Page 46 of Little Fangs

“This is yours to do with whatever you want,” he said, gesturing to the room. “And I guess the rest of the cabin. But specifically, this is your space, that I won’t come into, unless you want me to.”

“Thank you,” I said, bowing my head slightly. “Besides the room I was confined to, I’ve never had space of my own.”

“Whatever else you want, you say it, and it’s yours.”

“You,” I whispered. “Forever.”

Daddy reached across, bridging the gap between us. He stroked my chin. “You’re asking me for something I want to give you, eventually, but right now, is it okay for me to stay human?”

“I’d never force this on you,” I told him. “It’s hard sometimes, obviously, but I think about you growing old and—”

“It’s okay,” he said, hushing me. “The thing is, I do want it. You can watch the world grow for hundreds of years, and I envy it, but more than anything, I don’t want to stop being the provider, the caretaker, the man who keeps your heart beating.”

“You can still be one,” I told him.

“But you’ll never be able to feed from me, you’ll never be able to look up at me with those blood-drunk eyes, sleepy and full,” he said. “For this, I want to give it some time. Just a little more time.”

I nodded. “So, you want to be with me forever?”

He teased me with a playful hum. “Is that what I’m saying?” he mused. “Because I think it is. I want to be with you forever and ever.”

I jumped into his lap, knocking the near-empty pot of tea over on the blanket. Neither of us cared, as we rolled around in the teddies and the comfort of old blankets, once in a pile, now cushioning our bodies.

He held out his wrist for me. “Taste me and tell me if I’m telling you the truth.”

I didn’t need to, but I did, biting down on his wrist and feeling the sweet blood from those two perfectly clean puncture marks pour into my mouth. Blood was better than any lie detector. And he was telling the truth.

The Daddy of my dreams. I wished he could taste me too.

But all good things—well, they’ll happen in time.

It was the first real love I’d felt, and the last.

Our souls were practically bonded, and if they weren’t already, they were about to be.

Harlan Cartwright was my Daddy, and I was his good boy.

We were unstoppable.

We were forever.

EPILOGUE

MICAH

Eight Months Later

Life kinda fell apart, split at the seams, and then sewed itself right back up in the spring when Daddy fell from a tree. He hurt both of his legs. I healed him right up with my blood, but then he started to think, seeing things from my perspective. I was practically invulnerable. I could break a bone, but it would heal quickly—faster if I had a nice fresh supply of blood in my mouth.

So, on Daddy’s birthday in April, while a storm came through town, I turned him into a vampire, with the Council’s blessing, and the new family who worked for them at the manor house overseeing the entire thing. I bit until he was nearly drained, then I bit myself and braced my wrist to his mouth where he could drink me. I must’ve lost half of my blood to him drinking me.

There were rules on those types of things, especially when it came to giving a human your blood. Those types of things weren’t allowed without blessings from the local Council family; they called them a family but they never were. They were just people who worked for the Council, people who made sure the local vampire population was safe. It’s what Ludmila had done, and now it’s what Regina was doing with her fledglings. It was also what Caleb was supposed to have been doing—thankfully now he was imprisoned.

I’d never sired anything, but siring Daddy was one of the most fun experiences of my life. He was, through a blood binding, cemented to me. Anything I asked for, and anything I wished, he did it for me—which wasn’t too different from before he turned into a vampire. I freed him a week later, after making sure he knew what it meant to be a vampire.

It meant the house wasn’t protected anymore, and any vampire could step over the threshold. He didn’t seem to care about that, he was strong after all, and being a vampire made him all that much stronger. He also had one of the enchanted bracelets too, which meant I still had one spare—and I was holding onto that one as a just in case.

There was an adjustment period, but with Regina’s help and her fledglings, we formed a small community. I hadn’t been for the idea at first, but she was sweet. She had this ethereal glow to her and untamed blonde hair like a fairytale princess.