BETH

I watched Simone leave, small, round vial of Black Crystal in hand. I warned her to try very little, that women had died from silver poisoning after using it. She just smiled and thanked me again, anxious to finally get a taste of what she could have with Josef. I was seriously second-guessing my suggestion.

I had just shut the door when there came a knock.

"Did you forget something?" I asked, not bothering to check the peephole before opening the door again. It was Mick.

"Oh. Mick! Sorry, I thought you were Simone. She just left—did you see her outside?" From his annoyed expression, I knew I must have done something wrong.

"You didn't even ask who was at the door, Beth," said my overprotective vampire, brushing past me to come inside. "I could have been a crazed rapist or something."

"Or the Big, Bad Vampire," I countered, closing the door. I walked up behind him, wrapping my arms around his slim waist, my cheek pressed into his back. My hands slid beneath his shirt, caressing his stomach muscles. When I felt him tremble at my touch, I knew he'd already forgotten his annoyance. He turned in my arms and my lips were suddenly captured by his cool ones. It was my turn to tremble. His wet tongue tangled with mine and his hands came up to hold either side of my face. I loved it when he did that.

"Hello to you too," I sighed, my fingers still playing in the soft curls at his nape.

"Sorry for snapping at you," he said, his hands on my behind, pulling me closer. I could feel how much he wanted me, and I smiled knowingly.

"Well, she had just left, Mick. Sometimes I take calculated risks. I might even cross the street tomorrow, or get behind the wheel of my car. I'm just crazy that way."

"Alright, alright. Anyone ever tell you what a smart mouth you have?" But he was smiling when he said it.

"The better to kiss you with, my dear," said I, doing just that.

Soon we were huffing and puffing on my couch, which he once said was his favorite piece of furniture in my apartment. Mine too, since we'd been on it the first time we made love. I guess he felt like recreating that moment, because it wasn't long before we were both naked and entwined there. As usual, my heart rate soared as his mouth teased my breasts, his hand between my legs, fingers working their magic as I softly panted his name.

My hands were busy too at the feast of gorgeous man before me. He was all lean muscle and supple skin, lightly furred in all the right places. My fingers loved to play with the hair on his chest, with the hard, smooth muscle between his thighs. It never failed to amaze and empower me that I could make this powerful creature tremble and gasp just with a touch. He was so gentle and worshipful of me, when I knew he could tear a man limb from limb with his bare hands. You can't imagine what a turn-on all that harnessed power could be. And when we joined at last it was like nothing I had ever known before. His fangs were suddenly at my neck, and he drank from me. I could feel the pull of his mouth all the way to my core, and I quickly shuttered in release. His answering moan filled my ears, hummed through my body as he climaxed within me.

When I could finally speak again, I lay halfway on top of him as he smoothed my ruffled hair. I had to laugh breathlessly.

"I told Simone we were so comfortable now that we were like an old married couple." I could feel the rumble of his soft laughter beneath my ear.

"Oh really? You know any old couples that can blow each other's minds with sex like we just had?"

I propped my chin on my hands so I could look into his eyes. "That's why I was laughing. I hope she didn't think I meant we were boring. Far from it. Just… content." Our gazes locked a moment, his suddenly serious.

"Are you too content, Beth?

"Huh? Oh my God—no! I'm more than content. Maybe that's not the right word. Deliriously happy? So in love with you that you take my very breath when I look at you. When we're together-- and I don't just mean making love—you overwhelm me but leave me wanting more, wanting all of you, in every part of my body, my heart, my soul." I blushed and had to look down at how mushy I was sounding. Men didn't like women to talk that way. Did they?

Mick lifted my chin so I would meet his eyes again. "I couldn't have said it better myself," he said softly, and our lips met in a sweet kiss.

"So, did you just come for a booty call," I teased, "or was there something in particular you wanted to tell me?

He was quiet a moment as I laid my head back down on his chest, and he resumed the absent stroking of my hair.

"It can wait," he said at last. "I just want to bask awhile in all this contentment."

I grinned, and knew without looking that he was doing the same. "Bask away…" I said, before sleep overcame me.

MICK

I knew it was Josef banging on my freezer, because any other person or vamp would have known he only had about ten seconds to live once I woke up. My eyes opened to see my friend through the foggy glass, an inscrutable expression on his soon- to- be -pummeled face. I pushed up on the cover, pleased to have narrowly missed clocking him in the chin with it.

"This had better be good, Josef." I looked at the clock as I sat up. I groaned. I still had an hour before I had to get up—it was only one p.m. My client meeting wasn't until three. He tossed me my pants.

"I have a story to tell you, Mick," he began as I climbed out of my icy bed.

"Is this story about a vampire tearing apart another who woke him up? Because I thought of that one first." I went into the bathroom and shut the door. He continued talking while I peed. What were we—women?

"Anyway, last night, Simone and I had this date. You know, theatre and weekly liquid refreshment? So I drive to her house and she opens the door. I have never seen her look so sexy—act so hot for me."

In the bathroom, I was beginning to get bored as well as annoyed. I finished my business and reluctantly washed up, throwing cold water on my face to try to wake up. I looked longingly at the shower, sighed, and came out of the bathroom. All the while, Josef was talking. He followed me downstairs, continuing his narrative as I took my breakfast from the fridge.

"…I'm telling you, Mick, it was the best sex I've ever had. She did things to me—dear God—I mean, do I walk funny now?"

"Is there a point to this Penthouse Forum story? 'Cause I'm seriously not interested in your sex life, Josef." I took a gulp of blood right out of the bottle.

"Okay, okay. I'm getting to the best part, but let me just reiterate—I've been with the most talented courtesans who ever lived, the highest priced call girls, but last night, Simone—there are no words, my friend."

"You don't seem to be at a loss," I said softly. He ignored me and went on.

"So, the minor detail I haven't mentioned is that I thought at first I'd smelled another vamp on her. Needless to say, I was so caught up in the moment that I chose to put it out of my mind, until I went in for a bite right at the appropriate moment. And guess what? She tasted like she'd ingested the blood of another vamp, but she hadn't been turned, Mick. And then it hit me. Her wild behavior, her complete change of demeanor, the faint taste of silver—" He was suddenly very serious and looking me dead in the eye. "She was on Black Crystal, Mick."

My hand paused on the bottle I'd raised halfway to my mouth. I slowly set it down. He had my full attention now.

"When I asked her about it," he continued, "Simone showed me this." He held up the familiar metal vial just like the ones Beth and I had taken from Lola's club some months before.

"So tell, me, buddy, why is your girlfriend giving my girlfriend dried vampire blood laced with silver?" He slammed down the vial. "Is she out of her fuckin' mind?"

"Simone said Beth gave it to her?" My mind was working overtime for a good excuse as to why Beth would have done something so reckless, to a woman she claimed had become one of her best friends.

"That's right." His voice was deadly calm now.

"I don't know what to tell you Josef. Believe me, I'm just as shocked as you are. Is Simone okay now?"

"Yeah, now that she's slept it off."

I tried to reassure him, but I knew the memory of those models who died from silver poisoning was foremost in his mind. "Look, Beth tried it one time, and aside from a case of major embarrassment, she's had no ill effects." I watched Josef's face, realizing I hadn't seen him this mad since he'd thought Simone was kidnapped by a gangster.

"Before you decide to kill Beth—and believe me, the line forms here—did Simone say why she took it?"

Josef sighed and poured himself a glass from my abandoned bottle of O neg. He must be upset, because he rarely drank bottled blood without thinning it down with alcohol; normally, he preferred his blood straight from the tap.

"She said she wanted to know how it felt to be a vampire. She thought this might answer some questions for her and settle things in her mind, see if this is really what she wanted."

"And the verdict," I asked cautiously.

"The woman is back to begging me to turn her again. She'd let it go awhile, but thanks to Beth's…meddling…" I saw him snap his jaw together, like he was trying to avoid saying something he shouldn't.

"Don't be too hard on Beth," I said, trying to convince myself as well. At that moment, I could gladly drain her dry. "I mean, you got, and I quote: 'the best sex I've ever had.' Seems to me you should be thanking her."

Josef had to grin at that. "Okay, that part was good. More than good. What she did with her tongue—"

"Say no more, Josef I mean it. Say. No. More. I know our women tend to find trouble together. This time, it went a little beyond the cuteness factor. I'll talk to Beth about it, okay? Go home and get some sleep before you do something crazier than waking up a vamp an hour before his alarm was set to go off." I looked at him meaningfully, but he didn't seem to notice or care.

"You're right," he sighed, running hands through his spiky, gelled hair. I marveled how it stayed exactly the same. "It was a long night, and I feel like death warmed over." He smiled tiredly at his little joke. "I'll call you later." He downed the last of his glass with a grimacing salute, and left me alone in my apartment.

I walked into the living room, shaking my head in disbelief at what those two girls had gotten themselves into this time. When were they going to learn that no human could dabble safely in the world of vampires? My eyes strayed to the cure, secure in its little box where I'd left it on the coffee table the night before. I was such a hypocrite.