Now drink this. The effects should appear within a few hours.” I took the silver cup he was offering me. It was filled to the rim with a brown, ste...ming liquid. I could smell the sweet rose extract he always added to his concoctions to disguise the fumes of his secret ingredients. The taste was more unpleasant than the smell, reminding me of decaying meat. I was unsure whether it should be, but dared not ask. The first gulps went down fairly easy, but the syrupy mess in the bottom of the cup. ‘Marian, this is Mr. Leach.’ ‘Mark,’ the young man said. ‘He’s the one that is still single,’ Brian offered, still not sure if it was really Mark or Max was having fun at his expense. It had been Marian’s intention to entice Brian into her bed, and this was to be the night. She was wearing shorts, a T-shirt with no bra, and sneakers. Seeing the way Mark was taking in her scantily clad body, she decided to see if Brian had a jealous bone in his body. ‘Mr. Leach, have you seen the bathroom. Roll call, please."Emily remained impassive. It wasn't the first time she'd been needled by Levitsky -- they really weren't on good terms with each other, going right back to when she'd voted against Hufford as the DPW supervisor. The city manager's job in any town is to follow the direction of council, which needs to provide that direction. In practice in most towns, the city manager makes a recommendation about a course to follow, and more likely than not the council goes along with it. That. Michael tensed as he felt something else. A dark foreboding presence, malicious, malignant. He expanded his connection with her, linking with her mind. When he did Elise’s eyes snapped open. Michael stared into her now opaque eyes as her arms came up, twining around his shoulders. Tera and Sims both moved to separate the two. ‘Don’t.’ Michael’s single word, uttered in a soft but lethal tone stopped both of them in their tracks. By this time Nigel, Valerie and the rest of the watchers had found.