Chapter 3 #2
And Benji, well, the way that young man’s gaze had tracked me since the first time he saw me, I knew he’d be trouble.
The way his breath hitched when I entered the club, how his blood pounded through his veins when I passed by him, and the way he’d glared at my donors over the years.
If he’d been prone to violence in any way, there’d be a trail of dead bodies.
Yet here I was. I hadn’t been able to get the taste of his blood out of my mind all week.
The taste of pent-up passion and lust, mixed with sweetness and longing.
I knew it would be that way. It was exactly why I’d never taken him up on the overt offer in his eyes to feed me.
He’d wanted to supply me sustenance, and in the process, he’d awakened…
something. Something I didn’t understand. Something I didn’t want to need.
Feeling the heavy weight of being observed, I looked across the street and found Ronan’s gaze locked on me. Well, shit. Now I’d have to go in. I wouldn’t have Damien’s pet reporting back that I was lurking like some kind of crazed stalker. It would give them the wrong idea.
Hardening my expression, I crossed the street, sweeping right past Ronan and made my usual entrance into the club, acknowledging no one and heading straight to my normal table.
This was business as usual, except it wasn’t.
It had been bad enough when I added a second day a month, but two weeks in a row was ludicrous.
What would others think? I made it a point not to dabble in the affairs of my brethren, not to befriend them in any way. The last thing I needed was for them to perceive this as me making overtures to return to the hierarchy.
As I sat, I gave a small shake of my head at a pretty little brunette who approached me hopefully. I didn’t need her blood. I wasn’t sure how I’d even drink from another after tasting Benji’s essence. Surely that feeling would go away with time. Hopefully.
It wouldn’t happen if I couldn’t control myself and stay away from here, though.
I didn’t even have to look to know where Benji sat, to feel the weight of his regard on me.
He’d been a participant here long enough to know that our encounter was the first and last of its kind—which somehow made me feel… desolate.
This was not good, not good at all. I needed to get out—
“Hi, Lysandro,” Benji said, sliding into the chair next to me.
How in the world had that happened? Humans didn’t creep up on me. Hell, I hadn’t met a vampire in over five hundred years who could surprise me.
With practiced nonchalance, I tilted my head at him. “Benji.”
The man grinned happily, like I’d greeted him with warmth and affection. Why wasn’t he intimidated by me? Well, he had been until I’d rescued him from Mordie. What kind of door had I opened up? This was getting out of control.
“Don’t worry, I know you’re not looking for a donor tonight.” He chuckled self-consciously. “And I know I’d be out of the running now anyway. One and done, right?”
The forced amusement in his tone bothered me. I’d watched him grow in the last few years. He was still tinged with sadness, a despair that he’d carried forward from his life before Velvet Vein.
But he was also so much better than he’d been in the beginning.
The quality of his clothes had improved.
Thankfully, his housing situation had upgraded by one hundred percent, as well.
Not that I’d been stalking him like Mordie had, but after the way Eric abandoned him on his first night here, I’d followed him home to make sure he was safe.
At least that was what I kept telling myself.
“That’s right,” I replied honestly.
“So then maybe we can be friends.”
I startled, my body jumping involuntarily at his surprisingly ridiculous offer. “Friends?” I asked, unable to hide my disbelief at his audacity.
The acrid scent of fear and embarrassment hit me before he smiled shyly. “Well, you don’t seem to talk to too many people. Or anybody, really. And Rafe’s kinda busy tonight, but I’m not ready to go home, so I thought we could talk or something.”
Something was exactly what I wanted to do.
I wanted to bury my fangs in the erratic beat drumming in his neck.
He was playing it cool, but underneath his nervous sweat was the unmistakable smell of a horny human.
A long, long time ago, I’d given those willing to give me their essence orgasm after orgasm.
It was enjoyable enough, but then they’d want more.
I preferred the system Damien had established. Cold hard cash for blood.
“What would we talk about?” I heard myself asking.
Benji’s eyes widened with pleasure, making me feel like shit. I didn’t even know why I asked him that. I might be cold, but I was never cruel, and I had no intention of leading him on.
“Did you know panda bears poop up to fifty pounds of excrement a day?” That was what popped out of his mouth before he clapped a hand over his lips, likely wishing he could take it back.
It was hard not to laugh, but conscious of my surroundings, I merely said, “No, I can’t say that I did.”
His cheeks flamed bright red. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I said that. Pandas are my favorite animal, and I’m always reading and picking up useless bits of information, and oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I’ll go.”
He was halfway out of his chair when I said, “Did you know that some spiders hide themselves as poop out of survival?”
He fell back in his seat. “What?”
I nodded. “It’s true. Pretending to be excrement is their version of camouflage.”
He snorted, then cackled, and I felt inordinately proud of myself for making him laugh. I’d never been a funny guy. At least I didn’t think I had. It was hard at times to remember how I’d been as a human.
“So you like random facts, too?” he asked.
There was no way I could show him who I really was, not here amongst my kind, so I said, “I like spiders,” which was technically true.
He wrinkled his nose. “Ew. Why?”
“I feel an affinity for dark, scary things.”
A slow smile spread on Benji’s face. “I bet you do.” Leaning his elbow on the table, he propped his face in his hand. “What else do you like?”
My teeth descended without permission. Like I’d lost control of my own body, I picked up his hand while staring at the spot on his neck that beckoned to me.
“Lysandro?” he asked in that breathy whisper. The same one he’d used last week to assure me that this was what he wanted. Me. My teeth sinking into his flesh.
Massaging his wrist, I said, “I like how you taste.”
His pulse spiked out of control, along with a waft of desire so strong it was impossible to ignore it. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply. He whimpered, such a needy little sound that I almost forgot to make him voice his consent. “So you want—”
“Please, please, please,” he chanted, cutting me off.
I bit back a groan. The dark pleasure swirling inside of me. My beast had caught its prey, and I was helpless to control him. This time I moved slowly, licking over his warm skin, teasing him but also myself, before sinking into flesh and letting his blood coat my tongue.
Benji tried biting back a moan, but he was as powerless to stop it as I was to wanting to hear his pleasure. The sweet stickiness of his essence filled me with a warmth I hadn’t experienced since standing in direct sunlight on a hot summer day lifetimes ago.
He tasted like all the good things in life, the things I no longer allowed myself to enjoy, but his desire had heightened after last week. As I pulled gently, not really needing nourishment but craving the taste, he bit back another moan.
“Give it to me, Benji. Don’t hold back,” I sent through my mind, willing my nature to give him maximum pleasure.
I didn’t know how or why he heard me, but the loud groan that fell from his lips proved he had. His body curled over my head, and with lips and tongue, I nursed his flesh right until I felt him close to falling over the edge.
When I retreated, licking over my marks, his moan turned into a groaning whimper of frustration. A sadistic snicker slipped out of my own mouth unbidden. Oh yes, the little human would go home and jerk off tonight, if he even made it that long. Perhaps he’d use the bathroom here.
The image of him closing himself in a stall, shoving down his pants and yanking out his dick to stroke it at a punishing pace, needing an orgasm more than his next breath, was enough to make me want to cum.
What the fuck was this human doing to me?