Dark Experiments

by Lana Campbell

  Her thoughts, feelings, emotions, passion, basically all of who she was, blew up inside his mind and fused with his thoughts and feelings and there was no peeling any of those things apart. He couldn’t separate his from hers. All he could do was revel in the moment and he did. She as well. Both shook from the sweet violence tearing through their beings. Minutes later, the mental and physic connection swelled to such an insane level, her body exploded with a violent, orgasm. Of course he experienced it with her and when she screamed her pleasure, he yelled his own and nearly blacked out from the intensity.

  He must have for just a bit because when he finally gained a rational thought, he realized he laid on top of her and she was breathing just as hard as he.

  He lapped up the few remaining droplets of blood on her neck, braced his hands on the couch and raised up. She let out a little groan, then her eyelids fluttered a few times before she looked up at him with astonishment. “I can barely move, Christian. What the hell?”

  He winced then tried for a reassuring smile. “Yeah, well, vampire venom has a numbing agent which causes the brain to ignore nerve signals for muscle control. Sorry. Can’t be helped. It only lasts a couple minutes though.”

  “Whatever. I don’t think that’s my entire problem. My mind can’t wrap around what just happened because I felt you in there. I felt what you felt. I experienced your thoughts alongside of mine. And man, were they hot. God, Christian that was so totally wild. Is it always that way with vampire sex?” She looked as dazed as he felt.

  “No, it most definitely is not always that way and wild is not a good enough word for expressing what just happened.” And he meant it. That had been the most poignant experience of his life and the first time he’d ever experienced vampire sex. Actually, life mate lovemaking was a more apt description because the melding of minds could only happen between life mates.

  Christian sat up, situated himself beside her on the edge of the couch and looked down at her with awe.

  My God. It was her. He’d wondered, even suspected, but now that he knew he just wanted to just stare at her and delight in the amazement of the most joyous event of his life.

  Tiffany was his life mate and she’d been right before his eyes for twelve fucking years. How could he have been so blind? More to the point why had he waited this long to find out?

  There had been a whole host of reasons he didn’t want to think about right now. He just wanted to bask in this newfound revelation, but reality crept in and began to dampen his joy. Tiffany was human. What they’d experienced might not have made the same impression on her soul.

  Humans weren’t wired to experience something like this. Vampires were. Most likely she’d view what just happened as a wonderful emotional or sexual encounter, but not the sealing of their fates for all eternity. Meaning there could never be another for either of them. Explaining this confusing aspect of vampire mating worried Christian, but at the moment he was too happy to care about explanations.

  Finally, she sat up and ran a hand across her messed hair and ponytail. “Whoa. Damn it, Christian, that was amazing, you smoking ass hottie,” she said in a sexy, breathless voice, then grinned again.

  “I’ll say. But if anyone’s a hottie it’s you, girl. I could do that every day for the rest of my life.” He chuckled then cupped her cheek, leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. When he pulled back, he noticed her satiated expression had grown a bit wary. “Are you okay.”

  “Sure. Yeah, I’m great. You?”

  Her tone had been buoyant, but he sensed a cover up. “Need you ask after that? No regrets? Right?”

  She waved her hand at him. “Are you kidding me. No way. I knew what I was getting into. I just didn’t know you were going to rock my world off it’s axis.”

  “Trust me. Mine’s pretty damned shaky at the moment too.” It pleased him greatly that he’d given her such pleasure. He’d been in her mind and what he’d viewed amazed him. She’d fantasied about this many times. What worried him is he hadn’t picked up on thoughts of her wanting to be with him again, let alone forever. Apparently, none of her vampire kin had explained that integral part of life mating to her or she’d at least have a clue they’d experienced the blood bond life mate connection. Did she suspect now that it was over? Boy he wanted back into her mind so bad, but he dare not press his luck there. He could sense she wanted to backpedal, to play things down.

  Tiffany swung her legs over the edge of the couch and cleared her throat. “So I guess we graduated from just friends, to friends with benefits, huh?”

  His smile fade because they’d become a hell-of-a-lot more than that. “Well, I don’t know if I would say it like that.”

  Her own smile faded as she laid a hand on his knee. “Hey, it’s cool. That was great, but it’s not like I’m looking for a commitment here. No pressure. If this was just a one time thing that’s perfectly okay with me.”

  Christian stifled a groan because it sure as hell wasn’t going to be a one time thing. He’d just discovered his life mate and wanted to dance on the nearest mountain top and shout it to the world. Tiffany was nowhere near ready for that. For her sake he needed to take things slow. He just hoped things wouldn’t be glacier slow. “Right, no pressure. We’ll just see where this leads.”

  Her brows knit as she cocked her head and stared at him with a bit of confusion. “This can’t lead anywhere serious, Christian. There can never be anything permanent between us and I’m okay with that. I know what you’re really looking for is a vampire life mate. In case you haven’t noticed I’m not a vampire and have no desire to be.”

  Those last words were like a knock out punch. If she meant them he would have to convince her to become his life mate as a human. He couldn’t mark her, make her his wife in the way of their kind so they could share a unique scent telling other vampires they were married. They couldn’t share a physic connection unless they did this. She’d never be able to initiate the act of mind speaking. No human possessed that physic ability. And of course they’d never have biological children.

  There were too many more depressing nevers to ponder. He sank back into the couch and heaved a great sigh. He’d never ask Tiffany to turn for him anyway. It was a life altering decision that came with physical risks. He was overjoyed Tiffany was his. Still he couldn’t help but wish they’d been born the same species. Preferably his.

  “Good Lord, Christian, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I thought it was a given that this couldn’t lead anywhere serious because I’m human.”

  He could argue that fact, but now was definitely not the time. He could tell she was spooked. Anything more he might say would only make things worse right now. “Darlin’, you didn’t hurt my feelings. We agreed this wouldn’t change our friendship and it won’t. Your friendship means too much to me.” He stood. “But it’s getting late and I’d better let you get some rest.” He leaned over brushed his lips over hers then stood. “Good night, Darlin’. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Night,” she murmured, her expression a little befuddled.

  He left quickly before he did something stupid like blurt out the truth and scare her worse than she obviously already was.

  Chapter 5

  When Tiffany arrived at work the next morning, the receptionist, Grace, greeted her with a friendly smile at the front desk where patients checked in and told her the partners had arranged an office for her, just as Christian promised.

  HR had given her a black card about the sized of a credit card to admit her into the operations side of the clinic. It was a security swiper which the lady from HR explained would get her into any employee entrances and main internal doors like this one, but not into restricted areas such as the lab, private offices, etc.

  She found Katie waiting for her in her office in order to give her a tour of the clinic. Christian asked her to do so in his stead because he was tied up with patients, Katie claimed. Tiffany understood completely. She believed Christian when he’d told her nothi
ng would change their friendship. He was busy, that was all, but to keep his promise to show her around the clinic, he’d used Katie. No big deal. She hoped.

  The trek was pleasant, educational. Katie showed her which areas were which, hallways containing exam rooms, the lab, ex-ray rooms, the business offices, cafeteria, supply rooms and so on. She also introduced her to a few staff members along the way.

  Wow! The place was huge, far bigger than it looked from outside, but two floors were subterranean. Katie had termed those two floors as the hospital. Vampire maternity patients had birthing rooms there. She’d also pointed out the surgery section, the nursery and NICU, recovery rooms and other areas relating to patient care.

  After Katie left her at her office door, Tiffany thanked her and swiped a hand over her swank, gold and silver name plate with her title and position. It read: Tiffany J. Peebles, V clinic, IT. She was officially a somebody here, she thought with a modicum of pride, then strolled inside to begin investigating her surroundings.

  They were basic. She’d been given a faux wood top desk with metal legs, a nice, high-backed plush office chair and two black vinyl ones in front, plus a couple of shelf units and several file cabinets. A box of office supplies had been placed on top of her desk. There was a little closet too, which had a few hangers on a rack, but otherwise it was empty. In time she’d spruce up her space, bring in some of her personal, happy things. However, working ambiance was the least of her concerns at the moment.

  She’d slept maybe two hours last night after that insane, intimate encounter with Christian, which had stirred up so many conflicting emotions. Making vampire love to Christian had been one of the best experiences of her life. It was everything she’d ever imagined and more. Much more.

  As expected he physically rocked her senseless, emotionally he’d nearly rendered her catatonic. She’d loved feeling his thoughts caressing the inside of her mind, knowing just exactly what her body, touch, kisses did to him. It hadn’t lasted long, but any more would have been beyond what her body and mind could have absorbed—it was that immense.

  He was at once tender and bold in his touch. Emotionally, his feelings may have been more explosive than her own. She swore his passion, his desire for her literally reached into the heart of her soul squeezing it like a fist. She thought only two vampire life mates could read each other’s minds, attain that level of emotion. Maybe it was completely normal in a sexual context. She didn’t know, except if she thought about this much more, she may just melt into a puddle of Tiffany goo.

  Those beautiful moments were without compare the most memorable of her life. There was just one problem. If she’d felt his emotions, heard his thoughts, that meant he’d felt her feelings and heard her thoughts.

  Tiffany didn’t do vulnerable and her attraction for Christian would never alter that fact. She couldn’t afford to allow him access to her mind again. He might accidentally view the bitter, angry, wounded her, which cropped up more often than she cared to admit. God, she’d die a thousand deaths if he saw the cauldron of hate brewing in her soul for her dad and Reanna. Worse yet she had a deep-seated jealously regarding her half-brother, Tate. And that was sick. The little guy was only seven years old.

  “Oooh, no.” If Christian caught wind of any of that while in her mind he’d be so disgusted.

  Hell, she disgusted herself.

  Every time Chelsie or Dannie mentioned a visit with her father and their half-brother, Tate, she wanted to puke. She’d never even met the boy. Worst yet, she didn’t want to. Sure the kid was innocent in all this, but laying eyes on her father and that little boy, especially Reanna would resurrect every sick and twisted memory of the demise of her own family unit.

  She winced remembering Christian’s stunned, deflated expression when she’d told him they shouldn’t jump into anything. Well, what else could she have done? She couldn’t very well tell him why intimacy scared her. Daddy hurt me. Even to her own ears she sounded like a whinny little snot. No one knew how deep those scars had rent her soul and only God Himself would ever view them. This she’d sworn to herself and not even Christian would change her mind on that front. So no more vampire sex and mind meshing. She hadn’t made that clear to Christian last night, but she intended to if the subject arose.

  Hopefully she was just making mountains out of molehills and Christian would see that further intimate encounters could affect their friendship because it would have to end one day.

  She winced again recalling that friends with benefits comment she’d made. As good as the last night had been, she wouldn’t be opposed to a temporary friends with benefits arrangement, but deep down Tiffany knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. Sex with Christian was just too intense. With her luck she’d fall in love with him and wind up with a broken heart the size of the Grand Canyon.

  “Enough thinking. God!” She’d never get any work done if she didn’t reign in her thoughts.

  Tiffany opened her backpack and dug out her cell and holotop in order to get online and ferret out prices for hard and software. She’d have to hotspot it because the place didn’t even have wifi. Getting that squared away needed to be priority number one today. Why were these vampire doctors so challenged with communication technology? she wondered. They certainly seemed to have a state of the art medical facility. Well, she was here now to solve their problem. Daylight was burning and Tiffany she figured she’d best get to work.

  After several hours, Tiffany had secured an internet provider, scheduling an appointment for next Monday. She’d made good head way on her pricing project too. The best price for most of the hardware she’d need could be purchased here in the city at Better Buy. Other things such as specific software and specialty items she intended to order on line.

  She’d just taken a break to put away the box of office supplies she’d been provided when a knock sounded. “Come in,” she called out.

  Katie opened the door and stepped inside. “Are you busy?”

  She wore pink scrubs and a cheery smile. Katie was cute in a girl-next-door sort of way and appeared to be about the same age as she. Tiffany offered her a welcoming one in return and waved her in. “Not really. What’s up?”

  “Nothing important. I haven’t seen you all morning. Is there anything you need? Coffee? More supplies? Post it notes?”

  Tiffany chuckled. “I think I’m solid on the post it notes.” She held up a twelve pack. “Now the coffee, I could use, but I’ll get that myself. I don’t need anyone secretarying for me.”

  Katie took a few steps her way and said, “I’m so incredibly glad the doctors hired you. How soon do you think we’ll have this new system up and running?”

  Tiffany sighed because it was going to be awhile. “Getting the system live won’t take me long. It’s the data transfer that will be an endless nightmare. I’ll have to scan every page of your hard copy patient files one by one. I don’t even want to think about how many there are.”

  Katie rolled her eyes. “Oh God. No you do not. There are thousands. Of course the doctors aren’t currently seeing all of them regularly.”

  Tiffany had suspected as much based on what she’d learned about Christian and his partners’ practice. “Then I’ll start with current patients, do the others as I can or hire some temp staff. I’ll figure it out.”

  She nodded and gave her a quizzical smile. “Blake told me that you and Dr. La Mond are family friends.”

  Tiffany chuckled because she knew the girl was fishing for office fodder. What the hell. She’d give her a fun nugget to play with. “Yeah. Christian was my mother’s pretend husband for about a week after she turned vampire.”

  Her cornflower blue eyes widened with the intrigue of a woman who respected a slice of juicy gossip. “What? Really? What happened if I may ask?”

  Tiffany gestured toward one of the chairs in front of her desk, then settled into her own. “Long story short, a nasty feral female got the best of her. She was my stepdad’s sire. I’m guessing working in a vampire
environment, you understand the term feral?”

  She nodded, her expression turning grim. “Oh yes, I understand that term quite well. Feral vampires are evil, vicious and dangerous as hell.”

  Whoa. The way she ground out those last three adjectives sounded like she or someone she knew had a run in with one, Tiffany thought. “Yeah, she was evil and vicious all right, but my mom survived. Christian took care of her and helped her through the turning process and they became good friends, which is how we became friends.” Tiffany bit her lower lip, worried about the state of their friendship after last night.

  “You said Dr. La Mond was your mother’s pretend husband?” Her eyes were round with intrigue and a bit of confusion.

  “Not exactly.” She waved her hand dismissively. “My mom just didn’t want me or my sisters to know what had happened. She had no idea how to tell us she’d turned vampire. At the time she’d been a patient at Christian’s country lodge or I guess you call it the mothers’ retreat now. The story was just a cover up. She’d been turned against her will and hadn’t even known vampires existed, so obviously she’d been freaking. When we all showed up in New Orleans unexpectedly to hunt her down because she’d gone off the radar, she and Christian concocted the story. She’s very protective and old fashioned. She didn’t want us thinking she was living with a guy outside of marriage.”

  “Well, I’m glad she survived and that Dr. La Mond helped her. I haven’t known him that long, but I can tell he’s a very kind, compassionate person. Anyone would be lucky to be his friend.”

  “Yes they would,” she agreed. She just hoped she hadn't screwed the pooch on that one. Tiffany knew every time she looked at him that amazing experience would roll through her head. Probably his too.

  When Tiffany looked back at Katie she noticed her staring at Christian’s bite marks. They were tiny puncture wounds, non-painful, but there was a bit of bruising around them, like a hickey. She’d tried make-up and concealer on the bruise, but judging from the widening of Katie’s eyes and the uneasy silence following, her cosmetic attempts had failed.