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"H me dry? I mean, you want to, don’t you?"

"Maybe a little Not as much as I did"

"Explain"

"I took precautions," he said, so like a school that there was a secret so under the murky waters of our relationship Deep down, I knew that he was lying to ently lifted rave but hopeful "When I tell you this, don’t overreact It’s ihtened, pulling the velvet blanket back up to coverThen he ave you some of my blud"

"You what?" I said, backing away a little "Why? Why didn’t you ask me? What about informed consent?"

Of course, I didn’this back wounds mid-coitus That didn’t count

"I didn’t ask for consent for anything else I did with either of our bodily fluids recently," he said with a wolfish grin "And giving you my blud has probably already saved your life several ti to have to explain it," I said through clenched teeth "Because I don’t get it, and I’m pretty pissed"

"It’s simple," he said, but before he could explain what exactly was siic blud and turning me into an enormous hypocrite, an alarm siren erupted from the other end of the ship He leaped up to shove his feet through his breeches and lurched down the red velvet hallway, leaving me naked and speechless in a rich man’s bed

"What is it?" I asked from the pilot’s roo, and a red light flashed on and off fro All I could see over his shoulder was hundreds of blinking instru --no obvious elance at s, but I’ve never seen a wo before," he said with an ahts "Not that you don’t look dashing"

I snickered

Dashing wasn’t the word I’d use The breeches were baggy, the suspenders didn’t ith my B-cup chest, and the frilly shirt was ridiculous And I was still testy about the blood sharing But I didn’t want to interrupt an e petty

I did anyway

"So about the blood," I said, hating myself a little

"Can it wait until after I’ve saved you fro the screen

Imy hand on his shoulder If there was a sea h, there was a round, black sonar screen with a red crosshair on it And s, squid-shaped blip And then there was a loud gong and a creak, and ere thrown sideways

"Bloody hell!" he shouted "Where’s the stunner? He’s going to dive soon!"

"What are we looking for?" I asked, holding on to his shoulder with one hand and the captain’s chair with the other, trying to stay upright as the ship shuddered and tossed and flashed red around us I felt like an extra in Star Trek The ship jerked to the side, and my throat constricted as I realized that this was in no way a movie set This fairytale ers dancing over the controls "To, uers over the switches and buttons on the console, and I began investigating the overhead instruments The nose of the ship lurched doard, and I was thrown against the ceiling After banginghas a picture of lightning on it," I said "Does that help?"

His hand curled over mine where it lay on the brass handle, and he winked atso buzz, and our hair stood on end A loud crack and a sudden iled up as the sub shuddered and righted itself Then the red lights stopped flashing, and everything was back to norreen squid blob dwindled to a speck, which faded away to nothing I sighed in relief Being in a subs so far outside of reality that I couldn’t digest it It felt like a ride at Disney World

"That ell," Cri into the brass and leather captain’s chair "We’re getting close, seaI expect we’ll be there within the hour"

"Wait If the ship was etting close to the island? It should have only been a few hours, right?"

He s the entire time I may have slowed it to a crawl for a while There was business to attend to"