Chapter 35
I lifted my head, blood dripping from my mouth, wrenching myself from the red haze.
“Quinn.” I felt drunk, as if I’d overfed. Something was wrong. “Are you alright? Did I hurt you?” The heavy scent of blood threatened to pull me under again. I pulled out and lifted myself up, straddling her.
Her eyes half-opened, and she smiled before closing them. But her heartbeat was erratic. I caught sight of her throat. I’d bitten too deep, torn it a little, and she was too far under the effects of my venom to feel pain. I pressed my hand against her throat, trying to stop the bleeding. Memories of my wife dying in my arms flooded through me .
Merder!
“Quinn,” I mumbled. I frowned, and my own heart skipped. I took too much. I’ve hurt her. I shook her shoulder. “Quinn, open your eyes.”
Barely conscious, she managed to open her eyes, and she reached for me.
“Quinn, I took too much,” I emphasised, my voice rising in panic. “I bit you deeply. Too deeply.”
‘ Am I going to die? ’ Her thought was loud, and not yet as concerned as she should be.
She would most certainly die. Drowning in dread, darkness engulfed me. Carlos would know what to do. But I hesitated to reach out to him. He’d only tell me to turn her. There was only one solution, and it was still risky.
I didn’t try to lie to her. “Yes, you will. I have to give you my blood. Otherwise, you’ll be dead in minutes. You’re going to bleed out.”
Her eyes became panicked then, as she focused on my fangs. ‘ I don’t want to be a vampire. ’
“You won’t be,” I promised. “But it will make you hungry for a few days until my blood leaves your system. If you do feed off human blood, you will become like me. Remember what I told you?” She would also change if she died, or if she drank too much of my blood, but I wouldn’t allow that to happen. I would do as I had promised her.
She said nothing, yet her heart said plenty. If she didn’t drink my blood right then, she would die. Her eyes closed again.
“Quinn, I won’t force you to drink from me, but if you don’t, you’ll die .” I fought against rising panic. “Open your eyes! ”
The seconds of silence ticked by. Her heart filled the silence. Finally, she opened her eyes, and I caught determination and anger. “Don’t let me die,” she whispered.
A tear slid down the side of her face, and I wiped it away with my thumb.
“I won’t. Will you drink from me?” Her heart continued to race, trying to compensate for the loss of blood.
She could only nod. I tore into my wrist, pressing it to her mouth. I had never shared my blood with a human before. Many times over the centuries I had wondered what my life would have been, had I shared my blood with Marisa. My wife, my first beloved. Had I done that, she would still be at my side, and I would not have met Quinn. I had taken Marisa’s life from her, and I did not want history to repeat itself with Quinn. I wouldn’t, I couldn’t let her die, too.
At first nothing happened, except for her eyes closing, and I held my breath, waiting, one hand pressed against her throat to slow the bleeding. Then her tongue flickered against my wrist, into the tear I’d made. She shuddered, groaning. I remembered that feeling, the first taste of vampire blood. It had been like fire, unlike anything I’d tasted before. And I recalled the hunger that came with it.
“Keep drinking,” I whispered.
But she didn’t need telling. Her mouth clamped on to my wrist, and I heard her swallow. Vampire blood was irresistible to humans, and she’d be hungry for more. I was creating a bond between us. It would fade in time, but she might find it overwhelming. I would need strength for the both of us to endure what would soon follow. I knew all too well what she was to face in the coming days. While I wanted more than anything to have her by my side for eternity, I would not take that choice from her as it was taken from me. She would ask me to turn her, without the influence of my blood persuading her to give in as I had.
Her hands came up, holding on to my arm as she drank. I smiled with relief. “That’s it,” I urged.
Her eyes opened then, bright red. It was a shocking difference from their usual green, but normal. Her mind slipped into mine as the connection of a blood bond opened between us.
‘I can hear you.’ Her thoughts were of wonder and surprise.
“You’re bonded to me because we’ve exchanged blood. You’ll have my hunger, and my senses,” I told her. She would likely hear the heartbeats of everyone in this building.
‘You said my eyes were red.’ Through the bond, her voice trembled.
The wound in her throat closed under my hand.
“This will all fade in a few days. That’s enough.” I started to pull my arm away.
Her hands tightened, and she growled against my wrist, biting down, instinctually. Frustration surged through her. I lowered myself over her, kissing her forehead. Her heartbeat stabilised, becoming strong again.
“That’s enough.” I told her again. “Stop.”
She released my arm. The sight of my blood on her mouth and chin was enough to make me hard again. It would be all too easy to get drawn into the vampiric frenzy that came with exchanging blood for my kind. To exchange more blood, and to fuck while under a haze of bloodlust. At the sight of my blood on her mouth and chin, I fought back the rising need to give in to my urges that were normal among vampires.
‘That’s my blood on his lips; I’ve never been so turned on.’ She was already heavily under my blood’s aphrodisiac effects, but her human self surged from within. Confusion and disgust, at her own lust, led to fear.
I had done this to her. I’d wanted to taste her, and the moment she trusted me enough to offer me her throat, I’d almost killed her. I was not accustomed to the remorse that flickered through me and almost didn’t recognise it. A human emotion that I had let go of long ago, as all vampires did over time. A necessity. Now, as I sought to comfort her, it all flooded back.
“I’m sorry, mi amore ,” I whispered, hoping she’d believe me.
Her gaze locked onto mine. “You lost control.” There was sympathy in her voice, as if I were the one needing it. This woman was truly remarkable.
I nodded. “I did.” I couldn’t explain to her how, either. I’d thought she’d be safe. I’d fed earlier that night, so it wasn’t hunger that caused this. Something about being inside her had overwhelmed me. The moment I entered her, I’d felt complete, and all self-restraint had given way to the need to claim her, by marking her. “I’m sorry,” I said again. I had no other words to offer her.
She clung to me, a desperate embrace of someone coming to terms with her near-death. “I’m okay.” Her whispered words were for both our sakes. She cradled my face, looking into my eyes. “I’m alright, Matteo.”
I turned my head, kissing the palm of her hand.
Relieved that she was no longer in danger, I relaxed. “You’re going to find you’ll feel an increase in arousal, alongside hunger for blood,” I told her. “It’s normal, all a part of my venom’s effect, and having my blood in you.” I stroked her hair .
She scoffed. “I can’t deny, there is a definite increase in arousal,” she said. “Or that I want you to bite me again.”
Desire for her flared. “You do?”
“I do.” She exposed her throat to me, without fear.
“I already took too much,” I told her. “If I do that this time and kill you, you will return a vampire.” I knew what else this could lead to, had seen it before.
“Then don’t take too much,” she said as if it was as simple as that.
I couldn’t look away from her throat, though, my fangs aching to bite into it.
“Do it,” she whispered.
I hesitated. She would soon get caught up in our heat and want more of mine in return. She shared my bloodlust, and I would need to monitor her to keep her from biting down on the wrong throat.
Her hand slipped to the back of my head, and she lowered it to her throat. I growled, deep in my chest and opened my mouth, my fangs piercing her flesh once again.
Her moan almost made me come then and there, and she ground herself against me. I eased my cock back into her as I fed from her. The taste of her blood had changed; the added fire of vampire blood surged through me as I drank. This time I stopped myself from going too far again, and I lifted my head. Warm blood trickled down my chin, and she rose to kiss me again. The exchange of blood was increasing both our drives.
Her muscles pulsed around me as I slid in and out. Our bodies pressed together, eyes locked. Her small moans as I sunk myself deep into her drove through me. I felt her hunger, her wordless need as her eyes focused on my throat. Lifting one hand, I used my own fingernail to slice into my neck. Her eyes fell to the small cut, and she didn’t hesitate as she lifted her head. I lowered my neck to her mouth. With her lips against my flesh, her tongue licking the cut, I sped up, driving hard into her, unable to hold back.
The pleasure was never-ending, her skin against mine as we moved, not getting enough of each other. Her pleasure flowed through me, through our bond. We chased orgasm after orgasm, exchanging blood through the night. I had never known bliss as I did then, our bond deepening. I had never felt this close to a human in all my years as a vampire, and I didn’t want it to end. Finally, as the sun started to rise, we finished, sated and exhausted. She lay on her back, breathing heavily.
“This is incredible,” she said. “Normal sex is never going to be the same again. I’ve never…” She laughed and turned her head towards me. My stomach flipped again at her red eyes. “This gives a new meaning to mind-blowing sex. I don’t want to stop, but I can barely move.”
Her words were enough to make me want her again, but I held back. We’d already been at it all night. Instead, I turned on my side, resting my head on my hand. Her mouth and chin were covered in my blood, and at that moment, pleasure still shone through her eyes. I kissed her again. “Hold still,” I instructed.
I licked her chin, and her eyes widened. I continued, cleaning my own blood from her face. It had been a long time since I had shared my blood, and I had yet to experience this with a human. She closed her eyes as my tongue ran over her face. I pulled back and caressed her cheek. “You’re beautiful,” I declared, unable to hold back. “And you’re mine. ”
“Heart, body and soul?” she smiled, her eyes on my mouth. “Why do my teeth hurt?”
“Heart, body, and soul,” I reassured her. I grasped her chin, probing into her mouth. Her canine incisors were longer, more pointed. Not quite fangs, but the difference was significant to that which was normal for a human.
“Another side effect. You have baby fangs. They will return to normal when all this has passed,” I informed her.
Her baby fangs were quite a sight.
Why do I have the sudden urge to lick him clean? Her thoughts tumbled into my mind.
“It’s normal for us, too,” I told her. “I won’t stop you.”
Her tongue dragged across my chin, hesitant at first. Not as satisfying as his. I closed my eyes as she licked her own blood from my face.
She’d make a great vampire.
She froze, my runaway thought clearly caught.
“I’m sorry, I cannot help my thoughts,” I murmured.
“You still want to turn me?” she asked.
She was deep in the effects of my blood, and had I requested it, she would have allowed me to turn her.
“Yes,” I admitted. “But I will only turn you if that’s what you want. That’s not a decision you should be making now.”
“Why not?”
“My blood is in your system; so, what you’re feeling, you can’t see past any of it to think clearly.” Bitterness crept through me: My own change had been in that haze, and I would never willingly do that to another. At that moment, if I had asked her, she would have allowed it. But I wouldn’t do that to her in this state. “Go to sleep,” I urged. “It’s been a long night.”