Connie wondered why Slade left so early. He usually waited until she was ready to leave, walked her to her car and said goodnight. Tonight he left, never said goodnight and was very secretive about it. She went to her locker, grabbed her workout bag and left the squad room quietly. She had a post midnight rendezvous with Gustaf, the master vampire of the city at his club The Main Artery. She headed home now where she showered and dressed provocatively for her 'date.'

Meanwhile, Slade watched Leona at her closet of torture toys, selecting her tool to play with him tonight. He was not scared, but more curious as to what came next in the game. Leona cuffed his hands to the headboard of her specially made bed of torture. The bed felt very comfortable and was marvelous to sleep on, if that was what he wanted. It was a solid bed, built on a pedestal, which raised it up so that standing next to it the top was at waist level. The headboard was a series of vertical bars with horizontal slats running across, a latticework with hooks and loops, where all types of restraints mounted easily. It attached to the wall, making a solid place that would not move when used with restraints. Slade's handcuffs attached easily and strongly to the bed.

Leona selected her toy or better stated the form of punishment she would use on Slade. She guessed that he, like most dominant personalities, wanted to submit to some form of corporal punishment, as in a submissive role in the game played here. She took out the instrument, closed and locked the cabinet doors, turned toward Slade and sauntered to the edge of the bed. She stopped, looked down, used the instrument to pound in her hand and cracked it on the bed sheets. The snapping, cracking noise of the cat o' nine tails evoked an unnerving feeling in Slade and caused his eyes to open wide staring at Leona. His body stiffened, a thin sheen of sweat appeared on his exposed skin and a heightened level of fear became evident. He did not protest, but stirred on the bed to move away from Leona. She looked down at him with a sinister smile, which she reserved for the vampires, she punished as the 'Enforcer.'

Slowly she touched Slade with the cat, rubbing the tails up and down his bare chest and across his legs. The pleasant sensation soothed his prior fears and relaxed his tense body. Leona continued standing at the edge of the bed, smiled at Slade and teased him with the whip. As she moved the whip around his body, she raised it higher off his skin, increased the speed and force with which she struck him. Small red marks appeared where the strands struck his bare flesh. Slade shuddered a little but maintained his silence about the pain, as the strikes became more frequent and harder. Leona had a fierce expression on her face, as her arm rose higher, the whip whistled through the air and slapped his thighs hard raising red lines across both legs with a small amount of blood trickling out. Leona stopped, when she saw the blood because she took blood from him earlier and taking more was bad. She crawled onto the bed, moved over to Slade and slowly lovingly licked the blood up and along the welts where it oozed. Slade felt the pain subside, as Leona licked his wounds. The saliva in a vampire's mouth had the power to heal and soothe the wounds inflicted on a human. As fast as she licked, the wounds healed and disappeared.

Leona reached up over Slade's head, released his hands from his cuffs and curled up beside him resting her head on his chest. Slade flexed his hands, lowered his arms to his side and wrapped them around Leona holding her tight to him. A feeling of warmth, love and passion spread through both of them as they lay in each other's arms.

Leona spoke first, "I hope I did not hurt you too much. I felt compelled to test you with the administering of pain. It is one of the ways I show my love for a man about whom I truly care."

"At first I was afraid that you would whip me as punishment. When you played with the whip across my body, it felt good and I wanted more. As the frequency and intensity of the blows came, I grew to like the sensations I felt. They aroused me in a way I never before experienced. I was glad when you stopped." Slade confessed.

"Would you mind using the cat o' nine tails on me sometime?' Leona asked.

Reluctantly Slade answered, "I don't know, but if it pleases you and will not hurt our relationship, I will do it." He reached down, pulled Leona up to him and kissed her hard on her lips. Leona kissed back making soft mewling sounds in her throat.

The couple stayed together as the night wore on, until just before sunrise, when Leona took the red pickup back to The Main Artery for her daytime sleep. She slipped out of bed without waking Slade, dressed in her sleep clothes, kissed Slade goodbye and left him to his slumber. When Leona kissed him, Slade never moved, because the feeding and flogging took a toll on his ability to recover and he needed his sleep for the body to mend itself. As the sun rose, Slade stirred in bed, moved his arms out to hug Leona and woke with a start, when she was not there. He sat up, looked around for Leona and discovered she was gone. He quickly got out of bed, dressed in his clothes from last night, walked out of the bedroom and went searching for the red pickup truck. He searched the warehouse all over and saw no evidence of the truck. It was gone and he wondered when it left. Slade grabbed his cell phone from his car, dialed Connie's home number and it immediately went to voice mail. He thought that was unusual. Connie never left her cell phone turned off. He got in his car, watched the door rise and drove out of the warehouse heading to DD's.

Slade entered DD's, waved to the beat cops just leaving and sat in his usual spot. The counter person put a cup of coffee in from of him along with his usual donut. One of the other cops there looked at Slade and nodded in recognition.

The cop got up from his stool, walked to Slade, shook his hand and asked, "Did you hear about Connie?"

Slade perked up, shook his head 'no' and asked, "What happened?"

The cop signaled let's go outside. Slade followed him out the back door, leaned on the hood of his car and waited for the cop to begin. "Connie is in the hospital in a coma. She was in an explosion last night at The Main Artery. They pulled her from the rubble from the back of the club. Someone mounted a shaped charge on the back wall near the main office of Gustaf. He survived with cuts and scrapes. Connie had a partial wall and ceiling fall in on her. It appears as if some vampire hate group did it. The bomb squad is still checking out the place." The cop said.

Slade felt badly about Connie in the hospital, but wanted to know why she was at The Main Artery last night. Gustaf survived because he was a vampire and healed quickly. His office was in tatters and his sleep chamber exposed. He worried about Leona now, because her sleep chamber was there and she did not know the club was bombed last night. This was a real mystery now with cops and vampires targeted. Slade went back inside DD's, sat with his coffee and ate his donut while deep in thought. Someone declared war on the vampires and now it got personal with Slade. He decided to go to the hospital to check on Connie and make sure she was all right.

Earlier in the night, when Connie left the station, she went home. While at home, she showered, put on sexy underwear, covered it all with a short mini-skirt, tight midriff blouse and a kerchief around her neck. What she wore was not her typical outfit. In her mind and eyes, she dressed in a very nice conservative pants suit. She felt at home in her outfit, grabbed a big purse and her car keys and left to meet Gustaf. Little did she know that she followed a post glamoring suggestion planted by Gustaf, that she dress provocatively whenever Gustaf and she met alone. Normally, her appearance was that of a conservative businesswoman. Now she had the appearance of and gave the impression of a big slut. If Slade saw her, he would look away and his face would fill with crimson color, a real embarrassed look. She got into her car, set her bag beside her, put on her sunglasses and drove away to The Main Artery. Gustaf would take great pleasure in seeing that his post glamoring suggestion worked.

Connie parked away from the alley a bit, in case Slade happened to drive by later, when he picked up Leona. She left the car, hurried to the alley and seductively walked to the big black doorway. As she got closer to the club, her behavior and demeanor changed from confident strong policewoman to sexy seductress out looking for a good time. She approached the door, looked for the giant of a man to block her entrance, but found another man waiting to escort her directly to Gustaf. She smiled at him, took his proffered arm and let him take her into the club. They walked by the busy bar, slowed to watch the two dancers in the spotlights and finally, arrived at the VIP circle platform where Gustaf sat alone. As she approached, Gustaf stood, buttoned his jacket and waited at the edge of the platform with his hand extended. Connie took his hand, stepped up on the circle and twirled around allowing Gustaf to appreciate her outfit. He escorted her to the couch in the back of the circle, where she sat down with her legs crossed, displaying a lot of leg and upper thigh. Gustaf sat beside her, ordered a bottle of champagne and put his arm around her on the back of the couch. She leaned into him, put her hand on his thigh and rubbed it slowly. The champagne came, Gustaf poured a flute for her, she immediately quaffed it and held the flute out for more. She drank the second flute more slowly, sat back and rested against Gustaf.

Connie sat watching the dancers, as they seductively teased each other. The dancers were young vampires, who obviously were new creations. As they danced under two separate spotlights, they moved closer, until they occupied the center of one large circle of light. The young woman vampire grabbed the male vampire by the shirt, tore it open and ripped it from his upper body. His muscles rippled on his well-formed upper body in the glare of the lights. His abs undulated, enticing the woman vampire to approach him closely touching him. As the young woman ran her hands up and down his chest, she stopped, holding his pants at his hips. She grabbed his pants by his side and pulled them off his body in one big tug. A loud gasp rose from the audience, as the young man danced wearing a bikini bottom barely covering him. The woman danced around him, examined his supple male body and ogled his bikini-covered maleness.

The male dancer strutted around the stage, flaunting his body in order for the audience to get a real good view. The young woman stood in the center of the light, watched him strut and she expressed loss and disappointment. He turned to look at her, walked over and grabbed her to him. She pushed against him, struggled to escape from his arms and moved away. He followed her across the stage, caught her from behind and lifted her over his head. She screamed loudly in protest. The man lowered her to the stage in front of him, grabbed the top of her dress and pulled it off revealing a pale yellow demi-bra. She tried to cover herself, but the young man held her arms behind her, emphasizing her semi-naked breasts for the audience. His hands moved to her hips, whirled her around to face him and as she spun, he removed the skirt from her body. She wore a pale yellow matching thong, moved back away from him and slapped him hard in the face. The crowd gasped as one and a murmuring undercurrent echoed through the club. She danced away from him, paraded around the circle of light showing her taut body and turned to taunt the young man. She walked toward the young man, stood in front of him and as he moved, she wrapped her body around his. As they stood there coupled, the spotlights faded and the dance ended with the crowd applauding loudly.

Connie sat with her eyes riveted to the performance on stage. As she watched, she drank more champagne as Gustaf continued to refill her flute. What Connie failed to observe was that Gustaf never drank any. Before the dancers completed their act, Connie drank the whole bottle and hung all over Gustaf. She slurred her speech, hung on Gustaf's shoulder and became very loud when she cheered for the dancers. Right after the dance ended, two young male vampires joined Gustaf in the VIP circle. Connie paid them no attention. If she had, she would realize they were the two male vampires, Slade and she pursued. They came to visit Gustaf and told him to back off from punishing them anymore. Gustaf smiled at them, listened to their threat and advised them, they had better heed their own warning. They failed to realize, Connie was a cop and Gustaf was the vampire master of the city. The two vampires got very angry, threatened Gustaf and hastily left the club with the assistance of a very large bodyguard.

As they left, one of them muttered, "You have not seen the last of us. We will not stand idly by, while you punish us for your failures."

Connie sat, surprised at how calmly Gustaf reacted to the threats of the young vampires. He seemed not to care with a very calm demeanor. Under the calm exterior, Gustaf plotted his next move, thought of calling Leona with her bag of toys, but decided to wait for another day.

Instead, he rose from his couch, nearly spilling Connie to the floor, picked her up in his strong arms and carried her into his office. He quietly and quickly put her on the couch just inside the door and went to his desk where he sat deep in thought. Connie was too drunk to interrogate and fell fast asleep as she watched him sit unmoving behind his heavy wooden desk. Shortly after Connie fell asleep, Gustaf heard pounding on the outside of the club on the wall. He sent the bouncer out to check what caused the noise. Not long after he left there was a loud explosion outside, the wall crashed in and the roof caved in on the office. Gustaf jumped off his chair under his desk avoiding any rubble damage. Connie was not so lucky, as the roof fell and covered her with debris and a fine patina of grey cement dust. A large section of the roof fell, anchored half way up the wall and slanted across where Connie laid. This section protected Connie from the rest of the roof, which crushed everything between the couch and the desk. A few large chunks hit Connie, rendered her unconscious and put her in a coma. The EMT's pulled her carefully from the rubble, got her stable and transferred her to the nearest hospital. She sustained three broken ribs, a broken arm and a broken lower leg. There were lots of cuts and bruises on her upper body and a large bump on her head.

Slade left DD's, drove to the hospital and tried to enter Connie's room. A uniformed cop prevented him from entering. Slade protested saying he was her partner and needed to see her. He did not get to see her. He got the name of the investigator in charge and called him about getting into see Connie. It took a while, but he finally, walked into Connie's room. She lay in bed with an arm in traction and her leg in traction too. Her body lay inert in the bed with tubes protruding out helping her breathe and allow feeding. Several instruments beeped and whirred around her monitoring her vital signs. He walked over to her bed, took her hand in his, gave it a squeeze and said hello. He thought he felt her squeeze back, but she was in a coma. He sat beside her bed looking at her and wondering why she was at the club when it exploded. It all had to wait until she regained consciousness. He stayed for fifteen minutes, got up, kissed her forehead and left vowing to find the perpetrators.

Slade left the hospital, drove to The Main Artery area and walked down the alley. Except for the Bomb Squad van in the alley, nothing looked harmed. The damage happened in the back of the building on the other side. He walked up to the van, waved his badge and walked into the club. The bomb squad finished its gathering of evidence, packed up their gear and moved toward their van. Slade stopped on of the techs and asked, "What did you guys find?"

"It was a shaped charge set to only harm the office that was the target. It took out the wall and part of the roof. Your partner survived death by the roof collapsing and making a bridge over her. The owner was under his desk when the roof collapsed. He is fine. We will know more after examining what we collected." The tech told him.

Slade nodded and thanked him. He poked around some, but knew that this was not a hate crime. The daytime caretaker of the club came up to Slade, greeted him and handed him a set of DVD's. They were the video capture from the night before of the club. Slade thanked him, left the club and drove to the squad room to view them. He watched the first one, saw nothing interesting and cued up the second. Toward the end, he saw Connie hanging on Gustaf and the two young vampires talking to Gustaf. He witnessed the altercation between Gustaf and the young men, the bouncer entered the frame and Gustaf tossed them out. Gustaf picked up Connie who fell to the couch passed out and carried her to his office. The video showed the explosion followed by the wall caving in and when the roof collapsed it ended.

Slade stopped the video, made a note of the position of the time stamp, ejected it and entered it into an evidence bag. He went to the same technician Connie used earlier to make her copies. He requested two copies of the DVD's and went back to his desk. As he sat there, he picked up the phone, called The Main Artery and left a message for Leona to call him. He now had a good idea who caused the explosion and Leona knew where they might be.

He was on duty soon, he hung out at his desk and waited for things to get busy.