"How are you acting like this other woman?" he asked.
"Echoes, flashbacks to the pleasure that happened when Asher took blood."
"Is that going to keep happening?" he asked.
I blushed again. "Off and on, fuck."
"What?" he asked.
"The woman I'm remembering was quiet in bed, she didn't jump around a lot, not according to Asher."
"So?"
"She could hide it better than I can."
He laughed out loud. "Are you telling me that all this jumping around is normal for you?"
I glared at him. "You should know, you've seen me in bed once, you helped bring me, remember." I was blushing so hard my head was beginning to hurt.
His smile faded. It had taken me months to be comfortable around Jason after that. "The ardeur was riding all of us," he said, "we were all a little jumpier than usual."
I shook my head, not looking at him, tucking my knees and the sheet to my chest. "Except for wanting to tear out your throat, that was about normal for me."
He coughed, laughed, and finally said, "No way."
I kept my eyes firmly on the sheets. "Fine, make fun."
He took the bottle from me. "I need a drink."
I hugged my knees to my chest, huddling in the sheet. "You are so not funny."
He slid to his knees beside the bed, so I'd see his face. "I'm sorry, really, but..." He gave a small shrug. "You can't blame me. You cannot tell me that you have these violent, amazing, orgasms, then expect me not to tease you. It's me, Anita, you know I can't really help it."
He looked so boyish, so innocent. It was all an act. By the time I'd met Jason he'd been ridden hard and put up wet, and his innocence had been long gone.
He handed the drink back to me. "Forgive me, okay, maybe it's just envy."
"Don't go there," I said.
"Not of you," he said, "but hell if Asher's bite is that good, why didn't I get the full treatment?"
I tried to frown at him, and only half-succeeded. "You said it yourself, you're not his pomme de sang, you're only a loaner."
"And you're Jean-Claude's human servant, not Asher's, so why do you rate the full orgasmic blowout?"
He had a point, a good point. I shrugged. "I think the ardeur overrode things. I don't know. I guess I'll have to ask them when they wake up." Why would Asher do this to me? Had it been on purpose? I knew only Asher could do with the mere taking of blood what most men couldn't do with their whole bodies. Asher had done something to me that Jean-Claude alone couldn't duplicate. The memory of it tightened my body, and I had just enough time to shove the bottle at Jason before I threw myself back on the bed.
It wasn't as violent as the last time, and Jason made no move to try and touch me. I guess he'd had enough scratches. When I was done, panting on the bed, with the sheet down around my stomach, and my vision clearing, Jason asked from the far side of the bed, "Is it safe now?"
"Shut up," I managed.
He laughed and bounced back on the bed. He raised me up with one hand and offered the bottle with the other. "Lean against the pillows, drink this slowly, I'm going to put some bandages on my arms."
"Antiseptic cream, too," I said.
"I'm a werewolf, Anita, I don't get infections."
Oh. "Fine, then why bother with bandages at all?"
"I don't want to bleed all over my clothes, and I can't let the police see me like this."
"Police, why police?"
"That was who was on the phone when you woke up. That is who's been calling for about the last hour. Lieutenant Storr and Detective Zerbrowski have both called, and have requested your presence. The lieutenant made noises about coming to find you and drag you out of my bed."
"How did he know I was in your bed?"
He grinned at me in the door of the bathroom, opening it wide so the light framed his body. "I don't know, maybe he guessed."
"Jason, you did not tease Dolph, please tell me you didn't."
He put a hand to his chest. "Me, tease someone?"
"Sweet Jesus, you did."
"I'd call him back ASAP, if I were you. I'd hate to have the SWAT team crash our little party."
"We are not having a party."
"I don't think your lieutenant friend will believe that if he finds us naked in the bedroom together." He held his arms up. "Especially if he sees this."
"He's not going to see your arms, or any other part of you. Just give me my clothes and I'll get out of your hair."
"And if you have another flashback while you're driving, what then? And let me just add that I've been donating blood to vampires a lot longer than you have. I know how hard it can be when you lose as much as you lost. You may feel fine, but if you overdo it, you'll get dizzy again, and nauseous. That wouldn't be good at a crime scene, would it?"
"Dolph does not let civilians at his crime scenes."
"I'll sit in the Jeep, but I can't let you drive yourself around today."
"Call Micah, or Nathaniel, they'll come pick me up."
He shook his head. "Nathaniel passed out at the club last night."
"What!"
"Micah thinks that feeding the ardeur at least once a day for three months has taken its toil on Nathaniel."
"Is he alright?"
"He just needs a day off. Jean-Claude only takes blood from me every other day, usually."
"I switch off with Micah and Jean-Claude for the ardeur," I said.
"Yeah, but Jean-Claude only needs to feed once a day, you need to feed twice a day. Let's face it, Anita, you need a larger stable of pomme de sangs."
"What, you volunteering?"
An expression of delight crossed his face. "Oh, hell yes, I'd love to be on the receiving end of one of those spine cracking orgasms."
"Jason," I said, and the one word was warning enough.
"Fine, be that way, but who else are you going to put in Nathaniel's place while he recovers?"
I sighed. "Damn it."
"See, you don't know, do you?"
"I can feed on Asher now."
"Yes, but he's not going to wake up for hours and hours. You need some more day-walking donors, Anita. It doesn't have to be me, but it has to be somebody. Think about it. But today I am your escort, because you can't go out alone, not with the blood loss, and whatever the hell Asher did to you. You could call Micah, but by the time he drove out here, and the two of you drove out to wherever the police want to be, I think your police friends would be having fits."
"Fine, you've made your point."
"Have I? It's always so hard to tell with you. Sometimes I think I've won the argument, then you get a second wind and beat me all to hell with it."
"Just go, Jason, put some bandages on the scrapes."
"Scrapes hell, if I were human, you'd be taking me to the emergency room. Remember, Anita, you have some of the strength of both a vampire and a werewolf. We can punch our finger through someone's ribs."
"Are you really hurt?" I asked, all joking aside, I didn't want him hurt.
"Not permanently, but it'll heal almost human slow."
"I'm sorry, Jason." I remembered enough to say, "And thanks for taking care of me."
His grin faded, and something close to a serious look spilled through his eyes, then it was gone, hidden behind another smile. "All in a day's work, ma'am." He tipped an imaginary hat and started to shut the door. "I'd turn on the lamp before I close the door, it's damn dark without windows."
I reached over and switched on a small lamp beside the clock, on top of the little refrigerator. The glow seemed unnaturally bright.
"Your cell phone is on the floor on my side of the bed. I dropped it when you started convulsing."