Page 132 of Blood Lovers

Everything about what we did was illegal. But it was so spectacularly hideous that the Obscurati took notice. We had to be punished, of course. But we weren’t killed and that’s all that matters now.

“Well?”

I realize I’ve just been staring at Josep as these memories were flowing. “Yes. Right.” I walk towards him and we move awkwardly for a moment, trying to find the right positioning. I haven’t bitten him in a long time. He’s had nothing to give me since before Ryet was born. The Darkness was ignoring me, bored with my lack of progress. But it started taking more notice in the last decade or so and the moment I came up from the ground a few weeks ago, I already knew that the Darkness had blessed Josep with the final dose of magic to see our project to completion.

I press myself into Josep. Into his naked body, covered in the power of the earth. I breathe him in as he responds, pressing himself into me. His arms slip around my hips and mine go to his head. He bites his lip as I look into those lavender eyes of his, and then there it is.

My reward.

I kiss him. Deeply. Enjoying that just as much as the blood that trickles out. Then I suck on him until the wound closes and I drag my lips down his neck as I tip his head back, exposing his throat, and I bite.

What comes next is a long series of flashing moments. Time ceases to exist when I get gifts of magic from the Darkness via Josep. It’s bliss. Just pure bliss.

I have never had the pleasure of being fed on to receive the gift the way Josep has, but my time is coming soon.

Soon I will meet that Darkness once again and this time… this time it will feed on me and I will get something spectacular in return.

Soon…

I drink Josep until his body goes limp and his eyes close. Then I pick up him up in my arms, carry him over to a long, flat rock, sit down with my feet in the water—getting my shoes and pants wet—and I cradle him in my arms as I bite my lip and kiss him again.

It takes a few moments for the new blood to hit his system and wake him up, but hit him and wake him it does.

He draws harder, sucking on me until I am the weak one. Until I am limp and he has to take me in his arms.

Then we do this again.

And again.

And again.

When I come back up from Josep’s bunker and enter my apartments, I am dizzy from the thrill and the blood, ecstatic with the knowledge that tonight is our night.

And Echo is furiously knocking on my door. “My lord!” she’s shouting. “Are you in there? My lord! Open up. It’s—”

I open the door just as she says, “Ryet!”

“Is he here?”

Echo nods. “He’s here. But he’s crashed his truck on the driveway. About half a mile down the road.”

“Did you get him?”

She shakes her head. “No. We tried, but he was… he was trying to bite us, lord. And we—”

“It’s fine. I’ll take care of it. You did the right thing, Echo. If Ryet bites you, he’ll kill you.”

Echo swallows. “Yes, lord. I thought so. He got a hold of the guy who approached him first—we’re…” She hesitates. “We’re still trying to identify who that was.”

“Excellent.”

“My lord?”

Poor Echo. She is here. She has been bitten by Lucia. She is a halfbreed vampire. And she has absolutely no idea what that really means. So I decide to enlighten her just a little.

“He’s transforming, Echo. In a few hours Ryet will be the most magnificent monster you’ve ever seen.” She’s still confused, but that’s why I like her. The innocence in this one delights me. So I place my hands on her cheeks, lean in, and kiss her mouth. “I would feed you right now if I wasn’t full of the blood Ryet needs.” I whisper these words past her lips. “But after this is over, Echo, you will be rewarded.” Then I draw back. “Get me the Hummer. You’re driving. We’re going to make history tonight.”

Echo is still stunned from my kiss and my words, her eyes wide, her mouth open. She touches her lips with the pad of a fingertip, lost in the feeling of me.