
Demon of Desire
First in the Whispering Valley series.
The only consolation Sin has for moving into her late great-aunt's creepy Victorian house is the handymen who come with it. Triplet vampires Baen, Gower and Enos are yummy enough to tempt her from her self-imposed celibacy and make her forget she's well on her way to becoming a crazy cat lady.
The brothers instantly recognize Sin as their mate, but realize they need to ease her into the idea of being loved by three vampires. Then a sex-craving demon takes control of Sin's body and seduces the men, forcing them to make a rash decision with her life.
Ellora's Cave Publishing
Demon of Desire
ISBN 9781419933004
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Demon of Desire Copyright © 2011 Ari Thatcher
Edited by Raelene Gorlinsky
Cover art by Syneca
Electronic book publication April 2011
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora's Cave Publishing.
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Sin slammed the car door shut with her hip and paused to look again at the lonely old Victorian house. It stood stately and proud, snow clinging to the slate roof in the turret shadows. Although the rooms were all dark, she felt life emanating from behind the curtains. She supposed any structure that had been around more than a century had its own soul. Just as long as it remains quiet.
A sad emptiness filled the air around the house. Where psychic memories of children's laughter should have echoed in her mind, she heard only a heavy sigh. Had this place ever been a happy home? Certainly in a house that size, a family must have lived here before her aunt. Curiosity had her wanting to check property records to see. Children generally left behind a positive energy.
She felt only negative vibes from the building.
Movement drew her gaze to the center attic window. The curtains in the dormer were pulled back on one side as if someone looked out at her. Hadn't they just been closed? She shook off the shudders that threatened to course through her and carried the last of the houseplants inside before the lightly falling snow burned the leaves. The last thing she needed was to start imagining ghosts on her first night alone in the house.
Great-Aunt Absinthe's three cats scattered when she entered the room she planned to convert to an office. "Dear kitties, I didn't mean to frighten you. Dear, rich kitties." What kind of person left all her money to her cats, and to her grandniece the house they lived in? Great-Aunt Absinthe, of course. Her crazy maiden aunt.
She'd only met the woman once or twice that she recalled, not recently enough for a strong impression to linger. Her great-aunt had seemed sane enough---for a cat lady. The weird things in the attic had stuck with Sin all these years, but nothing about her aunt. Over time those dusty, boxed collections had become shrunken heads and disembodied thumbs and fingers in her nightmares. Who knew what they had actually been? Man, someone better have gone through the attic and gotten rid of all that.
Inky, the slender black cat, trailed Sin into the kitchen and watched her bang her way through the cupboards, searching for a pitcher to water her plants. Cleo, the large, fluffy, smoke-colored Ragdoll cat, sat on the counter twitching her tail to voice her opinion at the disturbance.
Sin spun toward the cat, fists on her hips. "Well, if you'd tell me where to find things, I wouldn't have to make so much noise. Take your tail and your attitude and get off my counter." She flung out her arm but the animal didn't move.
It wasn't bad enough she'd been named Absinthe Penelope after her great-aunt. Now she was going to become a crazy cat lady, just like the old maid. She was an old maid, too, if she thought about it.
She didn't want to think about it.
Sighing, she went to unload more stuff from the car. Once she threw out some of her aunt's clutter, the place might not be so bad. The old Victorian had character.
A book clattered off the shelf as she passed through the parlor. Sin looked for a cat but none was around. Not only does the house have character, it has a mind of its own.
The antique clock on the mantle chimed nine times. She was glad she had stayed at the motel the night before, since the heat didn't seem to be working. Carrying in a large box of clothes, she muttered under her breath about antique radiators and went upstairs to see what shape the bedrooms were in.
When she pulled the bedding off her aunt's queen-size sleigh bed, a cloud of dust sent her into a coughing fit. The old woman must have fired her housekeeper at least a year before being admitted to the nursing facility where she'd died peacefully in her sleep.
Inky wound herself around Sin's legs, pulling her attention back. She bent down and lifted the kitty, scratched behind its ears before setting it on the bed. "Who fed you while she was away?"
Balling up the sheets and old quilt, she headed down to the laundry room. Setting the water temperature to hot, she put the quilt to one side and stuffed the washer full of linen.
It occurred to her she should check if her cell phone still had a charge. The weather reports called for a storm and the power could go out for long periods. A trip to the grocery store would be wise, too. She had no idea how long it would take the town to plow the road out as far as her place.
Sin pushed the swinging door out of the kitchen and walked straight into a wall. A firm, muscular wall tightly encased in a black t-shirt. She shrieked and jumped back.
"I knocked but you must not have heard me. The door was unlocked. I came to check the boiler in the basement and make sure your heat is working."
Blinking, she tried to find her tongue, which desperately wanted a taste of the wall's chill-reddened lips. "Oh. Did the probate lawyer call you? Thank God. I had no idea how to turn the thing on."
His luscious, moderately full lips stretched into a slow smile, parting only slightly to show pearly white teeth. Sin lifted her gaze above his chiseled nose to deep blue eyes and short, ash-colored hair. He was older than she expected upon such close inspection of his chest, with white peppering his temples and smile lines feathering out from his eyes.
"I'm Gower MacDuirmad. I was a friend of your aunt." His voice held a trace of a burr in the way he pronounced his name.
"I'm Sin. I guess you know where to find the boiler?" She couldn't believe her hand was actually twining her ponytail over her shoulder as she stood like a ditz looking up at him, wide-eyed. She shoved both hands in the back pockets of her jeans, realized how that movement thrust out her breasts and quickly folded her arms instead. She followed Gower into the front room.
As he disappeared down the basement steps, the sound of stomping feet on the porch drew her to the front door. She stopped at the window, pulling back the curtains to peer out. The door opened and a man stepped inside. Her eyes widened when he pushed back his hood and turned toward her. He had the same face, maybe ten years younger than Gower. He lacked the silvering temples and a few toes in the crow's feet, but otherwise they were exact copies.
Her body hungered to know him better, stirring as if awakened from hibernation. She had to close her eyes for a moment and let the warm whiskey-like wave of desire pass through her. He was here to help his brother, most likely. While casual sex would probably go a long way toward satisfying the damned urges she'd had since she and Tim broke up, there were too many reasons not to get involved. With anyone.
"Hello. You must be Absinthe."
She cringed at the name. "Sin, please. That name is only suited to elderly cat ladies." As if on cue, Cleo wrapped herself around Sin's leg. "And you are?"
He smiled and she held her breath at the sight. Can I just kiss you now and get it over with?
"I'm Enos. I believe my brother is here. I didn't realize you had arrived already." He spoke with a clipped accent, making her think he'd been born elsewhere but spent a lot of time in the States.
"Yes, he just went downstairs into the cellar."
With a nod, he turned toward the hallway. The brothers obviously helped out here often. Aunt Absinthe had been one lucky woman.
The washing machine screamed its off-balance noise, calling her attention from Enos' ass. With a sigh, she headed toward the laundry room. Inky stood on the dryer and meowed. Sin nodded at the cat. "I know. It's an awful sound."
She was talking to the cats. Forty-two years old, single and talking to cats. It was all downhill from there. From the corner of her eye she saw the back door open and one of the brothers walked in. She struggled to remember if there was a door in the cellar that led to the outside.
He shoved off his hood and brushed powdery snow off his shoulders. "Oh, hello. You must be Absinthe. I'm Baen."
Unable to find her tongue, Sin just gaped. He was identical to the other two, but definitely the youngest, by at least a decade. She'd never seen siblings look so much alike unless they were twins.
"I believe my brothers Enos and Gower are here? I apologize for walking in. I didn't know you'd arrived yet."
This had to be a cosmic joke instigated by her maiden aunt. Their heavy coats masked their builds, but she was certain there were no beer bellies or plumber's smiles in this bunch. All three were apparently gym rats, and obviously had been quite friendly with Aunt Absinthe. Life just wasn't fair. "They're in the basement."
His smile made his pale blue eyes twinkle. He nodded and walked out of the kitchen.
Shrugging, she trotted up the narrow staircase to get back to work. If she ever had to pick a family to be stranded with on a deserted island, she knew where to look. But that was the only place she'd consider taking on another man. On a deserted island where he had no Wi-Fi to access her assets. If she ever had assets again.
Sin busied herself with pulling Aunt Absinthe's clothes out of the closet to make room for her own. The scent of lily of the valley drifted off the old dresses, filling the small space, immersing her in memories. Her aunt had been a slender, attractive woman in her youth. Why had she never married? Had she ever been in love?
As she carried an armload of garments out of the closet, her foot connected with something solid. Balancing carefully, she nudged it out of the way with the toe of her boot. She carried the clothes to the attic. Whispering voices filtered through the ornate black metal grate on the floor next to the dresser. The guys must be discussing the boiler. She hoped they got it working soon.
The whispers continued when she went back into the closet for the next load. She shivered. The way voices carried through the old heating ducts was creepy. Old houses deserved the reputations they got. Everything about them seemed scripted for effect. You could slap on a coat of paint and run modern wiring throughout and it still didn't chase away the shadows.
Glancing up, Gower saw Baen reach the foot of the basement stairs. Thank the gods. Baen was more mechanically inclined than he and Enos. "Hey, take a look at this wiring."
Gower stepped back to let his brother get closer to the boiler. He ran a hand over the back of his neck, wiping away the sensation of something crawling over his skin. Something was off about this place. He'd felt it often when he'd visited the old woman, and the creepiness hadn't died with her.
The chivalrous part of him, the part he preferred to keep buried, wanted to go upstairs, grab the niece and drive her as far from the town as he could. He wasn't given to foreboding, but Sin should never have come to Whispering Valley.
But he wouldn't interfere. You just don't do that to people. He knew better than to meddle in people's lives. No one came to the valley by accident. Regardless how he felt, he had to let her live out her purpose.
"Why do you think she's here?" Enos leaned against a metal shelf filled with dusty jars of fruit.
Gower blinked. After three centuries he ought to be used to his brothers having parallel thoughts. "She inherited the house."
Enos rolled his eyes. "Way to state the obvious, bro."
Baen's hands were busy deep in the inner workings of the boiler as he spoke. "Do you think she's like the aunt?"
"A medium?" Gower stroked his chin. "Who can tell? You'd think if she was, she wouldn't have come anywhere near this place."
Baen glanced back over his shoulder. "She could have any sort of talent, not necessarily precognition. And you talk as if you know something's going to happen to her."
"I just would hate to see anything happen to Sin."
Sin. The name suited her body, Gower thought, but her eyes had iced over long before he and his brothers arrived on the scene. He wondered if she'd always been that way toward strangers, or if he and his brothers had chilled her personality. He wouldn't mind trying to light a fire inside her and see if he could thaw her out.
Enos cleared his throat. "Did you guys notice anything about her?"
"You felt it, too?" Gower asked.
"Just like the first time I saw Cecily at Vauxhall, after we returned from Waterloo."
"I recognized her scent," Gower said.
Baen's voice was muffled as he spoke to the interior of the furnace. "I felt her energy when I reached the back steps. She's definitely the one. Definitely ours." He rose and slid the cover back into place.
Gower heard the pilot light flame up as Baen stepped back. "You got it?"
"Yeah. I think it'll stay lit now."
Enos straightened and zipped up his coat. "I guess I'll go make sure she has enough firewood on the back porch. Just in case."
Gower nodded. "Baen, do you want to check the water barrels?"
"Will do."
Following his brothers up to the first floor, Gower listened for Sin's footsteps. He had no idea where she'd moved from and if she was prepared to be stuck in the house once a blizzard hit.
The worn runner on the stairs muffled the sound of footsteps, but Sin felt a presence behind her as she descended from the attic. She shook off the dark energy she felt wrap around her shoulders and picked up her pace.
When she turned at the landing, she saw a shadow dart into the doorway across from her aunt's room. Startled, she stopped in the hallway.
The low purr of a voice close behind her sent chills down her spine. "Something wrong?"
She closed her eyes in relief at hearing Gower's voice. "Something ran into that room."
"A cat?"
She shook her head. The shadow had been too high up to be a cat, unless these cats could fly. How long would it take to get used to the character of this house? The creaks late at night when no one was moving around. The sighs of wood settling after standing too long. The scratching of a tree on a windowpane. She shivered again.
Gower slipped past her and peered into the room. She followed far enough behind to make a quick escape, if need be. "This place really gives me the creeps," she admitted.
He bent down and lifted the eyelet bed skirt. "Then why'd you move in?"
Her eyes landed on the sliver of skin revealed above his jeans when he crouched down. He'd taken off his jacket and now only his long-sleeved t-shirt kept her from seeing his muscular torso. When he turned and caught her staring, her cheeks heated.
It suddenly struck her she'd become a different person after the mess her boyfriend Tim had left her in. Walled herself into a tiny, emotional safe room with only a peephole through which she watched the world pass by. She needed to break loose. What was the harm in flirting a little? "Sorry. Nice ass. Now, what were you saying?"
The expression on his face, one brow barely lifted, eyes darkened, nostrils flared, made her stomach flip-flop. That's why you don't flirt. You can't handle the reaction.
He rose, still glancing around the room. "I asked why you moved in if you didn't like the place."
She turned away, picking up one of the porcelain figurines on the dark wood bookshelf. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Actually, it was kind of inevitable."
With any luck he wouldn't ask what she meant. Most people didn't understand the feeling she got sometimes when making a decision. She had no emotional attachment to the choice, but she knew in her gut what she was supposed to do. Like moving into this house. Not fate, but definitely predestined. She just couldn't explain the difference between the two.
Sin tried to focus on what had caused the shadow she'd seen. Light coming through the curtains could cause the appearance of movement, but not on a gray day like today. She switched on the lone lamp in the small bedroom. As if the falling snow were a solid blanket smothering the house, daylight was quickly fading.
The sound of his slight movements reminded her Gower stood nearby. She turned and smiled apologetically. "Excuse me, but I need to get back to moving my aunt's stuff so I can unpack."
Moving past him toward the bedroom across the hall, she tried to ignore the strangely erotic smell of clean cotton and wind clinging to him. Hadn't he worked up a sweat dealing with the boiler? He should smell like old socks or a locker room. Why was it the harder she worked at not noticing the man, the deeper he encroached on her senses?
As if he heard her thoughts, he was suddenly in her way. She stopped just shy of plowing into him and looked up, tilting her head. His nostrils flared. Could he smell her arousal? God, how embarrassing! "Is there, uh, something you wanted?" Please let him say my body.
The corner of his mouth lifted. The tip of his tongue wiped slowly across his full lower lip. Unable to help herself, Sin parted her lips and inhaled. She wavered on her feet, leaning slightly closer. Just a taste, that's all she wanted. A quick kiss.
What was she doing? She snapped her mouth closed and tore her gaze from his lips. She was not going to kiss a stranger.
But he had other ideas. He grasped her chin, lifting her face to his. Leaned in and hovered over her lips. The heat of his breath warmed her even before he touched her mouth.
The kiss wasn't quick, if she judged by the butterflies squirming in her stomach, the dampness between her thighs. She began to pant as she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him still closer. What little control she retained kept her from wrapping her leg around his hips and rolling him onto the bed.
Gower slowly pulled back after planting a kiss on her nose. His eyes burned with passion, battling with her resolve not to seduce him. Touching her fingertips to her throbbing lips, she turned away. The desire he wakened in her almost washed away the awareness she kissed a man she didn't know, which could put her in situations she had no escape from. She needed to be sure to make it clear it wouldn't happen again.
Voices twittered from the vents in the floor. The men downstairs sounded like a couple of schoolgirls. She was losing her mind. In her efforts to block the male species from her radar, her mind was emasculating them. Who'd have thought her subconscious would work that hard to keep her from getting involved again?
Gathering another armload of housedresses, she climbed the stairs to the attic and pushed open the door. A chill breeze cut through her sweater, sending goose bumps scattering. There had to be a crack in a windowpane, allowing in the storm. She mentioned it to Gower when he entered carrying more old clothes and he promised to check.
More whispers followed her back to the bedroom, seeming to move from vent to vent, growing hushed when she stepped in the closet. She looked up to grab the next bundle and stopped at what she saw. The pole was full of clothes again. Was Gower bringing them back down? A laugh escaped her. She wanted a reason not to be attracted. Undoing her work would take care of it.
Shaking off her suspicions, she reached up and once again she was awash in the scent of lily of the valley. "Aunt Absinthe, I'm sure you're here, but you have to know you've moved on. This is my room now and I need to put away my clothes."
She questioned Gower as she passed him again. "You didn't take those clothes back into my room did you?"
He parked his fists on his hips and glared down at her. "Why would I do that, when you were taking them to the attic?"
"Hmm," was all she could come up with in response. Up in the attic, she set the dresses on a pile of boxes.
The next trip out of the closet was almost literally a trip as her foot again caught on something solid. She twisted to see around the garments she held. Tucked beside the doorjamb was a carved teakwood trunk, slightly larger than a jewelry box. She nudged it aside, then returned to it after taking the last of the clothes upstairs.
She didn't know how she had missed kicking it so many times, jutting out into the doorway the way it did. Come to think of it, she must have knocked it there, or the door wouldn't have opened. Curious, she grabbed the gold handles on either side and carried it out into the light.
Setting it on the bed, Sin sat down and blew the dust off the lid before opening it. There was a hasp closure, but no lock. It creaked as she lifted the tongue and the hinges groaned of time passage. She was uncertain what she expected to find inside, but the reality was light years away from anything she could have imagined.
Tucked in the back was a small packet of letters tied with a red ribbon. A small blue satin prayer book lay across something wrapped in a white embroidered handkerchief. A locket of hair filled a translucent vellum envelope. She set aside the prayer book and letters and lifted out the small bundle.
A newspaper article at the bottom of the box caught her eye. With gentle fingers, she held it up to the lamp to read. The obituary spoke of a man who had died more than sixty years ago. His name didn't ring a bell, but as she scanned the text she got the answer to several of her questions. Adam Policek, the decedent, had been engaged to her great-aunt Absinthe.
The letters all had his return address. She wondered if the hair was his, and a shiver coursed over her skin at the thought. She couldn't imagine running her fingers over the hair of a long-dead boyfriend.
Sin picked up the bundle and warily turned it over in her hands. Part of her was certain she would find a shriveled toe or some other gruesome memento, like those filling the attic in her childhood. Yet her curiosity was stronger than her dread. She peeled back the handkerchief.
Cotton wadding surrounded something firm. Rolling the item over, she found the opening and pulled it back. A carved piece of stone nested inside.
She turned the stone into her hand, studying it. An electric shock stabbed up her arm. She shrieked and dropped the object on the featherbed. In the center of her palm a round, red burn grew darker as she watched. "What the...?"
Using the wadding as a hot pad, she turned the stone this way and that. It was oblong, rounder in the middle, with what looked like thick legs carved on one end. Flipping it, she jerked back at what she saw.
The carving was female, with full breasts and rounded belly. A fertility icon of some sort.
Something shuffled across the floor above her head. She hoped it was Gower, not a rodent. Just as she thought of him, he looked in the room.
"What do you have there?"
If Gower was there, who was in the attic? As she finished the thought, a heavy dark mist crept into her peripheral vision and when she held up her hand to show him the burn, the room went black.
Gower reached her just before she planted her face on the wood floorboards. Yanking her arm, he stopped her fall then gathered her up and laid her on the bed. What could have caused her to pass out? Low blood sugar? Was she ill? He noticed the small carving lying next to some mementos on the bed and reached for it. Sandstone, by the look of it. When he picked it up he recognized it from something he'd read long ago. An icon to the demon Suthu. An evil version of the succubus.
Why would Sin, or any woman, own something like that? At one time, Gower had transported dangerous fetishes for an archeologist, and as far as he knew, none of the ancient artifacts from the Mediterranean island of Ueru had been brought to the United States. The legends surrounding Suthu described the demon as a black widow of sorts. It was one of the most bloodthirsty---and sex-hungry---demons.
He tossed the icon into the wooden box along with the other items and set them on the dresser. Then he stretched Sin's legs out and drew the quilt over her. As he held a hand to the back of her neck, checking her temperature, he recalled a situation a few centuries back where some Ueruan icons had appeared in the lustier districts of London. Several whores had been possessed by the demons who'd been cast into the icons in a time before Christ. Two members of the aristocracy had been among their victims, their bodies ripped apart in a fashion that made Jack the Ripper look tame.
He should call Marrett and see what he knew about the icons. And why one would have ended up in Whispering Valley. The man knew more about the occult than anyone in the valley, and possibly in the country. And what he didn't know, he was quick to find out. Marrett had also been a friend of George Crawford, Sin's great-grandfather, who collected artifacts from around the world dealing with death and dying. Hopfully, he'd have the answer they needed.
Sin didn't move on the bed, her breathing steady but otherwise not showing any sign of life. What had happened to her? He tapped her cheeks. "Sin. Wake up."
No reaction.
Growing increasingly concerned, Gower ran downstairs. He found his brothers in the kitchen. "Something's wrong with Sin. She passed out."
Baen's head snapped up. "You didn't feed on her, did you?"
"Fuck, no. She cried out and when I checked on her, she fainted."
"What could have happened?" Enos pushed through the door to the living room and hit the stairs ahead of his brothers. Taking them two at a time, he cleared the landing, crossed the large bedroom and went to Sin's side, reaching for her wrist. Gower followed close behind with Baen trailing after.
After a moment, Enos spoke. "Her pulse is steady. Color is good."
Gower lifted her other arm. Her lax hand was palm up, and in the center was a huge blister. "What the fuck...?"
Baen stepped closer and took her hand. "What did she burn herself on?"
Gower glanced at the nightstand and dresser but there was nothing heat conductive. The closet door stood open, beckoning. He walked over and peered around the door.
The pole was packed with dresses, the same pastel, flowery ones she'd taken up to the attic. No wonder she asked if he'd brought them back down. A heavy, sweet perfume drifted beneath his nose. It smelled nothing like Sin. He'd never paid attention to how the aunt had smelled but could imagine her perfume lingered on her clothes. As often as he and his brothers had been in the house to help Absinthe, he couldn't recall anything unusual happening.
Yet the bedroom felt alive, filled with a vibrant energy of its own. He'd swear it was sexual tension, many times more powerful than what he'd felt when they'd kissed. Closing his eyes, he opened his mind to the energy. By focusing on the room through his third eye, he saw a brilliant green mist trailing from Sin's open palm to the wooden box on the dresser.
Blinking, he studied the box, the mist now gone. In two steps he was at the dresser, sorting through the envelopes and oddities. Beneath it all, he found the carved icon wrapped in a handkerchief and gingerly lifted it in his hand. "What do you guys know about Suthu?"
Baen looked down at the woman on the bed. "Suthu," he echoed.
"Shit," said Enos.
"Yeah, Suthu, shit," Gower agreed.
"You think it got her?"
"You think we can beat it? Without getting her killed?"
"Her?" Enos argued. "What about us?"
Gower put the icon down and turned around, leaning his butt against the low dresser. "Anyone who's not up for this can leave now and try to beat the blizzard home."
"As if that's a choice." Enos paced near the foot of the bed. "Freeze my ass off or burn my dick off. Let's see, which do I prefer?"
"Shit," Baen agreed, "it could end up being both."
"Yeah, it could. Or we can all walk away now. It's not our problem." Gower watched his brothers as if expecting an argument.
"You know that's not gonna happen. Not when it's Sin. We just found her after more than a century of waiting." Enos combed his fingers through his hair. "What do we have to do? How do we cast out the demon?"
"I have no idea."
"Can we call Marrett? He can tell us how to get rid of the demon, can't he?" Enos asked.
Baen already had his cell phone in his hand. "No signal. Imagine that. Fuckin' cell towers." He walked back to Sin, picked up her hand and studied the burn. "We should put something on this. You think the demon got inside her?"
"I'm not sure." Gower shifted his weight and looked down at the carving. "I never heard how the demon gets in the icon, so I've no clue how it gets out."
"Well, we need to figure something out. What do we know about Suthu?" Baen asked.
"Other than she fucks men, then kills them?" Enos parked a hip on the edge of the bed nearest the door. "I never asked. It's not one of those things you think you'll need to know two centuries down the road. I remember reading about it when Jack the Ripper was littering the streets of London."
Sin shifted her feet and rolled on her side before her eyes fluttered open. Gower hurried to her. "Sin? How are you feeling?"
From a corner of the ceiling, Sin looked down on the action below her. Was she dead? Her body lay motionless, yet the men said she had a pulse. How did she end up like this, and how the hell could she get back inside her body?
"Gower, I'm here," she called down but no one reacted. "Hey!"
Waving her legs got her nowhere, not an inch closer to her body. She pushed against the ceiling, but her hands passed through the dark-stained wood. What the hell had happened to her?
When her body began to stir on the bed, Sin waited to be pulled back in, or whatever it was called. But it was as if her body had a mind of its own. As it sat up and stretched, an odd sensation washed through her. Lust, hunger and a powerful urge to kill.
Kill?
Below, her body turned toward Enos and smiled, licking her lips. "Don't you look delicious." Crawling across the bed, she reached for his belt.
Enos jumped up and backed away. "Fuck, Suthu got her all right!"
"How do we destroy the demon?" Gower also stepped out of reach.
Sin called out again. "Who is Suthu? What do you mean, he has me?"
No one answered. She shoved against the wall behind her with a grunt but didn't move. On the bed, her body pulled off her t-shirt and tossed it on the floor. As Sin watched, it became clear this Suthu-being controlled her body. What the fuck?
"Come on, guys, let's have some fun." On her knees, Suthu popped the button on her jeans and dragged the zipper down, nibbling her lower lip as she eyed the men. Her grinding pelvis rivaled a stripper's moves.
"Careful, guys," Gower said. "This isn't going to be an easy fight."
"No shit." Baen adjusted the crotch of his pants.
Down to her bra and panties, Suthu looked straight at Baen, plucking her bra straps off her shoulders one at a time. She reached back and popped the hooks, her other hand holding the cups in place. "You know you want me."
She let the bra drop.
Sin looked on in shock. She felt her heavy breasts swell, her nipples tingle, but couldn't force her arms to cover her flesh. Good God, she had to stop herself---her body---before this got any crazier. "But how do I stop it?"
"You can't." Her aunt's voice came to her from a few feet to her left. The woman hovered, much as Sin did, just below the ceiling. "You can't get your body back until Suthu decides to leave."
"But look what she's doing. No, don't look!" Embarrassment heated Sin's cheeks at the realization her aunt could see what was happening as clearly as she could. Her naked, fleshy body moved like a cat in heat.
Suthu had her thumbs inside her panties and was inching them down one side at a time. "Who gets to go first, hmm?"
"Gower, what's the plan? We need to do something while we still have the power." Enos rubbed the back of his neck as if that was the part of his body that needed attention.
Enos and Baen both had bulges in their pants. Gower had his back to Sin, so she couldn't tell for certain, but she assumed he did, too. She squelched the part of her that said he'd better. She didn't want to know how much they were enjoying her body. Watching the whole scene made her feel squeamish.
Gower wiped his hand down his face. "The only way I've heard of a demon leaving a body is when the body died."
"What?" Sin's shrieked question was echoed by the brothers.
"There's another way," Aunt Absinthe said softly. "Suthu went back in the fetish after she killed my fiance."
She studied her aunt, wondering if she understood the implication correctly. Either Sin had to die or the men did. The fetish had to be one of the things Great-Aunt Absinthe's father had brought back from wherever he traveled. What had freed it in the first place?
An odd noise somewhere between a purr and a growl came from Suthu as she approached Enos. Her hand cupped his groin and she leaned in to bite his neck. He grabbed her shoulders and shoved. "Fuck, guys, what do we do? Somebody think of something."
The demon lashed out, her nails slashing Gower's cheek. He spun away and Sin saw his eyes glow red. He hissed, and his canine teeth lengthened.
"What...?" Sin's brain hazed over, no longer wanting to see what was happening. "He's a---"
"Vampire. All three are," her aunt finished. "This might be your answer. I wish I had thought of that years ago. Maybe the demon can't kill them."
Sin blinked. Focus. She became aware that her pussy was wet, responding to the seduction the demon attempted. Suthu toyed with her breasts, pinching and tugging her nipples. A pale hand dragged over her paler, rounded belly and between her legs, her hips rocking forward.
Suthu dropped to her knees in front of Gower, yanked his zipper down and groped for his cock. Her throaty cackle announced her find and she tugged it free. "So big and wet, just the way I like them."
He groaned when his cock disappeared in the demon's mouth. She took his entire length in one move. When she cupped his ass cheek, he seemed to snap out of her spell. Prying her jaws away from his flesh, he jumped back out of reach.
"Mine," the demon whined. "My cock. Let me suck you. You know you'll like it."
Sin cringed watching herself---her body---beg for sex. Had she ever felt this horny? Her breasts begged to be touched, her labia were swollen, pulsing with need. She had no control over anything that happened, no chance to scratch the sexual itch or save face and get the hell out of the room. She was not ready to die, which seemed to be the only way this possession would end.
Gower battled with his body's desires, part of him wanting nothing more than to come in Sin's mouth. Suthu's mouth, he reminded himself. As tempting as her wet, swollen lips were, they weren't worth the price of his life. Yanking on a handful of her hair, he pulled himself free and zipped his jeans.
The musky scent of Suthu's arousal hit him. Fuck, he wished he'd sampled some of that earlier, before the demon showed up. The erotic aroma made him weak. A wave of dizziness washed over him. The truth hit like a punch in his gut. "I need to eat. I'm getting shaky."
Baen stepped closer to Gower as if to protect him. "We've got to deal with this quickly, so we can get home and get some blood."
"I'm getting lightheaded, too," Enos complained. He skirted around Suthu's reaching arm. "She must be doing something to drain our energy. Maybe if we knock her out. Maybe that's all that Sin needs to take her body back."
"Wouldn't someone have figured that out a few centuries ago?" Baen picked up the lamp off the nightstand, holding it at the ready.
"How do we know they didn't?"
Gower grunted in agreement. "Unless you've got a better idea, I say we try it." He circled behind her, trying to suppress the urge to bite her ass. That had nothing to do with the need to feed, the curved white cheeks just begged to be explored. How the fuck was he supposed to think straight when what little blood he had was in his cock?
"Enos, you come at her from the front and grab her arms, I'll come in from behind and grab her legs. Once we have her, Baen, hit her good."
"And try to miss us," Enos added.
Gower counted to three and they jumped at the demon. He locked his fists around her ankles, tightening even as the demon kicked.
"Hurry, Baen. Do it!" Gower grabbed around her thighs, tackling Suthu.
The demon shrieked, her keening wail sounding sharp enough to shatter the windows. She tugged and wrestled, kicking Gower in the gut. Enos fought against her arms.
Baen swung the lamp but Suthu ducked and he almost smacked Enos in the face. "Hold her still."
"I can't." Enos jerked her wrists and tried to roll on top of her.
Gower lifted her legs. "Let's get her onto the bed, tie her down."
They wrestled the wriggling demon onto the bed and took turns holding her in place while Gower tied her limbs to the bedposts using scarves from the aunt's dresser.
Lying spread-eagle, surrounded by the men, Suthu continued to curse and struggle to free herself. Still feeling the wooziness from lack of nourishment, Gower tried to figure out what to do next. As Suthu bucked, her glistening pussy open and available, it took all his strength not to bite a vein or fuck her, whichever need hit him stronger.
Enos rested on the edge of the nightstand. "Fuck, she looks so damn sexy, tied up like that. I have to keep reminding myself it's the demon. Not Sin."
"No shit," Baen agreed.
"I can smell her blood, so hot. It makes me so hungry." Enos leaned closer and inhaled again.
Suthu screeched and yanked at both arms. The wooden bedframe groaned.
"Damn it, the demon's too strong. She's going to destroy the bed!" Gower jumped away and looked for the lamp Baen had dropped. Grabbing it, he held it high and prepared to strike if she got free.
Suthu's face reddened as she tugged at her arms and legs. The scarves holding her began to tear. Amid the brothers' shouts, and groans of the bedposts, the sound of rending fabric filled the air.
She was free. The demon launched herself off the mattress, diving at Baen, taking him to the floor. Dropping the lamp, Gower fell on top of her, locking his arms around her shoulders and entrapping her arms from behind. He rolled away from Baen. Enos pinned her legs with his own, lying over the length of her. Again he sniffed at her neck.
Sin cringed as she watched from above and moved reflexively as if she could control her body. Enos seemed to smile as his fangs appeared. He moaned and dropped his face to the demon's neck. A moment later he lifted his head, licking blood off his pale lips.
Suthu changed. Her hips rocked sensually. She whimpered like a lover begging for completion, attempting to roll over but no longer fighting.
"That did something," Gower said.
Enos bent down and drank some more. To Sin it felt as if someone tongued her pussy. Hot, throbbing shards of ecstasy shot through her. The demon thrust her ass back against Gower.
"It's working."
Moaning, Enos pulled back. "Fresh blood. No plastic aftertaste." His eyes closed, yet he continued to hold the demon by the neck.
Baen bent down and drank briefly from her vein. "Gower, you drink, too. Just enough to make Suthu think she's dying. We can make her one of us if we don't kill her."
Suthu writhed as if offering up her body. Sin felt close to orgasm, a higher peak than Tim had ever carried her to. Her need was obscene.
The demon began to wail, her struggles increasing. Baen tightened his hold at her ankles as Gower slipped out from underneath her. "Hurry. Just a little more blood loss should drive Suthu out."
Gower lowered his face to her neck and the room began to grow fuzzy around Sin. When he bit his own wrist and held it to Suthu's lips, Sin felt the cool liquid of his blood over her tongue. Yet the room was slipping away from her. Awareness dimmed. Hazy. Darker. Black.
Baen pulled the quilt over Sin's nude, pale body and fingered the ragged bite marks on her neck. "You guys could have been neater about it."
Enos snarled. "You try feasting on a demon. I'm lucky I didn't slash her throat."
Gower felt for her pulse before tucking her arm under the quilt. "She's breathing awfully shallow."
Watching her still form, Baen ran a hand through his hair. He needed a shower. He needed to eat. He needed Sin to waken. "How do you think she'll take it?"
"Take what?" Enos glared. "The fact that she's still alive?"
"Maybe the fact that she's undead," Baen barked back.
"What choice did we have? Suthu wasn't leaving while the body was still alive."
Gower raised a hand in a placating motion. "He's right. There were no options. We'll just have to help her accept that."
Baen studied his brothers, both of whom appeared wan, drained. While he looked younger, it was only because he'd been the first turned, nine years before Enos and twenty-one before Gower. Once they became vampires, they'd ceased to age. They were triplets; he was oldest by forty minutes. Somewhere along the line, he had assumed the role of big brother as was his due by that minute passage of time. "In the meantime we need to eat. And feed Sin."
"And figure out what to do about Suthu."
All three men turned to the dresser where the sandstone icon lay atop the cotton wadding. There was no way to tell if the demon had returned to the carving, but it was safe to make that assumption. History told them it had.
Gower spoke first. "I should take it to Marrett."
"Yeah," Baen agreed. "Why don't you do that, and Enos, you stop by the house and pick up some blood packs for our dinner. Can you get there and back safely in the storm?"
"We'll stick together and make it somehow. If we're lucky, it won't be snowing as heavily as they predicted." Gower wrapped up the fetish and followed Enos out of the room.
As his brothers left, Baen tucked the quilt tighter around Sin and planted a kiss on her forehead. It occurred to him he'd just met her, but in some ways he'd known her forever. Walking around to the opposite side of the bed, he plumped a pillow against the headboard and leaned back, resting his head against the wall. He heard the sounds of his brothers' footsteps on the porch, and the quiet rhythm of Sin's breath. Relaxing, he let his hearing sharpen until he heard the comforting, constant beat of her heart.
\*
Sin landed in her body as if she'd fallen from a skyscraper. Pain hardened her muscles and her skin felt as if it was about to shatter. The sound of a cat purring roared in her ears.
With caution she opened her eyelids just a slit, snapping them closed again when the light stabbed through her head. This was far beyond any hangover she'd ever experienced. What had she drunk last night?
The thought of a drink sent nauseating waves coursing through her belly and the room began to spin. She was going to vomit, if she could gather the strength. Suddenly, strength or not, she had no choice. Her abdomen spasmed as she rolled toward the edge of the bed.
"Here." A man's quiet voice spoke and a wastebasket appeared below her head as she retched. Dry heaves hurt worse than all her other aches combined.
When her body quieted, she lay back on the pillow. "What happened last night?"
"What do you remember?"
She peered through one twitching eyelid. Baen stood over her. Well, that was a start. She remembered him. And his older brothers. She drew in a deep breath and it filled her with his scent. Warm spice, soap and something a bit wild that she couldn't name. "You and your brothers came over to help get the house ready for the storm."
"That's right."
"I was moving my aunt's clothes out of the closet." She turned her head, planting her hands firmly on the bed to keep it from spinning, and looked at the closed door across the room. "There was a wooden box."
"A casket. That's correct."
She shivered. "Casket?"
He laughed, a quiet, rich sound that soothed her. "That's what that type of box was called. It's antique, you know."
Sin saw the box sitting on the dresser. "There was something in it. A carving."
"A fetish."
Her eyes widened as the rest of the memory came back. She remembered hovering above the room, watching herself, her body, strip for the three men and seduce them. She groaned.
"And the rest of the evening has obviously returned."
She couldn't bear to look at him, but heard the teasing in his voice. "Please, you have to realize, I don't---I would never---"
"We know. It was the demon." Baen sat on the edge of the bed near her feet. "Suthu."
Gooseflesh rippled down her skin. "Don't say that name. You might conjure it up."
"It's okay. The demon is gone now."
Gower entered the bedroom. "You're awake."
Sin recalled commenting on his ass and kissing him not long before her possessed body had reached for his belt buckle. Saints forgive me. She closed her eyes and willed herself to vanish under the quilt.
"And she remembers all of it," Baen said.
The bed sank beneath Gower's weight as he brushed her hair back off her face. His fingers were cool on her skin. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm wishing the earth would swallow me up right about now."
"That'll fade."
She glared up at him. "And when was the last time you stripped before total strangers and begged to be fucked?"
"She's got you there, brother." Enos' laughter-rich voice announced him as he came to stand at the foot of the bed. "You're looking good, hon, all things considered."
In her head images flashed of her body rolling around under the men. She supposed that was the perfect way to end a sexual drought, getting naked with three men at once. The only problem was, she didn't remember how it ended. Somehow asking, was it good for you too, didn't strike her as the right way to find out.
And worse, after being possessed by a sex demon, why did it matter to her if she'd come?
The thought of being in her body while having sex with these three sent shivers of excitement throughout her. How insane, to feel like a limp rag and be craving a ménage á quatre. Maybe the demon hadn't left. Making sure the quilt was tucked tightly under her arms and hid her hardening nipples, she shifted to sit up against the headboard. "So, how'd you guys get rid of the demon?"
The brothers exchanged glances before Gower spoke. "It's complicated. Mythology says the demon possesses the body until death."
"But I'm still alive."
Gower lowered his gaze. Sin turned to Baen. "You guys found a different way, obviously."
Baen nodded, and looked over at Enos.
Enos straightened, spreading his feet and crossing his arms across his chest. "We had to bring you near death, without actually killing you."
"Near death? How do you do that? How do you decide what is near enough but not too much? What are we talking about here?"
She thought no one would answer her as she studied one man after another. In the movies when a character wanted to experience near death, there was usually all sorts of medical equipment involved. There hadn't been time for that last night. Just how big a risk had they taken with her life?
"Gower? Tell me whatever it is you guys are avoiding. It can't be all that bad because I'm sitting here now talking to you. I'm still alive."
He met her gaze and held it. "Not technically. None of us are. Sin, we're vampires."
She remembered seeing Enos' fangs appear, and the blood on his lips as he fought with the demon inside her body. She pulled the quilt a little higher, desperate for a modicum of security. They obviously didn't want to kill her or they would have done so already. Or left her to deal with the demon on her own. Yet none of them would meet her gaze. "You're vampires."
Enos shook his head. "No, we're vampires."
"That's what I said." Then her mouth formed his words and understanding hit her. "Oh God. We?"
They all nodded.
"I'm a..." She couldn't finish it. How the hell did she become a vampire? Two days ago she was packing for her move, thinking evil thoughts of her great-aunt who left her fortune to her cats, and now she was some sort of undead freak. It was unreal.
Gower spoke softly beside her. "It gets easier to deal with in time. There's a woman in the village who can help you, if you'd like."
"A woman. Is she a vampire, too?" What kind of place was Whispering Valley? Why did her aunt remain in a community like this? "Was my aunt a, you know, vampire?"
"No. As far as we know, you aunt had no special gifts beyond communication with spirits."
"Gifts?" They were kidding, right? The desire to suck blood and an allergy to sunlight weren't something she'd considered asking Santa for. Ever. She grew faint when she had a hangnail. Drink blood? No way. Not even with vodka and pepper sauce.
"Not everyone here is a vampire," Baen explained. "There are psychics, witches, fairies..."
Sin frowned. "Fairies aren't real." She heard the words as she said them. So she could accept vampires, but drew the line at fairies? Closing her eyes, she leaned back into the pillow. "It's too much."
She heard shuffling sounds and the room grew quiet.
Baen pulled the door closed behind them and followed his brothers downstairs. "We should call Ana."
"Do you think she can help?" Gower dropped into an overstuffed chair in the front room.
"She can't hurt. We can't just leave Sin to deal with this on her own." Baen stood facing the large window, his back to his brothers. "Even if Sin weren't the one we've been looking for, we have to help her adjust."
How had this gotten so screwed up? Just over a year ago he'd been in this very room helping Absinthe prepare to move into the local nursing home. He'd promised to feed the cats, and to watch over her grandniece when the old woman died. Apparently, the aunt had seen the end coming, but it had taken longer than she expected. Had she also known the connection between the brothers and her niece?
One thing he knew for certain, turning a woman into a vampire wasn't the best way to start a relationship.
Baen turned and looked at Enos. "We need to continue to stay with her until we're sure she's going to be okay. I'll take the first shift."
Enos nodded. "I'll talk to Ana."
Baen watched his brothers leave, then went into the kitchen to feed the cats. The three sat on the counter watching him intently. Their loud purrs did nothing to convince him they were happy to have him invade their space. He found some cans of food and dumped them in the cat dishes, then looked in the fridge for something to fix for Sin.
It would take a while for her body to adjust to a diet of blood as its mainstay. He knew meats wouldn't digest well, and there was no fresh produce in the drawers. He should have thought about groceries when Enos went for their dinner the night before.
He felt, rather than heard, the door push open behind him. He straightened to see Sin walk in, shoving her blonde hair back from her shoulders. "Hey, how're you feeling?"
She made a face. "Still fragile. As if I'm going to break into a million pieces."
Nodding, he moved to the small table and pulled out a chair for her. "Let me fix you something to eat."
Her complexion took on a green tinge. "I'm not sure about food."
"Trust me. It'll help."
He found some instant oatmeal in the cupboard and had a steaming bowl in front of her in a matter of minutes. She poked at it with her spoon. Slipping into a chair opposite her, he asked, "Something wrong?"
"No milk."
"Yeah, well. There was none in the fridge. Your body won't take to animal protein for a while, anyway. Except for..."
Sin raised her gaze from the bowl. "Except for blood."
He shrugged. "Yeah."
Sighing, she spooned a mouthful and chewed. "I'm not going to wake up from this, am I?"
He leaned across and grasped her free hand. "Hopefully in a few months, you won't want to."
"What's so great about being a vampire?"
"That's not the point," he replied. "You're still Sin. You still have a life. So maybe your diet and sleeping habits change. You are still a part of the community. You can make friends, maybe fall in love."
Love. There was the irony. She sucked at love. Maybe as a vampire she'd have better luck. She wrinkled her face as she watched Baen sit opposite her at the kitchen table. "I didn't come here looking for love."
"Why did you come?"
"My life was over in L.A. Why not?" Two million dollars worth of cat food funds had sweetened the deal, she had to admit. And the only way to access the money was to live in the house and take care of the cats. "Let's just say I had suffered some financial losses, so an all-expenses-paid trip to somewhere no one knew me came at the right time."
He nodded, stroking his thumb across that back of her hand. "Is there a man in your life who'll be following you here?"
"He'd better not!" She supposed she owed the brothers the whole story, or most of it, seeing as they were helping her adjust to life in Whispering Valley. And suddenly, she realized she wanted to share it. Free her mind of it. "We broke up a long time ago, but I'm still cleaning up the mess he left me in. He got involved in a multi-level marketing scheme and became one of the fall guys when the company was exposed. Somehow he'd tied my finances to his, and all my savings, my 401k and my condo were frozen."
She smiled wryly. "I never thought I would be grateful that my aunt left her money to her cats. I never told her about Tim's dealings or losing everything I owned, yet her will was worded in such a way that Tim can't get at the money, if I ever were so stupid as to let him back into my life."
Sensing Baen was about to ask, she added, "He's not coming here and I'm not going back to him. In fact, if you ever see a tall, skinny creep with washed-out red hair you have my permission to bite him. But do me a favor. Don't make him immortal."
Baen nodded again and leaned back in his chair.
Pushing away the half-eaten bowl of oatmeal, she combed her fingers through her hair and looked around the room. "If my life is supposed to go on as usual, I guess I need to unpack."
Taking the stairs to her room, she felt something whoosh past her, too tall for a cat, and remembered the shadow she had noticed the other day. Was the demon still here? As she peered around the doorframe into her room, she prepared to call out for Baen.
When she saw her great-aunt's ghost wavering near the closet, she let out her breath in relief. "It's you, thank God."
"Yes, I needed to be sure you're all right. I am so sorry about the demon. It's all my fault."
"Your fault?" Sin asked. "How?"
"I never should have kept the fetish in this house. I tried to warn you away but you couldn't see me. I knew it was in the closet and didn't want you going in there."
"That was you who put the clothes back in the closet?"
Absinthe nodded. "It was silly, I know, but I hoped you would either figure out I was trying to tell you something, or get scared enough to make the brothers move everything out of here. I kept bringing the clothes back in here, and looking around in the attic for something to get your attention."
"I think I heard you. Something was sure scurrying around when I came here. You tried, Aunt, that's what counts. Thank you." Sin glanced toward the ceiling. "Is there anything else in the house that I need to worry about?"
"I don't know, to be honest. I never went through all of those crates of my father's. And I couldn't just get rid of them in case some innocent stumbled onto something dangerous."
"We'll be careful, I promise. But we do need to get rid of it all."
Great-Aunt Absinthe nodded again. "I hope you'll be happy here, dear. I truly do."
"I will, Aunt."
Her great-aunt began to fade, and with a wave, she disappeared. Sin inhaled a lily-of-the-valley-laden whiff of air, then gathered some clean clothes and went to shower.
Later, feeling more like herself, she worked with Baen sorting through the dusty trunks and boxes in the attic. Constantly distracted by his nearness, Sin scolded herself. She was attracted to all three of the brothers. Talk about slutty. Yet all three had shown interest in her. How complicated would it be if she chose one and not the other two?
The first box she opened almost sent her shrieking from the room. She should know better than to unwrap Great-Aunt Absinthe's father's treasures. Digging through the shredded wood-wool inside a smaller box, she lifted out a shrunken head. With a queasy dry heave, she dropped it. "Please tell me this is a box of Halloween decorations."
Baen appeared to be biting the inside of his cheek. "Let me look." He put the head back into the wood-wool and carefully set it aside. After shifting some packing paper, he pulled out a manila envelope which he opened. "Here we are. Contents: one Jivaro Indian tsanta, circa 1900. I think that's your shrunken head. One XXV Dynasty Canopic jar. Three mummified fingers, origin unknown. Wow, there are some real treasures here."
He set down the paper, dug through the box and lifted out an Egyptian container with a sculpted dog's head lid. Opening the jar, he peered inside. "Well, you're safe here. This one doesn't seem to have been used."
"Used?"
"They put the organs into jars like this when they prepared a body for burial."
"Gross." She couldn't stop the shudder that swept over her. "My mom told me about my great-grandfather's collections, and I know I saw some of them when I was little. But I still don't get why she hung onto them. My aunt said it was because she was afraid of someone getting hurt, but it's just creepy."
Baen repacked the box and put the list back in the envelope. "Maybe because they belonged to her dad, she couldn't bring herself to get rid of them."
Sin moved carefully on to the next box, thinking they should try organizing them as they opened. Set everything worth keeping off to one side.
"Check this out." Baen waved her over to the cedar chest he'd opened.
"What is it?" She feared he'd found more carvings or another shrunken head.
She couldn't be more wrong. Folded inside the chest was an ivory silk wedding gown. She lifted it and held it out in front of her. Fine netting covered the bodice. Tiny seed pearls were sewn in and around ivory embroidered flowers. Judging from the wide waistband-style inset, she judged it to be from the 1940s, when her aunt had been engaged. "I wonder what Aunt Absinthe's fiancé was like."
For some reason she felt compelled to carry the gown to the cheval mirror they'd found in the corner. There she pressed the gown to her, as if to see how it would fit. Her aunt had been petite, with a waistline comparable to one of Sin's thighs in circumference.
Over her shoulder, Baen's face appeared in the mirror. "You would look beautiful in that."
Laughing, she lowered the dress and faced him. "I'd need two of these to cover me."
His gaze traveled downward over curves she knew he'd seen bare. Instead of embarrassing her, it stirred quivers inside her. Heat pooled between her thighs.
Baen's eyes smoldered when he looked back up. "We're obviously not looking at the same body," he said.
She couldn't respond. Had her shape ever inspired such a scorching look in any of her lovers? She'd never worried about what she ate, and the closest she came to aerobics was lugging her purse up the two flights of stairs to her old apartment. Her figure wasn't one to garner second looks, but she never really cared.
She tore her gaze away and folded the gown. As beautiful as the dress was, fate was cruel to leave it there for her to find since, if it were her great-aunt's, it had never been worn. Like a slap in the face. A reminder of what she'd never have. Old maid. Cat lady. "I always wondered why Great-Aunt Absinthe never married. There must be more to the story than this gown."
"I would lay odds Suthu played a role in it."
Shudders rolled over Sin. "Suthu? How?"
"In the box with the fetish was an obituary for her fiancé. Did you see it?"
Sin remembered the love letters and embroidered handkerchief in the box, too. "Yes. But why would the demon kill her fiancé?"
"Suthu is like a black widow. She seduces men and kills them. My guess is the demon possessed your aunt and killed the fiancé before they could marry."
"So my aunt was an old maid because of some creepy artifact her dad brought home from his trips abroad? How awful. Now I really don't understand why she kept all this, in spite of what she told me." She looked at the stacks of wooden crates around her, having no clue what they held. Her voice rose in pitch with her anxiety. "What else did he bring home? What else do I have to worry about discovering?"
Baen stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He planted a kiss on the top of her head. "We won't let anything get to you. I promise you we'll keep you safe."
Safe. She hardly knew the meaning of the word. Yet she found comfort in the warmth of Baen's body pressing against her. So odd to feel like that with a stranger.
The brothers had battled the demon for her. And won. That was definitely more than a step beyond the other men in her life. Did she remember how to trust? "Thank you."
He turned her in his arms. His hands caressed her back, drawing her closer. Sin's pulse raced and she was unable to breathe. She barely noticed she was rising on her toes, bringing her lips more in line with Baen's. He leaned down to meet her.
His mouth was cool against hers, but liquid heat spread through her as he captured her lips. He was gentle, seeking, enticing her to beg for more. She dragged her fingers through his short hair. Hard muscles pressed into her softness, melding them into one pulsing being.
He kissed her jaw, beneath her ear, and moved down to the base of her neck. His nip made spikes of hurt and need shoot through her. She cried out, half in pain, half in desire.
Baen lifted his head. "Are you okay?"
Her head remained tipped back, baring her throat as if waiting for his bite. "Yes. No. I...I'm not sure."
He sucked in a deep breath but didn't pull away. "I'm sorry. I got carried away."
Sin laughed without humor. "Hey, it's not your fault, after the way I acted yesterday."
Grabbing her chin, he forced her to look at him. "That was not you. That was the demon. I know the difference."
"I'm sorry. It's just---"
"It's just too soon. I'm the one who should be apologizing." He smoothed her hair, his gaze looking toward the movement of his hand. "There's so much to explain to you. So much you need to learn on your own. I shouldn't be complicating it with sex."
"That's usually my role in a relationship, finding sex complicated." She had her own explaining to do. She couldn't play the brothers against each other, getting involved with more than one of them. Nor could she decide which one she was most attracted to.
When his lips spread in a grin, she noted how normal his teeth looked for a vampire. Dear God, they were vampires. Herself included. And she was worried about casual sex. She stepped back and turned to face a new stack of boxes. "You're right, Baen. It's too soon to think about anything."
Some of the stuff buried in those boxes was probably family heirlooms, but she didn't think her dad would appreciate it if she sent the boxes his way. She should sort through it first. But she didn't want to find out what else lay waiting in the attic. "I think I should just haul all these boxes out and burn them."
"That's not the safest thing. We'll take them to Marrett, the demonologist, to go through. He's capable of disposing of the icons and fetishes without freeing the demons."
Whispering Valley had its own demonologist. Why didn't she find that comforting?
Sin blew the dust off another box and opened the flaps. Books, antiques by the look of them, filled the space. She lifted a few and examined the covers. "These look like travel guides and local histories."
Baen leaned over her. "Wow, the old man traveled to some obscure places. Tripoli Ankara, Bohemia..."
As he wandered away, a book in hand, Sin opened one written in a foreign language. She thumbed through pages filled with what looked like poetry. She tried to pronounce what she read. "Behem podke po mezi stat, Leko na do mistu---"
"Stop! What are you doing?" Baen snapped shut his book and grabbed hers from her hands.
"Just reading the poem. Why? Do you know the language?"
He scanned the pages. "I'm not sure, but it sounds familiar. And dangerous."
"Dangerous?"
Setting the books back in the box, he roughly grasped her arm before relaxing his hand and stroking her sleeve. "Yeah. Just promise me you won't read anything aloud if you don't know what it says, while you're in Whispering Valley."
\*
A few days later when she finally felt strong enough to brave the closet in her bedroom, Sin asked Gower to help haul the dresses downstairs to donate to a thrift store. The snow had melted enough to allow them to travel around the valley. The process of getting the clothes out was cleansing for her. "You know, one of these days this place might start to feel like my own."
Gower tied the last trash bag of clothes and tossed it with the others in the corner of the enclosed back porch. "We'll have the whole house sorted soon enough, I guess. We can make a trip to Loveland soon and get whatever you can't find in the valley."
Stretching, Sin yawned. "I need to get used to shopping at night. Hey, come to think of it, you guys were here in daylight the first day I arrived. I thought the sun kills vampires."
"Only if you get a severe case of sunburn." Gower rolled the sleeves of his wool shirt to the elbows and held his forearm next to hers. "It's not a lack of melanin in our skin that makes us so pale, it's the lack of blood circulation. That's why the mountains of Colorado are such a great place to be a vampire. The higher elevation means more UV risk, but the cooler temps allows us to comfortably wear long sleeves."
"Then why do I want to sleep all day? My body clock is completely turned around."
"I can't give you a medical reason," Gower said. "But I think it has to do with bats being nocturnal."
She studied him for a moment trying to decide if he was pulling her leg. Giving up with a shrug, she went back through the kitchen and up the stairs. Gower followed. While Sin unpacked her clothes, she asked, "How did you guys become vampires? I mean, all three of you. I would think two of you could have escaped when you saw what happened to the first."
"It wasn't like that. We're actually triplets but we were bitten at different ages. Baen was first. He was mortally wounded fighting in the Napoleonic wars. One of his brothers-in-arms was a vampire, although Baen didn't know it at the time. His friend couldn't bear the thought of Baen dying, so he fed his own blood to Baen."
She stopped what she was doing and went to sit on the bed. The story was too intriguing not to catch the whole thing. "And because he turned into a vampire, he stopped aging?"
"That's right."
Snorting ungracefully, she said, "I wish you guys had come along twenty years ago, in that case."
Gower grinned. "Enos took a mistress eight or nine years later and learned she was a vampire. He had hopes of spending eternity with her and begged her to change him. She was killed a few years later by a group of vampire slayers."
"How sad."
He shrugged. "He loved again. We've all had a few loves over the years, but family tradition said there was only one woman we would all three love."
"You were destined to fight over a woman?"
"Not fight." Gower sat on the edge of the bed beside her and picked up her hand. "Share."
She almost pulled her hand back. Share one woman? Did he mean her? Of course he did, or he wouldn't be holding her hand. "Um, look, I like you guys and I admit I'm sexually attracted to you all. But we just met and---"
He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "No one is pushing. We're just happy to have met you."
Watching his thumb move over her hand, she felt the stirrings in her body as if he stroked her breasts or thighs. Her sensitive spots acted as if she'd been hibernating for years. She was so much more aware of these men than most she knew. Was that because she'd been involved with Tim for all those years, and had shut herself off to noticing other men? She didn't believe in fate or soul mates. Fate would not have allowed her to build a life around a loser. Would it?
How could she be sitting with this gorgeous specimen of a man and end up thinking about Tim? Tim was too thin, balding, and seriously lacking in bed. Not in size, in style. That had to be her answer. She'd been on a sexual diet of missionary position only. Now, presented with this smorgasbord of testosterone, she wanted to try a little of everything.
Heat spread from her core over her skin and up her face. Were these thoughts her own, or had the demon been affecting her all along? She needed to think of something other than sex. "How did you end up a vampire?"
"I had twenty years to watch my brothers stay young and healthy, while my body wore down." He fingered the strands of gray at his temples. "They had suggested turning me on occasion, but I couldn't imagine what it would mean. As I aged, it became more clear that I would die while they would get to keep enjoying what life they could find."
"I've heard that twins have a special bond. I guess it's the same with other multiples."
"I wouldn't know," he said. "I was never a single birth."
Sin smiled. "So eventually you gave in."
Gower nodded. "A virus swept through our village and most families lost at least one member. Before I could get sick, Baen offered his wrist for me to drink."
She frowned. "That's all it takes? Drinking the blood of a vampire?"
"Well, apparently it takes longer when the person is healthy and filled with blood, rather than weak and almost dead. But after a few tries we noticed the changes begin."
It struck her that she had centuries ahead of her, not just the forty or fifty more years she'd always assumed would complete her lifetime. What would she do with herself? She had so few plans as she'd prepared to move. Her web design business was running without her at the moment, and she needed to get up to date there. But she hadn't thought beyond her work. Eternity was an awfully long time to have no plans.
She rose from the bed and ran a hand through her hair. "I should get back at it, I suppose." Crossing to the dresser, she opened a drawer to sort.
Sin pulled on a sweater she hoped looked nice enough to meet people in. The brothers had invited her to dinner at their house, and some friends of theirs would be coming also. Dinner with vampires brought the image to mind of a victim being drained of blood by a group of men in black capes. But they swore Enos was a gourmet cook, and invitations to one of his meals were coveted in Whispering Valley.
Against her protests, Baen picked her up so that she didn't have to worry about traveling on icy roads. Enos had told her that due to the high mountains around them, dark fell earlier year round, but especially so in winter. Black ice was a big problem in winter.
Baen's eyes flickered in the light from her porch when she opened the door. "You look good enough to eat."
She laughed as she locked the door. "I'll bet you say that to all the women you see. Men, too, I imagine." She easily could have said the same to him in his tight black jeans.
"There was a time when we might have," he agreed. "In London, in the nicer parts where we usually were, there weren't a lot of rats and stray cats to feed on. Many a pub-goer woke with an extreme hangover, only partially caused by the ale he'd consumed."
Baen helped her into the passenger seat of the black SUV before climbing in. Her home was on the outskirts of the town, as her great-grandfather had bought a good portion of the surrounding land. Still, the valley itself was so small they reached the brothers' house in no time.
There were more cars on the street and driveway than she could account for with three brothers, so she assumed she was the last to arrive. After taking her coat and hat, Baen led her to a large room with a stone fireplace that took up most of one wall. A fire burned brightly, warming the room. Small table lamps scattered about the room kept the lighting intimate without leaving any of the seating areas in the shadows.
A beautiful blonde woman who appeared to be in her thirties sat on one side of a loveseat, with a slightly younger, darker-haired woman next to her. A man Sin guessed to be older than her own forty years was thumbing through a book in front of the bookshelves, and Gower stood beside him.
Baen led her to the two women. "Sin, these ladies are Ana and Sophia Williams. Ana grows herbs and makes homeopathic remedies, if you're ever in the need. Sophia is a student at Texas A&M, but home on break."
Sin nodded her greeting to the two women. The brothers had mentioned Ana to her. She looked forward to talking to both sisters.
The man with the book walked over to them. "I'm Dean Marrett. I knew your aunt and grandfather."
"Oh, yes, I've heard your name. One of the guys brought that fetish to you."
"That's right. I was just talking to Gower about it. He had the basic background correct on it." Marrett wore his short hair combed back, which emphasized his receding hairline. While Sin knew the MacDuirmads were at least a hundred years older than she, standing next to Marrett let her feel like she wasn't the oldest person in the room. Turning forty hadn't sat well with her.
"I admit I don't really understand how a demon ends up in a fetish." She accepted the glass of white wine Baen handed her.
"Usually, they're cast there," Marrett said.
Enos stuck his head in the room. "We can start the first course, if everyone is ready."
"First course?" Sin looked at Baen as he motioned toward the door. She followed the other women in, noticing they seemed to know where they were going.
Ana spoke over her shoulder. "You're in for a real treat. Enos' dinners go on all night, just about."
Ana wasn't exaggerating. Two rounds of vegetable appetizers took the edge off her hunger. Then came the salad. Since Sin had been adjusting to drinking blood from the local bank for her meals, her stomach wasn't prepared for so much food.
Sin sipped at the gingered carrot soup and listened to the conversation around her. But she couldn't keep her eyes from straying to the brothers. Gower wore a black pullover sweater that fit his form so snugly, she itched to run her hands over it. Cashmere, she guessed, and she wondered what the soft fabric would feel like on that hard body.
Baen was more casual in a navy wool shirt with the neck unbuttoned. If she stuck her nose inside the collar, she knew she'd inhale clean shirt and his scent, a heady combination. Enos, in a knit pullover, still had his sleeves pushed up to the elbow after cooking all afternoon. She had never paid attention to the lower arms of a man, but his were muscular, with prominent veins that spoke of strength.
She held in a sigh. She needed to quit thinking about sex, but how could she when the presence of any of the three ratcheted up her temperature? She was sure her blood pressure, if she had any now, went up just from looking at them. At times she had to concentrate on her breathing to keep from sounding as if she'd just run a lap around the block.
Ana was looking in her direction, so Sin focused on what she said. "It's been a few years since an outcomer moved into the valley."
"Outcomer?" Sin asked.
"Someone from outside the valley. We don't get a lot of visitors."
Marrett cleared his throat. "You know who's responsible for that. Our forefathers."
"My fourth-great-grandmother, to be exact," Ana said. "She cast the spell on the valley, making it hidden from outcomers."
"Like Brigadoon?" Sin loved that movie as a child, repeatedly watching the tale of a village in Scotland that only awakened at certain times.
"Somewhat." Ana set down her wine glass. "It doesn't really disappear, or go to sleep. We keep on enjoying our lifestyle, coming and going from other areas. But only those who have business here will see the signs on the highway directing them to Whispering Valley."
"Wow, your ancestor was very protective of the village."
Marrett spoke after swallowing some salmon. "Our forefathers needed to be. They moved here because of persecution for their spiritual practices, or because they were shifters or demon hunters. Your great-grandfather George learned of Whispering Valley through his collections. He taught me a lot while I was growing up. My family has worked in demon cleansing for centuries."
She looked at the different people sitting around the table. "Is everyone related to the original settlers?"
Sophia, Ana's sister, shook her head. "No. New people find their way here like your family did. But with a total population of three hundred forty-three, you can see it doesn't happen very often."
Sin had never lived in a small town, and found herself liking the idea that one day soon she'd know everyone. There was a comfort in being a part of a larger whole. For the first time since hearing she'd inherited the old house, she looked at it as beneficial, rather than just a place to escape.
After sampling all the delicious courses, she sat in the living room with the others, sipping her latte. She was certain she would burst, and hoped her sweater was tight enough to hide the muffin-top the large meal had surely given her. Soon, Marrett and the Williams sisters left and she was alone with the MacDuirmads. Music played softly in the background and Enos sat beside her while his brothers cleaned the kitchen.
"That meal was exquisite," she told him.
"Thanks. If you all enjoyed eating it half as much as I enjoyed cooking it, I'm satisfied."
She set her mug on a coaster on the antique Queen Anne side table and pivoted on the loveseat to face Enos. "Did you always love to cook?"
"No. But each lifetime I live through, I try to learn something new. My existence would get pretty boring otherwise."
"I, for one, am grateful you learned it." She watched his eyes as they moved from her hands upward, finally meeting her gaze. Blue alternating icy and fiery. A few fine smile lines beneath them. His irises were paler than his brothers, one of the few differences between them other than the aging. Gower's were the deepest blue, Baen's had a grayish cast, but Enos' were a rich jewel tone.
He reached for her hair and wrapped a strand around two fingers. "I love the way your hair curls, so soft."
She smiled and let his words, the tone of his voice, filter through her busy thoughts. Would he kiss her? Should she kiss him? Should she even consider starting something with any of the men? If only she could stop over-analyzing every move she made, she might relax enough to just let things happen.
He leaned in and kissed the corner of her mouth. A soft touch, just the center of his lips brushing her. And it burned as if she were made of ice. She gasped softly and he pressed against her again, fully taking her breath away.
Clutching the front of his shirt, she leaned into him, unable to stop the desperate desire to taste him. Her tongue battled with his, tasting the sweet coffee that lingered on his breath. All her focus centered on the places their bodies met, their lips, her hands on his chest, his on her arms. The fire that spread from contact. The need his nearness stoked.
All too soon he backed off, drawing a deep breath. "I knew you would be so passionate."
She frowned and looked away. "Sometimes I think the demon is still inside me. Everything I feel when I see you or your brothers is so intense."
His grip on her arms loosened, but he didn't release her. "Did you feel anything when you looked at Marrett tonight?"
Thinking back, she shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing more than curiosity like with Ana and Sophia."
His lips spread and his tongue traced over the lower one, sending sparks to her pussy. "Then it's not the demon. She would have you attacking any male in your presence, and probably looking to find one if you were alone."
Well, that second part certainly fit, but she only sought out the brothers during the few hours she spent alone each day. A slight bit of relief calmed her. She was still over-stimulated and that embarrassed her, but at least she knew it was her own body causing it.
Or the men causing it and her body acting as any healthy female would when presented with such delicious temptation.
The other two tempting delights came into the living room as if conjured by her wicked thoughts. She smiled at each of them. They took seats in chairs near the loveseat.
Baen glanced at her coffee mug. "More latte?"
"No thank you. I'm really stuffed. Totally sated." The last she said while looking at Enos, to let him be clear how much she enjoyed the meal. Looking around the cozy room with its dark paneling and British style she asked, "Which one of you is the decorator?"
Enos raised a hand. Gower commented, "Enos is the more refined among us. Any of the gentle arts is usually his work."
"Hey, watch the 'gentle' stuff. I can still take you down if I need to." Enos grinned at his brother.
Sin laughed. "You guys haven't outgrown sibling rivalry yet?"
Baen jumped in. "Don't hold your breath waiting, either. We're very competitive."
As usual lately, her thoughts went naughty. A competition in the bedroom arts was something she'd happily judge. But she didn't say so. And hoped the wicked wave stirring within her didn't reach her eyes.
She enjoyed her visit, talking with them about anything but demons and fetishes. When Gower walked her to her door, she felt awkward as she hesitated before going inside. She wasn't ready to ask him inside, and had never mastered the kiss or no kiss routine after a date, if that's what the night had been.
Gower seemed to have no such qualms, standing beside her on the front step. He gently took her chin in his hand, lifting her head. His gaze skittered all over her face. Leaning down, he kissed her with all the promise of what he could offer her. Reined fury hid behind his soft lips. He nipped and licked her mouth and neck, burying his hands in her hair.
Her hands slipped inside his jacket and pulled him closer, felt the tension in his body he held back. Her tingling breasts begged for his touch, but logic still lingered strong enough to keep from dragging him inside and tearing off both their clothes. There were still too many foggy areas regarding relationships for her to let go. Forcing herself, she ended the kiss. "Thank you for dinner. I enjoyed visiting with everyone."
"It was our pleasure. We don't eat full meals often, but the social aspects make it that much more pleasurable."
Sin rose on her toes for one last quick peck on his mouth, then went inside.
\*
Baen scratched the back of his head as he looked at the remaining unsorted boxes in Sin's attic. He and his brothers had come over daily for the past week to help determine what was in there and what to do with it all, and had only made it through half of the room.
Sin used a crowbar to open another crate, coughing when she lifted the top layer of packing paper inside. "So much of this stuff seems to be in the original shipping containers, as if he never looked at the contents."
"He might not have," Gower said. He was rewrapping the china pieces Sin wanted to send to her mother, and packing them in a cardboard box. "From what Marrett has said, I gather George acquired a lot of it just to get it out of circulation. Prevent anyone from accidentally stumbling on the things."
"Yet my great-aunt suffered her whole life from what he kept here."
Baen put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, hoping to comfort her some. "Sometimes things happen when we stay focused only on the big picture. His intentions were good."
"You're right. Will Marrett be able to keep them safe, the dangerous pieces? And what do we do with the just plain weird stuff?"
"The Marrett family has been securing artifacts for a long time without problems. And the weird stuff, if we can't find a museum interested, we might just want to destroy." Baen pulled another tightly wrapped object from his crate and checked it against the packing slip. In theory, a museum would be thrilled with some of the fetishes and icons, but first Marrett needed to screen them. It was impossible for the untrained individual to tell if a spell had been cast on an object.
Sin looked like she was wearing down, so he signaled his brothers. "Why don't we call it a day? After Sin cleans up, she and I can stop by the pub and pick up some pizza to take to the house."
Enos nodded. "Sounds good."
"Works for me, too," Gower agreed.
They sorted anything loose and organized what they could for the next day. Gower and Enos left together in Gower's car, and Baen went downstairs to the kitchen to clean up their lunch dishes while Sin showered. He didn't envy her the task of moving into a furnished house. So many rooms still stood as they had when Absinthe had moved to the nursing home.
He and his brothers, and many in the community, had told Absinthe to contact her grandniece and let her have the house then, but the old woman insisted it couldn't happen until she died. Baen still wasn't certain what her reasoning had been, but wondered if she knew the financial straits Sin's boyfriend had her in. If Sin took possession of the house and control over the woman's money while the boyfriend was still under prosecution, some of the money might have been claimed for restitution. It didn't seem fair, given Sin's innocence in the scandal, but the man had swindled many people.
She was so lucky she hadn't married the man. Even still she had lost almost everything she owned. Possessiveness filled Baen just thinking about anyone hurting her like that. He liked to think that some sort of fate kept her from marrying. He wanted that privilege for himself and his brothers.
There were a few families in Whispering Valley who had plural marriages, so they wouldn't be shunned for it. In some breeds of shifter, that was the common lifestyle choice. He and his brothers had a few relationships over the years with a shared woman, but he imagined it would be quite an adjustment for Sin.
And they planned to do everything they could to help her adjust.
He heard her softly singing as she came down the steps, and he met her in the living room. Walking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly. Her scent filled the air as he kissed her ear. "You smell heavenly. Soft, musky, with a bit of sweet vanilla."
She leaned into him. "Thank you. I love how you show your appreciation."
Turning her in his arms, he gave in to the urgent need to kiss her. He wanted to do so much more but the brothers had agreed to go slowly with her. He captured her lips, kneading them, his tongue begging for entrance. When she parted her lips he entered slowly, holding back the desire to fuck her with his tongue. He explored, taking the time to learn her taste, dancing slowly with her tongue.
He grew warmer and harder as he planted flirty pecks across her jaw. He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, running the edges of his teeth across it, encouraged by her indrawn breath.
She was melting in his arms, her body relaxing, accepting. The only thing that kept him from pushing her onto her couch and ripping both their clothes off was the niggling voice reminding him his brothers and a couple of pizzas were waiting on them.
Resting his chin on the top of her head, he took a cleansing breath and willed his cock to retreat. "We'd better go."
Sin woke to find her room in twilight. Tigger, the tabby cat, sat on her chest, watching her eyelashes when she blinked. The cat yawned and stretched. Sin twisted to one side to urge the cat to move. Tigger was the slowest of the cats to adjust to her presence, taking most of the past month to accept her.
"Did I sleep through dinnertime?" she asked, petting the striped fur. Working out the kinks in her joints as she rose, she decided she was warm enough without her robe, and slipped her feet into slippers before following the cat downstairs.
As she reached the foot of the staircase, she noticed a man sitting in her living room. She faltered, almost missing the last step. Then she recognized Enos. "You guys don't have to keep watch over me," she chided, walking toward the antique settee.
He looked up from his book and lowered his feet from the coffee table. "Yes, we do."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not helpless."
"No, you're not. But until we're certain we've exorcised all the entities from this house, we're not letting you stay here alone."
That irritating whisper twittered in the corner vent. Sin folded her arms across her chest and glared at Enos. "Then why don't you start with those voices?"
"I can't."
Her brows drew together. "You can take down a demon who's sucking your cock, but you're afraid of voices?" From the wave of angry energy that washed outward from him, she knew she'd said the wrong thing.
"No one can get rid of the voices."
She waited, shrugging melodramatically.
"This place is called Whispering Valley for a reason. The fact that you hear the whispers proves you belong here. You're one of us."
"But who are they? Ghosts? Those fairies you guys mentioned?"
Enos walked toward the window where the drapes were pulled back. The setting sun painted the sky crimson. The wooded mountainside stood out in black relief against the sky. He stood and stared for a long moment, then turned back to Sin. "It's the valley."
"What is?"
"The whispers. I don't know how to explain it." He paced in front of the glass. "You know about psychic energy, right?"
"Like being able to feel people's moods?"
"Sort of. More like how people can move objects. Or make things appear and disappear. Communicate with animals. Everything has energy."
"Okay. I follow so far."
Enos came to stand in front of her. "I don't know if it's the thinner air at this altitude, or if someone put a spell on the place. Maybe it's the combined psychic forces of the people living here. I can't explain how it happens. In Whispering Valley, we hear the energy of everything around us."
"This must be one of those things I'll come to understand with time." She looked into the corner of the room where the ornate black heating vent sat. "Am I just hearing the air moving through the ducts?"
He shook his head. "It's more like the house's thoughts."
She frowned. Warning bells clattered through her head. The house's thoughts. He was crazy. The whole freakin' town was crazy. Every time she thought she was settling in to her new life, something like this came along.
"Your life will be easier when you open up to what's different here. Yes, it's all crazy. But it's real."
What was real anymore? Any minute now, the cats would start talking. Or reading her mind like Enos just had. Or had he just read her facial expressions?
She needed to walk away before she did something foolish, but the hunger inside continued to grow. She craved something, and had an idea how to cure it. It was past time to quit fighting. Her lips parted. Leaning to close the space between them, she gave in to what her body asked. "Kiss me, Enos."
He did. Without hesitation. His mouth plundered hers as if he shared her desperate need. The deep thrusts of his tongue in her mouth sent shivers down her spine. Her core warmed, her clit throbbed. She whimpered and brought his hand around to her breast.
Her flesh swelled in his hand, her nipple hardening painfully as his thumb brushed over it. "Oh, yes," she whispered.
He pinched the nub through the thin cotton gown. "I need to see you." He lifted the hem and pulled it over her head.
Strangely, she wasn't embarrassed to be standing naked before him. She arched her back slightly, lifting her full breasts to him. Understanding her need, he licked and sucked at one while cupping the other in his hand.
Enos worked her flesh slowly, kneading, tasting, running his tongue over the skin between the mounds as he moved to suckle the other breast. Sin's heart sped erratically, as if it couldn't keep up with the blood coursing through her veins.
When he pulled back and met her gaze, her breath caught. What she'd read in his eyes as possession had softened into something needy yet giving. Like his greatest pleasure would be to see her satisfied.
She cupped her hand around his neck and pulled his mouth to hers. At the same time, he lifted her legs to wrap around his waist. He slid a finger between her labia. "You're wet."
"I'm waiting for you to fill me."
"Not yet." His middle finger spread her juices around as he stroked back and forth, avoiding her clit. She rocked toward his hand. With a chuckle, he dipped his finger deep inside her.
Sin whimpered. The explosions of passion spreading upward were more a response to his touch, his smell and taste, than her sexual dry spell. Resting her head on his shoulder, she nibbled at the cord of his neck. Her tongue laved over his pulse there and her hips began to thrust to the rhythm of his heartbeat. As she sucked, her teeth lengthened, but she fought the urge to bite.
Enos matched the rhythm with his hand, thrusting deep and withdrawing, as she moved faster. Then his hand disappeared and she heard his belt unbuckling. She lifted herself to give him room.
He lowered them to sit on the couch, adjusting her knees on either side of him. She sat back on the bunched fabric of his jeans and shorts and reached for his erection. Wrapping her fingers around the base, she felt a wave of feminine power wash over her at his gasp.
She made him hard. Her body. Her touch. The silver glimmer in his eyes told her he had no one but her on his mind. The heady rush made her pussy pulse harder still.
Unable to wait any longer, she rose above his cock, stroked her slit with it and pushed it inside. She gasped at the fullness, her pussy stretching to allow him deeper.
"Damn, you're so hot inside. I don't know how long I will last."
"Don't wait too long," she warned, rolling her hips into position to ride him hard. Her inner thighs stretched taut, spreading to take his full length. Her breasts bounced. She reached up and pinched her nipples, then pulled.
At the same moment, Enos slipped his thumb between them and pressed against her clit. Pleasure pulsed throughout her body and with each thrust, small cries escaped her parted lips. She'd never liked to make noise during sex in the past, but the sounds built between her panting breaths.
Sin dropped hard on his cock, pressing her clit into his hand as ecstasy rocketed through her. She cried out, first a high squeal, then dropping to a guttural moan.
She became aware of his thrusts and grunts and felt the warmth of his orgasm fill her. His hands clasped her butt cheeks and held her still as shudders passed through him.
His hands relaxed. His head dropped back against the couch. Letting her forehead rest on his pale, muscular shoulder, she tried to catch her breath and swallow down the whispers of guilt that disapproved of what she'd just done. Why couldn't she just enjoy the moment without Gower and Baen entering her head?
How did she tell Enos that she was also attracted to his brothers? Especially when his dick, soft as it now was, was still inside her? She might not be the most experienced chick in the hen house, but even she knew one didn't talk about other men while in bed, or on the couch, with a lover.
Enos ran his fingers up her spine, sending shivers spreading in their wake. Sin sighed. She could get used to this, having a man who enjoyed the cuddling after. Hell, with the way he made her come, she'd be willing to skip the cuddling if he preferred. She nipped at his collarbone, then licked any pain away.
"You're still feeling frisky, I take it?" he asked, lifting his head to look at her.
She sat back on his firm thighs. And realized they weren't alone. "What---?" How long had Gower and Baen been watching?
Fuck. Reaching for her nightgown, she tried to gain back the slightest bit of modesty.
Enos glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. "Nice, guys. Thanks for knocking."
Baen stepped closer. "We did knock. And cleared our throats. And I'm pretty sure at least one of us grunted once or twice."
"But you didn't think about coming back later?"
"I can't say I thought about much more than joining in," Gower admitted.
"Oh, fuck," Sin muttered, forcing an arm through a tangled sleeve. "I don't do this sort of thing. Really. I'm not---"
Enos grabbed her hand and pulled her back down on his lap, now covered by his jeans. His arms encircled her, holding firmly but gently. "We know you're not."
"I'm sorry, Enos. I shouldn't have had sex with you. I barely even know you."
"Shhh," he whispered, stroking her hair and pushing her head against his chest. "It's my fault. I should have talked to you about it first. But I couldn't stop myself. Once I started kissing you I was lost."
Gower had come to sit on the back of the settee. "There's a lot of talking we need to do. We've been waiting until you felt stronger."
"More comfortable with all the changes you've been through," Baen added, sitting beside Enos and pulling her legs across his lap. He wrapped his hand around her ankle and draped his other arm over her bare shin, the wool from his sleeve rough against her skin. "I think whether you're strong enough or not, it's time."
"Time?" With all the craziness that had happened in the past month, she wondered what else they could spring on her. "Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret coming to Whispering Valley?"
"If you don't already, that's a good sign," Enos said in her ear.
"We hope not," Baen added. "I was hoping to make you glad you came. And maybe a bit less embarrassed that we watched you two make love."
Heat rose to her cheeks. It would take a long time before that embarrassment left.
Baen cleared his throat. "I guess I need to go way back to explain this correctly. You've probably noticed we're triplets."
"Yes, Gower told me, and told me you stopped aging when you were turned into vampires." With a wry laugh, she added, "Like I told him, why couldn't I meet you guys years ago when I was skinny and wrinkle-free?"
All three men made noises of disagreement. Enos brushed her hair back from her face and kissed the corner of her eye. "We prefer you just the way you are."
Baen continued. "Our grandmother once told us we were one soul split into three, and that really described how we've lived. We have the same tastes in books, wine..."
"Women," Gower added.
With a dirty look at his brother, Baen said, "I was getting to that. We've had two wives over the years."
"Two of you are married?" she asked.
"No. The three of us were married twice. To the same women."
"Neither were vampires," Enos explained. "Otherwise we'd still be married. 'Til death do us part' takes on a different meaning when you're undead."
"Okay." She drew out the word, wondering what they were getting at. She'd been talking about having sex with them and he was talking marriage. Speaking of rushing things!
As if hearing her thoughts, Baen said, "When we saw you, we recognized you as our mate."
"If life had happened a little differently, we might have been able to court you properly." Gower lifted her hand to his lips. "Suthu kind of destroyed any hope of normalcy between the four of us."
"That's putting it lightly," she agreed. One thing still confused her. They spoke of wives and mates. Did that put her in a different role than wife? Was she just to be their sex toy or brood mare? "What do you mean by mate?"
Enos jumped in. "Poets call it a soul mate, but there again, the undead thing changes the game."
"Your being a vampire makes it different that if you were a mortal," Baen said. He ran a hand up her smooth leg and her crazy thoughts landed on the fact that being undead meant she had quit shaving. "We're talking a long commitment if you agree to this."
"Agree to what?"
All three men spoke. "Becoming our wife."
Those were the words she expected, but still hit her like a Peterbilt truck. The last guy she'd been involved with couldn't commit to a wedding date and these three wanted a lifetime and beyond.
It was too much, too quickly. Libido aside, she didn't know enough about them. They didn't know her. She snored, or so she'd been told. And she didn't like to cook---well, that probably wouldn't be a problem, between Enos and the blood bank. But she had nothing to bring to a relationship except a house filled with voices, a demon and three very rich cats.
"You don't have to decide this moment." Enos' arms squeezed tightly around her then relaxed.
The weight of the sudden changes in her life pressed in on her from all sides, making it difficult to breathe. She needed to be alone. Breaking free of Enos' hold, she stood on shaky legs, sweeping her hair back in an effort to control something. "I need a shower. Some downtime. Do you guys mind?"
A chorus of negative utterances answered. Baen said, "Why don't you soak in the bathtub with some oils or salts?"
Gower asked, "Would you like a glass of wine to sip?" He rose from the back of the couch.
"No, guys, really. I don't need anything from you. From anyone. Right now I'd love to be on a deserted island. No offense, but I haven't been alone since I arrived in Whispering Valley."
"We can't leave you completely alone, hon. Not until the last of your aunt's possessions have been checked for demons." Gower looked at his brothers as if for support.
Baen agreed. "We can stay out of your way, though. You go pamper yourself and we'll see if we can get the last of the crates out of the attic."
"Fine." At least they wouldn't be hovering.
As she walked slowly up the steps, with twinges of pain coming from her hips and inner thighs from being spread on Enos' lap, she realized how ridiculous it was that she was complaining about the men hovering over her. Tim had never been nurturing in all their six years together. He was whiny, demanding. A spiritual and emotional vampire, now that she thought about it.
And downstairs she had three, count 'em, three, real vampires waiting to see to her every need. She hadn't planned to enter the romance lottery ever again, but the letter from her aunt's lawyer had apparently been the winning ticket.
Maybe someday she'd feel like a winner. At that moment she felt only drained.
Baen and his brothers surveyed the stacks of crates and junk in the attic. He pointed at the ones stacked in one corner. "These boxes we've gone through can go to Marrett. And let's take anything that looks like books to our place. Sin started reading from one a few weeks back. I don't know what language it was, but I was sure a demon would appear at any moment."
"Her curiosity is dangerous. Her parents must not have told her anything about what her great-grandfather did." Gower lifted a pile of quilts and moved them to a corner where a mahogany highboy dresser stood. "I think we should take it all to Marrett's to sort through. It's too risky to leave it where she can get at it."
Enos folded in the top flaps on a box of books and lifted. "He isn't going to be happy to see all of this shit dumped at his place."
"So we'll take it to our basement and he can look through it there. I just want it as far from Sin as we can get it. She's not strong enough to survive another possession." Baen frowned as he thought about the potential risks the attic held. He moved to the nearest stack of boxes and picked up the top two, then followed his brothers down the staircase.
He barely noticed the whispers filling the corners he passed. He'd lived in the valley for so long, their presence was like a constant breeze, or the stench from the horses down the road from their house. It came with the territory. He wondered how much of their lives went unnoticed, yet would be new to Sin. Life in the valley, life as a vampire, required adjustments.
They needed to be aware of that and act accordingly. Like not watching each other make love to Sin. Not yet, anyway. She didn't seem the type to have experimented with multiple partners, serially or at one time. They would have to ease her into it.
Memories of the expression on her face when she had peaked with Enos set his cock twitching. Her face could have been painted by the Masters---so much passion, so much womanly mystique poured from her features.
Baen considered how he felt about her after such a short time. He wouldn't call it love, yet. Love took time to build and deepen. There was something about finding your mate, though, that changed the rules.
Was it possessiveness? A sense of completion and rightness, or inevitability? He could honestly tell Sin he and his brothers would devote themselves to her forever, because they had been waiting so long to be able to do so. Love would come, blossoming out of whatever emotion they felt for her now.
He decided he should tell her that, so she would understand them a little better.
Sin opened her eyes to the realization the bath water had gone cool. Small islands of bubbles floated between her knees and the end of the tub. How long had she been in there? She lifted a hand and glanced at her fingers, surprised not to see wrinkles. Her body really was dead. Or undead.
She didn't notice a chill when she stood, either. So many little changes were easy to overlook in the day-to-day adjustment to being a vampire. Like the way her teeth felt when she and Enos made love, how the canines had grown. Grabbing the thick, fluffy towel from the bar, she patted her skin. She had always been pale and had been grateful in recent years when that look became popular. At least that was one change she didn't have to get used to.
When she heard footsteps above, she was glad to know the guys were up there so she didn't have to wonder what might be moving about in the attic. She'd be so happy when life took on a normal routine. Normal. Right. Rising at dusk and toasting the sunset with a goblet of O-positive. What did vampires do all day---er, night? Flit around from tree to tree?
Speaking of which, she wondered if she could fly. Turn into a bat at will. That would save on auto maintenance and gasoline bills.
Perhaps it was a good thing the three men were staying so close. With her luck she'd shift without notice in some embarrassing situation and land on the nightly news. Or YouTube.
She pulled on some clothes, barely glancing in the mirror at her appearance. One day soon, perhaps, she'd feel like dressing up and putting on makeup but for now, she couldn't really care less about how she looked. Running a brush through her hair, she pictured each of the brothers and thought about her feelings for them.
Baen was the leader, it seemed. The big brother. She'd never known triplets before so seeing the dynamic in action was new. So alike, yet so different. Baen exuded confidence, like a man who was used to getting his way. He wasn't bossy or bull-headed, but more like a prince who grew up knowing he'd one day be king.
What would he be like in bed? Probably a confident lover who would know exactly what she needed. Would he be the type to tell her what to do, how to touch him? The idea of him asking her to undress him, to run her tongue over his hardened length before taking him in her mouth had ripples of excitement coursing through her.
Then there was Gower. She hadn't had as much time alone with him but her attraction had been instant. In the days since she'd been turned, her sense of smell had grown stronger and Gower's scent was the most powerful of the three. Just catching a whiff of him as he walked past could make her salivate. She suddenly understood women who buried their faces in a lover's shirt or pillowcase just to inhale the memory of him.
Enos was the most emotional of the three. More nurturing. He'd be the one to bring her soup in bed when she was sick. Gourmet recipe, of course. He'd be the one she'd curl up with on a winter night when cabin fever set in. His presence enriched her somehow. Making love to him had been as wildly passionate as she expected, but her heart felt calmer afterward, if such a thing was possible.
It had also made her dilemma quite clear. She needed to come to some sort of decision about her relationship with the brothers. She was drawn to each of them in different ways. She could imagine a happily-ever-after with any of them, as ridiculous as it might seem so soon after meeting them. But she had to figure out if she could handle being with all three of them as they insisted was meant to be.
For the moment, she needed to see how they were doing with emptying the attic. Hopefully the only dangerous objects in the house were up there. She doubted that, though, since the fetish had been found in her aunt's bedroom.
She seen her aunt's ghost only once since the demon had been driven from her body. Maybe now that Sin was safe, her aunt had gone on to wherever souls go when people die.
With a sigh, Sin wished she could sit and talk with her aunt and get the answers to all of these questions. Since she couldn't, she went in search of the guys.
As she went up the last two steps to the attic, she almost collided with the large box coming through the doorway in Gower's arms. Jumping back, she flattened herself against the wall. "Hey!"
The box lowered and Gower smiled down at her. "Sorry. We're almost done up here." He looked back over his shoulder. "I don't know if you should go in there until we're sure it's clear."
"Do you really think I'm any safer standing two feet outside the room?"
He balanced the box against the railing. "I guess you're right. I just don't want anything more to happen to you."
She wasn't sure if her lips spread in a smile or a grimace. "I'm already dead. What else can happen?"
The pain that flashed in his eyes pierced her heart. "Oh God, I'm sorry, Gower. I know how hard you and your brothers are working at keeping me safe."
Moving to stand beside him, she reached up and stroked his cheek, enjoying the sensation of the stubble there. The shadow of a beard never seemed to grow longer, giving him a permanent rough, sexy edge.
He lowered the box to the floor and pulled her into his arms. "I recognized you when I first saw you. Not that I knew who you were, Sin, but what you were. A part of us, in a way."
"Why didn't I feel anything?" Warmth spread over her as she remembered planting her face in his chest, and just what her body had felt. "I mean, like I knew you."
"Who knows? Whatever your gifts are, they apparently aren't precognition. It doesn't matter. We found you anyway." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, running a fingertip along the shell before trailing down her bare neck.
Sin shivered at his touch. "I'm glad. Even if I am confused."
He met her gaze and held it. "Don't overthink it. Just let it happen."
She wanted to ask what she was supposed to let happen, but he leaned down and kissed her and she forgot anything but the taste of him. She'd had lovers in the past, even a long-term relationship with Tim, the man she thought she would marry. But never had a kiss been like this. Passionate. Loving. Like a gift from his heart.
Groaning, she crushed her breasts against him and tried to relieve the urge she couldn't explain. It was more than sex. More than physical. She tugged the back of his plaid shirt from his jeans to feel skin beneath her hands.
Gower broke away. "Not here on the steps," he said, panting and grinning. "Too dangerous."
He led her to her room, yanking off her shirt before she even reached the bed. As soon as the fabric cleared her head, he captured her mouth again. Their hands worked as quickly as their lips, tugging at buttons and zippers. Gower almost fell when he tried to sit on the bed and take off his boots. "Give me a minute."
"Too long," she grumbled, tugging at the heel of his raised foot. His boots slipped off and she yanked at his socks, then his jeans and briefs. "About time," she said when he sat gloriously naked in front of her.
Forgetting her own nudity and the usual discomfort it brought, she knelt down and cradled his balls in one hand while wrapping her other around his throbbing cock. He was hard for her. That fact had to be the hottest thing ever. The sound of him sucking in air when she licked the precum off the tip was a close second. Nothing would please her more than to please him at this moment.
She flattened her tongue and lapped him like an ice cream cone, then took him deep in her mouth until he reached the back of her throat. Tightening her lips, she slowly drew back, flicking her tongue around him as she did. She built a rhythm, her need growing as she felt him swelling in her mouth.
"Not yet," he gasped, lifting her to her feet. "I want to be inside you the first time I come."
He pulled her onto the bed as if she weighed nothing, rolling onto his hip beside her. When she tried to turn toward him, he pushed her back. "Let me look. You're beautiful. So beautiful."
One hand drew a lazy path around her swollen breast, down the curve of her waist and across her belly. She tightened her muscles in reflex, knowing his eyes followed his fingers.
"Relax." He planted a kiss on the flesh below her navel. "I plan to get to know every inch of you no matter how well-padded. You might as well get used to the idea."
Moving her gaze to his eyes, she found him watching her. "I won't say the obvious, since you admit to the well-padded part. I'm not used to anyone seeing me. Touching my fat."
"Your body will change with your change in diet. You might be pleasantly surprised. I, however, prefer you like this." The tip of his tongue circled her navel before diving in. It aroused her as much as if he'd touched her clit. Her hips jerked. Her legs parted slightly.
Gower grinned. "I seem to have found a sensitive spot. I'll remember that."
He shifted on the bed and suckled at her breast, reaching across to pinch the nipple on the other. Flames shot through her, surprising her that her nipples were so sensitive, so reactive.
She grasped his biceps as if to keep him there, when what she really wanted was for him to explore lower. Her hips rocked and her knees rose, letting her legs fall wide open. "I want you to...touch me..."
His palm brushed over her belly and ran down her hip, avoiding her throbbing center. "Where?"
She bucked again. "Oh yes, there..."
His fingers curved over her inner thigh, stroking upward, but again moving away before reaching her pussy.
"Gower, please..."
"Please what?" He nipped at her breast, flicked his tongue over her nipple and ran his fingers through the curls on her mons.
"Please touch me."
"You said that already. Touch you where?"
Her frustration built until she wanted to grab his hand, plant it on her labia and shout, here. Instead, she showed him. With her center finger, she reached down and split her lower lips, finding slick wetness and heat. "Like this."
He growled and scooted between her legs. Spreading her labia, he encouraged her to continue. "Let me watch."
Sin looked away. She'd never masturbated for anyone. She'd always been too self-conscious about her body, her desires. Meeting his gaze again she could see how much he wanted her. For him, she could do it. Dipping two fingers into her juices, she drew them upward, splitting her fingers to go around her clit. She gasped. His gaze was like an extra hand down there, touching, stroking.
She pinched her swollen clit, imagining he was the one doing so. Flicked a fingernail over the sensitive spot and enjoyed the flames. Then pushed her fingers deep inside and fucked herself with them.
"That's it," he said.
When she pulled her fingers out, she felt his tongue lap the juices escaping her. Taking her hand away, she rocked into his mouth, desperate for the feel of his tongue inside her.
His tongue plunged deep and stroked her slowly. As good as it was, it was also torture, dragging out the act when she wanted quick and dirty. "Faster. I want you to fuck me faster."
"Not yet. Let it build. We've got all night."
"But your brothers might come in. And it feels too good. I just want more." She was becoming a sex fiend. All fucking, all the time. Was it the availability of the brothers, or part of being a vampire?
She didn't care, as long as it didn't stop.
Gower lifted himself above her and inched his way up, kissing, licking and just breathing as he went. "You'll get more. You'll get all I have to offer. And if my brothers come in, they can wait in line."
She only barely caught part of what he said. His teeth on her nipple took all her awareness. Rolling the sensitive flesh, biting just to the point of pain, he made her breasts swell.
Stabbing lances of arousal reached the places she was used to feeling and new places, too. Her palms itched to feel the heat of his skin. It startled her to find his body temperature so cool when she ran her hands over the sculpted muscles of his back. He nibbled at her collarbone and she reached for his hard ass cheeks, cupping her hands and drawing him up.
"Fuck me now, please," she begged.
He rose on his arms. "Fuck me now, who? I want you to say my name."
Her lips curled in a small smile. "Fuck me now, Gower." The laugh that followed came from deep in her belly. Was there a bit of an ego problem between the brothers?
"That's more like it." His cock hovered at her entrance. She spread herself wider trying to connect. Slowly, he pushed inside.
Her pussy gushed its welcome and she cried out. He felt so perfect there. Her inner muscles tightened around his cock. He seemed to swell in response, thrusting deeper.
She clutched his shoulders taut with the power he kept restrained. Feral, animalistic strength beneath her hands. Inside her pussy. The tension in him matched hers as she came closer to shattering.
Sin rocked in time with him, taking him as far inside as she could. Her fingers dug into his skin and her head rolled back. So close. So wet. The slapping sounds and their mixed scents added to the sensations driving her. "Oh God..."
"That's it," he grunted. "Come with me. Let me feel it."
He lifted her knees and pushed in, finding that spot that took her to the edge. Her pussy clenched and the knot released in ripples of pleasure that took away all thought.
She woke some time later with Gower lying across one of her legs, his arm pinning her to the bed. The weight of him was delicious. She sucked in a deep breath, enjoying the smells of their mutual sweat and cum. She should be feeling the need to wash, to cover up, but the stickiness between her legs was proof of life.
Her new life.
"We need to talk." Sin stood at the head of the basement stairs looking down at the three men gathered around the boiler.
Baen looked up. "Can it wait until we get this piece of shit working? I'm afraid the alternative is hibernation until spring thaw."
She grimaced. It had taken her two days to work up the nerve to say those four words and he wanted to put her off. A cool draft swept over her and made his point. "Okay. I'll be sitting near the fireplace."
Somehow, her body reacted more slowly to changes in the air temperature since she became a vampire, but when she got cold it seemed she would never be warm again. She snuggled into the wing chair closest to the flames and pulled a quilt around her. Cleo jumped into her lap and kneaded her thigh while purring.
Suddenly the cat froze, her golden eyes looking toward the basement door. The other two cats ran out of the kitchen and stopped, also staring at the door. Three furry tails twitched their distress.
"What is it?" Sin waited, as if they would answer. Maybe the guys were coming up the stairs and the noise caught the cats' attention. She continued to watch the door to see who would appear.
Cleo growled. Inky's fur rose on the back of her neck and her tail doubled in size as the hair there stood on end.
"Baen? Gower? Anyone?" She couldn't bring her feet to carry her across the room, closer to the basement door.
Knowing something had to be wrong since no one had opened the door, Sin forced herself to walk. When she was within three feet, a black mist filtered through the cracks around and beneath the door. "What the---"
Stumbling back as she tripped over a cat, she called out. "Gower! Enos? Someone come up here now!"
She clawed at the rug beneath her hands in her rush to back away. No noises rose from downstairs. Had they gone out the exterior door?
The black shape hovered above her, constantly changing shape but never taking a definable form. Her fear for the men outweighed her fear of whatever this thing was. Carefully, not looking away more than a moment at a time, she rose to her feet and backed into the kitchen.
As soon as the kitchen door flapped shut behind her, she turned and ran to the back door, yanked it open and crossed the back porch. She fumbled with the handle of the outside door, not expecting it to be locked. Finally, cold air blasted in her face and she ran down the three steps.
The ground was icy and her shoes skidded as she rounded the corner where the exterior door sat a few inches above the ground. She was grateful Enos had shown her where it was, so she didn't have to run all around the house.
Sin slid to a stop at the base of the door, reached for the handle and yanked, bending her nails below the quick. It was locked from the inside. She shook her hand to ease the sting and blew on her fingers. Balancing on one foot, she stomped on the door. "Baen? Can you guys hear me? Open up!"
The stillness in response sent chills clear to her soul, if she still had one. She kicked again at the metal door. "Gower? Enos? Come on, guys, this isn't funny."
When no one answered, she ran back into the house. The cats stood just at the edge of the living room, tails still twitching. The black mist had taken an elongated, almost humanoid form in front of them.
"Who are you?" Sin asked.
The mist rippled like a stone skipped across it.
"What are you?"
Suddenly the cats looked toward the basement door. Sin strained to hear what they did. Taking a deep breath while she tried to figure out how to get to the door without confronting the mist, she smelled smoke.
With a glance over her shoulder, she confirmed the glass doors in front of the fireplace were closed and the smoke exited through the chimney. Was that what she smelled?
Pale, grayish tendrils of smoke escaped under the basement door, curling as they rose. The basement was on fire.
Where were the men?
Instinct told her fire could kill vampires, just as it did humans. She had to get the door open and make sure they weren't trapped.
Gathering her nerve, she ran toward the basement. The mist moved to block her. She hesitated, bit her lip and ran through the mist.
A mucky, rank slime coated her skin. Sin squealed. It stank of rotted flesh and stagnant water. Still, she had gotten through and reached the door. Grabbing the handle, she let go immediately as it burned her palm.
She pounded on the door with both fists. "Baen, Enos, are you in there?"
The only sound she heard was the growling of the cats behind her. She had to reach the men. Covering her hand with her shirttail, she tried the handle again.
It was locked. Where was the key? Did she even have a key? She reached up and felt along the doorframe to see if it was stashed there. No luck.
Tears welled in her eyes as heat radiated through the door. "Aunt Absinthe, where are you when I need you? Help me, please."
Thunk.
Something fell in the living room behind her. Turning to look, Sin saw Cleo facing the bookshelves, her tail twitching in a calm manner.
"Aunt Absinthe, is that you?"
Cleo looked at her and meowed.
With another dash and squeal, Sin passed through the mist. On the floor in front of the bookshelf lay a book that hadn't been there before. She picked it up.
The cover was ancient leather, worn and on the verge of crumbling to dust. Gold lettering spelled out words in a language she didn't understand. As she held it, the book opened to a page in the middle.
Her gut told her Great-Aunt Absinthe wanted her to read the passage. Turning toward the mist, Sin began to speak, her tongue stumbling over the odd combinations of consonants.
The mist rippled.
Encouraged, and fearful of the smoke filling the room, she continued, her voice growing stronger.
The mist darted about the room as if trying to escape. With each move it thinned. Sin read the final stanza, yelling to force the words out.
Kinetic energy filled the room, vibrating outward from the mist. The curtains stirred. Pictures rattled on the walls. Sin's hair lifted as if she'd rubbed a balloon over it. The mist swelled and shrank, swelled and shrank again, then expanded outward until it vanished.
Instantly the room stilled and Sin began to cough. Smoke rolled in and surrounded her. Fighting the demands of her body, she crouched and ran to the basement door again, using her shirt to try the handle once more. When she found it still locked, she pounded and yelled until her throat hurt.
As she realized her vision was getting hazy, she slid to the floor.
\*
A severe coughing fit gripped her and Sin came awake. Where was she? The walls around her were cold and sterile. She noticed she had a plastic mask over her mouth and reached for it.
"You're awake." The sweet female voice came from the shadowy corner of the room. Ana stood and came to the side of the bed. "Leave the oxygen mask on. You need it."
"Where...? How...?" Her voice sounded like a pond full of frogs.
Pushing back her long, blonde hair, the woman smiled. "I'm Ana. We met at the MacDuirmads' home. Do you remember what happened to you?"
"There was a fire in my basement." Realization hit like a bullet to her chest. "The MacDuirmad brothers were there. Are they...?"
"They're fine. I'll let them tell you about it. I'm glad to see you're all right, too." Ana left then to find the nurse.
Later, a firefighter stopped by to let her know they had saved the house and the cats, but the basement had been a total loss.
Time blurred as she dozed often. On one of his visits to her hospital room, Baen told her she would stay with them until repairs were made to her house. After two days in bed at the tiny Whispering Valley Community Hospital, Sin was released. As Ana drove her to the MacDuirmad home, a mixture of relief and curiosity filled her. She was eager to talk to the brothers about the mist and the fire.
In the thin light of dusk, Sin looked out the window of Ana's car, through the trees at the familiar building that seemed to have grown there in the forest. The house was a single story, a cross between a log cabin and an old English cottage with thatched roof. The overall effect was pleasant and unique. She more expected elves and fairies to live there than vampires.
The brothers came out to meet the car and each one hugged her, holding her slightly longer than a greeting required. Baen waved to Ana, saying, "Thanks for bringing her here."
"My pleasure," Ana said simply before driving away.
With his arm around her shoulders, Baen led her inside. She was pleased to see the three cats sitting in the doorway. They greeted her loudly.
"The cats aren't too happy about being moved," Gower explained. "They've been protesting hourly."
Sin inhaled a calming breath of cinnamon and lemon cleaner while turning to face the three men. "So, are you going to tell me what happened? The people in this town are so secretive. No one will tell me how you survived. And then there's the hospital staff. They didn't say a thing about my nocturnal habits, and no one offered me food."
"But they had a blood drip in your IV, right?" Enos asked.
He was right. No saline bags, only blood, two or three bags a day. They knew she was a vampire. While the guys had told her people in the village considered that normal, she still expected stares and whispers.
Baen led her to the overstuffed sofa and sat on one side, while Gower took the other. Baen spoke first. "This is a small, close-knit town, as you've seen. Everyone here has their own, well, uniqueness, and everyone watches out for each other."
Sin thought she'd love to read the medical charts of the town. How did a doctor know how to treat all the different creatures the brothers claimed lived there? He'd have to go to vet school as well as med school. With a mental grimace, she stopped the crazy train of thought and focused on the important stuff. "Are you finally going to tell me what happened in the basement?"
Enos leaned forward in his wing chair and rested his elbows on his knees. "Yeah, and you can fill us in on what happened upstairs. We were working on the heater's pilot light when the thing lit, then flared up and scorched the ceiling."
"It was a huge flame," Gower added. "Singed my eyebrows."
"Somehow the ceiling caught and the flames spread as if someone had poured gasoline across the beams." Baen stroked her arm as they talked. "We ran for the extinguisher that's kept below the stairwell and it wouldn't work. The gauge read empty, but I know we checked the extinguishers routinely for your aunt."
Gower nodded. "I ran for the door to get the one from the kitchen, but the door was jammed. It wouldn't open. I banged on it and yelled for you."
Sin frowned. "I never heard. When I saw the smoke, I tried to open the door but it was locked. I couldn't find a key. I kept pounding on the door and yelling for you guys. I even tried the outer door."
"We couldn't get to it. A wall of flames blocked it off." Baen clasped her hand in his. "When we decided we couldn't get out, we all crouched in the corner of the room and waited for you to find us."
"I tried. There was this thing that didn't want me to."
The men exchanged glances. Baen squeezed her hand gently. "Thing?"
"Yeah. A black mist. Before the smoke escaped the door, a shadow came out around it and blocked my way. It kept moving in front of me when I stepped closer."
Enos lifted an eyebrow. "You moved closer to the shadow?"
"Well, yeah. I had to get to you guys."
"Did it hurt you?"
She shook her head. "I finally ran through it and ended up covered in goo. Slime. It smelled as if something died."
All three men said, "Demon."
"That's what I figured. When I still couldn't open the door, I called to my aunt for help. A book fell off a shelf and opened to a page, so I started reading. The shadow didn't like it, apparently. It finally vanished."
Gower ran a hand over her hair. "You destroyed it."
"I did?"
Baen nodded. "That must be your gift."
She laughed, dryly, almost a snort. "What? Demon slayer?"
Smiling, Baen said, "Yeah, pretty much. There must be spell books in the living room, as well as in the attic."
"It did look a lot like the one you took from me up there. Come to think of it, the first day I arrived at the house, a book fell off the shelf. I wonder if my aunt tried to warn me then? But how can I be a demon slayer? I'm just me. My dad is a computer programmer and my mom sells cosmetics. We even went to church when I was a kid."
"It's inborn, like being psychic," Enos explained.
"Huh," was all she could respond. She realized she didn't know how the brothers had escaped the fire, and asked.
"I'm guessing about the time you destroyed the demon, your great-aunt was able to reach us. Something put a bubble around us to keep the smoke and heat away until the fire department came."
She released her breath, barely aware she'd been holding it. "Thank God someone saw the smoke and called it in."
"Um, no, they didn't." Gower turned to face her. "We told you everyone around here has a gift. Well, the fire chief is clairvoyant. Come to think of it, maybe he created the bubble protecting us. No one has ever died in a fire as long as he's been here."
"It's rare a fire can burn long enough to do major damage before Chief Yost becomes aware of it," Enos added.
Sin shook her head. "Well, that's handy, I guess."
She wondered what other oddities she would find as she became better acquainted with the people. Her parents had never talked about the community. Did they even have a clue what the place was like?
It didn't matter. Whispering Valley was her home now and she was beginning to feel as if she would enjoy living there. She looked at the three men sitting with her. They hadn't gotten to talk about their relationship before the fire broke out. She really needed to be clear what was happening between them all. Squeezing Baen's hand, she looked up into his eyes.
"We still need to talk. About us."
"Sure. Is something wrong?"
"Not wrong, exactly. I'm just confused. And I want to make things clear before anyone gets hurt."
"Sounds good to me, "Enos said.
She drew in a breath. Where to start? She hated talking relationships. She usually just let things happen and rode with it. But she'd never had such strong feelings for three men at one time. Such strong feelings for anyone at any time. "I didn't know it was possible, but I'm falling for all three of you."
There. She'd said it.
Baen tightened his hold on her hand. "And?"
"And? And I don't know what to do about it. I don't know how to be involved with more than one man at a time. I can't play you guys against each other. What if I want to be with one of you one night, what will the others think?"
Baen lifted her chin and she met his gaze. "We'll think we'll have our time with you another night. You are our mate. Our mate. I thought we'd explained that to you. If that's agreeable to you, the three of us will be with you always."
The idea confused and excited her. "I don't understand what you guys get out of it, but it sounds perfect to me."
"We get you." Baen smiled, then leaned in to kiss her. The gentle touch lingered, becoming more forceful. His tongue traced the seam of her lips and she opened to him. His groan of pleasure made her breasts tingle.
Sin met his tongue with hers and explored his mouth, tasting the sweetness of a mint he must have chewed recently. Her hands snaked around him, roaming the breadth of his back. The relief of so many dangers and worries drove her need for contact, for release.
Baen pulled away and stood, pulling her with him. "We need to do this right."
As she rose, it hit her that she'd been in the hospital and hadn't showered in two days. She smelled of smoke and a bit of the reek of the demon, even though Ana had brought her some clean clothes.
"If we're going to do this right, I need a shower." She looked at the other two men. What did "right" entail? She shivered as images raced through her mind.
"Let me show you your bathroom." Baen led her toward the hallway.
Small lamps mounted high on the walls lit the way, looking like candles in sconces. Baen led her to the last door on the right and opened it for her.
The bedroom glowed, again as if by candlelight, bright enough to see without losing an old-fashioned ambience. In the center stood an antique four-poster with dark red curtains tied at each post. The mattress sat high above the floor, a downy comforter pulled back. Pillows were piled against the headboard.
Longing swept over her to climb in, snuggle down and sleep for a week. After she had sex. "It's beautiful."
"I'm glad you like it. You can redecorate, if you'd like. The bath is here." He opened a door and turned on the light. A sunken tub surrounded by marble tile called to her.
"Did Ana bring my things over?"
"We brought some and bought others for you. You should find everything you need. I'll leave you to relax, unless I can talk you into letting me wash your back?" He drew her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
Sin sighed. Having Baen lean over the edge of the tub and run a soft sponge over her would be beyond sensual. But she felt so grungy. There was no way any man was going to see her until she'd spent a good half-hour with a bar of soap. "Maybe next time."
He smiled and bowed like the hero in a Jane Austen story. "Enjoy your bath."
She did. When the water grew tepid and she was sure she'd be a prune if she weren't undead, she dried off and went in search of a robe or nightgown.
Sin debated what to put on after her bath. Her bathrobe was a ratty, hot pink terry cloth rag that she'd be ashamed to be seen in. Her pajamas weren't much better, since she preferred t-shirts and boxer shorts. How sexy. Not.
In addition to the bed, the room had a tall antique dresser, matching wardrobe, and several Queen Anne style chairs beside a small table. Sin dropped her towel and opened dresser drawers to see what she had to choose from. Next to a pile of her boxers lay some plain white cotton.
Lifting the garment, she held it up to the light. It was a long nightgown, but definitely not a granny-style flannel one. The cotton was so thin it was practically nonexistent. In the drawer she found a matching robe. Maybe with both layers she'd feel covered.
Looking at her reflection as she straightened the gown around her hips, she realized the attraction of the fabric. Only hints of shadow showed through. The dark blush of her nipples, the darker shadow of her bush. It seemed sexier than totally sheer would be, as if you were stealing a peek at something you weren't supposed to see.
Her nipples hardened at the thought. How funny, she thought, to feel so virginal at her age and with her experience.
A knock sounded at the door and she quickly pulled on the robe and flipped her hair free, wishing she'd taken time to comb out the half-dry tangles. "Come in."
Baen entered, followed by his brothers. Her pussy quivered, knowing they'd all be in the room together, making love. Watching, participating. At the flutter of butterflies in her stomach, she told herself to just let go and follow their lead.
One of the men whistled. Enos had somehow taken the lead and put his hand on her shoulder. "You are even more beautiful than I realized."
"You smell heavenly." Gower had come up behind her and nuzzled her hair.
She felt a warm glow at their words. "I used the body wash that was beside the tub." It was an exotic scent of ylang-ylang and jasmine with a woody element blended in. Very sensual.
Enos traced a finger along the neckline of her gown, then stepped closer. He bent his head and devoured her lips. No gentle persuasion involved, he went straight for the passionate, demanding kiss of a lover in desperate need.
Her urgency was equal to his. She rose on her toes, cupped the nape of his neck and clung to him, battling with his tongue as it explored her mouth. She whimpered, unable to soothe whatever was growing inside her.
A hand stroked over her hip, heating her skin. Another cupped her breast, kneaded the heavy flesh. She didn't even think about whom the hands belonged to, just gave in to the ecstasy of the touches. Someone pulled her robe off her shoulders and she dropped her arms to let it fall.
Enos ended his kiss and tugged at his clothes. His brothers also undressed. Sin looked at the three men, the three look-alike Greek statues, and her breath caught. She must have pleased the goddess of sex, to have won this prize. Three throbbing erections pointing at their target---her.
She reached for the closest man, Baen. His pale golden skin glistened over defined muscle. Her tongue itched to trace the shadows delineating his torso, and maybe follow that arrow of dark hair that pointed to the ultimate prize. Shutting out images of the demon possession that seemed years in the past, she knelt in front of him.
His cock danced for her. She reached up and captured it in her hand, feeling the tremors of passion Baen held back. Finally she could taste him, tease him, maybe even torture him with a prolonged release.
A bit of salty liquid spilled free and she licked at it, then smiled at his growl. "Like that?"
"Exactly like that."
The nearness of the other two men watching her private performance suddenly made her feel more desirable than she could recall. Testosterone flooded the air around her. This was her night to let herself go.
Her night of power. The power to please her men.
She licked the vein running his length, and bent to take his sac in her mouth. She ran the base of her tongue over the rough hair before freeing him and concentrating on his cock.
It continued to weep at her ministrations, the taste pleasing, ego-building. He obviously enjoyed her touch. Taking as much of him into her mouth as she could, she tightened her lips and sucked, drawing back slowly.
Sin listened to the rate of his breaths to guide her speed as she laved and savored him. When she knew he reached the breaking point, she let him go and stood up. "Don't want to end this party too soon," she teased.
Where it came from, she wasn't sure, but a coquettish side of her appeared. She looked from Enos to Gower, unable to decide which man to go to next. Instead, she held out her hands to both. "Let's go to bed."
Something snapped and the three guys hurried her onto the mattress. Gower ran his fingertips down the center of her torso, over one hip and back again. "It's our turn now."
She'd never heard more delightful words. Lying propped against the pillows, she watched as they moved around her. Gower stayed on his knees next to her waist, still exploring her body with a whisper-soft touch.
Baen stretched on his side and turned her head his way. His kiss thanked her for what she'd done and promised much more to come.
Enos toyed with her breast, circling the pink skin and making it tighten. When he tweaked the nipple, she thought her skin would burst with the swelling. So painful, yet so delightful.
Someone plucked at the other tight bud, then pinched as Enos bit down. What should have hurt was instead a pleasure beyond description. She arched, lifting her breasts for more. Her tongue battled with Baen's, thrusting into his mouth as she needed someone to do in her pussy.
Gower must have noticed her legs spread. He stroked the inside of her thigh, his exhale a satisfied sound when he reached her wetness. She whimpered and bucked against his hand.
She felt her lips spread, the coolness of his breath on her hot skin. His tongue lapped her juices and drove deep inside her. Yes. Oh yes. He fucked her with his mouth, slowly, thoroughly, taking her close to her shattering point.
A hand found her clit and pressed hard, then toyed with it before pinching again. Her juices flowed and she cried out. Baen kissed a path along her jaw and down her neck. As he reached her collarbone, his teeth pinched her skin.
At the same moment, her orgasm broke. Her back lifted off the bed, her tension shattered. Gower continued to thrust with his tongue deep in her pussy and her ride went on.
When she thought she couldn't take any more, the hands and mouths stilled. She lay with her eyes closed, panting, searching for her wits. Husky, emotional male voices whispered, "Fuck," "Yeah, baby," "Beautiful."
Arms pulled her to her side and on top of one of the men. By his scent, she recognized Baen. Bracing her arms, she looked down at him. His eyes looked sleepy, dreamy with lust. "I need to be inside you," he whispered and moved her hips into place.
Without hesitation, he thrust inside her, sliding easily on her slick inner skin. He groaned when he filled her.
Sin sat up on his cock, resting on his thighs. She was in control again. Or so she thought.
Enos cupped her butt cheeks. Squeezed. Moved between his brother's legs to sit behind her. When she rocked forward, he slid two fingers between her legs and stroked her skin around Baen's cock. The sensation made her clit throb.
She heard an odd sound and when cool gel touched her skin, she realized it had to be lube. Enos spread the stuff over her anus and gently pushed some inside. Panic hit as she realized what he planned. She was a virgin to that act. How much would it hurt?
As he pressed more lube inside her, she relaxed and concentrated on Baen's cock stroking the front of her channel. Already she felt the beginnings of another orgasm building.
Enos' finger pushed inside her anus again, this time venturing a bit deeper. She gasped, but realized how good it was starting to feel. She leaned forward more, giving him better access.
He chuckled and continued to stroke, adding another finger and pausing when she froze. As the pain passed, the pleasure came on even stronger. She rocked again on Baen's cock, this time taking a bit more of both penis and fingers.
"Oh my God." Her breath hissed out and her pussy gushed. She couldn't believe how good it felt.
"Lean forward a second," Enos spoke low in her ear, his body warm against her back. His voice made her shiver and she bent as he asked.
He spread her cheeks. "Woman, you are so beautiful back here, especially with my brother's cock in you."
She felt his hard rod press against her anus, and slowly his shaft entered. Holding her breath, she waited for her muscles to relax. Gower helped the process by playing with her breasts. She moaned in delight as she felt them swell in his hands.
Enos began to move, slowly pushing in. The pain lessened the further he got, and with each stroke she enjoyed it more. The feeling of utter fullness with both cocks embedded in her heat was just delicious.
Her thoughts stilled when the two men increased their rhythm. She simply rode and enjoyed and let the tension in her pussy increase.
Their grunts sounded with each thrust and her clit throbbed in answer. The knot inside her tightened and she heard how wet she'd become around Baen's cock. The sounds and smells of their sex were so dirty, so perfectly naughty, she couldn't hold back any longer.
Her body tensed as she peaked. She kept her hips in one place as the two men thrust faster. Baen grunted as his warm cum filled her. Enos growled and plunged in one last time before grasping her hips and holding her against him.
They melted rather than parted as Sin regained awareness. She knew she wore a silly grin like when she'd smoked pot in college. She didn't care. She sank to the mattress and let her men arrange her limbs.
Enos went to the bathroom and returned with a warm, damp cloth to clean her. The act itself was erotic, comforting. Gower lay down beside her and plucked at her nipple. "Are you too sore for more?"
Her head rolled toward his voice and she opened her eyes. She cupped her hand on the side of his face. "Not if it's with you."
He smiled. As if he understood her need to recuperate, he teased her skin with his fingertips, bringing up goose flesh wherever he touched. She relaxed and sank more deeply into the mattress, giving her body over to him.
He seemed to know exactly where to touch, how hard to press, when to pinch to stimulate her nerves to the point of desperation. As if he'd known her forever. As if he'd created her. After the wild session just minutes before, she didn't think she'd be capable of coming again but that idea was quickly tossed aside.
When Gower knelt between her legs and reached down to open her labia, she was ready to explode. She didn't need the additional sensation of Baen at her breasts and Enos nibbling on her earlobe. Really, she didn't. But, ohhh...what they did to her.
Gower slid in, his eyes closing for a moment. His control seemed to break and he drove in and out, lifted her knees to raise her hips and continued to thrust. His wild, animal passion set a fire burning in her and she cried out. Her inner muscles flexed around his cock and she tightened down on him, wanting the feeling to continue.
In a riot of grunts, Gower came inside her. Sin listened to his panting breaths slow. With a sigh, he eased away to lie beside her. Enos again appeared with a warm cloth and between that and Baen's featherlight fingernails trailing over her skin, she was ready to drift into sleep.
Enos settled by her feet and nibbled at her toes. "You have to make us a promise, Absinthe."
She peered down toward her feet through narrowed eyes. "I'll promise you anything if you promise to never call me that again."
He laughed. "You have to let us know if we become too much for you. If you can't handle the three of us at once, or if you just want a break sometime, you have to let us know."
Rising to lean on her elbows, she looked at the three sinfully sexy vampires surrounding her on the large bed. What was Enos thinking? Would they ever be too much? She pointed a finger at Baen and ran her nail through the few hairs on his chest, circling one of his nipples. It puckered, and hers followed suit. "I'm not sure I can ever get enough of you all. There is something I would like, though."
Gower licked her shoulder. "Do tell."
"This might sound weird, but, remember when the demon was inside me, and you guys tied my body to the bedposts? That looked really hot. Do you think we could try that sometime?"
"What do you think, guys?" Enos lifted her foot and stroked the arch. "Do you think we can tie her up and take advantage of her helpless body?"
Murmurs and grunts of agreement answered him as Gower and Baen suckled her breasts. With a whimper, Sin lay back and put all thoughts of unworthiness out of her head, allowing her men to have their way with her, again. Spending an eternity with them might just be heaven.
About the Author
Ari Thatcher is a native Los Angelean who is avidly approaching her cougar years. When she's not hunting her next prey, she can be found writing down her fantasies. She hopes her readers gain as much...satisfaction...from them as she does.
Ari welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Ari Thatcher
Ellora's Cavemen: Flavors of Ecstasy II anthology
Print books by Ari Thatcher
Ellora's Cavemen: Flavors of Ecstasy II anthology
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