Page 4 of Vampire Sins
He leaned in and grazed his lips against my ear. I flinched when his fangs pressed their cool danger against my skin. “A taste of your exquisite blood.”
I shivered. No way had I ever imagined a vampire lingering at my neck to be a turn on. My blood ran hot and excitement thundered in my ears. All it took was the soft whisper of his breath on my neck to make me arch—and then I recognized his magic winding over me like the invasion it was.
Red hot desire that wasn’t my own whispered in my ear and made my blood rush to my core. My body begged me to give in to the promise of pleasure, but I recognized this drug far too well. Desire masked the truth: that a vampire was deadly and I would be his next victim if I let my guard down.
Shaking myself free of his compulsion, I groaned and collapsed to the floor. I dug my fingers into the plush carpet and inhaled, soaking in the pungent lilac potpourri of the clean room, the scent overlying the faint musk of dried blood. My nostrils flared. This was a vampire’s den, no matter the wine and the luxury. Grounding myself in my other senses, I fought the vampire’s compulsion as I flooded my body with the scalding heat of the Blood Stone, evaporating the worst of the binds his magic had clawed into me.
“You really want to play this game?” I warned him through gritted teeth. If he wanted to test me with magical lust, I’d show him how a succubus could make him fall to his knees—once I got off mine, of course.
His gaze flashed with challenge as I stood and straightened. “We’re kindred creatures, you and I,” he all but purred, pissing me off with his complete confidence that I’d be bending over for him any second now. I squeezed my hands on my hips to keep from doing just that. “I have no doubt of your power, but I am second-born of Hades himself and very much your senior. I doubt you—”
I flicked my fingers and sent a red wave of raw lust wrapping around his cock. That should shut him up. His eyes went wide and his pants bulged. He gasped as the pure power of my Blood Stone hit him hard and I grinned. “You were saying?”
He peeled off his shirt as a fine layer of sweat glistened across his skin. Even though I was winning, just the sight of him shirtless made me stagger. Magic had forged him into the perfect male specimen, hard and dangerous and completely in my league. His muscles pleasantly flexed as he clawed away the sticky layers of my magic. Once he’d shredded the last of my power, he bared his teeth at me. His fangs seemed larger than before and the red haze in his eyes burned with excitement. He seemed glad that I wouldn’t be an easy target. “You took me off guard. It won’t happen again.”
Before I had a chance to send another wave of magical lust and bring him under control, he disappeared, just like he had on the rooftop. I whirled just in time to find him materializing in a flicker of black shadows, his fangs so close to my neck that I froze with both anticipation and horror. “I won’t bite,” he promised, “not unless you agree to be my mate.”
Growling, I planted my hands on his hard chest and pushed. I might as well have tried to move a brick wall for all the good that did me. I drew power from my Blood Stone and my energy sizzled along his skin, but he still didn’t give me an inch.
He towered over me and wrapped his fingers around my arms, but not in a way that made me feel threatened. His touch was light and gentle, as if he was afraid to hurt me. He lowered, parting his lips and breathing in my magic, testing me, provoking me.
Pride surged in my chest, making me lift on my tiptoes and allow his fangs to press their cool danger against my lips. That was all the encouragement he needed before his tongue grazed across my lower lip, tasting me as he growled with need.
I found myself just as curious about how he tasted and I copied his motion, flicking my tongue across the soft crest of his lip between the sharp danger of his fangs. I regretted it the moment I did it as his grip tightened. If I’d thought his magic powerful before… tasting him made me buckle and fall against the unforgiving wall of his chest.
He tasted of bliss, roses, and blood, and all I could think about was indulging myself in the delicacy that was Xavier.
I opened my eyes to find him watching me as his entire body quivered with the naked need that gleamed in his ruby eyes. He was just as intoxicated by me as I was by him, and he was holding himself back. I was an idiot to be alone with this predator, but as my hands wound up his neck and pulled him in for another kiss, I knew he would never hurt me. The rune burning hot on my stomach didn’t lie. He was one of my four.
His tongue danced across mine as he pulled me in close, his hands pressing at the small of my back. The hard bulge of him strained against his pants and throbbed against my abdomen.
To feel him so close to the rune that claimed him as mine made me shiver and I pulled away for breath.
“This… is very enjoyable,” he said in a low, husky whisper, “however I still require your blood if you wish to know how to become a vampire. That is my price.”
“Why do you want my blood?” I asked breathlessly as I played my fingers over the back of his neck.
He growled in warning at the teasing motion and pulled me even closer. “Because there is magic in blood. You hold secrets I desire to know.”
Secrets. What secrets could I possibly have that this ancient vampire wanted so badly?
“Don’t you want to become a vampire?” He ran a finger around the edge of my ear and tucked a strand of hair away from my face.
Wrapping a curled strand of his midnight hair around my finger, I bit down on my lip to prevent myself from kissing him again. I couldn’t deny the attraction of becoming a vampire. As a succubus, I could live for hundreds of years, but as a vampire, I’d have eternity at my fingertips.
It wasn’t true immortality that attracted me, although that was a plus. Some supernaturals hunted the vampires, torturing them in hopes of uncovering the secret to permanent life. The vampires never succumbed to coercion, not because they were a proud race, but because they were magically superior in every way. Vampires could turn off their emotions and pain like a switch. That was exactly what I craved. Ultimate strength. Ultimate confidence. The power over my emotions with precise control at my fingertips. Everything I’d need to abolish the guilt and depression that consumed me on a daily basis.
What made me hesitate was the shadow of grief in this vampire’s eyes. How was that even possible? How could a creature so perfectly in control over his own emotions grieve anything at all? Why did he look at me as if I, a broken succubus, could fix all of his problems?
I motioned to pull away, but the iron prison of his arms kept me in place. He didn’t force himself on me, but he wasn’t letting me go, either. “Why do you wait for permission?” I asked, my words slurring with the drug of his magic that wafted over me in merciless waves. “You could take me, if you wanted to.”
He growled and bared his teeth, the fleeting emotions I’d seen swept away by the predator’s claim. “I am not a monster,” he insisted. “I will never take a woman, not her body, not even her blood, without her permission.”
My pride couldn’t give him permission, but my magic could. The heat of my Blood Stone unfurled with frustration and spoke to my need, encouraging him to cup my breast. I arched against his touch and my lips parted with a silent moan.
“Don’t toy with me, Sonya,” he insisted. “I’ve waited for you for a very long time and I will savor every moment of making you understand what you mean to me.” His fangs grazed my neck again and I knew that he fought the urge to bite down, making my thighs clench as I wondered what that might feel like. Instead of enlightening me, he licked a long line up to my ear. “You may not know me longer than a few hours, but I have known you every waking moment since I started having the visions a hundred years ago.”
My eyes widened. “Visions?”
