Night's Master (Children of The Night 3)

I jerked away as if his finger had turned into a venomous snake. “No way! I like my blood right where it is, thank you very much.”

“Where's your spirit of adventure?” His fingertips slowly stroked my throat. “Aren't you the least bit curious?”

I was curious, but I wasn't about to admit it, especially to a hungry Vampire! Instead, I said, “Just seeing you is all the adventure I need. As for being curious, you know what happened to the cat.”

Raphael looked into my eyes, his gaze smoldering with desire, his voice low and husky as he murmured, “They say satisfaction brought him back.”

The man was incorrigible! Those bedroom eyes, that sexy voice…how long would I be able to resist? How long until I surrendered to the yearning in his voice, the hunger in his eyes?

“So,” I said, “tell me more about your parents.”

With a sigh, he settled back against the sofa. “My grandparents are both Vampires. Late one night, they found a young girl giving birth in an alley. The girl abandoned the baby, and my grandparents adopted her….”

“How did two Vampires raise a human baby?”

“They hired a nanny and, later, a live-in housekeeper and a bodyguard.”

“A bodyguard? Whatever for?”

“My grandfather is a wealthy man, plus he's made a few enemies in his time. He couldn't protect my mother during the day, so they hired someone who could.”

“Where did they find people willing to work for Vampires?”

“No one knew they were Vampires, except for the bodyguard. Even my mother didn't know. They told her and everyone else that they had a rare disease that made it impossible for them to go out during the day. My mother was a grown woman before she found out the truth. Ironically, my mother fell in love with a Vampire, although she didn't know he was a Vampire at the time.”

I shook my head, thinking it was the most far-fetched story I had ever heard.

“It's true,” he said. “Every word.” He stroked my cheek. “Falling in love with mortal women seems to run in my family.”

“I'm glad.”

“Kathy,” he murmured huskily, “I'm dying for want of you.” His fingertips drifted up and down my neck again, ever so lightly. “Just one taste, please?”

“And if I say no?”

“I'll expire here at your feet.”

I would have laughed if his voice hadn't been edged with pain, his expression filled with such naked yearning that I ached for him. Some said a Vampire's craving for blood was like a terrible drug addiction for which there was no cure. Vampires suffered intense agony if they were forced to go for long periods of time without feeding. It was a relentless pain, one that grew steadily worse. The only antidote was blood. In days past, Vampires had been locked up for years at a time. Some went mad with the pain, but none of them had died from it. The need just grew more and more excruciating, a hellishly endless torment that only blood or obliteration could bring to an end.

I didn't want Rafe to suffer even a moment because of me, and yet…how could I let him drink my blood? He had told me once that it didn't hurt, but I wasn't sure I believed that. How could someone sinking their fangs into your neck not hurt? What if he took too much? I remembered the woman he had tried to bring across. Though he hadn't said as much, I was sure she had died because he had taken too much, or perhaps he had taken it all.

“What do they look like?” I asked. “Your fangs?”

“Like this,” he said, and bared his teeth.

I guess I had been expecting huge canines, like a lion's, although I knew that was impossible. Rafe's fangs were neither as big or as long as I had imagined, but they were very white and looked needle sharp. Curious, I touched one with the tip of my finger and quickly drew back as it pierced my flesh. I stared at the drop of bright red blood. Sharp indeed! I'd hardly touched the darn thing.

I lifted my hand to my mouth, intending to lick the blood away.

“Let me,” Rafe said, and taking my hand in his, he put my finger to his lips and sucked lightly.

The heat of his mouth was unexpectedly erotic. A soft “ohhh” of sensual pleasure rose in my throat. If being bitten felt anything like this, I was surprised women weren't lined up for miles on end waiting their turn.

I could see by the look in his eyes that he knew the exact effect his touch was having on my senses. He kissed my palm, his tongue stroking the sensitive skin, and then he let go of my hand.

I looked at my finger, amazed to see that the tiny wound had already disappeared.

“Sweet,” he murmured. “Even sweeter than I imagined.”

“Blood isn't sweet.”

“Not to you, perhaps, but to me it's like the finest wine.”

“Well, at least you got your taste,” I muttered. “I hope you're satisfied.”

“Indeed, but it only whet my appetite for more.”

“If I let you drink from me this once, will you promise never to ask me again?”

“Do you think that's fair?”

“I don't care. Is it a deal?”

“Yes, it's a deal,” he agreed, “but with one stipulation.”

“What kind of stipulation?” I asked suspiciously.

“I will not ask you again, so long as you do not ask me.”

“You don't have to worry about that!” I said, completely confident that such a thing would never happen. “So, now what?”

“Now this.” He slipped his arm around my shoulders, tilted my head up ever so slightly, and kissed me, a long, lingering kiss that made me forget everything but the taste of his mouth, the heat of his body intimately pressing against mine, and a growing desire that threatened to spiral out of control.

I clung to him, lost in a world of sensual pleasure as he kissed me again, his hands skimming lightly over my back, my thigh, the curve of my breast. His touch was oddly familiar, as if we had made love a hundred times before. My whole being vibrated with need and with the excitement of discovery as my own hands moved over him, measuring the width of his shoulders, the hard wall of his chest, the silky texture of his hair.

His lips were warm as they kissed their way to my throat, his tongue like a living flame as it laved the skin beneath my ear. Moments later, pleasure such as I had never known flowed into me and through me. In a distant part of my mind, I knew that he had bitten me, that he was sipping my life's blood, but I didn't care. He could take as much as he wanted, he could take it all, if it would make this incredible feeling last forever.