Bloodlines

by S. C. Stephens

Chapter 15 Reconnecting

 

  The rest of that week started the beginning of a new routine for us. Teren would leave me after dinner to do research with the family. Usually one or two of them would stay upstairs and occupy me, while the rest scoured over the books. I helped on occasion, but Teren liked me to stay away from it. He told me it was horrid stuff, and I shouldn't have to deal with it in my condition, like somehow I'd stress myself to death if I poured over the journals with him. I told him not to be ridiculous, and he told me he could concentrate better if he wasn't worrying about how I was handling the horrors. I sighed and left him to it.

  He was right anyway; I never found anything but multiple atrocities in the writings. And I hated reading about any crime he'd committed against the mixed children. . . and there were a lot of them. He'd used them as guinea pigs for the "drug" that he'd used to force Teren's conversion. He was curious to see on how young of a child it would work. He'd practiced on a lot of children. He may have been vague with names and places, but he was quite descriptive on all the horrendous details. Just reading about it had made me throw up.

  Teren would take a short break when I got tired, to lie me down in bed and try and reassure me that, while they still hadn't found anything specific enough yet, he was sure they were on the path to something. Then he'd disappear back downstairs, burning the midnight oil with Halina. He either slipped back into bed when I was unconscious or stayed up all night, but in the early morning he'd always kiss me goodbye before heading off to the city for his job, where he most likely whipped out his articles lightening fast and spent the rest of his time surfing online for leads.

  I'd get up and trail Alanna, offering to help at every possible opportunity only to have her calmly tell me that she had everything under control and I should just rest or call my family.

  I usually ended up doing that. I missed my family. Even though they weren't that far away, and even though if I were home I wouldn't see them anymore than I did now, there was just something about being forced apart from them that was lonely. But I wasn't apart from them for very long.

  My sister came by the day after I'd initially called her, blowing off school and spending the afternoon with me. She teared up when she saw my scar and laughed when my fangs distended without my permission, mid sentence. Once I told her that I had to concentrate on keeping them up twenty-four seven, she spent the next several hours helping me hone my fang-hiding ability. By the time she left for the evening, I'd managed to keep them hidden away for most of the day.

  That turned out to be helpful, since my mom came out the next night. While I loved seeing the plump, happy woman, having her there was stressful. For one, I had to wear a brace around my neck. A whiplash strain was a convenient way to hide my healing neck wound, but exceedingly annoying. But not as annoying as never getting out of bed and my mom took bed rest very seriously. If I hadn't protested vehemently, she would have made me use a bed pan.

  But even with those annoyances, it was the fear that made her visit stressful. The fear that I'd slip up - that I'd move too fast, or my fangs would pop out, or I'd answer a question that Alanna asked me, forgetting my mom couldn't hear her through the walls. By the time my mom left for the night, I was exhausted, and hoped she stayed away for a few days. I hated thinking that.

  Hot Ben ended up coming out nearly every night, which surprised the hell out of me. I sort of figured he was done with the whole lot of us, but after a couple of days sequestering himself with Tracey, he started showing up late in the evening, usually around the time I was headed off to bed, and then headed down with the others to pour over notes and journals.

  I couldn't have been more shocked by his turn around. Not too long ago, he would have had a mini coronary over the very idea of going down into Halina's rooms, deep under the earth. From what I could hear before I zonked out, Halina seemed to have shifted into a level of respect for him, and stopped the seductive, terrifying banter that she used to use on him. The conversations that flowed around that room were all business.

  And all about me. How to save me. How to save the children. And how to find more mixed like them, in the hopes that someone would have an answer.

  When the following week plotted out in much the same way, I began to think I might never see my husband again. I know he was trying to save me, but in the process, he was seeing less and less of me. Especially when he started getting home later and later, sometimes not making it back until the time I was ready for bed. He'd always call or text me, telling me specifically where he was, since our bond only gave me the general idea of his location, and that he was checking into a lead from the journals.

  They'd been able to pinpoint a few places in the State that were cryptically referenced in them. Nearly two weeks after the attack had Teren calling me from work, letting me know that the right questions, payouts, and from what I'd heard, some of Halina's unique mind control talents, had finally successfully led them to a group of vampires, albeit pureblood vampires, just outside of Santa Rosa. He called around lunch, to let me know that he was checking it out after work, once the sun went down.

  "Teren, no, don't go walking into a strange vampire's home alone. Be smart about this, please?"

  I scratched my healed, but still itchy neck as he laughed in a way that was supposed to relax me. My sharper hearing heard the lie behind it though; he was nervous, even if he'd never admit it. "I'll be fine, Emma. It's no different than going to a human's house. They won't harm me without cause, and I don't plan to give them one. I just need to know what they know, about vampires like me. "

  I sighed and sat down on our bed, cradling the phone to my ear and wishing it were him. "Please? Come home first, make love to me, and then go with Halina. " I was hoping the sex part might persuade him. I'd been having lonely nights for awhile now.

  And he did pause as that sunk in. "It will be quicker if I just go after work. Besides, I'm not going alone. "

  I rubbed a hand over my expanding belly, feeling a twin wrestling for space with the other. "Huh?" I could hear Alanna and Imogen talking in Imogen's room, and Halina was sleeping out the remnants of the sun downstairs. I didn't know who he was talking about.

  "Ben is coming with me. " I unintentionally laughed at that, part out of nerves, part disbelief. Hot Ben was his backup. . . seriously? I swear I could hear Teren frown into the phone. "Why is that funny? Between the two of us, he's the one that has actually staked a vamp before. "

  I sighed. Because, confident or not now, all I picture when I think of Hot Ben is the guy who begged me to not let Teren eat him. "He's human, Teren. You're walking in there with a meal? You know how that jerk-off reacted to Ben and me. He didn't see people, he saw a buffet. "

  He sighed too. "One bad seed doesn't make them all bad. Look, I've met vampires before. On rare occasions, when some have been out traveling or hunting, they've come across our scent and have come out to the ranch to say hello. They are not all like him. He was. . . off. " I wanted to protest, but honestly, the only vampires I knew were Adams vampires. He took my silence as acceptance. "We'll be fine. I'll see you before bed. "

  "Fine, you better," I muttered sullenly.

  He laughed and I closed my eyes, memorizing the sound, sensing his location, so incredibly far from me that it felt like the other side of the Country. Tears started slipping down my cheeks and I sniffled, just once. "Hey, Emma, don't cry. I'm doing this for you. I love you. "

  "I know. I just miss my husband. " I let myself sniffle again, since he'd already heard it.

  He paused and I heard him rustling around. I pictured him running a hand through his hair, torn. "I tell you what, when I get home, we'll go upstairs and I'll stay with you. I'll give you me, for as long as you want. I'll be your husband, over and over again. "

  Desire shot right through me at hearing his words. Our "reunions" when he got home, had continued to be heated ones, but he always pulled himself away from me. Always let dut
y clear his mind and calm his body. I wanted, just once, to let that crazy passion just run away with us. "No stopping?" I asked slowly.

  He laughed, a smile creeping into his voice. "Definitely, no stopping. "

  I smiled that he had understood my vague question. I wanted to feel that intensity. My body was already burning with the need for it, but first, he'd be doing something possibly really dangerous. "Be careful, be safe. Come home to me. "

  "I will. I love you. "

  I repeated his sentiment and then we hung up. I sighed and sank down to my bed, wishing he was home and not miles away from me, about to get even further. After a couple long sighs, Alanna asked if I was alright. I told her I was, not having to elaborate on my mood since she'd heard that entire conversation. I wasn't as embarrassed about that as I would have been, probably because I could hear everything too, and in this house, someone was always having an intimate conversation or moment. After awhile, you just sort of got used to it.

  Later in the day I smelled the enticing aroma of fresh blood from a recent kill. It compelled me to walk downstairs to the kitchen, where the scent in the house was the strongest. Alanna smiled and gave me a swift hug as she cleaned herself up. She and Jack had been outside, making a new batch of fresh steaks. Blooding the cow was Alanna's favorite part, for obvious reasons, and she was freezing containers of it for her family. By the number of freezer tight boxes, it had been a big cow.

  I momentarily felt bad that I used up so much of their blood, especially since I could eat regular food too, but Alanna brushed off my concerns, telling me that she and the girls ate less and less every year. Halina could even go a few days without even noticing it. She said they'd met older vamps who could go weeks. Teren could only go a few hours before he needed a quick fix.

  I sat and talked with her about some of the vampires that had visited the ranch, wanting to hear about the non-evil kind, so I would stop picturing bad things happening to Teren. She sat a small glass of plasma in front of me, and told me a story about a very nice female couple that had stopped by a few years ago. She laughingly told me that they'd been quite taken with Teren, when he'd come up to visit over the weekend while they were there. She started to explain how one of them had tried to bite him and my eyebrows shot up my forehead. I was concerned over that, but seeing my face, she quickly shook her head and said, "Oh, no she wasn't attacking him, she was. . . " She stopped talking and bit her lip, maybe realizing that perhaps Teren's wife wouldn't want to hear about this.

  I flushed, realizing that she was talking about foreplay. I remembered Teren telling me that vamps did feed off each other, and I remembered his devilish smile when he'd said he would like it. I knew I was his first bite, but had he been bitten? Curious, I peeked up at Alanna. "Did she? Bite him?"

  Alanna busied herself with cleaning up the kitchen, her hands moving blurringly fast. "I don't think so," she said lowly. "Anyway, they left soon after that. Nice couple. " She started humming as I narrowed my eyes at her.

  Right, she didn't think so. Teren and I were seriously going to have to have the exes talk. I could see that now. Taking my empty glass, she immediately switched over to tales of male guests. The sun went down while she was talking and Halina sauntered into the room, sitting up on a stool and delighting in the conversation she'd walked into. She went into graphic detail on a couple of the male vampires that had crossed paths with her. I blushed furiously and studied anything but Halina's face as she told me every horrid thing that I was afraid Teren had done with that female. Yeah, we definitely needed the talk.

  I sighed as I felt his location. It had shifted a few hours ago, when he'd gotten off work and headed to the vampire's home. And it unfortunately hadn't shifted any closer to me; he'd headed miles north, towards Santa Rosa. I hadn't felt the distance lengthen or shorten since it had stopped; he was still there. I hated it, knowing where he was but not "how" he was. I wondered if it would just stop if he died. Would the GPS binging in my head vanish the second he was staked, or would it continue to go off until his dead body was disposed of? I closed my eyes. God, I did not want to think about that.

  Imogen's cool hand went to my shoulder, as she'd come in to join us. "He'll be alright, dear. "

  Halina stood up, adjusting her short skirt. "Yeah, it's just a vamp nest, a small one even. He and Ben will be fine. " She smiled crookedly as she mentioned Ben, and I wondered how she knew all the details. She'd been asleep when he'd called. That could only mean that they'd discussed this plan last night.

  Irritation at that flowed through me. I hated being left out of loops. "Why aren't you with him? Aren't you the protector? Isn't that your role?" I snapped that at Halina and the entire room silenced. No one generally talked to Halina like that.

  She cocked her head as she stared at me. I couldn't tell if she'd laugh, or knock me off my chair. She leaned into me, her hands going to her hips. Her ageless eyes burned with a sudden anger. "You know nothing, about what I am," she said coldly. Then, abruptly, she straightened and smiled. "Besides, he'd be done by the time I got all the way out there. " Blinking at her sudden mood shift, I watched her turn to leave the room. "It would be a waste of my time," she said before she left.

  Still dazed by the display, I turned my eyes back to Alanna. She was watching her grandmother intently. When I felt Halina leave the house and then the property, going for a run apparently, Alanna's eyes came down to mine. "Teren forbid her. " She shrugged. "It's sort of a sore point. "

  I cocked my head. "He. . . ? Why would he do that?"

  Alanna bit her lip and looked over at Imogen. Imogen shrugged, her grandmotherly appearance looking a little lost as to how to explain it. She tried anyway. "Mother. . . might know these vampires, and they may not. . . react well, if she showed up. "

  I tilted my head at her, even more confused. "What? Does Teren know them?"

  Imogen shook her head, a dark lock of hair escaping from her loose bun. "No, this was before he was born. " I raised my eyebrows, waiting for an explanation, and she eventually sighed and shrugged. "We think it's this woman vampire, who may or may not have had this mate, who Mother may or may not have slept with, at some point, when she and her mate may or may not have still been together. " She shrugged again. "It's all very vague, and we're not really sure. Teren just didn't want to start out confrontationally, if it really was the woman we think it is. "

  I dropped my jaw at the revelation. "He's going to see the scorned woman of his great-grandmother's lover?"

  Alanna and Imogen shared a look and then they both shrugged. "Possibly," Alanna answered.

  I shook my head, irritated at the little vampiric soap opera. "She's going to stake him when she realizes who he is. "

  Alanna quickly shook her head. "He won't tell her. "

  I groaned and ran my hands back through my hair. "You all look exactly alike! He's a walking advertisement of Halina's genes! All of you need to start keeping that in mind!" I knew I was ranting, but I really was not a fan of being left out of plans.

  Alanna looked at Imogen like she was seeing the resemblance for the first time. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Hmmm," Alanna muttered. "You do have a point. " Quickly she turned back to me and smiled a warm, reassuring smile. "It will be fine. The nest was only her and her new mate. " She grinned and started making dinner for Jack and me. Looking over her shoulder, she added, "Rumor is, she staked the old one. "

  I closed my eyes, not feeling any better.

  I didn't feel any better during dinner either, as I felt each long minute that he was north of me, tick by. I didn't start to feel better until Alanna was clearing away everyone's dishes. Then I started to feel a lot better. It happened like it always happened. The minute that blip on my internal radar started moving in my direction, I started to feel it. It was faint as first, since he was so far from me, and I only closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.

  Halina across from me chuckled as I felt her eyes on me. She was still wildl
y amused by my reaction to Teren coming home. "He's on his way," she muttered, laughing a little on the end.

  I stayed in my chair, stiff and straight, with my eyes closed. The pull was faint, but I knew it would get stronger and I was starting to prepare myself. This was just what I did when Teren came back to me every day. I found some place to stay very still and practiced my deep breathing. That usually worked for awhile.

  He was farther away from me than usual, and I sat in that chair for over an hour as the other vamps went about their evening routines, Alanna and Jack going downstairs with Imogen to look over the books, Halina staying seated across from me, watching.

  Eventually, as he got closer, my mouth dropped open and my breaths came in shorter pulls. My hands came up to the table, holding onto the edge so hard that I was probably marring it. He was within a mile of me, approaching fast. That's when things really intensified. It was like we were two huge magnets, each fine, and fully functioning as long as we were kept apart, but start bringing us closer to each other, and you could practically feel the energy crackle between us. The thought that we weren't going to do anything to stop that unbelievable energy, wasn't making my waiting any easier.

  As I ran a hand through my hair and down my suddenly dry throat, I heard Halina's curious voice across from me. "It's so fascinating. Just him coming closer to you, drives you into a frenzy. " I heard her plop her elbows on the table, but didn't crack my eyes open to look. "And he feels it too, so it's not the pregnancy. " I heard her sit back in her chair as she continued to speculate. "It has to be the blood. It has to be because he spawned you. "

  Near panting now, I finally opened my eyes and looked over at her. She had her head tilted to the side as she watched me struggle for control. "Why. . . would that. . . do this?" I got out between shallow breaths.

  She shrugged, her brow bunched. "I don't know. I didn't exactly keep my creator around long enough to ask. " She grinned coldly and I shuddered, remembering that she had ended his life shortly upon him turning her. She'd never wanted this life. She'd let him know that.

  While I was wrestling with controlling the buildup in me, Halina spoke in an oddly serious voice. "I know that I may seem. . . standoffish to you at times, but I do care about your fate, about the children's fate. " My eyes widened at her rare sincerity, especially towards me. Her pale eyes took in my startled expression. She shook her head, her youthful eyes sad. "But. . . I'm not human anymore, Emma, and I haven't been for a long time. And while the others may share some of my traits, none of them truly understand what being pureblood means. The constant desires I push back. The alieness I feel inside of me. . . "

  Her voice trailed off as she looked away from me. My body started shifting two different ways, desire and anxiousness over Teren approaching, sympathy and compassion for the reluctant vampire before me. As my breath increased even more with my struggle, her eyes slid back to me. "If you make it through this, I pray for your sake, that you end up more like Teren. . . and less like me. "

  I thought to reply to that, but instead, my head snapped around to the hallway leading to the front door when I felt Teren hit the driveway. Before I knew it, I was standing, my chair knocked over from where I'd streaked upright. Halina laughed and walked over to fix it. I glanced at her, at all the traces of her previous comments gone and the return of her sultry self, but the fire in my body was taking over too quickly to worry about her anymore.

  Whimpering in frustration, I let my hands trail over my body, trying feebly to end the ache. It didn't do anything, but it gave my restless body something else to concentrate on while I waited. This is when it got really bad, when he was super close. I got the feeling that if something or someone detained one of us right now, I would literally explode. It would not be pretty.

  Luckily, none of the vamps here were going to try and halt our connection. They knew better. I streaked to the parking lot when I felt him pull up, Halina darting ahead of me to open the damn door.

  I was at the side of the newly repaired Prius before he'd even shut it off. I yanked on the door, accidently pulling a hinge off with my revved up strength, and pulled him out of the car. He was on me in a flash - hands, lips, tongues - I was practically crawling over him as the magnets inside us completed the circuit, our bodies all the more energized for it.

  Knowing he'd promise to not stop this, I started tugging at clothing. I heard the buttons of his shirt pop off as I ripped it open. A low growl escaped his chest as his hands tangled in my wild-in-the-slight-breeze hair.

  A few feet away from where we were mauling each other, I heard Teren's other car door open. I heard a foot crunch onto the gravel and the smell of aftershave and body wash hit me. As I pulled Teren's ruined shirt off his shoulders, I heard a startled voice say, "Um. . . guys?"

  Wanting privacy, I jumped up, swinging my legs over so Teren would catch me in his arms. Luckily for me, he did. "Bed," I muttered, in the one second break between our kisses.

  He grunted some sort of response and then he was moving, streaking us upstairs, to finally relish this heat, instead of pushing it away.

  As the world rushed by, my super hearing heard Hot Ben mutter, "What the hell was that?"

  As Teren kicked in our door, breaking the frame, I heard Halina reply with, "That's just how they say hello now. "

  Teren set me down by the bed and we started ripping off clothes. Panting, I finished tearing off his outfit. Literally. I ruined everything he'd been wearing. Between our erotic noises, I whispered, "She's right, we never say hello anymore. "

  Finished peeling off my clothes, his lips attached to my neck. "Hello," he muttered into my skin, before he dragged his tongue up to my ear.

  Letting out a husky laugh, I heard Hot Ben enter the house and say to Halina beside him, "It was weird. You should have seen him in the car, it was like he wanted to tear the seat to pieces, he was so antsy. He wouldn't even talk to me, wouldn't even drive me home. "

  Teren's body, naked before me, pressed into me and I groaned loudly. Not loud enough for a still confused Ben, but loud enough for the others. Halina laughed as she responded to him. "Yes, she's like that too. It's very entertaining. "

  Teren laid me down on the bed harshly, not hard enough to hurt our children, but rough enough that I bounced on it. He was laying beside me in a flash, his cool, hard body along the side of mine, igniting me. "You were gonna rip apart the seats?" I breathily asked him, turned on even more by the image.

  His hand slipped down between my thighs and I groaned again. "You have no idea. I couldn't wait to get home to you. I couldn't get here fast enough. " His breath cool in my ear electrified me. His fingers running up and down my slick skin brought me right to the brink.

  "Me too," I moaned as his finger dipped inside me, taking me right over the brink. I cried out and clutched his hair tight.

  As my ecstatic groans died off, I heard Ben say, "So. . . what are they doing now?"

  As Teren's cool mouth darted down to replace his fingers, and another loud cry echoed throughout the room as a second orgasm instantly hit me, I heard Halina laugh and tell him, "Guess. "

  Ben laughed as well as I came down off my second high. Teren flipped me to my side, coming up behind me. As my stomach was generally in the way when we faced each other, this was how we could be the closest. His chest rested against my back and I felt the rumble of a growl through my skin. I turned my head to him, my fangs extending as I lost control on them, but he kissed me anyway. He lifted my leg up around his hip and swept a hand down to my core again, prepping me for him.

  He dropped his head to my shoulder, his fangs prickling my skin as he dragged them across me teasingly. I panted as he brought me right back to the edge again, it really didn't take much at this point. The energy buzzing between us was intensifying everything we naturally felt for each other, and not really caring about anything but being with him, I let out a loud cry when he removed his fingers and entered me. Then he
was plunging deep and hard, grunting with each thrust. He grabbed my hip as he rocked me back and forth, pulling me closer, deeper. I bent forward a bit, away from him, allowing him to go as deep as he could. He gasped and muttered my name.

  Careful not to hurt me, but plunging harder, faster, and even deeper, he let out more noises than he usually did. He was animalistic, ravaging me with the beast within, not reigning in his vampiric nature like he usually did. His unrestraint drove me to madness, and I blocked out Halina telling Ben that we were, "About to bring the house down. "

  My hand clenched the sheets in front of me as he continued pounding into me. The passion between us only escalated, until he finally growled deep and slowed his hips, coming in me. Feeling that release, hearing him groan in the most erotic way, I came again too - a particularly hard and particularly long one. Third time's a charm.

  We rode out the sensation in tiny hip movements and bursts of staggered breaths. Eventually, he stopped moving completely and sagged against my back. Heart racing, breath heavy, I sagged against him too. He removed himself and laced his arms around me, burying his head in my neck. "I love you," he muttered.

  I could only grunt a series of sounds that sort of sounded like I love you too. He chuckled and snuggled into me, reaching over me for the covers we'd shucked aside in our haste. I sighed as the thick warmth enveloped me, protected me from the chill of his extremities. His core, the part that had been actively rubbing up against me, that was quite warm.

  As our breaths returned to normal, the intense energy dissipating, I heard an ongoing conversation that I'd managed to block out as things had gotten a little. . . intense, at the end.

  ". . . so she started chucking things at him! It was hilarious. " I heard Hot Ben sigh and Halina laugh.

  I twisted my head to Teren. "The vampire chucked things at you?"

  He sighed and kissed my shoulder. "Yeah, she took one look at me and knew exactly who I was. " I twisted around to him and he shook his head. "See, Great-Gran knew the vampire's boyfriend-"

  I cut him off, Alanna already having explained the dramatics to me. "They told me. " I shook my head as I looked over his face, his hair rumpled, but perfect. "I told them she'd know who you were. "

  He raised an eyebrow at that and I heard Halina mumble, "We can't help it if we're unforgettably attractive. "

  Teren rolled his eyes and looked down at the floor. "Well, she definitely remembered you. You may want to stay out of Santa Rosa for awhile. . . or maybe even the State. "

  Halina snorted. "She should get over it. I mean, if you think about it, I did the cow a favor. "

  Teren sighed and snuggled back into my skin. "Right," he muttered, just as Ben asked, "What did you say, Halina?"

  I grinned and laughed at the fact that I was now privy to all these secret conversations. Well, the ones I was awake enough to hear anyway. Just as I was about to ask Teren what had happened, and maybe berate him for not telling me the entire situation before he went over there, I heard Hot Ben continue with, "Yeah, she went off on him for like twenty minutes. . . but then, this big vamp showed up. Things got a little hairy after that. "

  Teren sighed and rolled onto his back. I twisted all the way around to face him. "What happened?" I asked, my hands running over his chest.

  He looked over at me, his brows bunched. "He defended his girl's honor, knocked me around a little. "

  I sat up on an elbow and gaped at him. From downstairs, I heard a deep growl coming from Halina and Ben asking her if she was okay. Teren sat up with me, a hand going around my neck. "I'm fine. He didn't even leave a mark. " He smirked at that and showed me his bare body. I frowned, knowing any "mark" would have healed by now anyway. That didn't mean he hadn't been hurt.

  He sighed and rested his head against mine. "I'm fine. " He pulled back, his fingers running through my hair. "Eventually, I got them talking to me, explained what I was looking for. " He sighed, his pale eyes flicking over my face, his own suddenly apologetic. He shook his head. "They didn't know anything. " He sighed again and looked down at the floor, at Halina. "Nothing about others like me anyway. They had another name. " He looked back up at me. "Another nest of purebloods. " He shrugged. "But that's it. "

  I exhaled a held breath and shaking my head, pulled him into me for a tight hug. My arms around his neck ran through his hair, pulling his head into me. I never wanted to let him go. I closed my eyes and bit back the tears, knowing that I had to let him go. I had to, or we'd lose everything.

  He sighed and held me tight. "I love you, Emma," he told me again.

  I sighed and nodded. "I love you too. "

  I heard Halina start to grill Ben over the details of this new nest and heard his startled reply that she knew about that. She didn't tell him that she'd just heard Teren mention it, and I was sure Hot Ben was now wondering if she was a mind reader too. I'd imagine that would freak him out, to think that.

  Teren and I exhaled softly and relaxed back to the pillows, content to stay with each other while Hot Ben explained the details to the others. He went downstairs and repeated it to Alanna and Imogen, who had probably heard it the first time, and then he asked for a ride home.

  I sighed and snuggled into Teren's cool shoulder, glad that he was with me, if even for just one night. In fact, he only left my side to grab a glass of blood from the kitchen. Throwing some clothes on before he left our room, and looking a bit sheepish at our door that would no longer close properly, he ran into Ben as he was leaving with Imogen, who'd offered to give him a ride back to his house.

  I heard laughter and playful ribbing, as Ben chided him on our "reunion" in the parking lot, telling him that he'd have to get his car fixed again since I'd ruined the door, and then Ben left the house, muttering that he wanted some hot sex like that. I grinned, knowing that he probably had more adventurous sex on a day to day basis with Tracey, than most men got in their entire lifetime.

  As quick as he could, Teren was back in bed with me, sipping on a tall, steaming glass and handing me one of my own. Even though I'd gorged myself at dinner, I greedily took the glass and began chugging it down, once again feeling guilty over how much I drank. Teren laughed at my enthusiasm, his fangs red and extended, and sat by my side on the bed, throwing an arm around my shoulders. I relaxed into his side, loving how deeply we were connected, and hoping it lasted. Hoping I lasted.

  I felt Teren's eyes on me as we drank and turned to see him smiling at me. Tentatively, he reached out and ran his finger down one of my fangs. It was like an instant jolt of electricity though me when he did that. I half closed my eyes and wondered if my sort of sore body could handle a round two.

  "These are beautiful," he whispered, removing his hand.

  I blushed, opening my eyes and looking away from him. "You're just saying that to make me feel better about this. I know I look. . . " I couldn't finish that and sighed softly, a hormonal sadness sweeping over me.

  His fingers came around to my jaw, turning me back to him. He opened his mouth wider, showing me his teeth, licked cleaned and once again pearly white. "You don't find these attractive?" he asked, as he smiled at me with a self assuredness that took my breath.

  I sighed, smiling myself. "You know I do. " I grinned and ran my finger down his. He shuddered. "These are very sexy. "

  His smile turned devilish, his teeth only emphasizing it. "I feel the same about yours. I find them equally as attractive. " He tilted his head and ran some of his cool fingers back through my hair. "Now, you can take my word on that. . . " he bit his lip, his fangs still extended, "or I could show you, again, exactly what you do to me?" He raised an eyebrow suggestively at me and I felt my skin flush.

  I bit my lip carefully, so I didn't actually bite my lip. His eyes tracked the movement. My eyes locked onto his teeth. "I believe you," I said softly, replaying our last encounter. Then I shook my head nestled in his shoulder. "But mine just don't look natural to me yet, not like yours. " I s
ighed as I looked over his smiling, attractive face, his eyes still focused on my mouth. "Yours are very beautiful too," I said quietly. His eyes flashed up to mine and he smiled warmly at me. I grinned and added, "Some vamps can have thin, reedy teeth, or wide, ugly teeth. Yours are very nicely proportioned. "

  He laughed at my description and then said, "You're checking out other vampires now?" He took a sip of his blood while I laughed.

  "Just on TV. "

  He grinned and shook his head, setting his empty glass on the nightstand. With a playful twist of his lips, he leaned in to kiss my neck. "Well. . . my teeth aren't the only beautiful and well proportioned things about me. "

  I laughed huskily at that, but my breath quickened and my body let me know that, yeah, I could so handle a round two. . . or three, or four. . . Swallowing as he pulled my glass out of my hands, I muttered, "Beautiful? Really?"

  Laughing into my skin, he muttered, "Just going with the theme of the evening. "

  I started to laugh, but then his mouth and hands were on me and I found I couldn't focus. I heard him inhale me, inhale my desire for him, and a shaky breath escaped from the both of us. As his fingers brushed over my bare body, I heard Halina mutter, "God, I'm not listening to this again. " After that, I felt her leave the house. Good riddance.

  My breath sped up as I looked over the desire building in his face. "I want you, fangs or no fangs. " He looked over the desire building in my face and grinned crookedly. "And I think you want me too. "

  Boy, did I ever.

  He carefully pulled my bare body over onto his lap and I straddled him, my knees on either side of his hips. Making love with my giant stomach between us wasn't exactly the most romantic thing in the world, but the hormones in my body weren't exactly shouting moonbeams and sonnets, if you know what I mean. I had an acute ache, an ache that was growing larger by the second, and I needed him to fill it. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind the girth between us, and by his breath and his face, he was feeling the same ache I was. I found my confirmation of that when I lowered my bare hips to his lap. He had a very profound ache.

  He sat up with me, stringing his fingers through the hair at the back of my head as he pulled me in for a deep kiss. His tongue matched the pace of my hips as I rocked against him. He groaned in my mouth, his tongue very carefully stroking my still extended fangs. I moaned at the sensation and ground harder into his hips, needing him much deeper.

  Suddenly a rumble sounded loudly throughout the room, startling me. I was used to low feral noises from Teren when he got in that mood, but these noises had been different than the growls I associated with him. These were different, because I could still feel the lingering vibrations along my ribs, along my skin. These were different because they had come from my chest, not Teren's. I sat back on his lap, breaking our intense make out session.

  "Oh my god, I growled at you!"

  He smirked and leaned in for my neck. "I know, it was hot. "

  I pulled away and twisted my lips at him. "How is me growling at you hot?"

  He raised an eyebrow and I felt myself flushing. I knew what he was going to say - 'isn't it hot when I do it?' And it was. That always got some sort of response from my body; I just wasn't used to being the one making the animal noises. He started to reply and I cut him off with my lips, leaning back into his body.

  "Don't say it," I muttered and I could feel him chuckling beneath me.