by Jalena Burke
"Very,” he said.
Every time his eyes touched hers, it was as if time stopped. She closed her legs and sat up beside him. She kissed him lightly, teasing, and traced her hands across the warm skin of his chest and abdomen, to his slacks. His erection tented the front of his pants, and she wrapped her hand over the fabric and around his dick.
His breath whooshed out of him. She stroked her hand against his cock and drew her tongue against his ear. He snatched open his pants, trying to hurry, but hurrying only made his hands shake more. She loved it. She loved the control she had on him.
Moving his hands aside, she unzipped his slacks then stood and pushed him back so he lay against the bed. She slowly drew them down his legs. Kneeling between his muscled thighs, she lowered her mouth to lightly graze her teeth over the material covering his cock.
She tugged his undies from his hips, wrapped her mouth around his cock, and worked up and down while his hips rocked forward and back. He groaned when she stopped, but she wasn't done teasing him yet.
"You dressed appropriately for the night,” he teased. “You are a witch."
She smiled as she placed the condom ever so slowly over his erection.
He pulled her up on the bed to straddle him, and slid his thick cock inside her pussy. Thunder rumbled. Lightning cast shadows across the wall. Rain tapped against the window, as if it wanted in.
He moved in and out of her, then suddenly whipped around so he lay on top and she was on her back.
Their bodies moved together in staccato as her orgasm built to a crescendo. A scream rent the peaceful night, and her eyes flew open. Where had that come from? Her own lips? His face nuzzled her neck, kissing her, lightly sucking, taking her back to the edge of losing control. For a moment, she thought he'd bitten her.
He raised his head. Candlelight sputtered across the room, and the way it lit across his face, for a moment before his mouth came down on hers, she thought she saw fangs.
* * * *
Kerri woke in a dark room, it's only light stemming from white sheets and fluttering candles, on the brink of going out. Blake was no where to be found, but a blood-red rose lay on his pillow.
Reaching for the rose, she carried it to her nose, and sniffed. She smiled. Last night had been the most exquisite night of her life. Blake Donnelly was a master in bed. She was in love—or at least deep-seeded lust. He started out gentle, allowing her to set the pace, then became rougher as the night wore on, taking more control, but she didn't mind. She liked it. It made her feel ... tempestuous. Something she'd never felt before.
She pushed the covers aside and traced the peak of her breast. She still ached, but it was a pleasant ache. Her hands smoothed down her body. Her skin was softer than it had been in a long time, as if last night's lovemaking had given her a new vitality.
Her fingers searched out her pussy, and she undulated her hips, pleasing herself. She moaned, pumping her finger faster, deeper inside herself. She swept the rose across her skin, around her breast, down her stomach and to the hand touching her pussy. Continuing on, she trailed it along her inner thigh, the petals velvety and alluring, the thorns tender against her skin.
She dropped the flower and flattened her palm over her pussy, adding pressure to her swollen clit, while pushing the finger inside her deeper. Her head arched off the bed, and she cried out as she came against her hands.
Kerri lay there until her breathing slowed. Her head spun as she sat up, and she earthed her hands against the bed for support. Her neck ached. She remembered his roughness and that she liked it. She placed a hand against her neck and drew it away. No blood, so he hadn't broken the skin, but she probably had a hickey she'd have hell covering up.
Kerri swung her legs over the side of the bed and let a wave of dizziness pass. She stood, but her legs buckled. She needed food.
A one-night stand would entail her leaving. She was too weak to leave without eating first.
Stumbling to the drapes, she pulled them open and yelped as the sun touched her skin. She dropped the drapes, stepped back and tripped, falling to the floor. A slice of sunlight coursed through an opening and seemed to bite into her skin. Naked, she crawled her way out the bedroom.
"Blake?” she croaked, cleared her throat, and tried again. “Blake?"
The kitchen was dark, but she didn't bother opening any curtains. She used the wall to help her stand, glanced around and opened cupboards, but found no food.
What kind of man kept nothing in his cupboards? Was this even his house? Opening the refrigerator, she saw wine and cranberry juice. Well, the juice would have to do. She grabbed it out of the refrigerator, found a glass, and poured.
Her heart pounded in her head, and she thought she was going to pass out. She drank the juice, long and heartily. Her heart steadied. Her ears stopped ringing. She sank to the floor.
* * * *
Kerri didn't know how long she lay against the floor, but when she woke up, she was shivering. She walked back to Blake's room and put on her clothes. She glanced around, calling his name, but he was no where to be found.
He had candles in every room, and they were all lit. Eerie. She slipped on her shoes, consumed more cranberry juice, and opened the door.
The sun pierced her skin like daggers. Sores formed on her arms and steam rose from her skin. She fell back inside the house and slammed the door closed, leaning heavily against it. Dreaming, she had to be dreaming. She hoped she was having a nightmare.
Everything was so dark. Why? And where had the candles gone?
Returning to the bathroom, Kerri flicked the switch to turn on the light. It didn't work. She went from room to room, but none of the lights worked. The stove didn't work. No dial tone on the phone.
She checked the bathroom again. What kind of man didn't have a mirror in his possession? She found her purse by the bed, but the contents were still on the floor from Blake's hurried search for a condom. She got down on her hands and knees and searched.
There was her mirror! She slid her arm way under the bed, grabbed it, and let a moment of dizziness pass before sitting up. She checked her phone first, but there was no signal. She threw it across the room.
Clutching the closed mirror to her chest, she waited for the tremors to subside.
Slowly, she opened her mirror, glanced inside. Saw nothing.
Nothing. Not even her own reflection. She dropped the mirror. It shattered against the floor. Oh well, what did another seven years of bad luck matter now?
Her heart began its wild beat again inside her body, making her weak and shaky. Her eyes burned. She wanted to scream, but her throat wouldn't open.
Oh God, what was going on?
Kerri crawled to the refrigerator again and drank the cranberry juice from its container.
Or was it cranberry juice? It was sweet and acidic, like juice usually was, but with a darker, bitter aftertaste.
She was losing her mind, that's what it was. Life was trying to teach her a lesson. One-night stands sucked.
* * * *
"Kerri? Are you okay?"
Kerri woke to the low, seductive tone she remembered from last night. The voice that drove her over the brink of insanity. His hands smoothed over her hair, across her face and around under her shoulders and neck where he pulled her upright. She sat with her back against the refrigerator, trying to remember what happened.
Blake watched her, his eyes dark and intense. The room was illuminated by candles again, but still dim. She was able to see every nuance of expression on Blake's face, in his eyes.
"What's going on?” she asked.
"Drink this.” He held out a glass of blood-red liquid.
"What is it? What did you do to me?"
She didn't want to drink what he offered. He pushed it closer to her lips, and she couldn't deny herself the pleasure. She drank, and it was like tasting someone's lips for the first time. Sweet, burning joy.
Scared and angry, she threw the remaining liquid across the room
, letting it and the glass shatter against the wall and seep to the floor. “What have you done to me?"
She stood, too fast, and the room spun. Blake tried to put his arms around her, but she pushed him away.
"I fell in love with you,” Blake said.
"You don't even know me. How can you love me?"
"I've loved you a long time."
Confused, Kerri went to the window above the sink, opened the drapes, and was met with pitch blackness. She glanced at her skin. The sores were gone, and her skin was just as soft and smooth as ever.
She whirled around. “What's wrong with me?” Her heart thudded. Oh God, what was happening to her? Breathing heavily, her limbs shook.
And suddenly she knew. “You're a vampire!"
Blake stepped towards her. Her back was against the counter, and she had no where to go.
Why did she give him the power to make her weak? Why did she look into his eyes when she knew what they would do to her?
"I love you,” he said again as if that would make everything all right.
"Vampires don't love."
"For thousands of years I've had no one,” Blake said. He captured her hands in his. “It's you I want to spend the rest of my life with."
"Bullshit. You turned me into ... into...” Her voice trailed off. Tears sprung to her eyes. “Oh God."
Blake wrenched her chin up so she had no choice but to look at him. She didn't want to look anywhere else. Only when she looked into his eyes did she feel steady. “I know you. You're lonely. You've been lonely a long time in your search for Mr. Right. You have no family. Your friends are fleeting, but love can be forever if you let it. You'll enjoy this, I promise."
He lowered his lips to hers, but she mustered the strength to push him away. “I won't let you control me or manipulate me."
"You control me, my love.” He pulled her close, touched her ass, and yanked her hips into his. “You feel that?"
Yeah, she felt that. He was hard, so what? It was called lust.
He moved against her in a sensual dance. She followed his steps to a song only they could hear. For a moment, she thought their heartbeats melded into one.
She pushed away. “You don't know me."
"I know you better than you think I do. You work at a video rental store. You close up at 9, walk home by yourself. What you don't know is I've been protecting you, watching over you to make sure no harm comes to you."
"So I guess I should thank you?"
"Other creatures of the night only want a taste of your blood. I've wanted a taste of you, forever. You're my other half."
She turned away so she didn't have to look at him, but he pulled her backwards into his arm. Her heart tripped as his lips traced her neck. Her pussy grew warm.
"It isn't as bad as you think it is,” he whispered.
"I'll never see the sun again."
"The sun is a ravaging beast even to those alive. They just don't realize it."
True. She couldn't be out in the sun without gaining freckles, and she never tanned, she burned.
"I have to drink blood for the rest of my life to stay alive."
He twirled her around to face him. Even in the dark, his eyes shined, like a beacon on a cold, dark night. She was lost, and those eyes made her feel grounded.
His warm breath caressed her ear. His hands trailed down her skin and cupped her breasts. “I have bottles of blood in those wine bottles. You don't have to kill. I haven't in a long time, once I learned how to control the urge. I'll be with you. I had no one; I learned on my own. I'll never leave you."
"But vampires don't love."
"That's a myth. Everyone loves. Even animals. And I wasn't always a vampire."
"So we're stuck in this room for the rest of our lives?” Kerri asked.
"There are a lot of fun things to do, especially at night. You can go anywhere you want to go. How do you think we ended up here so fast last night?"
Her breath caught in her throat. She knew something funky was going on last night. She should have listened to her instincts, but they wouldn't let her go home. They would have told her to listen to her heart, and it was falling for him no matter who or what he was.
"Do you feel like visiting Alaska, or vacationing in Hawaii? Take my hand. I'll take you there. Want to see the whales mate? I can show you that, too. You'll see things you'd never see in your life."
She sighed, an initial acceptance, but she still fought it. “You didn't give me a choice."
"I gave you a choice. Last night, I knew what you wanted."
"I wanted sex."
"I read your mind, you wanted a love to last a lifetime."
"Oh, so you're a mind reader too?” she asked, but deep down inside she knew he was right. But didn't every woman want love to last a lifetime? Suddenly, her bag was in his hands. What kind of trickster was he? He retrieved the condoms from her bag. “You'll never have to use these again."
"Then why did we last night?"
"Because you thought you needed them."
The room spun and suddenly, they were in the bedroom.
"You'll never have to worry about your weight again,” he said, teasing.
"I guess not. I'll never have to eat again."
He dropped her bag and lured her in his arms. Music came on. Candles lit themselves. Embers from the fireplace leisurely awoke, as if stretching, then exploded in full force.
Okay, so that would be cool, to be able to light a fire without actually doing anything.
Her heart slowed to its normal rhythm, and she brushed her fingers through his hair. She could accept this. To love forever, to never worry about losing. She may have only known Blake for one night, but this feeling was strong enough to survive eternity.
He spun her toward the bed and nudged her so that she fell face first onto the bed, her ass in the air. He drew her skirt up and stroked the skin along her inner thigh. She felt his need for her against her backside.
"I have a lot of things to show you,” he whispered. “But we have the rest of eternity to do it."
* * *
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