Sterling pulled onto the street to the hotel and drove to the front entrance. He handed the valet the car keys, but hurried around to Kate’s side to open her door. As he helped Kate out of the car, Sterling caught the attendant’s horrified stare at the bloodied clothes Sterling wore, so he compelled the man to dismiss the stains.
“I anticipate issues getting a room,” Sterling said as he removed their overnight bags from the trunk. “It’s late, so not too many humans around. But still …” He covered his face in case any security cameras focused on them. “The bruises and cuts on your face are almost healed, so I think you’ll have to rent the room. I’m looking less presentable,” he said, looking down at his blood soaked shirt. “… not to mention,” he added, “I’ve aged to the point of looking like your father.”
Kate touched Sterling’s shoulder length hair. “I think the gray makes you look very distinguished.”
“Thanks, but I’d rather people not assume I’m a pervert. The white robe you’re wearing is still clean, so here. Take this,” he said, handing her cash. They walked into the hotel, across the polished marble floor entry, and towards the registration desk. Sterling hung out in the lobby and blended into the background. He watched as Kate approached the woman and tried to rent a room. She talked with the hotel clerk for several minutes, and the woman even showed her something on the computer screen. After a while, Kate walked back to Sterling, money still in hand.
“There are three conventions going on. We need a reservation.”
Sterling shook his head and let out a slight chuckle. “We’ll work on your compelling abilities later.” He approached the desk, gazed in the woman’s eyes and compelled her to ignore his appearance and to rent him a room for the night. The woman’s eyes paled as she ran her normal routine of a computer search and created the plastic key card. She put the key into a small envelope and placed it on the counter. She then wrote a room number on the envelope.
Sterling’s heart raced as he picked up the key. Kate seemed too good of a match, and he didn’t want to mess up whatever it was that was developing between the two of them. He had been with so many human women that sex had become mechanical to him. He had never been with a vampire before, not even another half–breed. Human woman were always impressed by his performance, but what if he paled in comparison to Kate’s past vampire lovers? He wanted to make love to her, but swallowed the lump which had formed in his throat when he considered he might not be up to the challenge.
The tightness in his pants told him another story. “Challenge accepted,” he thought as he walked over to Kate and escorted her to the elevator. Their earlier conversation of ten different ways raced through his mind. Yes. He could think of at least ten ways to take her.
They entered the large hotel room and he turned on the lights. He noticed that she glanced over to the bed but then walked to the balcony. “It’s a nice view we have.”
“I had to get the bridal suite. It’s all they had left.” Sterling went to the balcony and opened the door so the cool night breeze traveled into the room. He then put his bag on top of the luggage caddy and carried her bag over to where she stood. The cuts and bruising on her face were nearly gone, but he still suggested she have something to eat.
“Syringes?” she asked as he handed the blood over to her. “I’ve never seen blood stored like this. I thought you were going to hand me a bag of blood or that you’d go find me a human or something.”
“No. This way is easier. I get my blood packaged in syringes when I’m out in the field. I’ll warm a dose for you.” He pressed a button on the thin metal casing to warm up the syringe of blood inside. A minute later the casing beeped. “You have to open the syringe like this … and then you can inject the blood into your vein.”
She took the syringe and plunged the needle into her leg, injecting the blood into her bloodstream. Once done she handed the empty syringe back to Sterling.
His chin hit the floor. “You can do the next one a little gentler if you want.” He handed her the second syringe when it beeped.
She did this one more gently than the first one. He waited for signs of blood lust and found none. Her barrier impressed him. No wonder Ben couldn’t see an aura, nothing got through. He watched as her youthful appearance once again was restored.
“Let me get you a couple more.”
“Is there enough?”
“Yes. Don’t worry.” He heated two more syringes and gave them to her when they beeped. She injected them into her legs, more gently than the first batch. He watched and, still, no blood lust came to her.
She reached over and played with his hair. “You need blood to heal as well.”
Sterling didn’t want to squirt the blood into his mouth, especially not after witnessing her plunge one into her leg without being in pain. “I only need you right now,” he said sitting on the bed and pulling her into his lap. “Let’s unpin you.”
He carefully removed the pins from her eyebrows as she undid the one on her tongue. Next he unpinned her hands. Moving her more onto the bed, he did the same to her feet. When the last pin was out he tossed it toward the nightstand. “Finally,” he said. He looked at her with his blackened eyes, his fangs extended. He pulled his shirt and top skin covering off in one quick gesture.
His hands reached inside the robe she wore, and found her tight, trim waist. Smooth skin. Silky. It occurred to him that he didn’t have to treat her as if she were a frail human who could snap in two if things got carried away. A growl escaped his throat as he realized he could get carried away.
He tossed her farther on the bed and began passionately kissing her neck. He ripped the robe, breaking half the buttons so he touched even more of her. Picture perfect. That’s all he could think. Angelic flesh. He wasted no time as he suckled one of her now bare breasts, and fondled the other. He heard her moan louder and louder as he took one hand and began undoing the remaining buttons of the robe.
Even before he got to the last button, he sensed something from her. His skin had been hurting during the raid on the camp, but now felt great as he touched her. He sensed something new though. It was fear. It was then he noticed how statuesque she had become. In fact, she hadn’t touched him once since they had gotten on this bed. Her moaning had been her only response to what he was doing. Doing a quick check on her eyes he noticed they were pitch–black. Her heart raced and her breathing deepened. There were signs that she enjoyed what he was doing, but tonight’s activity was a two–player game and he needed his partner.
When he leaned in to kiss her, she pulled away. “Kate?”
“Uh–huh?”
Judging by his sense of smell, he could tell she was aroused. She certainly seemed interested when they had started. What could he have done in such a short amount of time to turn her off? “What’s wrong?”
She looked everywhere but directly into his eyes.
“I have protection if that is what you’re wondering.”
Her cheeks flushed. “No. I wasn’t thinking about that.”
Okay, he had no clue, so he asked what he feared. “You don’t want to be with me, do you?” Before she answered, he continued, “No. I get it. You are a tease.” He moved so he was no longer lying on her.
She pulled the torn robe over to cover her breasts. “Sterling, it’s not that I don’t want to.”
He tasted a bitterness in his mouth. Taking a deep breath he said, “You certainly do go to the limits to taunt a guy. Well played, Kate.” He lifted himself off the bed, but Kate grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.
“No, Sterling. I do want to … you know. I just ….” She paused.
His eyes grew cold and his face reddened as he cut her off. “You want to do what? Humiliate the half–breed? Get him all worked up and then put the brakes on? What?”
“Sterling, it’s not that.”
He looked down at her disbelievingly. He deepened his tone. “What then?”
“I’m a virgin.”
CHA
PTER THIRTY–TWO
Sterling’s muscles went rigid as he froze in place. He mentally did his best to wrap his mind around what she had said. Instead, he stared at her with a dazed expression on his face. He couldn’t have heard her correctly, and yet, he knew he had.
Kate was beautiful, caring, thoughtful and considerate … and a virgin. She listened to him and saw him as a whole person, and not only as a half–breed. For this reason, plus her complementary skin issues, Sterling realized she was the perfect woman for him. He had a heavy feeling in his stomach and he took a deep breath to clear his thoughts. In a shaky, soft voice, he mumbled the word, “okay” as he slightly turned from her.
All those years. All those women. God, his father was right. A perfect woman did exist for him. As much as Sterling hated to admit the truth, the man had been right. He now realized that if you found the right woman, the one you wanted to spend the rest of your life with, the theory of only one woman made perfect sense.
Did he want to spend the rest of his life with Kate? Probably. More to the point, he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life without her. In the short time he had known her, he could tell she was the one special woman made only for him.
But, she was a virgin.
Most of the women in his past were one–time hookups, and that’s all they ever wanted from him. Hell, the fleeting encounters were all he ever wanted from them as well. He couldn’t even remember having a real conversation with any of them in the last several decades. He couldn’t remember their names, their faces, or anything other than how his body had been healed after he was through with them. God, he hated the thought. “Through with them.” The words sounded over and over in his mind. He was a user, and he now knew the truth. A slut and a user. Never did he hurt or physically abuse any of the women. He never compelled them to sleep with him, but he always compelled them to forget him afterward. He treated all those women fairly well. He gave them exactly what they had wanted from him, and he took what he needed from them.
Sterling turned back and gazed at Kate. She was beautiful and sexy. He sullied himself over all these years and had reduced lovemaking down to just another damn reason to take your pants off.
Kate stood up and took a step towards him. The white robe swayed with her movements and disclosed small sections of her beautiful skin to him. “Sterling,” she touched his face. “I don’t want you to stop. I want to continue.”
Oh God, he had never taken anyone’s virginity before. He stiffly backed up a few feet until the back of his legs bumped into the dresser causing the melted ice in the ice bucket to slosh against the champagne bottle. He felt unworthy of her. “You … ah,” he began, but then cleared his throat. Continuing in a cracked, soft voice he said, “I understand.”
When she approached him and reached for his hand, he tensed up. He jammed his hands into his armpits and lowered his eyelids as though inspecting the floor. “I’ve never taken someone’s virginity before, Kate.”
Kate remained silent, so he glanced back up at her. He watched as she studied him.
“You probably weren’t expecting this, but what’s wrong?” She asked. When he only stared at her, she pointed to his guarded stance. “Sterling, if you were on the floor you’d be in a fetal position.”
He shook his hands and rolled his shoulders to help him relax. The movements didn’t work. Never in his life had he thought he’d be in this situation. She was already back to her base age thanks to the blood, but, when it came to vampires, ages were hard to determine. “When were you born, Kate?”
“Twenty–two years ago.”
He couldn’t believe anyone could still be a virgin at such an age. Not sure what to say, he slowly nodded and let the situation sink in.
Kate reached for his hands, but he didn’t respond. “Make love to me, Sterling.”
Sterling stepped away from her knowing he was the one holding back. He needed to think without her touch persuading him. Of course, most of his blood was not in his big head at the moment. He watched her hands ball into fists, her eyes returned to gray, and she began to lose control of her body as her hands reached out to touch his shoulder. He grabbed her arms to help her.
Sterling knew if he continued, Kate would be in pain because of him. There would be no way to put the barrier up to protect her from the pain. Or would the barrier make the experience worse? In any event, Kate deserved better than a half–breed slut. “Kate, I’m not worthy of being yours, or anyone’s, first. Please believe me,” he said, holding her hands so she could sense them.
“What on earth makes you unworthy?”
Sterling noticed Kate’s body was still not under her control. He moved to the bed and lay down. Next, he rolled onto his back and invited her into an embrace. Now with her cradled in his arms, his brown eyes stared at the ceiling, fixed on a point mentally far away. She shifted her body closer to his. Her left arm wrapped around his chest and her head cradled on his shoulder. “Sterling? Are you all right?”
He blinked in response. He pursed his lips and swallowed. “Yeah. I’m fine. … I don’t want you to think back on your first time with regrets. I already told you I’m a half–breed.”
He knew she had glanced up, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Sterling, I don’t care that your mother was human. You’re a vampire. Being a half–breed doesn’t make you less to me.”
She seemed so young, so naive. “It matters to most vampires. My Aunt lost an engagement because of me.” He didn’t want to be in this situation. He never regretted having a human mother. If she had lived, he suspected he would have loved her. “Whether it matters to you now or not, it may matter to you in the future. You’ll be tainted because of me.”
“The world doesn’t care about half–breeds. Only you seem to care.” She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side as if to study him. “You’ve never been with a vampire before, have you?”
He cleared his throat. “No. I’ve only known a few female vampires. Let’s just say I got very familiar with rejection.”
She caressed his arm, as if considering his skin issues. “You’ve been with many humans, haven’t you?”
He didn’t want to answer her question. He lay in bed holding this beautiful, intelligent, caring–as–hell vampire who was as pure as the blessed rain that fell from heaven. He felt like a filthy, torn rag next to fine, white linen. “You don’t even want to know how many.” He watched as she looked away from him. He felt like he was a disappointment to her. He wanted to explain, to not seem like such a whoring bastard, but that’s exactly what he was.
“Like I told you, the pain I endure when I touch objects makes my skin feel like it’s on fire. It’s hard to focus on anything else because I hurt so much. The light hurts my eyes, noise kills me, and even moving makes me want to pass out from the pain. The headaches are agonizing. I can’t even describe them to you. A woman’s caress can soothe my skin, but the pain never completely goes away, not like it has now.”
He paused and decided to tell her the entire story. “The headaches will only disappear during the act of sex. I have slept with so many women, women I don’t even remember, just to stop being in pain.” He gently stroked her arm with his hand. “Life can be wonderful when you don’t want to rip off your own skin and scream in agony.”
“Do you have a headache now?”
“All my pain is gone by touching you – even just like this,” he said caressing her arm. “I haven’t felt this good since I was about 15 years old or so.”
In a softened voice she asked, “So you compel humans to sleep with you? Or do they volunteer themselves?”
Sterling had never explained the details of his lifestyle to anyone before, not even to his best friend Ben. He found it easy to talk to Kate. He stroked her arm more, enjoying the way her soft skin felt under his fingertips. “The touch must be freely given, so a compelled woman’s touch does nothing. It makes the pain worse.”
Kate hesitated, and then asked in a
quiet tone, “Do you pay women?”
“Kate. Stop.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You do pay. Don’t you?”
He didn’t want to answer this question, but wanted her to understand. “I’ll tell you everything. Just don’t hate me because of it.”
“Just always tell me the truth.”
He took a deep breath and let the air out slowly. “Only once. The first time I ever had sex.”
Kate remained quiet for a moment, but it seemed like forever to Sterling. Finally, she broke the silence. “Do you regret your first time?”
Sterling never told the story to anyone. He hated his experience and wished many times he could redo that night. “Yes.”
“Tell me about your first time.” Her hand gently stroked his chest. After a moment of silence, she looked Sterling in the eye and asked again. “Please share the story with me. I’m not judging. I only want to help.”
He knew his eyes returned to their brown hue instead of their intense black. He gazed down at her. Her eyes had shifted back as well to their beautiful bluish gray. “Am I talking to Dr. Kate right now?”
She smiled. “Yes, if it will get you to open up to me.”
“I was fourteen years old,” he confided.
Her jaw dropped, but she didn’t interrupt.
Sterling stared out at the ceiling and mentally traveled back to 166 years ago. “Each year my friends and I would travel to Foiles Beach for the summer. We’d spend a week on the beach. My sensory integration issues started well before my Jahrling Year. My skin would be itchy at times, but I didn’t have a rash back then. I’d often develop headaches, but nothing I couldn’t handle. At first I rarely noticed them. I’d have a headache and just think I had been out in the sun too long. My skin would itch and I figured it was a bug bite, or some other skin irritation.”
“Sure. I probably would think the same thing,” she agreed.
“I was fourteen and it was summer. Me and four of my friends were at the beach. Only one of them was also a vampire. We blended in well since we still ate food. We also enjoyed being in the sun as much as possible because we knew it was only a matter of time before we’d have to avoid it. Anyway, we went for a swim the first day and later that night my skin started itching.”
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