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feeling of Vi's fingertips tracing the fragile skin there, the taste of leather in mouth. The heat that burned low in her belly made her impatient. It was so tempting to simply go find Vi and ask her what was waiting for. She was willing, even if it was blood Vi wanted. Even with the memory of how painful it had been still fresh in her mind, she would still be willing to offer it again if Vi wanted it and promised not to permanently damage her. All in all, Vi was just far too tempting.
    She turned back to her notes and sketches. She'd never be able to convince anyone in the Society to even consider this. They were all convinced that an entire cadaver could be reanimated. She was beginning to doubt it. There was simply no way to get enough electricity through it to reanimate without destroying the corpse in the process. She tapped her pencil against the desktop and made a note. This new idea might be ethically unfeasible, but it was interesting at a thought experiment at least, and unlike trying to reanimate a whole body, it had the possibility of actually working.
    They were both a problem without an answer—Vi and her research. She contemplated throwing her teacup across the room but settled for downing the rest of the cold tea instead.
    *~*~*
    The papers were full of more reports of mysterious attacks. A child had been dragged off the street. Evidently the police were saying the child had wondered off or been taken, but the papers had statements from the other children swearing the boy had been taken by a monster with many arms and lots of teeth. The papers speculated that the creature was living in the sewers, although some of the more disreputable papers were claiming this was the work of the Dock Dismemberer. Her stomach churned just reading about it.
    They needed to find the monster and soon. She laid aside the evening newspaper and looked up in time to see the maid, Marion, push open the door. "Yes?"
    "There's a Vi De Luca to see you." Marion said with a slight bob of her head. Her gaze went to the remains dinner still spread out across the table. "Should I have her come back later, or wait in the sitting room?"
    "Show her to my study." Gert stood, smoothing her hand down the front of her shirt, and cast about for her jacket. She must have misplaced it again, drat. "We have business to attend to."
    "Very good." Marion smartly turned on her heel and went to find Vi again while Gert wondered if she had ink smeared anywhere too noticeable. She hadn't expected company tonight, so she was in her rumbled shirtsleeves, having come straight from the lab. Even though it was probably foolish, she had made an effort to look presentable all the other times she'd met with Vi. Tonight, though, it couldn't be helped. There was indeed ink on her forearms from the charts she'd been drawing up. She licked her thumb and tried to rub the marks away as best she could, but it only made it worse. Giving up, she rolled down her sleeves and refastened her cuffs before heading for the study.
    Vi was seated in the chair in front of the desk when she pushed open the study door. At least she'd locked all of the papers regarding her newest line of research, instead of leaving it on the desk. Generally she didn't leave things pertaining to her research lying around—it tended to upset the servants.
    "Can I help you?" she asked, tension prickling down her spine at the sight of Vi. She couldn't keep her mind from going back to the last time they'd seen each other, the dark heat in Vi's eyes, the way her fingertips had felt against Gert's tongue. She swallowed hard and looked away, even as arousal curled in her belly.
    Vi was dressed in a dark blue suit accented with a gold pocket watch chain. The combination suited her well. She stood smoothly and smiled down at her. "I had a little errand to run, and I thought you might like to once again accompany me."
    "Regarding the case?" It was far too easy for her mind to go back to the papers and their