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  “I knew you were special. I never bring humans down here. But I couldn’t help myself with you.” She seemed to be talking to herself, but I couldn’t stop myself from listening.

  She looked like a caged animal, worry and fear surrounding her. Any residual anger in my belly faded in the face of my lover’s distress.

  I sighed. My feelings were now secondary to my need to help Lina.

  I walked to her side, squatted down in front of her and cupped her exquisite face in my hands.

  “What is wrong?”

  She swallowed audibly, her eyes uncertain.

  “I have heard stories of this. It happens when a vampire finds a human whose scent and blood is sweeter than any others. If that human is our perfect match, they will not forget the bite as all others do. They will see the vampire’s memories—my memories, in this case.”

  I smiled, wanting to soothe her worry. Inside, my stomach knotted with fear. Why was she talking like I was made only for her?

  We had only met an hour ago.

  She couldn’t possibly feel that way.

  “So? Why the sad face, Lina?”

  She flew away from me across the room, faster this time. My hands tingled with the loss of her skin against my palms.

  I turned my body to look for her, then saw her standing on the stairs behind me.

  “It is much more complex than you realize, Benedict.”

  I sighed again and nodded, despite the tightening in my jaw. I didn’t like being treated like a child.

  “Tell me, then.”

  Lina smiled like she’d found a treasure in the dark and my body responded to the beauty before me. She may not fulfill all my needs, but my cock loved her.

  “How long before you need to feed again? A week?”

  Lina shook her head, looking afraid again.

  My own fear increased, the hairs on my neck standing on end. The look of hunger on her face was intense. She wanted me again too, it was obvious, but I sensed her reluctance. She could probably kill me if she drank too much, too soon.

  “Two weeks?”

  She nodded slowly. “I can go a month without blood. I have many times.”

  So, she would give me as much time between these sessions as she could physically endure?

  I inclined my head. She was being so considerate, so at odds with her dominant behavior during sex.

  “But two weeks would be better?” I asked, pushing for a date when I could return.

  She smiled with impish appeal, her lush, full lips turning up at the corners. She really was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Blue eyes, red lips, elegantly high cheek bones. She would put any Duchess to shame.

  “Yes, if you can handle this again.” She motioned to her dungeon and a thrill of pure excitement shot through my gut.

  I chuckled with true mirth and picked up my discarded jacket, cravat and boots. Unexpected joy floated through my veins at the mere idea of being with her again.

  I needed to tell her the truth. “Lina, that was the best sex of my life. We can do that every day, if you promise not to kill me.”

  Her face turned suddenly solemn and she stared at me for a long moment. “I must speak to an elder. I have never encountered this before.”

  My chest tightened unexpectedly, as though someone had clamped a vise on my ribs. Conflicting thoughts flowed through me.

  I loved the idea of being special to her. Someone that she wanted but had never experienced before.

  Being used as a feeding and fucking toy was not what I wanted to be.

  I walked across the room and reached her on the stairs. I couldn’t help myself. I pulled her in for a kiss. Instantly, her tongue sought mine out and we clung to each other, lips and tongues melding into one another until I was hard and throbbing once again.

  Lina pressed herself against me and I pulled back to stare at the way her nipples peaked against her dress. One more session couldn’t hurt. “Another round?”

  Lina smiled but pushed me up the stairs. “No, my pet, I need to think.”

  I ascended the stairs slower than I’d descended, my legs feeling as though they were weighed down with lead. What waited for me up in the brothel?

  Drunken friends and a world full of worries.

  Lina, at least, had provided an hour of escape.

  I turned back to Lina once we’d stepped onto the main floor and I heard her lock the door behind us. “Two weeks, then.”

  Lina nodded and reached out for me. I went willingly as she pulled me against her soft body once again. Her lips were insistent as they branded my skin, making a statement I’d never forget.

  I was hers.

  I broke away from her lips panting for breath, my cock rock-solid again. Not usually the way one walked out of a brothel, but that was exactly what I did.

  Chapter 4.

  Lina.

  I watched my blood mate walk away, then sagged against the door, my bravado giving out.

  I licked my lips in remembrance of how amazing he tasted, then let a moan escape me. Never had I tasted blood so sweet, or known such pleasure in a man’s arms before.

  I knew the legends and had always half feared the stories, hoping they weren’t really true.

  I needed to think, to speak to an elder. What was I going to do now?

  “Lina, please...” I heard the plea from a room above.

  One of my girls was in trouble.

  I flew up the stairs and wrapped my hand around the drunken man’s throat. It was the same one who had caused problems earlier.

  He’d found Marie.

  “I told you not to touch her. I warned you to leave her alone.”

  The man choked and spluttered his shock.

  Fear permeated the room, a horrible smell to my over-sensitive senses. I lifted him up in the air by one hand, and squeezed gently on his larynx.

  I could so easily kill him and the world would be a better place without him, I was sure.

  Marie, her dress ripped and her face swelling into an ugly bruise, put her hand gently on my shoulder. Her presence was calming, giving me just enough reason to remove some of the pressure on the man’s throat.

  Marie cleared her throat loudly. “Thank you, Lina, but I think this gentleman can leave. He won’t return.”

  The man was almost blue now, but he tried to nod.

  I made a disgusted noise in my throat and dropped him, the thud of his body hitting the ground giving me some satisfaction.

  I would have loved to kill him.

  “Get out, and never come back. Or I will kill you.”

  The fat man crawled to the door, pulling his pants up back over his rotund belly as he moved. He was a sickening sight and it made my fangs ache to drain him dry. I growled as he stood up, staggering out of the room.

  What a waste of oxygen.

  I needed to calm down, and quickly.

  I took a deep breath in an attempt to relax my tangled nerves and focused on what was going on inside my body.

  I had never felt more replete, so fully healthy. When Benedict had offered me his blood every day, I had shuddered rather violently. I had to physically restrain myself from flying across the room to him. The idea of tying him up indefinitely appealed too much to me.

  He would be the perfect slave.

  The sex was unbelievable and his blood was the best I’d ever tasted. I’d never want for anything else.

  I rarely fucked humans as they could neither please me properly, nor allow me to practice the domination I loved.

  Only male vampires permitted me that freedom, then fucked me well afterward. But I couldn’t feed on them, and that was the main drawback.

  The idea of having all that freedom and pleasure with a person I could feed on was enough to make me quiver right down to my now warm toes.

  “Are you all right, Lina?”

  I turned around to see Marie watching me, the beautiful whore who should have been a lady.

  “Of course, Marie, how are you?”
>
  The girl shrugged out of her ripped dress, standing in only her chemise in the warm room. “I’m fine now. Thank you for rescuing me.”

  I reached out and stroked the girl’s face, then pulled her close for an embrace.

  “I will always come when you need me, Marie. Now wash yourself and get some rest. We will repair your dress tomorrow.”

  Marie looked up at me, her young face worried in the candlelight. “But the night isn’t over, mistress. I can still earn some money.”

  I hushed Marie and directed her over to the washstand. I loved her for wanting to please me, but she’d taken enough tonight.

  “There will be men tomorrow, Marie. Lock your door and I will see you tomorrow evening. Make sure to ask Lizzie about your dress in the morning.”

  The beautiful girl nodded and picked up the washcloth.

  I walked out Marie’s door and made my way downstairs.

  My blood was on fire, singing in rapture.

  I could still feel Benedict inside me, on my skin.

  It was truly amazing.

  I sighed as I drifted down the stairs. There were going to be a lot of lonely days and nights until I saw him again.

  BENEDICT.

  Another night, another tedious ball.

  I stood to the side of Lady Montan’s ballroom and tried not to sigh out loud. How boring and extremely predictable my life had become.

  Without even looking, I knew what would be found all around the room. Beautiful, young debutantes who barely looked old enough to be out of the school room. They would be surrounded by married matrons, their mothers, and the like. Fussing hens rounding up their little chicks.

  Every night it was the same music, the same food, the same people.

  I was so sick of the monotony of it all.

  “Benedict.” Lady Clover approached me with a calculating smile and curtseyed only because she had to look polite.

  I clenched my teeth together and stifled the groan that rose. I inclined my head and forced myself to bow to her, despite the fact that the woman didn’t deserve such manners. She was certainly no lady.

  “Victoria, lovely to see you.”

  She smiled and clasped my elbow, pressing herself closer than was appropriate. I could feel her large breasts against my arm and had to force myself not to flinch away.

  I knew what she wanted, and it made standing next to her so much more difficult.

  “I have a frightful headache, my lord, would you walk me along the balcony for some fresh air?”

  She looked up at me with an innocent bat of her eyelashes, her devious request impossible to refuse and her tone hard to ignore.

  “Of course, my lady.”

  I couldn’t help but notice the smirks on the other gentlemen’s faces as we walked by, coupled with the disapproving looks from the older ladies.

  My belly tightened with anger and heat flushed up my neck.

  I usually didn’t care what the women of the ton thought about me, but tonight I did. Everything about my life was annoying me this evening.

  “How is your husband, Victoria?” I asked, as cooly as possible.

  She squeezed my arm and drew me further away from the ballroom doors and the meddling ears of the ton matrons. “Away for the rest of the Season. I have missed you, Benedict.”

  Victoria turned her back to the ballroom to hide what she was about to do, and ran her hand along my cock, stroking me through my pants.

  I didn’t even stir under her practiced touch.

  I stepped away, repulsed.

  “We finished our liaison months ago, Victoria. I have no wish to renew our agreement.”

  In fact, I’d never actually wanted her at all.

  I didn’t like the feeling of cuckolding another man, but I’d allowed my pride to be flattered when she’d approached me. I hadn’t been able to say no.

  Victoria’s eyes widened, then they narrowed dangerously.

  “I know you enjoyed our brief affair, Benedict. I can keep you well satisfied.”

  Oh, now she’s taking on airs.

  I smiled down at Lady Victoria Clover. She may be dressed as a lady, but beneath the fine silk, she was naught but a whore.

  “I did, Victoria, and thank you for thinking of me. However, I have a permanent mistress now and require no other.”

  Her pretty blue eyes flashed dangerously up at me but she smiled sweetly.

  “You had a mistress months ago, also.”

  I smiled back just as sweetly. That mistress was gone now, but should I tell Victoria the truth?

  No.

  I hadn’t wanted to put the little witch in her place months ago when we ended our affair. I’d thought myself better than that.

  Now, I didn’t want to be so nice.

  “Victoria, I have a new mistress who has no husband and who satisfies my every need. I am now unavailable to you—I will be keeping her forever.”

  I blinked. Had I made such a telling statement out loud?

  The true Victoria came out to play as she hissed at me. “You bastard.”

  I stepped back and bowed at her. Then I walked away, leaving the little hellcat to find someone else to dig her claws into. I was done with her. With all of them.

  I stepped inside the ballroom once again and found that most of the married gentlemen had disappeared. They would be sitting down to cards and cigars in the library.

  I followed them, not wanting to be left alone with the “eligible” gentlemen who were on the hunt for a young virgin.

  I found an empty chair in the library and sank onto the hard leather. I was so very tired, my limbs ached like they were weighed down with lead.

  “Benedict.”

  An older man who’d known my father when he was alive, put a whiskey down on the table in front of me.

  “Good evening, sir. Thank you.”

  I grasped the glass and brought the crystal to my lips. The golden liquor slid down my throat with a soothing burn. Closing my eyes, I tried to ignore how much I ached for Lina.

  Anything that gave me pleasure, or pain, reminded me of her now. I groaned and clenched my opposite hand that rested on my thigh.

  The silver-haired gentleman sat down in the armchair opposite me and smiled. “I saw Lady Clover trap you on the balcony. Didn’t fall in with her plan, I see?”

  I laughed at the direct conversation, almost choking on my whiskey. Most men would not have said anything, but it seemed this was the only man in the room who would.

  I shrugged. “I’m not interested in fulfilling her husband’s role. She can find someone else to do that.”

  The old man puffed on his pipe and stared at me with cold, assessing eyes. “Something has happened.”

  I glanced around the room at the other drinking gentlemen. They discussed horseflesh, investments, gambling. My stomach roiled. Was this what my future held? Night after night of endlessly boring conversation?

  “It has, sir. Yes.”

  The man motioned for me to continue, his wizened eyes sharp and interested.

  How much should I tell him? My gut twisted and I sighed, deciding to trust this unusual man. “I’ve met someone. A woman. She’s very different from anyone else I’ve ever known, and will pull me away from this world.”

  I indicated to the gentlemen in the nearby proximity with my hand and swallowed the rest of my whiskey, gasping as the pain burned harder this time.

  Puffing on his pipe, the older man looked at me with intense eyes, then sat forward in his chair.

  “Your parents have gone through all their money, haven’t they?”

  Heated embarrassment flushed up my face, but I nodded. No point trying to protect them now.

  “You don’t like London society particularly, Benedict. Do you?”

  A smile trembled on my mouth as I remembered how much more fun it had been to play with the servants’ children rather than the boys from school.

  My father had put a stop to that very quickly and beat me soundly for the misbeha
vior. I’d never quite fitted in anywhere.

  “No, not particularly, sir.”

  The older man leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands over his large chest.

  “Then what are you doing here? If you’ve got an opportunity to escape with a person you want above all else, then go, my boy. I had an opportunity many years ago and baulked at the unknown. I missed my one and only chance to be happy.”

  I stared at the man in front of me for a moment and tried to imagine him younger, full of life. Wanting to do more, be more.

  I couldn’t picture such a thing, which was sad. But it made me think. Could I really do what I wanted?

  That wasn’t the English way. Fortitude and responsibility were the pillars our crusty society were built upon.

  But could anything be different for me?

  Could I go back to Lina and see what she wanted to offer long-term?

  Could I balance both worlds or would I need to sacrifice one?

  I had so many questions and no answers. But something inside me called out for a change, a different life. In only one night, Lina had lit a fire in my belly that wouldn’t be extinguished.

  I’d barely had a taste of her, and yet I wanted so much more.

  I didn’t know if Lina wanted to keep me forever or only use me to feed on, but I wanted to go back and ask. I’d take a risk to find out how she really felt.

  The hardest part was admitting the truth.

  That I didn’t really care what Lina intended. Mere moments in her arms were better than years in the real world.

  Chapter 5.

  Antony.

  My usual prowl around London was particularly uneventful, until I smelled something so spectacular, it had to be close to divination.

  I closed my eyes and inhaled through my nose, the scent wafting up and into my hungry body. A growl escaped my throat as my knees sagged.

  I staggered in the street, put out a hand and leaned against the wall.

  My cock pulsed in my breeches and my fangs extended over my bottom lip, biting into my flesh.

  What was this? Who was it?

  No one had ever smelled so good to me, not even Malcolm.

  My heart sank as my thoughts went to my past lover. The man I’d loved and lost...