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I've dressed appropriately in sweats and a t-shirt, my hair back in a tightly coiled bun like I used to wear when I danced as a girl. I enter the dojo, bowing slightly, and then stand before him, still a bit shy around him after last night'sintensity.
"Hello, Eve," he sayssoftly.
"Michel," I reply and I can't not smile up at him, because I'm so glad to see him even after such a shortseparation.
"Eve…Don't smile at me or I won't be able toconcentrate."
I cover my mouth with a hand, trying to stifle my smile, and wait for him tospeak.
He picks through his duffle bag and pulls out a red bingo stamp. He hands it to me and I take it and make a face, examiningit.
I give a nervous laugh. "A bingostamp?"
"You've got to show me that you can hit exactly where a vampire's most vulnerable. So," he says and steps in front of me. "Tell me what you think you know about killing avampire."
I bite my lip for amoment.
"This is standard stuff, Eve," he says, all serious now, his eyes intense. "You should know and would have known if we hadn't lost your case when you were put in the fostersystem."
"Stake them with wood," I say. "Only thing that kills them. Cut their head off and burn their bodies to ensure they can't berevived."
"Yes, but how do you stake them? Where?" He takes off his shirt and I admire his smooth pale skin and well-developed abs, a trail of dark hair leading down from his navel to below his own sweats. "Show me where. You've taken anatomy and physiology. You know where my heartis."
I touch his chest, and even that makes my heartskip.
"You're heart's behind the sternum, more of it to the left because of the structure of theheart."
"And if you were to thrust a stake right into the sternum?" he says and touches his chest there. "You'd hit a solid plate of bone and only the strongest weapon could pierce it. To stake a vampire, it's best to come up under the sternum and angle your thrust so that it goes towards the center line. Show me with your stamp," he says, his hands at hisside.
I can't hold back my smile and tilt my head to the side. "You want me to attack you with astamp?"
"This isn't a joke, Eve," he says, and I can tell he's trying not to smile back but his eyes soften a bit and he's staring at my dimples again. "Remember what I said last night. I want you to use the stamp so you can see where to hit a vampire with a stake. Go ahead. Doit."
I make a half-hearted thrust at him, pressing the stamp on his skin just below the sternum, but it's hard to take this seriously. He grabs me and turns me around so that my back is facing him, his arm around my shoulders, my hands confined behind my back. His mouth is on my neck, which he bites playfully, tonguing my skin, his fangsretracted.
"And because you weren't really trying," he whispers, his voice only a bit angered, "the vampire now has you just where he wants you and all those freaky vampire hunter skills are useless." He releases me but even the brief moment of his confining me arouses me and I feel all flushed from his touch. "Try again, and this time, take itseriously."
He waits until I've turned back and waves me on. He's trying to get me angry to make me focus but all I can think of is how desirable he is and how even now, I really only want to just feel him on top ofme.
"Come on," he says, hands on his hips. "If you don't, I'll have to getrough."
I shake my head and look away, and then lunge at him, and jab him with the stamp before he canrespond.
"Good," he says. "That's more like it." He glances down at the mark I'veleft.
"Slightly off target and you haven't hit me hard enough to drive a stake into me. But it's a better effort. Finally," he says and shakes his head. I smile at him and tilt my head to the side, trying to lookcoy.
"Stop that, Eve," he says and steps closer. One hand goes behind my head and he presses his forehead against mine, his eyes closed, his expression all serious. "Please take this seriously. My brother has already been killed as have several Adepts. I have to leave you and I don't want you to be in danger. Remember ourtalk."
"I'll be fine," I say. "I was fine before you came along, and I'll be finenow."
"You won't be fine," he says, his voice firm. "Not anymore. Remember what Isaid."
I do remember, but something in me fights back, despite mypromise.
He steps back, all businessagain.
"You almost had it. Try once more," he says and takes a blue stamp from his duffle bag and marks the spot I should hit. "Try to hit me right there. Remember to thrust up and to the center, not straightin."
