“No, that’s fine.” Heat climbed into my cheeks at the hastiness that gave me away. I liked Devin, but not like that.
At least, not outside of this house, anyway. Inside was another story, but I couldn’t think about that now, not on top of everything else. First things first. Brushing my teeth was a higher priority, followed quickly by figuring out what Devin had put on my sore penis the night before to cut the pain. Everything else could wait.
Chapter Seven
It took us an hour to pack and leave, including time needed to eat a quick buffet brunch in the dining room. Devin introduced me to a few of the other pets, enough that I got their names mixed up in my head. It was easier to associate each one with something else, like their jobs or hobbies. A banker. A lawyer. A real estate agent. A musician. Or golfing, squash, painting, crossword puzzles. Things like that were way easier to remember than names.
In spite of my best intentions to ask Devin questions, I fell asleep in the car on the way home. He woke me when he pulled into the parking lot of my apartment building and said he’d drop by later on in the week so we could talk.
Yes, we would talk. I needed information and he was my best source.
I checked my schedule for work, found I had a few hours to kill before then, and remembered the packet Elizabet had left in my overnight bag. My surprise. I’d dropped my beg at the front door on the way in, too wiped out to deal with it, so I headed back that way and rummaged around in the bag until I found the flat brown envelope she’d tucked inside. It was at least an inch thick of unfolded paper. I detoured through the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water, and took it and the envelope back into what served as my living area.
The envelope held three smaller envelopes and a sheaf of stapled and clipped papers. A contract, which I set aside. I was a physics major with an eye on becoming an astrophysicist, not an attorney. Plowing through legalese would take more brain power than I had right then.
There were also schedules of “House Events,” some of which were marked “required attendance.” A couple of stapled pages dealt with the “Myths and Lore of Vampyr,” another few with “Rules and Etiquette in Polite Society,” while a third set discussed proper diet and nutrition for pets.
Apparently, it was important to eat an iron-rich diet in the few days after being fed upon. Good to know.
One page dealt with the specifics of the tithe each pet made to Elizabet. I put that with the contract, along with one outlining “Allowances to Students and Those Establishing Their Careers.” Another one discussed “Sex Outside of the Mistress’ Home” and yet another one detailed “The Turning Body,” whatever that meant.
It was enough to make my head spin again.
After looking through all the paperwork, I opened the smaller envelopes. The first was made of heavy, ivory colored linen. My name was scrawled in an elegant hand on the outside. A wax seal on the back held it closed. I studied the seal, trying to figure out what its design was with no luck, so I carefully popped it up to try to leave it intact for later study.
Inside was a single sheet of paper containing a letter from Elizabet that began, My dearest Eric. I smiled and ran a hand over the letter, sniffed it and, yes, it smelled like her, like an English garden and a bakery all rolled into one.
My dearest Eric, she wrote. Thank you for joining us in a pleasant evening of frivolity.
Hunh. So, the polite word for kinky ménage sex was “frivolity.” My horizons were broadening by the minute.
I have looked forward to being with you since Devin first brought you to my attention just after your nineteenth birthday. By now, the compulsion I placed you under that night to help you forget should have broken. Please forgive me for doing so. It was for your own protection, something we take very seriously. My pets are my family, and I will not have any of you harmed by those wishing me ill or who are out for their own gain.
This must be the others she warned me about, people who were out to harm her. Though I’d gotten the impression she meant other vampires. What kind of trouble was I letting myself in for, anyway?
Of course, you and I have only just begun the journey of becoming Mistress and pet. It is your choice to continue along this path and yours alone. I should not wish to influence you unduly, but know that I am quite fond of you. Devin’s reports on your progress in school and life have kept me informed over the past two years, and I am eager to renew our acquaintance and build upon it.
Devin. Jesus. He and I were going to have a long talk as soon as I could pin him down. Spying on me and reporting back to Elizabet for two years. I was torn between violation, anger, and exasperation.
I’m certain you have many questions. Your curious mind is much too sharp to do otherwise. Much of what you need to know may be found in the remainder of this packet. If you should still have questions, please ask. Devin, Marco, and I shall be happy to help you. I look forward to our time together next month.
Yours ever, Elizabet
I read it through again carefully, sniffed in her scent, and placed the letter back in its envelope.
The other two envelopes were both high-end letter-sized envelopes, like you’d send mail in but nicer. One read “Bonus” on the outside while the other said “Allowance.” I opened the bonus envelope first and pulled out a check made out to me for five thousand dollars. My breath froze in my lungs as I bobbled the check and envelope, nearly dropping them in my astonishment.
Holy shite. She’d paid me to have sex with her. Maybe? I pulled out her letter again, read it through, and held it in one hand and the bonus check in the other. Surely that’s not what this was.
I put them down and rubbed my hands over my face, trying to sort it all out. She’d told me her surprise was a bonus for my kindness. What had she said after that? I scrubbed at my forehead, trying to tease the memory out. Something about sex. That’s it. I’d told her the sex was enough for me, and she’d said something like the sex was her bonus.
Thank God I wasn’t a gigolo. The homosexual thing my mom would understand, eventually, but she’d never forgive me for prostitution. Her poor Catholic heart wouldn’t take it. As it was, she lit a candle for me every day after Mass, worried for my poor soul because I wanted to study the stars instead of becoming a priest.
I opened the “Allowance” envelope and found another check made out to me for three thousand dollars. I shuffled back through the paperwork I’d been given, found the matching information sheet, and scanned through it. Pets were required to tithe. See “Tithes and the Blood Oath.” Ah, there it was in Section II, Paragraph V, Subsection A: Students could request an allowance to cover living expenses in order to make time for the normal duties of a pet without interfering with schoolwork.
Hmm. I hadn’t requested an allowance, but it would be a welcome addition to my bank account.
If I agreed to become a pet.
I sat back on my couch and allowed the fantasy to build. Three thousand dollars a month would more than cover rent, utilities, and food with enough left over to help cover the gap between scholarships and tuition, if I continued to live frugally. I hated having to lean on my parents for that, even if I was their only child. It wasn’t fair to put that burden on them, not after all the sacrifices they’d already made for me.
I could quit my jobs.
God, that would be awesome. To be able to concentrate on classes without the outside distraction of two or three jobs, more during the summer, if I had time. As long as I was willing to donate my blood every month to a sweet woman who had wiggled her way into my heart in one short day.
No, not a woman. A vampire. I couldn’t forget what she really was, no matter how beautiful her outward appearance. I sat up and pushed papers around until I found the one on vampire myths. I skimmed through the summary, then flipped through the other pages, which were primarily lists of scholarly studies, accurate (or mostly, as the descriptions noted) research material. Things like that.
I needed to think.
Runn
ing. That always helped clear my mind. My penis was a little sore and all that bouncing wouldn’t help. Still, I needed out, away from all of this for a while. After weighing my options, I decided to try it anyway. I left the papers where they were, sorted into stacks by topic, and put Elizabet’s letter and the two checks in a safe place. I grabbed the tube of analgesic Devin had stuck in my bag, slathered it on my penis, and got dressed for a good run.
Twenty minutes later, my feet were pounding down the sidewalks through campus. It was a great day, clear blue skies, the sun a bright orb in the sky. The trees were cloaked in shades of red, yellow, and brown, not quite ready to fall, though they’d lost the green of summer. I’d pulled on a short-sleeved t-shirt over my shorts, in spite of the balmy weather, and was thankful. The sun beat down on my skin, warming it quickly.
God, the sun was bright.
I veered into the shade and relief immediately sifted through me.
I ran on, sticking close to the buildings, ducking under trees when I could, and let my mind drift. At the halfway point in my run, a light went off in my head and I slowed to a stop.
Elizabet was a vampire. She’d given me a lot of her blood. Probably, I’d absorbed a good bit before I’d emptied my stomach into the toilet. The sun hurt my eyes and my skin felt a little too warm.
Shit. I was turning into a vampire.
I leaned over, resting my hands on my knees while I panted to catch my breath.
No, turning couldn’t be that easy. For one, I figured there would be a lot more pain, and for another, I didn’t have the urge to tackle any of the people around me and take their blood.
Why hadn’t I read all those papers before I’d ventured outside?
A little tingle went down my spine and I looked up. Lots of casual walkers. Students carrying backpacks to the library or another study center. A couple of runners. One was a gorgeous young woman jogging toward me on long, toned legs. Her hair was pulled back into one of those loose buns that left curls sticking out everywhere in a casually elegant hairstyle, and her café au lait skin seemed to glow, even in the shadows.
I looked around at the other people, then back at her. She was the only one glowing, a soft pull of light in the shadows of the day. Everyone else was so…ordinary by comparison.
I felt a tug toward her and stood up to watch her. There was a definite glow there.
A beacon, even.
Yes, indeedy, my horizons were expanding by the minute.
Was she like me, whatever it was that had made Devin pick me out in a crowd and spy on me for two years until I was ripe enough for Elizabet to harvest?
Her gaze flicked to mine as she passed. I turned around to watch her run, intrigued by the possibilities, and by another tug I recognized as attraction. She slowed and turned, walking backward with a small smile lifting her full lips before continuing her run.
She’d noticed me. No way. Me, the geek who women never saw, let alone checked out the back view.
I jogged after her, stretching my legs to catch up. “Hey,” I said when I got close.
She came to a stop and waited for me. “Yeah?”
My mind went blank. Ugh. What could I say?
Ask her for a date, you idjit, my mind screamed.
Right.
“Tomorrow, same time?”
She shook her head slowly and sent her curls bouncing. “Class.”
“Tuesday?”
She peeked out from under long lashes. Her eyes were brown, a smooth chocolaty color, and tilted at the corners. “Seven a.m.?”
“Works for me. Same place?”
Her lips tilted into a smile, and a dimple appeared in her right cheek. My heart thumped and an odd ache settled into my groin.
“Sure,” she said.
Could getting a date now be that easy? “I’ll see you here then?”
“It’s a date.”
A date. Wow. I had a date, my first one in… It took me a minute to remember but, yup, it’d been over a year.
She turned and settled into a loping run.
I had a date. With a woman. A gorgeous woman with beautiful, mile-long legs and a dimple that set my heart racing. And I didn’t even know her name. Cripes.
“Hey,” I called. “What’s your name?”
She turned and jogged backward long enough to say, “Gianna. What’s yours?”
“Eric.” I grinned, couldn’t help it. “See you Tuesday.”
“Bright and early,” she said, and then she was gone, jogging on as if she hadn’t just made a date with a strange man she’d met on the sidewalk.
Tuesday.
I pushed myself into a light jog and headed for home. Work was waiting, and the vampire world. I had a test on Tuesday.
Shit. In all the fuss of the past day, I’d forgotten. I really needed to ace that test, too. My heart sank down into my gut. What a choice. My first date in months or a test that would guarantee me an A in that class, if I could take the top grade.
It only took me a moment to decide. That date was just as important as my test. I’d study harder between now and then to make up for the hour set aside for Gianna.
Gianna. Even her name was beautiful, an almost exotic sound that hit my tongue like the finest wine.
If I decided to become Elizabet’s pet, I could quit my jobs, devote more time to school, and maybe have some energy left over for a girlfriend.
Ok, she wasn’t a girlfriend, but every date held the possibility of turning into more, right?
A man could hope.
I had a lot of that right then. The possibility of a new job that could ease most of my financial worries. My first date in ages. And maybe even a monthly sexathon with a gorgeous vampire.
I should’ve been worried about that, but strangely, discovering that vampires weren’t just myths didn’t bother me nearly as much as finding out I wanted to have sex with another man.
I let my feet guide me home, their steady thuds against the pavement keeping my mind company as the afternoon waned. Elizabet, Devin, Gianna, they seemed to say. Three new people in my life. Three new relationships, each ripe with possibilities.
Tonight, I’d read as much of the packet Elizabet had sent home with me as I could and sleep on it, and then tomorrow I’d try to track Devin down and get some answers. Next month was a long way away. I had plenty of time to make a decision on becoming a vampire’s pet, and in the meantime, I had classes to juggle, a job to get to, and a date with a beautiful woman. Throw in the night with Elizabet and Devin, and I had to admit, my future looked pretty bright, especially considering my socially-awkward geekiness.
Twenty-one was going to be a good year for me. I could feel it in my bones.
Episode 2
Entangled
Chapter One
Atlanta in the fall was only slightly less miserable than Atlanta at the height of summer. We’d had rain two days in a row, washing the humidity out of the sky, thank God, and then three straight days of clear October skies.
I settled into a nice shady area under the cover of a large, table-top umbrella at the café where Gianna worked and opened my textbook to the chapter I needed to study. A week after drinking Elizabet’s blood, I’d already learned how to move in the daylight without exposing my skin to the sun so much. No sunburns, no exposure headaches. After reading through the information packet Elizabet had tucked into my overnight bag on my last visit, I counted myself lucky on that score. Some of the other pets, or pets in training as I thought of myself, had wound up in the hospital their first time out after taking blood from Elizabet, and they’d likely only had a drop or two.
Elizabet had given me much more than that, or I’d taken it, depending on the perspective.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to push that memory away so I could concentrate on studying. I hadn’t cashed the checks she’d given me yet, mostly because I was still thinking the whole thing over, which meant I still had to fit school in around two jobs.
It all boiled down to whether or not I was willing to commit my life to Elizabet and become her blood slave. I was leaning that way. A lot of people would probably have freaked at the idea of allowing a soulless vampire to suck blood from various body parts every month, but that wasn’t really a factor for me. I’d met plenty of soulless blood suckers before, all human, every last one, and Elizabet wasn’t anything like them.
So maybe she had to drink blood in order to survive. Big deal. It wasn’t the worst thing anybody had ever done to the world. Communism, Nazi death camps, moving the Braves out of Turner Field; now, those were evil. Elizabet sucking my blood every month? Not so much.
And then there was the sex factor.
Elizabet intertwined sex with feeding to control her bloodlust, to keep from killing her donors. It made it a whole lot easier to justify letting her feed from me, but it also brought up another set of problems, like my attraction to Devin.
I was still trying to figure that one out.
A shadow passed over me right before the man himself dropped into a chair across the table from me. A moment later, a soft hand caressed my nape and Cassie pressed her mouth to mine in a kiss that edged past friendly and right into interest.
She’d been doing that ever since Devin and I had come back from Elizabet’s.
I deliberately relaxed my muscles and kept my lips firmly closed against the darting flick of her tongue. No matter how open her relationship with Devin was, and I wasn’t sure they had an open relationship, I couldn’t bring myself to kiss her back. So I sat there like a lump on a log while my blood hummed and my dick stirred behind the fly of my jeans.
She kept it short, a brief, testing touch of her lips to mine and a light flick of her tongue, but it was enough. More than enough, really. Another side effect of Elizabet’s blood? My dick rose to half-mast on the flimsiest of excuses. Horny didn’t even begin to describe it. Intensely erotic dreams woke me two or three times a night now and I couldn’t even make it through an entire class without getting a hard-on from the craziest things: the perfume of a woman sitting next to me, the shy tilt of Gianna’s smile, the faint memory of Devin’s hand on my back while I fucked Elizabet. I’d taken to jerking off in the shower twice a day, sometimes more. Having all that sexual energy pulsing through me at odd moments was an irritating distraction. Any other man would probably be pleased by it, but mid-terms were coming up and I needed to focus.
The Vampire's Pet (The Vampyr Book 1) Page 5
