasna, on the other hand, had barely been able to keep her eyes off of Maria, and, to a lesser extent, Alex. Althea smiled in memory, thinking of the way the young doctor's eyes had devoured the pair.

Only a matter of time, she thought smugly, shifting slightly on the love-seat. She stopped when Josh gave a frustrated hiss.

“Please hold still, Althea," he said. "Or this is going to turn out to be the most horrible mess."

She smiled at him, charmed by his devotion to his work. "It's not like this is going to be the only time I ever pose for you, Josh."

He raised his brows at her. "Did you ever hear the story of William

Manchester? He planned to write a three-volume biography of Winston