424 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
424 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
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FIRST NIGHT
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By Julie Woodcock
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Copyright 1991
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When Jim Decker woke, his body was sore and aching almost
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everywhere, but his cock was as hard as a railroad spike.
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Floating through his head were muzzy memories of exotic dreams:
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women. Vampires. Blood. Pale skin, long legs, eager hips and
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greedy fangs. Amanda, nicking one nipple with a long, sharp
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fingernail. Blood beading in a piercing shade of scarlet against
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the cool white of her breast. The hot copper tang of it in his
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mouth as he sucked, feeling her nipple going hard against his
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teeth...Decker shook his head sharply, trying to clear away the
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taunting memory of the dream. Then he realized it was no dream.
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Amanda had Changed him. Drinking her blood had infected him
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with the virus that had made her a vampire.
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He dimly remembered the question: "Do you want to become
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one of us?" And, hopelessly in love with the woman who had
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touched his mind and taken his blood, Decker had said "Yes."
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Knowing that Amanda was in love with Beau Gabriel, the vampire
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he'd spent months hunting. Hoping that somehow, the Change would
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make a difference in the way she felt, promote Decker from the
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status of victim to equal.
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In the hours that had followed, Decker had paid a high cost
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for that obsessed "yes." The virus wasn't a killer, but it
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certainly felt like one. Curled on the bathroom floor between
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bouts of vomiting, he soon began to long for the coma that was
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the crisis stage of the disease.
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"Hang in there," Amanda told him, kneeling to stroke his
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hair. "Shouldn't be much more than a few hours before you go
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under. While you're unconscious, the Change will begin, and when
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you wake up, you'll be one of us."
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Now, five days later, Decker had to admit he felt rather
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inhuman--but not in the way he'd expected. His mouth tasted like
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the bottom of the monkey cage at the San Diego zoo, and his eyes
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were stinging and gritty. But that was about it. He wondered if
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the Change had taken after all.
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He scratched his hairy chest and lifted his head from the
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pillow to peer blearily toward the alarm beside his bed. 10:15
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p.m. But that had to be wrong; the room was flooded with the
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bluing light of early twilight. Stretching out a long arm,
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Decker scooped up the wristwatch on the nightstand, then held it
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to his face with a yawn.
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10:15 p.m.
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"What the hell?" Decker growled, and rolled out of bed to
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head for the window. Shoving the heavy blue curtain aside, he
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peered out. The sun hung burning in the sky, but a crescent
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shadow lay across it, obscuring a full two-thirds of its disc.
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That's weird, Decker thought. I didn't hear anything about a
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solar eclipse...
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Then he saw the stars. Blazing brighter than he had ever
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seen them, piercing like lasers even through Atlanta's ambient
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city light. Decker jerked his eyes back to the blinding white
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crescent in the clouds. My God, he thought, squinting against
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its brilliance. It's the moon...
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He HAD Changed.
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Warily, Decker probed his teeth with his tongue, but none of
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them seemed any sharper. "Amanda?" Nothing. He knew, he
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sensed, that he was alone in his apartment. Where had she gone?
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She'd promised she'd stay with him through this, help him through
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the difficult first hours of his new life. Why had she abandoned
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him?
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Realizing he still held his Seko, Decker started to toss it
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on the bed, then paused, staring at it. Amanda had told him he'd
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recover consciousness on Thursday, but the watch's date read
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Wednesday. He'd awakened a day earlier than expected. Decker
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cursed, loudly, monotonously. Amanda was probably out hunting.
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All he could do was wait for her return.
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He had a terrible feeling he'd made a mistake. Should have
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thought of that four days ago, Decker thought. It's sure as shit
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too late now. Well, to hell with it. He was damned if he just
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going to wait around bouncing off the walls while Amanda was off
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screwing someplace--he was going to go out. He'd let her call
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the shots too much as it was. Past time he regained control of
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his life.
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Fifteen minutes later Decker was waiting for the elevator in
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the hallway, wearing a white linen suit that emphasized his tan
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and the width of his shoulders. He'd absolutely refused to wear
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anything black.
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"Hello, Jim." The voice of the woman walking up behind him
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was brightly feminine and instantly familiar. Crystal Jordon,
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his next door neighbor, a sweet kid who was something of an
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artist. Decker turned to greet her. And caught his breath.
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Crystal hesitated a few feet away, tall and slender and
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beautiful, her blonde hair knotted loosely on top of her regally
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held head. She wore a strapless red satin dress that bared neck
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and shoulders and most of her breasts with equal abandon. The
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brief skirt showcased long, muscular legs delicately veiled in
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shimmering red stockings.
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How could I have missed noticing how beautiful she is,
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Decker thought, staring hungrily. Must have been really hung up
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on Amanda to have missed that... Suddenly a phrase floated
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through his mind: "Hair of the dog that bit you." If there was
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an antidote for Amanda, Crystal might well be it.
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Decker smiled, his sensuous mouth broadening over white
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teeth, his brown eyes warming like melting caramel. Crystal
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swallowed and wondered where the dark woman was, the one he was
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always with.
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She shifted on her uncomfortable red spike heels and
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checked to make sure the bodice of her dress hadn't crept too
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low. Her mother had always told her she was too well-endowed for
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a dress like this. Crystal certainly hoped not. She'd bought
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the dress because she desperately wanted to attract male
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attention--but not by having her nipples peek out at the public.
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She might be lonely, but she wasn't a flasher.
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"That's a beautiful dress," Decker said.
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"Uh...Thanks." God, he was gorgeous. He had the kind of
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face she loved to draw; all sharp, clean angles and deepset eyes.
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And his body was every bit as fine; she'd often seen him in
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nothing but nylon running shorts, headed out for his evening
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five-mile jog. And every time she saw it, that muscle-knit torso
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made her itch for a sketchpad.
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"He must be something," Decker said. His eyes had warmed
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from caramel to amber.
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"Who?" she asked, thinking, Brilliant conversation, Crystal.
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Maybe I can try for complete sentences next. With verbs and
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everything.
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"The man you bought that dress for. I envy him."
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Crystal managed to keep her jaw from dropping. Decker had
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never even seemed to notice her before. "I'm just going out.
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Alone."
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"Really?" There was that 100 watt smile again. "So am I.
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Maybe we should go together. Carpool. Save gas.."
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"I don't..."
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"Come on, Crystal, think of the environment."
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She giggled. "Well, when you put it that way..."
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Well, she WAS looking for somebody. She'd been desperate
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enough to have been content with a nebbish, but she certainly
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wasn't going to turn down Prince Charming.
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***
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Decker first caught the scent in the elevator. It was rich,
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musky, deliciously erotic. "That's a lovely perfume."
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Crystal turned to look at him, hazel eyes widening. "I'm
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not wearing perfume. I'm allergic to almost everything."
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Decker decided the taunting aroma must be another product of
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his enhanced senses; earlier, mint toothpaste had tasted like
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salsa. He took a deep breath, unable to resist savoring her
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scent. Smells like sex, he thought, feeling himself harden. He
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looked down at Crystal's curving, satin-clad hips and imagined
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pulling her skirt up, reaching between those long thighs.
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Finding her wet. Decker swallowed.
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To distract himself, he asked, "Where do you want to go?"
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She considered it. He eyed the tantalizing pale skin of her
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shoulders, the intriguing lines of bone and tendon. "Well,"
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Crystal said, "I was planning on going to that little place up
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the block. Frank's. They've got a dance floor..."
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"Sounds good." The elevator slid open, and he guided her
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through its double doors with a hand on the small of her back.
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The satin felt warm and slick. Decker looked down at the bulge
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of her breasts swelling over the strapless bodice. Pictured
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tugging the fabric downward. Freeing her nipples. With her
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coloring, they'd be pale, a virginal pink...
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Licking suddenly dry lips, Decker guided her through the
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lobby.
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Half an hour later, they were swaying on the dance floor,
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and Decker's self control was fraying by the second. He was
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glad he was wearing a suit jacket; it helped camouflage his
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erection. Though he suspected Crystal was well aware of it
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anyway. His shaft had rubbed against her flat belly each time
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they'd danced close.
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And to make matters worse, he'd developed one hell of a
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toothache.
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Crystal fought the urge to grind her hips against the
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intriguing hardness under Decker's coat. God, she was hot. She
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couldn't remember the last time a man had affected her this way.
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He kept touching her, his fingers brushing her shoulders, the
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tops of her breasts, her arms. And looking at her, his eyes
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promising all sorts of things, things she would have slapped
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another man for even thinking. Crystal didn't know how much
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longer she could take it.
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"I'm really pretty tired," she heard herself say. "Think we
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could go back to the building?"
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She had an instant to be mortified at her own boldness
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before he said, "Why not?" The smile on his sensuous mouth made
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her wobble on her high heels.
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***
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There were pictures of men in capes in Crystal's apartment,
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all bearing her signature. Decker eyed one of them, a big
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hulking brute shooting power beams out of his hands, as she
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walked up beside him and handed him a drink. He sipped it
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carefully, cautious of its chill; his teeth were killing him.
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"Yep, you've guessed my awful secret. I draw comic books,"
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she said with a giggle, nodding at the caped brute. "You'd be
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surprised how well it pays..." Crystal leaned into him, and the
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side of her breast rubbed gently against his arm. After an
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evening of torment, that was the straw that broke him.
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Decker sat his glass down on the nearby table with a clink.
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She was opening her lovely red mouth to say something else when
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he turned and swooped in for a kiss, lips fusing over hers,
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tongue penetrating between her teeth. Crystal gasped. Gasped
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again as he roughly pulled down the bodice of her dress. Her
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hands came up to push at him, but Decker ignored them, wrapping
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an arm around her waist, lifting her, bending her back, arching
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her full, white breasts for his mouth. His lips fastened on a
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nipple. It was as pale and pink as he'd imagined. Hungrily, he
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began to suck.
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"Jim..." It was less protest than moan. Crystal arched her
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hips into his, began slowly rocking against him. He brought up a
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hand to capture the delicious breast he sucked. His long blunt
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fingers squeezed, traced its curve, weighed its sweet fullness.
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Found her nipple and pulled it with delicate ferocity. She
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whimpered. The scent of her, that strange, hot, sexual smell,
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washed over him with such power that he moaned in lust. Decker
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switched his attention to her other nipple and began to feast on
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it.
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Suddenly, as he sucked at her, he felt something shift in
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his mouth. He ignored it and sucked harder. But suddenly his
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mouth was full of pebbles, and he choked. Off balance,
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embarrassed, he coughed and released her.
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"You all right?" she asked, staggering a little as she
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watched him cough again.
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Unable to reply, he nodded and turned abruptly toward the
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bathroom, meaning to get rid of whatever it was. He stalked to
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the small sink, dragged out a kleenex from the box beside it, and
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spat into it. Looked down into the wad of tissue distastefully.
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And saw four teeth.
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"Shit!" Decker jerked his eyes toward the bathroom mirror
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and opened his mouth. His lost canines had been replaced by four
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fangs, a long set in his upper jaw and a shorter pair on the
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bottom. Sharp and white and damning.
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Until that moment, he hadn't really believed he was a
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vampire.
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"Jesus," he whispered, stunned. Then came a second
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realization, even more damning: What the hell am I doing here?
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In an instant, what had seemed a delightful evening of pleasure
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became something much darker. He wasn't making love to Crystal,
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he was preying on her. And it was wrong.
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Amanda had always teased Decker about being a closet
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Fundamentalist, much to his irritation. Now he realized she had
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a point. He might no longer consider himself a Christian, but
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those precepts still formed the basis of his morality. And he
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knew that to stay in this apartment meant endangering an innocent
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who had no idea of the risk she was running.
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Decker slipped out of the bathroom and headed for the door
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just short of a run.
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"Jim?" Crystal sounded bewildered.
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Decker, like Lot's wife, looked over his shoulder.
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While he'd been having his moral crisis, Crystal had been
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changing into a black silk teddy. Now she stood in the
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apartment's short hall, her beautiful legs bare and curving, her
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nipples clearly visible through the teddy's lace bodice.
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Decker froze.
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"Where are you going?" She moved toward him, her breasts
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swaying gently.
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"I..." Decker began, scrambling hopelessly for an
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explanation.
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That scent came to him again as she drew closer. Distilled
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sex, making him harden. Musky and salty and...something else.
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An undertone he hadn't noticed before, familiar, but also
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strange. Metallic, like copper... Copper. Or iron.
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Blood.
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The thought horrified him, and yet at the same time there
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was a wild hunger rising under it. Suddenly he remembered the
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things Amanda had done to him. Things he'd loved. Things he
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could do to Crystal.
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"Don't leave," she said, coming against him, sliding one arm
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up around his neck. Her eyes were dark, glazed just slightly
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with passion, and her pulse was beating hard in her throat, a
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tempting flutter under her silken white skin. At the sight of
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that delicate, hypnotic beat, his lips parted.
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A thin frown line appeared between Crystal's brows. She
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drew back slightly. Decker lowered his head toward the taunting
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vein, but she stepped away before he could put his mouth to it.
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"Jim, is there something..."
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"Come here." He reached for her, blind with the hunger that
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had come out of nowhere, singeing his self-control to ash.
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Crystal backed up, feeling something icy creep along her
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spine. He'd gone very strange suddenly, the look in his eyes
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almost feral. And she'd thought, when his lips had parted, she'd
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seen... "I think you'd better go home now."
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He looked amazed for a moment, then his dark eyes narrowed.
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Suddenly she became nervously aware of his height, his thickly
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muscled body.
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"No," Decker growled, stepping closer. "I was going.
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You're the one who called me back. You made your choice."
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"If you don't leave, I'm going to call the police."
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"Call them." He bared his teeth, and she saw the fangs.
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Crystal turned and ran, but she didn't get more than a pace
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before he scooped her right off the ground. Without breaking
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stride, he started toward the bedroom. Crystal began to scream.
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He tossed her on the bed and straightened. "Stop it!"
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It seemed something reached out, caught her, closed tight.
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She gasped and stopped. "What...?" A force, something almost
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physical, radiating from him as he stood looking at her.
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"I'm not going to hurt you," he said.
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"Get the hell out." But it was a whisper.
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"You didn't want me to leave a minute ago." He sat down on
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the bed beside her. Crystal wanted to scramble away, but she
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couldn't move. Without touching her, he held her.
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"What are you?"
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"Can't you guess?" He smiled, and she flinched at the white
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evidence of just how inhuman he was.
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"Don't hurt me."
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"I won't. Relax." Decker reached out a long brown hand,
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smoothed it against her face. A strange kind of warmth seemed to
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emanate from him, as if the field that held her was changing.
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Becoming soothing. As if she was safe. She knew she wasn't,
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knew it, and yet...
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She relaxed.
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Decker could feel her terror fading, and wondered how the
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hell he was doing it. Somehow, when Crystal had started to
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scream, he'd...touched her. Felt her fear. Wrapped his will
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around her until she began to quiet. Amanda had done the same
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thing to him at other times, stoking his desire or guilt or
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pleasure, but he'd always thought it took some psychic technique
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she'd learned from Beau Gabriel. Yet apparently the whole thing
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was instinct, as much a part of a vampire as his fangs.
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Her scent was calling him again. For a moment he tried to
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fight it, but the hunger was too strong. Decker reached out,
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caught a hand in the bodice of her teddy, and ripped it down the
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front with delicate brutality. Eagerly, he rose over her, moved
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between her thighs. Lowered his head to seek her cunt. The
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scent of her arousal, still present after the long evening of
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temptation, rolled over him and drowned him in pure lust.
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Decker nuzzled her as he spread her thighs even farther
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apart. Flicked out his tongue to sample her wetness. Salt.
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Musk. Sex. With a grown, he tightened his grip on her hips and
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dragged her hard against his mouth. His tongue drove deeply
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between her slick soft petals, and he felt her legs jerk
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convulsively in pleasure. Hungrily licking, Decker reached up
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along her sides to capture her breasts. He found her nipples and
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began to tug them as he delved for her clit. Savoring its taut
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wetness between his lips, he raked it gently with his teeth.
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Crystal's back arched, and she groaned.
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Releasing his hold on one breast, Decker moved to stab a
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finger into her cunt. Tight, so tight. His cock throbbed with
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hunger, and his teeth ached in sympathy. Decker jerked upright,
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and startled fumbling at the buttons on his shirt.
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Crystal watched him, as she sprawled across the bed, her
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eyes glazed, her long hair tumbling halfway to the floor.
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Despite the passion in her eyes, there was a certain resignation
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in them, too. As if she knew that what she wanted didn't matter;
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her pleasure or pain was incidental to him. And somehow, despite
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his hunger, that resignation reached him with a stab of guilt.
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Decker stopped, his hands frozen on his shirt. "Do you want
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me to leave?"
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Crystal stared at him, at the fangs visible through his
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parted lips. To her amazement, she saw guilt in his eyes.
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"Would you?"
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"Yes. I'd try, anyway." He took a deep breath. "I
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shouldn't have jumped you. I'm...new at this." Decker smiled
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wryly, the expression sorting oddly with his lethal teeth.
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Somehow, looking at him, Crystal believed he would leave.
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But she was wet, so wet, and his hands and tongue had been so
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tender, not like a rapist's at all. And for a reason she didn't
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really understand, she believed he wouldn't hurt her.
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Suddenly, looking at his muscular body, the guilt and hunger
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mixed on his face, his sharp fangs...she felt a wild excitement.
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A desire for the danger he represented. She'd always been such a
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good girl before, never taking chances, never risking anything.
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Safe. And boring.
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"Stay," Crystal said.
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Just for a moment he didn't move, as if he couldn't believe
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that she hadn't thrown him out. Then he was ripping off his own
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shirt, eager to come to her, to bury himself in her heat and
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scent and sweet, warm skin. Crystal rose onto her knees and
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reached for his fly, unzipping it, grabbing his pants to pull
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them down. In a moment, they had him naked, and he was coming
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down on top of her.
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The strength of his entry made her gasp. She wrapped her
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legs around his taut waist. Decker's arms corded as he braced on
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his palms and began to stroke. His shaft felt thick and long and
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hot, as if it filled her halfway to her heart. Crystal twisted
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with the unspeakable pleasure of it, whimpering as he thrust and
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thrust and thrust, each quick advance and retreat driving
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pleasure further and further into her. Straight to her head.
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Decker watched her writhe under him as he breathed in the
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rich smell of sex and woman and blood. The pulse in her throat
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was banging away, hypnotizing him even as he gasped at her grip
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on his cock. He lowered his head, touching his lips to her neck,
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feeling the flutter. A bead of her sweat rolled into his mouth,
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flavored with the blood scent of the vein.
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Goaded, he struck like a snake.
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Biting into her soft skin, feeling the electrifying well of
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blood. His spine arched with the pleasure of it, driving his
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cock to her depths. Crystal screamed as her first orgasm began.
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Decker shuddered and began to drink, throat working as he pumped
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against her, lunging hard. The raw pleasure of taking her hit
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his mind, splintered him.
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Suddenly it was as if a wall crashed down, and he was one
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with her. He could feel Crystal's jolting orgasm, just as she
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tasted her own blood flooding her mouth, her tightness around his
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cock. They peaked in a mutual climax deeper and more violent
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than either had ever felt before.
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A long time passed before they could moveight?" she as ***
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"Beau, I think Jim's first time ought to be with somebody
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who knows the ropes," said Amanda as they stepped out of the
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elevator.
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Beau Gabriel eyed her under the rim of his Stetson, smiling
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slightly. "And you think I ought to lend him one of my girls."
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Beau maintained a large circle of female friends who were more
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than happy to cater to his rather exotic needs.
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"Well, it WOULD minimize the trauma all the way around..."
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"You're absolutely right, Amanda. I'd be happy to--on one
|
||
condition."
|
||
Amanda paused in the act of unlocking Decker's door. "I
|
||
might have known. What?"
|
||
"I get to watch when he takes her. I wanna see the
|
||
sanctimonious bastard deal with real hunger for the first time in
|
||
his life. Bet he wouldn't be so holier-than-thou THEN."
|
||
"Beau..." Amanda began, exasperated, as she swung open the
|
||
door.
|
||
And heard a giggle.
|
||
Startled, the two vampires looked through the living room
|
||
and into the kitchen of Decker's apartment. There, at the dinner
|
||
table, sat a lush blonde wearing a filmy negligee. In front of
|
||
her sat a plate holding a very large steak. Behind her stood
|
||
Decker, who was bending to nuzzle her neck. His eyes snapped up
|
||
at the sound of the opening door.
|
||
Decker bared his fangs. "Do you MIND?"
|
||
Hastily, Amanda backed out, reaching to drag Beau after her;
|
||
he seemed inclined to stay and stare at the blonde. She slammed
|
||
the door.
|
||
Beau stared at it, then turned to meet Amanda's wide eyes.
|
||
He tilted the brim of his Stetson up with a thumb. "Man sure
|
||
works fast, don't he?"
|
||
|
||
|
||
END
|
||
|
||
|
||
|