Page 19 of Bloody Temptations

Taking the hint, I give into the moment, sinking my body into the music, letting Willan lead me. It turns out that when Willan isn’t being all uptight, he’s a pretty decent dancer. And rubbing up against a hot guy is definitely not a terrible way to spend a night.

8

Kai

“Your friend was inlast night.” Nikolo grunts through his stretch.

He’s on the floor in the middle of our living room, legs spread wide in the middle splits. In only his tiny briefs, it’s a lot to see of my best friend first thing in the evening.

“Which friend is that?”

It’s a dumb question, we both know who he’s talking about. I throw myself on the couch, taking a sip of my evening blood, savouring the taste of fae blood as it explodes on my taste buds and clears the sleep-fog from my senses. I splurged on the good shit this week when I did the shopping. That pre-mating party ended up tipping a lot better than they usually do and Nikolo and I made out like bandits.

Even Lifo pulled in good cash that night.

Nikolo looks at me with mild disgust when I make vaguely inappropriate sounds of pleasure with my next sip. Still in his split, he leans forward, walking his hands out until his chest is almost touching the ground. Once he’s there he hums loudly in place of the breath usually taken in stretches and rolls his body back up.

“You know who I’m talking about,” he says eventually, folding his body into another position with a bent knee, foot planted on the otherside of his leg. He follows the flow of the movement, twisting his body around to flash me the small ponytail he’s tucked his curls into, giving me a peek at the thin braid usually hidden by the mass of his hair.

It’s a new thing he’s started doing in the past few months. Something from his former life, he says. Though he’s never really explained what that means. Nikolo doesn’t really like talking about his life before he was turned. I don’t even think I’ve ever even seen him speak to his parents.

Nikolo was turned before me. He had been a vampire for two and a bit years before we met back when I was still just a hot badger shifter working at Bloody Temptations on the weekends to supplement my fledgling modelling career.

I was only working there for six months before things went sideways. I was attacked outside the club by a pack of drunk wolves. They’d been absolutely feral that night. I was basically dead from my injuries, and only survived because Maddy found me just in time. I had just enough life in me to give my consent for her to turn me. There was no way I was going to make it to the hospital, so the ambulance officers signed as witnesses to my paperwork.

That was three years ago now.

I was lucky. Really lucky. The wolves that got me were already up for a string of charges, so mine were added to a very long list. So not only did they get caught, charged and sentenced, but I’ve had the whole Bloody Temptations crew to support me through my transition and the whole process.

Usually vamps only have their maker for the first year after changing–during that time they are legally responsible for you. Like, if you go off the deep end and go mad with power after your change, and go round hurting beings and humans, your maker is just as responsibleas you are. After that, you’re on your own. Maddy knows she’s stuck with me forever, though.

It’s why I’ve been the way I’ve been with Finn.

Okay, the first night I started talking to him because he’s cute as fuck and I couldn’t resist. I was disappointed when he hadn’t sought me out before the night ended, and I’d been too busy to go find him. Later, though, when he came into the bar on his own, I sensed the loneliness in him, I guess, if I’m being deep about it.

I’m not saying he’s not into me. And that I’m not eager to get a taste of the sweet and somewhat skittish vamp. But I really do think he’s genuine when he says that he’s looking for connection to his new community. It can be hard out there, with everyone looking at you like you’re gonna jump them, or infect them or whatever. It’s nice to be able to just not deal with that shit.

“How do you even know that? You weren’t even on.”

Because the weekends are the busiest nights of the week, our days off are usually midweek. Generally we get one weekend off a month, and this is it. We spent it grocery shopping and cleaning the apartment. And last night we watched a movie and Nikki sewed costumes, before we went to bed early. Riveting shit. If only our legions of fans online knew how we actually spent our free time.

“Belinda messaged me. And Erod. And Maddy.” He twists into another pose. “Actually, Maddy called. But that was about rosters for the week. I’ve put yours on the fridge.”

“Thanks.” I take another sip of my blood. But it’s nowhere near as pleasant now. It’s cooled off too much. And there is a queasy feeling in my guts that the guys at work are talking shit about Finn. I really don’t like that.

“I hope you guys aren’t being dicks about him.”

“Your new biggest fan you mean?” Nikolo can’t see the face I’m pulling with the way he’s bent over. I consider throwing a cushion at him to get the point across anyway.

“That. That right there. Don’t.”

Hearing the vehemence in my tone, he drops out of the back bend he’s in—thankfully relieving me of the sight of the turquoise bulge of his crotch. Sitting now, legs crossed, he frowns at me, stretching out his arms.

He doesn’t actually have to go through the rigorous stretching that he does almost daily. The body we’re turned with is our baseline for our life as a vamp. It only changes if we get sick or with extreme modifications. We don’t really age like normal beings, either. Our bodies are in a type of stasis. Eventually, time takes its toll, but it’s not the same as if we’d continued living. It’s more that your body just wears out.

Nikki and I, though? We’ve both been blessed by the Gods to be turned while we were at our physical peaks. Well, I was nearly dead with half the bits that are meant to be inside me out on the pavement, but between the doctors and the change, that all worked itself out.

“Sorry.” Groaning, I put my cup carefully on the coffee table, remembering to use a coaster. The table’s new and we’re trying to keep it nice. We’re slowly going through and replacing all of our cheap starter furniture. “Just… I don’t want you guys making him feel like shit. He’s not like the others. He’s… I don’t think he has any vamp connections. I think he’s on his own. And he’s like, really fresh. Too freshly turned to be on his own.”

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