Insatiable

You’re so repressed you wouldn’t even shower in the locker room with the rest of us after gym

class, remember? That’s why Angie Harwood used to call you Steenka Meena.”

Meena blushed again.

“Well, for one thing, he took me on a private after-hours tour of the Met,” she said.

“That’s where I first saw him looking so sad…and I don’t know…it just…it felt right. I really

like this guy, Leish.”

Leisha stared at her. “Uh-oh,” she said. “I do not like that look in your eye, Meena. You

don’t just like this guy. You love him. Even worse…you want to save him. Admit it!”

“So what if I do?” Meena looked down at the top of Jack Bauer’s head and sighed. “It

doesn’t matter. He’s going back to Romania.”

“When?” Leisha asked.

“I don’t know,” Meena said with a shrug. “I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to be that girl, you

know?”

“You mean you didn’t want to be yourself?” Leisha asked.

“Shut up.” Then Meena brightened. “He asked me to the symphony tonight.”

Leisha made a face. “Oh, ugh! Does he even know the real you at all ?”

“I love the symphony,” Meena said in protest. “I happen to be extremely cultured. I

played the clarinet in sixth grade.”

“Um, badly, if I remember,” Leisha said. “You were like twentieth chair. Out of twentyone.”

“Says the person who sat in the twenty-first chair,” Meena retorted wryly.

“So he doesn’t know about this”—Leisha tapped her head—“either?”

Meena made a face. “Why would I tell him about that? I’m not going to mess this up like

I’ve messed up every other relationship with a guy I’ve ever had.”

Leisha frowned. “Meena. Seriously. If you want this to go anywhere, you’ve got to be

honest with him. You can’t play games. Your ability is a huge part of who you are—”

“But not the only part,” Meena cried.

“You mean like the part where you don’t ever want to have kids?” Leisha asked

pointedly.

Meena’s eyes widened. She was speechless.

“I’m not trying to be hurtful,” Leisha insisted. She wasn’t teasing anymore. “I think

you’re amazing. Why else would I have picked you to be my best friend, instead of Lori

Delorenzo? She had way better hair than you did. I think you’re generous—so much so that it

gets you in trouble sometimes. You care about total strangers—again, to the point that you go

out of your way to help them, which I think is a little above and beyond. And you’re funny and

smart and pretty and sweet. But the truth is, Meena, if this guy sticks around, he’s going to find

out who you really are. Like he’s going to find out you don’t really like the symphony. Maybe

you should just be straight up with him from the beginning and see what happens. You might

be surprised.”

“Like with David?” Meena gave a sarcastic laugh. “I don’t think so. Maybe I’ll just ease

him into getting to know the real Meena Harper a little bit at a time.”

“Yeah, well, it sounds like he got to know at least a pretty good part of Meena Harper

last night,” Leisha said with a sarcastic laugh of her own. Then she sobered. “Seriously,

though, Meena. I know I bitch about Adam, but the reason we’ve lasted this long is because

he’s the first guy I’ve ever been with who I’ve been able to just be myself around, no holds

barred. If you can’t be who you really are with this guy, you might as well just keep being

alone.”

Meena looked at her friend thoughtfully. Leisha had a point…a good one.

The scary part was that she didn’t know how much Meena was holding back from her….

Meena was just going to have to tell her.

And judging from the size of her belly and the level of alarm bells that went off in

Meena’s head every time Leisha mentioned the baby, it was going to have to be soon.

“Hey,” Leisha said, glancing at her watch. “Shouldn’t you be at work or something?”

“Yeah,” Meena said slowly. “That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about…. Can I

leave Jack here until after work, then come pick him up? You know how everyone loves

him—”

Roberto, coming back with a bowl of water for Meena’s dog and a plate of perfectly

cubed mango for Leisha, overheard this last part and gasped. “Yes, please!” he cried. “We’ll

babysit the puppy!”

Meena, suppressing an urge to laugh, glanced at Leisha. “It’s just, I don’t want to go all

the way back uptown to my apartment to drop him off, then have to come all the way back

downtown to go to work—”

“We love the puppy!” Roberto cried. “We’ll give him a puppy pedicure!”

“You,” Leisha said, glaring at Meena as she popped a mango cube into her mouth, “owe

me one.”

“I really do.” Meena agreed.

“You’re going to watch my kid for me when he’s born,” Leisha said. “For free.”

“Believe me,” Meena said under her breath as she surrendered a wiggling Jack Bauer to

Roberto’s waiting arms. “I already am.”

Chapter Thirty-two

1:00 P.M . EST, Friday, April 16

15 Union Square West, Penthouse

New York, New York

T his is the latest victim,” Emil said, producing a red file folder and placing it solemnly

on the black-granite-topped table.

Lucien stared down at the photo.

She’d probably been pretty once…the kind of girl who would have had difficulty

keeping herself from smiling when a camera was pointing in her direction.

Except…how had he known that?

But violent death had robbed her of any beauty. Now her face was a dour gray mask,

dark purple shadows beneath her eyes.

And below her neck…

Lucien turned the photo over. He’d seen this kind of ravaging before.

But not in the past two centuries.

“They estimate that her time of death was around three this morning,” Emil said.

What had he been doing at three in the morning while this girl’s blood was being drained

from her body?

He knew perfectly well. If he’d been doing what he’d come here to the city to do, she

might have been alive right now.

“The killings are happening closer together,” Emil observed. “Whoever is behind them,

he seems to be getting more desperate. Or greedy. He tried killing once and found that he liked

it. He wants it all the time now. He doesn’t want to stop. Perhaps he can’t stop.”

“Perhaps,” Lucien said. He wasn’t sure what to believe anymore about these killings. “It

can be addictive. Which is why it can’t be allowed. But these bite marks aren’t from a single

individual.”

“It’s still going to get us all staked when the humans finally realize what’s going on,”

Emil said mournfully, “and decide to eradicate us the way the Palatine wants to…the way they

did your father.”

Emil shuddered, perhaps remembering how Lucien’s father had met his ignominious

fate. Then he raised his suddenly guilt-ridden gaze to Lucien’s and blurted, “It’s my fault, my

lord. This latest girl’s death. Mine, and mine alone. I should never have allowed my wife to

invite…er… her to our home last evening.”

There was no mistaking whom Emil meant by her. The name seemed to linger in the air

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