Fangs, Flames, and Allure_A Reverse Harem Romance

by Zara Zenia

  “I don’t know.” I shake my head. It’s the honest truth. Something powerful overcomes me and I feel like I can speak to the dragon in a motherly, instructive tone.

  Roger is staring at me as if I am a mesmerizing, ethereal creature. “You are amazing.”

  I shrug, modestly. “It’s time to go home now,” I call up to the dragon in a gentle, earthly tone.

  It shrieks penetrate the air, like a falcon or a phoenix, only immensely larger. The sound vibrates through my bones, but doesn’t rattle me. I stay in place, as if I’m the dragon tamer.

  It circles the car one last time before twirling away. I watch it flying off until it becomes as small as a drifting feather, and then disappears from sight completely.

  Roger is baffled and tugs on the top of his head. His hair skews and ruffles from the movement. “What the hell was that?”

  “We need to go back,” I tell him, vaguely dodging his question.

  “Back…where exactly?” His eyes narrow.

  He glances back up at the sky as if he partially expects the dragon to come hurtling through the sky again to scoop him up and fly away with him in its clawed talons.

  “We have to go back to the den,” I explain.

  Rogers still abstractly staring at the sky, expecting a new threat that will never evolve. “Okay…” he trails off with a muddled, murky expression. He’s not looking at me, but at treetops, and suspiciously.

  “Roger, I want to help you.” My voice carries through the air like a songbird.

  He stares at me. “I know.” He has recognition splashing across his pale features.

  “I want to help the vampires,” I clarify.

  “Okay.” He nods affirmatively.

  “Not just the vampires,” I tell him before he takes a stride back toward the open car door. I stare up at the sky with a confident gaze. “I want to help the dragons too.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Roger

  “You were um…great back there.” I flick a glance at Katie and give her a sheepish smile while rubbing the bridge of my nose.

  “Thanks,” Katie whispers and blushes. “I don’t know what came over me back there. I just had this urgency to beckon the dragon to go home.”

  “More importantly, it actually listened to you and left,” I chuckle.

  Katie nostalgically glances out the window. She has the kind of ethereal beauty that makes your head spin and your heart flutter.

  “I can’t explain it. It’s like I harbored some kind of connection to it.” Katie floats her gaze out the window with whimsical amazement.

  “Uh…right. Yeah.” I clear my throat and grip the steering wheel, trying exceptionally hard to narrowly escape the unwelcomed twinge of jealousy in reaction to her observance of a bond between herself and the dragons.

  Katie glances at me. Her blue eyes shatter my heart into a million pieces, even though it’s useless and no longer drumming in my chest.

  “Are you okay?” The next time I exchange a glance with Katie, she’s staring at me with perplexity.

  “Yeah. I’m fine.” Another nervous chuckle. “Why do you um…ask, exactly?”

  Katie shrugs, indifferently. “No reason. You just look a little pale.”

  “You mean more so than usual?” This time I give her a deep belly laugh that tickles my insides.

  Katie laughs too, slapping her knee. “Yeah, I guess that’s a good point.” She laughs so hard that she snorts.

  I find her reaction adorable.

  The way she breezes through life in a carefree manner really humbles me. Perhaps some of her charming appeal can rub off on me. It would suit me well to lighten up a touch or two. Albeit, I’m not as anxious as Carl, but I could stand to take a chip off of Katie’s personality and apply it to my own life.

  “I assure you, I’m really fin—”

  The car lurches forward, jerking Katie and I against our seatbelts. The forceful movement gives my neck rub burn. Katie screeches as her body jumps back. There’s a bump below us. It’s an isolated occurrence that’s caused by something outside.

  “Did you just run over something?” Katie looks at me for answers I can’t provide.

  “I don’t…know.” I shake my head in confusion and unlatch the belt harness. “Wait right here,” I tell her and hold up a hand. “I’m going outside to check it out.”

  This time, Katie relents and nods, agreeing to stay planted in her seat. “Okay,” she says meekly. “Let me know if you need any help.”

  First, I need to discover the source of the bump. When I climb out of the car and begin walking around it with slow, inspecting steps, I notice that one of the tires has blown out.

  “Shit,” I grumble and run an apprehensive hand through my hair.

  “What is it?” Katie unrolls the window and cranes her neck to peer curiously outside.

  “It’s the tire.” I point to the passenger side front wheel. “It’s flat.”

  “Well that’s not good,” Katie observes and leans forward to see the tire for herself.

  “I know how to fix it,” I reassure her.

  “How long will it take?” Katie glances at her watch and wearily looks onward to the horizon as if she’s afraid of prolonging this trip and the importance of a hasty return to the den.

  “Not long.” I shake my head and gulp. It’s only a partial lie. I’ve changed a tire before, but I’m a little rusty. It might take me a few minutes to re-familiarize myself with the technique.

  I walk back to the driver side door and open it, pressing the button on the side of the console to make the car hover slightly above the ground.

  “If you want to get out of the car to remain on solid earth until I complete the mission,” I offer, “that is fine with me.”

  Katie doesn’t hesitate. She jumps from the passenger side and brushes her hands off on her knees.

  “There’s nothing to it,” I tell her and point to the flat tire. “There’s only one thing…” I trail off.

  The truth is, I’m embarrassed. I’m starving. My belly rumbles with the longing to fill it with thick, rich blood. My throat is dry and scratchy with the craving to drink. I need to guzzle down a gallon of blood, and even then, I’m not certain that it will be enough to satisfy me. There is an urgency in my mind to feed.

  “What is it?” Katie questions with curiosity.

  “I need to uh…feed.” I chuckle sheepishly and kick the dirt with my shoe. Some leaves rustle beneath my feet as I stir up the habitat. I notice some moss growing a few steps away.

  “I get it.” Katie nods as if she understands completely, with no questions asked.

  “Really?” I am surprised as I raise an eyebrow toward her.

  “Yep.” Her smile lights up the forest.

  “I have to say, I am slightly embarrassed to admit it to you,” I say.

  “Why?” Katie frowns. “I wouldn’t be embarrassed to tell you if I am hungry.”

  “It’s different,” I chuckle.

  “How?” Katie approaches me where I stand next to the tire.

  “Because you eat normal things like ice cream or pizza, or salad…” I trail off. “I drink…blood.” I’m still trying to get used to the fact that I don’t have a human diet anymore.

  “It’s still the same thing,” Katie argues. “You are still sustaining your own life.”

  “By taking another,” I remind her.

  “If I eat a hamburger, a cow had to sacrifice its life in order for me to enjoy an artery clogging meal,” Katie counters.

  “I guess that’s true.” I glance around and spot a deer.

  Katie notices. She nudges me along with a flick of her chin in the animal’s direction. “Go.”

  “Are you sure?” I ask. I’m still wary about how comfortable she might be in this situation.

  “Absolutely.” Katie nods with affirmation.

  “I would never feed on human life,” I tell her. “Just so you know.”

  “You never have?” She eyes me sus
piciously.

  “I never have and never will,” I confirm. “I was human once.”

  “Not very long ago,” Katie says.

  “Which makes me value how important human life is in the first place,” I add.

  Katie smiles. “I respect your decision.”

  My lips curl into a grin because her smile is infectious and intoxicating. “I could have lost my life. Not every day is promised.”

  “That’s true,” Katie agrees. “Now go, before the deer runs off and you lose your chance at an easy meal.”

  “Thanks.” I wrap my arms around her to embrace her in a heartfelt hug. She’s warm and smells like coconut with only a little bit of dragon mixed in now.

  When I pull away, I glance behind me. The deer is still chewing on some grass a few yards away. It’s time to feed and satiate my craving, at least for the moment. There is always the hope that something better will come along, but that never seems to be the redeemable case for me.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Katie

  Roger doesn’t pounce on the deer in the way that I expect him to. Instead, he delicately floats across the leaves on the ground and submerges himself behind a tree. He has no idea that I’m watching him, which makes the situation even more thrilling.

  The deer happily chomps on a few blades of grass tucked in between a few trees, none the wiser and seemingly oblivious to the fact that Roger looms behind it. Now I understand the reason why Roger is so carefully calculating his steps. It’s not that he has any remorse for the deer and his direct threat on the animal’s life.

  He is making every foreseeable effort to conceal himself and approach the deer as quietly as possible as not to frighten it or worse, inadvertently cause it to become skittish and scurry away, out of reach.

  Roger is an intelligent guy. He knows how to fend for himself out there in the brutal, harsh reality of the world. As he glides effortlessly closer to the unsuspecting deer, I realize how handsome Roger is.

  His skin resembles ivory. His hair is as black as midnight, dark and mysterious just like him. His eyes are hungry, ravenous. He licks his lips and crouches a few steps away now from the deer whose life will come to an abrupt end in a matter of seconds.

  I should feel sorry for the deer who has no idea the endangerment it’s under, but my eyes are intensely locked on Roger. His concentration becomes my own, as if we are hunting through one mind.

  In a flash, Roger jumps into the air with such agility and force that I gasp in surprise. I don’t expect him to achieve that level of athleticism, but I know it’s coming from the fact that he has super human, vampire strength now. It doesn’t matter that he’s tall and lanky. He is proving himself to be strong and limber against the deer.

  Roger sinks his teeth into the animal’s flesh. Brown tufts of fur fly through the air and float gently back down to the ground like dainty feathers. Roger dives into the deer and the suffering is minimal for it. In a matter of mere seconds, the deer’s black eyes go blank and its mouth drops open. It’s in a better place now, where it will never have to feel pain again.

  I now see that Roger aimed directly for the throat of the deer so that its life would end quickly, and any suffering would substantially diminish. At least he was considerate in that regard.

  I should be disgusted by the violence of Roger’s teeth smashing the deer’s body to bits with his teeth. He pounds on its flesh as if he’s a lion devouring his prey and savoring in bites of raw, juicy meat. It’s as if I’m caught on a highway where a terrible accident has occurred, and I can’t look away, no matter how badly it hurts my eyes. I have to witness the terror for myself, through my own pair of eyes.

  There is a difference between Roger and a mighty lion. Although to me right now, Roger is a warrior and a survivor much like a lion, Roger is not actually pulling apart the deer’s flesh to consume it.

  He’s sucking the animal dry, drinking its blood as if its veins are a straw and he’s quenching his thirst with each ravenous gulp. Roger is starving. As I continue to watch in awe of Roger working on the deer, I notice the paleness in his arms and legs as it begins to taper. He’s still pasty white, but he looks healthier now that he’s satiating his primal needs.

  With urgency, he continues to perform guzzling motions while his face remains buried deep within the furry and bloody neck of the deer. The blood is dark and sticky now, as it begins to dry and clot before Roger can swallow it down.

  With urgency, he grips the sides of the deer’s neck and feeds. I don’t understand why I don’t find it disgusting to watch Roger eat like this. I know it’s his natural survival instinct kicking in, so I don’t really view it as an act of violence or animal cruelty. He has to drink blood, or he’ll die. It’s just the chain of life.

  The deer is lower on the spectrum than Roger. If it’s not Roger, then some other vampire will unearth from out of nowhere and devour the deer instead. It’s only a matter of time before an animal’s fate is sealed in that perspective.

  Roger comes up for air. He wipes his mouth on his sleeve and blood smears across his cheek. He’s like an animal himself, but it’s not revolting to me. He seems to have forgotten I’m even with him. His steel colored eyes are glazing over, and he’s distracted by the desperate need to stifle his hunger.

  I don’t blame him. I’ll allow him to have this private moment of enjoying his meal while I remain hidden in the shadows of the tree branches. At least Roger isn’t feeding on me. He values human life, or so he says. Roger emits a certain kind of safety. It’s like a warm blanket being wrapped around your soul.

  I’m sure it tempts him to feed on me, but he’s able to resist and pacify that instinct and I appreciate his efforts. That’s why I’m not lying dead on a pile of soggy leaves right now, unlike the poor deer.

  For whatever reason, watching Roger feed has the exact opposite reaction on me. His hunger brings out a passionate thirst in me. His wild need to satisfy his craving erupts a craving of desire in me. He’s like an animal, but I want to be the one getting dirty with him.

  I take a wary step toward him but then instantly jump back. Roger is in his element right now. He’s in a feeding zone. I have no idea what might happen to me if I distract him from his thirst.

  Will he pounce on me next? It’s highly doubtful. I trust Roger, maybe even more so than Brent. I am growing fonder of both of them by the day and am starting to develop feelings of longing for both of them. It’s a sticky situation to be in.

  I study Roger, narrowing my eyes on him. His eyes are on his prize, his target, the deer. His hair is askew now in the frenzy of sucking the deer dry. Before I realize it, my lips are curling into a mischievous grin.

  Watching Roger consume the deer’s blood is intoxicating, enthralling. Like I said, his primal behavior has the exact opposite effect on me on how your stereotypical female college student would react.

  I’m usually squeamish around blood to the point where I’d pass out if I saw even so much as a papercut. Today, something is different. Right here, right now under the canopy of trees, I watch Roger and I’m deliciously attracted to him.

  A saucy feeling waves through my bones. My heart pounds. I imagine Roger becoming hard for me. It makes my pussy tingle. The sight of blood all over him turns me on with an urgency and craving I can’t deny.

  A fresh hunger is sparking in me and I am desperate to satisfy the passion pounding through my heart and pulsing through my veins. Roger is like a lion, pouncing on my emotions. I know he’ll never hurt me.

  I need to find out what sex with a vampire is like in real life. I’ve heard stories, fables and tales. What would it be like to make my own destiny? How can I improve my life by going after my dreams and the instincts of my heart?

  My attraction to Roger right now is really no different than him needing to plunge his mouth into the deer’s neck. It’s his natural instinct. I have to follow my own primal urges. I stand there, oblivious to anything else around me besides Roger. My eyes are horn
ed in on him.

  I imagine him naked, with his hands all over me. A fantasy sends chill bumps of pleasure running up and down my skin. Roger is taking me, right here, right at this moment on the ground. He pulls my hair and pushes me against the tree where he fucks me until I scream.

  I shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut. It’s just a fantasy, not reality. Roger is still gulping down the remaining contents of the deer’s blood. It’s now or never. I have my eye on my own prize.

  I need to fuck Roger or have him fuck me. I want to be violated by the sexy, brooding vampire. My legs are tingling, itching to spread for Roger’s hardened cock. I want to see him naked. I want him to take me right here, right now in the woods.

  My feet are moving with a will of their own. I’m having an out of body experience to where my brain and the rest of my body are both disconnected but precisely wired with the same motivation.

  I’m moving, full throttle ahead. Roger doesn’t notice me yet. I’m breathing hard and heavy. My chest rises and falls dramatically as I inhale enormous batches of air. My vision blurs, and then corrects itself.

  Muscles in Roger’s arms contract and tighten. My fingertips are scorching, desperate to wildly ravage him in a sexual way. I know he won’t deny me of my womanly needs. The moment is raw, ripe and shredded with erotic desperation.

  “Roger.” My voice is a gasp that floats through the wind and reaches his ears.

  He looks up and stares at me with awe and wonderment. “Katie?” He swallows hard and wipes the drips of blood from his chin. He grins at me as he realizes what is going to happen next. Things are about to become even messier than they already are.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Katie

  My heart takes over the rest of my body. My feet float as if on air, weightlessly across the landscape. My belly is fluttering, swirling with anticipation for what is about to happen next. Roger is there, still drinking from the deer, but he’s nearly finished now.