by Kate Wendley
He let out an abrupt, garbled laugh.
“Anthony? What is it?”
The threat of tears stung his eyes, and he still couldn’t look at her. His emotions were too much of a mess to keep his mask on properly and he didn’t want her to see his glowing eyes, blood tears, and fangs. She’d freak out for sure if she saw the monster he really was. He wearily tried to focus his power on disguising his eyes and bloody tears at least. His fangs would disappear soon enough on their own.
He finally pushed himself up on his forearms enough to look her in the eye. Her frown of concern made his heart ache with a pain fiercer than anything he’d ever felt before. He didn’t want this relationship to end.
When her gaze wandered to his mouth, she startled. “Anthony, you’re bleeding.” Understanding quickly dawned on her and she reached for her neck.
He supported his weight on one arm and grabbed her hand before she was able to touch the bite. Bitterness settled firmly into his soul as he braced himself for the next few minutes of her terrified screaming and disbelief. This was the beginning of the end with her, and he hated himself all over again for letting things get out of control so soon.
But it was what it was. This was his life.
She jerked in his grasp as he leadenly said, “You shouldn’t touch it. You might get it infected.”
“I’ll get it infected? You bit me! Do you know how unsanitary human saliva is? It’s poisonous. I’ll have to go to the doctor and get shots or something now.” He let her pull free of his grip, and then she halfheartedly tried to push him away. He stared dumbly at her as he moved enough so she could sit up.
He wasn’t sure what to say. This wasn’t going at all how he’d imagined. She was being relatively calm, even though she was upset with him. What did that mean?
He curiously studied her while she leaned up against her headboard. She never took her irritated eyes off him.
“Look, just because I told you I read books about vampires doesn’t mean I’m into all those role playing games. You should’ve asked me before you bit me. And especially before biting me hard enough to draw blood.” She scowled angrily at him. “This isn’t funny!”
He hadn’t realized he was smiling and tried to stop. “Forgive me. I’m not trying to make light of this. I apologize for biting you. I guess my nature took over.”
She frowned in confusion. “Your nature?”
His heart nervously thumped. He should tell her the truth. Yes. The truth. He took a fortifying breath and said, “I’m vampire. And you won’t need to go to the doctor because a vampire bite isn’t poisonous.”
She clenched her jaw and her nostrils flared in anger. Her reaction was so novel, he had to force himself not to smile again and make her even madder than she already was.
His gaze dusted over her beautiful body for a moment before he looked her in the eyes. “I would never hurt you, my sweet. I apologize that this is how you found out about me, but this is no game. I am vampire.”
She scornfully said, “A vampire. Uh huh.”
“Have you known others?”
“Other vampires?”
He nodded.
“No. You’d be the first.” Sarcasm dripped from her every word.
“You don’t believe me.”
She didn’t say anything. Her pursed lips said it all.
“I’ll show you one of my powers.”
She cocked an eyebrow and said in a patronizing tone, “And what power will you be showing me? Just in case I don’t understand it.”
His heart hurt at her tone. He didn’t want things to be this way between them. He reached for her but she immediately pressed herself more firmly against her headboard, so he let his hand drop and looked away from her scornful gaze.
“I’m sorry this is how you had to find out about me. This isn’t what I’d intended. This is not at all what I wanted to happen.” He raised his eyes to her only to see a troubled look on her face.
He smiled sadly. “Please don’t be frightened of me, Kaia. I would never hurt you. And I’ll show you something you can’t discount as a game. I’ll turn into mist.”
She was silent as she casually pulled a pillow in front of herself and hugged it. She looked relaxed and he knew it was only because she still didn’t believe him.
He took another fortifying breath and decided to just do it. He slowly let his body turn to vapor while he watched her, wanting her to believe, but also not wanting this to be over. He’d never been more torn about what he wanted from a woman.
She squinted her eyes at first, trying to get a better look at him, but then her expression turned to wide eyed shock. Her jaw dropped as her body stiffened and she clung tightly to her pillow.
He let himself turn completely to mist, then slowly reached for her. She gasped and jerked when he touched her leg. He let his vocal chords come back together enough to tell her, “I won’t hurt you my sweet. I’d never hurt you. I only want you to know the truth.”
She looked blindly around the room as she started trembling, then focused on her leg when Anthony touched her again. She took a shaky breath and he hesitated. Did she like the feel of his mist form?
He slowly trailed an invisible hand up her thigh, watching her intently for her reaction. She took another shaky breath before her back slowly arched and her eyes became hooded. He continued to caress her as she looked more and more like she was fighting with herself over fearing him while being overcome by the sensations of his touch.
When she whimpered and let her head slowly fall to one side, he touched her with a misty stroke across the backs of her hands, gently nudging her to let go of the pillow she clung to. She haltingly opened her arms, eventually allowing him to move the pillow aside.
He whispered, “Lay down.”
She whimpered and languidly blinked, though she still looked torn over whether she wanted this or not. He spread his form out and touched her all over, nudging her until she slowly laid back down on the bed, her eyes dazedly searching the room and not finding him anywhere.
He continued tracing a misty hand over her body, her hips moving slowly and methodically up, down and back again, his invisible touch encouraging her rhythm.
She dazedly asked, “Baby?”
He let his vocal chords come back together as he whispered in her ear, “Yes my sweet?” He caressed her neck and loved how she arched for him, his bite looking quite nice on her flesh. She was his.
“You’re really a vampire?”
He slowly trailed a misty finger down her collar bone and on down her chest, stopping just above one of her breasts. Her back arched, making her beautiful chest rise. “Yes my sweet.”
While her hips continued to rock, she took a shaky breath and slowly ran her hands over her own body. It was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. “Baby?”
He kept his misty hands on her but was mesmerized by the sight of her touching herself. “Yes my sweet?”
She quietly asked, “Will anything happen to me from you biting me?”
Her hips rocked in time to his up and down touch and it drove him crazy. “No my sweet. You can’t turn vampire from a bite. You would need to swallow lots and lots of vampire blood to turn vampire.”
She took some deep breaths as she sighed and reached out for the air.
“Baby?”
He smiled to himself. “Yes my sweet?”
“I’m sorry I got mad at you.”
He leaned forward, putting his full misty form against hers. He whispered in her ear, “It’s my fault. I should have told you sooner. I’d do anything to have you not frightened of me.” He nuzzled into her neck and her body trembled at his touch.
She whimpered and it felt like she was fighting her writhing body. “Baby?”
He huskily said, “Yes my sweet?”
“I want to touch you again.”
He let his body come back together while he looked into her eyes.
She startled when she could finally see him again, then brushed hi
s hair behind his ear on one side. “Baby?”
He smiled. “Yes my love?”
“Have you ever lied to me?”
His smile faded. “I’m not one to generally lie to anyone, however I’ve lied once to you.” He paused while her brow furrowed. “I’m far older than my human age of thirty three.”
She didn’t say anything for a few moments, then abruptly kissed him. She cupped his face in her hands and held him to her, though she didn’t try to kiss him too deeply.
He melted against her, then kissed her all over as she became hungry for him again. She whispered, “You won’t hurt me?”
“Never, my love. I would never choose to hurt you.” His breaths were heavy and he was once again entranced with the thumping vein in her neck. “Does it scare you that I bit you?”
She whimpered while her body rocked in time with his. “No, baby. If you don’t hurt me, it doesn’t scare me.”
He kept hungrily kissing her. “Did my bite hurt you, my love?”
She intimately whispered, “No, baby. It felt like heaven.”
His heart melted. They stopped fighting their desires and quickly fed each other’s appetites, and this time he didn’t fear her knowing him. This time he felt free. When he was close to his peak and he found himself instinctively kissing her neck again, he felt happy and free when she arched and pressed his head towards her. Far off he heard himself whimper as he held her close, nudging her to turn so he could bite her slightly behind her neck where her hair would cover it better.
She moved as he moved, willingly letting herself be directed by him, and he couldn’t stop whimpering at his good fortune in this surreal dream. He kissed her in desperation, and when she was exactly where he wanted her, he leaned in and bit her.
She lost her breath for a moment, and in the next, her orgasm overwhelmed her. She held him tightly as she cried out and trembled in his arms, his own muscles spasming as he let himself be overcome with the heavenly feeling of being in Kaia’s loving arms.
Chapter 19
Kaia had that awesome after sex feeling that she never wanted to end. Anthony seemed to want to stay wrapped around her because he quickly turned them over so she lay on top of him, and after licking her neck quite thoroughly, he was now very carefully petting every single inch of her.
She’d think he’d have trouble breathing with all her weight on him, but he acted like he never wanted to let her go. That was good because it was nice to feel like she was the center of someone’s world for once.
She said mostly to herself, “My Anthony’s a vampire.” That was something she’d need time to think about, but not right now. Not while he was being so adoring of her.
Anthony gave her a quick, full body hug, then just as quickly released her. His hands went back to gently petting her instead. It was like he was afraid to get too cozy with her, and she didn’t want to worry about why that was. Later she was sure she would.
She nuzzled into him, and her neck pinched a little where he’d bitten her. It didn’t hurt, in fact all it did was remind her of his earlier obsession, and the tingling feeling as he bit down. It was nothing but warmth and all over frantic need after that, impossible to separate one feeling from the next.
She tensed and tilted her face so she could see Anthony better. “You don’t eat… food.”
His muscles tensed like they frequently did with her, and the relaxed look in his eyes turned to frowning apprehension.
“No, my sweet. I do not.”
Her heart suddenly felt too big for her chest as it struggled to beat more rapidly. “Do you… kill people?”
Her throat went dry just saying the words, but his body relaxed beneath hers.
“No.” He brushed a stray tendril of hair from her forehead so she could see him better. “There’s no need for that.”
Her quick surge of adrenaline faded, and now she had the beginnings of a dull headache. “Then how do you get what you need?” Or was tonight all he needed to survive? She wanted to ask if what they’d done constituted a meal for him, but she didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to think of him feeding like this off of other women. For all she knew, he actually hurt people to get his sustenance, but jealousy over a mental picture of him this close to someone else overruled all rational thought.
“Shifters heal very quickly. We watch out for each other. No one gets hurt.”
She blinked heavy lids and struggled to focus on him. “We? As in more than just you? And what are shifters?”
His hands stopped moving, mid-pet, then slowly started again. “Yes. More than just me. And shapeshifters can be werewolves, werecoyotes, werejaguars… there are a few others as well.” He pet her cheek and she turned into his touch.
In the dim light of the room, she relaxed back into Anthony. Her head was thumping, and thinking about everything he was saying seemed like too much effort right now. She lay her head back down on his chest, then traced the cut of his incredibly firm bicep with her fingertips. All his muscles were tight and lean. “You won’t hurt me baby?”
His voice was husky and intimate. “You’re the last person on earth I’d want to hurt.” She smiled when he kissed the top of her head. He soon went back to petting her, but then he stilled. In the next instant she felt that same prickle she sometimes felt on the back of her neck. The one that made her think of ghosts.
She looked up at Anthony in astonishment. “That was you.” And if that weird feeling came from Anthony tonight, who had it come from all the other times she’d felt it?
“Yes. I’m sorry, my sweet. I eventually figured out where you were heading with your questions about ghosts the other night in the park. You appear to be a sensitive. Someone who can feel the magical power of supernaturals. I’m not certain yet how sensitive you are, though, and since Ethan… well, I wasn’t sure what to tell you that night.”
Talking about this felt like a lot of work, but she managed to ask, “What about Ethan?”
Anthony put his hand under her chin and tilted her head towards him. “Kaia, look at me.” His eyes seemed less dark than they usually did. Why was that? She could almost make out flickers of amber in them. She’d never noticed that before. “I’ve taken too much blood. We need to get you up and dressed. Ethan will want to see you, and very soon. Let’s go to your living room.”
Her head thumped in increasing levels of agony. “What?”
“Come. I promise to tell you anything you want to know, but first we need to get you up. Ethan wants to make sure you’re safe with me.”
The last thing she wanted to do was get up right now, so she made no effort to move. But when Anthony put his hand on her back and a shot of fuzzy electricity sizzled through her, she couldn’t help a needy whimper. She wished she had more energy so they could make love again.
Anthony started coddling her. She could hear it in his voice and normally hated being talked to like this, but she’d never heard him do it before and it sounded so nice coming from him. “Kaia, my sweet, we should get up and get you something to drink. And let’s get your clothes back on before Ethan comes over.”
“Why? Let’s lay here a little longer.”
“My sweet, Ethan wants to see you. He wants to make sure you’re ok. Come now. Let’s get you dressed.” He made more of an effort to get her to sit up, so she groaned and grudgingly went along with it just because.
He chuckled at her. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me for what I’ve done to you. It will never happen again.”
She blinked groggily at him. “What did you do to me, baby?”
He smiled halfheartedly at that. “Nothing permanent. I took too much blood so you’re going to be tired for a little while.”
“Will I heal?”
“Yes, you’ll heal.” He looked around, found her underthings and started to help her into them. She tried to sit back down on the bed but he helped her right back up. “We need to get your clothes on now. You don’t want Ethan to see you naked, do you?”
&nbs
p; “Why do you keep saying Ethan’s coming over? And why are you so worried about him−”
She froze in shock. Was he saying Ethan knew all about him? Or worse, was Ethan a vampire or shapeshifter, too?
Just thinking that made a lot of weird little things over the years click into place in her head. Damn him. They were supposed to be friends.
She took her offered pants from Anthony and put them on without another word. Her head was too fuzzy to think of what to say anyway.
Anthony, in the meantime, left the room and came back with his pants on, but no shirt. It was a good look for him. Between the hard lines of his tightly cut body, and the contrast of his long, dark hair against his pale, creamy skin, he was a sight to behold.
Kaia pulled a shirt out of a dresser drawer for herself because she had no idea where she’d left her other one, though she was sure if she used a little brain energy she’d remember. Everything was still too hard to concentrate on, though.
Anthony frowned and looked like he wanted to whisk her out of this room as fast as possible.
“I need a minute in the bathroom please. If you want to freshen up at the same time, there’s another bathroom on the other side of the living room.”
She shut the door behind herself, then looked in the mirror. Her face was pale and there was darkness under her eyes. She arched her neck and could see one of Anthony’s bites. It weirdly wasn’t bleeding, but it did look like she’d been bitten by a vampire. No joke intended. Maybe she’d laugh about it later. Probably not. She couldn’t quite figure out how she felt, just that she didn’t know what to feel. This wasn’t something she’d ever thought she’d have to deal with, and now wasn’t the time to try to think it through.
She washed her hands and freshened up a bit, and when she came back out, Anthony was waiting for her with a worried look on his face.
She snaked her arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. He was tense at first, but he quickly relaxed. She smiled because she knew she did that for him. She just wasn’t sure if she was also the one making him tense in the first place.