Chapter 58
T he woman would be a fine addition to his collection. The Overseer thought he needed to mind where he marked her, as he didn’t want to spoil her beauty, but mark her he would, and then he would turn her over to the master for his carnal pleasure.
She stood frozen at the top of the staircase.
Curtains of flames rippled and flapped at her back.
The growing conflagration concerned the Overseer.
He had once perished in such a fire at the plantation.
He had risen again . . . but only with the assistance of the ancient ones, the silent watchers who fed on the pain that he so skillfully dispensed.
The woman, however, unmarked and free, was so irresistible that he set aside his caution and ascended toward her.
Tears spilled down her soot-covered cheeks. Her crying gave the Overseer a charge of pleasure.
“You will never run away,” the Overseer said.
As the Overseer reached for her, she struck a match and thrust her hand toward him. She had some sort of item in her fist. Something with a glowing wick.
She stuck it into his jacket.
“I love you, Nick,” she said.