Page 54 of Jealous Vampire

She shatters beautifully, her climax tightening around me, pulling my own from my body in a fierce rush that sends us both trembling in midair.

Only when she slumps against my chest, boneless and laughing breathlessly, do I lower us back to the red silk sheets I’d ordered for this night waiting at the edge of the room.

When we reach them, the world falls away in solemn worship of two creatures remembering what it means to be un-alive and still burning.

When it’s over, she lies against me, her skin aglow with candlelight, her breath soft against my chest. The ballroom is a ruin of petals and overturned glasses, but I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.

Outside, midnight bells ring. Another year. Another eternity beginning.

Elara traces the scar on my chest with a fingertip. “Do you ever regret it?” she asks softly.

“Regret loving you?” I lift her chin, meet her gaze. “That’s the only sin I’ll never confess or atone for.”

Her smile is quiet, certain. “Then drink to it.”

I raise her wrist to my lips, taste the promise there. She mirrors me, her teeth grazing my skin, our blood mingling once more.

“Until the end of ends,” I murmur.

She echoes it, voice like a prayer. “Until the end of ends.”

When I return her ring to her finger—her ring, my claim—the bond hums like a heartbeat between us, ancient and newly reborn.

The candles burn low.

Outside, the wind carries laughter from the last of the revelers, but inside the ballroom, the world has narrowed to two breaths, two magical heartbeats, and a promise carved in blood.

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