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The door closed, and like e area was soundproofed, but it wasof that door I could think again, really think I knew that proxis worse, usually proxiht, in the same room was too close

I shook ?"

"We have a first aid kit in the dressing rooms," Byron said He tried to lead ht

I took rip and looked at Nathaniel "Did I hear Jean-Claude tell you not to touch me?"

He nodded "He&039;s not sure ill happen right now" His face was very soleain, and I didn&039;t knohy

"Have Iblood," Byron said, and hedown my hand to drop, drop onto the white floor The hallas so white and so empty that the spot of criain "So"

"You&039;ve lost more blood than you realize," Byron said

"Anita," Nathaniel said, and it seeer than it should have forrooms We&039;ll take care of you"

I nodded and raised h It would help slow the blood loss The sleeve of my jacket was a bloodywas terribly wrong, and I didn&039;t knohat it was I knew thata new triumvirate with Damian and Nathaniel was probably the cause, but that only toldWhy didn&039;t , that reat deal

Byron touched h the door that Nathaniel opened for us As I walked past Nathaniel, I felt so open between us, as if there were a door in the middle of our bodies A door that wanted to close around us, to press us tight together

Byron literally put his body in front of rowled at him, and Nathaniel echoedwhat the Master of the City ordered ot a whiff not of fear but so close to it "Do you rerabbed ers into it

"That hurts," I said, and I turned on hiry

"But you can think now, can&039;t you?"

Thatrooms beyond Byron followed, a hand still on uide

"What&039;s happening to us?" I asked

"It looks like you&039;ve all hit a neer plateau," Byron said, as he led hted tables scattered with makeup and bits of costume

"Which means what?" I asked

He stopped in front of a big gray metal cabinet that was at the far end of the room "Which means, answer my question Do you remember what the kiss felt like in the other room?" He opened the cabinet, and it sees that people ht need On the top shelf, so he had to stand on tiptoe, was a first aid kit, a big one

"It was like he drankit out loud was too poetic for ht he&039;d fed the ardeur during sex with , he&039;s been holding back"

Byron tried to find enough clean space on the nearby tables to open the ave up and asked Nathaniel to hold it, while he ru back, luv, trust me on that"

"How do you know?" I asked

He gave ray eyes "Jean-Claude liked London once, he liked it a very great deal, and I liked that he liked it" There was so almost unfriendly in the way he finished that sentence

"Why do I feel like apologizing?" I asked

"Just hold your ars, but still wasn&039;t satisfied "Nothing to apologize for, duckie Except for Asher, Jean-Claude prefers his entler persuasion, always did Ah, here it is" He held up an unopened package of gauze pads He s the situation "Now, let Uncle Byron see to the big, bad boo-boo"

I gave him a look that wasn&039;t entirely friendly "I&039;ed, can the baby talk"

He shrugged "Whatever you say, lover"

I started to correct him, but Byron used pet names, mostly the same pet names, for everybody If I took it too personally, it would be iht I let it go

"Why doesn&039;t he want me to touch Nathaniel?"

Byron looked atslow "Because, luv, if Jean-Claude&039;s kiss is suddenly more, then maybe yours will be, too The servant rises in poith hisin his hands, then shook his head, looked is when I ask for them," he said to Nathaniel

Nathaniel nodded, but he was looking atinto those lavender eyes

Byron snapped his fingers in the air between our faces It ht now Dangerous is what it would be Now take off your jacket"

I did what he asked, and it hurt to get the sleeve off, but it wasn&039;t until I sarist that I gasped, and Nathaniel said, "Oh, shit"

Most vas This wasn&039;t It was as if, even once his fangs sank home he&039;d used his other teeth to bite down, so that it looked ry aniin a nice steady line The moment I saw it, I was dizzy, and it hurt like hell Why does it always hurt so much more when you see the blood?

"You are lucky you&039;re still standing," Byron said He hooked a chair with one naked foot, and said, "Sit"

I sat Because truthfully, I was a little shaken It was a bad enough wound that I should have noticed it sooner Really noticed it A fraction of an inch better, or worse, or just deeper, and I could have bled nearly to death before I noticed it

"Why didn&039;t I notice sooner?"

"I&039;ve seen bespelled humans bleed to death from tiny wounds, a smile on their face all the way to the end, duckie" He ripped open the sterile gauze pads "Put this on it, and press hard You&039;ve lost enough blood for one night, let&039;s see if we can save the rest" When he was serious, the nicknames vanished He&039;d only been in town a feeeks, and already I knew that when the duckies, luvs, and crus were bad

"What can I do to help?" Nathaniel asked

"Find auze pads That&039;s the only pack in here, and she&039;s going to need more"

Nathaniel put the first aid kit on a chair that he moved close to Byron, then he went for the door Apparently he knehere they kept the extra gauze "How bad do you guys get cut up here?"

"Usually scratches," he said, "though you&039;d be surprised the number of women that try to bite"

I looked at hirinned "Now, duckie, ould I lie?"

One second I was looking at Byron and thinking nothing really My wrist hurt, and I wondered why I hadn&039;t noticed it sooner, and then suddenly I ondering if he was naked under the robe, and I was hoping he was

I closedand everything I had between h "I a h I cannot feed and control hiive me what I need, ma petite Please, please, do not deny hter these women He will see himself humiliated by them Please, ma petite, hear me, and know that I speak only truth Help li at the lust that Jean-Claude had fed hihting, fighting to break free

"Damn you, Jean-Claude," I whispered

Byron touched my arm "Don&039;t faint on ray ones were so close to mine He was so close I don&039;t knohat showed in o of me like I&039;d burned him His eyes were a little wide, and his voice was breathy when he said, "I don&039;t like the look in your eyes It doesn&039;t look much like you"

I leaned into hi forward, and he keptback, so that I slipped out of the chair, and he ended up on the floor for a second, before he rolled to his feet I was left kneeling on the floor, but I had a handful of his robe The cloth stretched away fro under it, but not much It was lust, but it was more than that It was lust, as if sex were food I&039;d thought the ardeur was the worst of it, but this felt less, worse Except for that first ti soht it off This was different It wouldn&039;t have mattered This was need so raw that it just wouldn&039;t have h my head, "Anita, help me!" He&039;d used h me like a knife

Some of that desperation fell into my voice "I&039;m sorry, Byron, but Jean-Claude is about to lose control of Priets to be the food?" he asked, and there was that edge of fear to him

I had to close my eyes and take a deep breath "There&039;s no time"

"I won&039;t let you tear my throat out, just because the master has bitten off more than he can tame"

I shook my head, eyes still closed "Don&039;t be afraid, Byron, please, that fuels the beast I&039; the ardeur" I opened my eyes and stared up at him He still stood as far away as the stretched fabric of the black robe could take hirohen I said, "But it&039;s a limited time offer Either come across, or food won&039;t be a euphemism"

A funny look crossed his face "Do you ?"

If I&039;d had time, it would have been funny "Yes"

"Oh, duckie, why didn&039;t you say so?" He ca it fall away He earing only the tiniest of black thongs, with his pale, pale body exposed everywhere else The ed to acquire in less than a month worked under his skin as he dropped to his knees in front of ets to be on top?" he asked with a smile

I put my hands on his bare shoulders, and the moment I touched his skin, the smile faded "I do," I said, and pushed hiainst the floor withhi I&039;d ripped off my own body had been underwear There was no foreplay, there was no time for it, no need for it Everywhere I touched him, I could feed a little Bare skin was all I needed now, but it was an incoh I pressed our ain I could feed, but it wasn&039;t enough I groundI let go with one wrist, and his hand found the side of the thong first

"Snap away," he said, in a voice that was deeper, more real than his usual

I tore the cloth away, and he was suddenly naked against ainst me, and he arm Warm with the blood he&039;d taken froainst me made me cry out

Nathaniel said, "Anita?" He caet and stayed where I could see him "It&039;s like the ardeur, but worse, auze packets

I wanted to say I&039; civilized, but Byron moved his hips underneath ht my attention back to the man underneathdown into theht they were soft He spent soto the body he&039;d been given, but now suddenly out of his eyes I saw just howwith

"Fuck me," he said, and it came out softer the second time, "fuck me, fuck me" He whispered it over and over, softer and softer, until his breath itself whispered, "Fuck me"

I leaned over him, pressed my mouth to his, and it was as if I could feel his soul down the long tunnel of his body, as if I kne to reach in and snatch it away I knew in that instant that I could feed on everything that Byron was I could feed on that divine or infernal spark that made him vampire I could eat him up, completely and utterly, and leave only the lovely corpse behind

I cae to do it was aler wanted it all All of him It couldn&039;t have all of him It couldn&039;t I wouldn&039;t do that to him I wouldn&039;t do that to anyone For the first time I understood just what they meant by a fate worse than death, or rather that sex wasn&039;t it

If I could feed the ardeur, then , I had trouble I didn&039;t know Byron&039;s body I tried to simply rock back onto him, slide him inside o in I finally yelled my frustration, and he said, "Let me have my hand, lover, and I&039;ll help"

A hand appeared between us, and it actually took me a moment to realize it was Nathaniel He had a condom in his hand "We don&039;t knohere he&039;s been"

I growled at hi from a vampire or lycanthrope is if one of us has fucked so, then fucks you after You want to take that chance?"

"Letyou want"

I let go of his wrists, and he h so he could open the foil packet and slip it on Then he slid hiainst hs and lifted me at the same time that he shifted his own hips He slid inside me, in one smooth movement that threw my head back and made him yell, "Oh, yes!"

When I looked back at hiray eyes had lost focus, his lips were half-parted I wanted to cover his mouth with ain I finally realized it wasn&039;t the ardeur ere fighting, not entirely So worse I&039;d thought the worst would be sex with strangers, but I rong Byron wasn&039;t my friend yet, I didn&039;t make friends that quickly, but he wasn&039;t a bad man I liked him, with his "duckie" and "luvs" I liked that he had told me the first time we&039;d met, that no, he wasn&039;t that Byron, and that actually Lord Byron wasn&039;t one of us, that had just been a rumor spread by people that wanted an excuse to burn hih if he&039;d known the great poet was going to get hie of thirty, he&039;d have offered

I liked Byron He didn&039;t deserve to die There was an angry echo in ht it was Primo, and then kneasn&039;t He didn&039;t have the kind of power it took to interfere fro and Jean-Claude&039;s I asked o if I sucked Byron&039;s life away? I threw the question out to Jean-Claude I let him see that darkest of desires in er," he said

"Who is it?"

"She is the Dragon" He spoke in ency there

"She made Primo," I said, and it was only then that I realized I wasn&039;t talking out loud

"She&039;s using him as a conduit for her oer"

"Hoe stop it?"