"It's lovely, all of it. Thank you."

He smiled, placing his hand on my waist. "Follow me."

As if he didn't know I'd tag along to the ends of the Earth. Add one more skill to his list of accomplishments. Was there anything he couldn't do? My feet barely touched the parquet as he swept me about that blazing room expertly, leaving me breathless as always, a heavenly partner, devil that he was.

"I've engaged a villa on the Bay of Naples," he said. "We leave tomorrow night. What do you think?"

Demons stirred in the dark corners. What did I think? Of my father, his warm hazel eyes looking down at me, his strong hand in mine, and my mother, her child-like face a memory from a photograph.

"I'd like to go very much. Oh Ethan, yes, yes!" Then it occurred to me. Europe, old ones were there. Was Ethan's maker there? "Will we meet others?"

"Mia. There's a certain etiquette I haven't touched on yet."

"Good grief, not more charm school lessons!"

He chuckled. "They won't understand your charming impudence. You mustn't speak until addressed, or look one directly in the eye."

Did I hear him correctly? Speak when spoken to like a child? "Shall I don a veil and chast.i.ty belt?"

"Keep your wits about you and obey me. They're accomplished liars and will say anything to lure you to their den. Pity them if they succeed."

"I can handle myself."

"Seriously Mia, we can't afford enemies."

"Like your progenitor?"

Ethan's face slammed shut. "We won't be calling on him."

"Aren't you afraid of offending him? What's his name anyway?"

"Subject closed."

"But Ethan- "

"Must you spoil this evening? Dance!"

We danced until the candles sputtered. Ethan made a brief turn about the room, extinguishing nearly spent tapers, one by one, until only a single melted lump was left burning, casting him in long shadows, his beautiful face a tragic mask. Turning to a vase, he plucked out the largest, most spectacular bloom and regarded its perfect blood red petals sadly for a moment. Facing me, he smiled. "Name your heart's desire, Madonna Madonna."

"Nothing but you... "

Joe looked up. Mia's eyes were a million miles away. "Mia. Are you all right?"

"Ethan was built on illusions... Like that game with the sticks... you pull them away and suddenly it all falls apart. I was all his illusions come to life to be loved and cherished. I never intended to... "

This wasn't something he'd expected. "To what?"

She was still staring off into s.p.a.ce. "Ethan dreamed that science would free us from our bondage."

"You didn't answer my question."

Her eyes rested on him, fixed and enigmatic. As usual he had no idea what she was thinking. "Joe. Are you married?"

"Yes," he answered, evasively. He'd rather not think of the tension at home in her presence.

"Any kids?"

"Four girls, two boys."

"Jesus, you're no slouch in your off hours. Obviously, you find time in your busy schedule for some things. Any pictures?"

He pulled out his wallet and opened it to show her. The family portrait had been taken against Rima's wishes. She'd put on a lot of weight since little Ali's birth.

"Your wife?"

He nodded.

She grinned maliciously. "Not really your type, is she?"

The stabbing behind his eyes grew worse, a vise wrapping around his head. "We've been married twenty-one years."

"Congratulations. Am I keeping you from something?"

Jean. That's all Mia needed, some demon, as she put it, to torment him with. "Nothing- just tired." That's all Mia needed, some demon, as she put it, to torment him with. "Nothing- just tired."

"You've been looking at your watch all evening. Someone's waiting for you- but not Rima."

"How did you know my wife's name? You just asked if I was married."

"I do my homework, remember?"

"My personal life is off-limits."

"Always demons lurking round the corner, blond demons and dark ones. You prefer blonde, but your secrets are safe with me, Joe."

So she knew about him and Jean. "My secrets are none of your G.o.dd.a.m.ned business."

"Demons have a habit of devouring the soul if you keep them locked up."

He rose, gathering his belongings. "I have no interest in demons!"

Her face twisted up. "You should, once they take hold, there's no turning back."

He turned his back on her. "I'm really getting tired of these mind games, Mia."

"Mind games?" she laughed. "You have no idea... My regards to Jean."

He turned at the door as he let himself out. "f.u.c.k you."

Mia only sat there, smiling her Mona Lisa smile.

SEVEN.

By the time Joe entered Mia's cell a week later, everyone but security had gone for the night. He was exhausted from his hectic schedule, worried he'd fall asleep and not really in the mood to deal with Mia's barbs.

He found her bent over a charcoal drawing of Kurt, capturing his haunted expression very well in stark black and white. "That's pretty good."

"If I can't have him at least I'll be able to remember what he looks like. Isn't he beautiful?"

"I don't make a habit of looking at other men."

Her face twisted with malicious humor. "Afraid you might like what you see too much?"

He noted the bag of blood floating in the hot water bath. "I'm sorry- you haven't uh- fed yet."

"Nasty stuff. You could spike it a little or something."

"Sucking blood from a plastic bag doesn't cut it?"

She tipped back her chair. "Not really- they even brought it cold at first, but finally someone caught on to the fact that we like it warmed, so now they heat it to 98.6. Immortyls function just fine on donated blood, and actually a lot do these days, but the experience is lacking, like a baby must feel when it's taken away from the breast and someone shoves a rubber nipple in its mouth. The contact, the life isn't there."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"How about this a.n.a.logy? It's like masturbation: you're relieved but you would prefer a living, breathing partner."

"I see."

Her face dimpled malevolently. "All that blood rushing through the body. Zing go the strings of your heart, so to speak."

"We've been a.n.a.lyzing your neurotransmitters. Your seratonin levels are lower than those of mortals."

"Going to put me on Prozac?"

"We've no idea of the effect antidepressant drugs would have on your system. Frankly, I was alarmed by the lasting effect sedatives had on you. I've ordered no drugs be used on either one of you, until we understand the full effect they have. However, on the positive side we have have found a neurotransmitter unique to vampires. Perhaps it helps with muscle functions and responses, why you're faster and stronger." found a neurotransmitter unique to vampires. Perhaps it helps with muscle functions and responses, why you're faster and stronger."

"Congratulations."

"I'm kind of tired, Mia. If you don't mind?"

She peered at his face. "You look like s.h.i.t. Maybe you should go home and get some sleep after work?"

He ignored her oblique reference to Jean. "Do you need to- uh?"

"Not hungry at the moment." She put down the charcoal and went into the bathroom to wash her hands, taking a moment at the mirror to preen before she returned.

He pulled out his notebook and collapsed into a chair. "Let's get on with it. You said something last time about a trip to Italy?"

She settled down onto the bed with a bottle of nail polish and proceeded to pain her toenails. "Yeah, where I first got mixed up in all this mess... Well, the villa was everything Ethan promised, small and rustic with weathered old whitewashed walls and red-tiled roof, covered in blood red climbing roses. The overgrown terraced garden had a blue tiled fountain and paths winding down the rocky hillside to the beach. But the bay, restless waves breaking on the rocks, the smell of salt and iodine, the shimmering silver ribbon of moonlight over its surface, completed the romantic picture.

Our respite ended a few nights after our arrival when a boat roared up to our dock. I lay drowsy in Ethan's arms, annoyed by the sudden interruption to our erotic evening ritual. Ethan raised himself from my body, placing his fingers to my lips. "Get dressed."

I gawked at him until it dawned on me why he was behaving in this fashion. "Who is it?"

"Gaius Lupus, elder elder of these parts. I telegrammed before we sailed seeking permission to stay in his territory. Not a word until he addresses you, understand? Eyes averted- I know you find it difficult but a little feigned modesty is in order." of these parts. I telegrammed before we sailed seeking permission to stay in his territory. Not a word until he addresses you, understand? Eyes averted- I know you find it difficult but a little feigned modesty is in order."

He put on his robe and went downstairs to answer the door.

Dressing hastily, I galloped down the steps to join Ethan and our visitor below. Freezing mid-way, I caught eyes so black you couldn't tell iris from pupil. His dark hair was touched with silver and nose aquiline. Words flowed olive oil smooth from his full lips, "Che bella."

Ethan glared as I slowed my descent to a dignified glide. Taking my hand, he presented me to our guest. "Gaius, this is my Mia."

Luckily he introduced me in English. It would have been ridiculous in Italian. Mia mia. Mia mia. Gaius took my hand and raised it to his lips. He wasn't quite Ethan's stature but nearly six feet. He resembled a man of fifty, carrying himself with an air of soldierly authority, utterly relaxed but the smile oozing all over his face was very creepy- like moray eels in the bay. No tiny movements in the facial muscles, no shifting of weight from foot to foot as a human being would do. He barely seemed to breathe. Only his heartbeat gave him away as a living being. Where Ethan's composed arrogance still smacked of humanity, Gaius was one of the legendary walking dead. Gaius took my hand and raised it to his lips. He wasn't quite Ethan's stature but nearly six feet. He resembled a man of fifty, carrying himself with an air of soldierly authority, utterly relaxed but the smile oozing all over his face was very creepy- like moray eels in the bay. No tiny movements in the facial muscles, no shifting of weight from foot to foot as a human being would do. He barely seemed to breathe. Only his heartbeat gave him away as a living being. Where Ethan's composed arrogance still smacked of humanity, Gaius was one of the legendary walking dead.

The ancient's smile broadened as his eyes took stock of me. Ignoring Ethan's warning, I met his gaze, determined not to show fear.

"Interesting." A glimmer of emotion flickered when he spoke, "You've secrets in your eyes, child. What are you hiding, eh? She has the look of the Neapolitans."

Ethan spoke for me. "Her mortal father was a Disantini."

Gaius's mouthed twitched with suppressed laughter. "If I'd known the Disantini to produce such a girl, I'd have taken her myself. Their women are uniformly hideous- but the youngest son immigrated to America, over some affair with a servant, actually insisted on marrying her. Threw away his fortune. Ah well, there's no fortune left to speak of. This is the child? Dear boy, the Disantini have a reputation for ruthlessness. What sort of mischief can we expect from this little pomegranate blossom?" He sank down regally in one of the heavy old chairs. "My old friend Brovik recently pa.s.sed through asking after you. I told him I'd not seen you since before the war. Now you arrive on my doorstep with this girl. There will be no trouble?"

Who was Brovik? Was this Ethan's progenitor?

Ethan's hackles rose ever so slightly. "No." He put his arm around me. "I'm here for pleasure."

"Apparently so." Gaius's fingers drummed on the chair's arm. Smooth slightly golden skin covered his be-ringed hands, the backs covered in fine black, spidery hair. "Bring Mia to the palazzo. The girls are always glad to see you." Gaius leaned forward to me. "How did did one of the wicked Disantini come to be among us, via America, no less? Speak up, little one. Are you a very she-devil, as your predecessors- or a romantic fool like your father?" one of the wicked Disantini come to be among us, via America, no less? Speak up, little one. Are you a very she-devil, as your predecessors- or a romantic fool like your father?"

The old pervert's att.i.tude irritated the s.h.i.t out of me. If I opened my big mouth I'd regret it, but still Ethan prompted me.

"Mia, my dearest, answer Lord Gaius."

Gaius waited. I looked first at Ethan then to him.

"Is she stupid?"

Vitriol bubbled up to the surface. "The f.u.c.k I will."

Ethan turned purplish. "Mia! Apologize at once at once!"

"Apologize, my a.s.s! I don't care if he's the lord-high demon of Hades."