Of their own accord, her legs parted, giving him greater access to her c.l.i.t, knotted with highly sensitive nerves.

His hands circled behind her and clasped her b.u.t.tocks, kneading the fleshy mounds and then he scooped behind each thigh and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Her p.u.s.s.y rubbed along the length of his c.o.c.k and she moaned.

Without a word, Roger strode into the bedroom and laid her out on the bed, spreading her legs wide. Within a few brief movements, he was out of his clothing and climbing onto the mattress. His mouth lowered and he nipped at her inner thighs, tracing a path to the apex and her creamy c.u.n.t.

Julie raised her knees and let them fall to the side, opening herself wider to his a.s.sault. When his tongue touched against her p.u.s.s.y, her b.u.t.tocks squeezed tight, raising her off the mattress and into his mouth.

His fingers replaced his tongue, pushing into her p.u.s.s.y with three digits. His mouth moved upward to find and tease her c.l.i.toris, strumming the tightly wound nerves in the swollen nub.

c.u.m-coated fingers slid up her cleft and parted her folds, exposing her to the cool air, the shock of cold meets hot, exciting her even more.

Ripples of sensation bubbled within and built like carbonation in a sealed soda bottle. All it would take was a little more and...

Roger dragged a finger from her p.u.s.s.y to the tight lips of her a.n.u.s.

Yeah. That would make her soda bottle explode for sure. Julie rose up, wanting the connection, praying he'd finger-f.u.c.k her a.s.shole. "Do it," she whispered. "Do it."

Then his finger pressed into the hole, past one knuckle to the next. His mouth traveled back to her p.u.s.s.y and his tongue darted in, lapping at her channel.

Julie reached between her legs and stroked her c.l.i.t, her heels digging into the mattress as her insides surged to the rhythm of Roger's strokes.

Her muscles tensed as she neared the edge and then she blew her cap, exploding into a jillion splinters of light. Her body rode hard against Roger's tongue and finger, shuddering with the sheer intensity of her o.r.g.a.s.m.

When she finally fell back to earth, her legs fell to the side, limp and shaking. When Julie thought she couldn't take any more, Roger rose to his knees between her legs and shoved a pillow beneath her a.s.s. Then he drove his c.o.c.k into her moisture-slick channel. He held her hips thrusting in and out, his b.a.l.l.s slapping against her a.n.u.s, s.e.xy sucking sounds accompanying his movements.

Pushing upward, she met him thrust for thrust, until he slammed into her one last time. His head tipped backward and he held her tightly against him, his c.o.c.k pulsing within her channel.

He felt good inside her, his girth stretching the walls of her p.u.s.s.y taut. Julie wished they could always find pleasure in each other.

Always be together.

Roger fell to the bed beside her and pulled her into the crook of his arms.

Julie lay there, afraid to say anything to disturb the tenuous truce. As the sun rose over the city, she fell into a troubled sleep. * * * * * *

Roger left Julie's place around noon and drove back to his apartment. He could wait around for her to wake and didn't want to explain his actions, not when he didn't understand them himself.

He'd just f.u.c.ked a vampire. What troubled him, was that he wanted to do it again and again. Not because she was a vampire, but because she was Julie. The woman he'd fallen in love with.

If only she hadn't lied to him. If only she'd been up-front about being turned right when it had happened instead of hiding it from him. She was no better than his ex-wife.

Roger knew he wasn't being fair. Julie had a heart of gold. She gave of herself in everything she did. Her patients loved her, she'd even given Bob Marley the benefit of a doubt and let him live when she could have justifiably killed him for trying to kill her.

Was his problem that he didn't want to love Julie? Was he looking for any excuse to avoid committing to her?

Okay, so she was a vampire. That was a pretty big reason not to commit to the woman.

Except she was still the same Julie deep down. So, she'd kept a secret from him. Would he have believed her from the start? h.e.l.l, he barely believed it now. If it hadn't been for the vampire named Luke slamming him around, he might still doubt her word.

Standing beneath the showerhead, Roger let the warm spray beat into his skin, no closer to a decision on what to do about Julie than when he'd shown up at her apartment early that morning. He knew he couldn't wash her out of his system as easily as he could wash the soap from his hair and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Without a doubt, he had to see her again.

Chapter Eleven.

Julie went through the motions of getting ready for work that evening, unable to generate any enthusiasm for her shift in the ER.

Usually, she looked forward to talking with her coworkers and caring for patients. Not tonight.

Roger was gone when she'd awoken. Nothing had changed. She still didn't have a clue where they stood, but she felt like he was slipping away. Why should he stay with her? She was a freak, a monster, a frickin' vampire. Roger deserved a woman who could bear him children, grow old with him and not bite him when they're making love.

She couldn't promise she'd be able to control her bloodl.u.s.t in the midst of pa.s.sion. Last night she was still satisfied with her previous feeding on Roger and Kim, otherwise, she might have done it again.

When she walked out of her apartment, she realized it was raining and she didn't care. Sooner or later, she'd have to deal with getting her car fixed. That would be a task in itself. A neophyte to vampire living, she hadn't learned the ins and outs of moving about in daylight. In order to get her car fixed, she'd have to soon.

As she slogged through the puddles, the rain beat down against her broken umbrella matching her mood. So lost in her own self- pity, Julie didn't realize she was being followed until a man grabbed her from behind, making her drop her umbrella into the gutter.

Without looking back, Julie knew it was Bob Marley. She could tell by the way he smelled. There was another prominent scent she recognized, but couldn't quite put a name to. Another perk William hadn't bothered to tell her about-heightened olfactory senses. "h.e.l.lo, Bob."

"I let you go last night because you saved my life," he said, his coffee breath wafting over her shoulder. "I can't let you go now."

She could take him, but first she had to try reasoning with the zealot. "Give it up Bob. You can't go around killing all the vampires.

We're not all bad." "Vampires are abomin-"

"I know, I know. You think we're abominations. Well, let me tell you, despite the fact I'm a vampire, I'm a d.a.m.ned good nurse and there are people depending on me to help them through the night. Now are you going to let me go so I can get to work, or do I have to go shake you loose?"

"Vampires must be destroyed. I can't let you go." Though his voice wavered, his grip didn't.

"The h.e.l.l you can't." Julie shook her head, regret waning and irritation taking hold. As she dropped into a ready stance, a cotton handkerchief covered her nose and mouth and she fought to breathe which answered another question she hadn't thought to ask Did vampires have to breathe? She sure the h.e.l.l fell like she needed to.

The acrid scent of chloroform filled her nostrils and dulled her senses, the fuzzy edges of her vision fading into pitch black. f.u.c.k, she'd let herself get caught by the vampire slayer.

"You decide what you're going to do about your vampire girlfriend?" Parker had gone almost the entire shift without mentioning Julie until they were headed back to the station at the end of their shift.

The sun wouldn't rise for another hour and Roger planned to be in bed before it did. Thinking about Julie was sure to keep him wide-awake for hours, now. "What's it to you?"

"Just curious. I wouldn't mind dating a babe who'll still look young when I'm old, bald and wrinkled."

"Forget it." He glared across the front seat at Parker and then refocused on his driving.

"I thought for sure you'd dump her."

Roger parked the sedan in the station parking lot, turned off the engine and then sat staring at the dash. "I haven't decided."

"Sounds like you're stuck on her." Parker shook his head. "d.a.m.n. I was going to make my move. Think she'd kick my a.s.s like she did that big bad vampire?"

"Probably. If she didn't I would."

"So you are staking your claim?"

"I'd rather you didn't use that term."

"Stake?" Parker chuckled. "Uh, sorry."

Roger climbed out of the car, hoping his partner would drop the subject. If he didn't, he'd be forced to make him drop it.

As Parker opened his mouth to say something else, Roger's personal cell phone vibrated on his utility belt. He fumbled to answer, scanning the number in the hope it was Julie. He almost didn't answer when he didn't recognize the number, but instinct told him he'd better. At 4:30 a.m., whoever it was might be in trouble.

"Decker."

"Roger? This is Kim."

"Kim?" The woman who'd almost died because he couldn't save her from a vampire? h.e.l.l she was a vampire now, wasn't she? "How are you?"

"Different, that's for sure. But okay." She paused and then asked, "Have you seen Julie?"

"Not since yesterday around noon." She'd been sound asleep, her blonde hair splayed across the white pillowcase, her face angelic her lips swollen and s.e.xy.

"d.a.m.n. She didn't show for work last night. I had a message on my answering machine when I got home a little while ago. Nurse Lindeman wanted to know if I'd seen her. It's not like her to ditch work."

Something akin to a lead wrecking ball crashed at the pit of Roger's gut. As sure as he was crazy about her, he knew Julie was in trouble.

"William and I walked the route she would have taken to work and found her umbrella in the gutter. You have to help. Can you put out an all-points bulletin or something?"

Roger's brain kicked into high gear. Julie was missing. "There are only two people I know who were after her-that Luke guy and Marley."

"Luke's dust. Which leaves Marley. I looked him up in the phone book but couldn't find a phone number or address. Can you do some police mojo and locate him? I wouldn't bother your but it's getting close to dawn and Julie needs to be safely indoors before the sun comes up."

"I'll do what I can." He'd tear the f.u.c.king city apart to find her.

"Thanks. Call me when you know anything."

"Will do." Roger flipped his phone shut and jumped out of the car.

Parker followed, running to keep up with him. "What happened?"

He swallowed hard against the lump in his throat before he could answer. "Julie's missing."

"d.a.m.n." Parker hit the swinging gla.s.s doors into the station before Roger and held it for him to pa.s.s through. "The big blond vampire?"

"No. Kim says he's dust."

"Marley."

"That's my bet." He hoped he wasn't too late. Marley had been h.e.l.l-bent on killing every vampire in the city. Would he hesitate with Julie? Hadn't she saved his life? Didn't he owe her? Roger sank into his desk chair and powered up his computer, tapping his fingers as the screen booted. In less than a minute he had Marley's address and phone number printing on a clean sheet of paper.

As soon the printer released the sheet, Roger was on his feet and headed for the door.

Parker followed on Roger's heels. "You'll need backup."

"Thanks. We're off shift, we'll have to take my truck." Roger crossed the parking lot to his SUV.

"Wait, I have a strobe. Let's take mine." Parker led the way to his brand-new black Mustang. He climbed in the driver's seat and reached behind into the back for a bubble light with a powerful magnet. Once he popped it on top of the vehicle, he squealed out of the parking lot and hit sixty in less than twenty seconds.

Except for the strobe on top, Roger wished he was driving his own truck. The effort of keeping the vehicle on the road at high speeds would have taken his mind off what they might find at Marley's apartment. The dark night sky gave way to the battleship gray of predawn, and with it, Roger's heart hung heavy in his chest. One more block, just one more block. They would make it. He hoped like h.e.l.l Marley had taken her to his place. If he hadn't, they'd be too late to find her anywhere else.

When they pulled up beside and older apartment building located in the seedier part of the city, Roger didn't wait for the car to stop, he leaped out and ran for the building. According to the address, Marley lived on the top floor of the four-story building.

Racing through the entrance, Roger didn't expect to see an elevator, he headed for the stairs and climbed them two at a time.

By the time he reached the fourth floor, his heart raced and he was gulping in air.

He stopped and held his breath to listen. Was that a sound on the roof?

Parker's feet pounded up the stairs behind him. When he reached the top, he collapsed against the wall beside Roger. "Wh...

which...room?" he asked between breaths.

"The end of the hall, but I think there's someone on the roof."

"Marley?"

"Maybe."

"I'll go for the apartment, you take the roof." Parker pushed away from the wall and pulled his Glock.

Having located the stairway to the roof, Roger was halfway up when he heard Parker kick in the door to Marley's apartment.

Torn between the roof and the apartment, Roger charged upward. His gut told him the roof, but what if he was wrong? He didn't have time to second-guess. The door to the roof was locked. Roger put his shoulder to it and slammed against it. Wood splintered but the lock held. He hit it again and the door broke open.

As he stepped out onto the roof, the cold barrel of a pistol pressed against his temple.

"Make a move for you gun and I'll shoot."

That's when Roger spotted Julie lying on the flat tarred roof, her hands tied to a clothesline pole.

"That's right. I decided not to kill her. I'd let nature do it for me."

"The sun? You're going to let her fry in the sun?" Roger's stomach roiled at the vivid image playing out in his mind. He could almost smell the scent of seared flesh. Julie's flesh.