Pallo sat still on the floor, not making a sound. He had his elbows on his knees and his hands covering his face. I walked over to him and touched his arm lightly. It was so warm. I hadn't expected that. I tried to lift his chin to make him look at me but I couldn't get him to budge.He was strong as an ox because of the vampire in him and as stubborn as one too. No one would be able to get Pallo to do anything until he was d.a.m.n well ready to do it.

I sat down next to him on the floor, putting my body close to his for his warmth. I never thought I'd see the day when I tried to warm myself off Pallo's cool vampire body. I leaned my head against him and could hear his heart beating fast. He was upset.

James began to walk towards us--I shook my head no. He looked a little hurt but nodded and walked out of the room. When he shut the door Pallo and I were left in total darkness. I put my head back against him and let him support all of my weight. His heart rate slowed as he began to relax.

He made no attempt to lift his head and look at me, he just sat silent in the dark. He truly had become the statue that the appearance of his skin led you to believe he could be--pale, almost white--marble-like.

We sat in the darkness. I was sure that Caradoc and James were close but they made no sound to give away their location. The dark, quiet room and the steady rhythm of Pallo's breathing lulled my body into a relaxed state. The nightmare had left me drained and the confrontation with Pallo hadn't helped. I was exhausted and regardless how Pallo had just acted, I felt comfortable near him. Relaxing, I found myself on the verge of sleep, in that place where my body was so calm, so at peace, as if I was already asleep, yet my mind was still aware of what was going on around me.

Suddenly, I heard the robed men chanting, "You are the vessel, you are the one." I tried to force my eyes open but they wouldn't budge. I knew I was just dreaming. I knew that it wasn't real, yet still I was afraid. I kept willing myself to open my eyes and wake up, I did not listen. I could be so bullheaded sometimes!

I found myself back in the circular room with the stone altar once more.

No robed men had popped out at me--yet. I walked towards the stone altar.

It was long--long enough for a person to lie on.

Great, it was just my size!

Tentatively, I reached my hand out and touched it. It was warm and soft.

I looked closer at it. Yes, it was stone, yet it was soft to the touch.Puzzled, I pushed harder on it. Unable to make sense of my own dream, I gave up.

The temperature in the room plummeted again, and my teeth began to chatter. My fingers were going numb slowly. I looked down at them, they were blue, more importantly I was naked. I was dreaming about myself being naked in a freezing cold round room with a soft stone altar. I really needed to see a shrink.

Something brushed past my shoulder, touching my arm slightly. I froze.

Fear gripped my body as my eyes wandered sideways. Pallo was with me. I get it now, I was really thinking about how much I would sacrifice to be with Pallo. It made perfect sense now. I stared at the likeness my mind was projecting of Pallo--it looked so real. I reached out, touching it gently. It was warm and smooth. I was surprised at my attention to detail. I'd even remembered the tiny freckles on his shoulders, and the two tiny scars below his nipple. He was naked as well and took my breath away. I knew how silky smooth his pale skin was in real life and couldn't help but wonder if I managed to get that right too.

Pallo turned and looked down at me. His eyes were their normal deep penetrating brown--they were beautiful. I could look at him for hours, and for the first time since my bizarre dream had began, I didn't want it to end.

Never one to let a perfectly good s.e.xual dream go to waste, I ran my fingers over his shoulders and down the front of his chest. He let out a small gasp. Man, I was too impressed with myself. I was doing a good job of recreating him. His left hand caught mine and he held it tight.

Wait, I didn't want him to do that.

I tried to force my mind to change that--to have him release me. It didn't work. Pallo pulled me to him and put his hands on my waist. Okay, I would give a little if that was what I'd be getting in return.

I could be as giving as the next girl.

I'd take s.e.x with Pallo in a dream if I could get it. It wasn't as if he'd be handing it out in real life. He'd been avoiding me like the bubonic plague. And, since he thought I was a wh.o.r.e, it was best I not push the issue with him. Plus, there was another fringe benefit of havings.e.x in a dream. It didn't count as cheating.

Whoopee for me! My night was really beginning to improve. This had to be the safest form of s.e.x ever!

Pallo's strong hands lifted me quickly and he set me on the altar. It still felt warm and soft. I let him guide my body onto it, gently. He climbed up and laid himself over me. Our naked bodies pressed against each other, he felt so real, so warm--so alive. He bent his head down to kiss me and I welcomed him. He tasted sweet, like forbidden fruit.

I went at his mouth, nipping and tugging. I wanted him to push at me and be forceful. Instead, the Pallo in my dream was soft, kind, gentle. As our tongues found each other, the slickness between my thighs increased.

I knew that if he dared touch me there he would feel the moisture moving downward--welcoming him.

Sliding my hands down his back, I traced tiny circles on the base of his backbone. I let my fingers play along the top edges of his apple shaped bottom. People paid big money for an a.s.s like that. Pallo got his naturally.

He moaned in my ear softly, "Mi manchi--I miss you, Gwyneth."

Yes, this was a good dream indeed.

"I miss you, too," I said in a soft voice.

Pallo spread my legs gently with his knee. He ran a hand down my side, trailing over my breast and coming to a stop on my mound. I moaned as he spread my velvety folds and rubbed his fingers over my swollen c.l.i.t. Each flicker, each pa.s.s made my legs shake, quiver with delight. He slid his long fingers into me, and I gasped. His brown eyes glazed over with l.u.s.t, as he brought his lips close to mine. "Baciami."

I had no clue what that meant, but I nodded my head all the same. His lips crashed into mine. We devoured each other, our tongues going made with need. Opening my legs more for him, I encouraged him to enter me.

The feel of his hard body settling over me completely was almost too much. When the head of his c.o.c.k found me, I cried out, digging my nails into his lower back. He hissed and tugged on my lower lip gently.Wet, but tight, I left him no choice but to put some force behind his thrust. It felt so real, he felt so real--filling me up. "Pallo...."

His hand slid under my leg, lifting it slightly towards my head allowing him to enter me even further. I sucked my breath in as his hips pounded against me, driving his c.o.c.k deeper into me. The sensation was so authentic, so perfect that I didn't want to wake. This was how it was supposed to be--the two of us making love, no fighting, no guilt, just pa.s.sion. He hit the back of my cervix and I winced slightly.

Pallo pushed into me harder and faster, losing his rhythm. I grunted under him like a wild animal. He countered with primitive noises of his own. The robed men begin to chant over the sounds of our pa.s.sion.

Suddenly, they were all around us, enclosing us in a circle of their bodies. They lifted their arms high in the air and their chants grew louder. I tried to block them from my mind. I was not going to think about crazy robed monks while I was dreaming of Pallo. They were just a figment of my imagination--a very annoying figment.

Pallo thrust himself into me over and over again. My body answered with swaying hips and tiny thrusts up of my own. My lower abdomen burned, tightened as waves of pleasure crashed over me. My o.r.g.a.s.m was so intense, it left me clinging to Pallo, holding my breath and staring into his tender eyes as I rode it out.

The chanting grew louder. Pallo tossed his head back, still keeping himself inside of me. "Oh dio mio!" His neck muscles tightened and his breathing was erratic at best.

Confused, I pulled at the sides of his face, trying to get him to look at me. "Pallo, what's wrong?"

His head came back down. His brown curls fell loosely around his face. I looked up and into his beautiful black eyes, what?

Why the h.e.l.l was I dreaming about him in his all out vampire-demon form?

He drove himself in me and the altar no longer felt soft, it felt every bit as solid as it looked. "No!" I screamed out, wanting to wake myself up. I didn't want to keep dreaming of Pallo like this. I wanted my gentlelover back, the man I'd give up everything for--my Pallo.

The chanting was overwhelming, Pallo slammed into me so hard I thought I would rip in two. I searched his face. The Pallo I loved wasn't there, only his demon was. He brought his head down quickly and struck my neck with his fangs. A cry broke free of my throat, as white-hot pain shot through my body. He pushed himself into me hard and finished inside of me, coming in jarring waves. I didn't want to enjoy it, not this way, not with the demon in him riding me, but I couldn't help myself. I came again, this o.r.g.a.s.m was even fiercer than my last one. The weight of his body dropped onto me, I cried out. He was still inside of me--pulsating, every last drop of his demonic seed was deep in me now.

I pounded on his back, as he continued to feed off me, his c.o.c.k still embedded deep within me. "Pallo! No, don't ... let go ... you're taking too much blood! Pallo, please come back to me ... I need you ... I love you, don't do this!"

Pallo pulled his head up quickly and looked into my face. "Gwyneth?"

Kicking my feet out, I jerked awake. It was only a dream, a nightmare really. I was still sitting on the floor in my bedroom next to Pallo. He was propped against the wall with his head down, sleeping. I touched his arm lightly, needing to know he was real. His head jerked up, his eyes were black and his fangs were showing. A tiny drop of blood was on his lip. It ran down his chin slowly and his tongue flickered out and over it.

He shook his head and came back to me. "Gwyneth?"

"Pallo?" I moved closer to him. "What's wrong?"

He glanced at me and then around the room. He shook his head and seemed to calm down. "Nothing, I am sorry, it was only a dream."

That caught my attention. I wasn't sure how to ask him if he had just dreamt about boning me. The guy hadn't even wanted to be in the same roo m with me for the last two months. Not a real good way to strike up a conversation. I decided that it was best I just let that one go. Putting my hands on the hardwood floor, I pushed myself up. Pallo was next to meand standing before I even got halfway to my feet. He put his hand on my upper back to help guide me. I had missed his touch but most of all I missed his friendship--I missed him.

I must have stood up too fast, because I felt faint. I held his arm for a minute to keep from falling. The room spun and he held me to him until it pa.s.sed. He eased his grip on me slowly.

"Gwyneth?"

"I'm fine, really."

I made my way slowly to the door. When I opened it, light from the hallway flooded into the room. It was too bright, too much. I squinted, needing a minute for my eyes to adjust. I grabbed hold of the doorway, suddenly feeling very nauseous.

I dug my fingers into the wood, trying to maintain my upright position. I put my hand over my mouth and ran for the bathroom. I pushed the door open and dove down on the floor in front of the toilet, sweeping the hair dye James had brought with him onto the floor, before lifting the lid. It felt like all the contents of my stomach were about to fly out but none did. I just sat there staring in at the white bowl. The smell of water sitting in porcelain was potent. I could clearly make out all of the chemicals the water treatment plant used. It only made my stomach feel worse, but I did not get sick.

I heard water running behind me. I put my arm on the edge of the toilet and turned around slowly, I really didn't want to pa.s.s out head first in the toilet. It'd be my luck to go that way--death by way of toilet bowl, news at eleven.

Pallo was running a bath. I knew it was for me. I looked up at him and wanted to thank him, but I wasn't feeling very well at all. I was a little concerned that if I opened my mouth everything but words would come out.

Maybe this was the flu that I'd heard my human friends discussing. They said that you felt chilled, then feverish. Nausea was common, along with body aches, and coughs. Yeah, that was it! I must have caught the flu. I didn't know I could catch human colds--news to me.Putting all my weight on my arms, I pushed off the edge of the toilet, attempting to stand. I failed miserably. The strength in my arms gave out and I didn't fight it. Pallo's arms wrapped around me and he eased me down to the floor. He pulled my sweatshirt and sweater over my head and helped me out of my white undershirt. His fingers slid over my neck. I felt the tiniest bit of pain as he pressed down.

"Gwyneth?" he said, more to himself than me.

He pulled his finger away and came back with a tinge of red. I hadn't remembered cutting my neck on anything but the evening had been fairly eventful. I would be happy when it was over.

Pallo laid me back on the floor. I wore only a bra and my jeans now. I really didn't want him to be helping me. It didn't feel right. Not with tension that had been between us and especially not with Caleb in the picture. Pallo's presence always stirred things in me. Things that I could deny and bury deep when around Caleb. Sitting there half-dressed was hardly aiding with my already flawed character. I pushed at his hands as he tried to undo my pants. I knew that he was only trying to help, but I didn't care.

Go figure. I have a s.e.x dream about him, have a chance to get naked with him for real and pa.s.s on it--that was so very me!

I touched Pallo's dark shirt, it was silk of course. I wanted to run my fingers under it and feel his muscular stomach. I didn't. Instead, I got hold of my wits and looked up at him. I could do this. I didn't need him to help me. No, I didn't want him to help me.

Pallo had said such hurtful things. He'd called me a donnaccia--a wh.o.r.e--the minute he saw me with James. He didn't stop to ask what was going on. He immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion, again. Pallo had made such ugly comments about using me for s.e.x that I found it hard to be around him without coming back to that. I'd tried to harden myself to him. If he undressed me, I would lose all of my willpower and I knew it.

I didn't want to do that to Caleb, I couldn't do that to him--I wouldn't.

Pallo appeared slightly hurt but he understood. He stood up quickly. "I will get Caradoc."I tried to sit up. My head was so loopy that I gave up and laid it back down. "No, not him. James ... get James."

He hesitated. He didn't want James undressing me. It was obvious that he didn't trust James around me anymore since he found him comforting me earlier. I didn't know what the deal was with Caleb and Pallo but neither of them seemed too fond of my friendship with James. Too bad, I wanted him to help me not Pallo.

"James!" Pallo called out.

I don't think more than two or three seconds went past before there was a soft knock at the bathroom door. Pallo opened it. James crept in, no doubt sensing Pallo's hostility. I noticed for the first time that James was a little taller than Pallo, which put him at about six foot three or so. I couldn't believe I'd never bothered to notice that before. They were so very different. James' blue spiked hair was a sharp contrast to Pallo's long wavy brown hair. For vampires they were complete opposites, for men they were d.a.m.n different, too. One was softhearted and good-natured. The other was cold and distant.

I smiled when I saw James. Even with his odd hair color choices, he was a sight for sore eyes. Pallo looked down at me and saw me grinning. He didn't look pleased as he walked out into the hall. And he did not shut the door. I didn't care if Pallo saw me naked. He'd seen everything I had to offer several times now. I just didn't want him to be the one undressing me.

James bent down beside me. He went out of his way to not notice that I didn't have a top on. I thought that was charming. James wasn't outwardly known for being a gentleman so this was a big step for him.

My head felt a little bit better, my stomach was still touch and go, but I thought it would be wise to try to sit up now. I did, it worked.

Yippee for me!

James looked as if he wanted to say something, but didn't. I reached my hand down to undo my pants, feeling like I was going to bust out of them.

I must have eaten a whole lot for dinner. Maybe the gla.s.s of blood I slammed was making me bloated, I don't know. Vampires didn't put caloricand sodium amounts on their packaged blood, yet--b.u.mmer.

My jeans were cutting into my lower abdomen terribly. It was tender and hurt when I had to push my thumb in to undo my b.u.t.ton.

"Gwen, you're getting chubby. It's about time you gained some weight. You needed more cushion on your a.r.s.e. I like a girl with a shapely rear. Now, you lucked out in the ol' stacked department, but ya' really got the shaft when it came to the rump," James said, laughing.

I punched his pale arm. "Shut up! You know you'd have a steady girlfriend by now if you stop saying things like that. Did you ever think the way to a woman's heart, for you, is to keep your mouth shut? Oh, no I forgot, the women you date don't have enough sense to know you're speaking, let alone being an a.s.s. What's the phrase you like to use for them? Ah, yeah, dead from the neck up."

I loved teasing James about his choice in women. He seemed to always be trying to date the super sleazy ones. It was a running joke between us.

He didn't mind being razzed by me and I was fine with him doing it back.

He helped me get my jeans down my legs, and never once commented on m y red silk panties. Good boy! He helped me stand.

"Turn around. I need to take my underwear off."

He did and I held onto his shoulder with one hand to keep my balance. I trusted James so much and I don't know why. I had always felt that way about him since the day we first met. I didn't have that kind of trust with Pallo. He'd betrayed me and I wasn't close to forgiving him for that.

It took everything in me not to get upset thinking about Pallo's deception again. It haunted me every day. I lived with the anger from that and the guilt for still loving him even though I had Caleb. I'd tried all the tricks in the book, but I couldn't forget Pallo or what he'd done.

I climbed into the tub. It was scalding hot. "Ouch!" I yanked my foot out, convinced I had second-degree burns already.James put his hand in to check, still facing the other way. "Gwen, the water's a bit on the cool side."

I knew he wouldn't lie to me so I went ahead and climbed in. No, it still felt too hot. I wanted to jump and run but I acted like a big girl and stayed put. The heat rose up my spine and let my body relax in the big tub.

I glanced up at James still facing the other way and laughed. What a great guy! Whenever he did decide to settle down he'd make some vamp-ga l a very lucky lady.

Taking a deep breath in, I tipped my head back in the tub. After soaking my hair thoroughly, I surfaced. Wiping my face, I looked up. "James, I've been having the strangest dreams."

"About me, I hope."

I snorted. "No really, they're odd and bit creepy. Gee, you're right, they could be about you!" I laughed and continued on, "I know that I'm dreaming while I'm there, but it feels so real. There're all this men in robes. I can't make out any of their faces, but I can hear them chanting again and again."

"What are they going on about?"

"They call me the vessel, the one, as Pallo takes me on this altar and ... and he makes love to me on it." I bit my lower lip, waiting for a James to make a stupid comment. It didn't take long.

"Hey, if this is a s.e.x dream, I want permission to sit down and hear all the juicy details." James laughed softly, as he turned to look at me.

"James!"

He shrugged and faced the opposite wall again. "Right, sorry, carry on.

So, was it any good?"

"Was what any good?"

He laughed. "The s.e.x, of course, was it any good?""Yes, it was fantastic, at first. Then he went all demonic on me and sort of killed the moment, if you know what I mean." I knew that James of all people could understand what I was talking about. He was a vampire so he knew the strings attached to that. He was also my friend so he knew my feelings for Pallo, and Pallo just happened to be his Master, so he knew him pretty well too.

"Gwen, kinky s.e.x is all in the eye of the beholder. You found that creepy and I'm sitting here filing it away for a good long thrapping later tonight."

I had to laugh, he was right. Although the knowledge that James would be a one-handed-self-pleasuring-machine later in the night made my nausea return, there were some things I just didn't want to know about--James jacking off was one of them.

I finished cleaning up and rose slowly out of the tub. Bending down to undo the stopper and let the water out, I noticed that my belly looked even bigger now. I made a mental note to avoid slamming anymore O-positive and got out.