I sat up straight. That was a strange thought. Vampires don’t eat, not even bloody meat.
“More?” Paul asked.
“I better not. You remember what happened the last time.”
He offered me his beer, but the smell of it didn’t appeal to me and I declined. Paul turned to look at the door then I heard Tyler giggling. She and Jason came in all hugged up on each other. When she saw us, she jumped.
“Paul? Paul!” She ran to him and jumped into his arms. “Paul Kininsky! I can’t believe you’re back!”
His eyes grew large. “Tyler?” he said as he caught her slight body with one arm. He gave her a brief hug and then appraised her. “What happened to you?” He frowned. “You’re not turned are you?”
“No.” She smiled happily. “I just got clean, that’s all.” She turned to Jason, who was looking embarrassed since he was only wearing his jeans. I believe his shirt was still in the other room. “This is my boyfriend, Jason.”
Paul stood, and they shook hands.
“Jason, this is Paul. Paul Kininsky. He’s … a friend.” She raised her eyebrows at me. “Look, we’re going to go.”
“Oh?” I said. “You don’t have to leave.”
“No, it’s getting late and Jason has school tomorrow. Thanks again for bringing Jason in. You are awesome.”
I nodded.
Jason looked at me, his eyes dropping to the floor. “How often should I come back?”
I looked at Tyler and shrugged. “Twice a week.” That would put him in heavy rotation with the rest of the ladies if I continued to feed once a day. Since my scars have been repaired, my desire for blood is less than usual. I haven’t had an episode where I felt as if I was going to starve to death, and if at all possible, I didn’t ever want to feel that again.
Tyler and Jason left, and Paul cleaned up his dishes even though I told him the maid would get it in the morning.
“You’re probably exhausted,” I said. “Should I show you to your room?”
“Yes.” Paul picked up his bag and followed me up the stairs. “I’ve been riding all day. I really should have stopped, but then I wouldn’t have gotten here until the morning. I really wanted to see you. Awake.”
I stopped on the stairs and looked at him. “I really missed you.”
I gave him a quick hug, which he readily returned and was slow to release. I slipped out of his arms and led him up the remaining stairs sensing his eyes on my ass.
The room I chose for Paul was decorated with large dark wood furniture and hunter green walls. He had his own fireplace, and his master bath had a stand-alone shower as well as a Jacuzzi tub.
He raised his eyebrows. “Nice. Kat’s doing?”
“Of course.” I looked away reliving the feel of his arms around me. God, it was too much. I needed some type of release. I do have a succubus in me, after all! “I guess I should let you get some rest.”
He put down the bag. “Hold on. I’m going to use the restroom. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Okay,” I said trying to hide my pleasure. The way I was feeling if Paul crooked his finger in my direction, he could have had me any way he wanted! And the idea of it was pleasing but scary. Despite all of the sexual tension between us, Paul and I had never had sex.
He went off to the bathroom, and when he returned he was minus the jacket and looked as if he had splashed water on his face. I couldn’t help admiring the veins running down his hard biceps.
“So how’s Tony?” he asked while removing his wallet from his back pocket and placing it on the dressing table.
“Oh. Not too good. We decided to stop seeing each other not long ago.”
He nodded. “I see.”
“Well,” I added. “I’m back with Alexis.”
“I was going to ask you about him next. How’s he doing?”
I sighed. “Well, not good, either. He’s imprisoned.”
“Oh? For how long?”
I looked at the ceiling. “A Century. He has ninety-nine years left...”
“Damn. Vampires are rough. I almost forgot.”
“Yeah.” I fiddled with a knickknack on the dresser.
He strolled to me. “How are you doing, honey?”
“I’m fine.” I smiled shyly. He was close and still walking toward me. I leaned against the closed door.
“So, um …” I desperately thought of something to say. “How long are you going to be in town?”
He wet his lips, and I grew thoroughly moist. “I wasn’t planning on leaving, if that’s all right with you.”
My entire body perked. “You going to crash with me?”
His body was brushing mine lightly. I looked at his chest. My panties were soaking wet!
“If you don’t mind. I gave up my loft long ago.”
“It’s cool.”
He took two fingers and traced my cheek down to my neck.
I shivered.
“Remember what I told you was going to happen when I came back?”
My eyes met his. Yeah, I remembered. He said when he came back he was going to make me his.
I looked away. “Paul, Alexis and I …”
His fingers gripped my chin. I knew what he was going to do, but I was still surprised when his lips touched mine. Once before and only once did we ever kiss. With no other contact we both had climaxed, only our bodies pressing against each other--well other than my teeth in his neck.
This kiss was no attempt at foreplay, no teasing attempt to entice. It didn’t ask permission.
That kiss claimed me.
Gently but with command he pulled me against him.
I felt him hard against my pelvis and gasped.
After that gasp, Paul’s hands moved to my hips where his fingers teased against the low ride of my pants and the skin at the swell of my ass. He pulled me taut against his erection, as if he wanted me to feel just how much he wanted me.
I couldn’t stop myself from sliding my hand up his chest. With little control I gripped his hair and put myself into that kiss. I was not only one man’s…
I could have any of them.
Paul pulled his hips away from mine without ending the kiss. His fingers ran down my cleavage dragging the material down with it. I squirmed, wanting his fingers on something more sensitive. He softly pulled his lips from mine watching me wanting him as his fingers trailed down my belly. Closing his eyes briefly, he sniffed deeply, and when he looked at me again his pupils were dilated. Fucking strange because they were ringed in hazel, and it reminded me of the eyes of a tiger.
Without hesitation, his fingers entered my waistband. I jumped a bit in shock at the boldness of his touch. His fingers slipped beneath my bikini panties and across my mound to glide between my moist, hot lips.
My eyes fluttered closed. His fingers glided across my sensitive clit. I shuddered, my knees almost buckling.
He brought those fingers to his lips. I gripped his hand and stopped him before he could put them into his mouth. His fingers were tinted pink with my wetness. The tears, the semen, the wetness between my legs—what we Vampires accept as natural is something I’m not so sure wouldn’t thoroughly disgust a human.
“Paul, I’m a Vampire,” I said. “What makes my body wet is blood.”
He smiled. “It’s okay. I’m a Werewolf. It’s what I eat.”
He put his blood-tinged fingers into his mouth and licked them clean.
CHAPTER 11
I pushed him back. “What did you just say?”
He continued to back up until he reached the bed where he sat watching me.
“Oh … God …” That thing that had watched me through our link wasn’t some confusing manifestation of what I was becoming.
It really was Paul.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Paul said. “I told you that I wouldn’t come back until I was something more than human. So … now I’m back.”
“Geez, Paul,” I said. “You say that as if it’s something normal. I’m a Werewolf.”
I know I was freaking out, but werewolves were real? And my Paul was a Werewolf!
He stood. His expression was serious for the first time that night. He knew I was freaking out. He pulled me into his arms. I didn’t resist because I was sniffing him. How could I have missed it? There was something under his human smell, something faint but wild.
“I didn’t want to shock you. I just wanted you to see that I was still me.”
“Paul. A couple days ago I sensed you watching me—but it was different. You were different. I’m so stupid. Why didn’t I know?”
“A couple days ago?” He shook his head.
“You don’t remember? It was less than a week ago.”
His eyes took on a distant look. “There was a full moon and…I wasn’t myself.”
“What the fuck? What the fuck does that mean? Are you like a giant hairy dog? Or do you look like Lon Chaney?”
He rubbed my arms. “I’m not quite sure. It’s only happened twice, and I wasn’t near a mirror. Sometimes I feel like a wolf but still like a man and other times…I don’t feel like me at all. I hunt like a wolf.” His eyes looked distant as he stared at some spot beyond me. “We were in a pack. We chased down small animals. I wasn’t skilled enough to drop big game like the others.”
“Others? Please tell me everything. How did this happen?” I couldn’t even form all of the questions I had.
He led us to the bed, and we sat facing each other. As he held my hands, I could feel this current coming from his body, something I didn’t recognize and hadn’t felt in anyone else.
“When I left here I had a vague idea of other supernatural beings from what Mara told me,” he said, his eyes blazing with excitement. “She told me of some legends: demons, lycans, witches, fairies, even trolls. I knew that I’d have to start in the Old World. Not easy with all the unrest overseas. After I got robbed and shot at one time too many, I decided to keep moving until eventually I ended up in Poland, which seemed to always come up when I asked about supernatural beings. Outside of Lithuania I got my first solid lead. Everybody had stories about supernatural occurrences, and always about shape-shifters. But no matter how hard I dug, they were only stories. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I’d just pack up and head home. But whenever I thought I’d do that, I knew that I could never come back here and watch the way those motherfuckers hurt you! I couldn’t be here and not be able to protect you.”
I squeezed his hand briefly in appreciation of his concern. Paul wasn’t saying anything much different than what Tony had said. Tony had wanted to protect me, but he didn’t want to break Vampire rules to do it.
“After roaming around Poland for some weeks, I found myself drinking in a bar in Estonia where I heard a particularly interesting story of werewolves in an old little town cut off from most other civilization. The story went that many years ago the surrounding towns were constantly being attacked by wolf-like creatures. Eventually the villagers ran them out, and the creatures settled elsewhere and stayed mostly to themselves. I figured it was worth looking into. You wouldn’t imagine how many stories I had to listen to just to get to something that I could even follow up on.” He chuckled. “Enough cash and sheer determination can get you into a lot of places that the average person wouldn’t even dream of going.”
He shook his head but continued smiling. “When I was in Africa, I found a witch doctor who could make a demon enter me to give me unlimited power. Whether it was true or not, I didn’t want to be possessed. I knew I wanted to be a lycanthrope. But I didn’t want to be strong and powerful only three days out of the month. I wanted to be able to change at will. What good would it do to if I could only shift during the full moon?”
True. If I were only powerful three days a month, I’d be dead!
“What was so different about this group of people and what particularly interested me, was that the villagers weren’t governed by the moon,” Paul said. “Certainly, they celebrated the moon, but the story went that they stayed in various forms of change all month long--at will.”
Paul stopped talking and worked his lips with his teeth.
I shook his hand to get his attention. “Okay, what happened then?”
“Oh. It took a long time to get to the town. I had to use a mule and couldn’t get a guide willing to get me directly there. Funny thing is that somehow I could sense them. I felt them somewhere deep in my gut. I think it was the effect of being a blood donor to you that made me sensitive to those things. But I found them.”
He shook his head. “Kim, they were so poor and inbred, most people would have thought they were a village of lepers or something. But if you knew the truth, then their deformities were all obvious—they were wolf-like. They welcomed me. That I wanted to be a Lycan didn’t surprise them. They knew they were a step above on the evolutionary chain. My new blood could enhance the breed.” He grimaced.
“What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “They were dying out. There weren’t more than fifty people in the entire village. There hadn’t been babies in years and before the women grew barren the babies didn’t always make it because of all the inbreeding. So when the old died … that would be the end of them. Some of the men had tried to go out and bring women back to freshen the blood, but it caused trouble. In modern times, kidnapping women only brought the law down on them. Some of the men who left wouldn’t come back. They were either killed or trying to find a better life.”
He squeezed my hands. “So, they allowed me to live with them and I got to see how they changed.” His eyes gleamed again. “All those months and I finally got to witness something useful. When I first got there, they all hid and I didn’t see anything but people peeking from behind cracked doors and dirty windows. The first person to speak to me was … not exactly normal looking but a far ways from a werewolf. They weren’t quick to let me see what they could become, not until I proved myself. And the first time I saw what they could become, I wasn’t scared. I knew it was what I wanted. I wanted that power.”
“What did they look like?” I asked, totally absorbed in his story.
“They all look different. Some looked like big hairy humans with wolf heads and talons. The older ones looked like oversized wolves with human-like bodies. And then every variation in between.”
I shuddered. They sounded so ugly, and Paul was so beautiful. How could he want to look like a deformed wolf?
“What do you mean that they’re powerful?” I asked.
“We’re faster, even when not transformed. I hear everything. My sense of smell is just like my sense of taste, and taste is like touch. I can run fast, jump high. I can break trees with just a swing of my fist.” He laughed. “It’s frigging great!”
I closed my eyes.
“Oh, Kim, baby. You’ll see. It’s not a bad thing for a Werewolf to have your back.”
“How did they change you?”
“They told me that it takes a bite from a transformed Lycan to infect a human. Turns out it takes a lot of bites. The first month I didn’t change. I had to go through the whole thing again. I woke up one night shivering like I had the flu. My body hurt. Every muscle, even my bones hurt. I knew then that I’d change. Every day my body strained to break free of my human skin, but it wouldn’t happen until the full moon. The first time hurt like Jack the Ripper had at me. But the pain brings the wolf. He didn’t come out of my body like in Alien. I morphed. The pain of changing didn’t last long at all, and afterwards I forgot it quickly. The second time I changed was just a couple days ago. It was faster. The older werewolves said that I had more power than they’d ever seen, and they wanted my blood in the pack more than ever.”
“I guess they were pissed when you left.”
He shrugged.
“Have you changed without the moon yet?” I asked.
“Not yet. But I will be able to soon. I can feel it. The next full moon here, in this city, is going to happen this weekend.” He looked at me expectantly. “I don’t want you
to see it then, not until I get better control.”
“You mean like you might eat me?”
“No.”
He didn’t sound too convincing.
“Just that it’s hard to control my urges.” His eyes gleamed at me, and I could almost see the Werewolf in them. “I need to go out back in the woods behind your house and run free, hunt and eat.”
“You don’t eat humans, do you?”
“No. I’m not a cannibal. I told you, small animals—at least until I get better. Then maybe deer.”
I stood. “I don’t know about all this.”
He came up behind me and gripped me lightly, his forehead resting on the back of my shoulder. “I wasn’t stupid enough to think you would be happy about all of this. But I didn’t want you to be sad.”
I folded my arms over his. “I was forced to be a Vampire. I’d do about anything if I could be a human again.”
He turned me around to face him. “I’m still a human. A couple times a month it might get difficult to be around me. But I’m still Paul.”
“I want to see you turn.”
“You will. Just be patient.”
I wanted to tell him about the monster in me, but there was too much heaviness for one night. Somehow, though, I couldn’t help thinking that our monsters were linked.
Paul gripped the fabric of my shirt in his fist and breathed lightly against my neck. “I came back to protect you,” he whispered.
With a sigh I turned to him. I guess the night was going to get much heavier.
“Then you came back in the nick of time.”
It was my turn to tell him my story. I knew it would be a lie for me to leave out the beginning—my need for Alexis. I told him how devastated I had been when he hadn’t returned my calls. I described the burns and the slow recovery. I left out everything related to my territorial rule because the night was too short for that. But because this was a personal story, I had to tell him about Tony and our love affair.
Paul listened without commenting. When I described last week’s discovery that Alexis hadn’t disregarded me, his eyes hooded, and I felt that he was torn. He sympathized with me, but it hurt him to hear it.