by Kim Dare
For the first time in three years, Marcus’ teeth sliced cleanly through human skin. The first drop of blood exploded across his tongue, setting fire to every taste bud it touched. It was ambrosia after so long spent barely surviving on a meager diet of animal blood. Marcus’ veins accepted Liam’s offering without the slightest hint of discomfort.
Marcus longed to simply let his eyes drift closed and savor it, but he kept his gaze up and on Liam’s face searching for any hint that his prey had changed his mind, that this wasn’t what he wanted.
For a moment, the only expression on Liam’s face was shock. His hand tightened into a fist. Then, very slowly his expression changed. A touch of something that looked suspiciously like serenity crept across Liam’s features, his hand unfurled, offering the open palm to him once more.
At the same time, the taste in Marcus’ mouth changed. Yes, it was human blood and it was exactly what he had longed for over the months. To a sadist it would have no doubt tasted like the most exquisite vintage. To Marcus, it quickly turned sour.
He was almost willing to swear that he could taste each blow that had landed on the other man’s skin, that he could sense the way each bruise had formed and the way each nerve ending had relayed its distress through Liam’s body.
Within moments, all Marcus could taste was Liam’s pain and fear. He swallowed it down regardless; his body in frantic need of the blood, his soul even more desperate to do whatever it took to ease the other man’s anguish.
Above his bowed head, Marcus heard Liam’s breaths even out, as if they were no longer inhibited by his damaged ribs and his lungs were now able to work however they wished.
Marcus ran his tongue over the wounds penetrating Liam’s veins. Blood still seeped steadily into his mouth. Liam had plenty to spare. He wouldn’t miss what his lover was—
Marcus mentally shook his head at himself. What his friend was taking from him. That was what was important, now. Liam needed a friend. He didn’t need a vampire metaphorically humping his leg.
Marcus could be a friend to a human in need. He wasn’t sure exactly how someone went about being such a thing, but if humans could manage it, he was quite sure that he could, too. Vampires weren’t top of the food chain because they were incapable of being better than humans were at any given task.
Gradually, Liam’s scent changed. A vampire’s senses immediately homed in on the alteration. There was no fear in the air now, just desire, just sex.
Chapter Six
The scent of Liam’s arousal filled Marcus’ senses as he took a series of deep breaths. The knowledge of the other man’s desire rushed to Marcus’ cock just as fast as his newly improved blood supply. Within seconds Marcus was painfully hard, his cock straining against the inside of pajama bottoms Jenson had somehow summoned up when he’d finally realized his employer fully intended to visit the located submissive, trousers or no trousers.
Marcus’ eyes dropped closed for a moment. He’d imagined the scenario so often—Liam stretched out languidly in a bed, the boy’s blood on his tongue and the scent of their mutual desire hanging in the air.
If it weren’t for one little detail, it would have been perfect. Marcus pried his eyes open. The lingering taste of pain and fear in Liam’s blood killed his fantasy completely.
In his daydreams, there had only been pleasure. There had also been a never ending supply of blood that could be swallowed down without harming anyone. He’d taken enough to ease the boy’s pain, now. He couldn’t in good conscience take more.
Withdrawing his teeth from the wounds, Marcus ran his tongue over them, gently encouraging them to heal. Within seconds the bite was closed. Pulling away, Marcus glanced quickly at the boy’s wrist, making sure every trace of blood, any vestige of scar, anything, in short, that could upset Liam, was already gone before he lifted his head and allowed the boy a clear view of the skin covering the vein.
As he drew back, a shadow ceased to hide Liam’s wrist. Strong overhead lighting poured down on it, but there wasn’t even a hint that a feeding had taken place. Even after all this time, Marcus still had the knack. But there was no time to smile in triumph.
Looking up, Marcus focused in on Liam’s face. The younger man’s eyes were closed, his teeth biting down on his bottom lip hard enough to turn the skin beneath his teeth white.
Marcus took another deep breath, assessing the other man’s scent. There was no fear in the air now, but there was desire, so much desire, and it wasn’t all his own. A frown crept across Marcus’ brow. The blush staining Liam’s cheeks didn’t appear to be entirely caused by pleasure or by the sudden relief from pain.
“Liam,” Marcus leaned forward and tenderly stroked the other man’s cheek with his knuckle. “Liam, open your eyes, look at me.”
A lifetime passed before Liam did as he was commanded.
“I know it’s just a reaction to the bite, to the pain fading away so quickly. I’m not going to think it means anything else, and I’m not going to think it gives me any rights that I don’t have,” Marcus said, as gently as he knew how. Right then, that didn’t seem to be anything like gentle enough.
Liam swallowed rapidly, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he made a blatant attempt to keep his emotions under control. “I’m sorry—”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Marcus said firmly. “Nothing at all.”
Liam nodded as if he believed him, but his eyes proclaimed that to be a lie, so did the blush still darkening his cheeks.
Scrambling for anything he could say which might make Liam feel better, Marcus blurted out the first thing that came into his mind. “The bite has the same effect on vampires.”
Liam lowered his eyes. For once, that didn’t seem to have anything to do with embarrassment. His gaze hit Marcus’ crotch, the next moment, it was back on his face and it didn’t waver from there again.
Marcus scrolled through every curse he knew, then made up a few extra ones for good measure. The last thing Liam needed was some fool waving an erection in his direction.
“I’m a grown man, Liam. I learned a long time ago that if a guy ignores an erection for long enough it will go away on its own, no matter what a teenage vampire might think.”
A burst of surprised laughter escaped from Liam. He lifted one hand to cover his mouth, but his other hand didn’t move to hold his ribs. They were obviously giving him far less pain now. The anesthetic in the bite was working.
Marcus smiled as he swallowed and once more tried to rid his senses of the bitter aftertaste the other man’s agony had left in his mouth.
Liam smiled back. It was a tentative expression, but Marcus was willing to take whatever he could get.
“How do you feel now?” he asked.
Liam parted his lips to answer, only to stop himself short. He frowned slightly. “Better,” he finally whispered, confusion hanging on each syllable. “I feel a lot better. Thank you.”
Marcus waved away his gratitude with an idle gesture, almost all his attention still devoted to watching Liam’s movements and assessing the extent of his remaining injuries. “That’s good,” he finally said. “It should let you rest more comfortably for a little while, at least.”
“And you’re okay?” Liam asked.
Marcus nodded. Okay, that was probably one word for it. More accurately, it felt like someone had taken a tin opener to the top of his head and all his thoughts were floating out through the top of his skull.
Human blood… He was as giddy now as he had been as a teenager, taking his first ever feeding.
It wasn’t quite what he’d expected his first feeding to be like when he finally woke up. There was far less leather in the room for one thing. And, while there was a bed, a hospital contraption wasn’t quite what he’d had in mind.
Marcus smiled slightly. The only similarity was that the man he’d hoped for was really there.
“What are you thinking?” Liam whispered.
Marcus focused in on the other man. “I’m thinking th
at it’s been a very long time since I tasted human blood,” he said, honestly.
Liam dropped his gaze for a moment. “You missed it?”
“Every minute of every day.”
“The animal blood—”
Marcus shook his head, a sharp angry little gesture he was incapable of keeping back.
Every muscle in Liam’s body tensed, as if he expected the sky to fall down upon him, or perhaps the earth to tremble and huge fissures to open up beneath him, ready to take him straight down into the deepest hell imaginable, just because he’d said the wrong thing.
“Animal blood isn’t the same,” Marcus explained, taking care to keep his voice level and unemotional. “It’s like having stinging nettles injected into your blood stream.”
Instant sympathy flooded Liam’s eyes.
“You don’t taste at all like nettles,” Marcus reassured.
That raised a smile.
Marcus prayed that the boy wouldn’t ask him what he actually tasted like. He’d hate to have to lie to him.
“The bite, it’s supposed to make a guy…” Liam dropped his gaze toward the tent in his hospital gown. His teeth nibbled against his bottom lip—if the split there gave him any discomfort, he gave no indication of it.
“It can’t force unnatural feelings on someone,” Marcus said carefully. “All that bull about vampires binding humans to them is nothing more than Hollywood’s stupidity.”
Liam serenely nodded his understanding. Marcus was reasonably sure he’d have done the same if he’d told him that he was bound to him for the rest of his life. The endorphins from a feeding were wonderful things.
Marcus’ prey’s eyes were dropping as if he could hardly keep them open. Marcus felt much the same way. His body seemed to have realized that if it wasn’t going to be allowed to have sex, sleep appeared to be its next best option.
“I should leave you to get some sleep,” Marcus said, hiding his reluctance as best he could.
“No!”
Marcus paused in the act of taking his hand away from the side of the bed as Liam’s fingers caught hold of his sleeve.
“I’m sorry,” Liam said a moment later, snatching his fingers back.
Reaching out, Marcus carefully took Liam’s hand in his and guided it forward to rest on his arm just as it had a moment before. The only difference this time was that he covered the boy’s fingers with his own palm, leaving no doubt that Liam’s hand was very welcome there. “No?”
“I don’t want you to go,” Liam blurted out.
“Then I’ll stay,” Marcus said easily. His back cursed him for an idiot. There was no way in hell he was going to be able to sit up much longer. Even with Liam’s blood giving him strength, his muscles simply weren’t used to it. It would take time to build up their stamina again. Adrenaline was only going to take him so far.
“I’m not scared of you.”
That was the bite talking. It couldn’t make a man feel something that was against his nature, but it wasn’t exactly unknown for it to loosen a guy’s tongue a little.
“That’s good,” Marcus said, doing his damndest not to even offer the slightest nudge to make the other man open up even more. There was obviously a reason he’d never bothered to develop a conscience before. Trying to be a good guy sucked, and not in the way his canines thrived on.
“We could…this bed’s the same size as the one in your room,” Liam whispered.
Marcus nodded as he caught up with what Liam was trying to offer him, what the submissive was trying to ask him for. Yes. His back needed him to be able to lie down. For some more mysterious reason, his arms seemed to need his permission to wrap around Liam’s body just as badly. “With one proviso,” Marcus said, seriously. “You don’t leave while I’m asleep.”
Liam opened his mouth but Marcus spoke up again before he had a chance to say a single word. “I don’t want you to apologize. I don’t want you to feel guilty. I simply want your word that it won’t happen again.”
Liam stared down at the cheap hospital blanket for several long seconds.
“You can leave whenever you want. I won’t try to stop you,” Marcus promised, even though it went against anything and everything his instincts demanded. “But I want to know before you walk out of the room.”
One little nod.
Marcus breathed a little easier. If the bite had encouraged Liam to trust him, then it seemed to be having the same effect on Marcus. And, as a reward, he now had the pleasure of sleeping chastely next to the man he’d been fantasizing about having sex with for the last six months.
He was slowly starting to understand exactly why vampires had a habit of using blood sources and throwing them away without ever getting attached. Getting to know someone, realizing that they deserved to be treated kindly, made things far more complicated.
Liam edged closer to the farthest side of the bed.
“The other side.”
Liam blinked at him.
“I’ll sleep on that side, between you and the door,” Marcus said, without really thinking about it.
Liam looked down. “I meant it when I promised I wouldn’t leave without—”
“No,” Marcus corrected. “So I’ll be between you and anyone who enters the room.”
Liam glanced up at him, then down, as if he didn’t understand why anyone would want to do that. As if it had never occurred to him that someone willing to stand strong between him and anything that might hurt him was exactly what he needed.
* * * *
Warmth and comfort completely surrounded Liam. He squirmed slightly, relishing the sensation. Whatever was wrapped around him, it tightened its hold in response. That was even better. Liam smiled sleepily as he turned his face into his pillow.
No. It wasn’t a pillow. It was harder than that. Liam frowned slightly as he tried to work out what it was. An arm. His head was resting on someone’s arm. That was it.
Ralph!
Every muscle in Liam’s body tensed.
“Hush,” someone murmured in his ear.
No, not Ralph. Even when everything had been good between them, Ralph had never spoken to him in that soft tone of voice. When he woke up, Ralph had always been pissed off, and almost inevitably been sporting morning wood.
Liam’s stomach turned over at the possibility. If he said no, Ralph would just get even more pissed off with him. But the idea of saying yes…
“It’s early, try to go back to sleep,” that same voice whispered to him. Marcus. Slowly, memories started to present themselves for Liam’s consideration. As the vampire’s body moved against Liam’s back, wrapping itself around him more comfortably, Liam felt the hard length of an erection press against his buttocks.
Opening his mouth to speak, Liam found his mind completely empty of words. Sleep, the other man had said. Marcus didn’t seem to be in any rush to demand that Liam take care of his hard-on for him. All Liam had to do was stay calm and—
All his very sensible thoughts failed him as he opened his eyes.
“What the hell?” Liam tried to jerk away from the figure sitting in the chair alongside the bed. There was nowhere for him to go, Marcus was right behind him. Except, suddenly, Marcus wasn’t behind him, the vampire was above him. Before Liam knew what was happening, Marcus had rolled over him and half pinned him to the bed. He let out a low snarling growl at the intruder.
Liam stared up at Marcus, wide eyed. As quickly as he had transformed into someone Liam had never set eyes on before, the vampire morphed back into a calm, gentle figure and rolled them back into their original positions.
“Liam meet Jenson, Jenson meet Liam.”
“A pleasure to meet you, sir,” the man rose from his seat and half bowed in Liam’s direction.
All Liam could do was stare. There wasn’t anything particularly scary about the guy. He was dressed in a very non-terrifying business suit and looked to be in his late fifties, with graying hair and pale blue eyes.
“I…” Liam shook h
is head in an effort to clear it. He looked to Marcus for help.
“Just say hello back,” Marcus ordered.
“Hi,” Liam managed to mumble.
The older man, Jenson as Marcus had called him, gave one of those strange little half bows again.
Liam looked over his shoulder at Marcus once more.
“Jenson works for me,” Marcus said, a trace of sleep still in his voice. “He’s my butler.”
He might as well have declared the other man to be his astronaut. Liam would have had about the same chance of wrapping his mind around that.
“Butler,” he repeated, blankly.
“He’s been looking after my affairs while I’ve been…unavailable.”
Liam nodded, as if that explained everything. Dropping his gaze to the bed they shared reminded Liam exactly where he was. A blush rushed to his cheeks. He automatically reached out to pull the blanket up and hide behind it as much as possible.
“I took the liberty of obtaining replacement garments that you may find suitable, sir.”
It took Liam a full minute to realize that Jenson was talking to him. “I…I won’t be able to pay you back straight away,” he blurted out. He doubted Ralph would be in any mood to offer any hand outs any time soon.
Liam shuffled away from Marcus a little wondering how the hell he was going to make sure Ralph never found out about any of this. His mind whirled faster and faster. Ralph was going to be angry, but…
He closed his eyes. “When I get home, maybe I could ask Ralph if—”
“Liam.” A hand came to rest on Liam’s cheek and demanded that he turn and face Marcus properly. “You’re not going back to him.”
“I…”
“It’s not open for debate,” Marcus cut in. “You can’t go back to him again, not this time. You do see that, don’t you?”
Liam stared down at the bed between them.
“Jenson, give us a few minutes.”
Liam was vaguely aware of the older man leaving the room, but he didn’t look up.
“Liam?” Marcus asked.
“I…” He had no idea what to say.