I gulped at the idea of carrying a vampire baby. It was even more horrifying than giving birth to a ravenous bear cub with sharp teeth. Would a vampire baby drink my blood while in the womb?
“A tiny amount, darling. Just enough to sustain them until the birth. Thereafter, our baby would require blood feeds just like I do, but now that we have a synthetic blood supply, you could bottle feed him or her like a regular baby.”
Somehow, that was worse. What would people say when they saw me feeding a sweet little baby a bottle of viscous red liquid? Goddess save me, I’d have to pretend it was cherry-flavored milk or something equally vile.
Magical Child Protective Services would take my poor baby from me and place it in a group home.
And then the baby would massacre all the other kids and be staked at dawn.
I burst into tears as my emotions spiraled into pure chaos. Thank the stars Kenji had gone, or he would be mocking me something wicked right now.
“I am mocking you, witch. Your imagination is even more out of control than your magic.”
“Don’t worry, my queen. If we have a vampire baby, I will take care of him or her.” Rasmus kissed first one inner thigh and then the other before he inhaled sharply.
“The kitsune is correct. You are not pregnant.”
Relief crashed over me, and I instantly relaxed. Then I stiffened all over again.
“How do you know?”
“Because you are bleeding, my precious queen.” I recoiled in horror. Oh my goddess, no wonder my emotions were all over the place. I’d lost track of my menstrual cycle, even though Glynda had downloaded an app onto my phone that was supposed to manage it for me.
Since my phone had vanished and now the battery was dead, the app had proved useless.
“Please, I need to go and, um, clean up!” This sofa was already grim, but a bloodstain would not improve it.
“No need, darling.” My vampire mate winked and pulled me closer. “Let me taste you,” he purred.
29
Rasmus
The scents of blood, magic, and vanilla coated my witch’s creamy skin. In all my years, I’d never been so enthralled. So intoxicated. So desperate to feed that I could barely contain my fangs.
Raven was nothing like the vampire consorts from my past. Vampires were sensual creatures, driven by lust and power. We seduced on a whim and killed without mercy.
Feeding and fucking was the vampire way.
Before finding my soul-bonded mate, I’d had relationships with both females and males. Affectionate alliances with vampires from our court. Vampires aligned with my family.
In time, affections faded, alliances floundered, and my lovers moved on.
After several hundred years, I’d given up on finding my blood-mate, so the touch of her magic after all this time had lent me the impetus I needed to fight the true death.
Without my witch, I would have given up and let death take me. There was no coming back from true death. Once a vampire’s heart turned to dust, they crossed the veil.
Starvation was an unpleasant—and slow—way to die, but I’d made peace with it once Alexander perished. I had lived a long and mostly agreeable life, and if the final death took me, then so be it. I had no regrets.
But knowing my soul-bonded blood-mate was out there, searching for me, meant I couldn’t give up without a fight.
She was everything I desired in a female.
But although her vibrant beauty took my breath away, shining brighter than a shooting star, it was her pure heart that drew me to her.
“Please tell me you don’t mean what I think you mean…” My adorable little witch squirmed with embarrassment as I pressed my nose between her thighs and inhaled deeply.
I groaned at the scent of her blood: rich and heady, like the wine that came from our family’s grapevines back in the old country.
