The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires

have to help me, Portia.

I really think I'm falling for you, Theo. Which is very unlike me, but there it is.

A stinging slap on my right cheek suddenly brought me back to earth. I opened my eyes, shocked that Theo would strike me.

And that's when I realized two things: Theo and I had been speaking into each other's minds, and the word he spoke earlier was an important one.

'Vampire? You're a vampire? You can't be a vampire! You're a nephilim!'

'Don't move,' he said, pushing me back onto the bed. 'Put your hand here and press down hard.'

'Oh, sweet sensibility. I'm bleeding? I'm hemorrhaging? Call the paramedics!'

'It's going to be a bit difficult explaining to the authorities why you're missing so much blood,' he said, grabbing the phone off the tiny nightstand.

'You're calling someone? While I'm lying here bleeding to death? Oh my stars, you bit me! You drank my blood! And…and…good gravy, I enjoyed it! It was so…what have you done to me?'

The last few words came out as a wail of self-pity that made me flinch even as I spoke them.

'Calm down, Portia. Panic will make your blood pressure go up,' he said, sitting beside me on the bed. He punched a few numbers on the phone, holding it between his shoulder and ear as he edged up the towel I pressed to my neck. 'I'm calling someone I met a few years ago. A Dark One.'

'A dark what? Not another demon lord! Is it still bleeding?'

'Yes,' he replied as I goggled at him. 'Not yes, I'm calling a demon lord, but yes, it's still bleeding. Dark Ones are vampires. Or they have been called such—they aren't as evil as legend has painted them. Hello? Christian Dante? I doubt you'll remember me, but we met in 1879 in Paris. My name is Theo North…that's right. Only I don't seem to be a nephilim any longer. Or perhaps I am, but I've—it's a long story. Can I meet with you?'

'I feel woozy. I think I'm going to pass out. Oh my god, I had sex with a vampire! I'm falling in love with a vampire! I fed a vampire!'

Theo covered up the bottom part of the phone. 'I'll give you fifty pounds if you don't say 'vampire' again.'

'VAMPIRE!' I screamed, snatching a pillow off the floor and hitting him with it. 'You drank my blood!'

'You liked it,' he said to me, before listening at the phone again, giving whoever was on the other end the name and direction of the pub.

I bit back an oath. He was right, damn him. I did enjoy it. I enjoyed it so much, I suddenly wanted to do it again.

'One more thing, Christian, my…er…she's bleeding. It doesn't seem to be stopping.'

'I'm going to die. I'm going to bleed to death because you're a blood-crazed fiend. A sexy, seductive, completely gorgeous blood-crazed fiend.' I whacked him again with the pillow. 'If I die, I'm never going to forgive you!'

'Hush!' Theo commanded, frowning as he listened into the phone. 'You're kidding. All right, I'll try that. Thank you.'

'How dare you tell me to hush when I'm having an emotional breakdown,' I said, as indignant as someone can be who is lying naked on a bed, next to an also-naked man who was so incredibly fabulous that, despite his blood-drinking frenzy, it made me want to wrestle him to the floor and have my wanton way with him.

'Lie still. You can have your wanton way as soon as I'm done here.'

'Done what? What are you doing? What are you…oh, sweet mother of reason!'

Theo's tongue swirled over the spot on my neck that seemed to tingle in a not-unpleasant manner. His entire body froze. Mine went up in flames at his touch. He looked at me. I looked at him.

His fangs were back.

'Did it stop the bleeding?' I asked, clutching big handfuls of the bedding to keep from grabbing him.

'Yes.' He seemed to have lost his breath again, his eyes ebony pools of desire, need, and passion.

'Do it again!' I demanded, pulling him down onto me.

He resisted for all of three seconds, then gave in to both our desires. I arched back against the bed as his teeth pierced my breast, his pleasure and satisfaction mingling with my own rapture as he drank.

Now I know why the ladies at work love those vampire books. Holy moly!

Chapter 11

'Here's another scone. And more coffee. Why did Theo tell me to tell you to be sure to put lots of jam on the scone?'

I accepted the plate of scones and cup of coffee, although I wasn't sure I could consume either. It was my fifth cup of coffee and fourth scone, and I was getting full. 'He wants me to rebuild my strength.'

'Uh-huh.' Sarah sat down across from me, the tiny private dining room blissfully empty of everyone but the two of us. 'OK, I've been the good friend. I didn't once smirk when Theo emerged from your room this morning. I didn't make any jokes about the fact that you obviously have the hickey to end all hickeys under that bandage on your neck. And I haven't even hinted that I'd like full details about what the two of you have been up to, even though, as your best friend, I believe I'm due some consideration in that area.'

I sighed and pushed the half-eaten scone away.

'And just who is that man in the Indiana Jones hat who has been talking to Theo for the last hour?'

'His name is Christian Dante.'

'Dante?' She looked thoughtful as she stirred a spoon of sugar in her tea. 'There's an author named C. J. Dante, but he lives in the Czech Republic, not England. I wonder if he's related?'

'No idea. Christian is…' I took a deep breath and looked Sarah dead in the eye. 'He's a vampire.'

'A vampire?' Sarah's eyes grew huge. She dropped the spoon, chipping the edge of the saucer. 'Oh my god, a Dark One? Then that has to be C. J. Dante! He writes about Dark Ones! Good god, I had no idea he was in England. We have the same publisher. I have to meet him!'

'Hang on a second,' I said, stopping Sarah as she was about to rush out of the room. 'There's something more.'

'I have always wanted to meet a Dark One! Dante makes them sound so incredibly sexy! All dark and tormented, spending long centuries seeking their Beloved. This is wild! What is the something more?'

Dark and tormented. It didn't quite fit Theo, but who was I to quibble? 'It's about Theo. He's…last night we…oh, I don't know where to start.'

Sarah patted my hand in a comforting manner. 'A simple, 'We had wild, sweaty bunny sex' would do.'

'Well, we didn't. I mean, we did, but that's not all we did.' I tried to sort out my unusually tangled thoughts. 'We didn't start out the evening that way. I went to bed not long after you, and woke up in a crypt.'

'A crypt? What crypt?'

'One in the ruined abbey we saw two days ago. I wasn't alone in the crypt—there was a woman named Noelle, who was some sort of demon wrangler or something. She said she was there to administer the third trial. She summoned a demon, and I was supposed to subdue it.'

I thought Sarah's eyes were going to pop right out of her head. 'Oh my god! A demon?' She scrabbled in her purse for the minirecorder she carried around to make notes on book ideas. 'Start over again. I want to get all of this down.'

I told her about the trial, how Theo had shown up, and how my experience with the demon had at last dropped the blinkers from my eyes.

'About time, too,' Sarah said with no little satisfaction.

'I'm willing to concede you were right, and admit you won the bet, but any 'I told you sos' will be summarily ignored.'

She grinned. 'Fair enough. It's worth swallowing them to get you to admit you were wrong. Proceed.'

By the time I had described our time spent with the demon lord, Sarah was taking frantic notes on a tiny notepad. 'This is incredible material. I can't believe you had the balls to talk back to a demon lord! So, what was this curse he put on Theo? It can't be too serious—he looked fine a few minutes ago. And obviously, if you guys