Mortal Bite (Golden Vampires of Tuscany)

by Sharon Hamilton

  “There is no custom for this. You are human and I am vampire.”

  “Please?” she begged.

  “This is not wise, Carabella.” He groaned as she clamped down on him again with her muscles.

  “I need this. I need you to mate with me, Paolo, in the old way, the ancient way.” She kissed the side of his neck and under his jawline. “The way of your ancestors,” she whispered in his ear.

  His eyes held questions. She was searching for some indication as to what he was thinking, but he had blocked his thoughts.

  “Let me in, Paolo. Let me see what you don’t want me to see.”

  He smiled. She could feel his will dissolving, and images started coming on strong. She saw herself naked across his big oak carved bed with the cream satin sheets. Torches lit the room and shadows on the heavy stone walls danced in the erotic rhythm of his heartbeat. Her arms were pinned above her head as he held her wrists with one hand.

  You would take me to your bedroom?

  That is my room in Tuscany. If I took you there, I would never let you go. Never, Carabella. He closed his eyes and the image was gone.

  She traced his hairline with her forefinger, marveling at the tanned, smooth skin, the shiny dark hair and the dark, chocolate-brown eyes with lashes that made him look dangerous and demure at the same time. He’d told her he was naturally shy.

  Do you blush when you recall what we’ve done? She asked as she kept her legs wrapped around his thighs, holding on with arms wrapped around his neck.

  His warm smile told her everything she needed to know.

  Take me now, Paolo. Here, on my bed. Take me and mark me and make me your own.

  He bent to give her a brief kiss, then followed below her chin and then laid down a moist trail with his tongue, tracing over the vein pounding in her neck. He held her back with two strong palms beneath her shoulder blades. His eyes scanned her chest, paying close attention to her nipples as they hardened under his gaze.

  Relax, he said to her, and immediately she was flooded with waves of pleasure. The touch of his skin against hers, inside her body, warmed her and she began to glow.

  She relaxed her weight, trusting that his powerful arms would fully support her. His neck was exposed to her as well. She leaned forward and let her tongue wander and taste the salty goodness of his skin as he had done earlier.

  He kissed her again, sucking and nibbling on her lower lip, making little liquid noises, and then inhaled.

  Are you sure?

  I am sure, Paolo. I want you to take me now.

  The sound of her skin being breached was surprisingly loud. Like a bee sting, there was one moment of pain, and then euphoria traveled all over her body. His cock inside her began to swell while the muscles in his arms and shoulders tensed. He was trying to be gentle, but she could feel that urge to turn their lovemaking into a blood feast. He squeezed her flesh with his fingers, rubbing his thumbs over her afterwards to soothe the reddened skin. To his hardness she remained soft and giving. As he squeezed, she gave even more.

  Take me. All of me.

  She began to get light headed and saw large black spots in front of her eyes. The spots began to join. She lost her grip in his hair, and, without effort, fell back amongst her pillows, her arms raised above her head. Paolo followed her down, lapping the puncture wounds like he had done before, and then pulled away.

  She could barely see him through the slits in her eyes, which were hard to keep open. Paolo gave her his wrist. “Drink, Bella.”

  “No, I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You can’t hurt me. Drink. Drink for me.”

  “I don’t want to bite you.”

  He smiled. “Very well.” He placed two fingers inside her mouth and she tried to suck on them. “Open your mouth,” he said as he pressed his lips against hers. “Open,” he whispered.

  Cara obeyed. Paolo’s tongue slid over hers, and presented a few drops of his coppery goodness, blood that sent her ears buzzing. With his fingers, he rimmed her lips with his blood. She licked her lips and he suckled them. He repeated this process several times until her light-headedness subsided.

  She suddenly felt like she could jump over the Golden Gate Bridge just using her own energy. A glow emanated from her insides out.

  “What is this? Is this the fating I’ve read about?” she asked him thrilled with the way her body tingled.

  “No, Carabella,” he said as he traced a finger down her chest, between her breasts and then down to between her legs where he touched her lips and ringed their joining spot. A trace of a smile lit up his face.

  “This, Carabella, is love.”

  Chapter 29

  The bite and the rejuvenating droplets of Paolo’s blood led to another tussle between the sheets, and a long orgasm that lasted several minutes, leaving her feeling wrung out and totally limp. She heard things happening outside in the park next to her complex—details she’d never heard before, like conversations between people and the tapping of a runner’s feet along the garden pathways.

  Her ceiling looked the same; however, the reflective light from car bumpers and shimmering leaves cast light and dark shadows on the smooth surface in greater detail. Light patterns seemed to dance all around her. Her entire world had shifted. She was in love, no, she was consumed by the love of a vampire.

  They lay side by side, their thighs touching. Even her sense of smell was enhanced as she recognized the scent of their joint arousal. The droplet of cum she’d tasted from him during their lovemaking had sent curious jolts of electricity down her spine, jarring her and making her sex hungry again. She knew it was not going to be possible to get enough of him in the days and weeks to come.

  I willingly am your addiction. I will host off your pleasure, Carabella.

  His words send a shudder of pleasure through her body again. Everything he did sent her into a euphoric state. She turned, leaned onto her side, propped up on her elbow, and looked down at him. Her fingers traveled the smooth tanned surface of his muscular chest, up under his stubbled chin. She wondered if he had to shave. How often did he get his hair cut? There were so many questions she had now.

  He’d blocked something from her. She knew he wanted it to be a private thought.

  “Why keep certain thoughts from me?” She asked as she kissed his chest and toyed with his left nipple with her teeth.

  “I don’t want to scare you away.”

  “What would scare me?”

  “The future.”

  That’s when she realized that she was looking forward to her future with all her heart, and he was looking toward it with dread.

  They dressed and made arrangements to get her car, which had been left at the University. Cara brought the book and the letter inside it, secreting it beneath some changes of clothes in a duffel bag.

  “Does this mean you’ve invited yourself to what you call a ‘sleepover’?” he said, his fingers caught in his belt loop. His hips were slung at an angle, and he was mind-numbingly bare chested. Cara couldn’t decide whether she liked him in jeans and no shirt, or just plain naked. The effect on her body was the same.

  “Hardly,” she said as she turned and continued to stuff things into the bag. He moved to sit on the bed, watching her. “I didn’t pack any pajamas,” she said.

  “I don’t like pajamas. I like sleepovers without pajamas.”

  “Good to know. So, am I invited?”

  “You are commanded.”

  She raised her eyebrows and formed an “O” with her lips. “Really? Commanded?”

  He blocked another set of visions, but not before she definitely saw her own hands bound with black silk ties, and felt him filling her from behind. “Aha! You weren’t quick enough.”

  He, blushed, and then smiled. A noise outside the window drew his attention. “Cara, we have to go. It isn’t safe.”

  She was worried, so went to look out the window, but he grabbed her, pulling her back into the hallway. “You have the book?” />
  “Yes, right here.” She held up her case.

  “Then we are off. Hang on.”

  Again the fluttering of butterflies mixed with his scent carried her on a sensual cloud until she was standing in the grand room of the Monteleone estate in Healdsburg. An older woman was polishing an antique curio cabinet and jumped, startled, when they arrived.

  “Oh, good Lord, Paolo. You nearly scared me to death,” she said, clutching her heart.

  “I am sorry. I needed the safety of the house perimeter and didn’t have time to trace to the front door.”

  “Paolo, you’re back,” Marcus shouted out as he appeared from the study. “Cara? Does this mean you’ll be joining us again this evening?” he said as he pointed to her duffel bag.

  Cara looked back up at Paolo for the proper answer.

  “Brother, I believe Cara is in danger, especially with the death of her assistant.”

  “A real tragedy, in more ways than one,” Marcus said.

  Cara stepped toward the older brother. “I’ve scarcely been able to get my breath,” she said until she realized what she’d implied. Blushing, she continued bravely, “Do you know who has done this and why? I for one think it has to do with this book.” She held up her bag.

  Marcus squinted and tilted his head to the side, obviously thinking. Cara wasn’t sure he wanted to have anything to do with the book, but Paolo took her bag in one hand, her elbow in the other, and lead her to Marcus’ study. “Quickly. We need to act quickly.”

  Marcus stood at the doorway while Paolo zipped open the bag, which sat on Marcus’ paper-strewn desk. “I’m not sure this is wise, Paolo.” Marcus’s long limbs carried him to beside Paolo in long fluid movements, just like Paolo’s gait. The brothers looked remarkably alike, except for the slight difference in height. Marcus placed his hand over the unzipped bag. Paolo took a step back and clasped Cara about the waist from behind, waiting.

  “This unlocks doors that, once opened, cannot be closed,” Marcus said. “We are investigating something greater than the health and safety of this great family.” Marcus’s words of warning made her heart pound and her hands sweat.

  What does he mean, Paolo? Help me.

  Paolo gave her waist a squeeze. “Brother, perhaps you are saying Cara has to be brought up to date. It may be time for her to learn about our family and what she has unwittingly become involved in.”

  Marcus examined his knee-high black boots, his legs crossed in front of him as he balanced himself against the front of the desk. “My brother makes it difficult for me, Cara. I must tell you things he has not been able to, due to—”

  “I know what he is,” she said. “What you all are. I know you are a vampire coven.”

  Marcus winced. “No, not coven. We are a dynasty. A family. We protect and stand for one another. We don’t feed off one another. Our family does not perform the hosting the coven families do. If you can even call them families.”

  “They are animals,” Paolo whispered.

  “No, not all. We have some who can be loyal, Paolo. Never forget that. Without them, we would have little information on what is happening in the dark world.”

  The shiver down Cara’s spine forced her to move to the side, away from Paolo. “Dark world?” Cara crossed her arms across her chest and stepped away again when Paolo tried to encircle her shoulders with his arm. “I’m needing some interpretation here. I need some answers and I want them right now.”

  Marcus motioned to a red velvet settee and asked Cara to take a seat. Paolo wisely sat in an ornately carved chair beside her. At the tall windows of the study, Marcus stared out onto the vineyards below. Mists still burning off the remnants of morning fog sent tendrils of white swirling through the air, framing the handsome Monteleone brother’s profile. “Paolo, this is yours to handle. You have to make a decision here, brother.”

  Paolo stood. The two brothers looked into each other’s eyes before Marcus broke it off and placed himself behind the huge desk and collapsed into a wooden chair that groaned under his size. Paolo slowly faced Cara and leaned against the windowsill. He had the same impossibly long, lean legs as his brother, but his face that always looked like it had been kissed by sunshine was slightly fairer than that of his older, brooding brother. No matter what happened this grey morning, she would always love Paolo’s face. It would be the face she would see in her dreams the rest of her life.

  She hoped it wouldn’t turn out to be a nightmare.

  I can do this. Was she saying this to convince herself or Paolo?

  “I know you can, Carabella. But there is much to share.” Paolo stalked across the office from bookshelf to bookshelf, each burdened with more books than Cara had ever seen in a private library. These old books had been dusted and cared for. Some were wrapped in plastic covering. A couple of rolled-up scrolls lay on a reading desk built into the bookshelf, next to a white pair of gloves.

  “This is but a fraction of the books we own. The library in Tuscany is second to none. It would probably keep scholars busy for centuries. It rivals some of the great libraries in Paris, the U.K. and the U.S.”

  Cara noticed Marcus had picked up a book and was letting his fingers filter through the pages, but she knew he was paying close attention.

  “The library chronicles the works of our kind, the history, our genealogy, things Marcus and I haven’t even had time to learn about. Cara, both Marcus and I are over three hundred years old.”

  He raised his eyes to watch her reaction. Marcus stopped perusing the book to look up as well.

  Cara knew he was telling the truth. “How does that work?” she asked. She felt immediately it was a stupid question.

  No, none of your questions are stupid. “We are Golden vampires, which are a different species than the dark vampire covens. We are able to live in the sunlight. We can appear human, just as any other mortal. We are not. Our children are human, and, at the age of puberty or some time beyond, each child is given the choice, one time only. Our choice is to whether remain mortal, human, or become Golden vampire. We can only mate,” he blushed, and Cara loved him for it. “We can only produce offspring with our fated mates. Only then is the blood passed down.”

  “So you have had a fated mate, then,” Cara felt the weight of her words falling into the pit of her stomach.

  “Yes. Unfortunately, yes.” Paolo’s steady chocolate gaze poured into her chest, but it didn’t lessen the burden.

  She told herself it wasn’t important. She’d not considered being a mother. She hadn’t planned to consider it until she met the right man. And then she knew what had caused the pain in her stomach, what she was unwilling to believe about herself. She was staring right into the eyes of that man whose children she would gladly bear. She decided not to hide her disappointment, instead letting the sadness flow.

  Paolo had frowned, furrowing his brow, and brought himself back the task of completing the story. “Our children are especially vulnerable, and, since they are very rare, cherished almost above all life.”

  As it should be, Paolo. You have a son and he will always be your primary responsibility. I understand this.

  Paolo nodded, appearing glad she understood this. “So, until that time of choice, our children can be easily killed, just like any mortal child. It is for that reason we are so protective of our secrets, the secrets of the family.”

  Cara understood she was now the keeper of information few mortals knew. He trusted her, even if Marcus didn’t.

  “The fact that this is coming close to you means there is even greater danger than we thought, and certainly a lot less time than we thought we had.”

  “Time? Time for what?”

  “Time to ready for the battle,” Marcus added. “There’s a war brewing between the dark covens and our kind. It will be a war of annihilation. Only one coven can survive.”

  “It appears they have chosen to embroil you in this war,” Paolo whispered. “Cara, I didn’t realize this until this morning. They are com
ing after you next. You are in grave danger.”

  “Is it because of us?” she asked.

  “No, Carabella. I believe it is because of the book, and your knowledge of its existence. But the relationship we share will certainly complicate things,” Paolo answered. “I did not want you involved in this. And now we have two choices, if they can be called that. We can either go forward and enlist your mortal support in this fight, or we can erase your memories and send you elsewhere.”

  “Elsewhere? You mean—”

  “You would essentially become a different person. You could not study vampires. You would not be known as an expert. You could do and be nothing that would attract them to your scent. You understand?”

  “You are joking.”

  “Wish I was. It is a valid alternative,” Paolo replied. He walked fluidly over to where she sat on the settee and knelt in front of her. He took both her hands in one of his. “I would do nearly anything to keep you safe. The safest course for you in your life might be to stay completely away from me and my family.”

  “I couldn’t—” she started.

  “You could. It could be done. You could be made to forget we ever met.”

  Forget we ever met? Are you asking me to make that choice? I cannot.

  “You remember when I told you, with the proper information, we might be able to do things we never thought possible before? This is one of the choices, Cara. But it would require you to move, to remove yourself from anything you ever knew of your past. Your life would start somewhere else. And trust me, you wouldn’t be looking into vampires or the vampire culture, either. We can do that.”

  Cara felt sick to her stomach. What had she been thinking? She knew Paolo was concerned for her safety. He’d been blocking his thoughts ever since they left her place. The controlled, measured communication he’d just delivered hung over her like an axe. Any way she thought about it, her life, as she knew it, was over.

  How could I have been so stupid?

  It is my fault, my fault alone. I knew better, Bella. I should never have taken another mortal lover.