Blood Bound (7 page)

In the end though, none of it mattered. The truth was they were lonely. They wanted someone to share their lives.

It ached in him as he knew it ached in Nico.

Once they’d tried to separate, but found they’d missed each other’s companionship too greatly.

A solitary vampire was also vulnerable – another lesson the centuries had taught them.

Julian glanced at Nico, remembering the small, newly orphaned boy who’d been put into his care so many centuries before. Something the teenaged Julian had taken very seriously. Both Nico’s parents – Nico’s mother had been Julian’s mother’s sister – had been slaughtered in one of the many conflicts that had ravaged their homeland.

Nico had tried so hard to be brave. He’d been so young.

Times had been harsh even among the lesser nobility and so Julian had had to share his food and bed with the younger boy. Not that he’d minded much. The younger Nico had hero-worshiped his older cousin, very flattering to a fourteen-year-old taking up his first real sword.

When it had come time for Julian to choose a squire there had never been any question who it would be.

In all the years since, Nico had stood at his back, as Julian had stood at his.

With a gesture, Julian said, “The bit about drinking a vampire’s blood to make the change? That works, just not immediately. It simply…preserves you…until you die truly.”

So it had been for both of them when they’d changed. He and Nico had been brought over by their Queen, now many centuries dead, slaughtered when the castle had been finally overrun by their enemies. She’d died fighting. If not in appearance, in many other ways Rafi reminded Julian of his first Lady. She, too, was a warrior.

“Oddly,” he said, “it’s much like AIDS, a virus in the blood, spread by saliva and ejaculation.”

That had been one of the advantages of the new reality, of modern science.

Julian had spent a considerable amount of money investigating homo vampiris, to know exactly how they worked. The real truth was that they were just another offshoot of humanity. Not that it made a difference to some. The lies persisted, as oft-repeated lies did, particularly so long as they served another’s need.

Still.

Julian lifted an eyebrow.

“As for the stories? That we could only move about at night? Nonsense. If that were true most of us would have been eradicated early. How long would it have taken for the neighbors to notice you only came out after dark? Our needs though were different from theirs and there were those who feared us, so we only hunted under the cover of darkness. Imagine how many of us there would be, though, if vampires were created the way most think, given the number of people any vampire must bite to feed? There’d be thousands of us, millions.”

“And realistically,” Nico added, rolling his eyes dramatically, “the human body contains about seven quarts of blood, give or take. How many people can drink a full quart in one sitting? So one vampire couldn’t possibly drink a person dry, no matter what the novels suggest.”

There was that, Rafi thought, grinning. Do the math. Half the world would be vampire. Or more.

Reborn at twenty-seven. There was something to be said for that.

“Pleasure though,” Julian said slowly, obviously encouraged by her quick grin, “can satisfy us for a long time. You would have two men devoted to you, to your every need.”

His bottomless deep brown eyes fixed on her and her breath caught.

Now she knew for certain what it was he offered.

Both of them.

She stared at him in disbelief, her eyes widening as her breath escaped her once more.

That fantasy whispered in the back of her mind.

“Imagine it,” Julian said softly, sensing her capitulation, sensing her need, her desire, his voice barely a whisper, seductive, enticing. “One of us making love to you, touching you, pleasuring you until you tremble helplessly in our arms. We can intensify the experience, make it even more pleasurable than you can imagine.”

The very thought sent a rush through her.

She repressed a shiver…of exhilaration? Fear? Or anticipation?

Nico interjected, “Julian believes that if we both feed from you, carefully at first, eventually your body will adjust so you can feed us both easily.”

Rafi looked from one to the other of them, keeping her purse and therefore her weapon, close.

Still, she wasn’t really frightened. More…excited.

Her panties were damp and her heart pounded.

Both of them.

It would be easier to keep a clear head if they weren’t so damn good-looking, but her hormones raged just at the sight of them. Her hands remembered all too well the feel of the muscles of Julian’s back beneath them as he kissed her. She wondered what the difference would be between Julian and Nico.

It was difficult to keep her thoughts straight. Caution warred with desire. Or was it the other way around?

“So,” Rafi said, frowning a little, incredulous. She felt oddly breathless. “Let’s see if I’ve got this right. I get to have two attractive men making love to me but in return you drink my blood? I have both of you for company, this beautiful house to live in and I want for nothing?”

They looked at her.

Julian smiled wryly. “Something like that.”

She grinned back.

“Is my immortal soul at risk?” she asked lightly, only half-joking.

With that kind of deal, it had to be. Talk about too good to be true.

To her surprise, she realized she was considering it.

Both of them. Taking her.

The thought sent a burst of warmth through her, looking at the way Julian’s tailored shirt fit his broad chest, his slacks fit his narrow waist. She fought not to look at Nico, at his leaner frame, and tried not to think of what his body would feel like pressed against her. Something about his diffidence appealed to her, there was a sweetness to him that he took pains to hide while Julian’s strength drew her in a completely different way.

Both of them.

Her body tightened, heated, at the thought as her gaze met Julian’s and then Nico’s.

Julian laughed at her wry tone and the lightness in it.

Relief swept through him in a rush even as he scented her rising arousal, her desire. He felt a breath of hope.

“A myth also, although there are some who believe t as well.”

As he knew all too well from the past. Just the fact that she asked, though, meant she was considering it. For the first time in nearly a millennia, something within Julian eased. He felt hope, genuine hope for something real, something that would last.

He bowed his head in gratitude.

“Rafita…”

He looked at her and then Nico, who after all the long centuries was far more than a cousin to him, more than a friend and more than a companion. As hard as it had been at times, it had been harder on Nico, who’d never been comfortable in that kind of hunt. The shallowness had worn on him as it had on Julian. They wanted more than a string of short, empty, relationships.

Both of them were one-woman men and it had become clear over time that only one woman would do. For both of them. One who would, could, love them both.

Finding her had been the difficulty.

Until now.

Perhaps.

Rafi thought of the endearment – Rafita – that play on her name that Julian had used at the bar.

It touched her for some reason.

Following his gaze, she turned her head to find Nico standing beside her, his golden eyes brilliant.

Gently, Rafi said, in the same tone Julian had used, “Julian, I haven’t said yes yet.”

Was she really considering it?

To her astonishment it seemed she was. The thought had her surprisingly hot and wet, not that she let it show. After all it wasn’t as if she were some fluttering virginal teenager, she was a grown woman. It was hardly the first time she’d had sex, if never with two men at once, whatever her private fantasies. Her nipples grew tight.

A thrill went through her at the very idea.

It wasn’t as if she had to worry about the usual. As Julian had said, vampires were immune to human diseases.

Julian laid his hands on her shoulders, stared into her eyes steadily, reassuringly, as Nico joined them.

“Nothing will happen here that you don’t want,” Julian said, his gaze fixed on her.

Those long-lashed dark eyes drew her.

He was such a beautiful man.

He brushed her hair back from her face, drew her into his arms.

Another strong arm slid around her waist from behind, to hold her tightly against a lean, hard, male body.

Nico.

They sandwiched her between them as Nico drew her hair away from her neck to run his lips lightly down the column of her throat.

A rush of heat raced through her.

There was something even more erotic about Julian watching as Nico did it.

Julian’s eyes were intent on hers as Rafi shivered lightly at the sensation of Nico’s mouth on her skin. Julian lowered his lips to hers and took her mouth gently, then more possessively, his tongue sweeping inside to explore as Nico nuzzled her throat.

“There are benefits,” Julian said, softly, as he lifted his head to kiss her softly just beside her eye.

“More than this?” she gasped on a half laugh, and then shivered as his lips touched her ear.

He chuckled, the sound low and deep.

Rafi’s body jolted, her nipples going hard.

“Yes,” Julian said softly as his lips wandering down her throat on one side, while Nico pressed his mouth at the curve of her shoulder and neck on the other.

Goosebumps raced over Rafi’s skin.

“Your metabolism will increase, and your endurance, you’ll be more resistant to disease.”

“Hmmm,” Rafi said, only half hearing his words as both Julian and Nico nibbled at her throat.

Pressed between them, Rafi was very aware of the state of their arousal. It was impossible not to feel the hard ridge of Julian’s cock against her belly or Nico’s nestled between the cheeks of her ass and the small of her back.

She fought a moan as passion and need curled deep in her belly, fired her blood, and made her pussy ache.

Almost reluctantly, Julian lifted his head, looked at his cousin over her shoulder.

Rafi turned her head to meet Nico’s gaze. His eyes studied her face even as he slid a hand deep into her hair and his lips found hers while Julian’s mouth caressed her shoulder. She’d been barely aware of him drawing the shoulder of her dress aside so he could. Nico’s arm tightened around her waist as they sank into the kiss.

Where Julian was bold and claimed her mouth possessively as his, Nico was more restrained. His tongue teased hers, toyed with it.

Even as he did, Rafi felt the scrape of Julian’s teeth over the sensitive skin at the curve of her neck and shoulder, exposed now by the angle of her head as she kissed Nico.

It seemed as if her entire body had turned molten, heated, at their touch. Julian’s hand at her waist moved up, just a little. His thumb brushed the underside of her breast.

Rafi jolted as a shot of pure lust burst through her.

When Rafi made no move to stop him – in fact, her arm tightened around him even as she lifted a hand to cup Nico’s cheek – Julian, emboldened, risked brushing his thumb over the crest of her breast, to feel her nipple taut beneath the silk.

His body went hotter and tighter in an instant and he groaned as, almost involuntarily, he closed his hand around that firm, ripe globe.

She quivered.

Nothing needed to be said.

Seduction was an old game between them, he and Nico.

The soft purr of the zipper of her dress going down and the cool, refreshing air against her heated skin was all Rafi felt. A hand, Nico’s, slipped inside, slid around her stomach and up to curl around one breast as Julian caressed the other. All her awareness was suddenly centered around her nipples as they grew almost painfully tight while the two men played with them.