Sex, Lies, and Vampires

to me. The rest of the Eisenfaust would come after me. The trail must not lead to me. He must be turned.'

'Turned? What's that?' I didn't like the way Seal was looking at us any more than I liked the way Adrian moved away a step so I wasn't touching him. The fact that he didn't want me to feel his emotions was suspicious in itself.

'I agree to your price,' Adrian said. 'You will give me the man's address now, then you will begin work on the passports immediately.'

'You will not get them until I have proof that the matter has been taken care of,' Seal warned, scurrying around Adrian to unlock the many locks on the door.

'I will attend to it by sunset tonight,' Adrian agreed, his voice as grim as the flat blue of his eyes.

I held my tongue, not wanting to grill Adrian in front of the creepy Seal, but the second the door closed I turned on him, clutching the arm of his coat. 'OK, dish. What's this turning business?'

A glossy eyebrow cocked. 'I'm surprised, Hasi. You seem to be so knowledgeable about vampire lore, I assumed you would know what it meant to turn a person.'

'You're a Dark One, not a vampire,' I said, poking him in the chest. He captured my hand in his, his fingers stroking mine. 'And, as has been pointed out, I can no longer rely on Buffy to keep me au courant with matters vampiric.'

He shooed me down the hallway. I skirted the pile of garbage that rustled ominously, racing down the stairs to the next floor before I added, 'If you mean turning the way I think you mean turning, the answer is no. I won't let you make someone else a vampire.'

'Dark One.'

'Whatever. I won't let you do that. It'll screw up the whole soul-retrieval thing we have going on. Besides, I thought you told me Dark Ones could only be created by a demon lord or born to an unredeemed vamp.'

'That is so.'

'Then how does Seal expect you to turn someone?'

Adrian gave me a short, piercing glance. 'I will turn the man over to a demon lord.'

'Absolutely not!' I said quickly, giving him a fulminating glare. 'Not on your coffin, you won't!'

He sighed. 'I don't have a coffin, Nell.'

'Well, thank heavens for small favors.'

Adrian stopped on the landing to the floor below, taking my arm and turning me so I faced him in the dim light of the bulb overhead. 'Hasi, we do not have a choice. I do not like this bargain any more than you do, but it is a price I can pay. We must have those passports. To delay will bring disaster upon our heads.'

I touched the tip of his nose, smiling determinedly into his midnight-blue eyes. 'I know that, and believe me, I'm just as anxious as you are to get my hands on your tricky brother, but there has got to be a way to pay Seal without damning yourself any further.'

'Other than the fact it must involve a demon lord, you do not even know what a turning is comprised of,' he answered, following me as I trotted down the remaining stairs to the street.

'Ungrammatical, but true. However, I can guess most of it, and I don't like the answer.' I wrapped my arms around myself against the cold, sticking close to Adrian as he stalked down the street. We were in the bad part of Cologne, the part the tourists seldom see. The streets here were dark and narrow, the buildings all wearing a decrepit, abandoned air, the people on the street either brazenly soliciting, offering illicit substances, or scurrying by with heads down, trying to avoid catching anyone's attention. It was thoroughly depressing, and I said nothing more to Adrian until he found us a taxi.

Before he could give the driver the address Seal had given him, I told the driver where I wanted to go, then sat back against the shiny plastic upholstery to find Adrian glaring at me.

'Hasi, you heard Gigli. She cannot help me with the price I must pay Seal. To return to her house now is to delay the inevitable, and we do not have the time to spare.'

'She said she couldn't help you, but she said nothing about me—'

'This is ridiculous,' Adrian interrupted. 'I know you do not approve of what I must do, but we have no choice. It must be done.' He leaned forward to tap on the glass between the driver and us. I yanked him back.

'No, it mustn't. I mean, it shouldn't. You shouldn't.'

'I am the Betrayer—'

'Which has nothing to do with why you're doing this,' I interrupted him this time, my fingers skimming over his face so I could feel his emotions. 'You're doing this because you think we have no other way to pay Seal, but we do.'

I smoothed the frown that pulled his brows down. 'Seal said he did not want money. What do we have to pay him with if not that?'

'Me.' I smiled as I kissed his chin. 'And you can stop looking so indignant, I don't mean sexually.'

He looked even more outraged. 'My Beloved would never even consider being with another man, for any reason!'

'Think so?' I choked back a gurgle of laughter at the fury that flashed in his eyes, and kissed him properly, my lips caressing his as I added, 'You're absolutely right, I would never consider being with anyone but you. I was just teasing you, Adrian. A little touch of jealousy always looks good on a man, I think.'

'I do not like to be teased. You will not do it again.'

'No, I won't,' I soothed. 'At least, not until we catch up with Saer. Then all bets are off.'

'If you are finished joking about the circumstance we find ourselves in, we will proceed to the German's house.'

'I wasn't joking,' I said, pulling him back again, this time draping myself across his front to keep him from leaning forward. 'I would never joke about your redemption, Adrian. I'm very serious when I say that I think we can fulfill Seal's request without putting any more black marks on your soul.'

'I do not have a soul.'

I nuzzled the area where his jaw met his ear. 'I could never love a man who had no soul. Yours is almost within reach, but it's at risk of being torn away if we step out of line. So rather than have you tempt fate, why don't we do this the easy way?'

'Nothing is ever easy where you are concerned,' he mumbled against my hair, but I could feel his resistance fading with each nibble on his ear. 'How do you think you can pay Seal?'

'That book Gigli offered me, the Charmer book. When I was flipping through it I saw something about how to charm a curse that changes someone temporarily into a toad. It looked like it had drawings and complete details about how to unmake the curse, so all I have to do is reverse everything to cast the curse. Considering that what Seal wants is the Iron Fist guy out of his hair but not killed—something I wholeheartedly agree with—what better way to do it than to curse him into toadhood?'

Adrian's kiss was sweet, so sweet it brought tears to my eyes. 'There is a big difference between charming and casting a curse, Hasi, and you yourself have said you are not a Charmer. While you may ward with impunity, charming exacts too heavy a price. Can you imagine what a curse would cost you? I will not have you risking yourself on my behalf.'

'I'm totally with you on the not wanting to blow out any more of my brain circuits, but I don't think this is going to be a problem. After all, I've got you. I'm immortal now, aren't I?'

Adrian gave me a long look. 'No, you are not.'

'I'm not? Why aren't I? Haven't we done that Joining thing?'

His eyes, always a barometer to his feelings, darkened to midnight. 'There is still the seventh step, the final step.'

'Which is?'

'A blood exchange.'

'Oh.' I looked at his neck, at the spot where his pulse beat slow and true. 'I get to do the vamp thing to you, huh? OK. I can do that. It… uh… doesn't have to be a lot of blood, does it? I'm not sure if I'd like that.'

'No, it does not have to be a lot of blood. One drop will do, but that point is moot. We will not conduct the final step of Joining.'

I goggled at him. 'We won't? Why won't we?'

He tried to turn his head, but I grabbed his ears and made it stay put. Pain flickered in his eyes, swelling within him, mingling with regret and guilt that he had drawn me so far along the path of Joining.