“But what a way to die,” he sighed.

I wanted to scream with frustration when he moved away from me, the evidence of his arousal tenting the front of his track pants.

“Now that we’ve ascertained you can handle hand to hand combat, time to see what else you can do.”

“You mean like this?” With a little focus, my wings sprang from my back in a grey feathery cloud. I bounded up and with a few, full flaps was airborne. I evened myself out in a few strokes and coasted on the strange aerial currents flowing through Limb’s grey skies. I pumped my wings and grinned, for flying truly was a treat. A flash of color made me turn my head, and in my shock at what I saw, I began to plummet. I quickly flapped my wings, regaining my height and shook my head with a smile. “You are such a ham,” I said to Gene. He just grinned at me from where he sat cross-legged on a tasseled, brightly colored rug.

“Let’s see what you can do with those wings of yours,” he said leaning forward on his flying carpet. He poured on the speed and pulled away from me. I laughed and pumped to catch up. I followed him as he weaved, spun and dove towards the ground. Liberating didn’t come close to describing it. In the human world, I had to be careful about when and where I used my aerial ability. While in captivity, the scientists had only allowed me to fly under the watchful eyes of snipers. Since my escape, any flying I did ended up restricted to moonless nights-alone.

With Gene, I could be myself, and we had fun, whooping and hollering as we chased each other through the grey sky. When a dark shadow covered me, I looked up and gaped. A massive dragon flew overhead and as I watched, it opened its mouth and spewed out a cloud of white mist.

“Holy crap.” Distracted, I lost altitude and before I could flap to regain it, I found myself grasped in an icy claw. “Simon, that better be you,” I warned. Actually, a part of me recognized him, not with my eyes or nose, but more with my senses. My massive dragon lover landed and set me down on the ground.

I took several steps back and eyed him up and down. He’s magnificent! The immense reptilian body was covered in shimmering white scales that glinted blue when he moved. His body was muscled and his limbs ended in wickedly sharp claws. He had a long tail with barbs on the end and a ridge of spines went up his back. The green eyes, while much larger, remained the same, and they regarded me with humor as I walked up to him. He lowered his head and I rubbed his snout even as I shivered at the sight of teeth that were the length of my arm.

“Hey handsome, so when you change back into your man shape, will you be naked?” I asked with my one-track mind.

My dragon snorted and beneath my petting hand, the body shrank and the scales melted into the skin of his face which I’d grown intimately acquainted with the night before.

To my chagrin, he wore clothes. I must have made a moue of disappointment because he chuckled and dropped a light kiss on my lips. “Hello, darling. Nice wings.”

“Thanks,” I replied, ruffling them.

Gene landed with his carpet and Simon snorted. “Show off.”

Gene grinned. “Glad you could make it. I was just about to start testing her abilities to block metaphysical attacks.”

“Whoa,” I said bringing my hands up. “Much as I’d love to see the different ways in which people, or things, can kill me, I’ve got to get ready for work.”

Simon’s brow crinkled. “But I thought we agreed you’d feed off us.”

“Um, hello, I don’t work just to feed, you know. I have bills to pay.” Gene opened his mouth and I stopped him with a glare. “No, I will not take money from you. That would be treating me like some kind of prostitute. I said I wouldn’t feed off others, although, that applies only to the touching kind. I will continue to feed off the emotions of my audience.”

Simon looked like he would argue, but at a curt nod from Gene he clamped his lips tight. “Very well. We will be around in case trouble crops up, so fear not even if you don’t see us. But know this,” he said coming close to me and staring down at me with his eyes glowing. “You will be spending the night with us.”

I trembled with instant arousal and wished I had more time to get a sample of what I could see in his eyes. But, Gene and I had spent quite a bit of time sparring and according to my inner clock, it was time to get ready for work.

“I’ll take her home,” Gene offered.

Simon bent me over and gave me a thorough kiss that made me want to say screw work, but I fought his allure, to the disappointment of my body. Gene slipped his arm around my waist, and in surely the best method of transportation ever invented, popped us back into the human world just outside my apartment door.

“I gotta ask,” I said turning in his arms to face him. “How do you know when you teleport us that there’s no one around to see?”

“I don’t.” he shrugged. “The magic seems to take care of that for me. Cool huh?”

“Very.” I leaned in for my goodbye kiss, which also included some ass groping, before I finally went in to face reality-and a thousand questions from my roomies.

Chapter Seven

The club was quiet that night and true to their word, I didn’t sense or see my boyfriends at all. I did my sets on autopilot, the trickle of emotion from the crowd nothing compared to what my lovers could give me. They’ve ruined me. Now that I’ve had a taste of them, I’ll never be able to go back to feeding on humans. At the end of my second stage show, I found Claire wiping glasses behind the bar.

“Hey, I’m heading out,” I announced.

“I thought the boys would be picking you up?” she crinkled her nose.

I shrugged. “Guess not. If I don’t see you back at the apartment then know that I’m probably sleeping over at their place.”

“Be careful.”

I just grinned in reply. I headed out, my high heels clacking on the pavement as I went up the street. I kept expecting Gene or Simon to pop out and say “Boo,” or at least slap my ass in hello, but the night was eerily silent.

So much for getting lucky. I wondered what had held them up. It better be important. I refused to give in to worry yet. Or doubts. Perhaps it was foolish of me, but I trusted Gene and Simon. I knew they wouldn’t let me down without good reason.

My heels clacked noisily on the sidewalk and given the deserted streets, I decided maybe a flight home would be in order. I’d no sooner thought it than I heard a whisper of sound. I whirled-too late. The course fabric of a sack was pulled over my head, and though I thrashed and kicked, steel bands wrapped around me and when I felt the prick in my side all I could think of was Shit, not again.


Simon bit back a growl as he watched Beth fighting as she was manhandled by the vamps. It went against everything in him to let those dark beings just take her.

“Calm your beast. You know this is the best way to locate their lair,” Gene said placing a restraining hand on his arm.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” muttered Simon, finding it hard to do nothing while he saw his one attacked, drugged and kidnapped.

“Save your fury for when we rescue her in a moment.”

“And who’s going to save us from Beth’s fury?” Simon asked arching a brow at his friend.

“I hope your tongue and cock are in working order when the battle is done because we’ll have to make it up to her, probably more than once.”

Simon, even given the seriousness of their mission, couldn’t help remembering Beth, not naked and panting, although she was beautiful in that moment. Nor with her lips wrapped around his cock, much as it pleased him. No, he remembered Beth’s trust in him, a trust he’d protect her, and here he’d let some dirty vampires kidnap her. I will make them pay for every hair they’ve bent, he swore.

Quietly, he and Gene followed the vamps who stuffed their unconscious prize into a dark paneled van. Simon had wanted to shift into dragon shape to follow, but Gene talked him out of it, saying his beast was too large to squeeze between the narrow confines of the city streets. Instead, they rode Gene’s carpet, not the colorful one he’d used in Limbo, but one dark as the night itself. It also matched Simon’s mood. He consoled himself with the fact that once they killed all the dark ones, it would be one less danger to Beth.

And only a freaking huge menace left to her in the form of the Legion of Darkness and Army of Light. He’d received some disturbing news while Gene had been busy training Beth. It would seem both armies were aware of Beth’s existence already. But, another tidbit from his source gave him reason to hope, for he learned the two armies were divided on what to do. It seemed a large faction on both sides wanted to let the prophecy fulfill itself in the hopes of tearing down the walls that surrounded their realms. While many demons and angels could move freely in and out, nothing else could, not without the use of some powerful magic. Not to mention, ever since the walls were erected, effectively sectioning the forces for good and evil, neutral no longer existed. You either belonged to one camp or the other.

And many were tired of the whole freaking thing. This fracture in the two realms, though, was great news for them as it meant less beings for him to destroy when the battle for Beth’s survival occurred.

Gene nudged him as the van halted outside a large house tucked outside of town. The light flooding the front lawn from the windows was enough for them to see that there were quite a few cars parked out front. The stench of vampire was unmistakable, especially to one with a refined olfactory sense like his.

“Time to play?” Simon questioned.