Free Undead for a Day by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom Nancy Holder Chris Marie Green Page B

need.
    He stroked her from the inside out, and she was barely aware of the dragon pasting itself against her side, as if all it wanted to do was hide from Costin.
    But that wasn’t the reason he was in her right now—to subdue the evil blood marks as he did every morning. No, he was caressing her, wave upon wave of sensation, making her ready and oh-so willing.
    She slid down the wall, her fingers grasping, finding nothing to hold on to as pressure built inside her, stoked and heated by every move Costin made.
    Swirls and whirls that painted her with rough strokes, smooth strokes, both. He was like sunlight, beaming through her, burning her, singeing and cleansing and rising, rising, until—
    At the booming explosion that rocked every cell to bits, she fell to all fours, taking as much oxygen into her as she could because she was starved for it. Dizzy and high with it.
    Laughing as if she would always feel this way.
    “Pity,” he said, still inside her, his voice an echo that buzzed in all the right places. “If only we had more time to calm you.”
    It really was a pity that this might be the last time she could experience Costin like this before Samhain ended and the stain might come back.
    But...
    Damn it, who said the effect would wear off at sunrise?
    Hope sprang eternal as Dawn rolled over and felt his weight inside her, warm, hot—everything. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to keep him in, feeling him and not feeling him, holding on to every burst of sunlight she could.
     

EIGHT
    The Other Other Woman
     
     
    Later, after Costin had left Dawn to herself, the grandfather clock downstairs struck three o’clock.
    She wandered downstairs, where Jonah was pointing the revolver at a statue-like Lilly while she sat captivated in her chair. She was staring straight ahead with that dumbfounded, white-eyed look on her face.
    “Can you believe my life has been reduced to this?” Jonah asked when Dawn entered the room. But he didn’t take his gaze off Lilly, even if it seemed as if she was the nicest little keeper ever.
    “I’m here to give you a break,” Dawn said. “Go lie down like you’re supposed to.”
    “Listen, all that happened was that I got nicked by a tiny little hammer that just so happened to hit the sweet spot on my head. I’ve handled worse.”
    “It was enough to knock you out, Hercules.”
    “That old man had good aim.” He gestured with his free hand toward his bandage-covered temple while keeping his gaze straight ahead at Lilly. “Do you know what it’s like to be a man who was taken down by a weapon a hobbit could’ve thrown?”
    Dawn gave into a laugh, then sat on the sofa, taking the revolver from Jonah, slipping into guard mode.
    “Scat,” she said.
    “Just tell me that you’re chasing me off for some rest because you’ll need me later...if you guys decide to track down the Meratoliages once and for all.”
    He was asking in a roundabout way if she’d made a decision.
    “You’ll be the last to know when I make a choice.” Then, with actual appreciation, she said, “If we do go out again, I will definitely need you to be at your best, Jonah.”
    He didn’t move. Maybe he was gobsmacked by the compliment.
    “You know,” he finally said, “it’s good to have you this way. The opposite of mopey. You’ve been depressing lately, Dawn.”
    She wasn’t sure she liked the fact that she was living up to the standards an occasionally unhinged person like Jonah had set.
    He asked, “Are you waiting for Kalin to come back to make your decision?”
    “That would be ideal.”
    “What if she doesn’t? What if the Meratoliages found a way to capture Friends, just like the Hollywood Underground did, and that’s why she hasn’t reported in?”
    That had already occurred to Dawn. “I’m giving her a half hour more.”
    “Then?”
    “Then I’ll do what I do.”
    At the end of her be-kind-to-Jonah rope, she shooed him out of the room, then got comfortable,