"You didn't think you could run from me again, did you?"

The tone of the creature's voice was low, almost soothing, with an odd rolling sound beneath, like the purr of a cat.

Her mother said nothing for a moment, then picked up her chin another rebellious inch. "You will not take me again. I will not allow it."

The odd rumble in the creature's voice intensified as he laughed and said incredulously, "You will not allow it?"

Something flashed before her mother. A bright white blur so close to her...

A gush of dark liquid erupted from her mother's throat and spilled down the front of her bright yellow sundress.

Her mother brought her hand to her throat, but the creature yanked it away, laughing cruelly. "I will have you now, as you die. I will have you after, as your body cools. But first..."

The creature wrapped an arm around her mother's waist, holding her up as her knees buckled, burying his head against her ravaged throat.

The horrible sounds of his sucking and her mother's moaning carried across the still night.

Michaela covered her ears, but it was too late to avoid hearing him say, "But first I will have your blood." Curling into a tight ball, Michaela tucked her head against her knees, brought her arms over her head and closed her eyes. She tried to escape from what was going on just a few feet before her. She imagined other places and times. Prayed for her mother to be safe. Thought about the yellow sundress her mother wore and how they had bought it at the thrift store just earlier that week.

The rough shake of the ground beneath her body pulled her back from where she had gone.

Only then did she realize the night was now almost quiet. The only sounds were those of the stalks as the wind moved them and the faraway susurrus of the waves washing against the sh.o.r.e.

She was alone. Or at least she thought she was.

Peering through the brittle green stalks, she saw what had made the resounding thud that had snared her attention.

Her mother's body lay less than an arm's length away, staring sightlessly at the moonlit sky. Her dress was torn, exposing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and the bite marks on them. The cheery yellow was bloodied from the hideous hole where her throat had once been.

Michaela wanted to keen and cry, run to her mother, but instead she grabbed hold of her knees and forced herself to remain still, fearing that the creature lingered nearby. Knowing that her mother had given her life to save her. She could not dishonor that sacrifice with her fear.

A second later the ground shook again and suddenly there were shafts of light piercing the night, moving back and forth across the dark sky. Other tremors came beneath her and she realized they were footfalls. Coming closer and faster as the intensity of the lights increased. Suddenly there were blue pants legs standing before her hiding place.

"s.h.i.t. Holy s.h.i.t," the man said and pa.s.sed his flashlight over her mother, across her still-beautiful face and sightless eyes.

Michaela cried then, a puny wheezing sound, but it was enough to snare the man's attention.

He parted the gra.s.ses before her and the silver and gold badge on his chest gleamed brightly against the royal blue of his uniform.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," he said as he reached for her.

Chapter 9.

"The officer who found us-Joe Santos-had been sweet on my mom." Michaela dragged in a long tortured breath as emotion choked her.

"He didn't turn you in to the authorities, did he?" Jesus asked and swiped away another silent tear from her face, his gaze fixed on her.

She nodded. "He gave me a home and kept me safe. Taught me how to protect myself and use a gun."

"He knew about the vampire?"

Her fists were clenched so tightly they had begun to hurt. She relaxed her hands and he took advantage by twining his fingers with hers as he asked, "Did he know about you?"

She tried to pull away from him, wary of what he made her feel. Of the emotions he had forced her to relive. But he increased the force of his grip. He couldn't have held her if she wanted to escape him.

But she didn't want to escape.

There was something safe and secure about his presence. Something that reminded her of the policeman who had adopted her.

"When I hit p.u.b.erty, things changed. I got stronger. Started needing less sleep. Craved-" "Blood?" he jumped in.

Regretfully she nodded. "Joe never adopted me, but he was a father to me. He realized something was going on and finally gave me a letter my mami had written that he had found and read years earlier. He had put it in a box of things he collected to give me when the time was right. The letter explained about the vampire who had raped her-the one who came back to kill her."

"The vampire didn't know about you?" Jesus asked, caught up in the story she was telling him. Concern for the child who had suffered tangled with his fascination for the woman she had become. As she had promised earlier that night, he was coming to truly believe that vampires were all too real. But even if they were, in his heart he knew Michaela was different.

"If the vampire had known, he would have killed me. Full vamps don't care for half-human abominations like dhampirs."

"And you have no love for them either, only-"

"You can't stop me from honoring my mother by killing the creature who murdered her. By exterminating others like him who care nothing for human life," she urged, pleading her case.

"Honor calls to you, but it does to me as well. I can't let your violence create havoc with the laws I'm supposed to enforce."

"I don't hurt humans, Jesus. And I promise you that I won't let the demands of my honor spill over into your world." She laid her hand on the side of his face, stroking the rasp of his evening beard. "But if somehow it did, I understand that this thing between us-"

"Won't protect you from what I'd have to do," he finished, regret already wrenching his gut at the thought of having to choose between her and the laws he had sworn to uphold.

A sad smile crept onto her face, but she inched closer until her lips brushed his. "Then we have a truce?"

A truce, he thought. He confirmed it by bringing his lips to hers, his kiss tentative, tender.

There was none of the urgency of their earlier coupling as he explored the contours of her mouth. Treasured her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with his hands. Eased his fingers down to the center of her. Explored the slickness of her lips and the wetness of her v.a.g.i.n.a.

Her soft, soughing breaths drove him on as did the strong strokes of her hand along his erection.

When he entered her again, he waited, wanting to prolong the union for as long as he could. He needed to experience all the nuances of her as they continued to kiss and caress. This time, their pa.s.sion grew slowly until they were both shaking.

Rolling onto his back, he urged her to straddle him, letting her set the pace of their loving as he worshipped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He urged her on with the slow upward lift of his hips, deepening his penetration.

Michaela moaned at the sensations he created as he buried himself deep into her center. Biting her lower lip to control the urge to scream, she rocked her hips, riding him. She sucked in a strangled breath as the climax rose within her and the motions of her hips became more forceful as she sought her release.

He placed one hand at her waist, guiding her as he rose up and licked the tip of her breast. Teething the tip of it gently, the sharp moment of pleasure/pain released not only her climax, but the demon she thought she had tamed.

Jesus sensed the surge of her release as it washed over her, followed by a strange inhuman push of power.

As he met her gaze, the bright blue-green glowed powerfully and a small hint of fang extended beneath her full lower lip.

"You want to bite me?" he asked even as he braced one arm against the surface of the bed and rose up so he could be face-to- face with her."I do." The animal purr tinged the tone of her voice and her gaze dropped briefly to his neck before locking back on his eyes.

"What if I bite first?" he asked, but didn't wait for her answer.

He surged forward and laid his mouth on the spot where her shoulder met her neck. He licked up and down before playfully taking a bite that he then soothed with a whispered kiss.

She shuddered against him, bringing one hand up to the middle of his back and the other to cup his head, urging him on.

"More, por favor," she pleaded and rolled her hips, enticing him to finish. To allow his own release to erupt.

He bit down gently and then sucked on the spot once more as he surged upward with his hips.

Against his throat came her rough cry followed by the sharpness of her fangs as they skittered along his skin. He stilled for a moment, awaiting the piercing pain, but the warm wet of her tongue arrived instead, licking upward until she brushed the sh.e.l.l of his ear with the sharp points of her fangs.

"More." The rumble of her voice vibrated against him.

He kissed her throat and drove his hips upward. He gave her another love bite and caressed her breast with his free hand, answering her soft moans of pleasure with tenderness until he was barely able to hold back his own climax.

She lowered her head again and whispered, "Let go, Jesus. I'm here to catch you when you fall."

He groaned and closed his eyes as her strong arms came around him, supporting him. Her hands pressed against his back while her hips pumped up and down, helping him along to his release.

But he had to see her face as he came.

He met her gaze.

Her human gaze, the demon apparently under control only...

She lowered her head to his throat and gently nipped it with her teeth.

Human teeth.

She sucked on the spot to soothe it, and the tender pull of her mouth sent him over the edge.

A mangled groan escaped him as he drove upward one last time and spilled himself into her. Felt the wash of his climax ripple from deep within and surge through his body.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders, uniting them at every possible spot-hips against hips, her midsection and b.r.e.a.s.t.s tucked tight to his. Her heart beat quickly against the wall of his chest as her breath washed over his cheek. Her mouth took his, her kiss tender and calming, restoring something within him that had been empty for too long.

He returned the kiss, burying his hand in her hair to keep her close. His mouth opened on hers, accepting the enticing bite at one corner that prompted his smile. A smile that dragged a playful chuckle from her.

As he looked up at her, her eyes glittered with satisfaction and relief. Somehow he knew his reflected the same.

"Life sometimes brings you unexpected pleasures," he said.

"Nothing says it only has to be tonight," she replied and brushed another kiss across his lips. He was surrounded by her in every possible way and yet didn't feel trapped. She was a dhampir, inhuman, and yet he didn't feel threatened.

Or fearful.

For the first time in a long time he didn't feel alone.

"I a.s.sume you have somewhere to stay while you're in town?"

Shock froze her in place as she considered his question.

A place to stay?

She thought of the run-down hotel whose halls smelled of stale urine. Of the indiscriminate stains on the mattress and mustiness of the room that was barely bigger than a closet.

Then she thought of a different place.

A place where someone might be waiting for her at night. Waiting to hold her. Waiting to make love with her. Waiting to share both triumph and disappointment.

But not just anyone, she thought, gazing down at Jesus'handsome face.

She would be coming home to him.

Slipping into bed beside him. Having his arms hold her and keep the monsters at bay.

Those monsters had destroyed her life, but they had also brought her to this place.

Brought her to him.

"Not really, but...are you sure you're ready to handle all of this and more?" she asked.

He surprised her by chuckling and shaking his head. "I'm sure of only one thing. I want to explore whatever this thing is between us. Can you accept that?"

Amazingly, she could.

She could accept that uncertain promise because up until now, her life had been empty of any promises except one...

The promise of death.

His vow, unsure as it was, promised life. Possibly love.

Bringing her lips close to his, she said, "I can accept that."

"You won't be sorry," he vowed as he met her lips with his.

Michaela knew she wouldn't be.

Honor had called for her to go on this journey, one that had been filled with pain and loss. But the journey had now given her this night and this man.

A man with his own sense of honor.As he began to make love to her once again, she realized her journey had offered her another path.

She would no longer walk the lonely road alone.