by Cynthia Sax
“You’ll come for me again.” It was an order.
“No. No. No.” But as she protested, she swiveled her hips, grinding her pussy against him, and Russ’s chuckle rolled over her once more, the sound low and deep. She pulled on his neck, drawing him down on her, and he complied with her unspoken command, inhaling her nipple and suckling on her breast, his mouth hot and insistent.
Vanna rode him to the rhythm of his pulls and releases, his lusty tugs on her breast felt down to her pussy. All of her was connected to him, her breast, her pussy, and her thoughts, room in her mind for only him, Russ, her human lover.
His body hardened even more under her, his flesh heating to a blazing fire, and he grunted against her skin, thrusting shallowly upward, his movements constrained by the driver’s seat. She slid her hand between their bodies, pressing down on her clit, escalating her reviving passions faster, rushing to meet him.
Russ dragged his surprisingly sharp teeth over her throbbing nipple, and she cried out, writhing against his palms. “Easy, love.” He drove her down onto him over and over, impaling her on his long, thick cock.
“Russ.” She dug her fingernails into the sleeves of his cotton shirt, his muscles stretched tight underneath the fabric.
“I know what you need, love, what I need.” He swiped his tongue over her skin, covered her nipple, and bit, the pain snapping her control.
“Russ!” she screamed, her mind fragmenting into a thousand pieces, her world flashing light and dark, dark and light. He dug his fingernails into her hips and thrust upward, his heat rushing into her.
Vanna raked her fingers over his shoulders, holding him to her, her body throbbing as he sucked on her breast, his teeth deep inside her flesh. This was right. She closed her eyes. This was how it was in her dreams, her vampire feeding on her, their bodies as one.
Vanna blinked, rational thought returning. Except Russ wasn’t a vampire. He wasn’t really feeding on her. His sucking had stopped… if it had ever begun. He licked her skin and pressed a very non-vampire-like kiss on the pinkness.
Was he a vampire? “Russ?”
“Yes, love?” He looked up and their gazes met. There was no blood on his broad, freckled face.
Vanna felt foolish. He wasn’t a vampire. She’d imagined the biting because she wanted him to be something he wasn’t. He wasn’t her destiny, no matter how right this felt.
She glanced away from the hope in his hazel eyes. “We should go to this party.”
Chapter Three
She’d pick him. Russ held Vanna’s cold hand as they waited at the door of Croix’s hotel room. That hot fuck in the parking lot wasn’t good-bye.
“No one’s answering.” Vanna shifted her weight from her left foot to her right. “We should go.”
“No.” Russ’s pride wouldn’t allow him to win by default. “We should go in.” He grinned at her and swung the door open.
The scene was pure erotic chaos. Very bad death metal music blasted, the screech of poorly played electric guitars making Russ wince. The scent of cum, alcohol, and vomit assaulted his nostrils.
A lust demon in human form chased a busty blonde across the room. A vampire fed upon one naked woman while another sat beside him in a daze, sloppily inflicted bite marks on her neck, a line of half-snorted cocaine on the glass table in front of them. Three women in white bras and panties bounced on the couch, bottles of whiskey in their hands. A vampire fucked a woman on the carpet, his pale ass bobbing between her spread legs. Three of his buddies were gathered around, cocks out, waiting for their turn.
Vanna’s grip on his hand tightened. “I knew it would be like this,” she said softly as though trying to convince herself. “Vampires are very sexual and not at all monogamous. Living for so many years, it doesn’t make sense for them to be faithful.”
“I need a pussy!” a vampire yelled, grabbing his hard cock with both hands. The others cheered.
“Or discreet.” Vanna shuddered, and Russ put his arm protectively around her.
“Until they find their beloveds,” he murmured for her ears only. “Then they’re faithful and possessive. They’ll want to kill other males simply for looking at her.” He rubbed soothing circles on her hip.
Vanna leaned into his body, her slight curves pressed against his muscles. She was made for him, his beloved, tall and willowy and soft. “Beloveds are rare.”
“Very,” he agreed, his lips on her black hair. “Vampires wait for centuries for their eternal loves, long, lonely centuries.” Russ remembered the bleakness of the past and how he’d tried to fill the emptiness with meaningless sex and gory battles.
“But that love is their destiny.” She looked up at him, her brown eyes haunted. “The two are entwined. They don’t have to choose.”
Choose me, Vanna. He squeezed her hip.
“You can’t escape destiny.” She stepped away from him, the cold air chilling his nonbeating heart. “I know I can’t. I’ve been here before.” She stared at a lava lamp. “In my dreams. I’m meant to be here, Russ. I must find Croix.”
“Vanna…” He trailed behind her. “You’re meant to be here with me, love. I’m your destiny.”
She turned to him, a stricken expression on her face. “I wish you were, Russ. God, how I wish you were.” Vanna slid her hands down his chest, sending waves of pleasure over his body. “But every night, I dream of blood and fangs and a vampire whose face I never see. If that isn’t my destiny, then…”
Her memories flashed before him. A little, dark-haired girl sat at a desk, diligently coloring. A woman paused at her side. The girl smiled up at her and proudly showed her the picture.
It was of a naked man with his face in shadows. Blood spurted out of two puncture wounds on his neck. There was so much blood in the picture, so much red.
The woman’s kind smile froze. Her hand shook as she took the picture from the little girl. She hurried to the front of the class.
The images shifted. A dark-haired woman hunched over a wooden table covered with pictures. She cried, her shoulders shaking with her sobs. A man paced before her. He waved his hands and yelled, his face twisted with fury. The little dark-haired girl hugged her teddy bear.
The walls disappeared, revealing blue skies and green grass. The girl stood on the edge of a playground, the toes of her white running shoes on the pavement. Girls her age skipped rope. “Crazy Vanna. Crazy Vanna,” they repeated in singsong voices.
Vanna’s pain and grief and confusion ravaged Russ, and then the memories and emotions were gone, locked deep within her mind.
“No. It is my destiny.” Vanna laughed, the sound choked. “It has to be my future. Don’t you see?”
Shit. Russ stared at her. He hadn’t seen before. He did now. She wasn’t choosing between him and eternal life. She was choosing between him and sanity.
And he was forcing her to make that choice. Instead of easing her fears, comforting her, he’d given her more pain. “Vanna, I wasn’t joking when I said I was able --”
“I know you, pet.” Croix draped his spindly arm over Vanna’s shoulder and glanced down at her chest. Russ growled, redirecting his anger from himself to the bare-chested rocker. He wanted to slam that bottle of whiskey Croix was carrying over his dyed head. “Had a hankering for a real vampire, huh?” Croix nuzzled her ear, smearing black lipstick over her pale skin.
Vanna’s face contorted into a grimace. “Yes, about that.” Her voice was curt and businesslike. “I need to speak to you in private, Mr. Croix. I have a proposition for you.”
“Oh, I like propositions, pet.” Croix licked her neck, and Russ clenched his fists, willing his claws not to extend. “We can talk in my bedroom.” He swung her around, leaning heavily on her body, whiskey spilling on the carpet.
“Vanna.” Russ caught her wrist.
“I have to do this, Russ.” She stilled. “If you love me even half as much as I love you, you’ll let me.”
He loved Vanna more than he thought was physically possible
. She was his heart, his soul. Russ reluctantly released her and watched frozen in place as she walked away. Croix couldn’t turn her. He wasn’t a vampire. And Vanna wouldn’t let Croix touch her. Russ knew that. He knew her.
He’d thought he knew her. She believed herself insane. Russ winced, positioning himself by the closed bedroom door. She’d spent her human life questioning her sanity… because of him, because of their entwined destiny.
* * *
“I’ve been here before.” Vanna glanced around her, the familiarity of the dimly lit room reassuring her. This was where she was meant to be. She squelched the pain in her heart. Love and Russ weren’t her destiny. “I thought we were to be alone.”
Three of Croix’s entourage fed on a motionless woman seated on a beige suede couch, their fangs buried in her skin, blood dripping over their chins. Vampires. Vanna shivered. What she would soon become. Could she do this? Kill someone? Was the woman dead?
“No, but she will be if they continue drinking from her,” a deep voice commented with a thick Italian accent. “Enough!” the figure sitting in the shadows barked, and the vampires jumped away from the woman, hissing and snarling. “Animals.” The word was said with disgust.
And this was what she wanted to become? Vanna stared at the woman, doubt about her destiny niggling at her. She’d given up Russ’s love for a future of blood lust.
The shadowy figure chuckled. “There are other options -- volunteers, blood banks. Not all of us are so undisciplined.” He’d read her thoughts.
Russ always knew what she was thinking also. If she was so transparent, Croix must know what she wanted from him. She peered up at the rocker. He leaned more and more of his weight into her. His eyelids lowered, and he breathed heavily. He was sleeping. Who would turn her now?
“We will turn you, pet.” The bald vampire licked his bloody fangs. “It’ll be our pleasure.”
The Italian vampire boomed with laughter. “This will be interesting.” He rose from his chair, smoothing down his dress pants. He was the man, the vampire, Russ had been talking to in the store. He wore a gray three-piece suit and a pleasant smile. She had thought then that he was Croix’s manager, not a fellow vampire.
“Let me have the human.” Russ’s friend picked the rocker up by the waistband of his leather pants, lifting him as though he weighed nothing. Croix jerked awake, punching the air with his hands and kicking his feet. “Be still.” The vampire slapped his palm into the back of Croix’s head, and he stilled once more. “Your beloved can have the rest.”
He nonchalantly tossed Croix across the room. The rocker smacked against the wall, cracking the drywall, and crumbled into a heap on the carpet.
Croix didn’t get up because he was human. Russ’s friend was a vampire. A vampire. He returned to his seat, his fingers linked in front of his flat stomach as though he was readying to watch a show.
Russ knew a vampire. Vanna covered her mouth. He had read her thoughts. In the heat of passion, he’d bitten her. He’d told her he was a vampire when they’d first met. She hadn’t believed him.
She was a fool.
The vampires gathered around her, the coppery scent of blood on their heated breaths, their fangs gleaming white, and their eyes glowing red. Fear trickled down her spine.
“I’m sorry. I made a mistake.” She backed away, feeling behind her for the doorknob. The biggest vampire leaned his weight against the door, trapping her. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to be turned.”
“But we want to turn you.” The bald vampire wrapped a lock of her hair around his claws. Vanna twisted away from him, ducking under his arm. “Where are you going, pet?” She edged toward the window. “I don’t think so.” He clucked his tongue. “We’re on the thirty-second floor, and humans don’t fly.”
He lunged at her, and caught her ankle. Vanna screamed, driving her free foot down on his shoulder, the stiletto heel of her thigh-high boot piercing his skin.
“Bitch!” the bald vampire snarled, raking his claws over her leg, cutting through leather and skin. She shrieked with the intense pain, kicking and struggling, trying to get free.
The vampire guarding the exit flew across the room as the door burst open. “She is mine!” Russ’s big body blocked the doorway, silhouetted against the brighter living room. Long claws extended from his hands. Fangs dropped from his lips. His eyes shone red.
That was a glower. Vanna’s heart skipped a beat. He was the vampire of her dreams, dangerous and fierce and hers.
“You think her yours, old man?” The bald vampire let her go, and Vanna crawled up from the couch, away from the near-dead woman. The vampire’s menacing laughter rocked through the room. “You’re one vampire.” The other two vampires stood beside him. “Against three.”
“You’re wrong.” Vanna straightened and picked up a lamp. “He has me.” She heaved it at the biggest vampire. He grunted as the glass shattered against his back, the shards piercing his skin. “Oh, shit.” The vampire healed instantly.
“Vanna, love.” Russ smiled at her, his dark expression lightening. “Do me a favor and find the fire extinguisher.” He spoke as though he’d asked her to pass the sugar.
She frowned, confused by his request. “Why --”
Russ spun, his claws extended, his body a blur of motion. The bald vampire ducked. The smaller vampire to his right didn’t. The razor-sharp tips of Russ’s claws sliced through his neck. His head fell from his torso, blood gushing from the wound.
Vanna bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming. The body and head burst into flames, setting the carpet on fire. “Shit. The fire extinguisher.” She rushed around the bed. “Where is it?”
“Here it is, cara.” Russ’s friend held up the fire extinguisher. “Use sparingly. It is a small canister, and there are two vampires left.” His dark eyes twinkled with amusement.
If Russ was able to defeat them both. As she doused the flames, she kept one eye on her love. The vampires flew at him in a synchronized attack. Russ kicked out, his boot connecting with the big vampire’s gut. The bald vampire swooped downward with his claws. Vanna gasped. Russ won’t survive this. He --
Claws locked against claws. Muscles strained. Knees bent. The big vampire got to his feet, shaking his shoulders and flexing his claws.
“Russ, behind you!” Vanna yelled her warning.
With a grunt, Russ heaved his massive arms upward, flipping the bald vampire backward, and he pivoted on his heels, swinging his arms. The big vampire’s eyes widened with surprise. His throat gurgled with blood as his head fell.
“You’re killing them too quickly, amico mio,” Russ’s friend commented from his seat against the far wall, his dark gaze on Vanna as she extinguished the flames. “Try to draw this battle out.”
“I live only to entertain you, Marciano.” Russ’s gaze flicked from the bald vampire to Marciano before meeting Vanna’s gaze. God. He was handsome, his hazel eyes glittering with gold. “Are you okay, pumpkin?”
Marciano made a choking noise.
“I feel like an idiot.” Her face heated. “You told me what you were, and I didn’t believe you.”
“I was the idiot.” Russ smiled, the freckles dancing on his broad cheeks. “I wanted you to love me for who I was, not what I was.”
“Mother Mary! Make the kissy faces stop,” Marciano pleaded to the ceiling. The bald vampire edged around Russ, moving toward the door.
“My love for you was never in question.” Vanna held Russ’s gaze. “If I had been certain of my sanity, I would have gladly traded eternal life for a human existence with you, but I couldn’t saddle you with a crazy person.”
“What is that I smell, Russell?” Marciano sniffed loudly. “Is that blood? Your beloved’s blood?”
Russ breathed deeply, his nostrils flaring, his chest heaving, and his face grew frighteningly hard, scaring Vanna.
“Dekel dared to cause your beloved pain?”
“You hurt her?” Russ growled, turning on the cowering va
mpire.
Dekel swallowed hard, his throat convulsing, and his pale face losing even more color. “It was her fault. The bitch --”
“Bitch?” Russ spread his claws wide, the lights reflecting off the sharp tips.
“Wrong answer.” Marciano laughed. “Kill this one slowly, Russell, painfully. Make the fledgling suffer for daring to touch her.”
Russ’s face flushed more and more with each taunting word, his eyes blazing crimson with rage. He was the antithesis of the passionless vampire, his body radiating red-hot emotion.
Vanna had been wrong. She’d been wrong about everything.
“That bitch is my beloved, child. Didn’t your sire teach you not to touch another vampire’s property?” Russ kicked the couch back, slamming it against the wall. The woman seated on the couch shifted, murmuring something unintelligible. She lived. A tightness in Vanna’s chest loosened.
“My sire is dead.” Dekel sneered. “I killed him as I will kill you.” The two vampires circled each other. Vanna’s stomach twisted painfully. Russ was bigger and stronger, but he had already fought and killed two vampires. Dekel was more rested, his feet lighter on the carpet.
“No normal vampire can kill the one who turned him.” Russ bent his knees, lowering his body. “So you must be insane. I suspected as much.”
Crazy Vanna. Crazy Vanna.
No. This was different. Dekel wasn’t misunderstood. He was truly crazy. Vanna gnawed on her bottom lip. Crazy people were irrational and unpredictable. She had to help Russ. She glanced around her for a weapon. The fire extinguisher would do in a pinch. It was solid and heavy.
“Round and round they go.” Russ’s friend sounded almost gleeful.
Her love was in a fight to the death. Vanna glared at Marciano. It wasn’t a laughing matter. The vampire widened his eyes and rounded his mouth, his expression mockingly innocent.
“Let’s end this now, old man.” Dekel flung his tattooed body into the air. Claws connected with claws. Grunts echoed. Russ tossed the smaller vampire over his shoulder against the wall. Drywall crumbled with the impact.