The crowd had begun to die down, and Gabrielle was alone in the bathroom, full of echoes. She looked into the mirror, then lowered her head, resting her hands against the counter top. She closed her eyes and didn’t think anything of the door opening, and the footsteps that seemed to stop right behind her. As the strong arms wrapped around her waist, she mistook Christian for Kael, and reclined into his embrace. Her mind dulled from the Chartreuse, it wasn’t until she felt his long hair brush across her check that her eyes snapped open, and she spun around, staring to Christian’s face. She opened her mouth to scream, but couldn’t. Over the past two weeks, she had wanted Christian more than anything in the world. Gabrielle wanted his gentle touch on her body, his mouth on her neck, him inside of her. He felt the same. In a split second, his mouth was against hers, his tongue sliding in and brushing against her subtly sharp fangs. Knowing her desire for him was going to be released, she pressed her body hard against his, and found herself being pushed back against the wall, then onto the counter. She moaned into his mouth as one of his hands reached under her shirt, caressing a breast while his other hand slid up her thigh and under her skirt, tugging down what was beneath. In a quick motion, Gabrielle moaned louder, wrapping her legs around his waist as Christian thrust himself deep inside of her, almost withdrawing completely before thrusting again. Within moments, Gabrielle came, clenching around him as he released into her, and leaned against her for support.

Regaining a small bit of composure, he kissed her one last time, a reluctant brush of the lips and Christian left out the door without a word passing between them. Gabrielle stood up, watching him go, then leaned her head against the tiles, trying to cool her flushed cheeks without much success, as Kael came busting through the door.

"What the hell was he doing in here?" Kael demanded, "I saw him leave!" His walked closer, touching her reddened cheeks. "He fucked you. Right in the damned bathroom. Bugger all. I told him to leave you alone and, what does he do? Son of a whore fucks you." He sighed, aware of her gaze on him and her hunger. "Come on then" He lifted his wrist, which she eagerly latched on to, drinking the sweet, alcohol laced blood until he had to force her off. "Lets go now. Don’t want some other moody prick of a vampire to screw you in the middle of a blasted club." Gabrielle smiled to herself, taking Kael’s hand and walking out of the bathroom a step ahead of him.

As Christian returned to his seat at the bar by Aspen, she noticed something, but didn’t know what. It might have been the hunger in his eyes, his finally released desire or any number of things he had been concealing. Glancing over to the bathroom, she briefly saw the two vampires she had seen at Christian’s old house exiting. The girl looked flushed, sated, and the male looked…drunk. He was supporting the girl and as Aspen turned her face towards Christian, she caught his pained look at the girl before turning his eyes back to Aspen. She was just mortal, she wouldn’t be able to understand what was going on, Christian told himself. But Aspen knew something was going on, that there was trouble in their paradise and it all steamed from that girl. There was only one course of action. Get rid of her, then Christian could be completely hers.