“Tell me again why we aren’t doing your wrist?” That seemed somehow less…icky.

  Bones tightened his arms around me.

  “Because then I couldn’t hold you. Quit stalling. You know what to do.”

  I pressed my mouth to his neck where his jugular would be. Since his heart didn’t beat, there wouldn’t be a rush of arterial spray. No, this would take suction. You know what they say, I thought darkly as I bit down hard enough for my square teeth to pierce his skin. Life sucks and then you die.

  The first warm splash made my stomach recoil, but I forced myself to swallow. A normal person can only drink a pint of blood before the body naturally regurgitated it. My normality had never been an issue before and it wasn’t now. I bit him again when the wound started to close, and Bones held the back of my head and pressed me closer.

  “Harder.” The word was clipped, and he let out a small gasp. Pain or pleasure, I wasn’t sure, and didn’t want to ask.

  “More.”

  This when I attempted to pull away. The harsh copper taste of his blood curled in my mouth. In this volume, it was miles away from the drops I’d taken over the last few months. I drank deeper, ignoring the urge to spit it out.

  Something started to happen inside me. Strength grew, unfurling its tentacles and branching out to slither through me. Everything seemed at once sharper. His skin under me had a scent far stronger than I’d ever noticed. The room was perfumed with the earlier sweat from my body, and the bodies of those before us. Background noise of the people in the units around us increased in volume, as did the sounds from outside. My vision crystallized into a clarity it had never experienced. The darkness lightened shade by shade.

  The feel of his skin splitting beneath my teeth became almost sensual. I bit him harder, suddenly enjoying the spill of his blood into my mouth. I yanked his head back, biting hi