Page 51 of Damian’s Conquest

Her breath caught in her throat. “You licked over it.” And there’d been no pain. Just pleasure. “If you really bit me, then why didn’t it hurt?”

“Because a vampire’s bite doesn’t have to be painful. I licked your skin before I bit you. It made sure that you wouldn’t feel any pain, only the pleasure that comes with a vampire’s bite.” He inhaled noticeably. “And the arousal. Just thinking of it now makes me hard.”

Naomi gasped. She saw Damian look at her with desire shining from his eyes, and suddenly understood how a human could be drawn to a creature like him, despite knowing what he was. But she couldn’t give in to this temptation, because she didn’t know what it would do to her. Would she become a mindless creature only driven by lust and other carnal urges? Would she still be herself if she gave herself to a vampire?

Her mind didn’t let her surrender, even though her body was weak. But she was a journalist, a person who looked at all sides of a story. That thought reminded her of something.

“Then the allegations of blood sacrifices or a satanic cult at the Mezzanine are somewhat true? Mrs. Zhang really saw vampires.”

Damian sighed. “There is no satanic cult and no blood sacrifices. I can assure you of that. But I’m not sure what she saw. The staff and any vampire frequenting the club know that I don’t tolerate anybody feeding on a human in public. It’s too risky.”

“You did it in the club,” she reminded him.

“Before you call me a hypocrite, what I did happened in a secret room, away from everybody else’s eyes. And it was Halloween. We’re somewhat more relaxed during Halloween when everybody is playing dress-up.”

“So all the people who were dressed as vampires, they all were real vampires?”

He nodded. “Most of them. It’s the only way we can show our fangs in public without anybody getting scared or suspicious.”

“How many are there?”

“At the club?”

“No, in San Francisco.”

Damian shrugged. “A few thousand. More than in most cities.”

“Why’s that?”

“Scanguards provides good employment opportunities for vampires, and they also provide free bottled human blood to their employees to encourage them not to drink directly from humans.”

“But they still do. I mean, you did.”

“There’s a reason for that. Most vampires and hybrids that aren’t blood-bonded to a human, don’t have to bite humans anymore to get blood to survive. They can drink what Scanguards procures from blood banks. They do it for other reasons now. Most of the biting is consensual these days and part of the sex act.”

At that she felt herself blush, and it appeared that Damian noticed it, because she caught his gaze dropping down to her breasts, and she now realized that her nipples were hard, and liquid was pooling between her thighs. She was turned on.

“Even vampires bite each other to heighten sexual pleasure, but a vampire biting a human is the most amazing feeling in the world. That’s why my father would never dream of turning my mother into a vampire. He values her too much as a human. He would only do it to save her life.”

The more she heard about Damian’s parents, the less she could conjure up fear at the knowledge that vampires existed and that Damian was one of them.

“There’s something else you should know about vampires,” Damian added. “When they fall in love, they fall fast, and they fall hard.”

He rose from the sofa, and walked toward her armchair. She couldn’t move, didn’t have the strength to get up, even though she should. Instead, she watched him approach her. In front of her, he crouched down.

“I’m in love with you, Naomi. That’s why I brought you here to talk. So I could show you who I really am in the hope that you won’t reject me. I was born into this. I’ve never known any different. And I’ve never known better people than the ones who’re part of Scanguards, because all they do is protect others from monsters, no matter in which form they come: human or preternatural.”

His words filled her heart with warmth. She leaned toward him, and of its own volition, her hand moved. She touched his face and rubbed her finger over his lips. His warm breath ghosted over her hand.

“And you won’t hurt me?”

“Never, chérie.”

He placed his hands on her thighs, and she sucked in a breath. Heat surged inside her. Was it crazy to desire a vampire? To crave his touch?

“Show them to me.”

Only when the last word was out, did she realize that she’d made a decision. That she would throw caution to the wind. Because she wanted to feel what she’d felt when he’d made love to her in the secret room behind his office. She wanted to feel his bite, this time with the knowledge that those were his real fangs, not fake plastic inserts like she’d assumed, and that this wasn’t pretense, but reality.