I furrowed my brow to a deep point, still hopelessly confused. "What slipped out? Teeth, even long ones, don't just slip out." I lost my train of thought as what he'd said finally registered with me...well, registered with my body, anyway. "Wait...I got you excited?"
He twisted his lips. The movement looked a little funny around his fangs. "You always get me excited." He lowered his gaze to my body and I flushed. Maybe we'd get to home base after all... But not until he fully explained this new development.
I shook my head and put my hands on my hips. "You're distracting me from this." I waggled my finger at his teeth.
He sighed. "I can't hide this from you forever, not with how close we're getting. I guess you should know anyway." He started to reach out for me and then seemed to change his mind. He let his hand drop back down to his side as he quietly added, "I want you to know."
I started tapping my foot-part nervousness, part irritation. "Know what?" I asked with forced patience.
His smile widened and I watched in shock as his teeth retracted to normal. My hands limply fell to my sides and my mouth dropped wide open-you could have parked a bus in there. "How did you do that?"
He indicated the sofa. "Have a seat. I'll explain it to you." I didn't sit, so much as fall. He clicked off the television and then sat down close beside me; his hands nervously ran up and down his gray slacks. He chuckled at my rapt attention to his mouth. "Well...to be blunt, I'm a vampire."
I couldn't help it. Any sane person would have had the exact same reaction I did. I laughed. I belly laughed. Pushing his shoulder away from me, I told him, "Be serious."
He didn't laugh with me, if anything, he looked a little offended. "I am."
My laughter slowly died down as I watched him watch me. His pale eyes relaxed as my giggles drifted off. "Okay." I bit my lip and forcefully stopped myself from chuckling. "You're a vampire. That's...wonderful."
He shook his head at my contained amusement. "Well, to be technical, I'm only a little bit vampire." He relaxed onto his elbows over his knees, seeming to be glad the hard part was over with...at least for him. I was still spinning with the absurdity of everything my, up until this point, seemingly normal, boyfriend was telling me.
"I'm sorry...you're what?"
Now he smirked and looked about to laugh. "I'm pretty sure you heard me." His grin mischievous, he leaned into my side. "But don't worry, I'm not hungry. You're perfectly safe." His tone was even more amused now.
I shook my head, hoping he was punking me. I decided to play along though. "Okay. Let's assume that you're not teasing me...or crazy. How does one become a 'little bit' vampire? Isn't that kind of like being a 'little bit' pregnant? Some things, you either are or you aren't."
He softly laughed. "Well, it's confusing..."
I pursed my lips and crossed my legs, as much as I could in my tight skirt, anyway. "Try me."
He raised an eyebrow and I startled as I considered the literal way my words could be taken to a vampire. He laughed in earnest at my reaction. "Really...I'm not going to bite you. Not unless you asked me to, anyway." He said the last part quietly, with a sparkle in his eyes and a small smile on his lips. I wondered if he was serious about that, and then wondered if I was just as crazy as he apparently was, for believing one iota of his tall tale. But then he started speaking, and I relaxed into the couch and listened to his smooth, deep voice. I tried to keep my mind as wide open as I could. He hadn't seemed crazy before this point. Maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt.
"My great-grandmother was turned while she was nine months pregnant."
"Turned?" I asked, wanting to be sure of my vampire terminology.
He smiled at my interest and splayed his fingers out to me as he explained his heritage. "Made into a vampire by another vampire...just like in the movies. Anyway, the change induced labor, and the baby was born before being...fully changed. My grandmother was born half-vampire, a rarity for our kind." He paused and sat back on the couch, looking over at me with a thoughtful expression. "In fact, we know of no others like us." He seemed to contemplate that for a second, and then continued while I soaked up his story like a sponge. "Gran married a human and had my mother-"
"Who's a quarter vampire?" I asked, leaning into him and bringing my legs up onto the couch. His tale was sucking me in.
He put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him, as he smiled down at me. "Something like that. Anyway, my mother also married a human, and had me, so..." he held his free hand out to his side, "...little bit vampire."
"Huh."
He pulled away and gave me an odd, relieved-offended look. "That's all you have to say...huh?" He exaggerated the way I had said it, and I twisted my lips at him, a little annoyed.
"Well, assuming that your little fable was real, I was just thinking that you should marry a full-blood vampire if you want to keep the trait alive, otherwise you'll dilute it right out." That had been the first odd thought that had popped into my head after hearing his story. Well, second thought really...right behind, Is he nuts?
He blinked at me and then started laughing. Then he grabbed my cheek with his free hand and pulled me in for a heat-inducing kiss. My body forgot his crazy story, forgot his pointy teeth, and focused instead on the multiple sensations coursing through every cell of my now highly sensitive skin. Teren's reaction to me progressed beyond anything he'd shown so far, and before I knew it, he was lifting me up with those incredibly strong arms, and sweeping me to his room upstairs, where we went right on rounding the rest of those bases. I guess his lack of interest had more to do with his hidden secret, than anything else.
Afterwards, we lay close together in his cream-colored, silk sheets, our legs entwined and my arm over his muscled chest. My head rested on his skin and I could clearly hear his evening heartbeat. I looked back up at his face, at the strong, stubbly jaw, the relaxed full lips, and the perfect pale eyes staring back at me.
"I think you're wrong," I said matter-of-factly.
He laughed, deep in his chest. "Am I? I'm assuming we're still on the vampire thing."
I scoffed at his casualness. "Vampire thing. You say that like it's only as strange as having a sixth toe or something."
His eyes widened and he got a huge grin on his face. "Do you have a sixth toe?" He looked down at my feet loosely coiled up in his sheets and I gently kicked his shin.
"No! It was just an example." I raised my head off his chest to fully look at him.
He laughed again. "Well it's not strange to me. Everyone in my family is...well, the women are anyway." His hand on my bare back started tracing circles into my skin.
I shook my head, processing his statement. "Your father is human, but your mother is not?"
He nodded. "Yes." He said it so easily, like we were discussing his nationality or something.
"So...you drink blood and stuff?" I bit my lip, wondering if I really wanted the answer to that, and thinking maybe I should have asked these questions before sleeping with him. Oh well. I guessed I had survived it, and while mind-blowingly good, it was pretty standard stuff, so if he did sip a little O-positive, he could at least control it.
He frowned. "You really want to know this?"
I propped myself up on my elbows and stroked his chest. "Yes, I do." And I realized that I did. I wanted to know everything about him, the good and the bad.
He sighed and his hand stopped its circular motion and dropped to my hip. He watched me for a moment, perhaps judging if I would stay put on his chest once he told me his answer. Finally, he said, "Yes...I do, sometimes. It tastes good to me and I enjoy it, but I can eat regular food too and I enjoy that as well, as you've seen."
I cocked my head. I'd never heard of an omnivore vampire before. Of course, I'd never heard of a vampire with a heartbeat before. "Oh, that's interesting. So your body is..."
He visibly relaxed, since I hadn't bolted from the room. "Mostly human. I do everything...human males...do." He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. His hand returned to my back and he smiled at me.
"That's so weird. So, you drink blood on occasion and have fangs..." Remembering back to our little tumble not so long ago, I gave him a curious look. "Where did your fangs go?"
He blinked at me, a small laugh escaping him. "What?"
"When we were...you know...you were fangless. Why didn't they pop out when you were excited?" I probably shouldn't have asked him such a personal question, not that we weren't quite personal with each other now, but maybe his teeth were something really private that I shouldn't have brought up. Like him wanting to discuss tampons or something.
Amused, he shook his head. "And you say I'm casual about this." I twisted my lips into a pout and he grinned. "I can control it...most of the time. It's easier to do now, knowing that you know, and if I mess up, you won't go running or anything. It takes the pressure off."
"Weird." He seemed okay talking about it, so I continued my train of thought. "So...on the couch... You didn't mean to do that?"
"No...definitely no." His pale eyes looked down at my fingers on his chest. He still seemed a touch embarrassed about his slip-up.
I brought a finger to his cheek and stroked it; the light stubble grazing my skin was delightful to touch. He looked up at me, a warm smile on his lips. I held my breath, reluctant to ask my next question, since it was one that would probably embarrass us both. I really wanted an answer to it, though, so I sucked it up and said, "And, we've waited all this time, because you were afraid of that happening?"
He looked at me with a blank expression. I thought for a moment that maybe he didn't understand what I was vaguely referencing. Or maybe he did, and he just didn't want to answer me. But then he finally smiled and said, "It's only been three weeks. You make it sound like I've been holding out on you for years." His mouth twisted into a devilish grin. "I didn't realize you wanted me so bad. I was just trying to be a gentleman." He laughed again as the hand on my back tightened into a hug.
I playfully patted his shoulder. "Shut up."
The last rays of the sun sank all the way down as we talked and the room darkened to blackness. I laid my head on his chest and again marveled at his steady and strong heartbeat. Vampire? If I hadn't seen the fangs, I still wouldn't have believed it. He seemed too...human.
"Are you really sure?" I asked, as I looked back up to his eyes. My breath caught as I stared at his face. I believed. I fully believed. With the sun set and the heavy curtains blocking the street lights, the room should have been pitch-black. But it wasn't. There was light in his bedroom, and it was coming from him...from his eyes. They glowed, a phosphorescent glow, like someone had painted the whites of his eyes with glow in the dark paint. Aside from his teeth, it was the strangest thing I'd ever seen.
"Oh...wow. That's weird."
"What?" The glow narrowed as his eyes narrowed.
"Your eyes...that's just freaky." It was also a little hypnotic. I couldn't turn away from it, and I felt my head getting lighter and my face starting to relax. I could bathe in those eyes. I never wanted to look away. I'd follow those eyes anywhere...