Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Preventers: When Vampires Attack ❯ Chapter 8

Amy sighed and collapsed into the heap of pillows which had accumulated on the couch. For a moment, she stiffened as the soft upholstery brushed her skin. Stunned, she eyed the blue fabric and shuddered. It seemed like she was somehow aware of every minute fiber.... Nawwwww, had to be imagination.

"Gah!" She folded her arms over her eyes and heaved a giant sigh. "He's not here. I was hoping he would be." Her voice sounded small and tinny, even to herself.

"He's got to be alive. Your boss - that Po woman - she would've been contacted otherwise, right? And she'd have to contact you." Conan shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and squatted beside her. Slowly, as though afraid she might bolt, he moved to place his hand over hers. "He's fine."

She offered him a small smile, peering out from under her arms. "Thanks. But that really doesn't mean anything and you know it. For all we know, Mikael could have kidnapped him too, just to play with me. Or he could have crawled off somewhere secluded before he.... So he could...." Her throat seized up, cutting her off. She wouldn't say that word. Not yet.

"Or he could be out there looking for you right now and he'll be returning in any minute. So before you go running off to wreak vengeance, sit back and relax for a while. If worse comes to worse, you might need the strength."

"No. I can't just stay here and sit on my ass when I don't even know-"

Conan gave her hand a small squeeze. "Look, you're going to relax if I have to lock you in your room. I'll go make a poultice to help you unwind and you get into bed." He grinned encouragingly. "Just because you're special, okay?" Before she could summon a decently annoyed growl, Conan jumped up and trotted backwards, dragging her to her feet by her hands.

"Fiiiiine. I'll play along. But I want to get moving ASAP, yo." Amy directed him to the kitchen with an impatient jab of her finger and ambled off to the bedroom.

She didn't bother to turn on the light as she entered the bedroom. Faint tendrils of morning light snuck in beneath the thick balcony door curtains. She barely noticed when the stark light from the living room hit her back, casting a deep black shadow across her path. Heedless of the lack of light, she crossed the inky room and dug into Wufei's side of the dresser. Soon, she had stripped down and slipped into a pair of roomy flannel boxers and a dark blue tee-shirt. Once dressed, she blinked and smoothed her hand across her abdomen, tenderly looking down at the tee-shirt. This was the shirt he had lent her after the simulation room accident, before their first mission had even started.

"Amy; you dressed?" Conan was standing outside the room, his face carefully averted.

"Yeah." She bopped onto the bed. "The clothes I borrowed from you are right by the dresser."

Conan attempted an experimental peek, then smiled. "All righty, then. And here's my end of the deal." He sauntered into the room and proffered a weighted cheesecloth pouch. The ends of the pouch were twisted and pinched closed between his fingers. In his other hand, he held a small bowl of steaming water. "Here's a little something I learned back in England. This blend of common household spices will relieve tension and help you relax." He sounded, for all the world, like a telemarketer. She had to smile.

He tapped a panel by the door and a dim light flickered on. "Just lay on your stomach and breathe deeply. I'll help you with the poultice."

She complied, burying her face in the soft pillow. For an instant, she frowned as each individual fiber of the pillowcase pressed against her face. She heard him swish the poultice in the water. Then he pulled the hem of her shirt up to expose her back and plopped the poultice down across her shoulders.

For a minute or two, he silently kneaded the poultice against her back. "You know, this brings back memories. Remember when Ammut drained me? Everyone else thought I was a goner. But . . . you came back from your mission, when you learned I was in trouble; voluntarily fed me, with your lifeblood. You saved my skin then. I think that`s the one time I was actually grateful for Cosmo's damned equipment. Heh, that bastard." He smiled softly. "Anyway, it's about time I paid you back for then, eh?"

Conan's voice worked as much magic as the poultice. His gentle, soothing tones washed over her, easing the stress away. She couldn't help but smile back. "You never owed me anything, and you know that. This is what partners do."

The room suddenly seemed to darken a tad. Partners. They hadn't been partners for the last five years. For an instant, Amy wondered how things had changed so much. The answer, of course, was Nikolaos. That bitch - the former Master Vampire - had done something to Conan the night she had died. Vampires were pretty tight-lipped about their internal affairs, and she had never been able to get even Conan to fully explain this one to her. Nikolaos had given her title to Mikael... and something else to Conan, which he refused to talk about. But after that night, he had withdrawn bit by bit until he stepped out of her life altogether. Although she could not explain it, she had convinced herself by now that she herself hadn't been to blame. Nikolaos must have charged him to watch Mikael, to keep the power-hungry vampire in check. How she expected him to do that, Amy didn't know. Conan had to be at least 1,000 years younger than Mikael….

"How's the mark?"

Amy jumped as the vampire's voice broke into her thoughts, then rolled her head to one side so she could answer. "It's closed up already. There's a scar."

"Hn." Gentle hands left the poultice and twisted her lower body to one side so he could assess the mark himself. "Yes. It took hold. Do you feel any different? Have you noticed anything strange?"

She closed her eyes, reflecting, searching her body. "I feel more... aware of things. Like textures and smells and sounds." As she searched for further evidence, realization hit her like a speeding monkey on a unicycle. She had walked into the bedroom - with which she was still unfamiliar - in almost complete darkness without waiting for her eyes to adjust or anything. And she`d had no problem finding what she was looking for in the drawer. "And sight. I have night vision."

"I think that's all normal." He paused thoughtfully and chuckled. "As normal as can be expected in this sort of situation. From what I've heard, you might get to keep those heightened senses. It's usually more powerful when the exchange is new, like yours. I think its duration depends on how your body reacts to Mikael's blood. You could be back to normal when you wake up, you might never have to turn on the lights again. You might feel off tomorrow, or for a week, or a year. Your body might reject it completely and you'd…well…." Conan let her relax again and returned his attentions to her upper back. His powerful thumbs slowly kneaded tense muscles, repositioning the pouch periodically. "Hmm, what else? How about voices? Do you feel anything crawling around your mind that's not Amy?"

Voices...? Amy let her mind zip through a retro-rewind. Over five years ago, Conan had explained the marks to her. Although he knew little, he was able to tell her the effects of each mark. One: she and Mikael could sense one another's presence within a certain radius. Two: they could send telepathic messages at will. Three: Mikael could pull answering thoughts from her mind uninvited. Four: he could control certain actions and tamper with her will. Five: she became immortal, and irreversibly tied to Mikael. But she was fairly sure that Mikael would never let her reach that point. The fourth mark was the last one required to become a bona fide human servant.

Amy closed her eyes again as her body was wracked by a fierce shudder. "No. No voices." Not yet. "Will he have to...hunt me down first? Or can he actually use the marks to locate me?"

Silence descended on the room. Conan shifted slightly; his hands paused in their slow, even motions. "I wouldn't know. As I've told you, I've never had a human servant. Never saw the... need for one." She could sense his gaze travel to the scar on her thigh. "And I've heard very little of unwilling ones. I don`t want to tell you anything I don`t know to be true."

"Wow - suddenly I feel special." She offered a crooked grin before she buried her face in the pillow again. "Nmmph mmn'm nng?"

Conan chuckled softly, the smooth, soothing tones trickling up from his throat. "Say again?" He resumed the backrub.

She took a deep breath before twisting around to watch him from the corner of her eye. "'But what do you think?'"

Golden brown eyes darkened solemnly, casting the light sparkle from their shimmering surface. "If he gets too close to you, he'll know it. From all I can gather, it's like a pull. You definitely can't be on the same block as him... maybe not even within three or four city blocks. You're going to have to be very careful."

Poomf. Amy's face dropped into the pillow with a dull... well... poomf. Her chest heaved in a giant sigh. Her breath, warm and thick, caught up against the pillow before rushing against her face. Damn. `Ah, what tangled webs we weave-' No, wait, that wasn't right. . . .

Conan continued to knead her lower back as a contemplative silence fell. Just as Amy was about to yell "Charge!" and storm the door, he took a nearly inaudible breath. She jumped.

"Amy. . . . There is one way to negate his marks." From the hesitance in his voice, she decided she probably wouldn't like his suggestion. "If I marked you myself...."

"What?" She barely kept herself from leaping up and slowly backing away from Conan. "Let's get this straight right here and now. I'm not going to be anyone's human servant, Conan. Not Mikael, not you, not the bloody Vampire Queen herself!"

"Whoa, whoa! Hey!" Powerful hands pressed her into the mattress, gently if firmly. "I don't expect you to be any servant. The fact is I'm more powerful now than that bastard will be within the next century. If I override his marks with my own, he'll have no power over you. And he won't be able to replace mine."

Amy stifled her rant down to a growl. Conan allowed her to fling his hands away and sit up to face him. She glared for a sec or two. "Well... that's new. You're more powerful than him? Why the hell don't you do something about him? Catch him alone; challenge him to a duel, dammit! How can you just sit back in your cozy little cottage while he-"

"Don't you think I would if I could?!" He directed a smoldering, level gaze at the Fire Elemental. She fell into uncertain silence, frankly beginning to wonder whether she should be concerned for her own safety. "You know Mikael would never agree to a fair fight. Even if he arranged to duel with me, he'd never honor the pact. He'd find a loophole. You know as well as I do that he'd have some of his oldest followers with him to screw me over." He shook his head bitterly. "Just because I'm more powerful than him doesn't mean I should kick his ass. There are other factors involved. In the end, I believe timing will be everything. And if I continue to bide my time, our final conflict will be on my grounds under my control."

Amy stared at her toes. "Sorry. I'm sorry, Conan. I should've known you'd do something if you could."

He nodded brusquely, then rose to his feet, nabbing the lumpen poultice. "It's okay. Emotions are running on high right now." He crossed the room, turning at the door. "You just relax now. I'll make you a new poultice. And then we'll search for Wufei." The lights snapped off and he closed the door as he left.

Amy sighed and fell back against the mattress again. In the darkness she lay awake, left alone with her thoughts.

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Wufei paused before opening the door, letting his gaze flicker to the three figures behind him. Their eyes added weight to his back; their silence thickened the air. He shifted sideways, leaning against the door as though bowing under the pressure. "Thank you for your help," he intoned flatly. "You can all go home now." Well, Avyth would be going with Selket and Shinigami first, but they could figure that out for themselves.

Someone snorted. Selket crossed her arms and appraised him with a haughty once-over. "Like hell. You're going to do something stupid, aren't you?" Wufei drew himself up to his full height, meeting her eyes with his own hard stare. She let her expression soften a little. "Whether you like it or not, we're sticking with you-spend the day with you if we have to. Maybe you got by as the 'Solitary Dragon' a few years ago, but this is different. You have more responsibilities, people who care about you. No arguing."

Duo grinned and clapped a hand on the Asian man's shoulder. At least, Wufei assumed it was Duo again; the American had retracted his wings. "Sure, buddy. You need some friends right now." Before Wufei could argue, he found himself being steered into his own apartment, closely followed by his uninvited nursemaids. Great. Just great. Just what he needed.

Suddenly he realized the living room light was on. A quick glance told him that the room was empty. Good; I don't need any more surprises for a while, he thought. Must've forgotten to turn it off last evening. He didn't have to foot the electric bill, what did he care?

Duo, at least, didn't hesitate once he was inside. The braided bishounen immediately plopped down into an armchair and grabbed the remote control. "We'll be fine, Wu-man; don't worry about us. Go on to bed now." To Wufei's surprise, there was a tinge of concern in his cheerful tone. Closer examination made him realize that Duo was actually putting on a fake smile.

As he ambled toward the door, Selket called out, "Will you be all right?"

"Sure, sure." Even to his own ears, Wufei's voice sounded disjointed, unfocused. He issued a heavy sigh and opened the door just enough for him to slip through. Once the door was shut again, he was enveloped in velvety darkness. For an instant, he just leaned back against the door, staring up at the invisible ceiling.

I've got to get moving. Sure, those guys mean the best, but there's no way they can understand. . . . He flexed his injured arm appraising, then crossed the room in a few determined steps, intent on grabbing a change of clothes and heading out after Amy. My arm's mostly healed. I'll start in the woods near Mikael's-

He had just thrown his shirt aside when his knees made sudden and unexpected contact with the bed frame. Before he could catch his balance, he sprawled out across the bed. And he landed in someone's lap.

Amy jumped up as something landed across her legs. An eep rose to her throat but died with a rattle. Sudden panic dried her throat, rendering her vocal cords useless. Gasping rather frantically, she scooched back against the headboard (oh, didn't that bring wonderful memories?) and slapped the light panel beside the bed. The lights flashed on, momentarily blinding her. Oh; night vision; right. As she squinted and blinked like a moron, she braced herself for the attack, wishing she had kept Mikael's funky dagger.

"Amy?!"

Her breath caught in her throat at the sound of his voice. She forced her eyes to adjust to the light. She had to see- It was almost too good to be true. . . .

"You're alive!" The two voices swelled simultaneously, joining in a happy little duet.

Amy heard a soft sob tear from her throat at the welcome sound of his voice. But as she wrapped her arms around him, his chest heaved with a pained grunt. Confused, she sat back on the bed to take him in with a long, assessing inspection. Suddenly, she felt like whacking herself upside the head. "Oh my God, your arm." But as her eyes ran over his chest, she nearly gasped in horror. He was covered with wounds ranging from purpled bruises to angry red lacerations. And if that was how he looked after over thirty hours of healing, the initial beating must have hurt, just a bit. On second glance, Amy officially upped the pain factor to "like hell."

"Oh, Wu," she breathed. Nearly wincing at the sight of his torn flesh, she searched for an unmarked spot where she could rest her hand. In a second, she gave up and stroked his cheek in a relatively intact area. "Let me get some bandages from the bathroom-"

He cut her off, silently pulling her back onto the bed when she tried to get up. His eyes locked with hers, laced with raw emotion that outweighed the pain, communicating what words could not. Firmly, he pushed her until her back was pressed to the rumpled sheets once more. He placed a knee beside her waist so that he hovered over her, blocking her from rising again. Slowly, he doubled over the knee, shifting part of his weight to the elbow of his good arm, braced beside her head.

Wufei's soft, sensual mouth covered hers, lightly gracing it with tender kisses. She melted beneath him, sliding her hands along the muscles of his back as her lips answered his. He winced once as she brushed a half-healed wound, but held her hand in place with his free arm when she tried to pull away. For a second, he withdrew from the kiss to let his eyes take her in.

Amy took advantage of the opportunity to pour all of her emotion into her deep brown eyes. The only words the English language provided for what she felt were "I love you." And right now, that seemed like a severe understatement. Then again, she often communicated best through understatement.

I love you

Smoldering obsidian eyes gazed back, reciprocating her unspoken message. Then, without losing any of that deep emotion, a mischievous sparkle flashed across them so quickly that Amy had to wonder whether she'd imagined it. He leaned over again, softly licked her lower lip, then left a trail of kisses around her jaw.

Two can play at this game, she decided as soft sounds of appreciation found their way from her throat. A small smile slipped across her face as she grabbed his rather tasty bum and gave it an enthusiastic squeeze.

A rare and well-deserved look of surprise covered his face, but he quickly recovered and retaliated by returning his attentions to her mouth. This time the kiss was a playful challenge for dominance. No doubt, he figured that they both had recovered enough to start this ageless game. Well all right, she would gladly meet his challenge. And she did. The kiss deepened, became more intense, lustful. Amy tasted blood and vaguely wondered whose it was.

"Hey, you two!"

Amy and Wufei's eyes flew open simultaneously. They froze. Without turning their heads, their eyes shot toward the door. Selket, Duo, Avyth, and Conan stood in the open doorway, staring at the couple. Selket smirked knowingly while Duo grinned like a maniac; he was obviously enjoying himself. Avyth began muttering to himself, but he turned an interesting shade of red. Amy's gaze flew to Conan. The vampire was pointedly watching her, mixed emotions washing over his face in waves.

Selket laughed as Amy tried to wriggle out from under Wufei. Her lover let her reposition herself, then took a rather hasty seat next to her.

"Why, Wufei... I guess you are all right after all." Selket looked like she might maintain a straight face at the cost of one cracked rib.

Amy tried to compose herself, refusing to meet Conan's questioning eyes. She hadn't known the others were in the next room, but she should have remembered that Conan was there! Abashed, she fought the color rising to her cheeks. "H-how long were you standing there?"

Duo grinned. "Oh, once we heard the moaning, we thought Wufei had-"

"Duo!" Selket snapped irritably. "Conan came out of the kitchen as soon as Wufei disappeared into the bedroom. He filled us in on the basics. We thought we'd give you some time alone, but we didn't want to have to wait for you guys to, ah, finish and... well...." She shrugged and gave the couple another assessing glance. "We've got to have a talk with Avyth so we'll, ah, leave the two of you to get reacquainted now, okay? We`ll meet at Libido at the regular time. Maybe afterwards we can decide what the hell is going on. Good? Good. See ya." She shooed everyone outside.

Conan lingered. His pointed presence was enough to make Amy give in and turn her eyes to him. "Remember our deal. You contact me before you leave this building, or if your condition changes. I'll make sure some friends are in the area at all times, ready to help you." He picked up the clothes her had lent her and tucked them under one arm.

"Conan! Get your butt out here and leave those two alone!" Selket reappeared in the doorway and flapped her hand impatiently. She directed him into the living room, but peeked back in before shutting the door behind them. "Oh, and Amy - glad you're alive. Good to see you don't have any lasting traumatizations, eh?" Selket laughed and ducked out. Seconds later, the hall door locked shut.

Amy turned to stare at Wufei. Wufei stared at Amy.

"I'll, ah, go check and see if we have any stragglers." Wufei smiled weakly. He leaned over her again, his lips parting in a grin. "I'll be right back. Stay here." Gentle fingertips trailed down her bare arm. Then he was gone.

Amy jumped up. Stay? Feh, after seeing those wounds, she decided he needed a different kind of TLC than what he intended. What kind of greeting had that been anyway? As soon as they had found out that each other was alive and mostly intact, had they caught up on current events? Discussed the situation like good little Preventers? Ne, they had made themselves all comfy on the bed.

Shaking her head, Amy slipped out the door and padded to the bathroom. She raided the mirrored cupboard, setting assorted bottles of medicines and salves on the sink. Once she had discovered a small cache of band-aides and gauze, she knelt beside the porcelain tub and began to fill it up with hot water.

The faint, masculine scent of Wufei preceded the strong hand that slid around her waist. He squatted behind her, balancing on the balls of his feet so his legs hugged her hips. He shifted his bum arm, hugging her to his chest. "You moved." Soft lips brushed her ear as he spoke, breathing the words across her cheek.

Amy smirked and pulled away, turning to face him. "You need to take care of yourself, buster. Unlike me, you let them tear you up." She leaned forward to poke at his battered skin.

He winced slightly. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Sure." She let her lips quirk into that familiar crooked grin. And set to work, unbuckling his belt with a no-nonsense firmness. He sighed and began working the pants from his hips as she called up the cold tap. By the time he had committed his clothing to a small pile by the tub, the water had reached an ideal temperature. Amy motioned toward the tub with an expression that brooked no argument.

Wufei slowly sank into the warm water, his face schooled to stoic blandness. It was Amy who winced, imagining the sting of water in his open wounds. Soon he embraced the pain, emitting a relieved sigh. "Now are you going to wash me as well, woman?" He grinned unsteadily.

But she grinned back and squished a loofah at him. "Sure. I mean, it's not every day that you come back to me from the dead." She sudsed up the loofah and began to caress his shoulders, which seemed to be the least damaged part of his body. He took the cleansing with stoic silence, unmoving, even as the soap reached his raw wounds. Amy's heart went out to him as she carefully washed the tortured flesh. That damned Dragon blood. I wish it could spread its powers evenly, instead of focusing everything on first the internal wounds, then turning to the external. But if it had taken this long to heal the internal injuries. . . . Oh, Wu; how bad was it?

"What happened to you, Wu? After the alley, I mean."

"Nothing much." Dark, exotic eyes averted to stare into the soapy water that lapped at his calves. Amy frowned slightly, then extended a finger to gently trace the far edge of his jaw. Wufei hesitantly turned with the finger, meeting her eyes with deep, troubled pools of liquid obsidian. "When I . . . regained consciousness, you were gone. So I enlisted the help of Duo and Stacie." He gave a basic run-through of the night's events. "And then I landed in your lap and, well...." A small smile played at his lips.

A dark frown furrowed Amy's brow and she sat back on her heels to let his story tumble about in her mind. She wasn't sure if she felt more pissed or weepy. Pissed won out. "Blaming it on Conan.... That bastard! What's he doing? And I thought he was just being his usual egotistical self!" She wrung the loofah in her hands as if it was Mikael's neck. "Do you think he's behind this whole vampire attack thing? You know, that he killed all those teens?"

Wufei shook his head and stretched out, leaning his forearm back against the tub rim. "What could he possibly gain from organizing something like that? I don't see-"

"It got me here, didn't it?" Amy frowned and brushed tentative fingers across the scar which graced her thigh. "I wouldn't have come to this godforsaken city otherwise. Maybe those people died because-" Because of me.

"No." Gentle hands cupped hers. She looked up into Wufei's concerned eyes. He shook his head. "Mikael has had five years to wait for his chance to mark you again. Now that's a lot of time to plan. From what I've heard, I doubt he would do anything so rash. I mean, Mikael would never do something that would jeopardize his position of power. When those vampire murderers get caught, Mikael would lose power if it were discovered that he was the brains behind it. The president would make his life an undead hell."

Amy frowned. "That's right. And the `rogues' would be destroyed."

"So he'd have less servants. . . ."

She flashed a grin. "Common sense. Something I don't have too much of tonight, it seems. Heh." She hooked her arm over the tub rim and rested her cheek against her forearm. "So he was telling the truth about that much, at least."

They lapsed into silence, each thinking their own thoughts. While Wufei pondered the smoothest way to get into her boxers, Amy's thoughts raged more along the vein of "Mikael." Listlessly, her finger continued to trace her newest scar, back and forth, side to side, tap, tap, tap. Suddenly, she squeezed her eyes shut. "Damn him! The second mark.... Fucking bastard! Bastard!" Vaguely, she realized that there were tears streaming down her cheeks unchecked. "Bastard...." She curled up into a tight ball, leaning against the tub for support.

Just as suddenly, Wufei was there. He gathered her shaking form into his arms, pulled her into a comforting embrace. She clung to him as though he were her lifeline, her last tie to sanity.

Soft lips found her jaw line and slowly traced the thin edge of bone. "What happened, Amy? Tell me what happened." Wufei murmured into her neck. Both of his hands traced slow, soothing circles on her shoulder blades.

Amy pressed her face against his chest. Saltine tears mingled with the beads of fresh water that clung to his tanned skin. She blubbered her way through the story of her own mini-adventure.

Y"I don't want him in my head! This makes me more vulnerable to him!" She cut herself off, rededicating her efforts to drawing a usable breath.

Wufei caught her face up between his hands, carefully tilting her head back until she was looking up at him. "Amy." His eyelids wavered slightly as he leaned in to kiss her tenderly. After a moment, he withdrew enough to gaze into her dark, liquid eyes. "Amy, you are about as vulnerable as, well, a dragon."

Swallowing hard against the lump in her throat, she closed her eyes, concentrating on the feel of his gentle hands, nothing else. She tried to ignore the bittersweet blood that now mingled with her own, coursed through her veins. It held promises of sweet immortality, the tang of Mikael's raw power. Even then there was a tinge of death, light and semisweet in its own sense, thickened by an indescribable darkness. It drew her, called her, yet repulsed her. In this moment, through him, she was more alive than she'd ever been before; and yet never before had she touched upon death quite so perceptibly.

Wufei rested his chin on top of her head, drawing her closer. "Hey, it's okay." She half-expected him to say something about "weak onnas." But he held his tongue, instead cupping her face in his strong hands. Amy let herself relax against him, let the tears slowly drain from her eyes.

"Just keep telling yourself what Conan told you. He... he's a smart man. And he cares about you. If you're careful around Alben, you'll be fine. And as soon as we're finished here, you'll never have to see Mikael again." Gentle hands caressed her cheeks.

Both hands. She realized he was using both hands smoothly. She pulled away slightly, staring at his newly healed arm. His shoulders and chest were almost remarkably clean. Of course. Her tears had fallen on him. Between their healing powers and his own….

He blinked, not understanding at first. Then his gaze slid to his arm. A slow smile parted his soft lips. "You can't keep the dragon blood down. Keep in mind, you aren't the only one with healing capabilities." He carefully flexed the arm, which was still graced by a unique purple bruise. "But the bath was nice anyway." She had the distinct impression he was stifling a wise-ass grin.

She laughed hoarsely. Trying to regain her composure, she wiped the back of her hand across her face. "You dork. Making me worry. . . ." Scowling darkly, she captured a handful of silken ebony hair and yanked until his face was less than a centimeter from hers. She exhaled softly, felt her warm breath eddy against his lips to whisper by her face. Firmly, she placed her lips against his and slid her free hand behind his head.

"Euh, we really need to recuperate if we're expected back at the club tonight. . . ."

"Later."

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