Even Vampires Get the Blues (16 page)

I've never met anyone like you before
, Paen thought. I don't think he intended me to hear him, but I grinned anyway as I did a sinuous little dance in the sunshine while slowly removing my bra.

Good. This'll be new territory for us both. Kind of puts us on equal footing.

“Is equal footing that important to you?” he asked, taking an aborted step forward, stopping because his toes hit the pool of sunlight that surrounded me.

“You hack your way through the foliage and I'll
meet you at the bed,” I told him, giving in to the energy that flowed through me from the sunlight. I'm not very adept at dancing, or singing for that matter, but put me in the sun and I feel an indescribable rhythm, kind of like those solar-powered, highly annoying desk toys that weave and bob endlessly until you throw them against the wall or dump them in a dark closet.

“You're going to dance now?” Paen asked, having fought his way through the plants to the bedside. He was watching with interest as I slipped one side of my bra down in a sunny parody of a striptease. “Not that I mind. You're very graceful. And I enjoy looking at your breasts. As well as the rest of you.”

I did a few slow-motion hip moves as I shimmied out of my bra, turning to slide my hands down my breasts, along my hips, to the lace bits of my underwear. “I don't normally do this in front of people, but the sunshine makes it hard for me to stand still.”

“Take your time. I'm enjoying the show.”

I smiled coyly over my shoulder at him and skinnied my way out of my undies, tossing them over my head like they were a bridal bouquet.

“Do I get to keep them?” Paen asked when I turned around. He held my underwear in one hand.

“If you really want, you can. Or you can keep me, instead,” I said, slinking my way over to him.

“Hmm.” His thumb rubbed over the satin of the underwear. “They're warm, silky, and very feminine.”

I smiled as he tossed them aside and pulled me up against his chest. His body was hard and unyielding as I rubbed myself against him, my soft, smooshy parts very different from his solid, flat lines.

“But you're warmer, silkier, and infinitely more feminine. I choose you instead.”

“Sounds good to me. Oh, wait . . .”

I slipped away from him to dig a packet out from under my pillow. “Now or later?” I asked, holding it up.

“Might as well be now. I don't think I'll be able to stop once I get started,” he answered.

I had to remember for a moment how to breathe at the promise that showed in his eyes, but got the condom on him in record time, and flung myself against him to enjoy the tactile experience of his flesh against mine. “Oooh! Man alive, it's going to be all over for me if you're going to do that!” My legs went boneless as he nipped the top of my ear with his sharp canines.

“There's not a large enough supply of blood for me to drink from this spot,” he murmured, his tongue licking away the sting.

I almost came right then and there.

“Dear god in heaven, don't do that!” I yelled, jumping backward, the backs of my knees hitting the bed so that I went sprawling across it.

“Enough earplay?” he asked, looking down at me.

My body quivered. All of it, every last single inch of it, quivered and twitched and tingled at the look in his bright eyes, so light they all but burned my flesh. “I don't think I can take any more eargasms right now. I really want to experience the regular kind, if you don't mind.”

“Very well. Perhaps you would prefer this, then,” he said, kneeling next to the bed, spreading my legs so he was positioned between them.

“Oh, man,” I said on a half gasp as he rubbed his cheeks on my inner thighs. One minute I was me, Sam, a half-elf private detective with a secret addiction to greasy hamburgers, and the next I was a shining orb of rapture, as bright as Paen's eyes, my whole body attuned to every move his mouth made against me. He nibbled, he touched, he probed, his tongue swirled a tango of delight against sensitive parts that suddenly roared to life with a demand to be taken to heaven and back. Without conscious thought, I opened my mind to Paen and shared it with him, shared the ecstasy and euphoria and glory that was his mouth on my tingling parts. He adjusted his angle of attack, and sent me flying . . . right out of my body.

“Dammit, no! NO! NOT NOW! Aaaaaaaaargh!” I all but sobbed as my conscious being parted with my body, and started drifting around the bedroom, at the mercy of the dancing motes of light. “God damn it! DAMN DAMN DAMN!”
Paen, help me!

The scene below me was arousing, enticing, sexy as hell . . . and I wasn't there to experience the joy I knew Paen was bringing to my body.

Why is this happening? Why isn't it different with you? Why?
I wailed.

Come back to me, Sam. Share this with me. Feel what I feel.

Before the words finished rolling around my head I was back in my body, just in time for the glorious Technicolor orgasm that swept over me. I screamed his name as he slid up my body, the pleasure he felt as his teeth sank deep into my breast almost as great as the pleasure he'd just given me.
Our minds merged, his exhilaration feeding mine until it spiraled into something more profound than anything I'd ever felt, a feeling that doubled, trebled as he moved against me, thrusting hard into me as he released my breast to bite hard on my shoulder. Pain flared bright for a moment, then dissolved into rhapsody, so mind-numblingly overwhelming that I could do nothing more than clutch his back as his body moved against mine, the sensations of him moving hard and deep inside me joining with the sensations he felt as he both gave and took life.

It was the experience of a lifetime, and one that seared itself onto my soul as he took me to another orgasm, one that triggered his own, the echoes of both rolling around our joined minds, the light from the being we made together filling every corner of darkness within him, bursting out until we
were
the light.

That was . . . dear god, are you still breathing? . . . that was the most amazing thing I've ever felt. It defies description. It was so astounding, I want to dance and sing and cry with the beauty of it. Paen—you're absolutely amazing. You pulled me back when I had left! Twice! No one has ever done that even once! I think I may faint. Or do a backflip. I can't decide which.

Paen lifted his head from where it had been nestled against my neck, his back covered in a sheen of sweat, his dark curls tousled, his eyes fading from brilliant, blinding silver to a rich grey. “I told you so,” was all he said, a smile curling his lips.

I laughed as he kissed me, a kiss so tender it brought tears to my eyes.

“Smugness ill becomes you,” I said as he rolled off
me to lie next to me on the bed. He peeled off the condom and tossed it into the elephant-foot trash can before collapsing, exhausted. “Besides, I know you felt the same thing I did, so don't be pretending it was just another day at the office. Ow. Are you OK?”

Paen looked down at himself as I stroked a hand down his chest. The whole front of his torso, from groin to collarbone, was bright red.

“You look like you're sunburned or something. Does it hurt?”

He touched a red spot on his stomach, looked at his hand for a moment, then narrowed his eyes as he reached out and cupped one of my breasts.

“Um,” I said, a little ripple of happiness sweeping through me.

He pulled his hand back and showed it to me. His palm was beet red. “It's you.”

“Me?” I asked, looking at my breast. “I'm turning you red?”

“You're giving me a sunburn. I can feel the sunlight in you when I touch you.”

“Well, how do you like that? I didn't do this to you before. It must be because I got all charged up in the sun.” I pressed my hand for a couple of seconds to a non-burned spot on his side. When I removed my hand, a faint pinkish image of my palm remained. “Whoops. Sorry about that. Does it hurt?”

“No,” Paen said, lying back, his eyes closed. I could feel him concentrating, focusing his mind. As I watched, the redness washed away on his chest and stomach, as if someone was wiping it off. Only his penis remained startlingly red as it rested against his thigh.

“Wow, it even went through the condom. You can heal yourself, too, huh? Not going to do that as well?” I asked, looking at it.

It twitched. “No. Stop looking at it.”

“Why?” I couldn't stop myself. It was fascinating how just looking made it start to stiffen up again.

“Because I don't have the energy to make love to you again right now. Not if you want me to be of any other practical use to you today.”

I smiled at his penis and gave it a quick pat that I hoped wouldn't scorch it any further, and rolled onto my side so I was lying close to Paen, but not actually touching. “That's OK, I'm still recovering as well. That was the most amazing, most sensual, most . . .
profound
experience of my life. I had no idea it was possible to take intimacy past the physical level and into the spiritual. I feel as if I'm seeing you for the first time, Paen. And I'll always be grateful to you for making my first
real
time so absolutely, mind-numbingly wondrous. Is sex always like that?”

“No,” he said abruptly, changing the subject. “I wish to meet Owen Race. Get dressed and let's go see him.”

I sighed. “So much for pillow talk, eh?”

“So, about this whole Beloved business—I'm a bit confused. What exactly is she other than someone who gets your soul out of hock?”

“It's not important.”

Paen sounded downright grumpy. He looked even grumpier, having insisted on driving to my office since I refused to take him out to meet Owen without making sure it wasn't going to cause problems. Now we were smack-dab in the afternoon commute traffic, stuck in an impossibly slow line of cars that inched its way past a three-car accident that managed to block traffic in both directions.

“Look, it's going to take at least half an hour to get to the office—we can sit here in silence, fuming about the traffic, or we can chat. I vote chat.”

Paen looked like he wanted to argue, but evidently he realized the truth of what I said, because he relaxed his death grip on the steering wheel and said, “I don't mind talking, but there are many other subjects of conversation other than Beloveds.”

“Yeah, but none that you try to avoid so hard.”

He shot me a look. “You're not going to let this go, are you?”

“Nope.” I smiled. “I'm known for my persistence. It's why Jake thought I'd be a good private investigator. So you might as well give in to the inevitable and tell me what I want to know.”

“You're the most stubborn woman of my acquaintance.”

“I know. It's one of my charms. About the Beloved?”

He sighed and gave in. “A Beloved is more than just a soul-saver. She becomes a Dark One's life, the sole focus of his attention.” He gave a little disgusted snort. “In other words, he becomes a shallow parody of what he used to be.”

“I don't think that's very fair of you to say. I personally think it's really romantic that a man would love a woman so much that he'd devote his life to her.”

“That's because you're a woman,” Paen said, scowling in the side mirror at a bike messenger who smacked the side of the car as he passed. “The relationship between Dark One and Beloved is totally one-sided; she redeems his soul, binding it to her for eternity. There's no reciprocal binding, just him bound to her. If she dies, he fades away to nothing, but a Beloved can live on forever without her Dark One.”

“I find it hard to believe that anyone who goes to the trouble of fetching a soul for someone else wouldn't feel some sort of affection for that person. So I'm sure it's not quite as one-sided as you make out.”

“You don't know anything about it,” he said with
a touch of churlishness that I found oddly endearing. I was beginning to suspect that Paen was arguing to convince himself rather than me.

“No, I don't. Why don't you tell me more about it?”

He shot me a wary look. “Why do you want to know about Beloveds?”

“Oh, I don't know. Partly curiosity. Partly because I like you and I'm interested in your history, and what makes you tick.”

His eyes lost their guarded appearance.

“That, and I think there's probably a good chance I'm your Beloved, so I'd like to know what the job entails.”

“I knew it! I knew Finn would fill your head with all sorts of idiotic ideas! You are not my Beloved!”

I laughed at the outraged expression on his handsome face. “Prove it.”

“What?” We moved forward a few feet. Ahead of us, at the next intersection, a bevy of police cars and aid units were clustered, sorting out the victims and damaged vehicles, hauling away both to their respective destinations. One policeman was directing traffic around a tow truck, up onto the sidewalk, and down onto the street a few feet past.

“Prove to me that I'm not your Beloved.”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?” he asked, giving me another annoyed look.

I leaned to the side and kissed him. His eyes flashed quicksilver at the touch. “Sorry, I just couldn't resist. You're very kissable, you know. It makes my stomach do all sorts of things whenever I give in to temptation.”

His gorgeous eyes narrowed at me. “You're trying
to use your female wiles on me to make me tell you what you want to know, aren't you?”

“Are you kidding? You knew the same wouldn't work on me—there's no way I believe I could sway you with sex.”

“That's good, because I couldn't be swayed,” he said, looking forward as someone four cars ahead was waved through the intersection. “That doesn't mean you can't kiss me, though.”

I smiled and sat back, startling him into giving me a look from the corner of his eye. “As for how you can prove to us both that I'm not your Beloved . . . is there a test or something? Or is a woman, pow, just born your Beloved?”

“There are steps that must be gone through to culminate in a Joining,” Paen answered grudgingly after a few moments of pregnant silence.

“Finn said something about that. This Joining thing is what gets you back your soul?”

He nodded.

“Gotcha. What are the steps?”

We moved forward another car length. Outside the car, the hum of idling traffic made a dull background to the excited chatter of bystanders watching from behind the yellow accident tape. “The first step is the marking.”

“Right. Finn said that could be a psychic thing?”

“The second step,” Paen said, ignoring my comment, “is protection from afar.”

“Hmm.” I tapped my chin. “That sounds very chivalrous. Kind of like you were watching out for someone when she needed you?”

“Possibly,” he allowed.

“So I'm two for two, then.”

He turned to give me a look that by rights should have sent me screaming. I just wanted to kiss him again, instead. “How do you reckon that?”

“You pulled me back when Pilar was threatening me while I was astralling the first time. That's protection from afar.”

“Of a sort, and it was purely unintentional.”

I laughed. “Don't sound so grumpy about it. You did pull me out of a bad situation, and I'm grateful for it. What's the third step?”

“The first exchange. And before you ask, that means an exchange of body fluids.”

“Ew,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “Oh, wait. Does French kissing qualify as an exchange?”

“Yes,” he said, his jaw tight.

“Three down, how many left?”

“There are seven steps altogether, and those first three are just coincidences, no more.”

“Fourth?” I asked, watching as an aid car pulled out with its sirens and lights screaming a warning.

“Fourth is the Dark One giving the Beloved the means to destroy him.”

“Hmm,” I said, tapping my chin again as I eyed him. “Like giving her a stake or something?”

He didn't answer, just tightened his jaw even more.

“Or could it be something as simple as telling her enough information about him that she could use it to bring about his destruction if she so desired?”

“You can't destroy me,” he said, not answering the question.

“Wanna bet? I'm willing to wager that if I don't
find that statue and your mom loses her soul, you'd be pretty destroyed.”

He didn't say anything to that, either.

“Paen—” I leaned over until he made eye contact. “I will find it, don't worry. I'm not going to let your mom lose her soul.”

He nodded abruptly.

“This is like pulling teeth, so we might as well get the worst over with. What are the fifth and sixth steps?” I asked as I resumed my seat.

“A second exchange, and help in overcoming his darker self.”

“Hmm. Second body fluid exchange, check. But overcoming your darker self . . . hmmm.”

“As you now see, you have accomplished some of the steps, but not all of them,” he said, moving forward another car space.

I don't know about that—I'm thinking that overcoming your darker self can mean a lot of things.

Such as?

Well, admitting someone into a previously-held-private area of your life.

I could feel him frown as he thought about that.
In what way do you think I've allowed you further than any other woman I've had sex with?

How many of them did you mind-talk with?

He withdrew—not physically, but mentally—but before he did I got a sense of shock as he realized the truth.

“So that's five and six done. One's left, right? What's that?”

Deep within him, emotions warred so strongly I
felt them even with a few feet between us. “The seventh step is an exchange of blood.”

“Blood, huh? I'm not into that, but I suppose if it doesn't have to be a bloodfest, I could tolerate it. Let's do it.”

He gave me a look like I'd just suggested he strip naked and dance on the roof of the car. “You can't be serious.”

“Sure I am. If it will get you back your soul, then it would be worth it to me to put up with a little blood.”

“You have no idea what you're saying,” he sputtered.

“In fact, I do. But according to you, I'm not your Beloved, so it shouldn't matter. I think. What happens if we do the seventh step and I'm not your Beloved?”

“Nothing happens, but you aren't—” he started to say.

I took his hand and pulled off my jacket the Celtic cross brooch my mother had given me for Easter. Before waiting for him to protest, I jabbed the tip of his finger with the pin, taking the end of his finger into my mouth to suck off the bead of blood that appeared there.

“Sam, no!” he yelled as I wrinkled my nose at the coppery taste of blood.

“Seventh step,” I said, putting my thumb over the spot on his finger to stop the bleeding. I squinted at him, surprised to see that nothing looked different about him. “Um. Does it take a while for your soul to come back?”

“It would be instantaneous if you were my Beloved,” he said, pulling his hand back.

“Oh. Rats.”

“Rats?” he asked, looking a bit surprised. I didn't blame him—I felt a bit surprised by my disappointment that I hadn't turned out to be his Beloved after all.

“Yeah. I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I really thought I could.”

The silver light in his eyes narrowed. “You want to become my Beloved?”

“No, not really.” Pain flashed over his face so quickly I wasn't sure if I really saw it or was projecting. “That is, I want to help you. I like you, Paen. I like you a lot. I know you pooh-pooh any sort of emotional attachment in your lovers, but some level of it is important to me. I care about you. And I'd like for you to have a soul. So in that sense, yes, I was willing to be your Beloved in order to do that. But if you're asking if I'm madly in love with you . . .” I bit my lip.

“Well?” he asked, trying not to look interested but failing badly. Evidently he realized that as well because he gave up the pretence. “Are you madly in love with me?”

“I am not head over heels in love with you, no,” I said carefully, honesty being one of my rules. I avoided thinking about the fact that chances were good I was soon going to be in that state.

“Ah.” Deep within him, for just a second or two, disappointment added to the blackness that threatened to engulf him. “That's good. I'm not in love with you, either. But as for the other . . . er . . . I like you as well.”

“Right. So we're both on the same channel, then.” Ahead of us, the cop waved the car in front and us through the intersection. Paen shifted, a tiny frown pulling his eyebrows together.

“Exactly.”

“And I'm not your Beloved.”

He was silent for a second longer than I thought he would be. “That's correct.”

“Sorry about stabbing your finger.”

He made a little gesture waving it away. “It's nothing.”

Silence filled the car as we made our way down Princes Street and turned onto the street where my office was located. I directed him to the loading zone spot along the side that Mila had told us we could use.

“You sit tight and I'll go unlock the side door,” I said, pointing to the unmarked door along the side of the building. “It's faster than going in the front way, and if you run, you shouldn't get too much more sun.”

“Thank you,” he said, his eyes brightening as I caressed his cheek.

“You're still a bit sunburned,” I said, rubbing my thumb on his cheekbone.

“It was worth it,” he said with a hint of a grin, and something within me burst into glorious existence.

“Yes, it was.” I got out of the car before he noticed that I was being flooded with strong emotion.

“You are
not
falling in love with him, so stop thinking you are,” I lectured myself sternly as I marched over to the door and unlocked it. I waved at Paen, holding the door open as he jumped out of his
car and bolted toward me. “He's a vampire. You can't save him. He doesn't believe in love. He's totally wrong for you, totally—
ack
!”