‘You have shown great restraint and I love you for it. But we cannot deny your nature and, well, so long as you are this way I might as well enjoy i...t too.’ With that she kissed me deeply and joined Melissa at the pole. Soon they too were kissing each other and stripping off their clothes. My wife was down to a red bra slip and her high heels. Melisa had been stripped to a black lace bra, thong, black mesh stockings and her wonderful sexy thigh his boots. They both turned to me and waved for me. "I could hear his teeth grinding and knew his patience was wearing thin. "Who is Mary Lou?" he asked in an unusually low voice."She's my psychic." Your psychic?" Uh huh." I turned and waved the knife as I spoke, for emphasis. "See, I figure if anyone can tell me when this heat spell is gonna end, it would be a psychic." I smiled, certain that he'd see my logic.He stood there for the longest time, just staring at me and working his jaw, but no words came out. "You're not to call this number. Hollowed cheeks, gaunt frame spoke of iron control and wild helplessness, the faint taste of bile lingered at the back of her throat. Beauty was fickle, the slender frame now skeletal, ravaged by years of starvation and her skin sagged on her dejectedly, the lines that burrowed into her brow premature. Rumpled clothing, the kind that one bought in the attempt to feign wealth, in cut that nearly draped beautifully, save for the cheap cloth and subtle imperfection, clung in silent witness to the. She'd been true to her word. Hewas alive, and it was some kind of life at least. In the White Nights ofsummer, when the sun never sets on the canals of St. Petersburg,Tristram, now called Koshka (or "Kitten"), had stood on the streetcorners in a basque and glittery hotpants, smiling at the passing carsand sucking seductively on a lollipop. Those days had been good. He'dalmost started enjoying himself in the brief warmth of the summer.Now it was winter and he was still here, in the dark, waiting.