by Bee Murray
“We need to get you inside,” she said, and then she bit her lip. “One time. That’s it. One time to indulge whatever this is... But after that it’s time to get back to work.”
I didn’t wait to hear the rest of her rules, I just picked her up and raced back into the cabin.
If ‘one time’ was all we had, then I refused to waste a moment of it.
17
TUESDAY
One minute I was standing in Vinnie’s arms, wishing that I could press pause on the batshit crazy that had become my life, and the next minute I was unceremoniously lifted off the ground and carried into the cabin.
His vampiric strength was on full display, and I hated how much I loved it.
When he ripped the door to the cabin open with such force, the whole damn door frame shook. My nipples hardened and I may have even moaned a little.
I’m a freak. That’s new.
He heard me, too, and I giggled at my absurdity.
A single, smoldering look that went straight to my nether bits silenced my mirth. When he looked down at me those familiarly strange burgundy eyes promised pure sin.
Yeah. There was no time for laughter. This was deadly serious.
This would likely rank in the top ten worst ideas I’d ever, ever had and I didn’t care.
You hear rumors about sex with vampires. It’s not really a brunch topic, even among the progressive crowd. It’s still too taboo and misunderstood. But you hear whispers here and there. Women and men with vamp lovers—they’re different. They walk differently; they stand differently... Once you knew someone who’d taken the plunge, it was impossible not to notice.
Sure, they’ll recount bits and pieces of the experiences to those who will listen, and each time they do it’s with a certain… reverence. Mysterious things. Magical things. Things that make you squirm in all the best ways.
People might whisper about it, but it was impossible to ignore the fact that it intrigued me. Obviously.
I would finally get to find out if reality matched the myth.
I already knew I liked sex with Vinnie, but that was before all of—this. But getting to find out if he’s learned any new tricks since he became Vinnie the Vamp? Yeah. I’m allowed this single, brief lapse in judgment.
He kicked the front door closed and strode across the cabin to the room I’d banished him to. Even if it was lumpy, the bed was large, and there was more than enough room for the both of us. He threw me on the bed and I bounced a bit, coming to rest propped up on the pillows and my elbows.
Backlit by the red light of the dawn that came through the cabin windows, he looked like some sort of demon prince as he leaned against the door. My entire body was on high alert as I watched him slowly unbutton his shirt and reveal the chiseled torso underneath.
Eager to get this epic show on the road, I mimicked him and reached down to pull the stained, dirty t-shirt over my head, but he was by my side in a flash.
“Don’t.” He ordered, surprising me with intensity.
I let my hands drop back to the bed and arched a single eyebrow at him.
“I’ve waited too long for this, Tuesday,” He murmured. He lifted the hem of the shirt and eased it slowly up my body and over my head. He undressed me with exquisite gentleness and it blew me away.
This was a new side to Vinnie. He looked at me like I was something priceless. It took my breath away and threatened to thaw an icy corner of my heart.
For one frozen moment in time, I saw the possibility of a future together.
It was beautiful and passionate and perfect and… Definitely outside my emotional price range.
This was a one off. It had to be.
A night for fantasy and vampire fuckery.
An exorcism of sorts to get it out of our system.
I can’t afford for my heart to thaw. I wouldn’t survive it.
Tomorrow morning has to be business as usual.
“Strip for me, I need to see you,” I ordered. I pushed my palms under his open shirt and palmed his ice-cold pecs. God, he’s jacked.
Vinnie’s eyes narrowed, but his shirt was on the floor in a flash and his pants soon followed. Gotta love the efficiency of superhuman reflexes.
His thumb darted out and rasped against a hardened nipple, and I bit my lip to keep from moaning. Keep it together, Tuesday. You call the shots here.
“Lay back,” his voice was husky and rough with desire and his burgundy eyes were wild.
I obeyed without thinking and met his heated gaze with my own. He growled his approval and moved to kneel between my splayed legs.
“You are so fucking beautiful.” His eyes roamed over every inch of me and I preened under the attention. I have always loved a confident man in the bedroom and Vinnie left no doubt that he was in complete control of the situation. He would follow orders, but only if they suited him. It was both profoundly annoying and sinfully delicious. And oh, so familiar.
“Will you let me taste you, Tuesday?”
I froze for a moment, weighing my options.
On one hand, biting and rough sex? 10/10 recommend. Big fan. Huge. On the other hand, uh, vampire.
He said nothing, just traced the lines of my body with his fingertips while he devoured me with his eyes.
I gulped. What kind of vampire sex would I even be having if I didn’t let him bite me? It’s not like he hasn’t bitten me before...
“Um. Yes. But not where anyone can see and I want a safe word.” I blurted out. My cheeks burned as he looked up at me and flashed his sharpened smile.
“Of course,” he inclined his head and moved his hand up the inside of my thigh. Just a little higher... Mmph.
“What’s your safe word, dollface?”
I screwed up my face at that and rolled my eyes.
“Fang-head,” I smirked at him.
Vinnie tackled me and pressed me into the mattress with his body weight.
Every touch of his cool skin against mine sent a sizzle of pleasure through me. He peppered me with small kisses as he moved down my body until my breath came in jagged gasps. He made hungry, growling sounds in the back of his throat and it thrilled me.
The knowledge that I could make a vampire squirm with desire was a powerful and unexpected aphrodisiac, but it was nothing compared to the liquid fire that consumed me at the first bold swipe of his tongue.
My back arched, and I squirmed on the bed, but he rested his forearm on my hips and held me down, teasing me and driving me to new heights impossibly fast.
If this was the foreplay, sign me up for the whole damn ride.
The cool touch of Vinnie’s fingers made me jump before I sank into the pleasure of his touch. He stroked me deep and slow while his tongue worked in tandem and brought me higher. The white-hot pleasure of my orgasm was building steadily and I held onto the sheets with a death grip.
Vinnie growled in approval and moved his lips to my inner thigh. His fingers moved faster and I let out an anguished moan. I was so close and every second of delay made me feel like I could die.
“Come for me?” Vinnie murmured, his voice muffled against my thigh.
I wanted to. Badly.
I scrunched up my face and concentrated on my pleasure, imagining it a ball of energy radiating outwards. Just as I had the visualization in my mind, a sharp pain struck my inner thigh, followed immediately by a cataclysmic wave of pleasure that drove me backwards into the bed. I rocked and writhed as he drank deeply, Vinnie’s fingers still buried inside me and wringing every ounce of pleasure from my body. The force of my orgasm drove all rational thought out of my brain.
Ring.
Ring.
Riiing.
The sound broke through my subconscious, and I struggled to remember why I cared. Something was making a ringing noise? Should I be concerned? Go for it, little something. Make all the noise you want, I’m busy dying.
Vinnie looked up at me and grinned. His fangs were stained red, and there was a smear of blood at the corner of
his mouth.
Without breaking eye contact, he withdrew his fingers from my pulsating core and brought them to his lips. He sucked each of them and my eyes almost rolled back into my head again.
He sat back on his knees and casually stroked his cock, and I swallowed shakily. No wonder they talk about vampire sex in hushed tones. It’s dangerous! You have to be superhuman to keep up!
Gathering my thoughts took a supreme amount of effort, but I managed it. The ringing noise. That hadn't stopped yet. What rings? Oh. Shit.
“PHONE!” I croaked out. I rolled away from Vinnie and scrambled over the bed in the search for my cell phone.
“Can’t you call them back?” Vinnie asked. He still had his dick in his hand while I hopped around the room and looked under our scattered clothes for the source of the ringing.
“Uh, no. No, I can’t. We’re in a crisis situation here. I have to always answer my phone.” I snapped back.
Where the hell did I put that thing?
The ring stopped and Vinnie patted the bed next to him but I scowled at him instead. The afterglow of my heart-stopping orgasm had already taken a backseat to the desperation of finding the goddamn phone.
“Ugh, Where is it? Have you seen it? I have to find it and call them back!”
“That’s it? You’re just going to leave me here?”
I stopped at the foot of the bed, grabbed Vinnie by the back of his neck, and pressed a searing kiss to his bloodstained lips.
“You were great. Really. Superb. Best I’ve ever had. But I have to go save your ass so you can keep doing… whatever that was and not get staked on sight.”
The ringing began again, and I grabbed Vinnie’s discarded flannel shirt before I ran through the bedroom door to find it.
The job always has to come first. It just does. I don’t make the rules.
I stubbed my toe on the hideous antler horn and glass coffee table and hopped on one foot, swearing viciously through the living room. By the time I finally found my phone on the charger in the kitchen I was in an… excited state of mind. I looked down at the tiny screen and sighed at the number of missed calls.
Four from Carlyn.
Damn it. You don’t just miss calls from Carlyn without a very, very compelling reason. I doubt she would take ‘being fingerbanged to oblivion by my ex/our client’ as particularly compelling.
Two from my best friend, Adrienne.
One from the photographer.
I needed to call him back.
At least in the mountains I had a valid excuse for missing the calls. Even with my signal boosters, the coverage up here was spotty.
Vinnie’s flannel shirt was filthy, but it smelled like him and I shoved my arms through the sleeves, anyway. A part of me longed to throw my phone into the woods and run back into that bedroom to finish what I had started. Leaving him like that felt weird and for the first time since we started this mess, I actually missed him more than I wanted to stab him.
That was progress, right?
“It’s better this way.” I whispered forcefully before moving to the window to look out at the sunshine that peeked through the heavy clouds.
Rain today.
“Is it?” Vinnie’s voice behind me was low and controlled. He tried to hide it, but I could hear the edge of pain there too and it almost broke my heart. Almost.
I turned around slowly. I’d been a fool to assume he would just hide in there forever to avoid this awkwardness. We’re fugitives together. We don’t have the luxury of hiding from each other.
Gone was the demon prince with the burgundy eyes who looked at me like I was a gift from the gods. In his place stood a man with ethereal beauty and a flat, emotionless expression. This version of Vinnie freaked me out a little. Ok, a lot.
I remembered Vinnie referred to his battle with his vampire side as trying to stay in control of his monster. When I looked into his eyes this time, Vinnie wasn’t looking back at me. It was his monster.
Oh, shit.
“Was this a game to you?” He spat the words out as he crowded me up against the wall. A shaft of early morning sunlight seared the flesh on his forearm, but he didn’t flinch or pull away.
“It’s revenge. Don’t deny it, Tuesday? I can see it in your eyes. You want to make me hurt the same way I hurt you.”
Fear crept up my spine as I watched him warily. I flinched when he slammed his palm against the wall to one side of my head. Trapped between the wall and an angry vampire. Not my best moment.
“Vinnie, let me go. Please.”
I dared to bring my palm up and rested it lightly on his bare chest.
He froze at my touch and snarled as he looked down at my hand and then back at my face.
His mouth twisted into a cruel grin that made every brave thought in my mind scurry for cover. I’d never been so scared in my entire life.
Sharp fangs gleamed white in the pale daylight and I braced myself for how it would feel when they pierced my skin and my blood would flow hotly over my neck and into his mouth.
“You forget yourself, Ms. Matson.” Vinnie’s voice was soft like velvet, but that didn’t mask the cruelty behind his formal words.
In one motion, he grabbed my wrist and spun me around, pressing my face into the rough wood of the cabin wall, my arm twisted painfully up behind my back while he leaned against me and pinned me in place.
“You work for me.” His breath was icy cold against my ears and I shivered as terrified goosebumps rose all over my skin.
“If you recall, Tuesday, you’re the one who came up with our little plan. Something simple that involved disguising the cold-blooded murders of eight people and at least one innocent vampire under an explosion that could have leveled the entire neighborhood. That makes you, at the very least, an accessory to murder, does it not?” He placed a cold kiss on the top of my shoulder that I could feel through the thin fabric of the flannel shirt I’d grabbed from off the bedroom floor.
Accessory to murder? What now? Is he... threatening me because I didn’t fuck him? Oh, hell no.
Anger coursed through my veins, and I welcomed its familiar warm embrace. Asshole wanted to play this game? Fine. Let’s play.
“You’re missing some key points there, Vincent.” I sneered. I swallowed a gasp of pain when he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked it hard to tip my chin back and expose my throat.
Nope. I’m not going down like this.
I lifted my left foot slightly and brought it down as hard as I could on the top of his foot. He grunted in surprise and I took advantage of the moment to swing my free elbow around toward his face as hard as I could, allowing my momentum to turn me slightly.
There was a satisfying crunch when my elbow hit his nose, but the burning pain in my arm intensified as he twisted it tighter against my back.
I had been successful in injuring him, an accomplishment when your opponent is a vampire, but I had not yet freed myself. Completing my turn, I yanked my wrist down against his thumb and brought my knee up into his groin. Luckily for him, this time he was wearing boxers. But the sound of his agonized voice as my knee connected with his balls for the second time in the few weeks since we’d reunited was heavenly.
The moment his hand left my wrist, I dropped and ducked under the table, crab crawling toward the kitchen door.
Vinnie was still doubled over, both hands clutching at his crotch, when I reached the door but he heard me move and he looked up. Thick blood dripped down from his nose and a fearsome grin spread over his face.
He looked every inch a monster who had stepped straight out of my worst nightmares.
I shoved a chair in his path, darted through the door, and slammed it shut as hard as I could behind me.
A door wouldn’t delay him long, but it was long enough for me to leap over the couch and grab the keys to the shit heap of a van we’d arrived in and get within two steps of the front door.
A tremendous roar of rage shook the house, and I heard the kitchen door spl
inter as Vinnie came after me.
There was a small notepad and pencil cup next to the door, and I grabbed the first pencil I found. As far as stakes go, it wasn’t the best, but beggars can’t be choosers. I grabbed a small ceramic cross that had been hung on the wall and scrambled to open the door.
I will not die for this asshole.
He was too fast.
That vampire superspeed thing was not a myth.
One second he was standing in the kitchen doorway, the shattered remains of the door scattered over the parquet and peeling linoleum. Blood covered his chest from his broken nose. The next second he lunged at me with a fresh roar in his throat and his fangs bared.
I acted on instinct.
Screaming at the top of my lungs, I jammed the pencil into the side of his neck and pressed the cross against his face.
Vinnie snarled in rage and swung at me, but the crucifix I’d slammed into his face made a disgusting sizzling noise that made him lurch back and jerk away from me.
I’m not dead. Holy shit, I’m not dead!
He groaned and held a hand up to his face. Burned, blistered flesh was visible between his fingers and I felt a small twinge of victory to see how deep I buried the pencil in the side of his neck.
For a moment, we regarded each other cautiously, and I laid a hand on the doorknob. If I pulled it open, I could escape into the sunlight.
It was an impasse. A pause. We were both breathing heavily, injured, angry. Vinnie was covered in blood and I was sure I didn’t look much better.
My wrist throbbed, and I didn’t need an X-ray to know that the sharp grinding pain I felt meant that it was broken. And for what? Adrenaline, fear, pain, and pure unadulterated fury ran through me like an electrical current. I debated what to do. All the books said to never turn your back on a wounded or angry animal. They told you to make yourself big and scary.
Does a vampire count as an animal?
My anger decided for me. “What in the actual fuck is your problem?” I screamed at him. I brandished the small cross in my good hand and advanced a few steps in his direction.
Another pencil rolled across the floor and I crouched quickly to pick it up with my other hand. My wrist screamed in pain and I gritted my teeth against the jolt.