by Devon, Cat
“Right. Like he’s going to want to talk about human relationship issues.”
“It’s not my favorite topic, either. About that blood sample…”
“Is that all you vampires think of?” Seeing the look on his face, she said, “Forget I asked that. How much blood are we talking about here? Can’t we use something like those diabetes testers?”
“Unfortunately we don’t have a druid tester.”
“Too bad. How much of my blood would you need?” she asked.
“Hold it right there,” Nick growled as he stormed into her apartment. “What the hell is going on here? What’s with all the talk about taking blood?”
“Calm down,” Pat told Nick.
“He wants a phlebotomist to take a blood sample of mine and have Doc Boomer check it,” Daniella said.
“Check it for what?” Nick demanded.
“Its druid and vampire factors, I guess. Did you know you’re not supposed to drink my blood because I’m a druid and it could be bad for you?”
“I never had any intention of drinking your blood.” Nick turned to confront Pat. “What have you been telling her?”
“Not as much as I could have,” Pat said cryptically.
Daniella didn’t like the sound of that. Neither did Nick, judging by the look on his face. His eyes were so expressive. They could go from stormy to flinty to smoky.
Right. So the sexy vampire has great eyes. Stay focused here.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Daniella demanded. Her question was aimed at both Nick and Pat and she was rather proud of how forceful she sounded, especially considering the fact that she’d just been distracted by Nick’s awesome eyes.
Pat’s gesture toward Nick clearly indicated that he was leaving this one for Nick to answer. “Nothing you really need to know.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” she said.
“You two work it out,” Pat said, heading for the door and his escape.
Nick faced Daniella. “You want the latest news?” he said. “Well, here it is. The Chicago Police Department has impounded my charred Jag and the council has unanimously voted that I should have sex with you immediately.”
Chapter Twenty
Daniella couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “The Chicago City Council thinks we should have sex? Isn’t that illegal?”
“Sex?”
“No, ordering people to have sex. Or ordering a vampire and a druid to have sex. I know we’ve got a new mayor for the first time in two decades, but come on!”
“You don’t like the idea?”
“Of Chicago aldermen ordering me to have sex with you? No, I don’t like it at all and I don’t believe it. Unless you compelled the entire city council?”
“I wasn’t referring to the city council but to our own clan council.”
“You mean a vampire council?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve got to tell you, I’m not real happy with them ordering us to have sex, either. I realize I’m repeating myself, but again I say ‘Come on.’” She rolled her eyes.
“Come on what?”
“You think it’s a good idea? Did you suggest it? Of course you did. Earlier, right before Pat got here, you said I should have sex with you.” Her aggravation grew. She was tired of being bossed around. “I’m curious. Did that line work for you in the Regency period? Because I’ve got to tell you, it’s not going over well here in the twenty-first century.”
“You’re saying the idea is unappealing?”
“It’s certainly not romantic.”
“It wasn’t intended to be.”
“So you just want to have sex with me to beef up your powers. Why should I want to have sex with you?”
“Because I’m damn good at it,” he said.
“And modest, too,” she retorted.
“You already know I’m damn good at it.”
“Because you kissed me?”
He nodded. “And it was damn good.”
“Yes, it was. But you’re not the first man I’ve ever kissed who is damn good at it.”
“But I am the first vampire.”
He had her there.
She could tell she was fighting a losing battle here. Because the truth was that the sexual attraction between them was undeniable and nearly irresistible. That didn’t mean she was going to blindly fall into bed with him. He was always telling her she needed to be more logical, so maybe she’d try that. “I think we should talk first so I can get to know you better.”
“You already know me. I’ve been living with you for a week.”
“True. But you don’t talk much. About yourself, I mean. Not that you talk much about other things, either.”
“You talk enough for the both of us.”
She waved his words away. “I suspect you meant that as an insult, but I will instead take it as a compliment. Either way, you’re not getting off the hook. So start talking.”
“I’m a Leo.”
“Very funny. I’m not referring to bar pickup lines here. Although I’ll bet the pickup lines in your bar are rather unique—‘Your casket or mine?’”
He glared at her. “Are you trying to aggravate me?”
“No, I’m trying to get you to open up about your past.”
“It’s a very long past.”
“I realize that. Let’s start with that look between you and Pat when he said he hadn’t told me as much as he could have. What was that about?”
“Old history.”
“I already figured that much. I want details.” She paused a moment. “Wait, first I need some Pellegrino and some Skittles. That’s my go-to combo when I am beyond totally stressed. I restrained from having them when I was preparing for my grand opening. I even restrained from having them when I discovered you’re a vampire. But now that sex and explosions are in the mix, I can’t resist any longer.” She went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of the imported water from the fridge and dug around in a cabinet to find a bag of Skittles, which she poured into a small bowl. “In the summer, I should come up with Skittles cupcakes.” She wrote that idea on a kitchen notepad before returning to the living room and sinking onto the couch. “Okay, now I’m ready for whatever you have to say.”
“If you don’t have sex with me, you’re going to die.”
She choked on a Skittle, gasped for breath, and then glared at him. His sardonic smile told her he was mocking her. “It’s far more likely I’ll die of asphyxiation from having my throat blocked by a Skittle.”
Instead of answering her, he answered his smartphone. After a series of curt yeses, he ended the call. “It seems there’s a better way to test you than taking your blood.”
Feeling snarky, she said, “Is this going to be multiple choice or essay test?”
“Neither. It’s a heat sensor test. The surveillance camera takes your image, and our computer can decipher the percentages—druid, human, and vampire.”
“That’s much better. Taking blood is so old school,” she said. “How long until we get the results?”
Nick glanced at his smartphone’s screen. “Right about now. Yes, here it is. Preliminary results show that you are one-half druid, one-quarter human, and one-quarter vampire.”
“That’s just wrong. I am way more human than I am vampire!”
“You’re right. Updated final results. Forty percent human, fifty percent druid, ten percent vampire.”
“So what does all that mean?”
“That you should have sex with me.”
“How accurate is this test? I mean, what if it turns out I don’t have any druid in me after all and this is just some big mix-up? If that’s the case, then I’d be having sex with you for nothing.” She paused before abruptly asking, “Can vampires have kids?”
“No.”
“Then how did I get vampire blood? Did my mother have any?”
“She was cremated, so there’s no way of knowing at this point,” he said.
“So my birth fat
her could have had been a vampire?”
“He had to be a hybrid himself or you would have a higher percentage of vampire blood in your body.”
She shook her head. “This isn’t computing very easily for me.”
“I realize that.”
“Do you like being a vampire?” she asked abruptly.
“It’s not a question of liking or not liking. It just is.”
She kept her gaze fixed on him, willing him to tell her more.
The silence dragged on before he spoke again. “I already told you about the woman on the battlefield asking me if I wanted to live. Magdalene taught me how to survive as a vampire. When you’re turned, the first blood you get is from the vamp that turned you. She used her fangs to open the vein on her wrist and then held it to my mouth, urging me to drink. I did and that created an irrevocable bond between us.”
Daniella wondered if it was weird that she continued to feel jealous of this woman. “Where is she now?”
“Dead.” Only one word, but it held a world of fury.
Daniella shivered. “What happened?”
“She was burned to death.”
“By the Gold Coast clan?”
“No.”
“Who did that to her? Humans?”
“No, vampires.” His voice was harsh, and the look on his face … indescribable. “We were in Venice. There was a power struggle between two rival clans. The Master Vampire who had sired her wanted her to turn humans into vampires when they didn’t want to be turned. She refused. He retaliated by having us both staked. It didn’t kill us but it paralyzed us. He made me watch as he dragged her to a bonfire and threw her in.”
Daniella didn’t know what to say.
“Then he walked away, leaving me staked, thinking I would die when the sun came up and burned me. But someone from the rival clan saved me and enlisted me to fight for their cause. They didn’t need to convince me. I vowed to make them pay and they did. We wiped out the clan that killed Magdalene. I didn’t leave any survivors. Including the Master.”
Again, she didn’t know what to say.
“He wasn’t easy to decapitate. I can give you details if you want.”
“No, that’s not necessary.” Her voice sounded strangled. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You must have loved her very much.”
“All I know for sure is that she’s the reason I am what I am.”
Daniella remembered what Pat had told her about the difference between feelings and emotions where vampires were concerned. Nick might not be able to admit it, but he must have cared for Magdalene deeply. She could see how strongly he was affected by talking about it.
“Everything changed on that battlefield at Waterloo. Everything.” Nick paused, his eyes stormy. “I said yes when others around me said no. They didn’t want to stay in a place filled with so much bloodshed and destruction. They wanted to move on to a better place. But not me.”
“You wanted to live.”
“By drinking other people’s blood.”
“I will admit that takes some getting used to,” she said. “You never answered the question I asked you before the explosion. If your powers increase, it means what? That you eat more people?”
“How many times do I have to tell you that vampires don’t eat people?”
“You just suck the blood from them until they die.”
“Some do. Our clan doesn’t.” Nick paused to look her straight in the eyes. “Are you happy now that you made me talk? Do you feel better about the idea of having sex with me now?”
Daniella recognized that he was mocking her again. Granted, decapitation and bloodsucking didn’t exactly make for erotic pillow talk, but the fact that he’d opened up to her meant something to her. She had no idea if it meant something to him—or if having sex with her would mean anything to him other than the obvious.
“How do we even know this would work?” she said. “I mean, has it ever been done before?”
“Has what been done before?”
“Sex between a vampire and a hybrid? Or even sex between a vampire and a human?”
“The latter has been done,” he said.
“And how did it turn out?”
“Not well,” he admitted.
“Great. So what makes you think that sex with me would turn out better? Wait, what exactly do you mean by ‘not well’? Not well as in the human didn’t have the so called mini death of an orgasm or not well as in the human died?”
“Both of the above.”
“Great.”
“But not all the time. Sometimes the human experienced an incredible orgasm … and then died.”
“They all died?”
“It’s not like we keep records or anything in the vampire community about such matters.”
“Maybe you should,” she retorted. “How many humans have you had sex with since you’ve become a vampire?”
He paused.
“Counting them in your mind, are you?” she said sarcastically.
“None.”
She blinked. “None?”
He nodded before glaring at her. “How many humans have you had sex with?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“So you get to pry into my sex life but yours is off limits, is that it?”
“Hey, nobody dies after having sex with me.”
“Same here,” he growled.
“Because you’ve abstained from having sex with humans.”
“Female vampires are much less complicated.”
“So you’re rather have sex with Tanya than with me.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Because having sex with Tanya won’t increase your powers, right?”
Nick yanked her into his arms. “This isn’t about increasing my powers.”
“Then what is it about?”
“This.” His mouth covered hers. She expected him to consume her, but instead he erotically nibbled his way around her lips. She didn’t realize he was capable of such tenderness and gentleness. Her passionate response had to let him know that his approach was incredibly successful.
But as was often the case with them, things quickly flared out of control. She parted her lips, he parted his, and the ensuing open-mouth conflagration was wild and exciting. He lifted her. Moaning her approval, she wrapped her body around his. He backed her against the living room wall. His hands gripped her bottom as she tightened her legs around his thighs.
Daniella held on for dear life. Common sense evaporated as she was overcome by desire crashing over her, throbbing through her, increasing her need for him tenfold.
Her feminine core rubbed against his arousal. The clothing they wore increased the friction and therefore the pleasure. Even so, she wanted him naked. She felt herself getting moist, ready for him to enter her body right now. Vampire or not, she had to have him. She was addicted to this incredibly heightened state of sexual awareness. She’d read about the potency of Spanish fly, and this was the closest she’d ever felt to it.
“Now,” she moaned. “Take me now.”
Instead of freeing his arousal from his jeans, he freed her from his embrace.
“Not like this,” he growled. “You have to decide. I’m not going to convince you. It has to be your free will that makes you come to me.”
She blinked at him, trying to comprehend what he was saying.
“I’m going to go take a very cold shower.” He stormed out of the living room toward her bathroom.
Daniella stood there on shaky legs. He wouldn’t compel her. He wouldn’t even seduce her, although clearly he could without any difficulty at all.
Instead, he made her think and decide on her own. Free will, he’d called it.
That sucked. Sure, it was noble of him. She wondered how many vampires would do the same in his shoes. She suspected not many. Ditto for mortal men. Most would take the sex and run.
But not Nick. Here was yet another example of his chivalrous side. The part of
him that might have slayed dragons for a princess.
So far it had been one hell of a Halloween. She discovered she was part druid, Nick’s car was blown up, and now they had to have sex to save the world. Perhaps it was more accurate to say to save his vampire world. Oh yeah, and there was also the matter of her dad asking some woman Daniella had never even met to marry him.
Her cell phone rang. It was her dad.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” he said.
“I already told you I was when you called me after the explosion.”
“Yes, but that was several hours ago. I was just checking in again. No law against that, is there? It’s been a hell of a Halloween.”
“Yeah, I was just thinking that myself,” she said.
“Your brother is pretty upset with me about my engagement. I know you are, too. I’m sure you’ll both feel better once you meet Franny.”
“Have you set a date for the wedding yet?”
“Next week.”
She gasped.
“Just kidding,” he quickly assured her. “Geez, can’t anyone around here take a joke?”
“No, Dad, we can’t. Not when cars are exploding on our block.”
“Do they know what happened? Was it an accident?”
“The police are looking into it.” Daniella tried to be as vague as possible.
“I don’t understand. This has always been such a quiet neighborhood,” her dad said.
“I know.”
“Was there trouble while I was on vacation that you and your brother aren’t telling me about?” he asked.
She hated lying to her dad, but she couldn’t tell him the truth. “No.”
“Has your brother been gambling again?”
“Whoa. Where did that question come from?”
“My parental radar is telling me something is up. Something happened while I was away. I haven’t figured it out yet. But I will.”
“I sure hope not,” she muttered. Because if he figured out that vampires were his neighbors and the funeral home’s business partners, then he’d have to be compelled to forget.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing, Dad. Look, I’ve got to go.”
“Okay. You know I love you, right?”
“I know. And I love you, too.”
As she disconnected the call, she brooded about the complications love created. Did she love Nick? That wouldn’t be wise at all. Or was it only lust? Could she give him her body and not her heart?