Standing naked and slightly damp in front of the mirror, she held up one blouse and then the other.  It was a business dinner after all, she decided and went for the more conservative of the two.  She wanted to look good, but she didn't want to look like a tramp!  Oh, no!  "Toby, scat!" she hissed and then laughed.  He was everywhere!  Toby, not the slightest bit disturbed, did deign to allow her to pick up her skirt so she could brush the cat hairs off of it.  She grinned.  "At least leather doesn't hold cat hair," she thought shaking the skirt.

Once she'd decided what she was going to wear, she was quickly dressed.  A black leather skirt, just above the knees, a cream-colored blouse, and a red silk scarf with blue trim.  A crystal ring, shaped like a tiger's head, held the scarf at her throat.  She had decided on  low heels rather than boots.  The slush of the last snow storm had dissipated.  It was still quite chilly but at least not messy.  Shoes created a more conservative image than did boots.  She was, after all, going to this 'working dinner' as a research assistant, not a date.  She put on her glasses, thinking they'd promote a scholarly image, but squinted and shook her head.  She was almost blind with them on!  She'd not been using them for some time now.  "Weird," she thought.  "I like the changes that are happening."

As she approached The House of Magura, she saw John approaching from the other direction.  He waved, and when they met at the door, gave her a quick kiss and winked.  "Before we go on duty," he whispered in her ear.  She giggled and gave him a no fang nip on the neck.  "Little vampire," he chuckled as they walked in.  With an unseen smirk, she thought, “you are so right, my dear.”

The restaurant was not crowded so their reservation was honored immediately.  As they were being seated, they saw Jack Roternan entering.  They waved and he returned the greeting.  Introductions were conventional and cordial and they all quickly agreed to be on a first name basis.  Their waiter, Codrin, gave them a few moments to look at the menu and then he came over and greeted all of them by name and asked if they were ready to order.  The looked at each other quizzically when he called all of them by name but Jack and John quickly ordered.  Eliza smiled at Codrin and handed him her menu.  "I'll have whatever you suggest," she smiled.  "After our last time here, I know I won't be disappointed."

"Thank you, Miss.  I'm flattered," he responded and withdrew.  The two men did not see the wink they exchanged.

When he was out of hearing range, Jack whispered to them, "How the hell did he know our names?  Do they have a spy network running here?"  He laughed but it was obvious that he was really curious.

John nodded.  "Eliza and I have been here before.  He probably looked at the reservation board and knew your name by the process of elimination.  The man is very good.  You'd almost think he's a mind reader at times!"

"Ah!  Makes sense.  Sometimes, playing reporter and dealing with all this conspiracy stuff, you see conspiracies everywhere," he responded.  "I used to worry that I couldn't turn it off, but I figure that only makes me good a my job.  If you get lazy in this business, you get unemployed real quick, and it's fun.  Some people have to work for a living. I have fun."  They all laughed and typical before dinner banter ensued.  Jack was a fascinating conversationalist with so many stories to tell.  He spoke of some of the "vampire" pieces he'd done.  Most of them, he said, had been explained, sooner or later by conventional means, but there had been a couple that had really shaken him.

Bums and "street" people were always turning up dead and every time they were stabbed or had lost a lot of blood, someone would say vampire.  He laughed. "That would usually be me, because it does sell papers.  I try to present honest facts.  I get a little wild with my speculations at times but I never deviate from the truth."  He paused and got a thoughtful look on his face.  "This last one was eerie though. Four dead men, a dungeon in the basement and bloody torture equipment all over the place.  And those stakes!!!  That made the hair on my neck stand up.    I'll tell you, that one made me really wonder!"

"Have you had any others that have really made you wonder?" John asked.

"Yea, last November there were several attacks on women where their necks were bitten.  They told some wild stories but none of them were severely injured and they seemed sort of hesitant to talk about it.  At the same time there were two bums murdered where their throats were torn out and there was a lot of blood loss.  The weird thing is that there wasn't that much blood on the scene.  I wrote those up as a vampire killing because of the 'missing' blood, but it was the women that really spooked me and I didn't write about that.  All three of them asked me to respect their privacy and I did."

"What was it they didn't want you to tell?" Eliza asked, speaking for the first time.

Jack paused and seemed to be thinking.  "You know, I really don't want to sound stupid or a pig, but I got the feeling they'd been raped, although all of them denied it.  They were mauled and their necks were badly bruised with puncture wounds.  The police were looking for a psycho 'playing' vampire but that never turned up anything.  But the women really spooked me.  When they started talking about it, they got vague and seemed to be somewhere else.  I've interviewed a lot of people: accident victims, crime victims, jack pot winners, you name it.  I've seen a lot of reactions from grief, to shock, to joy and I don't know how to describe the reaction of these three women."  He shook his head thinking.  "The police never found a perp and it never happened again.  Shortly there after, there was a man's body found, quite mutilated, looked like a ritual murder of some sort, and then things got sort of quiet.  There were three bodies found in the park some time later but there didn't seem to be any connection and then there was that strange case of . . ."

They were interrupted by the arrival of their food.  The aroma and appearance of the dishes insured that conversation was at an absolute minimum for the time it took to consume the food.  Everyone was focused on the task of eating.  The quality of the food made that an absolute pleasure.  "Any more and I am not going to survive the experience," John commented.

Jack chuckled.  "When I got you message about where we were going to meet, I did appreciate the irony of you selecting a Romanian restaurant to discuss vampires.  After this meal, I'm wondering if you're just fattening me up!"

All laughed and Eliza leaned forward and looked deeply into his eyes, and with a terrible attempt at a Romanian accent said, "Ve Vill Haff our Vay with you."

He grinned.  "Coming from you, Eliza, it's almost believable.  You know that you have that classic vampire look don't you?"

"Me?  You're kidding," Eliza responded innocently.

"Yes.  You." he laughed.  He stroked her cheek. "The pale skin, the jet black hair."  He stroked her hair and stared deeply into her eyes.  "The beautiful, deep, sea green eyes . . ."  He laughed.  "Oh, well.  Two out of three's not bad!  Vampires are supposed to have reddish yellow eyes."  Looking away, he didn’t see the yellow red flash of her eyes, nor the secretive smile.

Their waiter had returned bearing a bottle of plum brandy and three crystal goblets, interrupting his attentions to Eliza.  "Ah, this is the best part of the meal," Eliza sighed.  "I do love this brandy!  If I could afford this stuff every night, I'd probably pickle my liver."  Her comment was met with grins but after tasting the two men had to agree.

"This is good, Eliza," Jack offered.  "But you must have an leather tongue.  This stuff has some real bite to it!"

"Now, Jack," she countered, "this is smooth as a baby's bottom!" She took a long swallow and closed her eyes an the fiery liquid trickled down her throat.  "Oh, that is good," she said wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Careful, John!  Don't light a match near her.  I don't see any fire extinguishers nearby."  Eliza responded to that dig with a heavy sigh and a look skyward.  Shaking her head, she refilled her glass and enjoyed another sip of the ruby fluid.

"John, I've done most of the talking right now.  Why don't you give me a rundown on the nature of your project.  I know we have overlapping interests and I'd like to get a feel for how we might help each other," Jack said.

"Not a problem, Jack.  We've been enjoying every minute of what you've been telling us."  He glanced at Eliza and she nodded in agreement.  "We've been allocated computer time and resources . . ."  John launched into a complete description of the project he and Eliza were involved with.  Eliza was beginning to feel the effects of the brandy and her fangs were beginning to "itch."  Not really itch of course, but that's how she thought of the sensation when they wanted to extend and she had to hold them back.  She knew this meant that she needed to feed.  The meal she'd eaten had been delicious, and oddly enough, the food she ate here was about the only food she actually could eat, but the spices, the brandy and maybe just the excitement of the evening, were combining to make her want to feed.  She was looking forward to spending the night with John but as she was to quickly discover, that was not to be.

Her considerations of what the night could be ran pleasantly through her mind and she realized that she was not paying attention or contributing to the conversation but it seemed that she was hardly missed.  John had taken some printouts  out of his brief case and he and Jack were intently staring at one of the pages.  "Eliza, Jack and I are going back to the newspaper office to compare some of his files to what we have here.  Do you want to come? I know I said that this was a working dinner but we're probably going to be into this till the wee hours.  Feel free to head on home and call it an early night.  I don't mind."  He grinned in such a way that Eliza knew that he was far more interested in Jack's files, right now, than he was in her.  She'd lost him for this night.

She sighed and smiled winningly.  "I think an early night would be good for me.  You guys go ahead.  I'm sure you can fill me in tomorrow, John."  From that time to their departure for the newspaper office was very quick.  So quick that she felt vaguely confused sitting at the table alone.  Codrin came over with her cape.  "Will we be enjoying your company Thursday?" he asked politely.  Eliza stood and shrugged on her cape, feeling rather unsatisfied with the evening.  She murmured a distracted assent and walked into the chilly night air.  Codrin made no attempt to hide his amused smile as he cleared the table.

She stood briefly outside of the restaurant with an expression on her face that gave the impression she had a bad taste in her mouth.  The more the thought about it, the angrier she got.  She had high hopes for the evening.  She still felt the glow of the brandy and she still wanted to sink her fangs in something warm and it would be nice it that something would bite back!  She got a determined look on face and set off at a brisk pace.

Jerry unplugged his guitar from the amplifier and tossed the last of his rum and coke.  He didn't normally drink on the job but tonight had been a real bummer.  Even sloshed he could still play.  He went to the bar.  "Hit me one more time, Greg," he said holding out his shot glass.  Greg gave him a short rum.

"You ok, Jerry? "

"Yea, I'll live.  Just one of those days.  I'll go crash; some coffee in the morning and I'll be ok.  No big deal."  He slung his guitar over his shoulder and walked out of the bar, wishing his coat was warmer.

"Hey, big boy, got room for a lonely lady," he heard from behind.  He spun around and felt his jaw drop a bit.

"Eliza!  Damn, Girl! How are you doing!  I thought you'd fallen off of the face of the earth."

She grinned in reply.  "No, my job got renewed and I've been all sorts of busy.  But I haven't forgotten you guys."  She tucked her arm in the crook of his left elbow.  "You gonna make me stand out in the cold all night?"  Jerry put his hand over her's and shook his head.

"This way fair lady.  You look like you could use a sip of the blood."  Eliza felt her eyes widen.  He knew.  How could he know?  "The blood of plum," he continued slowly, looking at her with an evil grin.  She thought back to her last night with him.  Some of it was starting to make sense to her now.  They arrived at his apartment and she was making herself comfortable on his couch.  They had walked in silence the rest of the way, both lost in thought.  "Here you go," he said, handing her a water glass of that most delightful plum brandy.  She took it and held it up so she see through it.  She felt her fangs extending.

She looked at his serious face.  "You know don't you?"

"I didn't at first but some things you can't miss."  He smiled a bitter sweet smile and stroked her cheek, rubbing her fang with his thumb.  "Even when you're not displaying, some things you can't miss."

She remembered the feeling of death that she'd sensed the last time.  "She's dead?"

He nodded.  "It's been over 15 years now.  Hunters got her."  He fell silent.  Eliza moved close and put her arms around him and he buried his face in her hair and the softness of her neck.  She held him a few minutes and then she felt a sharp bite on her neck.  She stiffened and felt waves of pleasure ripple through her body.

"Oh.  Ah!" she grunted and pushed him back.  She stared at him, eyes flashing red and yellow, whirling so fast they almost appeared orange.  "You know what you're doing to me?"  She looked at him grin.  "You do!  You know exactly what you're doing!"  He grinned and unbuttoned her blouse.  He grinned even wider when he saw she wasn't wearing a bra.  Taking her erect nipple into his mouth he gently sucked, working her nipple with his hot tongue, making her squirm with pleasure.  As she abandoned herself to rising sensation he bit her.  He bit her hard!  She could feel the blood flow.  She squeaked with pain or pleasure; she wasn't sure and grabbed him behind the neck and pulled him tight to her.

The explored each other's bodies and had gotten to the point where clothing was no impediment to what was quickly becoming inevitable.  "Promise me one thing," he whispered.

"Anything," she dreamily replied.  "Anything, just don't stop."

"You won't induct me.  You won't drain me and give me your blood."

"Huh!" she grunted stupidly.

He smiled and kissed her deeply.  "You won't turn me.  I don't want to live so long and that way."

She looked deeply into his eyes.  "You want me to drain you," she whispered.  "You want me to end it for you.  You want to be with her."

He smiled and ran his hand down her body, stroking her firm breasts, soft belly and touching the softness of her womanhood.  Taking a deep breath and exhaling, "No, I couldn't ask you do to that.  My time will come as it comes to all.  But don't you dare induct me."

She nodded agreement and he smiled.  She made eye contact and focused her will on him.  Slowly she took the side of his neck and slowly and gently buried her fangs there and tasted the flow of life enter her being.  She shifted her body so he entered her.  They moved together, a rhythm as old as the sea.  As the tide rises, so do they, on a wave of sensation that sends both of them into a dark, warm oblivion where everything is pulsing, throbbing, wet and warm, comfortable, where pleasure and love never end.

Eliza hugged Toby and felt him respond with a purr and claw knead on her shoulder.  She smiled as a tear leaked down her cheek.  Sex with Jerry was unique.  Unique, to say the least. She deeply sighed.  "Tonight, we were right for each other.  Tonight we needed each other."  She smiled.  "Tomorrow, Greg's Dump will have some of the best music they've ever heard."  She nodded to herself.  "I wonder if anyone will understand?"  Shaking her head she mused, "I'll understand.  I'll understand!"