I closed my eyes for a moment and strangled my inner drama queen before I said, very carefully, “Michael, if you really . . . need her . . .”
Michael Glass raised his head. The moonlight was shining full on his face, and I could read everything there, all the conflict and the love and the desperation. “I want you,” he said. “I want to stay with you. I love you. God, Eve, I love you.”
The intensity of the way he said it made my heart lurch painfully. I wanted to cry in relief, but I managed to hold the tears back. “Then don’t do that again,” I said. “Promise.”
“No,” he said. “You promise me something.”
I blinked. “I . . . promise never to dance with Oliver again?”
He didn’t laugh. “Promise me you’ll marry me,” he said. “Promise me that you’re not going to leave me. I need you, Eve. I’ve always needed you and I always will. Please. Promise me.”
I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right, not at first. Marry. It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought about it, dreamed about it, but . . . hearing him say it, right out loud, that was—terrifying. And thrilling. And terrifying, again.
I didn’t know what to say, except, finally, “Yes.” It came out a whisper, timid and slow, but it seemed to ring like a bell on the still air. I said it again, stronger. “Yes. Oh, God, yes.”
He kissed me. It wasn’t his normal kind of sweet, gentle kiss—this was full of the same intensity, the same desperate focus. I wanted him in all kinds of ways, with identical ferocity. He was growling, a little, in the back of his throat, and sliding his hands down my arms.
Then he picked me up and carried me down the steps, into the shadows. It was wild, and crazy, and stupid, but neither of us cared just then; we just needed.
And that moment came, when his teeth grazed my neck. I thought about Gloriana, about that need inside him she’d used against him. I thought about all my long-held vows to myself, and weighed all that against how much I loved him.
I put my hand on his cheek. “Michael.” He licked my skin, just above the veins. “Michael, do it. Go ahead.”
For a second he didn’t move, and then he slowly pulled away and looked down at me. I couldn’t read his expression. “You’re sure,” he said. “You’re really sure.”
“I’m sure. Just, you know, don’t—” Kill me, I thought. My heartbeat was thumping so fast it sounded like war drums. “I don’t want to be turned. You know that.”
“I know,” he said, very softly. “One more time. You’re sure.”
“Yes.” This time, I heard certainty in my own voice, and a kind of peace settled over me. “Yes.”
I can’t remember what it felt like, not really; it was overwhelming, and scary, and wonderful, and so, so much better than I’d ever imagined. He licked the wound gently, until the bleeding stopped, and then gently kissed it. I felt dizzy and woozy and unbelievably high—vampire bites can do that, if they do it right. If they take the time. Or so I’d heard.
I sank against Michael’s chest, and he held me. “Okay?” he whispered. I made a wordless sound of pleasure and snuggled in against him. “Thank you.”
I laughed. “It wasn’t a gift, Michael.”
He kissed my nose. “No,” he agreed. “But you are. I don’t know what I’d be without you, Eve. But I don’t want to find out.”
“Not even if Gloriana comes calling?”
“Especially,” he said, very seriously. “You were amazing, by the way. You made her look . . .”
“Cheap?” I said cheerfully.
“Immature,” he said, and kissed my hand. “You looked like the sexiest woman in the world.”
“Well, in fairness, I am the sexiest woman in the world.”
“And you’re always right.”
“You are so brilliant.”
He helped me to my feet, and got handsy settling my dress back around me comfortably. Then he held me in place and stared down at me for a long moment.
“Am I really sexier than Gloriana?” I asked.
And that got me a slow, very sexy smile. “Sorry, don’t think I know anyone by that name.”
And then he took off his suit jacket, wrapped it around my shoulders, and walked me back up to the party.
VEXED
Dedicated to Cassie Gilmon for her support of the Morganville digital series Kickstarter, 2014
And now, we have our next original short story . . . and another one for Myrnin, because Cassie wanted it that way! Technically, it’s Myrnin and Oliver, who have a strange affinity, mostly because they’re both capable of being utterly weird and cruel when pushed, but also capable of kindness. Myrnin’s kindness is on display here, but so is his weirdness, and Oliver’s cruelty. A little of everything, and a creepy tale of a pursuit that ends in a sinister house with secrets, ghosts, lies, and monsters.