Prologue
WANTON WIDOW!
When Tom died, Mildred suffered the tortures of the damned, alone ... but not for long. Vance Hager saw to that, persuading her to marry him; to be a mother to his two children, and to share all her delights with Vance. Even that was not enough for the torrid Mildred ... so she found Rafe, of the dark, brooding eyes, alone in the wild forest, little suspecting that Vance, too, was finding outside degradation with Nela Varese, in the seclusion of her wanton apartment. Then Rafe takes Mildred on a tour of Cow Hollow, the disgusting tar paper slum that leads them to the deserted mansion where they find bliss amid the ghostly shadows ... while only Armand Beck watches, quietly and unseen. Then, due to a misunderstanding on Verne's part, all hell breaks loose and the wantons, one by one, find the hounds of the devil waiting to claim their vengeance from each shame drifter ... with blood and death their symbol of shame....