The shower was only across the hall, but to her sore body, it seemed like miles. When the hot spray finally hit her, she closed her eyes and turned her mind to the problem of James. His image swam for a long moment before her eyes, and a wave of guilt threatened to overcome her.

"Don't do that," Luc said, as the shower curtain opened, and he stepped in behind her.

Ariana didn't turn around, but in a moment she felt soapy hands on her shoulders. They kneaded her sore muscles, and she began to relax.

"I believe James is a good man," Luc said softly, "but you don't owe him your life. He can no longer be with you, and even when he could have been, you two were getting divorced."

Ariana looked down at the water swirling into the silver drain. "I know," she replied.

"Then don't beat yourself up about taking comfort from me," he said. "And don't do anything foolish to try to find him. Let me and Toria handle that."

Luc's hands left her shoulders and moved to her hair, gently shampooing her long locks. He turned her around to rinse and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I forgot to say thank you," he said, his incredible smile making a welcome return. "I don't guess it's possible to make up for a hundred years in one day, but it'll be a long time before I feel cheated again."

Ariana looked up into his shocking blue eyes and wondered if time had given him the ability to know the right thing to say or whether it just came naturally.

Luc laughed as his strong hands turned her around to slather conditioner into her hair. Then he grabbed the soap and began to thoroughly wash her whole body. It was in many ways even more intimate than the acts of the night before.

Again he rinsed her hair and body. He switched places with her, turned the shower head, and wrapped her in a towel.

"Go get dressed," he ordered gently. "We have things to do today."

Ariana stepped onto the bath mat, a little addled by the sudden gentlemanliness. She toweled off, thinking briefly that if she didn't get some new clothes soon, she could just stop showering altogether.

Luc laughed from the shower. "Sorry about that. I probably have some tee shirts in the closet somewhere. You can see if anything fits."

Ariana went into the next room and perused her choices. Most of the shirts looked way too big. She finally found a few tee shirts at the back of a shelf. Van Halen, no less. She smiled. She had actually liked them back in their day.

She turned to the dresser in hope of finding a pair of jeans. She and Luc actually weren't far apart in size, except that he was taller. She found the shortest pair of jeans she could and rolled up the cuffs. Staring down at herself, she gave a heavy sigh. She looked like a reject from the cast of Grease.

In the shower, Luc put his forehead against the tile. He would forever be a wretch for what he'd done, but he couldn't tame the grin that came to his face. He'd never known pa.s.sion before, and it was a wondrous sensation, totally distinct from the bloodl.u.s.t that normally drove him.

Bloodl.u.s.t was a hunger. It could only be sated by another, but the price for satisfaction was high. The only creature vampires satiated were themselves.

Human pa.s.sion celebrated the existence and beauty of another person. And now, the fact that the uncontrollable s.e.xual l.u.s.t between them was gone told him he was going to be a father.

A funny feeling in his chest reminded him of something that might have been happiness. Ignoring the possibility that Ariana would never forgive him or that Ash might kill him, Luc reached for the faucet.

Ariana heard Luc turn the water off, so she scurried into the living room. She gave the room a quick once over, hating to admit that she'd not even noticed the place last night. Luckily, there was nothing macabre. Just a decent sized, kind of shabby apartment. The furniture looked like it had been purchased from the same store where he'd purchased his office furnishings and was probably second-hand.

The drapes, however, were stunning. Very heavy, embroidered, probably handmade, they hung over the single window in the tiny living room. When Luc joined her, he was back in his regular attire, even down to the boots. He looked at her outfit, smiled, but wisely didn't say anything.

Ariana stared at him for a long moment, then walked over and cradled his face in her hand, gently forcing him to look down at her so she could get a better look. "You have very unusual eyes," she said finally.

"So I've been told," he said with a smirk.

Ariana couldn't help laughing. "I bet," she said, "but that wasn't what I was getting at. I've seen those eyes before."

She dropped her hand and moved away. "3,000 years before, to be precise, they were the eyes of my new baby daughter."

Luc gave himself a shake. He'd momentarily forgotten about her being Delilah.

Ariana settled into the couch and began to study him anew. "What can you tell me about your family, Luc? Your human family."

Luc shrugged and leaned against the tiny computer desk. "There's not much more than I've already told you. The blue eyes are from my mother, though they got more intense once I became a vampire."

Ariana bit her bottom lip and for a moment said nothing, just continued her close scrutiny of him.

"You said 'fathered' yesterday," she noted finally, "when you were talking about the vampire that made you."

No place to hide, Luc thought. "That's right," he answered, picking up an ink pen from the desk and beginning to toy with it. "A vampire did father me. I wasn't turned in the usual fashion. A vampire mated with my human mother, and I was the improbable result."

Ariana exhaled loudly, but didn't speak, waiting for him to continue.

"It's not totally unheard of," he explained. "Supposedly there have been similar births on occasion, off and on throughout history."

Ariana shook her head. "Improbable indeed," she said. "Even more improbable, I think you're probably my great-great-great-" she stretched her hands wide-"grandson."

Luc's jaw dropped. "You mean from Delilah?"

Ariana nodded. "And Samson."

That floated around between them until Luc grinned his trademark grin. "I can't wait to call him Grandpa," he announced.

Ariana's smile quickly evaporated. "You can't say anything," she insisted. "Don't even think it. Not yet. He doesn't know, and I don't want him finding out from you."

Luc put up his hands at the insistence in her voice. "Okay, I won't say anything." As long as I'm not provoked, he added silently.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, getting up and heading for the kitchen. He opened and closed a few cabinets and peered into the fridge. "I've got beer," he announced.

"Beer for breakfast-great," Ariana muttered. "Why would a vampire drink beer?"

Luc looked over at her and shrugged. "Same reason as anybody else, I guess. It's not easy for us to get drunk, but I always say if you can't get drunk, you're just not trying."

Ariana shook her head and moved over to the tiny desk. She powered on the computer, watching its screen go from black to blue. "What's your logon?" she asked when it prompted her for a pa.s.sword.

Luc shrugged. "I don't know. Never used it. James set it up. He was getting me on the Internet."

Ariana leaned forward and, on a hunch, typed in James' ID and pa.s.sword. James might be a creature of darkness now, but she'd wager he was still a creature of habit. He had used the same pa.s.sword for everything since before she met him.

"Do you know how?" she asked, turning to look at Luc over her shoulder. "How James came to be turned, I mean?"

"Not by me," Luc said hurriedly. "You have your precious Ash to thank for that."

"Ash." Why was she not surprised?

Luc came around the counter. "Yeah, at least that's what James said, but I never got the details."

A moment pa.s.sed, and the desktop became visible on the screen. Ariana started at the top and clicked methodically through the folder tree. James had part.i.tioned the hard drive, devoting part of it to Luc's business. That part held lists of customers, lists of vampire "donors," and price information for web hosting companies.

Ariana backed out and went into the other part.i.tion. "Here we go," she said, sliding into the red plastic chair in front of the machine.

Luc came around to stand behind her. He put a hand on her shoulder and leaned down. "What did you find?"

Ariana briefly wondered how their pa.s.sion from last night seemed to have disappeared into thin air. "I don't know," she replied, vowing not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She opened a file called "cpw." It was a list of strange words.

"Hey," Luc pointed at the screen. "Those on the left are vampires." He seemed very pleased with himself.

Ariana studied the other side of the list. "These look like pa.s.swords," she noted after a moment. She turned to look at Luc over her shoulder. "Pa.s.swords to what?"

Luc shrugged. "How would I know?"

"You've been around for a hundred years, right?" Ariana couldn't hide her impatience. "You know some of these" -she almost called them people- "vampires." She pointed to the screen. "What do they have in common?"

Luc bent and studied the first page of the list. "Well," he said finally, "they're all fairly active Council members, I think. Or they were. Some of them have disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Ariana asked. "Like James?"

"That's right. It's been happening periodically for some months now."

Ariana pursed her lips. "Does the Council have a network?" she asked, turning again to look over her shoulder at Luc.

"There is some sort of computer system," he confirmed. "All the members get pa.s.swords."

"All right," Ariana said. "I need to find out what James was up to, and that's going to take some time. Why don't you go-be a vampire for a while-and I'll fill you in on my progress when you get back?"

It was phrased as a question, but Luc noted her tone was more suggestive of an order. He shrugged. He needed to finish up at the warehouse anyway. Grabbing the leather jacket hanging on the door handle of his front closet, he got up, but hesitated to leave. "You'll be here when I get back?" he asked.

"I'm not going anywhere," Ariana replied, already immersed in the task she'd set herself.

CHAPTER 46.

Luc left the apartment and headed back to the warehouse. The kiddies down below needed to be fed, and so did he.

Tonight it was synthetic blood all around. James had scored a case of the stuff from Council House last week, and Luc now tore into the unopened box.

He carried half a dozen bags over to the cutting table and poured their contents into the drain along with the required sedative and set the timer to release the cage doors at midnight.

This group hadn't been here long, but with everything else that was going on, Luc suddenly didn't want to also be responsible for their care and feeding.

If he was putting his business on hiatus, though, he needed to let a few others know. He left the warehouse, started his bike, and made the familiar run down to a club a few blocks off Times Square.

The aptly named establishment, Vamp, was a multi-level dance club on the above ground floors. The underground floors were where Aleksander Solotnik ran his business. Solotnik had been a Russian mafia hit man until he'd faked his death back in the 1970s and came to the U.S.

Luc didn't know the extent of Solotnik's business interests, but for the vampires who found Council House a bit too upper crust, he provided equivalent entertainments. He also coordinated the supply of synthetic blood to this particular segment of the vampire populace.

Since getting kicked out of Council House, Luc had found out about Solotnik's underground and occasionally availed himself of some of the services. Cash only, of course. Unlike the Council, Solotnik wasn't giving anything away for free, but he didn't require registration either. Luc found it a most convenient arrangement.

Not to mention, now that he had cash, he had some standing among the lower orders. He'd made fast friends with the vampire bouncers at the upstairs club. They knew about his little operation and, for a fee, informed him about likely candidates. Not too old, not too strong, not too well-connected.

They even occasionally delivered.

The pounding ba.s.s a.s.saulted Luc when he was still half a block away. He parked his bike around back between two cars.

The line started in front of the next building. Luc kept walking until he saw the two ma.s.sive vampires standing guard at the entrance. Not your typical vampires, Luc could only a.s.sume Aleksander had made them especially for this purpose.

"Hey, Luc," the slightly smaller one called out to him. "Long time no see, man."

Luc extended his hand. "Hey, Willie," he greeted him. Willie had worked construction in the city before getting this particular gig. He was pleasant enough and had no conscience whatsoever. Really, perfect for the job. And for Luc. "What can I say, Willie?" he replied. "The warehouse has been keeping me busy."

Willie nodded approvingly. "So we should be expecting a raise soon? An increase in our investment, so to speak?"

The other bouncer had now turned his attention to them.

"Derek," Luc greeted, looking him over. Derek was a giant of a man. Luc didn't know where Aleksander had found him. "You're looking well," he joked.

Derek growled.

"Okay, then," Luc said, taking a step back. A group of giggling twenty-somethings slid past him as Derek motioned for them to enter the club. One of them grabbed Luc's hand.

"Hey, come with us," ruby lips coaxed. "We can get you in."

Smooth skin under a shimmering tank top. Luc pulled her close, away from her gaggle of friends. "I think I might like that," he said, flashing her a smile.

Her lips parted, and she smiled back at him, pulling him toward the door.

Derek's arm flew out, cutting across Luc's path. "He'll have to join you later, miss," Derek said.

Luc let go of the girl's hand.