Excerpt of Killer Moves by Mary Eason

The Beginning

The smell of crushed lilacs mingled with the acrid scent of smoke. He was here with her again. In the one place he could still reach her. Her dreams.

Kara fought to wake herself but he was not ready to let her go just yet.

"You think you can get rid of me so easily, Kara. You can't. Don't you know you've become part of me? Part of this thing. You became part of it the moment I chose to make you part of it. You can't leave me until I say it's over. And it's not over. There are more games to play. More victims."

Smoke quickly overpowered the fragrant lilacs, making it impossible for Kara to breathe. He'd bound her hands together. Her fingers fumbled with the knot. She could feel his breath against her cheek.

But she couldn't see. The silky blindfold felt soft and familiar against her skin. A contradiction to the horror she knew lay just beyond its comfort.

Kara heard her scream. Kim Billings. The woman who'd died in Kara's place the last time they'd played this deadly game. She could still hear Kim pleading for help after all these years.

"Hold on. I'm coming!" Kara forced the words out.

This is just a dream. It's just a dream!

"Mommie..."

He touched her shoulder and whispered her name but something wasn't right. His touch felt soft and gentle. All wrong.

"Mommie!"

Mommie? Kara forced her eyes open with a tiny gasp, her fearful glance searching the familiar bedroom of her home outside of El Paso, Texas.

He isn't here. Thank God, he isn't here.

Just her daughter, who stood next to Kara's bed trying to wake her mother. Ava's frightened little face was screwed up in fear.

"Oh baby, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" Ava's expression relaxed a little at those words. She climbed into bed with Kara, her tiny arms wrapping tightly around her mother's waist for comfort.

"Baby, it's okay. It was only a bad dream." Kara wished she could believe those words. But in her heart she feared the worst. It had started again.

"It's the same dream as before, isn't it, Mommie?" Ava asked in a sleepy little voice. It sickened Kara that her innocent daughter knew this dream so well.

"Yes."

"Mommie, will it ever end?"

She would give anything to be able to answer yes and mean it.

As Kara tried to find something believable to tell her daughter, Ava's quiet breathing made lies unnecessary.

Slowly Kara untangled Ava's clinging arms and climbed out of bed, holding her breath for a moment. Ava didn't wake. She quietly pulled the bedroom door closed, leaving it open just a sliver in case her daughter should wake up.

Outside, the Texas night still held the heat of the day. From her front porch, Kara could see for miles.

This stretch of desert outside El Paso, where it met the foothills of the Cochinay Mountains, made for a great lookout point with the exception of one problem. There wasn't anywhere to hide and no chance of surviving the desert for any length of time should it come calling. Nothing could last more than a day in the blazing heat except for the vultures.

But then, wasn't that the very reason why she'd moved there in the first place? To escape the past and become normal again.

So far, Kara hadn't accomplished either.

Tonight, nothing moved on the desert's surface. Up above were thousands of stars as far as the eye could see, and a full moon fitting the Texas night blazed across the surface of the sky.

She shivered in spite of the heat. It was the same dream as always. It grew stronger with each passing anniversary. It had haunted her for six years. It always got to her. But then, coming so close to death was bound to lead to a few unpleasant dreams.

If only it were that simple. Kara knew better. Just thinking about him made her want to check on Ava again. She needed that reassurance.

Kara quietly opened the bedroom door and tiptoed to the bed, looking down at her sleeping child. Ava—Ava Elizabeth Bryant, named after both Kara's mother and grandmother—slept peacefully in her mother's bed. She was like Kara in many ways, and yet so like her father that at times Kara could almost feel his touch again.

She stroked a strand of silken brown hair, one of the traits she shared with Kara, away from Ava's damp forehead. Even in the air–conditioned house, the heat at three in the morning could be suffocating.

Recognizing her mother's touch, Ava opened her eyes for a moment. Startling gray in color they never ceased to stun Kara. Reminding her of Davis.

"Mommie, what's wrong?"

"Shh...nothing, baby. Everything is just fine. Go back to sleep now." Already Ava's eyes had closed. Soon her breathing grew deeper with sleep.

Kara kissed her daughter's forehead softly then crept from the room.