“Yes.” He smiled widely, grabbing my hips to control the motion.

“Uh,” I cried out again, laughing. “Stop doing that.”

“What?” He rolled his hips downward, making my insides twitch and my toes curl.

“That!”

“Oh, you like that, do you?”

“Stop it—I can’t control my voice when you do it. Uh!”

David laughed and did it again. “Do you know what that feeling is?”

“An act of God?”

“Ha-ha,” he chuckled. “You’re peaking—in a minute you’ll go over that ridge and...”

“Orgasm?”

“Yes.”

“I thought that was something only porn stars did.”

He laughed, loud and full, rolling his head back. “Then we better get my camera out, because, my love, you are about to org—” He bit his lip, thrusting into me harder.

I turned my head to the side, breathing heavily, reaching for something to ground me again. My fingers tangled the sheet under my hips as every pulse in my body flowed down to that one place below, surrounding me in an intense stillness of excitement—better than drinking blood.

“You should try it while drinking blood,” David said and sank his teeth into my neck. He bit hard, really hard, as each muscle along his forearm tensed, flowing down his shoulders, tightening his hips under my thighs. He stopped moving, and pushed into me, holding me in place as his bite spilled warm blood out over my shoulder.

David, bite harder.

I didn’t need to ask twice. His chin pressed into my collarbone, his teeth savagely gnawing at my flesh, catching the tendon, making my arms tighten. But the pleasure of his bite only excited my nerves, sending tingles down my spine—into my toes, controlling my movements—forcing my back to arch, my pelvis rising up to meet his.

My fingers twisted the sheet tighter as, with one tiny movement of David’s body, all the lust, the fear, the perfect, intrinsically delicious sensation sent a burst of excitement from my lips in a pathetic squeak. I felt everything; his breath, his hands, the heat, the cold—cumulating and rising up from my knees, into my hips, tightening my stomach—Oh God—I breathed, unsure whether to panic, or cry, or giggle. “Holy shit!” I thrust my hands into my hair, practically crying, wanting to kick my legs or tremble uncontrollably.

My vampire sucked the last remains of liquid from my neck and drew back, breathing heavily as he looked down at me. I was lost, totally lost; the sensation that tipped my body over the scales flooded away with a rush of tranquillity—weakening my legs; they fell softly against his hips, a numb exhaustion filling my chest with giggles.

“Ara!” He stared at my neck, his whole body rigid.

“What?” I stopped smiling.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” David jumped back and shuffled to the foot of the bed, clutching the sheet to his groin.

“What?”

“I—”

“Is she okay?” Emily burst in the room.

“Emily!” I grabbed the other end of the sheet to cover myself. I really need to get a lock.

“What’s going on?” Mike flicked the light on, still buttoning his jeans. “Em?”

“He used his fangs.” Emily sat on my bed, taking both my hands, looking deep into my eyes.

“What?” Mike looked at David, livid fury in his gaze, until he saw what I only noticed then; David’s black eyes; hollow and horrified; he stared at me like he’d just taken my last breath.

“I—I lost control,” David said.

My hand flew to the bite mark. I rolled it away, looking at the blood. “You used your fangs?”

Mike’s shoulders dropped, his eyes tearing. “Is she...is she gonna die?”

I panicked. I didn’t feel anything. Nothing. No sting. No rushing infusion of agony. I looked at my fiancé, who hadn’t moved an inch, sitting with the sheet just covering his lower half, at the foot of the bed.

“What have I done?” he said, his words falling to the oblivion he was lost in.

“I—” I looked around the anguished faces. “I feel fine. It didn’t even hurt.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Emily looked over to David. “That’s how humans feel when we kill them.”

“But, I’m okay though—it’s not burning. I don’t feel any different.” I clutched the sheet to my chest.

David, with curiosity behind his eyes, crawled across the bed and sat before me, the sheet forgotten. Mike shook his head, looking away; Emily just smiled.

“My love.” He cupped my face, looking right into my soul.

“I’m fine.” I placed my hand over his, using my other one to cover his manhood, half smiling.

“She should have had some kind of reaction by now.” His eyes narrowed, then he looked knowingly at Em. “If she was going to, she—”

Emily nodded in agreement.

“There’s no way of knowing that,” David said, looking suddenly up at Mike.

Mike shrugged. “It was just a suggestion.”

Emily and I shared the confusion. “Knowing what?”

“When Jason bit you, we always just assumed you didn’t have the gene—that you can’t be changed—because you’re still human,” Mike said.

“Right.” Emily stood up, folding her arms. “David, is it possible that she does have the gene—that maybe something went wrong when Jason tried to change her?”

Thought washed across David’s face.

“Do you think that’s possible?” Mike edged forward.

“No one has been gifted the secret of transformation for over a hundred years,” David said, not taking his eyes off me. “All I know is that it’s not just a case of biting a human and leaving them alive.”

“Well, that’s just great.” Emily threw her hands up. “And it’s not exactly like you can just walk in there and ask the council.”

“I know. I—” David pressed a fist to his lips.

“Come on, Em.” Mike folded his arms, a tight frown darkening his eyes. “Let’s leave them to it.”

David looked at Mike then back at me as the door closed behind them—giving us back our privacy.

“What?” I said. “What was that look Mike just gave me?”