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Sam slowly entered the room and paused. There were several sheet-covered tables. It would appear as if she was in a morgue. Sam pulled back one of the sheets to reveal Venice. Sam gasped softly and jumped back a step. Venice had a small puncture mark to her left shoulder. All blood had been cleaned away. It was more than obvious the woman was dead. Sam backed away from the dead woman and looked to the other tables with sheets on them. She turned and ran from the room and entered an old, dingy living quarters. Sam suddenly froze. Well-preserved dead men and women sat on the furniture in perfectly natural positions. Sam held back her scream and quickly backed out of the room. She backed into someone. Sam spun around. The cloaked figure stood before her with the dagger in it's hand. Sam backed away with a look of terror.
The cloaked figure lowered it's hood to reveal Amber. Sam's eyes widened with horror. "Amber," she gasped softly. "What's going on? What have you done?"
Amber smiled with a look of insanity in her expression. "Bet you wish you'd never kissed Max now."
"I don't understand," Sam said and nervously looked around.
"No body ever could," Amber replied. "Just a little hobby of mine." She looked around the room as well. "Some people collect stamps. I collect people."
"You're sick," Sam lashed out and backed up a step.
"You don't know the half of it," Amber announced with a soft laugh. "Your newly found boyfriend is about to become my next addition."
"Max?" Sam demanded to know. "What have you done to him?"
"Nothing�yet," Amber replied. "But I'm going to let you watch while Max and I make love."
"He'll never touch you," Sam snapped.
"He won't have to," Amber replied with a twisted smile. "He won't even be alive for it."
Sam stared at her with a look of complete horror. Sam suddenly lunged for Amber. Amber swung the knife, but Sam tackled her against the wall. The dagger flew from Amber's hand. Sam punched her repeatedly in the face. Amber fell to the floor. Sam ran from the room and up the old steps. She opened the basement door and stood in Amber's modern kitchen. Sam was momentarily surprised. She hurried for the back kitchen door and opened it. The cloaked figure stood before her with a dagger in it's hand. Sam spun around. Amber appeared in the basement doorway, touching her bleeding lip.
"You're going to pay for that," Amber growled lowly.
Sam looked back to the figure before her. The cloak was removed to reveal Baxter with a cheap grin on his face.
"And I'm going to take great pleasure in carrying it out," Baxter said cheerfully.
"Where's Max?" Amber suddenly demanded to know.
"He was gone by the time I got there," Baxter informed her firmly. "Didn't you tie him before you came back?"
"With what? I didn't exactly have any rope on me," Amber snapped. "We have to find him."
"He's probably already back at his house," Baxter remarked. "We can't be running around if he's called the police. We need to prep Sam. We may not have much time."
"Damn it, I want him!" Amber cried out in fury. "He's mine! You said I could have him!"
Baxter points his dagger at Amber. "You will, but it'll have to wait for another time. Right now, we have to dispose of her. Let's do this!"
Amber appeared to sulk. Baxter forced Sam back to the basement door.
Sam entered the sitting room with the preserved bodies lounging on the furniture. She cringed then looked back at Amber and Baxter. Baxter shut and braced the door with a bar.
"If you're thinking someone might find you," Baxter announced with a cheap smile, "you're absolutely wrong. The passageway in the wall is very natural looking, so even if someone did come down here looking around, they'd never find this room."
"But no one's ever come snooping around anyway," Amber informed her. "We've been entertaining our guests for a few years now."
Sam expression remained placid. "What do you intend to do with me?"
Baxter shrugged with a broad grin. "Add you to our collection. But don't you worry about a thing. You'll have much more fun once you're embalmed. It's a fetish of ours."
Sam looked from Baxter to Amber. "You kill people then embalm them like you do in the funeral home? Does your uncle know about this?"
"Why don't you ask him?" Amber asked with a teasing smile then pointed across the room to a dead man positioned in a recliner.
Sam shut her eyes and looked away. "You're both sick!"
Baxter waves the dagger around. "Watch your temper there, Sam. We might decide to torture you before we embalm you."
She glared at Baxter with loath in her eyes.
"I want to torture her anyway," Amber remarked firmly. "She stole Max away from me."
"Oh, stop with Max," Baxter snapped and rolled his eyes. "You sound like a broken record."
"You always get the ones you want," Amber launched.
"And I let you play with them too," Baxter replied. "You want her to play with uncle? Would that make you happy?"
"No, I want to embalm her alive," Amber exclaimed.
Baxter cringed. "You know I hate the screaming."
Sam nervously looked around the room while Baxter and Amber argued lightly. The doorbell could be heard ringing from upstairs. Both Baxter and Amber stopped talking and looked to the ceiling.
"Someone's here," Amber whispered.
"No shit," Baxter remarked lowly. "It might be the police, if your Max called them. You stay down here and keep her quiet. I'll go check the door. Give her something to silence her."
Amber nodded as Baxter walked toward the door. Amber removed a bottle of chloroform from her pocket while Baxter shed his cloak. Baxter opened the door. Sam kept careful watch over both. It was more than obvious Sam had something planned. Baxter stepped through the doorway. He suddenly cried out and staggered backward while holding his bleeding mid-section. Amber screamed with horror and ran to Baxter. Max stepped into the doorway. He had dried blood on the side of his head and a killer look on his face.
