Page 26

I rose from the chair I had been sitting in, setting the gun on the counter. Basil woke suddenly, feeling the towel which was his only modesty yanked from him. He then gasped as cold water splashed his feet.
“It will warm in a few minutes.” I said, fitting the plug in the drain. “You need a bath.”

A nearby wash cloth wiped the blood from his face with minor difficulty. He winced and complained I was scrubbing too hard. I countered that his stubble wasn’t making my job any easier. I switched to a natural sponge and some organic soap.
I washed his minor wounds gingerly. My fangs had left the telltale deep punctures where his neck met his shoulder.  I began to salivate, thinking about… I pushed that away, the thought was of no benefit. The dried blood washed from his arms, his chest. As I was cleaning his stomach, my hand slipped from the sponge… We both jolted guiltily at the unintentional contact. I darted after the sponge, missed, grasped something else.
“oh!”
“Hrm!”
I stepped away with haste, drying my hands on a towel. I had to stand with my back to him for a moment.
“You’ll probably want to brush your teeth, but I don’t have a spare toothbrush,” I said quickly. “M… mouthwash is fine.” he stammered.
I grabbed the bottle and held it out behind me. When he didn’t take it, I shook it lightly in emphasis.
“You know, as much as I’d like to take that and do it myself…”
I blushed. Of course he couldn’t.
I unscrewed the cap, turning to him. I tilted the bottle into his open mouth so he could get a small amount. He swished and spat into the bathwater. I grimaced at this, capping the bottle and setting it aside.
“So… Are you going to finish what you started?”
My stomach flipped.
“W... what?”
“Well, you insisted on giving me a bath…”
“Because you were filthy.”
“Yeah. And are you going to finish?”
“Oh.” My heart pounded stupidly in my ears. “Yes, sure, I suppose.”
I kept kidding myself it was innocent. Any excuse to touch him. I continued to wash that taut midsection, working my way back up both sides. It was when I leaned in to scrub his back that I lost my hold on logic again.

Page 27

I was leaning directly over him, my face inches from his. I saw that his pupils had dilated… noted that his chest was rising and falling with heavy breath… Breath that smelled jauntily of fabricated mint, but did not conceal his natural tantalizing scent.

He was kissing me. He had leaned forward, and simply taken my mouth with his. It felt natural and exhilarating at the same time. The sponge floated, forgotten, to the wall of the tub. My free hand cupped the back of his head, and the kiss deepened.  His tongue found mine. The friction of our taste buds caused a spark of tingling. I gasped through my nose, inhaling him, taking in his pheromones, his musk…
I had slid into the tub, fully clothed. I did not care. I straddled his waist, kissing him hungrily. My hands grasped at his wetted chest, his hair… I could feel his erection prodding impatiently at the negligee beneath my skirt...

It was at this moment that my pre-programmed alarm sounded with three polite chimes from the speaker system overhead. The sun had set. I drew my face from his, finally coming back to myself. No, this would not do.
I almost slipped and fell, stepping out of the tub. I unplugged the drain and left him there.

“Hey! Wait! You’re not just going to leave me like this, are you??” My back was to him, but I could hear an adorable frown creasing his blameless brow, in his voice.
“I have no choice. The moon will be rising soon.”
He yanked hard on his restraints angrily. “Fuck… I don’t even know your goddamn name! How can you… tie me up and seduce me and leave me here cold, wet and naked! Because the moon’s coming out??? What the fuck!”
I sighed, rubbing a damp temple.
“You would not believe me had I had time to explain.”
“Try me. I’m open-minded.”
I turned on the heel of one sodden sock and faced him. Why not?
“You are an ailurothrope.”
He waited for me to continue, then gave an impatient nod. “Ok? And that is…?”
“Well… it’s a theory… there isn’t much written on the subject… But I don’t know what else to call you.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache starting there.
“My kind had a legend… little-known, told only in certain circles… about the son of Bast. The son of Reanddemal, the cat goddess of the moon. Her daughter was the first Moon Child… I guess you would call us vampires, but that’s not what we are…” I looked up