My back hit the wall behind me, and then there was nowhere else to go. Andre didn’t stop until his torso was flush with mine. He ran a hand past my jaw and cradled my head. His expression was tender.
Hesitantly his eyes traveled to my neck, and I knew exactly what we were about to do. And, so help me, I was perfectly fine with it. He opened his mouth, and I caught a rare glimpse of Andre’s fangs.
Slowly Andre let go of me and backed away, his fangs receding back into his gums, and I blinked as if waking from a dream. “Captivating your prey. That’s what our lesson will be about today. How to convince a human to willingly give you their blood.”
“Did you—did you just emotionally screw with me?” My voice was quiet, but I was anything but calm.
“I was demonstrating how you—”
I crossed the room faster than most people could blink and I punched him in the shoulder. Andre barely reacted to the punch.
“Shit!” I grabbed my fist; it was like punching stone. “Don’t you ever mess with my mind again!” I said between clenched teeth. He’d toyed with my emotions, and I’d fallen for it.
Andre merely watched me, clearly waiting for me to finish. “Don’t give me that look,” I said. Inwardly I cringed. I sounded just like my mom. “It’s not like someone was messing with your head.”
“First, I wasn’t messing with your head. Those were pheromones. While normally vampires don’t have natural scents, we can produce pheromones in large quantities when we’re hunting.” I made a face. “And second,” he said, ignoring my expression, “stop complaining. You get to do the same thing to me.”
“I do?”
“Yes, and try not to look too excited; it makes me nervous.”
I smiled devilishly. “A chance to exact my revenge? Of course I’m excited.”
Now I understood the need for privacy. It would be a little hard to focus when other people were milling about. And now that I was focused on payback rather than seduction, I was all too willing to participate—maybe this had been Andre’s strategy all along.
“So what do I do?”
“Convince me that I want to give you my blood.”
“How do I do that?” I asked.
“You have to will it. It’s as simple as pushing the thought out into the world. Speak the words over in your mind until I respond,” Andre said from where he leaned against one of the bedposts.
“Wait,” I said as a couple thoughts struck me at once, “aren’t other vampires immune to that stuff? And won’t I suck at this—I’m still mostly human.”
Andre straightened and took my hands. “True, you probably won’t be able to do much since you are mostly human. But you still need to practice because eventually you won’t be human, and this technique is how vampires survive.
“And yes, I’m immune, which makes me better at gauging how well you’re doing.”
“So, no revenge?” Now that my motivating factor, successfully captivating Andre, had been removed, the exercise seemed pointless. How disappointing.
“I didn’t say that. I’m ready to be convinced.”
“Hmph.” I collected myself. Best to get this over with.
I began to think about convincing Andre. You want to come closer. Come closer.
This is so dumb. I had to bite my cheek not to laugh at how ridiculous the situation was.
“I’m not convinced at all,” the peanut gallery said from where he leaned against the bedpost.
His taunt irritated me; I was determined to captivate him if only to wipe that smug look off of his face.
A rush of energy surged within me. My fingers tingled, and I felt something dark and exciting stir.
Get on the bed. I blinked at the command. Who wanted to get beds involved? Surely that wasn’t me?
Slowly Andre backed onto the bed, never looking away from me. He smiled, indicating he was still in control. I, however, wasn’t so sure he was, and I wasn’t so sure I was either.
Again I felt my skin tingle, and my back arched as something rose up within me. What was this strange power? This couldn’t be how I captivated prey. Andre would’ve warned me about this.
I stretched as something inside me uncurled itself. My skin softly glowed, but I barely noticed. Andre had my whole attention.
I walked to the bed slowly, rolling my shoulders back and smiling seductively. I’d never done this before, but somehow I knew what to do.
Andre stilled. “Gabrielle?”
I didn’t answer him. Instead I crawled onto the bed, slowly making my way up to the headboard, Andre’s body beneath me the entire time.
Andre’s eyes changed as he stared at me. I’d never recognized the look in his eyes as resistance before, but now I knew because he finally let his guard down. He must’ve been resisting a great many impulses when it came to me.
His eyelids dropped, and the look he gave me was pure heat. He brought his hands to the sides of my shoulders. “Gabrielle …”
I kissed his cheek, his stubble convincing me he was not nearly so dead as everyone believed.