“Please stop,” I whispered.
Was this really how I wanted to die? Again, with the smells. I smelled my tears. They were pouring down my cheeks and they were salty. They hit my mouth, and then the bedspread, and I started to sob uncontrollably. As I cried, I noticed something shifted in the vampire’s demeanor. He loosened his grip on me.
Could I escape?
I moved my body, trying to see if I could move, but I only succeeded in rolling over onto my bed. His fangs slid out of my body as I rolled, and he looked down at me. He was over me, holding himself up on his hands, and he had my blood all over his mouth.
“I don’t want this,” I whispered.
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Shouldn’t I have a choice before you take away my humanity?”
“No.”
“Shouldn’t I have a choice before you rape me?”
“I’m not going to rape you.”
“But...”
“I’m turning you into a vampire, Kimberly. It’s for your own protection. Helena was right when she said I wanted to claim you. You’re my mate, after all, but I’m not a monster. I’m not going to fuck you until you beg me to. Now be silent so I can finish, and then I’ll give you that orgasm I promised you.”
“My own protection?”
“Kimberly, you wandered into vampire territory. The chances of me being able to get you out now are slim to none. I might be the Vampire Lord of this place, but that means nothing when a vampire is hungry. The sun will be coming up soon.”
“That’s when vampires are the most vulnerable,” I pointed out quietly.
“And it’s also when they’re the hungriest and least predictable. It’s when they have the least self-control. So if you think that I’m going to let you try to make it out of the grove when the vamps who roam here would easily jump on you like a cat on a mouse, you’re mistaken. Close your mouth, little human. Let me do what must be done.”
I was silent then. He seemed sated, and he went back to the spot on my neck. It felt like he bit me a second time, but I couldn’t be sure. All I knew was that I was starting to feel a little lightheaded, and a little dizzy. I felt tired, all of a sudden. It didn’t seem to hurt anymore. Instead, it started to feel kind of...relaxing.
Suddenly, I felt the bed shift and he was gone. His mouth was gone from my skin, and what was worse was that I missed him. I suddenly craved him and wanted to have him with me again.
“Come back.”
I tried to whisper the words, but the sound didn’t come out. I opened my lips. Then I closed them again.
“Good girl,” he said, kissing my neck. “You did such a good job.”
He slid his tongue over the wounds on my neck. Was he sealing them up? Or was that another rumor? Hunters always liked to tell stories, and a popular one was that vampires could take your blood and then seal you right up like an envelope. Nobody would ever know you had been drained of your blood unless they did an autopsy, and who had the time or money for that?
I couldn’t talk, couldn’t move. I just felt so relaxed. I felt so tired. Was this what it felt like to die? If I closed my eyes, I might never wake up, and the crazy thing was that I didn’t really care even a little bit.
“We’re not done yet,” he chuckled.
Why not?
He’d sucked me dry. He’d taken everything. Now I just wanted to sleep. Now I wanted to rest.
It was over, I thought. All of this...it was all over.
There was nothing else but this moment, and it was...
Cold.
Suddenly, I felt wildly cold, and I started to shake. I couldn’t get warm, but I also couldn’t move. I couldn’t cry out or yell, and that was when I felt his lips on mine. They tasted like blood. I thought it was my blood, at first, but then I realized it was his. His lip was bleeding. He’d bitten it to make it bleed, and I tasted that blood. It was warm. It was the first warmth I’d felt in awhile, and it was delicious.