“What am I doing?” Annabelle thought as every sensible part of her screamed at her to stop.

“I have to do this,” she reassured herself, without having any idea of what exactly she had to do.

She knew the danger.

She had heard his warning.

Yet she couldn’t stop herself.

Her finger jerked as she touched what had once been a source of pain for her.

She still had no idea why she was not running out of his massive bedroom while screaming the tops of her head off.

She looked up at his face as she heard his sharp indrawn breath.

His face seemed carved in stone as his...