Dalton, Tymber - Love and Brimstone [Brimstone Vampires 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (30 page)

“Has the government captured any vampires before?”

He nodded. “One that I know of. I missed his lineage. He enlisted in the army to fight in the first Gulf War. I learned through my contacts they had him in Atlanta at the CDC, but before I could develop a plan to get him out, he’d killed himself. Fortunately, I got my hands on the files, and his remains were cremated before being returned to his family.”

She gasped. “Why did he kill himself?”

“If you realized you were going to spend the rest of your life as a science experiment, with no possibility of freedom, wouldn’t you rather die?”

She shuddered. “Yes.”

“He didn’t know what he was. Had he known, he most likely could have found a way to escape.” Sadness lined his face. “I don’t want anyone else to experience that again if I can help it. I work very hard to prevent our kind from being captured.”

“So is there or isn’t there supernatural stuff? What about the Others? And the
daemon pulverem
?”

He considered his answer. “If you took a working television back to the time of Jesus, what would they think?”

She considered. “That it was some sort of possessed box.”

“Or the word of God speaking.”

“What?”

“I’m not saying that’s what happened. But you and I would say, ‘Oh, that’s just Matt Lauer and
The Today Show
.’ We would think it’s normal. Consider some of the extremely isolated indigenous tribes. What they must have thought the first time they saw an airplane fly overhead.”

“Okay, I get your point. Just because it’s weird and outlandish, doesn’t mean it can’t be true or natural.”

“I’m not saying I’ve got all the answers. You’ll hear me tell you, ‘I don’t know,’ quite a lot, and I’m sure it’ll piss you off.”

She snickered, but he continued. “I won’t lie to you.”

“Anymore.”

“Anymore,” he agreed.

“Why didn’t you try to date me instead of hiring me?”

“You wouldn’t have let me. You would have run so far in the other direction I never could have gotten close to you again. You would have sensed something was up and kept me at arm’s length.”

He was right.
Damn it.

She looked at him. “I’m a vampire?”

He nodded. “You and I are vampires.”

“That’s going to take some getting used to.”

He noticed she’d finished eating. “Come.” He held out his hand. “Let’s go to dinner.”

She stood then sat down again.

“What’s wrong?”

She looked at him. “I’m not on the Pill right now. I don’t want to get pregnant!”

“You won’t. It’s not the right time of the month.”

“How would you know.” She looked at him, and he blushed. His face turned bright red, in fact. Her eyes narrowed. “What did you do?”

“No,” he said quickly. “I just mean…” He looked at her. “I just
know
. I can only sense it with you, if that’s what you’re wondering. I don’t know how I know. I don’t know if it’s because of your scent or because of what we’ve gone through together or what.”

She held up a hand. “Never mind, big guy. Sorry I asked.” She studied him. “Will you let me know if it’s not safe?” Now that she worked the calendar in her head, he was probably right.

He nodded, the color fading from his face. “We have a few more days.”

“I need to see a doctor when we get home.”

He nodded, seemingly genuinely relieved to drop the topic.

He obviously isn’t the type to pick me up a box of tampons on the way home from work.
His face went beet red again as he must have heard her thought. She laughed. “Sorry.”

He shook his head, smiled, and then took her into his arms for a kiss. “Go easy on me, Taz. I might be an old guy, but I’m still just a guy.”

* * * *

After dinner, Taz and Matthias returned to the cabin. While he wanted her to go to sleep, she managed, without the help of supernatural charms, to coax him out of his clothes and into bed with her.

He nuzzled her neck with his lips, working his way down her chest to her breasts. He sucked her nipples into his mouth, teasing and tasting, sending floods of juices straight to her pussy.

No man ever had this effect on her before, the desire to just throw all caution to the wind and get utterly, completely, thoroughly fucked.

She climbed into his lap and impaled herself on his cock, sighing with relief to feel that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

“This is so good,” she whispered.

He captured her lips with his. He grabbed her hips and as he fucked her with his cock, his tongue did the same to her mouth. She couldn’t get enough of him.

This time, she didn’t need his tongue or his finger or anything else but his cock sweetly fucking her to orgasm. It started slow, deep inside her, gentle waves that quickly swelled, crashing, breaking over her as she felt her body milking his member and triggering his orgasm.

She cried out, muffled by his lips on hers as his hips rocked against her harder, faster until one last climax left her spent and shivering in his arms.

They collapsed to the bed. She curled against him, enjoying the feel of his arms around her.

“You’re an amazing woman, Anastazia,” he said, kissing her. “I am a very blessed man.”

In his arms she felt safe, protected. Loved. Even his scent felt imprinted on her heart, and the taste of him…

“Why didn’t you bite me that time?”

He kissed the top of her head. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” She turned to look at him. “Uh, pain’s the last thing I thought of when you did that to me at the house.”

He smiled and kissed her. “It’s something special. We don’t need to do it every time to know we love each other.”

Then she caught a whiff of his thought. “Really?”

Matthias hesitated before nodding.

“I’m only the second person?”

He nodded.

She sat up to look at him. “Ever? You’re shitting me.”

“Why would I lie about that?”

“I mean, I just—”

“Rafe and I have fed each other, obviously, to save the other. But you are only the second woman I’ve ever tasted.”

She searched his eyes. “I’m the first to taste you?”

He nodded again as an ancient ache filled his face. “My wife wasn’t of the line. I…on our wedding night, before I knew what I was, it was…instinctive. I didn’t hurt her, thank God, but obviously she didn’t have the same need I did.”

Taz touched his cheek. He nuzzled her palm. “Matthias, really? I’m the first woman you’ve ever let do that?”

He nodded. “I waited until I found my true love,
cara
,” he murmured, deeply inhaling the scent of her hair. “I would have waited hundreds of years more if I had to. I belong only to you. You are the only woman on this planet who holds my blood in her veins.”

Something in his words thrilled and frightened her. He wasn’t bullshitting her. The fact that he loved and trusted her so much scared her. With that thought in mind, she snuggled into his arms again and closed her eyes.

Taz awoke before Matthias the next morning. As she watched him sleep, she resisted the urge to probe his thoughts. Now that it was a two-way street she understood what he’d meant about the connection between them.

How powerful am I?

She remembered the times in school she’d pulled quiz answers from nowhere. Not lucky guesses, she figured. She recalled watching her mother during interviews, how she played reporters, toyed with them, had them eating out of her palm.

Her father, too. He was a playboy and could snag any woman. How many times had he talked his way out of trouble with her mother? Sweet-talked her into forgiving him, both knowing it was just a matter of time before he strayed or drank again?

“Did he drink to escape the demons within him?”

“Yes,” Matthias said, startling her.

She glared at him. “I didn’t do that to you.”

“I’m sorry.” He took her hand and kissed it. “All I heard was that last part. You were rather intense. You think loudly, dear.”

“Oh,” she said, mollified.

“He most likely drank to escape what he thought was mental illness. He could focus on his driving. When he had downtime, he needed something to quiet what was inside. That’s why Tim took such great care to raise you the way he did, with self-control and restraint. Kept you busy with your studies and outside activities, taught you constructive ways to focus.”

“I miss them.”

He hugged her to him. “I know you do. I’m sorry I couldn’t bring them home to you.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“What now?” she asked him. The others remained in the parking lot while Matthias and Taz walked across the bridge over the Firehole River as the cool morning breeze competed with warm mist blowing off the basin.

They were in Midway Geyser Basin, heading toward Grand Prismatic Spring. Taz was a little unnerved to read in the guidebook how easily someone could fall into the hot water and die because of the temperature. According to the guidebook, people and animals had jumped in to swim and literally been boiled to death.

Most of the boardwalks had no guardrails.

“We have a meeting tomorrow,” he said.

“Scientists?”

He shook his head. “Guests. People you need to meet.”

She didn’t want to guess.

“I wish I could give you more time to practice, but we don’t have it.” They sat at the far western side of the basin on a short boardwalk extension that kept them out of the main traffic. They pretended they were looking out over the large spring. Most people took pictures and moved on, affording them relative privacy.

“What are we doing here?” she asked him.

“I want you to focus on blocking me from your mind.”

“Why?”

“No one you will meet tomorrow is stronger than me. None of them are older.”

“You don’t trust them?”

“I didn’t say that. I don’t want anyone knowing our business. It’s best you learn to block them without exhausting yourself.”

“You think they’ll try to read my thoughts?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps. Eventually you’ll be able to selectively block others. Allow only those you want to have access. For example, I can block others and still allow you in.”

“How do I do it?”

“You had the right idea the other day, of creating a bubble. I want you to fine-tune it so you don’t wear yourself out. I can read you without effort because of our relationship. Otherwise I would have to probe—” He stopped as she giggled. He playfully patted her leg. “Yes, I get the pun.”

“Sorry.”