Maria gasped, the tauntingly erotic tickle of his mustache and beard searing her exposed flesh. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back, letting the shower spray run through her hair as his mouth consumed her.

Justin's tongue slipped between the engorged seam of her p.u.s.s.y and he licked a pathway from her opening to her c.l.i.t. His teeth tugged with gentle insistence against her l.a.b.i.a ring and she was forced to throw one hand out to grab the shower's emergency bar to keep her balance, her other hand grasping his hair. Twining her fingers in his wet curls, she pulled him to her.

She moaned and undulated her hips in helpless abandon against his mouth as the water continued to pour over their bodies. The quickening flicks of his tongue and lips lashed her flesh into a sharp frenzy of heat and she begged him for release. She could feel her gums swell and her canines drop in reaction to her intense arousal.

"Justin, please," she gasped.

The torment increased as he used his fingers to gently part her l.a.b.i.al folds until she was fully open to him. The rasp of his tongue along her c.l.i.t was followed by deep rhythmic thrusts into her channel as he pressed into her. She glanced down and Justin's gaze locked with hers. The vision of him feasting on her, of seeing the lower half of his face buried in her flesh and his mouth working over her p.u.s.s.y increased her pleasure. She began to ride his mouth until her hips bucked in wild thrusts against his face.

Then he moved one hand to sink several fingers deep inside her as he simultaneously sucked hard on her c.l.i.t, and she screamed, her body clenching in preparation. She pulsed. Throbbed. And her o.r.g.a.s.m hit her like lightning as bolts of pleasure scorched her skin. Before she had time to catch her breath, Justin was there, sliding his thick, heavy c.o.c.k into her p.u.s.s.y.

Her muscles tightened and her body reacted, immediately thrown into the beginnings of another o.r.g.a.s.m. Justin's hands held her still. Kept her motionless as he began to plunge his thick girth in and out of her. He increased the tempo and power of his penetrations and she moaned in concert with every deep invasion of her core.

Just as she started to scream with her climax, he grasped her by the hair and moved her mouth to his neck in a silent plea. Maria's teeth pierced his throbbing artery and they both moaned in sensual bliss. l.u.s.ty, animalistic sounds filled the shower as his c.o.c.k grew even larger and he surged with forceful need into her c.u.n.t, sending her once again shooting to the stars.

He thrust again. Deep. Hard. Demanding. She pulled her mouth away from his flesh and watched as he threw his head back, watched the muscles in his neck constrict as he roared in ecstasy, and she felt the powerful spurt of hot, creamy c.u.m fill her insides.

"Wow!" Justin said, as he dropped his forehead to the crook of her neck.

Maria smiled, sated for the moment. "Yeah. Wow just about covers it," she groaned.

After they finished showering and drying off, they cuddled naked between the red satin sheets of Maria's bed. Justin lay on his back with his arm around Maria. She rested her head on his chest, her leg slung over his hip. She felt warm and comfortable but not yet tired. The incessant hunger they shared for each other seemed to be at least temporarily satisfied and she wanted a few questions answered.

"Why haven't you married or found some mortal woman to share your life with?" she asked softly.

Justin sighed. "I avoided the type of women I could have shared something with on purpose. Preferring to keep any contact strictly about s.e.x," he replied. "My father told you I spent time in Spec Ops. What he doesn't know is, while serving my country I managed to make the terrorists' top five most-wanted-dead list. I made some very powerful enemies each time I fulfilled a mission, and unfortunately my ident.i.ty was discovered. It's a given that someday one of those enemies will try and collect what they consider payment for my crimes. Any woman I become involved with will be a target and I didn't want to take the risk."

Maria pushed a hand against his chest and leaned up so she could see his eyes. "So," she said, with wounded certainty. "Part of my appeal is the obvious...I can't be killed as easily as a human woman." She waited, anger and hurt close to the surface. She was disconcerted and confused when Justin snorted.

Laughter evident in his gaze, he retorted, "Lady, it has nothing to do with your appeal. Which is a stupid word for what I feel for you. This isn't appeal-this is mind-shattering and addictive hunger. The fact that you can probably take better care of yourself than I can just keeps me from running screaming in the opposite direction. I started out thinking maybe we could f.u.c.k like bunnies, and I've ended up not being able to imagine spending more than a few hours away from you. I can tell you it scares the h.e.l.l out of me and I'm trying to deal with it," he growled.

"Trying to deal with me being a vampire you mean?"

"Your being a vampire has nothing to do with it," he insisted. He looked her straight in the eyes and said seriously, "I decided long ago I would live my life alone. Convinced myself it was what I wanted. What I needed to do. And in a few short hours my life plan was shot to h.e.l.l and back. I am struggling with not just the forced alteration of what I thought meant reality, discovering 'Yes, Virginia, there are things who will eat you'. Or is that Little Red Riding Hood? Never mind. Even harder for me to accept is the knowledge I no longer want a solitary life, but one with you."

Her vampire senses and the direct and honest look in his eyes told her he was telling the truth. She was just a little confused. "Who is Virginia?" she asked. She understood Little Red Riding Hood.

Justin laughed long and hard and somehow managed to choke out some convoluted explanation about a young girl writing a letter to a newspaper many years ago asking if Santa Claus really existed. She still didn't get it. Everyone knew Santa Claus was just a fairy tale. But snuggling back down against his chest, his arms tight around her and their hearts beating in tune...she figured it didn't matter.

If she remembered, she'd ask the bookends about it tomorrow. Right now she wanted to bask in the happy thought that Justin felt the same bewildering excitement of having found one another. They would work it out later. Somehow. She'd started to drift toward sleep when he spoke again.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Ummm," she nodded agreeably.

"What did you say to the poor girl tonight that made her laugh?"

Maria smiled into Justin's chest. "I told her when she felt up to it, I'd teach her some self-defense moves. Specifically, the one designed to kick a man's b.a.l.l.s up into his throat with the most force."

She fell asleep to the sound and feel of his laughter as it rumbled deep in his chest.

Chapter Eight.

Justin slept deep and untroubled throughout the day with Maria cradled cozily in his arms. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept without nightmares. He woke once in the middle of the day to make a few calls and get something to eat. As he sat at a chrome table in her bright green, very modern kitchen, he thought about the last few days and how they'd changed him. How he now felt as if each day was a gift, instead of a trial to be gotten through. He had laughed and enjoyed just being alive more in the previous two days than he had in the entire last decade of his life.

Maria did that for him. She radiated a zest for living and a way of caring for the people around her that made it impossible not to share in her warmth. Her offbeat and hilarious outlook on life-combined with her kick-a.s.s low tolerance for anyone who harmed somebody she believed under her care-made her an exceptional treasure.

In stunned surprise, Justin realized he'd fallen in love. The warm and fuzzy feeling accompanying that thought disappeared in the next instant when he remembered he was in love with a woman who wouldn't age, while he moved in a rapid decline on the road to gray hair and brittle bones. He spent a few minutes contemplating what the future might bring.

When Brian joined him at the table, he made small talk for a moment and then asked him, "Is there a book or something I can read that will clarify what is fact and what is fiction when it comes to vampires or other paranormals?"

Brian shook his head. "No. The vampires would make sure any book written about their secrets would be destroyed, along with the person stupid enough to write it. Do you have a specific question I can help you with? Maybe the fact that she still breathes when she sleeps and doesn't appear to be dead?"

Justin just looked at him. Obviously he was losing his ability to intimidate, since Brian only smiled back.

"You can't help but notice she sleeps very hard during the day. She calls it a dead sleep because she doesn't dream or move once she's out-unless you physically reposition her yourself. It would take something like the threat of fire disturbing her resting place, or someone she is close to being in mortal danger, to wake her. You can see she breathes air and has a pulse. There is no way you could have missed that with all the doing-the-nasty noises coming from her bedroom."

Justin congratulated himself for not allowing the comment to affect him. It was, after all, what the man wanted.

After a brief pause, Brian continued, "So the 'vampires don't breathe or have a heartbeat' myth is just that...myth. I can also tell you that each vampire seems to have their own special strengths, and the older they are, the stronger they become. Not just physical strength, but mental. Maria can open doors or change her clothes and even throw cars around with the flick of her wrist. As a warning-she can pick you up and throw you the length of a football field if you p.i.s.s her off." Brian chuckled at his own humor.

Justin shook his head and joined in. "I saw a little of that last night when she kicked one of the werewolves in the b.a.l.l.s. I wouldn't want to be him this morning."

Brian grimaced. "No. I imagine he's hurting big time." He paused, obviously thinking of what else to tell Justin. "Some vampires have trained themselves to eat small amounts of food. Maria can't. She can drink almost any liquid, but she doesn't like to because she says the taste is off. She sticks to blood, wine and once in a while coffee. Solid food would make her puke. Oh...she doesn't need to use the toilet or take a shower. She can wave her hand and be clean and fresh as a daisy."

"Okay! Too much information. Do you know what has to be done to turn a human into a vampire?" Justin asked casually.

He could tell Brian wasn't buying the studiously casual routine when the man looked at him sadly and shook his head. "I don't know. The information seems to be a trade secret. But she won't do it, you know. Once a human is turned into a vampire, they start to change mentally. When a human becomes a vampire they get very territorial and can't live with another vamp worth s.h.i.t. Unless you have a master vamp creating minions. But even the little underlings will evolve over time and be forced to leave the nest, so to speak."

Justin tried not to notice the other man checking him out. He knew it wasn't personal. Brian was very committed to Matt.

"Every inch an alpha male, you could try and take the role of submissive if you were willing, but it wouldn't work for long-maybe ten, twenty years tops. With age you'd morph into a master without your conscious agreement. She has often commented despairingly on the vampires who fall in love with humans and then screw things up when they change their lovers into another bloodsucker. It's a guaranteed death sentence to any vampire relationship within a few short years."

Justin nodded. Well, s.h.i.t. He hadn't thought he wanted to suck blood for the rest of his life, now did he? Who was he kidding? He couldn't lie to himself. A few more days spent with Maria and a blood diet wouldn't matter if it guaranteed her continued presence in his life. Now it looked like he'd have to cross the option off his list of solutions. They'd have a few years until it looked like he was dating his granddaughter. He guessed he would take what he could get.

He went back to bed filled with depressing thoughts, and protectively cradled Maria in his arms. This time he slept lightly and woke just before dark so he could hold her close to him, reveling in the feel of her warm body against his. Another vampire myth shot down-she definitely put off body heat. He struggled to keep visions of a short future away from this moment in time and live for today. At least he'd started to enjoy the thought of a future, instead of just plodding through each day as it came.

After the sun went down, Maria cried out in her sleep. Justin tightened his grip on her and smoothed his hand down her side, attempting to soothe her.

"No!" she screamed, and struggled away from him to sit straight up in bed. She leapt out from under the blankets and started throwing clothes on. Grabbing up the death pack Justin recognized from their first meeting, she slung it over her shoulders.

"Maria, what's wrong, sweetheart?"

"The Empousai, it's close. I felt her through my nightmare and she's killing again," she gasped out.

Justin stood up and started to throw on his own clothes. He watched in astonishment as she threw open the French doors leading to the balcony and ran out. He followed her, exclaiming, "Maria, wait!" But he was too late. Without even a small hesitation, she ran to the rock wall and took a flying dive over the side. He reached the wall and slammed down his fists. "d.a.m.n it! You don't go chasing this thing alone," he hollered after her.

He waited for some sign she'd heard him. The views beyond the penthouse wall were nothing but inky gloom. The streetlights didn't reach this far and the balcony's dim lighting didn't help either. She'd been dressed in black jeans, a black sweatshirt and black combat boots. Her ma.s.s of black hair would effectively camouflage her within the dark night. He hadn't even seen what direction she'd taken. "s.h.i.t!"

"Now might be a good time to mention one of the innate benefits to being a human servant. Ingrained in our psyche is the ability to track our lord and master..." Matt trailed off as Justin turned on him.

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

Matt pointed to the left and shrugged, replying casually, "She went that-a-way...and hasn't gone very far. Brian and I always know where she is. It's a creepy sort of human-servant-radar thing. We can't read her mind or tell what she's doing. But we always know where she is. She told us once that as long as her heart beats, we'd find her. I think we have the ability so if she gets hurt or captured we can rescue her. We would be driven to whether she wanted us to or not. And it's a survival thing, I guess. If her heart stops beating...so do ours."

"Let's grab some weapons. I don't suppose you have a flamethrower?" Justin asked as he hurried inside.

"Such a silly question," Matt stated, and led Justin to the living room. He pushed a b.u.t.ton hidden on one of the bookcases and chortled at the look on Justin's face as a portion of the wall swung open. "The three selling points of this condo were the fact that it was the penthouse and Maria could indulge her crazed obsession for jumping off roofs, her bathroom...and this room." He ticked off the points on his fingers. "Which flamethrower do you want? We have army-issue single and double tank."

Justin stood for a moment in shocked amazement. Jesus. This weapons room came better equipped than most Special Forces units. He could see everything from medieval swords and martial arts weapons to the latest and greatest offered by several governments. When he got his woman back where he wanted her, he planned on spending several hours just organizing this s.p.a.ce.

The room was maintained well enough, but it looked like the swords were all grouped in one corner, and the guns lay haphazardly on a shelf in another corner, with boxes of ammunition stacked beside each weapon. The two flamethrowers were hung on hooks on the wall. But oh, man...what he could do with some custom shelving, and he knew he still had several extra dragon claw sword hangers at home. He was the first to admit he had a medieval weapons fetish. And while his collection could be labeled impressive, this room made him salivate.

Picking up one of the large black backpacks Maria seemed to keep in every room, he started shoving things in the top. Guns. Knives. A Viking double-sided battle-axe? Well, yeah, he could see where he might actually need that. The handle was only about thirty inches long, and the double-sided blade was silver and wicked sharp. "Where in the h.e.l.l do you get all this stuff?" Snagging a pair of night-vision goggles, he added those to the pack as well. He knew from his conversation with Brian earlier that Maria and the bookends could see in the dark without a.s.sistance. He couldn't.

Brian answered behind him, "It's amazing what you can find on eBay."

Justin snorted. Like he would believe you could buy government prototype hush-hush weapons on eBay. He turned to the two men, noticing for the first time they were dressed in black leather pants and soft leather ankle boots. Each wore a dark T-shirt. Matt's shirt was black, his long blond hair tied back in a ponytail. Brian's shirt was the dark blue of his eyes, and his jet-black hair fell braided down his back. They looked like male cover models, not fifty-year-old human servants ready to take on a monster.

"Does one of you happen to have a rubber band I can borrow for this hair?" Justin asked, as he headed toward the door. He'd dressed in old jeans, with the T-shirt he'd worn yesterday and leather work boots.

"I'll get you a covered elastic. Rubber bands will give you split ends," Brian said as he disappeared into a bathroom. He reemerged and handed Justin a black fabric hair band.

"Great, thanks," he replied. Like he cared about damaging his hair. Without question he accepted the fact his life would never be the same. He'd made the conscious decision to make sure Maria stayed with him for as long as he drew breath. But until this moment, he hadn't realized the changes would extend to having the bookends as a permanent part of his family.

He just knew they would start nagging him to use facial cleanser instead of soap, conditioner on his hair, and try to enhance his wardrobe. His life would become a living episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. s.h.i.t! After a few moments of contemplative annoyance, he gave a mental shrug. What the h.e.l.l! What was a little face cleanser between battle buddies?

"Are we driving or walking?" Justin asked.

"Driving. She's not too far away but we can hide the flamethrower in the back of the Hummer easier than we can if we walk down the street with it. And we can always run the b.i.t.c.h-monster over as a last resort," Brian stated. "I'm calling Luke when we get in the car to give him a heads-up on the location. Maybe we'll have backup if we need it."

"Good thought. Let's move it. Maria has been gone for five minutes and I'm getting nervous." Justin never had a problem including backup. The last-minute arrival of extra hands had saved his b.u.t.t a number of times. He headed without hesitation for the elevator. If the penthouse hadn't had its own private car, kept on the top floor when all occupants were home, he would have hit the stairs.

Maria felt sick to her stomach as she glided over the city, moving swiftly in the direction of the evil taint. In her nightmare she'd seen a beautiful woman talking to NeeKata, one of the fae she'd come to know and love for his gentle sensibilities and devotion to the people of Earth. Nee was a sensual creature, with an enormous appet.i.te for women. She knew the images in her nightmare were real.

Sick at heart, Maria realized as she moved ever closer that NeeKata had not been the fairy representative at last night's meeting. Someone hadn't given him the message to go out in public with a buddy and stay away from strange women.

She'd screamed at him in her nightmare, knowing he couldn't hear her, and watched in horror as he'd led the woman into the park and to a secluded glade. He loved making love outside. They'd joked about how he could draw energy from the lush greenery surrounding him, which enabled him to last forever and bring a woman to peak multiple times before he lost control. This ability made him very popular with both human and paranormal women.

Over and over again she'd shrieked a warning to NeeKata in the nightmare, trying in vain to stop him when the monster motioned for him to strip, then watched in helpless torment as Mormo's first touch rendered him unable to move. With NeeKata frozen in place, the b.i.t.c.h dropped to her knees. In the nightmare, she could feel Nee's growing concern and could see the green filaments of his energy drain as the Empousai grabbed his hips and settled her mouth over his groin to suck him dry. Shared the wrench of pain he felt as his strength left his body.

The shared pain broke the nightmare's hold.

Nearing the park, she quickly reviewed her options. Luke said once an Empousai has frozen her victim, she wouldn't leave them behind. So she needed to leave the b.i.t.c.h without the option of taking NeeKata with her.

In her nightmare she'd seen Mormo immobilize him with a touch to bare skin. Maria wore steel-reinforced leather combat boots. She just hoped they'd knock the d.a.m.n demon away from her prey without allowing Mormo the opportunity to touch her flesh.

She didn't know if it would work. But it seemed her only option.

Reaching the clearing, she looked down on the horrendous sight of the Empousai drawing back from taking a bite out of NeeKata. She could see the torn flesh in his leg and the gushing blood. A quick psychic scan told her his heart still beat. He was alive.

As she started her descent, the smell wafting above the glade almost knocked her over. Why hadn't Nee noticed the horrible stench and run in the opposite direction?

She picked up speed and plummeted feet-first toward the Empousai. The monster glanced at her with jaws dripping bits of flesh and running with blood, just before Maria slammed boots-first into her side and knocked Mormo a.s.s over teacup, a good six feet away from Nee. Maria happily discovered she'd been right, she could still move. The information that the Empousai needed bare-skin contact to paralyze its intended victim was a good thing to file away.

Luke's description, as detailed and disgusting as it was, fell far short of the impact of having the creature in front of her. Dealing with the reality of the ugly demon was something else, and Maria stood in stupefied horror as the b.i.t.c.h lost her illusion of beauty and became the freak of nature she truly was. The mind-boggling, writhing ma.s.s of snakes on the Emp's head was repulsive. The hissing, ash-gray vipers definitely had a life of their own. Luke had said an area of complete darkness blocked the Empousai's true facial features, and just glowing eyes would be visible if you saw her in her true form.

He'd speculated Mormo's face wasn't just shrouded in darkness but was so horrible the mind blocked the reality from the brain. He also said other demons could actually see the face, and the sight is so horrible they run from her in fear.

Well, Maria didn't want to know if the face really could be worse than the rest of the body. She would be forever grateful her mind blocked the ghoul from her feeble psyche. Jeez! The scales and the huge creepy bat wings just added to the apparition's repulsive appearance.

The Emp's hands ended in razor-tipped claws and she had a long reptilian tail. This had to be one of the most hideous creatures on Earth, but Maria just witnessed how the soul could be worse. "b.u.t.t-ugly creature," Maria mumbled.

The Empousai had started menacingly in Maria's direction on two mismatched legs when it evidently heard her halfhearted slur, and screamed as if in pain. The shrill shriek brought Maria back to the task at hand-staying alive and getting rid of the flesh-eating monster so she could treat Nee's wounds.

"You revoltingly grotesque, spindly-legged, metal gargoyle-hoofed b.i.t.c.h of an Empousai, you!" she yelled, as she fished through her backpack. She felt ridiculous. But Luke said the only thing that worked to get rid of the Emp was insults.

She wasn't sure she trusted her vocabulary. Pulling out her revolver, she turned and pointed it at Mormo. Maria wanted nothing more than to cover her ears in protection against the piercing screech and to stop breathing the foul, disgusting odor. Instead, she raised the gun and emptied the full clip of silver bullets into the beast's chest.

Where the insulting words made Mormo stop in her tracks to scream, the bullets didn't do a d.a.m.n thing. Oh, she was bleeding. She just didn't seem to care. "f.u.c.k, you cesspool-smelling, garbage-breath, gross, cow-legged leviathan. How in the h.e.l.l do I kill you?" she screamed, as she threw her gun to the side and grabbed a handful of shurikens. The little metal stars probably wouldn't do s.h.i.t except make Maria feel better.

She didn't wait for the freaking mutant to recover from her last stint of verbal abuse. She started throwing the discs at the head, the chest...the creature seemed to ignore them until one hit and stuck in Mormo's right foot. The Emp's left leg looked like a donkey's back leg. The right was similar, but instead of flesh and fur, it seemed to be made of bra.s.s. The silver throwing star was buried about half an inch, just above the bra.s.s-looking hoof, and Maria watched the result of the hit in amazement.

Now there was a reaction!

Blood spurted in a surging gush from the wound and the creature's screams turned to panicked sobs as she danced around, trying to shake the embedded blade free. The wound shouldn't have earned such an extreme response but Mormo seemed to forget all about Maria. Her entire concentration and distress centered on her injured foot.

Maria could hear the cavalry coming to the rescue, the sounds of men crashing through bushes music to her ears. Not wanting to lose her small advantage, she kept her eyes on the Empousai. "Look, fungus hoof," she started to say, when a blast of fire shot out of the woods from Maria's right.

She looked over to see Justin. Grim-faced and intent on blasting the Empousai with the flamethrower, he looked like an avenging angel. She glanced over her shoulder to see Brian on the phone and Matt working to stop NeeKata's bleeding. Good, her boys would take care of him.

When she turned around the Empousai was gone, leaving behind scorched earth and smelly pools of demon blood. The minute the creature disappeared she could hear Nee's sobbing explanation of what had happened. Another little fact to file away-make the bad Emp disappear and her victims regain the ability to move and talk.

She would have been a lot happier about Mormo's disappearance if Justin wasn't headed in her direction in obvious rage. It didn't take psychic skill to sense he was p.i.s.sed off about her fighting the Empousai alone.