EVEN VAMPIRES GET THE BLUES

'It's not like it sounds,' I said hastily, giving Paen a small frown. 'We didn't have sex.'

'We didn't?' Paen asked.

'No, we didn't!'

'We were both naked,' he pointed out. 'And you begged me to make love to your ears.'

Jake's eyes practically bugged out.

'Paen's blowing this totally out of proportion,' I told him, waving a hand at my would-be lover. 'The ear sex thing was unexpected. And just so you know, all he did was bite my ears. There were no ear-to-genital encounters. That's just creepy.'

'I think this is probably none of my business,' Jake said, looking oddly delighted. He kept shooting little questioning looks at Paen, then grinning at me.

I frowned in return. 'True, so if Mr. Blabberfangs there doesn't mind, we can move on past the fact that we were naked and indulging in a little ear make-out session, and get to the point.' Unbidden, my gaze dropped to Paen's lap. 'Er… point of the conversation. You saw a demon?'

'Yes. On the street. It was waiting for me. It said it had been sent by its master, the demon lord who demanded the statue. The demon said that there was a man in Edinburgh, a theurgist who has an interest in art from the Dark Ages. This man evidently has information about the statue, and possibly knows where it is located.'

'Oooh, good clue, even if it does come from a demon,' I said, pulling out my PDA to take notes. 'What's the name of the guy?'

'Owen Race. Professor Owen Race.'

I almost dropped my PDA. 'Huh?'

Paen didn't seem to notice for a second or two that Jake and I stared at him with mouths hanging open in surprise. 'What? Do you know him?'

'Kind of,' I said, choking slightly. 'He's a client. Jake referred him to me.'

'Client!' Paen looked as surprised as I felt. 'What did he hire you for?'

I bit my lip (a bad habit, but one I am unable to stop). 'I can't tell you. That would be violating my ethics. It's not to find your statue, though, I'll tell you that.'

'I appreciate that you wish to adhere to client confidentiality, but I must insist on knowing what work Owen Race has engaged you to undertake.'

'Insist away. You are a client—I respect your right to privacy. Likewise, I respect Mr. Race's. I'll go so far as to assure you that my job for him has nothing to do with your statue, but that's all I'm saying.'

'That's not good enough. There may be a connection that you don't see,' Paen argued, turning onto a familiar street.

'Might I remind you that I'm a professional?' My frown got a little tighter. 'I'm not a complete idiot, you know. I can tell the difference between a job locating a stolen book and one to find a missing statue.'

'Stolen book? What book was stolen?'

I growled to myself.

'I think this is where I get off,' Jake said, evidently sensing the coming argument. He waited until Paen pulled past a zebra crossing and hopped out, poking his head back into the car for a moment. 'Nice meeting you, Paen. Thanks for the entertainment, Sam.'

'Bye, and thank you for all the support,' I said, upping my frown at Paen to a full-frontal glare. 'I'll let you know later how things turn out, OK?'

'It's a deal. Later.'

Paen drove off, heading not toward my office as I wanted, but into the newer part of town where our apartment was.

'You're taking me home? I don't want to go home. I have work to do at the office,' I said. 'There's a little business about your mother's soul, remember?'

'Of course I remember! How could you possibly imagine I'd forget something like that? I am, however, capable of dealing with more than one situation at a time. Since we are going to continue to work closely together, I think it's appropriate to discuss a few things regarding our personal relationship.' Paen's jaw was set as he whipped us around a corner.

'Oh. That makes sense. But we can talk at the office.'

'Finn is there with Clare.'

'So? I bet if we tried hard, we could talk with them there anyway.'

'Would you also like to have sex with them there?'

My lips formed an O. I was about to protest that I wasn't interested in having sex with him, but the truth was, the idea was more than a little intriguing. Just the thought of his hot breath on my ears made me shiver. 'Um. No. But it's the middle of the day, and I have work to do. I hate to waste time.'

One of his eyebrows rose. 'I have heard sex referred to as many things, but a waste of time is not one of them.'

'You're not planning on sexing me up, then trying to worm out secrets about Owen Race, are you?' I asked, sudden suspicion causing me to narrow my eyes. No wonder he suddenly was interested in doing the sheet tango.

Paen turned onto my street and headed for the tiny lot behind my building. 'The thought had crossed my mind, yes.'

'Ha! I knew it. Well, it won't work.'

'That was my conclusion as well. You are too honorable to do such a thing.'

I basked for a moment or two in the warm glow of his approval, frowning when I realized that his tone added a different interpretation to the statement. 'So why are we going to my apartment if you know I don't kiss and tell?'

He shot me a look that had every cell in my body clamoring for action. 'I desire you. I believe you desire me. That emotion is impairing my ability to function. I need that ability to continue directing the pursuit of the statue. Therefore, a lovemaking session will do much to clear both our minds. Consider it work therapy.'

'Whoa, wait a second,' I said as he slipped the car into my parking spot. I put my hand on his arm, holding him in the car when he would have jumped out. 'Your desire for me is impairing your ability to function? What's that all about?'

He frowned. 'Surely you understand the power of desire? You said you feel an attraction to me.'

'Yes, I do. But I don't have to give in to that attraction.'

'Don't you?' he asked, getting out of the car, suddenly flooding my head with the emotions he felt during our previous almost-sex session. Hunger was uppermost in his emotions, but it wasn't just a hunger for blood—it was a need for something to fill the gaping hole inside him. It was a silent plea for light to fill his darkness, for someone to take away the pain of utter loneliness, the hopelessness that seeped into every corner of his being.

He needed love.

He needed me.

'OK,' I said, dropping all objections as I leaped out of the car. We made it to the door of my apartment before I gave in to temptation and flung myself at him, kissing the breath right out of his mouth.

'You're good for someone who hasn't had a lot of practice,' he admitted three minutes later, when I retrieved my tongue and broke off the kiss long enough to get the door to the apartment unlocked.

'I'm inspired by the subject,' I told him before racing to the bedroom. I yanked off my jacket en route, simultaneously beating back the shrubberies in my room and hopping on one foot while trying to pull off my shoe. Without thinking, I yanked open the blinds to let the sunshine in, stopping for a moment to soak up the wonderfully warm rays before turning to see what was keeping Paen.

He was pinned up against the door, his shirt in one hand, the sunshine lapping at his shoes.

'Oh. Sorry about that. It's instinctive,' I said as I angled the blinds to limit the sun to an area directly in front of the window.

'So I gathered,' he answered, whapping at a narrow-leafed Australian Tree Fern that was infringing on his personal space.

I got both shoes and socks removed, and peeled off my jeans, standing for a moment with them in my hand, the sun warming my back as I looked at Paen. There was a lot of him to look at, too, what with that glorious bare