An exclusive J.D. Robb short story.

Dragged to a glamorous, high-society ball with billionaire husband Roarke, homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas is almost relieved when a naked, knife-wielding, blood-drenched man crashes in - a man who thinks he has killed someone.

Tracing bloody footprints, Eve finds a hotel room filled with signs of a ritual murder, but the man remembers nothing. Determined to help, Roarke consults an ex-lover who practices witchcraft. But Eve knows there is nothing supernatural about a deadly lust for power . . .

Set between Salvation in Death and Promises in Death . **