“Maria, I mean it. You’re not to wait up for me.” Michael was rushing around trying to get his stuff together before Max showed up. “You’re not to go out.”

“I won’t. I promise.” Maria stopped him in his tracks and pulled him close kissing his chin. “I can amuse myself home alone. You’ve got work, so go to work.”

Maria watched the flickering of light in his eyes, the movement of his body and the almost defensive posturing. Possessive. He was being possessive and this case was increasing the problem already caused by her unexpected pregnancy.

“Maria...”

“I won’t open the door. I won’t even answer the phone unless I know who it is. I have you on speed dial.” Maria frowned at him. “Where is this coming from?”

Michael just leaned his forehead against hers. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I feel...I feel...unsettled.”

“Is it the hunt? The fear of the unknown and knowing that the killer is smart, an expert?” Maria asked quietly.

Cassie was an unknown, and she was an expert. She got so close...too close. She slept downstairs below them while they were asleep and defenseless. She could have killed them in their sleep and probably would have, if Maria hadn’t forced her hand by going off to find the witch’s dagger. Cassie would have retrieved it herself and then used it the next moment their guard was down.

Maria just sighed. Max needed to get here now and take Michael out on the job. He was working himself up. “Michael. Talk to me. Just tell me what’s going on.”

“I don’t know.” Michael paced the room once more and threw himself down in the seat next to her. Without realizing it, her hands found him, moved over him. “My insides are jumping, jittery. I can’t get settled. I feel wired.”

“Wired?” Maria looked at him closely. He was like a large nervous tick. Maria studied his body and the way he was sitting, noticing how much he was in her personal space. The invasion spurred Maria on, and she reached for him her mouth finding his unerringly and her tongue seeking entry. As she kissed him she slid one hand around and cupping the back of his head, fingers threading through the long, slightly curled and silky, light brown hair.

Pulling away, Maria frowned. “This isn’t about the hunt or work. It’s me. I’m doing this to you.” Maria cleared her throat and moved away from him. He never lost control or forgot what he needed to do, especially when it involved his job. But here he was, minutes from needing to go on a night stakeout, and he was needing sex, release. But more than that he was needing her locked away and safe. “What can I do?”

Michael flashed a grin at Maria, before dipping his head and catching her lips with his own, tongue forcing entry. The kiss was brutal, raw and passionate, leaving both of them panting, Maria's full lips red and swollen. Michael pulled away and growled at her. The sound was low and sexy, deep in his throat, and Maria’s entire body heated up.

Michael’s body extended along where hers reclined. Maria clung desperately to his muscular form for balance, as Michael rested his weight on her and gripped her face in both hands, taking possession of her mouth again.

Michael briefly nibbled her lower lip and then his questing tongue dove deep, slicking against her teeth, over her palate and coiled against her own tongue. In an instant all the love, fear and desperation of the past few days erupted in a searing conflagration of wanton, naked lust. Maria moaned against his mouth as he tasted her. She didn’t know that finally admitting to loving him, just saying the words, would change them so much. Everything felt open--so much more open! Every touch and act seemed almost painful as feelings and information rushed between them at lightning speeds. Jericho had trumpeted and the walls came tumbling down.

Maria closed her eyes and surrendered to Michael's passion and need. Along her own. The vibrant crimson of their Bond roiled in the back of her mind and the pit of her belly, seething with indigo, violet and green hues, pulsing synchronously with the throbbing in Michael’s c-ock and the hammering of his heartbeat. They were hot-wired in a way neither could understand nor explain, but the pull and the drive were increasing everyday.

"Christ, Maria..." Michael groaned against her throat, lapping sweat-salt from her pulse point to her collarbone. "You taste, you smell, you feel so f-ucking incredible."

Maria moved back on the sofa moving her legs apart to accommodate him as the soft thin material of her dress moved upward to reveal her long pale thighs pressed against him urgently. Her hands moved up and over his body to join together behind his head cradling his head as he moved away from her to look down at their bodies.

“Michael,” Maria moaned with a shuddering sound of air crashing from her lungs. “No time. Max...”

Michael just gulped. Work. He needed to go to work. He had wanted to get there at least an hour before the Club's opening to check the security cams. Everything in his body was pushing him towards her, towards sex and an undeniable need to feel her mouth on him, sucking from his body. Shaking his head to clear it, they shared a look as the knock came at the door.

“I can’t. I need...” Michael’s eyes were dark and hot, his breathing just as labored.

“You’ve got to go. Don’t do this to us.” Maria gently pushed him off her and watched as he slowly rose to his feet. He looked down at her, taking in the picture of her-- golden hair tossed everywhere, lips red and puffy and a small drop of blood on her bottom one where he had roughly bitten her. The exposed length of her lean muscular thigh... Michael ran a hand down his body and shuddered. Bending down he licked the blood off her lip and before she could protest, he gripped her thigh in a bruising hold as his mouth found the soft skin and nipped her hard, marking her.

“Michael!” moaning loud as his mouth came up to find hers in another deep bruising kiss, Michael moved away.

“We’re not done with this, Professor.” She just lay there as she heard the front door slam shut behind him. Sitting up, Maria then tried to stand on her shaking legs, but the room seemed to spin, go dark, and then too light. Resting her head between her knees she took large calming breaths. Breathe, dammit! Just breathe!

When she had enough strength, she slowly made her way to the downstairs bathroom. Her pulse was pounding, galloping wide open, and the banging of her heart in her chest was making her nauseated. She barely made the bathroom before she lost what was left in her stomach. Resting against the cold porcelain, she felt a hollowing emptiness inside, an increasing fatigue. Rinsing her mouth before going back into the other room, Maria stood in the middle of the loft with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

Her body was wired, jittery, jumpy and way too hyped up to settle down. She was so hot and then suddenly so cold. Hunger. She felt deep hollowing hunger. Pacing the room in a burst of restless energy, she recklessly moved objects around as her hands became sweaty and then trembled. Running a hand down her body, Maria realized that that wouldn’t work. She couldn't get herself off, not without him there. Not without his smell, the sight of his darkened eyes and the touch of his skin.

Moving into the kitchen she dug through the cabinets, the refrigerator and the pantry looking for anything...something. Starving. She felt empty, tired and starving. Turkey. She could eat turkey.

Picking up the phone, she made the call. “Yes, I want to order a full roasted turkey dinner with all the trimmings. No. At least twenty-five pounds. How long? No. If I can get it faster, I’ll pay your deliveryman a hundred dollar bonus.”

~~~

“You okay?” Max asked his quiet partner sitting in the corner of the passenger seat. Max could almost swear that Michael was brooding.

Michael just grunted and continued to look the window.

Max looked at him and frowned in concern. When he had picked up Michael ten minutes ago, the man came flying out of the loft like he was being pursued by demons. Since then he just sat in the corner all morose and despondent. Max looked down at Michael’s body and saw what could only be termed a complication.

“Michael, instead of packing wood all night you could’ve told me to take off and you’d meet me at the club.”

“Shut up, Max.” Michael scowled even more. “You wouldn’t understand. Maria wouldn’t have understood.”

“Okay explain it to me.”

Michael just blew air out of his mouth and rubbed his eyebrow. “It would have taken me longer than an hour or maybe two. And Maria wouldn’t understand me neglecting my duty that long, letting this come between what I am and what I have to do.”

“Most women would be happy to have that much control over a man.”

Michael just shook his head. “Not Maria. She would see it as her destroying a part of me that is essential. Her greatest weakness is causing those around her to suffer and fail because of her. She knew that I'd hate myself later and that she would bear some of the brunt of it.”

“Has it occurred to the two of you that you live with unspoken rules that no outside person can possibly follow or understand?” Max found a parking spot. “What the hell is up with you two?”

Michael just shook his head. How could he explain what had no name? It was like an electric flash of neurons carrying everything essential between him and Maria. And more.

“We’re just more . We're 'more' together than apart.” Michael said.

Max got out and locked the crappy PD loaner car they were assigned, half hoping some street junker would steal it. Michael didn’t even bother to lock his side.

“Well, I suggest that you hit the Men’s and work that over a little. No way you’re going to make it through the night sporting that bad boy.”

“I can’t.”

Max looked at Michael and made a face. “Oh yeah, please! You were out of a relationship for months before you met up with Maria, and sure--over the last year you might have had someone else do it for you...but I refuse to believe you aren’t intimately familiar with your own hand.”

Michael barked at Max as they walked down the street towards the club. Max was right. He was damn uncomfortable. “Do I f-ucking look like a man that’s afraid of his own body or believes that a little tug and pull while chocking the chicken is going to make me go blind?” Michael walked into the club sneering. “Don’t be a prick, Maxwell.”

“Then go to the bathroom and jerk it off.”

“I told you, I can’t .” Michael looked around at the empty club and walked towards the back band room where they were set up. “I haven’t been able to get off from my own hand in awhile. It doesn’t do it for me anymore, not unless Maria is watching.”

“Fantasize? How about Maria laid out on a bed in a dark room surrounded by candles wearing that ‘Princess Leia’ outfit from Return of the Jedi? ”

Michael just swore and looked at his partner with narrowed eyes sparkling dangerously. “First, you are not helping my dilemma and thanks for the added burst to my damn erection! Now I’ll be lucky to be able to sit. And second, how the hell did you come up with that fantasy so quick?” Max just lifted a brow and smiled wickedly at Michael. “Dammit Max, find your own girlfriend to add to your spank file and keep your grubby mind off mine.” Max just laughed at the swearing Michael as they entered the room to find Sean and Alex already there.

“Sean where’s Kyle?” Michael asked, looking around and wondering if Kyle was hiding from him and his displeasure with the idea of Kyle and Tess doing it in his bed. Maria had calmed him down by mentioning that Michael had had no problem getting it on in Max’s bed the last time they were over there for a party.

“He called in sick for the night.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed. “He looked pretty damn healthy to me when he left the loft earlier.” Great, just f-ucking great! Tess. He must have called in for a boink-fest with Tess. “Did you tell him he didn’t have to dress up like a slut boy again?”

Sean just laughed as he and Alex flipped through the cameras. They had spent all day checking the wiring and placement. The video replay of the previous evening showed the difficult spots and the ones too dark to record.

All of them worked quietly through the hour preparing for the opening of the club. Alex arranged for the entertainment and regular bartender to work with Sean. Max was busy testing the wiring and electrical sockets to keep them from shorting out their equipment. It was less than ten minutes before the club was to open when Michael turned to relax and look at Sean.

His face looked better. He was on the mend. And even though his DeLuca laidback manner and charm were dominating his outer appearance, at times Michael saw the shadows move across his face. In the last hour Sean hadn't mentioned or even asked about Florida, what Michael had learned or about his own family.

"Sean." Michael said quietly as Sean prepared to go set up the bar. Sean's whole body became tense, as if he knew what Michael was going to say and part of him was uncertain he wanted to know.

"Yeah?"

"You didn't ask about Florida." Michael stated, not bothering to look at the other man whom he knew was still facing the door.

Sean rested his head against the door jam and sighed. Closing his eyes, he just waited. "I know," he said quietly.

"I thought you were an only child." Michael couldn't remember where he got that impression or thought. Was it from Maria or from Sean?

"I am." Sean stared at the door, and then looked over at Michael. "When you're outcasted, you're alone. The only one. I have been for over ten years."

"I'm sorry." Michael felt some of what Sean must have felt. He was an only child, and when Mikey died he was alone. Not outcasted, but still alone.

Sean just nodded. "Did you meet them? See them? My...family?"

"Yeah. You could have warned me. They were like an army and ate like one too. How can you DeLucas stay so thin when you eat like a herd of horses?"

"Good genetics. Despite all the cheese and olive oil we've got low cholesterol. You can't beat good genes." Michael snorted and then nodded. He never thought he would meet anyone that ate more than the Professor, but compared to Sean's two brothers she was only an amateur taster.

"Your father gave me this." Michael held up the bullet that was engraved with the Family crest.

Sean looked it in wonder. A cop. He gave that to a cop! Amazing. Sean let the rush of bitter jealousy run up his body before he finally regained control.

"Welcome to the family, Miko." Michael frowned at Sean's low voice, devoid of emotion or inflection. He heard him wandering off to go tend bar.

"I have something for you." Michael reached into his pocket and offered Sean an unknown something wrapped in a handkerchief.

Sean was hesitant to take it at first, but finally came over and took the linen. It was a clean white linen handkerchief made from expensive material and on the corner was his father's monogram. Inside were green leaves, leaves from his father's lemon trees. He crushed one of the leaves between his fingers. Closing his eyes he could feel the wave of home wash over him, the clean smell stored in his brain since childhood. Keeping his eyes closed he breathed in the smell that still reminded him of his father.

"Your father collected them for you."

Michael hadn't understood what Marco was doing as they walked through the orchard. The man collected leaves off several of his lemon trees and when they returned to the terrace, he took out his handkerchief and handed them to Michael. He never asked or said a word, but Michael understood what was requested. Taking the cloth, he shoved it in his pocket and never mentioned it again, not even to Maria. Some things could only exist between a man and his son, much like the shaving kit and the act of shaving with a straight blade had existed between him and Mikey.

"And this," Michael held out the medallion of St. Michael extended from his hand. "Your mother wanted you to have this."

Sean took the medallion and smiled slightly. Putting it over his head, he let it drop inside his shirt, against his skin. Little mother . "Thank you." Sean said and quickly left the room.

Michael sat there looking at the monitors, not really seeing them. His jaw clenched as he closed his eyes and just shook his head. Michael looked up to see Sean joining Alex as the two of them made fun of Max. Max took it well and came back to rejoin Michael until the club had a large enough crowd that he could blend in more naturally.

~~~

Sean and Alex moved out into the room as Alex showed Sean around. Sean was taking over as a part-time bartender for the night and Max was going to circulate. But Michael--Michael was on monitors again. Alex had a guest band in until he felt more like performing. Max and Michael sat watching them turn down the house lights and increase the colored ones, discussing what areas would need to be watched.

“So...Michael?” Max just smiled as Michael grunted. “This thing with you and Maria, it’s getting intense.”

Michael just frowned. “It’s had some unexpected twists, but nothing I can’t handle. So don’t get your hopes up that we’re breaking up. She’s mine.”

“Whoa, back off partner. Possession is ruling your life. Calm down.” Max looked at his partner and shrugged. Maybe he should give Michael something to think about other than that raging erection in his pants and his obsessive possession of Maria. “So I was meaning to tell you,” Max paused to take a complete breath. “I went out on a date with Jonathan Stiller and kissed him.”

Max kept looking at the monitors, but he could feel Michael’s eyes turning to him.

“F-uck me!” Michael looked at his friend in shock.

~~~

It was a clean feeling to start a new hunt. Having achieved an objective and an end goal was a thrill. But a bigger thrill was finding a new goal, a new piece to be collected. He looked up and around the club. It was still edgy, risky with the children of the night huddled in fear. The newspaper story was an interesting twist.

Sucking on his drink, his eyes narrowed as he tried to locate what he wanted this time. Something tall...something masculine and pure with a touch of Mediterranean. It was always harder to take down something so totally butch and heterosexual, but it could be done.

Tonight the atmosphere felt...different, a touch of being charged and wild. He circled the room watching, assessing and slowly finding his viewing spot.

~~~

“So, you gonna date him again?” Michael asked. Damn, this was a turn of the worm he hadn’t foreseen! Bet Maria knew and hadn’t mentioned it. He’d deal with her later. Michael smiled at the thought of ‘dealing’ with Maria.

“I don’t know. It’s kind of late in life to be changing which team I pitch for, and all this introspective crap is for the birds.” Max frowned. “You ever worry that there’s something strange about us? You, me and Isabel?”

Michael ignored Max’s eyes and asked nonchalantly, “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.” Max looked around to make sure no one was listening. “The whole sex thing--the incredible orgasms which I’m told are highly unusual, and the whole feeling thing. Liking and needing feelings and sensations so much that you seek them out...things like food and sex.”

“What makes you think that's not normal?”

“Come on, Michael! Don’t pull this sh-it with me. You see a greasy burger place you start chanting and moving around in your seat like a kid.” Max looked at his friend and partner critically. “Don’t tell me that this hyped-up sexuality thing that you and Maria have going and the food fest isn’t concerning you.”

“What sexuality thing?” Michael frowned and gave Max his full attention. People might have noticed how involved they were lately, but Max was making it sound like more.

“Like last Friday night at dinner. You were kissing Maria.”

“Yeah, well I do that a lot.”

“Not so publicly, at least you didn't use to. Your sex life was always sort of wild, but still semi-private with a few exceptions. Now...now the two of you are rutting up against a wall practically taking off each other’s clothes off, oblivious to all the other people in the room. Amy DeLuca was leaving spoon-shaped welts on you. And I don’t know about the others in the room, but I was sporting a fully loaded hard-on and so was Kyle, as far as I could tell.”

“Well Tess was in the room.”

Max just sighed and shook his head. “Uh uh. Tess doesn’t affect me that way, or at least not anymore. Kyle? Well that remains to be seen. But I bet Sean and even Cap were feeling the pull.”

Michael turned in his chair and looked at Max hard. He had been right about the pregnancy symptoms and he was a trained observer. “Just spit it out. What are you saying?”

“Pheromones. Lots and lots of pheromones. You and Maria in the same room give off some real powerful vibes...hot and sexual. So why can’t you use your own hand to get some relief, to choke the chicken?”

“Maria. I need her smell. I need her to get to that point.”

Max just shook his head. Yeah, just as he thought.

“Dammit,” Michael swore. “I’m so frickin’ hungry I could eat a horse, or at least a turkey. I need a turkey sandwich or something. Hand me the damn phone; someone’s got to deliver.”

“Michael, you hate turkey sandwiches.” Max reminded Michael, and just listened in amazement as the man ordered two twelve-inch turkey subs with extra mayo and the works. Then he told them to triple the meat. After Michael hung up the phone, he swore again. “Dammit, I forgot to order pickles!”

“I think they come with them automatically.” Max said frowning at his partner. Over seven more months of this. They'd be lucky to survive, and despite Michael’s new excessive eating habits Max swore the man was actually losing weight.

Michael went back to the monitors. Max still hadn't answered his question about Jonathan Stiller, but his observations about Maria and him were a little too 'on'. Michael checked out the dark corners and frowned. Something was just not right. Where the hell were his sandwiches?

~~~

“Max?” Hearing his name, Max turned to a tall thin Native American man. He knew him.

“Eddie. Remember? I’m a friend of Maria’s. We worked together on that project last year.” Max nodded. Of course. Eddie, the graduate student that helped them work the museum stuff, and who also did the computer work on the murder case that brought Maria into their lives.

“Sure, Eddie.” Max looked around the place at the noise and laughter. “This place is really hopping tonight, huh?”

“Guess. I don’t come very often. The other graduate students pulled me out tonight. Tess was supposed to come, but she cancelled at the last moment.”

Max stopped and exchanged a few more comments with Eddie, but it was Eddie’s expression of disgust that drew his attention.

“Pardon me?”

“Sorry, I was just commenting on fat bloated pigs.” Eddie pointed out a man in his mid-thirties talking to a small group of young women. The man wasn’t anything spectacular, but he was hardly repulsive, or at least not repulsive enough to make Eddie’s face tighten in such a sneer.

“You know him?’

“Yeah, he’s a professor with the Modern Linguistics Department, Gerald Tiny. He sometimes comes out to these bars to be with his ‘students’. The man gives academics a bad name.” Eddie actually spit on the floor. “I hate his smarmy guts. He’s one of those people who make others think he’s sincere, but all he’s interested in is getting his knob polished.”

Max’s face cleared as he suddenly placed the man. Gerald Tiny, the purveyor of good grades through fellatio. They watched the man for a while until Eddie excused himself to go back to his friends.

Max circled the floor and returned to the back room. Sean was busy tending bar and Alex was walking the floor. Michael sat in the back room glued to the monitor and only sort of acknowledged Max’s presence when he placed a new bottle of water next to him. Looking at the litter around Michael, it was no surprise that Michael had actually polished off both turkey sandwiches. Max took a seat and watched for a while before he needed to get back out there.

Suddenly Michael’s entire body went stiff and he stood up. Max frowned as Michael desperately searched the monitors and then looked around.

“Michael? What is it?”

Michael headed for the door. “He’s here.”

“He’s here? Michael?” Max called after his partner’s receding back. “How do you know?”

“I can feel him.”

Max frowned and turned to look at the monitors. Sean was also perfectly still, ignoring drink requests. He came out from behind the bar and was searching the room, his body stiff and guarded. Max turned to look at other monitors until he found Alex. Alex, like Michael and Sean, was on alert. He had been crouching down to talk to a group of people when suddenly he slowly stood and turned around to scan the room. Moving to his right, he slowly began to circle as both Michael and Sean began to do the same.

“What the hell?” Max quickly left the room and went to stand in the doorway leading out into the main bar. The three men were simultaneously circling their unknown prey without so much as a gesture to each other .

He sat in the club's dark area watching and waiting for the one he needed. It was already three hours into the night when suddenly he knew. He saw The One. Standing up, he slowly marked the man. A young man who looked Mediterranean. He was tall and thin and was laughing with a group of friends. He moved to stand close, to be near and yet unobtrusive as he slowly stalked his catch.

It didn’t register at first, but then it did. Slowly the hair on the back of his neck started to prickle, his palms began to sweat and a thin layer of moisture beaded on his upper lip. His heart sped up and his breathing became almost labored and loud, even to him. Moving away from his mark he stood still, so as to blend into the background. His stomach hurt and had a hollow pit in the middle of it as he searched the room desperately while trying to appear calm.

They were here. The hunters. He let fear and anger run through his body as he slowly shut down his normal responses. So it begins.

Moving slowly he blended into the shadows, into the existence between everyday and ordinary, and with a whispering blink of an eye he was gone.

Max watched in confusion as the bodies of all three men slowly uncoiled and relaxed. They all moved towards the back monitoring room in one accord.

Michael was the most vocal. “He’s gone.” Both Sean and Alex nodded. Sean was smoking another cigarette he had bummed off of Alex as Alex sat completely still, not talking or moving.

Max frowned at Alex's silent statue-like presence. Studying the man, he actually took a step back when Alex suddenly looked up and stared him straight in the face. The darkness of his face, the unreleased anger and the coldness were more burning than a nuclear blast. Winter had come home and it was a resident in Alex’s soul.

“He won’t be back tonight.” Sean said, taking another soothing drag from his smoke. “What do you want to do?”

Michael rubbed his head almost like he had a headache. “I’ll take the tapes into Central and pass them to Support. Let’s see if the byte geeks can get us clean pics of as many men as possible. He was here for a while, moving silently. I didn’t sense him until he started hunting.”

Both Alex and Sean nodded in agreement. Max just frowned at the three. What the hell was with them? He didn’t understand.

“Sense him? Michael?”

Michael was too distracted to respond, but Sean answered for him. “It’s the hunt. The prey feels the hunter and their body reacts with a fright or flight response. The smell changes, along with the overall energy of the room as the prey realizes they are being hunted. You can feel it, almost smell it.”

Alex just nodded as he broodingly stared at Michael’s back. They lost the son of a bitch! So close. He was so close, and Alex could still taste the bitterness of his fear. It was the taste of his blood that he wanted.

“So once he took to hunting, once he had an established prey...”

“The room changed. The nature of the killing field.” Sean said as Michael pulled the tapes and put in new ones. “Then it changed again when he felt us stalking him.”

Michael and Alex both turned and shared a look with Sean and each other. He felt them . That was why he left. He was experienced enough at hunting and death to feel the shift.

“Come on, partner, let’s get this downtown. We need all the help we can get. This one's going to be hard to run to ground. He can feel us coming for him.” Michael looked at both Sean and Alex. “You got this covered?” Both men nodded as Michael and Max took off.

He paused outside the club and rested against the wall to allow his heartbeat slow to a calming beat. They knew. They had found him. Smiling to himself, he let the adrenaline settle in his veins and feed the need. All these years he had stood next to them, next to all those who have reason to fear him, and they looked right through him. Discounted him as unimportant or insignificant. Not anymore. Not tonight.

Laughing to himself at the newness of the adventure, the new rush, he slowly made his way down the street. Calypso. Another club, another clientele. It was all the same. Moving inside, he lurked in the shadows searching for that perfect kill.

“Oh damn, I’m sorry!” The young man was horrified as he ran into the man next to him spilling his drink all over him.

“No prob...no problem! I was just going to get myself another one.” The young man frowned at the older man’s slurred speech.

“Hey, buddy, I think you’re at your limit.”

“No, no! Beer good. I want another beer. I can do whatever I want, and that bitch ain’t gonna tell me otherwise! I hate bitchy women!” The younger man smiled at that and quickly caught the man before he could fall over.

“Okay, okay. How about a nice cup of coffee? My treat?”

The older man looked at him with watery eyes, almost looking on the verge of tears. “Only if you join me?” The young man nodded. Sure, what the hell. Some coffee, and this poor sap might actually sober up enough to make it home.

“Coffee is good. Let me get some from the bartender.” The man started to move off, but the older man stopped him.

“Wait! I’ve got money!” The young man just laughed and pushed the wad of cash aside.

“Keep your cash, dude. Coffee is free in all bars. Just hang on tight and I’ll get us some coffee. You need cream and sugar, or is black okay?

“I like cream.” The man smiled at the youth still kind of watery. “I really loved that bitch. She was a swarthy Greek with a touch of Italian. I love the Mediterranean countries and their people. So warm, so alive.”

“Yeah, me too! I’m second generation Spanish from Toledo. You just hunker down and I’ll get us those coffees and then we’ll talk about how to get you home.”

He watched the youth walk off to the bar and smiled. Men could understand the pain of another when it involved a woman. Smiling to himself, he slipped the vial of liquid in his hand and started wavering drunk-like as the man returned with two cups of steaming coffee. Heat. Hot drinks made the drug work faster.

~~~

She looked up from where she was feeding when he came through the door. Michael took his jacket off and threw it in the direction of the coat-rack, not taking his eyes off Maria. The jacket missed the hook and slid to the floor. Maria’s heart stuttered in her chest at the sight of his nostrils flaring.

Michael didn't notice.

Maria took a small step toward him as Michael was moving forward rapidly. Then he had her in his arms, cradled to his chest, and he was caressing the beautiful soft hair. Maria looked up at him, and then snaked her arms around Michael's neck and drew Michael's head down to kiss her. Everything began spiraling out of control as they sank to their knees where they stood, lips still pressed together hungrily, hands scrambling at each other's clothes. Fabric ripped, buttons protested and gave way, and then Michael was bent over Maria on the floor, kissing her nipples, rubbing his face into the soft skin of her breasts as he worked off the remainder of her clothes.

“Just tell me you didn’t eat an entire turkey...” Michael said against her breasts as he took a nipple in his mouth.

“I saved you some. ”

Once naked, Maria pushed Michael onto his back and rolled on top of him, grabbing his head and pulling him into a bruising, frenzied kiss. Michael reached into Maria's hair with one hand and tried to pull off his pants with the other. It took too damn much concentration and motor coordination so he abandoned it as hopeless, grabbing a warm full handful of Maria's ass instead. He pulled Maria's hips down hard against his, and Maria lifted her head and moaned as Michael flipped her over again and got on top.

Pinning Maria beneath him, Michael bent to Maria's throat and sucked furiously. “Take me...claim me...” Maria pleaded, and Michael growled in response.

This time he was going to leave a mark. Maria raised her legs and wrapped them around Michael's waist, rubbing wantonly against the open fly of Michael's khakis and his c-ock. The action got Michael's attention. 'God, she's a handful,' he thought as his strong hands moved to grab Maria's thighs, to pry them from his waist. Then he was sliding down his lover's body, intending to take Maria into his mouth...and then he stopped. Gazing at Maria, who was lying on her back, hair spread around her head and breathing hard, nipples red and peaked, hips straining, passage dripping, legs spread wide under the firm pressure of his fingers, he heard the sudden, deafening sound of his own harsh breathing and he extended his right arm towards Maria's face.

Maria took Michael's hand in both of hers and brought it to her mouth. She sucked Michael's fingers mutely, laving them generously with her tongue as she stared into his eyes with not a blink. Michael groaned and nearly came with the image, the sensation and the pleasure of it. Finally he pulled his hand away and brought his thoroughly wet fingers to Maria's opening. Tilting Maria's hips up, Michael gently inserted a finger into the tight, impossibly hot tunnel and moved it in and out. Maria's hands clenched into fists and she opened her legs wider to give Michael better access. Michael ran his finger over Maria's clit and her hips bucked uncontrollably. Michael put a firm hand on Maria's abdomen and held her down, then inserted another finger into her.

Maria gasped and pushed back, reached down to grasp his c-ock. Michael pushed her hand away and took Maria into his own hands and lifted her to his mouth. He stroked his fingers in and out of Maria, stroked her up and down with steady, solid pressure. Maria whimpered.

“Michael...”

"Maria," murmured Michael softly, "you're beautiful, you're so beautiful, you have no idea..." He increased the speed of his strokes on Maria's flesh as he bent his head and used more tongue. "I love you...I want you...always want you."

Maria tensed beneath him and Michael knew she was close. He added a third finger and sped his strokes even faster. "You were made for me, Maria," he murmured raggedly, "made for me , and you're mine. Come for me," he said quietly, and then he pulled his hand out of her suddenly, bent his head again and deeply kissed where his fingers had been.

Maria spasmed furiously and came, spurting and pushing hard into him as he refused to stop sucking on her. Michael ran his hands over the underside of Maria's thighs, over her hips, feeling the muscles trembling seductively beneath him. Pulling his hands away he quickly pulled off his pants, finally freeing his own aching c-ock. He ran lingering fingers over Maria's abdomen, and then began lubricating himself with her moisture. Heart pounding, Michael knelt between Maria's legs and pulled her hips up into his lap. He positioned his c-ock at the entrance to Maria's body and pressed forward gently.

For a moment he thought that he hadn't prepared her well enough, but then slowly he moved forward into her beautiful, hot, welcoming body. He exhaled a long breath and looked down into Maria's green eyes as they stared up at him. Michael could see so much in those eyes, could see himself in those eyes, and they stared at each other for what seemed like a lifetime in mere moments. Michael finally buried himself deep in Maria's body and completely, totally and utterly lost control.

Michael thrust into Maria hard, and Maria urged him on with her body and her soft voice as Michael pounded, sliding out and in with long, furious strokes, "Oh yes, Michael, yes . Yes. Yes. Please . Oh please, Michael--in me, in me , harder! faster!-- please , Michael--f-uck me, f-uck me, f-uck me, oh god, oh god, oh..." And Michael closed his eyes and felt Maria's body contract around him. He was coming and Maria was coming and the world spun and he held onto her warm body as he fell...

"It didn't work very well," he said.

"What didn't?" Maria asked with her eyes closed, softly stroking his body as it lay on hers, having a little trouble concentrating.

"Having to leave you like I did."

"It was hard. You were hard, I know. We do better together," she told him. Opening her eyes she watched a light go on in the back of his eyes.

"That's it exactly. We do better together," he said with a beautiful smile. Missing her was starting to be a problem.

"So can you take me to bed now?" Maria asked him, already leaning in for a kiss. Michael quickly got up and pulled her after him, picking her up in his arms as her arms went around his neck and her legs wrapped around his middle. Navigating them carefully up the stairs took some work since Maria refused to give up his mouth. Their mouths fit perfectly right like they were made just for that. Michael had some serious stubble action going on, and the scraping of his face against hers was leaving whisker burns. Maria knew that she would see those red marks all around her mouth along with bruises and feel them start to tingle in a few hours. A reminder of being marked.

Marked.

"Michael?" Maria pulled back just far enough to get the word out as he dumped them on the bed, his body hard and heavy on hers.

"Yeah?"

"Bite me."

Oh, sh-it . He actually growled, pushing her over flat on her back again and he pounced, pulling her head back by her hair and baring her throat. Oh my God. He put the edges of his teeth on her neck and he was chewing, hard--enough to scratch, but he refrained from breaking the skin. She could feel the promise as the blood rushed to that spot and her skin heated up. Michael groaned while he prepared the skin, pushing his hips into her again, opening her up. Up and back, up and back. A familiar rhythm. It was his out-of-control rhythm. Maria was lovin' it.

"Can't wait..." he muttered.

"Wait? Wait? I've waited long enough , just do it." Maria head was back, and she was already feeling the early rushes of another orgasm.

He let go of her neck and raised up to sit back on his legs while straddling her. He was deliciously heavy, and Maria blamed all that Grease Pit burger weight for the fact that she was having a little trouble breathing here. It couldn’t be him. He looked wild . He had his hand down on his crotch, rubbing himself, like he couldn't stand it one more minute. Maria moaned. Who taught him to be such a f-ucking tease?

Maria reached out a hand and gathered some of the moisture from the head of his c-ock. Lifting her hand slowly upward knowing he was following her every move, she put her fingers into her mouth and tasted them, watching him with narrowed eyes. He followed her actions and did the same. He gathered some moisture on his fingers and, moving to lie down on her, extended the fingers to her mouth to be pulled inside.

Everywhere his skin touched hers it felt like fire . It was so hot. He had his hands in her hair, fistfuls of it, clench, unclench, clench, and unclench. Like a cat kneading. He was pushing her hard, moving on her, stopping just short of penetration. His whole weight was bearing down on her and Maria couldn't breathe even if she wanted to. Breathe later. F-uck now. Michael took deep calming breaths trying to regain some control, but he was too many steps past that stage. Maria felt him trembling, and it was just the best feeling, doing this with him, knowing she made him feel this way.

Michael’s eyes darkened and took on another otherworldly glint as he took her hands in his and pinned them over their heads against the bed. His lower body had her pinned as well as his heavier leg moved her legs even further apart to give him even more room in the cradle, stroking her back and forth with his c-ock, but stopping just short of slipping past the swollen folds, Maria moaned her need.

"What?" Maria asked him, but he just shook his head and put his fingers on his lips as his other hand continued to hold hers captive.

"Shhh." Maria actually gulped at the darkness in his eyes, the gleam almost unfathomed in the rich color.

He surged toward her, pushing her legs apart and sliding in between. He was already too hot, but his hands were steady. Maria leaned towards him and opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, but he just shut her up by sticking his tongue in her mouth. Pretty effective, that. Maria no longer had any idea what she wanted to say. It was gone, licked out by Michael's tongue.

Such a rush!

He could make her come just from kissing. His erection was leaking against her opening as he rubbed and teased against her. Maria freed one hand and moved her nails into his back encouraging him to enter her again, to take her hard and long. Michael just made an tsking sound in his throat, and he finally slid into her in one hard thrust. So impatient. Maria’s whole body shuddered as he rammed into her hard and then harder, grunting his response. She moved up against him like a wanton slut, wanting more, needing more. And her actions sent him over the edge of reason as his hand took her freed one and once again pinned her to the bed.

Maria was shocked as his hips took on a new urgency pistoning into her with the sort of breakneck speed and hardness he rarely used, and never since knowing about the baby. It was all him and all her. Nothing between them except that thin layer of skin separating their blood. Michael’s mouth found the meaty flesh above her shoulder and just on her back, and he bit down hard moaning as the rush of blood hit his tongue. Not finished, his mouth continued to maul and feed on her flesh as his f-ucking took another leap into a frantic frenzy as the erotic feel of her sweat-slick body writhed under him.

Maria smiled then bit down hard on Michael's shoulder, drawing blood. Michael could always be enticed to orgasm with the sharp contrast of pain and pleasure. He gasped her name and then her body was filled with hot, slick fluid. Two thrusts later, scintillating energy rose up implacably from the soles of her feet, coiled around where his c-ock was embedded in her, rippled through her belly, spiraled along their Bond rushing along their spines. And light burst behind her eyes as she surrendered to the sensual lightning, and he spilt love and passion into her spasming body. The rush began again, and in an instant feeling like death and a feeding at the same time, he quickened her.

"Maria...Maria..." He got that much out before he seized up and she could feel him coming hard again, almost convulsing. Maria didn’t remember screaming, but she heard him calling her name in an almost fog. And all she knew was the weight of him, the sparkling bursts of energy running through her body fueling her and making her feel alive, along with the equally pounding rush of his pulse pushing the blood into her mouth from where she was sucking on the bite she gave him.

Maria's chest was heaving as she gasped for air, and Michael shifted his weight to the side to let her breathe more easily. He ran his free hand gently up her arms still pinned above their heads, letting the sensations register. It was like swimming toward the surface from a very great depth of water. He could feel the blackness receding, the light and clear air getting nearer. He trailed his fingers up to her wrist, and the thudding of the pulse flooded into him. He had lost himself in her, lost track of what he was going. All he remembered was the primal need to feed on her, have all of her, to feel her body submit to his. It was a violence almost akin to rape, but with all the impressions of a branding.

It jolted him the rest of the way back into awareness. He blinked his eyes, and it was Maria he had pinned to the floor downstairs and then their bed. It was Maria and it was the loft and it was all so confusing. He realized he was holding Maria's wrists over their heads, and he quickly let them go.

"Maria?" he asked, still dazed, his voice coming out in a croak.

"Michael?" Maria asked, sounding startled that he was so confused.

Then the rest of it hit him--the smell of blood, Maria's blood, the sound of her heart racing and the rush of air struggling to move in her lungs, the hard feel of his body still joined with hers and the nagging pang of conscience. He wasn't quite sure what he'd done wrong, but definitely something. Definitely.

"Maria?" he said again, starting to panic. He slowly moved his body from hers and swore at her wincing in pain.

"It's okay, Michael. It's okay." Maria moved her hand down his body to soothe him. She was tender and sore, but otherwise feeling pretty damn fine. Michael was hardly small or light, and the ride he gave her had been hard and deep, leaving her body still tingling and bruised.

God, it was Maria. He put his hands on Maria's face, on her forehead, her cheeks, her chin, everywhere, trying to reassure himself. He stared into her eyes looking for answers, reassurance that he didn’t hurt her while he was out of his head.

"Maria," he affirmed.

Maria nodded. "Yeah. It's me. I’m okay. We’re okay."

He gently touched the corner of Maria's mouth with his as his hand settled on her shoulder. The slight hiss of pain made him pull back. Then he held up his fingers and stared at them. Maria's blood. And then he remembered, like waking up from a nightmare. Only it was real, too horribly real. And he couldn't look away from the red-brown smear on his hand, too appalled by what he'd done. Almost afraid to look at her shoulder, neck and upper back, he did anyway. She looked like someone had mauled her, mauled her while raping her at the same time. Michael felt the nausea hit and he started to black out.

"Ah, sh-it!" Maria grabbed his arm. "Don't you do this! Don't you f-ucking pass out on me! You hear me, Michael?"

The insistence in her voice called him back to reality. Without the comfort of oblivion to cushion the realization of what he'd been doing to the person he most cherished, his stomach lurched violently. He jumped up from the bed and rushed to the bathroom. His body shook alarmingly as he emptied his guts into the toilet. His stomach just wouldn't stop heaving, even after there was nothing left to expel.

Much to his surprise, Maria knelt on the tile floor beside him and rubbed his back soothingly. After what he'd done, what he'd been thinking, he would have expected Maria to bolt for safety at the first opportunity. That's exactly what anyone with any sense would have done, what Michael still half wished she would do in case he lost his mind again.

Instead, Maria was trying to comfort him. "It's okay, Michael. You're okay now," she said over and over again, in that low, calm voice of her that always resonated in Michael's head and his insides like some kind of acoustic wonder.

"I'm sorry, Maria," he said, when he could finally speak.

"I know. It's all right." Maria wrapped an arm around him, hugging him from behind.

"God, I'm just so, so sorry."

"Shhh." Maria hugged him and pressed her face against his shoulder. "I'm not hurt. There's no harm done. You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing I didn’t want."

Michael just shook his head. Too much. It was too much. They were pushing it too far. "I was..." He shook his head. "I don't know even how to describe it. I was too far gone, somewhere else. Someone else."

Maria squeezed him in comfort. "That's okay. We don't have to figure out everything right this minute. Come on." She stood up and tugged on Michael's arm to get him to his feet, too. "Why don't you brush your teeth and get a shower? Okay?"

He nodded and let Maria lead him over to the sink. Suddenly, he felt so tired and heavy even the simplest movement took all his strength. He watched as Maria wet the bristles of his tooth brush and squeezed the tooth paste onto it. Maria pressed it into his hand, and he began to brush, mechanically, his body functioning on sense memory, his brain numb. After a while, Maria's hand stopped him and took the tooth brush back. Maria held the cup against his lips, and he automatically took a sip and spit it out.

"There you go, baby. That's good. Okay, you jump into the shower, and I'll wash your back."

He nodded.

"Good. Just lean on me. It’ll be alright." The shower was pounding and hot. It was actually too hot really for his sensitive skin, but he felt the need to sanitize himself, to have the taint burned away.

He watched her as she covered the bites in antibiotic cream and a bandage. Then she did his wounds as well. Leading him back into their bedroom, she climbed into bed with him and held him.

“It has to stop,” he said quietly.

“What?” Maria held her breath in the dark. She didn’t want to hear this.

“The blood and hyped-up sex. It has to end. Now. I need it to end.” Michael rubbed his face feeling more tired then he could remember. “The sex was always something extraordinary, but lately it's more. Too much more. I’m hard almost constantly and it only takes your smell to set me off.”

“Michael...”

“I’m losing time and sense of myself. It’s an addiction. I think about you all day and can’t wait until I see you. Just that is enough to make me move to the edge.” Michael sighed. “I was so hard tonight, so hyped and I had to go to work. Normally I would have gone to the bathroom and taken off the edge, but I can’t. I can’t take off the edge any longer, Maria, because that edge is where I’m at all the time.”

“It’s not bad. You like it...” Maria whispered against him. Michael quickly sat up and dragged her with him.

“Like it?” Michael laughed almost hysterically. “Like it doesn’t touch it. I love it! I want it, need it, I almost would die for it! Dammit, Professor, move away from this and think about what I’m saying.” Michael shook her almost in anger, but mostly in fear. “I could wake up from wherever the hell I go and find I raped you, or find you bleeding to death on our sheets. And you're just as far gone--you wouldn’t even protest.”

“That’s not true. We're not that far gone.” Maria protested. “You would never hurt me.”

Michael hugged her close to him. “Never. Not willingly.” Mating his forehead to Maria’s he told her what he needed. “I’m afraid. This makes me afraid. Not just for you, but for the baby. I want to stop because I'm losing myself and I'm losing time. I can’t protect you and the baby if...”

“Michael.” Maria was already shaking her head no. “I need this. I want it. I want you.”

“Need! That’s the problem, Maria. When did making love become something we needed and not something we did to join us? I don’t mind a touch of need, a touch of fire and violence, but this is something totally different.” Michael searched for explanation. “This is driven . It feels driven.”

Maria clutched him desperately knowing what he was going to ask from her. “Michael, please...”

“It’s what I need.” Michael kissed her gently. “I need to know you’re safe, that this won’t hurt you or the baby. I’m not asking for forever...just until the baby is born. Afterwards if you still want to, we can try this again...”

“No sex?” Maria asked quietly.

“God, no! Sex...making love is fine. Maybe slow it down, not so many public places or all the time, but god, no...sex is fine. Blood , Maria. No more blood, at least not until after the baby is born.” Michael held her firm when he felt her body moving in protest. “Professor, please. I need this. Please?” his voice broke under the strain.

Michael knew he had won, that she would agree. Maria never denied him anything he needed. Her arms came up around his neck to hold him tight. He could feel the tremors in her body, the fierceness of her hold and he ran a soothing hand down her body. She just nodded her acquiescence and Michael swore he felt tears on his skin as he held her trembling body.