Lover Unbound

relevant if you hadn't taken me in the first place.'

He dropped his silverware into his food and she braced herself for him to start yelling. Instead, he she quietly, 'Look… you were supposed to come with me, okay?'

'Oh. Really. So I had a 'Jack Me Now' sign pinned on my ass that only you could see?'

He put the plate onto the bedside table, shoving it aside as if he were disgusted by the food.

'I get visions,' he muttered.

'Visions.' When he said nothing further, she thought about the Mr. Eraser trick he'd pulled with her head. If he could do that… Jesus, was he talking about seeing into the future?

Jane swallowed hard. 'These visions, they aren't sugarplum-fairy kind of stuff, are they.'

'No.'

'Shit.'

He stroked his goatee, like he was trying to decide exactly how much to tell her. 'I used to get them all the time, and then they just dried up. I haven't gotten one… well, I had one of Butch a couple of months ago, and because I followed it I saved his life. So when my brothers came into that hospital room and I had a vision of you, I told them to take you. You talk about conscience? If I didn't have one I would have left you there.'

She thought back to him getting aggressive with his nearest and dearest on her behalf. And the fact that even when he'd been stripping her of the razor he'd been careful with her. And then there was him curling up against her, seeking comfort.

It was possible he'd thought he was doing the right thing. It didn't mean she forgave him but… well, it was better than his doing a Patty Hearst with no compunction at all.

After an awkward moment she said, 'You should finish that food.'

'I'm done.'

'No, you're not.' She nodded at the plate. 'Go on.'

'Not hungry.'

'I didn't ask if you were hungry. And don't think I won't plug your nose and shovel it in if I have to.'

There was a short pause and then he… Jesus… he smiled at her. From the midst of his goatee his mouth lifted at the corners, his eyes crinkling.

Jane's breath stopped in her throat. He was so beautiful like that, she thought, with the dim light of the lamp falling on his hard jaw and his glossy black hair. Even though his long canine teeth were still a little odd, he looked far more… human. Approachable. Desirable-

Oh, no. Not going there. Nope.

Jane ignored the fact that she was blushing a little. 'What's up with flashing all those pearly whites? You think I'm joking about the food?'

'No, it's just no one talks to me like that.'

'Well, I do. You have a problem with it? You can let me go. Now, eat or I feed you like a baby, and I can't imagine your ego would get off on that.'

The little smile was still on his face as he put the plate back on his lap and made slow, steady work of the dinner. When he was done, she went over and picked up the glass of water he'd drained.

She refilled it in the bathroom and brought it back to him. 'Drink more.'

He did, finishing the whole eight ounces. When he put the glass back on the bedside table, she focused on his mouth and as the scientist in her became fascinated by him.

After a moment he curled his lip off his front teeth. His fangs positively gleamed in the lameplight. Sharp and white.

'They elongate, right?' she asked as she leaned into him. 'When you feed, they get longer.'

'Yeah.' He closed his mouth. 'Or when I get aggressive.'

'And then they retract when it passes. Open again for me.'

When he did, she put her finger to the hard point of one-only to have his whole body jerk.

'Sorry.' She frowned and took her hand back. 'Are they sore from the intubation?'

'No.' As his lids lowered, she figured it was because he was tired-

God, what was that scent? She breathed in deep and recognized the mix of dark spices that she'd smelled on the towel in his bathroom.

Sex came to mind. The kind that you had when you lost all your inhibitions. The kind you felt for days afterward.

Stop it.

'Every eight weeks or so,' he said.

'Excuse me? Oh, is that how often you…'

'Feed. Depends on stress. Activity level, too.'

Okay, that totally killed the sex thing. In a gruesome series of Bram Stoker scenes, she imagined him tracking and preying on humans, leaving them chewed raw in alleys.

Clearly her distaste showed, because his voice got hard. 'It's natural to us. Not disgusting.'

'Do you kill them? The people you hunt?' She braced herself for the answer.

'People? Try vampires. We feed off members of the opposite sex. Of our race, not yours. And there's no killing.'

Her brows lifted. 'Oh.'

'That Dracula myth is such a fucking bore.'

Her mind spun with questions. 'What's it like? What does it taste like?'

His eyes narrowed, then drifted from her face to her neck. Jane quickly brought her hand to her throat.

'Don't worry,' he said roughly. 'I'm fed. And besides, human blood doesn't do it for me. Too weak to be of interest.'

Okay. Right. Good.

Except, what the hell? Like she wasn't evolutionarily good enough?

Yeah, whoa, she was so totally losing it, and this particular subject matter wasn't helping. 'Ah, listen… I want to check your dressing. I wonder if we can even remove it altogether by now.'

'Suit yourself.'

The patient pushed himself up on the pillows, his massive arms flexing under smooth skin. As the covers fell from his shoulders, she had a moment's pause. He seemed to be getting bigger as he recovered his strength. Bigger and… more sexual.

Her mind shied away from where she was headed with that thought and latched onto the medical issues he faced like they were a lifeboat. With steady, professional hands, she pulled the covers completely from his chest and eased the adhesive tape off the gauze between his pecs. She lifted the bandage and shook her head. Astounding. The only thing marring the skin was the star-shaped scar that had been there before. The residual marks from the operation were reduced to a slight discoloration, and if she extrapolated, she could assume the inside of him was just as well healed.

'Is this typical?' she asked. 'This rate of recovery?'

'In the Brotherhood, yes.'

Oh, man. If she could study the manner in which his cells regenerated, she might be able to unlock some of the secrets to the aging process in humans.

'Forget it.' His jaw set as he shifted his legs off the far side of the bed. 'We're not going to be used as lab rats for your kind. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a shower and have a cigarette.' She opened her mouth and he cut her off. 'We don't get cancer, so spare me the lecture, okay?'

'You don't get cancer? Why? How does that-'

'Later. I need hot water and nicotine.'

She frowned. 'I don't want you smoking around me.'

'Which is why I'm going to do it in the bathroom. There's an exhaust fan.'

As he stood up and the sheet fell from his body, she glanced away fast. A naked man was hardly a new thing for her, but for some reason he struck her as different.

Well, duh. He was six feet, six inches tall and built like a brick shithouse.

As she headed back to her chair and sat down, she heard a shuffling noise, then a thud. She looked up in alarm. The patient was so unsteady on his feet, he'd lost his balance and landed on the wall.