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  His expression surprised me. I’d expected horror, disgust, even condemnation, but instead he scribbled away as I spoke, his excitement obvious. “I was arrested by a council of my peers. The villagers not under my control complained that I was killing them. So they came to investigate.” Oh, the dilemma. They hadn’t wanted to kill me, a noblewoman, but at the same time they could not allow me to continue to kill. “I was never formally charged, and I retained enough of my wits to ensure I didn’t reveal too much of my new nature. In a quandary, they placed me in my rooms and bricked up the entrances, leaving only a tiny slot for food.”

  His jaw dropped. “That must have been awful. How long were you locked away?”

  “Too long,” I growled. “I wasted away without blood to sustain me. I could only manage the occasional nibble on a wrist when I caught it slipping my food through the hole. Several years after my imprisonment, I began debating killing myself. But then she came and liberated me.” I paused. It always awed me how she’d come to my rescue and saved me. Forgiven me for numerous sins and taken me under her wing. I owed her everything.

  “Who saved you?”

  “My queen did. She released me from my prison and taught me about vampires. How to feed unnoticed. What we were capable of.” The most important thing she’d given me, though, was friendship.

  All this talk of my past and how I’d lost my humanity made my spirits sink. And there was only one cure for that.

  I leaned forward, the material of my blouse parting and revealing my braless state, a fact the good doctor noticed. He didn’t have a choice given that in his kneeling position they were right in front of his face.

  “Thanks for the background,” he said straightening and turning from me. “I’ll probably need to ask some more questions later, but this will do for now.”

  I watched his back as he stuffed his notebook back in his bag. I’m beginning to think the doctor is hiding his true reaction to me. Curious, I stood and glided over to him on soundless feet-a cool vampire trick for sneaking up on dinner. “Would you like for me to show you to your room?”

  He didn’t jump as expected. In fact, he didn’t turn to face me at all. He just picked up his bags and, clutching them to his midsection, nodded his head. I moved towards the hall, turning my head only once to give him a sultry smile and check he followed. I caught him unawares-my favorite kind. I got a brief glimpse of his face, tight with strain, but as soon as his eyes met mine, he wiped his face of all emotion.

  He can try and hide it all he wants. The doctor is not as immune to my charms as he’s trying to make me believe. I did so enjoy a challenge.

  I showed the doctor to his suite, a large room done up in dark blues and mahogany furniture. His suitcase was neatly lined up at the foot of the massive bed.

  I flopped onto the bed as he placed his briefcase and laptop on the surface of the wide desk I’d had brought up for his use. I twirled my hair as I watched him trying to pretend I wasn’t there. “So, given you humans like to sleep at night, did you want to wait until tomorrow night to see the lab?”

  Squaring his shoulders first, he turned to face me. “If I’m going to be examining you, I guess I’d better adjust to your schedule. It’s my understanding from the vampire stories I’ve read that your kind are allergic to the touch of the sun.”

  “Bloody UV rays,” I replied. “We’ve got scientist working on a sunblock, but given our tendency to burst into flame, they’re having a hard time finding volunteers to try out their attempts.” I didn’t mention that the older we got, the more we could stand small doses of UV. A girl did need her secrets after all.

  “What about cloudy days?” he queried.

  I grinned. “Only if I want a sunburn.” While cloud cover reduced the amount of UV rays filtering through, they were still present. “So, Dr. Angelus, are you ready to see your lab?”

  “Please, call me Raphael, or Rafe.”

  And you may call me your fantasy and nightmare rolled in one was what I wanted to say, but I behaved instead. “My friends call me Ellie. Now, Rafe, if you’ll follow me, I shall show you the Frankenstein lab I’ve had setup.”

  I rolled off his bed and sashayed out of his room and across the hall to the large room I’d had converted into a state of the art medical facility. The hospital bed in the middle of the room beckoned, and I lay down on it with a theatrical sigh. “I’m ready, doctor, when you are.”

  “Are you ever serious?” he asked, wandering around and checking out the toys I’d bought for him to play with.

  “Oh, I take this very seriously,” I replied-after all the fate of both of our kinds were at stake. “But that doesn’t mean it has to be boring. It’s like love making. Sure you can suffer it with arms and legs spread as your partner grunts over you, or you can have fun with it.” My husband, when I was still a human, had never managed to please me despite his boasts of being an exceptional lover. As it turned out, I wasn’t cold and unresponsive. I just needed the right male incentive and skill. Of course, my choices since I’d become a vampire were limited given my deadly touch. Not that the death of my partner stopped me if the mood hit.

  “You like speaking your mind, don’t you?” Rafe replied as he fiddled with the dials of the ultrasound machine.

  “Sometimes,” I teased. “So, when do I get naked so you can have your wicked way with me?”

  His body went still and he paused a moment before answering. I smirked at his back. Oh yeah, nerd boy isn’t as calm and cool as he’d like me to believe.

  “No need to disrobe. We can do the initial measurements with your clothing on.” He turned to face me, his blank mask in place. “Don’t worry, when I want you naked you’ll know it,” he said. I almost fell off the table at his unexpected innuendo. He lips tilted into a mischievous grin before he turned to another piece of equipment, leaving me wet and horny.

  This might be more fun than I anticipated.

  Two hours later, I’d revised my opinion. Weighed, measured-even my hips which after several children in my old life were a little wider than I liked-and blood drawn, my annoyance over my involuntary guinea pig status came back. Irritable, I took it out on the person pissing me off.

  “So how come you have so many degrees? Couldn’t make up your mind?”

  “I’m curious,” he said with a shrug, jotting more findings down in the notebook I now hated.

  “Are you married?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “Girlfriend?”

  “No.”

  “Dog? Cat?” I rattled items off and he kept replying no.

  I fumed as I sat on the medical bed. I kicked my feet petulantly, bored and hungry.

  “Do you have a significant other?” he asked surprising me. His eyes lifted to meet mine.

  “No. Why? Would you like to apply?” I said sweetly, batting my lashes at him.

  He didn’t reply as he moved around me. Even out of sight, though, I could smell him. I inhaled deep, even as it roused my hunger, for he smelled damned good. And I wasn’t talking about his cologne. Human scents varied; understandable given their different personalities and choices whether they be food or lifestyle. I thought I’d come across every perfume a human could adopt, an erroneous assumption. Raphael was like chocolate, a deep rich, melt in my mouth goodness. Contrary to popular belief, I could imbibe human food. It just didn’t actually curb my hunger.

  He, on the other hand, would.

  I jumped off the table and made for the door.

  “Hey, where are you going?” he asked.

  “I need a drink,” I muttered, stalking out the door. I called Annabelle, not aloud, that was for crass humans. I paged her through the link I shared with all my blood servants. It was only as I went to open my bedroom door, and my waiting buffet, that I realized Raphael had followed.

  I whirled with flashing eyes. “What?” I snapped. My hunger already ravenous became more pronounced as I looked upon him and heard the beating of his heart. My irritation swelled as I fo
ught my natural urge to feed off the human.

  “I was hoping you’d let me watch.”

  I think my jaw dropped. Of all the things I expected my shy doctor to say, that wasn’t it. “Perv.”

  He blushed.

  I smirked.

  He cleared his throat and wouldn’t look me in the eye. “Sorry, if my request seems forward. I was more interested in how it was accomplished and how your, um, food sources, reacted.”

  “And if I told you I like to get my blood while naked from the inside of a woman’s thigh as she grips my hair and pulls it?”

  My panties experienced definite wetness as his eyes went slightly out of focus and he shifted his stance. I peered down to see if any tenting was happening, but his damn loose trousers made it impossible to tell.

  He cleared his throat. “Um, perhaps I should leave.”

  I sighed. “No. Stay. I was just joking. I don’t play those types of games with my food.” Often.

  He trailed hesitantly after me as I stalked into my room where Annabelle already rested on my bed. She lay on her side and held her head propped with one hand. Her eyes sparkled with mischief when she saw who accompanied me.

  “Ooh, a threesome, why didn’t you tell me, Ellie. I would have worn something more appropriate.”

  I wanted to growl as I noticed her skimpy attire of tank top and short shorts. Whoa, jealousy? Since when do I feel that? Here less than a day and already the human doctor had messed with my head and comfortable life.

  I kicked off my shoes and crawled onto the bed, my skirt riding up and giving him a view that I hoped he enjoyed. Annabelle rolled onto her back and in a melodramatic voice that made me stifle a giggle said, “Oh, creature of the night. Take me, I’m yours.”

  She craned her head sideways, exposing her neck, but I went for a more intimate spot, one I’d never fed from before on her. What could I say, my audience of one made me rash.

  She gasped as my lips brushed her creamy thigh, but she spread her legs so I could settle between them. I sensed her pulse, a fluttery sensation that beckoned me as the blood pulsed through her veins just below the thin layer of skin. I sank my teeth in and with a moan, Annabelle arched on the bed.

  I sucked the coppery fluid to the sound of Annabelle’s pants. As part of my predatory nature, my fangs contained an aphrodisiac that relaxed my victims and turned what should have been a screaming, horrifying act into a pleasurable excursion.

  I heard movement and saw Raphael move into view, his hands clenched at his side, the notebook he held forgotten as he stared at me feeding. Annabelle’s hands slid down to twine in my hair, pressing me against her skin. I pushed a little extra power into my bite, and she writhed, mewling. She let go of my hair to slip her hand inside her shorts.

  I waited for Raphael to run from the room shocked. To blush at the very least. But he just stared, the only sign of his agitation-or arousal-the tic on the side of his jaw. There was no mistaking Annabelle’s climax when it hit. She screamed long and loud, her whole body shuddering and jerking with the force of it. Content-if hornier than hell-I withdrew my teeth and pressed my lips on her oozing wounds. A push of power and the bleeding stopped.

  I rolled to my back, my head resting on Annabelle’s groin and smiled lazily at the doctor. “Make sure when you type this up later than you mention it was absolutely delicious.”

  He turned around and fled with stiff shoulders. I was torn between laughter and frustration. The man made me want to kiss the stiff right out of him, and then kiss him again to stiffen the part I longed for.

  “That was naughty,” Annabelle murmured. “But fun.”

  I patted her on the thigh. “Thanks for the show. That will teach the doctor to look into things humans are better off leaving alone.

  “I don’t know. I got the impression he found it hot.”

  “Gee, me sucking on your thigh while you masturbate, what man wouldn’t?” I’d learned over the centuries the perversions that set a man’s pulse, along with other things, racing.

  “No, actually that part disturbed him. I’m talking about before when he followed you in here. The man’s interested in you.”

  I scoffed at the idea even as I wondered. Mr. Prim and Proper interested in a naughty vixen like me? Too bad he was human.

  Chapter Three

  Sleep eluded me. I tossed and turned after Annabelle left. I wanted to blame my insomnia on the coming calamity, but truthfully, I had a doctor on the brain-instead of between my thighs.

  I couldn’t understand my fascination with him. Is it because he’s making such a concerted effort to thwart my attempts at seduction? Not that I would actually bed the man-he was no good to my kind dead. But still, I’d never met a human before that I couldn’t beguile. It didn’t bode well that my powers seemed to hit a brick wall when directed at him. What if he saw or heard something he shouldn’t? My power to shift memories needed to work or else he would end up another notch on my already eroded bedpost of death.

  And that led to my other problem with Raphael, Rafe of the golden hair and blue eyes. Where did the urge to rip off all his clothes and have my wicked way with him come from? As a woman, I felt desire and arousal, just not very often. Like my hunger, I fed it on demand. Never before, though, had my erotic longings made me want to lose control, and for a human no less.

  Unable to fall asleep, I went roaming the silent halls of the house. Dawn was broaching the horizon, not that I saw it. The automated shutters had already shrouded all the windows, blocking sunshine’s insidious attempt to roast me alive.

  I decided to pay a visit to the makeshift lab I’d created. I entered the room, the blinking of lights from the softly whirring machines bright in the gloom. I drifted my hands over the bare work surfaces, not finding a shred of paper or Rafe’s prized notebook. Stumped, I wandered back into the hall, fatigue still out of reach.

  I resumed my trek of the halls. I almost fooled myself into thinking I was on an aimless jaunt, an undirected stroll that led me right to the door housing my disturbing guest.

  I paused outside the carved wooden panel, my sane inner voice telling me to go back to bed. I never listened to the voice of reason.

  I opened the door without a whisper of sound. I eased into the dark room my eyes dilating like a cat’s to see. Silence reigned. Is he even here?

  A vivid image of him in another bed-another woman’s bed-made me momentarily see red. An insane reaction to a man I’d just met and didn’t particularly like. Then I heard it; the soft inhalation and exhalation of someone breathing.

  The tension I hadn’t even noticed tightening me, slid from my body. I glided over the carpet to the bed, the draperies on the canopy a veil between me and the slumbering doctor.

  I pulled the diaphanous material aside and gazed down upon the serene sleeping features of Dr. Angelus. My tormentor in more ways than one, and someone my instincts screamed to kill. I knew my life stood on the threshold of something momentous, a second sense if you would that from here on in, everything would change, and somehow, he would play a part. Whether or not that role would end up a positive one, though, only time would tell.

  In the meantime, I’d treat him as the enemy-someone not to be trusted and that needed close watching.

  And speaking of watching, I couldn’t seem to turn away. I gazed down upon him, his fair skin with a hint of stubble. His full, sensual lips. His ruffled hair.

  His breathing hitched and I held my own breath wondering if I’d made a sound to wake him and alert him to my presence. Do I want him to find me, here in his room?

  His sleep cadence resumed and I deflated with a hint of disappointment. Get a grip, I told myself as on silent feet I made my way to his desk where his laptop sat, the dratted notebook at its side.

  I knew I courted discovery if I booted up his computer, so I grabbed the notebook instead. I opened it onto gibberish. Well, not quite. The chicken scratchings inside were obviously writing, just not in a language I understood. And considering I
spoke and wrote in five languages, the fact I didn’t recognize it seemed odd.

  Just another mysterious facet to the doctor and one more reason to distrust him even as my intrigue grew. The rustle of fabric had me placing the notebook back and with shadows drawn around me, fleeing the scene of my crime.

  I made a beeline to my room, shutting the heavy door behind and for good measure locking it.

  I’d hoped to find some answers in my nocturnal wandering, instead I found myself even more confused than before. And struggling with emotions I thought long dead and jaded.

  I had no interest in getting entangled or emotionally involved with anyone, especially not a human. But despite all the reasons and arguments against it, still I couldn’t erase Rafe’s presence from my mind, nor could I ignore the reaction of my body to him.

  Maybe I was just overdue for some loving. I reached into my nightstand and pulled out my trusty rubber dildo. Long, thick and always hard, it had the added benefit of not talking and not dying when I was done.

  I looked at it and sighed. I dumped my pretend phallus back in my nightstand drawer. I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm or energy for some self-pleasure, not when what I really wanted to feel was the true warmth of a living cock. I closed my eyes and couldn’t help picturing Rafe on top of me, unclothed of course. Having never seen him naked, I used my imagination.

  In my fantasy, the human doctor had rippling muscles and thick forearms, all the better to hold him up to pound my soft flesh. My body trembled even as my mind imagined Rafe ducking his head to suck at a prominent nipple, my body arching in delight. In real life, my cleft quivered wetly.

  Dammit

  I rolled over to go to sleep, forcing my mind to dwell upon anything but the sexy Rafe. However, my body and mind still refused to cooperate. Instead, I realized how cold and lonely my bed seemed. How nice it would feel to have a body-a certain male body-spooned around me.

  I punched my pillow sending feathers flying.

  That’s it. Tomorrow, I start looking for a boyfriend-the nonhuman kind.