Serena, I want you. Even in her thoughts she sensed the anguish in his words.

I want to come...now...oh, it's going to happen! Why she had to tell him, she didn't know. Didn't care. Tears splattered her cheeks. She loved this-being bound, being impaled on his c.o.c.k, being unforgivably naughty.

Serena pumped back, hard, grunting like an animal. He was huge, frighteningly huge, but she wanted it all, as deep as he could go.

She'd been wrong. If this was a vampire's world, she wanted it.

Thrust in me, she begged. Do this to me. Scenes from the forbidden Society's books flashed in her mind, scenes of muscular powerful demons with legs spread, impaling sweet ladies on their large c.o.c.ks.

She cried out in her thoughts-I'm coming! Coming now!

Yes, she was coming. She bit down on the rope and let her body explode. It was so impossibly good. Her cunny clutched at him, and wave after wave of pure, head-spinning ecstasy took her.

G.o.d! G.o.d, my sweet, you're so scorching hot, so tight, so...good! His c.o.c.k raged forward and she took it, loving it, coming again around it. He fell against her, gripping the rope above her head. His c.o.c.k jammed hard against her womb and his body bucked as though beyond his control.

Suddenly, heat seared inside her quim, and he grew impossibly large. He stilled, tensed, and roared her name by her ear. Serena!

One last o.r.g.a.s.m took her, and Serena hung off the ropes chafing her wrists, as though her muscles had melted into fluid.

You are mine! he cried. Mine forever.

Chapter Seventeen.

Rule I want to share my blood with you. As he spoke in Serena's mind, Drake tried to force his scattered wits to come together. He couldn't think, and that scared him. A cold numbness began to steal over him, and his fingers were stiff and icy as he untied the ropes that bound her.

Dawn was coming.

He wanted to be the one to turn Serena-to claim her as his soulmate, to ensure that Lukos could not have her-and he had to hurry.

The ropes slid off her body as he sliced through the knots with his fangs. She rubbed at her wrists-he saw the chafed skin, and his heart lurched. Did I h...hurt you, love? His thoughts were blurring, his words beginning to slur.

She shook her head. I liked it. She turned to face him, bathed in moonlight, rubbing her wrists, staring at them in surprise.

Drake understood. She was stunned to have enjoyed bondage games. The innocence in her eyes twisted his heart in a way that no pain he'd endured ever had. Exotic and midnight black, her silky hair spilled over her shoulders, covering her round, full b.r.e.a.s.t.s. His touch was tentative-a first for him-as he brushed her hair back from her neck.

Her eyes opened wide, and she pushed his arm away as she stepped back. I-I am not ready to become a vampire. I don't want it-I thought I did, but I don't. Please-please don't turn me.

I won't, he promised. Inside, raw panic sliced through his exhausted body. He needed to turn her as soon as possible-it was the only way to ensure he protected her from Lukos. He slid his arms around her, drew her into his embrace, held her tight. Her heart beat hard against his naked chest. Warm, supple, beautiful, her body molded to his. He kissed the top of her head, a tender gesture that made his heart ache. He'd never been tender with any other woman-except Mary, who had given birth to his child in the slums and died doing it. He hadn't been able to protect Mary.

In the vampire world, he was still a newborn, barely formed and with no knowledge of what he was capable of doing. But he would protect Serena.

I want to go home-to go back to Lady Brookshire's, I mean.

The longing in her eyes told him how much she wished she had a home. He could give that to her. They could soar together, rule the night together. And I can't let you leave, sweeting.

She struggled against his embrace. I'm a prisoner?

I need to keep you here for your own good. Lukos must claim you before you turn on your birthday-he will want to bond with you by changing you that night. That way, he can claim some of your power.

One sweep of his incredibly powerful arms and he lifted Serena off her feet. Her legs dangled over his arm, her hand splayed over his chest.

You cannot just sweep me up and force me to do as you wish, she protested.

I can try, sweet lark, because I love you.

He lifted his wrist to his mouth with his arm against Serena's back, supporting her. A quick pa.s.s of his arm across his fangs and he sliced open his flesh.

He held his bleeding wrist only a hairsbreadth from her lips. He wouldn't force her. But the scent would speak to her nature. It would call to her. Drake groaned in pleasure as Serena's tongue, warm and wet, licked the blood from his wrist.

"How could you let this happen?" The instant he shouted the words at Lady Brookshire, Jonathon hated himself. Althea was enceinte. Delicate. And Serena's disappearance was not her fault. h.e.l.l, if anyone should shoulder the blame, it should be he.

Rubbing his hand over the back of his collar, he groaned. "Blast...Althea, my apologies...in your condition...I mean..." His words died as he struggled to make a logical sentence. It was the thought of Serena at risk that stole the words from his mouth.

Althea kept her back to him and continued to rifle through Serena's wardrobe. "Since I stayed in England against the wishes of my husband only because I was worried about Serena, I a.s.sure you I had taken great care to protect her," she answered archly. "And I would say that she left willingly, wouldn't you?"

Jonathon strode around Serena's bedchamber for the fourth time. The window was shut, garlic flowers in place. The sheets, though tumbled on the bed, were not torn as they would be from a struggle.

"I believe I know who came for her," Althea said. "A man she trusted."

"Swift." He had reached the same conclusion. "I'll rip him apart." His gut clenched. The most logical reason Serena had not left a note? She did not want to be found.

"He might not mean to harm her." Althea placed her hand on his arm, and he jerked in surprise.

"He means to turn her," Jonathon barked, losing his grip on his temper again. "He means to make her undead!"

"Which she is meant to be," Althea pointed out, with a calm voice that reminded him of Serena's muted governess tones. He knew he'd insulted Althea, a vampiress herself.

"I found his lodgings tonight, but I didn't wait for him," he admitted. "G.o.dd.a.m.n me for that stupid moment of weakness."

"Not weakness, Sommersby. Mercy. Love."

Jonathon forced a smile to his lips as Althea patted his arm. Like Ashcroft, his father had never accepted the idea of good vampires. His father had warned the Society about tolerance for a superior being. We allow them to prosper, they will enslave us, his father had warned.

But both Ashcroft and his father were killing not to protect or to save, but out of fear.

"I will have my husband and Bastien go with you-"

"No, it's too dangerous for them." Jonathon patted Althea's hand in turn, then left her to stand at the window, at the lightening night sky. "I can guess where Swift's taken her but I fear I'm already too late." He hung his head. "If she becomes vampire, I've lost her.

"No," Althea said, gently. "You will never lose her."

It is not wrong, or bad, or impossible to love two men. I want you to understand that.

Serena remembered Althea's words once again as her tongue swirled over Drake's warm, tangy skin. As she licked his wounded wrist. Driven by a primal, powerful need, she ran her tongue along his wound, tasting his rich, hot, coppery blood. She didn't love the taste of blood, but once she took it in her mouth, she couldn't stop taking more. Tears p.r.i.c.ked-she wanted to stop, but she couldn't pull away.

What was it like to be vampire? To want blood so much it was beyond control? To revel in the fierce moans of the victim as she drank?

Less blood flowed. Her tongue no longer slipped into the tear in his flesh; it skimmed over smooth tissue.

Thank you for healing me, Drake whispered in her thoughts.

She felt a burst of excitement, a sense of power, but also fear. I don't think it was I. I think it was you. It's almost dawn.

Starting guiltily, Serena saw weariness in Drake's silvery-green eyes. She had to fight a yawn, too, as exhaustion stole over her. She'd been awake all night. But Drake would succ.u.mb to the daysleep, and that would give her a chance to escape...

When they'd been making love, she'd trusted Drake, but now she felt a sense of panic, a need to get away. To be alone, to think...

He hadn't asked her for her blood. Only given his. Why?

Drake held out his hand. Sleep with me, Serena, love.

The gravelly invitation had spoken to her heart. She heard the aching honesty in it. She felt so tired now. Drake's bare chest and his powerful arms looked so welcoming. He moved to the bed and fell back onto it, his arms spread open as though waiting to embrace her.

She had to make him believe she planned to sleep with him, so she went to his arms. She closed her eyes, trying to fight the contentment, the sense of belonging she felt as he held her. She had to keep to her plan and leave.

To go where? Back to Althea, so she could tell her only friend that she was a vampire's child? Back to the Royal Society, who were planning to cut her up for scientific study?

Or did she stay with Drake, who intended to turn her into the undead-because that was her destiny?

She had nowhere to go. Nowhere to consider her home. The thought weakened her, left her heart like ice, but she tried to fight the paralyzing pain. For her entire life, she'd never felt she had a home, never felt she'd belonged. She had always been unwanted, but she had endured.

Serena closed her eyes and mimicked the slow, steady breathing of sleep...

After a long time, Drake sat up; the bed groaned softly with his movement. Serena shut her eyes tight and struggled to keep her chest moving evenly. Was he watching? The bed creaked again, more loudly. He'd left it.

Why was he awake? With her lids open a crack, she watched him cross the room, his white-blond hair and naked skin lit by the dim glow of the low fire. He seemed weak-he stumbled. Serena heard the click of a lock, saw he'd pa.s.sed through a narrow door, a different one than the one they'd entered.

Serena lay motionless. A clock ticked somewhere in the room. A log popped in the grate. She heard the creak of hinges, the thud of another door closing. Only then did she feel safe enough to slide off the bed.

Creeping quietly through shadow, she found her shift and corset. Her toes b.u.mped the thick fabric of her gown. Groping, she touched the trim of her pelisse. Ignoring her corset, she pulled her thin shift over her head, then wiggled into her gown. She managed two b.u.t.tons at the top of her neck, and her pelisse covered the rest. She didn't bother with stockings and crossed barefoot across the room, slippers in her hand.

Was it foolish to look where Drake had gone? Carefully she opened the narrow door, so slowly it didn't make a sound. It opened to complete darkness. She strained to see and caught a glimpse of something dark that gleamed. The fittings on a coffin's lid.

Drake was in there.

Heart pattering in her throat, Serena pulled the door closed and darted to the door that led out to the other rooms-that would get her out of Drake's house. Her slippers coasted quietly over the carpet. When she reached the door to the bedchamber's sitting room, she turned the doork.n.o.b as silently as she could.

Locked.

d.a.m.n and blast!

She withdrew her silver cross and chain from her pelisse pocket. Her cross wasn't only a cross, after all. She flicked open the hinged lid and slid out the slender lock pick Mr. de Wynter had given her.

What are you doing, sweetheart? Drake's seductive baritone sang through her mind.

Serena's hand jerked the cross so hard she broke the chain. The edges of the silver dug into her gripping fingers as she turned to face Drake and met his amused silvery-green eyes. She did not know what he would do to her. He was no longer the man who had captured her heart.

Trust me, little lark. He held out his hands.

She couldn't. She wasn't ready- Starlight exploded in the room, a glimmering column of it that swirled around Drake, engulfing him as he cried out in surprise.

What was happening? Never mind, screamed a logical voice in her head, unlock the door!

In her shock, she'd dropped the lock pick, and she had to step closer to Drake to get it. Within the sparkling lights, his body glowed like pure gold, and he seemed transfixed-like a statue. She bent, and her fingers touched the metal pick when the lights vanished. Horrified, she saw Drake's eyes.

The silvery gleam was gone and they looked like deep, dark pits. Before her eyes, his face distorted-his jaw lurched wide, his fangs lengthened.

She jumped back in horror.

The bedchamber door flew open behind her and she spun around. Black shapes swooped inside, transforming the instant they crossed the threshold, and she faced Leonardo and the new vampires who served Lukos-the vampires who were now his loyal disciples.

A howl exploded from behind her, a sound like a soul being taken to h.e.l.l. Drake! She turned back to him, dizzy on her feet. He hovered in the air, arms and legs wrenched back and pinned against the wall. His head was twisted back, throat exposed. His eyes were huge and still that horrible, soulless black.

Lukos! It must be Lukos who controlled Drake.

The window-if she could reach the draped window- Leonardo launched across the room toward her. His lips, white and bloodless, curled back from long fangs.

Holy water! She had it in her pocket, but one vial used now would gain her nothing. She didn't even know if it would work.

She turned and ran, but Leonardo's hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist, yanking her back. She spun and kicked, but he swirled her so her back was to him and he wrenched her arms behind her.

An animal roar erupted from Drake, but Leonardo's grip tightened. He jerked her around to face the door.

Heart in her throat, Serena knew who would walk in.

She expected a horrific demon with horns, inhuman face, unearthly white skin, and vicious fangs. A hand slid around the door-a large hand in black leather gloves. Then he filled the doorway, ma.s.sive and dark.

Lukos.

For the first time, Serena saw the vampire who wanted her. Black hair streaked with white was drawn back into a queue. A cape draped over his flawless gentleman's dress clothes. His face was that of a fallen angel. Eyes of silver that seemed to swirl with blue and violet mists. Sharp cheekbones, a harsh chin, long aristocratic nose.

He was beautiful.

His eyes glowed in the blue light that poured into the room. He leaned on a walking stick, and she met his gaze, refusing to show the fear that coursed through her. Her palms were soaked; her underarms smelled of her own desperate sweat. At her side, Leonardo bowed, and the other vampires followed with the same gesture of genuflection.

Lukos waved his hand, and magically the door slammed closed behind him. He threw a slow smile to Drake, who writhed against the invisible power holding him. "You have betrayed me, thrall, and you will be punished."

Serena had to struggle to force her head to turn away from Lukos-it was as though he controlled her muscles, as though he could will her to obey.

No. She had to fight this. Her fingers felt numb, her shoulders felt as though they'd snap apart, and she had to stop fighting against Leonardo's hold.

Look upon your lover for the last time.