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The shower felt good Mark made the water as hot as he could, and the steaain feel that he was clean, really clean, given that he&039;d been doing this so long, he certainly felt a hell of a better physically

Maybe, if he ever succeeded in destroying Stephan, he would receive vindication, and in that, surely, there would be a little peace

Thinking back, he had to ad day

It wasn&039;t often that you found out that a police lieutenant not only believed in what you were saying but actually had experience battling vampires And then there had been the moments on the sidewalk

He&039;d known that Stephan would eventually come after Lauren himself, but he hadn&039;t knohen, where or exactly how And when he&039;d stuht he had a chance to rid the world of the man-the creature-forever

But Stephan had no intention of dying True, Mark had ed to take hi to be harder to kill than that And like any cult leader, Stephan had minions ready to die in service to him Mark kneas lucky that, so far, those who had been summoned to do battle with him while Stephan disappeared were, for the h to kno to do soh to be rash None of the-not even the cavalier this afternoon That guy must have come from some costume party

But then, that was always the way it was in any war Send out the expendable forces first

He gritted his teeth in anger, curious that Stephan had begun to bother keeping his population in check at all He thought about the poor irls whose decapitated corpses had been tossed into the river It was possible but unlikely that so the cri this himself

Stephan liked to create an aura of fear

He liked it when the authorities thought they were going after a heinous-but human-madman

Of course, he hadn&039;t planned on a ined encountering such a situation himself It wasn&039;t just the cop who knew that vampires existed There was an alliance of people in New Orleans who knew and erous ones Unfortunately, most of the to Sean&039;s wife, Maggie,in third world countries where people had nothing, no overnment coups were constant, where AIDS was prevalent, and there was so much hardship and sadness that the vampires could rule their fiefdoms with little distraction

But Sean was still here, as were a few others, though Sean hadn&039;t named them as yet Mark knew he still had to tread carefully with the other if he wanted to earn his trust Maggie washe had to say, then told him a few stories about some of their friends

It had been an absurd conversation-or would have been, if he weren&039;t who he was and the situation weren&039;t so dire

And now Stephan had shown himself

Most of all, Lauren finally believed hiht she was actually beginning to believe in hiot out of the shower, he decided it was iet over to the hospital

As he towel dried his hair, another towel around his hips, he heard a quiet tapping at his door He hesitated, not quite ready for visitors

"Yeah?" he said

"It&039;s ain

Then he walked to the door and opened it

Her eyes seereen than he had rereater touch of fire She was pale, but she appeared strong and wary

And she was standing in his doorway

"May I co out a hand

She walked in and perched at the foot of his bed If she noticed his state of undress, she gave no sign

She smelled erotically of shampoo, soap and perfued her curves in a way he couldn&039;t help but notice

"Did that really-I mean, really, happen?" she inquired

"Yes," he said si at him He could tell that she wanted him to somehow deny the reality of it

He strode over to the bed, taking a seat at her side,her "What&039;s impossible?" he whispered "There&039;s all kind of evil in the world Mostly it comes in human form Today it came in vampire form, that&039;s all Stephan is real, and his little army of would-be assassins is real I tried to tell you as going on And I blaht you would be the only one in real danger But he&039;s getting to you by going through Deanna"

"Will she get better?"

"There&039;s definitely hope," he told her

She stood and walked restlessly to the balcony doors She pulled back the drape and looked out at the night

"It&039;s so beautiful," she said There was a strange and poignant longing in her voice

"It is," he agreed

To his aht over to him

"I should cut to the chase," she said softly "There are things I have to do tonight"

"You o back to the hospital"

"Yes, that, and"

She let her voice trail off, her eyes still on his She was so close that he was practically breathing her in, and it was painful Because she wasn&039;t Katie

She wasn&039;t Katie at all

It had been the familiarity that had first drawn him to her, but her deep russet hair was all her own, as were the ever-changing eold of her eyes And her seductive smilethat, too, was hers and hers alone

"Yes?" he asked softly "And?"

She slipped her arms around his neck and drew close Her lips found his, while her body pressed tightly against his flesh The kind of tight that caused the curves and hollows of their bodies to nment He was painfully aware of the fullness of her breasts, could feel the pressure of his instant erection and knew she could feel it, too

She wasn&039;t Katie, he reminded hi as she ht now If he had any decency at all, he would step away and

Who the hell could be that damned decent?

There was no hesitation in her lips They molded to his, and her ue an inducement and a tease, a hint of sheer enticement

A voice spoke in his head

Step away

But he couldn&039;t do it Her fingers played across his chest, and her touch was electrifying He was locked in a kiss that seerow deeper and more passionate by the moment A h her hair Silk and velvet, a form of seduction all its own, it fell over his hands

She stepped away fro his eyes, lifted the hem of her skirt and pulled her dress over her head Then she stood before hih-heeled sandals

"You go out that way often?" he couldn&039;t help but ask, his voice husky

She smiled "Only here," she assured him And she moved back into his ared to disappear on its own

After that there was nothing between the her coive in to sheer insanity

He had hungered for her, watched her, been awakened by her, and through it all, he had somehow kept his sanity, kept a clear head

Until now

His ainst her earlobe, caressed the sertips running down his back Along his spine Over his buttocks He felt his ainst his throat

Her tongue teased his flesh, traced a searing line along his jugular

He picked her up and ether, limbs already entwined before they even touched the htly; then she sought his lips again, and their kiss that et and searing and overpowered every At last his mouth left her lips and traveled down to her collar bone, where it taunted and explored He drew his hand up froh to her hip, moved her midriff, then caressed her breast before he laved and teased with his tongue

As he tasted her, he felt her fingertips, erotic, light, sensual,down his spine

Around to his ribs

Between theainst her flesh, kissed his way along her skin, urgency racing through hiht then; he wanted her forever He wanted this to go on, and he felt he would lose his sanity if it did

He , the silken, fiery feel of her flesh creating a searing thunder in his ing and in protest, and race that aroused his everySomehow he held on to his tenuous control As he teased and caressed her frohs, between He heard her cries, felt the treers dance across his flesh as she strove to drive him to an equal madness

But he had been ht of her

She ain, her body sliding against his Their fingers entwined, and then she was on top hiht andthem both in silk He moved inside her in a reflex of motion and fury, and then his arms were around her and she was beneath hi of their bodies When he felt her surge and shudder, he felt the explosion of his own cliain, savoring every shock and tres ht, and the pulse of her heart raged against his own, then eased slowly

Lying at her side, he breathed in the scent of her, and when he turned, at last, aze was on hiressive," she said, blushing

"Pleasefeel free to be aggressive any ti a damp lock of hair from his forehead "You are sane," she ht have expected or hoped for at the moment, but thank you"

Her s into his eyes "There are vampires"

"Yes"

"Do you have any idea how incomprehensible that is to me?"

"Yes" He nodded, and stroked her cheek "You&039;re incredible"

She tre her eyes "So are you Is that the coain, a slight teasing note in her voice

He s up on one elbow "II have to get to the hospital," she told hi the cross around her neck "Will this protectthat they&039;re reo anywhere without a water pistol"

She started to laugh, and there were tears in her eyes He sat up, sweeping his ar her

"Hey," he murmured aardly

"I&039;m sorryit&039;s justa water pistol It&039;s holy water, right?"

"Yes"

She pulled away, staring at him "Ifthe holy water kills so easily, how is that Stephan is stillnot dead?"

He let out a sigh "So far, the second he&039;s been injured, he&039;s ed to disappear before my weapons can do their work Because he has so many of his lackeys with him, they&039;ve kept me busy while he makes his escape" There was soshe&039;d had to accept so far, she was doing very well He had to be careful, though, just how h to keep herself safe, but not too

"Young vampires are rash, impetuous, and not very powerful They think they&039;re invincible, and they&039;re not But they are killers, and they kill easily, because most people are unaware of their existence Because people tend to be trusting Because va ood and that there was soht"

"But you said Jonas was a vampire"

He hesitated "Yes," he finally said

"So he&039;s evil"

"I don&039;t know"

"I don&039;t understand"

He lowered his head, wincing How much could he expect her to believe?

"You know, of course, that terrible things have happened throughout history The Spanish Inquisition was one of the worst instances of man&039;s inhumanity to man, but it didn&039;t make all churchmen evil Stalin carried out a blood bath, but all Russians weren&039;t evil Hitler was a maniac, but that didn&039;t make all Germans bad Terrorists kill in the name of Allah, but most Musliht"

She was once again staring at hi?" she asked

He lifted his hands "That there are good vampires"

"Good vampires?"

He answered very slowly and carefully "Vampires ant to coexist with humans in peace, who have retained the essence of humanity themselves The woman ns this house is actually a very wise" He paused "And good vaone too far Her eyes accused him of the absolute depths of madness

"You-you know all this?" she said, her tone skeptical, her eyes enormous And yethe almost smiled at his own unconscious response to her She was naked, staring at hiain Of course, given what he&039;d just told her, she was undoubtedly thinking that she would never let hiain

"Lauren, there&039;s so et to the hospital," she said curtly

"I&039;ll take you I have a car," he told her

Her features were tense But she nodded, grabbing her dress, throwing it over her head "Ten ht"

He wasn&039;t sure what that one He winced, then rose and headed back for the shower himself He quickly rinsed off and dressed

At least she was here, at Montresse House At least she had agreed to let him drive her to the hospital At least

He had touched her Made love to her

At least now she had an idea of the

He wanted to think they could have a future

He didn&039;t dare

There were a nuood, Susan thought It was almost like old ti a young couple ere obviously in love A young woypsy skirt and turban had set up on the other side of the artist

She sat quietly at her own table for aon the tarot card before her She didn&039;t turn over the cards; she just closed her eyes and listened

She could hear the ru to her left

There was chatter

Someone as already a few sheets to the wind stumbled on the sidewalk and was helped by a more sober companion

She concentrated harder

Her full name was Susan Beauvais, and her family had been in the area for centuries One ancestor had fled the bloody revolution that erupted in Haiti in 1791 Over the hundreds of years since, she&039;d accumulated all sorts different ancestors Someone had been white At least one had been an Indian But it had been her ic that went untapped bytarot cards, pal, but there was so much more a person could learn

She didn&039;t always feel comfortable with her power Sometimes people were better off when they didn&039;t knohat lay ahead