He sighed. "I didn't," he murmured. "Have you come to finally take me home, darling? Tell me my days are over, and that I can be with you and our son again."
Tears filled his eyes, making her form blur.
She stroked his face. "I'll take you into the Light. But first, tell me, whatever became of Carlos?"
He paused and held her back. "What? I didn't think death was conditional." The hair raised on the back of his neck. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What are you?"
In that instant she was gone, but he could not wake up.
Father Lopez stirred at the muffled cries he heard coming from Father Patrick, but a deep, paralyzing sleep kept him from fully rousing. A young woman ran toward him, na**d and dripping wet, her eyes wild and beautiful as she opened her arms.
"Save me," she said.
Juanita's warm, young nakedness filled his arms. How could he forget her? Carlos had used her as a taunt, but he could never forget the sensation of lying with her. She was the only woman he'd ever known, even if it had been a vision, an illusion. She peered up at him.
"The vampires have surrounded my home and I cannot go back. Please let me spend the night with you."
She began crying and he held her more closely, trying to calm her as he stroked her bare back.
"I won't let them harm you. Where are your clothes?"
"I escaped through the bathroom window when I heard them enter the house. I have nothing but you... I am so ashamed." She looked up, tears brimming in her eyes. "The other clerics are all asleep. They won't know that I'm in your bed."
He glanced away. "But... I shouldn't. You can take the bed and I'll guard the door."
Her hand traveled down his chest. "But we've already been lovers."
He stared at her.
"Carlos gave me to you as a gift. I felt it that night and have wanted to be with you ever since. That's why I ran to you. But if you don't want me..." Her wide brown eyes searched his face and tears spilled down her cheeks. "Tell me you don't want me and I'll leave," she whispered, bringing her mouth close to his.
It was against everything he stood for, every vow he'd taken, and everything he'd been trained to do, but he was still a man. His mouth found hers, and the sweetness of her tongue twining with his produced near-delirium. "Don't leave," he murmured against her hair as she pulled away. "I'll protect you with my very life."
She removed his collar. "Did you feel it when he joined us?"
He swallowed hard and nodded.
"It was your first time?"
He nodded again and closed his eyes as her hand slid down his belly.
"I can show you more," she whispered.
"I really... I shouldn't, not here, not in the safe house with my brethren."
"We can go down into Carlos's old lair and be quiet as mice."
He looked around the safe-house living room at his sleeping Covenant brothers.
"Just like they went down there. Do you want me?"
"Yes," he said, closing his eyes as her touch produced a shudder.
"You are so much like Carlos... I loved him once. He was good to me, to us," she whispered. "He never really wanted me, and always loved Damali... so he gave me away to you that night in the illusion. It was a taunt, but also a gift for both of us."
"It was a gift," he said, stroking her cheek. He stared into her eyes, hypnotized by the urgency he saw within them. Just staring into them made him burn. Then every sensation he'd felt that night concentrated in his groin. He couldn't breathe.
"You have a little vampire in you, true?"