Page 29 of Vampire Visions

“Well, I guess there’s only one way to know for sure.” He looked a little nervous now that he knew that I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t really blame him, either. The whole sealing ourselves together part was nerve-wracking. Not to mention the ceremony we still had to participate in to make it official per the laws of Vampyre. A vampire wedding, we all joked… I guess this was the same thing as eloping to Vegas with a guy that I met last week. Except we didn’t get the option of divorce. We could break up, but never fully separate after sealing the bond.

“Did you ever hear the story about Ferdinand and his bride?” When Novak shook his head silently, I continued with a shortened summary of the tale. “At their ceremony, he promised to buy his bride a cocoa tree every year until he was no longer living. She promised to never live without him. Together they promised that as long as their love was known, the trees would thrive. He was eventually killed in some war. She took her own life moments after she felt their bond break. They left an entire island filled with hundreds of trees to their only child, Wilhelm. He refused to acknowledge their love or care for what they had grown together, so the trees began to wither. Eventually, they all died.”

“They all died? What happened then?” His eager questions made me snicker, even though the story always made me sad.

“They all died,” I repeated. “The island they were planted on became a barren wasteland, unable to sustain any form of life. Then it was inherited by Wilhelm's only child. The young man cherished his grandparents’ love story, and the island started to change under his care. It took a couple centuries, but eventually life grew there once more.”

Novak looked stunned. “How?”

“It all started with a promise,” I whispered to him. “I’ll show you someday. We have plenty of time.” I smiled at him before getting us back on track. “Okay. Are you ready?”

“Yes and no.” Novak tilted his hand from side to side. “We need a cup, and I’m a little nervous about the sex part.”

I laughed at him as a cup appeared on my desk. “Liar.”

“It’s kinda weird when you do that without snapping or moving your hands at all. You know that, right?” He shook his head in amusement. “We’re using your coffee mug? I thought… traditions and all that bullshit.” He waved his hand at the knife I was holding.

“Those traditions are boring. I wanted to make our own.” I widened my eyes at him in question. A small smile played at his lips, and he closed his eyes as he nodded his head.

I sliced a two inch cut in the soft flesh below the bend at my elbow, letting the blood run freely down my arm and fingers. Novak held my favorite coffee cup under my fingertips, collecting my offering. Then we swapped. Novak drew the knife across his skin, and I held the cup as our blood mingled inside it.

“Ready for step two?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I mean, yes, but don’t be mad if I say something stupid. Okay?”

I just grinned at him before turning the mug up to take the first sip. I usually didn’t drink blood straight, preferring to mix it with something that tasted better. This… wasn’t bad, though. Not like the bitter flavor that accompanied the bagged human blood that Franklin stocked in the fridge in the garage. This was vampire blood, intoxicating and addictive. I passed the cup to Novak, waiting for the blood magic to take over.

We stared at each other for several seconds, or minutes. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I felt the twisting begin around my heart. Like a ribbon twining tighter with each beat, the feeling was suffocating but in the best possible way. It was like we were becoming one. All at once, I felt the right words at the tip of my tongue.

“I, Sloane King, promise you, Novak Malin, that I’ll never ask you to change. I’ll love your spontaneity and playfulness as much as I’ll love that hidden anger of yours. I’ll always be your partner in crime and your alibi.”

My words settled over us like a blanket, comforting and warm. Novak smiled at me like I’d just handed him the world. I wanted to return his smile with one of my own, but my head was beginning to spin from the blood magic. When he finally spoke, his words sounded so close yet so far away.

“I, Novak Malin, promise you, Sloane King, that I’ll take all of your good and your bad as my own. I’ll love your murderous tendencies as much as I’ll love your passionate moments. I’ll always be your easy escape, not your burden.”

I couldn’t help myself after hearing his promise, I surged forward, using my left hand on the back of his neck to pull him closer to my lips. His fingers bumped each of my ribs before finding the dip in my waist and continuing south. He leaned down to squeeze the tops of my thighs, dragging his nails all the way back up to the band of my tights. Novak grabbed the bottom of my shirt and yanked it over my head in one swift movement.

His hands returned to my thighs at the same time as his mouth found mine again. He hauled me up his body until he didn’t have to bend to kiss me. I resisted none of it. Instead, I kicked my legs up to wrap around his waist. My right arm hung over his bare shoulder and my left hand pulled at his thick hair, urging him to move back toward my bedroom.

He didn’t walk. He was a blur of motion, making it to my bed in a single breath without breaking our kiss. I smiled against his lips when he swept his arm out to throw all my stuff on the floor before lowering me to the bed. I didn’t care. I could finish packing later. This moment was much more important than all the shit strewn across my room.

He pulled away from me, running his hands down my sides until he reached the last fabric barrier on my body. While his eyes traced the path his hands were on, I watched his face and the way he licked his lips. I could have looked his body over, taken the moment to study his tattoos, or drooled over the way his muscles strained with each move he made. But I didn’t.

He had a beautiful body, but that wasn’t what held my attention. His eyes were everything in this moment. They glowed so intensely that it was like looking into liquid gold. The colors ebbed and flowed, swirling in hypnotic patterns as he uncovered me inch by torturous inch. Slowly, he devoured the sight before him.

His eyes jumped up to my face before he grabbed my ankles. Easing me to the edge of the bed, he sank to his knees before me. He pulled my legs over his shoulders, his hands going under my ass. His fingers were just the right amount of rough as they pressed into my skin. His mouth, though… Fuck.

His tongue traced the edges of my lips, delicate and precise. He didn’t dive right in. There were no fast strokes. He wasn’t licking at a melting ice cream cone. No. He was savoring his favorite treat. He didn’t want to finish it in two bites; he wanted to make it last.

The moan that left my mouth should have told him that wasn’t going to work. I wouldn’t last long at all. Every flick of his tongue had my eyes rolling further into the back of my head. I quivered beneath his touch, feeling the rapid tightening low in my belly. He increased his pressure but not his speed. When my orgasm rolled through me, my back arched off the bed. He didn’t stop until I shoved at his forehead.

“Dastardly Vampire,” I hissed at him with an indolent grin.

He nodded his head, a smirk twisting the corner of his full lips. “I can be wicked,” he agreed. Removing his sweatpants, he watched me scoot further onto the bed. He didn’t let me get far before he dragged me back to him.

As he moved between my legs again, I had a single moment of clarity. Focus, bitch. I needed to do that stupid birth control spell. It wasn’t words. It was a sigil — runes, symbols, whatever you wanted to call them — and I had to draw it in my head, line for line. Every. Single. Time. That was going to get exhausting with six mates and a wealth of desire course through me.

“What are you thinking about?” Novak looked down at me curiously.