“You may call me Vik’tor—at least while you’re staying in my home,” he rumbled. “And please don’t worry—I told Daw’snx to let you know that everything in the bathing chamber was at your disposal—that includes the robe.”
“I still shouldn’t have just assumed,” I objected. “I just…I didn’t want to put on my old clothes again, after I was all nice and clean.”
“New clothing will be provided for you, Natalie,” he rumbled. “So don’t worry about that. In the meantime, you can keep the robe on,” he added courteously.
“Thank you. Er, you still haven’t said why you were in here,” I pointed out, feeling uneasy.
The Baron got an uncertain look on his face.
“I heard…singing coming from inside the bathing chamber. I didn’t want to burst in on you, but I wanted to hear more.” He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling. “So I came in here to listen, since the two rooms share the same ventilation system.”
“Oh…” I felt my cheeks getting hot with a blush. “Sorry—I always sing when I’m in the bath or the shower. And it just felt so nice to finally get a real bath with real water after so long I guess I sort of just…let loose.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said softly. “Never heard anything like it before—you’ve got a fucking beautiful voice.”
“Um, thank you. I…I was raised with music from an early age,” I said.
He frowned.
“What does it mean, ‘You make me feel like a natural woman?’ How could anyone make you feel like anun-natural woman?”
“Oh—it’s just a song. It means, um, ‘you make me feel really good. Like myself, I guess.’” Feeling self-conscious, I tried to change the subject. “And here I thought you came in here because you were waiting to bite me until after I was all nice and clean.”
The minute the words left my mouth, I wished I could call them back. The Baron’s lips were parted and I could see his fangs, long and white, gleaming in the firelight.
“Do youwantme to bite you, Natalie?” he asked in a low voice.
“No!” I said at once, instinctively. Then I realized it was the wrong answer. “I mean,yes—yes, I do. You paid for my blood, you should get what you paid for,” I said, trying to recover.
Suddenly, I just wanted to get it over with. My arms ached but that was a normal state of affairs for me now—I barely even noticed it. It was just part of the Status Quo, living life as a Blood Whore.
Not waiting for him to answer, I strode closer to the chair and pushed up the sleeve of the robe to bare my left arm.
“Here,” I said, sticking it right under his nose—this was much easier to do with him sitting and me standing. “Go on—bite me. Take what you want—what you paid for.”
“Natalie,” he began reaching for my bare, bruised wrist. “I’m not going to fucking bite you just because—”
But his words ended in a harsh gasp.
I gasped too because the moment he took my wrist in his big hand—the moment his bare skin touched mine for the first time—something strange happened. It was like a jolt of electricity ran through me, but not just any electricity—this had a definite sexual charge to it.
For the first time in my life, I felt my body tingle with sensual energy—my nipples were suddenly tight and my pussy was wet and throbbing. My skin felt ultra sensitive.
And at that moment I had a sudden flash—an image popped into my head—a picture of the two of us, the Baron and me. We were lying on a plush, white fur rug and he was leaning over me. He had my hair pushed to one side, baring my neck, and he had his fangs bared, clearly about to bite me.
The image had a strange heft to it—a resonance I had never felt before. It wasn’t like a fantasy or a daydream—it was more like something Iknewwas going to happen. And then a voice spoke in my head.
“That which is to come,”it murmured but the words were like the tolling of a huge church bell in my brain. And all the while my body was still in the process of coming to life—waking up—it was so damn confusing!
What the hell was going on with me?
Whatever it was, it seemed to be affecting the Baron too. His eyes went wide and he dropped my wrist abruptly.
“Goddess of Mercy,” he growled in a low, hoarse voice. “What in the afterlife was that?”
“I…I don’t know.” I stared at him in confusion. “I…I’ve never felt anything like it before. It felt like…like…”
But I couldn’t say what it felt like—which was that part of me which had been asleep all my life had suddenly awakened.