Claimed by the Immortal

seemed to be involved in the kinkiest relationship possible, one where the drinking of her blood caused her extraordinary pleasure. What was a handcuff in the face of that?

Damien took a few steps, moving almost too fast to see, then he stopped and faced her. His expression had softened a bit, and he no longer looked furious. “My life has limitations. I’m sorry they cause you so much difficulty.”

“No!” She was horrified that she had made him feel that way. So what if he needed to sleep during the daylight? She needed to sleep herself. Nobody could be there all day every day. “You’re not causing me difficulty. Damien...everybody needs to sleep sometime.”

At that a harsh laugh escaped him. “You needn’t be kind to me. But please understand. If something had happened and you were here, in this office, we could have wakened to help you, however difficult it would have been. Just as you can wake if you’re needed. For you to be out on the street alone... It doesn’t bear thinking.”

“I was there,” Chloe pointed out sharply. “Sheesh, I’m not nobody. And Caro evidently learned a lot that she needs to learn. How was she supposed to do that with you hovering around like an avenging angel?”

That drew a bark of laughter from Jude. “I don’t know about you, Damien, but I don’t think I’ve ever been likened to an angel before.”

“Least of all an avenging one,” he agreed, but the fury appeared to have seeped from him. His gaze returned to Caro, and he frowned faintly. “We have to work this out somehow, in a way that doesn’t endanger you.”

“Haven’t you been listening?” Chloe said tartly. “She drove the thing off herself!”

“I at least pushed it back,” Caro said hesitantly.

“Do you remember how?” Damien asked. “Do you think you can do it again?”

“I think so.”

At that, Damien smiled. “So, you made a big step.”

“Maybe.”

“Pushing it back is not the same as getting rid of it,” he agreed. “Nor is it a guarantee of protection. For one thing, it was daylight, a time when many powers are weaker. We still have to find the source and get him or her to call this thing off.”

There was still that, Caro thought glumly. Now it was night again, when foul things evidently came into ascendance. “I guess it’s not just the human inability to see well at night that causes us to fear the darkness.”

“Not entirely, no,” Damien agreed. “I wish I understood the connection, because it would be a useful tool. But I can tell you that in all my centuries I’ve noticed that something happens after darkfall. As if some kind of constraint is eased.”

Chloe spoke. “I suppose that’s why ghost hunters are always hunting ghosts in the dark.”

“Partly,” Jude agreed.

“Partly?”

“Well, there are fewer distractions in the dark, for one thing. Fewer things that can be misinterpreted. But Damien’s right. I’ve noticed it, too. The witching hour really is the witching hour.”

“I’ve wondered,” Damien said, “if this doesn’t happen because humans are at their most unguarded and weakest during those hours between midnight and dawn.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Jude agreed.

“Whatever the reason, we still have some more places to check out, Caro and I. You have that list of proposed demolitions, Chloe?”

“I’ll take some of them, too,” Jude said.

So a little while later, filled up on the sandwich she and Chloe had shared, Caro left Messenger Investigations with Damien.

This time he didn’t want to bother with the car. “It’ll slow us down, and right now I feel this matter is dragging on entirely too long.”

“Any particular reason?”

“Yes. The longer it goes on, the harder it will be to repair whatever gateway was opened.”

“Gateway?”

“Later. Zip up. I’m carrying you on my back.”

She didn’t mind that at all. She enjoyed the sensation of flying, even though she couldn’t see a darn thing, and she especially enjoyed being wrapped around Damien this way, even if it was from behind.

What the hell, she thought. She might as well admit she had a serious case of the hots, as Chloe would say, for a vampire. She wanted him, wanted to go all the way with him, at least short of that claiming business that worried him. It was kind of ridiculous to realize they’d been so intimate on a couple of occasions yet they’d never lain naked together. How odd was that?

But he’d already shown her he could take her to places she had never imagined. While she didn’t think she was addicted or would grieve for the rest of her life if she could never visit them again, she was certain that she wanted to experience more and go further with him.

She hoped the wind of their passage was blowing away her pheromones because with his hips so snug between her legs, she felt heavy heat pooling between her thighs, a longing that made her tighten her legs around him. Every movement of muscle rubbed her most sensitive nerves through her jeans, heightening her desire.

She pressed her face against Damien’s back to protect it more from the cutting wind and experienced a moment of instant clarity. What the hell was she thinking? A short time ago she hadn’t even believed in vampires, and now she was almost out of her mind with hunger to have sex with one. How did that fit in the world of Caro Hamilton, cop?

It didn’t. But Caro Hamilton, cop, had seen her world change in an instant when a murder victim had gone flying through the air, propelled by an invisible force. She would never again be the woman she had once been.

But if she had to be attracted to someone, why a vampire of all things?

God, the world had spun at least ninety degrees. Nothing looked the same anymore. Crazy with desire for a vampire and now discovering powers she had denied her whole life long.

She had definitely fallen down the rabbit hole and couldn’t figure out how to put the brakes on.

They alighted finally on a rooftop in the southern end of the city, the oldest part. Urban renewal had been proposed here more than once and had always failed. At least until Pritchett had become involved.

She rubbed her cheeks to warm them and looked around. “What now?”

“This is one of the buildings he got permission to demolish. Do you suppose if we wander up and down the stairs here we might meet some people who will talk to us?”

She glanced at him. “You can make them talk, can’t you?” Her watch told her it was still early enough for people to be out and about. Not everyone would be home for the night. “Let’s go.”

He opened the roof access door as if it wasn’t locked. Perhaps it wasn’t. Most threats in this city didn’t come from the tops of buildings.

Inside it was warm. Heat had risen along the stairwell, and as soon as it met her cheeks, they began to sting.

“I’m going to have to get a ski mask if I keep traveling by vampire.”

Damien cracked a laugh.

At least they descended the stairs at a reasonable speed, a human speed. Unfortunately Caro had been wrong. They didn’t encounter anyone on the stairs except some kids running up, and they were too young to talk to.

Finally they reached the street and stepped outside. And right next door was a bookshop called Books, Bells and Candles.

They exchanged glances and without a word headed for the door.

Like many such places, it looked old and as if it were operating on a shoestring. Caro wondered if she would choke on the dust if she moved a book. A wall of candles, most of them looking religious, filled the back of the store. Behind the counter were sets of things like tarot cards and the I Ching.

A tiny woman, who looked like a dried prune, sat in a rocker next to a space heater. She greeted them with a smile. “Come to throw me out?”