Page 89 of House of Crimson Hearts
“I… I don’t know what you mean.”
“The problem,Red… is that it’s not just youthat’s addicted. It’s incredibly difficult for a vampire to have a human take their blood regularly and not feel the pull towards them. It’s why we don’t allow the same humans to feed on us.”
“Then how come I haven’t had other vampires coming after me? You know, given how long I’ve been taking blood.”
Her eyes narrow. Her lips part like she’s about to tell me a secret. But she doesn’t. Instead, she leans in until her lips brush my ear lobe, sending a shiver down my back and straight to my pussy.
Fuck, I want her even though her blood isn’t in my system. It must be a residual thing from the last couple of times I took her blood. Maybe it just doesn’t fade the more you take it, and I’ve lost count now of how many times I’ve had hers. Two? Three?
It’s two or three too many.
“The problem,” she whispers against my ear, making my eyes roll shut as her words trickle down my neck like a caress. “Is that Iwantyou to take my blood.” Her breath quickens as her hand grips the doorframe above me. There’s a creaking wail and then it cracks.
“I would cut myself open and let you bleed me dry if it meant you took another drop of my blood. It’s not just you fighting this. Don’t forget that.”
I reach up, tilt her chin down to me, “But you hate me,” I whisper.
She smiles, but it’s soft, her eyes watery. She shakes her head once. “I think you’ll find, you’re the one who hates me.” She backs up, cold rushes into the space between us. She slides her hair back behind her ear.
“Good night, Verity.”
“It’s Red. And you still haven’t told me how you know that fucking name.”
“And perhaps I never will.”
“What if I made a deal.”
“Don’t play games you can’t win.”
“I’ll drink a drop,” I say.
She halts halfway across the corridor.
I’m playing with danger. If I take a drop… Even half a drop, we’ll end up fucking and that is not what either of us wants. When she cocks her head back to look at me, her nostrils flare like she can smell her blood coursing through me. Her fangs lower, peeking out between her lips. But her neck strains.
“Good night, Red,” she says, and then she walks into the room opposite and closes the door behind her.
I sag against the doorframe. Part of me is relieved that I was refused and she didn’t give me her blood, and the other part is desperate to rip the door open and sink my blunt little human teeth into her neck and guzzle what I know she wants to give me.
I shake it off and enter the guest room.
There, next to the bed is a suitcase I recognise. I laugh to myself. She knew I’d never agree to stay in her room after all.
Dammit, Octavia.
I pull out the belongings I need for the night. A towel, my wash stuff and pyjamas and slide into the bathroom. It’s similar to the one I was in when I hurt her butler.
By the time I slide into the bed, dawn is only a few short hours away. I’m exhausted and tomorrow will be an even longer day.
But still, I dream of her.
Chapter24
RED
Octavia slips her cool hand between my legs. She’s in my bed, her long body pressed next to mine. Her breasts hang heavy against my chest, they’re so much larger than mine. My fingers find their way to them. I thought she was clothed, but now she’s naked, and I can’t resist tweaking her nipples.
It makes me wet. As if she can tell, she slides her hand higher up my thigh until her palm finds my pussy and she nudges me to grind against it.
