11.

I pulled my hand away from Logan's more quickly than I intended. I didn't want to look too suspicious, but then again, Logan being here wasn't even in the game plan. I prepared myself for many things that night—vampire attacks, potential human attacks, etc—but I did not prepare for the possible arrival of a friend at this party. I wanted to be angry with him for trying to help when I specifically told him not to, but I couldn't be angry at him.

I should have known he would do something like this. I underestimated him. Something that should never be done. I could only be angry with myself for confiding so much in him. This was my battle, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Logan exchanged a few pleasantries with Jean-Paul, and then he sauntered off to another corner of the room, making small talk with some of the other patrons of the party. I had to remind myself to keep it together. I sat down again, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible.

"What's wrong?" Jean-Paul asked.

"Nothing. Where's the bathroom?" I whispered to Jean-Paul. I knew he could hear me over the throbbing music. Hell, Logan probably heard me, too. I didn't care. I just needed to get out of that room. I felt like the roof was going to come crashing down at any second. I needed a moment to recompose my thoughts. I couldn't let this little glitch in the plans throw me off. I was a leader; I knew how to adjust to situations.

"Follow me," he said. He stood up and led me up a flight of stairs and down a dim hallway. We walked into a bathroom. Jean-Paul closed and stood against the door; I rested my shaky hands on the edge of the sink, taking deep breaths, reminding myself that this was not a problem. I had to pull myself together for the sake of this investigation.

"Did you know that man?" Jean-Paul asked.

"Um… he looked sort of familiar." I stammered, not looking up to meet his eyes. I was anxious to change the subject. "You said that we couldn't leave. Why, Jean-Paul? Why can't we leave?" I wanted to leave now more than ever.

"I can't. We can't. We just have to stay here." His voice dropped an octave when he said this. I didn't like his explanation for why we couldn't leave. I wanted to get out of here. Well, I wanted to get Logan out of here, and then, I wanted to get out of here.

Silence filled the bathroom. I heard Jean-Paul shuffle toward me, and I felt his arms slide across my shoulder. I jerked away from him and looked at him. He didn't look like the lost puppy from moments before. He was now in full-seducing mode. "I thought we established that you were not supposed to make unwanted physical contact with me."

He didn't say anything as he slipped his shirt over his head. I nearly choked on my tongue. He reached for me again, and this time I didn't move. I froze in the spot I was standing in. He pulled me close to him, and I put my hands against his chest to keep from making contact. Bright Lady, what was going on?

"I think I like you. I mean… really, really like you. And I wonder how could I like you of all people? You kill vampires for a living, and I think I'm fucking falling in love with you." I saw him swallow hard as he said those words. His inflection was laced with an acridity that I didn't know he possessed.

I broke from his embrace and stepped away from him, stepping into the bathtub shakily. Things were getting too weird. He's known me a few days, and he thinks he's falling in love with me. Goddess. I don't think I liked this game, anymore.

"Jean-Paul, what are you doing? Put your shirt back on. You stop this, right now. You can't seriously think you love me. That's ridiculous. You don't even know me." I said, pushing myself into a corner of the tub, my voice urgent.

Jean-Paul climbed into the tub, and I worked on making myself as compact as possible in my corner. I averted my eyes from Jean-Paul's chest and nearly screamed when I saw someone looking in the window to the bathroom. It was our host, Roger. There was nothing creepier than seeing a man watching you in the window while being accosted by a vampire.

I turned back to Jean-Paul who was closer to me than I wanted. "He's watching us." Jean-Paul said, nodding toward the window. "He thinks we're lovers, remember; we have to give him a show. He expects me to bite you. If I bite you, that defines you as my property."

I stiffened at that and started calculated necessary routes of escape. A lightning storm. A rainstorm. A full-blown hurricane. Instead of causing a natural disaster, I pleaded with Jean-Paul. "Please, Jean-Paul, don't bite me. Whatever you do, don't bite me."

"I promise I won't bite you, but we have to go through the motions to make him think I did bite you." He whispered into my ear. I let him wrap his arm around me, and I felt helpless right then. "I would never betray you."

That's a lie, or at least, I wanted to tell myself that it was a lie. He was a junkie; he would do anything the older vampires told him to do. However, his voice sounded so sincere. I hate to say this, but I had to trust Jean-Paul. I knew how he said he felt about me, but that didn't mean a damn thing if he would betray me to the other vampires. "Make it good." I said, reluctantly, meshing my body against Jean-Paul's.

He used his fingertips to close my eyes, and I did so – probably stupidly, might I add. Our lips touched for a second. Then, he tilted my head back and I felt his lips on the side of my neck. I tensed, pushing against him. This could mean the end of my life. Tomorrow night I could be sucking blood from… I don't even want to think about it.

"Relax, Ororo." He breathed into my neck. He placed a couple of kisses on my neck. I felt his tongue twirl around a spot on my neck. He paused for a moment, and then I felt his lips latch to my throat – no teeth. I stood there, stiffly, wishing he would hurry up. He was obviously enjoying this too much. I could tell from the way he was pulling me closer.

I could feel it – that hunger. I remember feeling that same need with Vega. I hoped Jean-Paul wouldn't go berserk and bite me. I've seen that happen, and it wasn't pretty. I might not be fortunate enough to come back as one of them. Gruesome images of me with my throat ripped out clouded my mind. "Jean-Paul!" I called out into the bathroom, and he let go of me, hastily.

When he pulled back, I felt air hitting dampness on my neck. I could see blood on his lips. Frantic, I put my fingers to my neck. There were no puncture wounds, but when I pulled my fingers away from my neck, I could see there was blood on the tips. "What did you do?" I hissed at him. He looked at the window where Roger no longer stood.

"I bit my lip," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "You can position a band-aid over that spot on your neck to make them think that I bit you. If they found out I didn't…" He trailed off. He opened the medicine cabinet and handed me a box of bandages.

I looked in the mirror at the bloody spot on my neck. I turned on the faucet, wetting a towel and dabbing at my neck. I took one of the bandages out of the box, deliberately not looking at Jean-Paul as I did this. "Tell me; you owe me at least that." I said, once I positioned the small bandage on my neck. Jean-Paul nodded. He knew what I wanted him to tell me.

"She told me that we were not to leave or else she would punish us both. That's all I know. And… I was…" He trailed. Don't you hate it when people do that?

"And you where…?" I said, waving my hand in a rolling motion. I wanted him to go on.

He didn't look too happy as he stared at the light fixture above the sink. "She wanted me to… ah… well… you're not going to like this. She wanted me to… seduce you." He said with a strained finality.

"She wanted you to do what? Why?" I said. I didn't hide the obvious surprise in my voice, but he only shrugged. Why would she want him to do that? Was she looking for yet another weakness to use against me? And he had agreed to it? I couldn't believe this.

"Look, Ororo. I didn't want to do it."

I wanted to scream "bullshit!" into his face, but he seemed genuinely sorry as he ran his fingers nervously through his hair.

"Since the first time I saw you at the club, I was supposed to be trying to seduce you. I thought it would be a piece of cake because human women are easy… um… no offense. Then, when I realized it was you, I knew my work was cut out for me… and then once I spent a little time with you I realized that I didn't want to do it. What I said before about liking you I really meant that."

I didn't know how to respond to that. "Leave me alone." I said coolly, the temperature seemed to drop to match my icy tone. He paused for a second as if unsure, but then continued out the door, closing it behind him.

I knew that I shouldn't be so angry at Jean-Paul. I was the one who told him to bring me to this forsaken place. He didn't want to come here. I should've known that I was going to have to play some stupid game. Vampires were notorious for the games they played. What had I gotten myself into? I closed my eyes and sighed. I heard the bathroom door open, and I thought it was Jean-Paul coming back.

"Jean-Paul, please leave me alone."

"Ain't Jean-Paul." I heard a gruff voice respond.

"What are you doing here, Logan?" I asked, opening my eyes. I turned toward him, crossing my arm, trying to look authoritative. As usual, Logan wasn't bothered by this display of power.

"I couldn't let you come to one of these things without any backup," he answered.

"I thought I told you not to worry about me."

"And that was supposed to stop me?"

I sighed. "No, I guess not, but I wish you would have respected my wishes. How did you find out this was where I was going?" I couldn't be angry at Logan. He was concerned about my well-being. What true friend wouldn't have done the same thing? Okay, maybe, many people's friends would not have followed them, but friendship took on a new meaning when you were in the X-Men.

Logan shrugged. "I have my ways."

He has his ways. Was I ever going to be able to get a straight answer out of Logan? His eyes flickered over me, resting on my neck. "What happened to your neck? That freak didn't bite you, did he? Because if he did –" I could see him clenching his fist. I knew that I had about three seconds to explain before the claws came out.

"No, he didn't bite me. He pretended to bite me because Roger was watching us through the window." I said, nodding at the window behind us.

Logan focused on a point behind me and raised his eyebrows. "You mean like he's doin' now?" I bristled, but didn't turn around. Roger was quite the voyeur, wasn't he? He wanted action. I was going to give him action.

Without thinking, I pushed Logan against the door of the bathroom. He made a sound to protest, but I pressed my lips against his. This was what Roger wanted to see, wasn't it? Or was I using Roger's presence as an excuse to do this? It was probably the latter. I couldn't let an opportunity like this pass me by; don't ask where the bravery to do it came from.

Logan seemed shocked for a moment; he didn't move as my hands clasped the side of his face, bringing him closer. Our lips melted together as his lips parted slightly, and I felt him touch his tongue to my lips. Warm hands grasped my waist, and he turned us suddenly without breaking the kiss. Now, my back was against the door. I pulled away from him, my chest heaving.

Desire began to take over as I concentrated on the feeling of warm flesh against warm flesh, the way our shallow breathing seemed to echo in the quiet bathroom. Our eyes met, and he stared sexily at me. I felt my legs turning to jelly. His hand moved toward my hair, pulling pins from my locks, causing my hair to fall to my shoulders in frosty waves. He seemed to watch mesmerized as the strands of hair ran through his fingers, causing the scent of apricot shampoo to invade my senses.

The air in the room was charged with a sexual energy. When was the last time I had felt this type of visceral power? He lowered his lips to mine again, and I met his kiss like a head-on collision. He slipped one knee between my thighs, widening them, lifting me slightly. He tickled the small of back with his fingers, and I shivered against him. Was this what they called raw sensuality? I sound like I'm quoting a bad erotica novel. I arched my back against him. I didn't know if Roger was still in the window or not, but who the hell cared?

Pain hit me – sudden and vengeful. It was an angry—and dare I say it—jealous feeling. I moaned painfully, pulling away from Logan. He set me on the floor, gingerly. "I'm sorry." I said. I wouldn't look at Logan as I fumbled with the door; I couldn't get out of the bathroom quick enough. I walked quickly past the small crowd, not stopping to look for Jean-Paul, not caring. I was getting out of there. I only paused momentarily to pick up my purse, which, thankfully, hadn't been rummaged in.

"Where are you going?" I heard Jean-Paul ask behind me. I turned on him, furiously.

"I'm getting out of here. I need some air." I spat at him.

"I'll come with you. They'll be here soon." I guess he was talking about the stronger vampires. "I can't protect you if I'm not with you."

"I don't need you to come with me, and I certainly don't need your protection. Why don't you stay here with your kind?" I said, angrily, opening the door and slipping out into the cool night. I'd forgotten my jacket inside, but it didn't really matter. I didn't really need it. I didn't get cold; I didn't get hot. My body adjusted to the climate. I insisted on dressing with the seasons because how funny would it look if I ran around in shorts in the dead of winter?

I walked around in the yard, the wind rustling my now loose hair. There was a hint of something in the air – power. Lightning roared above me for a second and the wind picked up speed. I could feel that power touching my skin, flowing through me. It felt as natural as the wind through my hair. I knew this power, knew it with every fiber of my being.

Someone was trying to raise the dead.