I came to myself on the floor close to a couch. Where was I? How had I gotten here? Memory came flooding back in a rush and my hand flew to my throat. Jean-Claude had taken me! But my hand came away clean, no blood, and I didn't feel lightheaded or drained. I sat up and spotted Kimmy lying in a heap a few feet away. Oh God! No!! I crawled over to her and checked her pulse. It was strong and steady. Her clothes were intact and I couldn't find any fresh bite marks on her. But I couldn't wake her from the deep sleep she was in. Belatedly, I scanned the room for Jean-Claude. He was nowhere to be seen. Tim sat in partial bear form, shaking off the effects of being rolled by Willie. Willie was over against the other wall kneeling beside Damien. The stone wall above Damien's head bore a small impact crater, similar to one you'd see in a window that'd been hit by a BB. There was a smear of blood and hair from it down to his head. What the hell hit *him*? He looked to be conscious but groggy. Willie helped him stand and led him out of the room, looking fearfully towards the hallway behind me. I turned in that direction, wondering what had him so spooked that he would abandon the charge his master had given him. I didn't know why the thrashing and moaning screams hadn't already drawn my attention...shell shock I guessed. Ms. Everett was flailing about wildly on her back, her body bucking in a violent rhythm that almost put me in mind of an epileptic seizure. The truly frightening thing was that she seemed to be being dragged into the hallway by an invisible hand. Ramses moved swiftly to hold her down, trying to still the spasms that shook her frame. "What's wrong with her? What's happening?" I asked him, my voice strident with worry, trying to be heard above her now constant screams. He didn't answer me. Ms. Everett's hands flew to her ears, squeezing like a vice. "Please GOD!! Make it stop!" she pled. Ramses' face became determinedly set. I could sense a great amount of power flowing out of him and around his servant. Slowly, her statement began to clear. The pain-etched lines smoothed from her face. Whatever was attacking her, was focused on Ramses now. I saw his eyes bleed over to black as he exerted his will to hold off the unseen assailant. It looked like it was a hellacious battle. His body shook like he was exerting tremendous effort. Kylie opened her eyes and looked over at Ramses with concern. "What's happening?" I asked her as I offered her a hand to pull herself up. "Asher is fucking Jean-Claude. And he's taking us along for the ride," she answered grimly. Man, she looked pissed! "Damn!" I muttered. I reached out along the marks to my master and found the way blocked...seemed like he did that any time he messed with her...like he didn't want to get caught. How DARE he! He could blast past my shields any time he pleased, but I had to stay out of his thoughts unless summoned? I didn't THINK so! Exerting a burst of my own will, I shoved against the blockade he had constructed. I was surprised at how easily it crumbled. He must not have expected me to *try* to get past it. 'ASHER!' I yelled at him. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?!' He was surprised at my interruption, but didn't answer me. I forced my presence into his and immediately wished I hadn't. I saw and *felt* what he was engaged in doing. The lust, rage and raw power flowing through him was almost overwhelming. Below us I saw Jean-Claude's face and felt his body. His eyes were nearly closed, his head thrown back, growling grunts escaped his lips with every thrust of Asher's hips. I felt the exquisitely delicious pain as his nails sliced into our back, drawing blood seconds before the wounds sealed over and vanished. I sensed another presence with us, this one ancient and magnificent...Ramses. I felt his struggle against the hold Asher had on him through Kylie. He was being forced to feel everything that Asher did...and I realized that he was also feeling what Jean-Claude was experiencing as well. Apparently there was still some link between the Master of the City and Kylie. The experience was about to tear him apart, and still he fought. Thinking to help, I thought at him, 'Relax and let it flow over you instead of fighting it...it will lessen the pain and you'll be more likely to survive.' Amazingly, he heard me. 'I *cannot* give in to the ardeur,' he snarled. 'I WILL not!' 'Asher let him go!' I demanded. 'You're killing him!' 'Non!' he growled at me. 'Dammit, Asher, he's saved my life more than once since we arrived here,' I argued. 'You OWE him! If this is how you show gratitude, I hope I never earn yours...I doubt I would survive it!' 'I will *not* release him!' Asher avowed with savage glee. 'I feel his resistance weakening. He has denied himself the power and glory the arduer has to offer for too long. I want him to taste what he has been missing all that time!' He meant to break the older vampire. Jean-Claude met our gaze fully, his eyes a solid drowning blue. I knew Asher's eyes looked like orbs of ice at that moment. Our lover's gaze drew us down into bliss even as his hands tangled in our hair pulling us into a vicious kiss. Our lips, tongues and fangs locked together in mortal combat. The pressure built in us as we neared release. In anger and disgust, I spat at Asher, 'Fine...if *you* break his control against the arduer, then it's only fitting that *I* be the one to help him sate his lust.' 'NO!' I heard Ramses cry out even as Asher released his hold on the other vampire. 'I forbid it,' Asher's tone was almost offhand. A second later, we screamed in climax, stiffening inside Jean-Claude's body, even as he, trapped against our torso, shot a scalding sticky stream across our stomach. Shuddering, I withdrew my mind from his and back into myself. I wasn't sure whether I felt sickened or marvelously satisfied by the experience. Or both. I became aware of my physical surroundings once again. Kylie crawled over to her master and asked him, "Are you all right?" he nodded, but I had serious doubts about the truth of it. Kylie's face grew angry. Then I heard an echo of Asher's chuckle. He was *so* full of himself. He didn't try to block me this time as he flashed images of his plans for the evening at her. It didn't really phase me, but Kylie began to dry-heave. Ramses moved to support her. 'You just don't know when to quit do you?' I shot at Asher. Suddenly, Kylie's body gave one final spasm as her Other preempted control. A wave of power, ancient and as cold as deep space, swept past me. Jules disentangled their body from Ramses' arms and stood, no longer a helpless victim of Asher's malice, but an avenging goddess. I couldn't hear what she said to him, but I felt Asher recoil in terror. 'Julianna,' his mental voice whispered in fear and awe. I sensed his fear turn to desperate panic as he flew towards us. 'No, please. Don't abandon me, Julianna. I did not mean them harm. I only needed to draw strength to help Jean-Claude,' he begged. 'Liar,' I retorted. 'If strength was what you needed, you could have drawn it from *me*. You dragged them along out of malice and cruelty, and I don't understand *why*.' I didn't think he even heard me. As he entered the room, all his attention was for the young woman standing before him thrumming with power and a cold rage. Even with Jean-Claude's seed still glistening on his abdomen, he was breathtakingly beautiful. He fell to his knees in front of her...a supplicant come to beg mercy from his goddess. But there was none in her. He prostrated himself, pleading, "Please. I will not be so reckless again. Please don't...." He reached towards her in appeal. Jules' voice, there was no way that could have been coming from Kylie, rang with power as she pronounced judgment on the prone vampire before her. It was like the Voice of Doom. "From this time forward, Asher, master of Orlando, you are cut off from me. I release you back into the hands of your Dark Mistress. I disavow you and cast you off." "NO!" came his anguished scream. Mind-numbing pain like a dagger of ice plunged into our heart. my first instinct was to try and block off the marks to keep him from dragging me down with him into the abyss. But I knew if I did that, he would truly die, and so would I most likely. So, I took the advice I had tried to give Ramses earlier. I opened to the pain and *embraced* it. It poured over and through me...almost more than I could bear. Then as quickly as it began, it was over. Nothing had held it back or fought against it, so it passed. Somehow I'd ended up cradling Asher in my lap. He lay prone, his face pressed against my stomach and arms clinging to me with bruising strength. He was wracked with violent sobs and screams, for all the world like a terrified abandoned child. Kylie lay cradled in Ramses' embrace, sobbing as well. As much as I knew it had hurt Asher, what must it have cost her to inflict that on *herself*? Without a word, Ramses scooped her up and headed for her rooms. He didn't so much as acknowledge our presence as he passed. 'I've lost her!' Asher wailed in my mind even as his sobs grew in intensity. 'Mon Dieu! To have found her after all this time only to lose her *again*. And not to Death but by *driving* her away from me! How could I be so *stupid*?! Julianna! Julianna! Sil vous plait! Come back! Come back! Julianna....' She did not answer, and my heart broke for him. He was being swallowed by despair. I couldn't rock him in the position he was in, so I settled for gently stroking his sweat soaked hair and bare back. Gradually he became aware of my presence. His arms tightened painfully and I gasped. "Oh, ma rose d'acier," he sobbed. "What have I done? How long before I drive you away, too?" "Never, mon bel Ange," I assured him. "I'm not that easy to get rid of." "Non, you will leave me too someday," he protested, his face still buried in my lap. "I am too horrible to hope that you would always want me." It pained me to hear the self-loathing in his voice. The words from one of my favorite songs came to me then. They seemed to fit perfectly what I wanted to tell him at that moment. I lifted his blood streaked face to look at me. "Asher, for better or worse I love you. I will *never* leave you...NEVER," I swore vehemently. He sat up and I pulled him into an embrace. As he curled around my body I resumed stroking his hair and began rocking him back and forth. Softly, I sang the lullaby that I'd remembered. "Goodnight my angel, time to close your eyes/ and save these questions for another day./ I think I know what you've been asking me./ I think you know what I've been trying to say./ I promised I would never leave you/ and you should always know/ wherever you may go/ no matter where you are/ I never will be far away./ Goodnight my angel, now it's time to sleep./ And still so many things I want to say./ Remember all the songs you sang for me/ when we went sailing on an emerald bay./ And like a boat out on the ocean/ I'm rocking you to sleep./ The water's dark, and deep/ inside this ancient heart/ you'll always be a part of me./ Goodnight my angel, now it's time to dream/ and dream how wonderful your life will be./ Someday your child may cry/ and if you sing this lullaby/ then in your heart/ there will always be a part of me./ Someday we'll all be gone,/ but lullabies go on and on./ They never die./ That's how you and I will be." My own voice was a broken whisper by the end of the song. My face was wet with tears of my own, but Asher seemed to have spent the worst of his grief for the moment. He pulled back and kissed my tears away gently, then nuzzled my hair. "Merci beaucoup, ma rose d'acier," he murmured. "Je t'aime." "Je t'aime aussi, mon bel Ange de Morte," I whispered back. I glanced over towards Kimmy and saw something that wrung a sobbing laugh from me. Tim, *still* in partial bear form, sat cradling the unconscious woman in his paws gently, tears glistening in his fur. The emotions and power *had* been pretty loud, I thought. It was almost nauseatingly *cute* to see a pink teddy bear holding a "child" for comfort instead of vice versa. Blech! Movement in the hallway drew my attention. Nathaniel crept into the room on all fours, but still human. "Where'd you come from, kitten?" I asked softly. "I was in Anita's room," he answered. "I came to see what had happened." Cautiously he eased over and sniffed at Asher. When Asher turned to look at him, he flinched like he was expecting a kick to the head or something. Asher made no move against him. Nathaniel, like the cat he was, stretched his head up and licked Asher's cheek, cleaning away some of the bloody tears in the process. I guessed it was his way of showing comfort. Asher smiled sadly and stroked Nathaniel's hair. The wereleopard leaned into the caress, aching his back and purred as Asher's hand moved the entire length of auburn hair. "Mon ami?" I stiffened at the sound of that silky voice. Jean- Claude stood in the doorway clad in a black, fur-trimmed robe. His hair was mussed and his statement half sated half haggard. As he approached where we sat, every nerve ending screamed at me to run away NOW. I held my position, however. I would not abandon Asher. I felt the ardeur flare briefly at the sight of my master naked in my arms. A testament to at least some success on Asher's part tonight, Jean-Claude quickly brought the drive under control. "My apologies, Madame," he stated. "I did not mean to frighten you. I have been less than a gracious host I fear." I trembled as he stopped beside us and reached down to smooth his fingers along Asher's cheek. "What happened mon ami? Why the tears?" he asked. Asher released his death grip on me and clung desperately to Jean- Claude's knees. "She's gone, Jean-Claude...she's gone for good," he sobbed. "*Who*is gone for good?" Jean-Claude asked. I answered for him. "Jules cut him off from her. It was pretty rough." "Mon Dieu!" our host exclaimed and launched into a long soft string of French that I couldn't follow at all. He clutched Asher to him, drops of blood starting to trail down his cheeks as well. "Asher," I said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Go back with Jean-Claude. He still needs you (I could see his erection growing and felt the ardeur building even as I spoke), and you may find some comfort in his arms." He just nodded mutely. "Nathaniel," the Master of the City summoned. "Show Timothy the way to the guest rooms then return to my chambers...Asher will need to feed soon." The boy did as he was told and led Timmy and Kimmy from the room. Jean-Claude lifted Asher to his feet. "You are welcome to join us Madame, if you like," he offered. I shook my head. "No offense, but no thanks," I replied. "I am NOT comfortable around you." He nodded his understanding. "I only hope that you will not always fear me, cherie." He turned, guiding Asher back to his room. I waited until they were out of site before following, going to Asher's rooms. I needed to clean up. Once there, I put the stopper in the sink, filled it up with cold water, and began tossing my bloodied clothes in to soak. I had a quick shower then headed off for a serious discussion.