Tabitha wasn't sure what to say to him. So she didn't speak with words. She reached up and pulled his head down to hers, then kissed him soundly.
Valerius was stunned by her actions. He crushed her to him as he tasted the warmth of her mouth. The warmth of her embrace.
He pulled back. "You know what I am, Tabitha... why are you still here?"
She looked up at him, her blue eyes searing with tenderness. "Because I know what you are, Valerius Magnus. Believe me, I know. And I want to take you home with me, right now, and make love to you."
Valerius would never understand this woman or her strangeness. In the back of his mind was an image of Tabitha in the slinky black negligee he'd found under her pillow.
The image haunted him.
"I would love to go home with you, Tabitha," he said. "But I can't right now. I have to do my job."
She smiled, then kissed him again so passionately that it made his entire body sizzle.
Pulling back, she breathed in his ear. "And that makes me want you even more." He shivered as she delivered one long, sensuous lick to his lobe. "When the dawn comes, I'm going to make you scream in pleasure."
His groin jerked in eager anticipation.
"Promise?" The word was out before he could stop it.
She took a step back and let her hand fall from his face to his chest where she traced a path to his belt. He burned in the wake of her touch.
"Oh yeah, baby," she said teasingly. "I intend to squeeze you until you pop."
That thought alone was enough to turn his blood into lava. He couldn't suppress the fantasy of Tabitha's long legs wrapped around his hips, her body warm and wet as she welcomed him in.
He pulled her close to him so that he could kiss her even though they stood in the middle of the street. He'd never done anything so lowborn. Nor had he ever enjoyed anything more than the taste of her lips.
Her spicy-sweet scent invaded his senses and made his entire body burn for her.
This was going to be the longest night of his life.
Taking a deep breath, he reluctantly stepped away from her. "So where should we start patrolling?"
"You're not going to try and force me home?"
"Could I?"
"Not bloody likely."
"Then where should we start patrolling?"
Tabitha laughed. "Aren't you a little overdressed for stalking the undead?"
"Not really. It's rather fitting, don't you think, that I should look like I'm going to a funeral?"
She laughed at his morbid sense of humor. "I suppose. Do you always wear a suit?"
"I'm most comfortable in one. I'm not really a jeans and T-shirt sort of man."
"Yeah, I imagine you look like I do whenever I have to wear a suit. Itchy." Tabitha indicated the street with a tilt of her head. "Shall we?"
"Do we have to do Bourbon? Can't we go down Chartres or Royal?"
"Bourbon's where the crowd is."
"But the Daimons like to kill over by the Cathedral." He was suddenly very uncomfortable.