Shit! What the hells going on? How could this be Brother Luther? I thought he hated vampires.

Simultaneously, I reached for the cordless phone and he reached for me.

I grabbed the phone, managed to punch in 91,then lost my grip on it when he jerked me by the fabric of my blouse.

My eyes watered as he held me close to his face. It was almost impossible to breathe while being bathed in the nox-ious stink radiating from his mouth.

I pushed against him and had the clear impression that my wrists would break before I'd budge him an inch.

He was staring at me but his eyes were unfocused.

My bowels threatened to liquefy and I fought to turn my head to get away from the worst of it.

"She must be punished," he bellowed in my face, gather-ing more of my shirt in his grasp.

His head suddenly jerked down, his vacant eyes locked on something he now held in his palm.

He screamed as the necklace Devereux had given me lit up the room, burning his hand. He dropped his book, re-leased me, and I fell to the floor.I speed-crawled a few feet away from him and slowly stood.Evidently the necklace had done more than scorch him, because he put both hands on his bald dome and whimpered in a weak, shaky voice, "Don't hurt me, don't hurt me, please don't hurt me, help me, help me . . ."

Something about his words reminded me of the dream I'd had about the child in the house. Lowering his arms, he clutched his stomach and rocked up and down, sobbing loudly. I became momentarily confused and almost made a move to comfort him.

Suddenly he jerked upright, rose to his full height, which seemed taller than before, and held his arms out on either side of him. He closed his eyes and slowly let his head drop back, his mouth falling open.

It wasn't possible, but it looked like the coat that had hung loosely on him moments before, now stretched taut across his chest, shoulders, and upper arms.

As he'd spread his arms out, the coat flapped open, exposing his scarred, festering nude frame. His chest was a mass of ooz-ing sores, surrounded by coarse, filthy body hair, which trailed down to a thick patch sprouting a huge, reddish erection.

His head snapped up, like a spring had been released, and the black coals in his eyes ignited into flames.

He eased his hand down his abscessed stomach, grasped his penis and began stroking the length, groaning. He smiled the worst smile I've ever seen, and stepped toward me, unoccupied hand outstretched.

"Come to me. Touch me."

He thrust his foul erection toward me and laughed, his voice burrowing holes in my ears, making my knees weak.

I backed as far away from him as I could.

What just happened? What is this thing? Why does his voice seem familiar? Where's his southern accent? Why does he look different? He obviously did something to cause me to believe he's physically bigger than he'd been just a few moments ago. Some mind control thing He began moving the hand on his penis faster and was momentarily distracted by what I guessed was an approach-ing orgasm. I didn't want to be standing in front of him when he got to that point.

I dropped to the ground, crawled toward the front door as fast as my legs would carry me and cringed when I heard him scream his release. The cry sounded more like pain than pleasure. Immediately I felt myself being lifted up by the waistband of the orange pants.

That hideous laugh washed over me again and I was just wondering if my death would be quick and painless or drawn out and torturous, when the front door burst open and a whole flock of vampires swept into the room.

Several of them leaped on my captor, causing me to be flung against a wall, where I sat, semi-dazed, watching my vampire cavalry be thrown around like sponge toys.

What the hell is going on? Is he some kind of vampire demon?

Brother Luther, if it really was Brother Luther, seemed to be able to control vampires, as well as humans, with his mind, but there were too many for him. Or else he simply lost interest. Because he threw down the hulking vampire whose neck he was sucking on, turned his red eyes to me and shrieked, "Soon."

He either disappeared or moved so quickly there wasn't even a blur, but one minute he was there, the next he wasn't.

The vampires lay around the room, scattered like bowl-ing pins after a strike.

The silence was broken by a deep male voice saying, "Get the fuck off me," as a short, rotund man sprang up.I didn't recognize any of the blood-covered warriors, ex-cept one. The last one I expected to see.

Still in shock, I crawled over to a woman sprawled out on the floor between the living room and the kitchen. Her long black hair was matted with blood from several head wounds and two large holes gaped at the top of her left breast where fangs had torn the skin. The wounds were already begin-ning to heal.

"Luna? Is that you?"

"No, it's theAvon lady. Are you always this dim?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Saving your unimportant ass, that's what."

I nodded and smoothed a clump of her long hair away from her frowning face. "Believe me, I appreciate that, but how did you knowthat. . . whatever he was . . . was here?"

She slapped my hand away. "Devereux expected trouble tonight and ordered me to keep watch on your house. He said I should bring reinforcements, just in case. I thought he was over-reacting because of his strange attachment to you, so I just hung out myself, looking through your window. I saw theskuzzy guy come in, summoned the others, and the rest is history."

She sat up.

I tried to help her and she slapped my hand away again.

"Who is that guy? Or, better yet, what is that guy?"

She shrugged. "I don't know,he was your gentleman caller, not mine. But Devereux's going to rip him a new one. I hope I get to watch."

"But, how is it he was able to control you and all the other vampires like that? I thought the mind control stuff only worked on humans?"

She nodded while tapping her index finger on her chin, deep in thought.

"It usually does only work on humans. It takes onehelluva powerful vampire to control other vampire minds. The only one I've ever seen do it is Devereux. He's definitely going to go ballistic.

"Whoever the guy with the boner was, he'sgonna find out what happens to vampires who mess with the Master's property."

Master's property?

I was way too exhausted and traumatized to open up that coffin of worms. But Devereux and I were definitely going to have to come to an understanding.

During the short time we'd been talking, the wounds on all of the vampire bodies had healed and, if you didn't count the blood all over every part of my living room, you wouldn't have known a life or death situation had just occurred. That I'd almost been dinner for a crazed vampire zealot.

Howis it Brother Luther could have festering sores on his body? Why doesn't his body immediately heal them? Why didn't it occur to me he could be a vampire? Not too bright, Kismet!

But there was blood all over my living room.

A trashed office and a living room that smelled like a used sanitary pad.Luna rose in a fluid motion, without the aid of bones, and brushed off her black ensemble.

I scrambled to my feet, not nearly as graceful, and no-ticed all the vampire eyes staring at me.

I was in room filled with vampires.Blood drinkers.Chil-dren of the night.

Well, hell What was I supposed to do with a room full of vampires?

I couldn't offer them coffee and bagels. Should I offer them the use of my shower?My washing machine?

Should I open up a vein?

The problem was solved when one of them-the huge one the crazy vampire had sucked on-stalked over, bowed from the waist and said, "We serve the Master. We will hide our-selves outside and keep watch over you until the sunrise."

He raised his hand, made a "come on" gesture, and a dozenundead walked out my broken front door.

Luna surveyed the wreckage of my living room and said, "Do you want to stay here? Would you rather spend the rest of the night at The Crypt?"

On automatic pilot, I'd already started picking up papers and books that had fallen off my desk. I was too emotionally wiped out to deal with Luna's prickly attitude.

If anyone was in dire need of psychotherapy it was Luna. Anger and hostility rolled off her like toxic waves. It was a good thing there were rules against doing therapy with some-one you know, but even if there weren't, I wouldn't be caught dead having her as my client. Oh, wait.Bad choice of words.I probably would be dead.

I sighed, my voice shaky. "I'll stay here. There's no blood upstairs and I need a shower."

"Then I'll stick around, too. Devereux would stake me if I left you alone tonight."

Swell She walked to the kitchen door and looked around.

"Where'syour washer and dryer?"

I pointed.

I reached down to retrieve another pile of papers, and when I turned to see if Luna had figured out how to operate the washing machine, she walked back into the living room, naked, her hands on her hips.

"Do you mind if I take a shower first if you're going to clean up down here?"

"Uh, sure.That's fine. Make yourself at home."

And it just keeps getting weirder.

I heard the little popping sound that indicated some vampire or anotherhadjust made an unscheduled arrival or departure, and then the sound of the shower running.

What was up with all the naked vampires? Was nudity a requirement to join the club?

The mentally ill sometimes act out childhood shame issues by getting naked and being sexually aggressive. Mas-turbation as an anxiety relieving and self soothing technique was common. That didn't surprise me.

And I wasn't a prude. I'd spent as much time as any other woman in health club locker rooms, making small talk with other naked women. But a naked vampire, built like a silicone-enhanced supermodel, calmly cruising around my kitchen was a little out of my comfort zone.

It was natural to be curious about a body that perfect, but actually gawking at it had to be out of the question. But what was I supposed to look at while I spoke to her?

I wondered how many times Devereux had seen her naked?

Geez. Together they'd look like a god and goddess.

Insecure?Me?

Chapter 23.

I guess it made sense that a vampire wouldn't worry about human rules.

I mean, once you wereundead , who were you trying to impress? And who would get in your face about anything, anyway, if the result would be having your throat torn out?Luna glided down the stairs, moving with feline grace. Her calm exterior only partially camouflaged the power and violence lurking just under the surface. She was still naked.

She strolled over to the washing machine, noted the cycle wasn't complete and sat down at the kitchen table.

How weird was it to have a sky-clad vampire wandering around your house? I'd replaced the light bulbs and done everything I could in the living room. Now it would be up to the cleaning crew. I heard the washing machine spin cycle click off and walked over to shift her clothes into the dryer.

Like the moment in a horror movie when the forest goes strangely silent, and we know the monster is watching us through the trees, a chill ran through my body, sliding an ice cube down my back. I turned to look at Luna.

She was watching me, eyes narrowed, the tips of her fangs peeking out through parted lips.

"I need blood."

Terror took me hostage. In three seconds, I'd gone from being in denial about the predator padding around my kitchen, to having every ancestral alarm bell in my psyche clanging madly.

My stomach contracted, I felt hot and cold at the same time, my knees rubber.

Smart-mouthed, cynical Luna was gone and in her place was a vampire.A creature that drank human blood.A hun-gry predator.

I only had one card to play. My mouth had gone totally dry and I was only partially successful at keeping the fear out of my voice. I knew she could sense it, anyway.

"If you're thinking about having my neck as yourentre , you'd better consider what Devereux will say. He is, as you said, attached to me."

My anxiety escalated. Her intention saturated the air. I knew exactly what she meant to do.

She stood and stalked very slowly across the room, clos-ing in on me. She locked her eyes on mine, which caused me to get the fuzzy, floating feeling that meant she was pulling me into her gaze.Taking control of my mind.

I visualized the protective wall that usually kept me from drowning in other peoples' energy and felt it collapse. Noth-ing in my repertoire could hold up against the kind of power Luna wielded.

This wasn't vague energy. It was laser-sharp mind control. I threw my hands up, palms out, in a reflexive action, which did nothing but give her something to grab onto. Pinning me against the washing machine with her lower body, she ran her hands up and down my arms, holding me still. Her silver eyes were large and foggy, as if the lights were on but no one was home. Her pointy fangs elongated as she caressed them with her tongue.

She leaned in and slowly licked the side of my neck.

I braced myself for the shock of pain I was sure would come and was surprised to hear a scream.

She'd slid her hand across my chest and encountered the necklace. It had the same reaction to Luna that it had to the bald lunatic. There was a flash of light and a sensation strong enough to cause Luna to drop the necklace and leap away from me.