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Kevin put a chair under the door handle and ere as secure as ere likely to get I&039;d told Set a feel for things, and I&039;d be done when I was done I was being treated like a detective, so the uniforett He&039;d only stay out until his ego recovered I half expected hiht save us from him was the fact that he&039;d want to break the door in because he&039;d be sensing ere doing, and he wouldn&039;t want to admit that

I stood by the bed Nathaniel looked up at , itat uys, nohat? I&039;ve never even seen this done"

There was an exchange of looks all the way around Stephen said, "I don&039;t knoe can explain it to you"

I nodded "I know, et it, or you don&039;t"

"Is this ic?" Teddy asked "Or is it just psychic ability?"

"I&039;m not sure there is a difference," I said "Sometimes I think the only difference is that psychic ability is soic requires a ritual to get your juices going"

"You do more of this kind of shit than we do," Kevin said "We&039;re just olves, not witches"

"I&039;ed "Same diff to me" He sat down in the chair he&039;d started out in, crushing the cigarette into the palm of his hand as if it were lit and his flesh were an ashtray He scowled up at h to be sure, but he seemed nervous

Me, too I only kneays to raise energy: ritual or sex The sex took the place of ritual when I ith Jean-Claude or Richard But I had no bond with Nathaniel NoI wasn&039;t his leoparde lionne,not really It was all lies I couldn&039;t do this without soh

Teddy loo, Anita?"

I would have walked across the room and whispered, but I knew Nathaniel would hear anywhere in the s"

"Emotion?" he asked

"I don&039;t know Nathaniel I don&039;t feel anything for hih to even get started"

"What do you need?" His eyes were very serious The intelligence in them was almost touchable

I tried to put it into words and ended up saying, "I need so to take the place of a ritual"

"Raina didn&039;t use a ritual," Kevin said from the chair

"She used sex Sex can take the place of the ritual"

"You raised power at the lupanar that one night with Richard," Stephen said "You didn&039;t have sex, but you still raised power"

"But I I wanted Richard sexually It&039;s a sort of energy all of its own"

"Nathaniel is handsome," Stephen said

I shook my head "It&039;s never been that easy for me I need more than a pretty face"

Stephen slid out of the bed in one of those wraparound gowns, but it didn&039;t gape as he moved It rapped around him like a sheet, more cloth than he needed, just like it would have been on me One size never really fits all

He tried to take my hand, and I wouldn&039;t let him "Let me help you"

"Define help" Suspicious, whoThe s sort of cute and girlish The smile alone pissed me off "What is your problem?" I asked

"You," he said softly "You knoould never hurt you, don&039;t you?"

I looked into his cornflower-blue eyes and nodded "Never on purpose" I said

"Then trust me now Let me help you call the power"

"How?" I asked

He took my hand in both of his, and this tiertips on Nathaniel&039;s forehead His skin was cool Just the touch of his skin, and you kneasn&039;t well

"Pet hi my head I drew my hand back, "I don&039;t think so"

Nathaniel started to say soers across his mouth "No, Nathaniel" It was al to say But he couldn&039;t know, not for sure, could he? I ht have believed it if Nathaniel was pack, but he wasn&039;t

"Close your eyes," Stephen said

"Uh-huh," I said

"We don&039;t have tiht," Teddy said "I understand your natural reluctance, but the police are going to knock on the door eventually"

If Nathaniel couldn&039;t leave with us, that uard hiain If ere all so innocent police called innocent

I took a deep breath and blew it out "Fine, what&039;s your idea?"

"Close your eyes," Stephen said

I frowned at hi even, and I closed my eyes He took ently open my fist that I realized I&039;d clenched up He started to e my hand

I said, "Stop that"

"Then loosen up," he said "It won&039;t hurt"

"I&039;m not afraid it will hurt," I said

He own brushed s "But you&039;re still afraid" His voice had dropped almost to a whisper "Can you use that fear to call power?"

My pulse was ha in ht kind of fear The fear that overwhelency can call power almost without effort This was the kind of fear that keeps you froh you&039;d decided to do it Not an unhealthy fear, but it would hold you back

"No," I said

"Then let go of the fear," he said He touched e of the bed

Nathanielsound, as if it had hurt

I opened my eyes and Stephen said, "Close the to an order I&039;d ever heard hiive I closed theers on either side of Nathaniel&039;s face "The skin just over the teers in a soft feathery line down Nathaniel&039;s face, fingers gliding on either side, as if I were blind and trying to memorize his features

He slid my hands into Nathaniel&039;s hair It was silken, unbelievably soft His hair had the texture of satin I balled my hands into that soft warmth, lowered my face towards his hair and smelled it There was a faint medicinal smell I buried my face in the satin brush of his hair and found his scent under it all He smelled like vanilla, and under that was the scent of wood and field and fur He wasn&039;t pack, but the scent was si clicked deep insidethrown

I opened my eyes and knehat to do, how to do it, wanted to do it Like a distant thought, I realized that Stephen&039;s hands had fallen away long ago

I stared down into Nathaniel&039;s lilac eyes and bent towards that aaze I touched his lips with ht the power in a war rush It spilled out ofBut power alone wasn&039;t enough It needed direction, guidance, and I kne to do it, as if I&039;d done it before I didn&039;t question it, didn&039;t want to

I tried to run own covered hioas fastened in front, not in back My hand sought the opening and slid along bare skin Slid until I felt the incision

I straddled Nathaniel&039;s legs Hesound and I liked it I rose up on s touched his body I slid the sheet down around his body and opened the gown, exposing him The stitches were a thin dark line across the paleness of his skin that ran nearly fro wound

He wore nothing below the waist Hospitals are always stripping us down, leaving us as vulnerable as possible The sight of him naked should have stopped me in my tracks Dimly, it shocked me I hadn&039;t expected it, but it was too late The power didn&039;t care I ran htly over the stitches

Nathaniel cried out, only half from pain He was half-erect before I loweredwould, long, slow caresses He was more than half-erect when I raiseddown at me I knew in that moment that I could have him, that he wanted me to take that last step

I could feel the others in the rooy inside me I&039;d never been interested in casual sex, but the s I&039;d never been so te You don&039;t have to give in I rose onmy hands towards the middle of the incision When my hands touched, I put one on top of the other and pressed Not withpower into his body

He gasped, spine bowing underneath ainstout the imperfections in a zombie except this flesh ar with my eyes But I could feel it I could feel his body s places that no hand washi heat inside me It spilled down h his body, throughover the skin, through the body, for of heat and flesh, and a rush of power that just kept building It built until I closed htness, white flowers exploding on my vision

My breath came in pants, too quick, too shallow I openedto slow I could feel his heart as if I caressed it, held in my hands I could touch any part of him I could have any part of him I could smell the blood under his skin and wanted a taste

He was healed when I lowered myself on top of him, pressed my mouth to his I turned his face to one side and ate down the side of his neck until I felt the pulse under his skin I licked the skin, but it wasn&039;t enough I laid ently into the skin until I could hold the throbbing of him in my mouth I wanted to bite down harder and harder until blood flowed I wanted it Dimly, I knew that Jean-Claude had awakened for the day It was his hunger that I felt, his need But it wasn&039;t his need that hadNathaniel&039;s body It wasn&039;t even mine

I remembered Nathaniel&039;s body, and I&039;d never met him before I knew the taste of him The feel of hiy

I slid off Nathaniel, tried to crawl out of the bed, and fell to my knees I couldn&039;t stand, not yet Richard had said as long as the pack existed, Raina wasn&039;t gone I hadn&039;t understood what hethe bitch fro it

But I knew so that Raina hadn&039;t done Couldn&039;t blame her for this one I kne to heal Nathaniel&039;s body, but I also kne to tear it apart Anything that you can fix, you can break When I held his heart in e, to close that hand, to crush that pulsing, throbbing muscle until blood flowed and his life stopped A e so evil, it scared even me I&039;d have liked to bla told me that this little bit of darkness was all mine Stephen&039;s hand onout loud

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