She was used to normal hunger pangs. She could deal with those. With half her life spent in lousy foster homes and the other half spent on the street, trying to get away from them, she’d learned that just because you felt like you were starving to death didn’t mean you actually were. She could get by on next to nothing for days on end if she had to.
Not eating made it easy to keep her figure, anyway, and that helped her get other things she needed to survive. Selling her body paid better than any crappy job she could get. Selling her blood was even better.
So why the hell had she given them both away for free to Taven? Oh yeah, she was a desperate idiot. She’d had a crush on Taven ever since the first time he swaggered into Benders and wrapped his hands around her waist like she was his. She’d gladly given him whatever he wanted just to hear his sexy voice tell her how much he wanted her. Besides, having a vampire in authority like Taven indebted to her was a good safety net.
When he suggested she come home with him last night instead of taking her in the alley like he usually did, her emotions got the best of her. And when she realized he wanted to change her, she was stupid enough to think that meant he wanted to make her his forever.
But no, as soon as she promised not to tell on him, his switch had flipped, and she realized she was nothing but a convenient body for him to sink his fangs and his dick into. At least he hadn’t told her to leave. Hopefully, since he changed her, he’d feel some responsibility towards her, even if he didn’t want to mate with her. She wasn’t a gold digger, she didn’t even know he was rich, but since he was, maybe he’d take care of her and she could quit working the streets just so she’d have something to eat each night.
He promised he’d be back soon, but she didn’t think she could wait any longer. She had to get something to satisfy her cravings. It was blood she needed, not food, but maybe food would help since she hadn’t had dinner. A place this big ought to have a fridge full of food. She just needed to find the kitchen.
Taven might not want her showing her face around whoever else lived here, but he shouldn’t have left her alone for so long. Besides, what did it matter if anyone saw her? She was a vampire now, not a human. No one would know that Taven had turned her. She promised not to tell, and she’d keep that promise. At least, as long as it was to her benefit.
As she climbed out of bed, Taven’s black tee shirt lying on the floor caught her attention. Maybe she’d throw that on instead of her own clothes. It would be long enough to cover everything above her knees.
But when she picked it up, the smell of his blood bloomed from the material. The material felt stiff, and parts of it were crusty. Had he bled on this? She shoved it to her nose and groaned as she inhaled the delicious aroma. She couldn’t resist licking at one of the spots of dried blood.
Oh God, it tasted like heaven, or maybe sin, and it was all she could do to resist shoving a wad of it in her mouth and sucking the blood out of it. The beast in her stomach roared to life again, and she moaned as her fangs descended and her desiccated mouth started watering.
She had to find something to ease the empty ache in her gut before she started eating Taven’s clothing. She quickly pulled her clothes back on, not bothering with her bra, then tiptoed out of the bedroom.
A long hall stretched out on either side of the doorway with a stairwell at each end. She headed towards the one they’d come up earlier but then changed her mind and turned back the other way. She hadn’t noticed a kitchen nearby, so maybe it was on the other end of the mansion. She didn’t make it to the stairway, though, before she heard a voice calling for Roric as a door opened and another woman walked out.
They both jumped a little at the sight of each other. The blonde woman looked her up and down curiously. “Who are you?”
“Uh, I’m Ivy. I’m a friend of Taven’s. Who are you?”
The blonde smiled and moved closer, and her scent hit Ivy. Ivy’s need flared again, even worse than when she’d smelled the dried blood on Taven’s tee shirt.
“I’m Caroline, I’m a… friend of Roric’s.”
She seemed a little unsure about that. Were they in the same situation? No, she’d heard enough about Roric from Taven to know he’d never bring home a random woman. He didn’t even drink from the vein, at least that’s what Taven said. But maybe he had a few secrets his brother didn’t know about. Just like Taven.
“Are you okay?” Caroline glanced at Ivy’s fingers, digging into her middle.
“I’m hungry. Taven said he’d be back soon, but it’s been several hours. Is Roric here?”
Caroline shook her head. “No, he said the same thing, but he hasn’t come back yet. Do you want some food? Or… blood?”
Caroline’s eyes went to Ivy’s neck, and Ivy put a hand up and felt the dried blood leftover from Taven’s feeding. She laid her hand over it, trying to hide it, but there was no point. As far as anyone knew, she and Taven were two consenting vampires.
“Maybe a little bit of both.”
“Come on, the kitchen’s this way.” Caroline waved her towards the stairs, and Ivy followed in her wake, sucking in deep lungfuls of her tantalizing scent.
Caroline led her to a shiny kitchen big enough to make food for an army. How many people lived here? Taven and Roric, obviously. Taven said it’d been in his family for generations, so did that mean his parents lived here? She hoped she didn’t run into any of them. That would be seriously awkward.
Caroline tugged on the door of the fridge and reached inside like she knew just what she was looking for, but when she turned around and put a cold, squishy blood bag in Ivy’s hand, her hopes plummeted.
“A blood bag?”
Caroline took a bag for herself and closed the fridge. “It might be easier for you to take this way. It doesn’t seem quite as violent.”
Ivy raised an eyebrow, and Caroline twisted her face like she was afraid she’d offended Ivy. Ivy wasn’t offended, just confused. Caroline preferred this to a hot, pulsing vein?
“Sorry, I didn’t mean…. I thought maybe you’d been recently turned.”
Ivy couldn’t hold back a gruff laugh. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
Ivy bit open the tube to her bag and took a sip. The cold blood felt thick and gooey, and it clung to her tongue like lard. She curled her lip and stuck out her tongue. “That’s disgusting. I can’t drink this. I need fresh blood.”
Caroline moved closer, sending another wave of her scent wafting towards Ivy. Ivy narrowed her eyes on Caroline’s neck, and her body swayed as she tried to resist the urge to clamp her teeth around her. Caroline wrapped a hand around her neck and gawked at her. For a split second, she’d thought about suggesting they feed each other, but Caroline was obviously not going to be into that.
“I’m sure Taven will be back soon. Maybe you could call him?”
Ivy didn’t want to admit that she didn’t have his number. “No, I don’t want to bother him if he’s working. Maybe I’ll just go see what I can find.”
Caroline grabbed her arm, a horrified look on her face. “No! You won’t be able to control yourself, you might attack a human.”
That sounded okay to her. From what Ivy had heard, human blood was even better. She wouldn’t need to attack anyone. She was pretty sure she could find a willing victim. But what would Taven do if he found out? Just because he fed off humans didn’t mean he’d be okay with her doing it. How did most vampires eat?
“Isn’t there a clinic or something where vampires go to feed?”
Caroline made a face and shook her head. “I don’t know. I haven’t been a vampire for very long, either. But I know someone who might be able to help.”
Ivy nodded and closed her eyes, imagining her fangs plunging into soft flesh. “Yeah, that’d be great.”
Caroline dug a phone out of her pocket and dialed a number. “Hey Piper, it’s Caroline. I need to talk to Alec. Can I have his number?”
Whoever Alec was, he must’ve been right there, because t
wo seconds later, Caroline was saying hello to him. Two minutes after that, Caroline hung up. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.”
Chapter 16
Something was rotten in the state of Denmark. Alec turned down the classical radio station that was playing so he could mull over what Caroline said as he drove towards the Beauchamp mansion.
Once he got there, he parked in back where he saw another car and knocked on the door lightly. Dawn was less than an hour away, so everyone else who lived in the big, old mansion was probably ready to turn in.
Caroline opened the door and waved him in awkwardly. “Hey Alec, uh, come on in. I guess you had the code. I kind of forgot about that.”
“Yeah, Roric gave me a visitor’s code a while back.”
“Thanks for coming. I haven’t seen you in years, and now you’ve helped me twice in one night.” She smiled gratefully at him.
“Happy to help a friend.” He glanced towards the woman standing a few feet behind Caroline, taking in her long, mussed, black hair, her tight curves, and the blood stains on her neck. Of course, she was hot. Taven always had his pick of women.
“Alec, this is Ivy.” Caroline waved a hand towards her.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Alec Pennington. I’m a supervisor at the blood clinic.” He held out his hand, and she stepped closer and latched onto it with a hungry look in her eyes. She took a deep breath and licked her lips. Alec gulped and dropped her soft, warm hand like it was a hot potato, or maybe a branding iron.
“Caroline says you were recently turned.” So recently that she’d never drank from a blood bag and didn’t know where the clinic was.
“Uh, yeah. A rogue attacked me.” Ivy tucked her hair behind her ear and looked away.
Alec crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised Taven didn’t take you to the station to give a statement.”
When Alec had been turned by a rogue vampire, he’d been interrogated, made to agree to all kinds of regulations about how he was allowed to conduct himself as a new vampire, and put under watch for weeks with a trained mentor.
But Taven had brought Ivy to his house and left her alone instead, even though she was a newly-turned vampire with the intense cravings to prove it. That was totally against protocol.
“Oh, um, yeah, well, he had an emergency he had to go deal with.” Ivy crossed her own arms over her chest, squeezing her plump breasts together. Alec was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing a bra. He tried not to stare at them.
“Right, sure.” He leaned against the counter and stared at her pretty face instead, and Ivy stared at the glossy, black and white floor tiles.
He’d bet anything that Taven had changed Ivy. Against her will or not, it didn’t matter. There was still an application process humans had to go through if they wanted to become a vampire. Volunteering at the blood clinic for a few months was part of it. The rest was based on background checks and recommendations from other humans and vampires.
Caroline glanced back and forth between them as the silence got awkward. “It’s true. Roric and I were attacked, and he and Taven took the rogue vampire to the station. They’ve been gone a really long time, though.”
Ivy whipped her head towards Caroline like she was surprised by this and let her hands flutter down her body. Alec narrowed his eyes. Was Caroline telling the truth, or was she protecting Ivy? Or Taven?
Caroline had been attacked by a rogue but then turned by a VEA agent tonight, according to Piper. Roric hadn’t been nearly as shocked by that when Alec called him as he expected him to be. Roric would never do something like that, but Taven sure would. Was Roric protecting his brother? What was Taven doing, creating a harem for himself?
Alec clenched the edge of the counter and snarled. Goddamn Taven thought he could do whatever the hell he wanted, get away with murder even, since his father was the head of the council. How would he feel if other vamps took whatever they wanted like he did?
He pushed himself away from the counter and moved towards Ivy. “All right, well, you need to feed. The first few days and weeks as a new vampire are the hardest; you’ll need to eat every few hours or the cravings can get out of control. Eventually, your hunger will settle down, and you’ll be able to go longer in between feedings. But until then, blood bags are going to be the simplest way to feed.”
Ivy waved towards a discarded blood bag lying on the counter with a scowl. “I tried one of those. I couldn’t even get down the first sip.”
Alec picked up the blood bag and checked the label — AB negative, the caviar of blood. It was vamp not human, but still, it didn’t get much better than that. “I can understand how unappealing a cold blood bag is, especially when you’re craving hard. Lots of vampires can’t stand cold blood. You could try microwaving it.”
Ivy gagged and stuck out her tongue. “I’d rather suck on a rat.”
Alec stifled a laugh. She was funny, and cute.
“Well, fortunately, that’s why we have the blood clinic where you can go and drink from the vein in a safe, legal environment.”
Ivy rolled her eyes a little at that. Great, she shared Taven’s opinions about vamp laws. “Okay, that sounds better than sucking on a blood bag. Can you take me there?”
Alec glanced at the bright, green numbers on the microwave display. 6 am. “Sorry, but the clinic is closing right now.”
Ivy scowled and tossed her long hair behind her shoulder, pushing out her breasts as she moved closer to him. Then she softened her voice and laid a hand on his arm. “You said you’re a supervisor, can’t you get me in after hours?”
Alec shook his head, more to clear it than anything else. He couldn’t think straight when she looked at him like that. “I would, but no one will be there to feed you. Besides, the sun will be up soon. You really should stay inside.”
Ivy’s mouth fell open like she’d never considered that part of being a vampire, and Alec glanced at her tan skin, wondering if that was her natural color or if she spent a lot of time in the sun. He tried to picture how she’d look with the paler skin typical of his kind. She’d still be beautiful.
Ivy stared back at Alec and licked her soft, plump lips as he stared at her, imagining those lips on his skin. Was she thinking the same thing he was? Her heart sped up, and his own responded in kind. She started breathing heavily as Alec’s blood pumped harder.
When she lifted a hand to his neck and slowly traced a finger down the length of it, Alec’s whole body shivered like she’d found his most ticklish spot. She smiled at his reaction and laid a hand over his pounding heart. “It’s not against the law for vampires to drink from each other, is it?”
“No, it’s not.”
Did he dare? Giving a vein was usually reserved for couples, but the thought of Ivy wrapping her lips around his neck sent waves of pleasure pulsing through his whole body. Every artery came alive, throbbing for attention.
Ivy’s eyes widened as she sensed his reaction. She wrapped her hands around his arm and blinked up at him with large, dark eyes. “Would you feed me, Alec? I’d be happy to repay the favor sometime.”
The thought of plunging his own fangs into her skin sent him over the edge, mad with desire. His willpower cracked and turned to gravel, and so did his voice. “Maybe just this once.”
Alec was going to suggest they go somewhere private, but Ivy didn’t even give him a chance to speak. She grabbed a hold of him, pressed her tight, little body up against his, and latched her hot mouth around his neck. They both groaned as her fangs sunk into his jugular and she began to suck.
Ecstasy ripped through his body at her first pull, making him hard instantly. His hands went to her small waist, and he pulled her impossibly closer, grinding her against him. Ivy slid her hands up his chest, caressing his pecs. Somehow, he had just enough willpower to resist doing the same thing to her. Instead, he stroked up and down her back, itching to slide his hands under her shirt so he could feel her bare skin. Her scent flared in his nostrils, and his f
angs descended as he imagined plunging them into her soft flesh.
When he tilted his head to give her better access, he saw Caroline gawking at them, her mouth hanging open, her eyes hooded with lust but filled with aversion, as well. Alec closed his eyes to block out her censure, but another face popped into his head. Taven.
If Alec’s suspicions were right and Taven turned Ivy, he’d be furious if he knew that Ivy was drinking from Alec’s vein. Alec’s lips curled as he imagined Taven walking in and seeing them like this. He would probably kill him, but it’d be worth it to see him get a taste of his own medicine, for once.
Alec spread his legs apart and pulled Ivy closer, nestling her between his thighs as he let the euphoria wash over him.
Chapter 17
Caroline raced to Roric’s room, her stomach turning but lust flaring through every cell of her body. The sight of Ivy sucking on Alec’s neck was too much for her to take. It was animalistic, disgusting, and completely unnatural. So why did it make her own body burn with lust and need?
Memories of the vampire attacks she’d endured flashed through her mind and her body, reminding her of the ecstasy that drowned out her fear in those moments. The only thing that felt better than having a vampire feed on you was feeding on them instead. Caroline’s mouth filled with saliva, and she gulped it down as she remembered the taste of Roric’s blood pouring into her mouth. Hot, wet, salty, metallic, and more delicious than anything she’d ever tasted.
She groaned and held her raging stomach as she tried to force the memory from her mind. She turned her thoughts to the blood bag, instead. It satisfied her hunger, even if it was nothing like the experience of taking a vein. Maybe after a while she’d forget about how it felt to drink hot, fresh blood straight from the vein and she wouldn’t feel so desperate for it. She had to hope so. But watching vampires feed each other was not helping her situation, at all. It was like watching porn when you’re horny.
Compelled by the Vampire: Vampire Enforcement Agency Series Book 1 Page 10
