Bite Me (16 page)

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I never heard Conner come up behind me. Though the damned man moved like a cat, so I doubt I would have heard him even if I had been listening. He wrapped both arms around my waist, cocooning me with his warm, naked torso.

“Why are you crying, Donna?”

He rested his chin on my shoulder, pressing his cheek to mine. I blinked hard.

“I’m not crying.”

Conner chuckled softly. “Don’t lie to me. I know you’re crying. Now, why are you sad?”

I shrugged. I hated all this ‘let’s talk about our emotions’ shit. Things happen, you dealt with it the best you know how, and you move on. I hated to cry much less talk about why I wanted to cry in the first place.

Conner gave me a small shake. “Tell me,” he demanded.

“I’m just thinking about all the things that will be changing in my life now.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Things are going to be different now that you and I are together,” I explained.

“I thought we already were together,” he said, sounding confused.

“I mean, now that we’re getting serious.”

I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was getting annoyed when Conner’s arms tightened slightly.

“I’ve been serious since the beginning,” he said. “Do you not feel the same way?”

I turned to face him, forcing him to loosen his hold. “Conner, you have to remember that I thought you were a nutcase during our first date. It wasn’t until later that I realized you were telling me the truth.”

“And?” he prompted.

“I decided not to get emotionally invested.”

Conner smirked. “Then why were you so angry when I left without saying goodbye the next morning?”

I frowned at him. “I didn’t say I did a good job of it. I was upset and that scared me, which made me even more determined to just take things one day at a time and not think about the future.”

“I can understand that, Donna. Now what does that have to do with you crying when I woke up this morning?”

I took a deep breath. “Because I did too good of a job of ignoring the future. Now I can’t ignore it anymore, and it hit me harder than I expected.” That was an understatement. The epiphanies were akin to being run down by a garbage truck.

“What exactly is ‘it’?” he asked.

“The future. The things that will change for me. Good things I’ll have and then the good things I’ll have to give up.”

Conner released me and sat on the barstool next to mine, holding my hands in his. “What are you worried about giving up?”

I sighed. “My family. I know someday you will probably want to turn me. My parents are still alive. If you turn me before they die, then eventually I’ll have to cut all ties to them.”

Conner stared at me for a moment. “Donna, did you forget what we discussed?”

I looked at him in confusion.

“Once you are turned, you can merely plant the thought that you are aging in your parents’ minds.”

“Maybe. But what if I inherited my, um, immunity to vampire powers from one of them?” I sucked in a shaky breath. “Or I can’t stand to see them growing old and I want to turn them?”

He blinked. “Then we deal with it when and if it happens. There are rules about turning humans, but it has been known for some of us to turn family members if they are willing. What else about the future upset you?”

“Children. I won’t have children. I was never really in a hurry to have them, but I always thought I would. Now I never will.”

Conner smiled slightly. “I wouldn’t say that.”

Now it was my turn to blink at him. “What does that mean?”

“You will be able to bear children, Donna. I told you, our bodies function in a similar way to humans. That is how we maintained secrecy for so long, because we had the ability to blend in with society. This includes having children. It can take a little longer for us to procreate, but it is possible.”

I gaped at him. “You have got to be kidding me?”

He shook his head.

“I can’t get pregnant now, can I? Jesus, if I had known it was possible I would have made you wear a condom!”

Conner chuckled. “No, I can’t impregnate you while you’re still human. When you turn, it will be possible.”

“Fuck me, I need to write a book. I guess I could call it
No Bullshit Facts about Vampires
.”

He outright laughed, his dimples popping out.

“Seriously, I need to learn more about vampires. I feel so stupid. Everything that I thought I knew from books and movies is wrong. It’s annoying.”

He laughed again. “Okay then. Your education begins today.” He pulled me to my feet. “But first we take a shower.”

Before I could blink he threw me over his shoulder and had us in the bathroom.

“Dammit, Conner, stop with the super speed shit!” I saw what he was about to do. “No, no! Not again. Don’t you dare shove me under cold water again, Conner Savage. I don’t care if you are immortal your balls are sensitive just like any other man’s”

His laughter turned evil as he turned on the water full blast and shoved me beneath it. I don’t care how great his fucking laugh was, this shit had to stop.

“That’s it, Conner! No more sex for at least three days! You have got to stop shoving me under cold water!”

His big, naked body crowded me into the wall of the shower. “We’ll just see about that.”

I decided I could live with starting my shower in cold water every morning if the sex was that outstanding. I might even learn to love them.

Four days later, I was going stir crazy. For the most part Conner stayed home with me, giving me lessons in vampire history and etiquette, but he wouldn’t allow me out of the basement for more than an hour or two a day. He wouldn’t allow me out of the house at all. When I complained, he explained that the basement was practically impenetrable and the safest place for me to be if Vanessa should decide to try to get rid of me as she had threatened. Since I had firsthand knowledge of how easily she and her two goons had gotten into his house, I didn’t argue long.

In that time I learned that vampires had such similar physiology to humans that only blood tests and autopsy would reveal it. Which was why vampires were still almost unknown despite their prolonged existence. Also, all the misinformation spread by novels and movies made it harder to spot a true vampire. I didn’t tell Conner, but I was seriously thinking about writing a book with the truth about the fanged population.

The characteristics were actually the simplest part of understanding vampires. The etiquette and history between vampires are what became complicated. Vampire etiquette sounded more complex than tax law. Conner explained to me that the most powerful of vampires were older and therefore tended to be more antiquated in their behavior and expectations. While bowing and curtsying were no longer expected, saying things like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ were a must. Also cursing in mixed company was a no-no, whether you were male or female. I told him that might be a problem because fuck was my favorite word. He laughed but said I would have to curb my filthy mouth at formal gatherings.

He tried to explain vampire history to me but soon gave up because I drove him nuts with sarcastic comments and constant questions.

Finally, Conner said, “I think it would be best if my friend Alexander explained all this to you. He is several centuries older than I. He would probably have more patience with your questions.”

He said it as though I were annoying, which I wasn’t, and that only someone who’d had centuries to practice patience could handle me. Also untrue. I just hated the misogynistic themes in the stories he told me. Surely female vampires weren’t such doormats. I remembered that Vanessa, while powerful, felt she needed Conner to make her stronger. It was yet another issue I had with possibly being turned. I said as much to him.

He sighed. “I would love to tell you that we have enough young vampires that the attitudes have changed, but it would be a lie. Most of the vampires, both male and female, are over a century old. Some are over five hundred years old and have difficulty thinking of females as little more than property. It is improving but slowly.”

I looked at him at that point. “You are almost three hundred and fifty years old, and you definitely seem to see me as an equal.”

Conner grinned. “I was blessed with a mother who despised the way women of her time were treated. She taught me early, and well, to give my woman respect and affection. It didn’t hurt that she told me I could take my pick of women if I treated them like queens. As a randy young lad of sixteen, I took her advice to heart.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Pig!”

“That’s not what you were saying a moment ago,” he teased.

“Oh bite me, fang boy,” I retorted.

Our history-slash-etiquette lesson ended shortly thereafter because Conner took me quite literally. I would have to remember never to tell a vampire to bite me unless I really wanted him to. Though I did enjoy myself thoroughly, so I didn’t complain long.

However, only so many orgasms would distract a girl from a predicament like a vampire psychobitch who wanted to kill her. When I asked Conner what was going on, he put me off with a vague, ‘Give me a couple of days, and I should have something to tell you.’

That had been two days ago. I was done with waiting. I wanted to know what the hell was going on. Conner went upstairs to the study to meet a colleague about his plan to deal with Vanessa. I told him I wanted to go and participate in the discussion, but he put me off yet again. Rather than start a rip-roaring fight as I wanted, I acquiesced. After he went upstairs, I gave it ten minutes and then snuck up after him. He might treat me like a queen, but in some ways Conner was just as antiquated as the older vampires he told me about. If he thought I was going to play the little woman and sit quietly downstairs, he was damned wrong.

I climbed the steps from the basement to the main floor of the house and tried to move as silently as possible. I just hoped that Conner would be too involved with his meeting to hear me as I tiptoed down the hallway. I assumed that he would hold this meeting in the study so I moved to the front of the house. The door to the study was open, and I could hear a man speaking as I approached.

“Well you could always formally claim her to the council. Then it would be suicide for Vanessa to lay a fang on her.”

I didn’t recognize his voice but stopped moving when Conner responded.

“Dammit, Finn. I wanted to give her time. She’s struggling with the changes she’ll face when she turns. I wanted to allow her time to consider and come to terms with that before I push for a Claiming.”

What the fuck was a Claiming? I could tell by the emphasis he put on the word that it was claiming with a capital C, and it was important to him. I decided to eavesdrop a little more before I revealed my presence. Ever so slowly, I crept closer to the open doorway and leaned against the wall a couple of feet from it.

“It’s your only option. Otherwise vampire law leaves her vulnerable to Vanessa’s machinations.”

There was a pause then I heard something hit the wall next to my head. I barely managed to choke back my gasp, but I did jump about a foot off the floor at the unexpected noise. The wall literally vibrated with the impact.

The men inside the study were silent. I jumped again when the man Conner called Finn called out, “Little one, we know you are there.”

Well shit. I straightened from my hunched position and walked to the door. I came around the corner and thought, once again, that all of Conner’s vampire friends were hot as hell. I wondered if there was a rule against ugly vampires. Finn had to be as tall as Conner, though he was leaner. His hair was light brown and long. It fell slightly below his shoulders in a smooth curtain. His face was beautiful, almost angelic, without being effeminate, but it was his eyes that were the most arresting feature. I knew Conner’s eyes were the most gorgeous blue I had ever seen but Finn’s were a close second. His eyes were so deep and dark in color that they were almost purple. Even sitting in a chair, ankle propped on his knee, I could see Finn clad in leather and fur with blue paint on his skin. He looked like a Pict warrior and, with a name like Finn, he was possible he had been.

I moved further into the room, ignoring the angry look on Conner’s face, and extended my hand to Finn. “Hello, my name is Donna Perry.” I wanted to be on my best behavior in case this was one of the vampires who liked good manners, as Conner had mentioned earlier in the week.

Finn rose and damn he was tall. He had to be at least six-five and a lot broader than I realized. He still wasn’t the solid wall of muscle that Conner was, but he looked as though he could hold his own. I swallowed as his huge hand clasped mine and we shook. He looked to Conner.

“You weren’t exaggerating were you?”

Conner shook his head, still glaring at me with blue eyes that were beginning to glow. I stared him down. Tough shit if he was mad. I had a right to know what was going on in regards to my life and my safety. Just because I couldn’t defend myself against a vampire didn’t mean that I should be in the fucking dark. Apparently he realized I wasn’t going to back off because he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was a pose I had seen before when I was really working his last nerve. I would have to remember to ask him if vampire’s got headaches. I meant to do it a while ago but forgot.