Page 115 of Only Fangs

“Atticus? Oh yeah, he’s a vampire. And apparently a total lothario.”

“Lucky Sharon.”

“Indeed. Every vampire I know has the hots for him.”

I give her the side eye. Is she including herself in that?

“I only have eyes for you, my love,” she tells me, but there’s a hint of laughter in her tone. I don’t buy into the whole possessive bullshit and she knows it; she’s free to find other people attractive, just so long as she comes home with me at the end of the night.

A few minutes after ten the entire room suddenly falls silent and I follow the gaze of everyone else. We’re all staring, transfixed as the counter on the wall starts to tick up faster and faster, so quickly it almost becomes a blur. “What the hell is going on?” Ari asks.

“I have no idea,” I say as the number passes ten thousand.

“There’s been a viral TikTok,” someone shouts.

The number passes eleven thousand.

When it hits twelve thousand we open more champagne.

By midnight we have over twenty thousand subscribers and we’ve all had far too much to drink.

“I think everyone needs to head home,” Ivan says.

“Spoilsport,” Clara tells him and I get a sense of deja vu from the night we spent in the Crimson Well, when we celebrated the fact we were going to Hele House to pitch to the High Council. How things have changed since then.

It takes a bit of persuading, but eventually all our guests agree to call it a night, everyone telling me what an amazing party it was and how they are so excited about Only Fangs.

My heart is full with all the well-wishes as Ari and I get into a taxi back to her flat.

We’ve barely closed the door behind us when she turns and kisses me, her tongue in my mouth as she pulls me towards the bedroom, kicking her shoes off as she goes.

“I want you so badly,” she says as she comes up for air, her hands unbuttoning my shirt with an infectious urgency. I’m almost naked as we get to the bedroom.

“Lie down on the bed,” she commands. And then she straddles me, the dress hitched up around her waist so I can just catch the merest glimpse of the burgundy lace of her underwear. “You’re absolutely sure this is what you want?”

“Yes,” I whisper.

“Promise?”

“Yes.” Less of a whisper and more of a groan this time. I’ve waited so long for this moment and now my fear and arousal are so intertwined I think I might self-combust.

She arches her back a little and slips her dress off the right shoulder and then the left. With a shimmy the dress pools around her waist, and she smiles at me as she cups her breasts, pinching her nipples between her fingers. She maintains eye contact as her hand disappears under the material of dress and I feel her stiffen as she touches herself. I watch as she takes herself almost to the point of orgasm, tipping her head back.

And then she looks at me and her smile broadens, unsheathing her fangs.

She bears down on me.

I hold my breath.

There is no pain. Only a delicious sense of release, like I’ve been balancing on the edge of a cliff for far too long and finally I’m falling.

Falling into the abyss.

I close my eyes and give myself over to the sensation.

Chapter 61

Ari