It was a sleep fraught with memories of the day, jumble up, inconsistent rambles. Her brother being shot before her eyes ... her brother with the bat-like mast on ... Rico and his 'one thrust' inside her. It was the last memory she had before Lettie woke up, her eyes peering into the blue eyes of the stanger, Rico!

She found that he was holding her down by the wrists gazing at her, attired as she last remembered the Spaniard.

"Oola, Senoiretta," he whispered from atop her. Bill was so close but the door to the bedroom was now closed, obviously being closed by him. "Shall we ..."

His words trailed off as his head dove down to the base of her neck, sucking against it, unconcerned that Bill was so close. Was he ded! Did he think that she would not call out? She didn't quite know why she felt so heat with his lips set upon her but as they came away from her he grinned deliciously, still gripping her wrists as he looked down into her full blue eyes.

"I am afraid that one thrust was not enough, I've been thinking about you nonstop since."

Lettie gasped when she woke to find the familiar pair of blue-eyes staring down at her hungrily. "Rico! What are you doing here?!" How had he found her? No one should have known where she was. She tried to sit up but quickly discovered that the Spaniard was pinning her wrists to the bed. She glared up at him and hissed, "Let go of me."

He, of course, did not comply. Instead he leaned down and began to kiss her neck. Clearly, he was eager to pick up were they'd left off. Her body's response seemed to say it was just as eager as he was. His lips on the sensitive skin of her neck sent tingles through her her and the wicked grin he gave her a second later made the muscles in her lower abdomen tighten with need. No, she couldn't let him do this to her again.

"No, I'm mad at you right now." She struggled a little against his hold. "Get off of me or I will scream for the police officer in the next room." Best to assume Bill was still alive until he told her otherwise. If he was dead she was in trouble but she'd deal with that if and when it came up.

She struggled beneath his grasp. He was strong indeed, she could even tell she wasn't the only one affected her as she squirmed she could feel that he was firm. He gazed down at her as his mouth left her smooth neck.

"I will let you go, but I won't get off you just yet "Mad at me ... whatever for? Ah, yes, I imagine that it was insatible for you to endure this," he stated as a hand stroked down her side finding purchase beneath her breast. I would have come sooner but I was busy, a hear that you were busy as well," He probably didn't think she was going to call for help since her threats had chased him away, nor did he gloat about killing the officer either.

"You do not wish to scream, your yearning for more, you cannot lie. Give in, just give in to it's crushing weight. I have. Call the officer if you must, but really do you want him to see you like this? To have hin relived his youth and envision that he were atop you. All the thoughts that would go through his head at what he would do to you if only he was fortunate enough to be here instead of me."

She continued to glare at him, fulling intending to slap him once he released her wrists. "It has nothing to do with that." Though, were she honest with her self it might have had something to do with him leaving her unsatisfied on the bathroom floor the other night. But now she knew too much to be swept off her feet so easily. "You knew what was going on and you didn't tell me. You let me discover on my own that my brother was a murderer and now two more women are dead. And a police officer," she added pointedly. She wanted to throttle him for wasting time trying to seduce her instead of telling her all this. "For all I know you're a murderer too. I should call for Bill."

"You do not wish to scream, your yearning for more, you cannot lie. Give in, just give in to it's crushing weight. I have. Call the officer if you must, but really do you want him to see you like this? To have him relived his youth and envision that he were atop you. All the thoughts that would go through his head at what he would do to you if only he was fortunate enough to be here instead of me."

Her face flushed at his shocking words. Even if they were true. It was knowledge and guilt that made her resist him. If only he'd made love to her the other night when she hadn't known any better. "Who are you?" She blunted and then rephrased the question. "What are you?"

"I did not wish to involve such a lovely flower in something as crude as this. I honestly hoped that the situation would have resolved itself by now, that you would mourn the loose of a brother but never truly understand why.

"I do regret all the killing ... the officer, Hearts, that was not my doing but he was killed by Sebastain earlier that night. I knew that there were several hours that the girls would be safe but miscalculated the other night, the Professor has joined into matters, he's anxious though Helena still lives, you friends will not find her though, I have taken some precautions with her to assure this,"

Her hands free she did not immediately slap him but gave him the moment to explain himself to her. But when she asked what he was he smiled briefly as he gazed at her. "What do you need me to be? O have many roles. What am to you?" His fingers hooked beneath a breast casually rubbing there, he looked into her eyes then.

"I will answer your question for a kiss."

He made good excuses for everything but she was sure a man like him could lie as easily as he could breath. She wanted to believe him though. Her brother had been a terrible disappointment, leaving Rico as the only tie she her past life. Not that she wanted to go back to the life but she didn't want to be alone in the world. Sullivan was a nice man but he was a detective first. Once it was revealed how deeply she'd been involved in this case he would surely have to arrest her. She couldn't rely on him and once her brother was stopped she would have to disappear. Here was the only man who might be able to help her.

She desperately wanted to trust him. She desperately wanted him. And yet he was still a relative mystery to her. His hand found her breast and she let out a needful sigh. Their eyes met and he spoke again, "I will answer your question for a kiss." Without any further encouragement than that, Lettie grabbed his collar and pulled herself up to cover his lips with her own in an unexpectedly passionate kiss.

That she then broke. "There, you've had your kiss. Now answers, please."

"One answer, that was one kiss after all and I only agreed to the one but nice try." He smiled, his lips still tingling with the fierce hunger that she displayed with that kiss. His finger absently playing with her breast, stroing against it as his other dashed against her breast, up and down as it moved against the full weight of it.

He gazed at her then, nodded and then paused. "I am a creature of the night, a vampire." He honestly expected more questions at that though did he have more terms? That had yet to be seen.

Lettie pulse quickened at his words but she did not retreat. "A vampire..." She breathed. He couldn't be serious? He didn't look like he was joking. She swallowed and asked another question, knowing he would demand more payment before he answered. "Is that was my brother is starting to become?" She was surprised by how calm she felt as she sat there still a breath away from kissing him again. Not flinching at all as his fingers stroked her breast through her gown. Perhaps she was in shock.

"Now, now, you now how this game works. Strip off on piece of clothing and I shall answer." He grinned down at her, lips still tingling as he gazed down at her feeling the quickening of her pulse, the strong beat of her heart that he had heard in that bathroom, that he felt beneath his tongue as he licked up her neck. Well? Is the answer to that question so important? Clearly you are wearing more than one garment so losing one shouldn't be too concerning."

(And I here I pull up all my researches to discover exactly how many layers it takes to get to a completely nude Victorian woman.)

Lettie's eyes widen a fraction when he asked for an article of clothing in return for his next answer. She'd been expecting him to ask for another kiss. She frowned slightly, debating whether disrobing in front of a vampire was a wise idea and is getting her questions answered were worth it. Then she did some quick calculations in her head. "Thirteen, by my count..." She said finally, as if it made perfect sense. "If you are planning to charge me a single item of clothing for each question then I should get thirteen questions." And it would only start getting truly scandalous if asked more than six. Could she get all the answers she wanted in that few? She had to try. "Very well."

She reached up and started to unbutton her bodice, there were a lot of buttons, then finally shuck off the top portion of her dress to reveal the lacy white camisole that covered her corset. "That's one, Mr. Vampire. Now its your turn to talk. About my brother."

(LOL, I figured)

Rico watched her flicker through her thoughts, which he meant for her to be comfortable with initially knowing that sensiblity would get her to refuse had she been wearing little. Of course, she had miscalculated in that he was going to charge the same number of clothing for each answered question.

Still he had considered to vary the costs for questions or charge her entirely different prices of things as his whim dictated. He watched her remove then corset, his eyes tracking over her, he nodded as the garment was discarded to the side of the bed.

"Yes, he is going through a rather rare transition but he's close to achieving his goals."

He figured that it was a loaded answer in that it would cause her to think of other questions that were related to what he said. He could have simply answered yes or no, he didn't have to supply her with an explaination but unless he did he could not expect her to have all the questions available for her to answer.

"Might I say you look sweet, nothing looked sweeter though then you impaled on me but this comes closer to that. Next?"

She ignored his last comment. She was finally getting answers and she wasn't about to be distracted by images of sex. "Yes, yes, do savor that memory as long as you can, Rico. I still haven't decided if I plan to let you do that to me again or not. Now, my next question, why does my brother need the Harper women for this transformation?"

Even as she asked the question she began to tug on the end of the bow holding the neck of her camisole closed then unbuttoning it the rest of the way. The she slide out of the thin cotton top and dropped it on the bed beside the discarded bodice. Her corset was visible now but she wouldn't be able to remove it until she got out of her skirts so she wasn't to concerned about Rico gaining access to her bare breast too quickly.

(Just to help with the imagery, a Victorian bodice is not the same as a corset. This is more like what she took off==>>http://www.longago.com/TV463.jpg And this is what the camisole under it looks like==>> http://www.tudorlinks.com/treasury/articles/corsetcover4.jpg. The corset and chemise==>> http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MBVsoJEyL._SL500_AA300_.jpg are under that.)

(Thanks the imagery does help)

Rico shook his head slight, set a smile upon her. "Eager to get naked I see. The answer to that qustion is a little more complex and requires a bit more. Three pieces for that one I think."

"What?!" She asked indignantly then covered her mouth because she realized she'd said that a hair too loudly. She looked to the door and minuted for a moment to be sure Bill wasn't going to come charging in to rescue her from herself. When he didn't she let out a small sigh of relief. She didn't want to explain why she was sitting there half dressed with a man sitting on her legs. Speaking of which, she turned to glare at the vampire and spoke more softly this time. "I'd say that's robbery and not fair but we've already had that conversation, haven't we? If you want more you are going to have to get off me. I need to stand up to get out of these skirts."

"The more valueable the information the more it costs. If it takes a bit to explain then you're sure to loose two or three pieces of clothing. He smiled sweetly then got up off her so she could get out of her skirts, his hand skimming against a breast deliberately as he stood, casting a glance down at her he smiled a little.

She had not been loud enough to draw the officer in the adjoining room and her reaction had shown that she wa concerned to be interupt. A woman in such an uncompromising scene, she'd be lucky if she didn't bestow a heart attack on the older officer. But he eagerly waited for her to comply with the payment first.

"What are you worried about? You have a good deal more clothing, and you could always skip having a question answered if you deem that the price is too high. So as long as you ask your questions well you should be fine."