Kasandra held the crossbow at her gut, barely daring to breathe. The man finished his inspection that yielded nothing, then turned his attention to under the stairs, eyes narrowing. As he stalked menacingly towards where she hid, she saw he wore a soldier's jacket with a strange insignia on it that she couldn't place, though it was hauntingly familiar. A dagger and rose motif?
He stopped at the edge of the darkness and glared into it, and Kasandra feared he might come in. Instead he drew one of his blades and held it just to the side. Gripped in fear, she desperately wanted to close her eyes, but knew it would not make him go away. Instead she forced her orbs to stay on him as he slowly raised the blade up, through the darkness she was standing in.
The edge of the cutlass passed beside
