A/N: slight M-rating for the beginning of this chapter

Lucien was nearly ready to disconnect the telephone, he was so upset over the interruption. Jean had stopped what she was doing in order to run off and answer the phone. He knew she had to, he knew that between his patients and the police, the phone had to be answered. But there had never been a more inconvenient time for it to ring.

At that exact moment, Lucien had been sitting on the end of his bed entirely naked after Jean had used her vampire speed to take all his clothes off faster than he could even contemplate. She allowed him to take more time in stripping her bare, and he let his hands and mouth explore her as she stood before him. He pulled her into his lap to kiss her deeply, but she pulled away.

Lucien hadn't wanted to allow her to go. He hadn't gotten nearly enough of her kisses. Though he did have the joy of kissing her quite frequently nowadays. It still wasn't enough.

But then Jean did something miraculous. Something he would have never anticipated from her. He had learned, in recent days, that she was quite a passionate woman and an exquisite lover. But she was still Jean, still liked things done their proper way, still had a buttoned-up manner about her; she was a good Catholic and one hundred fifty-six years old at that. Lucien Blake would have never imagined that Jean would get down on her knees and use her tongue to trace the vein on the underside of his half-hard cock.

The whimper that escaped him was entirely outside his control. His body was utterly at her mercy. He would have been regardless, but the boldness of her actions had seduced him right out of his mind. Pleasure sparked through him as he watched her, unable to keep his eyes off her. She stroked him almost lazily as she moved her face to his leg. Her lips dragged over the muscle of his thigh. And then, suddenly, a puff of air landed on his skin. Her fangs were out.

Jean looked up at him with silent question. Other than that first time when he'd found her passed out and she'd not known what she was doing, Jean had never bitten him without his explicit offer for her to do so. And with her fangs out and her hand moving up and down on his erection, Lucien's blood raced through him and screamed out with want. "Please," he choked.

She smiled in response and leaned in close to sink her teeth into his thigh. Lucien gasped at the feel of it, Jean sucking on his leg and coaxing his blood into her mouth. He panted with want of her. God, it all felt so good.

Before he knew what was happening, Jean lifted her head from where she bit him and moved to take his cock into her mouth. The heat of his blood still on her tongue was an unfamiliar and utterly erotic sensation. If he'd had a little more sense in that moment, he might worry if there was something deranged about him for being so incredibly turned on by everything about this encounter. He'd not last long, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to make Jean stop.

But then the bloody phone! "Stay here," she said, breathing heavily from her activities and throwing on his shirt to cover her body before running out of the room quicker than a shot. That vampire power of hers certainly did have its uses.

Lucien fell back on his bed and let out a groan of frustration. He had been so close and his body was keyed up and on the knife edge of relief, now just coursing with pain from being torn away from his release.

Jean returned a moment later. Lucien heard the door open and felt the weight of her shift the mattress as she sat beside him, but he couldn't look at her. "That was Chief Superintendent Lawson," she said gently. Apologetically. "There's been a death at the Rex."

He groaned again.

Thankfully Jean had the good sense not to touch him, for any contact from her would make him lose all control. She did speak comfortingly, though. "Go stand under the cold water for a minute. I'll have your clothes ready. And I'll leave the bandage for your leg. I am sorry."

"Not nearly as sorry as I am," he grumbled, hauling his body up. She was right, he'd take a cold shower and get dressed and get through the afternoon.

"If you're not too late getting home, we can…"

He saw the way she blushed. It charmed and fascinated him that the same woman who had gone down on him as she drank his blood could now be shy to speak about such things. Lucien chuckled in amusement at it. "Yes," he agreed. "I certainly would like to reciprocate for you if we have the time."

Her eyes went wide at that. "Oh my," she breathed.

Lucien winked at her. "It has a different effect, but I might like to take a few bites of you later."

She swatted his arm for that one. "The police are waiting, Lucien," she scolded. But the twinkle in her eye told him that she enjoyed his teasing innuendo.

And so it was that Lucien had to put himself back together and do his best to ignore the slight pain in his thigh from where Jean had bitten him. He usually wasn't sore, but he was used to it on his arms. The leg was a new experience. His muscles moved differently there, and it was bothering him more than expected. He'd have to talk to Jean about that.

When he got to the cinema, he found a collection of police cars and Matthew Lawson waiting impatiently for him. "Took you long enough," Matthew grumbled as Lucien approached.

"I was in the middle of something," he said, providing the vaguest excuse he could muster.

Matthew just grunted. "We've got a body in the projection room. I'd like to have him moved."

Lucien nodded. He followed up to the small dark room where the projectionist lay dead, slumped in the corner of the room, wedged between the shelves holding the tins of film and the film projector itself. The deceased couldn't have been older than about nineteen. "What's his name?" Lucien asked.

"Roger Miggs."

With a sigh to himself, Lucien murmured, "I'm sorry this happened to you, Roger."

Immediately upon seeing the body, seeing the young man with his collar open and his neck exposed, Lucien knew what this was.

Eight days passed from when the still unknown girl had been found drained of blood. And now they had another body with a vampire bite. Not drained of blood, not by a long shot. But dead nonetheless. And this bite was very, very fresh. Lucien would know.

"Those marks on the neck, you know what they are?" Matthew asked.

"I'll have to do some tests," Lucien answered evasively. He did a preliminary review of the body, looking for the obvious cause of death. It wasn't from the bite, as far as Lucien could tell. But he wasn't sure. "Damn," he muttered as he tried to shift the body.

"What?" Matthew asked.

"When was he discovered?" Lucien asked.

"The film ended and cleaning staff noticed the projector wasn't turned off, so someone came to investigate. Called us right after."

"Rigor has started to set in. He's going to be difficult to move. I'll need some help," Lucien explained. He stood up again and removed his jacket, needing more range of motion. He rolled up his sleeves for the same reason.

"What's that?" Matthew demanded sharply.

Lucien hadn't even thought about it. Hadn't even realized. He'd rolled up his sleeves in public. He had bruises and bite marks all over his forearms. Wounds that matched the decease. "Helped Jean with some yard work. The rose bushes got me," he lied.

"That doesn't look like the work of rose thorns," Matthew disagreed with a wary tone.

Christ what a bloody nightmare. Lucien would have to do something about it. "Here, Matthew, go get one of the constables to help me with this. I want to get him out of this position so he can be transported to the morgue."

Matthew thankfully didn't press the issue and went to shout for Ned to assist Lucien.

"Oh, Matthew?" Lucien called, almost as a second thought.

"Hmm?"

"Are you free for dinner tonight?"

Matthew shrugged. "Probably."

"Come over. Jean's making a roast. Plenty for everyone," Lucien insisted. And he was thankful when Matthew agreed. Jean would need to do a little rearranging of the Chief Superintendent's memories. Best get it taken care of as soon as possible. And then hopefully he and Jean could continue what they'd started this afternoon.