Thorn opened the door to an empty living room and placed her laptop into the closet, taking one last look at it before shutting the door.  She had considered turning it on to see if Dino had emailed her yet, but her eagerness to hear from him embarrassed her, so she pushed him out of her mind.  Looking around for a few minutes she wondered if Shadow and Stine might have still been asleep, but then panic and protectiveness took over as her eyes stopped on the stairs.<em>What if Stine was not as safe as she had thought?  What if he hurt Shadow and is now on his way to the police station?</em><br/><br/>“Fuck, I shouldn’t have left,” she said out loud before running up the stairs, taking two at a time.  She threw open the bedroom door with her heart pounding and relief washed over her.  Stine was on the bed, and apparently dead.  Her eyes scanned his body and rested upon the injection site which was now bruised purple, allowing her to quickly discern that he had been allergic to whatever Shadow used on him.  With a slight shrug she retreated from the room and calmly walked back downstairs.<br/><br/>In the kitchen she opened a drawer and took out a post-it pad, on it she made a note to order new sheets and have a new mattress delivered, before ripping off the page and sticking it to the refrigerator.  Death was the one thing Thorn did not like to happen in her bedroom, and with a sigh she poured herself a drink and sat on the couch to await Shadow’s emergence from the basement.