by Paige Tyler
The doorbell rang, jerking him out of his thoughts. His heart began to pound. God, please let that be her.
He ran into the entryway and yanked opened the door. It was her—the woman he’d turned. Her face looked drawn and she was even paler than she’d been that morning, which meant she was probably starving.
“You’re back,” he said.
She swallowed hard. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah, of course.”
She stepped into the entryway and nervously looked around, her arms wrapped protectively around her middle. Her gaze swung back to him, her blue eyes frightened. “Everything you told me this morning was true, wasn’t it? You really are a vampire.”
He nodded. “And so are you.”
She shook her head, her brow furrowing. “But how can vampires be real? I thought they were just things people made up to scare kids, like werewolves and zombies.”
Kaige felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. “I’ll explain everything later, but first you need to feed.”
She chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully. “You mean blood, right?”
He nodded. “Let’s go into the living room and sit down.”
When she made no move to head in that direction, Kaige put his hand on her back, gently guiding her into the room. She went willingly, taking a seat on the leather couch. She leaned over, her arms clutching at her stomach. She was cramping up even worse than he’d thought.
“So, how do we do this? I mean, when you say I need blood, does that mean we have to go out and bite someone?” she asked when she finally straightened up.
“Not quite. We don’t go around biting people anymore.”
She sighed. “That’s good. I don’t think I could do that. So, you use an IV then?”
He gave her a small smile. “No. Actually, we normally just pour bagged blood into a glass and drink it. I had to give you an IV while you were unconscious because that was the only way to get my blood into you. But unfortunately, bagged blood isn’t going to work for you right now. You’re not far enough along in the change to handle any other blood but mine. It would be too hard on your system. Of course, if I’d been thinking, I would have had some of my blood waiting for you. But honestly, I wasn’t too sure you’d come back. So, we’re going to have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
Her eyes filled with panic. “You mean I have to bite you? Look, I know you’re trying to help, but like I told you before, I don’t think I could do that.”
He grinned. “You’re teeth beg to differ.”
She blinked as if in surprise, then reached up with her fingers to feel her fangs. Though not nearly as large as his, the tips still peeked out from between her lips, he noticed. Damn, he’d never seen a sexier pair of fangs on a female. And he’d seen a bunch.
“I still don’t think I can bite you,” she said quietly.
Kaige couldn’t help but laugh. “At least that means I don’t have to worry that you accidentally bit anyone else today,” he said. “Okay, we’ll do this another way then. Close your eyes.”
She eyed him nervously. “Why?”
“Trust me.”
She hesitated, but then obediently closed her eyes.
Lifting his arm to his mouth, Kaige brought out his fangs and bit into his wrist. As the smell of his blood filled the air, the girl’s nostrils flared.
“Open your mouth,” he ordered softly.
She obeyed without hesitation, her lips parting invitingly, and he gently pressed his wrist to her mouth. She was tentative at first, her lips gently closing over his wrist, her tongue barely touching his skin, but then her vampire instincts took over and she began to drink more urgently. He hadn’t noticed how sexy her mouth was before, but as she drank from him, he saw that her lips were full and pouty and perfectly shaped. The kind of lips that a man dreamed of kissing.
Kaige swore silently. Where the hell had that thought come from?
He was trying to get that image out of head when she suddenly lifted her hand to wrap her slender fingers around his arm, holding him more firmly in place while she drank. A moment later, she let out a little moan.
The sound was so erotic that it was all Kaige could do not to let out a groan of his own. Damn, what she was doing felt good.
Who the hell was he kidding? It felt more than good. It felt exquisite. Sexual, even. The realization made his cock immediately go hard inside his jeans and he had to clench his jaw to stifle another groan. He’d shared blood with other female vampires before during sex, but the pleasure had never been this intense.
Unable to help himself, Kaige slid his hand in the girl’s long, silky hair, silently urging her to take more. She didn’t need any further encouragement, but closed her mouth tightly around his wrist and sank her teeth into his wrist.
Kaige didn’t even bother to stifle the groan that escaped his lips this time, but simply closed his eyes and gave in to the pleasure of what she was doing. God, he hadn’t felt anything this incredible in his very long life.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kaige knew he should stop her before she took too much, but what she was doing felt too intoxicating. He couldn’t stop her if he tried.
It was the girl who finally pulled her mouth away, though not before running her warm tongue over the bite marks.
Kaige opened his eyes to look down at her. She gave him a shy look as she wiped a drop of blood from the corner of her mouth with her finger.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to take that much.”
“You didn’t.” His voice sounded strangely hoarse to his own ears. His legs suddenly felt wobbly and he sat down on the couch beside her. “Are you feeling better?”
She nodded. “Yes. Thank you.” She then winced as her gaze went to the puncture marks on his wrist. “What about you? Do those hurt?”
He shook his head. “A vampire’s saliva has a slight anesthetic effect, so a gentle bite like that doesn’t really hurt.”
“What about the bite marks?”
“They’ll be completely healed by tomorrow.”
She blinked in surprise at that. “Wow.”
Wow was an understatement.
Beside him, she lifted her hand to her mouth to hide a yawn. Her fangs were still extended and covered with just the slightest tinge of blood. He couldn’t remember ever seeing anything sexier than that.
Despite the fact that he’d told Jensen he didn’t want to have anything to do with teaching the girl what she needed to know, Kaige suddenly found that there was so much he wanted to tell her. But it was obvious that she was too exhausted right now. Just giving her that little bit of blood wouldn’t change that.
“So, what now?” she asked.
“Now, you get some sleep.”
She started to shake her head, but then yawned again. She gave him a sheepish look. “I guess I am a little tired. Although I don’t know how I’m going sleep with all these questions running through my head.”
“I promise I’ll answer all of them. Tomorrow.”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth. Her fangs had finally retracted, he noticed. “Are you sure you don’t mind if I come back?”
If she’d asked him that twenty-four hours ago, he would have been ready to hand her off to the nearest vampire clinic. “Actually, it’d probably be best if you stayed here tonight. Until you can control the urge for blood, it’s not a good idea for you to be around humans.”
She looked surprised at that, like it was something she hadn’t considered. She nodded. “Okay.”
He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath until he let it out. For a minute there, he thought she was going to refuse. He got to his feet. “Then if you don’t mind sleeping in my bed again, I’ll walk you upstairs.”
She stood. “I don’t want to put you out. I can sleep on the couch.”
The corner of his mouth edged up. “You’re not putting me out. Besides, I’m not sle
eping on the couch. I have a guest room.”
“Oh,” was all she said.
Kaige glanced at her as he led the way upstairs. “I just realized that I still don’t know your name.”
She laughed. “That’s right. I never did introduce myself this morning, did I? It’s Savanna. Savanna Royce.”
Savanna. Kaige silently repeated the name in his head. It was beautiful. Like her.
Outside his bedroom, they both stopped. As he stood there gazing down at her, Kaige had an almost irresistible urge to kiss her. Man, she was doing a serious number on him. He cleared his throat instead.
“I’m glad you came back tonight,” he told her.
“Me, too,” she said. “I feel a lot better already.”
He stood there in silence, gazing down at her. Shit, she was going to think he was a weirdo. “I’ll say good night, then. If you need me, I’ll be right down the hall.”
She nodded. “Good night.”
Kaige waited until she went into his bedroom and closed the door before slowly making his way down the hall to the guest room. But as he stripped off his clothes, he realized he was too keyed up to sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about what had just happened between him and Savanna downstairs. A single bite on the wrist from a female he barely knew had aroused him more than he’d been in what—a hundred-and-fifty years? How was that possible?
He threw himself onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, unable to come up with an answer. He was still trying to come up with one when he finally fell sleep.
* * * * *
Savanna leaned back against the door with a sigh. Just that morning, she hadn’t been able to get out of Kaige’s house fast enough, and now she contemplating yanking open the door and tearing off his clothes. It was amazing how nibbling at a guy’s wrist could change a girl’s outlook.
She had expected to be repulsed by the act of feeding, but she’d been far from disgusted. From the moment Kaige had put his wrist to her mouth, her entire body had felt like it was on fire. His blood had been sweet and heady, its coppery taste so delicious that she couldn’t help but sink her teeth in just a little. The reaction had startled her at first, but then her new vamp instincts had taken over and she’d found herself giving in to them.
Savanna closed her eyes, remembering how her heartbeat had seemed to merge with his as she’d fed. She’d never experienced anything so amazing, or so sexual, before. If Kaige had swung her up in his arms and carried her up here to his bedroom afterward, she wouldn’t have protested. She normally didn’t jump into bed that quickly with a guy, but there was just something about him that had her ready to do just that. Just the thought of making love with him had her body feeling warm and tingly all over.
What was it about him that had her reacting like this? Sure, he was completely gorgeous, but he was also a complete stranger. Even though she knew it sounded like a goofy romance book cliché, she swore she had some sort of connection with him. One that she’d never had with any other guy before.
She frowned as she considered that. Maybe it was all just a side-effect of her being a vampire now. Was she hot for him because he had turned her? That made sense. In the movies, vampires always seduced their unsuspecting victims. But this wasn’t a movie, and Kaige hadn’t seduced her.
Savanna pushed away from the door and slowly undressed. By the time she crawled into bed, she was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open. She pulled up the blanket and burrowed down into the big, soft pillows, inhaling Kaige’s scent. She was still thinking about the hunky vampire down the hall as she drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Four
Savanna woke to the aroma of bacon and eggs the next morning. As she lay in Kaige’s bed blinking sleepily up at the ceiling, it occurred to her that she probably shouldn’t be able to smell breakfast cooking downstairs all the way up in the bedroom, especially since the door was closed. Just one more bit of proof that she was a vampire. As if she needed any.
Throwing back the blanket, she padded naked into the adjoining bathroom, putting her hair up as she went. She smiled as she stepped into the glass-enclosed shower. While she’d never envisioned a vampire living in the ritzy Nob Hill neighborhood, she had to admit that with its sleek lines and modern décor, Kaige’s condo was really nice. He obviously had very good taste.
Savanna let out a snort as she stepped under the spray. Yesterday, she’d thought Kaige Travers was a complete nut-job, and today, she thought he was absolutely the most fascinating man she’d ever met. Funny the difference a day could make.
There was so much she wanted to ask him. How old was he? Where was he originally from? What did he do for a living? She frowned at that. Did vampires even have jobs?
Suddenly impatient to get the scoop on her fellow creature of the night, Savanna quickly finished showering and toweled off. After applying a light coat of mascara and a touch of lip gloss from her purse, she ran a brush through her long hair, then went back into the bedroom. Rather than putting on her jeans and T-shirt, she found herself reaching for the button-up shirt Kaige had left draped over the back of a chair before she could stop herself. For some reason she couldn’t explain, she suddenly found herself wanting to wrap herself in his scent again. She hoped Kaige didn’t mind.
While she didn’t know the layout of the condo, Savanna had no trouble finding the kitchen when she went downstairs. All she had to do was follow her nose.
Kaige was setting the table and he looked up when she walked in. His dark eyes caressed her slowly, lingering on her bare legs. Her pulse skipped a beat.
“I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed your shirt,” she said softly.
He shook his head. “No, of course not. I was just going to come wake you up.”
An image of Kaige waking her by pulling back the sheet and slowly kissing his way up her naked body flashed into her head, and Savanna blushed.
“I’d probably still be in bed if I hadn’t smelled breakfast cooking.” She reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear as she pulled out a chair and sat down. She usually didn’t eat anything more than a piece of whole wheat toast or cereal and some fruit for breakfast, but her mouth watered at the sight of the scrambled eggs and bacon. “This looks delicious.”
Savanna helped herself to some eggs, then took two pieces of bacon. Across from her, Kaige did the same, though the portions he took for himself were much bigger.
She picked up her fork, all set to take a bite, but then her brow furrowed as a thought suddenly occurred to her. “Wait a minute,” she said. “We still eat food like everyone else?”
Kaige looked up from sprinkling pepper on his eggs, his mouth quirking with amusement. “Blood isn’t a substitute for food. We just need it to survive, like a supplement. Food still provides the energy, nutrients, and vitamins for us just like it does for everyone else.”
Savanna took a bite of bacon. As she chewed, she considered something else. “Are we monsters?”
On the other side of the table, Kaige almost spit out his orange juice. “Monsters? No, of course not. We simply have a…condition.”
“A condition?” She didn’t think she’d ever heard vampirism referred to as a condition before.
He sighed. “I’m not the best person to explain all of this. My friend, Jensen, could do a much better job.”
“Jensen?” she said. “Is he a vampire, too?”
Kaige nodded. “Yes. He’s the one who turned me. He’s—”
“Wait,” she interrupted. “When did he turn you?”
Kaige frowned, clearly perplexed. “When did he turn me?”
She nodded and reached for her orange juice. “I want to know how old you are.”
“Two-hundred-and-seventy-eight.”
She blinked. Damn, he looked good for his age.
“Back to our condition,” he began, but she interrupted him again.
“Where are you originally from?” she asked.
He picked up
his toast. “England.”
Savanna sipped her juice. “You don’t have much of an accent. Not that you would, I suppose. I mean, you must have lived in lots of places in two-hundred-and-seventy-eight years, right?”
“A couple.”
“So, what do you do for a living?” she asked, lifting a forkful of scrambled eggs to her mouth.
“I’m a professor at the university,” he said, picking up a strip of bacon from his plate and biting into it.
A college professor? He had to be joking. With those looks and that body, he should be modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch, not spending his time in some stuffy old classroom. “What do you teach?”
“History.”
She should have known. “Of course.”
The corner of Kaige’s mouth edged up. “So,” he said when she made no other comment, “is there anything else you want to know, or can I get back to what I was saying before?”
Savanna gestured with her toast. “Please,” she said, then added, “If I think of anything else, I’ll just interrupt you again.”
Kaige chuckled. “Okay, as I was saying, we basically carry a very contagious form of anemia. The condition was transmitted to you when I gave you my blood.”
“Anemia? Really?” She chewed on a piece of bacon while she considered that. “Are there a lot of us with this condition then?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t say a lot.”
“More than a few?” she persisted. “Less than a dozen?”
He frowned. “In San Francisco? There are about a hundred vampires or so, I guess. Obviously more in the entire state of California. It’s—”
“Wait a minute,” she said, leaning forward in her chair. “How can you be sure how many vampires live in San Francisco? There could be a lot more than a hundred, right?”
“Not really,” he said. “I mean, I haven’t read the census report in a while, but the last time I looked, there were only about a hundred or so.”
Her eyes went wide. “There are census reports for vampires? You’re joking, right?”
