"Yes, I'm sure you could find him. And I already know I can't hypnotize you into staying home," he said with a rueful shake of his head. "I shudder to imagine the fight you'd put up if I tried. Ephemerals used to be so much easier to keep in line."
"Yeah, well, deal with it." She stood. "So let's hit the road."
"Not so fast. I can't take you into his lair with no preparation. I need an excuse to bring you along."
"I'll just bet you have a plan for that, too."
"You'll pose as my donor or, as Josef would see it, my pet. Some of us do have exclusive relationships with donors."
"The way you did with Lydia."
"Yes, but never before or since." For a second he stared silently into the distance. His eyes shifted back to her, and he gazed at her as if musing on that hereditary resemblance he'd mentioned. "Because I did have that kind of relationship once, Josef will easily believe I've formed a similar bond with you. You asked whether serving as an exclusive donor would be hazardous to the human partner's health. I'll pretend to be concerned about that point and looking for an additional pet to relieve the physical strain on you."
"That sounds almost like bigamy." She impatiently brushed away the thought that if she actually had a relationship with Karl, she wouldn't want to share him.
He smiled coolly. "Almost. But such arrangements are far from unknown. I'll say I've brought you along to help me choose a second partner you'll be happy with."
"If that's the way it has to go, I'll do it for Randy." The more details he offered, the more the scheme sounded like buying a slave for a harem. Cordelia had doubts about her ability to act the role he planned for her.
"That scenario will give me an excuse for being particular about my choice. I'll simply refuse every offer until he produces Miranda. With luck, he'll accept my payment for her, and we'll get away without rousing suspicions."
"What if he charges a price you can't afford?"
"That's no problem. I have more money than I could ever spend."
"You're kidding. You sure don't live like a millionaire. If you're rich, why do you bother writing books, not to mention holding a job?"
"The writing and teaching prevent boredom. Many of us work at some sort of productive activity. As for the other question, millionaires attract attention. I want to be comfortable, not conspicuous. As I mentioned earlier, most vampires carefully avoid flaunting their wealth."
"Then any of you could afford to keep human pets." The concept still made her sizzle with indignation.
"Not many do, especially a donor who's fully aware of our true nature. Some of our kind think that's a dangerous indulgence. Others claim feasting on a fully aware partner offers the ultimate peak experience."
"Donor? Partner? They sound like weaselly euphemisms to me." She folded her arms and glared at him. "How do you expect me to play that role without gagging or possibly laughing my head off?"
"I'm glad you asked." In a flash of movement that her eyes barely caught, he closed the space between them and coiled an arm around her. He brushed the tiny mark he'd left on her neck, sending her pulse into overdrive. "We not only have superhumanly keen hearing and smell, we can see auras as well as read emotions. To fool your uncle, the act must be totally convincing."
"How?" she breathed, involuntarily tilting her head to welcome the caress of his fingertips.
"He'll be able to sense from your aura whether I've fed on you, so I'll do that again. Furthermore, we'll have to form a bond."
"I thought that's what your bite already did."
"No, I mean a two-way blood bond. Normally I wouldn't suggest that, but you'll need the ability to shield your emotions from Josef, and there's only one way to teach you that skill quickly enough. I'll have to get inside your mind."
“What--inside? How?"
"I drink from you, and you taste my blood in return. We'll become telepathically linked. We'll be able to communicate silently, and more important, I'll infuse you with the abilities you'll need.
Taste his blood? The thought made her a little queasy, but she figured she could get past that reluctance just once if she had to. The rest of the conditions, though, chilled her. "You'll be able to read my thoughts, not just my emotions? No way!"
His clasp tightened around her waist. "Believe me, I don't like the idea, either. I didn't even do it with Lydia. In adolescence we all share blood with our advisers as part of the mentor relationship. That's a formal, token exchange for teaching purposes, though. Taking the process to a deeper level is something else altogether, a rare intimacy." He touched her neck again, lingering as if to savor the throb of her pulse. "It's nearly as much a violation of privacy for me as for you. Why would I want you rummaging around in my head? I wouldn't propose this step if it weren't the only way to carry out the deception and keep you safe. He has to see the mark of my possession in your aura, and you have to be able to guard against his reading anything else in you."
"After we do this, I'll be really able to shield my emotions from vampires? You, too?" The idea of baring her desire for him to his mental gaze made her cringe.
"You can try," he said with a feral grin. "I'll also give you a crash course in enhanced psychic invisibility. The technique you stumbled on by yourself only works against human observers. If you need to hide from Josef, you'll have to veil your heartbeat and breathing as well as your aura. You can't do any of that on your own."
She swallowed to get her fluttering stomach under control. "Okay, I'm convinced. Let's get it over with."
He smoothed her hair, and his lips gently grazed her forehead. "Don't be so nervous. I'll take only a token sip, the way I did earlier. Our saliva contains an anesthetic and a mild intoxicant to keep the donor from resisting, so you won't feel any discomfort. Furthermore, our bites heal quickly and never become infected."
"Those aren't the main things I'm worried about."
"I know. It's the exposure that frightens you. Believe me, I understand. I don't want a deep union any more than you do. That would require repeated feeding and a mutual openness I'm sure neither of us is ready for. I'll keep it as painless as possible."
"Painless" wasn't the most comforting term. As she'd just told him, physical discomfort hardly rated a spot on her list of fears. His sipping at her throat hadn't hurt. It had set her blood ablaze. She didn't want to repeat that loss of control. "You're sure I won't turn into a vampire?"
"Would a vampire bat's bite give you wings and sonar?" Impatience tinged his voice. "I'm not contagious. You're confusing us with the undead demons in the movies again."
"Well, excuse me, all this is new to me." When she tried to slip out of his grasp, he let her. "What powers do you have that I don't know about? Speaking of bats, can you turn into one?"
With a sound between a laugh and a groan, he said, "No, we can't violate the conservation of mass. We do have the ability to revert to an ancestral winged, fang-bearing shape by force of will, but the body size doesn't change. We don't do it often because we're more vulnerable when our molecules are in flux, and we can't do it at all in sunlight. The superstitions about shapeshifting come mostly from people who've watched us shroud ourselves in illusions. It's easy to deceive an unwary observer into seeing almost anything we wish."
"Then how can I ever be sure you're being straight with me?"
"Because my mind will be open to you whenever I enter yours."
The quick, smooth reply didn't completely reassure her. If he chose to block anything from her, she would have no way to penetrate his barrier. She had no illusions about her ability to resist his strength, mental or physical.
"Get together whatever you'll need for a day or two," he said, "including a jacket. The nights may already be cool in the mountains. Then we'll perform the blood exchange. We've lost too much time already. Aside from trying to catch up with Corinne before she does any damage, we have to arrive before dawn. It would look suspicious to Josef if I drove in daylight for what he'd see as a trivial purpose."
She changed into jeans and a T-shirt, tossed basic necessities into an overnight bag, and phoned a neighbor down the street about checking on Topaz once a day until Cordelia came home. She estimated she'd get back by Sunday. She couldn't imagine shielding herself against a vampire's preternatural senses longer than that, no matter how much psychic support she got from Karl.
Under his impatient eyes, she stocked the cat's feeder with dry kibble and filled an extra water bowl. "Give me my key. I have to drop it off with the lady who's going to take care of Topaz." She held out her hand.
He gave it to her along with a devilish arch of his thick eyebrows. "Now we're even in that respect, at least."
"No reason you should have free access to my house, anyway." She tucked the key in her jeans pocket. She'd deliver it to her neighbor on the way out. "What about Thor?"
"I've already boarded him at a kennel. I knew I'd be leaving tonight regardless of whether I took you with me." He captured her hand and led her back to the living room, where he drew her onto the sofa next to him. "Enough delay. We must prepare."
Folding her legs under her, she turned toward him and braced herself.
"Why so tense?" He cupped the side of her face. "I've already tasted you once, and you agreed it was far from terrible."
"I didn't know what was happening until after it was over. Thinking about it in advance creeps me out." She wasn't speaking the complete truth, of course, but she had no intention of admitting aloud how his bite had inflamed her.
"Then don't think." His lips alighted on hers and instantly withdrew.
Sighing, she turned her head to rub her cheek against his hand. Something brushed her skin. A cluster of fine hairs? "What's this? You have hair in your palms?"
"One of the superstitions with truth in it. They're sensitive to heat and magnetism." He drew a hissing inward breath when she dared to explore the spot with her lips. "They're also hellishly sensitive to what you're doing right now. If you want me to hang onto any control, stop."
She stopped. Her heart raced at the idea of his losing control. She couldn't decide whether the thought was more scary or exciting.
Lacing his fingers through her hair, Karl grazed her lips again. She leaned toward him and automatically opened her mouth to welcome the invasion of his tongue. How could his touch on the nape of her neck be cool enough to make her shiver while his kiss seared her? He nipped and teased until her tension melted away. She wrapped her arms around him and fisted the back of his shirt, silently begging for more.
He answered her with a deep, lingering kiss that fed the fire within her instead of quenching it. Liquid warmth pooled in her most sensitive places while hunger burned in the pit of her stomach.
Her head spun with vertigo by the time he nibbled a path from her mouth to the hollow of her throat. "Do you feel it?" he murmured against her skin. "I'm not shielding now. Feel how I thirst for you."
Thirst? Hunger? That isn't mine. It's his.
She stiffened, a trickle of cold seeping through her passion-dazed brain.
"Don't be afraid. I feel your body's cravings, too." He kissed the pulse point at the side of her neck. "I need you now." His tongue flickered over that spot until the fire sparked to life again and drove away the chill. One hand stroked her back, while the other wandered to her breast. Through her shirt, he traced spirals around one nipple.
A sting pierced her throat, more shocking than painful. She gasped and clutched him tighter.
After the first penetration, she felt only the lapping of his tongue and the ripples of pleasure it generated. Echoes of his satisfaction reverberated through her. He still wasn't blocking his emotions. She felt him savoring every sip of her blood.
It didn't seem long before he finished with a final swirl of his tongue, lifted his head, and held her tightly against him, his fingers kneading her shoulders. His breath came fast and ragged. "Dark powers, how will I be able to resist you from now on? There were good reasons why I haven't done this before." A husky laugh rustled her hair. "I knew you'd be responsive, but I never imagined how much."
Cordelia struggled to force her own breathing under control. "That matters to you?"
"Very much. Emotions nourish us. My satisfaction depends on your passion."
A blush suffused her cheeks. He might be satisfied, but she wasn't. The burning inside her demanded more.
"Now we complete the bond," he said. Raising his left hand to his mouth, he nipped his wrist. Beads of blood welled up. "Drink." He pressed the incision to her lips.
She flicked her tongue over the wound before she could lose her nerve. To her relief, she didn't find anything repulsive about it, only a faintly salty taste no different from her own blood when she sucked on a minor cut. Clamping her mouth over the spot, she swallowed the slow trickle.
He bent to lap her throat again. His renewed pleasure flooded over her. No, more than that, she tasted the flavor of her blood in his mouth. It sparkled like champagne and burned all the way down to fill the void within him.
His sensations flooded her. Every cell vibrated with the delight that thrummed through his veins and hers. Her flesh tingled everywhere, not only in her breasts and between her thighs. Quivering on the verge of release, she glimpsed her own face, with her eyes half-closed in ecstasy.
::Soar with me!:: His voice echoed inside her head.
She arched her back, ravenous for more intimate contact. His hand plunged between her legs and cupped her there, caressing her through her clothes. He instantly found the place that craved his touch. Her climax shuddered through her, and she felt him racked with the same sensations.
::See what I mean?:: that same mental voice teased after they floated down from the peak. ::I share your consummation. But I must confess I never expected it to be so intense.:: She caught a hint of something almost like dismay.
::More than you bargained for?:: It comforted her a little to discover he shared her exhilarated and yet alarmed plunging-off-a-cliff reaction.
::Yes. I don't want to need you this way.::
Although she certainly didn't want to be submerged in his hunger, either, she felt a pang at the rejection. She opened her eyes, disentangled herself from his embrace, and retreated a few inches. "No problem, right? This is just to help us rescue Randy. Then we can forget about it."
"You think so?" he said with an ironic arch of an eyebrow. He pressed his fingertips against her neck to stop the flow of blood. The bleeding from his wrist had already ceased. "Now that we know the telepathic bond works, I'll give you that crash course we talked about."
"You said you could teach me to block my mind so nobody could read my emotions."
"I can't guarantee complete immunity, but your ability to fend off my hypnotic influence looks promising. A psychic shield is basically an extension of that." He tilted her chin to make her meet his eyes. "Build a mental image of that shield. Picture an object that symbolizes protection to you. A fortress? Castle walls?"
She resisted an impulse to giggle at the vision of herself as a princess in a castle tower. "How about a bubble?"
He switched to silent speech. ::Very well, surround yourself with a giant bubble, a sphere of safety no one can pierce.::
She visualized her bubble, an iridescent ball that she could see through but nobody else could peek inside.
::Strengthen it,:: Karl told her. He showed her his own imaginary barrier, a literal shield of shining metal. No wonder her attempts to probe his emotions had always slid off without scratching the surface.
She imagined her sphere as resilient rather than fragile, able to repel any attempt to pun
cture it.
::Excellent. And remember I'll be beside you or at least within telepathic range at all times. If you need help defending yourself, you can draw on my strength.::
She wondered whether this improved shield would repel Karl himself. Would he sneak into her mind and read her thoughts at random, and if so, would she even be aware he was doing it?
::I wouldn't inflict that invasion on you. I'll pick up your surface thoughts if you don't make a special effort to hide them, but I wouldn't trespass on your privacy against your will.::
Sensing he meant that promise sincerely, she had to drop the question for now.
"Now conjure a psychic mist," he said aloud. "Demonstrate how you can veil yourself."
Again she visualized her giant bubble, this time conceiving it as opaque rather than transparent.
"You flicker out of sight, but I simply have to focus to strip away the illusion."
She wondered whether he used the suggestive word "strip" deliberately. "So how do I hide from you?"
::Open your mind. Let me direct you.::
She imagined a wall encircling her thoughts and flung open the gate to the inner courtyard. Clasping her hands, Karl flowed into the space she cleared for him. Although she braced herself for another plunge into a sea of mindless sensuality, that didn't happen.
::Don't be afraid,:: he whispered inside her head. ::Weave your psychic veil again.::
With his phantom grasp guiding her mental gestures, she spun a glittering web around herself. The scintillating threads repelled every probe, to snare invaders in a network of misdirection before they could penetrate her disguise.
::Well done. Your body has vanished. I can still see your aura, though, and hear your pulse and breath.:: Before discouragement could wreck her concentration, he went on, ::Extinguish the glow of your life energy and construct a soundproof barrier around yourself.::
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