He bit her. Too late, his frenzied mind realized an unusual fact. Her skin might feel soft on the
surface like a human's, but the inner texture was totally different. Tough, thick, rubbery plastic. If this was relevant, it didn't register, for the smell of blood shattered his thoughts. His instincts claimed victory, howling in his brain like a starving animal. He sank his fangs in deeper and deeper, till at last he felt that sweet popping sensation as he broke through the arterial wall. Heaven. He was swimming in blood.
With a long suck, the blood gushed into his fangs and filled his mouth. He gulped it down and greedily drank more. She was delicious. She was his.
He smoothed a hand down to her breast and squeezed. What a fool he'd been, content to sip blood from a glass. How could that possibly replace the hot rush of blood flowing through one's fangs? By the devil, he'd forgotten how sweet this was. It was a total body experience. He was rock hard. All his senses were on fire. He'd never drink from a glass again.
With another tug on her neck, he realized he'd drained her dry. Good to the last drop. But then a touch of clarity broke through the sensual daze. Bloody hell, he'd lost control. If she were mortal, she'd be dead. And he would have murdered another child of God.
How could this possibly advance the cause of civilized vampire behavior? This doll would remind every vampire how intensely pleasurable it was to bite. No vampire, even the most evolved, modern-day Vamp, could partake of this experience without wanting the real thing. All he could think about now was biting the first live female he came across. VANNA was not the answer to human preservation.
She was the death knell to their existence.
With a groan, Roman ripped his mouth away from her neck. Blood splattered onto the doll's white skin, and at first, he thought she'd sprung a leak. But no, he was sure he'd drained her dry. Damn, the blood was coming from him. "What the hell?"
"Oh my God," Laszlo whispered.
"What?" Roman looked at her neck and there, lodged in the tough plastic, was one of his fangs.
"Sheesh!" Gregori stepped closer for a good look. "How'd that happen?"
"The plastic-" More blood dripped from Roman's mouth. Damn, he was losing his lunch. "The plastic is too tough and rubbery inside. Not at all like human skin."
"Oh dear." Laszlo attacked another button with his nervous fingers. "This is terrible. The texture was so real on the outside. I didn't realize … I'm so sorry, sir."
"That's the least of our problems." Roman wrenched his tooth from the girl's neck. He'd explain his unfortunate conclusions later. For now, he needed his fang fixed.
"You're still bleeding." Gregori handed him a white handkerchief.
"The feeding vein that connects to the fang is open." Roman pressed the handkerchief against the gaping hole where his right fang should be. "Thit."
"You could use your own healing powers to seal the vein shut," Laszlo suggested.
"It would be clothed permanently. I'd be a one-thided eater for all eternity." Roman removed the bloody handkerchief from his mouth and reinserted his fang into the hole.
Gregori leaned over to look. "I think you got it."
Roman released his hold on the tooth and attempted to retract his fangs. The left fang did as it should, but the right one fell from his mouth and landed on VANNA's stomach. More blood seeped from the wound. "Shit." Roman stuffed the handkerchief back in his mouth.
"Sir, I suggest you go to a dentist." Laszlo picked up the fang and offered it to Roman. "I've heard they can put a lost tooth back."
"Oh, right." Gregori snorted. "What's he supposed to do, waltz into a dental office and say, 'Excuse me, I'm a vampire and I lost a fang in the neck of a sex toy. They're not going to line up to help him."
"I need a vampire dentitht," Roman announced. "Look in the Black Pageth."
"The Black Pages?" Gregori zoomed to Roman's desk and began opening drawers. "You know, you're starting to lisp."
"I have a bloody rag in my mouth! Look in the bottom drawer."
Gregori located the black phone directory for vampire-owned businesses and flipped it open to reveal the white pages within. "Okay." He ran a finger down the advertisements. "Cemetery plots. Coffin repair. Crypt-keeper services. Custom-made crypts-fifty percent off. Interesting."
"Gregori," Roman growled.
"Right." He turned the page. "Okay. D's. Dance lessons-learn to move like a Latin lover. Dirt deliveries- sleep like a baby in topsoil from the Old Country. Dracula costumes-small to plus sizes."
Roman groaned. "I'm in deep thit." He swallowed hard and grimaced at the taste of stale blood. The meal had tasted better the first time down.
Gregori turned another page. "Draperies-guaranteed to block out that annoying sunlight.
Dungeons-your choice of several floor plans." He sighed. "That's it. No dentists."
Roman slumped into a wingback chair. "I'll have to go to a mortal." Damn. He'd have to use mind control, then wipe the dentist's memory clean afterward. Otherwise no mortal would be willing to help him.
"We may have trouble finding a mortal dentist who's available in the middle of the night." Laszlo dashed to the wet bar and grabbed a roll of paper towels. Then he proceeded to wipe the blood off VANNA. He gave Roman a worried look. "Sir, it might be best for you to keep the tooth in your mouth."
At the desk, Gregori thumbed through the Yellow Pages. "Sheesh, there's a ton of dentists." He straightened with a jerk and grinned. "I found it! SoHo SoBright Dental Clinic-open twenty-four hours a day for the city that never sleeps. Bingo."
Laszlo let out a deep breath. "What a relief. I'm not sure, since I've never heard of anything like this happening before, but I'm afraid if your fang is not successfully implanted tonight, then it never will be."
Roman sat up. "What do you mean?"
Laszlo threw the bloodied paper towels in a trash can by the desk. "Our injuries are naturally healed while we sleep. If dawn comes and you fall asleep with your fang still missing, your body will close the feeding veins and the wound for good."
Shit. Roman stood. "Then it mutht be done tonight."
"Yes, sir." Laszlo fingered a button on his lab coat. "With any luck, you'll be in perfect shape for the annual conference."
God's blood! Roman gulped. How could he have forgotten the annual spring conference? The Gala Opening Ball was scheduled for two nights from tonight. All the major coven masters from around the world would be there. As master of the largest coven in America, Roman was hosting the big event. If he showed up, missing a fang, he'd be the brunt of jokes for the next century.
Gregori grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled down the address. "Here you go. You want us to come with you?"
Roman removed the handkerchief and tooth from his mouth so his directions would be clear.
"Laszlo will drive me. We'll take VANNA with us so everyone will assume we're taking her back to the lab. You, Gregori, will go out with Simone as planned. Nothing will appear out of the ordinary."
"Very well." Gregori zipped over to his boss and handed him the address of the dental clinic. "Good luck. If you need any help, just give me a call."
"I'll be fine." Roman gave his two employees a stern look. "This incident will not be spoken of again, not to anyone. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." Laszlo picked VANNA up.
Roman watched the chemist's hand curve around one plump buttock. God's blood, with all that had happened, he was still hard. His body thrummed with desire, craving more blood and more female flesh. He could only hope that this dentist would be male. God help any mortal female who crossed his path right now.
He still had one fang, and he was afraid he'd use it.
CHAPTER 2
It was another endlessly boring night at the dental clinic. Shanna Whelan leaned back in the squeaky office chair and gazed at the white ceiling tiles. The water stain was still there. What a surprise. It had taken her three nights to conclude that the stain was the exact shape of a dachshund.
Such was her life.
With another loud creak, she straightened in her chair and glanced at the clock radio. Two-thirty in the morning. Six hours left on her shift. She turned the radio on. Elevator music droned forth to fill the office, an uninspired, instrumental version of "Strangers in the Night." Yeah, like she was going to meet a tall, dark, handsome stranger and fall in love. Not in her boring life. Last night, the pinnacle of her evening had been when she learned how to make her chair squeak in time with the music.
With a groan, she folded her arms on the desk and pillowed her head. How did the saying go? Be careful what you ask for because you might get it? Well, she had begged for boring, and boy, did she have it. In the six weeks she'd been working at the clinic, she'd had one customer. A young boy with braces. In the middle of the night, a wire had come loose in his mouth. His frantic parents had brought him here so she could reconnect the wire. Otherwise the loose wire could have stabbed the inside of the boy's mouth, resulting in … blood.