in his head. Fingers dug into the muscles of his back and she cried out near his ear. “Oh, God, yes!” Her climax continued drawing him deeper.
Approaching the edge of reason, Jake withdrew his mouth from the fountain of sweet nectar, but continued to ride the waves of release with his mousy mate. She thrust up against him again and again, gasping now, cooing as she slowed.
Jake opened his eyes to enjoy the way her face relaxed as the last of the need left her.
He glanced over to find Skidmore between the blonde’s thighs, fucking her as he drank from her tattooed breast. The girl arched up into him as she came.
A whimper drew his gaze to where the dark-haired woman watched them, her hand sliding ineffectively across her cunt. “What about me?”
Skidmore raised his head, smiling as he licked the last drop from his lips. “Don’t worry, my dear,” he said. “You’re next.”
The old vampire had stamina—Jake had to give him that. His own fires had been quenched to little more than smoking coals, and he returned his gaze to Beatrice as she caressed his face with her fingertips. He kissed her again, then rolled over to his side to watch the rest of the show. He heard a strange tinkle like pieces of glass colliding, and decided it must be his shattered Victorian morals raining down on the stone floor.
Skidmore nipped at the blonde’s stomach as he moved off her, then he sat up, cocked his head to one side and studied Jake. “What’s wrong, dear boy?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
Skidmore nodded toward the dark-haired woman. “Would you like to do the honors?”
Jake shook his head. “No, thanks.”
The older vampire sighed as if in sympathy. “I believe your metabolism is just too slow for this lifestyle.”
“Probably.” Pulling Beatrice into the curve of his body, Jake lounged and watched Skidmore work on the dark-haired woman’s incredible breasts with his hand between her legs. He brought her to two rather rapid climaxes, leaving red love bites on her skin.
Something about the moans of pleasure, the scent of female cum, and the way Beatrice began to push back against him soon had Jake aroused again, much to his surprise.
“Take me,” she whispered, turning her head to see him over her shoulder.
Jake lifted her hips into him and entered her quickly, nearly desperate to sheath himself in her hot cunt.
With one hand on her abdomen, he fucked her with slow, deep thrusts, pushing against his own palm. Beatrice reached back and grabbed his ass, holding him close, and he pressed his lips to the top of her shoulder.
She moved his hand down and he fingered her hard little clit as she writhed and groaned, and then she came, slamming back against him as she flooded his cock once again. He slid his fingers around the union of his cock and her pulsing cunt until they were drenched.
Beatrice brought his hand up to her lips and drew his fingers into her mouth one at a time.
Jake shuddered at the erotic motion of her hot tongue caressing and sucking his fingers. He turned her head and kissed her, circling her wondrous little mouth with his tongue.
Turning, he drew her up under him as his need became more urgent and his cock ached for the deepest part of her.
She raised her head beside his, panting her own need, arching against him.
“I need to drink,” he whispered.
“Yes,” she breathed.
When he drank from her again, all else around him disappeared as they rose together into a cloud of bliss. He knew her now—knew her need and her joy at finding him, knowing him, fucking him. Her life of pain revealed itself slowly as it fell away from her, and he filled her and took from her until he found nothing left to take.
Jake raised his head as he pumped the last, and he felt Beatrice collapse under him.
The cloud cleared, and he realized he’d taken too much from the mousy little girl. Growling, he rose from her and gathered her into his arms. Her small, thin body seemed to be losing heat at an alarming rate.
“Don’t worry,” Skidmore said. “I’d already planned to welcome her into the fold. Of all here tonight, she’s the only one.”
Jake glanced around at the four remaining mortals who lay sprawled on the bed, recovering from their wild activities. “What about them?”
“They weren’t made for eternity, dear boy. Our Beatrice is another matter. Why don’t you carry her to my bedchamber? I’ll take care of the rest of it.”
Skidmore knew of Jake’s mistake early in his Dark life, and understood his reluctance to try again.
Jake followed Skidmore down the series of hallways, deposited Beatrice in the middle of the lavish bed, then kissed her cool lips before retreating.
He stood in the hall, listening, but heard nothing. Had he just killed his little mouse? He sincerely hoped not.
Returning for his clothes, he found the group asleep on the bed. He knew Skidmore was right—they weren’t made for eternity. They were just a bunch of misguided children in adults’ skins.
He went back to his own room then and found his boots and hat. The only thing he really had a stomach for was wandering the desert, remembering the old days.
And perhaps he’d run across his backstabbing little vixen somewhere out there.
6
Athena checked the dark sidewalk behind her as she hurried toward her apartment, grocery bags clutched in her hands. Soup cans clanged together as she broke into a trot.
For days she’d felt as though someone were following her, but she hadn’t seen anyone when she’d ducked into doorways. After the bizarre events of two weeks ago, however, she knew monsters lurked in the shadows.
The whole thing had started out as a lark—a stupid game to keep Chris from dumping her. Who in their right mind believed in vampires? If only she had someone to run to now—someone to keep her safe. With both parents long gone and no siblings, or even friends, Athena felt more alone than she had since her father’s death.
Fumbling with the keys, she glanced around as she worked to unlock the door. A soft evening breeze danced through leaves on small trees and made flowers sway, but she heard no footsteps over the music coming from a dozen apartments. When she finally got the door open, she hurried inside, closed and locked the door, and leaned against it for a moment to catch her breath.
As soon as she shut her eyes, she saw the vampire’s face as plainly as she did every night. His dark blue eyes, his lean, chiseled, weathered features, his waves of long brown hair streaked with gray—they combined to enhance his sexy, crooked smile. The man had been downright gorgeous. And he’d caused reactions in her body unlike anything she’d ever known before.
But he hadn’t been a man, had he? In her vision, his blue eyes began to glisten gold, glowing with a light of their own just as they had when he’d turned
