The Vampire's Masquerade

by Kiersten Fay

  He shrugged still advancing. “That was just a convenient bonus. The main reason was to show you what a serious apology looks like.”

  She rounded the couch, but he cut off her path, cornering her. Her back found the wall. Smiling devilishly, he closed the space between her, caging her in. She gazed up at him, her skin growing warm. “Apology? For what?”

  “For taking off last night like I did.” He tugged at the knot of her terry cloth belt, and the loop slowly came undone. Her lungs shuddered, a wave of breath crashing in and out. Her robe fell open, revealing a thin line of damp skin down her front. His gaze was riveted. Now his breath had changed, becoming irregular. With slow, exacting movements, he brushed the robe off her shoulders. Terry cloth piled at her feet.

  Her nipples budded against the cool air. She swallowed and licked her lips.

  His knuckles feathered down the sides of her arms and his palms came to rest around her waist. “You look beautiful this evening.”

  “Thanks,” she breathed. “You look overdressed.”

  “We can fix that.” He dipped his head to her naked shoulder and lightly kissed her, lips lingering there. “I told you the reason I left was to give you and Brian space to talk, and that was true, but what I didn’t say was thinking of you with him bothered me all night.”

  “It did?” Desire coated her voice.

  He nodded. “More than I thought it would. I argued with myself all the way home, wondering if you might have preferred me there as a buffer.” His lips trailed up her neck, lightly caressing the skin back and forth. “Then I worried you might be compelled to forgive him. Maybe invite him in.” His grip on her hips tightened. “From there my thoughts only degraded.”

  “That never would have happened. He and I are over.” After Lex, the thought of being with Brian again was repulsive. In fact, after Lex, the thought of being with any other man was repulsive, which was worrisome.

  He trailed his lips along the line of her jaw, scrambling her thoughts. Then, finally, their lips met, and an electric heat crashed through her blood.

  In that moment, he owned her lips, her body, hell her soul might have even been up for grabs. Then he pulled back. “It shouldn’t have mattered,” he muttered, confusing her lust-drugged mind. “I shouldn’t be worried about such things. It shouldn’t bother me.”

  Reaching up, she swept her fingers along his cheek, and whispered, “I like that it bothered you.”

  Hands skating around her hips to cup her bare ass, he met her gaze, then sighed. “I know. And that’s not good either.”

  In a move that almost seemed practiced, he reached down and hooked her leg behind the knee, brought it up around his waist, then hiked her up to straddle him. She crossed her legs at the ankle, loving being in his arms like this. Plastered perfectly between his rock-hard body and the wall, she took his mouth in a searing kiss meant to burn away his last comment. Not good? How could this passion be anything but?

  She should have felt embarrassed being naked and clinging to him like a barnacle while he was still fully clothed, but it only heightened her lust.

  Hips rolling against him, she muttered, “Bedroom’s upstairs.”

  Needing no further instruction, he managed to effortlessly balance her weight, taking the stairs two at a time. In her room, they landed on the bed, kissing more urgently as she helped him out of his shirt and pants. She was already dying to feel him, she moaned in bliss when he finally slipped inside her, both of them clawing and pawing, trying to get closer to one another as if neither couldn’t get close enough, as if they were both lost or drowning and only pure, undiluted passion could save them. As they made love, pleasure took them beyond reason.

  When she caught a glimpse of his fangs behind his lips, she was so lust-drunk, she thought she heard herself beg for him to take her neck.

  “Baby?” he grunted in question, driving between her legs. “You sure?”

  She panted. “Yes. Please. I want to experience every part of you.”

  His gaze seemed to darken with unfettered desire, his fangs lengthening before her eyes, and she wondered where her sanity had run off to, because she was suddenly wild with impatience.

  He let his mouth trail sensually down the sensitive slope of her neck. She shivered at the sensation. The hammering in her chest had to be distracting for him, either that or driving him mad. What would it be like to have one’s food practically begging to be devoured? Was she really going to let him do this?

  “You will feel nothing but pleasure,” he said in a whiskey voice, as if he could sense her vacillating.

  “O-okay.” Her voice was hoarse and cracked.

  His hot mouth came over the crook of her neck, his breath fanning along her skin. She shivered again, her pulse speeding up, animal heat flooding her body. He kissed her first, right along her pulse point. Then she felt the sensation of twin needles lightly grazing her flesh, like a dangerous caress, just before—“Oh!” She moaned. Stars danced in her vision. A hot blast of ecstasy erupted in her every cell, the pleasure mounting, growing, till—

  She screamed, coming so hard and so fast the world spun around her. On and on it went, reality tilting on its side, and bending in on itself. He groaned against her flesh, pulling her atop him to straddle his lap, his back against the wall, as he greedily fed.

  Their bodies toiled furiously, mindlessly seeking more. More friction, more pleasure, more delirious bliss. It was almost too much to bear...and then he wrapped his palms around her hips and slammed her down on his cock. She screamed up at the ceiling, nirvana flooding her in the most potent orgasm of her life. His release followed. He threw his head back to bellow.

  With a hand at the back of her neck, he brought their foreheads together, pleasure slowly ebbing. They sat like that for a while, breathing heavily, neither speaking. Something was happening. Something foolish. A small chunk of her heart slipped into his possession.

  The thought sobered her.

  Pulling back, she disentangled herself from him and then headed into the bathroom to finish her shower. She wondered what to expect from him now. Had this been a booty call? Would he be gone when she exited the bathroom? Or would he be waiting for her on the bed, ready for round two?

  She told herself it wouldn’t matter either way. It shouldn’t.

  When he joined her under the spray, a thrill shimmied through her.

  Yet, as if his world hadn’t just been shattered from a mind-bending experience, he dragged the soap along his toned chest, soaping up. She washed her hair, trying for nonchalance, when her mind was still reeling from his bite.

  She might have thought he was entirely unaffected if he didn’t continue to steal glances at her from the corner of his eye. “So…how did you, I mean…did you enjoy that? Or rather, how are you feeling about what we…”

  Was he actually unsure? Could he be any sweeter?

  She grabbed his hand and pulled him around to face her, sliding her forefinger down his chest. “It was amazing. I can’t believe I was so afraid to let you do that.”

  His lips parted in a wide grin, sporting fang. “Not so scary now?”

  She lightly tapped one with her finger. “Not even close.”

  His grin turned sly. “Watch out. You could lose a finger that way.”

  “You wouldn’t bite me…there.”

  He caught her hand and nibbled her finger, making her giggle. Then he kissed her knuckles before releasing her to continue washing. “So, what did you have planned for this evening?”

  “I was just going to veg on the couch, read, or maybe watch a movie.”

  “May I join you?”

  “Of course.” She sounded far too delighted, but how could she not? He was delighting her in every way.

  After drying off, she dressed in a cute pair of loose shorts and a tank top. Lex wore his jeans, and nothing else. Hello sexy, sexy man.

  Downstairs, she asked, “So what type of movie are you in the mood for,” sparking their first ever argument. He
preferred something with action and explosions while she suggested something more romantic, which had led to their first ever compromise: a classic film with shootouts and car chases, but with an underlining romance between the two main characters.

  Then they had snuggled up on the couch, like a real couple.

  She froze at the thought, ice sneaking into her veins at the thought.

  She had to stop doing that.

  She couldn’t allow this attachment to grow any more than it already had. They were FWBs. But how could she not when he was sweetly running his fingers through her damp hair, as if he didn’t even realize he was doing it, while his clean scent invaded her senses?

  At some point during the movie, she must have nodded off because the next thing she knew, Lex was tapping her on the shoulder. She opened her eyes. The credits were rolling. Sitting up, she covered her yawn.

  “I supposed I should get going,” he said.

  Her heart lurched. She rushed out, “Or you could stay. I mean, it’s pretty late. No need to drive home just to go to sleep.” She shrugged, trying to dial it back. “Unless you’d rather not. No biggie.”

  He turned thoughtful. “Well alright then. I’ll stay, if you don’t mind.”

  She clicked off the television and then headed up the stairs, secretly celebrating when he followed.

  He paused halfway up, admiring the photographs that lined the wall. “I didn’t notice these on my first journey up. Though, admittedly, I was quite distracted at the time.” He smirked up at her, then returned his attention to the photos. “Is this your work?”

  She nodded, suddenly self-conscious. “Uh, yeah.” They were some of her favorite shots. The first one he looked at was taken in a field during autumn. The grass was tall, yet yellowed from the changing of the seasons. The setting sun had helped to exaggerate the vibrant color of it. Far off in the distance was a woman in a pastel floral dress dancing in the light breeze—it had been her mother.

  He moved on to study a dramatic black and white snapshot of a darkened street. Kasima had situated the shot so that the light of a streetlamp was at her back and her own shadow stretched out toward a brightly lit city along the horizon.

  When he moved on to the next photo, her heart shuddered with a ghost of pain. It had been taken no more than a month after her parents had died. After a particularly stormy day, she’d found herself wandering a deserted meadow and found a tree that had been struck by lightning, ripped down the center and still smoldering, yet the trunk stayed rooted to the ground, almost defiantly. She hadn’t thought much of photographing it at the time, and had set it aside. That day, she had just been going through the motions, still dealing with her grief. But as spring had rolled around, she’d gone back to that same location and snapped a second photo.

  The last image Lex observed was of the same tree, the gaping wound in the trunk healing. The tree had not only remained upright, but was sprouting new growth.

  “Very impressive,” Lex said finally. “I like the symbolism here.”

  She blinked at him. “Thanks. One day I hope to travel the world and take photographs professionally.”

  “The world? Hmm. Sounds adventurous. Although, not a lot of paying jobs out there these days for world photographers, are there?”

  No, there weren’t. War had torn through every corner of the earth. The kinds of employers that would offer such a position were practically non-existent. Most photographers were either freelance, or working locally. “Honestly, I’d be happy just taking photos for the Tribune.”

  “You’d do a great job.”

  “You think?”

  He nodded. “There’s something evocative about these photographs. You’re very talented.”

  When they continued up to her room and got under the covers, things between them seemed to grow a little awkward. The whole situation suddenly seemed too domestic. But if he felt the same, he didn’t show it. He simply rolled onto his side, hooked her by the waist, and pulled her against him. His warmth was magnificent.

  He murmured in her ear. “I think your bed is more comfortable than mine.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Mmm. I might have to stay the night here more often.”

  She grinned in the dark. “We’ll see. As long as you don’t hog all the covers.”

  “And if I do?”

  “Then we’ll just have to get more covers, won’t we?”

  “Good thinking. Are you comfortable?”

  Immensely. “For now.” He had a unique musk that smelled far too good. “Do you mind if I ask a personal question?”

  “Shoot,” he said.

  “Well, I was kind of wondering what makes someone decide to become a vampire.”

  He let out a soft chuckle as if he’d been expecting this line of questioning. “Different reasons, I suppose. Some want the power. Some want immortality. But you can’t just decide to become a vampire. It doesn’t work that way. You’d have to petition a known sire to change you, and ultimately, it is they who decide whether or not to change you.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know that.”

  “Yes. You see, the method of changing a human is a closely guarded secret, only passed down to a very select few in the vampire community. Cortez believes that’s the only reason why our kind hasn’t overrun the planet entirely, and thereby threatening human existence.”

  “Then I’m very glad for that.”

  He chuckled. “As is the rest of humanity, and most of my kind.”

  “So why did Cortez decide to change you?”

  “I didn’t have any options left. It was either that, or death.”

  She gasped, turning over to face him. “What?”

  “All throughout childhood I was in and out of the hospital, ill from one thing or another. My body just wasn’t strong. While other kids were out running and playing, I was bedridden.”

  She leaned in and kissed the pulse point of his neck. “I’m so sorry you went through that.”

  “Thank you,” he replied, but his voice sounded odd, like her tenderness was unexpected. He cleared his throat. “War was still raging, so we didn’t have access to great healthcare, but finally doctors diagnosed me with terminal cancer. They gave me six months, but already I could feel my life draining away, and I was only sixteen.”

  She bit back emotion for the child he’d been. He didn’t look anywhere near sixteen now. Since vampires didn’t age, there was more to the story. By all appearances, he’d been somewhere in his late twenties when he’d been changed. “How long ago was this?”

  “This was towards the end of the long war, about fifty years ago.” His fingers combed through her hair as he continued. “I was so angry with the world. And tired of fighting. I think my parents could tell I was ready to give up. It was the reason they went to Cortez, desperate and pleading to save me. I had no idea what they’d planned till I was already being interviewed by the city’s most notorious vampire. Somehow they’d managed to convince him to consider making me part of his clan.”

  “And he agreed, just like that?”

  Lex snorted derisively. “Not in the least. He said I would need to prove myself first. And I do believe, in my adolescent rage, I scoffed in his face. I demanded to know how I could possibly prove myself when I could hardly stand under my own weight.” Lex paused for a moment as if recalling the pivotal moment. “He’d coolly replied, You’ll have to stay alive in order to find out’.”

  Kasima’s jaw dropped.

  “Yeah, you’re probably thinking the same thing I was: What the fuck? So, in my own teenage, smart-alecky way, I thanked him for coming and then dismissed him with the bird. He just laughed at me, pulled up a chair, and said, ‘you want me gone, boy, then either prove yourself unworthy, or die. Nothing short of that is going to make me leave.’ You can imagine I had some choice words for him after that. And with each one, the grin on his face only grew wider, which of course pissed me off even more.

  “Once I grew too exhausted to rail at him,
he questioned me extensively, asking me everything from what I would do with immortality to things I’d believed to be inconsequential and a waste of what precious little time I had left.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like what my favorite color was, or if I preferred cats over dogs. I’d have sworn he was mental with that one. What I didn’t know then was that Cortez had a way of...seeing what was in someone’s heart.”

  “How so?”

  Lex hesitated. “He just gets a really good sense about people.”

  She got the impression there was more to it than that, but didn’t want to press. “Okay, so what did you say?”

  “Though I didn’t have one, I was just being snotty, I’d told him I’d be happy to feed either to my pet snake.”

  She thunked him on the chest. “And what was in your heart?”

  He smirked. “I’m sure in my heart I had longed for a playful pup or a furry feline. I’d never had any kind of pet. Allergies.”

  “And Cortez could tell how you really felt about it?”

  “Indeed.”

  “Remarkable. Okay, so what did you say when he asked you what you would do with immortality?”

  “Since I had lived such an unfulfilled life, I said I would do only the things that brought me joy.”

  From what Kasima had observed thus far, he seemed to be on point.

  “So anyway,” he continued. “Years later, he finally changed me, and here we are.”

  “Years later? But, why wait so long. And how did you survive?”

  “The blood of a sire vampire. It can’t cure terminal diseases, but it did give me strength enough to combat the illness better on my own. Also, Cortez brought in specialists, just for me. The kind of doctors my family would never have been able to afford. After several surgeries and a boatload of chemo, I was declared cancer free seven years later. But Cortez made me wait yet another seven years before he changed me.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, exactly. Perhaps I hadn’t finished proving myself worthy.”

  “You never asked him?”