Page 84 of Trapped By the Blood Ruby

Closer now, I took in the features of his face. He might have been immortal, but there was an exhaustion there I hadn’t noticed before. It gave me pause. “What happened earlier? When Zola called?”

He hesitated, as if contemplating, then said, “She checked in on one of our houses—our children.”

“Your children—wait, like you and Zola?”

The thought was jarring. Why had I never considered it? The idea that they might be intimate. And why did it make my stomach roil?

“Fuck, no. Not like that,” he clarified. “Vampires do not procreate.”

“You don’t have sex?”

“Some do. We can’t create children that way. It is not how we sire.”

Oh, right. He’d mentioned something before, about the way vampires were created. With death and hearts and blood. I didn’t really want to think about it at the moment. “What happened to your children?”

“They were Zola’s. They’re dead. Most of them, anyway. The newborns. The older ones are missing.”

My eyes rounded. “Zola’s children?” I whispered. He hummed in confirmation. “But…is she okay?”

“She will endure. As we all do.”

“But…she lost her children.”

“She has more.”

“But…doesn’t she care about them? Love them? They’re her children.”

“Vampires do not love, Miss Shaw. We do not feel. We do not have the capacity for such things. We are empty. Creatures with instincts and cravings.” He said this without a shred of emotion and it sounded so very rehearsed.

“Whatever,” I decided, uninterested in indulging him. “I’m hungry, Laurent. I’m here to collect.”

Something sparked in his gaze. Something predatory. The tendons along his forearms flexed.

“Come, then. Let me feed you.” I didn’t move. “Very well.” He stepped up to me instead, positioning himself behind me. I went rigid at the proximity. My mouth watered but my head pounded, a mix of hunger and fear battling it out. “Steady now, little flower. All you need do is drink. Let your mind relax. I’ll manage the rest.” His gentleness surprised me, but I didn’t linger over it.

His closeness made every hair on my skin come to attention. My fear hadn’t left. Not entirely. It was simply overruled by this craving. This…need.

He didn’t touch me, simply hovered behind me as he said, “I’m going to open my wrist and give it to you. If at any time you are uncomfortable, you need merely step away. This is entirely in your control, understand?”

I stood there.

“Lily, do you understand?”

I nodded, the motion stilted.

“I need to hear you say it, little flower.”

“I understand.”

“Good. My wrist will close on its own, but it should remain open long enough.” There was a hesitation when I didn’t say anything. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” I rasped, my mouth salivating. Even my fingers twitched, restless.

I heard the sound of it and flinched. The sound of his teeth breaking skin. A shocked noise rose in my chest but I pushed it down. His wrist appeared in front of me, his arm snaking around my shoulders. I stared at it and blinked. He’d bitten himself. Blood oozed from the marks.

“Hurry,” he warned.

Spurred by his command, a primal thing within me roared to the surface. A part of me I didn’t know. My nose caught the notes of iron and something sharper. My chest expanded. My breaths came faster. And then I struck, both hands wrapping around his forearm and palm, bringing his wrist to my mouth. My jaw opened over the wound before I latched on.