Peaceful.  The world floated on a cloud of pure perfection.  So long.  Jessie had craved for such an intoxicating state for so long.  The sound of water crashing on a beach roused her to the point of consciousness.  The low roar of waves pounding against rocks had her sitting up.  Where was she?  Glancing from one side to the other, she wondered where she had landed.  Darkness surrounded her as a thin moon drifted in a cloudy sky.  The location did not remind her of the Netherworld.  At least, not the Netherworld she understood.  Where had she traveled?  After the first few moments, she raised her hand to examine the damage left by the red-hot amulet.  The pain was not as bad.  Thankfully, the blister had cooled.  A red whelp in the shape of the amulet remained.  Wincing, she tried to flex her fingers.  The movement brought more discomfort.  Rolling on her elbows, Jessie sat up on her knees.

No sign of inhabitants, the location didn’t seem familiar.  Where were the hills and oak trees of Aubrie’s land?  The weeds, dead from winter’s force did not appear.  How did she manage to stall out in such a strange place?  Glancing down again, she noted the clothing she wore.  No sign of the flapper costume remained.  Instead, a Victorian gown of quality took its place.  A white cotton handkerchief spilled from a breast pocket in the form fitted jacket.  She took the soft cotton, gingerly wrapping the cloth around her hand.

Examining the injury, she considered the shift.  That was a first.  Never had she shifted into different clothing during her time travels.  Another thing – she was still Jessie.  Surprise rippled up her spine at the idea.  She always changed into Rocco with the phenomenon.  How long had she traveled?  Was she really in another century?

Carefully getting to her feet, she examined the gown she wore more closely.  A midnight blue gown in the style of the Gibson Girl, made popular in the late 1800’s by Harper’s Bazaar.  Twisting around, she noted the bustle which was a bit much.  What to do with the long skirt became another consideration.  Reaching up, she noted the hat secured atop her head.  How had she missed it before?  Readjusting the contraption, she decided until she knew where she was and why she’d go with the getup.  Remembering the stringent social dictates of that particular era, she didn’t want to cause suspicion.  Woven into the sides of the skirt were pockets which would come in handy, she supposed.  Walking was another deal when she found her feet encased in soft-as-butter high-topped, leather boots.  Buttons ran up the body of the boots, ending above the ankles.  The heel height wasn’t that bad, she decided after giving them a practice run.  She would need to get used to them, that’s all.  As a dancer, she had built up callouses from hours on her toes.  Still, going barefoot here wasn’t in the cards.

The land around her was simply that – land as far as the eye could see.  Blonde grass waved in the wind.  She could hear gulls flying nearby.  Maybe she was near an ocean.  Okay, so she would figure out which way was north and head in that direction.  Simple as that.  Glancing up, she saw the moon sliding in and out of puffy clouds.  Jessie decided she had about four hours until sunrise.  A long piece of driftwood lying nearby might be useful as a walking stick.

Miles.  She had walked miles or, so it seemed to her.  Her mind ran on autopilot after all the time traversing the hills and hollows of the beautiful countryside.  Still no closer to understanding where she was, Jessie decided she had traveled far enough.  The slit of a moon hung in the western sky.  The trees were nothing more than silhouettes against the meager light of the moon.  If she had to stop for rest, she decided this was as good a place as any.  Her view of the water and the sand below reminded her she hadn’t had a bath in several days.  In the form of Rocco, one didn’t have the luxury of indulging in baths.  Besides, she had rather use the water for those who were ill or suffering a fever rather than squander the precious liquid on herself.  A small outcropping formed a nice little “v” in the stones anchoring the hilltop.  More than a little bemused at how she had gotten there, Jessie concluded her focus had been on merely walking, not on her surroundings.  “This place is good,” she decided.

The confines of the jacket were tedious, she mused.  “Such fuss over clothing.”  Removing her jacket, she stretched.    Her collar was tall, not to mention hot, so she unbuttoned the offending neck before settling to remove her boots.  So many buttons, she mused, as her fingers worked to undo them.  “I’ll be old before I get these things off.”  Muttering to herself, she kept busy, rather than think about the Sultan and what he might do with the slaves when he found her gone.  “Gone in the blink of an eye,” she sighed.  “Maybe the Sultan was removed too.”  She blinked at the idea of someone else pulling the strings of that little disappearing scene.  The idea had her snorting out a laugh.  “Who else could have witnessed the disappearance of a woman or a mid-eastern lord?” she said aloud.

Out of the shoes, finally, Jessie wiggled her toes.  The sand felt good, all warm and smooth.  Jessie started down the hillside intent on bathing in the ocean.  Even if she had to do it in her shift, she would.  As she walked, some of what happened back at the slave camp replayed in her head.  No need for recognizing or defending the phenomenon.

She had conjured the storm, the same one that sent her hurtling into space and time.  Her one concern was why she had not shifted into another being like Rocco during the trip?  After all, the trip had been time-travel, if her clothes were any indication.  Bemused at how she managed the change of clothing and not a change in her body bugged her.  The urge to tell J.T. surfaced.  Was the phenomenon the one he’d asked about back in his office?

Cool.  The water felt cool and comforting to Jessie’s skin.  She didn’t care that the salt water burned the open skin of her reentry abrasions.  She wadded further into the surf.  The ebb and flow of the tide relaxed her tense muscles.  Until she discovered where she was, there was nothing to do but go with the present.  Closing her eyes, she floated for a while as water lapped at her body in a slow rhythmic tempo.  The sigh she released took some of the edginess away finally.  Blanking her mind, she let the ocean lull her.  A smile crept across her lips.  For the first time in a long while, she let her mind go.  Grateful for the opportunity to simply exist, she kicked at the water while splashing in the froth of a wave’s foam.  As a child, she had enjoyed vacations with her parents to the ocean.  Her father had taught her how to use the energy inside the wave to propel herself toward shore.  Eager to float on the swell of each wave, she rode the force of the water to the moment the wave imploded in the water rushing up onto the beach.  She enjoyed how the wave dissipated into nothing more than water mingled with froth.  Glancing about, she watched the slow, easy swirl until even the water gave up and disappeared back into the yaw of the ocean.  As a wave surprised her, she paddled faster trying to quicken her pace before the wave’s force caught her.  Her efforts sunk her once and then twice.  She swallowed water.  Coughing and frantic to escape the swell which took her under yet again.  She was floundering which scared her more than the unexpected rip current.

Suddenly, strong hands scooped her up out of the water.

Blinking, she gulped air before looking into his eyes.  A smug grin rimed J.T.’s features in the moonlight.

“What are you doing here?”  The words were out before she had time to think.  “What’s the meaning of this?  I don’t remember inviting you.”  The snarl at the end was for added emphasis.  “J.T.?”

“A rip tide is no place to be playing around.”  The glance in her direction held irritation in addition to something more.

Jessie couldn’t fathom why he seemed so upset.  Shoving at her wet hair, she decided she liked the fact her skirting danger irked him.  “I was perfectly fine.  I know how to handle a little rip.  Jeez!”

They landed without much more than a bump.  J.T.’s gaze bore into her.  “Don’t go back into that water without me.  Understand?”

Her hand raised in a salute before she had time to change her mind.  “Yes, sir.”  Glancing about for her clothes, she began the tedious process of dressing again.  “I asked you where you came from?  How did you get here?”  Hands on hips now, she flattened her lips to a thin line.  “Do you know where we are?”

Rather than answer, J.T. eyed her broodingly from his knelt position nearby.  In his arms rested sticks plucked from the beach.  Stoically, he skirted the small fire he was building.  Flicking her a glance, he spoke then, “If you’d care to join me, we can both get warm and dry some by the fire.”

It was a trade.  Do as J.T. asked, so she might get some answers.  Reconciled, Jessie decided she’d dig a little deeper in her stash of patience and go along with his request.  She squared her shoulders and marched over to the fire.  Settling on a large piece of driftwood, she stretched out her hands to the blaze.  “This is nice.”  A faint recollection she had something to share with him surfaced.  “I wanted to tell…”  Her smile faded when she glanced up from her perch to catch him staring at her.  “What’s the matter now?”  Impatience rippled down her chilled backbone.  He wasn’t saying much.  As if he was examining her for flaws, he starred.

Stoking the fire, J.T. gazed into the flames.  “You really want to know what’s wrong?”  Balancing on bended knees, he glanced at her from across the flames.  “I’ll tell you.  Nothing and everything.  Which do you want to hear about first?”

Jessie couldn’t help the darting glances.  She told her skittish nerves to keep him talking about himself.  Her life had changed so much since she had seen him two years before, she didn’t want to go there.  “Tell me about what you’ve been up to, J.T.  I mean, since…since I saw you last.”

The laugh came out brittle and disjointed.

His long, leanly muscled body folded in meditation over the new flames wasn’t part of the J.T. she remembered.  Something had changed about him.  She could not put her finger on the reason, but he seemed lost.  It was a gut-wrenching sensation.  Shrugging, she played it off as circumstance.  “You know my story.”

J.T. nodded.  Staring into the flames, he glanced at her, his narrow-eyed stare never relenting.  “At least what you’re willing to share.  You’ve been a burglar, a humanitarian and a man.”

“I wish you would stop that.  It’s not like that.  I had my reasons.  You, of all people, should understand that.”  Folding her arms about her legs, she examined the leaping flames.

“Stop?  Why?  I haven’t seen you in over two years.  I’m getting my fill of looking at you because I don’t know when you’re going to disappear again.”

She heard the ironic anger in his voice.  “I never intended for things to turn out this way, J.T.  I hope you know that.”

“Yeah, you’re right.  You never intended to pick up a phone or drop me a line, did you?”

His icy glare edged in red unnerved her.  J.T. stood before turning away to stare out across the endless water.  “Seems to me, you’ve been going about this ‘saving your parents’ thing all wrong.  Want to know what I think?”  He turned back.

Suddenly tired, she bowed her head.  “Not really.”

He shoved a booted foot deeper into the sand.  “Too, bad, cause I’m gonna’ explain things to you in simple-to-understand terms.”  He flicked his index finger up in the air.  “First, what’s with the solo maneuvers?”  The grim set to his mouth spoke of mistrust.

She ventured a glance into his face.  The solid lines of his jaw hardened.  His features cut from granite were cold and unseemly.  The witty, cavalier man Jessie had known once seemed foreign to her now.  “I didn’t think you would understand.”  Her voice hitched over the words.  Wondering if she wanted him to understand, she gritted her teeth.  Only one way to find out, she mused.

“You really want to know?  All right, I’ll tell you.  Two years ago, if I had come to you with a story of the Sultan’s treachery, what would you have said?”  Charged to defend now, she hurried on with her defense.  “Hum, let’s see.  You’d already made up your mind about my guilt in the disappearance of my family and my best friend.”

“That’s not true.”

The frustration built.  “If I had fed you a tale of magic and murder, mind manipulation, and slavery, you’d have measured me for a white coat.”

He said nothing.  The flames were a safe place for his gaze.

She flung her hands up in the air.  “OH, sure, you figured I’d offed my parents for the insurance money, didn’t you?”  Her bottom lip quivered.  Jessie bit down on her tongue until she tasted blood.  Looking away, she swiped at the lone tear sliding down her face.  The hysteria ebbed.  Her next statement solidified her belief.  “You’d have hauled my ass into the police if I’d shared the things I shared with you and the team a few nights ago.  Don’t sit there and lie and say you wouldn’t.  Besides, I managed.”  Tears followed despite her best efforts to control them.

“Easy,” he whispered.

Somehow, he sat next to her, right beside her.  Flinching, she tried for space.  “Leave me alone.”  Shoving at his strength, Jessie stood.  “I’m fine.  Just tell me how you got here.  Why did you come?  The people back there needed you.  Why leave them?”  Wiping at her face, she turned.  His face held something akin to tenderness.  Hard to believe from what she had witnessed so far.  “Well?”

“You.  I came for you.”

“What, to take me back and drill me some more about Rocco’s camp?  Don’t think I couldn’t see the homophobic light in your face back there in the camp the other night.  Your macho male ego doesn’t know how to deal with my shifting into a man.”  Her laugh held no humor.  “Let’s face it, J.T., you see the world, either here or back in Cheniere Station, with very stringent boundaries.”  She shook her head, looking away again.  “Your bias is writing checks your heart can’t cover.”

He huffed out a breath.  “So that’s what you think is wrong.  I’m jealous of you as Rocco.  What, I’m afraid his dick is bigger than mine?  Or, maybe, you like being him more than being Jessie, so one day, you’ll just convert.  Is that it?”  He scowled into the flames.

Her breath caught.  Christ, but J. T. was off the mark so bad, it was almost pathetic.  “You have no clue what you’re talking about, you, you Neanderthal idiot.”  Jessie shoved to her feet.  Her skirts billowed close to the flame.  Swiftly, she darted out of harm’s way before wheeling to face him.  “I asked you about the slaves because my disappearance will cause retaliation from the Sultan.”

J.T. remained silent.

Sniffing back a tear, she examined her hands carefully.  Her voice fell to a hesitate murmur.  “Have you seen them?  The slaves, I mean.  Are they all right?”  Stepping into his space, she gripped his jacket front as her eyes went wide.  “Oh, please tell me they are all right.”

“They are.  Thomas is spiriting them away to Cheniere Station as we speak.”  His mouth firmed after the last syllable was out.

She could see the effort it took for him to share that much.  “Why is it so hard for you to open up to me?”  Giving his jacket a yank, she drew closer.  “You confided in me before.”

“Before the world changed forever.”  He ground the words out as he finished the fact she didn’t want to face.

Jessie frowned.  Puzzled by the finality of his statement and the cool delivery of his words, Jessie chided, “I suppose that’s what you think happened.  Discover the woman you are interested in is a nut case.”  She gave him the age-old sign of crazy with her finger making circles near her head.  “Bitch is nuts, right?”

“That’s not what I meant.  You’re not crazy.  I meant…”  He stiffened.

Jessie sensed the shift in his demeanor.  There was more to his explanation then he was willing to share.  The carefully guarded wall slid into place right before her eyes.  She sighed.  “Never mind.  It doesn’t matter.  I have this thing to finish.  If you want to help, fine.  If not, I understand.  Just, please, stay out of my way.”  Turning to leave, she did not see his next move.

J.T. reached out, taking Jessie by the arm.  Lethal and seductive, J.T.’s mouth covered hers.  His kiss hot and demanding enveloped her.  Jessie’s mind registered a full contact, wet-tongued, tonsil-probing kiss.  He was looking for submission, she mused, as his tongue slanted across hers, slashing and searching the corners of her mouth in a ravenous attempt to master.  He plunged, stoking the embers she kept under close control.

There, just there, as J.T. plundered seeking a response, Jessie tasted the wildness in the taste of him again, an almost desperate search for acceptance.  “No, I can’t,” Jessie whispered when she managed to break free for air.

“Can’t what?”  His hands roamed her back, dipping low to clutch her butt in his grasp.  “Can’t make love to me?  Why not?  We aren’t going anywhere for a while.”  Melding his body to hers, he found her breasts through the dress.  Tiny pinches of pain sparked a flame.  His words, so cool and cocky did not match his eyes or his touch.  Her body reacted before she could shut down the need catching fire inside.  His voice, velvet seduction, melted her reserves.

The air sizzled with the heat working its way through her blood.  Jessie pushed at his chest.  The rough leather of J.T.’s jacket filled her hands.  Her mind had gone lax with the feel of him.  The leather slid from his shoulders, pinning his arms as she shifted to discover him.  God, but he was big.  She licked her lips in anticipation.  Her first mistake was believing she was in control.  Jessie’s breath caught as his mouth found her nipple through the confines of the dress.

His hands moved quickly.

A low moan slipped past her guard, a husky helpless sound of want.  Arching into his sweet torture, she found his taunting deliciously arousing.  The crackle of energy passing between them turned hot and raw slipping into a frenzy of passion.

She yanked the coat down further before ripping his shirt open down the middle.  There lay his smooth chest, all sinuous muscles and hard planes.  A Navy SEAL insignia rested on his right, upper bicep.  Jessie reached out to touch him.  His skin burned under her fingers.  Glancing into his eyes, she caught the look of passion’s smoldering heat.  Not yet, she mused.  She wanted to torture him a little more.  After all, coming undone was part of the fun of sex.  With a hand fisted over his shaft, she stroked.  J.T.’s moans turned reckless.  She smiled a wicked smile.  Let the games begin!

He surprised her by grabbing her hands and pulling her close.  Though encumbered, J.T. managed to blaze a scorching trail of kisses along her collarbone before dipping lower to taste her breasts.  Nipping and biting, he garnered a reaction from Jessie she wasn’t expecting.

She tugged free, giving his chest a rake with her nails.  Tiny pinpricks of blood seeped from scratches.  Flicking her tongue along the marks, she savored the metallic taste of his blood.  Reckless satisfaction bloomed as she relished in her attack.  Yes, her core burned for him.  Yes, her body ached for the release only he could provide.

Freed from the jacket, J.T. turned his attention to getting Jessie out of the dress.  Her jacket, the buttons confounding even his nimble fingers, fractured down the middle.  He wasted no time in ripping the material in half which left him examining the next layer.  “You won’t be needing all of this.”  He paused a moment, examining the corset and boning.  “By the gods, what an infernal contraption!”  His jaw tightened with frustration.  “There’s more than one way,” he said fervently.

Within seconds, she found her fussy dress shoving up around her waist.  J.T.’s fingers, already inside her, stoked her need.  He whispered something Jessie didn’t understand.

Her brain may have gone on auto-pilot, but her body reacted to the rhythm of the words and his fingers.  The fever coiled in her belly.

His mouth, hot and urgent wove a magic spell all its own.

Her head fell forward, then back, in a pleasured daze.  The urgency and tension mounted simultaneously.  She went with the feeling, her body going rigid as she gave in to the climax.  An explosion of pleasure filled every fiber of her being.  Jessie spiraled upward and then out of control.

J.T. watched her.  There was no mistaking the lustful groan of hunger low in his throat.

His response proved thrilling.  Jessie lay back in the sand, giving him an invitation to join her.

He managed to free himself as he dropped down between her legs.  Eager to share the passion coursing through her, she opened for him.

Inside of a second, he filled her.

Jessie’s muscles spasmed, clutching him tightly.  Did he understand?  Born of an unspeakable desire to please him, she arched to meet his thrusts.   Watching his eyes glaze as he pounded himself into her, Jessie matched his gusto.  No longer of the world around them, she whispered his name, “J.T.”  His physical response pleased her like no other.

Before there was evil or danger, there was the connection between them.  Shoving at the memory, Jessie watched J.T.  Her breath caught as the second orgasm pushed her to a perilous peak.  As one, they existed.  As one, they endured.  Blinking back a tear, she brushed gentle fingers over his cheek.

J.T. stilled.  His chest glistened with the perspiration of their mating.  His hair fell like a curtain about his warrior’s face.  His mouth, set in a serious line quickly went slack.  “Jessie, girl.”

The words, whispered low for her ears only, held a tenderness she found endearing.  Her lips compressed as she wrapped her hands around J.T.’s neck.  Pulling him into the kiss, she murmured her own command between the slant of his mouth over hers.  “Come with me.”

He stilled, once more, giving her a close examination.

Tortured.  Jessie’s heart stilled at the expression on J.T.’s face.  Had she gone too far?  Nerves sheered her confidence.  “Fly with me.  If only for the moment.”

J.T. hesitated a moment before burying his head in her hair.  “If only…” he sighed against her neck.  “I’d move mountains for you, if only…”

Love filled Jessie’s chest.  She would not consider that now.  Her arms held him tight.  “Now, J.T., now.”  Desperate to hold onto the moment between them, she gripped him harder.  His cock, bathed in her wet heat, pulsated against her most sensitive nub.  Clinging to him desperately, Jessie cried out as the orgasm pushed her to the edge of the cliff, the cliff so close to the abyss.

She wanted to watch him come undone.  Jessie opened her eyes.  J.T. starred at her with an incomprehensible expression.  His jaw went rigid as his body stiffened.  Still deep inside her, she felt his shaft throb and welcomed his seed.  His long, ragged groan of release was the catalyst.  Together they tumbled over the last edge of passion’s crest.

***

The ocean’s breeze swept over his body.  Warm and moist, the air caressed his skin much like Jessie’s fingers had done only a little while before.  Their lovemaking sated a long-repressed need in him.  J.T. lay on his back, his eyes closed as his hand rested over the heart which continued to beat.  The rhythm had slowed, but the feeling was one he wouldn’t forget.  They had made love in the sand under the moonlight.  Her touch had elicited the miracle.  He needed another minute to enjoy.

The hammering of the organ in his chest had shocked him.  Then, Jessie had reached out to him.  Asking for his touch, she had guided his hand between her legs, showing him what she wanted.  The result was staggering for J.T.  His body lived with her by his side.  His heart sang with her touch.  Wondering if the phenomenon was one of the Sultan’s tricks, he cursed before rolling to sit.  His heartbeat was almost gone now.  J.T. scowled at the waves rolling onto the shore.

There she was.  His sweet Jessie.  She rode the water’s swell, giggling like a school girl as the waves carried her to the beach.  Enjoying her romp, she jumped up and waded back out to catch the next one and experience the fun all over again.

J.T. rubbed his chest where his heart lay still now.  What did it mean?  No need to worry, he chided his confused brain.  It was a trick, a very cruel trick, but a trick all the same.  More of the Sultan’s games.  Making a mental note to share with Logan, he watched her frolic in the water.

Jessie’s response while they made love opened his eyes.  He had seen more than mere mechanics in her reaction to his touch.  Where did that leave their relationship which she had labeled sex only days before?  Women!  Where did it leave them, his irritated brain repeated?  Teetering on the edge of a world-changing battle, she wanted to tweak the rules.  J.T. rolled his shoulders.  Her timing was spot-on as always.  She bounced from concept to concept like a kangaroo on the Australian plains.  Leaning on his knees, J.T. starred out at the scene before him.  Ah, but he loved her.  The long-legged woman romping naked in the surf wanted him, J.T., an undead vampire.  She still didn’t understand, that much was clear.  He was too chicken shit to tell her.  So where did that leave them?

The romping continued.  Jessie called to him, her voice carrying on the wind.  The moon’s light dancing on the water reminded him of thousands of glimmering diamonds.  Not unlike the ones found in Africa.  He wanted to share that with her.  He wanted to take her to Africa and watch her race among the grass of the Serengeti or to touch the velvet nose of a joey in Australia.  To climb to the highest peak of Mount Everest and gaze out at the wonders below.

The dream popped like a bubble.  Who was he kidding?  J.T., the vampire, and Jessie, the time traveler may as well be lost to each other.

Forcing the thought deeper, J.T. got up, stripping off his remaining clothes.  Wading out to Jessie, he shoved the pain filtering through his system into a box.  No good, man.  Keep it real, keep it now.  He grabbed her up in her race to elude him.

Her giggles elicited something low in his belly.  Needing to ignore the feeling, he buried his face in her wet hair.

She shoved at the strains of ebony hair hanging lank about his face.  Her fingers traced the line of his cheek.

He pulled her close, her slender curves melding perfectly to him.  Warm and yielding, she stirred his juices.

She licked her lips as breathless she gazed at him.  “Come on, J.T.  Run with me.”  Her long legs splashed in the water sending up plumes of spray as she raced ahead.

They had this time.  J.T.’s weary mind urged him to enjoy.  They had each other for as long as it would last.  He knew the time grew fleeting.  He knew the moment was probably the Sultan’s evil magic.  Somehow, he didn’t care.  “Where are we going, Jessie?”

She giggled, flinging her head back to look at him.  “To a marvelous place, far, far away from pain and suffering.”  Spinning, she flung water at him, before laughing madly when his arms roped around her neck.

She had fantasies, he mused.  What of it?  Couldn’t they both have a fantasy?  Skimming his fingers over her lips, J.T. gave in and kissed her.