"Oh. My. G.o.d," she said breathlessly and, I thought, a little fearfully. Not an uncommon reaction to my size, even for an experienced wh.o.r.e. She began to stroke me and gasped when I dug my fingers under the bra.s.siere and ripped it off.

"I'll buy you another," I said, pausing to admire the way her nipples rose. I circled them with my thumbs while cupping her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Her skin was the color of ivory, so pale she looked almost like one of my kind.

I slid my hands underneath her bottom and leaned into her body, penetrating her only a little at first. I enjoyed the sound of her feminine sigh and savored the feel of her slick, welcoming heat. Then, in one long, hard stroke I rammed my c.o.c.k fully into her.

The invasion caused her body to stiffen at first, but when I began to work in and out of her, she clung to me like a woman drowning and matched me stroke for stroke. There was something in her movements that reminded me of Eleanor. Perhaps the madam had taught her protegee some of her techniques.

I bent my head to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to suckle there, pulling on her rosy, taut nipples and laving them over and over with my tongue, allowing the serrated inner edge of my fangs to graze them ever so lightly.

The temptation to bite was strong enough to make me quake. Perhaps if I only took a little blood, she would just a.s.sume it was one of my individual kinks. She must have regular patrons whose peccadilloes were stranger than that. On the other hand, I didn't want to frighten her away. She might prove to be a satisfying regular plaything. There was time to initiate her into the life of the swan later, if she was amenable. With effort, I sheathed my fangs.

She began to whimper when I changed our rhythm, speeding my strokes until I could feel the crescendo building toward our mutual release. She moaned and arched against me when she came, and my own climax convulsed me to my core. We clung writhing together, wringing every last spasm of satisfaction out of each other.

When I'd separated from her and clothed myself, I gathered the shredded bits of her underwear while she put on her sweater. She let me help her down from the table and onto her feet. I steadied her when she swayed a bit, and then led her by the hand back up the bas.e.m.e.nt steps.

"Well," she said tentatively. "That was-was amazing. If I'd known seducing you would be this much fun, I would have done it a long time ago."

"Indeed," I said. "We must do it again soon. Very soon." I kissed her hand and led her to my automobile to drive her to her apartment.

One night. One reason not to stake myself, for now.

Jack I stood outside Connie's apartment building and looked up at her window, feeling like Romeo staring up at Juliet's balcony, and just as doomed. Star-crossed lovers, they'd called them, and they both had wound up dead. So much for happy endings.

At least Romeo hadn't had to kill Juliet, but himself. If only that were one of my options. If I couldn't bring myself to kill Connie, William would do it. I was starting to understand William's death wish. He'd spared me from the worst of what it meant to be a vampire for as long as he could. Coming-of-age was a b.i.t.c.h.

I had to save Connie from both of us-all of us. But how? I'd bought myself some time with William by promising to keep an eye on her while Melaphia figured something out. But what if Mel's research turned up a goose egg? We'd be back to square one.

Even if I could talk Connie into running away with me, where would we run?

As a last resort, I supposed I could tell her the truth. What would happen then? I tried to imagine how a conversation like that would go: Listen, babe, I just found out the d.a.m.nedest thing. You know how I'm an evil, bloodsucking vampire and all?

Okay, well, here's the funny part. You, are a vampire slayer. And you were put here on earth to kill me and my kind. Now, is that ironic or what?

My cell phone rang and I unclipped it from my belt and noticed that the charge was almost gone again. I had to get a new battery.

It was William. He had the power to speak to me psychically, but I routinely blocked that intrusion into my mind. He'd long ago stopped b.i.t.c.hing about it. A man had to stand up for his rights of privacy. I was blocking him out constantly now so I could mask my thoughts and feelings about Connie.

"Yeah," I said.

"I forgot to tell you earlier, Jack. Be here tomorrow at sundown with Werm. I've called a meeting with the clan heads so we can share the information we've learned."

"Is everyone coming?"

"The westerners will be here. Gerard and Lucius are attending by phone conference. Make sure you and Werm are here promptly."

"Will do, bwana. We'll be there at dark sharp." I heard the line click dead, and as I reclipped the cell to my belt, I felt a little hope.

If I could just get Travis alone and ask him more about the slayers I might have some clue about how to save Connie. Travis was the only vampire in existence to have any firsthand experience with vampire slayers. He had been killed by a swarm of them, to hear him tell it. I just hoped he had something-anything-useful to tell me.

I looked up and saw a shape move behind the bedroom curtain. I knew that shape. I loved that shape. Connie parted the curtain and looked out.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

Hey, just because I'm a southern-fried good ol' boy doesn't mean I'm unacquainted with literature and the fine arts. One of my old girlfriends used to call me the Renaissance redneck. I love me some Shakespeare.

Despite the fact that it was the dead of winter, Connie raised her window and leaned out. Because of the lights on behind her, she still didn't see me.

She looked like a maiden in a painting by one of the Old Masters, framed there by the ornate window in the soft backlighting from the bedroom. Her beauty recalled the next line of the tragedy: It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

The sun. Something that was certain death for me.

Hadn't I always known deep down that Connie would be the destruction of me? The way I'd almost been electrocuted when I first touched her had been a pretty d.a.m.ned good clue.

I sighed, feeling renewed desperation, but I was rooted to the spot. Just when I was thinking I could stand and look at her forever, she noticed me and beckoned like one of those mermaids of legend that drew sailors to their deaths on rocky sh.o.r.es.I had to go up now, because if I didn't she would know something was wrong. Besides, how could I keep an eye on her like William said if I didn't stay close to her? Yep, that was the ticket.

She greeted me at the door in pajamas with bunnies on them. I hugged her hard, thinking how I'd probably never know which hug would be our last. So it was all hard hugs-and hard everything else-from here on in.

"I was hoping you would come," Connie said. She took me by the hand and led me to the couch. She pulled her legs beneath her and leaned her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her and pulled her close, feeling her hair as soft as satin on my stubbled cheek.

"I just came by to see how you're doing," I said.

"You went through a lot yesterday."

"Yeah," she said. "It's kind of hard to get my head around everything that happened."

"Did your memory come back?" I said, trying to hide my alarm.

"No. But I've been thinking about what you told me, and it's given me a lot of peace and some closure, you know? It makes me feel empowered, like I can face things that I couldn't before."

"Good," I said. "I'm glad to hear that." For a second I thought about asking her to tell me why she needed that closure, but Seth had warned me that his knowing about the murder-suicide had ended their relationship.

"Is William still mad at me?"

"Nah," I said. "It's all good."

"Melaphia didn't get in any trouble for helping me go...there, did she?"

I wasn't feeling very warm and fuzzy about Melaphia's actions, but I didn't know what to do about it. I supposed I shouldn't confront her since William had chastised her already. "No," I told Connie. "n.o.body's mad at anybody, and n.o.body's in trouble."

"Good, because I don't want to have to think about anything negative tonight."

"Why's that?"

"I have plans for you. Wait here. I won't be long." She headed toward the bedroom and I watched her perky derriere until she'd turned the corner. When I turned my head back around, my gaze lit on her little shrine on the opposite wall. Religious artifacts give me the creeps under any circ.u.mstances, but Connie's cross had set my hair on fire once and I just wasn't digging the scene at all. It all reminded me of what I lacked-a soul. The statue of the Virgin Mary gazed demurely downward as if, in her holiness, she couldn't stand to look at the likes of me.

Connie reappeared in a lacy teddy that made me forget all about religion. She motioned for me to follow her into the bathroom, where she'd set lighted candles all around a deep, narrow tub.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's a j.a.panese soaking tub."

The water looked inviting and smelled even better, with the scent of rose oil wafting through the air. A handful of tender pink petals floated on the surface of the water. The light vapor rising from the water fogged the mirror completely.

She undressed me slowly, giving my dangly parts a rub here and a tweak there. The girl knew her way around a man's body. As soon as we were both naked, we stepped into the tub and sat facing each other, up to our necks in the steamy water, slick with scented oil.

I picked up one of the rose petals, curved inward like a delicate sh.e.l.l, and placed it on Connie's nose. "She loves me," I said.

She laughed and puffed out a breath to make it fall again. I replaced the petal with another and said, "She loves me not."

The rose petal fell and Connie floated closer, stroking my thighs. Her hair swirled around her on the surface of the water like a mermaid's and her lashes shimmered with droplets of moisture. "She loves you," she said.

I met her in the middle of the tub and we floated there, exploring each other with eager, oily hands. I cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and kissed her, and she arched her back, presenting me with her lovely bare neck. I squeezed my eyes shut, pretending that I didn't both see and feel the pulse at the hollow of her throat. She stroked me with her clever fingers, knowing just where to apply pressure, and I ma.s.saged all down her spine from her neck to the place where her bottom gave way to the back of her thighs.

Able to stand it no longer, I lifted her up and sat her on the side of the tub, her back against the tile wall. She raised her knees and wrapped her legs around my waist. Greased with bath oil, I entered her and she clutched my shoulders and urged me deeper, moaning softly. I rocked in and out of her, our movements making gentle lapping waves against the side of the tub. Her body was glossy in the candlelight, and I had to cup her derriere tightly so I wouldn't lose my grip because of the slippery oil.

Her moans increased with our rhythm and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. When we came, an explosion of white light filled my vision, and I drew her back down into the water with me until our own internal waves had played out.

We held each other like that until the water cooled, saying nothing. Then we stepped out of the tub and Connie got us each a towel from the cabinet over the sink. We took turns drying each other carefully. She twirled her towel and popped me with it when I became too forward. "I've got to get all your nooks and crannies," I insisted. "I don't want you to have any greasy residue. How would those dress blues look with oil stains?" She tried to pop my thigh and I dodged the blow.

"I'm a detective now, remember? I wear plain clothes."

"Darlin', no clothes are ever going to be plain as long as you're wearing them."

"You fill out a mean pair of jeans yourself," she said, brazenly staring at my package.

"Thank you kindly."

I could tell she had some kind of witty comeback on the tip of her tongue when she glanced to the side and the grin died on her face. The fog had cleared from the mirror above the sink. Connie's face in the looking gla.s.s registered a brief flicker of surprise when she realized that she was alone with a dead man who couldn't cast a reflection. In the hairbreadth of time before she regained her composure, I could see the horror in her expression.

You know how sometimes you can't get a song out of your head and it drives you crazy? With me, it was Shakespeare. Lines from Romeo and Juliet b.u.mped off the walls of my cranium like steel pellets in the pinball machine of my brain, and I heard the words of Friar Laurence:

Lady, come from that nest Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep.

Just step away from the evil dead, ma'am, he seemed to be saying. He'll be the death of you. Not bad advice, I had to admit.

Connie took the towels and tossed them into the hamper, forcing laughter over some remark she made about the way her fingers were pruning. I pulled on my clothes as she did likewise with the pajamas she'd hung on the bathroom door.

"It's late. I should go," I said.

"Mmm-hmm," she agreed.

On the way through the bedroom, I noticed that she'd forgotten to close the window. The sheer curtains were swaying in the chilled breeze. "I'll just close this for you," I said, shutting the window. As I did so, I noticed the vampire I'd seen earlier at Werm's place standing under a streetlamp. He didn't look as if he saw or sensed me; he only lounged against the post of the lamp idly smoking a cigarette.

"There's another vampire out there, isn't there?" Connie said.

Puzzled, I turned around. She leaned against the bathroom door frame, her damp hair swirling in corkscrew-shaped tendrils. There was no way she could see out the window from where she stood.

"How do you know?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Earlier, when I raised the window, I knew you were out there before I could even see you. That's weird, isn't it?"

"Weird." More like terrifying. "Is tonight the first time you've noticed you can...sense when there's a vampire around?"

"Yeah. Who knows, maybe I can sense when other people are around, too. Maybe I picked up some kind of extrasensory perception when I was in the underworld."

"Right. Maybe so."

"Do you know who it is?"

"I've seen him before. William knows him. I'll go check him out and make sure he knows how to behave himself. It's nothing to worry about." It wouldn't be when I got through with him. "Then I'll head home."

She looked wistful. "Do you think there'll ever be a time when you'll feel comfortable enough to tell me where you live, Jack?"

I tried to manage a smile. "One of these days." I imagined the wisdom of telling a vampire slayer the whereabouts of my daytime resting place. Not in this lifetime. The thought hurt where my heart used to beat.

I hugged her again, hard, and left. On my way past the shrine, I looked at the Holy Mother. "Please help me," I prayed silently, though I had no right to. She kept on looking down at her white flowing robes.

When I was on street level, I crept around the corner of the building and was able to sneak up on the loitering vampire. I slapped the cigarette out of his hand and threw him up against the lamppost so hard his head made a clanging sound against the wrought iron.

"Ow!" the vampire said. "What the h.e.l.l?"

"Don't you know it's impolite to spy on a lady?" I asked.

"C'mon, man, I was just hanging out having a smoke."

"Hanging out under my girlfriend's window?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." "Like h.e.l.l. Who are you?"

The blood drinker rubbed the back of his head.

"The name's Freddy Blackstone. I'm a friend of Tobey's, just pa.s.sing through town. I met William tonight. He can vouch for me.

Hey, you must be Jack."

The vampire offered his hand and after a moment's hesitation, I shook it. The guy looked harmless enough. He favored those beatniks you used to see in the fifties, all sloppy and unkempt in his hair, beard, and clothes. In fact, he reminded me of Maynard G. Krebs on the old Dobie Gillis show. Man, did that date me or what?

"Listen, buddy, you need to give my lady some s.p.a.ce," I said. "Understand?"

"Yeah, no problemo. Hey, I date human chicks all the time. You can't be too careful with them, am I right? I'm just going to move on, bro. No harm, no foul, right?"

"Yeah. Sure."