iki huddled on the floor in a dark corner of the kitchen, listening to the water running upstairs as she tried to force herself to throw off the chill. She strained to hear more. It wasn’t certain that Lorelei and the big guy would be together, though it was likely. One of them might be in the living room, in another room upstairs … right around the corner.

Did they know she was here? Had they heard her?

In their earlier exploration of the house, before everything had gone to shit, Darwin had checked out the mud room and the back porch for portable stuff they could pawn, when the money they got from the Helton woman ran low. He hadn’t found shit, naturally, but at the moment that didn’t matter. What mattered, what she’d counted on as she’d crawled up an icy slope and made feverish plans for the night, was that he hadn’t bothered to relock the door when he’d come back in. She’d entered the dark house through the back door, into the mud room, into the kitchen, cold and shaking and hurting all over. She’d felt her way to this corner, cowering and listening. That’s when she’d first heard the water running and realized that at least one of them was upstairs.

The water stopped, and a moment later she heard faint voices, two of them. She couldn’t tell what they were saying, but those voices assured her that no one was waiting around the corner; they were both upstairs. Relief washed through her; she could breathe again. She could think.

There wasn’t much of anything in the house that could be used as a weapon, now that all the ammunition was gone, but what better place to find a weapon than the kitchen? Niki forced herself to stand, pushing past her pain and the lingering chill. Her hands were so cold, her entire body was so cold she could barely move. Now that she was inside that iciness would fade, but it wasn’t happening fast. Once she had the place to herself she’d light a fire, kick back, take a hit, and relax. She’d earned it tonight.

Slowly she opened a drawer, then another, cautiously feeling around and not bothering to close them since that might make too much noise and she wasn’t yet ready to face her enemies. She couldn’t see much, but her eyes had adjusted to the dark and there was a touch of light, reflecting off the ice, coming through the kitchen window. There was just enough for her to see shadows and shapes as she felt around inside the drawers, finding nothing suitable. There was only the bare minimum in the way of utensils. After searching four drawers, she silently huffed in frustration, then she scanned the countertop and smiled at the dark shape she saw there.

A touch confirmed that the dark shape was a butcher block of knives. She grabbed the handle of the largest knife, and was horrified to find that her hands were so cold she couldn’t properly grip it. What good was a knife if she couldn’t hold it? She carefully placed the knife on the counter within easy rich, then removed her gloves and rubbed her hands together, bringing blood flow and warmth back. She would have liked to turn on the faucet and run warm water over her hands, but the sound of running water would alert the two upstairs, just as it had alerted her, so she didn’t dare. She had to make do. After rubbing her hands for a minute she stuck them under her arms to absorb what body heat she had left.

With the return of warmth came a rush of pain. She was hurt, she didn’t know how bad, but she thought about Darwin and how those two jerks had killed him, and she pushed the pain away. She’d deal with that later, after they were dead. The big dude would go first, because he was the most dangerous. He’d killed Darwin with his fucking elbow. One quick pop and that was it, no more Darwin. Lorelei was nothing. Niki knew she could take her with no problem, after the big dude was out of the way.

When she picked up the knife again, she was pleased with her grip. She could hold it properly now. She concentrated on listening again. For a moment there was nothing, then a board overhead creaked. There was a footstep, then another.

At first she’d been pissed because the power was out, but now she thought that would work in her favor. There were shadows and dark corners where she could hide, where she could wait and catch them by surprise. She had an advantage, a big one. She knew where they were; they thought she was helpless, dead, out of their lives.

They were wrong. She was like a ghost, a very dangerous ghost who intended to make sure they were both dead before the light of day gave them a chance to find her.

She remembered seeing a few candles and a couple more flashlights lying around, but searching for them would make too much noise, and any light she made would give her position away. That could wait. They’d know she was here soon enough, but not yet.

She was a part of the night, she thought, at once giddy and yet strangely detached, as if a part of her was floating along unconnected to her body. She was a shadow. She was death. With the knife gripped in her hand she listened, then took a few careful steps forward. She didn’t need to see.

And they would never see her coming.

God, he hated pulling on his wet jeans, but Gabriel fought his way into them anyway. They’d started to dry, thanks to the gas heater in the bathroom, but were still unpleasantly damp and clammy. After everything he’d been through tonight, he could handle unpleasant for a while. Besides, once they got downstairs and started the fireplace, the jeans wouldn’t be damp for long. His coat had kept his shirt dry, and his boots had protected his feet. Once the fireplace had the living room warmer, he’d strip off the jeans and drape them over a chair or something, shoved close to the fireplace so they’d dry faster.

Lolly had some clothes in her bedroom, which surprised him because she’d been wearing so damn many he thought for sure she’d had them all on. Her bedroom door, however, was locked from the inside. He’d be able to pop the lock with no problem, with a straight pin or a paper clip, neither of which he happened to have on him.

“There are both downstairs,” she replied, when he said as much. She could have put her own wet clothes back on, as he had, but she couldn’t stand the thought and instead got a thin blanket from the linen closet and wrapped it around her. “I’ll wait until you can get my bedroom door open.”

That suited him, he thought. Yeah, it was a real hardship, spending the night with a woman wearing nothing but a blanket, when he remembered exactly what she looked like and felt like underneath the cloth.

He hadn’t intended to have sex with Lolly in the shower, but he sure as hell couldn’t say he was sorry. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t wanted it, that he regretted what had happened. Whether or not it happened again … shit, if she touched him and smiled, if she put her mouth on him again, he likely wouldn’t have any more control than he’d had the first time around.

It occurred to him that he didn’t know if she was married or ever had been, if she had a husband or a boyfriend back home. Knowing Lolly, he suspected not. She wasn’t the kind of woman who’d screw around on a man.

Then again, could he really say he knew her? People changed in fifteen years. Sometimes they changed a lot. And yet he felt as if he knew her, felt as if the fifteen years were maybe fifteen months instead, that the interval had given him time to see her in a different light and appreciate the differences. Maturity was a wonderful thing.

“You know,” he said, as casually as he could manage, “we’re probably going to have to walk out of here.”

Lolly hugged the blanket closer and grimaced. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“How much food and propane do you have handy?”

She sighed. “Enough for a couple of days, max.”

“That’s what I figured. We’ll get warm, eat, sleep, wait for the sun to come up and listen for the tree fall to ease up a bit. By tomorrow afternoon, at the latest, the road crews should be out working. The road up the mountain is low priority, probably at the bottom of the list, but if we can make it down the hill we’ll probably meet up with someone long before we reach town.”

“And if we don’t?”

He smiled at her. “Then we’ll walk the rest of the way to town.” After tonight, a long, difficult walk in the cold seemed like a cakewalk.

“I need something hot to eat before I even think about walking out of here.” Bundled up in her blanket, Lolly headed into the hallway, and toward the stairs.

Lolly hated, hated, hated to go back into the kitchen. Because she hated it so much, she forced herself to keep going, to not hesitate. The memory of what had happened here remained too strong, even though so many other memories—good and bad—had been made tonight. But she wanted and needed warm food in her belly, and she refused to allow a dead man to keep her from it. He was dead; she wasn’t. She’d won.

With the power out the electronic ignition on the stove wouldn’t work, so she found the matches and lit a burner on the stove; the flame gave off heat and a little bit of light, enough for her to look for some candles and the oil lamps she knew were still here, somewhere. She turned, and stopped dead in her tracks, hugging the blanket closer to her. Several drawers were standing open, and her heart lurched at the sight.

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Darwin and Niki must have been looking for something, but what? Anything that could be sold, she imagined. She wondered if she’d ever again be not afraid. From here on out was she going to jump at the sound of every ring of the doorbell or creak of the house? Would she be suspicious of every stranger?

Gabriel was in the living room, lighting the gas fireplace, laying their clothes out to dry. She wouldn’t think about Darwin; she’d think about Gabriel. She would concentrate on finding the candles, getting some soup heated, then they’d settle down in front of the fire.

It hadn’t bothered her before, but she suddenly realized how lumpy she’d looked in all those clothes, layer upon layer. How mortifying, no matter how necessary it had been. She wanted to look good for Gabriel, and wasn’t that a kick in the pants? She’d never cared very much what anyone thought of her appearance, much less Gabriel, but now … now she wished she had the blue sweater that her friends said made her eyes shine, and those really expensive snug jeans that made her butt look fantastic. She touched her wet hair. She could really use a hair dryer, too.

With one hand holding the blanket, which was wrapped tightly around her, Lolly collected a sauce pan from the cabinet, then grabbed a can of soup from the pantry. She set the can on the counter, reached into an open drawer for the can opener … and froze.

When she’d last been in this kitchen, she’d been trying to fight off Darwin, and she had instinctively scanned the room for weapons. At that time, the block of knives had been full—out of reach, but full. Now, the largest knife in the collection was gone.

Why would they have taken a knife when they both had guns?

A chill ran up her spine. Niki could’ve survived the crash and come back. They hadn’t heard her breaking through a window, and Gabriel had locked the front door. But her keys had been in her purse, and Niki had had the purse.

Lolly could barely breathe. She’d been so intent on getting warm, so sure Niki was either dead or down for the count, she hadn’t even thought about the keys.

The nightmare came roaring back. The fear and the cold gripped her.

“Gabriel!” she screamed, whirling to run, and she came face-to-face with the nightmare.

Niki—bleeding, limping, holding the missing knife in her raised hand—lurched toward Lolly.

Lolly threw herself backward until she slammed into the cabinet, and then she had no place to go. She grabbed the can of soup and threw it; it bounced off Niki’s shoulder. “Fuck!” Niki said furiously. “That hurt, bitch!”

Lolly grabbed the saucepan and threw it, and when Niki ducked she seized the chance to dart to the side, away from the cabinets. There was a small dried floral arrangement on the kitchen table; she threw that, too. Niki ducked again, and kept coming.

Then Gabriel was there, fast and silent on his bare feet, looming out of the darkness. He hit Niki from behind, the impact sending her crashing into the cabinets. She screamed with pain, tumbled to the floor. Gabriel pounced, grabbed the hand that held the knife, and slammed it against the floor over and over again until she lost her grip and the knife clattered to the floor.

Immediately, Niki began to wail. “Stop! I’m hurt! My arm … I think my arm is broken.” She began to sob. “What was I supposed to do? You killed Darwin and then you left me out in the cold to die. How could you?”

Easy, thought Lolly. She didn’t feel sorry for the woman at all, even though dried blood caked her face, her clothes. But Niki continued to whine; just like Darwin, she went from enraged attacker to pathetic beggar in a heartbeat. How many times had that act worked for them? Gabriel didn’t buy it, though, and neither did Lolly.

“Shut up,” he said brusquely, and reached for her other wrist to secure it.

Infuriated that her tactic hadn’t worked, Niki screamed and swung the empty pistol that she’d pulled from her coat. Gabriel jerked his head back but the barrel caught him on the outside corner of his right eye and whipped his head around. She surged up, shoving him back, and the blow had stunned him enough that for a second he couldn’t react fast enough. Niki scrambled up and away, scooping up the fallen knife and lunging for the back door.

Gabriel gave a quick shake of his head and launched himself in pursuit.

Her heart beating so hard she could barely breathe, Lolly jerked open the cabinet door under the sink, grabbed the hammer from the small open toolbox that had been there as long as she could remember, and followed them both.