Chapter Fifteen

Toni opened her bedroom doorand popped her eyebrows up. "Jesus, what's going on?" There were half a dozen warriors standing on her doorstep.

The group of them looked like a communal nightmare, dressed from neck to boots all in black, their chests and backs crisscrossed with leather straps and holsters for a dozen wickedly sharp knives.

"Is there a problem?" She swept the group with a questioning gaze, recognizing all of them from the "family" meals she shared with the residents of the mansion in Roth's lavish dining room. A huge, scary man called Nyko, who was Jacken's older brother; Vinz, a dark-haired hottie despite his 70's sideburns, now fully recovered from some injury she'd heard he'd suffered; Gábor, whose left biceps sported a tattoo of a bull skull that was "attached" to his arm by a thickly braided ink rope; two others whose names escaped her, and then…

The King of Nightmares himself, Jacken, planted right in front, wearing a headset, like the other men, and, unlike the others, dark sunglasses. His jaw was set in its typical default mode, steely and immobile.

She narrowed her eyes on him, wanting to smack the hard right off his face, the urge no doubt intensified by five days of nursing her embarrassment over their last run-in. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and leaned one shoulder against the doorjamb. "Let me guess, Mr. Brun, you've finally managed to unclench your sphincter enough to offer a kindness. You're here to lend me The African Queen."

Vinz rubbed a hand over his mouth to hide a smile, while Jacken's eyebrows disappeared behind his shades, a sure sign he was – here was a shocker – scowling at her. Guess he didn't like being reminded about their last run-in, either.

"You're being allowed outside of the mansion," Jacken informed her tautly.

She straightened abruptly. "What? But I thought I was only being permitted out tonight?" She had a date with Buns of Steel Thomal at the ever-popular Garwald's Pub. It could've been at a butcher shop for all she cared, as long as she was getting out of this hateful building.

"Last night you proved you were serious about dating your mate-choices," Jacken went on, still tight-lipped as somebody with a corn husker up his butt.

Ah, yes, her romantic dinner with Dev in a cozy corner of the mansion's Garden Parlor. Roth's chef had cooked the meal and Dev had brought a bottle of wine from his collection, an outstanding Tuscan red. To her surprise, she'd actually enjoyed some parts of the evening. Dev's lively anecdotes and unexpected level of intelligence had proved entertaining. His ability to make her feel naked with the merest glance had not.

"Dr. Jess has requested some time with you." Jacken crossed his arms over his chest full of knives, one corner of his lip curling. "But hey, lady, if you'd rather stay in your room and flick the bean all day, or whatever it is you do in there, be my guest."

Gábor made a huff noise that sounded suspiciously like a stifled laugh.

Her face warmed, but she regrouped quickly. "And you need five other men to help escort me? Sheesh, 'fraidy cat! A girl brandishes a letter opener one time …."

The small town of ??ran?was full of activity at this time of "day," people bustling about with their chores and on errands, although without any real sense of urgency. There was always time to pause and chat, call out a greeting and wave. Toni, of course, received plenty of stares. But then, how was a girl supposed to pass unnoticed when she was towing an entourage of Xbox 360 characters with her?

She spied the first older folks she'd yet to see in the town when they passed Aunt ?lsi's. Several clusters of gray-haired men and women were sipping cappuccinos and lattes at small tables and laughing. One group of women was engaged in a lively game of canasta. A lady dressed in a frilly apron with her grayish-blonde hair swirled into an extravagant French knot, strode back and forth from the counter to the tables, clearly the owner and Grande Dame of the place.

"That's ?lsi, Kasson's mom," Vinz provided from off to her right. "Your future mother-in-law if you play your cards right." He chuckled.

She didn't join in. She was too busy trying not to fall further down the rabbit hole into this surreal Alice in Wonderland experience. How could everything and everyone look so damned normal, for Pete's sake? These people thought they were "vampires." Shouldn't they look like Trekkie conventioneers or squint-eyed after-hours clubbers? Shouldn't the town be some sort of cross between Transylvania and the movie Blade Runner?

Not Pleasantville.

One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small ….

At the end of Main Street the road forked, the right fork expanding into a gigantic cavern. The left continued into a dimly lit tunnel, making it impossible to see what was further down. An exit, maybe? One of her guardsmen probably had a key card on him right now.

They headed to the right, strolling past an aluminum-sided diner with pink awnings, a grocery store with a banner of happy faces strung in the window, and a schoolhouse that could've been peeled right off the screen of a Little House on the Prairie episode. Jesus, just … über weird. She didn't know how she'd ever manage to describe this place to the police and capture its true essence: yes, officer, just try to imagine a bunch of Dracula wannabes living on the Good Ship Lollipop.

Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall ….

The hospital came into view, and wow. It was a beautiful four story building, glass-fronted on the upper stories, with a pristine white fa?ade and arched portico on the bottom floor. She couldn't believe how many impressive buildings she was finding inside a cave. Further up the road, she glimpsed the beginnings of a residential neighborhood, brightly painted houses lined up in a neat row, each with a cheery white picket fence and a lawn of AstroTurf.

Okay, whoa. Somehow they'd switched to the set of the 1950's Leave it to Beaver sitcom.

And any minute the Mad Hatter was going to jump out and invite her to tea.

No, just a young boy riding by on a Big Wheel. Dear God, she was going to weep from the sheer insanity of it all.

And if you've just had some kind of mushroom and your mind is moving slow ….

Once inside the hospital, Jacken led her to a lab while the other five warriors took up positions at various points in the building. For the most part, the laboratory was furnished like any other she'd spent too many hours in over the course of her career: incubator, centrifuges, microscopes, autoclave …. Ah, but here, too, the concept of normal failed her. There were also several newfangled models of apparatus she'd never seen before. How on earth was there a piece of lab equipment she didn't recognize?

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead, and the White Knight is talking backwards and the Red Queen's ‘off with her head'….

Dr. Jess was standing near a metal cabinet, his lab coat bleached to near sun-blinding whiteness. He was talking to two other people: another lab-coated fellow and a cute brunette. He broke off as she entered to come welcome her. "Dr. Parthen!" He gave her hand a warm shake and smiled broadly, all big, toothy grin now that he didn't have to hide his fangs. "What a delight to have you here finally."

She returned his smile with a crooked one of her own. She hadn't expected him to be so genuinely happy to see her. "I appreciate your gallant reception, doctor, especially in light of the fact that I threatened to cut your throat the last time we were together."

"Oh, pish posh!" Blushing charmingly, Jess brushed that aside with a wave of his hand. "That's already long forgotten and forgiven. You were in a stressful situation." He cleared his throat. "Still are, I imagine. Come, I'm excited to give you a tour of the facility and show you some of our methods and machines." He first introduced her to the other two people in the lab, his assistant, Mekhel, and the brunette, Syrian. He then went on to outline his plans for their time together. She only half-listened to him, her attention craning toward a conversation that'd started up between Syrian and Jacken.

"… missed your appointment yesterday," Syrian was saying. "Can you come see me now?"

"I'm working," Jacken snapped at her, ever the gentleman.

Syrian released a measured sigh. "I moved around several others to fit you in today because I knew you'd be overdue. Look, you're wearing your sunglasses." No response. "I can only take one man a day, Jacken, so you really shouldn't be messing with my schedule like this."

"… brand new MRI machine," Jess was gushing, "upstairs in the …."

"Chrissake," Jacken grumbled. He pressed the "speak" button on his headset. "Vinz, you copy? Yeah, I need to step away for about five minutes. Take up position at the lab door for me."

Toni felt the brand of Jacken's eyes land on her for a moment, then he spun on his heel and stalked off with Syrian. Next, Mekhel left, off to gather supplies, and then Dr. Jess was handing her a white lab coat of her own.

"Shall we begin now?" the doctor asked pleasantly. "I want to show you how the Sigmund-phase works."

"Yes, of course." She shrugged on the coat, and followed Jess over to a work station, intrigued by what a Sigmund-phase was and how it… "Who was that woman?" Okay, maybe she was more intrigued by that right now. "That, um, Syrian?" And what was she planning on doing with Jacken? I can only take one man a day ….

"Ah, yes. Syrian Popovici's one of our blood donors." Dr. Jess pulled over a small red machine that had four tubes on the top of it and a valve on the side. "Jacken has gone off to feed."

Soooooo, Jacken was engaging in a little bite-the-neck with that cute brunette was he? She almost snorted. Right, a euphemism for sex if she'd ever heard one. Because, really, she didn't know what the men and women did around here when they played vampire, but she'd bet it got hot and heavy pretty quickly. Bodies would inevitably press close with all that neck nibbling, breasts rubbing against a thickly muscled chest, legs entangling, and –

Her stomach clenched suddenly as an image of Jacken making love to that woman hurtled into her mind: his powerful body moving rhythmically over her, buttocks flexing taut at each rise and fall of his hips, muscles in his back and shoulders undulating with every …. The tightness in her belly sharpened into a feeling that would've been jealousy had such an emotion been possible with a man like Jacken.

"The blood donors are a valued group of widowed spouses in ??ran?," Dr. Jess continued to explain. "They are both men and women who've volunteered to let unmated Varcolac feed on them. It's a much-needed service, seeing as our genetic predicament has left us with so many singles who need to feed but can't form a bond."

That sounded rather antiseptic, not at all like a tightly knit cult. "Varcolac aren't allowed to get close to one another?"

Jess smiled. "Oh, Varcolac become very close, my dear, but in this case you misunderstand the term ‘bond.' When an unmated Varcolac feeds on and then makes love to a mate of equal unmated status, he physically bonds to her. Actual biological changes occur within him." Jess started cleaning the red machine with an alcohol wipe, even though the thing already looked immaculate. "After that, he can only feed on his mate's blood; he's dependent on it. His wife in turn will be rendered infertile to any male other than her husband."

Wow, she had no idea the community was so strict. "I guess it's ‘till death do you part' for real around here, huh?"

Jess chuckled. "Very much so." He pushed a pipe cleaner into the machine's valve and swished it around. "This blood-bond is permanent, Dr. Parthen. There can be no going back once you've chosen your mate. You need to be clear about that."

Toni smiled archly. "I'll make sure to remember." Aw, shucks, and here she'd had her heart set on hooking up with two. "I overhead Syrian mention that she can only take one man a day yet the other, uh, ‘dragon' women said that their husbands only … um," God, she hated talking like this, "‘feed' on them every three days so they won't get addicted."

"The donors are addicted."

She blinked. "Oh." She paused, waiting for more. Apparently, that was all Dr. Jess had to say about that. "Are donors always widows?"

"Yes." Jess tossed the pipe cleaner into a trashcan and grabbed another, going to work on the valve again. "Widows were already bonded to someone else in the past, you see, so their blood is resistant to further bonding."

She tugged out a wet wipe and used it to sterilize her hands, a move which Dr. Jess seemed to appreciate. "And … the same goes for sex?" She glanced at the door through which Jacken had disappeared. "Only with a donor?"

"Stars, no. Donors and their clients never make love. It's true," Jess added when she gave him a dubious look. "In fact, they can't. Vampires aren't physically capable of performing sexually until they're bonded."

"So they have to –" She stilled in the process of snapping on a pair of latex gloves. "Wait. Holy crap. No sex. Are you telling me all the single men and women in this community are virgins?"

Another chuckle rippled out of Dr. Jess. "My goodness, it's not a disease."

"No, no, of course not, it's just …." I don't believe it. "For one, the men in this town exude more masculinity and sex appeal than an entire squad of Navy SEALS."

Jess slanted a look at her. "Can't a man be both? Sexually appealing and a virgin?"

She shrugged. Frankly? Not to her mind, no. She just couldn't imagine some girl not getting her mitts on a guy who was as hot as the ones around here.

Jess threw away the second pipe cleaner. "The concept of male virginity is only strange to you humans. For us, it's quite ordinary. It's the norm."

The norm, right. She almost laughed; she could just imagine how that Classified Ad had run.

Have you seen ‘Interview with a Vampire' more than ten times? Would you like to escape the harsh realities of life without drinking the Kool Aid? Well, then, join our club! (those who've already experienced hot monkey love need not apply).

"From what I've seen," she said, "the men around here act just as horny as any other guy." An image flashed into her mind of Dev, naked in his bedroom, eyes smoldering. "Hell, more."

"Of course they do, and it makes sense if you consider how many years the single men and women have had to suppress their urges and live in a state of deprivation." Jess opened a drawer and pulled out a couple of syringes. "They can't even masturbate."

Oooo-kay. That was kind of TMI.

Mekhel re-entered the lab with a rack of blood-filled test tubes. "I have the samples, doctors," he announced with a smile.

Jess clasped his hands together. "Excellent. All right, Dr. Parthen, I'm going to show you how to use the Sigmund-phase now, and you'll see how to create a Varcolac blood graph." He started to neatly cuff up his left sleeve. "We'll also experiment with the blood graphs stored in the hospital computer. Everyone in the community has one on file."

"Mmm, yes," she murmured, making all of the correct I'm listening noises as out of the tail of her vision she saw Jacken return to the lab door. He exchanged a few words with Vinz, then took the man's post.

"When you draw my blood," Jess instructed as he handed her a syringe and an alcohol swab. "I want you to keep the sample in your possession at all times. That way you can be certain I don't add anything to it or make a switch of some sort."

"Right." She absently slipped the plastic cap off the hypodermic needle and pretended to listen to Dr. Jess's further explanations. Surreptitiously, she let her gaze wander over Jacken, checking out the column of corded muscles in his neck, the mounds of twin biceps bulging out from his short-sleeved T-shirt, and the way his crisscrossed knife-holster emphasized the breadth of his back. She lifted her gaze to his profile, and took a deep breath. He really had an incredibly chiseled face when a girl let herself see past how disagreeable his expression was much of the time. Cult fanatic or not, the man really was a damned hot bastard.

As if feeling her stare, Jacken swiveled his head in her direction, his sunglasses no longer hugging his stony face. She almost startled when his eyes met hers. So impossibly dark …. They locked gazes and held, remaining bound in a game of stare-down long enough for crickets to chirp and tumbleweeds to roll by.

She pulled her eyes away at last, her lashes lowered, heat flushing her cheeks.

She'd never understood the male obsession with virginity. How it was that the moment a guy found out a girl was a virgin, the first thing he wanted to do was take it.

She turned to Dr. Jess with the syringe and tried to keep her hands from trembling.

Now she did.