“Slowly, slowly,” a deep voice cautioned.

Softness touched her lips. Warm skin—and from it came the liquid that eased her body’s pain. She didn’t care what it was, didn’t even want to speculate. All she knew was it was helping. Greedily, she sucked, wanting more and more before somebody would deny her and stop the flow. She had to get enough before there was no more.

The more she drank, the more aware she became of her own body and the source of heat next to her, the way it cradled her, protected her. Now that the burning pain in her body started to subside, she recognized the heat source as a man’s body, a very large man’s body. Who was he?

Her eyelids felt as heavy as an iron door; nevertheless, she tried to lift them. She succeeded just enough to see the shape of the man beside her—the man whose wrist she was still drinking from.

Shock coursed through her. He hadn’t given her medicine—he’d fed her his blood!

Maya tried to pull away from him, but her body wouldn’t obey. It stayed close to his broad chest that warmed her and his wrist that fed her. She forced herself to lift her lids further to look at his face and wished she hadn’t.

With horror, she stared at his disfigured profile with an ugly scar from his chin to his ear. At this close a distance, it throbbed menacingly.

His long brown hair was swept back in a ponytail. Some strands had struggled free of it and framed his square face.

She squeezed her eyes shut. No—she was not lying in bed being fed blood by a monster. It had to be a bizarre dream—there was no other explanation. More than eighty hours of work a week could do that to anybody. Long shifts, then nights of calls after calls, would bring anybody to the point of complete and utter exhaustion. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened to her.

During her three-year residency, she’d broken down a couple of times and had needed twenty-four hours of sleep to recover. She would call in sick tomorrow. Yes, her body was definitely telling her she needed rest.

If she was making up bloodsucking monsters, then it was time for a little downtime.

She sighed deeply. Now that she’d made the decision to take a day off, she suddenly felt better—it certainly couldn’t be because she still felt the warm body of the scarred man pressed against her. No monster would have this kind of calming effect on her. And for that matter, maybe it was time to change her movie rentals to romantic comedies rather than horror flicks, since clearly she couldn’t handle the latter.

Had she watched a romantic comedy on the weekend rather than the latest B-movie in the horror genre, surely the man in her dream would have been handsome and not so horribly disfigured. Maya shuddered at the memory of the man’s face.

Four

“How is she?” Samson’s voice came from the door.

Gabriel looked up from Maya’s sleeping body and gestured for Samson to come in. He’d let her keep her clothes, too worried that once she woke and found herself undressed, her panic would be even greater. She would have enough to deal with—thinking a stranger had seen her naked wouldn’t help the situation. “She has a chance now.”

“You look tired. Here, I brought you some blood. You need to replenish.” Samson handed him two bottles of red liquid.

Gabriel looked at the labels—O-negative—and made an appreciative grunt. “The good stuff.”

“Only the best for my people. Listen, I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. But you know what I think about creating new vampires against their will, and I thought you felt the same.”

Gabriel looked at him and saw the concern in his boss’ eyes. “I do. But there are times when we have no choice about what to do. It’s a life—either way. What she’ll do with it is going to be her choice. But at least she’ll have a choice.”

Gabriel popped open the bottle and took a big gulp. The thick liquid coated his throat. Damn it felt good. He’d felt drained. Maya had taken a good two pints out of him, but he hadn’t had the heart to stop her. The doc had warned him, but he knew that her instinct would tell her how much she needed. When she’d finally stopped, she’d fallen back into a deep sleep. Her breathing was better now, and her heartbeat had sped up. The signs were good.

“You’re right,” his boss agreed. “Gabriel, I want you to do something for me.”

Gabriel looked straight at him. “What’s that?”

“I’ve decided to take Delilah on a short vacation until Maya is more stable. Call me overly cautious, but I could never forgive myself if she got attacked just because Maya can’t control her urges yet. After all, Delilah is the only human in the house, and Maya will be drawn to her blood.”