"Yes." The word was barely a whisper past my lips, but he heard me.
He bent down and ran his tongue along the expanding red trail. He made a deep noise in his throat, and looked up at me once he reached my knee. His fangs had slid out as my blood had touched his tongue. He bared his teeth to me for just a moment, and then he set his lips along my knee. I could feel the edges of his fangs against my skin, but he didn't bite, he only used his tongue and lips to sweep away the fresh blood. I smiled as I watched his enjoyment. I knew it would have looked really odd if anyone had been here to see him licking my knee like a human ice cream cone, but he was so content, sucking away while he massaged my calf with his strong hands. A big cat, kneading the carpet while enjoying a fresh bowl of cream.
After a long moment, he pulled back and I could see that the wound had closed and no more blood was oozing, just a faint, red line remained. He took the bandage from my hand, replaced it along my knee and then gazed up at me; the look on his face was pure rapture. "Thank you. You...are amazing."
I felt like the most beautiful, bloodied-knee girl in the world. Renewed guilt flooded through me. He had enjoyed that...more than a little. Here I was, with a surplus of something that he obviously ached for. What was a little pain, if it gave him such pleasure?
"Do you want some more?"
He answered automatically, his eyes closing in bliss. "Yes." Shaking his head, he opened his eyes and seemed to come out of it. "No...no I'm fine, thank you."
He started to stand, but I stopped him by putting my foot on his thigh. This brought my bare thigh inches from his face. He stared at it and froze. "Take a bite, Teren. A small one," I quickly amended. He shook his head, but his eyes never left my body. "It's all right. I want you to." He finally tore his eyes away to look up at me. I reached out and stroked his cheek as his eyes searched mine. "You said it would be intimate and you'd enjoy it and I want to give that to you. I love you." He seemed to be debating whether or not he should do this. He seemed to really want it and not want it at the same time. I ran a hand through his hair. "I trust you."
He opened his mouth and I swear his fangs got longer. He turned back to my leg and the hands that had been on my calf, ran up my thigh, pushing my skirt higher. I suddenly realized this might do more for me than I'd expected. He started inching towards me and my leg started shaking in anticipation.
Nervous energy shot through me, both at the erotic body part I'd offered him, and the fear of what was to come...pain. A part of me was also fighting the natural instinct to bolt away from a predator, instead of willfully letting one approach. But I trusted him, and he would never take more than my body could handle. He would never hurt me. Well, aside from the puncturing of the skin part, but there was just no way around that. I was hoping it was going to hurt less than the throbbing cut on my knee had.
His stubbly face rubbed against my skin and he let out a husky exhale. I found that I did too. His tongue brushed against my upper, inner thigh and all fear left me. I needed him to do this...now. I inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly. My exhale turned into a sharp gasp when his teeth sank into my flesh. It hurt, but nowhere near what I'd been expecting. He hadn't bitten deeply, and the sensation was almost immediately replaced by the warmth of his tongue and his lips. He made a primal, satisfied noise deep in his chest, as his hands worked at my thigh. I waited to feel the warmth of blood seeping down my leg, like they showed in every vampire film I'd ever seen, but Teren didn't let one drop of my liquid gold escape his lips. He was ravishing me...he truly was devouring me. And the noises he made, combined with his hands on my leg and the warmth of his tongue on my bare skin did amazing things to my body. I grabbed his hair and, with a groan of my own, pulled him tighter to me. He obligingly bit deeper and I gasped again, but not with pain this time.
I heard him swallow a few times and wondered how much he was taking. I knew he'd stop though. I felt no fear, just curiosity. His hands started moving down my thigh and his lips pulled away until only his tongue remained, licking the twin holes until the bleeding stopped. I felt a little rubbed raw...and completely unsatisfied. Damn if I hadn't liked it as much as he'd predicted.
He looked up at me and his eyes were faintly glowing, even with the daylight streaming into the room. Looking completely satiated, he smiled in drunken satisfaction. I carefully sank down to my knees and pushed him back, so we were both lying on the floor of his entryway; we were both a little breathless. His fangs were still out and I could see my blood on his tongue. I couldn't have cared less. I thoroughly kissed him, and then made him satiate me.
At least an hour later, we were both lying in his bed, happy and satisfied. My thigh ached a little, and I was pretty sure I'd be bruised a bit around the circular wounds, but I didn't care about that either. His biting me had been the most intimate thing I'd ever experienced with a man-human or vampire. I sighed in contentment.
Snuggling tight to me, he kissed my head. "See...I told you, you might like it."
I looked up at him. "Yeah...well, that doesn't mean you get to just bite me all willy-nilly. I don't want to look like some junky, with track marks all up and down my body."
He chuckled and leaned over to kiss my ear. "I can be discreet," he whispered.
I sat up on my elbow and looked down on him. My brown hair swept across my bare shoulder. He grabbed a strand and brushed it back behind my ear. "You enjoyed that a lot more than I expected," I said. Averting his eyes, he bit his lip. He almost looked worried. I brought his chin back around to face me. "It's okay. It's a part of who you are. It just surprised me, that's all."
Sighing, he looked over my face. "It surprised me too," he said quietly. He sat up in bed and I sat all the way up with him. He brought his knees up under the sheets and laced his arms over the top of them. Closing his magnificent eyes, he sighed again. "The desire is getting stronger in me. I'm starting to crave it...and..." He stopped talking and opened his eyes. He warily watched me, but didn't say anything. I could tell he didn't want to tell me whatever he was thinking about.
I put a hand on his arm. "What is it?"
He looked past me, at the far wall. "I'm starting to notice people, notice you."
"What do you mean?"
He returned his eyes to mine. He tried to smile, but failed and shook his head instead. "I notice your heartbeat, the pulse of your veins...the smell of blood on you." He looked down at his knees. "I was working in my office when you came in. I heard your car in the drive, but I wanted to finish the article I was doing..." He looked back up. "But when you opened the door and the smell of fresh blood hit me...I was downstairs before I even realized it. I couldn't stop myself, and I couldn't control rushing down...to be near it."
I swallowed. He had appeared almost instantly the moment I'd walked into the house. He had smelled me...from upstairs? I asked a question I didn't really want an answer to, but I needed to know the level of danger I was in being around him. "Did you want to attack me? Take it from me?"
He tried to look away again, but I grabbed his cheek and made him hold my gaze. There was clear guilt on his face and I knew the answer before he even opened his mouth. "Yes. For a fraction of a fraction of a second...I wanted to rip your throat out." I dropped my hand from his face as he admitted to the intensity with which he had wanted my blood. I had never anticipated those kinds of thoughts being in his head. Wanting a nibble was one thing, wanting to bathe in my blood as he destroyed my jugular, was quite another. His guilty look increased as he studied my stricken face. "Emma...I've never felt that before-ever. It scared me." He whispered that last part and looked at the sheets.
I composed myself, and tried to imagine the guilt and remorse he must be feeling at the horrific thought that had entered his brain. But it was only a split-second thought. He hadn't done anything that I hadn't willingly offered to him. I grabbed his chin again and gave him a light kiss. "You didn't, Teren. You didn't do anything wrong." I twisted my lips in amusement, as he watched me with sad eyes. "I practically had to gift wrap my thigh for you."
Shaking his head, he grabbed my hand and held it in his. "I still thought it. And I've never thought that way before. I've never seen people purely as...food." He looked down at our entwined fingers. "I'm worried that after the change... Maybe I'm wrong...maybe I'll be..."
I stopped his crazy train of thought. "No." He looked up at the conviction in my voice. "You won't, Teren. Not you. Today just took you by surprise, that's all. Once you get used to the new desires...you'll be fine. And you can taste me, if you really need it. Okay?"
He nodded briefly. His arms slid around me; one hand trailed down my body to my thigh. He brushed the red dots there with the back of his knuckle. "Did I hurt you very much?" His voice was soft and husky, as his eyes followed the motion of his finger under the sheets.
I grabbed his cheek and kissed him. "No...of course not. I barely felt it." After the initial prick anyway.
He tilted his head as he looked at me in adoration. "I love you."
I smiled as I wrapped my arms around him. "I love you, too. I must, I've never let anyone bite my thigh before." Chuckling, he pulled us both back down to the pillows.
He didn't bite me again for a while. I kind of thought it would get all tangled up with sex, and he'd take a draw every time we were intimate, but he didn't. He claimed I needed time to recuperate between feedings, but I got the feeling he just didn't want to get used to it, like I was some special treat that he only got on occasion. Call me crazy, but that made me feel kind of worshipped.
When he did bite me again, a couple weeks later, it was nearly euphoric. We'd been enjoying a bright afternoon, lying in the sun on the second story balcony. I was in my red "bite me" bikini and, needing a drink, I'd excused myself and slipped back into the house. As I was walking along the bookcase lined hallway that overlooked the living room, he had come up behind me with that blinding speed of his, and slipped his arms around me. He had me lying across the suddenly cleared off desk in his office in three seconds. Both of us breathing heavier, he ran his teeth along my outer hip all the way to the inside of my still-virgin thigh. I may have asked him to bite me. Frankly, I may have begged him to do it. He sank his teeth in and took a few long draws, while I marveled at the fact that I actually enjoyed it.
The holes weren't bad. It kind of looked like I'd tried a barbell piercing in my thigh, changed my mind, and took it out. By the time he'd taken the second bite, the first one had completely healed. Well, near completely. Two tiny specks remained that no one else would think twice about, not that many people were staring at my inner thigh. But the thrill of the memory gave me a rush whenever I peeked at them. With my aversion to pain, I'd never have suspected that biting would be a fetish of mine. Good thing I ended up with a vampire, I guess.
I confided my secret love to Ashley a few days later, when we met for lunch during my break at work. "Really...you let him bite you?" She seemed pretty taken aback by that, and I wasn't sure if the idea weirded her out, or if she knew me so well she was surprised I'd allow such a thing. Probably the latter.