Kate woke up feeling awful. She didn't understand why at first, but then the memories hit her like a sledgehammer: Coming back to find Lucern hanging over Chris. His going into the bedroom to answer the phone. Her following him, rage consuming her. How dare he be gay? she had been thinking. How dare he? The very idea had stunned her. She was attracted to him. Had had erotic dreams about him. He couldn't be gay!
And it appeared he wasn't. She could still feel his lips on hers.
Her first reaction to his sensual assault had been shock; then her anger had turned to relief, and, just as quickly, to desire.
The man could kiss. She recalled his kiss as she pushed the covers aside and slid out of her bed. The man could kiss like no one she'd ever met. His kisses had reached down inside her soul and pulled out every want, every desire, every drop of lust residing inside her body, and had brought it to the surface. She'd wanted him. She still did. Her nipples were erect just at the memories. And he had definitely been excited, too. It had felt as if he had a big steel rod in his pants when she'd put her hand there.
Which was all great. Except that she was his editor and had no business knowing how big his steel rod was. And her coworker had caught them going at it!
Groaning, she walked into the bathroom, turned the cold water on in the shower and stepped inside. She had no idea how she was going to face either man again. But somehow she had to. Should she act as if nothing had happened? Should she talk to Chris about it? Should she talk to both of them? And if she talked to either of them, what could she say? She knew what she should say to Lucern. She should say it was an aberration and could never happen again. But she didn't want to say that. And with Chris, she didn't have a clue. There really was nothing to say.
Sighing, Kate turned off the water and grabbed a towel off the rack. She wrapped it turban-style around her wet hair, then grabbed a second towel to dry off. Next, she grabbed the terrycloth robe the hotel had provided and, bundled in that, she walked to the mirror and made a face at herself. She had to dry her hair, do her face, dress and then go out and see Chris and Lucern. Ugh.
Kate reached for the towel around her hair, meaning to get the worst of the water out before blow-drying it, when she noticed marks on her neck. Pausing, she stared for a moment. Then, leaning into the mirror and turning her head to the side, she peered out of the corners of her eyes at her neck.
For the longest time she just stared at the two small puncture marks, all sorts of thoughts running through her mind: Lucern's books, with characters all bearing the same names as his family. The evening wedding. Lucern and his mother being allergic to the sun. The head wound that had appeared to bleed so copiously, but that she couldn't find and that didn't appear to bother Lucern at all after he washed the blood away. The way he'd been leaning over Chris when she'd returned, his mouth against her friend's neck. The fact that Chris hadn't even seemed to be aware of his presence, and hadn't reacted at all to Kate's return.
Yet she didn't recall Lucern biting her last night. Did she?
Oh. Suddenly she saw an image of being half-naked in Lucern's arms, her breasts brushing his hard chest as he thrust himself against her hand and nibbled on her neck. She had assumed he was giving her a hickey, maybe; hadn't cared, it had felt so good. "Dear God," she'd moaned. And "Don't stop." She'd even turned her head to allow him better access.
Her hands dropped to her sides. He'd bitten her. Not only was Lucern Argeneau a vampire, he'd had the balls to bite her!
Turning on her heel, she charged out of the bathroom.
"You bit me!"
Lucern's eyes popped open, and he sprang upright on the bed to stare at the woman in the doorway. His eyes were bleary with exhaustion. He hadn't slept at all well or long. A body couldn't take six hundred years of sleeping during the day and switch to sleeping at night just like that. He had lain in bed awake for most of the night, wondering if Kate was very pissed at him and when he would be able to get her into his arms again. Judging by her expression now, he wasn't guessing anytime soon.
Sighing, he flopped back on the bed with a groan. He didn't have the energy to deal with Kate at the moment. He had barely got a couple of sips out of Chris before she had returned, then had barely got a couple more out of Kate. He was hungry, dammit.
"Don't you ignore me, Lucern Argeneau!" Kate snapped, storming forward. "You bit me."
Her words made their way through his sleep-fogged mind and his eyes blinked open again. Damn. She'd noticed. He watched her approach, then noticed Chris hovering worriedly outside the door.
"Close the damned door," he snapped.
Kate turned in surprise to the door. Spotting Chris there, she looked at his neck. There were marks there, too.
Chris's eyebrows flew up at her angry expression. He grabbed the door handle and started to pull it closed. "I'll just close this."
"Just a minute. Let me see your neck," Kate demanded. She was at the door in an instant and jerking his head to the side. She stared at his throat for a minute, then whirled furiously on Lucern. "You son of a bitch."
"Geez, Kate. Take a pill. It isn't Lucern's fault. I cut my neck shaving."
She whirled back to Chris in shock. He was already closing the door behind him as he left.
The room was enclosed in darkness for a moment; then Lucern flicked the switch on the bedside lamp. Kate started toward him. "What did you do to him? How could you possibly make him think that is a shaving cut?"
Her incaution was foolish. She got too close and, just like that, Lucern rose up in bed, caught her by the arms and dragged her over him until she slammed down on the mattress. In the next moment, he moved to cover her.
"Get off of me." She had meant to sound commanding. Instead her voice came out weak and breathless. Kate scowled to try to reinforce her words. She wasn't scared exactly, but there was a quaver in her voice. Lucern's eyes had turned that silver color, though not in anger. He looked like a predator, and Kate was pretty sure she was the prey. The problem was, she wasn't sure she didn't want to be. Her body was already responding to the feel of him pressing down on her.
Lucern hesitated, then let his eyelids droop over his eyes. He looked like a sleepy lion. It really wasn't much better.
"I am sorry," he said in that proper English of his. Another clue to his vampirism, Kate thought unhappily. He was probably real old.
"What for?" she asked after several moments of silence.
"For biting you," he answered promptly, then added, "without your permission."
Kate scowled. "What about Chris?"
"It was just a nibble," he said with a shrug. "And you did say I should go to him if I needed anything."
"I didn't mean you should bite him!" Kate yelled.
Lucern had the nerve to grin. "And what should I have done?"
"You could have"
When she fell into a confused silence, he asked, "What? Said, 'Oh. Say, Chris, would you mind picking up a pint of blood while you're out getting peanuts? I'm a tad thirsty at the moment.' " He made a face. "You didn't put my name on the room, so the blood that was supposed to be delivered here was turned away. I was hungry," he explained simply.
Kate stared at him, her mouth gone dry. He really was a vampire. She suddenly realized that she hadn't really believed it yet. Now she did. Mostly. Shifting under him, she demanded, "Show me your teeth."
He bared them. They looked perfectly normal to her. His canines were a little pointy but not overly long, and she muttered, "No sharp, pointy, canine teeth...."
"Oh, those teeth." Lucern opened his mouth again. To her horror, the canines extended out of his gums like a cat's claws.
"Oh, God," Kate whimpered.
He retracted the teeth at once. "It's okay, Kate. I would never hurt you."
"You bit me!" she cried. Which was followed by another chorus of "Oh God, oh God, oh God." She couldn't seem to stop saying that.
"But it didn't hurt," he argued. "Did it?"
"Oh God! Get off me, get off me, get off me!" She began to struggle beneath him, but it was a useless attempt. He was much bigger than her. And stronger. She stopped struggling, tried to calm herself, then said, "Please."
Lucern peered at her for a moment, suspicious, then shook his head. "I can't. Not until you promise that you won't tell anyone about this."
She opened her mouth, but he forestalled her by adding, "It's for your own good, Kate. People would just think you are nuts."
He was probably right about that, she realized. They would all think she'd been working too hard and gone off her rocker. A shifting from below drew her attention to the fact that something was moving down there, and it wasn't Lucern. At least not most of him. Dear God, he was getting aroused. She could feel him growing and pressing against her. Kate cleared her throat. "Umm, Lucern?"
"Call me Luc," he suggested. He gave a wicked grin. "Lucern sounds so formal, and we're a bit beyond that."
Kate didn't smile. She cleared her throat again. "Luc. If you're dead, how can you get" She shifted her eyes downward. He got the drift without her having to explain further, thank goodness, and he shifted away so he wasn't pressed quite so intimately against her.
"I apologize, but I fear I find you quite attractive," he said with great dignity.
"You do?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Oh." She wasn't sure whether she should be happy about that or not, so she returned to her question. "But, if you're dead"
"I am not dead," Lucern informed her, rolling his eyes.
"You aren't?" she asked. He shook his head solemnly, so she continued, "Then, you aren't soulless?"
"No." A smile quirked his lips.
"And the rest of your family ?"
He shook his head solemnly.
Kate digested this news, her mind processing that he had written factual history books before his vampire romances. She processed that the first vampire romance had characters named after his parents, the second was about Lissianna and Gregorya social worker and therapist, just like the real Lissianna and Gregoryand the third was about Rachel and Etienne, a coroner and a game designer. It seemed pretty obvious that he was still writing historical fact. "How old are you?"
"Six hundred and twelve," he answered calmly. As if it were a normal enough age. Dear Lord, Kate realized with dismay. She had lost her mind. She whimpered again.
"It's okay, Kate." Luc brushed the hair back from her face. "I know this is a lot to accept, but it's okay."
"How can it be okay? You're a vampire. And you bit me." She still couldn't believe he'd done that. And why had it felt so good?
"It was just a little nibble," he said. When she glared at him, he tried again. "I'm sorry I bit you, but I was hungry and you smell so delicious." His eyes dropped to her neck as he spoke, and longing crossed his face. Alarm coursed through her, and Kate covered her neck with both hands.
Much to her irritation, he began to chuckle. His chest shook against hers.
"This isn't funny," she snapped. "How would you like to feel like a slab of veal?"
"My dear Kate. You are hardly a slab of veal," he said. Forcing a solemn expression, he added, "You're at least a steak."
Her mouth dropped open in horror. Lucern took advantage of the moment and closed his mouth over hers. Much to Kate's chagrin, the passion he had ignited in her the night before immediately flamed to life again. Apparently, her body didn't care that he was a bloodsucking demon. It liked him just fine. More than fine. And now Kate was having to fight both him and herself. It was a losing battle. A bare moment passed before she gave in with a wrenching moan and slid her arms around his neck.
It was all Lucern was waiting for, apparently, for a heartbeat later she found the sheet that had been caught between them gone and her robe wide open. Which not only left her naked beneath him, but alerted her to the fact that Lucern Argeneau slept in the nude.
Her eyes widened. He slept in the nude and in a bed. When he broke their kiss to nibble at her ear, Kate gasped, "What about your coffin?"
"I left it at home." His voice was a velvet growl laced with laughter.
Kate wasn't sure if he was joking or not, but she stopped worrying about it when his hand closed gently around one breast and squeezed. Moaning, she arched into the hot caress; then her eyes popped open. "Why aren't you cold? I thought vampires were cold."
"I told you, I'm not dead," Lucern reminded her.
"Oh, yeah," Kate muttered. Then Luc claimed her lips again. Shifting down her body, he enclosed one breast in his warm, wet mouth. He suckled on it like a hungry baby, his tongue flicking her nipple as he did. Kate suddenly didn't mind being dinner. Which made her think. "What about garlic?"
"Love it," he said, and shifted his mouth to her other breast. "Someday I'll rub it all over your body and lick it off as proof."
Kate squirmed at the erotic image, then realized it was not unsimilar to the one they were already playing out. She was naked; he was licking her. Dear God! She lost track of her thoughts as his hand slid between her thighs.
"Luc," she breathed. Much to her amazement, he stopped, heaved a sigh and shifted to sit beside her.
"Okay. Let's get this out of the way. We're obviously not going to get anywhere until we do," he said with exasperation.
Realizing he'd thought she was going to ask another question, Kate opened her mouth to correct him, then decided against it. She really did want to understand.
"My great-great-grandfather was from what you people call Atlantis."
Kate recoiled. This was the very last thing she'd expected him to say. He sounded like a nut.
Lucern ignored her reaction. "As some have speculated, Atlantis was far advanced scientifically. My great-great-grandfather was a scientist. Just before the city's fall, he developed what people today call nanostiny little computerized gizmos. I won't bother explaining the whole of it, but suffice it to say that he combined the science of nanos with microbiology to create microscopic little nanosa virus of sortsthat when shot into the bloodstream, live there and replicate. They're a parasite of sorts," he explained. "They live off the host, but in return repair and regenerate the host. Which keeps the host, and in turn themselves, young and vital for an indeterminate length of time."
"A virus?" Kate asked with disgust.
"It cannot be caught by touching, and it cannot be caught by kissing."
"What about biting?" she asked, her hand going unconsciously to her neck.
"No. Not by biting. The nanos have to be either shot directly into the bloodstream or consumed."
"Like when Dracula cuts himself and presses his wrist to Mina's mouth?"
"Dracula!" Lucern heaved out a sigh. "Bram's character was based on a cruel, boastful, barbarous bastard. And if he could have kept his mouth shut whilst drinking, Bram Stoker would have never written that damned bookwhich was mostly wrong due to the fact that his informant was dragged off before he could say too much."
Kate stared, wide-eyed, unsure whether she believed Luc or not. Perhaps they'd both lost their minds.
"I am alive, not dead. I have a soul. I can smell, eat and touch garlic. Crosses have no effect, and I can go into churches as you very well know since you attended my brother's wedding."
"But you can't go out in the sun," Kate said.
"I can," he corrected. "It is just that the sun does a great deal of damage to flesh, which means more blood is needed for the nanos to repair it. Tanning isn't really good for people. It ages the skin. Our bodies won't tan, and the nanos try to replace the skin as it ages. That consumes quite a bit of blood. The more skin exposed and the longer the exposure, the more blood is needed. In the old days there were no blood banks, which meant we had to take the blood from humans and increased the risk of our drawing attention. It was easier to avoid the sunlight and limit our blood-intake requirements. It was also easier to hunt at night."
"And you hunted 'humans.'"
He nodded.
"So you're not a human?"
"Yes. Well." He frowned. "I'm an Atlantian. Same species, different race."
"Oh." She breathed out a sigh, then just sat there digesting it all until her eyes drifted to Lucern's leg. His very pale leg. She supposed a tanning salon was out, and recalled how sometimes he was terribly pale and other times flushed with color. "So when you're really pale it's because"
"Because I am in need of feeding," he finished. "I'm dehydrated, and the blood has all moved closer to my organs to keep them functioning. When I am flushed, I have fed."
"Dehydrated." She nodded. "Why can't you just drink lots of water? Why do you have to have blood?"
"The nanos use blood to repair and reproduce themselves. The body can't make blood at a fast enough rate. The nanos cause the hunger for blood when they need more by creating some sort of chemical reaction in the body."
"And the teeth?"
"They create those first. It's some sort of genetic encoding." He sighed wearily. "Kate, I've entrusted you with my life and the lives of my family by telling you this. Were you to tell anyone well, most people would think you mad. But it's possible someone might believe, and just one person is enough to endanger all my people."
"How many of you are there?"
"Under five hundred."
She let her surprise show. "So few?"
"Yes. It would be dangerous to have too many. Each of us is only allowed to have one child per century to keep the population down."
"But there should still be more of you. If there are five hundred now, and all of them have children"
"The five hundred include men, women and children. Out of those, there are perhaps one hundred couples. And then we have a certain number of deaths in each century, too."
Kate was surprised. "I thought you couldn't die."
"We don't age. Everything dies," he explained patiently. "Diseases and viruses have no effect on usthe nanos see to thatand we don't age. But there are other ways to die. For instance, many of us were burned at the stake during the Inquisition."
"What about a stake to the heart?"
Lucern nodded.
"A bullet to the heart?" she asked.
He shook his head. "The nanos would repair the damage quickly."
"Then why does a stake kill?"
"Well, it will kill if you leave it in long enough. The nanos will try to repair the heart around it, but can't force the stake out. The heart won't beat, there will be no fresh blood or nanos brought to help, and they and the body will die."
"Oh. I see." Kate dropped her gaze and found herself staring at his flaccid penis. All this explaining had ruined the mood somewhatwhich was a damned shame. Clearing her throat, she lifted her gaze to his face again. "So Bastien sent you blood, but because I left your name off the registration it was returned, and now you're" She hesitated. He was as pale as death. She would have looked like hell had she been as pale as him. He still managed to look strong and sexy, though. It really didn't seem fair. "What happens if you don't get blood?"
"The nanos will start to eat tissue to get the nutrients they need," he admitted reluctantly.
Kate's eyes widened in horror. "That sounds painful."
"It is," he said simply.
"Would it kill you?"
"Eventually, but there would be a lot of pain first."
"And I hung up on Bastien last night," she realized with horror. "Were you able to tell him to send more before"
"No." Lucern suddenly sounded a little testy.
"Did you call him back?"
"I don't know where he is. All he said was that he was in Europe before you hung up."
"Oh, dear," she said faintly. "How long until it starts to hurt?"
"Four o'clock this morning."
Kate closed her eyes. Great! That meant the nanos were eating him already. She had a hungry vampire on her hands. One who was so hungry he was in pain. And she had him in a hotel with over two thousand romance fans waiting to throw themselves at him. It would be like bringing a lion to a hog farm. Kate heaved a sigh. This was all her fault, of course. She supposed she had better fix it.
"All right. How much blood do you need until we can think of a way to get you more?"
He looked surprised. "A full pint would be enough to get me through the day, maybe. But I need"
"A pint!" Kate shrieked. Dear Lord. "A pint? That's like a milk-bag full."
"Roughly, yes."
Kate considered the matter seriously, it hadn't hurt when he bit her last night. Actually, it had felt damned good. But a pint?
"That's how much they take when you give blood," he told her helpfully.
"Is it?" She had never given blood. But she had seen footage of people giving blood on the news whenever they had those big drives. She supposed he was telling the truth.
"Yes, it is," he assured her. "I really need a lot more, but that's all that it's safe to take without side effects. And it would get me by for a bit."
Heaving a sigh, Kate held her arm out, wrist up toward his mouth. "Go ahead."
Lucern blinked, his nose quivering slightly. She wondered if he could smell her blood. The idea that she smelled like dinner to him was rather distressing.
"Go ahead?" he echoed uncertainly.
"Go ahead and bite me," she said impatiently. Turning her head away, she squinted her eyes in case it hurt this time. It was her wrist, after all, not her neck. Maybe she should have given him her neck.
She stiffened as he took her fingers in his. Kate held her breath, waiting for the bite. Her heart stalled, and she nearly snatched her hand away when she felt his lips touch the sensitive skin of her wrist. But there was no great sharp pain; it just felt like he was nibbling the skin.
Well, she thought as the nibbling sensation moved slowly along her wrist, this wasn't so bad. Much nicer than giving blood at the blood bank, she was sure. Much nicer. Exciting even. She squirmed a bit when the nibbling reached the sensitive inner curve of her elbow. Obviously, he hadn't bitten yet. Or had he? Blinking one eye open, she peered at him. All she could see was his head bent over her arm. He had nice hair. Thick and dark and
"Oh," she breathed as he took a little nip at her skin. It didn't hurt, just startled her in a sexy kind of way. But Kate didn't think he'd drawn blood or anything. He was already moving further up her arm. The vein must not have been good there, she thought vaguely, watching his head rise farther and farther. When he got to the inside of her upper arm, even with her breast, he suddenly shifted to the side and latched onto her nipple. She started in surprise. She almost protested, but as he drew on her sensitive skin, she decided it might be better if he bit her there anyway. It wouldn't show. He laved and suckled her, then drew her deep into his mouth, and Kate decided that if he was biting her, he could do it anytime.
One of his hands slid up along her stomach to find her other breast. Kate slowly drifted back on the bed, telling herself that it was to prevent feeling faint after he took the pint, but the truth was her body was shaking horribly, her muscles quivering with excitement. She didn't think she could have stayed upright under his sensual onslaught had she wanted to.
Lucern followed her down and braced himself with one elbow as he continued to pleasure her. Kate closed her eyes and let her hands drift into his hair. They knotted and tugged there of their own accord. She didn't mean to interrupt his meal, but she had a sudden hunger of her ownshe desperately wanted him to kiss her. When he raised his mouth from her nipple, Kate saw that her flesh was still intact. No biting yet. It appeared that feeding was a rather involved ordeal. She should have known. Lucern wasn't the eat-and-run type.
His mouth came down on hers as she'd wanted, and Kate sighed into the kiss. She also allowed her hands to drift down over his back to find his behind, and she pushed him tight against her even while arching up to meet him. He ground against her without entering, but it seemed to excite him as much as her, because his kiss grew hard, his mouth demanding.
Kate moaned when he tore his lips away and shifted to her neck. Somehow, she knew the time for biting had come and felt herself tensing in preparation. Then she was distracted by the way he moved over her, urging her legs apart. He settled in the cradle of her thighs, his hardness pressing against her.
"I want you," he whispered in her ear, then nibbled at the tender lobe, a sharp tooth running lightly over the skin.
Kate suddenly had the mad idea that, were her ears not pierced, he could have done it for her.
"Kate?"
She forced herself to concentrate. He was asking permission. She wasn't sure for what exactly. To bite her, or to sink his body into hers? Probably both. Kate opened her mouth to vaguely tell him to go ahead when there was a knock at the door.
"Hello? Hey! You two!" Chris called through the door. "Look. I hate to bother you, but the welcome brunch and RT awards start in about fifteen minutes. Are you guys ready?"
