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Nothing like being addicted to your job—which was something
I
could never claim. Hell, I couldn’t even claim that I’d
liked
many of the things I’d done over the centuries Rory and I had been alive.
    Mark’s brown brick building came into view. It was a squat, three-story building with vinyl windows that were double-glazed and butt-ugly. They’d been the rage about fifty years ago, and Icould only thank the designer gods that the damn things had finally gone out of fashion.
    A man with burnished auburn hair and the most amazing pair of emerald-green eyes I’d ever seen exited the building as I approached and, with a wide smile, he held the door open.
    â€œThanks,” I said, even as my steps slowed and my nostrils flared. The heat radiating off him was incredible, and it was all I could do to resist the desire to siphon it away. He
had
to be a fire Fae. No other nonhuman had
that
sort of heat signature.
    From what I knew of the Fae, there were four groups, with each group controlling one of nature’s fundamental building blocks—earth, wind, fire, and water. This man, as a fire Fae, couldn’t actually create fire, but he could shape and control it. All Fae tended to be loners, preferring the solitude of empty countryside to the concrete jungles of this world, and each of them also had a need to be near their element regularly or they would fade away, becoming little more than a sigh on the wind.
    While Fae were loners at heart, they were also sensualists, existing to experience sensations both within and without their elements. Fire Fae, in particular, reputedly delighted in introducing innocents to the more seductive pleasures of this world, which was maybe why
this
Fae was here in Melbourne. In a city as big as this, there was a greater chance of finding innocence.
    Deep in his bright eyes, recognition flared,along with curiosity. He might not know exactly what I was, but he sure as hell recognized another being of fire.
    â€œDo you come here often?” His voice was gravelly, sexy as hell, and sounded as if it was coming from somewhere near the vicinity of his rather large boots.
    If there was one thing about the Fae that most literature over the years had gotten very wrong, it was their stature. They were neither small nor winged, and the only ones that were ethereal in
any
way were the air Fae.
    I smiled. “A couple of times a week, at least.”
    â€œThen with any sort of luck, we’ll meet again, when I’m not in so much of a hurry.” With that, he gave me a nod and walked away.
    The urge to chase after him rose, but I resisted the temptation and ran up the stairs to Mark’s apartment on the third floor. The hallway was shadowed and cold, the small, ugly windows down the far end doing little to let much heat or light in. Mark’s apartment was the second on the left. I leaned on the doorbell and listened to it chime inside. I waited a few minutes, then, when there was no response, flipped up the cover protecting the security system. After I keyed in the code, it scanned my eyes, and the red light switched to green. As security measures went, they were pretty over-the-top, but the institute had insisted on them after the homes of several other professors had been burgled.
    The door slid open with a soft
whoosh
. I took three steps inside and stopped, my eyes widening in surprise. The place was a mess. In fact, mess was putting it mildly. The room looked as if it had been turned upside down and given several violent shakes. Furniture was dragged away from walls or upturned, books were scattered all over the carpet, and his precious research papers had been flung everywhere.
    What the hell had happened?
    â€œProfessor?” I stepped over loose paperwork and around fallen furniture and made my way to the bedroom. The door was closed. I hesitated, then pulled a tissue out of my handbag and used it to turn the door handle to cut any risk of