Praying Mantis — Erin Lee

It was as if Tendra Sinensis was born without a soul. But that couldn't be true, her parents reasoned. After all, they'd taken her to a dozen specialists to find out why she didn't cry and why she refused to be held. For years, pediatricians sent them home and told them there was nothing wrong with the little girl whose first word was “die.” “You probably heard her wrong,” they'd said, brushing off the worried couple.

Still, her parents knew. They couldn't ignore it when Tendra threw sand in a blind girl's eyes, cackling. Sandbox brawls were only the beginning. By the time she entered high school, her parents had given up. She cut into adult life with a long resume of tools she needed: Manipulation at the top, viciousness at the bottom, lies all over. Things like computer skills were unnecessary. A woman like her could always find someone to do her bidding.

That is, until Colby Vincent. A graduate student studying the natural habitat and benefits of insects, Colby had better things to do than listen to the brass words of a spoiled vixen. This, of course, only enticed Tendra. She was willing to do whatever it took to earn her prize. And, more importantly, keep it.