by Elisa Adams
“What’s this problem you wanted to talk to me about?” The stranger’s gaze fell on Amara and he smiled knowingly. “I didn’t realize you were keeping pets. Hey, you have a nice one here.”
Marco winced. “It’s not like that.”
“Of course not. It never is.” The man’s gaze looked Amara over, very slowly, covering every inch of her body before it finally settled on her breasts. Typical. “Where did you find this one?”
She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot on the floor. “First of all, my face is up here. Second, I’m not anybody’s pet. I can make up my own mind, and make my own decisions. I’m here because I want to be, not because I’m being kept.”
Well, everything but the last sentence was true, anyway, and that whole issue wasn’t very clear anymore.
The man blinked and turned to Marco. “Since when did you go for the ones with minds of their own? I thought you liked them subservient and pliant.”
He turned back to Amara. “Wait a minute, aren’t you Midnight Morris?”
She sighed loudly. How many times in her life was she going to have to go through this speech? “I’m Amara Daniels. Midnight Morris is a fictional character who, according to Marco, should be tarred and feathered for getting every detail about the life of vampires so completely and utterly wrong.”
He stared at her for several seconds before he burst out laughing. “Are you kidding? I love those movies.”
“Royce.” Marco’s tone held a warning.
“What? Doesn’t everybody?’
“Apparently not Marco.” Amara rolled her eyes. “He thinks the writers could strive to make them a little more realistic.”
Royce shrugged. “They could. It’s not like we go around biting everyone or anything. But who cares? What’s an immortal life if you can’t have any fun?”
“Are you…?”
“A vampire? Yeah, I guess you could say that. I’ve got some really cool fangs, too. You want to see?”
Marco cleared his throat. “Once you’ve seen one set, you’ve seen them all.”
“Oh, now that’s not true. Mine are so much longer than yours.”
Marco scoffed. “Size doesn’t matter. Its how you use them that counts.”
“Oh, yeah?” Royce winked at Amara. “Whoever coined that phrase was obviously pitifully small. Mine are huge, babe. That’s what counts.”
“As much as I hate to interrupt your fun, Royce, I called you for something a little more serious than a discussion of fang size.” Marco shot Royce a dirty look, and Royce laughed.
“So what’s the problem you mentioned on the phone?”
Marco shook his head. “We can talk about it later. When we have some time alone.”
“You said we’d be alone tonight.”
Marco shrugged. “I thought she’d be in bed.”
She really hated it when people spoke about her like she wasn’t in the room. Usually. This time, it might give her an advantage.
“She’s not. So what?” Royce asked. “Is this something you’d rather she didn’t hear?”
Marco sighed and shook his head. “Never mind. I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
Amara started to get out of the chair, intent on giving them some privacy, but that strange dizziness hit her again and she had to sit back down.
“Are you okay?” Marco asked.
She nodded, not able to speak. She took a couple of deep breaths. “I’m fine.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded weak. “I think if I just ate something, I’d be back to normal.”
“Is that the problem?” Royce asked Marco.
Marco nodded tightly. “Yeah, she’s been feeling a little…off lately.”
Royce turned to Amara. “How so?”
“What does it matter to you?” she snarled.
“Just curious,” he said. “No offense or anything, but you look like death warmed over.”
Well, duh. She hadn’t had access to her makeup bag in a week. “This is the way I look without all that stage makeup.”
“No. You looked pale on screen, but that was probably on purpose. Now you look sick.”
“I’m fine.” What was it with the two of them? She could take care of herself.
Royce shook his head. “That’s debatable. How are you sleeping?”
“Fine.” She was starting to sound like a broken record.
“She’s not,” Marco chimed in. “At least not when she’s supposed to.”
“Are you eating?”
“She’s not eating either. She’s barely touched a meal in days.”
Royce’s expression was way beyond serious. “Hmm.”
Okay, now she was getting genuinely worried. “Hmm? What’s that supposed to mean?”
He ignored her, speaking to Marco instead. “Doesn’t this situation strike you as a little odd?”
“Not really,” Marco said defensively. “You heard her. She hasn’t been eating well. That alone is enough to cause dizzy spells.”
“I suppose.” Royce turned back to her. “You’re human, right?”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Of course.”
“Both of your parents are human?”
“My mother is.” Her mother was all too human. Her father—well, he could have been anyone. There had been so many men at the time her mother had gotten pregnant that she’d never been able to pinpoint exactly who’d fathered her child. But he was human!
Royce turned to Marco. “Did you feed off of her?”
Marco shrugged.
“I don’t know how to explain this. Unless she’s feeding off of you, too, this shouldn’t be happening.” Royce checked her pulse and frowned.
“What shouldn’t? Somebody had better tell me what’s going on really quick.”
Royce looked her over for a full minute before he spoke. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear…never mind.”
“No, you have to tell me.” After a statement like that, he wasn’t going to blow her off. He’d better be planning on explaining himself.
“There’s nothing wrong with her.” Marco butt in. “She’s been under a lot of stress lately.” He really didn’t want her to know the truth of what Royce was implying.
She grasped onto that thought, even though she knew something strange was going on in her body. She felt different, but couldn’t explain how. She nodded along with Marco. “Yes, I’m fine. Nothing wrong at all.”
“Yeah.” Royce tilted the table lamp so the light was shining in her eyes.
She winced and covered her eyes with her hands. “What the hell did you do that for? Are you trying to blind me?”
“No. I’m trying to prove a point.”
“What point is that? It’s impossible to see when someone’s shining a bright light in your eyes?” She glared at Marco. “If this guy’s so inquisitive, I can just imagine what your doctor is going to be like.”
Royce laughed at that. “I am the doctor.”
“Oh, yeah right. And I’m the tooth fairy.”
“He’s a doctor, Amara. Has been for more years than you’ve been alive, and before that he was a healer.” Marco answered.
“This is ridiculous. I’m fine. You just said the same thing. Why on earth did you feel the need to call a doctor?”
“I just wanted someone to reinforce that opinion,” he said.
“You mean you wanted me to come in and lie to you,” Royce said. “You wanted me to tell you all was great with her, when you already knew damned well that it wasn’t. You know, for a smart guy you really can be stupid sometimes.”
She started to ask more questions, but he shook his head again. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in the chair. She’d just have to grill Marco later to find out what this guy was talking about. Doctor or not, he was wrong. She wasn’t sick, just stressed. “Well, obviously you’re not going to be of any help. Don’t you have a practice to get back to or something?”
“He doesn’t have a specific practice, he
just goes where he’s needed,” Marco answered for Royce. “Once every couple hundred years he even visits me.”
“That’s not fair,” Royce said. “It isn’t my fault we didn’t speak for so long.”
“No. It isn’t.”
Marco was going all broody again. She wanted to ask about the story behind the cryptic comments, but now was probably not the best time to be asking questions.
Royce stared at her a little too long before he got up and walked over to where Marco was standing. “Why’d you let her do it? You knew damned well what could happen, and you let her do it anyway. You need to learn that you can’t just take without thinking of the consequences.”
“I didn’t let her do anything. It was an accident, not something that was planned.”
Accident? What accident? “Okay, this isn’t funny anymore. Somebody had better start explaining, and quick.”
They ignored her and continued their private conversation.
“That was pretty irresponsible, Marco.”
“It was only a drop. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“A drop is all it takes.” Royce ran a hand through his hair. “What are you going to do?”
“Nothing. There’s no need to do anything, because nothing is going to happen.”
“You’re an idiot. It already has.” He gave Marco a strange look before he left the room.
Marco walked over to her chair and knelt down in front of it. “How are you holding up? Think you can stand yet?”
At this point in time, she wasn’t sure. “What’s going on?”
He smoothed her hair away from her face. “Nothing. Royce gets a little overzealous sometimes. It’s his nature.”
“You’ve both got me a little worried.”
“Don’t be, sweetheart. Everything is going to be fine. Okay?”
She nodded, wondering exactly what was going on, and why no one would tell her anything.
* * * * *
Marco lay in bed as the sun rose, wondering what to do about Amara. He had to send her away, but he couldn’t bear to do it. Something out here was affecting her in a bad way. He didn’t know if it was being with him or the environment, but she was changing. She was starting to act like him, sleeping the same hours and refusing food.
Now he just had to convince Royce of that. Her problem wasn’t as complex as Royce was making it seem. It couldn’t be. As soon as Amara was returned home, she’d be back to her old self.
He wanted to keep her, but he would never do that to her. She might not care now, but she had a life to go back to, one he’d kept her from long enough. He would take her home first thing in the morning. She needed her life back more than he needed her.
And he did need her. There was just no way to keep her without turning her. If what Royce suspected was true, that wouldn’t be an issue.
Royce was wrong. He had to be. Amara was just Amara. She would be fine once she got home. He’d made a stupid mistake in kidnapping her, but he really hadn’t done anything else to endanger her.
“Marco?”
He hadn’t realized she was there until she sat down on the edge of the mattress.
A jolt of guilt ran through him. He’d never once dreamed of ruining a life so completely. He’d made his share of mistakes, but this could quite possibly be his worst one yet. If he didn’t let her go soon, bad things would happen.
“Go back to bed, Amara.” He’d left her in his bedroom by herself and come to the guest room to get some sleep. Royce had left just before daybreak, but he’d promised to be in touch to see how Amara was doing. Between the two of them, they would have to keep an eye on her for the first couple of days she was back in her old life. He wouldn’t let her get into trouble, even if he couldn’t let her know he was there.
“I’ll go, if you come with me.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Then I’m staying right here.”
He reached for her then. It was wrong for him to accept anything from her, on so many levels. He still hadn’t explained to her what could be wrong with her. He wasn’t ready yet to explain to her what Royce suspected. No need to worry her over something that might not even be true.
He couldn’t accept it, not yet, but he couldn’t totally deny the possibility, either. He just hoped everything would be okay. If he left her alone and stopped feeding from her, she might have a chance to recover.
If he hadn’t taken so damned much of her blood to begin with, this might not even be an issue.
He held her for a long time, content to just lay with her on the narrow mattress. But she wasn’t. She wriggled against him, her fingers stroking his chest. He hated himself at that moment. He could have ruined her life. He shouldn’t have been so impulsive. If he’d just planned his actions, then he wouldn’t have—
Amara kissed the side of his neck, sending a shiver through him. “Don’t you want me anymore, Marco?”
He’d want her until the day he took his last breath. Considering his life span, that was saying a lot. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
She sighed and settled back next to him. “You never did tell me how you turned vampire.”
He froze, his senses on alert. Her growing curiosity bothered him, especially in light of what might be happening to her. “Why do you want to know?”
“How can I know how a real vampire lives if I don’t know how one is created.”
He said nothing, not willing to give her this, but not sure why.
She wouldn’t let it go. “Does it really involve the exchange of blood?”
He sighed. “Yeah, I guess it does. But it’s complicated, sweetheart. It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
It actually wasn’t all that complicated at all. It would only take a little of his for the mutation to occur, especially if her blood was depleted from his repeated feedings, as it was now. He was in agony over how easy it would be to turn her. Then she would be his forever. He’d never have to let her go.
“Do it, Marco.” Her voice was a whisper against his chest. “Make me yours.”
He sat up on the edge of the bed, needing to distance himself from her before he did what she asked. It took a little while for him to realize that he hadn’t spoken his desires out loud.
“How did you know what I was thinking?”
“I…I don’t know. I just felt it.”
“Is that really what you want?”
She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She trailed her tongue along his neck, unerringly finding that place where she could break the skin and—
He had to remember she was not a vampire lover. The woman was human. If he allowed her to do this, her life would be altered forever. She might never forgive him, once she came to her senses.
But at the same time, he had to have her. Just one last time, and then it would be time to let her go. He needed this time with her, one more time to make love to a woman he’d come to realize he didn’t hate at all.
Her teeth nipped at his neck like she’d been doing it all her life. He had to stop her. Flipping her onto her back, he pinned her body to the mattress. “What do you want, Amara?”
She smiled, a purely wicked smile that did more to arouse him than the touch of most of his lovers had been able to do. “Fuck me, Marco. Hard and fast. Just one more time before you make me leave.”
He was more than happy to oblige. He tore at her clothes until she lay naked before him, sprawled on the bed like an offering. The thought that she would leave soon pushed him over the edge. He couldn’t promise he’d be gentle tonight. He just hoped she didn’t get hurt.
He tore at his own clothes and threw them in a pile on the floor. His cock ached at the sight of her pink lips, bared so completely to him. Would he be able to stay away from her for long? He didn’t think so, but for her sake he’d have to try.
He stroked her labial lips softly with the tips of his fingers. She squirmed and moaned in protest, but he wasn’t going to give her what she wanted j
ust yet. He had his own memories to make. He thumbed her clit with long, slow strokes designed to drive her wild. He accomplished that easily—in a matter of seconds she was bucking against his hand.
“Come on, Marco. Please.” She drove her hips against his hand, but he didn’t give in to her demands.
“Relax. We have all day.”
“I don’t want to relax. I want to come!” She grabbed his wrist and tried to take control of his fingers, but he brushed her away.
She was acting the way he felt—like an animal, barely contained. It was killing him to keep control over himself, but he wanted today to last. If he let go and gave her what she wanted, he wouldn’t last five seconds. At least this way, she’d get some attention, too. She deserved as much, since it seemed she’d finally accepted that their time together was coming to an end. Or was this just a ploy to make him let her stay? She’d been different in the past couple days, quieter, more accepting of everything. He had to wonder—what was she planning?
“Spread your legs for me, sweetheart.” She narrowed her eyes, but obliged, moving her legs as far apart as she could. He skimmed his hands up the insides of her thighs before he bent down to give her an intimate kiss.
She cried out and rocked against him when his tongue touched her clit. He laved her thoroughly, bringing her to the brink of climax again and again before backing away. She whimpered and tore at the sheets every time he left her on the brink without giving her the release she begged for.
He finally delved his tongue deep inside her cunt, tasting her arousal and increasing his own. Stroking in and out of her was sheer madness. He was right on the edge himself, so much so that a gust of wind would topple him into orgasm. His cock ached, his balls burned, and he couldn’t stand another second of waiting. One more flick of his tongue across her clit and she came, her juices pouring over his face.
“Sweetheart, you taste so good.” He thrust his tongue into her again.
She moaned. “I want your cock, Marco, not your tongue.”
He kissed his way up her body slowly, stopping to lave her distended nipples. Cupping her breasts in his hands, he suckled one nipple until she cried out again before pulling his mouth off and moving to the other. He’d never get enough of her taste. It drove him wild in a way he’d never experienced before.
