DEADLY BEAUTY

eBook Edition

Copyright © 2011 M.K. Elliott

Warwick House Press

Edited by Dawson’s Editing Services

License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

*You can click on the title to be taken to the selection. Additionally, all chapter names will link you back to this table of contents.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

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Chapter One

She prepared to step onto the small stage, adjusting her breasts in the cups of her bra, pulling at the tiny strips of elastic of her black lace panties. The stench of cigarette smoke and stale alcohol drifted up to her, making her sick to her stomach.

“And now please welcome to the stage…Calypso Dreams!”

Like the name of the club she worked in, ‘The Paradise Bar’, her stage name also carried a tinge of irony. The name was fake, of course. Her real name, Nadine Shepard, sounded nowhere near glamorous enough for the dive she danced in.

Nadine stepped onto the stage just as the girl on before her—a tall, small-breasted woman with too many tattoos—stepped off. The other dancer was not to Nadine’s taste; she liked her women to have curves—breasts and an ass—not all straight lines and angular corners.

The other woman, ignorant to Nadine’s thoughts, gave her a brief smile before brushing past.

Nadine strutted out, her long legs looking endless in the gold, strappy three inch stilettos. A haze of smoke drifted up in front of her; the smoking ban laws flouted with both disregard and disrespect. She tried not to squint in the sudden bright light, knowing her eyes would adjust within a few moments. Sometimes she wished they didn’t. It would be easier to pretend she was somewhere else if she didn’t have to see the punters sitting in the front row, all trying to hide their erections beneath long coats or crossed legs.

The Paradise Bar wasn’t a classy joint. Located in London’s East End, in the dark and seedy back streets of Whitechapel, it was never going to attract the best clientele. Instead, the bar attracted London’s finest—older, fat men, with saggy jowls and sad eyes, and skinny young lads sporting sleeves of faded tattoos. Whatever their background, they were all here for one thing; to watch the girls dance.

Taking pride of place, center stage, a silver pole joined the floor to the ceiling. Nadine headed over to it.

A couple of shots of cheap vodka, as she got ready, had been needed to stop her from running, screaming from the club. She knew the other girls did stronger stuff—coke, crack, meth—but she didn’t plan on going down that route. It was an easy trap to fall into. They started the drugs to cope with the job, but then they needed the job to pay for the drugs. A downward spiral.

Nonchalant disinterest met Nadine’s appearance on stage. One guy in the back started to clap, but when he realized no one else joined in, he immediately stopped. She cast her gaze across the room to catch the clapper in her sight, but something else caught her eye.

Her forehead creased; a faint, almost imperceptible movement and her eyes narrowed. Someone sat at the back of the bar, someone sitting alone.

A woman?

Sure, plenty of women liked strip joints. Nadine had watched groups of them giggle and scream from behind their hands, as though watching strippers was the most exciting and dangerous thing they had ever done—as though it somehow made them more interesting. But normally the women were in groups, dragged along by business men in suits, and they always went to classier establishments.

Nadine’s eyes did not leave the lone woman as she reached up with her hands and pulled herself up onto the pole. She wrapped her slender legs around the cool metal and let go. Her head tilted back, her long, dark hair brushing the floor. She stretched her legs out to show off her strong thighs, and arched her back, knowing her breasts appeared round and full in the black lace balcony bra.

Taking hold of the pole again, Nadine opened her legs wide and slid back down, the pole pressed between her thighs.

She twisted herself onto her flat stomach and pushed her round ass into the air, straightening her legs in the high stiletto heels. Her legs were still spread, only a thin piece of black lace covering her pussy.

The music continued to thump. She looked up, swinging her hair out of her face. The solitary woman was still there. Still watching her.

They were all watching her, the sensible part of her mind told her. They paid good money to watch her.

Yet still, there was something about the woman that set off Nadine’s well-honed sense of danger.

That evening, on her way to work, Nadine had been certain she was being followed. She couldn’t help but wonder if the woman had something to do with the feeling. She didn’t start until ten, so night had long since fallen when she started her walk from the flat she shared with two other working girls. London’s East End streets were never safe, but yet she had gotten used to them. Maybe she’d grown too blasé about the dangers they held. Yet that night she’d been certain eyes were on her, had even thought she heard footsteps follow her down the dark alley leading to the club. Each time she spun around, the street had been empty.

Now she had the same impression again; the intense sensation of someone watching her.

Trying to push the feeling away, Nadine continued her routine.

The punters approached her to give her tips. Pushing tens and twenties into the small strips of material she still had covering her. Experience had taught her how to avoid the ones after more, the punters who tried to tweak her nipple or slip a finger along the crotch of her g-string.

With skill, she whipped the notes out of her bra and slipped them into the side of her panties. Then she reached behind her and quickly unhooked her bra, dropping the lingerie to the floor and freeing her breasts.

She cupped her tits in her hands, pushing her already ample cleavage together. She bent over to give the punters in front a closer view of her breasts and the men behind a view of her ass. She knew they would be thinking about standing behind her, fucking her in that position. In front of her, the woman still stood at the back of the bar. Still watching.

A long time had passed since Nadine last had sex with a man. It wasn’t that she didn’t like sleeping with men, more that she didn’t like men. Too much time spent in places like this simply put her off.

She glanced up to see the woman had left. No, she hadn’t gone, she had simply moved to a different position on the other side of the bar. How did she get there so fast? One minute she had been sitting in one spot, the next she was standing across the room. Nadine didn’t think the woman had left her vision long enough to move without her noticing.

The woman stood closer now. Red hair framed her face, but her eyes were dark, strangely dark.

Nadine knew enough about sex. She read the lust in those strange black eyes. But she saw something else as well, a different need, a different desire; one Nadine couldn’t put her finger on.

Something else was strange. Here was a beautiful woman in a bar filled with testosterone pumped, sex crazed men, and yet not a single man had hit on her. No one offered to buy her a drink; no one even tried to talk to her. Even the other girls left her alone. Not one of them approached her, offering a private dance or more.

Nadine looked up again to discover the woman had gone, vanished as though she had never been there. But in the moment just before she disappeared, Nadine recognized the look in the woman’s eyes.

It was hunger.

Nadine did not join the other girls for drinks after work. They hadn’t invited her and she had no wish to go. She didn’t care that she was an outcast among her peers; she had no interest in socializing with them.

At two in the morning, she left the club. She had changed into a sweater, leggings and fake UGG boots; an outfit completely opposite to the slutty clothes she wore for dancing.

Her steps sounded almost silent as she walked down the alley, toward the main road. Ahead of her, the headlights of cars passed across the exit and groups of young people headed home after a night out. Their laughter floated over to her, becoming louder, before drifting down the street. She heard the sound of breaking glass as someone dropped a bottle. The scent of stale urine violated her nostrils and she turned her head to one side, hoping to avoid its source.

Suddenly, the figures of two men—one large and bulky, the other shorter—blocked her view of the road ahead.

Her heart started to pound, her breath caught in her chest. This wasn’t good. Something like this was never good.

The smaller one nudged the larger man with his elbow. “Look what we’ve got here,” he smirked. “It’s one of the whores from the club.”

“You working out of hours, love?” the bigger guy leered. “Fancy a three-way?”

Nadine kept her head down, not making eye contact, hoping they would get bored and go away.

“Oi! Love, I’m talking to you,” the big one continued.

“Look, she thinks she’s too good for us,” said the smaller guy. “Fucking slut.”

They stood only a few feet from her now. She could walk around, try to side step them, but she decided to walk straight through them. Men were like dogs and horses—they could sense your fear.

As she attempted to walk through, the big one grabbed her elbow. She tried to shake him free, but he held her fast.

“I don’t want any trouble,” she said, her voice sounding forced.

“Ha! Your type are all about trouble.” The small one’s voice was full of disgust.

“So you going to do us a special rate then?” said the big one. “Two for the price of one?” He winked at his friend.

“Please…”

The man reached out and grabbed her breast beneath her sweater, his fingers painfully gouging her skin, despite the thick material.

“Hey! Got the fuck off of me!”

But he didn’t stop there. Using his grip on her breast, he pulled her toward him. He shoved his hand beneath the waist band of her leggings, delving down between her thighs.

That was when she knew this was going to end badly.

Just let them do what they want, she told herself. It’s not much past what you do anyway. Lay still and play nice and you will walk out of this alive.

Yet despite the sensible dress down, her body didn’t want to be compliant. She snatched his hand away, and then, when he came in for a second go, she drew back her fist and punched him full in the face.

Pain speared up through her arm and she clutched her fist, but the man backed off, his own face clutched in the palm of his hand, blood pouring between his fingers.

“You fucking bitch…”

Seemingly from out of nowhere, the metallic glint of a blade appeared and all around Nadine the world stopped. This wasn’t kids messing around anymore. Rape was possibly one of the better things that could happen to her.

“Please…” she said again, stepping away.

But he kept walking forward.

“Blake…” the smaller guy warned, knowing his friend had taken things too far. “Leave it.”

Blake was past listening.

Nadine turned to run, but he lunged at her, knocking her to the ground. She hit the ground, her chin slamming painfully on the concrete. Her teeth jarred together, narrowly missing her tongue. The stench of urine poured over her; ammonia combined with her fear and pain, making her eyes tear.

The knife’s cold metal pressed against the skin of her throat. Blake sat astride her, his weight pinning her down.

For a moment, he withdrew the knife and her heart leaped in hope, thinking he might back off. Then he plunged it deep beneath her ribs and her breath exploded from her lungs. Nadine gasped, winded. She felt a strange sucking sensation as he pulled the knife out and stabbed her again.

His erection pressed hard against her leg. Disbelief tinged the dull knowledge that she had been stabbed. The pain hadn’t hit her yet, but she knew it was coming.

Suddenly, Blake lifted off her and flew through the air, hitting the wall. Nadine heard the sickening crunch of neck bones breaking and the thud as he hit the ground. The other man squeaked in fear and turned and ran.

What was happening?

A pair of low heeled boots appeared in front of her face. Nadine found the strength to take her gaze up the curve of brown leather and the voluptuous body above, to see the person they belonged to.

The woman from the bar.

Nadine thought she should be more surprised, yet part of her had been expecting this woman’s reappearance, however strange the circumstances.

But she was dying; the world fading away. Her blood covered the ground beside her and soaked into the front of her sweater.

Was this how her life ended? After all the years trying to come to terms with the rejection of her parents, the fear and loneliness after being bumped from foster home to foster home. All of that pain and effort and sacrifice, only to die in a stinking alley.

The woman kneeled down beside her, seemingly unconcerned by the blood soaking into the blue of her tight jeans. She reached a pale hand out to Nadine. Long and elegant fingers gently touched Nadine’s cheek.

Nadine was cold, but this woman was colder.

With skin as white as bone and those dark eyes, she was frighteningly perfect, as an angel or a demon might look. No rouge tinted her full lips. Her hair framed her face in a mane of fire, its hue so startling against the lack of color in her skin.

She should have been terrified, yet this woman’s presence ebbed calm into Nadine’s tortured and dying soul.

Her face drew closer. Nadine’s breath stuttered in her chest, believing the woman was going to kiss her. Just the idea of having this stunning, strange creature’s mouth against her skin was enough to drown her fears of dying.

But her lips did not touch Nadine’s. Instead, they brushed against the soft velvet of her ear and whispered, “I can save you. All you have to do is say yes.” An accent Nadine couldn’t place touched her voice.

This wasn’t just a simple offer to save her life.

Who was this woman? What was she?

“All you have to do is say yes,” the woman said again.

Her strength faded, soaking into the ground as effortlessly as her blood. She occupied the moment before she dropped into a deep sleep, her limbs heavy, her mind thick. Could she even open her mouth to give her answer? Did she have the strength?

Her lips felt dry. As she opened her mouth to give her answer, the skin stuck together. Using Nadine’s own blood, the woman wet her finger and moistened Nadine’s mouth.

“Yes,” Nadine croaked. “Yes.”

She moved too fast for Nadine’s weary eyes to register. She saw a flash of white fangs elongated and horrifically sharp. Then the woman’s mouth gripped her throat.

Fresh pain speared through her, but the sensation seemed distant and faint, as though happening to someone else.

Nadine sank into the black.

Chapter Two

She woke with a ferocious hunger. Like a baby seeking a nipple, she clawed out of the darkness, looking for something to satisfy her need. Her mouth met cool flesh, but she sensed the flow of warmth beneath.

Something about her had changed. Acting purely out of instinct, she sunk her teeth into the offered skin.

Fluid flowed, its copper warmth somehow familiar.

She fed with a frantic need, drawing the thick liquid over her tongue and down her throat. With each swallow, her strength regained.

Finally she broke free and Nadine looked up.

In front of her sat the strange woman from the bar.

The woman’s beauty stole Nadine’s breath. The red hair misted like a halo around her face. Her dark eyes had a depth to them which was both beautiful, yet terrifying. She smiled at Nadine and from somewhere in the smile came the flash of white.

There was no escaping the woman’s sensuality; her curves, from the bow of her mouth to the swell of her breasts. Nadine only wanted to touch her.

Memories, confused and disjointed, came back to her. She was going to die and this woman had saved her.

“You saved my life,” Nadine said, her voice raw and hoarse.

The woman shook her head. “I gave you a new one.”

Nadine felt different; stronger, sexier, and her body buzzed with life.

She took in her surroundings. Together, they sat on a huge, four poster bed. Rich, sumptuous materials and fabrics were spread out beneath them. Expensive furnishings and dark mahogany wood adorned the room.

“What did you do to me?” she asked. “What are you?”

“I am a legend, a myth. I am something your kind does not believe in.”

“My kind..?”

“Humankind.”

Her heart should have caught in her throat, but Nadine barely felt it beating. All of her seemed different. She could breathe, but she no longer felt the need to, and the blood running through her veins was no longer her own.

“What are you?” she asked again.

“A vampire. And soon, so will you be.”

Her mind swam. This couldn’t be happening. Yet a part of her accepted what this stranger told her.

“I don’t even know your name.”

“You are Nadine.” The way she said her name was like tasting something exotic.

“Yes, I am. But who the hell are you?”

“My name is Adrienne Gellespie. I am more than four-hundred-years-old and I have been searching for you my whole life.”

Nadine shook her head, scared to look at the striking woman sitting in front of her. Yet her eyes were drawn. Her beauty had something magnetic about it and Nadine found herself unable to turn away.

“I don’t know what to believe,” she whispered.

“Believe what is real.”

Adrienne leaned forward, her long fingers tracing the line of Nadine’s lips. Nadine opened her mouth and the cool fingers slipped inside. Her tongue darted, touching Adrienne’s fingertips, her lips closing around them.

All she wanted to do was reach out and touch her pale skin.

“You are so beautiful,” Adrienne said. “The moment I saw you, I had to have you.”

“Have me?”

“In every sense of the word,” her accent rolled. “You are mine now. I created you, so you are forever in my servitude. I am your mistress, but I will also be your protector, your friend, your lover.”

Nadine couldn’t hide the cold thrill of lust racing through her, converging from her pussy, up through her breasts, finally releasing in the fullness of her mouth. She knew she should be fighting this, yet it seemed she was incapable. Whatever this woman wanted, she would do.

Slowly, Adrienne moved toward her, her mouth parted. The lethal slithers of her fangs protruded and they filled Nadine with fear. Was this really happening?

The vampire’s mouth found hers and the kiss was sweet and deep. Their tongues met and Nadine’s tongue tentatively touched the fangs that had so filled her with terror. The sharp tooth nicked her tongue, the few drops of blood causing Adrienne to moan. She kissed her deeper, drawing Nadine’s tongue deep into her mouth, sucking on the blood.

Adrienne’s hand cupped her breast, the cool fingers sliding across the hard nub of her nipple.

Now it was Nadine’s turn to moan and her own hand reached out, pulling this strange and beautiful creature toward her.

Adrienne pulled at her own shirt, ripping the buttons and exposing her flesh. She wore no bra. Her breasts were full and heavy and perfectly round, her nipples dark against the white of her skin. Nadine’s mouth fell to them; first one and then the other, her tongue circling, her teeth grazing.

A gentle push to the top of her head sent Nadine lower, across Adrienne’s flat stomach.

She wriggled out of the tight jeans, revealing a scanty pair of panties. Nadine headed down. The vampire was bare, not a single hair to spoil the soft, willing flesh.

Nadine breathed in her scent through the lace, her tongue probing against it, feeling her moisture beneath. Adrienne moaned and pushed her pussy against Nadine’s tongue, encouraging her.

“I am your mistress now,” she whispered from above. “You will pleasure me and love me, and I will do to you in return.”

Nadine pulled the wet lace to one side. Her tongue slipped inside Adrienne’s moist folds, slowly licking up toward her sensitive nub. She gave it a gentle flick with her tongue and repeated the motion.

Adrienne squirmed with pleasure, her own hands touching her full breasts, squeezing her nipples into hardened peaks. The sight made Nadine’s own body tighten; her cunt convulsing.

She went back to her clit and licked, faster now. She pushed a finger inside Adrienne’s slick pussy, and her tight muscles gripped and relaxed against her digit.

“Wait,” Adrienne gasped. “Together, we need to come together.”

The vampire sat up, her red hair almost burning, her dark eyes flashing with want.

Quickly, she helped Nadine remove the rest of her clothes and then Adrienne climbed between Nadine’s legs, paying back the pleasure.

The coldness of her tongue was a shock on Nadine’s hot skin. Adrienne pushed her tongue deep inside and Nadine gasped. Never before had she experienced such intensity. Whatever Adrienne had done to her had fired her sexuality to another level. Adrienne feasting upon her as no one else had before—as if she were starving. Her whole mouth covered Nadine’s mound. Her lips pulled and sucked at Nadine’s labia, her tongue hardened and thrusting. When her cool finger found Nadine’s clit, rubbing it in firm circles, Nadine’s head swam with pleasure.

Adrienne lifted her mouth, her lips wet with Nadine’s juices. “I want you to taste me again,” she said.

Carefully, she turned her body until her pussy hovered above Nadine’s face. She buried her face back between Nadine’s thighs, intending for them to lick the other to climax.

Nadine took the firm flesh of Adrienne’s peachy bottom in her hands and pulled the vampire’s cunt down toward her mouth.

Adrienne tasted so sweet, unlike any woman Nadine ever had. She took the delicate slips of skin between her teeth, nibbling gently. Adrienne ground down, encouraging Nadine deeper and Nadine hardened her tongue, pushing it deep and curling around to hit the sensitive fleshy spot on the inside of Adrienne’s wall. The vampire groaned in delight, the vibration sending a thrill through Nadine’s clit.

Their orgasms mounted, fierce and strong, building deep inside. Just as she was about to come, Adrienne turned her mouth and sunk her fangs into the inside of Nadine’s thigh.

The orgasm convulsed within her, the waves pummeling her over and over. She screamed out loud with its force and her whole body jerked as the aftershocks came. Adrienne moaned as her own orgasm wrapped around her, holding her in its embrace.

They lay, spent together, wrapped within each other’s arms.

Was it magic Adrienne held over her, something to do with what she had done? Nadine didn’t care. All she knew was that in this woman’s arms, she finally felt peace. She was home.

“Now what?” Nadine asked. “Am I what you say I am? Am I like you?”

Adrienne shook her head. “Not yet. To be like me, first you must kill.”

She didn’t know how she felt. Her brain and conscience told her this was wrong, that she wasn’t born to be a killer, but the excitement and need rising up inside her had a whole other plan.

“I have someone I want you to meet,” Adrienne said, her dark eyes flashing wickedly.

She rose from the bed, and still naked, opened the bedroom door and walked from the room.

Within moments she was back. Held in one hand and carried like a naughty puppy by the scruff of his neck, was the smaller man from the alley. Blake’s friend.

“You won’t be properly turned until you make your first kill,” Adrienne said. “If you want us to stay together, you must kill him.”

She dropped the man and he scrabbled away, staring at the two naked women with a mixture of lust and terror.

“Do you want us to be together?” Adrienne asked again.

She wanted it more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.

Nadine looked down at the man at her feet. Moving faster than she ever thought possible, she fell on the man, pinning him to the floor. He shrieked like a caught rabbit.

Above her, Adrienne let out a gasp of pleasure.

Nadine turned her head to the man beneath her.

And bit.

Blood flowed beneath her tongue, its hot spurt gushing into her mouth. She gulped furiously, trying to keep up with the rush. The blood’s metallic tang was so familiar, only now she tasted it with a new perception. The thunder of the man’s heart beat deep within her as it raced from fear and pain. As she continued to suck, the pace slowed from a gallop to a lazy lope, and Nadine knew the man was dying.

She pulled away, gasping from the shock and the new power raging through her veins. She felt as a first time coke user must, a heady concoction of power and strength and confidence.

But there was a man before her, a man she had just killed. She fell away from him, horrified at her actions. Blood spilled down her chin and dribbled down over her naked breasts.

Adrienne placed a cool hand on her shoulder and calm ebbed through her.

The vampire kneeled before her so her mouth was at her chest. She leaned forward and lapped the blood from her skin. Nadine’s nipples hardened in response to her touch, but suddenly sickness washed over her and the room began to spin. Her heartbeat thumped in her ears, heavy and pounding, and colored blobs floated across her vision.

“Something’s not right,” she gasped.

Adrienne sat at her back, supporting Nadine as her body shook uncontrollably. Carefully, Adrienne lowered her to the ground.

“It’s just the final part of the change,” she said. “The final part of your humanity dying. When you wake you will be an immortal.”

Nadine cried out as pain wracked through her body. The pain was worse than anything she had ever experienced before—far worse than what she had been through in the alleyway—and she curled up into a ball, her eyes squeezed shut against this violation. Somewhere above her, Adrienne’s presence hovered. She wanted to call out to her, to beg her to make it stop, but she was unable to get her brain to connect to her mouth. Her heart beat continued to thump, faster and faster, until suddenly it stopped and she heard nothing more.

Chapter Three

The following night, Nadine woke as a new vampire.

She gasped awake, bolting up in bed from the nothingness of an undead sleep to the total clarity of a newborn vampire. The world looked different to her now; the colors more vivid than before, new hues leaping out at her as if everything had a light of its own. Textures seemed more defined, the smooth silk of the bed sheets like rippling water beneath her fingertips.

Beside her, Adrienne too, had woken. She propped herself up on one elbow, watching her companion with a mixture of reverence and desire. As with her senses of sight and touch, Nadine’s sense of smell was also newly defined and she could detect the sweet scent of her maker’s sex.

Only a thin white sheet covered Adrienne’s body, just hiding the opulent swell of her lush, white breasts. Her dark nipples were hard bullets beneath the sheet, poking out at Nadine as if asking to be touched. Adrienne caught Nadine’s gaze and flashed a smile, her dark eyes glinting.

With a swift movement Nadine barely even saw, Adrienne pulled the sheet away, exposing her perfect breasts.

“I’m yours now,” she told Nadine. “You can have me whenever you desire.”

Adrienne slid down the bed until she lay flat on her back, pulling the remaining sheet away. Hungrily, Nadine’s gaze traveled down her body, taking in the rise of her breasts thrust toward the ceiling, the gentle dip of her stomach, the bare skin between her legs. As if sensing where her gaze landed, Adrienne opened her creamy white thighs and reached down, her long fingers seeking her own wet opening.

Nadine gave a moan of desire. She wanted to leap on Adrienne and lose herself in this perfect, ravishing creature, but she did not want to disturb this erotic dream she had woken to. Instead, Nadine followed Adrienne’s lead and reached her hand between her legs, feeling her own wetness, her own desire. With two fingers she rubbed at her clit, slow, tentative circles, feeling her body respond. She squirmed with pleasure and slid down the bed until she lay beside her maker.

Side by side, their bodies level, Adrienne reached out her free hand and ran a finger across Nadine’s lips. Playfully, Nadine nipped at her fingertips. Adrienne smiled, but her eyes were heavy and hooded with sex and she moved toward Nadine and kissed her.

Their lips were soft and gentle, tongues tentative and exploratory. Nadine parted her lips and allowed Adrienne’s tongue to enter her mouth, her own tongue responding with light laps. It was the tender kiss of a woman with all the fierce hunger of a vampire behind it.

Nadine’s own free hand moved to Adrienne’s breast, cupping its soft mound. Her thumb circled the hard nipple and then she squeezed it between her thumb and forefinger, making Adrienne gasp.

Their hands each continued to work themselves, rubbing their sensitive nubs, slipping their fingers into the tightness of their wet sheaths. Every muscle in Nadine’s body tensed, her inner-muscles clenching against her fingers.

Nadine’s hand wrapped around Adrienne’s back, slipping down the smooth line of her spine, down to the luscious curve of her ass. Nadine’s fingers dug into the succulent flesh of Adrienne’s round bottom, pulling her closer. She was caught within the intense feeling of pleasuring herself while touching and kissing this gorgeous, dangerous creature.

Her orgasm came quickly and suddenly, flooding over her like the ocean.

She gasped into Adrienne’s mouth. Just as the spasms of her orgasm wracked through her, dizzying her head, Adrienne bit down on her lower lip, the pain intensifying the power of the orgasm.

Adrienne sucked hungrily on Nadine’s mouth as her own orgasm thundered through her body.

They fell apart, panting and spent. Adrienne quickly recovered and propped herself back up in bed and dropped a kiss on Nadine’s bare shoulder.

“If I get to do that every night for the rest of eternity, I shall be more than happy.”

Nadine raised her hand to the bite on her lower lip. She was surprised to find that not only had the cut healed, but not a single drop of blood had been spilled.

“You heal quickly now,” Adrienne told her, her accent sounding softer than the previous night.

“I still can’t believe it,” Nadine whispered.

Adrienne laughed. “You don’t have to believe. It is the truth. To not believe would be like not believing you were once human.”

Nadine touched her lip with her tongue, feeling the thin, healing skin thicken until the cut was no longer discernable from the rest of her lip. This wasn’t magic; this was real.

“You’ll need to feed again tonight,” said Adrienne. “You’ll need to feed most nights for many years to come. Only when you grow older—in years only, of course—will you need to kill less frequently.”

The buzz from Nadine’s orgasm started to fade and beneath a new want worried her. An itching, gnawing need crept through her like a drug addict’s need for a fix. The sensation felt like the worst hunger and thirst all balled into one.

“You mean I have to kill again?” she said, her voice harsh.

Adrienne nodded. “And every night onward.”

In Nadine’s head she saw the bodies piling up; hundreds and thousands dead so she could live.

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

“You must. You have no choice.”

Despair welled through her, and her eyes filled with tears, blurring her vision. She lifted her hand to wipe the tears away and when she withdrew her fingers, they came away red with blood.

“Oh God,” she gasped.

“If there is a God,” Adrienne said. “He has forsaken us.”

“So now I cry tears of blood and I kill to survive? What have you done to me?”

Adrienne’s eyes darkened with anger and she grabbed the bed sheet and pulled it up around herself, clutching it to her chest. “I saved your life.”

“I know that,” Nadine whispered.

“We are what we are. Either you embrace it, or you die.”

“Maybe I would be better off dead.”

Adrienne snarled, flashing her fangs. “If that’s what you want, it can be arranged.”

Nadine froze, her eyes wide. Suddenly she saw the beautiful woman beside her for what she really was—a fierce killer.

But she didn’t want to die. Even as a human, her survival instinct had been strong. Ever since childhood, her life had been one big struggle to survive, and she wasn’t about to give up now. She’d had a taste of death and she had no desire to repeat the experience.

Adrienne’s eyes softened and she reached out a hand and swept Nadine’s dark hair away from her face.

“I will make the killing easy for you,” she said. “You will be so caught up in the moment that you will barely know what you’re doing. I will make their deaths pleasurable for you, my love.”

“Killing should never be a pleasure.”

“Think of them as cattle now. They exist only to feed us. Would you think any less of a lion for killing an antelope? We are simply higher in the food chain.” She shrugged her smooth shoulders. “It is a matter of nature.”

“We’re not natural.”

“We exist, don’t we? And so do they. That, my love, is nature.”

Nadine stared down at her hands. It was all too much to comprehend.

“Come.” Adrienne placed a hand on her knee, breaking her from her thoughts. “Let’s dress and go out into the night. Once you experience your new life to the full, you will not doubt your reason to live.”

Nadine dared not disobey.

Adrienne rose from the bed and stretched her long, lean body, pushing her breasts upward, arching her back. Her red hair fell in a mane down her back, almost brushing the tops of her buttocks, and Nadine was once again filled with a surge of lust.

Not to kill was one thing, but never to place her mouth on Adrienne’s luscious body again was unthinkable.

Adrienne crossed the room and pulled open the top drawer of a dark mahogany dresser. She took out a couple of items and then dropped them at the foot of the bed.

“Here,” she said. “Your old things were ruined.”

“Thank you.”

Nadine picked up a black lace bra, matching panties, a low cut black top and tight jeans. The outfit was simple, but undeniably sexy. Adrienne herself pulled on similar jeans and a halter-top.

“We need to fit in,” Adrienne said, seeing Nadine eyeing up the clothes. “The more we look like them, the easier it is for us to seduce them.”

“Seduce them?”

“In every way.”

Nadine swung her legs over the side of the bed and tugged the panties and jeans up over her strong thighs. She clipped the bra together, adjusted her breasts in the lace cups, and pulled the top over her head. She glanced up to find Adrienne watching her.

“What?” she said.

Adrienne smiled. “You’re beautiful.”

Nadine turned away, embarrassed. “I thought you were taking me out?”

“Of course.”

Together, they walked out of the bedroom door and into the rest of the apartment. Nadine stared around in awe.

She stood in a luxurious penthouse. Floor to ceiling windows offered views over the city. Ahead of them, London’s Gerkin rose from the city’s skyline.

“We’re still in the East End?” she said, surprised.

“Of course. How do you think I found you? I’ve been watching you for a while now; going to and from work, doing your laundry and shopping. You lived such a mundane existence.”

“I was only living.”

“You were surviving. You had no life.”

For some reason, Nadine felt a surge of protectiveness toward her old life, despite Adrienne’s words being the truth.

Two plush brown leather couches and a glass coffee table sat opposite the floor to ceiling windows.

“I used to have cream couches,” Adrienne laughed, “but the blood was a nightmare to get out. I had to keep buying more covers. At least these will wipe clean.”

Nadine peered into the kitchen. Immaculate granite countertops and the slick hard lines of stainless steel made up the units. Of course the kitchen was perfect—Adrienne never cooked.

“I have coffee and champagne for our guests, to make them more at ease.”

“Do you often have guests?”

Nadine flashed that wicked smile. “You will see.”

The opulence of the flat was extreme to most people’s standards, but coming from the poverty Nadine had lived in her whole life, the place was luxurious to the point of being offensive.

"How can you afford all this stuff?" Nadine asked. "It's not like you have a job—do you?"

Adrienne laughed again, the sound deep and throaty."A job? No, but I have a certain ability to make people give me things and money is easy to come by.""For you, maybe," said Nadine, her thoughts still in her poverty ridden past."I think you too, had a way of getting people to give you money, did you not? You stood on stage and danced. You removed your clothing and touched your breasts. You bent over and exposed that beautiful ass and pussy for all to admire."

Nadine's eyes turned cold. "That was different."

"Really? How so?"

"They were paying for a service and I gave it to them. I didn't take their money for nothing."

"Where did it stop? Did you give them private dances?"

Nadine looked away, blinking angrily. Of course she had—it was part of the job.

"And when you danced privately, did the men expose themselves to you? Did they touch their cocks? Did you let them touch your breasts?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"And did you ever let them slip a finger inside of you? Did you ever suck their cocks? Did you ever fuck them?"

"No!" she said, furious now. "I'm a dancer, not a whore. Sometimes the guy would get a bit carried away and take things too far, but I've never slept with a man for money."

Adrienne's gaze softened. "Okay, but you must not judge me for how I choose to live, if you do not expect to be judged yourself."

She was right. Nadine was the last person who should judge.

Adrienne leaned in and kissed her gently. Her soft lips ignited a fire within Nadine and she trembled with want.

"Ignore me," Adrienne said. "I am only jealous. I hate the thought of you with a man. They are such uncouth creatures."

Nadine had slept with plenty of men in the past; it was only recently that she had turned her attention to the gentler sex. But she hadn't sworn off men completely and Adrienne saw her regret in her face.

"So you think you would miss having a hard cock inside of you?" she sighed. "Never mind, I guess I would be happy to watch a man fuck you, as long as I was there to kill him afterward. In fact…" she trailed her fingers down to Nadine's breast, her nipple hardening beneath the thin material. "Maybe it would be fun."

Nadine knew she should protest, but the idea of being fucked by a man while Adrienne watched made her shiver with desire.

"Come," said the other vampire. "We must feed. There will be plenty of time for sex later. I promise."

Adrienne took Nadine’s hand in her long, slim fingers and led her from the flat out into the hallway. A private lift took them to the ground floor and they spilled out into the foyer, then through the glass front doors and out onto the street.

The night was busy. At almost one in the morning, plenty of people were still around. Young women in short skirts tottered and giggled their way down the street, clearly inebriated. A group of young men walked by in the opposite direction, cat-calling and wolf-whistling at the girls. They turned around, calling something back to them, but they didn’t stop walking.

The men saw Adrienne and Nadine walking, still hand in hand, down the opposite side of the street. Their cool, statuesque presence was intimidating and the men fell into an uncomfortable silence, not looking directly at the women as they passed.

Even from the other side of the street, Nadine could smell the copper warmth of their blood. Something similar to adrenaline pumped through her and every muscle in her body tensed and tightened. The muscles in her jaw thickened and lengthened and her fangs protruded. Her intake of breath came out as a snarl.

Adrienne shot her a look. “Calm down,” she hissed. “You’ll get us too much attention.”

Nadine shivered, tearing her gaze from the two men. Slowly, her fangs started to retract and the surge of power and strength subsided.

“Sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t help it.”

Another group of men passed them by, on their side of the street this time. None of them looked at the two women, as if they sensed the danger and knew to avoid it. Nadine deliberately stared straight ahead, trying not to be drawn into the heady rush of blood or the pulse of their arteries. She forced herself not to leap at them and sink her teeth into their throats.

“It gets easier,” Adrienne said. “You can tune them out after a while. Try to concentrate on something else. Tell me about yourself.”

Nadine sighed and took her mind to the one thing of importance in her life.

“I only ever wanted to dance,” she said. “As a child I saw the ballet on television and the sight captivated me. The dancers had such beauty and grace and just the sight took me away from the misery of my life.”

Adrienne touched her hand. “I’m sorry you didn’t have a happy childhood.”

Nadine shook her head, but withdrew her hand. “It doesn’t matter. My life’s gone now, but life wasn’t all bad. At the age of ten, I found a youth group and they did dance lessons for kids like me. The class was huge—about forty of us, all dreaming of being someone else, of having different lives. I loved to dance and I was good. The teachers started to talk about me and they even tried to contact my parents to see if they could enter me in competitions, but my mother didn’t care.”

“Within a couple of years I developed these,” she put her hands against her generous chest, “and my chances of being a ballet dancer disappeared, even if I’d been able to get the right training.” Nadine sighed again. “I’d started my training too late anyway. Professionals start so young.”

“But you’re really good,” Adrienne said, full of enthusiasm.

“Not good enough. I didn’t stand a chance of making something of myself. My mother hated my dancing. She hated that it took me away from her and said I should be doing something useful with my time, like getting a job. I was thirteen at this point, so I got a job in a hair salon; washing hair, making coffee, sweeping up hair. Whatever money I made, my mother took from me and then slapped me around a bit for some entertainment. By the time I hit fifteen, I figured I was better working and keeping my own money than going home and having it beaten out of me, so I ran away. Of course the strip clubs were an easy option. I lied about my age, pinched another girl’s I.D. and told them it was me. The club owners didn’t care the card wasn’t mine. If they got caught, they would be able to say they had seen my identification.”

“So you’ve been dancing ever since?”

“Yeah. Of course the money was important, but being on stage and dancing kept me there. I lost myself when I danced, simply focused on the music and the movement of my limbs. For this short space of time I could be entirely within myself, no worries or concerns; just me and the music and the feeling of exhilaration.”

“And now you’re no longer dancing,” said Adrienne, her eyes sad. “I took you away from that. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought you would have hated being up on stage, putting yourself on display.”

“I would rather have been dancing for people who simply wanted to watch me dance, rather than men who only imagined what it would be like to fuck me. But I was still dancing. I was still doing what I loved.”

“You can always dance for me.” her voice was soft.

Nadine smiled. “I will, I promise. But it’s not the same.”

“I’m sorry. Maybe you’ll be back on stage one day, but because people will be admiring your skill and beauty, instead of your tits and ass.”

“I hope so,” Nadine said, her voice hoarse. She changed the subject. “Where are we going anyway?”

“Where’s the best place to pick up girls?”

“I don’t know. A bar?”

“Exactly. We’re going clubbing.”

Chapter Four

London’s Old Street was a thriving mass of people, even at one in the morning. The bright lights of the entrances to bars and clubs flooded both sides of the street. Big bouncers, wearing the smart black and whites of tuxedos, stood with their arms folded, occasionally checking the identifications of punters who looked too young to be drinking.

The Scarla Club was located at the far end of the road. The two vampires walked side by side in silence. They no longer held hands, but Adrienne’s fingers lightly touched Nadine’s wrist, keeping the instincts of her much younger companion in check.

Staying in control didn’t come easily for Nadine. The scent of blood in every type, male and female, flooded through her. With her newly heightened senses, she found herself caught in a whirlpool of sensory overload. Sounds blared against her ear drums, laughter piercing through her like shrieks, all different types of music layered on top of each other, intermingling in a distorted racket. In the distance, she heard lovers whispering, the sound of frantic kissing, even the reverberation of a slap and a cry. Lights flashed. The strobe on a dance floor with brightly colored blobs made Nadine wince.

The scents and sounds of this busy, overwhelming place almost caused her to lose control. She wanted to snarl and lash out, to let the monster inside of her run free and leap on the nearest person to feed. She knew once she had her teeth sunk into the throat of a luscious woman or strong man, all she would know was the feel and taste of the blood rushing into her mouth and down her throat. All the rest of the world would disappear.

Adrienne’s hand touched her arm once more. “Just focus on me,” she said.

Nadine did as she was told and stared into Adrienne’s dark eyes. All at once, the rest of the world fell away, the sights and sounds blurring around her. Only the tantalizing scent of blood stayed with her.

And to think, Nadine had wondered if she had it in her to kill.

Together, the women walked into the club, the bouncers giving them a small nod as they passed. Adrienne did not bother to pay the entrance fee, but no one stopped or questioned them.

They walked up to the bar and Adrienne leaned across the wood, catching the bartender’s attention. He was young and he grinned at Adrienne, checking her out. She ordered two shots of vodka and he pushed them across the bar toward them.

“On the house,” he said.

Nadine picked one of them up and sniffed it.

“Just pretend to drink,” Adrienne said. “It’ll help you fit in.”

Nadine had never fit in less. She could feel people deliberately not looking at her. The two women were undeniably sexy and though they drew attention, no one made eye contact. When she worked as a stripper, all people did was stare. The men wanted to look her in the eye while she bent over, pushing her breasts together, pouting her mouth. On the odd occasion, when she had been desperate for cash and given a guy a blow job, it had been the same deal. The men loved when she stared up at them with their cock in her mouth. Something about the eye contact turned them on.

Only now things were different. No one wanted to look at her. They sensed both she and her companion were dangerous.

Adrienne leaned in, her mouth against Nadine’s ear. “We just have to pick one,” she said. “Whoever you desire.”

Nadine looked around the club. They were all so young, not many above the age of twenty-five. Young and care-free and sexy. All out to have a good time and find someone they would hook up with, someone they could spend the night having wild, uncomplicated sex with.

“What about her?” Adrienne nodded in the direction of a blonde whose large breasts bulged out of her crop top. Her short skirt showed off her strong thighs and the tiny clothing exposed her flat belly. She laughed with friends and danced to the music, her hands held above her head, stretching out her body. The girl was undeniably sexy and she knew it. A surge of lust swept over Nadine, her fangs lengthening in her mouth.

Adrienne smiled her mischievous half-smile. “Watch and learn,” she said.

The red-haired vampire slunk onto the dance floor, winding her body around the other dancers. Adrienne moved as if she was fluid, her body supple and lithe. She raised her hands above her head, lifting her hair as she danced. The chosen outfit of hipster jeans and halter top hugged her perfect body, accentuating her curves. She was hypnotising, mesmerising, and before long every person in the place stared at her. But Adrienne only had one person she was interested in—the blonde.

Adrienne danced up against her, pressing her breasts against the blonde’s own generous chest. The girl seemed confused, but her eyes locked on Adrienne’s and her body reacted, matching Adrienne’s movements as she gyrated and swayed. Adrienne slipped her hands down the blonde’s back, her palms resting on the curve of her ass. They danced together, their bodies moving as one.

Nadine stared, unsure if she should be overwhelmed with lust or jealousy. Adrienne leaned into the blonde and whispered something into her ear. Through the fine strands of her hair, she caught Nadine’s eye and gave her a cheeky wink.

With her hand still on the girl’s ass, Adrienne steered the blonde off the dance floor and toward Nadine, waiting at the bar. The girl’s friends watched her go, but no one said anything. As soon as Adrienne left the dance floor, everyone went back to their dancing, the moment forgotten.

“This is Nadine,” Adrienne told the girl. “We would like to take you home with us.”

The girl still seemed to be in a daze and she had clearly been drinking. She took in the sight of the two beautiful women and something in her eyes lit up. “Are you having a party?”

“Yes,” Adrienne smiled. “A private one.”

She grinned. “Great. I love parties.”

“My friend here has never been to this kind of party,” Adrienne said. “I want to make her first time special for her.”

The blonde peered up at Nadine from beneath thick eyelashes, blackened with mascara. She swayed slightly, alcohol affecting her coordination.

“I can make the night special.”

Nadine stayed quiet. This girl didn’t know what she was offering herself up for. If she did, she would be sure to run from the bar. Part of Nadine wanted to warn her, the part that still remembered how it felt to be human. But above everything else was the desire to kill.

Together, the three of them left the club, leaving the drinks untouched on the bar. They stepped back onto the street.

“Goodnight, ladies,” one of the bouncers said as they passed, but none of the women even acknowledged him.

The street was still busy; people queuing to get into bars and clubs, groups standing on street corners, laughing—a typical London night. Adrienne linked her arm through the blonde’s, indicating to Nadine to do the same. Before long, they had their arms looped together like old friends.

“So are you guys, like, best friends?” the girl giggled.

Adrienne shot Nadine a look. “Sure. We’re about as close as two girlfriends can get.”

Nadine pressed her lips together. A part of her didn’t want to be doing this. It was murder, no doubt about it. Yet her underlying hunger overrode any sense of duty. All she wanted to do was sink her teeth into the throat of this sexy woman and feed until she forgot everything else. She struggled to think of her as a person, that she might have had friends and family who loved her. All Nadine could think about was the blood pulsating through her veins and the tanned swell of her breasts, just begging to have her face buried in them.

A combination of a vampire’s speed and hypnotism whisking them along the streets, meant they reached home in no time. Before Nadine realized it, they were back at the apartment, the blonde still in their arms.

“Wow,” the girl said, breaking away from them, turning in a circle as she admired the flat. “This place is fucking amazing.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Adrienne said, crossing the floor, heading for the kitchen. “I must get you something to drink. Champagne?”

The girl’s eyes lit up. “Mmm, yummy. I’d love some.”

Adrienne turned to look at Nadine, who was still standing by the door. “Make our new friend comfortable, Nadine.”

Nadine struggled to control herself. Her fangs had already lengthened, her eyes burned with desire. It was strange how the desire for blood and that of sex seemed to go so perfectly hand in hand. She thought if she got any closer to the young woman she may lose it completely.

The blonde tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled at Nadine. “Are you shy?”

Nadine didn’t dare open her mouth, the fangs would have been obvious, so she just shook her head.

Adrienne reappeared and handed the blonde a tall glass of champagne. She reached over and stroked the blonde’s long hair back over her shoulder, trailing her fingers down the girl’s spine.

“Come, sit,” she said, taking hold of her hand, pulling her onto the couch with her.

She took a long drink from her glass and giggled nervously. “I don’t think I’ve ever done this before,” she said.

“Done what?”

“Picked up two women.”

“So you think you picked us up? I would have said it was the other way around.”

Adrienne stared into her eyes. The girl’s lips went slack. Her eyes took on a drugged look; her lids heavy, her gaze vacant.

Adrienne’s fingertips touched her jaw and ran her fingers down her throat, across her décolletage and down to the swell of her breast. The girl shivered.

“Your hands are cold,” she said, her voice a hoarse whisper.

Adrienne leaned in. “I’m sure you’re going to warm me up.”

The blonde turned her head a fraction, but enough for their mouths to meet. Adrienne kissed hungrily. The girl was more tentative, uncertain at first. Adrienne’s tongue sneaked out, lightly tracing her lips, seeking permission to enter. She opened her mouth in response, her own tongue flicking, touching Adrienne’s.

This time the girl increased the force of the kiss. In one hand, the champagne tilted.

Nadine stood beside her, moving at a speed that surprised herself, and she carefully removed the glass from the blonde’s hand, setting the champagne on the coffee table.

She slid onto the couch behind her and pulled the silky mane of hair away from her neck, kissing the delicate skin of her throat. The girl moaned and reached a hand behind her, touching Nadine’s waist, pulling her closer.

Still kissing the blonde, Adrienne glanced up at Nadine, locking eyes. She narrowed her eyes, telling Nadine to go for it.

Through her top, Nadine cupped the heavy weight of the girl’s breast in one hand, her palm feeling the hard nub of her nipple. Her lips nibbled at the skin of her throat, pulling the blood to the surface. Without another thought, she bit, the blood flowing beneath her tongue, sucking at her flesh. The girl moaned.

Adrienne’s mouth left hers and she headed down, using her hands to part the girl’s creamy thighs. The vampire kissed and licked up the inside of her thigh.

Nadine only focused on feeding.

Adrienne nipped the inside of her thigh, her cheek pressed against the woman’s sex, and a fresh hit of blood assaulted Nadine’s nostrils. The blonde moaned again and pressed down, too caught up in the pleasure the two vampires gave, to realize what was actually happening to her.

Nadine tore the flimsy material of the girl’s top away, exposing her large, heavy breasts. She pinched the large nipples, her palm roughly squeezing. And still she fed, sucking the girl dry.

The blonde grew weaker beneath them, but as she realized something was wrong and started to struggle, she was too weak to do anything. Not that she would ever have been able to fight off the two vampires.

Nadine burst from her neck, gasping. The blood rushed through her veins, her head spinning. The girl lay still in her arms and Nadine leaped away, horrified.

The blonde dropped to the couch, all life drained from her. Her eyes were still open, staring at the ceiling. Her skin was as pale as that of the vampires’.

Now, filled with blood and her hunger stated, Nadine’s senses came back to her. Even as the girl’s blood thrummed through her veins, the reality of what she had done hit home.

“Oh, God. She’s dead isn’t she? We killed her!”

Adrienne had lifted her face from the girl’s thighs, long before she had died. “You killed her,” she said. “I simply helped you along.”

She spun away, her face in her hands. “I can’t do this!”

“You just did.”

Adrienne picked up the girl’s wrist and then let go. Her arm fell off the side of the couch and dangled down to the floor. “Shame. I’m sure she was sweet, really.”

“Don’t do that,” Nadine said. “Don’t touch her.”

Adrienne laughed. “Oh, don’t be such a prude. She’s gone. This is nothing but a shell. Unlike us, she had a soul and now she will be sitting in heaven, staring down at us, wondering what the hell happened.”

Nadine’s head jerked up, the body on the couch suddenly forgotten.

“What do you mean ‘unlike us’? Are you saying we have no souls?”

Adrienne’s eyes widened with surprise. “We’re part of the un-dead. Our souls left us when we were brought back again. We’re no longer part of the cycle, Nadine. We have bodies that will not die. We are strong, and beautiful, and powerful. You can’t expect us to be part of the spiritual world as well.”

“So I’ve given up my immortal soul for beauty and power?”

“No. You gave up your immortal soul for an immortal life.”

Nadine glanced down at the girl’s face. She had done that. A normal, happy young woman who had been out for a good time was now dead, and it was all her fault. But it wasn’t completely her fault; Adrienne had turned her.

“I can’t be around you right now,” she said. Moving with a surprising burst of speed, she ran for the door.

“Nadine!”

But Adrienne didn’t try to chase her. She must have known Nadine would take no calming down.

Frantically, she punched at the button to call the elevator. The doors opened, but they were frustratingly slow, and Nadine put her hand in the gap and wrenched them open. They buckled under her strength and jammed, refusing to open any further.

Nadine gave a cry of frustration and leaped for the fire escape doors, to the stairs leading down to the back door of the apartment building. She flew down them, her feet barely touching the ground, her fingers skimming the banister.

Adrienne spoke the truth; she was strong and fast and beautiful. Her confidence was at an all time high, as if she had just taken a good long snort of cocaine and was now ready to take on the world. The strength burned through her muscles, desperate for a release. She could have ripped up trees by their roots if she had tried, torn metal from its casting, turned over cars. Instead, she ran.

She flew down the street. She brushed past a young couple walking hand in hand. Both looked around as she passed, shivering as if a ghost had walked through them. A group of young men, laughing and joking, fell silent as she ran. Each of them noticed something had happened, something had passed them, but they couldn’t have explained who or what it was.

Nadine had no idea where she was going. Her only home was the meagre shared flat, and she couldn’t even call the girls she lived with friends. Would they have even noticed her disappearance? Did anyone miss her at all?

The club would have. Probably not in the right way, but they would have noticed that she had not shown up for work. Suddenly she needed to be there. She needed to see a familiar face and place, needed to have a normal conversation.

Nadine headed to the Paradise Bar.

Chapter Five

Her feet seemed to find their own way, her head not needing to direct them. The front door to the club was on the main strip, in a row of cheap off-licences, grocery stores and dingy pubs. The sign over the door glowed with a red neon light. The ‘dise’ from ‘The Paradise Club’ had burned out.

Nadine banged in through the front door. Roland, the big black bouncer, started back in surprise. Staff weren’t supposed to use the main doors.

“Hey, Nadine,” he said. “Where you been? You’re sure in a lot of shit.”

She gave him a grim smile. He didn’t know the half of it.

“You can say that again.”

On stage Liana, stage name Mystery Nights, strutted her stuff. She was a curvaceous black girl who had an ass any man, or woman, would love to grab. The phrase ‘junk in the trunk’ should have been invented for her. Though she was a little small on top, her breasts had a perky, jaunty look to them, her nipples large and pointy. But Liana knew her ass was her best asset and she worked it well. She had this special jiggle she did as she danced which drove the men wild.

As Nadine crossed the floor, weaving her way between tables, Liana took hold of the pole and pushed her fine, round ass out, gyrating her way down to the floor.

Even Nadine found it hard to take her eyes off her. For a moment, the thought of what her blood would taste like ran through her head.

A hand on her arm dragged Nadine from her thoughts and she turned to see Tony, her boss and the owner of the club, staring at her, red-faced and furious.

“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded. “I’ve been worried sick.”

She gave a wry smile. “Nice of you to care.”

“Care? Of course I care. I had five open slots last night because of your no-show. I hope you’re planning to make up for it tonight.”

“Sure thing, Tony.”

Unsure of what she was playing at, she slipped across the front of the stage and into the large dressing room back stage. The girls looked up at her and smiled, but their smiles were tinged with insincerity and uncertainty. She knew what they were thinking; they all wondered what had happened to her. Had she been with a punter? Got too wasted to show? She would have thought exactly the same thing had the situation been reversed.

Nadine grabbed an outfit out of one of the costume boxes—kept for emergencies such as this—just choosing some heels and stockings. She stripped off the jeans and vest top, but kept her black underwear on. Slipping her feet into the shoes, Nadine’s whole demeanour changed, enjoying the height, posture and sexuality they gave her. Whatever else happened, she would always know the key to being sexy was in a good pair of stilettos.

The girl’s blood still rushed through her, her body buzzing with its power. She felt sexy, predatory.

The music in the bar ended and Liana made her way off stage. Nadine brushed past her, her hand giving a quick, light slap to the other woman’s exposed ass cheek. Liana jumped and stared at Nadine.

“What the fuck, bitch?”

“Just had to touch it,” Nadine smirked. “Everyone else has.”

The woman scowled and walked off; more sense than to fight her.

Tony’s familiar voice came over the PA. “And now the one you’ve all been waiting for… Calypso Dreams!”

A half-hearted round of applause started and Nadine walked out.

What the hell was she thinking?

All she had ever wanted to do was escape the place, yet here she was. Perhaps she was just desperate to get back to some kind of normality, to get back to some kind of routine. She wanted to have a normal conversation about something—at least as normal as her life got.

With her heightened senses, she heard the restrained moan and frantic movement of a guy jacking off under a table near the back. The club smelled of cigarette smoke, stale alcohol and old semen. Nadine narrowed her eyes against the bright lights of the stage spotlights, blaring in her face. But she strode out with a confidence she had never before possessed, a knowledge that she had chosen to be here tonight; that this show was now running by her rules.

On stage, she stood directly in front of the pole and reached back, the pole pressed between the round curves of her ass cheeks. The position pulled her shoulders back and thrust her breasts outward and she slowly leaned forward, swinging her hair down and around, flicking it back up again. She shimmied down so her ass almost touched the ground, then opened her thighs, wide.

“Yeah, baby!” A guy called out from the crowd.

Nadine’s head snapped up, focusing on the young man who shouted to her, her eyes dark and intense. In his early twenties, the man was cute, with short brown curly hair and a square jaw. He started back, as if shocked by the fierce look in her eyes.

Nadine smiled, a salacious smile, her fangs running out a little. All of a sudden the lust and hunger was back on her again with equal force. She would fuck this guy until he wept and then suck him dry.

But she wasn’t done yet.

Reaching behind her back, her fingers unclipped the bra and it dropped to the floor. Her hands found her breasts and she pushed them together, squeezing her nipples, forcing them into hard points. She reached her head down, her tongue lapping out, as if about to lick her own nipple. Somewhere in the front, a different man moaned.

She twisted around and pulled herself up on the pole, her legs wrapped around it, her head tilted back. She spun her whole body so fast, it was almost a blur. Nadine lifted herself up, so her whole body jutted out at a right angle, showing her incredible strength.

A nervous murmur went up through the crowd.

Nadine let go of the pole and dropped to the floor. She crawled across the stage, purposefully pushing her ass out, arching her back, focusing on the young man who had called out to her. He held a bill, eagerly awaiting her. Others too, were ready to hand her tips. As she reached the front of the stage, she pushed her hip out toward him and he slid the bill into the black lace of her panties.

Nadine leaned in closer to him and whispered in his ear, “You reach down a bit further and you could slip a finger into my pussy. Would you like that?”

He nodded frantically. “You mean like a private dance?”

She smiled and twisted around. “Sure. You can call it that.”

Other punters converged upon her. One guy reached out to grab her breast, but her hand shot out, grabbing his wrist in mid air.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

His eyes widened in surprise at her strength and he let go. The air of tension increased around her, crackling with its force, and others backed away, their tips still clutching in their hands. But the young man was too full of cum and testosterone to notice.

Her song came to an end and she slipped back stage. She pulled on a sexy corset, keeping on the panties and heels. Heading back out to the bar, the guy waited for her, as eager as a bitch on heat.

Nadine walked up to him, and stood with only inches between their bodies. His heat washed over her and she knew if she stepped forward another inch, she would also feel the hard bulge of his erection.

“So you want that dance?” she asked him, her eyelids lowered, looking up at him from beneath her lashes. He was tall, at least six-feet, and had a strong set of shoulders and a broad chest for one so young. She wondered what he was doing here. He wouldn’t have any problem picking up a regular girl to screw. Some men just had a thing for paying for it, knowing that strippers and whores would do the dirty things they would never have the balls to ask a regular girl to do.

His eyes were wide, taking in her body as he nodded.

Nadine smiled. “Great,” she said, hooking a finger into the button hole of his shirt. “Come right this way.”

He followed her compliantly. This was too easy.

Nadine led him around back, to the private dance rooms. In truth the rooms were little more than boxes, just a velvet curtain separating them from the bar.

He sat down on the narrow couch, cushions scattered behind him. A telling bulge pushed against the crotch of his jeans, running down one side of the leg. This guy might be young, but he was certainly packing the goods.

“Do I need to pay first?” he said, fishing his wallet out of his back pocket. “I’ve got money.”

“Shush,” she said, placing a hand on his, pausing his movements. “I decided I like the look of you, so this one is on the house.”

His eyebrows arched, his face open. “Really? No shit?”

Nadine bent forward, pushing the swell of her breasts into his face. She nuzzled her face into the smooth line of his neck. Hot blood pumped beneath his skin and she inhaled deeply, savoring the scent.

She spoke against his ear. “No shit.”

Her hand reached down, fingers finding the hard length beneath his jeans. The young man moaned as she rubbed him with a strong, expert touch.

“Turn around,” he said. “I want to see your ass.”

She did as he said, grinding her ass into the seat of his jeans, pushing her pussy against the hard bulge. There was no denying she was turned on; that seemingly insatiable hunger for both blood and sex going hand in hand. Between the flimsy material of her panties and the roughness of his jeans, she felt herself getting wet.

He reached out, his fingers gripping the firm flesh of her buttocks.

“So you’re an ass-man, huh?” she said, flicking her hair back, peering over one shoulder at him. He didn’t even look up, just continued to stare at her heart shaped bottom as she ground against his cock. “I guess you enjoyed the girl who was on before me then?” she continued.

His eyes flicked up. “What, the black girl? Hell, yeah.”

“Bet you’d like to see me and her together,” she said. “Watch me touching that amazing ass of hers, watch me lick her pussy, and suck on those cute titties.”

The man’s breathing got faster and he nodded frantically. When he spoke, his voice was higher. “You could do that? You could get her in here?”

“We’ll see. It depends on how well you perform. But I like girls too, so I want you to think of me with her while you’re fucking me.”

“Oh fuck,” the guy moaned. He reached down and quickly unzipped himself, freeing his cock. He was as big as the shape had alluded to and he pushed it against her, pressing her ass cheeks together so they hugged his cock tight.

Nadine let him stroke his cock a couple of times between her buttocks, bouncing up and down to his rhythm, then she turned around. She slid her panties down her thighs, stepping out of them, and climbed onto his lap, straddling him. Nadine pushed her wet folds against his hard length and he groaned again.

“We should use a condom,” he said, obviously worried about the chances of catching something.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered, as she lifted herself up, steadying his dick with one hand, ready to impale herself on him. “You won’t be alive long enough to be concerned about it.”

He had enough time to say, ‘huh’, before Nadine was wrenched off him. She flew across the room and hit the wall before dropping to the floor. Pain burst through her right shoulder where she hit, but it was fleeting. As shocked as the man was, she looked up.

Adrienne stood with her hands on her hips, her hair in tight red curls, springing around her face. Her pale face seemed even whiter, eyes glinting like pieces of granite in her head.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

“Holy shit!” said the guy, scrambling away, trying to stuff his still hugely erect dick back into his jeans.

“Fuck off, Adrienne,” Nadine spat. “I’m doing what you told me to do.”

“What, and exposing us at the same time? Didn’t you even think about what it would mean if people knew who you were?”

“Hey, if you girls want to both do me, I promise I won’t tell.”

Adrienne shot him a cold glare. “Shut up. You need to be thankful you’re making it out of here alive.”

His face deflated, his penis wilted. He stared from one woman to the next and decided they weren’t screwing around. Managing to zip up his jeans, he scrambled around the edge of the room and fled out of the doorway, the velvet of the curtain flapping behind him.

“Come on,” Adrienne said, exhaling air through her nose in a huff. “We need to get out of here. There’s a good chance that guy is going to complain about the interruption and we don’t need people coming back here and asking questions.”

Nadine folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh, yes, you are, Adrienne said, grabbing her by the arm, pulling her to her feet. “And for God’s sake, put your panties back on.” She rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you were going to fuck that guy.”

Now it was Nadine’s turn to look hard. “Well, he has something you’ll never have.”

“Yeah, yeah. If you want cock, you can have it. All I ask is that you don’t shit on your own doorstep.”

“I wasn’t!”

“No? Don’t you think people would have remembered you taking that guy back for a private dance? Don’t you think they would have put two and two together when they found him dead—drained of blood?”

Nadine stared at the ground, feeling like a child being scolded for bad behavior.

“They would never have found me,” she said, defiant.

“London is not such a big place.”

Nadine pressed her lips together. Maybe she had wanted to be caught. If she were locked up, away from society, her uncontrollable behavior would no longer be a danger to others. This desire to kill would be under lock and key.

Adrienne spoke as if she had read her thoughts.

“Do not be ridiculous, Nadine. You would kill everyone in prison and simply wrench open the metal of the bars so you could escape. The hunger is stronger than you. It will always win.”

Movement came from outside, feet rushing toward the room. Both vampires’ heads turned in the direction of the sound.

“Hurry,” said Adrienne. “We must go.”

Using their speed, they whipped out of the doorway just as an aggravated and pissed Tony rounded the corner. The vampires banged out of the back door and into the alley where Nadine had first been killed.

Nadine took a sharp intake of breath. The memories of that night flooded back, overwhelming her. She felt the stab of the knife, how it had seemed someone had punched the breath right out of her. She remembered how cold she had been, how she watched the blood drain from her body, her life ebbing away with it.

But mainly she remembered the fear. How she had been so terrified to die. She would never feel that way again. Adrienne had given her that much. Now she was the harbinger of fear; death was her gift to give to others.

Chapter Six

Hand in hand, they ran through the city, their inhuman speed tearing their hair back from their faces. People looked up as they fled by, sensing their passing like a cold wind. Drivers in their cars saw only a flash of movement through their windshields. The numerous security cameras dotted over the city picked up only a blur of movement, causing security officers to lean in with squinting eyes and a frown, wondering what they had seen.

Adrienne took the lead, pulling Nadine across the city, toward Primrose Hill.

Their nostrils were filled with the scent of sweet fresh grass and open air as they climbed higher up over the city and plonked themselves down on the soft grass. They looked down over London, at the huge curve of the London Eye, blue lights in the night sky, at the strange shape of the Gherkin protruding like a phallus from the city skyline. All across London, the illumination winked and blinked, like an ocean of colored lights.

From the distance, the sounds of London filtered through to their sensitive hearing; horns blaring, an alarm sounding, the rise and fall of the wail of a police siren.

Adrienne reached out and took Nadine’s hand.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” she said.

Nadine nodded. She could not deny the beauty of the night, how it seemed to wrap itself around her, holding her tight within its folds. She found a peace in its stillness, even with the commotion of the city not far below. For the time being at least, the gnawing hunger fell silent and her body settled into a kind of zoned out, peaceful state.

“It’s normal to feel the way you are,” Adrienne said. “So many years have passed for me, I can hardly remember my turning, but I’m sure I went through all of these compulsions and anxieties.”

“Don’t try to make me feel better, Adrienne. Nothing you tell me will make things better. I’m not in control of myself. I would have killed that guy. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was as if someone else had taken over my body and I just went along with it. That’s the worst thing; no part of me wanted to stop.”

Adrienne smiled. “Isn’t that what life’s about?” she said. “You must learn to enjoy it, to appreciate the gift you have been given, and relish in your new power.”

“I can’t,” she cried, her face in her hands. “Why can’t you understand? I can’t accept murdering people the way you do.”

“It’s not murder. We are a different species now. Do you tell the crocodile killing the gazelle it is a murderer? No, you just accept its actions because it is doing what it needs to survive.”

“Stop comparing us to fucking animals!”

She threw back her head and laughed, her throaty laugh. “We are animals, Nadine. At least animals are the closest thing we can compare ourselves to.”

“And you think that is supposed to make me feel better? I want to be with you, Adrienne. I want us to be together, to go to sleep together, to wake up in each other’s arms, but you can’t expect me to accept we are killers.”

“Forgive me, my love,” said Adrienne, placing her hand over the top of Nadine’s. “I forget what it is like to be newly vampire, to have all of your body fighting one way and your emotions another. Don’t worry. At the moment, the memory of being human is so strong, but in time you will forget.”

“I don’t want to forget.”

“But you are no longer human. In time you will stop thinking, and feeling, like one.”

“Then I’ll be completely a monster,” she said, turning her face away. “I’ll kill myself first.”

Adrienne laughed, but the sound was cold. “And how do you intend to do that?”

“I don’t know…stake through the heart? Walk out into the sun? Aren’t those things supposed to kill us?”

“Death for us really isn’t that easy, Nadine. Our bodies fight against exposure and it would take more strength than you will ever have to stake yourself. Unless someone was to physically tie you down with something strong enough to stop you from breaking the bonds, and wait for the sun to rise…”

“Like what?” she asked, eagerly drinking every small piece of information.

“The bonds would need to be metal—silver is best.”

“Doesn’t sound so hard.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Nadine. We are called the immortals for a reason. We have eternal life—we are undead. Killing one of our kind isn’t easy and killing ourselves is damn near impossible. If you were to go outside in the sunlight, your body would disobey. It would seek shelter, whatever you consciously wanted.”

“So I don’t even have control over my own body anymore?”

“Of course you do. As long as what you chose to do doesn’t hinder your own survival.” She sighed. “Enough! All vampires experience difficulties with the adjustment at first, but you need to trust me. You do trust me, don’t you?”

She looked in Adrienne’s dark eyes. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

Adrienne cupped her face in both hands. “I don’t want to fight either. I can’t stand you doing this to yourself. You are what you are.”

Nadine stared off into the distance, taking in the beauty of the city at night.

“So who turned you?” she asked. “Who was your maker?”

Adrienne’s face darkened. “She was an impulsive and vain vampire. She turned me and swore we’d be together, but within a few years she tired of me. She grew bored and so she went out and found another young, beautiful thing to play with.” Adrienne sighed. “That evening she came home with a man and turned him the very same night. She had discarded me and now ignored me, and so one night I left. I walked away from her and headed to a new country, and London became my home. I’ve never been back and I never saw her again.”

“Do you hear of her? Is she even still alive?”

Adrienne shrugged. “From time to time, rumors of her reach me, but it’s been awhile now—almost fifty years. I wouldn’t be surprised if she got herself into trouble. She was too compulsive. She wanted the world and thought nothing could stand in her way.”

“She wasn’t a very nice vampire then?”

“I don’t think she was a very nice human either.”

Nadine settled into Adrienne’s arms. To know something of her past and know she had been hurt herself, somehow made her feel closer to her maker.

“I want to be with you,” she said. To be without Adrienne now would be like being without a part of herself, like being asked to walk around with her heart missing.

Adrienne smiled. “Our being together is the most important thing in the world. The rest of it means nothing.”

She leaned in, kissed her lips softly and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, grabbing her in a fierce hug.

“We’re bonded in a way two humans can never be,” Adrienne whispered into her ear. “Our bodies are bound together for eternity, for as long as this world should exist.”

“All I want is for us to be together. I can hardly believe we only met a matter of days ago.”

“It’s different than with humans. I made you, just as God made humanity. How many other couples could say such a thing?”

“You can’t possibly believe in a God, after the things you do.”

“How can you say this? Have you not been listening to what I’ve been saying to you? Our existence doesn’t mean there is no God, or that we are somehow against Him.”

Nadine grabbed Adrienne’s hand and held it above the swell of her breast.

“Feel this,” she demanded. “No heartbeat. I died and then I came back again. How can you possibly think this is natural?”

She smiled, looking at the ground, shook her head before looking back up again.

“Don’t you believe in angels? In the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Haven’t you ever wondered about the reason He made His disciples drink His blood?”

“Shut up. There’s no connection. They’re just stories…”

“Really? Eternal life? Life after death? Drinking of the blood, eating of the body? You think that is all just a coincidence? God killed from vengeance, God killed out of wrath. All we do is kill to survive and yet you think that is unthinkable. Maybe you should take the time to consider what you believe.”

“I believe murder is a sin.”

Adrienne visibly gritted her teeth. “It’s not murder if it is a different species. Do humans talk about murdering chickens or fish?”

Nadine snorted vaguely hysterical laughter. “Vegetarians do!”

“I can tell you nothing more,” Adrienne said. “You have no choice in the matter. If you don’t want to go through the unthinkable torture of slowly starving to death over several decades, you must kill. And to be frank, the chances of you starving to death before your body took over and killed is near on impossible.”

“So you’re saying I’m going to murder people and I have no control over it.”

Adrienne sighed, exasperated. “Yes, that is exactly what I am saying.”

Silence descended as Nadine allowed her destiny to settle over her.

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” said Nadine. “Can we go home?”

Adrienne stood up and put out her hand to Nadine. Nadine looked up and reluctantly placed her palm into Adrienne’s. The vampire pulled her to her feet.

“You’ll get used to it,” said Adrienne. “In time you’ll even begin to enjoy what you are.”

Together they started the walk back down the hill, toward Camden Town. They moved at human pace, taking in the tranquility of the night.

Suddenly, Adrienne froze; her lean body statuesque in the half-light. Her hand tightened around Nadine’s, crushing her fingers in her grasp.

“What’s wrong?” Nadine hissed. “What’s the matter?”

Adrienne put out her other hand, lightly touching her arm, silencing her. They stood for a moment, Adrienne listening for something Nadine could not hear. After a few minutes Adrienne relaxed.

“Other vampires are near,” she said. “I thought for a minute they had sensed us.”

Nadine caught her breath in a rush of anticipation.

“There are other vampires?” she asked, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.

Adrienne turned to look at her, a scowl on her face. “You have an annoying way of repeating what I say as a question. It really is quite irritating.”

“Sorry,” Nadine said, downcast. “So much of what you say is surprising. It’s kind of a reflex.”

Adrienne tossed her head. “Well stop it.”

Nadine hesitated and said, “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“Of course other vampires exist. You didn’t think we were the only ones?”

“I hadn’t given the subject much thought.”

“Don’t. Other vampires can be dangerous. We are, by nature, a competitive species. We always want what the other has, and groups any larger than two or three generally don’t do so well. Some kind of argument will always start, and once a fight starts, it will not end until one or the other is dead.”

A prickle of unease raced over her; the same one that had been with her since she’d been turned. The sharp stab of fear.

“But smaller groups don’t fight?” she asked.

“They do, but not so often. When we choose a companion, we do so carefully. One will always be more submissive than the other. Like us for example; I am the elder vampire and without me you are nothing.”

She said it so matter-of-fact, clearly not even considering if her words would upset Nadine. Yet Nadine bristled with anger, not liking the ‘submissive’ role she had suddenly found herself in. Having anyone try to control her was something she had spent her life fighting against.

“I would rather we were equals,” Nadine said, trying not to look like she was sulking.

Adrienne laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I am over four hundred years older than you. We will never be equals.”

Nadine pressed her lips together, suppressing the anger bubbling beneath. This wasn’t Adrienne’s fault.

The doubt about her new existence was back with renewed force. Was this how she had to spend the rest of eternity—as someone else’s ‘pet’? It certainly wasn’t how she had ever wanted her life to be. She had to be a tough bitch her whole life and no one had ever told her what to do. Nadine wondered just how carefully Adrienne had chosen her partner this time.

But Nadine couldn’t fight Adrienne. The older vampire would tear her to shreds within moments.

“So what about these other vampires?” she asked. “Do they live close by?”

“Close enough. They won’t come near us unless something happens to provoke them. As long as we stay in our own territory and do nothing to stir up trouble for each other, they will leave us alone.”

A sudden craving to meet these strange vampires filled Nadine. What would they be like? Were they men or women? Were they as beautiful and strong and dangerous as Adrienne, or different?

The unknown had her gripped, tantalizing and calling to her. Though she wanted to be with Adrienne, she couldn’t help wanting to learn about the others.

She opened her mouth, more questions on the tip of her tongue, but her senses halted her words. Adrienne wouldn’t want to talk about them. Her defenses came up as soon as she sensed them.

Had Adrienne met with them before? Nadine wondered. Did she have some kind of past joining her to them?

She went to speak again, but silenced her tongue once again.

The last thing she wanted to do was upset Adrienne any more than she already had. Truth was, Adrienne’s reaction scared her.

“We need to hurry,” said Adrienne. “Dawn will be here soon and we don’t want to be out here when that happens.”

Nadine winced. “Why? Do we burn up, or burst into flames, or something?”

“Both of those things. We blister and burn, like third degree burns, before combusting until all there is left is a pile of ash.”

“Does it hurt?”

“It’s agonizing.”

“Jesus. This whole thing just gets better and better, doesn’t it?”

She shrugged. “I don’t make the rules.”

Above them, the black of the night’s sky gradually faded to a dark indigo. The streets were as empty as London ever got; late enough that the majority of clubbers had gone home, but still too early for the commuters to be out. They raced across the city, heading to Adrienne’s apartment.

A desperation pushed them forward, a need within their bodies, driving them to seek shelter.

Just as the sun began to rise, the two vampires slunk into the apartment.

“What about the windows?” asked Nadine, her whole body wracked with fear at the coming light.

“They’re backed with a lining that stops the UV rays penetrating. But it’s only for emergencies. We have to sleep now, our bodies force us to. The only time we can stay awake in the daytime is if our immortal lives are in danger.”

There was no time for sex or passion, they simply slunk into the bedroom and dove beneath the sheets. The room’s windows were blacked out; no light penetrated, so there were no fears of the rising sun.

Wrapped in each other’s arms, they fell into their deep and dreamless sleep.

Chapter Seven

The next night Nadine woke, her hunger renewed afresh.

She groaned and twisted onto her side, clamping her jaw together. She knew what the hunger meant; it meant death, and not her own.

Her hand reached out, feeling for Adrienne’s smooth, cool skin. Her fingers found the gentle incline of her stomach and Nadine edged herself closer, drawing strength from her presence.

It was strange to think only a few nights ago she had been a regular human being, trying to escape her demons. Now, instead of escaping her demons, she had become part of them, a devil in her own right.

Adrienne shifted, fitting her body into Nadine’s curves. Nadine held her tight, pulling the slim line of her back against the swell of her breasts, burying her face into the soft curl of her hair. Whatever else she thought about her new existence, there was no denying the pleasure at waking with Adrienne so easily within reach. Something about being near her gave her strength, gave her a reason to want to continue.

Adrienne twisted around in her arms, facing her. She reached out and pushed a strand of hair away from Nadine’s face.

“I want to talk to you about last night,” Adrienne said.

“Why?”

“If I cannot provide you with something you need, then we must to be open to each other. We’re tied together forever and if we’re not open and realistic, we will end up frustrated and resentful.”

“So you think we should be honest?” A million and one things buzzed through her mind—should she speak of her doubts, her worries about being a subservient? Should she tell Adrienne how she wondered if this new ‘life’ really was better than just being allowed to die?

But she kept her lips firmly shut.

“Of course,” Adrienne continued. “Imagine a normal human marriage—it lasts maybe fifty, sixty years at the most? Think how many couples lie and cheat in that time, how sometimes the marriage is less of a pleasure and more of prison cell. Fifty years is nothing for us. Many makers and their creations will spend several hundred years together, if not more. If we allow each other our freedoms with certain things, we are less likely to wind up killing one another.”

Nadine shivered. The danger Adrienne held was very real.

“So,” said Nadine, picking her words carefully. “Exactly what part about last night are we talking about here?”

A flash of confusion passed across Adrienne’s perfect face. “That you were going to fuck a man, of course.”

“Oh, it meant nothing. He just happened to be the one who paid me enough attention.”

“Nadine,” she looked at her, eyebrows raised. “I have been a vampire for a very long time. Feeding is almost always tied into sex. Feeding is like another swapping of bodily fluids, so we want intimacy and to be attracted to the person we feed from. I caught you with his cock positioned right at the entrance of your pussy. Don’t tell me you weren’t thrilled at the prospect of fucking him.”

Nadine looked away and shrugged. Adrienne gently took her face in her hands and pulled her attention back.

“Haven’t you been listening to what I’ve been saying? It’s okay if you need men as well. I would rather you screw them with me, than go off alone.”

“I don’t need a man,” she said, but her tone was stiff.

“Don’t try to bullshit me,” Adrienne laughed. “You can’t fool me. I’ve been around far too long.”

Nadine didn’t have a problem with fucking a man. It had been awhile, and she had believed she’d sworn them off for good. But she was surprised at the level of lust she felt with the young man’s hard cock against her, at the touch of his rough hands on her breasts, of stubble brushing her skin. Being filled by his long hard cock while she sunk her teeth into his throat and the rush of blood flooding her mouth was the sexiest things she could think of.

She adored Adrienne and she wanted to be with her, but she would never be able to fuck her good and hard and rough, like she wanted. Yet she knew admitting the truth would seal the fate of some strange man that night. They would go out, looking for one to bring back with them, to screw and then kill, as they had the young woman the night before.

Adrienne sensed her hesitate. “Oh, come on. It will be fun. I’m not going to let a penis anywhere near me, though. This is for your fun only. I’ll watch.” She gave Nadine a cheeky wink and scrabbled out of bed.

She stretched out her body, her arms above her head, her full breasts lifting. The vampire knew the movement put her body on full display, enjoying the reaction she got from her lover.

But Nadine’s thoughts were focused elsewhere.

Her hunger twisted through her, gripping her attention. Her muscles cramped and pain speared through her.

“What’s happening?” she moaned.

“You need to feed,” said Adrienne. “Your body is telling you you’re past feeding time.”

Nadine curled up into a ball. “It’s like the worst period pains I’ve ever had, only they’re right through my body”

Adrienne patted her shoulder. “They’ll pass in a moment, but if you don’t feed soon they’ll grow more intense and frequent. Eventually, all you’ll feel is pain and you’ll finally give in to what your body needs and feed.”

“You’re my little ray of sunshine, Adrienne,” gasped Nadine.

Another cramp wracked though her, and she groaned again, curling into herself.

Adrienne stood by, knowing she could offer no real comfort, just waiting for the cramps to pass. Slowly, the pain ebbed away, leaving Nadine panting.

“So is this going to happen the same way as last night?” Nadine asked, once she had recovered. “Go to a bar and pick some poor, unsuspecting victim up with the promise of a good time?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m sure we could be a little more inventive. And anyway, we can’t always crawl bars for our meals. London isn’t that big and in time we would be noticed. We have to be more subtle. We wouldn’t want rumors of a murderer being loose in London. It would cause panic and eventually only make it harder for us to find a decent meal. We need to be more clever than that.”

Pulling herself together, Nadine dressed and they left the apartment once again, heading into the financial district of the city.

The tall glass building of investment banks, insurance buildings, and stockbrokers rose all around them. Though the hour was late, many of the men and women who worked in these jobs put in fifteen and sixteen hour days, desperate to get ahead of their colleagues. Dotted all over the heights of the buildings, small glass boxes were lit, signaling someone was home.

A glass door swung open, a concierge ushered out a young woman in a business suit. She smiled and thanked him before teetering to the edge of the road and flagging down a taxi.

Adrienne grabbed Nadine’s arm, her grip strong.

“Come on,” she hissed.

Using their speed, they slipped behind the concierge and through the open door. A row of lifts were ahead of them, but instead of risking being caught in a metal box, they headed up the stairwell.

After several flights of stairs, they snuck through the fire door and entered a long corridor with glass walls. The cubicles either side of them were filled with computers and desks. Ahead of them, a cleaner ran a Hoover back and forth.

The vampires ran silently along the corridor. Finally, they came to one of the glass booths where someone still sat behind their desk. In his mid-thirties, with shorn dark hair and a sharp suit, the man was handsome in a conservative way.

Adrienne put out an arm, stopping Nadine. She nodded in the man’s direction.

“See that guy over there? He genuinely is working late tonight, but he tells his wife he is working late most nights. In truth, he has a mistress and he spends most of his evening fucking her in her apartment. He’s thinking about it now, how he loves the way she always wears stockings and suspenders, and how he’s missing the taste of her pussy on his tongue.”

“How do you know that?” said Nadine in surprise.

“I can hear his thoughts.”

“Really?” A jolt of panic speared through her. “Can you hear mine?”

“No, of course not. A vampire can never read the thoughts of one of their own kind, though they may be able to sense how another vampire is feeling, or simply sense the energy from another immortal.”

“Like you did last night?”

“Exactly.”

“So what about me? Why can’t I hear his thoughts?”

“You will in time. It’s something that develops as a vampire grows in years. Because I am so ancient, my skills are quite adept.”

Nadine turned her attention back to the window, and the thirty-something, suited man sitting at his desk. “So what’s he thinking about now?”

Adrienne paused for a moment. “He’s thinking about how much he loves to fuck her from behind, how amazing her ass looks when he’s thrusting his cock in and out of her. He’s thinking that he loves how she always shaves her pussy, and how hot she looks when she keeps her heels on and bends over for him.” Adrienne laughed. “In fact, this lady is quite the delicious one. I’m getting quite hot just thinking about her and I know for a fact that our little adulterer has one hell of a stiffy.”

Nadine shivered deliciously, her own pussy tightening and contracting, her nipples hardening.

“I love hearing those words come out of your mouth,” she said.

Adrienne smiled and turned to Nadine, her hand finding Nadine’s breast, her fingers closing around the hard peak of her nipple. “What, you love to hear me talking dirty? You like it when I talk about his big, hard cock and her tight, firm ass.”

Nadine’s breath quickened. “Oh, yes.”

“Okay,” she said, turning her attention back to the man. “Let’s see where his filthy little mind is going now… He’s thinking about how he’s got to go home to his wife soon, that it’s his birthday tomorrow and he won’t even be able to sneak out because of a family birthday meal they have planned.” Adrienne wrinkled up her nose. “Oh, how dull.”

They retraced their steps, but this time, instead of heading out the front doors, they stayed in the stairwell and made their way down another flight of stairs to the underground parking garage.

A heavy door barred their way, an emergency exit bar of metal holding the door shut. Adrienne pushed the bar down and the door swung open.

Low, fluorescent lighting lit the windowless space. The majority of the garage was empty, with only a few vehicles left by those either still working, or having abandoned their vehicles for a few drinks and a taxi in town.

Adrienne picked out the most masculine car, a large black Audi A6, knowing instinctively it would be his.

She walked up to the car and ran her fingertips along its smooth lines. Then she turned and pushed Nadine back against the hood.

“Hey!”

“Shhh. He’s coming down. You want him to go for us, don’t you? You said you wanted to do a man.”

“Really?”

“Trust me, he’s never going to resist us, and then you, my love, get to have a little fun.”

Adrienne pulled open Nadine’s shirt, exposing her breast and lowering her mouth to it, closing her cool lips around her nipple. Nadine’s hand bunched up in Adrienne’s long mass of hair, sucked air in past her teeth and slowly exhaled, her head back, eyes closed.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the confined space.

“What the fuck?”

The man drew to a stop, hardly believing he was seeing two incredibly hot women making out on the hood of his car.

Adrienne lifted her head, exposing Nadine’s naked curves to him. The man’s eyes widened at the sight.

“You must be Richard?” she said.

“And who the fuck are you?”

“We’re your birthday present. Your friend…” Adrienne quickly scanned his thoughts for the first name he came up with. “Baz sent us to you.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

Adrienne reached out and cupped Nadine’s breast in one hand and slowly kissed her mouth, making sure the guy could see their tongues entwining and lapping.

“I never kid about fucking,” she said.

His eyes lit up, but he held himself back. “You’re not hookers are you?” he said. “I don’t screw whores!”

“Not at all. My friend here is a dancer, and she’ll happily give you a private show, but really we’re just two women who love to fuck. So are you in? If not we can go and find some other man who would love to watch two gorgeous women eating each other’s pussies.”

“No, no. I’m in,” he said, his hands raised in surrender. Already, his erection tented in his suit trousers. “Where do we go?”

“You can come back to ours.”

“Yours? So you live together, what like actual lesbians?”

“Sure, only my lover here still likes to get banged by a big hard dick, so I do it for her.”

His eyes took in Nadine’s luscious body. “Fantastic.”

The man—Richard—already held his car keys in his hands. He pressed the button on the fob, making the car’s headlights flash and the vehicle to beep twice as the door locks popped open. Richard went to the back door and opened it for the two women.

“Why, thank you,” Adrienne smiled as she climbed in. “I always appreciate a gentleman.”

Nadine got in after her and Richard slid into the driver’s seat and started the car. He steered the vehicle up onto the street and Adrienne directed him to their home.

Chapter Eight

Within twenty minutes they arrived back at the apartment.

“Wow,” said Richard, taking in the flat. “This is a hell of a place.”

“Thank you,” said Adrienne, her fingers tracing the back of the couch in the same way she had done to the car. Both Richard and Nadine watched her. Even the sight of Adrienne touching inanimate objects was erotic.

“Take a seat,” she continued, motioning to the leather couch.

“So which one of you do I get to fuck first?”

“No,” she said. “You won’t touch me. I don’t do men, but I will watch while you fuck her and you’d better make it good. Screw her as if this is the last time you will ever touch a woman.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m good in the sack. Everyone tells me so.”

“Good, because I would hate to see her go unsatisfied, and I imagine you would hate for a woman to have to finish a job you started.”

“I still get to see you together though,” he said, his tongue practically hanging out. “You promised.” The last part came out as an annoying whine and Adrienne narrowed her dark eyes.

“Please don’t beg like that, you’re turning my stomach. Of course you will see us together. I intend to be the one who gets her ready for you.”

Nadine had been standing by watching the verbal intercourse. She was struggling to control herself. She desperately needed to feed and knowing what was about to happen turned her on so her panties already clung damp to her folds. Yet she didn’t want to kill another innocent.

But what had Adrienne said? He was married and sleeping with someone else. He was hardly innocent.

Adrienne put out her hand and Nadine stepped forward, taking it. The two women stood in front of Richard as he sat on the couch, leaning back, making his huge erection obvious beneath his trousers.

They started to kiss again, their tongues entwining outside of their mouths, making sure Richard could see exactly what they were doing. Their hands tugged at each other’s clothes, peeling them away. First Nadine pulled Adrienne’s top over her head, then Adrienne continued to unbutton Nadine’s shirt, finishing what she had started.

“Oh man,” the guy murmured from the couch.

The women unhooked each other’s bras and hands found the soft mounds of their breasts, fingers touching and caressing each other’s nipples.

Nadine headed down and she lowered her head, gently sucking on Adrienne’s nipples, making the vampire moan. She kneeled on the floor and slid Adrienne’s jeans down over her ass and down her legs, until she was able to step out of them.

The sound of a zipper rasped through the night, as Richard freed his dick. His hard length sprang out. He clasped his hand around its girth, moving slowly back and forth, his eyes glued on the scene in front of him.

Nadine took Adrienne’s buttocks in both hands and drew her pussy close to her face. She nuzzled through the lacy material of her panties, tasting her scent, feeling her wetness. Adrienne’s hands were in her hair, pressing her lover against her pussy.

Nadine’s tongue poked against the material, searching for Adrienne’s clit, hearing a small intake of breath above her when she hit. Rubbing back and forth, she felt the material, creating friction against her tongue.

She reached up and pushed the panties to one side and slid her finger into Adrienne’s tight sheath, curling it toward her. She tickled the soft pad of flesh of her lover’s g-spot while continuing to lick her clit.

Hands made contact with her ass, tugging at her own jeans, surprising Nadine. She had almost forgotten about Richard.

He reached around, unbuttoned her jeans and slipped both them and her panties down her thighs. His hands were on her naked bottom, squeezing, pulling her cheeks apart. He slid a finger down across the pucker of her ass and down along her folds, seeking entrance. Nadine parted her thighs, allowing him to push his finger inside her.

Her breathing increased and she struggled to concentrate on Adrienne. The other vampire must have sensed it for she stepped away, breaking the contact.

“It’s okay,” Adrienne said. “You enjoy this. I’ll watch from over there.”

The vampire took her naked self over to the other coach and spread out over the cushions, her thighs parted. Her fingers reached between her legs, continuing to pleasure herself where Nadine had left off.

Richard continued to finger Nadine while his fist moved faster and faster over his cock. But this wasn’t what Nadine wanted. If she’d wanted a finger inside her, she would have just asked Adrienne.

Nadine pushed her ass into the air and Richard quickly got the message, slipping his finger from her pussy. He positioned his cock at her hot, wet slit. The bulbous head rubbed up and down her entrance, coating its head in her juices and the small drop of pre-cum. Nadine moaned again and pushed back toward him, hoping to impale herself, but he pulled away again, teasing her.

“Wait. Be patient,” he said. He rubbed her again and slipped the head of his cock between her wet folds. Eagerly, she pushed back, but he only allowed himself to enter her by an inch or so, before pulling back out and continuing to rub her pussy with his dick.

She moaned in frustration, but the build-up was driving her wild with anticipation. The hunger for his blood, combined with the hunger for him to fuck her, was overwhelming. It was all she could do to stop herself from wheeling round and jumping him, fucking him while slurping the blood from his throat.

Instead of him filling her, he pulled away from her cunt and rubbed his hard dick against the tight pucker of her ass, moistening her starred opening.

“Oh, god, yes,” she gasped, letting him know that area was a definite go, but still he didn’t penetrate her. He positioned his cock at the entrance of her pussy and there was only the slightest resistance as he sunk himself right up to the hilt, filling her completely. Her inner muscles stretched to take him and her eyes rolled as he stroked himself in and out. She’d forgotten how good it felt to be filled by a long, thick cock.

His thumb was at her ass, working the juices his dick left, sliding in and loosening her tight ring until he was able to push his thumb deep in her ass.

Insane pleasure raced through her, making her head swim. Her own fingers found her clit, rubbing herself in time with his dick sluicing in and out. His balls slapped against her pussy, her tits bounced back and forth.

This guy was a much better lover than she would have given him credit for. No wonder he had both a wife and a lover. As much as she hated to admit it, he probably deserved both.

“What about your friend?” he gasped, pounding her harder.

Adrienne still sat on the couch, watching. Her legs were spread and she worked herself with her hand, her lips slack with desire, her eyes dark and heavy with lust. Nadine couldn’t focus any attention on her maker—she was too caught up in her own impending orgasm.

Adrienne slid off the couch and made her way behind Richard. She got on her knees behind him and started to kiss his neck.

“Just fuck her,” Adrienne spoke in his ear. “Show me how good you are and maybe I’ll let you fuck me.”

“Hell yeah,” he said again, continuing to bang his cock harder and harder into Nadine. Still, his thumb moved in and out of her ass, the joint pleasure of anal and vaginal stimulation sending shock waves of ecstasy through her body.

The tight pulsating in her pussy powered through her, her orgasm so strong that for once she forgot about her hunger. She cried out and her whole body shuddered. Her pussy contracted, milking Richard’s cock as she came.

Adrienne bit his throat, taking just enough blood to weaken him. As she bit him, he came, his body jerking as he shot long streams of cum inside Nadine.

He swayed on his knees. “Whoa,” he said, putting a hand on Nadine’s back to steady himself. His cock slipped out of her with a soft plop, and his warm seed slid down her thigh.

The metallic scent of blood washed over Nadine and she spun around, launching herself at Richard.

He barely had a chance to raise his hands to defend himself. Nadine was on him like an animal, her teeth at his throat, sinking into his flesh, finding the artery beneath. Her legs straddled his chest, her hands pinning his arms down on either side of his head. She fed as she had before, feeling the steady slowing of his heartbeat.

She broke away moments before the heart stopped and looked up with the new, fresh eyes blood gave her. The world was renewed; colors sharper, sounds more defined. Blood ran down her chin and Adrienne reached down and pulled her toward her, kissing her mouth.

Her tongue snuck down over her skin, lapping at the spilled blood, before breaking away.

Nadine glanced down at the almost naked man lying dead on the floor. It was hard to believe the man had made her come only moments before. She shivered at the thought; it was beyond creepy.

Adrienne must have felt her tremble. “It’s okay,” she said. “Your body has needs and now they are sated.”

“I can’t do this every time,” she cried. “I can’t kill with such lust and ferocity, only to feel so tortured once I’m done.”

“I don’t know what more I can say to you. Eventually you’ll accept what you are and be at peace.”

“What about him?” She nudged the body with her toe. “What happens to the body?”

“I’ll dump it,” said Adrienne. “Usually in the Thames or in a landfill. Occasionally they are found, but by then they are too decomposed to be recognized.”

“What about his family—his wife? His girlfriend?”

“Don’t you think they are better off without him? At least now they can get on with their lives and not be strung along by a lying cheat?”

“You think that him disappearing one night is better? That they won’t torture themselves for years, wondering what has happened to him?”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic. The man might have been a good lay, but he was also a good meal. Just forget the rest and enjoy it. Come on. Let’s take a shower. I hate the smell of a man on you.”

The huge on-suite contained a massive double shower cubicle. Nadine reached in and twisted the handle around to get both showerheads going. Quickly, the hot water steamed up the glass screen.

Already naked, Nadine stepped into the shower. Tiny jets of hot water thrummed against her skin, massaging her muscles and washing away all signs of sweat and blood and sex. The water coursed down her back, running between the cleft of her buttocks. Streams flooded across her breasts, dripping from her nipples.

The screen opened and Adrienne, also naked, stepped in with her. Adrienne pressed herself up against Nadine’s back, her breasts pressed against her skin. Her hands wrapped around Nadine’s waist, pulling her into the curve of her naked body. Adrienne kissed the hollow dip of her collar bone and nuzzled into her neck.

“I love you,” Adrienne said, softly. “And your insistence on clinging to your humanity makes me love you even more.”

Nadine gripped Adrienne’s arms, holding her tight. “I’m sorry I’m not the vampire you want me to be.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “You will be.”

Nadine closed her eyes and tried to lose herself in the smooth, perfect body of her maker, but all the while one question pushed everything else away…

Did she ever want to be?

Chapter Nine

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” said Adrienne, the next night.

She opened the wardrobe and pulled out a couple of dry cleaning bags. Unzipping them, she revealed two beautiful, full length gowns. The black dress was covered with tiny sequins, with a sweetheart neckline and spaghetti straps. The other dress was blood red in a rich satin.

Nadine touched the material of the red one. “They’re beautiful, but you know we’re in London? Where the hell are we going to wear them?”

“To the West End, of course. I am taking you, my love, to the ballet.”

A huge smile lit her face. “Really?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t joke about something like the ballet.”

Nadine flung herself into Adrienne’s arms and kissed her.

“Thank you so much. I’ve never seen a live, professional performance.”

Adrienne laughed. “So you never went, even when you were grown and earning your own money?”

“To be honest, I was too ashamed to go. I thought everyone would realize exactly what I was.”

“The only thing people will think is how stunningly beautiful you are.”

Nadine kissed her again, her eyes filling with tears, blurring her vision with the dark blood. “Damn,” she half-laughed, wiping away the blood. “I forgot about that.”

“Don’t cry,” said Adrienne. “This is supposed to be a good surprise.”

“It is. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

Adrienne picked up the black sequined dress and held it against her nude body. She twirled in a circle, the bottom flaying out. “The red one is yours, of course. The color would clash with my hair.”

Nadine picked up the expensive dress. “Of course. It’s gorgeous.” With her dark coloring, red was her perfect shade.

The two women dressed and Adrienne sat Nadine down at the small mahogany dressing table. With their flawless skin and dark eyes, they had little need for make-up, but Nadine stroked a gloss onto her lips, giving them a sheen. Adrienne lifted Nadine’s dark hair and twisted it into a chignon, immediately transforming her into a glamorous and sophisticated woman. She clipped in a pearl slide, securing her hair in place.

Nadine turned her head one way and then the other, admiring her reflection. She looked like a different person.

Adrienne leaned down and kissed the nape of her neck, “You look amazing.”

“Thank you.” She couldn’t deny it—she felt amazing.

They hopped into a waiting taxi—one Adrienne had pre-ordered—and it whisked them into the West-End. They stepped out into Covent Garden and joined the throng of smartly dressed people heading into the theatre. The white pillars of the Royal Opera House made the building look like an ancient Roman structure.

Sparing no expense, Adrienne had booked them a box which gave them a view right down onto the stage.

Nadine looked down on the crowd below. How strange to be up here, among the elite, looking down on everyone else. Rich fabrics of gold and red surrounded them. The curved ceiling painted to match, rose high above them.

As the lights fell and the live orchestra filled the theatre with its rich tones, Adrienne slipped her hand into Nadine’s palm, but Nadine barely noticed. Her attention was fixed solely upon the theater.

A number of dancers came on stage—around twenty in all, half of them male and the other half female. They leaped and span across the stage, breathtaking in their grace. Quickly, it became clear the main part of the story was being told by a single pair of dancers—a beautiful blonde, slim and elegant in her white dress and chiffon skirt, and her partner, a man as black as she was fair, naked from the waist up.

The girl knew where every part of her body was; from the perfect placement of her arms and her hands, the pointing of her toe, the curve of her back. She leaped across the stage, as light on her feet as a ghost, barely touching the ground. The male dancer, his tights defining the muscles of his legs, caught her and lifted her into the air. Her toes stretched, a perfect line of her legs. Together, they twirled and lifted; their arms curved and then extended above their heads.

She was beautiful and elegant, almost inhuman in the way she moved.

The music rose in a crescendo, before crashing back down, and the dancer fell to the floor in the position of the child. The dance was full of passion and tragedy, of raw emotion and beauty.

In the audience, tears of blood ran down Nadine’s pale cheek.

“Why are you crying?” Adrienne turned to her, alarmed. “Don’t you like it?”

Nadine wiped away the tears. “I love it.”

The beauty of the ballet only reminded her of the life she had not lived. She cried for the loss of her life, of her dreams, of possibility. She would never have a family of her own or experience growing old. She would never know the joys of grandchildren. There was so much she was going to miss out on; all the realities of a normal life.

But Nadine had never been destined for a normal life. Her parents had seen to that. Whatever hopes and dreams she may have nurtured, she simply hadn’t been strong enough to see them through.

“I shouldn’t have brought you here,” Adrienne said, squeezing her hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

“No, it’s fine.” She shook her head, trying to focus back on the performance. “I’m fine. I’m just being silly.”

Someone in the aligning box hissed at them to be quiet and Adrienne leaned over the balcony, her ferocious eyes silencing their protests.

“Come on,” she said to Nadine. “I can’t stand to see you cry.”

Nadine stood, trying to wipe the tears from her cheeks, knowing they would be leaving streaks of blood down her face. Adrienne pulled a tissue from her purse and handed it to her.

“You’re a mess. We need to go to the bathroom and get you cleaned up. I can’t take you out on the street looking like that. People will think you’ve been attacked.”

“I was,” she said, thinking back to the night in the alley, but she allowed herself to be led out of the theatre and into the bathrooms in the foyer.

They banged through the doors. A skinny woman in a turquoise dress stood washing her hands at the sink. She glanced up as they walked in, but quickly averted her gaze and dried her hands on the expensive dress before hurrying from the room.

Nadine took the place of the woman in the dress and stared at her refection. Red streaks striped her pale skin and dark rings hollowed her eyes. She no longer looked like the woman she once was. Some part of her had changed, whether she realized it or not. Her humanity had vanished and what she had left was a different kind of creature.

The change was so slight, the people she passed on the street would not even notice, but to her, the difference was perceptible. It wasn’t as if her appearance was bad—to the contrary. Despite her blood stained skin and darkened eyes, she had a kind of allure to her that people couldn’t seem to resist. She was like a deadly insect who had colored itself to look like its prey’s food source or mate. Only when the prey got too close did they realize their mistake.

Adrienne turned on the tap and ran her hand beneath the flow. She used the water on her fingers to gently wipe away the remaining blood on Nadine’s face, red dripping into the white porcelain of the sink, swirling down the plughole.

Nadine smiled, but it was forced. “Good thing it’s not true about us not being able to see our reflections,” she said, drying her face on some tissue. “I’d hate to go out in public with blood all over my face and not realize it.”

“You’re still beautiful, whatever you look like.”

“Yeah, right,” she sniffed. “I look like shit.”

It was Adrienne’s turn to smile. “You have such a way with words.”

Adrienne linked her fingers through Nadine’s and they left the bathroom and the theatre, stepping out into Covent Garden. Together they walked to the road and the orange light of a vacant black cab headed toward them. Adrienne lifted her hand, flagging the vehicle down.

The cab pulled up alongside them and Adrienne opened the door, allowing Nadine to climb in first, before getting in beside her. She leaned forward, giving the driver their address, before settling back in the seat.

Adrienne reached out and pushed hair away from Nadine’s face.

“I think we should go home and have a little fun,” she said. “What do you say?”

Nadine leaned toward her and kissed her lips.

“Do we need to wait until we get home?”

Adrienne smiled. “So you’re feeling better then?”

“I can’t spend the rest of eternity feeling sorry for myself; especially not with you beside me.”

“I’ve wanted to hear that all evening.”

Adrienne’s hand ran up her thigh, sliding up the red satin of Nadine’s dress. Nadine’s nipples hardened at her touch; obvious nubs beneath the clinginess of the fabric. They closed the gap between them, their lips firm and pressing, their tongues moist, seeking entry. Nadine opened her lips, allowing Adrienne in.

The driver, a young man in his twenties, glanced into the rear view mirror. His eyes widened when he saw the two women kissing. Adrienne caught him looking and broke away from Nadine. She leaned forward once again and said, “I suggest you keep your eyes on the road.”

She turned her attention back to Nadine, her fingers rubbing the swell of her breast. Nadine moaned and kissed her back, harder now, passion fueling the kiss. Nadine’s hand wrapped around Adrienne’s back, pulling her closer. Their breasts crushed together, nipples hard against the others through the slinky material of their dresses.

Adrienne’s fingers slipped between the slit of Nadine’s dress, her soft pads seeking the willing flesh of Nadine’s thigh. Fingers crept up, teasing her smooth skin, leaving a rash of goose-bumps in their wake. Nadine moaned again as Adrienne’s hand slid between her thighs, parting them.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she whispered into Adrienne’s ear, nibbling gently on the velvety lobe. But playfulness bubbled behind her voice and they both knew she didn’t mean it.

The cab continued to drive through London’s West End, occasionally hitting traffic and stalling. The two women were oblivious to the party-goers on either side, of the business men and women out for after work drinks, of the tourists, of the teenagers. All they were interested in was each other.

The sheer material meant Nadine had been unable to wear panties, so Adrienne’s fingers met with no resistance. Softly, she stroked Nadine’s outer folds, the wetness moistening the lips, making Nadine tremble with want. Her finger pushed into her tight passage, her index finger rolling slow, lazy circles over the engorged root of Nadine’s clit.

Nadine’s hands made their own movements, slipping from the generous swell of Adrienne’s breasts, down across the flat of her stomach, and further between her thighs. The sequined material of the dress felt rough against her hand, the small beads scratching her palm.

That someone was watching them, if only in part, added to their excitement, the eroticism of doing something they shouldn’t. Knowing the guy would be getting off on this for years to come…

As long as they didn’t decide to kill him, of course.

Adrienne’s dress didn’t have the access-allowing slit and Nadine scrabbled around, trying to find a way to get access to Adrienne’s pussy. Adrienne stilled her hand with her own.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “Let’s concentrate on you. You deserve it.”

“I bet now you’re wishing we’d switched dresses,” she said, her breath ragged as Adrienne continued to work her clit.

Adrienne added a second finger into the tightness of Nadine’s cunt. Nadine’s pussy tightened and contracted, sending waves of pleasure through her body. She increased her hold on Adrienne, losing her rhythm with the kiss, focusing on the sensations pulsing up between her legs, spreading like wild fire throughout her body.

Nadine slipped Adrienne’s spaghetti strap from her shoulder, exposing the naked skin of her right breast, the areola appearing dark in the poor light. With Adrienne’s fingers slick inside her, Nadine curled her back and took one of Adrienne’s nipples into her mouth, sucking its hard nub deep against the roof of her mouth. Her tongue moved back and forth, matching the pace Adrienne’s fingers kept inside of her.

Adrienne added a third finger and Nadine moaned again as her inner muscles stretched to take her lover’s hand. The driver glanced back. The vehicle screeched to a sudden halt as he noticed just in time that the car ahead had stopped.

Her orgasm built in steady waves, rolling over her whole body. Her muscles tightened as her cunt pulsed, slicking her juices down over Adrienne’s fingers. Adrienne kept up her rhythm and Nadine pushed down against her as she came, crying out into her lovers neck, all the muscles in her thighs and calves tightening.

She was left panting and collapsed back in the cab seat. Adrienne nuzzled into her neck.

“I love seeing you like that,” she said.

Nadine sunk into her lover’s arms. “I love you making me look like that,” she sighed. “I’m sorry I was such a kill-joy in the theatre. I know there are things I’ve lost, but I must remember that I’ve gained so much as well.”

Within minutes, they pulled up outside the apartment building. The moment Adrienne entered the foyer, her whole body tensed.

Nadine started to head toward the lifts, but Adrienne took her arm and led her to the stairwell.

“Not there,” she said. “It’s too confined. We need to be careful.”

Fear ran its jagged edges through her body.

“What of?”

“Someone has been here.”

“What do you mean? Who?”

“Vampires.”

Nadine felt a thrill of fear and excitement at her words, but Adrienne’s eyes were dark with dread, her normally full mouth a thin line. Her eyebrows were pulled together, her smooth forehead a furrow of lines.

“I can’t tell if they are gone,” she said. “We need to be careful.”

“What would they do to us?” Nadine asked.

“At best, nothing. At worst, kill us both.”

“Why? Why would they want to kill us?”

“Jealousy. They might want something I have.”

Nadine frowned. “Like what?”

“Like you.”

Her eyes widened in alarm. “Why the hell would they want me?”

“I don’t know how else to say this, but they think I am a bit of a bitch.”

Nadine repressed a cheeky smile. “No! Surely not?”

Adrienne didn’t pick up the sarcasm in her voice. “It’s simply because I don’t like men,” she said. “They take it as a personal insult.”

Men, thought Nadine. The other vampires are men.

But she didn’t let her feelings show. Instead, she forced a frown.

“So you think they’d do what exactly? Abduct me or something?”

“I don’t know, but they’re trouble.”

Quickly, they climbed the stairs toward the flat. Cautiously, Adrienne opened the door. They were not alone.

Three figures stood in the window; two men and a woman. As the two vampires walked in, the man closest turned to face them. He wore his dark hair longer than currently fashionable and a black leather biker jacket hung from his shoulders. A gold stud glinted from one ear and his eyes were so dark they could have been black. His full lips turned up, offering Nadine a half-smile.

“You’re new,” he said. It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Nadine recognized an American accent.

“What the hell are you doing here, River?” Adrienne demanded. “You’re on private property.”

He laughed, his head thrown back. “Private property? Whose property, exactly, Adrienne? What poor schmuck did you kill and steal it from?”

Adrienne scowled, but the man—River—stepped forward, his eyes never leaving Nadine.

Nadine trembled under his intense scrutiny. Though undeniably handsome, as it seemed all vampires were, there was something else about him, something hard and dangerous, a definite bad boy. A teenage girl’s fantasy in the flesh.

“You’re new,” he said again. “What’s your name?”

“Nadine.”

Adrienne grabbed her arm, pulling Nadine to her side. “Leave her alone, River. She doesn’t want anything to do with you.” She gave him a cold glare, her head tilted. “You’re not her type.”

River matched the head tilt, but he still fixed upon Nadine. “No?” he said. “But you are?”

“It’s me she fucks every night, me she goes to bed with, me she wakes up with. So yes, I’d say I’m her type.”

River laughed again, and the sound was sexy as hell.

His eyes flicked up and down Nadine’s body, taking in her luscious form beneath the glamorous evening dress. Nadine’s nipples crinkled beneath his gaze and heat pooled at her center. She hated that her body was reacting to him, but she couldn’t help it. The guy was seriously hot.

“I’m sure you’ll get bored of eating pussy,” he said to Nadine. “And when you do, you can be certain I’ll be here.”

“Don’t worry, River,” spat Adrienne. “There are plenty of other willing cocks who would just love to fuck her. If she ever needs a pounding, you’ll be the last person we come to.”

“I don’t think the decision is yours, Adrienne.”

All eyes turned to Nadine and she shrank.

The woman with them was dressed in a similar punk style to River, her short black hair teased into tufts and she wore too much black eyeliner. She stuffed her fists into the pockets of her jeans and stared at Nadine with open abhorrence. The other man appeared younger—at least he would have been younger when turned—with short brown hair and tattoos covering one arm. He had a far more modern look. Nadine suspected he was the youngest, and so inferior of the group.

They were waiting for her to speak, but she was so intimidated by the room full of vampires, she had no idea what to say.

I’m one of them now, she told herself. They’re not going to hurt me.

Despite her self-affirmations, she didn’t believe it. The new strength and speed she had experienced over the last few days was nothing compared to the power of these other vampires. She might as well be a child up against a giant.

“Adrienne is my maker,” she managed, trying her best to sound hard, though her voice shook noticeably. “We’re together.”

River approached them and the girl behind him bristled. Adrienne’s grip tightened on Nadine’s arm, her fingers digging painfully into her flesh.

He reached Nadine and put his hand out, tracing a finger, its nail tipped in black varnish, down her cheek. He stared down at her with his black, vampiric eyes. Deep inside, a part of her shivered.

“She’s told you that, I bet. That you have to stay together because she created you? It’s not true, you know. Like a parent with a child, we can raise our own to leave the nest.”

In an instant, Adrienne grabbed him by the throat, wrenching him off. With a growl of fury, she threw River away from Nadine. He landed on his feet and then spun back around to face them. Immediately, his entourage stood behind him, moving too fast to be seen. Both of them bared their face, snarling at this sudden threat.

Nadine’s heart leaped in her throat, certain they were both about to be slaughtered. Even when she had been attacked in the alley, had she ever been so scared.

But River only laughed again and put both of his hands in the air in surrender.

“She wouldn’t want to leave me,” said Adrienne, her fangs out, her face so white that her skin almost glowed in the dim light. “I give her everything she wants.”

“Really?” His hand went to his crotch and he cupped himself suggestively. “Everything?”

“There are plenty of cocks in this world, River. You’re certainly one of them—and I don’t mean that as a compliment.”

“So what would you do if she decided to leave you, Adrienne? Would you kill her? You’d be within your rights, of course. As her maker, you can choose to have her destroyed if you wish.”

Nadine blanched and she shot Adrienne a sideways glance. Adrienne did not return the look.

“I’d rather she was dead than with you,” said Adrienne.

River cocked his head to one side and smiled. “Well, we couldn’t have the beautiful Nadine dead, now could we? What a waste that would be to the world, to deprive it of her beauty.”

He turned over his shoulder and beckoned with his head toward the door. “Come on then, you two. We’ll leave the lovely ladies alone, for now.”

Thin-lipped with fury, Adrienne stepped back to let the three other vampires pass. As soon as they walked out the door, she slammed it shut behind them, the sound ricocheting around the building.

Nadine stood, stock still, her hands balled into fists by her side. “Did you mean what you said,” her voice was thin with terror. “That you’d kill me?”

“Why?” Adrienne shot back, her face still white and terrifying. “Are you planning to leave?”

“No! Of course not. But if I’m living with someone who believes they have the right to kill me, should they so decide, I would like to know.”

She stiffened. “You would be dead already if it wasn’t for me.”

“So saving my life gives you the right to end it?”

“In the world you’re now living, the answer is ‘yes’”

It was Nadine’s turn to stiffen. “I can’t believe you’d say that to me. How can you tell me you love me one minute and want me dead the next?” Her eyes filled with tears. Suddenly the walls seemed to be closing in. This was all too much; the pressure was smothering. To be everything to one person; mother, lover, daughter, sister, friend, and now here she was telling Nadine she had the right to take her life as well. How did someone cope with that?

“I can’t be around you right now,” she said, backing away.

Nadine turned from Adrienne and fled.

Chapter Ten

Back out on the streets of London, Nadine wandered without direction.

Was this to be her life now? Trapped with someone with no choice about if she wanted to be with them or not? She did want to be with Adrienne, but not having choice in the matter made her resentful.

Nadine tried to tell herself she was simply living in a new society now, with its own traditions and customs. Adrienne had given her the chance of a new life—or at least a new kind of existence. She didn’t make up the rules.

Nadine suspected this turmoil was exactly what River intended. For some reason he wanted to sabotage their relationship, yet she had no idea why. Was it simply for his own entertainment or had Adrienne done something to piss him off? She didn’t buy that the hatred came from Adrienne not liking men. There had to be more to it.

The usual night crowd filled the city. Homeless men sat on pieces of cardboard, holding their hands out, sometimes with small dogs at their feet, hoping for some compassion or at least sympathy. Groups of young men or women laughed and talked as they headed between bars. Smartly dressed business men hurried home after working late in the office.

No one paid any attention to Nadine.

Her desire to kill lay smothered beneath the torrent of emotions churning through her. One thing she always rebelled against was control. She had always been her own person. Yet now, at a time when she should be the most powerful, she found herself as good as a servant, a pet, forever to be someone’s inferior.

Would River think of her the same way? Though he was clearly her elder, he was not her maker. Would he treat her differently?

She couldn’t help the thought flicking through her brain and with it came the memory of those piercing black eyes, the broad shoulders, the almost imposing height. Just the thought of him made her pussy tighten, sending a low throb of lust up through her belly.

Nadine cringed with guilt. She was torn. Adrienne was all she had ever hoped for—strong, beautiful, confident. The woman had given her a life that had never been her destiny. Without her, Nadine would have been a corpse in an alley, nothing more than another London murder statistic. The murder probably wouldn’t have even made the news; just another whore who’d let things go too far. She didn’t doubt that some would say she got what she deserved, that her murderers had done society a favor.

Suddenly a tall, broad figure blocked her path.

With her fast reflexes, Nadine stopped short of the person. She looked up to find herself staring into River’s dark eyes.

“You can’t run from yourself, you know.”

She was shocked to see him. Only moments ago he had been in the forefront of her mind, and now here he was, as if he’d been transported from her head into the real world.

“I wasn’t trying to,” she said, remembering herself.

“No? Then there is only one other person you would have been running from.”

“What about you? Maybe I was running from you?”

River laughed. “You didn’t do a very good job of it.” He put his arms out either side of himself and turned a slow circle, showing off his flexed muscle beneath the thin material of his t-shirt. “See. Here I am.”

She wanted to tell him to get lost, but she couldn’t pretend she wasn’t intrigued by this handsome, alluring vampire. Clearly he wanted her and she felt flattered by his desire. But she couldn’t go with him. Any enemy of Adrienne’s became her enemy as well.

“Go away, River,” she said, bowing her head and brushing past him, carrying on down the street.

But he moved back in front of her, blocking her path once again. Even with her vampire eyes, she had not seen him move.

She pulled up short. “What are you doing?”

“I want to spend some time with you,” he said, a half smile on his lips. “Get to know each other.”

“And what if I don’t want to get to know you?”

“Ah, but see, that’s where I think you’re lying. You’re telling me you don’t want to get to know me because you’re worried about what Adrienne might do, but deep down all you want is to know me.”

His words were unnervingly accurate. She longed to spend a few hours in this rogue vampire’s company. Maybe she could? Maybe she could just spend some time talking to him. There were so many questions she had to ask, things that Adrienne never seemed to give a straight answer to. Like how many of their kind existed?

“So what are you suggesting, River? A quick chat over a cup of coffee?”

He grinned, flashing his fangs, and the sight sent shivers of lust up from between her thighs.

“I think we could do better than that.”

“I’m not sleeping with you,” she said, determined.

“Who are you trying to convince?”

“I mean it.”

He linked his arm through hers, the large swell of his bicep hard against her inner arm. He smelled of male muskiness and a faint hint of cologne. Nadine wanted to bury her face in his chest and inhale him.

“Come then,” he said. “We’ll walk awhile. You can tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything,” he said. “Every single last delicious detail.”

She should shake off his arm, but she couldn’t bring herself to lose contact with him.

“So you just want to walk?”

“Unless we can find something more interesting to do. Something more akin to our nature.”

“What are you suggesting? That we go fuck and kill someone?”

His eyebrows arched, amused at her choice of language. “I’m shocked, Nadine. We do other things, you know.”

“I was being sarcastic. I guess it’s a British thing.”

“Maybe it is.” He reached over and trailed his finger along the line of her jaw. “Joking aside, you’re pale. You should feed soon.”

The hunger shivered inside her veins, creeping up through her body like a thousand tiny fingers. Her fangs lengthened and the world fell away. Every sense increased and all she became aware of was the throbbing pulse and the warm, metallic scent of blood of every single human around her.

River smiled. “I like to see you like this,” he said, his eyes dropping down her body. “You look dangerous.”

She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. “Stop talking to me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re thinking about me naked.”

He shrugged. “I can’t help it. That’s exactly what I’m thinking about.”

She was too hungry to protest, the blood lust taking over.

“Listen, I have a blood store back at the house,” he said, surprising her. “The blood is expensive and a nightmare to get hold of, but if you know the right people, it means you don’t have to kill every night.”

She stared up at him, mouth agape. “You mean I don’t have to kill anyone to feed?”

“Not always. Unfortunately, to kill is part of our nature and we need fresh blood, but from time to time bagged blood is enough to sustain us.”

Nadine knew she shouldn’t be going to River’s house, but he had just offered her the one thing she wanted—to be able to survive without murdering people. However Adrienne felt about River, at the moment she couldn’t face being around her maker. So far, he hadn’t threatened to kill her and he shared vital information with her that Adrienne withheld.

River whisked her through London’s streets until they reached Earl’s Court. He led her up the stone stairs, leading to one of the grand Georgian terraced houses.

“Your house is beautiful,” she said.

“Thank you. I’ve been here for almost ten years now and sadly I will need to move on soon. In an area like this, people notice you, and it’s hard to explain why you haven’t aged at all when so many years pass. I will be sad to leave here though. It’s been a good home.”

He led her through a wide hall and toward the back of the house, where a huge kitchen with a range stove and a marble island took center stage.

“Where are your friends?” Nadine asked, wary of the other two vampires.

“Out,” he replied, crossing the room to the double, stainless steel fridge. “They only spend time with me when I need them to.”

He pulled open one of the doors and Nadine saw the thing her body craved so badly; bags and bags of blood, all lined up, as if they were in a hospital instead of a fine home in the center of London.

Instantly, she stood by his side, her eyes burning. Her fangs throbbed, desperate to sink her teeth into something.

River turned his face down to her, so their faces were only inches apart. She saw her own need reflected in his eyes.

He grabbed two of the bags from the fridge and she eagerly went to take one from him. He held the bag aloft, as if she was a child and he was trying to keep something out of reach.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “They’re better warm.”

A microwave was built into the wall and he pinged open the door and pushed the two bags inside. Thirty seconds was all they needed, but the time went painfully slowly for Nadine. She watched the countdown on the small screen with one fang nibbling her lower lip.

A series of beeps told them the blood was ready and River took both bags out and handed one to Nadine. Without needing to be told, she sunk her fangs into the plastic, releasing the warm blood inside. Greedily, she slurped, not even caring how she looked to the vampire beside her.

When she sucked the last of the blood from the bag, she looked up, gasping. “I want more.”

He handed her his, which was still half full. “Here. You need it more than me.”

She took the bag gratefully and put the punctures to her mouth. She tasted River’s saliva on the plastic, and that his mouth had been touching the same place as hers now made her quiver with need.

“Thank you,” she said, finishing the second bag. “I needed that.”

She felt better now, stronger, more alert, sexier. She knew River would be feeling the same way, and it didn’t help her to fight the attraction.

“So where did Adrienne find you?” asked River. “Whatever other issues the woman has, she certainly has good taste.”

“I was a dancer,” she said. “Adrienne saw me at the club.”

“Oh?” She had piqued his interest. “What sort of dancer?”

Nadine tilted her head to one side, raised her eyebrows and gestured to her body.

“What sort do you think?”

“Oh,” he said again, his tone changed to one of realization. His eyes ran up and down her body. “Wow, and I thought you were sexy before I had this information. Now I’ve just got to have you.”

He stepped in closer, looking down at her. A lock of his dark hair fell over his face and he looked through it, taking her in.

Nadine was aware of every part of her body in relation to his and the small space between them almost crackled with tension. Her attraction to him was raw, desperate. Every inch of her body itched with the need to touch him, to tear her clothes off and press her naked skin against his. She could smell him; the faint hint of cologne underlying the more pungent scent of blood. His full, pouty lips made her want to bite him.

River leaned in toward her, closing the distance.

“As soon as I saw you, I wanted you,” he said. “You are so beautiful, Nadine. Together we could be so much more than the people we are apart and I know that you want someone you can stand side by side with. You don’t want someone who is going to act as if they are better than you.”

He was standing so close to her now, his body only inches from her own, his face bearing down on hers. Nadine was tall, but River still towered above her by at least six inches.

He took her hand and ran it down the hard ridge of his erection. The size and length of his cock, so clearly defined beneath the coarse material, made her gasp and her pussy tighten in a delightful throb.

Her senses came back to her and she snatched her hand away.

“I can’t,” she said, but the thrill converging from between her legs, racing up through her belly and tightening in her nipples, said differently.

“You want me too,” he said, his mouth against her ear. “I can smell your desire.”

She turned her face and his mouth met hers. His lips were as soft and firm as they looked and she couldn’t help but kiss him back. It was so different than kissing Adrienne, his mouth stronger, more forceful. His hands knotted in her hair, holding her firm.

Nadine melted into the kiss, her lips parting, her tongue flicking his. Her whole body melted against him, the bulge of his erection pressing hard against her flat stomach.

Adrienne’s face flashed in her mind and she pulled away, her palms flat against the breadth of his chest.

“I can’t!” she said again. She spun from him, fighting every urge of her body, and ran from the house.

“I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” he called after her, his words snatching her breath as she ran.

Chapter Eleven

When she walked through the door, Adrienne was draped across the couch, her long limbs exposed through the silk of the short, cream, baby-doll nightgown. She didn’t bother to look up from the novel she was reading.

“Where have you been?” she asked.

“Just out. Walking the streets and thinking.”

“About River?”

“About him and his gang, yes. How can I possibly think about our future without him coming into it?”

Finally, Adrienne glanced up and Nadine was alarmed to see the shimmer of blood in her eyes.

“Are you planning to leave me for him?”

Shocked, Nadine was by her side, her hand grasped in hers. “No! How can you say such a thing?”

“I saw how you looked at him. I’m not stupid, Nadine.”

Filled with fear, she leaned in and kissed Adrienne, firm but definite. Adrienne resisted her for a moment, but then her mouth opened, her tongue finding Nadine’s, their lips softening.

“You and I are together,” Nadine said, breaking the kiss. “I’m not interested in River.” She cringed at the lie, but she wasn’t going to admit to Adrienne that she hadn’t been able to get the thought of him out of her head and how desperately she wished she had stayed at River’s house and lost herself in his hard body.

“You know he’s getting what he wanted?” said Adrienne. “He wanted to cause trouble between us and that’s exactly what he’s done.”

Even though Nadine had thought the same thing only hours earlier, her hackles rose at Adrienne’s suggestion, feeling defensive of River. “He’s not changed a thing. All he’s done is brought to light some of the realities of our relationship.”

Adrienne shook her head. “It’s not our relationship that’s the problem, Nadine. You’re upset about my hold over you, but that is simply the way things are. I can’t do anything to change that. Do you think if you left me for River, things would be any different? The man and the woman with him tonight—he owns them.”

“No, he doesn’t. They do their own thing and he’s not with them all the time. If he needs them, then they’re there for him, but otherwise they have their own lives.”

Adrienne’s body stiffened. “You seem to know an awful lot about him considering you only spent a matter of minutes in his company.”

Nadine had said too much. “He walked with me,” she muttered.

“Are you really going to keep lying to me?”

Anger fired through her. She wasn’t the only one who had been lying. Nadine turned it around. “Why didn’t you tell me we could survive on bagged blood?”

The question surprised Adrienne. “What would be the point?

“Because it would mean I didn’t need to kill innocent people every night!”

“You will always need to kill; to kill is in your nature. If I told you about drinking from alternative sources, it would only drag out your emotional torture, only prolong your transformation into the creature you are. The sooner you accept things, the sooner you will be at peace.”

“I’ll never be at peace.”

Adrienne sighed and picked her book back up, but she didn’t read it. “So, what else did he tell you? I’m sure he fed you everything he thought you wanted to hear.”

“He didn’t tell me anything. He only wanted to know a bit more about me.”

“He’s learning about you, figuring out what pushes your buttons.”

His tongue pushed into her mouth, the hard bulge of his cock pressed against her stomach, making her pussy weep.

Nadine thought River already knew exactly what buttons to press.

“I told him we’re together and I’m not interested. It doesn’t matter what he finds out about me.”

“But he told you about himself, that his own vampires get more freedom than you have.” Adrienne pursed her lips. “Is that what you want? More freedom?”

“Maybe, but it isn’t about that.” She slid along the couch closer Adrienne, but Adrienne pulled her feet away from her, increasing the space between them. “I want to feel as if I’m my own person. I don’t want you to act as if you own me or threaten to kill me. It really is simple.”

“I don’t think this is simple at all. You don’t know that you definitely want to be with me and it isn’t just because of what I said.”

Outside the window, the black of the night was fading into blue.

Adrienne dropped the un-read novel on the coffee table and stood up. “It’s time for bed. We’ll discuss this tomorrow night.”

Nadine watched her cross the room and put her head in her hands. She never imagined this night would end like this. The day drawing in exerted its pull on her and she needed to sleep, but she didn’t want to deal with Adrienne again. Nevertheless, she had no choice.

Quietly, she slipped into the bedroom and shed her clothes. Adrienne lay on her side, still and silent, her back to Nadine. Nadine slid beneath the sheets beside her and closed her eyes. Still, Adrienne remained inert.

If Nadine hadn’t known better, she would have thought she were alone. 

The sound of a zipper pulled Nadine from sleep. She opened her eyes and sat up to find an already dressed Adrienne lifting a small, black hold-all from the occasional chair.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

Adrienne still didn’t look at her. “I’m giving you the space you wanted. I’m going away for a couple of nights and letting you experience what life is like without me around. I’m working on the theory that you’ll miss me and all these doubts you’re having will be over.”

“Where will you go?”

Adrienne looked up now, her dark eyes narrowed. “I do have a life. My whole existence doesn’t revolve around you.”

It was Nadine’s turn to glance away. “I was only asking.”

“I’m going to France. I own a house in the Dordogne region.”

“But you’ll come back?” She couldn’t help the slight panic in her voice. She had mixed feelings—excitement about being left alone and trepidation that her leader would not be here. Most of all, her thoughts went to River and how Adrienne would not know if she went to him.

“I know you want him,” Adrienne said, plucking her thoughts from her head. “Maybe if you see what he’s like, you will feel differently.”

“I don’t want him,” she insisted.

“Stop lying to me, Nadine. It’s growing tiresome.” She draped the strap of the bag over her shoulder. “I’ll come back before morning arrives, two nights from now. Enjoy your freedom.”

With that, she swept from the room and moments later Nadine heard the bang of the front door slam shut, leaving her alone.

Nadine hugged her knees into her chest. Adrienne being angry with her left her with a burden weighing her down, but she couldn’t forget the argument was partly Adrienne’s fault. If she hadn’t said what she had about wanting Nadine dead instead of seeing her with River, none of this would be happening.

But Adrienne couldn’t mean what she said. If she did, she would not have left her here, knowing Nadine may seek out River. Either Adrienne was confident she wouldn’t end up choosing River, or she simply didn’t care as much as she made out.

She needed to feed, but she didn’t want to kill. Only one person could help her.

It wasn’t simply an excuse to see him, she told herself, though she couldn’t hide from the coil of excitement stirring in her belly.

Nadine climbed out of bed and dressed in jeans, t-shirt and flats. She was about to pull her hair into her standard ponytail, but then remembered where she was going and shook it out again.

Heading out, Nadine opened the front door. River stood in the doorway—all broad shoulders, scruffy dark hair and danger—and she shrieked in surprise.

“So she’s gone?” he said.

“Not for good,” she said, composing herself. “She’s coming back.”

“Did you tell her you kissed me?”

Her mouth dropped open. “I didn’t kiss you—you kissed me!”

River grinned, flashing his fangs. “Sure, you tell yourself that. What did she say when you told her?”

“I didn’t tell her, but she knew something happened between us. She says you’ll be bad for me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with bad.”

Her skin tingled with goose bumps. Deep down, she knew she should tell him to get lost, but she simply didn’t want to. Though the last thing she ever wanted was to hurt Adrienne, she couldn’t bear the thought of not knowing this man. Besides, there was something she needed from him.

“I need to feed,” she said. “But I don’t want to kill again.”

“You’ll have to kill eventually, Nadine. It’s not good for us to go without fresh blood. It sends us a little crazy and a crazy vampire is never a good thing.”

“Just for the one night. Please.”

“Okay, just this one night. Tomorrow we hunt together. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” she smiled.

“Come on then. What are you waiting for?”

Nadine stepped through the door and into the hallway with River. He took hold of her hand, enclosing her fingers in his strong palm.

Together they traveled back across London, moving quickly and silently. At their supernatural speed the distance took them a fraction of the time it would if they moved at human pace.

Back at River’s luxurious house, Nadine headed straight to the fridge. Moving at speed, River got in front of her, his hand against the fridge, holding the door shut.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “You need to tell me where I stand. I don’t like feeling as if I’m just being used for my blood.”

She glanced away. “Of course not. This isn’t just about that.”

“No?” His eyes creased in amusement. “What is it about?”

Nadine put a hand on her hip, “Don’t make me say it.”

“Say what? That I know you’re thinking about me naked right now?”

She couldn’t help smiling. “What is it about you and thinking about people naked?”

“What better thing is there to think about?”

“You’re a flirt, River.”

“You still haven’t denied it.”

She wasn’t going to. Thinking about him naked was about the only thing she had been thinking about.

Nadine sighed. “I want you, River, not just your blood.”

“That’s good to know.” He stepped forward and kissed her, his mouth firm against hers, and this time she didn’t push him away. She opened her mouth, allowing his tongue to find hers, and sank against the hard curve of his body.

But with the first spark of lust, also came hunger. If she gave into River now, she may end up wanting to feed from him more than fuck him.

“I need to eat,” she said, breaking away. “I can’t do anything else until I feed.”

“Okay, okay,” he moved away from the fridge and gestured to the box. “It’s all yours.”

Moving fast enough for her body to appear little more than a blur, she yanked open the door and grabbed several bags from the stash. Resisting the urge to sink her fangs straight into the bags, she shoved them into the microwave and anxiously hopped from one foot to the next, waiting for them to be done.

Nadine slurped down the first bag, but as she was about to start on the second, River’s hand stopped her.

“Let’s take this one into the bedroom.”

Her heart gave a trippy little beat. If she went into the bedroom with him, there would be no turning back.

Guilt threaded its way through her. What about Adrienne? The memory of being held in her slender arms, her face buried in her soft red hair, her luscious body pressed against hers, went though her head. If she did this, Adrienne would never forgive her. Even worse, the other vampire might even kill her.

“You can’t go back to her,” River said, tracing his finger along her lips. “She only wants to control you.”

Nadine shivered at his touch. He was right. In this life or the last, she never allowed anyone to have power over her.

“Okay,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

River grinned in triumph and took her head, tugging her toward the stairs and up to the master bedroom. A four poster bed with deep burgundy sheets took center stage.

Lifting the bag of blood to his lips, River bit the plastic and then handed the bag to her. “Finish it. You’re going to need your strength.”

Nadine sucked at the plastic, the warm fluid flooding down over her tongue and down her throat. She gulped, greedily, sucking the bag dry.

Carefully, River took the empty bag from her hand and dropped it to the floor. He closed the gap between them once again. He reached toward her, his fingers wrapping in the hair at the nape of her neck. She thought he was going to kiss her again, but instead he yanked on her hair, wrenching her head back, exposing her throat. Pain pierced her scalp, the muscles in her neck straining. She froze, trapped in his grasp, waiting for his next move. She knew she shouldn’t be turned on, but all she wanted was for this man to devour her.

Slowly, he lowered his mouth to the pale skin of her throat, nibbling the delicate skin between his lips.

Moisture pooled between her thighs, increasing her arousal. She longed to be touched, to feel this man’s cool mouth against her soft and willing flesh.

His teeth nicked her flesh and the heady scent of blood flooded her nostrils.

“I want to taste every – last – part of you.” He punctuated his words with licks.

Nadine moaned, sinking into his arms. His mouth worked its way down and as it did so, he lowered her to the ground. Her back met the cold tiles, the sensation only heightening her senses.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said as his mouth met with the skin of her throat, kissing the gentle hollow. “I can’t believe I’ve lived so long without you.”

The hard ridge of his erection pressed against her thigh and she wriggled down, making sure the bulge pushed hard against her pussy. She ground against him and he returned the motion, the pleasure tightening deep between her thighs. She felt like a teenager again, making out with their clothes still firmly intact.

They didn’t stay that way for long.

River pulled her shirt up over her head, exposing her breasts, still nestled in her white lacey bra. He bent his head, taking one lace covered nipple between his teeth and biting gently.

Nadine gasped.

“I’m going to fuck you like you’ve never experienced before,” he said. “You’ll never go back to a woman after you’ve been with me.”

“Do it,” she said, kissing him frantically. “I want you so much.”

Grabbing the bottom of his t-shirt, she pulled it over his head, revealing his beautiful torso. She dropped the material to the floor. Her fingers traced the lines of muscle in his chest, running down the rows of his abs. Holding himself over her, the muscles of his shoulders and arms were bunched and she ran her hands over his back, loving the feel of his hard body.

His lips found hers again, his tongue teasing the inside of her mouth with an expert touch, tracing the sensitive seam of her lips. The pressure of his cock against her swollen clit sent shock waves of pleasure up through her body.

“I want you inside me,” she said, tugging at the button of his jeans.

River held himself above her with only one hand, using the other to help her tug his jeans down over his hips. He wore no underwear and his huge cock sprang out toward her.

“Oh,” she breathed. “You’re so big.”

He grinned down at her. “I told you I didn’t disappoint.”

Nadine reached down and took his hard length in her hand. She wrapped her fingers around his girth, his size making her hand look tiny. His cock felt so hard beneath the soft, velvety skin. It curved up toward her, longer and thicker than any she had seen before.

Nadine gave his dick a couple of slow, experimental pumps and River craned his neck down, groaning, “That feels so good.”

“It’ll feel even better inside me.”

He didn’t need any more encouragement. River pulled back, kneeling between her thighs. He undid the fly of her own jeans and tore them from her legs, leaving burn marks of friction on her skin, though the marks quickly healed. He reached down and ripped the white lace of her panties, tearing them from her body, making her scream in surprise.

“Don’t worry,” he said, lowering his head to kiss her flat stomach. “You won’t need to wear panties when I’m around.”

Nadine squirmed beneath his mouth, willing him to go lower. Lower, he went, kissing her skin with firm nips of his lips. She parted her thighs for him, her head twisted to one side. His cold mouth nuzzled into her mound, his tongue pressing against her engorged and sensitive clit.

“Oh, god,” she gasped.

His tongue probed her folds, licking her open. The coarse brush of stubble against the inside of her thighs reminded her that this definitely was not another woman with her head between her legs. But it wasn’t just that; everything was different, from the strong, forceful way he licked her, to the rough hold he had on her thighs.

River hardened his tongue and pushed it inside her, thrusting into her tight pussy. Her muscles convulsed and she pushed down, wanting more of him. He slid his tongue in and out, before turning his attention to her clit, flicking it with firm licks.

But Nadine wanted his cock—in her mouth, in her pussy, in her ass.

He made his way back up her body and kissed her, leaving residues of her own sweet juices on her lips.

“My turn,” she said.

Using her still surprising strength, she flipped River onto his back and straddled his legs. His cock jutted up from the patch of dark curls. Nadine bent her head, her hair tickling his thigh. She opened her mouth, wide, and took his smooth head between her lips. Swirling her tongue over its tip, she tasted the salty tang of the bead of pre-cum, coating his skin with a mixture of his own seepage and her saliva.

She drew him deep into the back of her throat and increased the suction. Using her hand, she gripped the base of his dick and pumped him in time with her bobbing head. River propped himself up on his elbows and then reached down and swept her hair to one side. Nadine looked up at him, her mouth still firmly around his cock.

River’s eyes were hooded with lust, his dark eyes focused on her mouth as his hard dick pumped between her full lips.

“Oh, shit, girl. You’re good at that,” he groaned.

With his encouragement, she took him even deeper in her throat, and she caught his eye. They stared at each other, almost a challenge, as he fucked her mouth.

“Okay,” he gasped, pulling away from her. “I’m never going to get inside you if you carry on like that.”

Nadine lifted her mouth, her tongue teasing the slit in his head, before letting him go completely.

Now it was River’s turn to flip her and she gasped as she hit the floor, hard. He grabbed her hands, holding her wrists in one hand, and pinned them above her head so she was helpless beneath him. Nestled between the cleft of her spread thighs, he fisted his dick and nudged her wet entrance. With one smooth movement, he drove into her; his hardness filling her soft channel, thrusting into her again and again.

Nadine lay beneath him, her tits bouncing with every thrust. She longed to sink her nails into the hard muscle of his back, to hold him against her, but she couldn’t do anything except focus on the mounting pressure building between her legs and the steady throb of her pussy and clit. Her muscles milked his cock, pulsing against his hard length, urging him on.

“Oh, fuck” she cried.

As her orgasm powered its way through her body, she felt River’s cock jerk inside her. He pushed as hard and deep as he could get, filling her with his come. River bent his neck and sank his teeth into her throat.

Pain speared through her, peaking her orgasm. She screamed, as waves washed over and over her. He sucked her blood, pumping his own fluid into her while he bled her.

Finally, the moment was over and he lifted his head, grinning down at her. Her blood coated his lips. He released her hands and she rolled her shoulders, releasing her aching muscles.

He lay down beside her and placed his cool hands on her shoulders, massaging the muscle beneath.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s fine. It’ll be better in a minute.” As she said the words, the ache melted away.

Nadine turned onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows. She studied his face, trying to see what had just happened. While the sex was mind-blowing, she’d thought their first time together would have been more tender than that. Somehow, she found herself feeling detached from him, instead of closer. Maybe she’d just slept with another woman too often.

“Why did you bite me?” she asked.

River’s eyes widened in surprise. “To make you mine, of course. When your maker creates you, they often take your blood, even after they’ve given you theirs. It binds you to us.”

Nadine thought back to when Adrienne had bitten the inside of her thigh. So that was what she’d been doing. Nadine thought she had been being a bit kinky—not that she’d minded at the time.

She snuggled into River’s chest and he pulled her against his body.

This was all right. She was worrying about nothing.

Chapter Twelve

Rough skin brushed against her cheek and she lurched from sleep. Nadine shot from the bed, skittering across the floor until she ended up on the other side of the room. Her mind was blind, her only recollection of a male touch being from the club.

All at once, her memory came back to her. Above her, leaning over the side of the bed with a bemused frown on his face, was River.

Nadine hugged her knees to her chest and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I dreamed I was still with Adrienne. You took me by surprise.”

The dream clung to her; Adrienne talking to her, her hand against Nadine’s cheek, their faces only inches apart. In her dream, the closeness of the other woman had been like a comfort blanket, as if they’d known nothing in the world but each other. Her heart ached, but she balled up the pain and stuffed it into the furthest corner of her consciousness. She’d made her choice and, looking up at the gorgeous man smiling down at her, it was the right one.

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

He wiggled his fingers at her. “Come back to bed.”

Nadine crawled across the floor and climbed up into the huge bed. He pulled her against his body, her back nestling into his hard stomach, his arms wrapped around her waist.

“This bed is like the one in The Princess and the Pea,” she said. “This mattress is so thick, I don’t think I’d notice if there was a whole other person under it.”

He nibbled the delicate spot behind her ear. “Maybe there is. Call it breakfast.”

She laughed and twisted around in his arms. “That’s so sweet. Literally, breakfast in bed.”

“You know I was only joking, right? Now, I’ve let you down. I’ll have to go find you a human to feed on.” He swung his legs out of the bed, as if attempting to get up and she playfully grabbed him back.

“No! You can’t leave me now.”

River settled back in bed, his dark hair spreading across the burgundy pillow. “Okay, not for the moment, but you have to feed properly today.”

Nadine couldn’t argue with him. Now that she was wide awake, the effect of two nights without fresh blood started to creep over her. A strange itching sensation crawled beneath her skin. She started to feel uncomfortable, as if she couldn’t keep still, her muscles twitching. Even her pussy reacted, the sensation of being turned on yet being unable to reach a climax, unable to find release. She knew a human would be the only thing to make her better. But she had other things on her mind.

“Adrienne will be back tonight. I need to see her.”

He fixed her gaze with his. “To tell her you’re leaving her for me?”

Unexpectedly, her eyes filled with tears. “Yes, but I don’t want to hurt her.”

“She hurt you first, Nadine. You wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t.”

“I know,” she said, twisting her head so her lips touched the smooth skin of River’s naked shoulder. “I just feel bad.”

He turned his body into her, her breasts pressing against his hard chest. Between them, his cock leaped to life, thickening and hardening against her stomach. Nadine wriggled against his dick and River reached between her legs. He rubbed her moist opening before pushing a finger deep inside.

She gasped, her fingers digging into his shoulders. River readied her with his finger, stretching and lubricating her opening, before shifting his position and pushing his dick inside her.

Nadine moaned as he sank in and she hooked her top leg over his waist, pulling him deeper. The friction he created focused all of her attention on his cock moving in and out of her.

River rocked his hips, creating a slow, deep movement. Her hands gripped his shoulders, feeling his muscles move beneath his smooth skin. He kissed her mouth, her neck, her shoulders.

She clung to him, her own face buried in the delicate skin of his throat, as he continued to move inside her. Though she loved him thrusting inside her, she couldn’t reach her peak.

“I want you to come,” he murmured in her ear.

But her orgasm eluded her. The need for blood masked everything else.

“I can’t, River,” she said, shaking her head against his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he stilled inside her. “You just need to feed, that’s all.”

He pulled from her, his erection coated in her creamy juices.

“I can still get you off though,” she said, taking hold of his thick dick.

“No, it’s not the same for me if you’re not into it. Let’s go out and find you something to eat. You can make it up to me when we get back.”

Central London brought with it the usual crowds of people—tourists, business people, random foreigners holding up signs on sticks, pointing the way to ‘Golf Sales’.

Nadine and River walked up toward Tottenham Court Road. People passed them on all sides, deliberately paying no attention to the two vampires. Outside a liquor store, a young man who couldn’t have been more than nineteen sat on a flattened cardboard box. An upturned baseball cap was laid out before him, containing a few coins. He was probably newly homeless, as he didn’t have the ravaged look of someone who had been living on the streets for many years.

River stopped in front of him and the boy looked up.

“Hey, kid. You want to earn some money?”

“I ‘aint a whore, man,” the boy said, not even looking up at River. “I don’t do that shit.”

“This isn’t about sex. I promise you.”

Now the boy looked up, his eyes narrowing. His gaze flicked to Nadine, standing behind River, and his shoulders visibly relaxed.

“What do you need me to do?”

River pulled a wedge of bills from his leather jacket pocket and flashed them at the boy. “Just come with us.”

Still uncertain, but with the lure of money being too great, the boy got to his feet and picked up his cap. He pocketed the few coins.

Without another word, River took off down the street, leaving both the boy and Nadine hurrying after. He slipped down a side alley, where large industrial bins lined the walls.

When he was far enough from the main road, River came to a standstill.

“Whatever you want,” the boy said, his fists stuffed in his pockets. “You need to pay me first.”

“Of course.” River peeled several notes from his wad and handed them to him.

He stuffed them into his pant pocket. “So what do you…?”

But he didn’t get the chance to ask anything else. Moving at invisible speed, River clamped his hand over the boy’s mouth and sunk his teeth into his throat. Nadine hopped from side to side, anxiously awaiting her turn. She didn’t have to wait long. River lifted his head and offered the boy to her.

Her fangs had already popped and she wasted no time in latching them into the boy’s soft flesh. Warm blood flowed and she drank, barely needing to swallow, as the fluid spilled down her throat. She could feel his heart beating, fast and tripping, as his life-blood renewed her strength.

River’s cold hand on her shoulder made her lift her head.

“You don’t need to kill him,” he said. “You can drink from another. Now lick the wounds.”

Nadine did as she was told and forced herself let the boy go. He slumped to the ground.

“Won’t he die?” she asked.

“No, he’ll be okay.” River stuffed another couple of notes into the kid’s pocket. “He’ll be even better when he wakes up and discovers he can afford to rent a room for a while.”

“What if he tells someone?”

“No one will believe what he says. They’ll think he was high and hallucinated. You’ve just got to learn to control your urges. You can feed without killing, once you’ve done it. Of course, you can’t let them live too often. Too many people wandering around talking about vampires, however unsavory the character, would only start a panic.”

“Thank you,” she said, thrilled and relieved to have another way to exist without taking more life. “You don’t know how important this knowledge is to me.”

He bent his head and kissed her, his dark hair falling forward, tickling her cheek. “Now you have something you need to do,” he said, breaking the kiss.

“Yes,” she sighed. “And I’m dreading it.”

“So I’ll meet you back at the house?”

A frown marked her face. “Aren’t you going to come with me? What if Adrienne tries to hurt me? What if she tries to kill me?”

“Then she’s within her rights as your maker to do so.”

Nadine stared at him. “You wouldn’t even try to stop her?”

“She won’t hurt you. Adrienne doesn’t have it in her. She might act like she’s ferocious, but she’s as soft as butter.”

Adrienne, soft? Not from what she’d seen.

A stream of unease ran through her. Why wasn’t he protecting her? Why wasn’t he looking after her?

“Won’t you even come and wait outside? I don’t want to do this alone.”

Yet she had to wonder, what did she really want? She was only being hypocritical. On one hand she claimed she wanted to be independent and strong, yet she still wanted someone to protect her.

No, what she wanted was for River to show he cared.

Adrienne cared.

Again, that doubt flooded over her and she pushed it away.

“This isn’t my place, Nadine,” he said. “This is between you and her.”

Nadine nodded. He was right. This wasn’t about River. She’d made her choice and it was up to her to tell Adrienne. Nerves bubbled up in her belly. She didn’t want to die and she certainly didn’t want Adrienne to kill her. She also didn’t want to see the look on Adrienne’s face. The other vampire would be hurt, but more than that, she would be angry.

Maybe she wouldn’t even be back? Nadine hoped. Maybe she’d decided to stay in France.

Except she knew that wasn’t true. Somehow, Nadine could feel her maker’s presence nearby.

Nadine left River and took the well-known streets to the East End. She reached Adrienne’s building and took the elevator up to the apartment.

She paused outside the door for a moment, steadying her nerves. Then she opened the door and walked in to find Adrienne standing by the window, her back to Nadine. She wore a floor length black dress, her slender waist nipped in by a patent belt, and heels. Her mass of red hair clouded down her back. Beyond her, through the glass, the night sky was brightened by a sea of multicolored blinking lights.

Adrienne didn’t turn around as she spoke, “Is it time, Nadine? Is this the time you tell me you’re leaving?”

“I never meant for this to happen.”

She spun to face her. “So it’s true? You’re leaving me for him?”

Nadine bent her head, unable to look at her. “I’m so sorry.”

Adrienne crossed the room in a blur to stand in front of Nadine. “But I love you,” she said, dark red blood of tears trembling in her eyes and spilling down her pale cheeks.

Nadine couldn’t say the words back. What had she felt for Adrienne? Lust, certainly. Loyalty, of course. But love? Had there ever been love? Right now, she wasn’t sure.

“Please, Nadine. If this is what you want, I won’t stop you, but you’re making a mistake.”

Nadine shook her head. “I don’t think I am.”

“He’s not good for you, Nadine. If you think you’ve struggled to cling to your humanity with me, things will be even harder for you with him. He’s not what he seems; he’s cruel and unforgiving. He only wants to possess you.”

Her voice hardened. “That doesn’t sound any different from you.”

“Please,” Adrienne begged. “Please don’t leave me. I’ll do anything I can to make you happy.”

“You won’t be him,” she whispered. “I can’t help it. All I want is him.”

“I should kill you now, but I love you too much…” she reached out and touched Nadine’s cheek. “I would rather know you were out there in the world somewhere, knowing you were safe, than think of a world with you not in it.”

Her words touched Nadine’s heart, but she couldn’t back out now. She’d made a decision and she had to stick by it. But the sight of Adrienne’s blood-streaked face was almost too much to bear.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, backing away. She was afraid if she stayed any longer, Adrienne would change her mind about letting her leave.

Adrienne’s demeanor suddenly changed, “Go to him then,” she snapped. “If that’s really what you want, I won’t stop you. Whatever you think he is, you’re wrong. He’s a vicious creature who will only use you until he is bored.” She cocked her head. “Then again, I guess you’re used to being used by men. Maybe he’s just offered you more money than I have.”

Nadine froze. “Money has never come into it, but you’ve just shown me exactly what you think of me.”

She spun on her heels and stormed from the apartment.

“No, Nadine. Wait!” Adrienne’s voice called out after her. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it!”

But it was too late. Nadine took Adrienne’s words and used them to harden her heart.

Chapter Thirteen

“How did it go?”

“Well, she didn’t kill me,” Nadine said, holding out her arms to River.

He stepped into them, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. “I can see that. Damn good thing too. I would have had to go and seek some kind of revenge for your death.”

“You would have done that for me?”

“I would have done that for me. She would have denied me this beautiful skin.”

Nadine tried to take his comment as a compliment.

“It’s going to be light soon. We should go to bed and you still have something you owe me.”

A smile spread across her lips and she pressed her body against his. “I always pay my debts.”

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs toward the bedroom. She wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the feeling of being small and dainty and vulnerable.

With his arms full, he used his foot to kick open the bedroom door. Easily a hundred candles were positioned around the room, casting a soft, flickering glow.

Nadine laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to seduce me. Isn’t it a bit late for that?”

A shadow fell over his face and he dropped her to the floor. “Don’t you like them, Nadine?”

“Of course,” she said, hurriedly, picking herself up. “You surprised me, that’s all.”

One of the candles on the bedside table had gone out, smoke rising from its black wick.

“Fuck it,” River swore, noticing. He picked up the packet of matches lying beside the candle and then changed his mind. Angrily, he swiped at the fat stick of wax. The candle flew across the room and hit the far wall, leaving a dent in the plaster.

“Hey,” she put a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I love how you’ve made an effort, honest.”

River ran a hand through his dark hair and turned to her. “I’m sorry. I’ve been tense. I wondered if you’d actually come back. I thought the bitch might have changed your mind.”

“No, she didn’t.” She shook her head, but the memory of Adrienne’s blood-stained face flashed through her mind. The memory brought with it a stab of something…regret? No, not quite regret. More like loss. “Can I ask…” she hesitated, not wanting to anger him further. “Why do you hate each other so much?”

“Adrienne didn’t like being replaced.”

Nadine frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You mean she hasn’t told you?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Clearly not.”

“Adrienne and I have the same maker. After our maker turned me, Adrienne sulked and eventually left. She’s never forgiven me for taking her maker away from her.”

For a moment, Nadine was stunned into silence. No wonder Adrienne hated him so much. Not only had he taken Adrienne’s maker from her, but now he had taken her lover as well.

“Don’t you feel bad?”

“About what?”

“You actively tried to take me as well.” She thought of something. “Oh my god, is this some sort of warped sibling rivalry? Do you even want me at all or is this all just to get at Adrienne?”

He reached out and touched her hair, but she jerked away. “Tell me, River. Do you give a shit about me at all or is this all one big game?”

He cupped her cheek in his palm. “Don’t say that. You mean everything to me.”

Her heart longed to believe him.

“Look at you,” he said. “How could I not want you? Even if you had never met Adrienne, I would still want to be with you.”

He laced his fingers in her hair, lowering his mouth to hers. Cool lips pressed against her own, his tongue probing into her mouth, teasing her tongue with gentle flicks. Her breasts pressed against his chest and she wrapped her arms around the breadth of his back, holding him close. River’s hands slipped down her back, resting on the curve of her ass. He pulled her against him, grinding his rapidly hardening erection against the seam of her jeans. The pressure made her core thrum, sending pleasure waves up through her body.

He broke the kiss and spoke in her ear, “I think you owe me.”

“Oh, yes,” she said, smiling. “And I don’t think I’ve ever been so pleased about repaying a debt.”

He kissed her again, his mouth leaving her lips and trailing down her jaw and throat. His cold saliva left a rash of goose bumps across her skin. Nadine pushed her breasts up toward him, offering them to him. River took them willingly, pulling the material of her shirt away, exposing her naked flesh. He bent his head and pulled one extended nipple between his sharp teeth and bit.

“Hey,” she jerked out of his grasp.

He grinned up at her. “Come on. You can handle it.”

Cautiously, she allowed herself to be pulled back into his arms. River nuzzled at her breast again, flicking the still hard pebble of her nipple, before drawing it up against the roof of his mouth.

Nadine relaxed and River switched to her other breast, lavishing attention upon it, sending sparks down between her thighs.

“Oh wow,” she said. “That feels amazing.”

She reached down and rubbed his hard-on through the front of his jeans. River groaned and pushed against her hand. Quickly, she unzipped him, allowing his underwear-free dick to spring out toward her.

Nadine curled her fingers around his rock-hard length, stroking him up and down. The bead of pre-cum leaked from its tip and she caught it with her fingertips, lubricating his head.

“Oh, fuck, Nadine. I can’t wait to get inside you. Turn around.”

She did as he instructed and twisted around so she faced the bed. He put his hand between her thighs, prizing her legs apart. Nadine planted her feet into the floor. River spread the lips of her pussy with one hand and pushed a finger from his other hand inside her. He added a second finger, pumping hard into her tight cunt, his movements more forceful than before. She was just about to tell him to slow down when he slipped his fingers from her and turned his attention to her ass.

Using both hands, he parted the creamy globes of her buttocks, exposing her to him. He lowered his mouth to her and his cold tongue met with the tight ring of her ass. Nadine gasped as he hardened his tongue and pushed it inside, sending waves of ecstasy deep in her pussy and ass.

“Oh yes,” she cried. No one had ever done that to her before. It felt fucking amazing.

River slid his tongue in and out and she was on the verge of coming, only a little pressure on her clit needed to send her over the edge. But just as she moved to reach between her own thighs, River took his mouth from her ass and instead, trailed his thumb down the cleft, his nail scraping over her star. Nadine wiggled her bottom higher toward him, encouraging him.

He spread the moisture from her pussy up over her pucker and rubbed, mixing it with his own saliva, lubricating her. Then he pushed his finger inside, hard and fast, ramming up to his knuckle.

Nadine hissed air between her teeth as pain spiked through her. “Be gentle.”

“You’ve not experienced anything yet.”

River leaned across her back and grabbed the hair at the base of her neck, pushing her face down against the mattress. He held her firm, her face pressed into the soft material. With his strength, there was no way she could move.

Jagged edges of alarm cut through her. “River…?”

“Shhh, sweetheart. You know I’ll look after you.”

The head of his cock rubbed against the pucker of her ass and he pushed against her, breaking her tight ring, driving in deep.

Nadine cried out. “River! You’re hurting me!”

He pulled out and drove deep again, “Don’t worry,” he rasped. “You’ll heal quickly. Shut up and enjoy it.”

He rammed into her, his firm balls slapping against her pussy. He built momentum and as her muscles relaxed, so the pain lessened. Nevertheless, River kept his hold on her hair as he slammed his cock into her ass, keeping her helplessly pressed to the bed.

Despite the pain, her orgasm came suddenly, taking her by surprise. River pressed deep, as she rode the waves. Within moments, River shuddered inside her, coming as well.

He grew soft and slipped from her ass, his seed spilling down the backs of her legs.

Nadine couldn’t even look at him. Grabbing the sheet from the bed, she rushed to the bathroom. She sat on the toilet seat, clutching the sheet to her body, crying silent tears of blood into the material.

Day was coming, and even though the bathroom had no windows, she knew she had to sleep. Creeping from the bathroom, she slid into bed beside River and rolled onto her side, hugging her knees to her chest.

River made no attempt to touch her.

A piercing scream woke her and she bolted upright, clasping the bed sheet to her chest. The memory of the night before stayed with her and she moved cautiously, expecting to still experience some pain, but River had been right. She’d healed quickly and no trauma had been left on her body. If only the same thing could be said for her heart.

River stirred beside her.

Another scream ripped through the house. “What the hell was that?” she demanded.

He sat up in bed, his dark hair hanging in his eyes. “Oh,” he glanced down at the floor, in the direction of the rooms below. “The children must be back. I guess they’ve brought a play-thing with them.”

“The children? You mean the two other vampires I saw you with the first night?”

“Of course. Who else would I mean?”

“I don’t know. I just hadn’t given them much thought.”

Nadine didn’t like the idea of these other vampires getting involved. She didn’t want these other vampires in her life, especially not after last night. With the three of them together, it only made her feel like more of an outsider.

But after last night, she would happily hand River over to them. A stab of pain pierced her heart. Adrienne had never shown her anything other than tender passion in bed.

River swung his legs from the bed and stretched, showing off the hard curves of his beautiful muscles. “Come on. Let’s go see who’s having all the fun.”

With a heavy heart, Nadine followed him out of the room, pulling on her clothes as she went. River trotted down the stairs and headed into the living room.

As River had predicted, the two vampires were not alone. The girl who wore too much eye make-up held a woman by the arm. The young male vampire with the tattoos had hold of a man. As they walked into the room, the female vampire looked up with a scowl.

“Great,” she said, eyeing Nadine “A virgin vampire. Just what we need.”

“Shut it, Carmel,” said River. “She’s mine and you’ll make her welcome.”

The vampire, Carmel, kept her mouth shut, but the look in her eyes didn’t change.

The woman she held was in her mid-thirties, with jaw length brown hair and big blue eyes. Her husband was slightly older with a receding hairline. Both of them were completely naked and stared at their capturers with wide, terrified eyes.

“We brought you a present, River,” said the tattooed vampire, throwing the man toward him.

Instantly, the man leaped to his feet, turning one way then the other, trying to figure out who to take on first. His mind made up, he rushed Carmel, but she put out a hand and grasped him by the throat. She lifted him, so his feet dangled, his toes scrabbling against the floor.

“Put him down, Carmel,” said River. “We won’t want to eat him if he’s already dead.”

She poked her tongue out to him, like a petulant child, but allowed the man to drop to the floor.

The woman saw Nadine hanging back and fixed her blue eyes on her, “Don’t let them hurt my baby,” she begged. “They took her, they…”

But she wasn’t allowed to finish her sentence. Carmel sank her teeth into the woman’s throat and her words turned into a shriek.

“Oh, god, no,” the man cried. “Please don’t kill her.”

Carmel lifted her head, her lips smeared with bright blood. “Oh, don’t worry. We intend to have some fun with you first.”

The vampire let go of the woman and she scrambled backwards until she hit the wall, her arms trying to cover her naked breasts, her knees brought up to her chest. She keened in terror. Her hair fell forward, covering her face, and she rocked back and forth in frantic little movements.

“What did she mean, ‘don’t let them hurt my baby’?” asked Nadine.

“They have a kid,” said tattooed vamp. “We’ve locked her downstairs.”

“What?” she said, horrified.

“We’re keeping her there for the day. The fear sweetens their blood, especially the young ones. By tomorrow night, she’ll be like drinking the finest champagne.”

“This is a family,” she said, unable to hide her feelings. “You can’t slaughter a young family.”

The male vamp laughed. “Ahh, feeling sentimental for your humanity? Think nothing of it. Their lives are just a brief glimpse in reality compared to ours.”

“But they still live, they still have feelings.”

Carmel raised her eyebrows at River. “Will you get rid of her? She’s ruining my buzz.”

“Nadine,” he warned. “You know it’s our nature to kill.”

“I know but…”

“Enough,” he spat. “Either you want to be part of us, or you don’t.”

“I’m sorry,” she stammered, though inside she felt differently. There was no way she could let them get away with this. She was determined to do something, but she couldn’t let River and the others get any idea about her plans. “I want to be part of you.”

“What about the girl?” River said. “I think we should have her now.”

The husband hardened his mouth. “Don’t you fucking touch her!”

River laughed and caught the man by his jaw, holding his head straight so he had to look the vampire in the eye. “And what are you going to do about it? Really, it’s almost funny how helpless you are.”

Nadine wanted to cry. How could she have ever believed he was somehow better than Adrienne? They were all killers, but at least Adrienne hadn’t tortured people this way, she hadn’t taken families and slaughtered them in front of each other. Suddenly, the way Adrienne lived didn’t seem so bad.

Oh, god. What had she done?

“I’ll go and get her,” she said. “I want to be useful to you.”

Nadine pressed her body up against River and kissed him deep. She felt his body respond and, unable to stand the idea of his hands on her anymore, she quickly untangled herself from his grip.

“Don’t start without me,” she said with what she hoped was a naughty smile.

Nadine slipped from the room and ran into the huge kitchen.

“Shit,” she swore, frantically glancing around, trying to figure out her next move. Her eyes caught sight of the gas oven, never used but connected just the same. She swept over to it and her fingers found the knobs. Quickly, she twisted them, hearing and smelling the hiss of gas escaping. She’d seen matches somewhere and wracked her brain trying to remember.

Of course, beside the candles in the bedroom.

Using her inhuman speed, she ran up and grabbed the box of matches.

Though she’d been gone only moments, she prayed the other vampires were still occupied, that they would not smell the gas or notice how long she’d been gone.

The cellar door led off the kitchen, but only a deadbolt barred the way and was easy to pull back. She ran down the unlit steps, taking them two at a time. With her vampire eyes, she could see in the dark and she spotted the small ball of child curled up in the corner.

She looked up with wide, frightened eyes, her wavy light brown hair falling over her face. The girl couldn’t have been more than seven-years old and Nadine’s heart bled for her. Whatever they were, killing children was one step too far.

“Please don’t hurt me,” the child’s voice sounded thin and shaken.

Nadine beckoned her hand, “I’m not going to hurt you. Just come with me.”

“I want Mummy.”

“I know, sweetheart. Your mummy misses you very much and she wants me to take you to her, but you have to come now and you have to be very, very quiet. Like a mouse, okay?”

The girl nodded and slowly got to her feet.

“What’s your name?” Nadine asked.

“Jessica.”

“Okay, Jessica. Don’t be afraid. I want you to hang on to me as tight as you can and don’t let go.”

She scooped the child into her arms and Jessica wrapped her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist.

“You’re so cold,” the girl said.

Pain speared her heart, “I know. I know…”

With the girl clinging to her like a baby monkey, Nadine raced back up the stairs. The scent of gas was strong now, burning the backs of her nostrils and clogging the back of her throat. From the other room, she heard the sounds of screams and jeering. Clearly, the other vampires were too preoccupied to notice the smell.

Nadine hesitated for a moment. She needed to be close enough to the oven to ensure the oven caught fire, but she also needed to get the hell out of there and make sure the girl survived the blast. She couldn’t risk standing in the hallway and throwing the match. If it didn’t hit, the vampires would catch her within seconds.

A tall window separated the kitchen from the street and it was to this she headed. Nadine turned her back, shielding the girl with her body, and took the small packet from her pocket.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled one of the wooden sticks from the box and swiped the black tipped head across the rough side. Then she threw it at the oven.

The blast tore her breath from her lungs. The force of the explosion felt as if a red-hot hand had slammed her in the back, lifting her from her feet. She crashed through the glass pane window. Glass shattered around her ears and she hugged Jessica close to her body, praying her body would protect the child.

They landed heavily on the street outside, the roar deafening in their ears, glass tinkling on the ground all around them. Heat rose from Nadine’s back, and accompanying it was a searing pain and the stench of burning flesh. She was on fire. Quickly, she glanced down to make sure Jessica was alright. The girl looked terrified, but otherwise okay.

Nadine lay flat on her back and rolled from side to side, smothering the flames. Her back still hurt, but she knew the burns would heal within minutes.

She picked up Jessica and held the girl against her. Not wasting a moment, Nadine scrambled to her feet. She set off at a run, passing through the streets of London in a blur.

She prayed the parents survived, that the distraction had been enough for them to get away. Of course, the blast might have killed them or they might already have been dead, though Nadine had a feeling the vampires would have kept the parents alive, purely to torture them in front of their child.

Nadine ran as she had never run before. Her speed whipped their hair from their faces and their breath from their lungs. She knew there was a good chance River and his crew realized exactly what she’d done and were now tracking her down like a pack of dogs. If they caught her, they would kill them both.

With relief, she turned onto Earls Court Road and saw the welcome blue sign of a police station. Jessica would be safe here.

Nadine stopped outside the tall brick building and crouched down in front of Jessica, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. A few cuts and grazes adorned her cheeks and her hair was singed and stunk of smoke. Obviously the child was traumatized, but it was important she listened.

“Listen to me. Your parents are at 37 Earls Court Square. Can you remember that?”

“37 Earls Court Square,” Jessica repeated.

“You need to tell the police.” She had no idea what they could do; only that it seemed like her only option.

Nadine lifted her head and yelled as loud as she could, “Hey! We need some help out here!”

Men in uniform rushed out and Nadine took the moment to leave.

She kissed the top of the girl’s head. “Be safe.”

She ran again, passing through central London and heading toward the East End. She knew the city well enough to avoid the main roads, instead slipping through side streets and leaping over fences. She only had one place she wanted to be. 

With a shaking hand, Nadine turned the handle and pushed open the door of the apartment. Adrienne sat on one of the leather couches. Her feet were bare and she held a bottle of nail varnish in one hand.

Her head twisted at the sound and she caught sight of Nadine, standing in the doorway. Adrienne’s dark eyes widened and she rose to her feet.

The sight of her maker took Nadine’s breath away; her slender body, long limbs and pale skin. With the flaming red hair, she was stunning, almost ethereal.

“Nadine! What are you doing here?” Then her eyes took in Nadine’s disheveled appearance and burnt clothes. “What’s happened?”

Nadine fell to her knees, her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry, Adrienne,” she cried. “I made a horrible mistake. You can kill me if you want to, I deserve to be punished. I was wrong about him, I was so wrong.”

In a flash, Adrienne was by her side, her arms wrapped around her. Nadine buried her face in her soft red hair. She cried into her arms, wanting more than anything to forget everything she had done and go back to the beginning.

“Shhh,” Adrienne comforted her. “Whatever’s happened, it will be all right.”

“I’ll never forgive myself for leaving you,” she said, wiping the tears of blood away. “I’ve been such an idiot.”

“What did he do to you?” she demanded, holding Nadine at arm’s length so she could inspect her. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head. “No, not really, but he hurt other people. He was so…cruel.”

“I know,” she said.

“Please forgive me. I love you, Adrienne. I don’t know why I didn’t see it. I was blinded by him.”

“I should have fought harder for you.”

“No, I never would have listened. I would have just accused you of trying to control me.”

Adrienne’s dark eyes fixed on hers. “You hurt me, Nadine. You hurt me so badly, but I know River, I know what he is. He’s manipulative and clever. If he wants something, he usually gets it.”

“It’s no excuse. I should have trusted you. But I do love you,” she cried. “I love you so much and I’m so sorry. I missed you and I’m a horrible, terrible person for what I did.”

“I love you too,” she said, kissing her forehead, her eyes, her mouth. “You mean everything to me and that will never change. But what about River, what happened? Does he know you’re here?”

She looked up, her eyes big and wide in her head.

“They’ll be coming for me, Adrienne. I burned down their house and saved a young girl they wanted to kill.”

“Then we must leave.”

“What about them? They’re out of control. We can’t just let them continue terrorizing people.”

Adrienne sat back on her heels. “What do you suggest, Nadine? There’s three of them and only two of us.”

“Aren’t you older than River?” she asked, hopeful. “Doesn’t that make you stronger?”

She shook her head. “Only by a few years. It’s nothing in vampire time. And anyway, the other two are much older than you. You’ll be little more than an inconvenience to them.”

“So what do we do?”

Adrienne thought for a moment. “Did he take your blood?”

Nadine thought back to when they’d fucked in his kitchen. Her cheeks colored in shame, but she nodded.

“Then he’ll know where you are, at least until the effects wear off.”

“How long will that be?”

“Could be years.”

Her eyes widened in fear. “Years?”

“We need to get out of here,” she said, getting to her feet, pulling Nadine with her. “And we need to move fast.”

“Where will we go?”

“We can use the Channel Tunnel to get into France and from there we’ll move across Europe. If we get far enough from him, he’ll lose his connection to you. One advantage we’ll have is that he might know where you are, but if you concentrate, you should be able to feel him as well. You’ll know when he’s getting close.”

“And what do we do if I feel him?”

“We run, Nadine, and we keep running until he either gives up or the blood bond wears off. But we’ll be together, that’s what matters.”

“Together,” Nadine said with certainty. “From now on, we’ll always be together.”

Adrienne stepped in close to Nadine. With one hand, she reached out and gently pushed Nadine’s hair away from her face and pressed her lips against hers. Nadine responded, holding her maker’s lush body close to hers, losing herself for a moment in the depth of the kiss.

Adrienne broke away. “Forever?” she asked.

Nadine looked up, her eyes shining. “Forever.”

~*~

About the Author:

M.K. Elliott was born in Devon, England, where she now lives with her husband and two young daughters. Though she has a degree in Zoology, her true love has always been writing and she now works as a full time author. M.K. writes everything from contemporary romance to steaming hot erotica, and her love of travel and adventure is her main influence in her stories. You can find out more about M.K. at her facebook page.

Also by M.K. Elliott:

Down in the Sand – A jilted boyfriend finds comfort in the arms of a couple of young backpackers in ‘Dear John’. An air hostess gets a naughty surprise on her ‘Stopover’. A married couple on vacation find they have more in common than they thought in ‘Recreational Activities.’ And more...

Some Love it Hot – short stories about girls who know what they want and know how to get it. The first in the ‘Some Love it...’ series.

Some Love it Rough – The second in the ‘Some Love it...’ series. It contains scenes of mild BDSM, including bondage, gags, sex toys, anal play and penetration with a whip. Also contains m/f and m/f/f explicit sex.

Rescued (Volumes I & II) – Sexy stories of women in danger.

Deadly Beauty – A stripper is murdered, only to be brought back by lesbian vampire, Adrienne. But when she meets rogue vampire, River, she has wonder, does she really want to spend the rest of eternity with another woman?

Escape – A young doctor runs away to Thailand hoping to find herself, but ends up discovering someone new in the arms of a dive instructor (please note: this novel contains some erotic element, but is not erotica).

By M.K. Elliott, written in the name, Marissa Farrar:

Alone (Book One in the ‘Serenity’ Series) – Caught in a violent and abusive relationship, Serenity thinks there is no escape. Upon meeting a dark and intriguing stranger, Sebastian, she is shown the possibility of a different future. Only Sebastian has a secret; he is a vampire. As Serenity's life takes a terrifying turn, she finds herself drawn into a world she never knew existed; one of murder, love and immortality. She is forced to confront her own weaknesses to save her own life and that of the vampire she has come to love. But in the end all that matters is; can she find the strength to be 'Alone'?

Buried (Book Two in the ‘Serenity’ Series) – Four years after the horrific murder of her husband, Serenity is living a new life and finally putting the terrifying events behind her. Though now a stronger person, her heart craves the vampire who gave her the strength to change her life. Desperate to forget Serenity, Sebastian hides away in the underground tunnels of Goreme, Turkey, and has thrown himself into an existence of darkness and blood. But rumors are abound of something unnatural existing, something with the strength of a vampire but can walk in the light. And a murderer is on the loose in Angeles Forest, someone who is killing with the ferocity of a beast. The killer is moving closer and closer to the city, searching for something...

Where the Dead Live – What would you do if, while taking a late night shortcut through the woods, the trees started whispering your name? Would you convince yourself the voices were only your imagination or would you run? From horror and paranormal author, Marissa Farrar, comes a collection of haunting, horrifying and surprising short stories.