by Sophie Stern
I was faced with a choice that felt horrible. Should I tell Juliet the truth about her brother? I didn’t particularly want to. She probably viewed him as a human hero. Maybe she thought he was the kind of man who would risk his life for a vampire.
Maybe she thought Matt had died trying to save Elizabeth.
It was a lovely thought.
The truth was much worse. Elizabeth and her friends had been at an event in Darkvale. After the party ended, they’d been on their way back home when their vehicle was intercepted. Nobody knew exactly what happened to force them off of the road or why they had been pulled from the vehicle, but it had been a bloodbath.
Well, it would have been if any of them had survived. As it was, there had been piles of dust and decay to clean up. When a vampire died, they turned into a huge pile of ash. It was horrifying, really. Everyone wanted to believe that if a vampire died, they just vanished, but that wasn’t true. There was something left behind, and it was something people had to clean up.
I had been very aware when Alice and Ida brought me the little jar of ash that it was Elizabeth.
I had been very aware of everything we’d lost that day.
“He sounds like a good brother,” I finally said. I wasn’t going to break her heart. Not today. She wouldn’t believe me, anyway.
“He was the best.”
I couldn’t find it in me to feed from Juliet again. I wanted to. She smelled delicious, and she looked hot as hell sitting on the floor with her dress hiked up to her waist and her legs crossed. She wasn’t wearing panties, and I could see her pussy if I angled myself just right. Oh, I wanted to fuck her. Every bit of me wanted to fuck her.
But I was tired, too.
And I was worn out.
And I hated knowing that Juliet’s brother had been a vampire, but he had lied to her about it.
Why hadn’t Matt told her the truth?
“Tell me more about Matt.”
“What do you want to know?”
“What was it like to have a brother who cared about you? That’s a good place to start.” Norman had never exactly been kind to me. The two of us had never been close.
“You mean Norman isn’t the perfect brother?” She placed her hand on her chest dramatically, as though she couldn’t believe it.
“Not perfect.”
“Matt wasn’t perfect either, but he was good to me.”
“Tell me.”
“Well,” she said. “My parents died. We lived in a human community out in the forests. It was a little village. It was invaded, and pretty much everyone died.”
“Not you, though.”
“Not me, though,” she agreed. “Matt saved me. I don’t know how he heard about Darkvale, but this was the place he brought me. It was still a newer place, and not many people really believed that living with the vampires was possible.”
“Your brother did, though.”
“He was very brave,” she agreed. “And very clever. He got a job working security for Elizabeth and helping her out, and the rest was history.”
“What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You do a great job at the hospital.”
“I have a good team,” she shrugged.
“It sounds like you’re being modest.”
“Perhaps I am,” she smiled.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t like bragging.”
“There’s nothing wrong with bragging.”
“Says the world’s softest vampire.”
“Hey,” I said. “I’m not soft.”
“Really?” She asked. “You don’t think it’s soft that you didn’t kill me for messing up your order of blood?”
“I wouldn’t kill you for that.”
“Maybe not. Someone like Norman would have.”
She had an uncanny ability to identify my brother’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. Maybe it wasn’t very fair that I picked on him or that I didn’t believe in him. Perhaps it was cruel I considered him to be such a risk. Most siblings got along very well, at least from what I’d seen. Juliet certainly seemed to be fond of her brother. I wasn’t sure whether I should feel relieved or horrified that Juliet had immediately identified my brother as a villain.
She was right, though.
He wouldn’t have thought twice about killing her.
“Norman and I have very different opinions on the world.”
“Apparently.”
“He doesn’t mind using people to get what he wants.”
“And you think people aren’t objects,” she said. She finished eating her food and pushed the plate away, but she didn’t move from her spot on the floor. I stooped down to grab the plate. I set it on the dresser by the door, and then I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.
“Well?” I asked her.
“Well what?”
“How was dinner?”
“Good,” she told me.
“The best meal you’ve ever had?”
“Actually, yes,” she said. “But only because Matt couldn’t cook, and neither can I.”
“You can’t cook?”
“Not really,” she shrugged. “I’m busy with work, and cooking is a luxury for people who have free time.”
“Well,” I said. “I guess it’s a good thing you’re going to get some rest.”
“Am I?”
“Maybe a little,” I said, stepping closer to her.
She smelled good.
Heavenly.
Juliet looked up at me and licked her lips. He eyes darted from my mouth to my eyes and back again. She wanted me to kiss her. Oh, I wanted to kiss her, too, and I wasn’t one to deny myself the things that I wanted most. I brought my lips to hers and kissed her right there in the bedroom. One of my hands fisted her hair and the other found her waist. I tugged her closer to myself, pressing my body against hers.
She was soft and perfect and feminine, and I wanted more. Craved more.
I was no rapist.
I wasn’t going to take her without her permission. I hadn’t supported humans being forced into vampiric servitude and I hadn’t supported humans being used as feeding vessels. I wasn’t going to force her to fuck me. We did have an arrangement, however, and I planned to take what I wanted from her body even if it wasn’t claiming her pussy. I was going to feed from the pretty human over and over. I had tried not to. I had tried to let her mourn for her brother a little and recover from her encounter with mine, but I needed her, and I had the distinct impression that she needed me, too.
I lifted her up and carried her to the bed. I placed her on it. She sat there, legs spread ever-so-slightly, and looked up at me. Her lips were swollen from being kissed, and her mouth was slightly apart.
“Colin,” she said.
“Juliet.”
“I think we should have sex.”
7
Juliet
I SHOULDN’T HAVE ASKED him.
Even as the words left my lips, I knew that it was a bad, bad choice. I shouldn’t be trying to climb into bed with the vampire, but oh, I wanted it. I wanted him. I wanted to fuck this guy more than I’d ever wanted to fuck anyone. No, I wasn’t particularly promiscuous – I was busy, after all – but that didn’t matter, did it?
“Excuse me?” Was he really playing coy right now? He looked at me like he couldn’t understand the words that I’d just said. Perhaps he was just giving me an out.
“I feel like you heard me,” I whispered. Was he going to tell me no? Was he going to take the high road? He was a vampire, but he was also the Lord of a city. Maybe he’d want to take the high road. Maybe he was going to tell me to leave him alone and stop trying to suck his dick so much. Maybe he wanted some time alone without girls trying to grab at him.
Maybe...
“I did,” he said. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.”
“Juliet, I won’t force you to mate with me.”
“I don’t want to marry you,” I told him.
“I just want your dick in me.”
He raised an eyebrow, and the corner of his lip quirked up a little bit. He was amused with me. I got it. My question to him probably seemed a tiny bit crazy, but that didn’t make it any less valid, did it?
“I can do that,” he finally said. “But you need to know that for vampires, sex usually includes feeding.”
“So, you’re going to bite me a little.”
“A lot.”
“And is it going to hurt?”
“Probably.”
“Will it be a good sort of pain?”
“I hope so.”
“Colin?”
“Yes?”
“Do you want this?”
Maybe that was what I should have started with. Maybe I should have figured out if he wanted me before we did anything else. I wanted him. It was obvious. After spending a hot evening with Colin, I suddenly understood why Clarissa seemed so obsessed with vampires. I knew she’d slept with them before, too. I just hadn’t done that myself.
Well, it was time for me to grow up a little, I thought.
Instead of answering me, Colin grabbed me by the throat and tugged me toward him. I wrapped my legs around him and my dress slid the rest of the way up to my waist. My pussy was bare to him, rubbing against his suit, but he didn’t seem to care.
His cock was hard, straining against his pants. My ass was still on the bed with my legs wrapped tightly around him, and he was standing beside the bed. Colin started grinding his cock against me slowly, and then he leaned down and brushed his lips against my neck.
“Tonight, you’re mine,” he said.
I nodded, closing my eyes as I felt his fangs come out.
“Say it.”
“Tonight, I’m yours.”
“Tell me what you want, human.”
“I want you,” I whispered.
“Tell me more.”
“I want your cock in me,” I said.
“Then take it,” he said. He grazed his fangs over my skin but didn’t pierce it yet. I reached out, rubbing my hands over his cock. My eyes were still closed. He was going to slip his fangs beneath the surface of my skin at any moment, but I wanted his dick buried deep inside of me first. I reached for his pants and fumbled for only a second before it was free, and I was stroking him in my hand. He was thick, and he was girthy, and my body tightened in anticipation.
Colin shifted, pushing his cock toward my core. I guided him with my hand until he was nudging at my entrance. Then I reached up, grabbing his hair, pulling his mouth closer to my neck.
Colin didn’t say anything.
He didn’t have to.
We both wanted this, needed it. We were both craving it. He thrusted his hips forward, driving his cock deep inside of me. At the same time, his fangs pierced my neck, and he buried his teeth in my skin. I tried to cry out, but somehow, his hand covered my mouth and muffled the noises I was making. I didn’t know what to do because suddenly, it was sensation overload.
He was inside of me. The vampire was inside of me in multiple ways, and suddenly, I felt faint. He was drinking from me at the same time he was fucking me, but it didn’t hurt the way I thought it would. I should have known because the two other times I’d been fed from that day, the pain had been bearable. Now, if possible, the feeling of being fed from made me even more aroused.
I was more excited than I’d ever been in my life, and I felt myself beginning to near orgasm. It was going to happen, I realized. Colin was fucking me right on the bed. We hadn’t even bothered to get undressed. He was fucking me hard and fast and he still had that death grip over my mouth. I struggled, trying to fight him, but it was no use. He was claiming me, marking me with his dick, and all I could do was relax and accept it.
When I came, it was the hardest, best orgasm I could remember having. No human guy’s dick ever made me come like that. I squeezed his cock as I climaxed, and I could feel him start to come at the same time, too. A wave of feminine satisfaction swept over me as I realized I’d done that. I’d brought the vampire pleasure just as he’d brought it to me.
His mouth was on my neck the entire time, but soon I felt him sealing up the injury the way he always did, and then he pulled back, looked at me, and kissed me. He held me like that for a long time, kissing me over and over, and soon I pulled back from him.
“First time with a vampire, was it?” He whispered.
I nodded.
“Did I hold up to the hype?”
“Yes.”
“Was it what you expected?”
“More,” I whispered.
It had been so much more.
“YOU SLUT!” CLARISSA walked into my office the next day and took one look at me before choosing her nickname of the day.
“Excuse me?”
“You had sex,” she said. She crossed her arms over her chest. She had a folder in her hands, but she ignored the way it bent and folded when she made this gesture. She was smug, pleased with her assessment. She was right, too. I had.
After Colin and I had slept together, we’d spent the rest of the night making love. We fucked until the sun came up, and then we went to sleep in his huge bed. I got up an hour before I was supposed to be at work. I’d realized that I hadn’t given him a list of things I needed from the apartment, nor had I asked any of his staff members to retrieve my things, so I’d showered, grabbed another outfit from Elizabeth’s closet, and called a ride to work. Colin had woken up long enough to see me go, and then he’d returned to sleep.
“Yeah,” I said. I wasn’t going to waste my time lying to Clarissa. We were both adults. We were both capable of making adult decisions. Perhaps most importantly, neither of us felt the need to judge the other.
“So?”
“So, what?”
“So, how was it?” She came the rest of the way into my office and closed the door behind her. The folder found its way to my desk, and Clarissa plopped down in one of the chairs that was carefully arranged in front of my desk. This was a space where I often consulted with people, so the chairs had to be both functional and comfortable.
“It was...”
How could I even begin to put it into words?
It had been incredible.
He had been incredible.
The way that Colin had played my body had made me feel gooey and wonderful and incredible. He’d touched me like I was a princess. He’d played with me like he just couldn’t get enough of me. That was an insanely magical feeling. I’d been with people before, but it was obvious, looking back, that the scope of a human’s sexual abilities was limited.
“Well,” I finally said. “I can see why you like vamps.”
“Did he feed from you?” She asked. Her eyes were twinkling. Obviously, she already knew the answer.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
I pointed to my neck and to my thigh. He’d stuck to those two places. Obviously, there were other spots a vampire could choose to feed from. I was sure that as we became more comfortable with each other, I’d get to experience those for myself.
“Good,” she said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. My mouth was dry, and I reached for a glass of water. I needed to hydrate if I was going to survive another night with the vamp.
“Well, listen,” she said. “I think it sounds like you had a great time.”
Understatement of the year.
“I wasn’t just stopping by to gossip, though.”
“No?”
“Nope,” she said. She tapped the folder in front of me. “We may have a problem.”
That wasn’t good.
“Problem?”
“Some of our blood is missing.”
“What do you mean?” I looked up at her sharply. Our donations were the biggest thing keeping peace in the city. We went to a lot of trouble to keep the donations safe. They were locked up in the hospital and distributed once a day based on the orders we’d received from citizens.
“I mean,” she lower
ed her voice. “There’s a discrepancy in the numbers.”
I opened the folder and looked at what she had in front of her. Clarissa had just taken inventory, as she did each day, and sure enough, we were short on blood.
“Where could it have gone?” I asked. “Could the numbers from yesterday have been wrong?”
“Nope,” she said. “I already double-checked numbers for the last week.”
“Go back farther,” I said. “Check everything for the last month and see if anything looks strange or fishy.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “What should we do in the meantime?”
“Don’t tell anyone,” I said.
There had already been unrest recently. There had already been anxiety. There had been humans and vampires who were suspicious of the system, and there were people who wanted to see it fall. We’d been short on blood before, but as with Colin’s order, we found ways to work around it. This wasn’t a regular shortage, though. The numbers Clarissa showed me made it seem as though someone had straight-up stolen some blood.
“If the vampires think the blood in the hospital is gone, they’re going to start taking people.”
“You’re talking about war,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I agreed glumly as I stared at the papers in front of me. “I’m talking about war.”
8
Colin
DEALING WITH MY BROTHER sucked.
Norman was the type of vampire who liked to brood. He sulked around the mansion. I wasn’t even sure if he’d actually slept or if he’d just walked around being moody. We barely spoke, which was probably a waste of his visit. It was just apparent to me that the only thing he wanted was to merge our cities, and I was adamantly against it.
“You need to do something with him,” Ida said, coming into my office.
“Excuse me?”
“He’s driving everyone crazy,” she said.
“What did he do?” I sighed.
“He’s trying to go through all of your stuff,” she said. “I caught him in the gardens and then in the sunroom and he was trying to get into the servants’ quarters, too.”
“What the hell?” I asked, standing up. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “But you need to entertain him or boot him out. I don’t know what his deal is, Colin, but it’s nothing good.”