chapter Fifteen
Alexis should have been tired. She'd only slept about three hours in the last twenty-four. But she couldn't sleep, and after a fruitless effort to force it, she'd given up and had flicked on the TV and raided the minibar for MandM's. The problem with dating a vampire was he was never hungry.
She, on the other hand, never went more than five minutes without thinking about food. Popping a blue into her mouth, she crunched and reached for her Sidekick. Ethan had wanted her to sleep in his room while he had some kind of meeting with Seamus. But she preferred her own space. This side-by-side suite thing was perfect for her?convenient to Ethan, but still a locked door away if she needed time to herself.
There were a slew of new messages on the vampire slayers loop when she went to check the private message board. She was lurking, and hadn't announced her presence to the group at large, but the moderator knew she was there, and probably anyone else who wanted topick through the member roster. She'd used her free social e-mail address, not her work one, and had registered under the nameshortyl994 . Still, anyone with any savvy could trace it back to her.
Probably not a good thing.But she'd had to see what this group was all about, and if they were loons or actually had info about Ethan and the other Vegas vampires.
Her attorney brain urged her not to draw any conclusions, while her natural skepticism had her leaning toward loons. Then again, they had known about her, which meant they had some level of organization, and someone knew where she was.
Message 16532 What kind of stake do you recommend using to kill the undead? Thanx , Vampvixen .
Alexis put three MandM's in her mouth. "Do stakes really even kill vampires? Note to self: Ask Ethan for details on this whole dead thing."
The man she was dating was a vampire. It wasn't a fantasy, or a movie, or the result of an aneurysm to the brain. Ethan was older than dirt and she was sleeping with him. Alexis poured half the bag of candy onto her tongue. This was why she was never getting married.
All the great men were either taken, gay, a foot and a half taller than her, or were vampires. It sucked.
Not that she'd ever really picturedherself married. That was more Brittany 's style. But a nice, long-term boyfriend, companion-ship, and some stellar sex, sure, she wanted that. All she was going to get was this one week with Ethan. Then he'd go off to do presidential things, and she would go back to her job. He would live another thousand years while she got weak and saggy and forgetful.Fun.
Reply toVamp on stakes I use stakes hand carved from Transylvanian oak, twenty-four inches in length and two in diameter. They're expensive, but highly effective and can be purchased online with free shipping.
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Ooo-kay.Thanks, Rock, duly noted.
"Next we have Kitty Kitty?" Alexis rolled her eyes. "Kitty and vampire slaying just don't go together."
I just buy dowels from Home Depot, Vix . They're like fifty cents apiece and work just as good. Take care, hugs and love, Kitty.
The idea that someone might attempt this whole staking thing with Ethan or any of the other vampires she had met really bugged her. Whether these slayers knew what the hell they were doing or not, Alexis didn't want to see the manshe l liked a whole lot get a piece of wood shoved in his chest.
Her role in the game, which was no longer a game, was no vampire slayer at all, but vampire protector. Well, maybe not protector. But watchdog. No, she didn't want to be compared in any way to a dog.Special vampire friend.Which sounded like a para normal episode ofBarney , the purple dinosaur.
So there was no title for what she was.Fine. But she wanted
Ethan alive andwell, and the reason behind that didn't require close scrutiny.
A noise had her turning to her right. That wasn't the TV. It was her door. Someone was swiping a key card through it. Jumping up, she tossed the Sidekick on the couch and moved into the shadows, wondering where she'd left her purse and her cell phone. Damn, she really hoped this wasn't a vampire slayer coming in person to recruit her. That could be awkward.
Figuring it was better to catch the person off guard, when the door opened and someone stepped into her room, she threw a kick. When she met air instead of body mass, the doorway suddenly empty, she realized it was Ethan.
"You know, most women greet their lovers with a kiss, not a kick."
He was behind her, the smart-ass. Whirling, she tried to retrieve her heart from her throat. "Yeah, well, most women aren't dating vampires either. Why the hell are you coming into my room, with a key, in the middle of the night?"
That was seriously going to cramp her feelings of independence. And hadn't that been a contingency of her stay in the contract he had signed? Of course, was a contract signed by a vampire valid in civil court?
"I thought you were a serial killer, rapist, stalker, burglar type, Ethan. I was defending myself."
'Of course you were. And I can't tell you how pleased I am that you can defend yourself if need be. But next time, I truly would prefer the kiss."
He sat down on her couch like he owned it. Wait a minute. He did own it. How annoying.
"And I thought you were asleep, so I didn't wish to disturb you by knocking."
Alexis crossed her arms and just stared at him. There were so many things wrong with what he had just said. "If you thought I was asleep, then why the hell were you coming into my room? Were you going to bite me in my sleep or something?Because that is a serious no-no. There will be only consensual biting in this relationship." And she wasn't even sure how often she was going to let him do that. It was the same way with sex toys. Once you let a guy have them, he couldn't do without.
Ethan crossed his feet on the coffee table and looked unperturbed. "I wasn't going to bite you. Or wake you up with kinky sex acts, though that does have a certain appeal. I just wanted to check on you, assure myself you're all right, sleeping peacefully. I planned to gaze a bit on your angelic beauty, and sigh with contentment, fortified to go back to a long, boring round of questions and answers with Seamus."
He smiled, baby blues swimming with innocence and sincerity.
Alexis made a gagging motion with her finger. "I hope you have a speechwriter, Mr. President.Because that was lame."
"Poorly expressed, but true.And I had another reason for coming in here."
Big surprise."Oh, now the truth comes out." Trying to be discreet, Alexis sauntered over and picked up her Sidekick, so Ethan wouldn't glance at it. She was truly embarrassed to be surfing vampire slayers message loop. And she wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea.Like she was some kind of double agent who would stab him in his sleep.
Ethan snaked a hand out and tugged her down onto his lap. "I'm still waiting for that kiss."
While he had a pleasantly muscular lap, and her bare legs rubbed against the denim of his jeans in a sensual comfort, she wanted to know the real reason he was there. They had agreed to meet at 5 p.m. Monday night before the presidential debate. Her arms somehow wound around his neck without any command from her.
"I couldn't sleep. That's why I'm awake. Now why areyou here, Ethan?Seriously."
He sighed. "Actually, it's probably nothing. But you know how I can't get in your head?"
"Yes, thank God for small favors."
A little frown wrinkled his forehead. "I don't have that problem with any other mortal. Vampires close their thoughts to me, but mortals don't. And I heard Brittany . And I was wondering if you had talked to her today."
Ethan looked casual. His voice strained for casual. But it was almost overly so. Casual to the point that alarms went off in Alexis. "No. I talked to her last night after midnight. Why? What did you hear?"
If anything was wrong with Brittany , she'd well, hell, she was pretty sure she would dry up, turn to dust, and blow off in a thousand and directions.
"I heard surprise.Loud surprise." Ethan rubbed his forehead.
"I'm not sure why it even came to me Brittany 's not here, and
I don't usually focus in on an individual like that anyway." He shook his head. "But it was there, right in the middle of a strategy session with Seamus, and I just wanted to check with you. See what you thought.If you wanted to call Brittany and check on her. It's probably nothing "
The vampire slayers they knew who Alexis was. And Brittany was half-vampire, according to Ethan, but she didn't know it. Couldn't defendherself . From a fifty-cent dowel from Home Depot.
Alexis picked up the hotel phone and dialed as fast as her fingers could move.
"Why are you in my bedroom?" Brittany clutched her sheet and blinked at Corbin. After she'd screamed loud enough to be heard inReno , she had realized who the man was climbing in her window.
"Why are you not sleeping?" he asked, brushing off the knees of his designer pants and sounding annoyed.
She wondered how a man who was banished got the cash to buy such fancy clothes. Propping herself up with her elbow, she let her heart rate return to normal. She wasn't afraid of Corbin. Not in the least. "I couldn't sleep because it felt like someone was watching me."
His mouth fell open before he recovered and slapped it shut, though a faint blush tinted his cheeks.
"You were watching me, weren't you?" The thought should freak her out, but it kind of pleased her instead. He really was a cute and sweet vampire. She grinned. "Do you have a crush on me, Corbin?"
"Do not be ridiculous. I am a research physician I am ban ished . I do not have crushes on skinny women." He was pacing back and forth, stopping only to grab a pink fuzzy pen off her desk, frown at it,then put it back.
"Then why did you climb in my window?" she asked reasonably, lying on her side with her head resting on her hand. She was glad she was awake for this, though she was going to have a word or two with the building manager about the security of her building. These windows were clearly crap.
"Because my research demands zat I ignore ethics. I am zis close to a breakthrough." He held up his two fingers, an inch between them."Discovering you ez a rare opportunity to find ze gaps and links between vampire and mortal."
Wow. She was a rare research opportunity. That wasn't as sexy as she would have liked, but it was still flattering. "What are you researching, Corbin?"
Crossing his hands over his chest, he pursed his lips together. He seemed to struggle with himself, his green eyes going opaque right as she was watching them.
All her amusement vanished. She could sense his turmoil. "What? What is it?"
" Zecure," he said in a hoarse whisper."For ze curse."
"What curse?" Brittany sat up, feeling too vulnerable lying down.
" Zecurse of vampirism. I am very close to discovering how to reverse ze effects of a turning, and restore a vampire to mortal life." He glared at her defiantly, like he expected her to protest.
"Corbin," Brittany whispered, overwhelmed. This was what she had been hoping for. What she had been hanging around The Ava endlessly for.To save Ethan and the others.To rid them of their bloodsucking existence.
They were good people, all of them, and she didn't want them to spend eternity condemned to a liquid diet. And she didn't think it was all that healthy for the soul to feed off other people.
"Is that really possible?"
"I am certain of it." He scratched his chin. " Ezthis where you tell me any sane person craves immortality and zat no one will willingly return to ze weakness of mortality? Ezthis where you beg me to give you ze Gift, which ez in fact a curse?"
"No." Brittany swung her legs around so she was fully sitting up."Corbin, no. I think you are right. I think what you're doing is courageous and honorable, and I bet most people would agree with me."
He sighed.Sat down on the bed next to her. "I can hear ze sincerity of your thoughts. But Brittany , you are rare among mortals. Many people hunger for more, always more?more power, more beauty, more love,more life. They embrace what the Dark Gift promises. But ze Gift is a curse because it brings great loneliness at some point, there is no one left walking zis earthwho was connected to you in any way, no one who shares your past, your memories, your understanding of a time, a people."
His pain was palpable, like a throbbing thumb after a hammer hit, and Brittany touched his hand.Squeezed gently. "I do understand that. That when faced with eternity, you might lose your grounding with thepast, lose your purpose for the future."
"Yes. Zat ezvery true." He tried to remove her hand from his, but Brittany held it tight.
"I could remove my hand if I wanted to," he said, with French arrogance.
"I know that." Brittany nudged his shoulder with hers. "But obviously you don't really want to. I want to help you find the cure What is it you need from me?"
She already suspected.Blood. A shiver went through her."Yes, it ez what you are thinking." He turned toward her, studied her. "I need your blood."
Brittany swallowed hard, and pulled up the neckline of her shorty pajamas, which only brought it to her collarbone. Her neck was still exposed, as was a lot of the rest of her. "Did you bring your little kit thing?"
A needle in the arm wouldn't be so bad. No different than going to the Red Cross to donate blood.Which she never did, because she was afraid of needles and tended to pass out. "Yes, but I left it in the car."
"Where is your car?Because I can't stay up all night I have to go to work tomorrow, you know. I'm a dentist," she said pointlessly.
"And you're afraid of needles?"
"Well, not when I'm the one using them." She took several deep breaths and gave herself a mental pep talk. No big deal, this was for the good of vampirekind . Only a total selfish wimp would refuse to give blood because of a teeny-weeny needle prick.
"You are terrified." Corbin returned the pressure on her hand. You are shaking, and your skin has gotten clammy. Besides, I can sense your fear, it ez like a pulsing electrical charge. And your thughts are wild and scattered."
"I really wish you wouldn't listen to my thoughts. It's just not nice, Corbin." Brittany cleared her throat and hoped her heart wouldn't leave her chest like a cartooncharacter's . "And maybe you can just throw one of those glamours on me before you do anything with a needle."
"I can't puta glamour on you. I have tried and it does not work."
"Why not?"This whole experience would be much less nerve-wracking if she were in some kind of pleasure coma. Sort of like her twenty-first birthday when she had consumed three cosmopolitans in rapid succession.
"No-alcohol."Corbin gave her a stern look. " Zatwould alter my test results. And I don't know why I can't puta glamour on you. I have tried many times."
"Why were you trying to do that?" she asked in shock. What exactly had he been planning to do to her? And she was sure blood removal would be easier if she were drunk. Not that she was a partyer ?that had been her mother?but while she wanted to help the cause, she really couldn't do the needle thing.
"Do not be alarmed. I just meant there are times when you've seen things, said things, called to me, and I would have liked to, uh, soothe you."
"Soothe me? That's very sweet." Brittany took a deep breath, calmed herself down. "I want to soothe you, too, you know. I look at you and I can feel your anxiety, your desire to do what's right.' Stomach jumping just a little, she added, "You can draw my blood. I promise. But please do it quickly, okay? I don't think I can sit still for you to fill up whole pint bags."
Decision made, she screwed her eyes shut and shoved her arm at him, turning her head away. If pain forced her eyes open, she didn't want to see any needles, veins, blood flowing, or skin pulling.
"I have to get ze kit still."
She let out the breath she'd been holding in a gigantic whoosh. "Oh, shit, that's right. Well, go get it, and hurry. If you give me too much time to think, I might just pass out. Of course, that might make the whole thing easier for you." Brittany glanced over at him. "Corbin?" The room was empty.
Barely a blink later,he was climbing back in her window, a black leather attache case in his hand.Eek. That looked scary.Serial killer-like.
"What ez this obsession with serial killers?" he asked, opening the case on the nightstand.
"I don't know." Brittany peered around his back, trying to see in the bag. "I'm American. That probably explains the whole thing."
He turned to her, wearing latex gloves, needle with vial attached in his hand. She broke out into a sweat in various icky places. Without direction from her, her body leaped off the bed and took two big steps backward.
" Shhh," Corbin said."It ez not a big thing. I will be very quick and it won't hurt but for a split second."
"That's what my first boyfriend told me. And he wasso wrong." Brittany 's butt hit her wicker dresser. The picture frames on it shook, and she didn't even care. She could not let Corbin near her with that thing.
The needle went down by his side. "I can distract you if you'd like. Zat is what I normally do."
"What do you mean?" Even as the words left her mouth, Brit- tanyremembered his lips on that woman's mouth, her throaty moans of pleasure. "Oh! Like that?"
He nodded, eliminating the space between them with sure, steady, sensual steps. The look on his face had turned from compassionate to intense, determined.The hunter assessing his prey.
And how completely embarrassing that she felt sexual interest rouse itself in her body.Her hand fluttered over her breasts, a ridiculous gesture of protection.
"Yes. Like that. But only if you want me to." He leaned over her, arm brushing her bare shoulder, took in her scent with flared nostrils, and whispered in her ear. "Do you want me to?"
Brittany shivered. No, of course she didn't. That was crazy.
Impulsive.
Fun and sensual, and much more pleasant than a needle.And Corbin was French. Surely he knew how to distract a woman. "Yes, I want you to."
A faint smile crossed his face."Ah, zat ez a wonderful answer, Brittany , because I desire you."
Without using his hands to touch her, he kissed her, with more urgency, more fire, than she was expecting. An ache started low in her belly when his tongue demanded entrance to her mouth. Gripping the dresser behind her, she hung on under his assault, fear disappearing, hot,wet , need building with NASCA
speed.
A moan ripped through the room and she realized it came from her when Corbin lifted his mouth from hers. She didn't want the kiss to end, ever, and certainly not after a few seconds. But he only left long enough to maneuver himself between her legs, forcing her thighs wider apart.
The move, the intimacy so much more suggestive than a's kiss, had her panting in anticipation. "Corbin "
"Yes,ma cherie ?" He kissed along her neck, over the swell of her breasts, back up, and took her mouth with ferocity.
Brittany had been kissed many times, by many men.More than she cared to consider, and way more than she would ever admit to her much more sexually conservative sister. But Corbin's kisses were potent, like the first bite of double chocolate ice cream, the last dregs of coffee at the bottom of the cup, or a shot of vodka straight down in one gulp.
"Don't stop," she murmured.
There was movement on her arm, him brushing against her, pressure, but with his mouth on hers and his erection?hey, which wasEiffelTower in proportion?pressing against her, she couldn't think, didn't care what he did to her as long as it felt good. The room was dim, but the moonlight passed over his face, showing the intensity of his pale eyes.
"Never," he assured her. "I will never stop until you say so." There was a thump onto her dresser, and a shuffling by her hips,then suddenly both his hands were on her waist, her breasts, tweaking her nipples into hard, sensitive peaks. It came to her that he had taken her blood already, must have,because he wasn't wearing gloves any longer.
"Yes, I did," he whispered in her ear, nipping the lobe. "I did not lie, did I? I distracted you."
And then some."Yes." Brittany panted when his hands changed tactics and went up and under her PJ top, cupping and stroking her. "But if you're finished, shouldn't youstop ?"
"You told me not to."
"Oh." Brittany let her head fall back. "Then I guess you should listen to me."
Help, his hands were in her shorts, and when his fingers spread her apart and sank into her wet, willing flesh, they both groaned. There was a sharp sting in her shoulder, and she realized with amazement that Corbin had bitten her, and was running his tongue over the puncture marks, the thick beads of blood disappearing.
She should tell him to stop, because this was getting a little kinkier than she was usually up for, but she didn't tell him to stop. In fact, she begged for more, as the touch of his tongue set off a thousand pinpricks of pleasure all over her body.
Desire spiked, shifted to demanding.
"Do that again," she said, excited, hot, and eager, thrusting her hips against his fingers.
With his free hand, he pulled off her shirt. Laved across her nipples,then sank his teeth into the plumpness of her breasts. Brittany 's head snapped back and she grabbed his hand, held it deep inside her as an unexpected climax whipped through her.
"Oh, oh, oh," she groaned, with a hysterical cadence of shock and ecstasy.Holy cow.
Corbin lifted her, tossed her on her bed two feet away. Pulled down her shorts, while she tried to remember her name and why being a vampire's sex slave would be a bad thing. His mouth closed over her hipbone, sucking on her flesh. Legs shifting restlessly, she grabbed at his hair, her quick orgasm a minute before only driving her desire harder, desperate for total satisfaction.
Teeth sank into the curve of her hip, and she shuddered. When he pulled like that, sucked and drew her into him, it was a pure sexual joining, like he was touching all of her body at the same time, with tongue, fingers, lips. He released, mouth tinted a wet crimson, which he licked away as if hewere tasting her sex juices and found them absolutely delicious.
Brittany hovered on the edge of another climax, wet with want, titillated by what she was feeling. Shocked atherself and him, but thrilled with the wild, edgy desire that shoved aside her inhibitions and sank her in bliss.
When his tongue touched her clitoris, she screamed, "Corbin! Please,more, please "
When he bit the soft, tender flesh between her legs, and again on her inner thigh, when he sank his erection into her, and his teeth into her neck, she scratched and clawed at him in approval.
And when he came inside her with a hot, deep rush that had her clamping down on him in triumph, she careened into another orgasm with a cry hoarse from yelling, and a feeling that she had never known or understood her body until that moment.
Never known that two people could blend together with such wild, animal intensity.
That heady sensation lasted the length of her orgasm.
Then when her body settled back onto the sheet, and Corbin licked her torn flesh, she blinked up at him, every feeling sucked right out of her, leaving nothing except a vague embarrassment. As fast as she'd shot up, she crashed down even quicker. Crap, crap, crap, what the hell had just happened?
She'd had unprotected sex with a vampire, that's what.
Her phone rang. Immediately pulling out of her, Corbin turned his back to her, fixing his pants. Brittany felt a fierce blush burn- ingher cheeks. Oh, my God, she was a total, shameless slut who had begged a vampire to give it to her.
A glance over at her nightstand showed Alexis's cell phone on her caller ID. It was nearly four in the morning. Why would her sister be calling?
She grabbed the phone, a sick panic in her mouth. "Hello? What's the matter, Alex?"
"Nothing, I was going to ask you that. Ethan thought maybe you were in some kind of trouble."
"Why would he think that?" Relieved, Brittany grabbed the sheet and covered herself, determined not to look at Corbin, who was packing his case back up.
"He thought he heard shock from you.Yelling."
Alex sounded worried, but Brittany wanted to laugh in total horror. Ethan had heard her orgasm over at The Ava? That was so completely mortifying she wasn't even sure she could speak.
"Well, I'm fine," she managed to choke out. "Thanks for checking on me, but I need to get back to sleep." As if she'd been sleeping. "Call me tomorrow?"
"You're sure you're okay?"
No. "Positive. Love you, Alex."
"You, too, sweetie."
Brittany hung up the phone, shimmied under the sheet, and pulled the pillow over her face. She could never look at Corbin again.
Maybe if she ignored him, he would just leave.
Corbin checked the zipper on his pants for the fourth time a stared at Brittany , currently hiding under her pillow. He was embarrassed and ashamed of himself. He never, ever turned a subject into a vessel for his own pleasure. He had lost complete and total control of himself.
But Brittany was such an amazing woman, compassionate and honest, with a sensuality that was made even more appealing by the fact that she wasn'taware of it. She had pranced around in nightclothes that practically left her naked, yet never even seemed to notice. He had been lying to himself when he'd sworn he wasn't attracted to her.
Using passion to ease her discomfort over the needle had been a stupid, stupid idea. One taste of her and he'd been unable to stop from taking more.A lot more.
Moving out of her bedroom, he let his eyes adjust to the dark. He had much better than mortal vision in the dark and he wanted to find her kitchen.
"Are you leaving?" she called, her voice muffled, but hopeful. "I am getting you something to drink." He found her refrigerator, which was neat and tidy, with lots of little bottles, some of which he wasn't even sure what they contained. He recognized orange juice, knew that was a good source of sugar to replenish the blood she'd lost.
Lost? No?the blood that he'd taken. He had bitten her eight times.Eight.Taking blood each time, though not a lot. And it had been fantastic, the best sexual joining he'd had in centuries.Perhaps ever. Even now his manhood hardened in memory.
Corbin clenched his fists."Ugh, stupid, stupid, idiot."
"What?"
'Nothing."He went back to her room, found her lying ex- actlythe way he'd left her. "Drink this. You will feel better." He set the tumbler of juice on her nightstand next to the phone.
"I feel fine."
The pillow didn't move and she was nothing but a white bedding lump, a. few strands of her black hair visible on either side, her knuckles taut as she clutched.
"I guess I should be going." Corbin stood there feeling ridiculous. He should kiss herau revoir, say something nice about their lovemaking. But he felt like a young boy who takes a girl in a barn and then is unsure what conies next.
"Bye." Her fingers wiggled out from under the sheet and waved.
It had been many, many years since he had felt this kind of embarrassment and uncertainty. He did not like it.
So he left, understanding there is no bigger fool than an old fool.