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Yet, Lord, was it good

His stroke brought her closer to ultiainst a new zone of her flesh, traveling, discovering, eliciting ever greater abandon She buried herself against him, writhed, arched, felt the trail of touch and liquid fire buainst her belly She felt like a ship caught in a stor that it left no rooht or ers, a bastion of sinew that aroused with each breath He hs Sounds escaped her, words, criesthe storh she could not crawl into his flesh, he at last rose above her, and even as he thrust into her, she felt as if the rooh her with a force that seemed to stop the world She soared on clouds of ethereal shadows, felt the power of his ht becaht Blues of a dark, er that becaain, sensations of eroticisain Fire and light, ash and shadows; cinders that sparked anew, again and again, to a blaze

She cas, and then she was exhausted, so replete, and so glad to lie against him And still, the darkness, just the feel of hi her drea at the foot of her bed She slept, secure, ecstatic, warmed

Safe

Safe The world mocked her as she fell into the depths of her sleep

He reer, by far, than a passerby on the street

Strange

Was she a total fool?

Totally

Beguiled

She ith a pounding headache, groaning aloud, and bene, and after-dinner drinks She glanced instantly to the side of her bed

No one

For a brief ht have enjoyed an alcoholic dream of bizarrely erotic proportions She realized then that she was naked, and that the fantasy costulance at the bedside clock told her that it was nearly three in the afternoon She could hear ht, waiting patiently to get in

That thought sent her flying out of bed, headache or no If he had left, her door should be unlocked

Yet, when she reached it, she found that it was securely bolted

She stepped back, frowning

How the hell had he ined it all?

Lord, no, she couldn’t have! There had to be an explanation He had gotten someone to come, and lock the door from the outside Surely

She stared at the door, and her head pounded anew She walked into the bathroom and quickly downed two Motrin She turned the water on in the shower, hot and hard, and stood beneath it

She leaned against the tile, just letting the water wash over her, praying that the Motrin would kick in, and her headache would fade

She dressed quickly, she’d give her eyeteeth for coffee She paused by her co by She quickly clicked in

There was an aent and at the last, a quick note from the cop in New Orleans who had written the book "I’d love to talk to you" He left an address and a phone number

It was late in Italy; still early in the states She E- him for his response

Armed with both books, she headed upstairs for coffee and soain, and they greeted her pleasantly She looked around for Ragnor, but as yet, he hadn’t put in an appearance

She opened her book and read about a case that had occurred in an Old West old rush had been on A saloon girl had taken sick after a h town She’d died; the town laan to appear to her old customers in their dreams Three an to appear in dreaical fellow, but he had still ordered his deputies out by day; the corpses of the "spirits" were exhumed, and their heads severed before they were burned to ash Afterwards, there were nosicknesses

She flipped to a case of serial killings in the Midwest in the late fifties The killer?a white male, thirty years old, ht himself a vampire His victiained access through the sliding glass doors of victiround floor apartments surrounded by shrubbery

He wrote letters to the police, warning that "voices" had told him that he was a descendant of Vlad Dracul, and that he was forced to drink blood to survive The police actually warned woarlic, wear large crosses, and keep vials of holy water at hand