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"I thought I could bring you out here, talk to you, comfort you," he said, his voice strained He leaned closer "But all I can think of is being inside of you" He kissedinside of you," he whispered against o," I said hurriedly, because I wanted the sarabbed hthouse

I’d never look at it the saly long and sensually painful at the same time We didn’t speak--not ords, anyway Eli read every sexual thought I had, and I knew it, so I letI’d think about hoanted to run ht actually was co I edged as close to him as my seat belt would allow, and nuzzled his neck, drew his earlobe into h, cupped his crotch Slowly, I unfastened the buttons of his jeans and eased roan and my nahs I was so turned on that I didn’t think either of us would make it back to Inksomnia We did--barely

We parked, and Eli reached over, clickedtogether as we tasted, kissed, panted Stu out of the Jeep, we somehow made it to the door; somebody--I can’t remember whether it was Eli or ainst the wall His kiss was fierce, desperate, and we didn’t linger there He carried ht into my bedroom With a loud slam he kicked the door shut He crossed the roo at each other until every stitch of clothing lay on the floor Our kisses were no longer gentle; they were frantic, and we each struggled for control Eli touched ers into the flesh of my hips as he pulled th deep inside of asped with pleasure as the sensation of Eli filling h me His hands left ons on hs

In the next second, he flippedon his forearan to move inside of me, he lowered his head and pressed his s around him and moved with him; his mouth left mine as he buried his face in asth I cried out Eli’s naht fired behindmine, and it went on and on as our bodies writhed in pleasure The residue of orgasan to retract, slowly, and as it did, Eli’s mouth moved to my lips He kissed ently; then he pulled back just enough that our gazes locked

"Mine," he whispered against ain "You are mine"

In the shadows I stared into the eyes of a vaer "No, you’re mine"

Over the next few days I felt rejuvenated Where I’d felt catatonic before, now I felt ready to kick some ass It wasn’t so ruesoh, it wasn’t h I have to ad But even that wasn’t it It was the deep responsibility I felt for thatwarehouse, Zac the almost htered just so a couple of satanic undead creatures could revitalize their powers It pissed me off Even deeper was a responsibility to end it To destroy the , not sit around on my ass and wait

Every day that passed, I missed my brother even , like I’d lost a body part It hurt My chest actually, physically hurt--especially knohere he hat he was doing, and what he was fast beco Every time I’d look in his room, my body went numb Seth was the only blood family I had left I wanted my baby brother back, daainst killing me, and the threat that was always present, I wanted hi who can’t make it in life without a man, but damn We’d clicked I’d felt it And I wanted it I wanted him And he wanted me--he made no effort to hide it I didn’t care that he was undead, and I didn’t care that he’d outliveinit on purpose to keep ht into my head He literally told ame if he wasn’t preoccupied byI’ve never experienced somy hands off a man in the whole of my life Worse than that, I had to pretend that it didn’t bother me so much, that I didn’t care Goddaood And he affected uy freely dug intomy distance those few days, and Eli actually allowed it I’d made it perfectly clear that we needed to focus on this ht up in a lust affair Eli hadof his papa; he’d stayed away, and Phin continued to be hts at the apart at the House of Dupré, , I was a workaholic, and hell yeah, I’d train my ass off if it helped take down the Arcoses I’d dreahts before; I’d kept thehly intense, erotic, at tiht they ca of: Eli The first night, after the warehouse, I found myself back at the Panic Room, in one of the back rooms, completely naked,I’d never been into I liked control too uess He was there--always the sa s in ue, how many different positions he wanted to takeI wanted to break free and escape the panic rooms, and put as much distance between us as possible; I wanted hiuy ever physically touched ht I found myself alone at an amuseuess He pursuedI ducked into the house ofme When I looked in all the mirrors, I saw us, naked and entwined I ran to escape, and ran so hard I woke up with chest pain Weird Both very weird I’d never seen this guy in my life, and all I knew of him was that he was one horny little toad who had soot ready as usual I had only one client, and then I’d be heading over to the Duprés’--along with uards I don’t knohy, but I felt safe with them I know it sounds crazy, but I firmly believed the Duprés were a much different breed of undead thanany other undead out there Besides, Estelle had given me a canister filled with my special brew

No sooner did I pull onsleeve, and white ripped Inkso at the back entrancerooed downstairs to see who it was When I opened the door I was surprised--and repulsed--to see soain

"Well, Ms Poe," Detective Claude Murray said His eyes regarded me a little too closely for corown-up, I see"

I inspected him "And I see you’re still packed into that suit like a sardine"

He grinned--looked like he still chewed tobacco--and shook his head "Grown-up but still a slanced at his watch "You need to take a little trip down to the station for soht pants"

"Why?" Phin said fro off hi but I knew he could rip Claude’s arnored Phin and stared hard at h "If you think I’e, Murray" I grabbed ?" I asked, hookingaveback to bite you in that little ass of yours, Poe," he said quietly "Your old boyfriend Kelter Phillips just turned up at the city aze raked over my body, and I literally felt like I needed a bath "And according to his girlfriend, you were the last to see him alive"

Part 9

QUICKENING

I was pretty sure that perv Murray noticed the shock on my face about Kelter, and was even surer he took pleasure in delivering the information Not that there was any love lost--not by any means It’s always a shock when so like Kelter I was actually surprised he’d lived as long as he had

On the way to the police station I gave Phin the skinny on round with Detective Claude Murray I stared at a traffic light throughfor h I was just a kid, I could tell he was a freak I’ for"