It’s not easy but I manage to calm myself, bit by bit and kiss by kiss I wrestle back my control and with it, my sanity. It’s only when I’m feeling more or less ‘normal’ that I realize what’s happened.
It’s not me that’s losing control. It’s Maris.
I’m feeling everything she is. When a vampire feeds on a human and gives their blood in exchange a bond happens. All her wants and desires, the feral hunger in her to be touched and desired—every drop of it is pouring into me. I pull back to look at her and turn her to the moon.
Maris struggles. I should have known she would. I let her pull at her wrists and thrash in my hold. “No.” She yanks hard, nearly throws herself back trying to do it. “Why are you stopping me?”
“I want to look at you.”
Moonlight paints my wife in its purest color. It turns her immortal like me. A timeless being, a thing with infinite knowing. Perfection is etched into every curve of Maris’ face and body.
I’ve never seen anything more terrible or lovely.
“You’re beautiful,” I tell her. I’m understating what I see when I look at her. Words could never describe Maris’ beauty. Her perfection. She’ll understand more once our bond has had time to strengthen. There will be no mistaking how I feel about her, how devoted I am to making her happy and making the world kneel in her name. I lift the hair away from her shoulders and kiss her.
“I want you,” Maris whispers. She’s trembling. I can feel each little tremor and shiver that goes through her body. The sensation is delicious and perfect. Just like her. Maris turns her face towards me. Her dark eyes are practically glowing in the moonlight. Dark and deep, her eyes make me feel like I’m falling into them. She’ll be a natural at glamour magic when she’s a vampire. There won’t be a soul that will be able to resist her charms. She already has me spellbound.
“My mate,” I tell her before I kiss her. I keep hold of the control I’ve fought for. Our kiss is slow and deep. I let her explore my mouth and savor the feeling of the mate in my arms. She’s curious. Eager. There’s an edge to Maris’ touch and kiss,a wildness that draws me in and urges me on. I don’t know how it happens or who initiates it but Maris’ dress ends up over her head and on the floor in a heap. Maris’ bra follows next, she’s only wearing panties and heels now. I lean back and look her over. In over two hundred years I’ve never seen a prettier or more perfect picture than Maris in the moonlight. She turns, shadows and light intertwine and paint her body from head to toe.
“Julian.” Maris reaches for me again. This time it’s slower and when she touches me there’s a gentleness to it that wasn’t there before. A cloud shifts, the moon gets covered and for a moment it’s only us and the dark room. I hear that infernal thumping above us and tune it out. Whatever is up there can get its throat ripped out after I’m done fucking Maris. I hold still, letting Maris touch me, her fingertips trace a lazy path over my chest before her palms press flat to me. She steps in close, the scent of her rises around me–roses, lemon, the musk of sandalwood, surrounds me. If I didn’t know better I’d think I was drunk but I haven’t had a drop, it’s all Maris. I’ve heard of this happening to some vampires and their mates when the connection is strong enough. I should have known it would be this way with Maris.
The clouds part and the moon shines down on us. Maris’ skin glows, the map of her veins blooms in front of me, a spiderweb showing me where her blood is. Fuck. Her blood sings to me so loud that the only sound in my ear is Maris’ heartbeat. I grab her and rip her underwear off in one jerk of my hand. Neither of us speak and I kiss her, savoring the taste of her on my tongue. I drink up the warmth of her body while Maris wraps her legs around my waist. She winds her arms around my neck and for a blissful second I let the weight of my mate’s body anchor me in this moment. I hear a clock chime, the loud sound echoing downthe hallway and into the room. Whatever was moving around upstairs has finally stopped.
I start to move towards the door to take her to her bed, but Maris stops me.
“No. Here,” she tells me. Here is more than good. She could tell me that she wants me to fuck her on the moon and I’d find a way to make it happen. Like a good mate I drop to my knees and give Maris exactly what she wants. Maris uncrosses her legs from my waist and gets to her feet. When she’s standing above me like the goddess I know she is, she raises a heeled foot to my chest and shoves me back.
“Get on the floor. On your back.”
I hit the floor a second later. It’s when I’m on my back that I realize where we are. I’m lying across the doorway to the dining room. The doors have slid open and there’s a room behind them, it looks like a parlour. It feels abandoned. Even if there's furniture inside, it’s sparsely furnished. Only a wingback chair, a chaise lounge, a desk and chair at the window but that’s it. When a space has been empty for a long time you feel it. Like the absence of people has solidified into actual weight, actively pulling the space down into the earth, vanishing the forgotten place from the world.
That’s what the parlour feels like. The dining room does too. It’s too still. When I slide my hands against the floor I feel the slick grit of dust. Maris avoids this place.
“I saw him through here. I could have left but I didn’t.”
She killed someone here. This is where she wants me.
Maris stalks forward, the sound of her heels on the wood floor deafening in the quiet. She straddles me, one foot on either side of my hips and looks down at me. Her dark hair falls forward but she pushes it back and smiles down at me. The flash of her teeth make me understand why she wants it to be here.
It’s not just me the world should fear. My Maris is a predator too.
“You listened to me,” she says.
“Of course I did.”
“Why?”
I lift a shoulder in a shrug and cross an arm behind my head while I soak up the sight of her beautiful naked body. “Why not?”
Maris crouches down and the heat of her rolls off her body and onto mine. Somehow, I get even harder than I was before. It physically hurts me not to be inside of her but I stay still while she studies me.
“I don’t understand you. Not at all.”
“I’m a simple vampire, Maris. The only thing I want is to eat well and listen to you. I’d say that’s fairly easy to understand.”
“If you really want to listen to me,” Maris leans forward and puts a hand on my chest, “then make me cum.”
I grin. “I better hear you scream my name,” I tell her before I move faster than she’s ready for. She’ll get used to my speed after a while but it’s always an adjustment for humans when they encounter their first vampire. I’ve had my fair share of lovers who knew exactly what I was. Humans have always been fascinated by the allure of the immortal demon. The vampire, and the vampiric world doesn’t hide itself from those who know where to look. Who wants to hunt when the meals serve themselves right up to you in exchange for pleasure? Countless humans have offered themselves willingly to vampires for the rush, the ecstasy that comes with taking a vampire as a lover and, of course, the chance at immortality. The fools don’t realize they’re only good for food and a fuck. Not a companion and certainly not a mate. Maris is different from all those idiot groupies.
