Chapter 4
They arrived at a large brick building with no windows. “I recognize this place. It’s a bar predominantly for vampires.”
“It’s my favorite. I get treated like a person here, instead of a celebrity.”
As soon as they entered the hostess came to them. “Dakota you look beautiful tonight. What is the special occasion?”
Dakota placed a hand on the girl’s arm. “Opera date with a gorgeous guy.”
Her friend glanced at him and said, “I’ll say. Where did you find him?”
Dakota smiled and replied, “I hunted him of course.” The hostess giggled assuming it was a hunter joke.
By that time, they were at a small table in the back of the room. Dakota smiled but was not willing to answer any more questions about her attractive date.
A waiter came over and dropped a bottle of her favorite wine on the table and asked Alek if he would like a drink. Dakota said smoothly, “No, thank you. You can check on us later if you get a minute.”
Alek looked at her strangely. “This is not just a bar for vampires. In the evening, it’s apparently a couple’s bar for vampires with human partners.”
“I thought you might be more comfortable here. The vampires feed in the open here.”
Alek looked around. Dakota saw the understanding click on his face when he saw each human was drinking wine or a mixed drink, but each vampire was discretely feeding off their partner.
“Being in a room is thoroughly arousing. I can scent the blood of several dozen people in the air. I’ve had heard of places like this, but I never imagined they were this arousing.”
“They’re considered very intimate and romantic among your kind.”
“So why do you think the waiter was surprised when you sent him away? Would he not expect me to do as the others here are doing with their partners?”
Dakota looked amused, scooted her chair closer to him and held his hand. “He is a former gentleman friend of mine, and I don’t think he can quite get his head around me feeding for pleasure rather than necessity. We never did that in the time we were together.”
“I thought I explained that I don’t usually do that either.”
She reminded him, “I think I explained that ‘usually’ is not the same as ‘never.’ I very much enjoy bonding in that way with you. Have you ever considered taking a preferred feeding partner?”
Her new love seemed taken aback by her words. “I’ve actually been thinking of little else besides spending time with you and tasting your blood. Does that make me the stereotypical thirsting vampire in your mind?”
“Hardly. It makes you someone I’d love to feed.”
She lifted her wrist to his lips. His curious eyes found hers and seemed to be searching for something. He turned his head to the wall and discretely and very gently bit her wrist. Dakota closed her as he began to suck and lick her wrist. It was intensely erotic for the both of them.
Running her hand through his hair, she pulled it forward over his cheeks. “It’s a pleasure to see you with your hair down tonight.” He was gorgeous with his fangs slightly extended and his eyes turned ever so slightly red.
“There are times when being a creature of habit really works against me. I’ve been pulling it back for so long, I don’t even think about it anymore. Tonight, I wore it down for you.”
“I do love your long hair.”
Wrapping an arm around her, he bit into her wrist openly. She nuzzled her face against his neck. Hearing a disapproving sound from nearby, they both looked up to see his daughter, Arianna and her human partner, John staring down at them.
It was awkward to be caught feeding by his older daughter. Alek was the first to speak. “John, I didn’t realize you were back. I’m surprised to see the two of you out on a weeknight. I would have thought you would be squirreled away together catching up on lost time, maybe studying advance nuclear mechanics or partial physics.”
Dakota noticed that the young woman did not look the least bit amused and her partner was thoroughly confused.
Dakota asked politely, “Won’t the two of you join us?”
Arianna replied, “Well, let me think about that for a minute. How would that play out? Would I feel quite comfortable pleasure feeding in front of my own father? More importantly, would he feel comfortable doing that in front of me? I think not. Really father, I do not think this is your kind of place.”
Alek immediately stood up, said “Please excuse us.” and literally walked off with his daughter by the arm. They stopped at the bar and Alek had pointed words with her.
Dakota stood staring at her mate and leisurely asked, “Aren’t you going to go over and make sure she’s ok?”
He looked at her like she had two heads and said, “Get in the middle of a family argument with those two? You better believe I would not do that for love or money.”
Dakota teased him, “So who are you more afraid of him or her?”
John looked shocked and replied guardedly. “Tough call…Arianna, I guess because at the end of the night we leave together.”
Dakota smiled and said, “Good decision.”
She watched Arianna walk towards the door, and her mate nodded to Dakota and followed her. Dakota noticed Marko had taken a couple of steps toward Alek and Arianna when Alek had his hand on her arm. Dakota had also notice Arianna’s eyes were on Marko quite a lot lately.
Alek walked back over, sat down looking very aggravated. “I am so sorry about that. My daughter has very strong ideas about how I should conduct my personal affairs.”
“Maybe coming here was a bad idea. I apologize if my choices are causing conflict within your family.”
The irritation slipped from his face. “I think maybe we are a little too involved in each other’s personal lives. I got questioned by my youngest daughter when I arrived home from visiting you earlier in the week. I don’t know how but she knew I had been out with you in particular.”
Dakota wrinkled her pretty nose trying to figure it out. “You came to my house, and there was no one else present. Did you use your GPS to find my house? You can track those online now if you have the registration number on the back of the device. It is a hunter trick she learned from my son no doubt.”
He smiled ruefully. “I would not have thought of that. Selene is a bit on the curious side.”
Dakota thought about it for a moment and pointed out the obvious. “She is probably worried about losing you again. I suspect she makes it her business to know where you are these days.”
Alek looked devastated as he realized she was probably right.
“Her behavior is very normative for someone who has been through such a trauma. I suspect her hypervigilance will fade in time.”
“One would hope so. Maybe I should get her a counselor to talk to. I didn’t think about that piece because she seems so happy and well adjusted. Now, I’m thinking that if we scratched the surface, all kinds of problems would come floating to the top.”
“Over the weeks that I hunted you I began to realize she was probably smarter than all the rest of us put together.”
“My girls are phenomenal. How about your son, does he hunt with you often?”
She sat back slightly in her seat. Alek touched on a sensitive subject. “I have invited him several times, but he declined. He only began to hunt with me when I agreed to take your case, no doubt because of his relationship with your precious daughter. Before that, he refused to hunt with me or live with me.”
Alek smoothly moved the conversation in a slightly different direction by saying, “Children his age can be difficult. Let me assure you that although I dearly love my children, some days it takes everything I’ve got to maintain my calm with them.”
“I believe that strong-willed parents make strong-willed children.” They shared the look of parents with difficult children.
She mentioned casually that John had not been very interested in getting involved in their discussion. His face darkened. “My daughter and I rarely disagree however when it happens we both have very strong personalities, and he tends to get caught in the middle. I think she just wants us to argue, come to a conclusion and make up so her life can get back to normal.”
Dakota dammed him with faint praise. “John seems like a nice person.”
“I suppose.”
“How strong is their bond? I do not think he will be long for your family. I think that perhaps Arianna is destined for the arms of a vampire male.”
Alek dark mood evaporated.
Dakota glanced at Marko, now sitting alone at the bar. “Marko is extraordinary. He is strong, attractive, and wealthy. He also speaks her native language.”
“Yes, he would be an outstanding choice for my daughter.”
Dakota spoke cautiously. “I thought there was a very small but statistically significant chance he was going to walk over and tear your head off for having your hands on her that way. He took a couple of steps toward the two of you before he could think to stop himself.”
Much to her surprise Alek looked pleased by that information. “My daughter has some decisions to make, to be sure.” Then he grabbed her hands, brought them to his lips and continued, “My irritating daughter and ridiculous love triangles are not what I want us to spend our time talking about, my dear.” He looked at her, smiled, and said, “You are a wonderful person, Dakota. Please know that I will not ever push you to talk about things with me that make you uncomfortable.”
Dakota scooted her chair so close their bodies were touching and slid her hand into his again. He kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you for coming out with me, and thank you for bringing me here. I have never been to a place such as this, and it is an experience I will cherish.”
She smiled and thought that he might be a person with a kind and romantic heart. They talked again for a long time as he fed from her wrist.
He asked, “Isn’t your wrist getting sore?”
She replied, “No, but if I lied and said it was would you be inclined to bite my neck?”
He licked the broken flesh on her wrist and warned playfully. “Careful with the vampire flirting, my sweet. You could easily get yourself into trouble with me tonight.”
Dakota smiled seductively. “Promises, promises.”
The look on his face was one of arousal and bewilderment. Even she had to admit that the love play between the two of them had been immediate and intense. She literally just couldn’t help herself.
She smiled and said, “Ok, your choice. What should we talk about?”
He thought for a moment. “I have one question that had been burning a hole in my soul.”
“Shoot.”
“I have noticed you on the arm of mostly vampires. Why is it you shun human males in favor of vampires?” She was surprised that he was so forward about such a personal issue.
She sipped her drink and replied thoughtfully. “I would not describe myself as actually shunning human men. A bad early experience has made me a little shy of them. I was abducted from my family when I was an adolescent by humans. My mother felt that paying the ransom was the quickest and easiest way to get me back. She forced my father to pay, but I ended up dropped in the middle of one of the last remaining jungles in South America.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you. It must have been traumatizing.”
“My parents hired a hunter to retrieve me. I would have died there if I had not been tracked by a remarkable vampire hunter by the name of Garan. He was the last remaining member of one the great vampire houses. All I saw at the time was that he was gorgeous and by far the best warrior I had ever met. His skills are unmatched by anyone I have met since. It took us 4 months to fight our way out of the jungle and back to civilization. By that time, I was a reasonably proficient hunter and carrying his child. I was sixteen, and he was ninety-eight.” Alek looked absolutely shocked.
Dakota continued, “Please don’t blame Garan. As you are all too well aware vampires, live to be 500, and he was a very young ninety-eight. In his defense, he told me no, absolutely not, forget it and every other phrase to communicate how inappropriate that was in three different languages. However, I was young, infatuated and as persistent as I am now. To his credit, it took me three full months and much seductive trickery to wear him down but once I did, making love to him was everything I could have ever imagined it to be. The first night I pushed him into the bloodlust, and he was so beautiful I could not stop myself from doing it every day until we walked out of the jungle.”
His eyes were riveted on her as she spoke.
“My parents sent a plane for me. I eventually had my child, and my father forced me to give him up for adoption. It was thoroughly heartbreaking. I thought about nothing else until I turned eighteen except finding my child and getting back to Garan. Durk was my best friend growing up and my primary support person in those dark two years. On my eighteenth birthday, I began tracking Jared. When I came up empty handed, I went back and found Garan. I went against my parents’ wishes, lived with him for five years in South America and went to college there as I expanded the search for my son internationally. I honestly haven’t spoken with my father again. My mother passed before I turned eighteen and my father died in a vehicle accident about four years ago.”
Alek seemed enthralled with her life’s story.
She continued, “Garan taught me to hunt, shoot and track. However, I had to admit in my womanhood what my adolescent mind would not allow me to see. Garan was a wonderful person, but I was not actually in love with him. I left and spent the next several years searching for Jared, and when I found him, he agreed to spend every other weekend with me but would not come to live with me. He has visited me more since we hunted together for you and that pleases me more than you can know.”
“As you can see my early experiences taught me that human men were untrustworthy, but vampire men were not only trustworthy but also strong, beautiful, resourceful and erotic lovers.”
Alek smiled, clearly in awe of her early adventures. “You really should write an autobiography. Your story is like an exotic love story. It’s very romantic.”
“Except, I didn’t get to live happily ever after.”
He leaned over, ran his hand over her cheek. “Well, maybe the verdicts still out on that.”
Dakota sighed. “My primary malfunction as a woman seems to be that I pick wonderful vampire men to have relationships with because I like them not because I am attracted to them like a female should be to a male. That is how I ended up in a long-term relationship with Durk. He was everything I thought I ever wanted in a male. He’s extremely large, all long hair and sexy fangs. Just looking at him with his shirt off has been known to provoke orgasms in human women. I love him, but I am not one bit attracted to him that way. I have never been able to figure out exactly why I am not head over heels in love with that sexy ass vampire.”
Alek just smiled the self-satisfied smile of a vampire male that totally turned her on. He would have to know she was thoroughly attracted to him because she couldn’t seem to keep her hands off him. “Hearing that few other males provoke those feelings for you makes my night.”
“Not being actually in love with my boyfriends also probably explains why they walk out on me with such alarming regularity. Everyone is looking for love, and romance and my relationships run short on that quality. Without love as an anchor, most males are not forgiving about the amount of time I spend hunting.”
He asked curiously. “It brings up an interesting question though. Who is responsible for hunting the hunter…if you ever turned up missing who would look for you?”
She sat back in her chair, crossed her arms in front of her and sat staring at him for a long moment. Dakota felt that amused fun-loving expression slide from her face. From the expression on Alek’s face, she must have replaced it with a sad or slightly apprehensive one. He looked like a man who realized he had just made a serious misstep.
She finally admitted. “No one hunts for hunters unless we are fortunate enough for another good hunter to figure out we are missing. I don’t know if you realize this, but we hunters have a prodigiously high death rate. I know that one day I will die doing what I love, and I am fine with that. It does bother me a little to know that if I am taken no one will look for me except Jared and perhaps Durk. Jared is far too inexperienced and will probably get himself killed trying to find and free me. Durk will only be helpful if I am kidnapped by a human female who loves long haired vampires with sexy fangs in which case he could kiss our way to freedom.”
I’m aware that Durk is an accomplished vampire warrior, but thinking of that womanizer kissing his way to freedom is hilarious.”
She could hear the sincerity in his voice as he explained, “Dakota although you might not be able to tell it from looking at me I am actually an extremely adept fighter. I fought in the alien wars and learned all manner of hunting techniques. I can shoot a thirty-six on a good day, and I speak four languages. I am extremely wealthy and can easily afford to hire a legion of hunters. Rest assured that no matter what happens between us I will hunt you if the need should arise because you once hunted for me.”
“Thanks for the offer.”
“I promise to keep Jared out of harm’s way. I’m afraid your friend Durk is on his own though.”
Dakota smiled and teased him lightly, “I can’t believe you would leave Durk to his own devices? Just when I was beginning to believe you were a nice person.”
Alek was unrelenting on that issue. “I’m sure there are any number of stunningly beautiful human females willing to throw themselves into harm’s way for your friend. The bigger question is how he will manage the stampede of human females when you are not here to run interference for him.” Dakota knew he was referring to pouncing on Rachel the other night.
She had not realized he was in the room when she did that and was now slightly embarrassed. She shrugged and explained, “About that, Durk kind of takes on all comers and that fact that he was extremely aloof with the pushy female sent up a red flag for me. He is and probably will always be my best friend. It made me mad to see her bullying him that way. Sometimes where my emotions are concerned I pounce first and figure it out later.”
Alek replied honestly, “You don’t owe me an explanation, but it is nice that you offered one because I was curious. Durk is lucky to have you.”
Dakota tilted her head slightly. “Durk doesn’t ‘have me’…you do…that is if you want me.”
The look on Alek’s face was priceless, and he was utterly speechless.
She decided to turn the tables on him by stating, “I have never seen you with a human female until tonight. You seem to shun human women at about the same rate I inadvertently shun human males. You are handsome, intelligent, charming and successful so I can’t imagine you would have a problem finding a mate. Why do you choose to remain unattached?”
He looked uncomfortable and replied “Most of my friends are vampires…I really don’t know how that happened. Probably because I have been alive for 99 years and humans come and go, but my vampire friends just seem to hang on forever.”
“To be quite honest I can’t imagine what it would have been like traveling the stars in a spaceship only to end up landing on earth of all places. That must have been a bit of a strange disappointment.”
His face darkened and seemed to be struggling to find the words to describe the situation. “Trust me when I say being on the ships was not very much fun. The vampires along with several other alien species were carried as slaves, and our lot was difficult…oppressive really.”
Dakota immediately noticed by the tone of his voice that he was reliving some anguish. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories for you. I guess people must ask you about that time period of your life all the time. It must be a bore. Come, we can talk about something else if you like.”
He smiled slightly. “You would be surprised at how many avoid that conversation. It has been only 50 years since the wars began and 33 since they were over. Many humans lost parents and grandparents. Not many want to talk about such things, and even after all this time it helps me to talk about it.”
She seemed relieved and asked curiously. “So, was there anything you really enjoyed about your time traveling in space?”
He was thoughtful for a moment before speaking. “Well, the views out the portals were beautiful. It was interesting visiting alien planets. Also, some of the other alien’s we met were nice. I would not have believed there to be so much biological diversity in the verse unless I’d seen it with my own eyes.”
“How many different species did you encounter?”
“I saw least a hundred different intelligent species, mostly humanoid and aquatic.”
“That must have been amazing.”
“It was, but what really interested me was the tech we encountered. There seemed to be an endless opportunity to learn and develop new technology. I’ve spent my time on earth revisiting and developing prototypes for the tech I encountered.”
“Would you feel comfortable talking about what you didn’t like?”
He immediately stated, “The work was dangerous, difficult and the hours were long. We were considered highly expendable. I remember it as being endless toil at jobs that were not challenging or fulfilling. There were so few females that most males never thought to have an opportunity to have a sexual encounter, much less find a mate to make the bond with. I was almost 48-years-old before I ever mated the first time. Mating rarely happened on the ships…maybe once a year if we were lucky. I found that the lack of attention by females decreased my desire for such things and damaged my self-esteem. Even to this day, I feel generally unattractive because in that environment the females had a strong preference for large warrior types.”
Surprise and shock flooded her system. Alek was by far the most attractive male she’d ever seen, vampire or any other species. “Again, I think you seriously underestimate yourself in that area.”
He smiled, shook his head and continued, “Another genuine hardship was that not all aliens had suitable blood for feeding. It seemed that we were always hungry. The entire idea of finding a preferred feeding partner was non-existent. We fed to survive, and there was no preference to it. To have happened onto a planet with so many billions of people with blood suitable for feeding and so many millions who were willing to share themselves that way, well it was our idea of heaven. I can still remember when I discovered how very sweet human blood tasted and that more than one person was willing to allow me to feed from them. I could not even believe I had a choice. It took me years to link the concept of feeding to pretty women. In the beginning, it was feeding with your fighting partner. We were feeding only to survive and surviving only to fight.”
“I have heard stories of how brutal the alien wars were. Thank you for your service.”
Bowing his head slightly in acknowledgment of the age-old ritual of thanking soldiers for their service, he continued speaking. “Once the freedom of earth was won, we had the luxury of feeding for pleasure. I think that my history of living on the ships, feeling conflict about feeding from other creatures and being unsure about how others felt about feeding me has always made me think synthetic blood is a more appropriate option. I don’t have to worry about keeping up with emotional women.”
She raised an eyebrow. “So, you don’t like emotional women? If a woman has no emotions how is it that she is supposed to love you?”
His eyes slid away. “Honestly, I don’t think a woman ever has.”
Dakota was all kinds of skeptical about that. “I think that maybe you don’t open yourself to the opportunity to love very often or you might have a different tale to tell.”
His voice became light and playful. “I am growing worried that sharing such things will not make me more attractive in your eyes.”
She leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips. She ran her fingers through his hair and down the side of his face before speaking. “Do you know humans believe that enduring hardship builds character and makes you a better person?”
“No, I have never heard of that, but I can see where you are going with that concept. You think that because I endured hardship on the ships and during the wars it has made me stronger and more resilient?”
She smiled as he traced one finger along her jawline and he murmured, “Humans are sometimes very perceptive about such things.”
“We are perceptive about many things. So, were you shocked that humans already knew of vampires before you arrived?”
He laughed lightly. “We guessed that at some point in human evolution vampires must have landed here because you even had a concept of us. Although your perception of us was not very accurate, at least it gave us a starting point in talking about ourselves and our needs. A lot of what we were told was absolute nonsense. We were told everything from the sunlight would kill us to you have to drive a wooden stake through our heart to kill us to we couldn’t cast a reflection. We were even told by some humans that if we bit someone, then they would become vampires. We were amused that humans thought getting bit could change your species. People told us we could turn into small flying creatures and fly away…what were they called…oh yes, bats. That was bizarre because we are normally likened to a leach of some sort. Some even told us that we were not alive…that we were the walking dead. In fact, we were told some very disrespectful things in the beginning.”
Dakota could hear a mixture of amusement, sadness, and pain in his voice.
She held his hand in hers and explained gently. “Well, vampire physiology is substantially different from human physiology. For example, vampires have a lower natural body temperature and do not necessarily require oxygen to breathe. That coupled with your exceptionally long life spans probably led primitive humans to believe that you were not of the living. Driving anything through your heart would actually kill you or me for that matter. Also, vampires are stronger and faster than humans. Especially when you are in your bloodlust…you could probably lift a car. All of that is impressive to humans. Humans were confused because when your kind first came off the ships, you did not speak our language, were very aloof and were not very receptive to feeding from humans. I think those things were off-putting to the humans who were trying to welcome you and lead to a lot of misconceptions.”
“Well, when I first came off the ship I didn’t know if our kind would be welcome here or not. Most worlds are suspicious of us because we subsist on blood. They see us as parasites and seem to think that we have no feelings to hurt so being rude to us is somehow acceptable. If someone is disrespectful to me, it makes me want to avoid feeding from them no matter how hungry I am. I can go days without feeding and even get by on animal blood indefinitely if I must. Now that we have the option of synthetic blood there is really no reason to generate such animosity overfeeding.”
Dakota pointed out, “Then there was the issue that many of you seemed to resemble the Kalian in appearance. Your kind did not seem to like to take human mates, and that made us feel that vampires did not like humans very much. We couldn’t figure out what we were doing that was off-putting to your kind. It was very confusing for us.”
Alek smiled and explained, “Vampires tend to take on faint physical characteristics of whatever creatures we feed from. The Kalian are a compassionate people and were the most accommodating about feeding us on the ships, so naturally, after many years, we appeared to have some Kalian traits. Personally, I prefer to look more human because it more closely resembles my natural state. Synthetic blood was designed to have human genetic markers, so naturally, after feeding on it for a number years, I appear more human.”
He seemed thoughtful and continued, “Regarding our willingness to take human mates please know that most other alien species are very protective of their females, the females were usually terrified of us, and we were therefore not welcome to mate with them. I would have never imagined in a million years that human females would take such a liking to vampire males. Trust me when I say that is totally unprecedented. I have never encountered a world where the females were so open and loving to our kind. Earth is absolutely unique in that regard.”
“That was kind of your own fault for being so attractive and sexy.”
Alek shook his head in amazement, before responding. “Trust me vampires have never been accused of being attractive until we came here. I was suspicious for a long time when human females got close to me they were more interested in harming me rather than feeding or having sex with me.”
“That is totally unbelievable to me.”
Alek continued, “Your speech was difficult to understand, and that contributed to a lot of misunderstandings until we developed translation software that assisted us in learning your language. I really think that if it were not for the alien overlords threatening Earth and our agreement to join forces with the humans, our reception might have not been quite so warm. I think your kind was compassionate toward us because we had been held in captivity and enslaved for so very long. By some miracle of fate, the humans were willing to give us a chance. Thank goodness most vampires were good about keeping their word to the humans.”
“I heard that every soldier wanted a vampire partner during the alien wars.”
“I was always impressed by the humans fighting ability. We may be stronger and faster, but the humans were tenacious and could develop and execute a plan of attack better than any alien ever dreamed. The humans taught us to fight in unison and never thought of us as expendable. I remember how shocking it was to realize my human fighting companions had my back in battle. Trust me when I say few people in my life up to that point cared anything about my safety. Their concern made me feel valued. I lost many friends both alien and human before the war was won. It made me reluctant to get close to others for a while.”
Dakota said, “I have read that human fighters were very keen to have vampire partners because having a partner who was strong, fast, with super sharp senses enhanced their chances of survival dramatically. Also, there were few wounds that did not heal rapidly with a topical application of vampire saliva.”
Alek smiled, shook his head. “So much of the story of our landing seems ludicrous now…alien overlords…saliva on wounds. It sounds positively barbaric. However, it is all true.”
“You know, I was surprised that there was not more resistance to humans and vampires mating. I think that because humans lost so many men in the alien wars that vampire males were very welcomed to fill the void. Also, vampire men are hot and sexy. I think many human females would have mated with them no matter the backlash. Why is it you seemed to have so few vampire females in your ships?”
“Unfortunately, their survival rate was low because they were nowhere near as strong as the males.”
Dakota looked sympathetic. “I suppose no vampire male would want to mate with a human female if they had a vampire female to choose instead.”
He was shaking his head before she even finished the sentence. “I think most would want a human female even if there were a choice. We love human females for the same reasons other aliens do. Human females are warm, soft, sensual, open and loving. Feeding issues aside, human and mixed heritage females are preferred mating partners for many alien species because the mating is such a sensual experience. After being on earth for fifty years, the gold standard in pair bonding for our kind has become to choose someone to mate with who can also be our preferred feeding partner. This is now considered very romantic among our kind because it is such a novel concept to us. What most people don’t realize is vampires pose no real threat to any civilization because given the option we would simply breed ourselves into extinction at every opportunity. In fact, that may be what happened to the vampires who came here early in earth history. I would definitely prefer a human female over a vampire female because humans are so warm and loving. I guess I am hopeless romantic as well.”
Dakota tilted her head slightly. “If that is the case then why do not pursue human females more diligently. You are extremely attractive and could probably have just about any woman you want.”
He thought for a moment and then replied “You are intelligent to point out the biggest contradiction in my life. Perhaps it’s because I am socially awkward and never quite sure how to approach women. It is clear to me that I am not very interesting, and no woman would probably want to stay with me for long. Also, I don’t want to get attached to someone my girls will not feel comfortable being around. When you have children, it just seems better not to have women coming and going. I don’t want them to be hurt or keep getting attached to women who end up leaving me.”
“Do you mind if I asked about Selene and Arianna’s mother. I don’t sense any human heritage in them, so I’m thinking their mother was a vampire.”
“After the wars, I never gave a thought to females in general and just worked on building my business. I was introduced to a vampire female many years later, and we mated. She conceived Arianna but was not interested in being a mother or my mate. Her relationship with me was never exclusive. I think that perhaps she just enjoyed my lovemaking skills.”
Dakota smiled and replied boldly. “Honestly, who wouldn’t?”
He smiled shyly and continued. “I agreed to take the child to raise, and she agreed that would be best. I have seen her several times off and on throughout the years. We mated about once every couple of years. I was hoping to have another sibling for Arianna. On one occasion about sixteen and a half years ago we mated, and she did end up with child. Again, she was not interested in being a mother or my mate, so I took the child. I have not seen her since I brought Selene home because I am not interested in having more children with her and our attachment to one another was not that strong.”
“I’m glad you ended up with children. I think you have a lot to offer in that area.”
“I love my daughters, and as you have already discovered, I do not seek the company of women. I go for my massage once a week. If I am having problems managing my sexual frustration, I go more often. I have been up to five times a week at times. My masseuse is very accommodating, but we have a strict understanding. It is massage only…with well, you know.”
Dakota smiled and said, “What you are trying to say is that you don’t have a relationship. You don’t kiss. You don’t touch her. And she only uses her hands.”
He looked self-conscious, and eyes darted away. “You have a polite way of saying everything Dakota. It is one of the many qualities that attracted me to you. Spending time with you has made me begin to long for things I never gave much thought to before.”
Dakota beamed as she felt the love multiplying in her chest for him. “So how long did it take before you began to really feel at home on earth?”
Alek smiled back uncomfortably and shrugged. “Still waiting for that I’m afraid. This feels too good to be true. I worry any moment that they’ll round us all up and try to get rid of us.”
“You know our population would riot in the streets if the governments tried to pull something like that.”
“I think you may right, but I have lived a long time and seen many truly bizarre and unpredictable things come to pass. Though the logical side of my brain tells me tragedies are rare, the emotional side of my brain knows there is no rhyme or reason when it does.”
Dakota leaned forward, kissed him again. “Thank you for sharing so much about yourself with me tonight. I can tell it is difficult for you to speak of such things but it helps me know you on the inside. I really appreciate your honesty.”
He smiled slightly and responded, “You will have to forgive the babbling of fools and madmen.”
She liked it when he quoted famous passages of literature. She smiled and explained, “Sometimes I think that human men are not very interesting. I assimilate a lot of information in a day, and most humans just can’t keep up. I suppose vampires have lived longer, seem to be more educated and more well-read. They seem to have more character, and it is simply more entertaining for me to spend time in the company of vampires.”
He looked disappointed and stated teasingly. “I was hoping that you somehow just liked cold-blooded men.”
She smiled, ran her fingers through his hair and kissed him with a growing passion. “You got the last comment was 100% accurate, handsome.”
“I like this public place that gives us just enough privacy to spend time together without letting things go too far.”
Waggling her eyebrows, she responded tartly. “I don’t.”
He looked at her for a brief moment. “So, do you ever actually eat food? Why do I never see you eat?”
“Except when you were sick why is it I have never seen you really feeding?”
He seemed to get irritated. “You know why that is. Feeding is private for vampires. Humans eat all the time, morning, noon and night around just everyone. Why are you evading my question?”
She held up one hand. “I wasn’t trying to irritate you. The reason I don’t eat around you is that most vampires find humans food a little repulsive. Why would I intentionally do something off-putting in front of a gorgeous guy?”
He looked at her for a long hard moment, as if he were trying to judge the honesty of her words.
Her voice softened, and she elaborated. “Besides, I don’t get to see you often. I want us to spend time talking and being together in a meaningful way, not eating. Eating is boring, this is exciting. It really is that simple.”
“It’s nice of you to try to accommodate my needs and desires, but I don’t wish to see you go hungry for the privilege.”
“I’m not sure why, but I’ve never placed a high priority on eating. It’s not enjoyable for me. I know that makes me strange.”