Sleeping With The Vampire (Immortal Vampire #2)

Chapter 4

Lucca

People think vampires have no emotions. That we are monsters without any feelings. But that is not entirely true.

What is certainly the case, is that certain emotions become blunted over time. When you have lived a long time, for example, centuries, some things tend to become blunted and worn down. You’ve just seen it all too many times before. The power plays, the little dramas, the pointless fights and arguments. The only thing that matters is power. And money. So, two things. It provides security, ensures longevity. First to go, is the sense of humor, then sympathy and empathy, if there was any to begin with. Friends and lovers turn to enemies so quickly, often before you have time to appreciate them. If you’ve been betrayed before, cheated and lied to, then well, it makes sense not to trust those things, or people.

But money does not lie.

Power does not betray, although those who have it, most certainly and always do. They can be trusted least of all. The powerful will do anything to keep it. Anything.

It had been a long, long, long time since I’d felt anything for someone else. It was admiration and respect.

Izzy had caught me off guard.

Her energy was pure and elemental.

I knew I wanted her but I could see that she would not be easily won over. But I had not foreseen her clash with the Owls and that I would have to step in to save her. It had occurred to me, seconds after our phone call, that she might not be up for the trap I’d set her. I’d known she would go after Chakrat and had been prepared to help her when she confronted him. But I realized too late that she would check with her mentor first. I had not taken into account her sense of duty and diligence. She’d visited that foul grease monkey and asked him for advice. I had no way of listening in to their conversation as it took place in the middle of the day, in the brightest of sunlight. As if to spite me, it was the sunniest of days.

I had to wait until the light faded before I paid Costello a visit, whispered a few words in his ears and mesmerized him into telling me where Izzy had gone. I couldn’t believe it when he said Lady Cat’s club, an absolute vampire nest. I had got over there as quickly as I could and I was almost too late.

I felt the most intense emotions I had in decades at the sight of her in their claws, seeing her so helpless and in need of saving was an exquisite pain that became the most overpowering desire. I knew I had to restrain myself but when she woke from her stupor, I knew she felt it too.

It had to happen.

Our joining transcended time and flesh and spirit; went beyond the dimensions of our world, such as it was, and I had to draw blood.Only the smallest amount, the tips of my fangs piercing her skin as she cried out in ecstasy, the sensation driving her climax even higher.

I had bound her to me.

Even though that had not been my intention.

As the night drew to a close, I knew I had to withdraw to safe quarters. I needed to replenish my energy but I didn’t want to leave her.

Izzy was in a strange state of mind, which I understood of course.

I had brought her to a hotel I knew and trusted, the Roussard, which had once belonged to a good friend of mine and therefore contained many good memories. It was now run by another friend, someone I trusted and I ordered room service for Izzy. Coffee, black the way she liked it, and cookies.

When it arrived, I took the tray to her in bed. Her dark hair fell across her face and I could not see her eyes.

I gave her space, which I knew she needed now. She had been a virgin and I had deflowered her. I had an idea what it would mean to her. The exquisite pleasure it had brought me and the pain that she would now feel at the loss of it.

“You bit me,” she suddenly said, staring at me, her voice filled with anger.

I was taken aback by her fury.

Where was the innocent maiden, mourning her lost petal?

“You fucker!” she snarled, jumping out of bed and throwing me off balance and onto the ottoman. “You knew I was a virgin!”

“Izzy,” I said softly, “Calm down.”

“Do not tell me to calm down!” She hissed at me, but then stepped back and took a deep breath.

“That was not supposed to happen!”

I looked at the coffee and cookies which had fallen off the tray when she leapt into the air. She paid it no attention but I knew the coffee would leave a nasty stain on the carpet, which was quite old and expensive.

“You tricked me!” She stared at me accusingly.

“I know it may seem that way to you, but I assure you that what happened between us last night was not planned.”

She was standing in front of me, naked, and it was quite impossible to take my eyes off her. Her body was perfect in every way and even though she was of a small build, her muscles were toned and strong. Not an ounce of fat on her body and her breasts were full with nipples the color of strawberries about to ripen. I could feel my mouth water for her all over again.

This was another first for me.

I couldn’t remember the last time that any woman had stirred this kind of lust in me.

But it was clear that she was not sharing my frame of mind. She whipped her hair away and looked for the bite marks I had made on the back of her shoulder. Seeing the tiny pricks on her skin filled me with regret.

“I am sorry about that, I fear, I was unable to help myself.”

“Bastard! Motherfucker!” she really did use the foulest language, I thought to myself, rather amused.

“Does this mean I’m supposed to be your slave or something?”

“Or something?” I laughed. “No, it doesn’t work like that. I didn’t taste that much of your blood, it was only a drop at the most. It connects us, if anything, but I think the connection was already there.”

She turned to look at me, an intense stare.

“You knew I was going to be there, you were waiting for me at the club,” she challenged me.

“I did,” I admitted.

“You put me in harm’s way! I could have died!”

“I was there to ensure that didn’t happen! I was worried about you, I didn’t want you to get hurt. But I knew your first priority would be to find out who had killed your father.”

She sat down heavily on the bed, gave a deep sigh.

“I can’t believe my first time was with a vampire.”

She sounded so desolate.

“It was rather good, wasn’t it?” I was trying to make light of the situation. “Well, it was for me.”

“I have to go,” she suddenly said, grabbing her clothes and putting everything on hastily. “I have things to do,” she gave me a murderous look that was utterly adorable.

“This didn’t happen and it doesn’t mean anything!” she snapped at me again before storming out of the hotel room and slamming the door behind her.

Her scent filled the air and I breathed it in. On the bedsheets were a few drops of blood, proof of her ruined virginity. I understood her anger at the loss of self-control and the way her body had responded to me. But I was the stronger of the two of us, there really was no way she could have resisted me, even if she was able to resist vampires. I was surprised though that she was so strong in her resistance of me this morning. I had thought she would be more emotional and fragile, this had been my experience with other women and especially virgins.

But not Izzy.

Even the bit of blood she had shed, had not affected her.

Her blood was tough, it had elements of steel in it, rock and iron. She might have been human but the genetic inheritance from her parents had molded her into something quite formidable.

Izzy would never be any man’s shadow, she would not be meek and mild. She was a fighter and she would resist me at every turn. An unpleasant thought occurred to me, that she might fight me even more now that we had been together. I thought of the taste of her, the sweetness of her pussy as I pushed my tongue inside of her, the delight when she’d moaned and begged me for more.

Had she already forgotten that?

It piqued me, I must admit.

I could not imagine that she would be able to push me out of her mind so quickly. Yet, she seemed determined to do that.

I closed the windows and pulled the drapes.

I could feel the sun coming up and summoned up my last energy to melt into the quickening air to hasten my way home. I would give Izzy some space and time to process what had happened between us, and then I would make her see that she was mine and that we belonged together.

It was clear to me that she was meant for me. Even if this was not exactly clear to her, yet.

The castle was deserted when I arrived back home. My sons and their underlings had withdrawn from the light and the stone staircases and halls were dark and silent. The servants had shuttered the doors and windows.

I had a few more minutes to myself and relished the quiet.

I drained a few bottles of blood and felt my spirits revive. It had been a wonderful evening and I could not remember the last time I had felt this energized, dare I say it, this alive?

There was a soft knock on the door.

The Seer shuffled in and cleared her throat.

“Your Highness?”

“Yes?”

I was impatient to withdraw and not in the mood for her gloomy visions. They tended to be so negative these days. I was feeling more positive, more optimistic.

“It can wait,” she murmured, starting to back away.

“No, no!” I called her back, impatiently. “What is it?”

“The girl, the bounty hunter? The blood of the Guard is stronger in her. Even though her looks resemble the Beauty of the mother, it is the blood of the father that courses through her veins.”

I thought about that.

“That is why you feel so revitalized.”

“Only two drops of her blood?”

“It is enough,” she confirmed. “If you were to drain her…” she didn’t finish her sentence but I knew she didn’t have to. “That is why she will push you away now, fighting for her survival. It is built into her, and you have become both lover and enemy in one night.”

“Thank you, Cassandra,” I said dismissing her.

I didn’t want to hear any more of her witch’s tales. I would bring Izzy round one way or another. I knew her character was strong and upright but she had never been with a man before and what I had showed her had been no ordinary rite of passage. It had been a night of the highest pleasure, a dance of bodies and minds, an intoxication of elemental beings merging in the spirit world. This was not something she could turn away from.

I had been around long enough to know a few things, and this was one of them.

What had happened between us was not ordinary or commonplace.

It happened once in a lifetime, even a very long lifetime.