Chapter Thirteen

Dmitri suddenly stepped back.

"I need a shower."

I blinked.

"What?" He started making his way towards the bathroom. I stood there, a mix of shock, rejection and frustration on my face. "But I thought you just said-"

"In case you haven't noticed, despite my best efforts I am currently covered in my own blood."

"So?" I asked as he stopped by the bathroom and turned to me. "I've always thought that a little blood added a certain rugged something to a man. I don't ca-"

"May I remind you," he interrupted, giving me a downright patronizing glare, "of the seventh step to joining? If you were to ingest any of my blood and I was then to feed on you…"

I pouted.

"Ok, I get it." I was fairly annoyed at this Beloved thing. Yet again it had chosen to interrupt a perfectly good moment with some crazy rubbish steps. Dmitri closed the bathroom door behind him. "Wait!"

"What?" he sighed, poking his head out from around the corner. I tried to focus on what I wanted to say and not the fact that he had already removed his shirt. It was extremely difficult.

"Uh," that was a good start. I shook my head to wake myself up a bit. "Don't you need my blood to heal? Otherwise you're just going to keep on bleeding everywhere."

"Yes, but I cannot bite you until-"

"You've healed? That's a vicious circle, you know?" It was my turn to give him the patronizing stare. He frowned slightly. I continued. "Oh, it can't be that bad, right? I mean, it's just a little bite. Why don't you just take what you need to heal before having a shower and then we can get around to the big feed?"

"I don't thi-"

"Just a little nibble before the main course, if you will."

Dmitri walked out of the bathroom and stood a couple of feet in front of me. I tried not to lick my lips at the sight of his bare chest. It was perfection… if you ignored the whole tattered shoulder and blood stains thing. He crossed his arms and gave me a very stern look. I could tell he didn't approve of my idea; he didn't need to tell me to get that message across.

"I do not think that I trust you enough to know that you'll be able to stop after I bite you."

Well, that was nice of him.

"Believe it or not, I do have some level of self-control, enough for this anyway." I told him. His lips thinned.

But I don't think that I do.

Crap. If that wasn't the single-most sexy thing I had ever heard. Golly gosh my knees felt unstable.

I pulled my hair out of the way then tilted my head upwards, so that my neck was on full display. "Fang me."

He peered at me doubtfully, as if considering my offer. He then shook his head. I frowned at him in disappointment. He reached out and took hold of my arm instead, positioning it so that he was facing my outer edge of my upper arm.

"No major arteries." He explained. I gulped as he stepped closer, but only so much that there was what he had deemed a safe distance between us. He lowered his head. This better be good after all this hype he had built up about it. A blast of hunger suddenly flared from him. At the last minute I decided I couldn't look and swept my head around to face the other way.

I had expected pain. That was always what happened in the books and movies. Pain that was suddenly taken over by euphoric pleasure. I was therefore horrified when I felt nothing more than a tiny sting before my body erupted as if on fire. I could feel his thirst, and a hunger for something other than blood, and the emotions swirled within my chest as my toes started curling. I fell against the wall behind me, the deep pleasure turning my legs to jelly. I bit down on my lips. His desperate thirst was still strong around us. I could feel myself being brought closer to the edge. I needed to touch him. I needed his hands on me. I needed him.

He stopped abruptly and stepped away, breathing heavily.

No! No stopping! Stopping was not allowed at a time like that! I looked at my arm, trying to not let my inner frustration show on the outside. There was little more there than a bruise. I looked up again, in shock of what had just happened and what I had just felt. Dmitri was gone and the door to the bathroom was closing softly.

After a good three minutes of standing there, getting my breath back, I had finally been able to make my shaky way over to the bed, onto which I immediately flopped down. My insides were still churning and a very specific part of my anatomy was being particularly animated in its complaints that Dmitri had stopped. I just hoped he was busy doing some serious healing in there. It didn't seem like he had drunken that much – he was certainly still hungry when he pulled away – but maybe vampires didn't need that much if you concentrated the energy into a particular aspect, like healing. I didn't really have a clue. I just wanted to try it again.

I glanced at the clock. Christ, he had been in there well over six and a half minutes! Why couldn't he just hurry up? It wasn't like he needed to completely fix himself. He just needed to stop the bleeding. That shouldn't take that long, should it?

I was starting to itch about. As time went on, I was getting gradually more and more impatient. And more and more sexually irritated. It didn't help that every now and then I'd get a flash of Dmitri's own lust in my head. God damn it, what was he doing in that bathroom?

Finally, after what seemed like an hour – although I suppose it had been only ten minutes or so – the door creaked open. Dmitri stared at me, his hair dripping wet around his face. Where there had been huge gashes in his skin there were now only red marks. They looked sore, but definitely not bleeding. I was a little disappointed to see that he had put his jeans back on, despite both our knowledge that they'd be coming off again almost instantly. It would have been nice to get a peek at him from this distance.

He took a few slow steps towards the bed. I sat up. I suddenly felt extremely nervous about what we were about to do, as if I knew in my head it was wrong, but it somehow still felt right. He paused.

"You sure you want to do this?" he asked. I felt my heart rate step it up a notch. All of a sudden I didn't care about the consequences of another step taken. I wanted him. And by the colour of his eyes I could tell he wanted me too.

I didn't answer verbally. Instead I stood and walked over to him. When we were close enough that I could feel his body heat radiating from his flesh, I gently touched the damp skin at the top of his chest with a finger. I saw him shiver slightly. Very slowly, I traced the line going down the centre of his chest, all the way down his stomach until I stopped a few inches above his trousers. I gazed up at him through my eyelashes and bit my lip in what I hoped was a seductive way.

Apparently it was, because the next moment I was off my feet and almost being thrown onto the bed. Dmitri climbed on top of me but then stopped. By this time I'd had enough waiting. I reached up and pulled his head downwards, leaning up at the same time to catch his lips in mine. He immediately responded, his lips teasing mine far too gently for my liking. I pushed my tongue into his mouth and started exploring. His hunger increased and wrapped itself around me while his tongue struggled against mine in a fight for dominance. With one of my hands I tugged at his wet hair, with the other I set about scouring his chest, running my fingers across the subtle lines there before stroking one of his nipples. He groaned into my mouth and I felt a heavenly scratch against my tongue as he started sucking on it enthusiastically.

His hands were steadily moving further and further up my stomach under my shirt, sending little fires dancing across my skin. He pulled me up from the bed and we broke our kiss briefly as he tugged the t-shirt over my head. He lay me back down and I moaned loudly as his hand found my bare breasts, suddenly glad he had forgotten to bring me underwear. His lips left my mouth and started wandering down my chin to my neck. I arched my back, closing the gap between us, so that tickles of delight ran down my spine as his chest hair brushed against my flesh. Both my hands tangled themselves in his hair while he kissed his way down my collar bone to the valley in my bust. I could feel one of his hands starting to play with the zipper on my jeans even as his mouth made a path up one of my breasts. I gasped as he took the nipple in his mouth and began licking and sucking eagerly.

His blood-thirst spiked again. I could hardly bare it. Bite me. Just… bite me. He let out a small carnal growl that sent shivers all the way down to my toes. Almost too quickly, his fangs pierced my flesh. I held back as much as my scream as possible. As he drank, I could feel his desire more clearly than ever. It reached out and sent my own lust into overdrive. He had managed to undo my trousers and as he slipped his fingers down their front, I knew I couldn't take much more of this. His finger grazed my most sensitive area and I couldn't hold back any longer. He continued to drink from me, encircling me with his thoughts, as I spilled over into a glorious orgasm.

He lifted his head from my bosom and speedily yanked at my jeans until they came loose and he threw them across the room. His mouth found mine again and he kissed me with almost brutal force. He pulled away and hastily removed his own trousers and boxers. I watched, slightly in awe of how graceful he was even in this frantic state of mind. I bit my lip at the full sight of him. He wasn't the biggest man I had ever seen, but he was certainly no midget.

My hands wound around to his back as our lips crashed together. I could feel his desperate need, not only against my thigh, but also in my head. I let his tongue boss mine around for a bit, still slightly shaken by my previous climax. He spread my thighs apart. A colossal groan left my mouth as his hand brushed my centre. I couldn't wait any longer.

He positioned himself above me before nipping at my bottom lip enthusiastically. I had to dig my fingers into the muscles of his back to stop from screaming when he pressed inside me. His mind poured into mine as he started moving within me, flooding me with his pleasure and passion. I spun within it, bringing my knees up to give him easier access and thrusting my pelvis upwards to meet him. We began moving together, in mind and body, and a white hot blaze exploded throughout my form. I was positive my fingernails were making deep scratches in his flesh, but was terrified to let go in case I fell into the dark abyss that was threatening at my edges. And I saw it inside him. That gaping hole where a soul should have been. But this time I could reach out to it. I wanted to fill it with light. I needed to. I poured everything I had into him. All the passion. All the joy. He violently plunged his fangs into my neck, lapping up the red liquid, and I was sent over the edge into the most profound climax I had ever had. My release fuelled his own and he soon collapsed on top of me.

We lay there entwined, breathing heavily, too exhausted to move. His face was buried in the pillow next to my head. I don't think I even had the strength to raise my arms away from his back.

I looked up at the ceiling as his mind left mine and my thoughts tried to rearrange themselves into something tangible.

"Wow."

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