“Oh boy,” Aureliann sighed as she tried to catch her breath. They were still locked together in each other’s arms, neither wanting to move.
Valdemar knew only one more thing would make this perfect. The total bonding of flesh and blood at the same time. His mouth moved down to nuzzle her neck. The smell of her drove him wild. I must make her mine completely. Valdemar licked the tender skin and found her jugular vein. He needed only the smallest amount of blood from her.
Aureliann pushed him away as his teeth grazed her neck. “What are you doing?”
“I need to taste you.” The urge was so overwhelming Valdemar was scared he would lose control and take without asking. That was not what he wanted this bonding to be. Aureliann had to agree.
“Look, you don’t have to play the whole vampire part.”
Valdemar let his fangs descend so she understood fully that this was not a game. “It’s who I am, lovely.”
“Holy fuck!” Which was probably the wrong thing to say under the circumstances. “Are you a-a—”
“A vampire? A prince? Your man? Yes.” Valdemar kissed her jaw and moved down to her neck once more.
“Wait, wait, wait.” Aureliann held him back. This was a total head spin. Those fangs looked like real teeth and kind of sexy and… She mentally slapped herself. Vampires did not exist. “Sex was one thing but you’re not biting me.”
“I love you.”
Aureliann weakened at his words. Damn and I want to believe it when you look at me that way. “I don’t care if you shower me with diamonds. No biting.” Didn’t most kids learn that in kindergarten?
“I need to bond fully with you, Aureliann.”
The look in Valdemar’s eyes surprised her. There was such passion and need. “Bond?” And why am I still attached to this man? His cock was semi-hard inside her and it would take so little to push them both over the edge once more.
“Become one forever.”
“Uh? I, er— No.” Aureliann pushed him back until his penis slid from her body.
“I scare you.” Valdemar touched her face gently.
“You terrify the crap out of me.” His fangs were still visible but they didn’t frighten her. It was more the fact that she wanted to believe him.
Valdemar nodded his head as if he understood. “We have a little time, lovely.”
“For what?” What is happening here?
“I’ll come to you tonight.” His kissed her once and disappeared.
“What the—” The man was gone before she could speak. Aureliann jumped off the table and pulled on her clothes. It was just as well she did as the people suddenly returned and the machines hummed. “Was I hallucinating?” What did those french fries have in them? She shook herself hard. “Nope, I’m definitely awake.” Cover model. Sex. Vampire. “Not something that happens every day,” Aureliann mumbled, not worried about the looks she was attracting. Am I so fixated on someone who does not exist that I want to believe anyone can be Prince Valdemar? Did I black out and dream it? Her tender thighs and the radiant heat inside her body said no.
“Hey, where did the hot guy go?” one laundromat patron asked.
Okay, proof that I was not dreaming. “Good question.” Aureliann went back to the book on the seat. She picked it up and looked at the man on the cover. Every instinct told her this was the man who’d made love to her. “Could it be true?” Did Prince Valdemar actually exist? “And what am I going to do about it?”
Chapter Three
Prince Valdemar had left her to give her time to think. He sensed she needed that. He wanted Aureliann but not through fear or intimidation. Valdemar wanted her to come to him as if to do anything else would have been impossible for her.
“I want Aureliann to love me for myself.” He closed his eyes for a moment and remembered the heat of her body against his and her sweet breath on his lips. That she was virtually untouched both amazed and yet did not surprise him. That no man had appreciated his good fortune with Aureliann made mortal men fools. He also sensed she was not a woman who threw herself at any man. Aureliann had pride and dignity and few people did. Valdemar could see that as he roamed her world. It wasn’t a pleasant place. The newspaper he picked up reinforced that. There were wars and hate crimes and people cheating and harming others just because they could. But then Serawych was not a pleasant place to be at the moment either with Victor and his jockeying for power. His cousin was lining influential and evil people up against him to take the crown as his own. It was sad to think that his father had only been dead a month and they were fighting each other already.
Vampires had always ruled Serawych. That was the way it was. The people knew and accepted that. His clan had ruled for a thousand years. It had never been a peaceful reign but it had been controlled. When his father had died a month ago, the crown had passed to Valdemar as the oldest born male. Victor had not been happy. He never had been since he understood that the throne would not be his by right. Victor’s father had been younger than Valdemar’s father. Unless death claimed the rightful heirs, then the throne was never to be Victor’s. So Victor chose force to take it and in a month where they were supposed to be mourning and planning a coronation, plots were being discovered and destroyed. So far no one held the crown. Despite the urging from his people Valdemar would not take it until all resistance had been quashed. He did not want to rule in turmoil.
“I want peace.” He would have quite happily given up the throne. He never wanted it. He wanted a simpler life like the one his human mother had taught him about. All the men of his family took human wives. They had for centuries and the intermixing of blood made them stronger. They also lost their immortality when they found true love for who would want to live forever when the one you loved most was no longer with you? That was the reason for the book. Thomas had concocted the scheme. To have a book about his life written so his true love would be drawn to him. Similar schemes had brought true love to his parents, grandparents and ancestors for centuries. The males of his line could only find their true love when she called out to him. And he had been waiting for what seemed like forever for Aureliann.
“What a woman.” The taste of her was still on his tongue and her luscious body had been so wonderfully tight and welcoming. She had given of herself like he dreamed she would. Tasting her blood would seal them as one forever. While he needed blood to survive, the blood of innocents was never taken without their consent. That was law. It was only those who sought to do evil who paid the price in blood. Their blood did not taint Valdemar for he was immune to evil. When he had Aureliann in his life the bloodlust would lessen after he had the taste of hers. Valdemar knew he had only a short time to take her fully or he would lose everything. “I cannot lose her or I lose myself.”
“Okay, so you have a vampire issue and you’re not sure how to handle it.”
“It’s kind of complicated.” Aureliann looked at the woman before her. She was not what she expected but then it had been a day for the unexpected. This woman looked so normal. Or maybe it was the coffee shop they were in that made it seem like a mundane happening.
“Vampires always are. They’re not all the bloodsuckers people think.”
After what had happened at the laundromat, Aureliann had pulled all her half-washed, sopping wet laundry out of the machine and dragged it out dripping to her car. She had driven home as if the hounds of hell were snapping at her heels. The whole sex in the laundromat thing had scared her. Not because of the sex. That was fantastic. And damn it I want to do it again. It was more the fact that she was beginning to believe he was who he said he was. Prince Valdemar. Aureliann wasn’t sure how to handle that. It was one thing to wish for something to happen but another to have a real vampire prince declaring you were his. The minute she had gotten home, Aureliann had jumped on the internet and began searching for answers about what to do. Realistically, avoiding the crazy man who said he was a prince was the thing to do. But trying to ignore someone as wildly passionate as Valdem
ar would be like denying a piece of herself. He had completely taken her over in that moment in the laundromat and she had let him. But how smart was that? And who did she talk to about it? Zoe would think she was nuts.
So Aureliann banged on the keyboard of her computer for hours looking for information. Textbook answers were no good and weird little people who thought themselves vampires could not help her but they would sell her their latest book or send her a fake vial of blood.
“Frigging nutcases.” She eventually typed in a stream of words. Prince Valdemar, vampires, bloodsuckers, Brisbane. A subgroup labeled “Help and assistance with Brisbane vampires” popped up. That was how she found Temperance Larkin.
“He’s a prince. Prince Valdemar.” Aureliann waited for Temperance’s response.
“Hmm, I can’t think of any the crowned heads of Europe called Valdemar. However royalty is not immune to strange behaviors and there have been incidents of vampirism covered up before.”
“Ah no.” Aureliann knew what she said next would test this woman and her belief system. It was all very well providing help and assistance but how much could Temperance really aid her? “You see, Prince Valdemar is a character from the book The Vampire’s Kiss.”
Temperance arched one eyebrow in cool surprise. “A book?”
“You’ve probably never read it.” It seemed like Aureliann was the only one who ever had but then Valdemar said the book had been specifically meant for his true love. The thought that some other woman may have read the book and taken a fancy to Valdemar sparked sudden anger in Aureliann. One quick shag and I think I’m in love and ready to fight other women for him. “Prince Valdemar is a vampire prince who has amazing powers and lives in another world from ours.” And how crazy do I sound right now?
“He’s not real? He’s fiction?”
“Yes and before you think I’m insane, this is real.”
“No, actually I don’t believe you’re mad,” Temperance responded in a calm voice. “I have seen way too much to know that things are never what they seem. And no, you don’t want to know what.” She critically surveyed the woman before her. “So what’s the story on this prince of yours?”
Aureliann breathed out a sigh of relief. Someone believed her or was as crazy as she was. Whatever. She was going to run with it. “I read the book and Valdemar came to life.”
Temperance tilted her head to one side in thought. “Huh, interesting. I have not heard that one before.”
Seeing that she was not laughing at her, Aureliann told her everything she knew. “I actually really like the book and I read it over and over and I wished for someone like the character of Prince Valdemar in my life and he appeared.”
“Wow.”
“Pathetic, huh?”
Temperance smiled at her. “Yeah, kinda.”
“I think I’m losing my mind.” That or I need to get out more. Maybe start a hobby before I start reporting myself being abducted by UFOs next.
“Not necessarily,” Temperance said, a hint of amusement in her voice. “Vampires are complicated souls and they can drive you insane if you let them.”
“You believe me?” Her best friend wouldn’t, yet this woman, a stranger, did.
“Well, this is unusual but I’m used to that.” Temperance assessed her as if deciding her ability to cope. “This is a case of thoughts into action. Thought transference. I’m new to all this freaky stuff. I understand vampires but the rest I’m learning about. I’m sure Sybylla would know more on this. She’s a lot smarter than me.”
“Sybylla?”
“She’s a friend of mine who happens to be witch. Sybylla is also in love with a vampire.” Temperance said it matter-of-factly.
Aureliann felt the relief rush through her. Two weeks ago if someone had said to her what Temperance just had she would have told them they were insane.
“So vampires really exist? I’m not going crazy?”
Temperance laughed. “I can’t vouch for your sanity but yes they do exist.”
The soft look in the other woman’s eyes could only mean one thing. “You’re in love with a vampire too.”
“Head over heels, but Asher is reformed.”
“Huh?” Wasn’t it a case of once a vampire always a vampire?
“It’s a very long story that ends in love.” Temperance told her some of what she had gone through in her own life. “Is this prince threatening you?”
“Sort of.” If the promise of enduring love and excellent sex could be a threat.
“Sort of?”
“Valdemar seems very determined that we must be together.” And Aureliann had to admit there was a sexy possessiveness that turned her on. However she was also a woman who wasn’t about to be pushed into anything, no matter how good it felt.
Temperance rolled her eyes knowingly. “Tell me about it, sister. So this vampire, is he trying to seduce you?”
Tried and succeeded. Aureliann ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t think of anything but Valdemar.”
“Oh yeah, been there, done that,” Temperance mused with a smile. “Have you had sex with him?”
“Well,” Aureliann hesitated. What did she admit to? That she was hesitant about the whole vampire thing but willing to have him jump her bones after one soul-spinning kiss? It made her sound like a slut.
Temperance wagged her finger at her. “Yeah, you have.”
“Was it like this with you?” Aureliann needed to know she wasn’t the only one who found herself doing crazy things. She had a feeling this woman was a kindred spirit.
“Oh yeah, in a graveyard.” Temperance laughed as Aureliann’s mouth dropped open at her word. “You?”
“Laundromat on the folding table.”
“Whoa, kind of adventurous with all those people around.”
“He made them disappear with the wave of his hand.” That Temperance did not laugh her ass off told Aureliann two things about the woman. She was open-minded and probably a little crazy. But crazy was okay. “Valdemar tried to bite me.” Aureliann remembered the look of desperation in his eyes. What was it he said? That he wanted to bond fully with her? She shivered at the thought and it wasn’t fear that made her tremble. It was need.
“But you wouldn’t let him?”
“I don’t know him.” The minute she said that Aureliann realized how dumb that sounded.
“Uh-huh, but you had sex with him?” Temperance shook her head. “No, truly I understand. Vampires have a way of getting to you. They mess your mind up with hot, sexy thoughts and you have no idea what to do other than to go back for more.”
“Have you been bitten by a vampire? Did it hurt? Were you bonded?” Was it like in the schlock 1950s vampire movies? Did you become a vampire after being bitten by one?
“Yeah, but not the way you mean. Asher had his teeth ground down.”
In this short talk with Temperance, Aureliann was learning more than she thought she would. Her mad moment of desperation had led her to the internet to find help, all the time expecting some wannabe dressed as Buffy the Vampire Slayer would turn up and not someone like this woman who seemed to take everything she was saying in her stride.
“Have you thought about getting rid of the book?”
Yes, of course that would be the obvious thing to do. “I don’t want to.” What if she got rid of it and Prince Valdemar disappeared as well?
Temperance nodded. “When is he coming to you next?”
“He says tonight.” The thought of being with Valdemar once more made her body tremble in lustful anticipation.
“Does he frighten you?”
“No.” Aureliann had been surprised at the passion of their meeting but not scared. “I just didn’t know what to do.”
Temperance nodded in understanding. “Yep, I know that feeling. Vampires are just like you or me except for the whole teeth and blood thing. They want to be loved.” She tapped her finger on her lips and was quiet for a moment. “You know I’m thinking if
he came to you through the book then maybe you have a connection that cannot be broken.”
Is that what I want? “Like it was meant to be?” Yes.
“Aureliann, I can’t tell you what to do. I think you already know but you need to accept it. But call me if you need help.” Temperance reached out and squeezed her arm in reassurance. “This just may be the love of your life or a terrible mistake.”
“It’s not a mistake.” If Aureliann knew nothing else, she knew that.
“See how quickly you answered that? You’ll know what to do when you have to do it.”
* * * * *
Victor had come to the mortal world and tracked down the woman called Aureliann. He knew Valdemar was caught up in his quest for true love. That suited Victor as it weakened his cousin and made him careless. Victor was surprised as he stood watching his woman talking to another. There was nothing particularly special about this Aureliann. The women in their own homeland were more beautiful than her.
“So this is the woman my do-gooder sap of a cousin is in love with?” Victor was only too aware that tradition decreed that the men in his family married mortal women. It was said to give them strength. Any male children from the bond were vampires. Victor had never understood how such pale and uninteresting creatures could provide the strong heirs that they did. They seemed too weak and placid to him and he believed that being mated to one of these women was where the problems started. It weakened a vampire being attached to a mortal. He had seen it in his father. He had been besotted with his mother. Victor had never understood the attraction. While he had respected his mother, Victor had never taken the woman seriously. She had not been a vampire and therefore she had been inferior in his eyes.
Oh yes, this woman looked beddable enough with those buxom curves but she was not someone who would be anything more than a good fuck. And yet, like all of his line, Victor was expected to hear the call of a woman and fall victim to her and lose his immortality.
“I will never answer any call. I will not fall. I refuse to,” he spat the words out angrily as he watched the woman. If he helped his cousin with the woman then his cousin was weakened and that worked in Victor’s favor. However he also knew it was believed that the right woman strengthened his kinsman and the kingdom. Victor blew out an angry sigh. Killing Valdemar would be the best option as whatever power the woman had over him would die as well. The problem was that Victor knew the people of the realm would rise up against him. He had too few allies there. That was another reason he had come to this city of Brisbane. He was looking for some scum-of-the-earth mercenary vampires to aid him. They lurked in all cities. Victor planned to find them and promise them anything they wanted in order to help him succeed.
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