Denise had stayed up, waiting for Spade's return. When she heard the front door slam, she hurried into the hall, hoping to catch Spade before he disappeared into one of the upper rooms. But though she waited, no one came up the stairs.

Maybe he went straight to the study again. Denise went downstairs and checked the room they'd had their fight in, but it was empty. Then she peeked inside the other rooms on the first floor. Nothing. Finally she went to the front of the house again, her heart leaping when she caught movement by the entrance.

As quickly as that optimism shot up, it flatlined when the dark figure in the shadows turned around and Denise saw it was Alten.

Bones was wrong. It was dawn, but Spade hadn't come back after all.

"Oh, hi, Alten," she said lamely. "I was just..." Obviously waiting for someone who wasn't going to show up.

"If you're looking for Spade, he went downstairs," Alten said. "Still looked mad, too. I'd leave him be if I were you."

Just like that, Denise's mood switched again. He'd come back. He might be mad, yes, but Spade was back. Well, mad or no, they were going to talk. They had too many things to work out for Spade to be avoiding her.

"What's downstairs?"

Alten shrugged. "His breakfast."

That's right. This was a vampire household, which meant there was a living buffet beneath them. Maybe feeding would put Spade in a better mood before she talked to him. She could hope.

"Show me," she said, tightening her robe around her.

"I don't think that's a good idea - wait!"

Denise had already turned around and started walking away. She'd find it herself. The house was big, but if it was like every other vampire community home, the basement would be renovated into a cozy mass living area.

"Fine, I'll show you," Alten said, sounding frustrated.

She gave him a sweet smile. "How kind of you."

His look said kindness had nothing to do with it. Denise followed him to the back of the house and down the staircase that led to - she'd guessed it - a plushly redecorated basement. To her surprise, only two humans were on the large sectional couch, watching TV. The pool table, computer area, kitchen, and exercise room seemed to be empty.

"Where is everyone?" Unless this was the smallest vampire entourage she'd come across, several humans were missing.

The boy on the couch looked up. "It's dawn, so they're sleeping. No one usually comes to eat at dawn."

So where was Spade, then? "Where's the vampire who came down here a little bit ago?"

The boy grinned and pointed down a hallway. "Follow the sounds. Kristie's a screamer."

Anger erupted in Denise. Spade couldn't have replaced her with someone else so quickly, could he?

Look what happened the first night Rachel and Ross were "on a break," her inner voice taunted.

Denise growled, raising Alten's eyebrows. She shoved Alten's hand away when he went to grab her arm, shooting him a dangerous look.

"Ready to wrestle me to the ground? Because that's the only way you're stopping me from going down that hallway."

"It's not - "

"Not what?" Denise interrupted Alten. "Not any of my business? I'll be the judge of that!"

Denise stalked down the hall the young man had pointed to, growing even more livid as unmistakable loud groans met her ears. Spade had arrived less than fifteen minutes ago! Bastard!

Something stabbed her in the palms. Dense looked down, not surprised to see those hideous claws had replaced her nails and her fingers were stretching into impossibly long lengths. His fault. She curled her hands as best she could without jabbing herself again and then banged on the door the sounds emanated from, fury making her reckless.

"Open this door!"

A few seconds later, the door swung open to reveal Ian, totally naked, very erect, and highly annoyed.

"What the bloody hell is your problem?"

Denise could feel the heat scorch across her face. Behind Ian, a naked young woman also gave Denise an aggravated look while Alten let out something that might have been a stifled laugh.

"Um...never mind," Denise stammered, spinning around, hiding her hands, that heat in her cheeks growing even warmer.

Ian slammed the door, muttering something about rude interruptions. The feminine squeals from inside the room resumed almost immediately.

"I tried to tell you that it's not Spade in there," Alten said when Denise came back into the room. He didn't even attempt to hide his grin.

"You could have tried harder," Denise got out, still attempting without success to wipe her mind clean of what she's seen. "I absolutely never needed to know that Ian was pierced down there."

Alten let out another snicker that was cut off by Spade's voice behind them.

"What are you doing here?"

The guard had just let Spade out of Nathanial's cell when Denise's voice drifted down to him. Why was she down here? Was something wrong? Had Raum somehow found her while he was out?

Spade tore up the stairs into the basement just in time to witness Alten laugh. Denise was in front of Alten, red-faced, her hands behind her back.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, grabbing her by the shoulders and taking in a deep sniff. No scent of the demon on her skin. Some of the red cleared from his vision.

Denise's mouth was open, her eyes wide. Spade forced himself to let go, take a step back, and other wise not loom over her snarling. Looking at her, so lovely, was more than Spade thought he could bear. Ian's words rang in his head with all the sinful temptation of a snake holding out an apple. Were I you, I'd change Denise over regardless of her objection...

He snapped out of that treacherous line of thought when he noticed her hands were still behind her back. It wasn't her normal stance, and her shoulders were twitching like she was moving them.

Spade didn't grab her again; he moved behind her faster than she could whirl away. A curse escaped him when he saw the claws sticking out from her hands even though she tried to hide them.

She'd partially shifted again. Selfish, foolish bastard, Spade lashed himself. He should have considered this possibility. Yes, it had maddened him to realize Denise didn't intend for them to have a future together, but he should have stayed. After all, his shredded emotions wouldn't manifest in a horrible physical transformation, like hers could.

"Denise." Spade made his voice calmer than he felt as he continued to curse himself. "I apologize for snapping at you. What did you come down here for?"

Alten began to ease away. Denise flicked her gaze to him as if she wanted to follow him.

"I wanted to talk to you, but maybe we should wait until you've gotten some sleep," she muttered.

Not when waiting might mean another complete transformation for her. Even though being so close to Denise was like pricking his heart with silver needles, Spade wasn't about to let that happen to her again.

"Tell me now, what was it you wanted to speak with me about?"

Her eyes became shiny and she blinked. "Everything's happening so fast," she almost whispered. "I mean, a month ago, I was still grieving for Randy, and now you've got me thinking about changing into a vampire so we can have countless years together, and I...sometimes, I don't know if I'm ready for what I feel for you."

She was thinking about changing over? Spade couldn't help but stroke her face while every nerve inside him went taut with anxious expectation. Please, let it be that. By Christ, he'd apologize on his knees for walking out earlier, if that was the case.

"Ready?" he asked softly, but also with irony. "Life never waits until you're ready. I wasn't ready to turn into a vampire, but I did. I wasn't ready to lose someone I loved a long time ago, but it happened. You weren't ready to have your husband murdered, but he was. You certainly weren't ready for a demon to brand you, but he did. And neither of us might be ready for what we feel for each other, but that doesn't make those feelings go away."

Spade leaned closer, his voice lowering. "Here we are, Denise. Ready or not."

She held his gaze, her eyes still shiny. "You're right. I don't care if I'm not ready; I need you. And I think I've come up with a compromise that'll work for both of us - "

Spade couldn't hold back the hunger and desire that slammed through him at hearing Denise say she needed him. His lips crushed over hers, his tongue claiming the dark, heady sweetness of her mouth. Her tongue was like wet, silky fire, stoking his need even further as, after a brief hesitation, she twisted it along his. Spade caught her wrists with one hand, keeping them behind her back. It wasn't out of fear or revulsion over the claws, but because it made her breasts press more fully against his chest.

Denise moaned when his free hand cupped one of those luscious breasts, the silk robe and nightgown he'd left out for her no real barrier against his touch. He caught her nipple between his fingers, already so hard, and gave it a slow, sensual pinch. Denise moaned into his mouth.

Her scent ripened to an addictive lushness with her desire. She seemed to sink into his arms even as she rubbed against him with a purposeful, sultry abandon. He'd been a fool to think he could ever let her go. She'd broken through the barriers he'd erected around his heart, making him feel more than anybody else ever had. Even if a few decades were all he'd have with her, it would have to be enough.

Denise ducked her head, breaking off their kiss, her breath hitting his neck in soft gasps.

"Spade...wait..."

That's right, they were in the basement with two humans gawking at their every move. Spade swept Denise up and walked swiftly out of the room, claiming her mouth in another kiss. Desire made her taste stronger and sweeter at the same time, inflaming him, making him unable to keep from stroking her hip and her breast as he carried her.

Denise made muffled sounds against his mouth while her temperature seemed to shoot up a few degrees. Her heady scent grew stronger, too, entrancing him. He reached the landing of the first floor when she tore her mouth away with a strength and speed he hadn't expected of her. Something hot, wet, and unbelievably rich swirled down his tongue.

"Spade, I - "

He couldn't help it; he swallowed. His guttural moan made her stop speaking in mid sentence. Her hazel eyes settled on his mouth - and widened. Nothing short of his own death could have stopped Spade from licking his lips, and then hers, to catch the remaining traces of her blood from where she'd moved too quickly and scraped her bottom lip on his fang.

Spade could almost feel the intoxicating ambrosia stealing through his veins. His heart didn't beat, but he'd directed his blood south at their first kiss, circulating it there to keep him hard for her. Denise's blood seemed to race there as well, turning his already-boiling desire into a mindless flat hunger. Now. All of her, now.

As his last consideration to propriety, he staggered into the nearest room, not bothering to see if he'd managed to kick the door closed before he fell to the floor on top of her.

Denise's first thought on seeing her blood stain Spade's lips was Oh shit. Then the fire that leapt into his gaze and the way he dominated her mouth in his next kiss made her decide that self-preservation was overrated. Sure, she should be screaming to Bones for help, as it was clear Spade had no intention of letting her go until the effects from her blood ran their course. But despite her blood obviously affecting him, Spade hadn't tried to bite her. If Denise screamed for Bones, it would mean Spade would stop what he was doing - and she didn't want him to stop.

His tongue plunged repeatedly into her mouth, twining and twisting with such seductive intensity, Denise soon felt like breathing was overrated, too. Spade's one hand still contained hers behind her back, but the other...oh, the other ran over her body in the most erotic, merciless way, squeezing, stroking, and probing her flesh at all her most sensitive points. He tore away her nightgown and robe with a noise of impatience, his mouth at her breast before Denise could even gasp in air.

"So soft, hard, and hot, all at once," Spade muttered as he tongued her breast. A sudden strong suction at her nipple had her back arching, but even as she reveled in the sensations from that, his hand landed between her legs, palm pressing deeply against her clitoris.

Denise couldn't stop the cry that came out of her mouth. She looked at Spade's shirt in frustration, wanting to feel his skin on hers, not fabric. And his pants...had she ever hated anything as much as she hated his pants at this moment?

"Let me go," Denise gasped, tugging at her hands.

Spade's grip tightened on them. "No." A low growl against her breast that wasn't any less sensual for its refusal.

Of course. Her hands had ugly claws and nightmarish fingers. No wonder Spade didn't want her touching him with them; they were gross and dangerous.

Thinking about her hands was a douse of cold water on her ardor. Denise edged back, trying to sit up even though Spade's body was half covering hers.

"Spade, maybe we shouldn't - "

A bolt of pleasure shot through her breast, so sharp and fast, she couldn't breathe. When she did suck in a ragged breath, it ended on a moan as sudden, rapturous heat flamed in her nipple. She didn't have time to process what caused it before her other nipple flamed with the same incredible heat. What had Spade done to her?

Denise glanced down and another cry wrenched from her. Drops of blood pearled on her nipples next to two distinct puncture marks. They throbbed with the most astonishing pleasure in accordance with her pulse. Somehow, Spade rubbed between her legs with exactly the same intervals as that throbbing, almost bringing her to orgasm right then.

Even so, a sliver of fear made its way through Denise's haze of bliss. He'd bitten her. How much more of her blood could Spade drink before it threw him into a frenzy that would lead to him draining her, possibly even to death?

Spade's mouth was stained red as he rubbed it between her breasts, leaving a faint crimson smear. Then he brought her closer, brushing his lips over hers.

"Kiss me," he ordered in a thick voice.

Denise hesitated, torn between the urge to do just that and her instinctive aversion to tasting her blood on his mouth.

Spade's hand moved from between her legs to pinch her nipple. The blast of heat that followed had her jerking back so hard, her head thunked on the floor. When he did it the second time to her other nipple, she was almost crying from the pleasure.

More. More. Don't care if it kills me, just more.

"Kiss me."

Denise slanted her mouth across Spade's, licking his lips, tasting their coppery tang, and then running her tongue inside to tangle with his. He made a rough noise of need and slid forward, his hips opening her legs wider, free hand yanking down his pants.

The hard stroke inside her was so sudden, deep, and forceful that Denise bit Spade's tongue in uncontrollable reflex. He groaned, thrusting again just as powerfully, sending a shudder of pleasure through her.

"So hot...so good."

His growl in her ear made her shiver with its vehemence. She arched her hips in anticipation of his next thrust - and felt his tongue flicking between her legs instead.

Her eyes flew open in shock that Spade had slid down her body before she'd even noticed. Now her thighs cradled his head instead of his hips, his black hair covering his face as he laved her with firm, impossibly fast strokes.

"I don't know what's more addictive, your blood or your honey here," his rough voice mused before another deep lick had her twisting in ecstasy.

Then a long, hard thrust made her cry out in the next heartbeat, Spade filling her so deeply, she choked back a sob. Another spine-bending stroke, then another, and then -

His mouth captured her below again, tongue lashing her flesh with the same hungry, sweet frenzy. Before she could cry out her passion, his hard flesh replaced his tongue, making her shudder at the powerful thrusts cleaving inside her.

Denise realized Spade had let go of her hands only when she found herself not knowing from one moment to the next if she'd be clutching his head or his hips. He moved in a blink, seamlessly alternating between taking her with his mouth or with those deep, mind-blowing thrusts. Her breasts throbbed while her loins twisted with the varying sensations bombarding them.

Spade reared up onto his knees, pulling her with him, hands closing over her hips to hold her upright as he began to thrust so fast, so forcefully, that tears spilled out of her eyes. Still, Denise wanted more. She couldn't get enough of the wildness in him, how tightly he held her, or how his moans grew louder and more urgent. Her breasts bounced against his chest with every fervent, rapid stroke, nipples flaming from the friction of his shirt on the punctures. She was so close to coming. So close...

Fangs sank into her neck in the next instant. Before she could even be afraid, heat burst within her loins like a bomb going off, rocking her in wave after wave of ecstasy. Those spasms controlled her, made her oblivious to everything but the squeezing, throbbing sensations cascading from her center, filling her body with ripple after ripple of bliss. She didn't know if Spade still drank from her, and she didn't care. If this is dying, Denise thought, I highly recommend it.