Tomorrow night there was another meeting, one scheduled after the morality play, and she was nervous. Though she didn’t really know who was a part of their secret group, a few girls had dropped hints and she realized that Trudie and Grace and probably Zena were all members of the elite few. There were others, she knew, but had no idea who they were.

She felt more than one frisson of fear slide down her spine. Because, damn it, she sensed that some of those girls who were missing, the ones the press brought up every now and again, had been part of their inner circle. Though she couldn’t be certain…who could? The ritual was so bizarre, so…dark…But the girls were definitely missing. And during the ceremony, she’d heard their names…he’d called them each sister and used their names.

Had they been willing members of their group?

Of course they were! Don’t be an idiot. They’re gone because of what they got themselves into, what you, yourself so eagerly embraced. They’re either dead or—

“No!” she said aloud to the four walls of the tiny walk-up where she lived alone. “No, no, no!” He wouldn’t betray them so. Those other girls, Tara and Monique and Dionne…they probably left because they’d been scared after the vampire ritual, that was it. The same with Rylee, the last girl reported missing. Ariel remembered her as kind of shallow, always worried, truly a lost soul.

Could they really all be dead?

Her heart turned stone-cold as she stared at the tiny room she’d called home for over a year, noticed the cheap faux-designer touches she’d bought to try and make the apartment appear homey, the worn, broken-down furniture that had come with the place, the few pictures of a family who really didn’t care about her scattered on the tables and plastic yellow bookcase she’d put together herself.

Scratching at her throat, her nerves stretched as tight as ever, she looked up at the picture of Jesus she had mounted on the wall near the window. She’d once been so religious, so convinced of her own piety, and now…oh, Father…now…she was lost…

Ariel swallowed hard.

Then there was that Bentz girl. Daughter of a cop. Nosing around. Who claimed she’d seen danger in the color of Ariel’s skin or some such crap! What did that mean?

Her skin crawled as she thought perhaps she might be the next one who disappeared, that something was going to happen to her….

“No way.” She crossed to her minifridge and pulled a bottle of vodka from the freezer. Uncapping it, she lifted the mouth to her lips and took a long swig. She just needed to calm down. She was getting rattled.