by Lane Hart
“Kate, I don’t want any of that from you. Well, okay, I do want all of that from you, but not just those things. I only want to be near you. Shit, I just met you and I’m already falling in love with you, and it’s not because of any of those things!”
I was so torn. I wanted to believe that he really cared about me. And he already thought he was falling in love with me? Was he just saying that so I’d sleep with him again? I couldn’t handle this right now. My emotions were overwhelmed. I wanted to be with him, but not if he was using me, or screwing other people, and right now I wasn’t sure.
“Kate, please,” he said as he reached for me. I took a step back out of his reach. I knew if he touched me my resolve would crumble and make my feelings even hazier.
“Don’t call me, or come by again,” I said through the tears. I was never going to figure out how I really felt about him if I couldn’t just be alone and think through everything that had happened since Friday.
Sam’s shoulders slumped. “Kate, you know I’m not using you. The spell is for Chris who’s been a cat for five years, not for me. He’s probably going to be nothing but a pain in my ass after he’s back to normal, so it’s not really doing me any favors. The blood, well yeah, I do need it and I just thought you’d rather me have yours than drink from someone else. I’ll have to figure something else out, which is fine. But the sex, Kate, you know damn well I’m not using you for that. I don’t know how you could even think such a thing. Since we’ve slept together you’re the one who keeps blowing me off! I tried to call you and you ignored me. I want to see you, but for some fucking reason I don’t understand, you keep pushing me away!” Sam ran his hand through his hair as he became more upset. “In fact, I think you’ve got it backwards. Did you plan on sleeping with, no, I’m sorry, “fucking” the first guy that asked you out and I happened to luck up and be him?”
My mouth fell open. How could he say such a thing? But I didn’t have a response, and I was worried he might actually be right.
“So you don’t deny it? I was just a convenient way for you to lose your virginity, is that it? I was just a quick meaningless fuck? That seems to be all I’m good for, but at least you got off a few times. Kate, if you don’t want to see me again, fine. It will fucking kill me, but I can’t make you. If nothing else you could at least be honest with me instead of trying to blame me for shit I haven’t done.”
I was too upset to respond as the tears ran faster down my face. He thought I’d done the same thing to him as those stupid sluts had, and it hurt that he thought of me that way.
Sam shook his head as he turned around and picked up his bag. “If you actually give a shit I hope you’ll eventually realize that you’re wrong about me, but I’m tired of trying to convince you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sam
Well, I’ve royally fucked everything up with Kate, I thought as I walked out of her apartment.
I was completely heartbroken that she thought I was using her. Of course to her it probably looked that way. I needed her to do Chris’s spell. I needed blood tonight. But the sex, how could she possibly think I was just using her for sex? I’ve been trying to talk to her and she’s been avoiding me. I had asked her if she was absolutely sure she was ready and she said she wanted me.
Maybe she didn’t feel the same way, but to me it had felt so damn right to be with her. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced before, and I’ve had a lot of sex. Meaningless, forgettable, boring sex. Nothing like how incredible it had felt to be with Kate. And it wasn’t just the sex. Waking up with her in my arms felt even better than the sex. But Sunday’s fuck frenzy had probably erased the times we’d really been together Saturday night and Sunday morning at her apartment. The difference between the two was making love and fucking, but apparently now it all fell into the fucking category for her.
Shit! The blood lust wasn’t helping me think clearly as it grew stronger every minute. How could I have been so stupid to go this long? And it wasn’t like I could just bust into the clinic after hours. It would look too suspicious if I used the code to get in this time of night. If I tried to break in and got caught I’d get fired, and then there goes my supply. Something had to give, I just didn’t know what yet.
When I got home I drug my sorry ass inside then I poured the counter-spell into a bowl for Chris to lap up. Just a few minutes later he was yakking all over the place. Pretty much what he always did when we’d tried it before, so we were still waiting to see if anything else happened. Finally, I felt a change in the air pressure, making the hair on my arms stand up. When I looked back over, Chris was sitting on the floor, naked, and back to being a man again. Well, I wouldn’t go that far. He was back to his normal self.
I’d been throwing back rum and cokes during the vomit show, and had almost put away the entire bottle. The blood lust was so bad I thought about biting Chris. That was just disgusting, and way too disturbing since I had the other lust going on at the same time. Hell. No. I’d never drank from a man before and I wasn’t going to start now.
I finally talked Chris into putting some of my clothes on. My pants were a little long on him, since he was about four inches shorter than me, and my shirts were a little tight, since he was wider in the chest and shoulders. I hated to admit that unfortunately his outer appearance wasn’t nearly as ugly as his personality.
Before he’d been a cat he’d brought home a different girl every single night from the clubs and bars, and rubbed it in my face. I didn’t want or care for any of the sluts he slept with. I was more selective than he was and told him I’d rather have one decent hot girl, someone like Kate, than all his bimbos. He’d probably fucked twice as many women as me in his twenty-nine years than I had in all eighty-four of mine. Man-whore.
It sucked that Chris looked buffer than me too, even though I was stronger. Vampires were supernaturally superior strength-wise to humans and warlocks, as well as superior in a lot of other areas as well. His dark brown hair and blue eyes made him look like the good old boy next door, instead of the jackass he really was.
I must have been drunk off my ass, because when he asked if I wanted to go out with him I agreed, but only because I needed to find some blood, and quick. He drove my car since I was clearly intoxicated, and it was too late to protest when he pulled up in the parking lot of a strip club. Swell.
I gave in mostly because I knew I would be able to find one of the strippers so high that she wouldn’t remember me biting her when she woke up in the morning. Disgusting? Yes, but I was desperately low on self-control. Kate’s dismissal was stinging me too, making me want to do whatever I could to get her off my mind.
The nasty, naked strippers only made me think of the vast contrast of how sweet, innocent and goddamn gorgeous Kate was compared to them. I pulled out my phone and started to call her, then put it away when I remembered what she’d said.
Since Chris didn’t have money from being unemployable as a cat, I was paying the tab for tonight’s drinking and activities. He left right away for the “Champagne Room” with some dark haired stripper with tattoos. It wasn’t cheap, but the man had been a cat for five years. It was a known fact that more than dancing took place in that particular room. He hadn’t touched a woman during the last five years, and I couldn’t imagine how tough that must have been for him. Although, my numbers over the last five years weren’t much better than that, and I didn’t have the whole being a cat excuse. I’d just given up going out trying to meet women since I was sick of having fucking flings. Besides, it wasn’t like I could bring anyone home with me while I had a loud-mouth cat living with me.
It didn’t take long for the strippers to start swarming around me trying to make a few dollars. I couldn’t wait any longer on the blood, so I finally gave in, paying for a private dance with the girl whose dyed hair was almost the color of Kate’s. When I handed her a hundred dollar bill she told me she’d throw in a little something extra, because she thought I was hot. She had no idea I
was already planning on something extra, but I’m sure she told all the men with a few dollars the exact same thing. Although her words were slurred so bad I had no clue what else she was saying, she had no problem keeping up her non-stop bump and grind exotic dancing.
When we stumbled in and shut the door to the private room, I had only intended to drink a little blood from her. Then she straddled my lap and pushed her enormous fake tits into my face. I didn’t give a shit about her though. My mind went back to the other night with Kate, and how good she had felt sitting on me like this and in my arms. Lost in that painful memory, the completely naked stripper, Fantasy was her name, unzipped my jeans, and lowered herself onto my erection before I could protest. Oh, fuck it! So I did.
I grabbed her hips, moving her faster, and ready to get this over with. My fangs had long since descended on their own. I pulled Fantasy’s neck to my mouth, puncturing her skin as gently as possible. She didn’t flinch or seem to notice or care as she continued riding my dick like the pro she was. I sucked deep draws, over and over from her while I came, and she made various and mostly fake noises.
Oh, it had been so long since I’d sucked and fucked at the same time with someone, and even though I could taste the sweat on her skin and the drugs in her system, if felt So. Damn. Good. So much better than the years of just me and my hand and a bag of blood.
That feeling of ecstasy lasted right up until she slid off me, and I was sitting there looking at my limp and traitorous dick. God I was disgusting! Kate would never touch me again if she could see me now. Not that she would have before I’d done this.
I jumped up, piercing my finger on my fang before it receded, then rubbed my blood on her neck, healing the marks before she left the room. There might be a spot of blood left on her neck but at least there wouldn’t be any punctures for anyone to see.
I hung my head in disgrace as I walked back out into the loud and dark main room and started looking for Chris. I was ready to get the hell out of here, and I had to get up and go to work in the morning.
I finally found him sitting in the corner, making out with not one, but two strippers sitting on his lap. I knew the bastard had used up all my money in the Champagne Room, so the sluts were hanging off of him because they wanted to. Which meant one or both would probably be coming home with us. The night was getting better and better.
“Come on Chris, we’re leaving,” I said when I approached the table. The two drunk or drugged up girls giggled. One asked if I’d join the three of them when we got home. That was a big hell-fucking-no.
“Did you get what you needed?” Chris asked with an evil smile.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“Looks like you got more than what you needed since your zipper’s still down,” he said, then he and his bimbos laughed.
Dammit. “Thanks, jackass. I’m leaving with or without you.”
I drove my car home, sobered by the last few hours, as the trio made out, and I don’t even want to know what else in my backseat. I would probably have to clean the upholstery tomorrow. With straight bleach.
As soon as I walked through the door I took a quick scalding hot shower, wishing the soap was bleach, then turned on my alarm clock and flung myself into bed.
A few minutes later I actually had to get up and run off one of Chris’s naked sluts after she came staggering into my room and offered to blow me. What the fuck? I just wanted to forget the last few hours of my shitty life, the pain from Kate’s rejection, and try and get a few hours of sleep. But that was damn difficult with all the noises coming from Chris’s room and the ache in my chest.
Chapter Fifteen
At seven a.m. I felt like punching someone when the pop song woke me up. I reached and grabbed the alarm clock and threw it against the wall, but it still kept playing. Shit. I’d gotten maybe three hours of sleep. It was going to be an awesome Tuesday. At least I wouldn’t be late today.
I fell out of bed and got ready for work with the world’s biggest migraine. I felt pathetic. If I hadn’t been a vampire I’d be puking my guts out right now. Even my dick was ashamed of what it did last night, and didn’t try to twitch.
The women at work made my head hurt worse with their high pitched bitching and complaining. It was one of the longest days I’d ever had. The only plus side was that I was able to sneak and grab a bag of blood to take home for reserve, swearing I would never again put myself in the position I’d been in yesterday.
Oh, and tonight with Chris back to normal at the house should be a real kick in the ass as well. Better hit up the ABC store again tonight. It was going to take at least two bottles of Jack to drown all my fucking sorrows.
Sure enough, Chris was in a damn fine mood when I got home. I guess if I’d spent the last several years as a cat I’d feel pretty spiffy myself. And he’d had a threesome last night. That’d gone on for hours. Jackass.
“Hey, man,” Chris said, all cheerful and shit when I walked through the door. I just wanted to get drunk and then pass out so I didn’t have to think about Kate or last night’s escapades.
“Hey, how’s it going?” I asked then stopped short when I noticed he was laid out on my couch, wearing my clothes, and using my laptop.
“Man, what the fuck? Would it kill you to maybe ask before you use all my shit?”
“I’ve been a cat for years. I don’t have any clothes, so I borrowed some more of yours. You really mind that I’m on your computer? I didn’t even look at your porn stash. Okay, well maybe I watched a few videos. It wasn’t like I had anything else to do today. Well nothing to do after I got tired of fucking the two sluts and sent them on their way.”
Damn he was disgusting, and unlike me, he could knock someone up and get diseases.
“I know what you could spend your time doing. How about finding a fucking job so you can finally pay some bills?”
“Hard to get a job when I don’t have a car.”
“Screw it. Whatever, I’m going to bed,” I told him as I opened and chugged the first bottle. I was heading to pass out even though it was only a little after five p.m. and the sun was still up. I needed to catch up on my sleep from last night.
“So, does that mean I can use your car tonight?” Chris asked. Why the hell not, he’d probably want to sleep in my bed too. At least he had a mattress on the floor in his room. He’d had a threesome, on a mattress, on the floor. Bastard.
“Why the hell not, but if you put a scratch on it I’ll kick your ass,” I told him as I handed over my keys.
“Awesome! Thanks!”
That one seemingly insignificant decision would change the rest of my life, but there was no way for me to know it at the time.
Chapter Sixteen
Kate
It’d been a long depressing day. My classes had been boring and tedious. No one had talked to me. Again. It was like I was invisible. Now I was home, curled up on the couch, watching reruns of sitcoms. You could’ve been with Sam right now, if you hadn’t pushed him away, I thought to myself. I was so confused.
Without having any experience with relationships I felt completely lost. Why did I only think the worst of Sam and keep telling myself that he had ulterior motives for being with me? Because it just didn’t make sense that someone like him could actually care about me. And maybe I was scared of falling for him, or falling even harder for him, and getting hurt.
I wanted to call him, see him, just be with him so bad. But he was right, I wasn’t sure if it was me or my depressing loneliness that wanted him. Now that I hadn’t talked to him or seen him in a day I felt stupid for telling him I needed time. I wanted more time to be lonely? What the hell was wrong with me?
Sam hadn’t tried to call me or text me, just like I’d told him not to. I picked up my phone and started to call him, then decided against it and just reread his old texts over and over.
The doorbell rang, startling me out of my mental tug-of-war. Sam hadn’t given up on me, and it made me smile. I ran to the door and threw it op
en, then froze. It wasn’t Sam. It was some guy I’d never seen before, and although he was gorgeous with dark hair, beautiful blue eyes and bulging with damn impressive muscles, he was smiling like he was up to no good.
“Um, hi. Can I help you?” I asked nervously.
“Kate! It’s me, Chris,” he said, and after a second it finally dawned on me.
“Wow! It worked!” I said before thinking about who might overhear us. My face warmed and then suddenly my other parts started warming too.
“Yes, thank God! Mind if I come in for a minute?” he asked eagerly. Almost too eagerly. But Sam must know he’s here since he gave him my address, and I could see Sam’s car in the parking lot.
“Yeah, sure, I guess,” I said, opening the door a little wider.
“I just wanted to come by and say thanks for helping for me. If feels so damn good to be a man again,” he said quietly.
“Um, you’re welcome,” I told him as he walked past me into my apartment.
After I shut the door it hit me. The heat and the instant desire blazed through me even stronger than before, almost doubling me over. In the next second Chris pushed me against the wall with so much force the air was knocked out of me, then his mouth was covering mine.
My body was begging for him to touch me, and I couldn’t keep my hands off of him as they headed straight for his zipper. It was down and his pants were lowered a second later. Since he didn’t have anything on under them his arousal pressed hard and ready against my stomach.
“Please, I need you in me,” I told him as I grabbed him and stroked him, guiding him between my legs where my clothes were still in the way.
