"Makes sense now, sorry. But bookends?"

Maria grinned. "Matt and Brian. You won't understand until you see them tomorrow. Anyway, the Vampire Council is groups of paranormals, mortals and immortals who oversee issues affecting all of us. Us, being not human," she clarified.

"So there are other vampires on this Council?"

"Master vamps only-they control their fledglings and human servants. There are also Were pack leaders and other shifters, both Wiccan and dark witches, the fae or fairy folk and the druids all have representation. Demons aren't allowed, as their main purpose is to make trouble, not prevent it, so there is no point."

"No," he said with serious intent. "That wouldn't make sense."

"It's a bit much, isn't it?" she asked him, as she tried to hide the sympathy and worry in her tone.

Justin smiled at her in rea.s.surance. "I have seen things I thought defied explanation when I based them on the world as I knew it. If I base them on your world, I think someday I may figure out what it was I dealt with," he said. He didn't realize that the agonized look flashed back into his eyes for a moment. She wanted the smiling self-satisfaction back.

"I am not sure, but I think somehow my earlier experiences make accepting your life easier. It's just a lot to absorb. What continues to blow my mind is the fact my father knew about all this for almost as long as I've been alive." He shook his head and continued, "We'll talk about me later, let me understand tomorrow better. I heard you mention something about sentinel. What is a sentinel?"

"Not what, but who. Me. I am Sentinel for this area."

"What does being Sentinel mean exactly? Leader of the Council?"

"No. Well, yes, I am the leader of the Council, but it exists because I allow it to. Our world is not a democracy. A better description of Sentinel is judge, jury and executioner. I watch over this region, and if any paranormal being steps out of line, I either take care of them or make sure they get taken care of. Handling a paranormal who doesn't behave by our rules can mean punishment, fine, banishment or..."

"Execution."

"Yes, execution." She watched him closely.

"Okay, let's table everything else for now as it is getting late. Tomorrow's meeting. What's the dress code?"

Maria smiled. "It's very simple. We're talking vampire drag queen. Or king. Gothic s.l.u.t is another term for it. In part, the dress code is in place because it follows old customs and the older paranormals love ritual. But they also keep dressing up because they adore coming to the club all decked out in what they want to consider traditional monster clothes and mingle with the humans. They get a kick out of showing up dressed as a vampire and not having the mortals realize what's really in their midst. Many of them wear clothing that was in fashion when they were mortal, but there is a very large contingent who will design their outfits in secret and work very hard at one-upmanship and shock value for these meetings."

Justin groaned. "Vampire drag queen, huh? And you put those two in charge of coming up with an outfit for me?"

"Yeah, well, cheer up. They always dress me as the ultimate Gothic wet dream."

Chapter Four.

Justin left just before dawn broke over the skyline. The kiss he'd shared with Maria before he walked out the door left him wanting to throw her over his shoulder and carry her back to bed. The cold shower he took when he got home wasn't enough to cure him of the impulse.

A myriad circle of questions still played through his mind, but he figured he wouldn't get everything answered in one night. He replayed what he did know and decided to work in an opportunity to have a conversation with his father. Which brought up a scary thought-did his dad dress in vampire drag? This next day would be interesting, to say the least.

Justin figured he would stay home for a couple hours and sleep. Then, after he went into the precinct this afternoon, he would either spend some time on the Internet or go to the library. He wanted to refresh his memory of the French revolution.

Justin rang the doorbell at his parents' home. He had keys and the security code...not that he actually needed them anyway, since his breaking-and-entering skills were very fresh. It was just easier knocking than figuring out which key went to which lock and scrambling to punch in the codes. Breaking in took less time.

Or it was easier, until his mother opened the door and looked at him as if she had him under a microscope. When she smiled in obvious delight, he knew he was in trouble. His father referred to her as a pistol...always in the middle of things, stirring up emotions and charging in to fix things. Her looks were deceiving. She appeared to be the epitome of an aging grandmotherly woman. She had beautiful white hair that she got styled and sprayed into submission on a weekly basis. Her hands were soft, her voice happy and steady, and her arms were always open for a hug. Sometimes she scared him to death.

"Justin!" she exclaimed as she moved to greet him with a fierce hug. "How wonderful to see you looking so...um, rested. Your father tells me you met Maria last night."

Justin frowned at the back of his mother's head as he followed her down the hall. What the h.e.l.l? Surely his mother didn't know about vampires.

"You know your father doesn't keep secrets from me. I've met Maria several times and we've spent a lot of time talking about the French revolution. She even helped me pick out some of my antiques. I know she's a vampire, and I also know you are attracted to her. I just want you to realize that your father and I give you our blessing."

Justin was speechless. Scary. She always knew what he was thinking. He hadn't been able to keep secrets from her when he was a child and it still seemed to be an impossible task.

Where was the rabbit hole into Wonderland that he had stepped in? He could have sworn his mother just said she approved of him f.u.c.king a vampire.

"Mom?"

His mother turned and smiled at him again with a smug look on her face. "Really, Justin. I'm not so old that I don't ..."

Justin knew the expression on his face must have been one of horrified stupefaction. When his mother giggled like a schoolgirl he glared at her. "Mother, I am not going to discuss my s.e.x life with you."

He watched as she raised her eyebrows at him and replied in a serene voice, "I wasn't talking about your s.e.x life, Justin dear. I was talking about a courtship."

Justin sputtered as his mother walked away with a wave of her hand toward his father's study. She'd done it again. He knew better than to put words in her mouth. She caught him every time. He could swear she muttered something about men not being able to keep their pants zipped for five minutes in this day and age. He closed his eyes and decided that the world had gone crazy on him while he wasn't looking.

Bill watched Justin as he came in the door. His son had called several hours ago, saying he wanted to talk before they went to the meeting tonight. A man of few words lately, it had been years since Justin really initiated a conversation. He preferred to close himself off and observe life, but not partic.i.p.ate. Those traits worried the father in him.

"Hey Dad," Justin said, as he crossed his father's study to shake his hand. "Thanks for rearranging your day for me."

"Not a problem, son. You've been into the precinct today?" Bill asked. He hadn't missed how the shadows in Justin's eyes seemed a little lighter today. He'd overheard part of Justin's conversation with his mother, so the bewildered expression on his face could easily be explained. Nancy always managed to get under her men folks' thick skins.

What interested him most was the returning spark of life in Justin's eyes. It was the first encouragement he'd seen that his son would heal from whatever atrocities he'd dealt with while working for the government.

"Yeah, I stopped by to check on a few things. There's nothing new except for the body Maria found last night. I let it be known I would be doing the follow-up on the new case, so until we have a better idea of what's going on, I won't have other cops either spinning their wheels or putting themselves in danger. Do any of the other members of this team know about-" Justin stopped abruptly.

Bill smiled. "About the Vampire Council, and the fact there are things walking our streets the general public believes only appear in fiction novels or horror films? No. Anytime I thought we might be dealing with something other than a human killer, I brought in Maria and she made sure it was taken care of. There are some case files that either disappeared or were moved to the cold case file with instructions not to work. Your mother knows, though."

Justin winced and then nodded, "Yeah, I just had a conversation with Mom."

Bill smiled when he realized that Justin didn't want to talk about what his mother had said.

"I can see how creative filing might be necessary. I can't believe you've known about vampires and werewolves and other things all this time, yet you never mentioned it to me." Justin didn't phrase it as a question.

Bill shrugged. "It wasn't my secret to tell, Justin. And really, without seeing it, without experiencing this...alternate reality...I don't think you would have believed me."

Justin shook his head in agreement. "No. You're right, I wouldn't have. I would have pushed you to get a psych evaluation." Justin laughed. "I'm told the dress code for tonight will be interesting?"

Bill couldn't stop the blush Justin had been looking for. He sighed and decided to tell all. "I used to take a suitcase to those meetings and change either in the car or, after Maria bought Sins, at her club. My worst nightmare revolved around someone I knew seeing me dressed in leather and a choke collar. Your mother loved my discomfort. She told me to quit being such a stick in the mud." He laughed at his son's grimace. "Now I'm an old man. An old human man, and the Council permits me the dignity of dressing in a very cool black suit. I have been allowed to throw out my leather pants."

Bill looked at Justin and grinned, "You, however, aren't going to be so lucky."

Justin pulled in front of the black warehouse building where the red neon sign screamed the words Sins of the Flesh. The clock on the dashboard read a little after 6:30 in the evening, and Maria said her club didn't open until 9:00, so the parking lot was nearly empty. As he got out of his car, a side door in the building opened.

"Good, you're here," Brian said. "I've been keeping watch. No one else will be coming until close to 9:00 and I didn't want you pounding at the door without any response. I should have given you my cell phone number."

Justin looked at Brian and worked very hard to keep the alarm off his face. No way in h.e.l.l would he wear an outfit like this one! Brian was dressed-or undressed, depending on how you looked at it-in a studded leather harness and... What in G.o.d's name was that? A black leather thong barely covered the man's d.i.c.k. Dangling chains secured to a leather strap at his waist draped to attach to the sc.r.a.p of fabric covering his groin. The rest of the outfit consisted of tall, black leather boots. Nothing else.

"What are you supposed to be dressed up as?" he questioned the other man in what he thought could pa.s.s for a normal tone of voice. He wasn't sure he wanted to get any closer to Brian.

Brian laughed. "Relax. Your outfit has more to it. And I'm a human servant. Matt and I wear things like this because the other human servants will be donning something similar. It p.i.s.ses Maria off." Brian moved to let Justin through the door.

"Glad to know my outfit consists of something more than a few miniscule sc.r.a.ps of leather. But why does it upset Maria if the other human servants are dressed this way?" Justin asked.

"Maria got in just a few minutes ago and she needed to make a few calls. Why don't you come into my office and change before you go see her? I'll try to fill you in on vampires and human servants while you get into your outfit."

Justin followed Brian into an office about midway down the hall. Considering the way this lunatic dressed, he was surprised to find very conservative decor. Two big mahogany desks faced each other and a nice, dark gray leather couch and chair sat with chrome tables in one corner. Modern artwork on the walls added splashes of red, black and gray, and those colors were repeated in the throw pillows on the couch. Not a whip or chain in sight. Thank G.o.d!

Justin wondered at the fresh, spring-like smell of the office until he noticed the bowl of potpourri on the coffee table. Matt sat comfortably sprawled at one of the desks working on a computer. He looked up when they walked into the room.

"Hey, Justin! Perfect timing, I'm just finishing here." Matt stood up and Justin shook his head.

"Aren't you guys cold?" Matt's outfit was identical to Brian's. No wonder Maria often referred to them as her bookends. The nickname fit the two perfectly.

Brian laughed. "Nah, we don't really feel cold or heat. One of the advantages of being Maria's HS's."

"HS's? Ah, human servants?"

"Yes. Matt, Justin wants us to give him a little background on HS's and why our wardrobe for these functions upsets Maria," Brian said. "Sit down, Justin. Can I get you something to drink? No? Okay. In a nutsh.e.l.l, human servants are made when the vampire has you drink their blood every night for three nights. It's not much blood, not enough for the human to be turned into a vampire. But it is enough to cure any diseases the human has and fix any deformities. At the same time, it creates an unbreakable bond between the vampire and the human," Brian started.

"Yes. When we met Maria-I was dying of AIDS and Brian had contracted the disease. By turning us into HS's, she saved our lives. We don't get sick or age like humans do, so now our lives are very long. Both Brian and I are now in our fifties," Matt confided.

Justin didn't comment, just raised his eyebrows in encouragement. At this point, he didn't have a clue what to say.

"Maria hates these outfits because almost all other vamps dress their HS's in clothes like this all the time, only allowing their servants to wear street clothes when they're out in public. Most human servants are bound to the vampire with both blood and s.e.x. By a.s.sociating the clothing with the traditional vamps, Maria believes the outfits scream 'cattle' or 'sheep'. I think you heard her call us sheep last night."

Blood and s.e.x. The two men were telling him the ties that bound them to Maria were blood and s.e.x. He wanted to jump up and hit something. He had no intention of sharing her with them.

Justin's brooding silence and hard stare seemed to incite Brian to hurry and explain, "If an HS is tied to the vamp with both blood and s.e.x, they lose their self-ident.i.ty. They in essence become an extension of the vampire. Maria calls them blood zombies. If an HS is simply tied with blood, as we are, the servant retains their personality, character and almost all of their freewill. The vampire can force the blood-only HS to do their bidding, but it takes more time and a great deal of energy." Brian stopped and looked at Matt.

Matt picked up the explanation. "The vampire uses their mind and blood to form a servant bond. You can't just, well...f.u.c.k and exchange blood to become one...just in case you were wondering."

Justin breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He did wonder, and really didn't want to ask. He relaxed and listened to the rest of Matt's explanation.

"For all her b.i.t.c.hing about us making her life a living h.e.l.l, Maria hates blood zombies. She doesn't like the thought of someone being bound, unaware and without the ability to give their consent...forced to service a vampire for almost eternity with s.e.x and blood. Even more, it upsets her when a person loses their sense of right and wrong, operating exclusively under the vamp's compulsion."

"I can see her point. But I still don't understand why you want to p.i.s.s her off. I would think you two would support those principles," Justin said.

They both grinned. Snorting, Matt said, "Because if we didn't dress like this, it would be impossible to get Maria in anything remotely crazy. She takes herself too seriously sometimes. We are also reminding her that we have freewill and choose to be flaming nuts at times."

Justin just shook his head and laughed. Maria definitely had her hands full with these two. "Well, I'll get dressed and go talk to her for a bit before the meeting. See if she's heard anything new about the body we found last night before things get started. What did you guys come up with for an outfit for me?"

"Nothing much," they said together.

Their idea of "nothing much" turned out to be brown leather chaps worn with a red leather thong and a short, brown leather vest. Justin sensed a theme, and the costume left him feeling very uncomfortable and exposed. He tried to wear the chaps over his jeans, but Matt and Brian banded together to veto his suggestion. He headed for Maria's office dressed in what had to be the most embarra.s.sing outfit of his life. Great.

All thought of his discomfort faded as he opened the door and saw her standing at the window. h.e.l.l! If he needed to dress in cowboy deviant with his a.s.s exposed to see her dressed in a costume like this, he'd do it without complaint.

She stood silhouetted against the night sky. Tight, high-heeled leather boots sheathed her legs, their edges stopping mid thigh, and a small, beaded leather thong covered her p.u.s.s.y. Barely. On top she wore a black, beaded leather corset, the fabric pushing and molding her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to overflowing perfection. Justin knew he would be waiting for a glimpse of nipple to peek out all night. He would bet if she moved just the right way she'd expose herself. Her hair fell over her shoulders in an untamed tangle of curls and deep, electric-blue highlights. She wore black lip liner and wild, cobalt blue eye shadow that made her eyes seem mysterious and s.e.xy. Cat-like.

"Justin," she murmured in greeting.

"Maria, you look incredible," he said, as he closed the door and turned the lock, antic.i.p.ation rising painfully.

She laughed. "Don't tell me you have a Gothic s.l.u.t fantasy buried deep in your psyche?"

"If I didn't before, I do now," he said as he crossed the room to her.

"Yeah, and I just realized how much I love chaps. Turn around."

Justin grinned with wicked intent. "Glad to, but only if you return the favor." After he'd done his spin to her wolf-whistle, he watched in rapt attention as she turned a slow circle and revealed a tight, white and very bare a.s.s-just a little floss between her cheeks. The top looked like a corset from the front-but the back was nothing more than a few leather straps laced across her bare skin.

Her Gothic s.l.u.t sent his cowboy deviant into high gear. He smiled and looked deep into her eyes as he pulled her within the circle of his arms. "Missed you," he whispered against her mouth as he slid his lips along hers. He brought her closer to taste...tease...enjoy. When he said the words, he realized just how true they were. All day he'd been plagued with a headache and queasy stomach. Now that Maria was in his arms, he felt fine. More than fine. He ignored the subconscious question-the nagging voice wondering why he felt as if barbed coils had been unwound in his gut? Ah, well. They were gone now.

"Justin," she moaned as she opened to him and slid her arms around his neck. Their mouths met and once again he felt as if the two of them-and the pa.s.sion they created-existed in a separate world. Tongues tangled, skimmed as they drove the sensual tension higher. Justin moved his hands in a slow glide down the bare expanse of Maria's back. He skipped over the small slices of leather that were supposed to be holding her top together and lingered over the bare globes of her a.s.s. His hands tightened and squeezed the soft mounds and his hips rocked as he pulled her against him. He groaned. The small leather thong he wore was worthless in helping him manage his reaction to her. He could feel his c.o.c.k grow hard and strong and strain to be free of the sc.r.a.p of material. He wanted her. Now.

He tore his lips from the soft temptation of her mouth and set his forehead against hers. "G.o.d, Maria. What you do to me is unbelievable. If I can't have you now I'll be going through the entire meeting with a raging b.o.n.e.r. Please, baby?" he whispered in urgent hunger.

Maria tilted her head back and laughed, nodding happily.

Oh, yeah. Justin's erection surged in antic.i.p.ation. With a quick glance around the room, he registered the dark wood furniture, the gray carpet and the vibrant colors in a back corner of his mind. What he saw in the forefront was a large desk, a long deep couch, an armless chair and plenty of thick carpet...the sensual possibilities, not the decor.

With each breath, each moment he took to decide where he would love her, he could smell her fragrance. The spicy mixture of vanilla and musk drove him wild.

He pulled her back into his arms to kiss her once again with pent-up pa.s.sion, and then held her away from him. "I have to tell you I love this outfit, sweetheart, but I'm already jealous thinking of the others looking at you. They'll see your b.r.e.a.s.t.s pushed out like a banquet, and combined with your lovely a.s.s exposed to the room, no one will be able to concentrate on anything but the image of you naked."

He lowered his head to run his tongue over the plump perfection of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, plunging into the line of her cleavage and skimming the boundary of the leather right above her nipples. With a little push of his tongue against the edge, the cloth gave way a small bit and he could lave the rim of her areola. Groaning, he smoothed his hands up her arms and over her chest, gliding his fingers along the smooth expanse of skin.

Maria gasped. "You forget-they're all used to seeing me this way. It's nothing special."

"That's where you're wrong, baby. It's very special," he murmured, as his finger caught at the leather to slide under the top and guide the material to gather below her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and act as a foundation, a ledge for her white, creamy t.i.ts. He bent his head to one protruding dark rose nipple and licked, wetting her flesh with his mouth. When she moaned, he raised his head and looked at her skin, the one nipple shiny with his attention. He saw her head thrown back and her eyes closed in ecstasy.