CHAPTER NINE
Bleu stood in a lavish bedroom beside a wall to ceiling window. Night had fallen in Virginia, but the property they were on was lit up and active. With the window open, she could hear people outside talking. When she’d come up, the library had been nearly empty, just one person at a table reading, but the rest of the house had been active. This reminded her a bit of being back at college when she’d moved off campus to the sorority house. Only this house was filled with vampires instead of sorority girls.
“Are you all right?”
She turned, smiled when she saw Umberto standing in the doorway. “I thought they were going to imprison me, or at least punish me.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Umberto stepped fully into the room and closed the door. He was dressed more formally than usual. But in black slacks and a black button up shirt, he look every bit as sexy as he did in his rock star garb. “And now all of that is finished and you’re Talhari now. Well…almost.”
“Almost?”
“You have that Intel-S, which is good enough for the order, but it’s not good enough for me.” He shrugged. “You’re still mortal. Damn hard to kill, but mortal. You need to be like the rest of us.”
The breath caught in the back of Bleu’s throat. “A vampire?”
Umberto came closer, slowly closing the distance between them. “Yep.”
“My life will change.”
“Yes. But not in the way you think. We’re not cursed the way blood drinkers are. No Talhari has taken a human life. So we can walk in daylight, we can eat if we’re trying to blend in, but we don’t require food. We can walk in churches and touch holy objects, because we aren’t cursed. And most importantly, you and I will never be separated again. Until we step in the fire together and end our lives.
So it was the curse that made the difference, taking a human life. In truth, though, none of that mattered. If Umberto wanted her to become a vampire, she would become a vampire. Her years of training, her need to be a CHI, all of it was drowned in her desire for him. Maybe this was what her life had been building to all along. She couldn’t know.
He reached for her, cupped her face in his hands. Face somber, he studied her features. “You know what I want.”
It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Nevertheless, she nodded. “You want me to stay with you.”
“For all eternity.”
She nodded. “I want to be with you.”
He ran his fingers over her shoulders, his touch so gentle that it could have been the brush of wind.
She shivered, let her head drop back to expose her throat. “Take me, Umberto.”
He made no move to obey, but continued to stroke her. Her arms, the tip of one nipple, her stomach, his fingers glided over her as though they were hungry for the feel of her skin.
“After tonight, there’s no going back,” he said, nuzzling her throat.
She exhaled heavily when his lips brushed the underside of her chin, shivered when the edge of a fang scraped gently over her artery. “Yes. Please. I don’t need another day.”
He lifted her and carried her to the bed. Her body sank into the mattress beneath him. With a moan, she hugged him closer, arching her head further to expose more of her throat.
“You want me, Bleu?”
“Yes.”
“Forever?”
She gazed into his eyes, hoping he’d be able to see into her soul and know this was what she wanted.
“Please.”
He released her, pushed off the bed, and was standing before she had a chance to tighten her hold on him.
“Hush,” he said when she opened her mouth to complain. With a smile that sent a delicious thrill through her, he kicked off his shoes, then he unfastened his pants, let them slide down his legs, and stepped out of them. She’d never seen him naked in full light, had never known how truly perfectly his body was.
“I can see my body pleases you.” He knelt on the bed and gazed down at her.
His skin was flushed, his lips full and red. Though his fangs were clearly visible and his eyes more red than brown, she felt no fear. “You’re the one who’s beautiful.”
Moving slowly, he bent over her and crushed her into the mattress beneath him.
“I’ll always love you,” he promised.
She hiccuped when he sucked her earlobe into his mouth and licked. “For all eternity.” He licked her from her ear to her neck. “I knew you’d love me too, eventually. Even if I had to capture you and seduce you to make it happen.” He smiled.
She touched him, ran her fingers over his back, down his spine and cupped his buttocks in her palms, urging him closer. “Take me, Umberto.”
He edged her thighs wide with his knee. The moment she felt him between her legs she shivered.
“From this moment on, you belong to me,” he said.
She cried out when his fangs sank into her throat, closed her eyes when he fastened his lips to her skin and began to suckle.
The pleasure nearly leveled her. She clung to the mattress, panted into his hair. Hunger flowed over her like warm cream. She didn’t know whether it was his pheromones, her desire, or both, but she wanted him with a desperation that stunned her.
He reared back so fast she’d barely seen him move. In the next instant, his wrist was at her mouth and his blood was dripping between her lips. He cradled her head, urging her gently to swallow. And she did.
She felt him ease back, held her breath when he paused for torturous seconds, then cried out in pleasure when he thrust inside of her.
He growled, clasped her hands and entwined his fingers with hers, then set a rhythm that pushed her nearer to the edge.
She clung to him, dug her nails into his hands even as he forced her hands against the mattress.
He arched back to stare at her. She should have been terrified by his blood red gaze, disturbed by the trace of blood—her blood—on his fangs, but she wasn’t. Desire, need, and surrender were what she felt. She was Umberto’s, now and forever.
“Umberto,” she moaned. His lips were like fine wine, his passion nearly too much. Every touch, every new sensation brought her to a higher level of ecstasy. She was mindless with passion, drunk with desire.
When he sank into her core and pulsed, she lost the last bit of control and soared over the edge.
She bucked under the force of her release, clung to him and breathed his name into the air. Only when she felt her body dissolving, felt her climax dissipating did she realize that Umberto had reached his peak, too.
Panting, he collapsed on top of her.
The soft pink glow of the sun was visible on the horizon when he began to move again. He rose from the bed, damp with her sweat but more handsome than she had words to describe. With a smile, he held his hand out to her. “For the rest of my life I want to share every day with you.”
And she knew there was nothing that would make her happier.
The End