His eyes lit with mingled humor and arousal. "Ah, you wish to role-play? Normally I prefer to be the aggressor, but if it will please you, I suppose I can give in to your demands."

The touch of his mouth on mine sent familiar zings of pleasure through me, heightening my antic.i.p.ation of the moment when I would taste his desire. I couldn't wait and slipped my tongue into his mouth, teasing his until it followed mine back into my mouth.

"Ow!" His head snapped back in surprise.

"It just happened," I said, running my tongue carefully over the unexpected sharp, elongated points of my canine teeth. "When I bit your ear, suddenly these... they just were there. Where did they come from? Why do I have them? I thought you said I didn't have to drink blood? Can I get rid of them or am I stuck with them? What am I going to tell people?"

He laughed, pulling me close against him, kissing me again, but carefully this time. "You're Moravian now, sweetheart. You have the sharp canines because you can, if you choose to, drink blood. Your body will process it and use it as fuel just as it does food. Your body is low on blood now, and wants you to take in more. That's why they manifested-you can pull them back if they bother you, otherwise they will be gone when your body no longer craves blood."

"But why did they pop out now?" I asked, flinching when the point of one of my new fangs pierced my tongue. A bead of blood welled up, sharp with a copper taste, no different from any other time I'd bitten my tongue.

"s.e.xual arousal is closely linked to bloodl.u.s.t. Your body is craving both from me. Do you want me to feed you?"

"Blood?" I asked, half repulsed, half intrigued by the idea. "I don't know-it's never been anything that's attracted me, but..." I stopped, unable to put the strange new feelings I felt into words. My blood did nothing for me, nor did I particularly enjoy the drop of Paen's blood I'd tasted when we Joined, but now the thought of taking into me his life force was strangely compelling.

"It's an acquired taste," he said, a wry smile on his lips. "Why don't we give you a little taste without demanding too much?" He nipped the tip of his finger until a couple of drops shone vermilion against his skin.

"Ready?" he asked, giving me his finger.

I eyed the blood on it. "I don't know if I'll ever be ready for this," I grumbled, but took the tip of his finger into my mouth, rolling my tongue around it, the drops of blood spreading quickly. There was no bitterness, no coppery blood taste-just a spicy, heavy flavor reminiscent of mulled wine. Oh! It doesn't taste like mine at all. This is good! Is this what it's like for you, too?

Only with you, love, he answered, gently pulling his finger from my mouth.

"Why only with me?" I asked, licking my lips, the taste of him still lingering. A need for more rose inside me with a roar that almost drowned out the endless howl of torment that the loss of my soul had left, but I fought it down, forcing the fangs back into normal canines. Paen was hungry, too, and couldn't afford to lose blood any more than I could.

"You're my Beloved. Your blood is like ambrosia to me."

"Oh," I said, flattered. I stepped back to the bed, a.s.suming a seductive position in the middle of it. "I'm sorry I can't be your smorgasbord tonight. I can feel how hungry you are. But perhaps we can take your mind off of that for a little bit?"

"That, sweetheart, won't be difficult to do." The bed dipped as he joined me, kneeling next to me. "I believe it's my turn again, yes?"

"Oh yes," I said, letting him roll me onto my back, pulling my legs so my calves rested alongside his thighs. I wanted to caress the arousal that waved so happily at me, but lay back when he ordered me to stop distracting him.

"You're bossy," I said, squirming as his head dipped down and he swirled his tongue around my belly b.u.t.ton.

"Yes, and you like it."

"Not really." His tongue licked a path up toward my b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Oh, all right, just a little."

"Just a little, hmm? So if I were to tell you that I was going to suck your delicious b.r.e.a.s.t.s until you were on the verge of coming, at which point I concentrated my attentions on those highly sensitive ears of yours, what would you do?"

"b.r.e.a.s.t.s," I gasped, digging my fingers into his shoulders and pulling him forward. "Ears! Right now!"

"And who is the bossy one now?" he asked just before taking the tip of an aching breast into his mouth. His hand slid over to my other breast, his fingers ignoring everything but the tight nipple that was demanding equal time. I'd never thought my b.r.e.a.s.t.s were particularly sensitive before, but the feeling of his hot mouth and dancing tongue changed my mind. He sucked, he licked, he teased and tasted and tormented until I was writhing beneath him, wave after wave of pleasure rocking my body.

"Have you ever thought of piercing your nipples?" he asked, grinning wickedly as he paused a moment while paying equal attention to my second breast. His fangs flashed in the soft light, his eyes glowing with arousal and want and, yes, love.

"No!" I shouted, arching my back so my breast would receive what it wanted. "Yes! Do it! Hurry, before I die!"

The moment before he bit the very tip of my nipple was excruciating, not with pain, but with antic.i.p.ation.

When his teeth nipped my breast, the sharp burst of pain melted almost immediately into something akin to a drug rush as he sucked off the resulting drop of blood, his tongue swirling over the abused flesh like the softest velvet.

It was heaven, it was ecstasy, it was absolutely the most divine feeling I'd ever experienced... until he shifted and his mouth touched my ears at the same time he entered my body. I screamed, my hands digging into his flesh as he filled me with more than steely flesh-he filled the empty s.p.a.ces inside me with happiness and warmth... and love. It was like a brilliant ray of sunshine piercing a stormy sky.

My fingernails raked down his back as I grabbed his b.u.t.t, shifting my hips and pulling him deeper. "I want you inside me!" I cried.

"Sweetheart, if I was any more inside you, I'd be coming out your mouth," he said, moaning as I wrapped my legs around his hips and thrust up hard as he bit the top of my ear.

"I want you in me. I want all of you in me," I begged, the world starting to come apart as a familiar rush of rapture built. Unable to stop myself, I bit his shoulder, not a love bite, but one intended to draw blood. As my teeth pierced his skin his back arched in surprise, pulling away from me. I threw my weight onto him, sending him falling over backward onto his back. I knelt for a moment to drink in the sight of him. He was so beautiful, so masculine, but it wasn't the outside of him that I craved-it was his heart and soul and very being that I wanted.

He growled at me, actually growled as I crawled up his body, my b.r.e.a.s.t.s brushing the wet length of his p.e.n.i.s. "Sam, I told you, I like to be the one in charge."

"Fine," I said, pausing to bite his hip. He gasped in surprise. I smiled as I licked up the drop of blood that welled from his skin. I flicked my tongue over first one nipple, then the other. He held his breath for a moment, clearly wondering if I was going to bite his nipple as he had done mine. I smiled rea.s.suringly at him for a moment, then leaned down and bit an area on his rib cage.

"Order me what to do, then."

He shivered as I sucked a couple of drops of blood, then without a word pulled his legs up to provide a backrest for me, grabbed my hips, and before I could do so much as utter a gasp of my own, impaled me. "Love me!" he demanded, pulling me down for a kiss, his hands urging me into a fast rhythm. I bit his tongue.

"Sam!" he snarled, pulling back. I leaned forward and bit his lip.

"I love you, Paen. Now fill me! Fill every inch of me. I want all of you!"

His mind flooded me with the emotions and sensations that racked him, the light from his love almost blinding me. I felt the elation he experienced when I bit him, and without considering the wisdom of my actions, nuzzled aside his hair and bit down on the muscle that joined his neck to his shoulder. He groaned something that sounded like an apology, then pain burst hot in me, on the same spot where I was drinking from him. His o.r.g.a.s.m exploded to life, sending wave after wave of intoxicating rapture through both him and me, triggering my own as we each simultaneously gave and received life.

He filled me, completed me, made me whole again... until I came back to earth, and found myself just as hollow, just as empty as I had been before we started.

Paen held me tight while I wept through the long, dark hours of the night.

Chapter 17.

"What's first?" Finn asked without any prologue when Paen and I emerged from my bedroom several hours later. "The statue or the ma.n.u.script?"

"Ma.n.u.script," Paen said at the same time I answered, "Statue."

The love of my life glared at me. "We'll find the ma.n.u.script first. You need your soul."

"We'll find the statue first," I said, ignoring his scowl to pour myself a cup of tea from a lukewarm pot and scrounge a piece of toast from the breakfast remains that Finn and Clare had left scattered over the table. "My soul is already gone, but your mother's isn't."

"We still have a day left-" Paen started to say.

I shook my head and interrupted him, speaking around a mouthful of cold toast. "You said yourself my soul is tucked away somewhere on the Akasha. It's not going anywhere, but Paen, your mother's is in danger. And my darling, you and I both know how horrible it is to live without it. I wouldn't want her to have to go through this h.e.l.l."

His frown deepened until it was as dark as his eyes. Begrudgingly-his reluctance to postpone the hunt for my soul something I cherished close to my heart-he agreed. "But only because it's likely the two things are related, and if we find the statue, we should find if not the Coda itself, information about where it is."

"That makes sense," Clare said, pushing around a small mound of scrambled eggs with her fork. I looked at Finn, and was struck for the first time by something that hadn't occurred to me.

"You can eat food? People food, that is, rather than just... people?" I asked.

He grinned. "I prefer the latter, but yes, I can eat food. Clare insisted I'd fade away to nothing unless I had something other than a liquid breakfast."

"Oh." I looked at Paen. "Can you eat something other than blood, too?"

"If I had to, yes."

I spread a little grapefruit marmalade on a bit of toast. "Good. I was worried that since I was a few quarts low, you'd have to go elsewhere to have your breakfast, but if you can eat real food, that's perfect."

He shook his head. "Sam, food provides us with no nutrition. Finn and I need blood to survive. I'll just wait until you have fully recovered before I feed."

You fed off me a few hours ago, I pointed out.

Just a few mouthfuls. His voice was tinged with regret. I'm sorry about that-I didn't intend to take any of your blood until you've recovered from the loss, but you drove me into such a frenzy it was all I could do to keep from taking more than I did.

"I can feel how hungry you are, Paen," I said, accepting a plate of fresh eggs from Clare. "I don't particularly like the thought of you snacking off of someone else, but this is a bit of an unusual situation, so you've got my OK to round up some breakfast."

"No, I can't," he said, going to the window to carefully look through the blinds.

"I appreciate that you don't want to do the fang sink with anyone else, but I have a feeling we're going to need your strength today. So go on out and find someone to feed from. Just don't enjoy it too much."

Clare rolled her blue eyes and went to get her coat and purse.

"You don't understand. I can't feed from anyone but you," Paen said, watching out the window.

I moved over to see what he was looking at. It was raining again, a cold, dark, nasty rain that almost exactly matched the cold, dark, nasty emptiness that resided inside of me. "You can't? Is this some sort of a Beloved thing?"

"Yes. When I said a Dark One can't survive without his Beloved, I meant it. Once he finds her, human blood taken from anyone but a Beloved is poison. Likewise, the Beloved's blood is unacceptable to any other Moravian."

"Whoa," I said, a chill going down my arms. "So if I had died when Pilar tried to kill me..."

"Paen would have died as well," Finn said, standing to stretch. "Which is one more thing I have to thank you for, Sam."

"I thought you were immortal?" I asked Paen. "You'd die without me? Really die?"

"Eventually. It isn't a quick or pleasant process, but it is inevitable."

"Who thought up these rules?" I asked, exasperated. I didn't mind thinking that Paen would mourn me for a long time if I died, but I didn't want to be the cause of his death.

"I hope the answer to that is in the Coda," he said, dropping the blinds to face the room. "Have you finished?"

"Eating or asking questions?" I stuffed a last forkful of eggs into my mouth, washing it down with cold tea.

"Both."

"Yes, I'm done. Let's go find Pilar and get the statue."

"We must also have our revenge for the dress he shot!" Clare said. "It will never recover, poor thing. This evil Pilar person must pay for that crime, and for shooting you, as well, Sam."

"Nice to know I come in second to a dress," I told her as I grabbed my bag and a jacket.

"Well, it is a Versace," she pointed out.

"What's the plan?" Finn asked, waggling his eyebrows at Clare. "I take it you want us to do some investigating?"

I looked at Paen. His eyes were dark with introspection. "I think it's best if they tackle Reuben while we go after Mr. Race and Mr. Green, don't you?"

Paen nodded his agreement, still rubbing his jaw.

"So you're going to meet with Mr. Green while we're doing what with the poltergeist, exactly?" Clare asked as we left the apartment and headed down the stairs to the outer door. We stopped at the door so the men wouldn't have to stand around outside while we made the last of our arrangements.

"You're going to find Reuben. It shouldn't be too hard-Paen ripped off one of his arms, and there can't be that many five- armed, former faery poltergeists around here. Here's the address of the Guardian we used the other night. You and Finn help her question the poltergeist about the whereabouts of the statue."

She put her hands on her hips in a faery version of pique. "Why do we have to question Reuben about where it is? You're the one who lost it."

"Stop being so snippy. Lives are at stake!"

She sighed. "I know. But that poltergeist makes me uncomfortable."

"I'm sure you'll be able to cope with him just fine. As for why you need to question him, I have no idea where the statue could be. It was taken from me, and could be anywhere in the beyond. I didn't have it when Paen pulled me through the only entrance he knew. But Pilar has no doubt told Reuben by now, so your job is to get that info from him." I glanced at the watch on her wrist. "We still have an hour before the appointment with Owen Race, so I think it's probably best if we talk with Caspar Green about what he knows first, then go out to Race's house. Does that sound all right to you?"

"Yes. I have a few things I'd like to say to Mr. Green," Paen said, flexing his fingers.

I smiled at him. Amidst the horrible cold and torment that raged around inside me, he brought a little spot of warmth and happiness that gave me the strength to go on.

"What if they won't tell us what we want to know?" Clare said, her brow puckered. "That poltergeist didn't look terribly smart to me."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Paen said, looking grim, his voice even grimmer. "We aren't powerless."Clare murmured an agreement, and with that, we separated, Finn and Clare going off to see what they could find from the poltergeist while we headed to Caspar's apartment. To my surprise, he seemed to be expecting us.

"Good morning, Miss Cosse. What a pleasant surprise. And Paen Scott! Welcome to my humble home. It is indeed a pleasure to see you both again. I take it you have come to deliver the statue to me?"

"Not quite. We've come to talk about a few things with you," I said, sitting when he gestured toward a peach love seat. "Not the least of which is your choice in employees."

"Why did you try to hire Sam to find the statue when you knew I was already searching for it?" Paen asked abruptly, every line in his body radiating anger.

"Ah. I thought perhaps you might put things together. Please, Paen, take a seat. There is no need to be uncivilized about this.

You are naturally upset by what would appear to be some sort of trickery on my part, but I a.s.sure you that there is none intended."

Paen snorted something rude under his breath, but sat down next to me.

Do you believe him? I asked Paen.