"She's not here."

"Not here? That's impossible."

The counter girl looked uncertain and I guessed that her hot red high heels were uncomfortable. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. A genuine noodle customer came in, being ridiculously fussy over the nutritional qualities of two orders of chow fun as Tem and I waited. As soon as the guy took off, I started in on the girl in front of me.

"Look, we are friends of Blossom's. Tem here, in particular."

The counter girl shook her head. "She's not here." Something like fear...or was it excitement...a tremor in her eyes. "Big meeting .

tonight."

"Meeting?" I wondered if she was negotiating yet another peaceful truce between the f.u.k Ching and Snakehead gangs.

"You like to get high?" The counter girl thrust her chest toward me and I could see two crests of nipples at her plunging neckline now. She glanced at Tem, only just catching the crazed look on my husband's face.

"No, I never get high, unless I'm sucking my husband's c.o.c.k. That gets me plenty high." I knew I'd just made Tem's day and glimpsed his radiant smile. "This is business. What kind of meeting?"

The girls all looked at each other.

"She didn't tell me." The counter girl was parking her t.i.tties back into her bra.

"Lamia," the girl down at the end of the bar whispered.

My head swiveled in her direction. "Lamia?"

The girls all nodded like little robots. Lamia. I was aware now that Tem could easily murder everybody in the shop. He hated being left out of the loop, any loop.

"Wait a second...you're telling me Lamia is in Waikiki?"

"That's what Blossom said." The girl down at the end of the counter looked keyed up now. If Lamia was here, that explained the underlying tension in Chinatown.

"Thank you, ladies." I took Tem's hand in mine, steering him from the shop. He waited until we'd rounded a couple of dark alleys before refusing to take another step.

"Okay, who or what is Lamia?"

"Well, I've never met her..."

"Cut it out, Div. First you have your tongue hanging out over some t.i.tties, now you're keeping secrets from me?"

I drew him away from the store, down an alley, the smell of rice and fish bones strong as I huddled with him in a doorway. Gazing up at the moon, I gathered my thoughts. Could this have anything to do with Beelzebub? Some ideas were forming in my mind, but I needed time to think.

"Div, what is it?" Tem's voice was soft. He knew something was wrong, he just didn't know what. When my thoughts became muddied, which was very rare, he couldn't read me. When that happened, I wasn't sure who it scared more. Me, or Tem.

"They...they say that she is a monster. I never thought she was real. The idea is sort of mind boggling, actually."

"What sort of a monster?"

"A sort of a vampire."

"A vampire? Why do people always call us monsters? We're nice people, some of us..."

I shook my head. "Not Lamia. She...ah...is .

rumored...well, legend has it that she steals newborn babies and...drinks their blood."

Chapter Five.

hat's very icky, Div. You don't...you don't"Tthink she has anything to do with Beelzebub?"

"I don't know sweetheart...I mean, it would be a strange coincidence if we get a cursed vampire baby on our doorstep the same night Lamia rocks into town."

"So who is she, exactly? Is she a sort of...vampire queen?"

Tem was obsessed with the idea of vampire queens and coveted Blossom's vault with its antique collection of tiaras and scepters.

"Yeah, come to think of it, she is. I remember my grandfather telling me she was supposed to have been the lover of one of the big Greek G.o.ds, Zeus, I think. Yes, that was it. She had a woman's head and b.r.e.a.s.t.s, but a serpent's body. The story goes that she was one of Zeus's lovers and she bore him children. The G.o.ddess Hera, in a fit of jealousy, caused each child that was born to die. In .

despair, Lamia became a monster jealous of mothers with healthy, living children. So she devoured those children." Lapsing back into thought, I remembered the rhyme my grandfather had taught me.

"There is one verse I remember." I paused and it came back to me, nights of lying in my bed at night, a candle burning by my side. I could almost smell the beeswax as I went back there in my mind, my gentle grandfather saying, Shall Lamia in our sight her sons devour, and give them back alive the self-same hour?

While mortal kids went to sleep with fairytales of Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and The Three Little Pigs, my sister and I got Lamia.

I must have said these thoughts aloud, for Tem was nodding.

"All those fairytales are gruesome, when you think about it. I mean, a wolf disguised as a grandma eats up Red. Snow White's step monster poisons her with fruit, Sleeping Beauty is buried alive...or undead or..." he frowned.

"It comes back to that..." I shook my head. "I have no idea exactly how or why...but Lamia is in Honolulu, and as far as I know, she's never been here before. Like I said, I always thought she was a sort of vampire fairytale."

"I wish I could have met your grandfather."

Tem stroked my back in that darkened doorway and when I turned to look at him, I realized we were on the doorstep of a Shinto temple. I tried to think holy thoughts, not bad ones as I gazed into the beautiful face of the man I loved.

"Oh, sweetheart, I wish you could have met him, too. He was a good man, even if he was the reason our family was cursed."

Tem and I had never fully discussed the family curse. Bit by bit, parts of the story had come out, but we had fallen for each other so fast, our need to become bonded mates so great, nothing else had mattered. And now, nothing consumed me more than keeping Tem safe and happy.

He smiled at me in the darkness. "I hate when you admire hot chicks. I still get jealous. Man, the way you stared at that chick's chest. I was waiting for you to motor-boat her b.o.o.bies."

I laughed. "I was admiring the mechanics of the dress that you made, darling. I don't crave b.o.o.bies. I crave you. A man can admire a piece of art and not want to f.u.c.k it, you know."

"You thought she was art?"

"No, I think you are. High art. I idolize you, Tem."

He knew that was true. I was gaga over this guy. So lost in love, I was prowling dark streets before dawn to help some demon sp.a.w.n he wanted to rescue.

"You wanna f.u.c.k your husband in the doorway of this here Shinto temple?"

I opened my mouth. "Oh, yes."

Tem laughed as I pulled him closer, our mouths touching at last. When I dated women, I lost interest in just a few weeks. But when Tem's canine teeth elongated and I felt his c.o.c.k hardening against my crotch, mine got just as hard for him. I could never, in a thousand years or more of living, get enough of him.

His teeth got my teeth going. We hadn't fed on each other's blood for a couple of days. I fed out of necessity. Tem seemed to actually enjoy it. He was a lot more ready to kill for blood than I was and we had shared a couple of bad guys in dark alleys such as this. Now we were two bad guys anxious to share ourselves with one another.

I pressed his back against the cold brick wall, aware of a flittering ghost. This was one I was used to seeing in Chinatown. He was an old Chinese man with a queue of hair down his back, a victim of homicide, always warning me of some other impending victim of violence.

"That old man kinda has a thing for you," Tem murmured against my throat.

Now it was my turn to laugh. "I have all the man I can handle right here." We kissed with increasing fervor, despite the difficulty of our battle teeth. I loved the low, growly noises Tem .

made when he was aroused. This was something new since his blood transformation and it made me want to be inside his hot little a.s.s so badly. His tongue lashed at my lips.

"Please, please f.u.c.k me, Jimmy." He turned away from me, his face pressed to the wall, bracing his hands against the dark, heavy bricks and I heard his sharp intake of breath. It was quiet now, save for footsteps somewhere, lights from the art deco lamps Blossom had strong-armed the Chinatown City Council into placing in strategic spots leaving small, powdery rainbows in the alley. A light tropical shower started to fall as I slid my arms around Tem's warm, muscular waist, undoing the b.u.t.tons on his leather pants, lowering the zip, feeling that huge c.o.c.k spring straight out into my waiting hand. G.o.d, how I coveted his body. I just loved f.u.c.king him. I loved the feel and taste of him, the sounds he made when he was getting f.u.c.ked.

One hand stroking the a.s.s it was my privilege to pleasure, I luxuriated in the silkiness of his skin. I wished we were in bed, but a quickie in a doorway in the rain was a turn-on.

"Look at the moon," he whispered, and as my c.o.c.k stroked back and forth across his lovely, tight a.s.s cheeks, I stole a look at the sky. I realized it was the perfect hula moon. It was a night for dancing and lovemaking under the stars.

couldn't wait a second longer and neither could Tem. I fell to my knees, turned him around, his c.o.c.k reaching for my mouth as my tongue lapped at it. I could always tell what Tem had been eating by the taste of his come. Mmmm. Papaya. Oh yeah...he'd been eating blueberries, too.

"Oh yeah," he moaned. "Let me feel those teeth."

I had never, ever allowed my canine teeth to become exposed when I was f.u.c.king a woman. In my hetero days, not one woman ever guessed my secret life. When Tem persuaded me to do gay p.o.r.n with him, I'd become so lost in the sensation of f.u.c.king him, keeping control of my deep, inner impulses became impossible. Now I had no control at all. I could not get my teeth to recede. The vampire and the man in me needed him. I tried hard not to graze that precious c.o.c.k, and despite wanting him to come in my mouth, I knew I had to wait.

Tem's loving face gazed down at me. "Can I have you in me now? Or do I need to beg you some more?"

I pushed him back against the wall.

"No. From behind. Take me and f.u.c.k me. I am your wh.o.r.e, remember?"

"Yeah. And I'm your b.i.t.c.h. b.i.t.c.hes rule."

Tem laughed, but turned around anyway, arching that wonderful a.s.s back toward me, .

moaning as I entered him. I reached around to hold his c.o.c.k again. Tem wanted to feed, he needed to feed. When we spent a lot of time f.u.c.king, we took turns feeding on each other and it only heightened our lovemaking experience. I leaned forward and he sighed as his tongue found its favorite place on my arm.

I let my leather coat fall from my right arm. To anyone watching, it might have looked like I had him a headlock. It was hard keeping up the aggressive pace of f.u.c.king my husband's a.s.s with his teeth looking for their nesting place but I did it, the initial pang of pain subsiding...he had much to learn about taking his time and biting gently. It was my fault. We were always much too hungry for one another and now, as he fed on me, he reminded me of the baby...taking what was his, what he needed...his face glued high on my arm, I urged him to come as I felt my own o.r.g.a.s.m build up inside him. I watched Tem's face change as our blood mingled once more and I knew I was. .h.i.tting the right spot inside him. His teeth released their grip on me as he came and I emptied my soul into him.

I felt my blood trickling down to my wrist and Tem, murmuring in his bliss, saw the trail he'd left behind and quickly went back to my skin, his lips and tongue closing the two little gaps he'd left in me.

"Don't pull out. It feels so good." His head rested back on my shoulder as I kept stroking on his c.o.c.k that had exploded all over the slick bricks of the temple entrance. Now this was hallowed ground. Our friend, the old man's ghost was back, pacing and I knew danger was near.

"Tem, we've got trouble." I pulled out of him, glad one of us had fed because we would need the extra-sensory strength. Getting caught in the act of f.u.c.king was part of the thrill of our nocturnal street quickies, but as footsteps neared us, I realized it was a woman. High heels. Tem gasped when he saw the shadow on the ground.

"What the h.e.l.l is it?" he whispered when he saw what looked like a hag.

"Blossom." I knew by her gait it was the dowager queen of Chinatown and she chuckled as she caught us, man on man, up against that wall.

"Mmmm...well, well, well...and to think you two got camera shy. What a waste. You should get paid to f.u.c.k." That was Blossom, always thinking about money. "If you've finished mauling each other, we should talk."

Neither Tem nor I could speak. I think we were both still coming. I stared at Blossom in her long, red, silk and lace dress with the hand-st.i.tched quartz crystals covering it, her high-piled lacquered hair and... something was off. She .

looked even paler than usual. Tem huddled against me and my arm encircled his waist. I knew now something bad was afoot. I was guessing Lamia. We had to get out of Chinatown.

A sound distracted her and she turned her head. The tell tale signs of her opium addiction, the calluses behind her ears, were there on Blossom's head, but now...something else was going on. Something shimmered in her profile. Something had overcome her, and if there was one thing Blossom would not tolerate it was compet.i.tion. Especially in her own body. Blossom looked back at us, a shocked look on her face, and fell to the ground in a heap. We heard the sound of something like banshees piercing the still night sky, and as we looked at the woman who had become a big part of our lives, Tem waited for my direction.

"We need to leave," I whispered. "Right now."

Chapter Six.

e stepped over the p.r.o.ne body of our friendWand I hoped she would have no memory of our having to remove her shoes and pick her up off the ground like a cheap street wh.o.r.e. We flew off with her dangling between us toward her high rise apartment on the corner of Nu'uanu and Kalakaua Avenue.

Even when she was a working wh.o.r.e, hot off the boat from j.a.pan, yes, j.a.pan, not China, she'd never been cheap. She'd been an oiran. That was the version of geisha girls who were skilled in the art of s.e.x. She'd come to Honolulu in 1810, when almost all the prost.i.tutes were j.a.panese and every single last pimp was j.a.panese too. I met her in a wh.o.r.ehouse about forty years later...in fact, I was supposed to lose my virginity to her, but I could not muster much interest in the middle aged oiran.

She and my grandfather selected a younger and prettier version of oiran for my cherry-busting and naturally, I fell in love. I had no idea that she was .

faking everything, from her interest in me to her o.r.g.a.s.ms, and I suppose it tainted all my future relationships with women. With Tem, I always knew for sure that my man was switched on and happy. It was my mission in life to make him feel better and better every day. With women, I was a loner. A notorious bedder. As we flew toward Blossom's home on the edge of Chinatown, I sighed with relief that women were a mystery I was grateful I no longer had to solve.