~

 

Nathaniel McKenzie placed the palms of his hands against the cold tiled wall behind the shower and allowed the water to do its thing on his body. Finally; he felt like he could relax … just a little … just enough to take the edge off.

She’d clawed his back up with her nails real good for the last four hours as he’d taken her, over and over, right to the place that she wanted to be, and in return; he’d taken from her too.

Blood.

Human blood.

Not as potent as the blood of a supernatural being, but still damn tasty, and just what I needed to get my body back on track.

Being locked away in a cellar for however long it had been – without even a rat to drink from as he’d tried to find a way out – had given him the deep dark craving for the taste of blood upon his tongue that he hadn’t felt for a very long time, something akin to bloodlust, and he’d more than satisfied himself without letting the monster inside claim his soul.

His human companion would heal, was already, thanks to the drink of his own blood that he’d given her in with the wine.

He knew just the right amount to cause her body to heal and not send her systems into freefall, and now she was sleeping in his silk sheets, happy in every department that a man could satisfy a woman.

I might have gone a little overboard in that department too, but when you had a beautiful, more than willing woman in your bed, on your sofa, up against your wall, draped backwards, forwards, and sideways over the dresser… sometimes you just had to go for it – or that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

“Nathaniel?” Morgana’s shrill voice pierced the air and shattered his new found good mood, and he groaned.

He regretted summoning her already. Especially with the woman still in his bed.

Oh good, my conscience has arrived.

The woman burst into the bathroom as if she belonged in his apartment, in his life, and he could only wish that she’d give him that kind of access to her bathroom.

Her jade green eyes were piercing as she took him in, and when they narrowed on him; he knew full well that he was about to get a lecture.

“I warned you that if you continued to drink from unsuspecting humans…” Her voice sounded just as piercing as her eyes against his sensitive hearing – now that he had his senses back; they seemed heightened – like he needed to get used to them again.

The shrill tone echoed off the bathroom walls and he groaned inwardly, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of seeing what that tone was doing to him.

She knew alright – the witch was all things savvy – and he was, apparently, the lowest of the low in her book, and yet, there she was, all fire and brimstone – and he loved it.

Loved winding her up – pulling her chain – and being a general pain in her backside…

Since the moment that he’d met her she’d made life a lot more than just interesting – she’d made it a damn challenge in his book. It had been a while since he’d had a woman like that in his life and he wasn’t about to let go of that rush so soon, even if she wasn’t as eager to keep their rather strange and plutonic relationship alive.

Truth be told; Morgana probably wished their friendship was as dead as he was … he could live with that – so to speak.

“Not unsuspecting … I told her what I was…” he corrected her; turning his body fully around to face her inside the shower cubicle.

The glass screen did nothing to cover his body or her blushes, but the thing was; she’d stopped blushing a long time ago at his antics. He missed that…

Morgana’s eyes swiped down his hard, naked body. Just the right amount of muscles that looked good on him. It was a quick flash – so to speak – which she couldn’t help, and did appreciate.

She felt a rush of excitement deep within her, and tried to squish it like a bug.

“Really?”

She drew her head back on her neck and gave him a look of pure disbelief. She even arched those perfect black eyebrows at him just for the added impact in case he needed a map of her disinterest in what he had to offer.

Not that she was disinterested – more – keeping her toes out of that particular pond.

“Sort of…” He offered back; conceding just a little for her benefit.

Nathaniel gave her his perfectly – perfected blank expression back. Even if he was grimacing on the inside; he figured that she didn’t need to know that just then.

She offered him back a look that said she didn’t believe him for one moment. And there they were in a standoff … again.

“Explain,” she demanded.

The moment that she placed her hands on her curvy hips; he knew that he was in trouble. Nathaniel sighed inwardly.

The only trouble with calling the wicked witch of the west side was that she was always so judgemental.

I should have learned my lesson by now, but she’s just so damn good at her craft…

I need that now. I need good.

“This…” he motioned to his naked body and saw her eyes flicked down once more. “Or…?”

“That…” she lifted her hand and pointed back into the bedroom…

Yep… judgemental…

“I told her what I was just before … or was it once I had my…?” He rolled his brown eyes to the ceiling in faux remembrance, and heard the witch sigh in annoyance. So he offered her the kind of smirk that annoyed her so.

“Perhaps it was when she was on her knees and sucking on my…”

“Ok, enough!” Morgana went to turn to leave …

She certainly had better things to do than to listen to the vampire recounting his night of debauchery with some painted up bed bunny.

From the sounds of it; the woman had gotten just what she was looking for. She couldn’t fault her for that – if that was her thing, and she supposed she couldn’t expect anything more from a Vampire.

Even him, or was it; especially him?

She couldn’t always tell anymore. He coloured the edges and made everything blurry.

She’d spent most of her time avoiding the dark realm of vampires, shifters, and the other, more sinister side of the supernatural world. But after meeting him; she’d been plunged head first into it, or was it backside first – that was kind of a blur as well.

When death came knocking at your door, you didn’t have to let it in, but you certainly needed to take notice that it was there.

“I could give you a firsthand re-enactment…”

“Nathaniel…” She huffed, and stopped in place.

“Too soon into our blossoming relationship?”

He had that teasing quality to his voice that she’d come to know well. It was a lot different to the melodic quality of his voice when he was trying to persuade her into doing something that she didn’t want to do … thankfully, neither one worked on her anymore.