"Guilty."

"That's how you're feeling right now?" Dr. Spencer was sitting across from Joelynn Lewis. He was wearing a puce colored tie that had yellow stars on it.

Joelynn stared at the stars as they seemed so out of place on his silk tie. "Your tie is ugly," she blurted aloud.

Dr. Spencer stopped writing in his notepad and looked up, "I'm sorry?"

"Your tie. Did you pick it out or did your girlfriend? If it was your girlfriend, she has horrible taste."

Dr. Spencer squirmed in his chair, cleared his throat, and said, "Actually, I picked it out." He flattened the tie down against his white dress shirt. "Joelynn, let's not talk about my tie. Let's focus on you again. How long have you felt this way?"

"Which way?"

"You mentioned feeling guilty."

She took a deep breath and loudly exhaled. "Since I was taken by the Demon King."

Dr. Spencer leaned forward, "What happened that night Joelynn?"

"I went to a coffee shop to meet a blind date. He never showed up. When I left the coffee shop...everything went black. The next thing I know, I'm tied to a bed and I'm blindfolded. I never saw him. I just heard his voice. His creepy voice. I still have nightmares."

"What did he tell you?"

"What did he tell me? Does it matter? He was a crazy serial killer that took a knife to me and tried to kill me! He threatened to murder me if I didn't stop living with my cousin. Now she's missing. She could be dead for all I know now and I was horrible to her before she died." Joelynn began sobbing.

Dr. Spencer handed her a tissue. "Why do you think you were horrible to her?"

She snatched the tissue and wiped her eyes. "I cut her out of my life. I shut her out even though I knew she didn't have anyone else."

"Was she upset with you?"

Joelynn made a choking sound with her throat, "That's the thing. She wasn't. She said she understood. You know what she told me? She said that it was okay if I left her alone because then I would feel safe. When I was taken by the Demon King, he gave her a choice. He would let me live if she took my place. She took my place! She didn't even hesitate. Now I feel guilty and it's eating me up. Sometimes I think this is karma coming back at me. "

"After the Demon King was killed, did you begin to make contact with your cousin again?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I was ashamed. How could I go back and ask her to forgive me for being so selfish? Or worse, act like nothing had ever happened? Ugh...I don't want to think about it anymore. Can we talk about something else?"

Dr. Spencer jotted down some notes and said, "Let's talk about last night then. You said you were almost raped. That must have been traumatic for you."

"It feels unreal. I was scared last night but right now I feel better. I keep telling myself it didn't really happen...that it's just one of my nightmares. I think it's working so far."

She received a skeptical glance for that statement. "What did you do after you got home yesterday? Did you have anyone that you could talk to?"

"No. I had no one. I actually spent time with the officer that saved me this morning. At first I felt really numb about it all...like I couldn't feel anything. He kind of made me snap out of it. When we were having breakfast he told me to stop blaming myself for my cousin's disappearance. He said that if I was still living with her, I might be in the same boat she's in or worse."

"That's very true."

"My friend Jacob is pissed with me. He said I'm being stupid and that I should stop trying to get involved with the search for my cousin."

"Do you agree with him?"

"Yes and no. I know that I'm putting myself in danger and that it's stupid. I get that. I really do. But at the same time...how can I not do everything possible to get her back? No offense...but the guilt I have isn't going to go away just because I attend some therapy sessions. If I can't apologize to Eva in person...I don't know what'll become of me. I think the guilt just might kill me. I already feel like it's suffocating me everyday."

Dr. Spencer leaned over and wiped a tear that had begun to fall down Joelynn's cheek. "It's okay Joelynn. Whether you realize it or not, you have people that care for you."

Joelynn moved her head back so that he wasn't touching her. "I'm fighting with my best friend right now and he's the only person I have besides Eva. So until we stop fighting, I am alone."

Dr. Spencer slowly rested his hand on her knee. "No Joelynn. You aren't."

A gentle knock on the door made them both turn their heads. "Yes?" Dr. Spencer asked.

"Sorry Dr. Spencer but your next appointment is here. He's been waiting for awhile sir. How much longer should I tell him to wait?"

Dr. Spencer looked at his watch. Joelynn's session lasted longer than the scheduled hour by fifteen minutes. "Joelynn are you okay?"

She wiped her face and nodded. She stood up as Dr. Spencer talked to his secretary. Before she left he told her, "Joelynn, I want to see you next week. Tell my secretary to pencil you in."

She nodded and walked out the door. As she walked to the main lobby she ran into Artie Wilkerson.

"Artie?" she asked in surprise.

He looked around and nodded, "Hi Joelynn."

"I sure am seeing you around a lot lately."

"It's a small world." He quickly walked past her as if she had cooties to the tenth degree and he didn't want to catch them.

"That was weird," she whispered to herself as she went to schedule her next therapy appointment.

Hours Later

Special Agent Sally Roux sat in her car across from Café Bueno in town. She cursed herself for not wearing lighter colors in the Texan heat. Sitting in the hot sun, even with the AC on, was torture. She watched Vincent McDaniels sit outside with a large iced tea. He was wearing sunglasses and reading the newspaper.

Sally rolled her eyes, "Who wears sunglasses and reads?"

Apparently a famous author did. Vincent McDaniels used to be a literary great until he stopped writing years ago. It wasn't until recently that he was thrown back into the spotlight for writing his current book Raising the Demon King, a novel about his sons and their friend that were now known as murderers. It was acclaimed by all for being written so well in such a short period of time after the serial killer known as the Demon King had been caught and killed. Sally didn't believe McDaniels' story that he was hit with the writing bug. A novel that long couldn't have possibly been written in such a short period of time. In her eyes he was suspicious. In the past, he had been known to be a philanderer, an alcoholic, and a drug addict. According to Vincent McDaniels, he still checked himself into residential treatment centers to stay clean. His fans thought he was eccentric. Sally thought he was psychotic.

She took a sip of the warm Evian water she had in her car. Her superior had given her strict orders to stay away from Vincent McDaniels but Sally had a gut feeling that the popular author was somehow involved in the string of murders that were now occurring with the copycat killer known as the Deadly Disciple. The fans of the Demon King called themselves his disciples. When she had first heard about them, she thought they were a harmless group of men that had women issues. Now one of them was a serial killer and they all seemed to look up to Vincent McDaniels, the father of the Demon King.

Sally watched Vincent as he looked at the crowd around him. Suddenly he raised his hand in the air as if he was beckoning someone. Sally crunched down and cursed. "Did he see me?"

Vincent smiled. That's when Sally saw a man in a dark gray suit, glasses, and dark hair approaching him. Her eyes widened as she recognized Vincent's guest. It was Dr. Spencer.

"What the hell?" she asked herself. She watched the two men speaking with one another for about fifteen minutes. With a small digital camera, she began taking photos of their meeting. Finally, Dr. Spencer slid a manila envelope across the table to Vincent McDaniels. Vincent didn't touch the envelope until Dr. Spencer stood up and walked away. Vincent looked around and wrapped the envelope in his newspaper.

"What the hell?" Sally asked herself again. She quickly pressed the call button for Dr. Spencer.

"Hey there Sally," he answered. She listened carefully for any background noise.

"Where are you at?" she asked.

She could hear him laughing, "You refuse to be my girlfriend but you sure are acting like one."

"Cut the crap. Where are you?"

"I'm at the office. Why? Is something wrong?"

"You're at the office? Then why do I hear people in the background? It's really noisy."

"Yeah...the cafeteria normally is noisy. I'm getting a snack. Are you okay? Did you want me to meet you or something?"

"No. I just wanted to know where you were at."

"Well I told you I'm at the office. I've been here all day. It's almost five. Did you want to meet somewhere?"

"No. I gotta go. I'll talk to you later." She quickly hung up her phone and pressed the button to have the car window next to her roll down. She wanted to listen to the background noise of the area she was in. If it matched the noise she heard on the phone, she knew he was still in the area. "Why is he lying to me?" she asked herself, "And what did he give to Vincent McDaniels?"

She looked up to see that Vincent was no longer sitting at the table outside the coffee shop. She didn't think the noise outside matched the noise she heard on the phone so she picked up her digital camera and began scrolling through the pictures.

Suddenly a man's hand whipped inside her car and grabbed the camera. Sally began to shout, "What do you think you're..." Her voice was caught in her throat as she looked out her window to see Vincent McDaniels.

"Well...well...well...what do we have here?" He began looking through the camera. "I didn't know you were moonlighting as a paparazzo Ms. Roux."

"It's Special Agent Roux," she corrected him.

Vincent just smiled, "Not for long."