I knock a second time.
In a long black skirt and tank top, Mari glides through the house toward me. Keeping her gaze low, she opens the door. “All done for the week?”
“Just about. Want to come and talk to me about this tower, so I know if I have enough materials for next week?” I step back to give her space to exit.
“The wall looks great.” She puts on a veiled hat and takes a shawl from the hook next to the door and drapes it over her shoulders since the sun is still touching the yard. Once she steps out, I close the door and follow her into the yard. She runs her hand along the top of the wall.
“I hosed it off, but it’s still dirty.” I’m stating the obvious because her silence has me nervous.
“A little dirt won’t hurt me. This is precisely what I wanted—a beautiful stone wall to show that this is not part of the cemetery.” She steps along the wall to the circular footing, waiting for her meditation tower to be built.
There’s a bit of trench around it, and I offer my hand to help her step onto the pad. I used myself as a guide, and I can see it’s bigger than she probably needs. She looks small standing in the center. “Is it too big?”
She closes her eyes. “No. This is right.”
I let my breath out. “I’ll bump out steps along the outside so you can get up there without effort.”
When she opens her eyes, they’re bright and full of some unspoken emotions. “Make them sturdy.”
Since she can’t weigh more than my left arm, I wonder who she worries will take a tumble if the steps are made for her. It’s none of my business. Well, unless she wants them to carry my weight. I’m getting ahead of myself. My cock is fully alerted to her gaze, as well as my wayward thoughts. I clear my throat. “This meets your approval?”
When she takes my hand to step off the pad, her voice is breathy as she says, “It’s perfect.”
Keeping her hand in mine, I rub the soft center of her palm. “Have you been avoiding me this week?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” My heart sinks, but I don’t break the mesmerizing eye contact.
“If we begin something and this town doesn’t work out, it will have been a mistake. I don’t want you to live in my memory as a mistake.” Pulling her hand from mine, she starts toward the house. “There’s a good reason why people are afraid of me, Sam.”
“I have lived in many places where I was feared, and it forced me to move on. I think you will find many of the monsters in town will have similar stories.” I’m buoyed by the fact that she stopped before climbing the steps. “What happens when you bite someone?”
The slowness of her turn and the way her fangs clearly elongate is sensual and dangerous. “Why do you ask?”
My cock aches, and I long to draw her close. Maybe it’s her natural allure as a vampire, but I think it’s more. “Do they turn into a vampire, get sick, or die from the bite?”
Eyes wide, she snaps, “Of course not.”
I wait without responding. I’m not ignorant, but I’ve never been bitten either. Unable to help myself, I ease closer to her.
“To become a vampire requires the subject to be close to death and drink vampire blood.” She shudders.
“Have you made vampires?”
She casts her gaze down, and sorrow pulls at her lips. “Not in a very long time.”
“I don’t think a giant vampire is a good idea.” I know full well that her venom wouldn’t work on me anyway. I am immune to disease, virus, magic, and poison. Still, I can’t help staring at her fangs and the way her nipples press tight against her tank top.
“You are perfect as you are, Sam. I wouldn’t wish to change you.”
If I wasn’t so filthy, I would hold her and see if she’d allow a kiss. “Come home with me?”
“What? Why?” She rises onto the first step.
“I need a shower before I’m fit for company. Your home is too small for me, and I want to spend time with you.” I crowd her, but she doesn’t retreat.
After the longest ten seconds of my life, she says, “I’ll get my purse.”
