I stared miserably at the door while I waited for the man who’d been a stranger to me up until mere hours ago to decide my fate.
I didn’t have to wait long.
After only a few minutes, the door swung open and Warin stepped in.
There was something distinctly lighter about him than there’d been since the fanatics tied him up, and when I caught his gaze, I saw his eyes were once again startling blue, rather than pitch black. He’d also retracted his fangs, which did a lot to take the edge off his “terrifying creature of the night” vibe.
He didn’t say anything as he took in my disheveled form sprawled on his bed.
“I… think I need to go to the hospital,” I said, breaking the silence and hopefully reminding him of his promise not to harm me. My voice was about as pitiful as I felt—which was quite a bit. “I’m not doing too good.”
Warin shook his head and walked to the bed. “No. I will take care of you. It will be much faster.”
“What will be much faster?” I asked. He hadn’t brought a First Aid kit with him.
The vampire sank down on the bed next to me and rolled up his left sleeve, displaying a patch of clean, pale skin emblazoned with an intricate tattoo. “Vampire blood has strong healing properties for humans. Come.” With a smooth movement, he scooted further back on the bed, spread his legs, and grabbed me by the hips, easily lifting me up and then depositing me between his thighs, my back pressed against his chest.
I squeaked and was admonished with a, “Shh.”
Warin wound his right arm loosely around my stomach, ensuring I stayed put, and lifted his bare left arm out of my field of vision. I heard a snick right by my ear, and then his arm reappeared in front of my lips. Blood bloomed from two puncture wounds on his wrist. “Drink.”
What? Ew. Ew, ew, so much ew! Did he really expect me to…?
I stared at his wrist, suddenly overwhelmed with the intimacy of the situation as much as the thought of actually drinking someone else’s blood. His strong body was pressed against my back, his legs cushioning mine, and while he might have been fully clothed, I was only in a ruined summer dress. And my tits were out, I suddenly remembered. If I’d had enough blood left in my body, I’d have blushed when the realization hit me that I’d effectively flashed him and every other vampire in the mansion.
I’d forgotten. In the middle of all the horrors, I’d actually forgotten I was half-naked, save a solid smearing of dirt that clung to every inch of me.
“Er… I think I prefer some iodine. Thanks, though.”
Warin chuckled softly in my ear. “Drink, Liv. I promise, you will feel much better for it.” And then he pressed his bleeding wrist to my lips.
The tang of blood hit my nostrils before my tongue slid out without my consent to lick at the sticky fluid smeared against them.
Sensation exploded across my taste buds, making me gasp into his wrist. More blood dripped into my mouth, and I moaned without meaning to. Oh, goddess, it tasted like… like wild, dark, fantastic…!
I clutched onto the vampire’s wrist with a strength that surprised even me and deepened my mouth’s contact with his skin. Blood, thick and sinfully sweet, dripped past my lips and buzzed on my tongue.
“That’s enough,” Warin groaned. “If you drink too much, you will become intoxicated.”
When I only clung on tighter, he released my waist and gently dislodged me from his wrist. He remained close, though—near enough that I could feel his hard chest press against my back and his even breath against my ear. It didn’t feel awkward anymore, though.
“Intoxicated?” My lips prickled pleasantly, and I licked them with a happy hum. My entire body seemed to buzz with a low frequency.
“My blood is very potent,” he said. “How do you feel?”
“Amazing.” I smiled, completely at peace with the universe and life in general. That was when I realized my wounds no longer ached. I traced the cut on my collarbone with a fingertip and found the flesh welded back together. “Magic?”
“Hmm,” he hummed, neither confirming or denying. His breath blew some of my hair that’d escaped the ponytail during the night’s abuse against my cheek. It tickled.
“Warin?”
“Liv?”
“Why do you breathe? You weren’t while you were sleeping, so clearly you don’t need to.”
The vampire made an amused noise. “More questions?”
“Well, yeah, if…” Something dawned on me, and I sobered considerably. “If you don’t mind. I know you were, ah, hungry.” Would he expect me to return the favor? I rubbed subconsciously at my neck, the small hairs all along my body standing on end. Suddenly, his proximity was less than soothing.
“I ate. We breathe because that’s how we scent. Our sense of smell is as important as our eyes and ears.” I paled significantly at the casual reference to his meal.
“Oh, you… uh, you ate someone? While your brother took me up here?” Flashes of our dead kidnappers played on loop before my mind’s eye. I didn’t mourn them—the bastards had tried to get me eaten alive, after all. But their lifeless bodies had been a very clear indication that my new vampire buddy wasn’t always as pleasant as he seemed now.
“No.” Warin moved away from me, swiveling his legs around so he could leave the bed. He stood up and began to fiddle with his sleeve, covering up the tattoo and bite. A quick glance at his face confirmed his fangs were safely hidden away again.
As if he could feel my eyes on his mouth, he gave me a short look. “I have donor blood in storage.” Then, for the briefest moment, his gaze flickered to my chest. “I’ll get you a change of clothes. If you wish, you can wash up in the bathroom.”
“Oh. Oh!” I quickly slapped my hands up to cover my breasts. “Y-yeah, thank you. That’d be great.”
My legs were still wobbly as I made my way to the en-suite, but not like before. It felt more like I was walking on clouds rather than having two pieces of boiled noodles attached to my body.
Warin’s bathroom was as sparsely decorated as his bedroom, but there was no questioning the luxury of it. Black marble tiled both the walls and the floor, and the shower looked like something straight out of Millionaire Living. I gave it a long look—he’d said to wash up, and I’d planned on maybe using the sink, but the sight of the glass-paned shower made me reconsider. It might be a bit odd to shower in a stranger’s home, but on the other hand, drinking someone’s blood really ought to ease up the rules of etiquette.
Mind made up, I tossed my ruined dress and underwear on the floor and stepped in.