Derik and I pulled up in the parking lot of the hotel we'd gotten a 
room at. We'd just finished following Charlie back to his house, to 
make sure he got inside safely. Bart may have promised safety for our 
family, but Tanya's behavior made us think he might have a few 
problems controlling his people.  So, we weren't taking chances.
"Why didn't you ever tell me about the stuff with this Gunthor guy?" 
Derik demanded, now that we were alone.  "Because all it would've 
done is give you more worry and stress," I answered. "There was 
nothing you could've done about it where you were. And *that* 
would've eaten on you, wondering if I was having to face stuff like 
that on a regular basis or not. Baby, you had enough stress in that 
place without adding to it."


"I still wish you would've told me, Tammy. I don't want you to keep 
stuff from me," he insisted. "I don't think I could survive it if 
something had happened to you."  "I know, baby," I said as I hugged 
him. "I'm the same way about you, Derik. You are my life."  "Remind 
me to thank Asher for rescuing you, even if he did it out of his 
own selfish reasons," Derik said then kissed me most soundly. God, it 
felt good to have him back!


We pulled apart, and Derik unlocked the door to our room. He went in 
first, as I kept a watch on the parking lot to keep any vamps from 
sneaking up on us. It never occurred to us that they might already be 
in the room.  Arms like iron bands wrapped around me from behind, 
jerking me into the room. An ebony-colored hand clamped over my mouth 
before I could scream.  Derik was struggling against a couple of 
female vampires and losing.  Had to remind myself that he only had 
normal human strength. It was momentarily embarrassing to realize 
that I was physically stronger than my husband now.


He was blind with rage, so they were unable to capture him with their 
eyes, at least.  I struggled against the vampire holding me, but he 
was HUGE, at least seven feet tall. As a result, my feet were 
dangling a good foot or more above the floor. My arms were pinned to 
my sides, and I had no leverage.  The only result I was getting from 
kicking him in the legs was for him to tighten his grip on my face 
and around my torso. I stopped struggling. His grip threatened to 
crush my jaw and ribs. He relaxed the painful squeezing slightly, 
once I was still.


One of the women, a redhead with skin the color of cinnamon bark, 
kicked Derik's legs out from under him. The other vamp, an alabaster-
skinned brunette, rode him to the floor, pinning him there 
effortlessly as he bucked under her. He couldn't throw her off; same 
problem as I had; no leverage.  She moved as if to bite him.  NO! I 
bit the hand over my mouth, causing the vamp holding me to yelp 
and pull his hand away from my mouth in surprise. Both the vamps 
attacking Derik turned to face me.


"Get away from him, bitch!" I yelled. I wished I was loose and 
scratching out the eyes of the one that had Derik pinned to the floor 
like a bug. As if in answer to the thought, the brunette screamed, 
hands flying to her face. Bloody slashes appeared on her cheeks 
beneath her suddenly ruptured eyeballs.  I was stunned by this, and 
that was all the distraction the other vamp needed to shove a syringe 
into Derik's arm. The second she depressed the plunger, his body 
relaxed and his eyes fluttered closed.


"My eyes my eyes my eyes my eyes my...," the brunette kept moaning 
over and over again.  "Shut up, Cherise," the cinnamon-coloed mulatto 
vampire snapped.  "You'll heal. Indigo, I told you to *hold* her!"
"She *bit* me," the vamp holding me said in a bass rumble.  "Like 
it's the first time you've ever been bitten," she sneered.  "Well, it 
*is* the first time a *human* bit me, Spice," Indigo whined.
"Human?!" Spice exclaimed, striding over to us. "You saw what she did 
to Cherise, and you think she's *human*?" Without warning, she 
slugged me in the jaw, snapping my head to the side. Bright bursts of 
color blinded me. I felt a needle jab into my shoulder, then 
everything went black.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I stood in Asher's sitting room. I was dressed in a strapless black 
silk gown. Detached sheer bell-sleeves were held to my upper arms by 
silver ribbons. And, I was barefoot.  I shivered in the cool 
temperature of the room.  Pale arms wrapped around me. Asher gently 
turned me to face him. The brush of the silk against my body this 
caused made me very aware that there was nothing but *me* under the 
gown.  Asher was dressed only in white linen slacks. His golden hair 
hung loose, cascading over his shoulders. His cologne was very subtle 
and intoxicating.  I felt my body quicken in response to his presence.


He saw it in my eyes and smiled sadly in response. Then he gathered 
me to him in an embrace and softly stroked my hair. I nestled my 
cheek against the bare scarred side of his chest, rubbing against the 
texture like a cat.  I felt the rumble of Asher's moan vibrate 
through his chest.  "How did I get here?" I asked.  "You are 
dreaming, cherie."  He pushed me back from him just a little and 
lifted my chin. He kissed me, softly at first, then more urgently, 
tongue probing. One hand twined in my hair at the base of my skull. 
The other hand played up and down my side, caressing me and twitching 
the silk of the gown against my skin in a very sensuous manner. I 
gave a growling moan low in my throat as I kissed him back, arms 
wrapped around his neck.


Suddenly he broke the kiss and moved a few feet away from me with 
vampiric speed.  "As much as I would love to finish this *now*, I 
cannot allow it," he sighed.  I took a step towards him, confused. He 
held up a hand to stop me.  "No, ma rose d'acier," he told me. "If I 
touch you again tonight, I fear I won't be able to let you go in 
time. You need to wake up soon, if you wish to save your husband 
tonight."


"Derik! Shit!" Memory of the attack rushed back to me. "How could I 
have forgotten him so easily?" I started to cry, horrified at how 
callously I'd put him out of my mind. "Asher, they took him! And I 
don't know where or *why*!"  "Tamara, you only forgot because you've 
been drugged," Asher soothed me.  "Bartholomew's people were not the 
ones responsible for this attack, however. I was on the phone with 
him when the watcher he had assigned to you reported the attack to 
him. I already knew about it through our marks, but I wanted to know 
what his reaction would be. 


He was outraged, and I could tell it was genuine. The attackers 
reportedly took your husband in the direction of Savannah. You will 
need to meet with the Master of the City there.  Bartholomew knows 
her and is speeding the arrangements along."  "Sounds like you and 
Bart have gotten awfully chummy all of a sudden," I observed.
"He has tasted your power, cherie. Now he wishes an alliance. Very 
prudent, considering that you have relatives in his territory. Better 
to be allies than potential enemies," Asher answered smugly.


"Tasted my power? I remember him asking where I was 'hiding all that 
power.' I have no idea *what* he was talking about, but apparently 
*you* do," I said suspiciously.  "Oui," Asher smiled. "You have a 
well of tremendous untapped power, ma rose d'acier. It is *part* of 
what attracted me to you."  "I've been wondering about *that*," I 
muttered.  "You have only begun to open the doors to your power, 
cherie. First, in learning to fly...you are the ONLY human servant to 
ever do *that*..., and then when you flung power at one of your 
attackers tonight," he sounded possessively proud.


A thought occurred to me.  "Asher, Vladimir said he had business in 
Savannah. Could the Council be behind this?" I asked.  "It is quite 
possible. Belle is curious about you. This could be a way to get you 
to reveal your abilities," he replied.  "If I'm the only flying 
human, it's probably best that no one else knows that."  "True, 
cherie. I fear what she would do, if Belle ever learned your true 
potential. What she cannot control, she tends to destroy," Asher 
warned.


"Asher, you *know* that I've suspected her of playing a part in what 
happened to you and Julianna," I said. "*Someone* had to have let 
those zealots know where your daytime resting place was. And it seems 
odd that Jean-Claude was delayed just long enough to prevent him from 
saving her as well as you. He *did* love her, Asher. I don't believe 
he would willingly have let her die like that...and *you* don't 
either, if you'd just admit it to yourself."


"You need to wake up now, Tamara." He wouldn't meet my eyes.  Then he 
shattered the dream into so many glistening shards. I opened my 
eyes to see Bart leaning over me with a worried expression.  "I was 
worried you wouldn't wake up in time, darlin'," he said. "We 
found one of the syringes. That was some pretty potent stuff they 
used.  Almost pure laudanum."  I whistled. I wasn't aware that 
*anyone* still used that opiate. It was most popular back in the late 
1800s and early 1900s, and then only in diluted form. Asher must've 
been using the marks to help me expunge it from my system while I was 
dreaming.


I felt pretty clear-headed, actually. Although, my jaw was a bit 
tender where Spice had punched me. I touched it tentatively.  "You're 
healing fast, girl," Bart observed. "The bruise'll be gone by sunup 
at the current rate." Woo-hoo, let's hear it for vampire marks. Of 
course, if I didn't have the marks, I wouldn't be in this predicament 
to begin with.  "Any idea how long I was out of it?" I asked.
"A little over half an hour. I was surprised that I was able to 
arrange a meeting with the Master of Savannah so quickly, though. 
Seems she was *expecting* my call," he answered.


That didn't sound good.  "You know where Bonaventure Cemetery is?" he 
asked me.  "Out on Skidaway Island, yeah, why?"  "We've got to go see 
Gracie."  "The Master of Savannah wants to meet by the statue of the 
little girl sitting on her tombstone?" I asked...master vamps could 
be downright quirky at times.  Bart laughed," No, darlin', the Master 
of Savannah IS Gracie...that's her grave, but she ain't in it."