Kiss of the Vampire(101)

The dog’s tail thumped once against the floor and then he rested his head on his paws.

A small smile curved Nix’s mouth, then she looked down at the small box in her hands, turning it over and over. “How do you suppose this works?” She glanced up at Tobias.

He sat on the edge of the mattress and took the device from her. “We can figure that out later.” When she started to reach for it, he leaned over and placed it on the end table, out of her reach. He took her hands in his. “The last thing we need to do is just start turning dials to see what happens.”

Pink swept over her cheeks. “I-I wasn’t thinking of doing that.”

“Uh-huh.” He reached out and chucked her lightly under the chin. “You need some rest, honey.” He stood and started to move away, only to be stopped by her grabbing his hand.

“Don’t go.”

“Nix…” There was no way in hell he could stay in this bedroom with her and not put his hands on her. She was naked under that thin cotton, and he wasn’t gentleman enough to continue to resist her allure.





Nix stared at him, holding her breath. She started to respond to him and then realized something. That inner burning and itching sensation she usually got when she was ramped up, the same one that had allowed her to go demon on the vamps in the desert, was gone. Her demon rested quietly. She recalled saying something about that earlier, but she’d been so exhausted, her body transitioning from human to vampire, that she couldn’t remember exactly what conclusion she’d come to. Something about it being her humanity that had caused all the trouble.

Nix reached forward and took Tobias’s hands in hers. “I don’t have a clear memory of everything that happened after Natchook bit me, but I remember this. I told you that I love you. And I do.” She squeezed his fingers.

His pupils dilated and those vamp pheromones rolled off him in undulating waves. Knowing he was helpless to stop his reaction to her, she welcomed them. Reveled in them and the answering emotions they drew from her, like love. And a healthy dose of lust. And, now that she was part vampire, she could send some of her own.

He leaned down and kissed her lips, tongue seeking, using a gentleness she neither needed nor wanted. Nix planted her hands against his chest and pushed him onto his back. She shimmied out of her shorts and top and then yanked the towel away from him, watching with greedy eyes as his shaft thrust upward, a clear drop of liquid already lubricating the fat head.

She wrapped her fingers around him, stroking from base to tip. As she leaned forward, Tobias stopped her with his hands on her shoulders. “Not that I don’t appreciate what you’re about to do,” he said, his eyes serious but a little anxious. “But can we wait on that until you get used to those?” He motioned toward her mouth.

Nix ran the tip of her tongue across her fangs, wincing when they cut into her own flesh. “Good idea.” She came up over him and lowered herself onto his hard shaft, inch by slow inch, until her buttocks were cradled by his upraised thighs.

She lifted herself and slammed down on top of him. Again. And again. She didn’t want slow and sweet. Not this time. She wanted the heat of primal mating. Every thrust made her writhe. Every time his black eyes met hers she burned inside, but not with the fire of the demon.

With the fire of lust. No, it was more than sex. It was love. Pure, unadulterated, love. “I love you,” she gasped, bracing herself with her hands against his hard chest, her nails digging into his muscles as she came.

He gave that little smile of his before he climaxed with a throaty growl. “And I love you.” He held her in place until the pulses within her quieted, then he shifted to one side, still inside her, and tugged her close. “Forever.”

Forever. That had a nice ring to it, especially since he meant it literally. Or as close to literal as anyone could get.

“And that?” she asked, looking at the rift device.

“That,” he said, placing a soft kiss on her mouth and then getting off the bed, “we’ll get to Victoria tomorrow.” He picked it up and padded over to her dresser. He studied the device a moment, resisting the urge to turn it on, then tucked it beneath a pile of silken bras in her top drawer. As he turned back toward the bed, he said, “If we can dismantle it without activating it, we need to put the pieces in various places so it can’t be reassembled easily. And the council can’t know we know about it, let alone that we have one.”

“Don’t forget the schematics and the flash drive.” She leaned up on her elbows. “Do you think Victoria will agree to keep it secret?”