I sighed. “I can’t use my dazzle powers on humans, or command vampires to do my work for me. You never let me have any fun.”
I thought she might apologize, maybe offer to compromise. To my surprise, she set a palm on my chest and strained on her tiptoes to kiss me.
I had my arms around her before I even registered the conversation had ended.
Blast! She’s fast learning how to manipulate me. Oh well. Even if this is manipulation, I deeply enjoy it.
When she finally pulled back I heaved a sigh. “Very well, you win this round. But only because I know I’m going to win the war.” I kissed the corner of her mouth, then dramatically dropped onto the couch. “I’m ready.”
Jade seated herself next to me with more caution—the slayer instincts in her had her checking the room for any weaknesses, but Killian took security to an extreme since the end state of a feeding left a vampire supremely vulnerable in their drowsiness.
I watched her for a moment as she opened up her phone’s timer—she washard-nosedabout making sure I didn’t drink more than we agreed upon, and had calculated precisely how long it would take me to feed.
“This is the third time, now, that I’ll be secreting the compound that will—ideally extend your life,” I cautiously stated. “You’ll let me know if anything feels off?”
Jade glanced up at me and smiled. “Yes,” she said. “But I’ve been fine, so I don’t expect that to change.”
I slowly nodded. “I’m aware. But just as you don’t want to risk my life, I refuse to risk yours.”
“I know,” Jade offered out her wrist. “We’re partners.”
I chuckled, but she started the timer so I had to bite her, or else.
Carefully—I wouldn’t rush and bite her wrong—I sank my teeth into the skin of Jade’s wrist, relaxing when I tasted the slightly bitter aftertaste of her blood that bloomed into a burning sensation akin to swallowing liquid fire.
The inferno awakened all my senses, shaking my body awake, and I felt my healing abilities kick in—fighting off the burning poison and repairing any damage it dealt to my body.
A true vampire feeding is not the voyeuristic, bloody experience human pop culture makes it out to be. Any vampire who turns it into a spectacle like that isn’t actually feeding, but doing it for the experience.
A proper feeding takes about ten minutes—five for me because of the Rule Lover—and is a quiet but pleasant exercise of trust due to the vulnerable state it left us in.
Drinking from Jade had become a surprisingly extra enjoyable experience for me, as her blood actually tasted different—remarkable, even—to my age-deadened senses.
It was over before I wanted it to be—Jade’s annoying timer going off.
“And that’s time,” Jade announced.
I released her wrist and immediately grabbed the pastel pink fae potion left on the end table. I poured out a mouthful for myself into a shot glass, then held the potion to Jade’s lips.
She let me pour a sip into her mouth before she took the potion from me, chugging the potion with a business-like efficiency.
I tossed my mouthful of potion back, swishing as I rushed to grab the bandages before Jade could.
“I can do it,” she protested when she finished the potion.
I swallowed my potion-mouthwash. “You can, but I want to.”
Jade shook her head, but held out her hand so I could bandage the bite mark I’d left on her wrist.
“I love you,” she said—something she’d been doing a great deal since our conversation back in my apartment during the week we had off after the Gisila-Tellier-Wizards-disaster.
I think she was trying to ingrain it on my brain.
“And I love you,” I said, crumpling the bandage wrapper. “And I’ll never take you for granted.”
Jade squeezed my hand, then leaned into me.
I thought maybe this meant we could sit together for a bit, but no, she opened that dratted schedule of hers to take notes on the day’s feeding.
