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“Why didn’t you bite me?” Nikolaus murmured against his neck.
“I don’t know,” Severin said. He heard the distant song of a stirring bird outside before he fell asleep.
Chapter Fourteen
Severin awoke to a hand shaking his shoulder. “Come on, it’s dawn. Christ, Nikolaus, what have you done to him?”
Severin opened his eyes and saw Istvan and Nikolaus standing above him.
“Nothing to do with me,” Nikolaus muttered, turning away.
“Like hell it isn’t,” Istvan said. He dropped Severin’s clothes on the bed. “Get dressed.”
Severin swung his legs over the side of the bed, casual in his nakedness, and noticed Nikolaus eyeing his body with interest. He pulled up his breeches. His head hurt terribly and his loins ached from the strenuous activity of the night before. The bullet wound in his arm throbbed even though by rights it should have been heading towards being a distant memory. The alcohol-laced blood hadn’t helped him heal. It would take some pure and untainted blood to help him, like a vampire’s. Or Nikolaus’s.
Istvan wound a black cravat around his face until only his eyes showed and jammed a hat on top. He threw a similar garment to Severin and then pulled on some gloves. Every inch of skin was covered. Nikolaus strode forward and helped Severin wrap his face. Their eyes met, Nikolaus’s inscrutable. Once more he was that rather cool man when during the heat of passion, nothing could have been further from the truth.
Severin would have liked to spank him again, right then and there, in front of Istvan.
They carried their bags downstairs and Severin saw the carriage was up close to the inn’s front door, the driver ready on top, the horses looking refreshed. He glanced nervously at the sky. He had had plenty of close encounters with the sun in his time and none of them had ended up well. Burns took time to heal and required much blood. The sky was streaked pink and orange and the sun peeped over the horizon. Nikolaus left the inn. He walked to the hansom and opened the door.
“Run,” he directed.
Severin put his head down and darted for the carriage. He threw himself in and was quickly joined by Istvan. Nikolaus climbed in behind them and closed the door. The interior was cool and pitch black.
“Now you both sleep,” Nikolaus said. He rapped on the roof with the head of his cane and the driver set off.
Lying on the carriage seat and bouncing with every jolt of the carriage, Severin slept fitfully and found that he dreamed of his third meeting with Nikolaus in Vienna all those years ago.
Chapter Fifteen
Vienna, Austria, 1885
He had hung around the townhouse on Operngasse for days, just watching, not daring to approach Nikolaus when he saw him coming and going. Still he couldn’t understand the human’s reasons for divulging his location to a vampire with so little fuss. Until he dwelled on the kiss, that was, and dared to hope Nikolaus had felt a little of the same passion driving Severin to distraction. But how could it be so? How could Nikolaus feel anything for him now he knew what Severin was? One evening he followed Nikolaus on foot through the streets of Vienna, from his home to the Volksgarten.
Summer was calling, the night air sweet and mild, cherry blossom trees shedding their blooms over the cobbled roads. Nikolaus entered the gates and Severin followed him deep into the heart of the park. Nikolaus walked for some distance into heavier foliage before Severin realised that actually, Nikolaus was luring him there. He hung back, striving for control, fighting not to introduce the beast to the proceedings again before he walked into the shadows of the trees and found Nikolaus waiting there patiently for him.
“Hello, Severin.”
“Hello.” The trees shaded Nikolaus’s pale face, casting him in beautiful relief in the moonlight.
“Here I am.”
“It surprises me that you agreed to this. That you gave me your card. Invited me.”
Nikolaus looked away. A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I don’t know why either. I must have a death wish.”
Severin bit his lip. “Don’t say that. I told you I won’t hurt you.”
Nikolaus was silent for the longest time. All that could be heard was the distant hoot of owls and the wind stirring the trees. He fixed his gaze on Severin. “And if I wanted you to?”
Severin stared. “What?”
“If I wanted you to hurt me? What then?”
Severin felt as though he couldn’t catch his breath. Winded with shock, he shook his head in incomprehension as the blood lust slowly and insidiously crept over him. The human lust followed hot on its heels. His cock hardened, bulging his breeches, and his mouth filled with saliva. He turned away. “I don’t know what you’re saying. You’re out of your mind.” He wasn’t sure what Nikolaus was suggesting but told himself it must be something sexual. He couldn’t be asking for Severin’s bite. That wasn’t possible. He knew there were humans who courted it; he had tales from Emil, but not this seemingly innocent man. Surely not.
He felt Nikolaus’s hand on his shoulder and he whirled around, marching the human backwards until he slammed against a tree. He held Nikolaus there with his wrists pinned above his head. “This?” He thrust a thigh between Nikolaus’s legs and nudged his hardness. “Is this what you want?”
