Eve Langlais - Toxic

Squaring his shoulders first, he turned to face me. “If I’m going to be examining you, I guess I’d better adjust to your schedule. It’s my understanding from the vampire stories I’ve read that your kind are allergic to the touch of the sun.”

“Bloody UV rays,” I replied. “We’ve got scientist working on a sunblock, but given our tendency to burst into flame, they’re having a hard time finding volunteers to try out their attempts.” I didn’t mention that the older we got, the more we could stand small doses of UV. A girl did need her secrets after all.

“What about cloudy days?” he queried.

I grinned. “Only if I want a sunburn.” While cloud cover reduced the amount of UV rays filtering through, they were still present. “So, Dr. Angelus, are you ready to see your lab?”

“Please, call me Raphael, or Rafe.”

And you may call me your fantasy and nightmare rolled in one was what I wanted to say, but I behaved instead. “My friends call me Ellie. Now, Rafe, if you’ll follow me, I shall show you the Frankenstein lab I’ve had setup.”

I rolled off his bed and sashayed out of his room and across the hall to the large room I’d had converted into a state of the art medical facility. The hospital bed in the middle of the room beckoned, and I lay down on it with a theatrical sigh. “I’m ready, doctor, when you are.”

“Are you ever serious?” he asked, wandering around and checking out the toys I’d bought for him to play with.

“Oh, I take this very seriously,” I replied-after all the fate of both of our kinds were at stake. “But that doesn’t mean it has to be boring. It’s like love making. Sure you can suffer it with arms and legs spread as your partner grunts over you, or you can have fun with it.” My husband, when I was still a human, had never managed to please me despite his boasts of being an exceptional lover. As it turned out, I wasn’t cold and unresponsive. I just needed the right male incentive and skill. Of course, my choices since I’d become a vampire were limited given my deadly touch. Not that the death of my partner stopped me if the mood hit.

“You like speaking your mind, don’t you?” Rafe replied as he fiddled with the dials of the ultrasound machine.

“Sometimes,” I teased. “So, when do I get naked so you can have your wicked way with me?”

His body went still and he paused a moment before answering. I smirked at his back. Oh yeah, nerd boy isn’t as calm and cool as he’d like me to believe.

“No need to disrobe. We can do the initial measurements with your clothing on.” He turned to face me, his blank mask in place. “Don’t worry, when I want you naked you’ll know it,” he said. I almost fell off the table at his unexpected innuendo. He lips tilted into a mischievous grin before he turned to another piece of equipment, leaving me wet and horny.

This might be more fun than I anticipated.

Two hours later, I’d revised my opinion. Weighed, measured-even my hips which after several children in my old life were a little wider than I liked-and blood drawn, my annoyance over my involuntary guinea pig status came back. Irritable, I took it out on the person pissing me off.

“So how come you have so many degrees? Couldn’t make up your mind?”

“I’m curious,” he said with a shrug, jotting more findings down in the notebook I now hated.

“Are you married?” I asked.

“No.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Dog? Cat?” I rattled items off and he kept replying no.

I fumed as I sat on the medical bed. I kicked my feet petulantly, bored and hungry.

“Do you have a significant other?” he asked surprising me. His eyes lifted to meet mine.

“No. Why? Would you like to apply?” I said sweetly, batting my lashes at him.

He didn’t reply as he moved around me. Even out of sight, though, I could smell him. I inhaled deep, even as it roused my hunger, for he smelled damned good. And I wasn’t talking about his cologne. Human scents varied; understandable given their different personalities and choices whether they be food or lifestyle. I thought I’d come across every perfume a human could adopt, an erroneous assumption. Raphael was like chocolate, a deep rich, melt in my mouth goodness. Contrary to popular belief, I could imbibe human food. It just didn’t actually curb my hunger.

He, on the other hand, would.

I jumped off the table and made for the door.

“Hey, where are you going?” he asked.

“I need a drink,” I muttered, stalking out the door. I called Annabelle, not aloud, that was for crass humans. I paged her through the link I shared with all my blood servants. It was only as I went to open my bedroom door, and my waiting buffet, that I realized Raphael had followed.

I whirled with flashing eyes. “What?” I snapped. My hunger already ravenous became more pronounced as I looked upon him and heard the beating of his heart. My irritation swelled as I fought my natural urge to feed off the human.

“I was hoping you’d let me watch.”

I think my jaw dropped. Of all the things I expected my shy doctor to say, that wasn’t it. “Perv.”

He blushed.

I smirked.

He cleared his throat and wouldn’t look me in the eye. “Sorry, if my request seems forward. I was more interested in how it was accomplished and how your, um, food sources, reacted.”

“And if I told you I like to get my blood while naked from the inside of a woman’s thigh as she grips my hair and pulls it?”

My panties experienced definite wetness as his eyes went slightly out of focus and he shifted his stance. I peered down to see if any tenting was happening, but his damn loose trousers made it impossible to tell.

He cleared his throat. “Um, perhaps I should leave.”

I sighed. “No. Stay. I was just joking. I don’t play those types of games with my food.” Often.

He trailed hesitantly after me as I stalked into my room where Annabelle already rested on my bed. She lay on her side and held her head propped with one hand. Her eyes sparkled with mischief when she saw who accompanied me.

“Ooh, a threesome, why didn’t you tell me, Ellie. I would have worn something more appropriate.”

I wanted to growl as I noticed her skimpy attire of tank top and short shorts. Whoa, jealousy? Since when do I feel that? Here less than a day and already the human doctor had messed with my head and comfortable life.

I kicked off my shoes and crawled onto the bed, my skirt riding up and giving him a view that I hoped he enjoyed. Annabelle rolled onto her back and in a melodramatic voice that made me stifle a giggle said, “Oh, creature of the night. Take me, I’m yours.”

She craned her head sideways, exposing her neck, but I went for a more intimate spot, one I’d never fed from before on her. What could I say, my audience of one made me rash.

She gasped as my lips brushed her creamy thigh, but she spread her legs so I could settle between them. I sensed her pulse, a fluttery sensation that beckoned me as the blood pulsed through her veins just below the thin layer of skin. I sank my teeth in and with a moan, Annabelle arched on the bed.

I sucked the coppery fluid to the sound of Annabelle’s pants. As part of my predatory nature, my fangs contained an aphrodisiac that relaxed my victims and turned what should have been a screaming, horrifying act into a pleasurable excursion.

I heard movement and saw Raphael move into view, his hands clenched at his side, the notebook he held forgotten as he stared at me feeding. Annabelle’s hands slid down to twine in my hair, pressing me against her skin. I pushed a little extra power into my bite, and she writhed, mewling. She let go of my hair to slip her hand inside her shorts.