“No. I never wanted to. I agreed to house them here, at Sebastien’s request, over fifty years ago. I asked him why he didn’t just destroy them but he said he feared that one day our world would have need of them. I guess that day’s come. Just tell me that you’ll do right by them.”

“You know I will.”

Adrien glanced at each document, written in French but also translated into English. When he finished scanning one, he’d hand it to Lily, who dropped to sit beside him on the stone floor.

As she read them, he felt her excitement as she sought the weapon’s location. But as his stack grew smaller, and nothing emerged except scientific notations, experiments, and the like, that excited jolt diminished until she read the last one and examined the final schematic.

“There are references to at least two dozen countries where experiments were held,” Lily said, “but nothing else, nothing of real use.”

“But working from a list of twenty-four countries instead of two hundred narrows the field.” Alphonse closed the metal box and put it back in the vault. Another fist on stone and the apparatus sealed up again.

Adrien gathered up all documents into a single tight stack, tucked them into his waistband, then zipped up his jacket to keep them pressed against his chest.

Lily had grown very quiet. He felt her disappointment that the discovery hadn’t yielded immediately usable details. He also sensed her fatigue and that her head still ached.

He shook hands with Alfonse once more and was about to depart when Alfonse said, “Take off to the north. If you’ve been followed, they’ll be waiting to the south. You’ve got a couple of hours until dawn, so you have time to take a different route back. I’d head west to the coast, if I were you, and not return to Paris until you can enter from the east.”

“That’s sound advice.” He held his arm out to Lily. She stepped onto his foot, but as he slid his arm around her waist and drew her close, she slumped against him. She was human, unused to altered flight travel, and the hours were all wrong for her usual sleep patterns. In her world she would have been in bed a long time before now.

He needed to get her home, back to Paris, back in his bed.

But the thought of having her there, beside him, her warm body and soft curves, sent sudden desire streaking through him all over again. He took a couple of deep breaths.

Adrien, I can feel your desire. Will you need blood again? Even telepathically her words sounded exhausted.

Just ignore that. Let’s get you home. Ready?

Yes. Just … please try not to go too fast.

I won’t.

He nodded to Alfonse then shifted to altered flight.

As he took off and passed through solid rock, aiming in a skyward direction, she asked, What difference does it make which way we go? Why go all the way to the coast?

Couple of reasons. This kind of slow travel leaves behind a trail. If fanatics are trying to locate us, then they probably would have found the trail to Sebastien’s by now.

Which means the trail would also have led to the Trevayne cavern system.

Yes.

When nothing more returned to him, he realized Lily had fallen asleep. Just as well. He sustained his slow speed heading west to the coast of France.

* * *

Lily awoke as Adrien dropped them into his bedroom. She was surprised she’d slept but grateful even though her head throbbed.

She released Adrien, and took a moment to steady herself before crossing to the window. She could see the Eiffel Tower, lit up and misty through the rain. She was exhausted and confused about all that had happened, especially with Adrien. She put her hands on the cold glass, trailing her fingers down the rivulets.

Adrien had caught the boy up in his arms, a sign of affection, yet he was a vampire. And the system had three hundred more children, which meant families, something so human in design that she still had difficulty processing this new reality.

She felt Adrien behind her, very still and waiting. The chain at her neck didn’t even vibrate, but lay inert. She needed to sleep, but sleeping through the flight had keyed her up.

“How’s your head?” His deep resonant voice soothed her, but why should anything about Adrien soothe her?

“Much better.” She glanced over her shoulder, needing to say more. He took his coat off, laying it over the bench at the foot of the bed, and set the documents on the dresser. “Thanks. I’m not even nauseated.”

“Good. And I know you need your sleep. Dawn will arrive soon and I’ll need to rest as well. But I’ll sleep on the floor if you want.”

At that she turned to face him. “Why are you being so kind to me?”

He scowled. “Am I being kind? Am I, in your opinion, even capable of that?”

She put two fingers against her forehead and rubbed. “I’ve always believed that you know someone by what they do, not by their past, their family, or, in this case, their species. When I learned that vampires had killed my family, I had believed that you were all made like sharks, restless killing machines that devoured anything in their path. You’ve proven so much to me this night and I owe you an apology.”

He stepped closer to her and took her arm gently in his. But as she looked up at him, she saw the deep frown between his brows, something that seemed as much a part of him as the shade of his dark hair or his flecked teal eyes. “Lily, I want to apologize for what happened before, here, when I took blood from you. I wasn’t myself and I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “I don’t regret what you did but I haven’t been able to make sense of why I enjoyed it so much. I feel very confused by all of this, especially by what Sebastien said earlier about the chains not lying.”

He stepped closer and the chain at her neck began a new vibration as desire for him rose in a crisp, sharp wave. Was it possible this was more than just a result of the blood-chain?

His desire returned as well, flowing in waves over her body, which lit her up even more despite her fatigue.

“What about what Sebastien said?”

“About how the binding with his wife made things worse between them.”

“And this hasn’t been intolerable for you? You haven’t hated this experience, hated being with a vampire?”

“I did at first and I’ve despised the situation, being forced together, but you already know the pleasure I experienced, that I…” She couldn’t finish the thought; she was too embarrassed.

But her desire for him kept building and the chain almost shook now. She felt his need and knew that, as before, he hungered for her blood.

“Do you need to feed?” Please say yes.

He thumbed her cheek. “It’s not critical, not like before. But right now, I’d give just about anything to have another taste, in every way, including your blood.” He slid his hand down her neck and over her breast, caressing her.

“Adrien,” she whispered. Her need had become an ache that echoed through her bones, her blood.

She shivered. Whatever fatigue she felt melted away, so that when he leaned into her and slanted his lips over hers, a soft warbling sounded in her throat.

Her hands found his arms. She stroked slowly upward, feeling the size and strength of his muscles, to shape her hands over his powerful shoulders. Adrien had a wonderful mouth, sensual, moist lips.

He cursed, drew back, and removed his Glock and harness. His shirt went next, which meant her hands got busy again as she smoothed her fingers over his thick, fleshy pecs. His muscles flexed and relaxed, which caused her to spasm low.

Was she doing this? Having a consensual experience, not just feeding Adrien out of his desperation, but agreeing to make love with him? What did it mean?

Confusion once more swirled through her mind.

Yet whatever bewilderment her head experienced, her body knew exactly what it wanted—to feel Adrien, to touch him. She’d never been with such a physically imposing man before.

His tongue played in her mouth, teasing every recess, thrusting, teasing a little more, showing her with each flick and push what he could do to other parts of her body.

Flames leaped at her now, teasing her deep within, heating her up, tightening one part, releasing another, building the tension, seeking the release.

She pulled back and stripped off her shirt, then her bra. She would have gotten rid of her pants at the same time, but he moved closer and put a palm between her breasts. Though she wanted to touch him, she stopped and let him look at her, to stroke her breasts with his hands and his fingers, to pinch her nipples, then to lean down and swirl his tongue over each tip.

“Sit down on the edge of the bed.”

His hoarse voice took out the remaining strength in her legs and she did what he wanted. He pushed her thighs apart and, dropping down to land on his knees, he got a better angle and suckled her breasts, taking turns.

She arched into his mouth and he took as much of each breast in as he could, suckling, licking, biting until she moaned heavily. She dove her fingers into his hair and used pressure on his head to force him to take more. He put a hand on her back and pushed at the same time as well. For several minutes, a sucking sound filled the room.

Her body contracted deep within, almost spasming at the erotic feel of his mouth as he nursed on her.

Without warning, he stopped and pushed her onto her back. He worked her pants off, struggling with her shoes for a few seconds. She sensed his mounting desire, and as he removed her thong she spread her legs wide.

You’re bare, drifted into her mind.

I am.

Without leaving his knees, he growled, slid his arms beneath her thighs, and started to feast on her low. He used his tongue to separate the folds of her body and tease the outer recess of her sex. He grunted and drove his tongue inside her, doing what he’d said he wanted to do, to taste every part of her.

He used his mouth and his tongue, devouring her hard. His tongue moved swiftly in and out, faster and faster. She’d never experienced this kind of hard, driving speed, not with a tongue.

Her body seized and she cried out. She was close.

He went faster, gripping her hips with his fingers, squeezing and driving until ecstasy tightened within and released in a driving flow of sensation that sent her cries up to the ceiling.