Shadows of the Night

`tis that time again. another chance to take a trip into the dark and scary corners of my mind to find those things that people don\'t want to admit exist. personally, i revel in those places. but then again, i\'m sick like that. what some people find foul and disgusting, i find relaxing. i\'m just kidding. this is more like therapy for me. cathartic and all. real life is a bitch at times. please be advised that there will be disturbing content in this story, perhaps in this chapter. if this in any way is foul to you or you are easily upset, please do not read any further. if you aren\'t turned off, by all means... go ahead and read on....

this is something that comes purely from my mind, so it is something of a labor of love for me. i\'m sort of a new hand at all this dark, original fiction. so, if you find you like it, please let me know. a kind word here and there wouldn\'t be out of line. thank you for reading and giving me the chance.

Chapter Six: Another Day, Another Death
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Breakfast between Drum and Kat was a wonderfully mellow occasion. They talked about nothing and everything, touching on many subjects that were neutral. When they were finished, Kat insisted on doing up the few dirtied dishes since Drum had gone through the trouble of making it. That didn\'t take long and, when she was finished, Kat looked at herself and frowned. \"You know, I really need to go back to my apartment and change clothing. I\'ve been in these clothes for two days now and I feel disgusting,\" Kat told him, glancing down at her dirt encrusted shirt and skirt. \"The fact that MacKenzie allowed me to sleep in his bed like this boggles my mind.\"

\"He doesn\'t care much about convention,\" Drum shrugged. \"He only wants to see you comfortable. And safe. Material possessions don\'t really mean much to him. The sheets can be changed and washed. You can\'t be born again.\"

Kat blushed. \"I don\'t know if I want to,\" she admitted softly. \"This life has been bad enough.\"

\"You\'ve lost your faith?\" Drum asked her, astutely deciphering her look. She nodded and sighed. She hated telling people the why\'s and wherefore\'s of her lack of faith in their god. She knew she was selfish. Her parents would have died eventually. The same could be said about her grandmother. But that knowledge did little to aleviate the emptiness that filled her heart and soul. It didn\'t make her feel any less angry toward a god that she felt had stolen more from her than he should have.

\"I lost my faith in Christianity\'s God. I still have faith, though I can\'t tell you where it has been placed. I believe in... something. Just not their ideas,\" she shrugged.

\"I understand,\" Drum told her softly. \"When I was infected with the lycanthropy virus, I sought strength and guidance from the Church. I went to confession and told my priest what had happened. The self-righteous bastard had the balls to tell me God would forgive me for my sins and that I wouldn\'t be treated as if I were a freak. I killed the lying son-of-a-bitch when I found out he\'d shared my confidence with a woman who had been very close to my heart. They never found his body.\"

Kat looked at him with surprise for a moment, then she offered a timid smile and reached out to lay a hand on Drum\'s arm. \"She was your wife, wasn\'t she?\"

\"She was the sweetest thing on the face of the Earth,\" Drum nodded and she watched both his jaw and fist tighten. \"That perverted prick told her my secrets, told her she could save my soul if she slept with him. She believed him and she gave herself to him. He used her and then condemned her as a whore to the rest of our congregation. She was ostrasized and driven mad. I watched her wither away until there was nothing left of my sweet Moira. The hardest thing I have ever had to do is put her out of her misery.\"

Kat felt a tugging at her heart and knew that his story was truth. There was too much passion and hatred in his voice, too much sadness, for it not to be anything other than truth. She felt the need to hug him, but didn\'t act on it. Instead, she sniffled and hoped that her tears wouldn\'t fall. \"I\'m sorry, Drum. It must have been very hard to watch her suffer, then have to end it for her. You\'ve been alive and alone for a very long time, haven\'t you?\"

Drum looked up at her and Kat was sure she had surprised him with her statement. She didn\'t know what made her think that he had been born in another century. She just knew it. She had a feeling. \"There aren\'t many women who can handle me in this form. In my other form...\" he shook his head.

\"You just haven\'t met the right one yet,\" Kat assured him with a grin. He chuckled at her tone and shook his head. His gaze moved from her face to take in the dirty clothing she wore. He shook his head again and frowned.

\"Perhaps its time to take care of that,\" he gestured to her ruined skirt. \"You must want to get out of it and into something clean and fresh.\"

\"That would be really nice,\" she nodded, a faint look of disgust settling on her lips.

\"Well, then,\" he motioned for the door. \"Let\'s go to your place.\"

Kat stared at him for a few moments, then burst out laughing.

~*~*~*~*~

Drummond drove an old, beat up pickup that had seen better days and lots of use. Kat was comfortable in the front seat with the windows rolled down. She and Drum had already settled into a companionable silence and she simply watched the scenery as it passed by. Mac\'s house was in the richer part of town, where each house was surrounded by a fancy fence and tons of security. The structures were all Victorian in nature, which meant that the section of housing had been around for well over one hundred years.

Many of the mansions had been made into apartment buildings or the like. Those that remained in the care of single families had been owned by the same family for as long as the house had been around. Some of the cars parked in the drives were ostentatious and showy, naming the owners snobs. Drum\'s gray, beaten up Ford was very much out of place amongst all of the grandeur.

It was a mildly lengthy trip and Kat watched the progression as they moved from the older neighborhood into the business district. The Victorian architecture gave way to early 1900\'s structures and then newer buildings still. Their height rose higher and higher the newer they were. Then they were on the outskirts, where the tall skyscrapers gave way to lower business and warehouses. Once clear of those, they were in the newer part of town where the houses were less than fifty years old and suburbia sprawled out over the land like a spreading plague.

The apartment building seemed sterile and plain after having seen the outer façade of MacKenzie\'s Victorian mansion. There was no character or life to it. It was simply a stack of bricks formed into a shape. Drum was out of the truck before Kat had her seat belt off and he stood at her side as she stepped out of the vehicle. He was a presence behind her as she made her way into the lifeless building and more than one of the tenants they met stepped back upon seeing the bulk of masculinity that followed behind her.

In the elevator, she gave him a nervous glance. \"I have a room mate and I\'m not sure how she\'ll react. She\'s been worried about me lately. And my friend\'s brother has been hanging around. He thinks I\'m out of my mind,\" she informed Drum.

He gave her what she considered a not so very nice smile. \"I don\'t think they\'ll be a problem.\"

Kat had barely slipped the key in the lock when the door was opened, jerking her keys from her hand. Terry stood there and stared at her a moment before the look on his face took on a blank mask that did nothing to hide how he truly felt. All of the anger and mistrust that he felt was clearly visible in his eyes. Kat stifled her sigh and forced a smile. She really did not want to deal with him today.

\"What the hell is going on here?\" he demanded in a strident tone.

\"Drum, this is Terry. Terry, meet Drum. He\'s a friend of mine,\" Kat said without batting an eyelash. Terry eyed the man speculatively for a moment, then frowned.

\"My ass! He\'s as much a friend as that guy that was here last night!\"

\"MacKenzie? Then that would make Drummond an old friend, indeed. I\'ve known Mac for a long time,\" Kat informed him, wondering what had brought on his odd behavior. Terry\'s gaze moved from Kat to Drum, then back to Kat again. She could see that he didn\'t believe her. She didn\'t care. She didn\'t have time to nurse Terry\'s bruised feelings. She was the one who had watched some thing that shouldn\'t exist tear Jer apart and eat him. She was the one who had nearly died because of that thing. They just didn\'t understand. Mac and Drum did and Kat felt better being around them than she did with anyone else at the moment.

\"I\'m going to take a shower, then I\'m going to take Drummond out for a nice lunch. I don\'t care if you wait here for me or go home. I\'ll come back when I feel like it,\" she told Terry, then turned to Drum. \"I won\'t be long. Make yourself at home. There should be pop and snacks in the kitchen. I\'ll shower and put on fresh clothing. Then we\'ll leave.\"

\"That sounds like a plan to me,\" Drum nodded.

\"You\'ll be alright?\" Kat asked him. He obviously knew what she was asking, because the grin he gave her was not pleasant at all. She watched his eyes flick to Terry. Then they came back to her and she could see the smallest amount of animal in his gaze.

\"There\'s no question,\" Drum told her in a low voice. Kat smiled at him and nodded, then turned and headed for her bedroom to gather what she needed. When she had a fresh change of clothes in hand, she moved for the bathroom.

Kat gladly stripped off her two day old clothing and left the rumpled, filthy pile in the exact spot on the floor where she dropped it. She turned on the water in the shower and set it to a mildly cool temperature, then slid into the stall and shut the door. The water felt good as it pelted her from head to toe. She stepped back and let it soak into her hair, then reached for the shampoo.

A small wave of pain hit her and the bottle slipped from between her fingers. Kat muttered a curse and bent to retrieve it. She didn\'t need this now. She\'d spent the last couple of days feeling wonderful. She didn\'t want to go back to the pain that had plagued her for an entire week. This was so unfair. What had she done in her life that she deserved to suffer like this?

She pushed the thoughts aside angrily and poured out a measure of shampoo into one cupped hand. She scrubbed at her hair furiously, the tears mingling on her cheeks with droplets of water from the pounding shower. She wasn\'t ready to go back to the constant pain that haunted her as a result of that thing attacking her. Nearly raping her.

She went to her knees, wrapping her arms around her waist and bending over them until her forehead touched the floor of the shower. Each breath brought a little more of the pain back until her body was once more on fire with it. Moving hurt. It felt as if the pain was more intense than the last time, as if it was punishing her for escaping it for a day or two.

It took longer than Kat wanted it to for her to shower and get cleaned up. Her body was just suddenly wreathed in flames of burning pain centered in her lower abdomen and that pain made even the simplest of tasks take twice as long. It seemed to take her forever to dry off and put fresh clothes on. She had to pause before opening the door to try and regain her ability to breathe properly.

She had just stepped into the hallway when a fierce wave of pain washed over her and sent her to her hands and knees.

~*~

Terry stared at Drum with such intensity that the shifter was certain the other man was just waiting for the first sign of weakness. Drum smiled. He had no intention of showing the smaller male any such thing. Drum had been a solitary shifter for a long time. He hadn\'t run with a pack in so long, he didn\'t think he could ever do so again. He was an alpha. He knew that much. But he just couldn\'t find a way to fit into a pack\'s structure. So he\'d made deals with the leaders of the two small packs that ran the city.

He left them alone and they left him alone. As long as he didn\'t kill any pack members and respected their territories, he was fine. It could be said that both of the alphas were scared shitless of him.

One mortal man caught in the depths of grief wouldn\'t prove to be any trouble for him.

\"I don\'t believe she\'s known you for any longer time than she\'s known that MacKenzie person,\" Terry said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. Drum looked at him, his eyes clearly saying he didn\'t care what the other man believed. \"I think she\'s on the verge of a breakdown. You look more like a pimp than a friend. And that MacKenzie guy is some sort of con artist. I wouldn\'t be surprised if one of you was dealing drugs to her. That\'s the only thing that can explain Kat\'s behavior lately.\"

\"Do you honestly think that something doesn\'t exist if you can\'t see it?\" Drum asked Terry in a low, growling voice. \"There is so much in the world that defies explanation, yet that is readily believed. Why is it you can believe in God, but not a woman who has been through a terrible ordeal?\"

\"How would you know if I believe in God?\" Terry snapped. Drum merely pointed to the small gold cross that had spilled out of the man\'s shirt. Terry looked down at it and snarled, then tucked the pendant back under his shirt. \"That doesn\'t prove anything.\"

\"But it does. You\'re willing to believe in a higher power, sight unseen. Yet you cannot accept the fact that a friend has seen something beyond explanation and lived to tell the tale. You automatically assume that Katya is mentally imbalanced because she isn\'t speaking about something that can be dismissed through rational means. You were not there. You cannot know what it is that she saw.\"

\"And I suppose you do?\" Terry sneered at him. Drum was about to answer, but he heard the faint gasp from the hall, then a muffled thud as a body fell to the carpeted floor. He was up and out of his seat before Terry could register the sounds. A moment later, he was helping Kat to her feet, her slight frame cradled gently against his larger one.

\"The pain is back?\" he asked, even though he knew the answer to it. Kat merely nodded, her hands curled tightly about one of his arms, her eyes squeezed shut in a vain attempt to ride the pain out. Drum didn\'t hesitate. He simply swung her up into his arms and cradled her as if she were a child. Kat suddenly felt as if she were back in her uncle\'s tender embrace, where she\'d been safe from the world. She clung to Drum as a vine to a trellis, not willing to let him go and lose what she saw as her only sense of security.

Drum glanced up the hall and sniffed the air as silently as he could. The door to his left was Kat\'s room, the other one bearing the smell of a stranger. He moved for her room and stepped in, settling her on the bed while he went into drawers and the closet. It took him only a few moments to gather up quite a few of her clothes, then he hunted up a small suitcase and packed them into. Another smaller bag was filled with her toiletries and a few other personal items that he felt she would need. Then he once more swung her up into his strong arms and headed for the door.

The entire time Drum packed clothes for her, Terry simply watched them. Until they were on their way for the door out of the apartment. Then he was in front of them in a vain attempt to block Drum from leaving the flat. Drum stared down at him for a moment or two, then chuckled. \"Do you honestly think you can stop me?\"

\"Kat\'s my friend and I\'m not about to let you walk out of here with her. God only knows what you and MacKenzie,\" Terry sneered the name out. \"Will do to her when you get her alone. I can\'t let you leave with her.\"

\"Get out of the way, Terry! I\'m going with Drum,\" Kat snarled at him. He turned wide eyes to her, surprised by the vehemence in her words. She\'d never talked to anyone like that before. It was enough to send Terry scurrying out of their way. Drum carried Kat out of the apartment and down the hallway.

\"I am sorry that you have to go through this,\" Drum whispered as he headed for the elevator. Kat only sighed and burrowed deeper into the safety and comfort of his embrace.

~*~*~*~*~

MacKenzie knew something was wrong the moment he stepped into the house. He\'d gone back to the Lair early this morning, before sunrise, and made his report to Templer before seeking out his day\'s rest. Upon awakening, he\'d been given his orders and sent on his way. Like he hadn\'t known Templer would tell him to keep his eye on Katya. Still, he was glad to be away from the family. Lately, he\'d become tired of the politics that existed just within the family. He didn\'t even want to think about what it was like when dealing with other covens. Templer didn\'t really care about anyone but himself and it showed in the way the family worked as a group.

But one simply didn\'t just up and kill the Master of a coven. Not that the thought hadn\'t crossed his mind once or twice.

He just wasn\'t stupid enough to act on such a thought.

The only thing that had made him feel better was the idea that he got to see Katya. He couldn\'t name what it was about her that drew him to her side. He only knew he felt closer to her than he ever had to anyone in his life. With possible exception of his beloved Fia. But that had been a very long time ago. And MacKenzie never wanted to be so close to anyone ever again. Losing Fia had nearly killed him. He couldn\'t possibly put himself through such a thing again. Yet he couldn\'t stop himself from wanting to be with Katya.

Perhaps it was because he wanted so much to spend as much time with her as he could. Perhaps it was the heightened senses he had because of his vampirism. Perhaps it was just a feeling. What ever it was, he could sense that something was amiss. He hurried up to the house and silently let himself in. Keen hearing lead him to the room that he\'d given to Katya the night before. The door was wide open when he reached it.

Drum stood halfway between the opened door and the bed and, if his posture was anything to go by, he wasn\'t happy. Katya laid on the large bed, curled in on herself. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed piteously, her arms wrapped around her abdomen tightly. Mac knew in a moment what it was and moved silently to her side. \"Shh, little one. You are alright,\" he said as he settled himself on the mattress near her body.

\"It hurts. It hurts so bad,\" Kat managed through the pain that devoured her will. She was trembling, her body strung tight from trying to fight the pain. Mac reached out with one hand and gently stroked her hair back from her face.

\"I know, little one. I know. I told you it would not be a permanent solution,\" he replied, trying to soothe her with his voice. She relaxed only slightly, but the whiteness that marked her knuckles as tight did not lessen. \"The pain is worse this time?\"

Kat nodded her head slightly, whimpering with the movement. Mac cast a look at Drum. The man\'s face was set in grim lines, telling his friend that Katya had been in pain for most of the day. \"Please...\"

The word, gasped out in both pain and desperation, brought both men\'s gazes back to the woman curled into a fetal position on the bed. She was looking up at MacKenzie, her eyes pleading with him. He shook his head, knowing what it was that she wanted. \"I can\'t, little one. You don\'t understand what you\'re asking.\"

\"It hurts,\" Kat replied. Her eyes were dulled with pain, tears rolling silently down her cheeks now. \"Please, Dare.\" The word tumbled from her mouth of its own volition, leaving MacKenzie staring at her in a mixture of anger, pain and hopelessness. Drum looked from one to the other, wondering what this was all about.

\"I cannot. It isn\'t fair. It will not take the pain from you permanently. It will only dull it for a moment of time. There is nothing to do to stop it,\" Mac told her, the sadness in his voice heavy and tangible. She stared at him a moment, the despair deep. Then she slowly uncurled and crawled from the bed.

\"I can\'t do this again,\" she groaned as she stood. \"It hurts too much. It feels like my insides are on fire.\" Both men watched as she staggered toward the door. Kat stumbled and had to grab the door frame for support, then turned out into the hallway.

\"Katya, where are you going?\" MacKenzie asked softly.

\"I don\'t know. Maybe I\'ll throw myself in front of a train. Or maybe I\'ll get lucky and fall down the stairs. Maybe that will stop the pain,\" she snapped back. The only reason MacKenzie beat Drum out the door was because he was a vampire. She hadn\'t gotten far, only a few steps. But she wore a determined look that both men took as serious. She was willing to do herself harm in order to stop feeling the pain. MacKenzie scooped her up into his arms and carried her back into her bedroom.

\"Mac,\" Drum\'s voice was full of warning. MacKenzie turned to look at his friend. \"Don\'t do it. You know what will happen.\"

\"I cannot let her suffer this,\" he replied softly. \"Please give us some privacy, Drummond.\" The shifter\'s face went stony and unreadable but he turned and left the room, shutting the door behind him with a certain amount of force that let both people in it know that he was not happy.

MacKenzie took Katya to the bed, settling her on it as gently as he could. Her eyes watched him, clouded from the pain that controlled her. He offered her a soft smile, his hands already working at pulling her shirt up over her head. She gave him a small, tight smile, simply watching him as he divested her of her clothing. When she was naked, her jeans, t-shirt and under clothes in a pile on the floor, his hand skimmed up over her legs and her abdomen until he could cup it around the curve of her breast.

He dropped his head, his mouth taking her nipple into it. The touch was light and gentle and, despite the waves of pain that tore through her, she sighed upon feeling his touch. MacKenzie laved her nipple with the tip of his tongue while his other hand moved to cup her other breast. Her hands came up to curl into his hair, holding his head close to her body. The fire of pain was receding in the wake of the fire of passion he was waking in her. Kat moaned softly.

His teeth grated over the rapidly swelling peak while his fingers found her other nipple and manipulated it until it was as tight as the one he held in his mouth. Her body was slowly moving toward the pleasant sensations he was feeding her, pushing the pain back into a dark corner where it couldn\'t bother her. She could feel the need for him flood her veins and fill every part of her until it felt as if she was swelling up with need and desire, as if she were nothing but one large nerve that thrummed with want and he was the only one who could satisfy that want.

\"Mac, please,\" she begged, her voice breathy. He lifted his head to look down at her, his eyes bright with too many emotions to name. His hand stroked down over her abdomen and between her thighs. Her legs simply fell open to him, granting him without words any and everything he could want. He smiled at her. This time, there was nothing in his smile but his contented feelings. Despite his misgivings about doing this, there was no place else that he would rather be.

\"As my lady wishes,\" he whispered, then slowly lowered his head once more. His lips, so soft and gentle, laid a path of kisses down her body. He started at the valley between her breasts, pressing light caresses to the sides of each mound before moving down toward her belly button. His tongue left a trail, combining with his lips to press enticing and wet kisses into her flesh.

He stopped at her navel, dipping his tongue into the indentation to swirl around. Her back arched slightly, pressing her body closer to him. He could smell her growing arousal. It filled the air like the perfume of a newly opened flower, tickling his nose and his own growing need. He was fast becoming so enamored of Katya that he would soon find himself doing anything. He desired her so badly that he was afraid to give in to his body\'s demands. He was certain that, if he were to allow himself to listen to the demons in his head, he would hurt her beyond repair. Then she would never come to him willingly again.

Her soft moans encouraged him to progress and his mouth moved from her belly button to the thatch of hair that guarded the entrance to her very core. Her lips were already swollen open, inviting him to slip inside of her. He paused a moment to breathe in the essence of her, the slowly lowered his lips until they barely touched her blossoming nether lips. A soft groan filled the room and he felt her body moving beneath his, as if she planned on arching up to press herself more fully against his mouth.

MacKenzie darted his tongue out so that he could touch her clit with it. Kat did arch then, her back bowing up off the bed. His hands found her thighs and spread them open even further, pressing them back against her body to allow him complete access to her weeping center. Then his tongue pressed deep, filling her and tasting of her. She was molten honey, melting at his touch and begging silently for more. He obliged her, his hands sliding down her legs until they rested near his face.

His fingers found her lips, teasing them to open further. He pinched at them, then dipped his fingertips between them and his face so that he could pull them open. His tongue pressed into her again, going as deep as he could. She uttered a soft cry of mindless need. All he needed to do was open the fly of his jeans and he could take her. He could fill her with himself and relieve some of the tension that now gnawed at his belly. But she deserved to have such an encounter with any man to be free of pain and the taint of the shapeling. She deserved someone who could love her.

\"Please,\" she whispered.

MacKenzie sighed and pulled back from her moist core and those swollen, pouting nether lips that tempted him. He turned his gaze to hers, allowing her to see the feelings that he couldn\'t keep from his eyes. How he needed her and how he despised doing this to her. She offered him a smile, as if to show him that she understood and that she knew it would be alright. He slipped his trench coat off and dumped it on the floor, then unbuttoned his shirt. It joined the long coat on the floor, then he lifted his arm to his mouth.

Kat watched him as he tore into his wrist, as he bit through his own flesh to bring blood bubbling to the surface. He lowered the limb and allowed the red, life giving fluid that flowed in his veins flow down over his pale skin to coat his hand and fingers. Then he was slipping two of the long, red painted digits up into her fluttering core. Her body arched and she let out a long groan.

Slowly, gently, MacKenzie thrust his fingers in and out, stroking them as deeply as he could to coat her muscled walls with his blood. He could hear the soft, panting breaths she took and the little yelps of excited pleasure that fell from between her lips. Her hips rocked up to meet his fingers with each thrust, to drive them deeper into her body. She was so wet, so tight around him, and it was all he could do to keep from pulling his fingers from her willing channel and filling it with his thick erection.

Every so often, he stopped to withdraw his fingers and coat them with more blood. Each time, she whimpered at the lost feeling that swept over him when he slipped his fingers out of her, then she moaned loudly when he pushed them back inside of her.

His fingers, in their coating of blood, drove the pain back. Soon, it was all but a distant memory. In it\'s place, Kat was gifted with spiraling need that threatened to consume her completely. She felt as if she were standing on the edge of a beach, watching the ocean pour into shore toward her. There was a large wave bearing down on her, threatening to crash over her head and drown her in it\'s waves. The pleasure was growing within her, consuming her and filling her until she felt as if she were nothing more than a giant bundle of pleasure and desire. And, scared as she was, she needed to feel that wave slam into her and carry her off into a place she\'d never been to before.

MacKenzie withdrew his hand and once more coated it with his blood, then he returned it between her thighs. Kat arched up into his hand, driving his stroking digits deeper into her. Her muscles were clenching around them, holding them in place for short amounts of time. He sensed her release was near and moved his thumb over her clit. He stroked it with some force, coaxing her closer and closer to the edge. Kat wanted nothing more than to fall over the edge and into madness. Her hips increased their movements, grinding the sensitive nubbin of her clit against his thumb as hard as she could.

He took it as the silent plea it was and pressed even harder. At the same time, he shoved his fingers as deep as they would go. Her body went tense, then she was jerking as her climax washed over her. A low cry filled the room. Her muscles convulsed around his hand, holding him in place for a few moments. When his hand was released from her hold, he began stroking again. His thumb rode her clit, prolonging her orgasm for more minutes.

After some time, MacKenzie finally withdrew his hand from her body and allowed her to collapse back into the mattress. She panted for breath, her breasts heaving with each deep intake of air. A light sheen of sweat covered her skin, making it glisten in the light of the lamp. There was a look of pure satisfaction and deep contentment on her face that washed away every misgiving he had about doing such a thing. If he could bring her some measure of relief, this look made it all worth it.

Kat finally opened her eyes to look up at him. A slow smile spread her lips and gave her a well pleased look. She held her hands up to him and he went into them gladly. She drew him down into her embrace so that she could hug him to her body. He settled against her gladly, willingly. Her hands cupped his face and brought his head down so that she could put her lips to his.

The kiss was everything she thought a kiss should be. She could feel the need and yearning in his lips as they pressed against hers. His tongue tickled her own mouth, seeking entrance but not taking it. His body was fitted to hers and she could feel his need throbbing against her thigh. She wanted nothing more than to let him in. Not just physically. Mentally, as well. But at the moment, she couldn\'t think beyond the feel of his lips against hers.

Even though his tongue had yet to leave his mouth, MacKenzie could taste her on his lips. She was sweet like honey and sugar. He could taste innocence on her, depsite the things she\'d seen. There was still some part of her that was fresh and natural and untouched by the world. That part made him want her all the more. He\'d lost his innocence a very long time ago and it was so appealing to think he could gain some of it back if he only had Katya at his side.

Mac groaned and deepened the kiss. His tongue slid in along hers and plundered the interior of her mouth, leaving a trail of burning passion where ever it touched. His body screamed for release, to feel her wet, tight channel closing around his shaft and clinging to it as he drove himself in and out of her body. She seemed to feel the same way, because her hands wandered down to his hips and tried to slip between them, to find that part of him that wanted her so badly.

\"Mac!\" the voice came through the door with a great deal of urgnecy, breaking Katya and MacKenzie apart with a series of softly muttered curses and a loud groan. \"I\'m sorry,\" Drum growled. MacKenzie could hear the anger in his voice and he sighed. Something was wrong.

\"What is it?\" he asked, giving Kat a look that held both an apology and a promise. She reached out and laid a hand on his arm, telling him silently that she was okay with it.

\"Channel seven,\" was all Drum said. MacKenzie reached for the remote on the night stand. With a quick press of his finger, the set on the far wall flickered to life. A couple more presses got him to the named channel. Almost the same instant that he frowned, the picture registering in his mind, he heard the muffled gasp from beside him. He reached for Kat, pulling her body closer to his so that he could offer her comfort.

\"....say the victim, Doreen Haviland, was found early this morning in the warehouse district. Her body was discovered by two homeless men searching through a dumpster. Mrs. Haviland was left in the dumpster behind this building,\" the reporter motioned to the warehouse building behind him, half turning toward it as he did so. Then the image of the reporter was replaced by a very dirty, very ratty looking man.

\"Jake and I was lookin\' for something to eat or drink and when we lifted te lid on that one dumpster, we found her,\" the man told the microphone in his face. \"She didn\'t have no clothes on and we could see she was covered in blood. Her throat was all tore up and there was this big hole in her stomach. It looked like she was chewed on by a wild animal.\"

\"So far, the police are staying very tight lipped about what could have possibly happened here, but the investigation is being led by detective Bill Freeman, who, as we reported only a few nights ago, is also heading up the investigation into the death of Jimmy Dalton. Both deaths seem to have similar...\"

\"Oh no,\" Kat moaned. \"Doreen!\"

end chapter six.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i would like to thank everyone in my little support group. they keep me going when i want to give in. i love them all very much and they know who they are. thanks, loves. this is always all for the lot of you.

as usual, i am my own beta. so if there are mistakes, please dont hurt me. as the gods keep reminding me, i\'m only a mortal and i can\'t be perfect. damn them.

finally, a few thanks.

to DarkMystic: i hope that this chapter is met with a better reception than the last chapter. i have to admit that i\'m curious as to what you have figured out. not even i know it all. the characters keep changing things on me at the last minute. perhaps they\'ll let me do what i have mapped out at the moment. if not, maybe it wasn\'t good enough. ~shrugs~ who knows.

to Narnya: ~blushes~ thank you.

to Anon: i\'m so glad you like Drum. i just wanted someone who was something of a presence and that\'s who came to mind. i rather like him, too. sort of an \'i don\'t give a shit\' man. but i think he\'ll be a very lasting friend to those whom he cares about. i think we can expect great things from him in future chapters. and, as for Mac.... damn, if he isn\'t getting more and more intricate. and, i find it odd, but many others have commented on character and scene descriptions. maybe its cos i write it, but i don\'t see it. thank you, though, for the nice words.

to Shadowknight: thank you so much. i was unaware you were reading any thing else of mine. i am rather pleased with how this is turning out. i only hope it continues to intrigue me like it has. i hope you like this chapter.