| Shadow Death Keep your eyes to the shadows and your feet to the light. Fredric walked down the dark street thinking about what his father had told him. �I want you to have the estate Fredric. I don�t trust Kendric with it. I�ll be going soon and I want to know it�s in good hands.� Kendric was his twin brother, he was tall, blond and handsome but very stupid. In contrast, Fredric was short, ugly and brilliant. But they were brothers and Fredric was willing to split the estate. Fredric almost stepped on the black, wolfish dog but had stopped when it had turned its startling blue eyes on him. He halted with one foot in the air as a phrase came back to him. If a black, blue-eyed wolf lies in wait on your stoop when you come home, you�ll not see the morning. He fell back into the mud of the street as the dog rose from the stoop and trotted off. Fredric stood, went into his house and locked his doors. *** Fredric woke with a start. The room was pitch black and silent. Nervous, he struck a match and lit the oil lamp. With the light, a face appeared beside his bed. Before he could scream, a hand covered his mouth. �Do you know who I am?� A voice whispered by his ear. The hand slipped from his mouth. He nodded, �Shadow Death.� His voice was a harsh whisper. The hand returned to his mouth, �Good. Kendric told me to send you his love.� Fredric�s eyes widened in horror then closed as his life�s blood flowed from a wound in his throat. The assassin, Shadow Death, left as silently as she had come, meeting a black wolfish dog with icy blue eyes in the street. She lept onto a ebony horse and rode off, the horse�s hoofbeats barely audible. In the town�s empty street an old rooster crowed as the sun struck the horizon and exploded into view. Many saw the sun rise with the exception of Fredric, who lay scored and bloody in his cot. |