I poked at the bite, a pale spot the size of a dime, and expected the flesh to give easily, but it remained firm. “I feel like a defrosted turkey.”

“Then it’s time to bake.” Carmen took my hand and led me to the bright rectangle of light framed by the front door.

Carefully, on stiff legs, I shuffled beside her. The anticipation of feeling the sun’s warmth made my breath shorten. My kundalini noir coiled, nervous and uncertain.

“Any surprises, Carmen? The last time I tried one of your tricks I got sick as…”

“A motherfucker,” she said. “Not this time.”

I pulled my hand from her grip. “Don’t lie.”

“I didn’t lie. It’s not my fault you didn’t ask the right questions.” Carmen continued outside through the doorway. The sunlight washed over her.

I paused in the threshold of the shadow and slowly extended my hand toward the sun. Conditioned by years as a vampire, I tensed to recoil at the lash of searing pain. Instead I got a warm, gentle caress. I put both hands out and enjoyed the sensation. I tried to scoop the sunlight. I cupped the palms of my warmed hands against my face. No more Dermablend. No more makeup. No more stares at my vampire complexion.

Freedom.

I wanted more sunlight and leaned away from the shadow. The warm beam pressed against my skin. I blinked uncomfortably. Carmen handed me a pair of sunglasses and I put them on.

My skin soaked up the heat. “Do we sunburn?”

“No one has yet,” Carmen replied. “Seems our rejuvenation powers counteract it.”

“Is this permanent?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Carmen replied. “Might last a few months or a few weeks. Depends on the vampire.”

“And then what?”

“You get another bite from our little friend, the spider.”

I turned to let the sun kiss more of my body. At the present, putting up with the agony of another bite seemed worth it. “Does the Araneum know about this?”

“There are a lot of things the Araneum doesn’t know,” Carmen said. “I’ll tell them when I’m ready.”

“You’re the head of the Denver nidus. You have responsibilities.”

“I head the nidus. I’m not a hall monitor.”

I twirled my arms and laughed like a giddy child. “If the Araneum learns about this and that you’ve kept it from them, they’ll have a fit.” I, in turn, had secrets from the Araneum that I couldn’t reveal to Carmen. But at this moment I didn’t care. I only wanted to revel in my nakedness and share the exhilaration. I ran between the cabins. “Look at me.”

No one appeared. I barged into a cabin. Nothing. I ran into another cabin. Again nothing. The resort was deserted.

Disappointed, I trotted back to Carmen. Streaking time was over. I found a pair of beach trunks slung over a clothesline and slipped them on. I asked her, “Where is everyone?”

“Antoine’s leading an Iyengar Yoga class on the other side of the island. Jolie’s teaching a kung-fu samba workshop.” Carmen flicked her hand to the dense brush. “The rest are here and there.”

She waved that I follow her to another cabin. She opened a nylon briefcase on a table and pulled out a thick sheaf of paper bound with a rubber band. She handed the papers to me. “You asked about The Undead Kama Sutra? Here it is.”

I hefted the manuscript. Finally, The Undead Kama Sutra? “Is it true what I’ve read about this?”

“What’s true?”

“The psychic-healing part.”

Carmen opened her mouth in an exaggerated “ah,” and nodded. She put on a sly smile. “I’m convinced that it is but I’m not sure how it works. I’m still doing field studies. The original work is centuries old. The last complete manuscript, in the Western world anyway, was destroyed when the library in Alexandria, Egypt, was burned. There’s rumor of a partial manuscript in the Vatican’s collection of forbidden texts.”

I removed the rubber band from the manuscript. I flipped through pages of 12-pt. Courier marked with sticky notes, pencil scribblings, and yellow highlighter. Obviously, a work in progress. I stopped on page 26. A paragraph described a drawing of a vampire and chalice tangled together in a pose named “Monkey Laughs at Moon.”

I didn’t know if I’d laugh having sex this way, but I would at least give a big smile.

I flipped to another page and a pose of a vampire standing with two chalices intertwined tightly against her torso. The title: “Jade Tree Ecstasy.”

I turned to another pose. This one startled me. “Feeding the Melon.”

Carmen read over my shoulder. “Whadda ya think?”

I rotated the page left and right. “Looks uncomfortable.”

“It’s an advanced pose, for sure. You got to work into it.”

“Who did your drawings?”

“I did.” Carmen displayed her hands. “These digits can do more than spank naughty bottoms.”

“Why are you writing this?”

Carmen took the manuscript from me. “I’m convinced there is a supernatural component to lovemaking. Good sex can cure a lot of ills.”

I nodded. “Of course. I’ve used that line lots of times.”

“I’m serious. Sex in the correct sequence of these poses,” Carmen tapped the manuscript, “can realign your chakras.”

“Do you know what that means? You’ve found a way for us vampires to play in the sun,” I held out my tanned arms, “and now with this Kama Sutra, it’ll be like we’re almost alive again.”

“We’re not in the Garden of Eden yet,” she replied.

“Where did your manuscript come from?”

“I pieced together fragments of ancient writings. Tibetan. Sanskrit. What’s left of the Aztec codices. Sumerian monographs. I had problems with that particular dialect.”

“How old are you?”

Carmen’s aura flashed a touch of indignation. “Since when is it okay to ask a lady her age?”

“My bad,” I said. “Are you sure you’re not using this as an excuse for marathon sex?”

“I don’t need an excuse for marathon sex. But this is beyond that. Correcting the energy flow through your chakras will reverse psychic damage and heal your mental and emotional wounds.” Carmen set the manuscript on top of the briefcase. “That’s the theory. I haven’t yet found out if and how it works.”

She turned around and leaned against the table. Her eyes gleamed seductively. “We could practice a few of the poses. As research.” She loosened her ponytail. With a shake of her head, wild, curly locks of black hair splashed over her shoulders. She heaved and the T-shirt pulled taut across her nipples. “Anything special you’d like to try?”

I matched her seductive gaze. “Oh yeah,” I drawled.

She gave an expectant nod.

I said, “Coffee, if you got any.”

“Coffee?” Carmen’s grin faded. The glare from her eyes could’ve melted iron. She swiped at me with her open hand.

I caught her wrist.

Her lips pursed, then curved into a puzzled smile. “Goddamn you, Felix.” She tore free.

“We’re immortal. What’s the rush?” Females, human or vampire, didn’t come any lustier than Carmen. Truth was, I hadn’t had sex with a vampire yet, and I wanted my first to be someone who wouldn’t make me limp for the rest of the week.

“One day I’m not ever going to offer again,” she said. “Then you’ll have no choice but to kill yourself out of regret.”

“Carmen, are you begging?”

“Ha, don’t flatter yourself.”

“Must be nice being the center of the universe.”

“I love it just fine.” Carmen went to the next room. Bags and cartons of foodstuffs sat on a shelf beside a water cooler. She brewed coffee over a small propane stove.

I thumbed through the manuscript and counted over two hundred ways of getting it on. What a scholarly triumph. “Who came up with the names for these poses? ‘Tiger and the Wheelbarrow.’ ‘Painting the Lily.’ ‘Feast of Mangoes.’”

Carmen yelled her answer so I’d hear her from the next room. “Those are my translations. Colorful, huh?”