Howl of the Wolf Read Free

Her heart was galloping as though she’d run for two miles straight. It hurt so badly she wondered if she weren’t having a heart attack even though she was a healthy twenty-eight-year-old woman.
    “What do I want?” The voice was cultured and smooth, but Sabrina much preferred the rough voice of her lover. And what had happened to him? Had this man done something to him?
    The stranger continued in his even tone. “I want many things, my dear. But from you, I want only one thing.” The room seethed with an evil that was alive, a creature all its own. “I want your immortal soul.”
    Something touched her leg and she shrieked.
    “Who am I?” He laughed. “Are you sure you want to know the answer to that?”
    Concentrating all her strength on moving, she was shocked when she managed to roll. She flung herself to the left, rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a heavy thud.
    Heart pounding, she flung herself toward the window, sobbing and gasping for breath as she crawled the final distance. The fire escape was her only hope.
    When she reached the open window she froze. The sun was peeking over the horizon and the early dawn light began to fill her room. It wasn’t the middle of the night. It was morning.
    She looked down to find her nightgown plastered to her skin. She wasn’t wrapped up in a sheet at all.
    Sabrina’s gaze tracked around the room. Nothing had changed since last night. Her bright-blue chest of drawers still sat against one wall, her bookshelf with all her books, candles and mementoes was against another. No one was in the room with her. She was alone.
    She dragged herself to her feet, stumbled to the bed and sat on the edge. “A dream. It was nothing but a dream.” She covered her face with her hands and choked back a sob. She’d been having a lot of dreams ever since she returned from her trip to North Dakota. The past two weeks, the dreams had alternated between the pleasures of erotic fantasies to frightening nightmares of unseen horrors.
    Sabrina scrubbed her hands over her face, drying both sweat and tears. The cheerful yellow walls and green curtains did little to lift her mood. The colorful artwork on the walls didn’t bring a smile to her face as it usually did. Not even the soothing scent of the lavender plants outside her window could calm her.
    She had to do something about the dreams. This couldn’t go on any longer. She wasn’t sleeping well and it was beginning to affect her ability to read the tarot cards. And her talent of reading the cards was an integral part of her, not to mention a portion of her livelihood. As for her painting…well, the images she was painting lately bordered on disturbing, not her usual upbeat colorful city scenes that the tourists liked to purchase.
    She pushed off the bed, making certain her shaky legs could hold her before she staggered out of the room and across the hall to the tiny bathroom. She’d shower, dress and go to Café Ledet for some nice hot coffee and a beignet or two. Luckily, it was just around the corner from the tiny apartment she rented. She needed help and she knew just the women to talk to.

Chapter One
    Café Ledet was located in a hole in the wall on Chartres Street within easy walking distance of Jackson Square, and was owned by Mathilda Ledet. Sabrina and Tilly had been friends since they were children and their bond had only grown stronger over the years. Even at this early hour of the morning, business was brisk as people on their way to work stopped for their early shot of java and one of the delectable pastries and treats the café offered for sale.
    Local artwork, some of it Sabrina’s, covered the colorful walls. The floor was filled with round tables and chairs painted every color of the rainbow, while jazzy music flowed from the sound system filling the air around her.
    The patter of voices, the musical combination of English and French—a reminder of the city’s heritage—was a normal part of her day. She loved