24. Twenty-Four
Twenty-Four
T hey left Slake It Off a little quiet, a little spent. Back at Ryker’s condo, they didn’t immediately pick up their conversation, but Ryker didn’t mind the silence. In fact he never minded silence with Leslie. Her silences were thoughtful, safe, and soft. He never wanted her to leave. When she got on a plane in the morning and flew back to Tennessee, he was going to lose his mind.
Not literally, of course. He was steel. Being in love hadn’t changed that. But dear Hades, as Claire liked to say, living six hundred miles apart had to be the worst dating method in the history of dating. And they were stuck with this arrangement until…well, at least until he proposed to her. Which he couldn’t do yet. Because they’d been dating only two months.
Was two months long enough?
“Wow. You’re off on another planet somewhere.”
He glanced up from his phone, which had gone dark at least a full minute ago after a text from his mom that they’d bring dinner over within the hour. “Just thinking.”
“Of course.” Leslie sank down next to him on his gray leather sofa. “When are you not thinking?”
He shrugged. “I’m never not . But that’s true of most people, isn’t it?”
Her laugh chimed with its full vampire resonance. Her eyes were the same right now: opalescent cast over their usual light-indigo. She wasn’t muting herself, and seeing her so at ease in his home made his chest feel almost warm, despite the perpetual chill of his body.
“I think if you had to spend time in a few random minds, you’d be disappointed,” she said. “The nature of people—human or apex—is that sometimes we lose touch with reason and act on instinct or emotion instead.”
He was fairly sure he’d never done that in his entire life. Then again, two days ago Claire had accused him of having a soft side, and his friends and family sometimes proved to know him better than he knew himself. He could only shrug again.
“So what had you so immersed in your thoughts?”
“The reality that it’s going to suck when you fly home,” he said.
“Oh.” She wilted a little beside him, but then her mouth tipped up on one side, and her eyes sparked. “I know what. Until your parents get here, we could pass the time testing your theory. You could watch for patterns and solve the equation.”
“Wait, what theory?”
“That you’re never not thinking.”
“And how are we going to test—”
Leslie gave his chest a gentle shove against the couch and seized his mouth with hers. Dang, she was attractive when she took hold of what she wanted, especially when what she wanted was his kiss. Not that she wasn’t also attractive when she stopped along the path of life to absorb and appreciate and encourage him to do the same. Really, Leslie was never not attractive—
Fingers in her hair, mouth greedy against hers, other hand cupping the back of her neck, her hands on his chest, palms flat and pressing, and the humming cold vitality in their bodies, the strength of his beautiful truest match, his Leslie. Leslie, Leslie, kissing Leslie…
Against his mouth, she let out a giggle. Then she withdrew a few inches, and he groaned. “So…thoughts?”
“Kiss me,” he said.
“Ooh. Deep analysis there. Did you observe any patterns of—?”
He cupped her face and kissed her hard. Then she was straddling his lap, returning his kiss while her fingers gripped his shoulders. He pressed kisses to her jawline, behind her ear, along her neck, and she gave a soft gasp, then playfully grazed her teeth over the top of his ear on her way to his neck. Ryker froze. If she bit him…
She kissed his neck hard, but she didn’t use her teeth. Then he lost his thoughts again as her lips pressed his collarbone, as she found his mouth again and seemed to be proving something with the movement of her lips on his. Matching her intensity was easy, instinct and desire and maybe a proving of his own, how precious she was to him. He twined her hair in his hands. It was so soft. She was so soft, so deliciously cool to match his own coolness. When they finally drew apart, he kept hold of one of her hands. They sat side by side, heads tilted against the back of the couch, angling slow looks at one another. He felt a smirk take over his face. They’d nearly pushed each other over an edge this time, and knowing he could bring Leslie such pleasure was at least as much a physical high as what she did to him.
“So, um,” she said. “Wow.”
He gave a low hum that said everything, and she gave a little shiver beside him. Her eyes were wide and luminous. Even her skin seemed luminous, or maybe that was due to the leftover rush inside him. His blood wasn’t only flowing—it was fizzing, sparkling, electrifying him. He felt as if he could actually fly right now, the way the oldest legends said vampires could do.
A few minutes later, Leslie stirred on the couch. The carbonated feeling had begun to dissipate, and Ryker sat up straight to face her.
“Have any thoughts yet?” she said with a little smirk of her own.
“You. That’s all.”
She leaned in and kissed him, but briefly. “Ryker, I… When we were, and I…”
Ah. “You wanted to bite me.”
“You noticed?”
“It was noticeable.”
“It was really sudden. I’ve never wanted…to do that before.”
“Do you know what it means?”
“I thought it wasn’t real.”
Based on the gaps in her knowledge so far, she might be referring to any random human legend. “What do you know about it?”
“Vampires aren’t necessarily monogamous for life. Unless they taste each other’s blood. Once they have, it’s a covenant bond—the bloodbound covenant. It binds their life-forces; they become one another’s eternal.”
He nodded. That was the gist of it.
“What if I’d bitten you? Would I have accidentally bound us together for life?”
“Would you have accidentally bitten me?”
She gave it a moment of consideration, then shook her head. “We can’t bite by accident. It’s always a choice.”
“Right. But if you had decided to bite me, then I’d need to bite back. The second bite seals what the first bite begins.”
“Oh my gosh,” she whispered, suddenly statue-still, her mouth twisted in a grimace of horror. “That means if a vampire wanted to force himself… If he bit me…”
“No, no, no. It doesn’t work like that.”
“The second person has to bite back and seal it.” Her fingers dug into his forearm with such strength she might bruise him. “Oh, Ryker, that’s horrible.”
“No. Hey. Take a breath, Leslie. A literal physical breath.”
She did, and it rasped in her throat. She breathed again, and this one was deeper, silent.
“Good. Okay, now listen. The bite doesn’t override your will. We can’t do that to each other. Shoot, we can’t even do that to humans; the worst we can do is knock them out with our gaze. You know all this, right?”
She nodded, still shaky but focused.
“If a vampire off the street walked up and bit you, what would you do?”
Her face crinkled up, then smoothed out in sudden knowledge. “I’d tear him to pieces with my bare hands.”
“Exactly. The bite between lovers is different. The bloodbound covenant is always, always mutual. I promise, Leslie.”
“Okay.” Slowly the frozen statue began to melt. She caved into him, and he held her in his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and sank her fingers into his hair, and he hummed with pleasure at her touch. “Okay. I’m okay now.”
“Can I ask you a question?” he said.
“Yeah.”
“You reacted as if…as if you might have been…”
“Oh. Not me. But, Ryker, my friends at home are humans. Of course I know women who’ve been hurt like that. Every woman knows women who have. It’s different for vampire women, because we can crush a human guy who tries it. And if a vampire guy tries it, it’s more or less a fight between equals. But for human women… Anyway, that’s what I was seeing in my head. The ones I know who couldn’t fight back, the ones who tried to fight back and lost.”
“And you thought the bite might put you at the same sort of risk.”
“Yeah.”
No wonder she had been so scared. He looked away as his eyes must be throwing sparks right now.
“I’m glad it makes you angry,” she said.
“It does. I hate it, Leslie.”
“That’s good. Keep hating it, and keep your eyes open for ways to stand against it. Like the night you met Tai.”
His laugh was a little too harsh. “That turned out not to be helpful.”
“You went into action, Ryker. Tons of men wouldn’t have. Even when you don’t know the outcome, as a man you can always choose to act when other guys are predatory, and that’s what you did, and I’m proud of you for it.”
His actions shouldn’t be outstanding. They should be simple decency. He rested his head on the back of the couch and resettled his arms around her. They stayed that way until his parents arrived for dinner.
Time with Dad and Mama was enjoyable as always. Every time she met them, Leslie seemed more at home in their presence. He’d be glad for this in any case, but the strain of the questions she couldn’t ask her own parents made her ease with his feel even more important. The conversation meandered over Asian fusion delivery cuisine—Dad’s favorite, Mama’s second after Indian.
“Y’all have plans tonight?” Dad said halfway through the meal.
“I get to meet Ryker’s friend gang,” Leslie said. “I’ve heard about them, but this will be my first time meeting in person. They’re all coming over here to hang out.”
“And to meet my girlfriend,” Ryker said.
He couldn’t explain how significant the evening felt. Maybe it had to do with their unanimous caution toward Jacqueline. Did he need their approval? Not exactly. But he wanted them to see his happiness with Leslie. He wanted them to know he was truly healed and healing, that they no longer needed to keep an eye on his romantic wellbeing.
“I hope they like me.” Leslie smiled, but her eyes held a metallic cast of worry.
“Of course they will,” Dad said. “You’re clearly good for this one here”—he nodded at Ryker—“and you’re a great conversationalist too.”
As usual, she had no idea what to do with a compliment. She ducked her head a bit, but the smile grew. “Well, um, thank you, Laurence.”
Then Leslie went statue-still. Vampire-still. When she lifted her head, a single silver tear rolled down her cheek, though her eyes were shining.
Ryker reached across the table to brush the tear away with his thumb. “What is it?”
“I just saw…” she whispered.
“You saw what?” Ryker said.
“A baby. Someday we’re going to have a baby, Ryker. You and me.”
Mama gave a tiny cry, leaped up from her chair, and threw her arms around Leslie right where she sat. Leslie was pulled all the way to her feet for a good long Senna Maddox hug.
“Are you sure?” Dad said. It was a ridiculous thing to say, but sometimes Dad’s thoughts poured out of his mouth when he was overwhelmed. Ryker understood in the face of news like this.
“I saw it,” Leslie said around Mama’s arm, still engulfed in her hug.
“Boy or girl?” Ryker might as well know now, even if they didn’t have the child for a few more decades.
“I don’t know. I saw him or her…wrapped in an ivory blanket…in your arms. And I knew you were holding our little one.”
“We’re going to have a grandchild.” Dad’s voice turned husky.
“You were in the room with us; I didn’t see you, but I sensed you there.”
Mama finally released Leslie and stepped back. Her eyes were nearly pure gold. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I’ve wished for this.”
His parents stayed another hour. The conversation never waned, but Ryker couldn’t stop mulling the life-altering news, bristling a little that he didn’t get a timeline to plan by. Which was kind of stupid. Against all odds where vampire fertility was concerned, he would someday be a father.
He’d take a page from Leslie’s book. He didn’t need a timeline. Most vampire children were conceived after their parents had been together at least ten years, and he wasn’t ready to be a dad today anyway. And of course it would be up to Leslie, whenever she wanted to plan and try.
Still, all evening his mind kept drifting toward the promise of it. Someday.
When his parents at last drove off down the street, he shut the door and darted across the room to scoop Leslie off her feet and spin around the room with her. She leaned back in his arms like a kid on a swing.
Then they snuggled on the couch, and he tried to figure out if it was too late ever to ask the question filling his head.
“You’ve got your curious face on,” she said.
“My what?”
“You get a little crinkle right here.” She pointed between her eyes.
“I’m not sure it’s a fair question now.”
“Did you want to be a dad? Before tonight, I mean?”
Of course they could still talk about it. Knowing their future didn’t cancel the importance of knowing Leslie’s thoughts and feelings. “I guess you figured out that’s what I wanted to ask you.”
“I’ve always been indifferent about having a child,” she said.
“Okay.”
“But that’s when it was an abstract child, you know?”
“Um, sure.” He’d never thought of it that way before.
“On the other hand, do I want our child? The answer’s yes, Ryker. A thousand percent yes.”
“Oh, good.” He closed his eyes as emotion settled heavy on his chest.
“Hey. What is it? If you’re not sure…” Her voice quavered.
“I’m sure. When I imagine being a dad, it makes me really happy.”
She relaxed against him, resting her weight against his arm and shoulder. “Okay.”
“I didn’t know if you were sure,” he said. “And your opinion weighs more, you know?”
“Um, you mean because of the notoriously difficult fertility of female vampires? That’s not really up to me.”
“No, Leslie, I mean what you want for us. About parenthood, I’ve always wanted whatever my future spouse wants. You’re the one who has to be pregnant and give birth, so you get to decide if we try to have a baby. It’s just reasonable.”
Her eyes sparkled with deep emotion. “You totally reasonable, totally good man. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that’s your take.”
“Moot now.” He grinned. “Because we’re going to be parents someday.”
“We are .” She twined her arms around his neck and kissed him, and he let his thoughts grow quiet while he kissed her back. At last they drew apart, and Leslie said, “When’s the next group of guests arriving?”
“We have about half an hour.”
“Perfect.”
They kissed and talked and kissed and talked. And kissed. He wrapped a lock of soft silver hair around his finger and stroked it with his thumb.
“You really like my hair,” she said.
“I love your hair. I hope you always want it long.”
“Would you really be sad if I cut it?”
“It’s your hair, obviously. If you wanted to cut it, that would be up to you. But I’d miss…”
She laughed. “You’d miss playing with it.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re probably in luck, because I’ve worn it this length since I was twenty.” She shrugged. “Now for a more serious topic.”
“Oh?”
“I’m your eternal, and you’re mine. But we haven’t sealed it yet. But we could seal it…anytime.”
His skin prickled with pleasant ice. Their gazes locked, and her expression spoke of everything he felt. Desire, devotion, eagerness and utter calm. He wanted to be with her in every possible way. But he knew they had time. So much time. Only a few months so far. Barely gotten started.
Didn’t change that he felt ready now for all of it. For Leslie. For day one of their centuries as two eternally bonded vampires.
“Ryker.” She cupped his jaw in her palm. Their eyes didn’t waver from one another. “I want us to seal our bond on the first night we spend together. I want it to be a night we never forget.”
“I can kick my friends out early. Hey, I can text them all right now and tell them to stay away, you’ll meet them some other time.”
She gave his shoulder a mock shove. “Not a chance. I want to meet them.”
“And tonight’s too soon,” he said.
“Not exactly. But I…I want it to be momentous. Let’s choose the day, not fall into it. Let’s mark a beautiful day with a beautiful night.”
“What if tomorrow is a beautiful day?” He waggled his eyebrows, and she rolled her eyes. “Okay, I get what you’re saying. The tasting bond is sacred between vampires. We have to treat it as sacred.”
“Exactly.”
“Yeah.” Once again, his girlfriend was being wise. “Okay. I want to do this the best way possible. So…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…yeah, let’s build a plan.” Then he smirked. “See? Still thinking.”