Vampire Trouble

by Sara Humphreys

  Maya groaned and pressed herself harder against him, reveling in the erotic sensation of his bare chest brushing against her nipples. Kissing her, he pulled her hair free from the confines of the ponytail and sighed into her mouth, running his fingers through her long locks. They both needed more.

  “Stand up,” Shane murmured as he broke the kiss. “I want to look at you in the moonlight.”

  Maya rose from his lap, taking in the sight of him as she went. His broad-shouldered torso was perfectly sculpted, and it was plainly evident that every single inch of him was rock hard. Her eyes widened briefly and panic welled when she saw that his erection was barely contained by the faded jeans, but once she looked back into his eyes, any fear she might have felt abated.

  Shane went to his knees and, with incredible tenderness, lifted her left foot before carefully removing her tall boot, tossing it aside, and placing a featherlight kiss on the tip of her toes. Maya lost her balance switching feet and laughed nervously. Shane captured her hand and pressed it to his lips before placing it on his shoulder so she could regain her balance. Desire surged as the muscles of his shoulder flexed beneath her fingers, and she watched him remove her other boot and set it aside. Shivering with anticipation, she stood barefoot in the grass as Shane rose higher on his knees and grasped her hips with his hands.

  Maya threaded her fingers through his hair while he rained butterfly kisses over her lower stomach and flicked his tongue in her belly button with wickedly seductive strokes. His tongue trailed a line over the curve of her hip, and he peeled the rest of the catsuit down her legs, kissing and nibbling his way to the crook of her knee before helping her step out of the suit, leaving her totally nude in the light of the moon.

  Quivering with gut-clenching desire, Maya ran her knuckles down the sides of his beard-stubbled face while he looked up at her with pure, unadulterated lust. The look in his eyes was savage and tender at the same time, and he reminded her once again of a tiger ready to pounce. On his knees with his gaze locked on hers, Shane let his fingers drift up her thighs, and his thumbs brushed lightly along the inner curve of her legs.

  “You’re beautiful, Maya,” he murmured. Rising to his feet, he linked one arm around her waist and tugged her against him while his other hand drifted in between her legs, slipped between her slick folds, and began to stroke. “And you’ll look even more beautiful when I make you come,” he growled before capturing her lips with his.

  Maya kissed him and clung to his shoulders desperately while his talented fingers rubbed her clit in slow, seductive strokes, delivering knee-bending waves of pleasure with every pass. She lifted one leg and draped it over his hip, allowing him full access to her hot, wet center, and cried out as he slipped one finger and then two inside of her. He gathered her hair in his hands, tilting her head back so he could devour her mouth with deep, penetrating kisses while she rode his hand and the orgasm started to crest. Somewhere through the thick haze of desire, she knew she wanted and needed more. She wasn’t ready for it to end.

  Maya broke the kiss and pushed Shane’s hand aside before quickly unbuttoning the fly of his jeans and pushing them down his narrow hips. Maya licked Shane’s lip, grinned, and wrapped her fingers around the hard, steely length of him. He groaned, a low rumbling sound of pleasure, as she massaged him in her hand and ran her thumb over the velvety tip. Maya moved faster, sliding her hand over him in quick, hard strokes while he licked and suckled her lips urgently.

  “I have to be inside of you,” he rasped. Shane lifted his head and linked his fingers around her wrist, gently pulling her hand away as he stepped out of his jeans. Cradling her face with one hand and circling his other arm around her waist, he pulled her against him, pinning his thick erection between their bellies. “Are you ready, Maya? Will you give yourself to me?”

  Staring into his intensely handsome face, she realized she’d known the answer before he even asked, and it was the most beautiful moment of the entire experience. Shane was asking for permission to take the one thing she hadn’t given to another man in years. He didn’t take what he so clearly wanted, but asked, even with the chance that her answer might be no. Her blood surged and every cell lit up like a live wire with his flesh rubbing against hers. One word thundered through her head.

  Yes, she whispered into his mind.

  “Thank God,” Shane groaned before covering her mouth with his.

  Kissing her, Shane lifted Maya off the ground as she wrapped her legs around his waist with his cock still pressed between their bodies. She thought he would take her right then, but he didn’t. Paying thorough attention to her lips, and with her body wrapped tightly around his, Shane flew Maya up to the roof of the giant house. She shrieked her delight when he landed on the flat section along the back of the house, just above the kitchen.

  Shane lay down and pulled Maya with him so she was on her knees straddling him. She leaned forward, bracing her hands on either side of his head, her blond hair spilling around them. His erection, hot and full, was pressed beneath her in just the right spot, and his large, strong hands rested on her hips.

  Maya ran her tongue along the seam of his lips and rocked her hips, sliding her hot center along the rigid length of his cock. Kissing him deeply, she moved faster, sliding her slick, swollen flesh over his in long, hard strokes. She rode him with total abandon and brought them both to a fever pitch. Maya whimpered as the orgasm coiled tight and deep. Knowing she was ready, Shane reached between their bodies and slipped himself inside her.

  Maya cried his name as the steely length of him filled her. She sat up, taking all of him in, and he gripped her hips tightly, encouraging her to move. Slowly and with deliberate motion, Maya tilted her hips, keeping her gaze locked with Shane’s. She put her hands above her head, feeling wild and free, riding him faster while delicious friction sent white-hot pleasure whipping through her body.

  As wave after wave of the pounding orgasm tore through them in unison, Maya’s fangs erupted and the surge of a familiar primal need took hold. Still buried deep inside her, Shane sat up on a growl with his razor-sharp fangs bared. He tangled his hands in her hair while she rode him, and Maya let out a gasp of sheer pleasure when his mind melded with hers and he growled, “Bloodmate.”

  Shane sank his fangs into Maya’s shoulder, and another orgasm slammed into her with toe-curling force. Maya shrieked her pleasure into the dark Louisiana night before dropping her head and sinking her fangs into the strip of flesh along his neck.

  He tasted wild and spicy, and ripple after ripple of bone-melting ecstasy soared through her body. Maya’s eyes fluttered closed, the orgasm subsided, and a subtle but insistent sound rumbled through them like a bass beat at the club.

  A heartbeat.

  Once. Twice. Again.

  The pounding continued while they clung to one another and the tiny aftershocks of the orgasm fluttered through them. Licking the wounds closed, they remained wrapped up in each other’s arms, neither one wanting this moment to end. Even after they stopped the blood exchange, the heartbeat continued for several more minutes. They were alive. Even if it only lasted for those few brief moments, for that instant in time, Shane and Maya were alive.

  Chapter 10

  Maya lifted her head and the expression of wonder on her face was one of the best sights he’d ever seen. Shane cradled her cheeks with both hands and gingerly brushed his thumb over her flawless skin. A wistful smile played at his lips, and he held her gaze while their synchronized heartbeats slowed beat by beat until finally stopping and leaving them quiet once again.

  “Did you feel that?” Maya asked in barely audible tones. “We…we had heartbeats. Both of us.”

  “I did.” A sly grin cracked his handsome face, and he kissed the corner of her mouth. “But it may only have been a fluke. Perhaps something that happens only once between bloodmates.”

  “Once? Hmm.” Maya linked her arms around his ne
ck and flicked his mouth with her tongue. “Then I guess we better do it again. You know, to prove it wasn’t just a fluke.”

  “Your wish is my command, youngling.”

  Shane made love to her again on the rooftop, beneath the black velvet blanket of the star-dappled sky, and proved that the presence of a heartbeat during a blood exchange was not merely a fluke. Once again when they joined in every way possible, a heartbeat thundered between them loud and strong. Afterward, while they lay next to one another, naked as jaybirds and with their fingers intertwined, Maya struggled with whether or not to ask Shane the question that lingered in her mind.

  “What is it, youngling?” Shane turned onto his side. Propping himself up on his elbow, he played with a long strand of her hair. “Something is bothering you.”

  “Are you a mind reader?” Maya playfully smacked his arm with the back of her hand.

  “Not exactly.” Shane went back to playing with her hair but kept his eyes on hers. “But I can sense there’s something troubling you.”

  “We’re bloodmates.” Maya made the statement with some uncertainty. “Right?”

  “Yes.” Shane rested his hand over her lower belly and stroked the soft flesh gently. “If I had any doubts, they were eliminated during the blood exchange. I haven’t had a heartbeat in four centuries. It took a minute even to figure out what was happening, but it was the most erotic, intimate moment of my existence.”

  “I saw your memories.” Maya smiled and stared into the night sky. “The battles, the sadness when your maker left you, and the loyalty you feel for the Presidium. I saw it all.”

  “Yes. That is part of the process, of giving myself to you.”

  “Were you able to read my blood memories?” she asked quietly. “I know that you should be able to but…I’m kind of defective or something. I know Olivia couldn’t really read them, either.”

  “Not all of them.” Shane’s mouth set in grim line, and he tipped her chin toward him with one finger, forcing her to look at him. “There is nothing wrong with you, Maya.”

  “Yes, there is. Did you know that my turn took five days?” Maya took his hand in hers and sat up, pulling her knees to her chest, suddenly aware of her nakedness and feeling remarkably vulnerable. “Five days! It’s like I ride the short bus of vampires.”

  “No.” Shane’s brow furrowed. “I was unaware that your conversion took so long. A traditional turn is two days, although Doug’s was only twelve hours.”

  “Yeah,” Maya scoffed. “But he’s got angel blood. If we’re bloodmates, then I should be able to share all of myself with you but I can’t.”

  “That’s it.” Shane’s tone was quiet but serious. He studied her closely and nodded. “Your bloodline must carry some kind of unique trait. It could explain why your blood memories are shrouded and why your turn took so long. You’re not Fae or Amoveo. I’ve tasted that type of blood before and I’d recognize it. And since you haven’t sprouted fur, it’s a safe bet you’re not a werewolf,” he said with a wink. “It’s not angel or demon either, because you don’t exhibit any of the traits that Doug and Pete have as vampires. It’s something else. That has to be the reason.”

  “Will you help me, Shane?” Maya rested her cheek on her knees and looked at him pleadingly.

  “Ask and it’s yours,” he whispered. He brushed the hair from her forehead. “Anything.”

  “Help me find out who I am. How can I commit myself to you, to this whole bloodmate idea, if I don’t even know who I am?”

  “Like I said”—Shane gathered her into his arms and held her, brushing the top of her head with a kiss—“I’ll always come and find you.”

  The sound of Lottie’s car coming down the driveway prompted Maya to get dressed in record time. Shane offered to pack up the weapons and suggested Maya go inside to see if Lottie required anything of them. Maya picked some grass out of her hair before opening the creaky screen door and stepping into the brightly lit kitchen. Turning to close the door behind her, she caught a glimpse of Shane and couldn’t help but stop and stare.

  He still hadn’t put on his shirt, and the clear, moonlit night was giving her a beautiful view of his broad, well-muscled back. Maya leaned against the doorway and watched him organize the weaponry with the same focused intensity that he did everything else, including lovemaking. A smile played at her lips, recalling the way his hands ran over her naked body and the heartbreaking tenderness that lingered in his kisses. Her hand went to her mouth, which tingled at the memory of rasping along his stubble-covered jaw.

  “I smell sex.”

  Maya yelped and spun around, immediately going into a defensive stance, and found herself face-to-face with Lottie, who was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down her face. Feeling totally embarrassed, Maya dropped her hands as Shane appeared behind her with his gun drawn. He immediately tucked it into the waist of his jeans when he saw Lottie guffawing and leaning on the back of a chair for support.

  “Yup.” Swiping at her wet cheeks, Lottie shook her head and plopped her leather messenger bag on the table. “It’s in the air, and it’s thick like the fog on the bayou. Damn.” She winked at Maya. “I may need a cigarette just from standing near you two.”

  Maya folded her arms over her breasts, at a total loss for words. Mor-ti-fied.

  “If you’ll excuse me.” Shane slipped past Maya and glanced at Lottie with a look on his face that resembled embarrassment. “I should put this bag away properly so everything is ready for tomorrow’s training. Maya, I’ll be taking a shower and then heading to bed. The sun will be up soon, and you will need your rest for tomorrow. We’ll be adding weapons to the hand-to-hand combat, and you’ll be learning to access them from the sentry coat.”

  “How romantic,” Lottie said with a roll of her eyes.

  “Okay.” Maya glanced at Lottie, who had opened the refrigerator and was cracking open a can of beer. “I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

  “Good night, Lottie.” Shane tilted his head. “Thank you again for hosting us.”

  “You bet.” When he walked past her, Lottie smacked him on the ass. “If she needs sleep, then you better make it a cold shower.”

  Shane paused for a moment before silently exiting the kitchen through the swinging door. Maya fought to keep from laughing.

  “How was work? Are you always out this late?” Maya asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

  “Shit.” Lottie shook her head. “You kidding me? We got ten different conventions in New Orleans this week, which means things are hoppin’ down there on Bourbon.”

  “What is it that you do, exactly?”

  “I’m a fortune-teller. I work at a few little pubs in the Quarter. I used to have a table in Jackson Square, but the weather can be a bitch, so I picked up some indoor gigs.” Lottie removed the colorful scarf she had tied around her head and draped it over the bag. Obviously stiff from sitting for a long time, she stretched her back.

  “I do what it sounds like. I can read the future, but it’s nothin’ that special. Most gypsies are taught the magic when they’re children and pass it on to theirs. I never did have kids.” She made a face. “Couldn’t find a man I could tolerate for more than a roll or two in the sack. Coulda done it on my own, I suppose, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me. Too bad, though.”

  “Why?”

  “My magic will die with me. I don’t have any kin, so our gypsy line will go the way of the dinosaur. Serves us gypsies right, I suppose. We are all so damn secretive, you know. The clans don’t share their magic with other clans, so when one clan dies out…that’s it for their family’s magic.”

  “There are different kinds of gypsy magic?” Maya asked with genuine curiosity.

  “Sure.” Lottie belched after taking another swig of beer. “There used to be a few hundred clans, but who knows how many are left? Not me. For all I know, I could b
e the last. Up until a couple of centuries ago, the clans used to gather, but after a lot of bickering and petty crap, that stopped. Us gypsies have powerful magic, but damn if we aren’t a stubborn lot. Anyway, like I said, my clan’s magic is about seeing the future.”

  “Can you read the past?” Maya asked tentatively.

  “Not usually, but sometimes I can.” Lottie took a big sip of beer and looked Maya up and down. “Why?”

  “I don’t remember much about my human life, and it didn’t really bother me until recently.”

  “Recently, huh?” Lottie jutted her thumb toward the ceiling. “Your sudden desire to uncover your past wouldn’t have anything to do with the six-foot, four-inch hunk of man upstairs, would it?”

  “Some, yes.” Maya lifted one shoulder. “But it’s not just because of Shane. How can I move forward if I can’t let go of the past? It haunts me, Lottie. Not knowing where I come from haunts me.”

  “Well, you do still have that glimmer thing going on. It wasn’t my eyes playin’ tricks on me. Nope.”

  “Shane thinks that I might have—”

  “Stop right there.” Lottie held up one hand. “Not another word. I don’t like to have any preconceived notions because it can mess with the reading.” Lottie grabbed her bag and gestured toward the door. “Come on.”

  “Where?”

  “The living room.” She bumped the door open with her butt, making the charms on her skirt jingle. “I like to work in there when I’m at home.”

  “Work?” Maya looked at her quizzically.

  “Let’s see what we can see.” Lottie drained the rest of her beer, and disappearing through the door, she shouted, “Come on, baby girl. You ain’t got much time. That sun won’t wait just ’cause you’ve got questions you want answered, and I’m tired.”

  Maya steeled her courage. The possibility of learning more about her past was actually rather frightening now that she was faced with it. But hadn’t she just been asking Shane to help her?