Armando took a deep breath of fresh air and laughed.  Makonnen looked over from the club door and gave him an odd look.  The large bouncer eyed his boss suspiciously before shaking his head.             

            “Something on your mind, Makonnen?”   

            “No, boss, just don’t recall ever seeing you so…happy.”   

            Armando let out another laugh and turned in a circle with his palms up.  “I have not felt this alive in centuries!  Where is she?” he asked, wanting to find Mandy.  

            Makonnen shifted slightly, looking uneasy.  Armando knew his vampires well.  Makonnen was one of his children, his chosen ones.  The large man rarely looked out of sorts and when he did, it was bad.  “Tell me what has happened.”  

            “I never sensed her coming, boss, really!  I didn’t know she was in the club until Mandy ran out crying.”  

            Armando grabbed hold of Makonnen’s collar and lifted the large man off his feet.  “What has happened to Mandy?”  

            “Oh, that’s the little human wench’s name.”   

            He cringed at the sound of that voice.  He knew it well.  He’d lived with it for close to thirty years.  He looked past Makonnen to Elizabeth and his moment of true bliss died instantly.  “What are you doing here?”  

            She tipped her head back, spilling waves of white-blonde hair down her tiny shoulders.  “Oh, is that anyway to greet your wife?”  

            Armando clenched his fists tight, wanting to strike her.  “You are not my wife.  You always did have a hard time separating truth from fiction.”  

            Elizabeth gave him one of her evil smiles and strolled out towards him.  “You would have been my husband if I hadn’t have gotten hungry prior to the ceremony.”  She laughed and clutched her stomach.  “Oh, I can still remember the look of horror on your face when you realized that your bride-to-be was a vampire.”  She waved her hand in the air as she laughed.  “No matter, one little piece of paper hardly matters.  I own you.  I created you.  And you shared my bed for close to a hundred years.”  

            “We were only together for thirty years.  That is when you decided to replace me with something a little more French.  How is Jacque?”  

            “Still bitter about that?  Hmm, I would have thought you would be over it.  According to Michael, you’ve moved on.”  Her eyes narrowed and she licked the edge of her thin lips.  “Do not tell me that you have resorted to slumming with human whores now.  Oh, how the mighty fall.”  

            Armando went at her and Makonnen stepped in his path.  “She’s not worth it, boss.  You should probably find Mandy.  Mike and I tried to stop her.  She was upset and in no condition to be driving.”  

            “What did you do to her?” Armando demanded, glaring at Elizabeth.  

            She shrugged.  “I simply told her that you belonged to me, that it was my bed you begged to stay in all those years ago, and I told her of things you used to do in our bed.  I may have mentioned a few other things and that…”  

            “And what?” Armando asked, clenching Makonnen’s arm to avoid strangling Elizabeth.            

            “And, I might have mentioned that we were still married.”  

            Armando pushed Makonnen away from him and seized Elizabeth’s shoulders.  She was taller than Mandy and he could meet her eye to eye.  “To still be married would require that we were married to begin with.  I do not call turning me into a demon a marriage.”  Armando’s hands burned.  He wanted to tear Elizabeth’s throat out.  To do so could mean his own death.  He’d left her side centuries ago because he could no longer bear the pain of seeing her bed every man but him.  He had thought that he loved her deeply once, and finding out she was a vampire didn’t change that.  Finding out that she was a whore incapable of returning his love did.   

            Now, being with Mandy had made him see that what he’d felt for Elizabeth was nothing more than foolish lust.  She had been the first woman he’d ever bedded and he was not able to separate love from sex then.  She’d been in love with his money.  He was heir to a fortune and Elizabeth knew that.  What she did not know was that he would refuse to allow her to harm his father.  She never saw a penny of his family’s money.  He left her the same night his father passed away.  He had only stayed with her that long to assure that she did not harm him.  

            Armando had always feared that he would fall victim to Elizabeth’s seductive powers if he were to see her again.  She had held him captive with her allure for so long that he worried she’d be able to do it again with just a look.  But now, looking at her, he felt nothing except rage.  “How dare you come here and try to interfere in my life.”  

            “You mean your death,” Elizabeth said with a playful pout, touching his cheek lightly.  “You always did like to pretend you were still alive.”  

            He thrust her away from him and stormed off to his car, listening to her laugh wickedly at him all the way.  He didn’t care.  He needed to find Mandy and make sure she was safe.  Elizabeth liked to leave a trail of dead bodies in her wake.  If he found that Mandy was harmed in anyway, there would be hell to pay.

            “Any luck?” Dmitri asked, appearing behind her.  Her wrapped his arms around her waist and put his ear close to her phone to listen.  Her body jumped in instant awareness and she trembled. 

            “No,” Michelle said, drawing a sharp breath from Dmitri’s close proximity.  “She’s not answering.  Maybe I should head over to her house.”  

            “Armando’s already on his way there.  If he can’t calm Mandy down, than no one can.” 

            “He just better hope she doesn’t stake him on first sight.”  

            Dmitri pulled back slightly.  “What’s that mean?  The guy’s innocent.”  

            Michelle snorted.  “Yeah, conveniently forgetting to tell someone that you’re already married isn’t innocent.  Not in my book anyway and I’m sure not in Mandy’s either.  What a jerk.”  

            “Hey,” Dmitri said, spinning her around to face him, “lay off Armando.”  

            “Don’t tell me that you’re about to defend someone who would cheat on his spouse and break Mandy’s heart.”  

            Dmitri ran a hand through his hair and let out a small groan.  “Eliza-bitch and Armando have never been married.  She sired him.  She attacked the man a week before they were to be married and turned him into what he is now.”  

            Michelle nervously glanced at the floor, pulling back so he couldn’t touch her.  She hadn’t meant to jump the gun and condemn Armando so fast.  But, she knew that if she were in Mandy’s shoes, she’d be devastated.  “So, they never got married?” 

            “No, they didn’t.  I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but Armando only stayed with her to make sure she didn’t harm his father.  Elizabeth had threatened to kill the man if Armando didn’t do as she wished.”  Dmitri reached a hand for her, giving a cocky little smile.  “Hey, come here for a second.  I want to ask you something.” 

            “What?”  Michelle took a hesitant step forward, giving her hand to his. 

            Dmitri jerked her forward so she fell against his chest.  Michelle gasped, giggling lightly as his arms wrapped around her back and held her close.  She could feel the full length of him again her.  His hips shifted and she thought she felt a hint of interest brush her stomach, but she couldn’t be sure because he’d turned slightly to the side.  Her body flushed with instant disappointment. 

            “So, was that a hint of jealousy I detected?” asked Dmitri. 

            “Jealousy?” squeaked Michelle with a delicate shrug, pretending not to know what he was talking about.

            “Yeah, when old Vampira was comin’ on to me,” he said softly. 

            “Me, jealous?”  Michelle forced a laugh she didn’t feel.  Hell, yes she was jealous.  Just thinking about it made her want to rip the ancient bitch’s eyes from her head, tear out her bloody heart with her bare hands and stomp on it.  To bad Mandy wasn’t there, they could’ve made a night of it. “No, of course not.  Why would I be jealous?” 

            “Why indeed.”  Dmitri’s face fell in what could have been disappointment, but she wasn’t certain.  If it was, Michelle was sure it was just his male ego that took a small beating, not because he wanted her to really care.  He opened his mouth to say more, but Mike’s voice boomed over them, interrupting. 

            “Excuse me sir, but can I help you with something?”  

            Michelle and Dmitri glanced over at Mike.  He was blocking the office door with his body.  A tall man tried to push past him.  Mike’s lycan strength should have made him a shoe-in for a fight, but he looked to Dmitri for help.

 Dmitri’s arms slid from her body.  Michelle saw the hard set to his jaw, the liquid gold fire threatening his eyes.  She knew the dark look should have scared her, but she found it actually turned her on—way on. 

            Great, thought Michelle.  Now I’ll never get to sleep tonight.  And I’ll be spending eternity in a cold shower. 

            “What’s going on?” Michelle asked as Dmitri growled.  

            “It’s the fire marshal.”  Dmitri headed towards Mike, shaking his head the entire way.  “Nage, what I can do for you this fine evening?”  His voice was so laced with artificial sweetness that Michelle cringed.           

            Michelle watched as the tall, muscular man with the shaved head turned to face Dmitri.  He wasn’t bad on the eyes by any stretch, but Michelle thought it best not to ogle.  The man gave Dmitri a cold once over, before glancing around the bar.  “Where is Armando?”  

            “He’s not here,” Dmitri said, sounding short.  

            “I gathered as much.”  Nage made a move to head into the back office, but Mike stood his ground.  “Armando agreed to meet me back at the club so I could take a look at the proposed expansion plans.  I thought I’d get my inspection out of the way while I was down here.”  

            Dmitri stepped to the side and put his hand out.  “By all means, inspect away.  I could save you a lot of time and just fine myself before you leave.”  

            “If you’re up to code then you have nothing to worry about,” said Nage, coldly.  

            There was something familiar about Nage, but Michelle couldn’t put her finger on it.  She watched as he slowly worked his way around the bar, stopping every so often to be sure that they had all the paperwork they needed to have displayed.  Dmitri headed back into the office to fetch something for him and Nage stopped in front of Michelle.  

            “Do I know you from somewhere?” he asked, sounding two hundred times nicer than he had with Dmitri.  

            Michelle would have normally taken this as a bad pick up line, but there truly was something familiar about him.  She put her hand out to him.  “Michelle Pillow, I work down at the Nocturnal Journal.  Have you been down there before…doing inspections I mean?”  

            Nage shifted a bit and looked over his shoulder.  “I thought I recognized you.  I submitted my information to you for an interview not long back.”  He took her hand in his.  “Master Nage…erotica author who just completed my very first erotic romance, Scorch.” 

            Michelle’s eyes widened.  “You wrote Scorch?  That got some great reviews.  Hey, didn’t JERR give it 5 stars?”  

            Nage smiled.  “Yeah, they did.”  

            “Now, someone told me that the erotic in your life isn’t all fiction,” Michelle said, suddenly feeling as though she was donning her interview cap.  

            Nage grinned, and an inviting warmth entered his eyes.  Michelle put on her most professional face to stop any advance.  Well, what did she expect asking such a forward question?  Truth was, she couldn’t think.  She was about ready to follow Dmitri into the office to do a little scorching of her own. 

            “You sent a request in for an interview?” Michelle asked, kicking herself for not going through her faxes before she left work.  If it didn’t come in an email than odds were that she wouldn’t get it for at least two weeks.  That’s about the time Mandy would poke her head in and demand she clean her desk.  “You want to hit the high points with me now?”  

            Nage did another nervous glance around the bar and nodded his head.  “As you'll see from my interview I'm a real life Dominant into BDSM, 24/7.  My wife is my willing slave.  I write erotic BDSM stories in my erotica guise.”   

Michelle didn’t move a muscle as he continued.  If ever she needed Mandy near her, it was now.  Mandy would have not only had a smile on her face, but would have understood what Nage was talking about.  Michelle focused on him and tried to listen, all the time scolding herself for her wandering thoughts.  Though, seeing Dmitri in chains did have merits.

   “I really dislike the whips and chains thing, cause that's a stereotype….” continued Nage. 

Oh.  Michelle tried not to blush, as she thought, My bad.  No stereotypes here. 

“…I try to educated people against this with my erotica.  I am, in fact, into psychological domination and my books tend to be less about kink and more about how characters think and feel.”  

            “Did you find anything or are we clear?” Dmitri asked, pushing in between Michelle and Nage.  Dmitri put his arm around Michelle, clearly claiming her.  

            Nage looked a bit uncomfortable as he stared at Dmitri’s arm.  “You two know each other?”

            “Yes,” Dmitri said, in a low voice,  “Michelle is my girlfriend.”  

            “DMITRI!” Mike shouted from the doorway to the men’s room.  “A pipe burst, get in here!”  

            “Shit!” Dmitri said, sprinting in the direction of the bathroom.  

            Nage stepped forward and bent his head down.  “I’d appreciate it if you’d keep the fact that I write erotic fiction to yourself.”  

            “You don’t want me to tell Dmitri, right?” she asked, laughing.  Nage nodded and she glanced towards the men’s room door.  “What’s with you two?  Old lycan feud?”  

            “No, we had a small disagreement during a fundraiser and he threatened to eat me.”  

            Michelle coughed, and had to take a step back due to the sudden onslaught of laughs and coughs that seized hold of her.   

            “You okay?” Nage asked, pounding her back lightly.  

            She nodded her head yes and wiped the tears from her eyes.  “Oh…I’ll get…in touch…with you when…I get back into the office…Monday.”   

            “You sure you’re okay?”  Nage asked with a smile.  

            “Yep, sure am.”  Michelle took a deep breath and held it as she calmed herself.  It wasn’t lost on her that when she first met Dmitri, the fact that he threatened to eat someone wouldn’t have been funny.  

            “Ah, listen,” said Nage, pausing for a moment to glance around the bar.  “I’m pretty much done here.  Would you mind giving this to Dmitri and tell him I’ll stop by later this week to talk to Armando about the plans?”

            “Sure,” said Michelle taking the sheet.  “So did they pass?” 

            Nage gave a small grin.  “Uh, yeah, with flying colors.” 

            Michelle watched him go with a small smile.  Turning to the sheet, she wondered if her status as Dmitri’s girlfriend had gotten them off easy.  Then, with a shrug, she went to go see what all the sudden cursing from the back room was about.           

            Mandy fell across her bed.  She fought hard not to cry, refusing to let that bitch win.  If she wanted Armando so bad, she could have him.  She had no use for a lying cheater anyways.  It was better she found out about all of this before she got too attached. Or was she already too attached?  She didn’t know or care.   

            Her cell phone rang several times, but she ignored it.  She did the same when her home phone began to ring as well.  She’d already called who she needed to and now she had to check out apartments in Chicago.  She rolled onto her side and climbed off the bed slowly.   

            She waited as her laptop booted up.  The tension of the day filled her neck and shoulders and she bent her head down, trying again not to cry.  She opened her browser and googled real estate in Chicago.  Surprisingly, with what Angelica had offered for pay, she could afford a decent sized place.   

            The stiffness in her shoulders intensified and moaned slightly as she tried to bend her head all the way down.  Cool hands touched her neck and she jolted upright in the chair.            

            “Shhh, it is I.” Armando’s smooth voice whispered in her ear.  

            Mandy’s temper flared and she bucked her head back, catching his chin hard.  He let out a soft groan, but didn’t move.  Her head now felt ten times worse.  

            That’ll teach me for trying to inflict pain on a frickin’ superhero.  She thought to herself.  

            Armando laughed and tried to turn her to face him.  She held her ground, and the table, trying not to move, but his strength won out.  “Kitten, look at me.  We need to talk.” Mandy kept her eyes down as he held her chin.  “Look at me!”  

            She glared at him and he pulled his head back from her.  There wasn’t a time in her life when she’d hated anyone more.  Even Elizabeth was better than Armando to her at the moment.  He’d done the unthinkable to her.  He’d made her fall in love with him and then ripped her heart from her chest.  It ached and being near him only added to it.  

            Mandy reached up and touched her chest lightly.  Armando tried to take her hand, but she twisted away from him.   

            “I did not mean to cause you pain and I am honored to be the first man that you have ever given you heart to.  I need you….”  

            Mandy stood fast and pushed away from Armando.  “You fucking read me!  You hopped in my head and invaded my private thoughts!”  

            He made a move to come to her and stopped when he gaze fell on her laptop.  “Chicago?” he said, his dark eyebrows rising slightly.  “You have made up your mind then?”  

            She let out a half-laugh, half-sob and stormed towards her front door.  Armando caught her arm and held her still.  She looked at his pale hand and then up into his dark eyes.  “Take your hand off me!  I think your wife might have a thing or two to say about you touching other women.”  

            “Mandy, she is not….”  

            A knock at the door interrupted them.  “Who is here at this hour?”  Armando asked, his eyes narrowing in on her.  

            “Let go of my arm and I’ll find out,” Mandy said, angrily  

            Armando put his hands in the air and backed away.  She wanted to kick him in the stomach on her way past, but she held back.  She opened the door slowly and felt her stomach tie in a knot when she saw the spiked bleach blonde hair.  “Now is not a good time.”  

            “Like hell it’s not.  I stopped down to the club to have me a drink and hear em’ all talking about the big bad bitch showin’ up to spoil your fun,” James said, pushing on the door.  “I think now’s as good a time as any, don’t you?”  

            Mandy stepped back and let the door open.  She could feel Armando’s eyes burning holes into the back of her head.  She could also feel him reading her, probing her mind for her thoughts.  She concentrated on slamming his head into a brick wall and then felt nothing.  She wasn’t sure if it was visualizing a wall that did it, or if Armando didn’t care for her rather graphic vision on harming him.  The problem was, she didn’t care how he left her head, only that he did, and now she wanted him to leave her home as well.  She  turned towards him and looked at the door.  “Please leave.”  

            “Mandy, hear me out.  I….”  

            “I think the Kitten asked you nice to go,” James said, mimicking the way Armando always said her name.  

            “Do not provoke me this evening Jameson.  You will not like what….”  

            Mandy put her hand up and screamed out at Armando, cutting him off.  “Get out of my damn house and don’t ever come back!  There is nothing you have to say that I want to hear, except goodbye!”  

            James laughed and Mandy shot him a nasty look.  He shut up, but didn’t stop smiling.  He raised his hand in air and waited for Mandy to call on him like he was in grade school.  “Right then, I was supposed to tell Armando, if I saw him, that Dmitri said to get his ass down to the club and take care of Elizabeth, she’s bitten two people and threatened at least a half dozen or so.”  He looked over at Armando and laughed softly.  “That’s a wild one you got there, surprised she let you out of her sight long enough to shag another.”  

            Armando flew at him, but Mandy beat him to the punch.  She’d wanted to hit something since the club and James was as good a punching bag as any, so she did.  She punched James in the gut and he did her the courtesy of pretending it hurt before taking her hand in his and massaging it.  It was a good thing that he did; the pain shooting through her hand put her on the brink of tears.  “It’ll be okay, love, I promise.”  

            “She is not your….” Armando started to say, but Mandy twisted around and glared at him.  

            Dmitri slid past her on the floor and glanced up at her and she leapt to her feet.  The cocky, bad boy smile curved his lips, as he asked, “You doing all right?”  

            “Umm, I’m not the one getting my ass kicked by a slutty corpse,” Michelle said, smirking at him.  She sat back down.  “A slutty girl corpse.” 

            He stood and wiped his pants off.  “I’d hardly call this getting my ass kicked…I…umm, don’t want to hurt her, she’s a….”  

            “A bitch.  Yeah, we know, go ahead and say it,” Mike said, as he tumbled past Dmitri.  A low grunt escaped him as he knocked his head.  Michelle heard Jaycee muttering behind them about stupid bartending lycans as she tried to tend bar over the racket of the fight.

             Michelle shook her head and took another sip of her water.  They’d been trying to restrain Elizabeth for the greater part of twenty minutes and so far had only managed to break four chairs and chase off half the patrons.   

            Elizabeth laughed from the other side of the bar and Mike glanced down at Michelle.  “Tell me that’s vodka.”  

            “Why, need a shot?” she asked, laughing at him as she finished her drink off.            

            “No, I need the bottle to club that…”  

            “Mike,” Dmitri said, sternly.            

            Mike shrugged and headed back towards Elizabeth.  Michelle slowly stood and touched Dmitri’s bruised cheek.  “Why don’t you just rip her throat out?  You can do that right?”  

            “Yeah, but how the…what…why are you suddenly so violent?”   

            She gently touched his cheek again before planting a tiny kiss on it.  “I make exceptions when need be.”  

            He turned and caught her lips with his and let out a throaty growl.  “And you think now is a time that exceptions should be made.”

            “Uh-huh,” Michelle said, running her hand over his broad chest.  ‘I think you should kill the bitch.”  

            “I wish it was that easy.  To do so could mean killing Armando too.  We’ve no idea how linked he still may be to her.  She’s his sire and the risk of killing him too is too great and I’m not willing to chance it.”  

            The realization of what he was saying sunk in.  “That’s why the two of you look like she’s kicking your backsides.  You don’t want to kill her; you just want to keep her busy until….”  

            “ELIZABETH!” Armando shouted from the entrance of the club.  

            “The Calvary has arrived,” Dmitri said.  He stroked her cheek and planted a quick kiss on her lips, before walking towards Armando.  

            Michelle saw a flash of dark hair behind Armando and did a double take when she saw that he dragged Mandy by the arm behind him.  She looked like she wanted to rip his head off.  Michelle sighed, not sure she could blame her.