Fixed 01 - Fantasy Fix (24 page)

“And you asked me to turn you into a vampire.” His dark eyes searched her expression.

Reggie made it easy for him and grimaced. “Not so looking forward to that part.”

Dmitri hugged her close and stroked her back with soothing motions. “You do not have to do this,
dushka
. It is not necessary. We can manage quite well if you wish to remain human.”

Realizing what a silly git she’d be to turn down a man who was that hot in bed
and
gave a damn or two about her feelings, Reggie shook her head and raised a determinedly cheerful face to him. “And let you go off chasing after sweet young things as soon as I start wrinkling?” she teased. “Not a chance. Like I said, I want a five-hundredth anniversary. What is that? Raw platinum? What comes after silver, gold and diamond?”

He grinned as if her answer pleased him. “I am entirely unsure, however it would be my pleasure to discover this with you.”

He kissed her soundly and left her perched in bemusement on his lap while he reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out a sheathed dagger.

“Because you do not yet have fangs,” he explained. He pulled off the protective leather, and her eyes widened.

That looks awfully sharp…

He cupped her chin in his hand and forced her gaze to shift from the knife to his face. “You do not have to do this,” he repeated with firm authority. “It is forever,
milka
, and I would rather lose you than have you come to hate me.”

Somehow, the freedom of that choice made her decision to bind herself to him all that much more definite. She kissed him tenderly, lingering over it, showing him without words how much she loved him and how much she wanted to be with him always.

When she pulled back, her expression held warmth and love and humor. “Forever may not be long enough for me,” she warned him, half teasing. “I might follow you into the after life. Maybe
you
should think twice about this.”

“You would not have to follow me. I would not go without you,
dushka
.”

Reggie smiled, her nerves giving way to a sense of peace and excitement. “Then let’s get this done, bucko, before you decide to back out. What do I need to do?”

He searched her face one last time before nodding, apparently content with what he’d read there. “As I said, you will have to drink from me. I will make a small cut in my flesh. You will have to drink the blood from it.”

“Do I need to drink a lot?” She was willing to do this, wanted to do this, even, but the idea still seemed a little creepy.

“Not a vast quantity, but enough to set the transformation in motion. You will know when it has begun.”

“Will it hurt?”

“It is a…peculiar sensation, but you should not find it too painful.”

Reggie absorbed that, paused a moment, and nodded decisively. “Okay. I’m ready.”

He smiled at her and before she could blink, he raised the dagger and sliced a narrow cut in his chest above his heart. She couldn’t see it at first, but he leaned over to put the dagger back in the drawer and when he faced her again, blood had begun to seep from the wound, dark and thick against his skin.

Reggie bit her lip and looked uncertain.

“Your choice,
dushka
. Either way, I will love you always.”

She took a deep breath, inhaling the masculine scent of him along with the scent of sex, and knew he meant it. “Good,” she whispered, “because you’re never getting away from me now.”

She lowered her head, feeling time stretch around her into slow motion. The first drop of blood worked its way free of the welling fluid and trickled down his chest. Reggie got to it just as it reached his nipple. She captured it with her tongue, caressing him while she did so. He tasted familiar and foreign, dark and rich and coppery, like himself, sweeter than his come, saltier than his mouth. She found the flavor intriguing.

She traced the crimson path back up his chest to the wound and dragged her tongue along the length of the cut, cleaning it of the accumulated blood. More welled up in its place, and, when the first drops slid easily down her throat, she realized she wanted more. The flavor of him changed even while she sucked the first mouthful from his wound. It became sweeter and smoother, like some rare liquor. The coppery taste of blood faded, and she found she could savor him like wine. She purred deep in her throat and snuggled closer while she began to drink from him in truth.

He went to her head and made her drunk with the taste of him. She couldn’t get close enough to him. Even when he wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his side, bringing her with him, she wanted more. She wanted to merge with him, to crawl inside him and rest beneath his skin beside his heart. She hooked her leg over his hip and pressed her hips against him, sucking hungrily from his chest. She felt so thirsty, and he was the only thing that could quench her need.

She existed in a black haze, all the world muffled but for her senses, which were acute. She gloried in the texture of his skin and hair, tasted his blood, smelled his scent and wanted him. She heard him moan somewhere above her, and his hand clenched on her thigh and raised it higher. The thick length of him probed at her tender opening and slid deep.

It overwhelmed her. She sank her teeth into his skin, unaware they had lengthened and sharpened while she fed. She pulled him closer with newfound strength, meeting his every thrust when he began to surge into her. She’d never felt anything like this. Before, when Misha had fucked her, he’d been the center of her universe. Now, he was the center of
the
universe, and she wanted to weep and howl with the joy of it. Instead she drank deeply and moaned against his skin when he bowed his head and sank his fangs deep into her neck. He drank back the blood she was taking, and passion and power arced between them, a never-ending chain of pleasure and heat and lust and love.

The tension broke over them simultaneously, her cunt milking his cock while he pulsed his release inside of her. She tore her mouth away from his chest and screamed, a banshee sound of ecstasy and transformation. He echoed her with an animal roar of pleasure and triumph. They melted together in a tangled heap of blood and sex and sweat.

When Reggie finally managed to stir a long time later, she realized there really wasn’t any blood. Like he’d said, the wounds seemed to have closed even while they’d pulled away from each other. But there was plenty of sweat and plenty of sex.

Reggie wrinkled her nose. “I need a shower.”

For some reason, Dmitri found that vastly amusing. He laughed out loud and hugged her close. “I love you,
dushka
. You delight me.”

“I’d delight you more if I didn’t stink,” she said. She sniffed and arched an eyebrow at him. “In fact, I think you’d delight me more if you—”

Dmitri glared at her, though his eyes glinted with humor. “Do not insult me by telling me I stink, Regina Elaina. I may have changed you, but I am still the one in charge here.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re the great big alpha-male, O Exalted One,” she said, pushing at his shoulders until he rolled away from her. “But I am going to take a shower. Turning into a vampire takes a lot out of a girl. Which door leads to the—”

Her chatter ground to an abrupt halt, and Reggie fell back to the bed with a muffled thump. “Oh, wow. I almost forgot. I’m a vampire.”

Dmitri surveyed her dazed look with humor. “Almost. It will take a few more hours for the transformation to complete itself, but you are on your way.”

“What do you mean, ‘almost’?” she demanded, glaring at him. “I drank blood. I had fangs!”

“Those are merely the first stage,” he dismissed, sitting up on the edge of the bed and scratching his chest absently. “In a few hours you will also have excellent night vision, amazing strength, acute hearing and incredible speed. You’re not done yet.”

That took the wind out of her sails. “Oh.”

She thought for a second, and when she looked back at him, she looked like she was plotting something. “Will I get as strong as you?”

He laughed out loud. “Not a chance.” She pouted, and he kissed the tip of her nose. “Not only am I seven hundred and thirty-two years older than you,
dushka
, but I am also a man. Even among our kind, nature has weighted the advantage with men when it comes to strength.”

Reggie humphed and stood, heading for the door she thought might lead to the bathroom. “Then I guess if it’s just like being human, nature compensated by giving women the advantage when it comes to intelligence.”

She punctuated her comment by looking back at him over her shoulder and sticking out her tongue. Clearly, she had maturity on her side, too.

Dmitri gave a mock growl and started after her, but the thunderous clap of the door slamming back against the wall stopped both of them in their tracks.

“Get away from her, you dirty blood sucker, before I turn you into vampire shish-kabob!”

Chapter Eighteen

It took Reggie a few seconds to pull her mouth closed, but the sight of your four best friends bursting through your lover’s bedroom door, brandishing crosses and sharpened broom handles, can really shake a girl up.

Danice stepped warily forward to stand beside Ava, a makeshift cross, fashioned from two rulers and some duct tape, held out in front of her. Corinne and Missy stepped into the room and took positions flanking them.

“Come on, Reg,” Danice urged, her voice soft and soothing, as if she were talking to a child or a victim of some violent crime. “We’re here for you. It’ll all be okay now. Just come here to me, and we’ll get you out of here. Poor baby.”

Reggie just stared at her. “Are you out of your minds? What the hell are you doing here?”

“I believe this is the cavalry,
dushka
. Your friends have come to rescue you from my evil, blood sucking clutches.” Dmitri’s voice showed exactly how amusing he found the situation. Reggie glanced in his direction and saw him leaning unconcerned up against the bedpost, his arms crossed over his muscular chest and his legs crossed at the ankles. His very bare legs, since he was still completely naked.

And so was she.

“Jeez, guys! Could you maybe knock next time? We’re not exactly dressed for company here.” Grumbling all the way, Reggie stalked back toward the bed, yanked off a sheet and wrapped it around her in a makeshift toga. When Dmitri made no move to cover himself, she grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

He caught it and grinned.

“I think he must be using some sort of mind control on her. What do we do now?”

Corrine whispered her theory, but Reggie heard it with no trouble. Her hearing had already improved.

“Dmitri is not controlling my mind, you idiot! And none of you have to do a bloody thing except apologize for barging in on us uninvited and then get the hell out of here so we can get dressed.”

Ava ignored her friend’s scowl and stepped forward, holding an intricate gilded crucifix toward Dmitri. “We’re not leaving without you, Reggie. We know all about your new lover. He wasn’t just at that Goth party for kicks. He’s a real vampire. You’re not safe with him.”

“You’re out of your mind!”

“No, Reggie, it’s true!” Missy, clutching her own cross, moved closer to Regina, her face an earnest picture of concern. “I thought she was crazy, too, at first. But then what she told us started to make sense. Did you know the only recorded photos of Vidâme’s ancestors are of adult eldest sons? No mothers, no fathers, no children, no old people. Just men in their thirties who manage to look almost exactly alike.”

Reggie started to open her mouth to berate some sense into her friends, but Danice stopped her.

“It’s the truth! It’s freaky, Reg. Every single picture could be this guy’s twin, and in all the photos, the dude is only ever seen at night!” Danice shuddered.

“And what about that hickey on your neck, Reg?” Corinne joined in. “Danice was right all along. It was a bite mark. This monster drank your blood. I’m telling you, he’s a vampire!”

“And I’m telling you, I know!”

Reggie’s shout cut straight through her friends’ protests and even made Dmitri quirk an eyebrow. Reggie thought about smacking the smirk right off his face, but she refused to resort to violence. No matter how good it sounded. She contented herself with glaring at him and snarling before she turned back toward her friends.

Ava took one look at Reggie’s expression and stiffened. Corinne screamed and Missy looked ready to faint. Danice jumped back until she hit the wall, and Ava turned her cross toward her friend.

“God, Regina, I’m so sorry,” Ava whispered, a mask of agony twisting her features. “We came as soon as I heard from Marc that you’d been kidnapped from the restaurant. But we’re too late. He turned you into one of them.”

“How do you know that?” Reggie demanded. Ava’s reaction kind of hurt her feelings.

“Your fangs,” Dmitri explained, dropping the pillow and crossing to Regina’s side to wrap his arm around her shoulders. He paid no attention to the cross-wielding reactions of her friends. “You became angry,
dushka
, and your fangs emerged. It is an emotional reaction you will learn to control.”

“Yeah, and I hope you’ll keep that in mind right about now. That whole control over your emotions thing.” Graham appeared in the doorway, looking sheepish. He shrugged to Dmitri. “I did the best I could.”

Reggie threw her hands up in the air and turned on Dmitri. “Great! Now we’re having a party in your bedroom! Did you invite the neighbors, or just your closest vampire buddies?”

Dmitri spared her an impatient glance before glaring at the new intruder. “Graham is not a vampire. He’s a werewolf, and I did not invite him at all. In fact, I assumed he would be keeping an eye on your friends and preventing this very event from occurring.”

“Give me a break, Misha,” Graham said, stepping into the room with a belligerent expression. The four human women scattered out of his path. “I’d like to see you try and ride herd on four humans with estrogen poisoning. They’re royal pains. They almost made Rafe want to kick my ass for talking him into helping me with them.”