A Taste for Blood (4 page)

Exhausted, and probably a little high from her first sip, Kassy closed her eyes. My blood would be throughout her system soon, and once it was, our night would start all over again.

That’s it, my pet. Get what rest you can.

Night for a vampire would be nothing like anything she’d ever experienced before. And with the buffet of live bodies just a few rooms away, I knew that, at least for one night, she’d be well taken care of. As for tomorrow?

Let’s just say there’s more than one place to drink in this city
.

Chapter Four

By the following evening, we’d moved from Horizons into one of the few hotels owned by Corvis and our coven. With Kassy and I kissing any chance we got, there was no shortage of blood. Sadly, blood between vampires wasn’t the same as drinking live. We’d have to go back out, which would have meant untangling ourselves from one another, along with the bed sheets.

We didn’t move.

Pushing hunger to the backs of our minds, we lay there, me stroking her face as she curled up against my side. I’d dreamt of this for so long—having her with me when I woke, watching her as she slept—that it almost felt surreal. Like a daydream.

A fantasy.

In most cases, I wouldn’t have slept at all after a scene like the one we’d had last night. I’d have lain awake staring at the ceiling wondering if she was okay.
Was there anything she regretted? Will she meet me again next week
?

Craning my neck, I looked down at her. Those concerns no longer had a place in my mind. As Kassy’s world had tipped on its axis, mine had finally found balance. Not having to wait to see her again after last night was as freeing as the air we continued to breathe. As the seconds rolled by, it got a little easier. Came a little faster. And when I finally settled into this new life, it was daylight.

Kassy shielded her eyes from the small bit of sunlight that made it through the heavy blinds and absently combed her fingers through my hair. “Will every night be like this?”

I kissed her on the forehead and draped an arm across her back. “Disappointed?”

“Not in the least. Well, I am, but more in myself than anything else.”

“How come?”

“Because I didn’t ask to do this sooner.”

I smiled. If it weren’t for Corvis and his wanting to use Kassy in the blood den, I wouldn’t have even considered turning her until it was absolutely necessary. While the life of a human didn’t sound as glamorous as that of a vampire, it was still important to who we were and who we became. That was one of the main reasons most covens refused to turn children, and even when they did, it was because the child was either ill or had no one else to turn to.

Up until last night, Kassy had been safe. She hadn’t been on Corvis’ radar, and even if her past wasn’t perfect, it was the life she’d lived for close to twenty-eight years. I wished I could’ve given her more time. More memories. For her to have a child. Raise a family. Things we vampires didn’t have the pleasure of experiencing once we’d been turned.

I rolled over to face her. “You have all eternity for regrets, my pet. Don’t let them ruin this for you.”

Untangling my legs from the bed sheets, I leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. She met me halfway, making my peck into a passionate kiss. No matter how much I kissed her—how much I tasted her—I couldn’t get enough. Her lips, tongue and even her skin were just as sweet as if she were still human. And the fact that we were both the same temperature with the same blood in our veins made this even more real.

“I don’t ever want this to end,” she murmured, brushing my cheek until her hand finally settled against the back of my neck, as if to continue her earlier thought.
Don’t ever leave me
.

I never will. ”
It won’t end unless you want it to.”

“And why would I want a thing like that?” she huffed, smiling when I attempted to give her ‘the look’.

“Safe words. You may have changed skins and have a slower heartbeat, but the rules are still in place. You want this to end, all you have to do is ask.”

She licked at my bottom lip. “Does that mean you’re stuck with me until I do?”

“I suppose it does.”

“Good, because I’m not done with you yet.”

Holy hell, it might have been because of how new she was to all things vampire related, but I swear, she had more energy during her infancy than I had. And here I’d thought getting some rest would be an option. I was dead wrong. Days would come and go, but this? This new, insatiable hunger? I had to touch her. Kiss her.
Taste
her.

She was the first one to move, kicking off the covers and growling under her breath when they latched on to her ankles. I sympathised, and while I could’ve used the bed sheets as a new form of bondage, I decided that wasn’t a game I wanted to play. Not when she was this strong. This hungry.

I reached for the bottom of the bed and tossed the covers to the floor, tickling Kassy’s feet as I went. She groaned from somewhere above my head, and before I could react she had me pinned to the floor. I glared at her, only to find she was wearing the same expression. She smirked as I pulled her down to my chest, and when she finally let her guard down, I rolled to my side, changing our positions.

“Weren’t expecting that, were you?” I asked, leaning in to bite at her neck.

“Who’s to say this wasn’t the plan all along?”

She winced, possibly from the floorboards under her back, and I helped her to her feet. In that same instant, she pushed her body to mine, forcing me to back into a wall. Someone groaned. A vase fell off an end table. Grabbing at whatever flesh I could find, I finally settled on her hair. I curled my fingers in her hair. Tugged on it. She yelped but didn’t pull away.

I bit down on her neck, and she did the same to mine. Trapped in one another’s arms and drugged by our own blood, we danced from one side of the room to the other, completely avoiding the bed. At one point, I tripped over someone’s shoes. Kassy grunted when I pressed her against the door to our room. She lifted my chin. Kissed me on the lips.

If there was ever a better way to deliver both pleasure and pain at the same time, I had yet to hear about it. My bite drew just enough pain to give Kassy the high she was used to having back in the club, and when I squeezed one of her breasts, she wasn’t the only one who gasped.

I did it again, pinching her nipple between my thumb and forefinger until her back arched away from the door. Securing myself by keeping a hand at the small of her back, I used the other to caress her cheek. Her neck. Her breasts. I paused before I could reach her clit. Her breaths were shallow, and if I hadn’t had my ear right next to her lips I probably wouldn’t have heard her almost silent plea. “Hurry. Please hurry.”

Normally I’d be the one to set the pace, but I wanted this just as much as she did. I brushed my fingers against her clit down to her pussy lips. I moaned at the moisture I found there and pressed my hardened cock to Kassy’s bare leg.

“See what you do to me?” I growled, smiling when I slipped a finger inside. “I don’t know what turns me on more. Your clit, your cunt or how hungry you are when you look at me.”

She laughed and wrapped one of her legs over my hip. “It’s the blood.”

Shit.
The way she looked at me just then and how she held me with her hip… I wasn’t sure which one of us was in control, and I didn’t care—I had to have her. Right. Now. Looking back over my shoulder, I groaned when I realised how far away the condoms were. It took a split second for reality to sink in.

We’re both vampires.

We couldn’t have children. Condoms were now a thing of the past.

Thank fuck!

Grabbing Kassy’s other leg to wrap it around myself, I used the door to hold us up and leaned into her just enough so she wouldn’t fall. She rocked her hips, grinding against me. Teasing me. Challenging me. If it were any other time, I would’ve backed off and cooled down, but there was no walking away from this. Either I fucked her, or she came after me until I did.

Damned if you do…

Damned for eternity was more like it.

Using my free hand, I guided my cock to her. She squeezed her legs. Held herself up. As soon as I knew she was ready, I pressed into her. Her nails bit at my shoulders as she held on, rocking her hips to pull me in a little deeper. Inch by painful inch, I thrust deeper, pushing her into the door.

Fucking her like this gave me the perfect opportunity to admire her breasts, their hardened buds—how wonderful they tasted when I bit them. I was about to do just that when Kassy’s hand flew against the door, almost as if she thought we were falling. I shifted my weight, using slow, fluid strokes to hit her G-spot.

She murmured something I couldn't understand. The grip her legs had on me got a little tighter. And when the first tremors of an orgasm raced through her, I could’ve sworn I felt them. Knowing my legs would buckle beneath me if I didn’t get us over to the bed, I hugged Kassy to my chest and slowly, painfully transported her over to the mattress.

We only made it halfway onto the bed when my legs began to shake, but I didn’t care. As time stood perfectly still, white specks crowded my vision. My arms spasmed, and I quickened my pace, giving Kassy the rough fuck I’d promised to her the night before. Her head tilted back, she closed her eyes and gasped for breath.

Her eyes flew open as she mouthed the words she no longer had the energy to say. I screwed my eyes shut and held my breath, waiting for time to stop completely. I let go, nodding to Kassy to do the same. Her body tensed, quivered and released, allowing her to let loose one of the most primal cries I’d ever heard from her.

Once I'd hoisted her up onto the bed, I crumpled beside her. Neither one of us moved for a long moment, the beating of our hearts drowned out by our raging endorphins. I closed my eyes and draped an arm over her stomach, allowing the rise and fall of her chest to lull me into a dream.

I’d done the right thing. Turning her had been the right thing to do. Circumstances or not, I knew now that it wasn’t something I ever wanted to take back. Not for Kassy, Corvis or anyone else. She was here to stay.

* * * *

It’s hard to say how long we were out. The room was dim from the sunlight waiting outside, but that isn’t why I woke. Someone was knocking on my door. In the middle of the day. In a hotel owned and run by vampires.

I clenched my jaw and rolled over, relieved when I found Kassy asleep, completely oblivious. At least she could still sleep like the dead. Give her a few weeks, and she’d be an insomniac just like the rest of us.

Rolling out of bed, I pulled on a pair of boxers and padded over to the door, grumbling loud enough for whoever was on the other side to hear me. But when I finally opened it, I was the one who took a step back.

“Corvis,” I breathed, running a hand through my hair before glancing up and down the halls. “What are you doing here? And at such an ungodly hour, too.”

Garbed in a dark suit that was almost as ancient as he was, the man who’d offered me a new life when I’d had none to spare showed his age well. Thin hair. Thick eyebrows. Hell, even his fingers would’ve been gnarled by now if he wasn’t immortal, but with each passing day, he seemed to grow a little younger.

Being turned didn’t just mean we lived forever—it also undid any damage to our bodies. Illness, age, injury or even being on the brink of death—it didn’t matter.

Granted, when compared to Corvis, I wasn’t much younger. But we’re talking aeons ago, back when thirty was the prime age for any man. And, for Corvis, being that old was the best he could’ve ever asked for.

“There’s a situation.” He groaned, seeming just as annoyed about being awake in the middle of the day as I was. In fact, it seemed as though he hadn’t slept at all.

When’s the last time you ate, Corvis?

He looked like hell had taken him in then spat him back out again. Sunken eyes. Hollowed cheeks. Paler than normal. This wasn’t just any problem he’d come to talk to me about. Something big had happened.

“Well?” He raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

In the time it took his words to register, I’d positioned myself in the doorway, slowly shuffling out into the hall. With my manners thrown to the wayside, I peered over my shoulder just long enough to make sure we hadn’t disturbed Kassy.

Corvis’ eyes darkened, and he placed a hand on the door before I could close it the entire way. “Hiding something from me?”

“Company,” I explained with a partial shrug, trying to hurry him out of the way. “Mind if we talk outside?”

Corvis craned his neck to see through what was left between the door and its frame. He removed his hand, but his expression didn’t change.

As soon as the door had closed, he spoke. “What is she doing here?”

I winced at his tone but tried not to show it. “Lying in my bed, which I’d really like to return to, if you don’t mind.” My hand was still on the knob, and with every passing breath, my heart dared me to open the door a little more.

“She’s supposed to be downstairs.”

“What, in the den?” I scoffed. “I thought we had a law against drinking from one of our own.”

His eyes widened. “You turned her? After you agreed—?”

“I didn’t agree to a damned thing.”

“Then maybe you two can explain the recent deaths happening around the city.”

“Wait. What?” I swallowed. “How recent?”

“At least three of those deaths happened just before daylight.”

I frowned and looked back on the night before. We might have stumbled around a bit, but we hadn’t drunk live—not to the point of death, anyway. “I assure you, after the night we had, we were out of it most of the day.”

“Yes, I can see that.” He gestured to my partially naked form. “But tell me, if you were in my position, where would you go after washing the blood from your hands?”

I sighed. He might have seen Kassy, he might have even blamed her, but that wasn’t why he was here. “I’d check in with the stronger vampires in the coven first. Those who can turn humans into one of us.”