The sound of her Harpies' screeches and horrendous wailing jerked her and Cain's attention toward the chamber doors. A smol�dering, slimy, shuddering body was in their clutches. Only its flesh re�mained, all evidence of skin burned away. The Harpies' wings were covered by molten ooze and their scrambling, gray-green, gargoyle�like bodies were splattered with black gook. Like an army of over�sized ants, they ferried the twitching form forward and then unceremoniously dropped it at Lilith's feet, looking up at her for ap�proval.
Rounding the table, she held the heart in cupped, blood-dripping hands, and then dropped to her knees.
"I will you to live again, Fallon Nuit... master vampire... made councilman under Dante's rule, now beholden to the bidding of his heir and son by seed, Cain."
Setting the heart upon the torn-out section of chest that could be seen beneath the black, static-charged casing around the lifeless form, she nestled the heart where the rib cage had been gored. Lilith stood back, lowered an index finger in a hard point toward it, and sent a steady stream of black lightning into the heart, driving it back into the body.
Within seconds the static coating around the body sizzled, lit in an angry plume of sulfur, and then began to recede from the feet up un�til it was gone. Beneath it lay a still, naked, unconscious male form.
Hastening her efforts, Lilith went to the table, grasped the broken fangs, put them into her mouth, and went down on her knees again. She grasped the long, damp, flowing onyx curls at the top of the un-awakened vampire's head, forcing his mouth open, and kissed him hard, spewing his fangs and blood into his mouth.
The body beneath her shuddered, arched in pain, then drew a sud�den gasp. Lilith moved back as the vampire on the floor dug his nails into the marble, opened his red gleaming eyes, and wailed. Lilith was on her feet so quickly she almost trampled one of the Harpies. She snatched a goblet, filled it fast, and brought it to the agonized vampire.
"Drink the sweet elixir of life, Fallon," she urged, holding his head up as she poured a slow stream of blood into his mouth until he was strong enough to sip from the edge of the goblet.
Tears ran down his face as he greedily drank, blood running down the sides of his mouth and over his chin as he tried to take it in too quickly. When the goblet was depleted, he looked at Lilith, his eyes still seeming disoriented, and snatched her to him, tearing open her throat at the jugular. But she didn't struggle and only smiled as her eyes slid shut.
"Yes," she whispered. "That's it, take it right from the vein and re�generate."
Cain smiled as he watched the process of the frail nude body gain in weight and density. The sunken chest soon filled out to a perfect, smooth, broad marble-cut structure. A once-wrinkled abdomen that showed skeleton beneath gaunt skin became the well-defined torso of a warrior.
Limbs that had been mere withered twigs bulked to add sinew and definition. Hooked, wretched hands and feet gracefully extended into their original, natural, manicured form. Eyes that had been ugly orbs within black sockets transformed into a handsome pair of eyes framed in thick, black lashes. Bronze skin replaced the unnatural death pallor of ashen, green-tinged decay, and the rank smell of rotting flesh vanished, chased away by the masculine pheromone carried in the ingested blood.
Lilith looked up at Cain from the floor when Fallon released her, breathing hard and confused. Cain nodded toward the body beside her on the floor with a half-smile, noting the erection.
"He is a councilman and a new ally. Service him."
Fallon Nuit lifted his head, his gaze briefly locking with Cain's as Lilith mounted him. An echoing moan bounced off the chamber walls as his head dropped back from the intense pleasure.
"So that you always know where your first loyalty should lie," Cain murmured in a low rumble while watching Lilith make tears run down Fallon's cheeks."I negotiated your release.I was the one who had you fed. It wasI who commanded that you receive awakening pleasure, not pain to torture you again."
"Yes!" Fallon yelled, practically choking on the blood that Lilith offered.
Cain glared at Lilith. "Stop moving until he pledges his loyalty to me in Dananu."
"Done. Your service is mine," Fallon said, gasping in Dananu the moment Lilith stopped her sultry thrusts. His gaze fractured between Lilith and Cain and his glowing eyes held a plea within them."Tell me your bidding, Your Eminence," Fallon said in a strained voice between his fangs when she began to pull away from him.
"Bring me Carlos Rivera's head on a stake," Cain said, standing to round the table and stare down at the entwined couple. "I want his heart, first... torn out of its housing anchor by anchor until he goes insane from grief. Then, execute him."
Fallon's expression went rigid as he stared up at Cain, dug his nails into Lilith's arms until they bled, and flipped her onto her back in a hard roll. He stared down at her, a low growl erupting from his throat as he spoke. "I will f**kingdestroy him! I know his every desire and his entire line's weaknesses."
Lilith's spine elongated and her spaded tail emerged, twitching, be�fore it wrapped around Fallon's waist. She licked her lips as she glanced up at Cain and tilted her head.
Cain nodded and swept back toward his throne. "Finish him off, and do not take long. He and I have business to discuss."
"Yonnie," Tara gasped, "I must regen. I have to feed. You'll flatline me. Outside the lair, the sun is still-"
He crushed away her kiss, unable to stop moving against her. Tara's once silky brown hair was becoming brittle in his hands and streaks of gray had crept into it, yet he couldn't stop.
"We have to eat, since early last night you haven't fed, just this," she said, her voice a stuttered wail.
"Take it from my throat," he growled between heaving gasps.
"You're already depleted," she said, panting, and beginning to shudder from the dangerous blood loss. "If I siphon you-"
"Do it!" he commanded, beginning to dematerialize again to drag her to the vanishing point. "If I flatline like this, who gives a damn?"
Carlos walked toward the house, his eyes on the stricken team that had fanned out on the beach. He extended his right arm to his side and the gleaming blade of Ausar filled his fist. "Meeting," he said flatly. "Seal it in a prayer, Marlene."