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"Say it! Be thou"

I wanted it to stop I wanted the pain to stop "Be thou bound to my service!" I screamed "There! Happy?"

His face went pale, but his eyes burned brighter His fingers squeezed tighter "Again!" He shook ain, just to be sure, as if he could rattle it out of ain!"

"Be thou bound toitself out of me, the words like knives inMy skin was burning where he touchedunder his hands

"Again!" David shouted "Say it again!"

Three times the charm Three times would bind him to me for the rest ofwhat I did not want to do

I re my hand where it touched the door of the house

I choked on tears of rage and pain and croaked out, "Nice try, asshole No way"

He froze, staring atincredibly vulnerable in his face-a kind of ashen despair It was instantly gone

The pain vanished just as instantly-bruising, no broken bones, no burns Illusion

He hadn&039;t even left a entle on me, and the only heat there was skin on skin Human heat

"Say it," he whispered "Please Just end this, and say it Please don&039;t make me watch it rot you inside I can&039;t stand that"

I sank down on the bed and cradled my head "Why the hell do you want to do this for me?"

He went down on his knees on the carpet next to me, started to touch me and then stopped as if he didn&039;t trust himself "It&039;s the Mark Can&039;t you feel it? It&039;s seeping into your thoughts, your feelings Soon you won&039;t want to be free of it It&039;s got to be now, or you&039;re lost"

He was right, of course That&039;s where the anger was frorowing, developing, takingfor the ride I could feel it tapped into me now Its poas at least partlyback unless I was ready to give up my soul with it

When I looked up ere at eye level, close as lovers I put my hand on his cheek and said, "I swear to the one true God, David, you will never take this Mark So give it up Just go away Let me have a little peace, while I still can"

It hurt, that moment It was a wire stretched between the two of us, buried deep in our hearts, pulling and singing with tension

I broke it I got to ht ?"

"To take a shower," I said "I stink like a cattle truck Don&039;t worry, I don&039;t think the Mark is going to wash off and spoil your chance to be a martyr"

I walked calmly to the bathroom, shut the door, and locked it All the normal bathroom hotel amenities, like a coffeemaker and a hair dryer, complimentary shampoo and lotionLife looked so normal in here, preciously, wonderfully normal

I sat down on the closed toilet seat and stared at the spacious bathtub for a while I was too tired to think, but luckily there was no need for it; I stripped off my filthy clothes and piled them in an untidy ot in while it was stingingly cold As I started to cry, I felt the De lazily, like a bully waking up frowater pound ish with dirt, but even when it ran clear, I felt far fro h By the time I rinsed for the third ti to live, I discovered Even though turning down David&039;s offer had effectively signedleft If Lewis cah, fine If notthere were options There had to be I could read, research-find out how to fight this thing

Still, it took every ounce of courage I had to getoff

When I ventured out of the steaone His backpack was there, still leaning drunkenly in the corner; his long olive-drab coat was hung neatly in the closet, and his clothes were in a drawer Even his shoes were present and accounted for

As I hunted around for clues, I discovered he&039;d left me a present There was a bikini laid out neatly on the bed Turquoise, teeny, outrageously daring I stared at it, baffled; the hotel gift shop was long-ago closed, and I hadn&039;t rescued any clothes ofaround a thing like that in his pocket

I remembered the beautiful blue jewel of the pool below and the quietly bubbling hot tub Ah Of course The invitation was silent, but it was there I could either accept or crawl in bed and go to sleep

I dropped the towel and put the two tiny pieces on It fit like it had been made for me Which, I knew, it had been It had that aura about it, that warmth of David&039;s skin

I checked it in the rabbed a hotel towel and the key card, and went to find hi in the hot tub Bare-chested, eyes like shihter when he saw me I laid my towel and key on a nearby table He held out his hand to help me down the steps into the hot, silken water I eased in slowly, one inch at a ti, allaway The kindest acid in the world I sank down tocloser to him

"Ground rules," I said "Don&039;t you ever threaten ht, I&039;ll bind you into a bottle of drain cleaner and bury you at the bottoht dig you up in a few thousand years"

His hair was da I liftedto coers weren&039;t interested in his hair, not really; they glided down to the smooth, hot landscape of his skin Down the colu sweep of his pectoralin a slow, pleasurable way

"I&039; to die," I said The tension turned dark "No, it&039;s okay If I can die and take this bastard thing withthe world a favor"

"No" His eyes burned, shi it Somehow, that made the absolute humanity of his body that much more powerful He was human becausebecause he wanted to be huer on his lips "Ground rules, David You don&039;t tell me what I can and can&039;t do If you like me even a little bit, you&039;ll let me have this freedom, okay?"

His hand came out of the water and traced the line of my bare shoulder Where he touched, shivers followed God, such a touchcaraasic, but it felt that way Feltbewitching

I felt him surrender to it, too

"I don&039;t like you," he said "Like has no pulse No fever No fire" His right hand ca upwildly Both olden territory of his body "Like isn&039;t what I feel for you It never was"

Our lips ry He tasted darkly exotic, like a fruit frole Jets froether, closer, until all that was separating us was the practically nonexistent fabric ofunder the bubbles It felt deeply right, utterly wrong Forbidden Natural Perfect

He&039;d been so careful to stay in control, but now I could feel the fire in hi like a nuclear core His hands touched my breasts and traced the hard outlines of ht as well have been iht fire I didn&039;t want to ever stop kissing hiasp of air, he let me do it, and a necessary rush of sanity caed to say, between deep breaths His hands were still onthickened, aching nipples under thin turquoise fabric His eyes weren&039;t anything like hu I&039;d ever iined I couldn&039;t fathouy, no ic he&039;d worked

"Don&039;t worry," he murmured His voice was deeper now, richer, alht next to my ear "They can&039;t see us"

There were jacketed hotel e the businessman wheeled his suitcase past and didn&039;t spare us so er under the stretch turquoise fabric of ainst hi the hard, yielding planes of his chest, the flat ridges of his stoed fabric gathered at his waist

"If they can&039;t see us," I breathed into hissuit"

Before the words left ers but wet skin Nothing to holdpennies, as I stripped off the wet bikini top and tossed it onto the side of the hot tub Before I could reach for the bottos