She craned her neck to watch him, turned on by seeing his head moving between her legs. But when he looked up- A wave crashed, pounding him into nothing.

She heard The Voice laughing, a cruel sound of revenge.

"Jealous?" The tide hissed, retreated.

His laughter faded, too. "Yes. I am."

An incoming wave tickled her thighs, gurgling against her, and she gasped, closing her eyes again.

Another light breeze combed her skin, and she knew it was him this time. The Voice.

"None of your pictures do you justice, Dawn," he said.

She thought she felt fingers threading through her hair, unbinding it from the ponytail, allowing the strands to float in the rush of water, free, like a mermaid's.

He continued. "I didn't realize you would be so..."

"Don't." She couldn't handle the inevitable comparisons, the new heartbreak. "No, you shine with spirit. You have no idea how that affects someone like me. Ah, Dawn, I have so much to teach you, to bring out in you..."

A heavier pressure moved down her body, as if hands were on her, shaping her, memorizing her. The scars she'd earned from her work didn't exist anymore, only the touch, the sensations.

Even though there was no one there, the sensuous homage made her feel womanly. She loved when that happened; she thrilled to it on the movie sets when she moved among the stuntmen, was always aware of it when she caught the glances that acknowledged her femininity in a world dominated by males.

Until she remembered she could never be as perfect as Eva.

But that's not how it was now. Here, she wasn't competing against a ghost. Here, she was wanted for what was inside of her, for what was...

Emotion-fluid and combustible-churned, building, stiffening as the invisible climax tingled against her s.e.x. Powerful, strong; d.a.m.n it she couldn't hold it back...

With a whoosh of release, she arched up against it, moaning, biting her lip to keep it inside, failing as she reached up her arms to hold on.

Finding nothing.

Hands empty, she panted, looking around. "Who are you?"

Without warning, the pressure lifted from her body. The seductive tide thrashed back into the ocean, leaving her on the sh.o.r.e, alone. Little by little, the boudoir lifted into focus around her as she sprawled on the recliner.

He was gone.

Finally, sated, she sighed into the cushions, exhaustion catching up with her as she burned with something else now.

Languid curiosity.

"Why won't you tell me?" she slurred as the room continued to change. It faded to darkness while the melody of the chandelier dragged her into unconsciousness.

As she was consumed, she fought to stay awake, especially as the door creaked open again.

Letting someone-or something-in.

TEN.

THELESSON.

DAWNwoke up late the next morning on a strange couch with a new crucifix hanging around her neck.

As things came into focus, she saw a pin-neat living room, complete with a TV, a TiVo box, a stereo system, and about a thousand CDs and DVDs stacked against the walls. The reason the place was so clean was that these were the only things in it.

Well, besides a framed poster of Pam Grier as Foxy Brown, the ultimate cool bada.s.s.

Slowly, Dawn sat up, her body tender with cuts, bruises, and dull pain. Like a one-second newsreel, it all came back to her: the plane ride back to California, the nouveau gothic dollhouse of Limpet and a.s.sociates, the vampires, and then... Her skin flushed, heat flowing inward.

Thanks to The Voice, she'd actually slumbered well last night. In fact...She glanced at the digital clock on the TiVo. 9:11. She hadn't slept this long in years.

"Morning!" called a cheery voice.

Kiko burst into the room from the hallway, tossed a PowerBar at her and deposited a gla.s.s of milk into her hands. He was already showered, shampooed, and shined for the day, his blond hair dried into slight curls, his soul patch neat and trimmed.

He pointed at the crucifix. "Happy birthday."

"You're about three hundred days off, but thank you." She touched the sleek safety of it. "I appreciate it, Kiko."

"Don't get too sentimental. You're gonna need it."

"I'm gonna need some information, too." She gestured to the couch. "How did I get here?"

"Here?" He half-grinned. "I drove you last night. You were out cold in one of the rooms. The boss told me where you were, so Breisi helped me carry you and your baggage out to my customized car. Your hunk of junk is back at the office, by the way."

Even though Dawn was thankful that Kiko didn't know about her and The Voice, it left her feeling stranded, isolated in her struggle to understand everything that was going on.

While she thought about the wisdom of telling her a.s.sociate what had happened in the boudoir last night, Dawn unwrapped the bandage that had been covering her burns. The bindings were nasty with remnants of Breisi's wonder gel as well as spots of burn goo, but Dawn was stunned to find that the wounds themselves were already healing. Pushed by curiosity, she started taking off her jeans to check the cut on her leg, too.

"Hey." Wide-eyed, Kiko turned his back.

"What are you, a virgin?" Jeans on the floor, Dawn glanced under the bandage, finding that the slice from the vamp's barbed tail had mended together. "Say, what's in Breisi's voodoo gel? She could market this stuff and become a zillionaire."

"Maybe after we take care of our other priorities." He was still facing away from her. "So, when you're done with your p.u.s.s.ycat Dolls routine, we'll do some training. You need it before we get back out there tonight."

"Speaking of which-when am I going to get all that education I'll need to fight these vamps, if they show again?"

"We'll start today, but I have to be honest..."

Kiko peeked behind him, yet when he saw that Dawn was still pants-less, he turned back around. Aw, a gentleman. Dawn covered herself with the sheet just for his sake.

"We're all still feeling our way around these vamps," he said. "The boss tells us that different types have different powers, just like human races have various skin colors or cultural mores. He says to always expectanythingto happen, whether it's hypnotic powers, shapeshifting, or even flying. That's why you've got to stick with me or Breisi from now on, all right? We have more experience than you."

From the set of his shoulders, the tone of his voice, Dawn could tell he was absolutely serious. She didn't need to see his face to figure that out.

"Besides," he added, finding that she was tucked under the sheet now, then turning all the way around, "all you have to do is find Frank and stick around until we crack this case, then you're out of here. We'll take things from that point. You can drive your pop to b.u.m-f.u.c.k wherever and settle in a place like Kansas where there aren't any vampires." He paused. "I think." Dawn ma.s.saged her temples. He made it sound so easy.

"Capisce?" Kiko asked.

"I got you." Dawn became suddenly aware of how sticky she felt under all the grime she hadn't had the chance to clean off yet.

"But before we save humanity, how about a shower?"

"Please."

She speed-ate her PowerBar and chugged the milk, cleaned up, and told herself that her body wasn't hurting. And, really, it wasn't too bad. Even her sore wrist was cooperating.

Then, after checking in with the cops to find that they'd made no progress on Frank's case, Dawn decided to h.e.l.l with them. She extracted sweats and a T-shirt from her luggage, slung her hair back in a low ponytail, and armed herself for some mental warfare, investing fully in the hope that Limpet and Buddies would be her ticket to getting Frank back.

For the rest of the morning, she and Kiko sat on the worn carpet and faced each other as she practiced blocking him.

"Push against me with your thoughts," he kept saying. "Do it from the inside, like your mind is a wave."

It got to the point where he was throwing surprise attacks at her. As the afternoon pa.s.sed, she became pretty decent at fending him off, even if she still had a way to go.

"As the boss said, you're already good at this." Worn out, Kiko slumped onto his couch. "Isn't it nuts that in our normal, daily lives, we don't even tap a fraction of what our minds are capable of? Imagine if everyone just admitted that the sixth sense isn't all about con men and Gypsies."

She remembered The Voice's comment about her being an expert at keeping people at bay. Was her habit of ignoring what she didn't want to deal with actually her own sixth sense at w- A dart of invasive confusion parted her thoughts.

Out! Dawn said to herself, pushing mentally.

Beaming, Kiko gave her a thumbs-up. "Good reflexes."

"Is this going to be the extent of our day?" she asked. "Me dodging your psychic bombs?"

"Actually, I thought I'd start you on some reading.Vampires, Burial, and Death, for one, and some writings by Montague Summers. He was this famous supernatural expert."

"Can't I just watchBuffy the Vampire Slayer?"

Kiko looked intrigued. "That might be surprisingly valuable. Maybe later. I also thought we could go through some of Frank's paperwork-you know, bills and such. Maybe you'll see some sort of pattern in his spending habits. Something weird."

"You meanrelativelyweird."

Kiko pursed his lips, as if wanting to ask a question, but then he seemed to think better of it.

"What?" she asked.

"Your relationship with Frank...If you two don't get along so well, why're you going to such extremes? I mean, yeah, I know he's your dad, but there're a lot of people in this world who would leave the finding to us instead of dealing personally with all this c.r.a.p that's. .h.i.tting the fan."

She thought about the gleam of pride in Frank's eyes after she'd shown him some arm bruises from her first stunt gig. Thought of how she'd once caught him bragging about her to a table of drunks at the Cat's Paw.

Her words were like blades in her throat. She couldn't say the rest out loud: when it came right down to it, she couldn't tolerate the thought of never reconciling with her dad. Remorse was driving her to make up for the estrangement between them, because she'd had so many chances to correct things while she'd been in L.A. before. He'd been only miles away from where she'd worked, where she'd played.

Now he was out of reach, and in some karmic manner, she deserved the bleeding punishments.

Kiko looked sympathetic. "Sometimes it takes a tragedy for everything to become clearer."

Dawn nodded, busied herself by toying with her crucifix.

Neither of them said anything for a bit. Kiko got up, went down the hall, returned with a couple of vampire books and shoved them into her hands. Then he thumped back to the couch and turned on his TV. The impersonal blather coated Dawn's inner wounds, a temporary balm that would disappear just as soon as she looked at Kiko's compa.s.sionate gaze again.

At loose ends, she shifted her weight from foot to foot. Vegging out in front of the tube during the day wasn't her style. For a girl who was used to working out everyday, whether it was at the gym or at a training session, sitting in one place while sunshine burned wasn't her preference, especially when there was so much to deal with now.

She took a gander at the clock again. 3:15. "Kiko?"

He'd stopped channel surfing, lingering on the one show that was bound to take over the earth:Cops.

"Uh-huh?"

"Where are we?" she asked.

He laughed. "In low-rent heaven on Franklin Avenue near the Hills."

h.e.l.l, she knew the perfect place to go: somewhere close and useful.

She hovered nearer to him, nudged his leg with her shin. "You'd probably agree that it's important to get some physical training in, right?"

"Definitely. But I'm tired. Just read."

She prodded him again. "I thought I might get in a workout at my fencing studio. Do some networking to see what's out there day jobwise at the same time. I mean, it's not like I'm going to be working with you guys forever. I need to look toward the future, too."

"Networking?" Kiko sat up on the couch, circling the hook.

Dawn set about reeling him in. "A trip to the studio really is justified. I mean, surely we can take one hour out of the day for free time, don't you think?"

"But your books-"

She gave him the Scout salute. "I promise to be a good study bunny when we get back."

"I don't know, Dawn...." "Come on, Kik. We've worked all morning, and I ruled at mind blocking. You can't deny that. A little recess is definitely in order."

He sighed, but she could tell she had him.

"Fencing," he said, trying very hard not to be into it.

"I worked on some episodes...o...b..ades of Spaina year or so ago." And, after the TV show had gotten cancelled, she'd continued going to the studio, partly because the more skills you had on your resume, the better. Also, fencing was a killer workout. But Dawn planned to take it easy today, go over some basics like footwork, see if Dipak, her coach, had a line on any productions that might be requiring her talents soon.

You had to keep up with the game in this town, she thought, because it sure wouldn't keep up with you.

"I'm pretty sore," Kiko said, making a tragically obvious last-ditch effort to be a pain in the a.s.s.