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Prologue

“Dead. They are all dead.” Officer Jonah Campbell doubled over, and his hands went to his mouth because he could feel vomit rising again. “I’m gonna be sick. So much blood. So much⁠—”

“Help!”

The voice was weak. Faint.

Most of the first responders at the scene didn’t hear it. People were too busy running in and out of the large sorority house. But that weak voice reached Jonah even as he doubled over. His head lifted, and he took in the chaos around him through bleary eyes. His first big case. And it was a slaughter. Like a scene straight out of a horror movie. Something he’d never expected. But Jonah knew the blood-soaked images would live in his mind forever.

And now that voice, that voice… His head whipped to the right.

A woman walked from the darkness. With shuffling steps. His eyes narrowed as he tried to see her better.

“Help!” Her cry.

Jonah’s hands fell from his mouth as he stared at her. Is she real? Or have I gone off the deep end?

Another cop caught sight of her, a grizzled veteran who’d just been giving Jonah hell about vomiting at the crime scene. But the veteran cop didn’t move toward the female figure who crept from the darkness.

She shuffled closer, moving more into the light. Bright light that shone from the nearby sorority house. Light that spilled from all the cop cars in the yard. The light hit her white gown. Only it wasn’t completely white. Big sections were stained red. Blood red.

So much blood.

“Help…”

An EMT rushed toward the woman. The grizzled veteran broke from his stupor. They swarmed on her while Jonah gaped. Shock held him immobile.

Blood soaked her skin. Blood poured from the right side of her head, drenching her dark hair.

Jonah realized his mouth was hanging open. He snapped it closed even as he lunged toward her. “We’ve got a vic!” Jonah yelled. “Alive!” He reached her just as her knees seemed to give way. But she didn’t hit the ground. He and the EMT caught her.

“Ma’am, ma’am, you are going to be all right,” the EMT assured but his voice broke. “I’ve got you, and I’m going to take care of you.”

Her head turned toward the EMT. The lights from the house fell down on her, allowing Jonah to glimpse her face and her eyes as she squinted in confusion. Pain. Fear.

“You are safe,” the grizzled cop told her as he crowded close. Harvey Wyle. He’d been on the force for ages. “We’ve got you.”

A tremble shook her body.

“Stabbed,” the EMT muttered. “Multiple stab wounds. Including a wound to the head.” He angled his upper body toward a nearby ambulance and shouted, “I need a gurney over here, now! Now!”

Jonah touched her shoulder.

She jerked, and her bloody head whipped in his direction.

“Who did this to you?” he asked her.

She frowned. Her gaze dropped to his mouth.

There was so much blood on the right side of her head. That could not be good. Hell, nothing about this scene was good. But this woman—she was alive. Jonah could not say the same for the six other women he’d found inside that house. “Who?” Jonah repeated.

A shudder shook her. And…her hand lifted. She pointed back toward the darkness where she’d been. The darkness away from the house.

Oh, shit. Is she telling us that the perp is out there? “Get her on that gurney. Get her the hell away from this place.” Determination filled Jonah. He straightened, backed away, and reached for his weapon. Yes, his fingers were trembling, but that woman—that woman was hurt. She was covered in blood and shaking and she’d survived, and she’d just told him that the monster who’d done this to her…

She pointed. He’s in the darkness. Gone from the house and the bloodbath he left inside. He is hiding in the dark.

Determined not to let the jerk get away, Jonah ran in the direction she’d pointed. His breath seemed to burn in his body. Branches hit him when he shoved into the tree line. His feet sank into the mud in those woods. There’d been a terrible storm earlier that night. So much lightning. Thunder. Sheets of rain that fell and fell.