He teased her lips with kisses and then carefully raked his teeth over her jaw, raising goose bumps on her skin. “Now where was I?” He stripped her blouse off, tossed it aside and unhooked her bra, drawing it away from her body. It joined her blouse on the seat beside them. He cupped her bare breasts and smiled at her, flashing some sexy fang. “Ah, now I remember.”
Sonia’s laugh quickly turned to a gasp and it was a long, long time before they made their way back to her apartment.
Chapter Seventeen
Sonia smiled at Byron as she walked into Inhibitions. She couldn’t say she enjoyed it here, but she was getting used to it. The place was hopping, the music pounding, people dancing and liquor flowing. A hundred heartbeats echoed in her head and she could smell the faint tang of blood on the air.
“Evening, ma’am.” No matter how often she told him to call her Sonia, Byron insisted on being more formal with her. All the staff treated her as if she were made of gold and needed to be protected.
She glanced down at the huge diamond on her left hand and smiled. They’d gotten married in a small, intimate ceremony just two weeks ago, with only her immediate family in attendance. She still couldn’t believe they were married. Damek had stunned his staff when he’d informed them, and since then they’d all been extremely courteous and careful around her. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to it and hoped they’d lighten up over time.
She was still waiting to hear her new husband say those three little words, still waiting for him to tell her he loved her. But the ring on her finger was a solid commitment, a statement. A vampire as old as Damek didn’t convert and marry a woman if he didn’t care deeply for her, maybe even love her. She held tight to that thought every day.
Sonia had come to accept that he might never be able to make himself vulnerable enough to admit his feelings for her. He’d spent far too many years alone, her vampire, too many years of having no one to depend on, no one he could trust.
Things were different now. She had his back and always would. Maybe after a few hundred years or so he’d truly start to believe that and let down his guard.
She grinned. It was still startling to think in those terms. She was going to live for a long, long time. Her husband might think he was stubborn, but she was an Agostino and could out-stubborn a donkey. She would eventually wear Damek down and have him professing his love on bended knee. The image almost made her laugh. She couldn’t imagine her proud vampire down on his knees, but it was something to shoot for.
“Hi, Byron. The boss in his office?” She already knew the answer to that but tried to keep up the façade of being human as best she could. She tried not to come here when it was so busy. Although she’d gained great control over her new vampire abilities, being around all these beating hearts and hearing the blood rushing through their veins made her hungry. Bloodlust hammered at her, causing her fangs to elongate.
She kept her mouth closed, not wanting to frighten everyone. She damned her lack of control and wondered if she’d ever find it again. She hated being a prisoner to her hunger.
“He sure is. You go on back.” He stuck out his huge arm to keep a patron from bumping into her and for that she was grateful.
She swallowed hard and started toward the office, keeping her head down and her eyes on the floor. She felt him before she saw him. Damek. His strong, protective arm came around her and he quickly guided her through the thrumming masses and into his office. She breathed a sigh of relief when the door shut behind them.
“You should have told me you were coming earlier,” he gently scolded. He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “You push yourself too hard. You have remarkable command of your base instincts for one so newly made. Most vampires as young as you would have lured a patron to a dark corner and probably drained him dry.”
“I just hate feeling like this.” And she hated whining. She was alive and was very grateful for that. The rest would come in time.
“I know.” He flicked open the top three buttons of his shirt and exposed the long, strong column of his neck. Hunger erupted and she surged forward, sinking her fangs into his flesh. His blood flowed into her mouth, hot and potent. She drank greedily for several long seconds before she realized what she’d done.
She made a small sound of distress in the back of her throat and started to withdraw, but Damek’s hand cupped the back of her head, holding her to him. “Drink, my love. Let me provide what you need.”
Two tears trailed down her cheeks as she continued to drink. He always seemed to know what she needed even before she did and readily provided it without hesitation. He showed her a hundred times a day, in a hundred little ways how much he loved her. It was wrong of her to want more when he already gave so much.
Her love for Damek filled her to overflowing, but she wished she weren’t so needy, so dependent on him. It wasn’t fair to him.
She eased her fangs out and ran her tongue over the pinpricks, closing them. Carefully, she fastened his buttons and straightened his collar.
“Sonia.” Damek cupped her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tipped her face up. “So precious.” He leaned down and caught one tear on his tongue. “Don’t be so sad, my love. You are too hard on yourself. You have come so far in such a short time.”
“I know. It’s just…” She didn’t quite know how to explain it, but with Damek she didn’t need to.
“I know.” He hugged her and she wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tight. The world felt better, right, when she was with him. It was much harder when she was alone with her thoughts. “I heard from Craig.”
The caught her interest and she leaned back so she could see his face. “What did he say?” They’d searched all the apartments, gathering any information they could on the vampire-hunter organization.
Damek picked her up in his arms, walked back to his chair and sat with her in his lap. “Luther Kostas’s money came down in the family and they owned quite a bit of property. That gave him both the income and the time to allow him to hunt. His wealth is being left to a man named John Smith, which is obviously an alias. The other hunters had little money and worked odd jobs to finance their extra activities.”
“So what do we do now?” She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. Controlling the bloodlust was exhausting work. Better to focus on the mystery of the vampire hunters than the problems she was having adjusting to vampire life.
“I think you should go through all the diaries and journals we collected and write the comprehensive history of the vampire hunters, something that will allow the vampires to understand their enemies better.”
Sonia sat up straight. “Really?” All the apartments they’d searched had contained journals, personal memoirs of their lives as vampire hunters. This was something she could really sink her teeth into. She grinned at her unintentional pun.
Damek caught a hank of her hair in his hand and gave it a playful tug. “Why not? You’re the research expert. Who better to put all this together? We can keep a copy for ourselves and give one to The Keepers.”
“Are you sure?” Her fingers were already itching to get hold of the journals. It was important for her to work, to contribute.
Damek rested his forehead against hers. “Yes. As much as I find your family exhausting, they’re doing good things. If this can help them, then I’m all for it. Just leave your name off the damn book. I don’t want to attract any crazies or paranormal creatures to our door.”
Sonia laughed at his put-upon demeanor. “I promise.” She crossed her finger over her heart.