Amber sat on the overstuffed couch and flipped through the magazine pages of colourfully attired models, musicians, and movie stars. They really held no interest for her as she was more amused by classic literature. She discarded the magazine and decided to wander the large Georgian mansion.

She left the small and intimate living room and headed down the hall scarcely noticing the mahogany paneling flanking her on both sides. Every door she passed was closed until she came to the end of the hall. A door stood ajar to her left with a flash of light from the coming storm.

Amber pushed the door gingerly, not sure if she was suppose to wander in. She stuck her head in at the precise moment that a bolt of lightning lit up the room to revel a good size library and study. She didn’t see how it could hurt if she was going to be house sitting for the next three days.

When the room had been lit up by the lightning she has seen a large fire place. As long as she put the fire out before she went to bed it would probably be okay.

She was glad for her memory of observation when she walked through the room avoiding the furniture. She reached the fireplace framed by its serene marble lions and then realized that there was no wood in sight, not even in the fire place. She wondered if it was just for looks. She ran her hands over the spotless white mantle looking for a switch. Her hand smoothed over an out of place bump and pushed at it. The gas fire place sprang to life at her feet casting odd shadows across the room. She was able to take in her surroundings better now that the lightning flashes weren’t displacing her sight every ten minutes.

Directly behind Amber was an extremely comfortable looking high backed wing chair. To its left and right were identical love seats covered in plush cushions. At the far end of the library was what looked like a heavy antique desk that had probably been in the house since the house had been built three hundred years before.

She would have inspected the desk further but that the balcony above the desk darkened the whole area and she really didn’t want to look for a light switch.

She had had enough darkness for the moment and decided to pick a book from the small pile on the side table next to the chair. She settled for the Iliad and seated herself in front of the warmth of the fire on a plush rug. She hadn’t been reading long when she felt the need to shift to lay on her side. Before she knew it she had fallen asleep.

The storm outside began to pick up pace. The wind howled and threw the rain hard against the windows. It didn’t seem to bother Amber’s peaceful slumber, in fact she found summer rain storms quite soothing, which was probably the reason she had fallen asleep in the first place.

All the sounds of raging Mother Earth outside were familiar sounds and no cause for worry. It wasn’t the thunder that caused her to awaken suddenly but the footsteps taken at the precise moment of the thunder.

She lay very still trying to keep her breathing even as she strained to hear any more movement, a rustle, anything! But nothing. She must have been imagining things.

Thunder.

The footsteps sounded again disguised by the turmoil outside. Her eyes snapped open at the realization the she was not alone!

The thunder sounded again and what she now knew as the sound of boots came again as well.

Amber sat up trying to look casual and stared into the fire. Again the thunder and foot steps but this time the boards squeaked. She knew exactly where the intruder was.

She stared transfixed at the fire and swallowed nervously. Her heart raced in her chest and her palms were slick with sweat.

Again the thunder and foot fall on the polished oak floors. But this time when the thunder stopped the intruder didn’t.

Amber’s head snapped around to the balcony. Her frightened gaze fell on a pair of eyes shining in the glow of the fire dancing with anticipation of the coming kill.