Immortal Flame (Eternal Mates Book 1)

by JF Holland

  Damn, a boner.

  Not something he’d expected, but it had been a while since he’d drank from source. Nothing could quite match the excitement and feel of a woman in your arms as your incisors pierced their sweetly scented flesh. The snug fit as they sank further in, the warmth, taste and texture of her, the way her thoughts grew sluggish as her heart rate and breathing sped up. Then, there was the way they moved against you so sensually, and the sounds they made as they were thrown into orgasm. He took another drink, breaking eye contact before she noticed the change. His eyes darkening to a deeper lilac, more deep purple, glowing and swirling as his arousal made itself known. Not something he normally dealt with in a public place, and certainly not something he couldn’t normally control.

  It was a pity they couldn’t self-induce orgasms with a self-inflicted bite; especially when he was hard as steel, but it didn’t work. Yes, he’d tried. I mean, he had been a teenager himself once, of course he had. Every teenager; no matter whether human or immortal, is a mass of hormones and excessive testosterone, so of course they wanted to hump everything and feel the ultimate pleasure. Unfortunately, as it was their own system that carried Oxytocin; excreted through their fangs when they bit, it didn’t affect them. After all, it was their own pudenal gland in their sex organs which produced it, flooding their system with it on demand - and not just when turned on like a human male or female. Then again, it could be a little embarrassing if every time their fangs readied, they spilled in their pants due to it being in their system. Not a pleasant thought. Who wanted a wet patch in their pants, so not something he wanted to explain to his dry cleaner either. So nope, they were not affected by their own system. It was a by-product of their needs, nature’s way of stopping their donors from feeling the pain of the bite. I mean, their incisors were not needle thin, it would be painful and therefore unacceptable to bite if they didn’t have the trade-off to offer. The pleasure was a way to not only keep them calm; and pain free, but a gift of sorts. A way of paying for the blood. To them it was more than life sustaining, it also allowed the accelerated cell regeneration they needed. It gave them their immorality, strength and speed. Therefore, it was only right that their donors were paid in some small way. The after effects of the oxytocin also helped to dull their donor’s minds - once they came down after their release when it left them slightly sluggish, their minds slow. But, unlike an everyday orgasm, when given by a vampire, it also gave them an opportunity to slip into their mind and alter their perceptions or plant false memories. With a normal orgasm, it was only women which had that blank bit just after release. A split second of complete blankness where they became uninhibited and lost control, but with a vampire induced one it affected both men and women the same. They could also alter memories without biting if the human was susceptible to them when they concentrated; and only a very few weren’t. All it took was them zeroing in on the hypothalamus and they could extract or alter information. The bite induced orgasm was just easier, they received sustenance and it took little thought on their part.

  “So, Leonard, what do you do for a living?” Jill asked, changing the subject, as fascinating as his eyes and teeth were.

  “I work in the financial sector.”

  “Banking?”

  “No, I buy and sell shares.”

  “Sounds interesting,” she replied, taking another sip of her drink.

  “What do you do for a living?” Leonard asked, taking his cues from Jill on small talk.

  “I work as a personal secretary at Upper Lunaton General.”

  “Do you know Thomas Stevens?”

  “I do, he’s who I work for. You know him?” Jill asked, surprised.

  “Yes, I do, he works in orthopaedics I believe.”

  “Yes, he does. Small world huh,” Jill said with a smile relaxing a little. I mean, if he turned out to be a psycho, she could rat him out to her boss. Or maybe she could pump him for some information on her date.

  Leonard looked at her, wondering if she’d been the one whom he’d bumped into outside Thomas’s office. His eyes moved to her hair, trying to figure out if it was the same colour. Unfortunately, due to the scent she wore, although nice, it overpowered his senses to work out if she had the same natural honeysuckle scent he’d picked up on, in the corridor. Plus, that woman’s hair was down. He was about to ask her if someone had knocked into her in the corridor recently, when they were interrupted.

  “Hi, I’m Hayley, I couldn’t help but notice you. Could I invite you to join our table?”

  Jill blinked, open mouthed as a willowy blonde stood by their table, eyes practically undressing Leonard. She closed her mouth and pretended to be interested in something on the other side of the room.

  “Thank you for the kind offer, maybe another time,” Leonard told her, cursing his glamour. He watched Jill out of the corner of his eye, she seemed to be interested in something on the other side of the room. He looked at the blonde again, his eyes sweeping over her trim figure and pretty face. He gave her a charming smile and tried to dismiss her politely.

  “How about your number then, that way I can call you and we could make arrangements for another night.”

  Jill began to recite the alphabet in her head, then began concentrating on her breathing to keep calm.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t give out my number,” Leonard informed her, but she persisted, a hand running down her own body as she watched him, a pout on her red lips. She then leaned over, showing her cleavage to him as she pulled a pen out of her bag and wrote her name and number on Leonard’s napkin.

  “How about you call me when you have time. I’ll be waiting,” she winked, before straightening up, a sway to her hips as she walked, and a flip of her hair.

  Leonard watched her saunter off, admiring the way her hips rolled, then shook his head, his attention returning to Jill.

  “What were we discussing, oh yes, your job. What exactly is it you do for Thomas?” He took a sip of his wine, waiting for her to give him her attention.

  “Sorry, miles away,” she smiled at him. “I write up letters, enter his findings, the normal administrative duties of a secretary.”

  “Do you enjoy what you do?”

  “I’m not sure,” she shrugged.

  “Is it not what you wanted to do?”

  “I wanted to be a teacher originally, but as I’m not very good with children, that kind of wrote that one off.”

  “Arrgh, yes I could see that causing a few issues in the classroom,” he smiled wryly.

  “Do you enjoy what you do?” Jill asked, keeping up the pretence and wondering how soon she could leave. She’d had enough of sitting here now, watching women come up to him and him eyeing them up as they left. Her temper was fraying around the edges. He was a perfect example of why she had not wanted to date a good-looking man. Maybe that no picture clause on the dating site wasn’t such a good idea after all. If she’d seen his picture, she’d have given him probably a second and third look, but she would not have agreed to a date.

  “I do, who doesn’t enjoy playing with money. I also like the whole exhilaration of it.”

  “Exhilaration?” Jill tuned back in, intrigued by his choice of words. His answer could be quite telling of his personality.

  “Yes, you must figure out what stock is going to go up, or down, and you then have a split second in some cases to make your decision. So yes, it can be exhilarating. You can make or lose thousands or more with a split-second decision.”

  “Do you often lose?”

  “No,” he laughed. “I do the research; I normally only look for stock these days that I either know or have heard about.”

  “Must be nice to be able to have the resources to pick and choose when you work.”

  “It has its merits,” he told her dryly. “It’s also a job I can do from anywhere, so I can travel when I feel like it. All I need is a phone or tablet and an internet connection.”

  “Now that sounds like fun, you could work from the b
each.”

  “I have done.”

  They spent a few more minutes on general chatter, discussing recent films, and favourite foods. Neither of them touching on the topic of books or exercise, which was weird as it had been the one thing they’d had in common. Jill excused herself and made her way to the lady’s room as Leonard ordered another drink. She’d admit to being slightly intrigued by him. There was something appealing about him, although she knew she would not be seeing him again after this evening. He garnered way too much attention, and yet another woman had been by their table to introduce herself, she’d never seen anything like it.

  Chapter Seven

  J ill watched in fascination as yet another young woman walked up to their table. This one a slim brunette, she held a penis sponge in her hand and had a veil pinned to the back of her head. Jill looked to Leonard as he stopped mid-sentence, as the woman stood nervously beside him and introduced herself.

  “Hi, I’m Beckie, it’s my hen weekend, could you sign my penis please?”

  “Ermm, sure,” Leonard replied, smirking as he took the pink sponge phallus and pen from her. Grinning, he turned it in his large hands, trying to find a space. “Maybe next time, find a bigger one,” he told her with a wink. After writing on it, he then handed the phallus and pen back to her,” blinking as she waved the pink sponge in the air like a trophy. With a woohoo, she took off, back to her friends.

  Jill shook her head, her eyes following the woman’s progress. She then jumped as Leonard leaned over the table, and with a long finger, gently closed her mouth. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the woman giggle and nearly trip over a chair as she waved the sponge around, showing her friends she’d gotten his signature. Her attention then turned back to Leonard suspiciously.

  “Are you a movie star or something?”

  “No.”

  “Then… why did she want you to sign her penis?”

  “Apart from that sounding just wrong, I don’t have a clue,” he shrugged as he picked up his wine. She’d noticed he’d been drinking a rose, if the colour was anything to go by.

  Just as she was about to ask him another question, yet another woman stopped by their table, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger as she gazed adoringly at him.

  “So, hi, I’m Lorna, could I get your number?”

  Jill raised a brow as she sat back and picked up her vodka tonic, watching as Leonard smiled politely at the woman. She then watched his eyes slowly roam over her figure, before he shook his head and frowned. Jill rolled her eyes, put down her now empty glass, picked her coat up off the back of the chair and pulled it on.

  Leonard looked towards the blonde before him, concentrated on her forehead and sighed. She’d was way too easy to read; then ignoring her, turned his attention back in time to catch Jill, putting on her jacket.

  “Erm, Jill, are you going somewhere?” Leonard asked, watching the brunette on the other side of the table pull on her short jacket. Admiring the curves the fit showed off to perfection as she settled it over her form.

  “Yes, I’m going home. Thanks for the entertainment

  though,” Jill replied, dryly.

  “Entertainment?” Leonard asked, perplexed. Completely dumbfounded by her. She’d not seemed to have bothered before now about the number of women that had stopped by. Now though she was looking at him as if he were a bug needing squashing. Which was the only way he could describe how she was presently glaring at him. It wasn’t something he’d ever come across before, they usually looked towards him with lust, not loathing.

  “Yes, you know, drink and a show. As in the line of women that have stopped by our table in the last hour or so, asking for or handing you their numbers.”

  “But we have a date,” he replied, not understanding.

  “Look, Mr Tall, Dark and Popular. If I’d have realised that I would have to queue to speak to my date, I’d

  have stayed home and dialled an orgasm instead.”

  With that, she walked off, then turned back. Leonard grinned, the smug look spreading as she stepped back to the table. Eyebrow rising, he sat back and waited for an apology, but she just dropped a ten pound note on the table.

  “My share for the drinks,” she told him, then turned away again and walked off, this time not stopping.

  He’d been dumped, Leonard blinked, speechless. His glamour hadn’t touched her, not even a little as he’d thought earlier. She’d obviously just been sat there stewing as the women had paraded before him. Grinning, his smile widening, he pushed, then realised that the blonde was still stood by their table. Leonard’s eyes once again turned to her, watching as she stood there, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. He rolled his eyes as her tongue came out and ran over her bottom lip, staring at him as if he was breakfast, lunch and dinner all rolled into one.

  “So, I guess you’re free?”

  “No, not for the foreseeable future,” Leonard told her with relish, looking forward to the chase about to come. When the annoying woman’s mouth before him opened to speak again, he stared at her and her face smoothed out. He listened to her thoughts about riding him with cowboy boots on and her boyfriend watching while tied to a chair. He shuddered, then with a little bit of whammy from him, he found her hypothalamus. She obediently turned around and walked away, back to her own table and her practically vibrating boyfriend who was presently sitting there, not tied.

  “Now, why didn’t I think of doing that earlier?” Leonard sighed, watching the petite brunette who’d just given him his marching orders disappear through the entrance.

  Picking up the money she’d dropped on the table, he slipped it into his suit jacket pocket, and headed to the bar to pay their bill. He handed over his gold card, adding a generous tip, then followed on her heels. A bit of speed and misdirection on his part, and he was leaning against the wall; outside the ladies’ room, when she came out.

  Why did women always head to the toilets before they left a place? That and always going in 2’s? Just a few of the great mysteries in life that men didn’t know the reasoning behind. He could probably read her to find out, but did he want to know if she’d just been for a number one or a number two? Then there was the whole, did she wash her hands afterwards? Some things you just didn’t need, nor want to know.

  “What do you want?” Jill growled as Leonard straightened up as she stepped out of the ladies’ room. She’d gone to the toilet to pee, but had just washed her hands in the end as there was a bloody queue to use the facilities. She’d then stood drying her hands and had been listening to a couple of women discussing Leonard and all the things they wanted to do to him. It had not helped her temper in the slightest.

  “We have a date, it’s not very good manners to walk out and leave me when I’ve done nothing wrong,” Leonard informed her, feeling quite disgruntled over having to chase her down. Okay, he’d admit that it was quite exhilarating to have to chase a woman, but on the other hand, he’d never had to do it before.

  “I told you the date was over, we are not suited,” Jill hissed, turning and heading outside. “Thank you,” she murmured, tightly smiling at the doorman who held the door open for them.

  “You’re welcome, and here’s my number, call me,” the big man with the cropped blond hair replied.”

  “Oh, erm…” Jill wasn’t sure what to say, she was flattered, then she stomped her foot as the guy handed the card over to Leonard with a wink. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, are you sprinkled with fairy dust or something,” she sputtered as she stormed out of the place and off up the street.

  Leonard laughed as he followed on Jill’s heels, she was adorable when she was pissed off. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkling and her bad temper practically flowed off her in waves.

  God, he was turned on.

  Then he ground his teeth as he remembered he couldn’t touch her.

  “Bollocks,” he mumbled under his breath as he pushed his hands in his suit jacket pockets. “Jill, hold up, we haven
’t eaten yet, do you want to grab something to eat?”

  “No,” she threw over her shoulder not stopping her clipped walk, then entered a local chip shop and he laughed.

  “I thought you said you weren’t hungry.”

  “No, I said I didn’t want to grab something to eat with you,” she hissed as she moved towards the counter.

  “Aww, don’t be so mean, I can’t help it if women find me irresistible.”

  “Bite me,” she hissed. Leonard actually licked a fang at that one, before snapping his teeth at her, chuckling when she growled at him. Then her annoyance was replaced with a sly smirk. “Don’t forget the doorman,” she told him gleefully, her smirk transforming into a shit eating grin when he shuddered. Sighing, her shoulders drooped as she looked to him. “Look Leo, you and me, not going to happen, you are not my type.”

  “Ooh, sugar, you are so my type,” replied the middle-aged woman behind the counter.

  “See,” Jill growled again, glaring at him. Her hand moving between him and the woman waiting to take their order; whose eyes were roving over Leonard as if she’d rather have him than anything on the menu. “Do you have some kind of pheromone that you spray on before you leave the house, or do you fart attractant or something?” Jill hissed again and he full out laughed. He couldn’t help it; it was just so unexpected. She was blunt to the point of rudeness, not something he’d ever dealt with before. Well, he had, but that was the women who were mated to the jaguars, they were all feisty. Jill was like a cute, harmless kitten, hissing and spitting at him, and he’d not had so much fun in ages.

  “Look, Leo, I’m sure you’re a nice guy, but I do not want to compete with the rest of humanity to have a conversation with my date. For just once in my life I’d like to find a man who has eyes only for me. I’ve had enough of men that can’t keep it in their pants, and you  well, I’m not sure if you keep it in your pants or not  but you have a roving eye, constantly checking out anything with a pulse. So, have a nice life,” she waved. “Now, can I have a large portion of chips with lots of salt please,” she told the middle-aged woman as she turned to her. The woman completely ignored her though, now busy fluttering her eyelashes at Leonard.