Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all its characters. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: This one is for Vagabonda, who may or may not recognise elements from a certain PM conversation.

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at! – Lewis Carroll

… ^o^ …

He had been at the sanctuary for a nearly a year when she first arrived, dragged in by her friend in an effort to prove that bats were not the scary creatures horror movies made them out to be.

She was not particularly keen on any of the bats her friend had shown her, at least not until she saw him. He was a magnificent specimen – a Malaysian flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) with bronze-brown fur and velvety black skin on his folded wings – and the moment she set eyes on him, she was captivated.

She stared at him, caught in his adorable round-eyed gaze, not even noticing that he had slowly stretched his wings out until they reached their full six-foot span. She gasped, her eyes widening at his display, but when she spied the other blatant sign of his prowess, her heart rate increased and she became a little breathless.

She signed up that day to volunteer.

… ^o^ …

An amateur chiropterologist had spotted him asleep in one of the trees along the coastline and assuming he had escaped from a zoo, had wrapped him in his beach towel and brought him to the sanctuary.

It was most unfortunate that when he was captured, he had barely been on dry land but a few hours and had yet to feed. Indeed, he had not fed in his other form for several weeks and was in a much-weakened state, too weak to break free from the confines of the wire mesh enclosure he subsequently found himself in.

Each night he would change shape and sit naked and alone on the cold paper-lined floor, his long arms wrapped around his bent legs, increasingly thirsty for the sustenance he so needed to regain his strength.

For months the staff and volunteers at the sanctuary had attempted to pair him with females of his breed. They were, however, unwittingly mistaken in their identification.

He had fought off or hidden from each potential consort in turn until he was left alone in solitary confinement. He would know his mate when he saw her and none of the female bats smelled or looked remotely appealing to him. Not one of them took on his other form.

… ^o^ …

On her first day volunteering at the sanctuary, Bella watched with envy as Jacob entered the male Malaysian flying fox enclosure to hang fresh fruit from the dead branches and ropes that crisscrossed the ceiling. Her envy was only slightly less pronounced when he cleared away the heavily soiled sheets of paper covering the floor to replace them with fresh ones.

The giant bat, meanwhile, turned his back on his food, and the unwelcome human male, to study the woman on the other side of the wire mesh. Seeing that her eyes were on her friend, he swung up and hooked his long black thumbs around a branch. Then, dropping his feet down toward the floor, he let loose a long stream of urine, which arced across the entire length of the enclosure.

"Hey!" Jacob shouted, barely jumping out of the way in time. Then, under his breath, he muttered, "Bloodsucker!"

At the sound of the woman's laughter, the bat gripped a thick rope with his feet, hung head down to face her and, once assured of her undivided attention, proceeded to groom himself everywhere.

Bella watched with interest – perhaps a little more interest than was normal, she thought. She wasn't an innocent. She had seen a few naked men in her time, but none had been as impressive proportionally as the beautiful bronze-furred male preening there in front of her.

… ^o^ …

As the weeks went by, Bella became brave enough to enter the bat's enclosure and hang up his fruit. His round eyes would follow her intently and whenever she took the time to pause and admire him, he would stick out his long, pink tongue and perform his grooming ritual, just for her.

Eventually, an evening came when Jacob had to stay late at work and Bella was asked to clean the enclosure floors. She left her favourite bat until last, keeping one eye on him as she worked, mindful of how he had treated her friend.

She need not have worried, though, because the handsome creature began his own ablutions the moment he set eyes on her, readying himself for her inspection. And once her job was done, inspect him she did.

Everything about him invited her in – the velvety black membranes of his wings, the beautiful bronze fur that covered his body and those wide, round, amber eyes.

So enthralled was she that without thinking, she reached out a hand and touched her fingertips to his chest. His fur was so soft and silky, she wanted to bury her face in it and inhale. She felt sure he would smell as good as he looked.

Ever so gingerly, she trailed her fingers down and around to the back of his head, gently scratching behind his ears. He pressed his head into her hand, nuzzling at her wrist, and stared at her, his round, amber eyes darkening.

And in that moment, she realised just how much she longed to take him home.

… ^o^ …

It was late on a Thursday evening and Bella was out of sorts. She wanted to be home on her couch with a takeout pizza and a good book, but Mike had asked her and Jacob to cover for him and close up when they had finished the rounds.

Jacob's mind was not on the task at hand. The bats were restless for some reason and far noisier than usual. Their shrill shrieks must have been setting him on edge because he repeatedly brushed against Bella as if he had a problem with his equilibrium.

"All done," she said finally, padlocking the door of the last enclosure. She mouthed goodnight to the lonely male flying fox and turned to go, but found her path was blocked.

"What are you doing, Jacob?" she asked.

"Let me kiss you, Bella," he said. "You promised you'd try."

"I don't know, Jake. Perhaps it's not such a good idea."

"But how will we know what we're missing if we don't try?"

She sighed. "Not here."

"Why not? No one is going to see us." He put his hands on her hips and leaned in, lowering his face to hers.

"No, Jake!" She tried to pull away. "Not in front of Edward."

A deep crease formed between his eyebrows. "Who's Edward?"

"The Malaysian flying fox."

He huffed. "You've given him a new name?"

"Yes, I have. Bloodsucker wasn't exactly appropriate for a fruit bat, now, was it?" She raised her eyebrows as she looked up at him.

Jacob's gaze drifted down to her lips and he pulled her to him, putting his mouth on hers before she could make any further objections. Twisting them around so that her back was to the wall opposite the enclosure, he slid his hands down under her backside and hoisted her up to the perfect height for him to press his groin into hers. Bella wrenched her face away, gasping for breath, but he mistook her panting for desire.

"Oh, Bella!" He groaned as he sucked at the side of her neck and thrust his hips forward.

A steady stream of warm urine hit him right between the shoulder blades and then continued at full flow down his spine to soak the seat of his pants.

"Fuck!" he shouted, almost dropping Bella in his haste to lower her back down to the floor.

His face hardened and his eyes flashed, the nighttime lighting catching them in such a way as to make the usual soft brown seem almost yellow. His body was positively vibrating with rage. Bella had never seen her friend, the boy she'd always likened to a ray of sunshine, so consumed with anger.

He spun around to confront his assailant, thus showing Bella the state of his back. She had to suck her swollen lips between her teeth to contain her laughter.

Jacob pressed the front of his body flush against the wire mesh and in a tone filled with menace said, "You filthy little bloodsucker! You'll pay for that." Then he stormed off toward the main door, cursing loudly as he went.

Bella couldn't help it. She beamed at the Malaysian flying fox. He was as close to the mesh as he could possibly be, head up and feet down, wings wide open for her to admire him in all his glory. And those round, amber eyes were fixed upon her.

Only then did her cheeks become flushed with a surge of desire she could not comprehend. But the heat soon gave way to a skin-prickling chill as the thought of what had nearly happened with Jacob invaded her mind and brought her back to her senses.

Pulling the keys out of her jeans pocket, she whispered, "Thank you, Edward," to the giant bat and shuffled toward the main door to lock up for the night.

She was expecting to find a disgruntled Jacob leaning against his car in the lot, but her truck was the only vehicle left. In some ways, it was a relief. She hoped he would eventually see the funny side, that they could put it all behind them and remain friends. The thought of him having to drive home in soggy pants certainly brought a smile to her face – a smile that lasted all the way home and well into the evening.

… ^o^ …

Bella had always slept with her window open, needing fresh air to be able to sleep even during the coldest months of the year, and that night was no exception.

His naked human form slipped gracefully through the open space, not making a single sound as his feet touched the floor. He backed himself into the nearest corner of her bedroom and watched her sleep, holding himself still as a statue to keep from kissing, or licking, or biting, or taking what he wanted for his own.

Just before sunrise, Bella sat bolt upright in bed and stared in shock at the sight before her. There in front of her open window, hanging by its feet from the curtain pole, was a large, Malaysian flying fox, its face hidden inside the folds of its velvety wings.

She rubbed her eyes and pinched her forearm. "Edward?" she whispered. "Is that you?"

The giant bat let his wings drop out to his sides and slowly opened his round, amber eyes. They were immediately drawn to Bella's chest, for her camisole left little to the imagination, but he wasn't alone in his impropriety. Bella found it just as impossible not to stare at his increasingly aroused penis.

"Oh, my!" She covered her open mouth with one hand, certain that the bat in front of her was the exact same one that normally resided in the sanctuary. "How did you get out, Edward, and how on earth did you find me?"

She eased her legs out from under the covers, got up off the bed and tiptoed slowly toward the bat. Raising one trembling hand, she ran her fingertips over the soft fur on his head. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment of contact.

"I wish–" she said, but her words were cut off by the loud beeping of her alarm clock. The bat swiftly folded his wings back around his body and tucked his face beneath them.

Bella stared at her still outstretched hand. She had to pull herself together. There was no point wishing for the impossible. She was due at work within the hour and there was not enough time to take the bat to the sanctuary beforehand. She would have to leave him there in her house until the evening.

She shut the window, pressing the button that clicked the lock into place, switched off her alarm clock and closed the bedroom door on her way to the bathroom to take her morning shower, praying that her visitor would remain exactly where she had left him.

Wrapped in just her bath sheet, she returned to the bedroom, half expecting the whole thing to have been nothing but a strange dream. Yet the bat was still there, hanging from her curtain pole, his face hidden.

With her back to him, she dropped her towel, pulled on some clean clothes and then ran down to the kitchen. She grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, found an old chopstick in her junk drawer and poked a hole through the fruit. Then she rooted around for some string and threaded it through the hole.

Back upstairs, she turned her bathroom into an impromptu bat cave, hanging the stringed apple from the shower head, locking the tiny window, pulling down the blind and shoving all her loose toiletries into the cabinet under the sink.

She steeled her nerves before re-entering her bedroom and, without allowing herself time to think about it, she marched toward the window and put her hands either side of the bat's feet. She tickled and teased until he loosened his grip sufficiently to exchange the curtain pole for her fingers.

Several things happened at once.

A spark akin to an electrical charge surged up each of her arms and down each of the bat's legs. The bat pulled his head out from beneath his wings and with Bella's arms still up in the air, both found themselves face to face with the others crotch. Each instinctively inhaled and was overwhelmed by the other's scent.

Bella almost collapsed, her knees felt so wobbly. "Pull yourself together, Bella!" she said out loud.

The flying fox was far heavier than she had expected, but she was determined not to drop him as she crossed the landing into the bathroom, where she somehow persuaded the bat to hang from the shower curtain rail.

His darkened eyes closed briefly when she rubbed his furry head. "See you this evening, Edward," she whispered and then she left the room, taking the key out of the door as she went.

He heard the key turning in the lock, her footsteps on the stairs, the front door slamming shut and the fading rumble of her truck as she drove away.

He stretched his wings and worked his way along the rail to take a bite out of the rosy red apple.

… ^o^ …

All day long he waited for her return. There seemed little point in him changing back to his human form as he did not intend to damage her property in order to escape it. He wanted to be her captive. He wanted to be hers.

He nibbled at his apple, grateful that he had finally been able to hunt in his other form on his way to her house. But what he had drunk was not yet enough to return him to full strength. That would take more than the one meal or another source of sustenance entirely.

… ^o^ …

Every spare moment Bella had that day was spent wondering about her uninvited guest. The temptation to keep the flying fox for her own was growing hour by hour as her feelings of loyalty toward the sanctuary diminished.

Then, she thought of what he might want. Perhaps she should just let him go and hope that he could survive in the Olympic forest or escape the cold for warmer climes.

Her mind was so preoccupied with her indecision that she did not notice it was past time to leave work until one of her co-workers threw her coat onto her desk, joking that she should snap out of it and go home.

As she climbed into her truck, she was surprised to see her cell phone lying on the bench seat. It must have fallen out of her purse in her rush to get to work on time. Turning it over, she found she had missed several calls from an unknown number. She was about to check her answer phone when the screen lit up, displaying that same number.

"Hello?" she said, answering the call.

"Bella! Finally! It's Mike from the sanctuary. Have you seen or heard from Jake today?"

"No. Should I have? Is there a problem?"

"No one has been able to get hold of him all day and his boss said he never turned up for work."

"That's odd," Bella said. Jacob was never ill and he had always prided himself on his punctuality.

"I thought you guys were going to lock up for me last night," Mike said. "What happened?"

Bella frowned. "I did lock up, Mike. Jake got, er, a bit messy doing the rounds and had to duck out early."

"You locked up? With whose keys?"

"Mine, of course." She rummaged through her purse to check she had them and then rattled them near the phone. "I have them right here."

"So what the hell were Jake's keys doing in the main door when Lauren arrived this morning?"

"What?" Her stomach lurched. "Was everything alright?"

"No. The large, male Malaysian flying fox has vanished."

"Ah." She took a deep breath and reluctantly made what she felt to be the most responsible decision. "I might be able to help you with that. I believe he's hanging on the shower curtain rail in my bathroom."

"Well, that's a piece of luck," Mike said. "I'll come by and fetch him. Are you home now?"

"I'm just leaving work. Come by at six."

She didn't need to tell Mike where she lived. He had given her a lift home one time when her truck would not start. She assumed he could remember the way and she was right. She had barely got in through her front door when he arrived.

He followed her into the hallway, holding a dark-coloured towel in his hands.

"So, where are you hiding the little bloodsucker?" he asked, looking around eagerly.

"Oh, not you too?" She suddenly felt very protective of the giant bat. "You stay here. I'll go and get him for you."

She dropped her purse down on a kitchen chair and skirted back around Mike toward the stairs, snatching the towel out of his hands. She was on the fourth step when he began to follow her up.

Turning the key in the bathroom door, she quickly ducked inside and closed the door behind her. She took a deep breath and surveyed the room. Her guest was pretty much where she had left him, but he appeared to have eaten all his apple and been kind enough to mess only in the tub. A bit of bleach and a forceful spray of scalding hot water would soon sort that out.

The flying fox sighed deeply with resignation. He knew she hadn't returned alone and he knew what was about to happen. Her gentle whispered reassurances as she wrapped him up in the foul-smelling towel brought him little comfort, but he helpfully released his grip on the shower curtain rail and allowed her to cradle him in her arms.

"Mike?" she called. "Can you get the door for me?"

She heard footsteps approaching before the door was flung open. Clearly, Mike had not been waiting just outside the bathroom. She pushed any thoughts of where he had been out of her mind as the body in her arms stiffened.

"Let me have him," Mike said, holding out his hands.

Bella took a step back. "I'll hold him," she said. "You drive."

Mike nodded once and left the room. She followed him down the stairs and out onto the front steps. He reached around the door and retrieved her house keys from the other side and then held them out to her. A little silver swan charm swung from the ring, glinting in the headlights of a passing car.

"Thanks," she said. "Stick them in my coat pocket would you?"

He stepped closer, but instead of doing as she asked, he pushed her keys and two of his fingers into her front jeans pocket. The towel-wrapped bundle in her arms shook.

"Ssh, Edward," Bella whispered. "It's okay. I've got you."

Mike jogged down the steps and opened the passenger door of his Suburban. It was quite a step up for Bella with her hands otherwise occupied, so she had little choice but to accept his offer of assistance. He put both of his hands on her waist, sliding them down to her bottom as he pushed her up and into the seat. One hand seemed to linger a little longer than was necessary.

Lowering the wrapped flying fox onto her lap, she attempted to fix her seatbelt while Mike got in behind the wheel. He leaned across to help her, accidentally grazing the back of his hand over her breast as he manoeuvred the strap around her body.

"Sorry," he said.

The flying fox wriggled inside the towel, only calming when Bella drew him closer to her stomach with both arms.

"So, what's going on with you and Jake?" Mike asked as he pulled away from her house.

"Nothing. We're just friends."

"He wants more than that."

"He does, but I don't. We grew up together. Our dads were fishing buddies. I don't really see him as more than a younger brother." She wasn't sure she even saw him as that after the previous evening.

"Ouch." Mike laughed.

"Yeah."

"Would you…? Would you want to go on a date with me, maybe? Dinner? Tonight?"

Bella's fingers pressed into the towel, her mind racing to think of a polite way to let Mike down. She had nothing against him – he was, after all, a reasonably good-looking man – but he was blond and blue-eyed and a little too free with his hands for her liking. He was not her type at all.

And that had her wondering what exactly her type was.

"Bella?"

Mike's right hand landed on her knee, but by the time she had looked down at it, he had placed it back on the steering wheel to make a turn. She shifted her bottom as close to the door as was possible and decided not to take Mike up on a lift back home, should he offer one.

She looked out at the dense forest on either side of the road. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"We're just going to stop by my house for a moment," Mike said.

"Why?"

"There's something I'd like to show you." He smiled at her and placed his right hand back on her knee, his thumb pressing into her flesh.

Her stomach lurched and her hold on the bat slackened. She closed her eyes and swallowed down her bile as the black towel began to fall away from its prisoner.

The giant bat unfurled his wings and shrieked at the man, whose sordid thoughts had ventured way beyond mere flirtation. With only the one hand on the wheel, the startled man lost control of the vehicle. It veered across the road and crashed head-on into a large spruce tree.

Everything went black.

… ^o^ …

By the smell alone, she knew she was in a hospital bed. A childhood full of clumsy mishaps was to blame for that knowledge.

Bella's eyelids fluttered as her eyes adjusted to the bright lights overhead. She focussed on the man in uniform sitting in the chair beside her with his head in his hands.

"Steve?" she asked.

The deputy raised his head to look at her. He had dark circles under his eyes. "Yes, honey, it's me."

"My head hurts."

He huffed and smiled. "You'll be okay, or at least the doc thinks you will be. You banged your head pretty hard, but otherwise, I'd say you got off lucky."

"Mike?"

"The man you were with? The owner of the Suburban?" She gave him a little nod. "He's what – your boyfriend?"

"I barely know him really," she said, thinking how true those words were. "He works at the bat sanctuary where I volunteer."

"I see." Steve sat back in his chair and scrubbed a hand over his face. "We believe he was dragged from the vehicle by a wild animal. Mark found what was left of him down by the creek. It wasn't pretty, Bella. I'm sorry."

Bella could not find it in her to utter one word of sympathy. She simply said the next thing that came to mind. "Edward!"

"Someone else was in the car with you?"

"No, the bat we were bringing to the sanctuary, the Malaysian flying fox."

Steve shook his head and laughed. "That monster was hanging from a low branch above the Suburban. We called the sanctuary and Lauren came out to capture him. He didn't even put up a fight."

… ^o^ …

It was several days before Bella was up to going back to work and several more before she had the energy to spend an evening at the bat sanctuary.

Her need to see the Malaysian flying fox eventually outweighed her need to rest and recuperate, so she made an unscheduled stop on her way home.

Lauren was on duty at the front desk, handing out new rosters to the volunteers as they came and went. With one staff member deceased, one volunteer missing and another out of action, she and her team had been working solidly without a break.

"How are you doing, Bella?" she asked, glancing at the yellowing bruise on Bella's forehead.

"Much better, thanks."

"Still no news on Jake?

"No." Bella blinked back a tear or two. "Deputy Steve said they've put up posters all over the Olympic Peninsula, but there's been no word as of yet."

Lauren looked down and twiddled her pen between her thumb and forefinger. Then she smiled to herself as if she knew a secret. "I guess you want to see your lover boy, don't you?"

"Please." Bella straightened up.

"I can't believe he didn't fly away when he had the chance." Lauren looked up and winked. "He obviously has a thing for you too."

Bella snorted. "Is it alright for me to go through?"

"Of course. Don't be long, though. I really need to head home and get some sleep."

"I can lock up for you. I have my keys." Bella patted her jeans pocket. The silver bat charm swung freely at her hip.

"Not on my watch," Lauren said, shaking her head. "It's not that I don't trust you, Bella, but since Jacob… Well, you know. I don't want to lose my job."

Bella nodded and walked further into the building until she came to his enclosure. The padlock was already undone, hooked through just one of the two metal loops, so she pulled open the door and stepped inside.

The flying fox was already moving from rope to branch, coming to greet her. He stopped with less than two foot between them and hung down, his dark eyes boring into her brown ones.

"Why did you stay with me, huh?" Bella whispered. "What's so special about this place that you'd choose to be back in a cage?"

He stretched out his wings and carefully wrapped them around her shoulders, drawing her closer, but not so close as to make her feel anxious. She put her hands flat on the front of his body and then curled her fingers, stroking them through the strands of soft bronze fur.

She stared into his eyes for several minutes and then did something she would never have thought she could: she kissed him on the mouth, just below his nose.

"I'm so sorry, Edward," she whispered. "I should never have told Mike about you. If I'd just kept my mouth shut..."

Much as he wanted to, he could not kiss her back, not in his bat form. But perhaps… He slowly opened his mouth, stuck out his long, pink tongue and licked the tip of her nose.

Bella's reaction was a surprise even to her. She giggled. And while she gazed happily into his eyes, he reached one long, black thumb down and hooked it through the metal ring that linked the sanctuary keys to the silver bat charm that was dangling from her pocket.

… ^o^ …

Hours later, he sat in human form on the hard, paper-covered floor of his enclosure, his thumb rubbing over the charm on the keys in his hand.

He had heard the conversation between Bella and Lauren and, more importantly, he had read the latter's mind. Lauren was one of the kindest and gentlest keepers at the sanctuary and until Bella had arrived, she had been his favourite human being.

He stood and walked to the enclosure door with the smallest of the keys at the ready. With long, nimble fingers, he reached through the wire mesh and positioned the padlock so that he could insert the key. Once outside, he pushed the padlock back together. It would most certainly raise questions but this time he would not be returning.

He stole out of the main door, using the largest key on the ring to ensure it was securely locked. He did not want Lauren to lose her job any more than he wanted the other bats in the sanctuary to be without the nicest keeper.

In the dark of the night, he slipped down the passageway at the side of the building and leaped up and over the high fence into the trees behind. He ran through the forest until he found his beloved's house and crept in through her open window, setting her keys down on her nightstand.

For an hour he stood watching as her chest rose and fell. Eventually, he decided he should wake her and had all but taken the first step when she became restless and pushed the covers down, leaving her exposed to her waist but for her thin camisole.

One of her hands slid under the covers and as her back arched off the bed, he heard the name she had given him fall from her lips in a breathless whisper.

"Edward."

In an effort to restrain himself, he shifted to his bat form and rose into the air, his great wings beating softly to keep him aloft. The movement caused a cooling breeze sufficient to rouse the dreaming woman.

Bella's eyes opened, bleary at first, and then widened at the sight in front of her. The dark silhouette of a large bat was blocking the moonlight from shining in through her window. Her shock took the form of surprised silence. Not even a squeak left her mouth, but her body told another story, one of unfulfilled desire.

He could stay away no longer. He glided toward her, shifting mid-flight, and landed softly on the bed with the balls of his feet either side of her knees and the knuckles of his fisted hands beside her shoulders.

"What are you?" Bella whispered, but he did not respond.

With the moonlight no longer obscured, she could see him more clearly. She watched his Adam's apple move as he swallowed down his venom.

"Can you talk?" she asked.

He opened his mouth but aside from a faint clicking sound, only the sweetest smelling breath came out.

"Are you thirsty?" she asked, turning her head to look at the glass of water on her nightstand.

The sight of her neck, the veins pulsing with blood beneath her delicate skin, was almost too much for him. A trickle of venom escaped from the corner of his mouth and dripped, drop after drop, onto the very spot where he longed to make his mark.

Her head whipped back, her mouth agape, but she was caught in his gaze. His eyes, tinged red with the blood of his last meal some days before, were reassuringly familiar.

Tentatively, she reached up a hand to touch the floppy bronze hair that framed his face. He leaned into her palm and rubbed his nose against her wrist.

"It can't be," she whispered, shaking her head. "You can't be…"

He looked back at her and so slowly he thought it would kill him, he poked his long, pink tongue out of his mouth and touched it to the very tip of her nose.

"Edward."

Her hand dropped from his face to her neck, her fingertips spreading the wet venom over her skin. She felt the covers sliding down over her legs and glanced between her body and his to see him kick them off the bed and lower his knees onto the mattress.

She gasped. He was completely naked and unashamedly aroused, much like he was whenever she watched him in bat form, much like he was whenever she was near him.

And though, in the depths of her mind she knew what he must be, knew that she should be afraid for her very life, everything about her wanted him. Her mind, her heart, her body were each calling for him to be hers.

"Please," she whispered. "I wish…"

His tongue poked out from between his lips and licked away a fresh trickle of venom. He wanted to talk to her, to explain himself, but he had not used his vocal chords for so very long, he could only make the sounds of his other form.

She studied his face for a moment, looking for something in his eyes, and then pushed at his chest. He obligingly sat back on his heels and opened his arms wide, displaying himself for her.

And what a magnificent specimen he was.

Free to move, she scrambled up onto her knees. Inching closer and closer, she tilted her head up, put her lips to the underside of his chin and then spoke for them both.

"I've wanted you from the moment I set eyes on you, though I could not understand why."

His movements were swift. One hand went to her waist, pushing up her camisole so that when he pressed his hand flat against her upper back and drew her against his body, the bare skin of her breasts was tickled by the bronze hairs on his chest. His other hand slipped in between her thighs, tugging the fabric of her panties to one side so that he could join their bodies together as one.

Her legs wound around his waist and her arms around his neck as she threw her head back. His lips and tongue were at her throat in an instant, working in rhythm with his hips, and then his teeth were sinking into her flesh.

It was an orgasm like no other she had experienced. More, it was a baptism of two fires, one burning in her neck and one at the very centre of her being, both working toward each other at an alarming rate.

She screamed and thrashed. How could she not? Not even the ice-cold body pressing her into the mattress, the frozen hand resting on her forehead and the cool cheek brushing against the underside of jaw could alleviate such pain.

And though he comforted her as best he could without words, he did not feel any sorrow for what he had done.

… ^o^ …

It was dark when she came to, but something was very, very wrong.

Her back was not supported by her mattress and she was not in the arms of her peculiar nighttime visitor. The smell invading her nostrils was familiar but it was not home and it most definitely was not the hospital.

She kept her face hidden beneath the velvety fabric that was wrapped around her, aware of two people talking nearby. The woman's voice she recognised, but she could not place that of the man.

"Thank you, Tyler," Lauren said. "You've saved my life. I've no idea how he got out this time, but it would appear he was on an important mission."

The man's response was a low indecipherable murmur.

"I do hope Bella isn't too disappointed when she finds out her lover boy has given his heart to another."

Bella was trying to make sense of what she was hearing when she heard a flick of a switch. The room she was in was plunged into darkness and two sets of footsteps faded into the distance. She heard a key turning in a lock and then everything was eerily silent.

She unfolded her arms and extended them, stretching right to the tips of her fingers. She felt an odd tugging sensation down the sides of her torso and her legs.

She blinked her eyes open and there in the gloom in front of her was a large bat – a particularly handsome specimen that she would have recognised anywhere.

The large male flying fox peeked out from behind his wings, admiring his newborn mate. Her rich chestnut fur and chocolate coloured eyes appealed to him immensely.

Slowly, so as not to startle her, he unfurled his wings to display his own body. His blood-red eyes flashed and darkened to black as her gaze trailed up his body, drawn to the most impressive expression of his desire.

She tried to say his name but the word seemed to stick in her throat. She looked back into his round, black eyes and saw the reflection of what she had become. She also saw with abject horror the wire mesh of the sanctuary enclosure.

Something glinted in the periphery of her vision, something dangling from his hooked right thumb – a silver charm in the shape of a bat.

… ^o^ ^o^ …