Page 22 of Saved by the Vampire Goddess (Dark Wine Vampires #1)

Chapter twenty-two

Evelina

Minnesota Ark Prime—Moments later

T he feel of his skin pressed against mine, the taste of his blood on my lips, and the satisfaction of being speared by his cock leaves me floating on a peaceful cloud. His face is smooshed between my breasts, and I take a tender moment to kiss the top of his head. While I still don’t know if I can trust him, I can’t fight the emotions pulling me closer.

F’n crapola. I can’t believe I turned someone vampire, that I’ve made a fledgling. After my jerk of a maker screwed me over, I swore I’d never do this to another human being.

When I made my vow, I failed to consider what might happen if someone I cared about begged me to turn them to save their life. What I might do in that split second. What the decision to bind us together for the rest of our lives would mean.

Not that the whole vampire-bond thing isn’t breakable. I broke from my maker. But if Valroy and I just let it be… What would the bond be like in ten years?

Because sharing blood really amped up his sensual magnetism and intensified the sex. But I’m curious about one thing.

“Not that I’m complaining, but why did you make sure I came before you entered me?”

“Uh—”

His skin suddenly warms against my breast. He’s still so close to being mortal after only two days as a vamp.

“Habit,” he sighs from between the girls.

“Habit?”

“I always make sure my partner comes.”

“You didn’t think I could come with you inside of me? I did before.”

“Well… I said it was habit. One leftover from not wanting my partner to get pregnant.”

“What?” I pause, trying to make sense of it. “So what, you’d get her off, and she’d blow you instead?”

He looks up at me, his face scrunched in a puzzled expression. “No, we’d still have sex.”

I stare at him. “And you’d pull out?”

He’s seriously frowning now. “No, I’d still come in her.”

“Wait, wait.” I sit up, forcing him to do the same. “You’re making no sense. Explain.”

“Everyone knows the woman has to orgasm while I’m in her for her to get pregnant. I got into the habit of making her come first before entering her to avoid that.”

Laughter erupts from me, guffaws so loud that Ricky and Lucy come scrambling into the room, their toenails clicking on the wood floor before they slide into the Berber carpet. Poor Valroy. He looks hurt. I really shouldn’t have laughed.

“I’m sorry,” I say as my laughter dies. Ricky and Lucy jump on the couch with us. “You two, down.” I roll off the cushions and shoo them out to their compound, closing the automatic door so it won’t open again until I trigger it.

Returning, I pull Valroy into my arms and lie back. “So, in New Rome, they believe simultaneous orgasms are required for pregnancy to occur?”

“Not precisely simultaneous, but while I’m still in her.”

“Got it. Do you know who started this myth?”

“Myth?” Now he looks offended.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but it isn’t true. Did it work for or against the woman’s interest in New Rome?”

“Men who are over thirty and without children, well, women presume they are terrible lovers.”

“And you, you give oral sex or a hand job first so they won’t tag you as a bad lover, while still avoiding pregnancy—in your mind.”

He looks sheepish. “I didn’t want children until after my sister was married, if at all. I didn’t want to marry and have my new wife rule the home over her. My sister has been the only woman in my house for so long, it felt unfair.” A pained look crosses his face. “It was my hope that she’d be running Titus’s household now. But she’s not with him.”

“Are you sure he would’ve understood the message?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I mentored Titus. We know each other’s minds, the way we speak. He dictated that reply over the landline to the reclamation container guard. Titus knew what I was asking. If my sister isn’t with him, then she’s with Maliff.”

“Perhaps she’ll handle the jerk better than you think.”

He shakes his head. “I have to rescue her.”

I groan. I’ve already promised him the opportunity after we steal the nuclear material, if we don’t get staked while trying to save the Minnesotan domes.

“You asked your question,” he says. “Now I have one. Why did you bite me?”

I chuckle. “Didn’t you like it?”

His cheeks flame a delightful pink. “It felt good. But that doesn’t explain—”

“Doncha know, it’s just something vampires do. Our fangs have a serum in them that includes a sexual stimulant.”

“Wait.” His eyes get big. “My fangs have the same stimulant yours do?”

“Yes.”

“Then I could bite you sometime?”

I give him a seductive smile. “Come to think of it, that would be good practice for you. Just in case you have to bite and mesmerize someone.”

“Mesmerize?”

“Read the book.” I pick it up from where it’s fallen on the floor, then boop his nose lightly with the green hardcover. “Read first. Then I’ll take you through the basics on how to mesmerize someone. Though without a mortal to practice on, it’s kinda difficult. The process doesn’t work on other vampires, but we can talk through the steps.”

He rips the book from my hands and tosses it on a nearby chair. Pivoting until he is on all fours, he rises and, heavy-lidded, stalks to me until he hovers above. “May I try biting you now?”

I grip him and spin until he’s on the bottom. “No. The moon’s about to set. We’ve got a ton of stuff for you to learn tomorrow. Go shower and get in bed before ya pass out.”

“Will you sleep with me?”

Rolling off him, I grab his hand and pull him to his feet, then let go. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

I run my fingernails through my hair, pushing the fine strands back. We may be lovers again, but these stronger feelings—they’re nothing more than the blood bond. At least, I hope so, because I can’t trust this to last. “Go. I want time for a shower, too.”

“Please, come with me.”

“Another time. Go.”

As he slumps away, he reminds me of Ricky whenever I have to scold him. Tail between his legs, that slow walk away, glancing over his shoulder to make sure I mean it.

And I mean it.

Don’t I?

The next night, the football is sitting in my inbox. At least, I guess the large object is the containment device. The darn thing is about four feet long and two feet in diameter, more a cylinder than a football shape.

Taped to its side are technical instructions on how to transfer the fissionable material. Wonderful.

I’m a musician, not a nuclear engineer. Maybe they should have forced Trevor to go with us…assuming he can still walk.

By the time Valroy wakes, I have glasses of dark wine heated, then I show him the football.

His eyebrows almost reach the ceiling. “Will that even fit in the suitcase we selected?”

“I already tried it. Goes in diagonally. But it’ll fit.”

“Hmm,” he murmurs as he eyeballs the device and downs his last glass.

Once he’s fed, I make him sit down and read the book. I answer, like, a zillion questions of what it means to be vampire, then teach him to turn into a bat and a wolf. The lessons are easier to learn when he’s only a few days old. Wait a week, and changing will become a bigger battle.

When he successfully transforms into a wolf, Lucy and Ricky, who’ve been napping by the couch, go scrambling out of the living area and flee through the automatic doors whining, their toenails rat-a-tat-tatting on the hardwood like a snare-drum beat, reminding me I need to take the Dremel tool to their nails soon.

I stroke Valroy’s wolf form, and he sticks his nose in my crotch.

Rude.

I smack his nose away, and he sits, pleading with those deep brown eyes with flecks of gold and a little wolf whine.

“Change back.”

He lies down, his head on his paws.

“What? Change.”

Then it strikes me. Newborns sometimes need extra dark wine to complete the transformation. I heat some blood and pour it into Lucy’s bowl—I’ll sterilize it later. He trots over and laps up the blood, then, with a full-body shake, starting from his long nose and ending with his fluffy tail, he transforms.

Naked male, aisle one.

Sporting a big boner.

I should have sent him to the bedroom. I don’t need the distraction tonight. Picking up the bowl, I hand it to him. “Finish it. You need the extra energy.”

The look on his face is priceless, and his erection shrivels as he climbs to his feet. “That’s Lucy’s bowl. I am not drinking from a beast’s bowl.”

Such a fussbudget. I should’ve known. “I cleaned the dish before pouring in the dark wine, and you already drank from it. Go ahead.”

I put a bit of command behind my voice. So far, I’ve not gone all heavy-handed maker with him. But we don’t have blood to waste, and he has no room to be prissy.

He drinks it down, giving me side-eye as he does. His cock immediately stands at attention. For cripes’ sake. Maybe…later?

I take the empty bowl from him and hand off his clothes. “Get dressed. We have to go pick up the rest of the bags we were promised.”

If it were anything but dark wine, I’d avoid going out tonight. We have so much to do and only four more nights until the big party. No, actually only three. We’ll sneak into New Rome the night before the dance.

This has got to be the craziest piece of lunacy I’ve ever agreed to—taking a newbie vampire into a dome full of mortals. And I’ve been to some wild backstage parties in my day.

I gun the snowmobile’s engine, revving it as fast as I can with him hanging on. We’re driving into a headwind with sleet. Why didn’t I leave him at home? Because he needs experience dealing with harsh weather. Who knows what it’ll be like the night we sneak the nuclear materials out of New Rome?

And maybe I just like having his arms around my waist.

We move quickly to collect the bags, and when we return to the ark, he reads more of the book while I make preparations for the ark to self-manage while we’re away.

The next night, I continue taking him through every lesson I can think of. We practice being stealthy, whooshing, walking around in the pitch-darkness without light, detecting scents at a distance, how to hear every sound, including the soft steps of a deer in the distance.

The only thing I can’t do is test him around tantalizing, hot-blooded mortals.

So I do the next best thing. I place glasses of warm dark wine in a circle and direct him to sit in the middle on the floor, the alluring fragrance wafting his way while he struggles to stay still.

He lasts five minutes.

I’m so f’n screwed.