Patrick never considered himself to be a nervous man.  He had always 
liked things to be calm.  That’s why he was a tailor by trade.  It was a nice, 
quiet way to earn a living.  It was safe, and Patrick liked to be safe too.
        But tonight he did not feel calm.
        He wasn’t sure why, but something kept tingling at the back of his 
neck, telling him that something was wrong.  But what?  It true that Darben was 
not the safest city.  Still, Patrick was staying at the Lucky Silver Inn, like 
he always did.  It was as safe as a person could get inside Darben.
        He didn’t feel that the danger was near, either.  It felt distant.
        Patrick hoped that the children were safe.  He had left Taren and 
Melissa on their own many times since their mother’s death.  Taren was fourteen 
now, after all, and able to take care of things on his own.
        Yet something dark was out there.  Something greater than anything he 
or his little family had ever faced before.
        Someone rapped at the door.
        Patrick pulled himself, startled, from his brooding.  The premonition 
he had felt before now held him still with fright.  The darkness was waiting 
outside that door.
        Moving, but not hardly thinking, Patrick found himself slowly walking 
towards the door.  His hand reached up for the handle, and his fingers curled 
around it.  He sucked in his breath, and swung the door wide.

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