Page 21 of Desperately Seeking Vampire
“Are you certain?” he managed to ask, every atom of his being screaming at him to claim her, and make her irrevocably his.
“Yes,” she answered, and then gently bit the top of his shoulder.
He froze for a second—then it was all too much. His movements went choppy and wild even as her inner muscles rippled around him as she found her climax. He bit the spot where her neck joined her shoulder, his mind full of a sensation that he could describe only as rapture, his body both giving and taking life from her.
And when they finally could breathe again, he wrapped his arms around her, jerking up the duvet, keeping her safely tucked up against his side, his body, soul, and mind at peace for the first time in eighty-six years.
The argument started approximately six hours later.
“You are my Beloved,” Ivo said, his arms crossed as he tried to show her that his word was law.
“I know what I am, and don’t you make me regret my decision to accept the job,” she told him, tsking when she pulled on her clothing. “Damn, I really wish I could get my suitcase from the cops. I’m getting tired of wearing the same outfit. I don’t suppose you have any women’s clothing lying around not being used?”
“We will purchase clothing for you,” he said. “We will go into the town and buy you whatever you need.”
“I just got done telling you that I have to go work. I told Dominic that I’d do the morning shift today, and I can’t leave them in the lurch. Besides, it’s good money. I made the equivalent of a couple hundred dollars yesterday. Ugh. I guess my undies are OK, but that’s the first thing I’m going to buy.”
“You are my Beloved,” he repeated, frowning when she refused to take notice of the fact that he was being dominant and stern and unyielding. “You do not need to work. I have sufficient funds to provide for both of us.”
“Goody for you, but if you think I’m a gold digger, you have another thing to think about. Do you see my shoes anywhere?” She stood in the middle of the room, glancing around. “I’m not saying it won’t be nice not having to live paycheck to paycheck, but I’m not going to give up cartomancy just because you are loaded. Oh, there they are.”
“Beloveds must follow the dictates of their Dark One,” he said, shifting tactics since the arm-crossing and immovable stance didn’t seem to make an impression on her. He’d apply to her reason, instead. “It is the way of things.”
“Uh-huh.” She sat on the bed and put on her shoes, sliding a glance up at him. “Ivo, I like you. I think I could easily fall in love with you, but there is no way in hell that I’m going to put up with you being Mr. Bossy, OK? Either we do this as a partnership, or we don’t do this.”
“We are bound together now,” he pointed out, feeling the control slipping through his fingers. Minerva made him feel utterly at sea, and he didn’t know what to do about it. He would die before he did anything that made her unhappy, but at the same time, she had to realize that now she had him to protect her.
“Yeah? Well, I’m willing to bet a stake through the heart could end that,” she said with a pointed look at his chest that made him take a step back, indignantly rubbing a spot where he could swear he felt her gaze centered.
“You will find that Dark Ones are harder to kill than a mere stake in the heart,” he said firmly as she opened the door and marched out. “Minerva! I forbid you to leave when I am telling you the way of things!”
“I don’t take well to being forbidden anything, Ivo,” she called back as he followed. “The sooner you learn that, the happier we’ll be. Crap. How do you get out of here? Your friend brought me to your room last night, and I couldn’t see the path he took.”
He hurried up until he could take her arm, turning her to the left when she was going to take a right. “Was it Finch or his uncle whom you met last night?”
“No clue. He was nice, whoever he was. He didn’t say much, just took me to your room.”
They descended to the ground floor, entering the main hall. Finch emerged from the library looking tired, evidently having worked all night.
“Finch, you have met my Beloved?” Ivo asked, guiding Minerva to him.
“I what?” Finch stopped rubbing the back of his head and stared in surprise at them both. “Your Beloved? The one we hunted for?”
Ivo made the introductions, beaming with pride at Minerva as she greeted his friend. “She was ill with the mortals’ mustard gas. That’s why we didn’t find her.”
“You’re the woman at the GothFaire,” Finch said, giving her a little bow. “I’ve seen you there. Does Christian know?”
“I do, and I’m delighted that things worked out as they did,” Christian said from a side hall, emerging to greet Minerva. “It reminds those of us who have not yet found our Beloveds that even in a dire situation like the one in which Ivo found himself, all hope is not lost. You are welcome at Drahanská, Minerva. There is no rush to leave, since there must be a great deal for Ivo to do.”
“Thank you, but as I was just telling Mr. Bossy here, I have to run or I’ll be late for morning shift at the GothFaire.” She slid her hand from Ivo’s, giving him a long look that he felt was unusually full of barbed warnings, then, with a nod at Finch and Christian, hurried out of the hall.
“Mr. Bossy?” Finch asked, his eyebrows raised.
“She is a bit overwhelmed by becoming my Beloved in deed as well as in name,” Ivo tried to explain, but he could have sworn that Christian’s cough following that statement had a hint of laughter to it. “She has lived amongst mortals for a long time, I believe, and thus feels an obligation to them. Naturally, that will change now that I am here to protect and guide her.”
“Guide,” Christian repeated, then had another coughing fit.
Finch nodded. “Yes, that’s a good idea. She clearly needs to be taught what it is to be a Beloved. Well, I am for bed unless you need me. Oh, Ivo, one of the grounds men brought back Christian’s Harley. Did you have problems with it?”
