A Tempest In The Night Part 11

She'd tried to save my daughter's life. That should stand for something. There was always a "but." I was too confused to think, especially with her blood on my tongue. With a frightening insight, I knew I was no longer in control of my desires. I looked down at her sleeping form. Her dark, coiled hair damp around her temples. Her sable colored skin held a sheen.

My Ilida is practical. She would want to bathe, dress, then get on with her life. I had a surprise for her.

I bounded off the couch, picked her up, carried her upstairs to my bedroom, and then I lowered her to the bed. Once she was covered with the comforter, I entered the bathroom to clean up.

Afterwards, I filled the octagonal tub with scalding hot water and dropped a large bar of white soap into the tub. A soft command from me woke her up fully.

Ilida sat up, pulled the sheet up to cover her chest. Her dark brown eyes were wide with embarra.s.sment and surprise. I was getting used to her face.

"What is it?" Her eyes rolled around my bedroom then down at her shoulders. "I'm in your bed."

"I'm running the shower water for you."

She squirmed.

"Do you still think I'll send you on your way in a cab?"

Her tight curly hair was wild, her lips swollen. If I had a Polaroid...I could easily read her mind and I knew what I'd find. She's just as determined as I am to not attach.

She cleared her throat. "I need to..."

"Bathe. I know. I'll help you up."

"I-I don't need help."

Before her eyes could find me, I was by her side. I picked her up. She wrapped her arms around me.

"You do. You need lots of things."

The water was hot-exactly what she needed to clean the sweat and my scent off her skin. I lowered her feet into the tub.

From the shock of the hot water, her feet pranced in the tub, splas.h.i.+ng water on my chest and the floor. "Hey! Hot, hot!" I had to force myself to not laugh at the look on her face. I could stare at her for hours. She's unlike the other women I've slept with. That must be it. That's the allure. She's different. "The temperature should be cooler now after all that."

"You don't have to do this."

"I know I don't." I soaped a washcloth and rubbed her skin leaving fine white bubbles on her legs. "But I'm doing this, so relax."

She stood with her weight on her left leg, her right knee bent. Her right arm crossed her chest holding her left arm to her side, covering her voluptuous b.r.e.a.s.t.s. I wiped her arms and legs down as her cheeks blushed furiously. The color of her skin reminded me of those iced mocha drinks they sell at those chain coffee shops.

She stilled my hand. Soapy water dripped from our fingers. In this position, I could lift her out of the tub, hold her against the bathroom wall, and make love to her again. I met the statement in her eyes. "You were right. That wasn't casual."

She let go of my hand. I bent down, loaded the cloth with soap. I held my breath as I ran the cloth over nipples. The hard nubs beckoned me to suck. I brutally ignored the urge.

For a distraction, I inspected her neck.

"What is it?"

"You have a long, pretty neck." Perfect for lingering bites. I was careful to avoid wetting where I'd bitten her. Somehow, I'd remembered to seal the bite marks. f.u.c.king didn't dull all of my common sense. They were almost gone. She'll feel some residual pain tomorrow and will be none the wiser.

Again, I loaded the washcloth with soap and without asking her-she would have argued with me-I pushed the cloth between her legs.

"Why are you drawing this out?" she asked, flinching from the sensation of the cloth rubbing her nether lips.

"Beats the h.e.l.l out of me." I rinsed the cloth, and then rubbed the soap off her. I never bathe the women I sleep with. s.h.i.+t! What is wrong with me? "Turn around." I held her, making sure she didn't slip in the tub.

"Tell me about your relations.h.i.+p with Juliana?"

Images of my daughter when she was alive and bratty, but alive, a.s.sailed me. "This is a strange time for confessional, isn't it?"

"I don't think so. I pa.s.sed your weapons test, didn't I?"

I rubbed Ilida's curved back with the soapy washcloth. "Is this how you counsel patients?"

I investigated her a.s.s. The puckered skin was red and swollen. I'd hurt her. "You're going to be sore for a couple of days," I said, as I poured soapy water on the slope of her a.s.s.

The water flowed down the gentle curve of her back to her crack. She gripped the wall and sucked in her breath. The sting radiated from her a.s.s to her thighs. So merciless was the burn that I felt it, too. For her health issues and her peace of mind, I cleansed the area. Vampires don't carry diseases, but I didn't want her to worry.

"This isn't counseling. It's a talk between good friends."

"I didn't know Juliana existed until she was five years old. By then, I was too emotionally damaged to take care of her, so I sent her to live with my mother." My chest threatened to constrict after saying that. I never shared that with anyone. How did she make me talk? Who the f.u.c.k is Ilida Davis?

"Where you abused by your father?"

"Yes and others."

"So you stayed away from Juliana hoping she would have a better life with your mom. She never forgave you for leaving her."

"I want to switch gears."

We were silent for some time. I lingered on her back and behind for a while, lost in my emotions. She didn't complain even when she began to s.h.i.+ver.

"It wasn't bad," she said.

Ilida faced me. She leaned against the tiled wall and hugged herself.

"It wasn't? Despite your cringing when I cleaned you back there."

"It was strange, painful at first then it felt good. Primitive good."

I rinsed the rag, wrung it out, and then placed it on the edge of the tub. "A good f.u.c.k should feel primitive."

She glared at me then. My tongue had a way of las.h.i.+ng humans and vampires at the worst times. I'm just being myself- warts, fangs and all.

"I a.s.sume you'll take me home."

"I keep my word."

"You don't have to feel obligated to check on me afterwards. I'm a big girl and can take care of myself."

Her eyes widened.

"What? What is it?"

"I have to...to... you know."

Understanding her reluctance to say it, I picked her up carried her to the toilet and sat her on it. I closed the door behind me and waited. Once she was finished, I cleaned her up again. As I did so, I heard her stomach rumbling. I've heard human's stomachs growl when they are over hungry. "You need something to eat."

She hung her head, tears rolled down her cheeks. I cupped her chin and lifted it so I could see her eyes. "Why are you crying?"

"I don't know," she sobbed.

"I hurt you."

She shook her head crying harder. I usually make the women I slept with in the past cry with joy not ...It affected me, seeing her like this. "Ilida, if you don't answer me..."

"It was so intimate," she sniffed loudly.

Frightening, exposing...

The ability to speak left me. We were naked, but I couldn't have felt more out in the open. I wiped the running tears away, reached over her head, grabbed a towel, and then swaddled her in it.

I hardly noticed the cold tiled floor. She's human and susceptible to temperature changes. I picked her up again and carried her into my bedroom. I took baths or showers to relax, not for hygienic purposes.

I forgot about the water she dripped onto the floor too late when I slipped while holding her. We toppled onto the bed. I braced my hands on either side of her head. My knee lodged between her legs.

The scent of soap and l.u.s.t wafted from her skin. We stared at each other, breathless, but not from falling.

Once she was sitting up on the edge of the bed, I dried her off. She protested and, of course, I ignored her. "I'll get your clothes."

"Sure."

I opened my mind to hers making sure I didn't leave a back door for her to communicate with me or block my probing. She was disoriented and not sure how to take me, or what we did. She also didn't know how she would feel about herself in the morning. Ilida shouldn't feel any different. s.e.x is s.e.x, but being a human woman she'll a.n.a.lyze it ad nauseum.

I should keep my c.o.c.k in its proper place: in vampiresses's' holes. My life was getting increasingly complicated by the minute with her around.

After we both dressed, I drove her home. She had four messages on her cell phone from her roommate. She listened to them while I double-parked and left the motor running.

I kept my umbrella over her head as we ran up the cement stairs of her walk-up apartment.

"Thanks for driving me home," she said.

"You're welcome." Once again, I was alone in the world. That's how I like it, but now... I wanted to...I didn't know what I wanted. She was right in front of me. My angel, my tempest, ready to vacate my life as quickly as she'd entered it. I didn't give her a choice.

"Goodbye, Daedalus."

I gazed at her swollen lips in side view, from when I'd kissed her, as she took out her keys and began unlocking the door. "I feel something," I muttered over the tinkling of her keys.

"What? I didn't hear you..."

I cut her off, pulled her to me, and kissed her as pa.s.sionately as I didn't want to kiss her, but did nonetheless. The umbrella dropped out of my hands. She responded. I released her lips, and Ilida quickly pulled away.

"We can't see each other anymore," she said.

"Agreed."

She closed the door behind her.

I'd kissed her as if I'd never kissed a woman before. I had to force my hands to not rip the door open. I leaned my back against it. Energy, a force, I can't explain, came through the door, my coat my s.h.i.+rt, then my toughened vampiric skin. A cold chill coursed through my body from head to toe.

I had to clear my head. I had to meet with the Haemo High Council for the first time. That would kill any reaming s.e.xual desire I had left for the night.

Ilida leaned against the door. Her forehead tapped the door. Her heart beat a staccato rhythm. That kiss, that kiss. Like fire, but now she felt a tingling all over her body as if someone lightly drew a feather from her forehead on down.

Imbued with energy she ran up the five flights of stairs, not caring if she made a lot of noise with her boots. He'd changed her, awakened her senses, her s.e.xuality. Nothing else gave her a buzz like this.

Why had he picked her? Was it because she was available? Or did he feel an invisible tether tying them together, as well? Whatever. He was in so much turmoil. The naked pain in his eyes astounded her.

Ilida unlocked the front door to her apartment. Beverly sat on the floor watching a DVD.

"I'm famished," Ilida said as she looked in the fridge.

"So, who was he?"

Beverly had her "boyfriend" antennae up. After her tumultuous evening with Daedalus, Ilida wanted to keep quiet. It was her secret. Her fantasy. She didn't want to ruin it by babbling to the mouth of the south. "Who?" She rolled her eyes. That was lame, but how else was she going to stall Beverly? Beverly is like a pit bull when she's onto something.

"I know you were with a man tonight."

"You scare me, Beverly."

"So I'm right. Who was he?"

"It was a friend, that's all." More than a friend. G.o.d, I'm in trouble. She cleared her throat and bent down, grimacing as she reached for a carton of Chinese take-out.]

"You look different."

Uh, oh "How?" she asked as she looked up from the fridge to her roommate.

"I don't know. Your mouth is plumper and "Beverly gave her a knowing look. " What's wrong? Can't bend over?" She laughed evilly as she dramatically bent over mimicking Ilida.

Ilida rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Lay off, Beverly! Okay?"

"You hungry, girlfriend?"