Desperate and Dateless (4 page)

She felt mild surprise when Vlad pulled the Cruiser into a driveport.

“My place isn’t too much further. I’d rather we didn’t…” Her words trailed off as she saw where he had turned. “The Castle Royale? Are you kidding me?”

Vicci felt her mouth gaping as she tried to rethink her thoughts. “If you really are some Prince, why the hell haven’t the rest of us heard of you?”

Vlad pulled up to the valet and handed him a ridiculous amount of credits thought the open window. Pulling himself up from the low-slung vehicle, he stood fully and looked over his Cruiser with pride. “Take care of her for me,” he said with a possessive pat on the dash. Vicci vaguely felt herself being helped from the car, but her mind was whirling.

The Castle Royale hotels were the most expensive, lavish palaces in the galaxy. Only the richest of the rich could even afford the comm sequences for the reception to make a booking, let alone the exorbitant price-per-night of their rooms.

When the upper crust of the old aristocracy had decided to make a lavish playground where every vice and wish of theirs could be fulfilled, they had banded together to form The Castle Royale chain.

Only the richest, most prestigious members of the high society even knew how to get their names on the waiting list. Having Vlad bring her here changed everything. Vicci had never dreamed she might have the chance to see the inside of the palace, let alone spend a night here with a handsome, horny vampire.

“Still willing to follow me, little red?”

Vicci smiled as Vlad came around the front end of the Cruiser and took her hand. She smiled widely and she knew if she had fangs, they would have been flashing.

“Of course. I’ve always wondered what the big bad wolf did to make everyone so leery of him. I’ll follow you…for now.” Vicci felt the blood pound through her system as Vlad dragged her close to his chest. He still smelled delightfully spicy and masculine. She felt her mouth water and her pussy dampen even more.

“I think I’ll be able to satisfy you enough that for tonight you’ll be quite happy to follow my lead. Tomorrow can worry about itself.”

Vicci just smiled, not wanting to start an argument. It was more than a dream come true to be entering these walls, something she had never thought might happen to her. She could put up with this sexy man’s arrogance for a little while to see what magnificent experiences he could give her.

A girl had to have priorities.

Chapter Four

Vlad struggled to keep his steps even, his grip on Vicci’s hand not too tight. He knew once he had her in their room, he would kiss her and the avalanche of thoughts and feelings would come crashing over them both. Despite his many, many years’ worth of experience, he had a feeling none of it would matter with Vicci. He would be as needy and fumbling as his first feed.

Well did he recall his Sire explaining the heady rush of lust and desire one felt when a vampire found that special partner who could complete the circle. As a young lad he had silently scoffed at the romantic, over-the-top manner as his Sire explained the joining.

Yet he had only touched Vicci’s hand and he felt ready to burst his pants with desire. He had nearly lost his legendary self-control from merely kissing her. Vlad wanted the privacy of his own suite when they came together, particularly for this, their first time.

As the transport unit conveyed them to the room he had reserved earlier in the evening—being a Prince had to have
some
compensations—Vlad tried not to jiggle in his impatience. He caught Vicci casting a glance at him and in that one instant his whole body flooded with a strange calm.

She wanted him just as much…
The innate, perfectly solid understanding calmed him as nothing else could. The simple knowledge that she burned as hotly,
wanted
as deeply and as desperately, did somehow make him able to be completely calm about it all.

He knew with a startling clarity that he could last all night, pleasure her as she deserved, and not burst into flames with his own desire.

Vlad grinned as the transport came to a smooth halt. Still holding warmly onto Vicci’s hand, he led her to the door to his suite of rooms. He pressed his thumb to the locking device, and with a simply
click
it opened.

“I can have some wine delivered while we refresh ourselves. I’ll call the order through, you go start. It’s the door on the right over there.”

Vlad smiled to himself as Vicci shrugged and, obviously trying not to gawk at the opulence surrounding her, walk through to the cleansing chamber. Vlad pressed the comm screen and requested Room Service.

“A bottle of Purple Vodka and a bottle of DrySweet Wine please. Two glasses and two warm towels.” The blue blips confirmed lodging his request.

Vlad unknotted his tie, removed his shoes and socks carefully. He walked to the large windows overlooking the street and silently counted to twenty. He took deep, calming breaths, wanting to give Vicci long enough to undress, start the heat and steam in the cleansing unit and relax a little.

It would not do to jump one’s bedmate before she had been given enough time to prepare herself. Women were odd like that. Give them too much time and they thought you had no interest. Give them not enough time and they scratched like angry kittens.

After he had counted slowly to twenty again, Vlad stepped away from the window and headed toward the cleansing chamber. He stripped off the rest of his clothes as he padded toward the entry, wanting to stretch out the delicious moment as long as he could.

He loved the feeling of anticipation, the thrill of knowing that one special woman awaited him in the chamber, and he would be with her any minute now. That safety of knowing gave him the strength to move slowly, to draw out the moment.

Finally, when his heat rose up within him again, raging for its release, he opened the door and let himself into the chamber.

Steam curled everywhere, puffing out of the cleansing unit to fill the whole chamber with its warm air. The billowing heat created a romantic, almost eerie atmosphere.

Vlad padded silently over to the cleansing unit, relishing the role of predator. It almost felt as if he were a warrior, on a path hundreds of his ancestors had traveled before him. Hunting, stalking and capturing his prey. But he hunted the best prey of all, willing prey.

Vlad stopped at the door to the cleansing unit, entranced by the sight that greeted his eyes. Vicci had her back to him, her hands upraised in the traditional symbolism of surrender. She washed her hair, a soapy, sudsy bundle. Vlad felt his heat simmer inside his chest. Gently, not wanting to startle her, he reached out a hand and opened the glass panel. He caught a faint smile playing around the edges of Vicci’s mouth and knew she could sense his presence.

Wanting to play up the sexual tension and chemistry between them, he entered the stall quickly, clicking the glass panel shut behind him to keep the steam and heat inside the spacious unit. He wrapped his hands around her waist. He pulled her body close to his, enjoying the way her curves fit into his hard muscles. The steam enveloped him, soothed his aching body, but conversely, fired up his heat simultaneously.

He wanted her badly.

Trying to restrain himself and regain some of that calm he had felt in the transport unit, Vlad lowered his lips and kissed the delicate curve of her neck. For the first time since he had been a youth, he felt his fangs lengthen in need.

Her skin smelled sweet, felt tender and delicate. He could sense the blood, the
heat
beneath her skin. Vlad opened his mouth to suck gently at her neck. He fought himself, refused to sink his teeth into her neck.

“
Yes,”
she gasped, making his rigid hold loosen slightly. “Yes, Vlad! No one ever said it was like this!”

Despite his years of learning self-control, despite centuries of only sipping very slightly from the temptation of tasting human blood, Vlad could feel his strength of will wane. He needed to bite into Vicci like he needed his next breath. Yet a part of his brain insisted she wasn’t asking for what
he
wanted her to ask for.

Until she merged her mind with his.

He had never had so little control that a woman could merge minds with him. Never been so desperately concentrating on a woman he had let his guard lower until she could meld their minds.

He could feel her need, her raw, hungry desire for him to bite into her neck and drink her blood. She felt the same heat, the same craving for his body that he felt for hers. In that one moment, where they shared each other’s minds, he held nothing back from her, and he saw everything she was, everything she had ever desired.

She was a perfect fit for him. She craved him just as much as he craved her.

He sent her one last tender, loving thought, and sank his teeth deep, closing his eyes with the ecstatic pleasure of it.

Only when in heat or desperately starved did vampires need to drink blood. The Old World vampires had been hunted, often caught and executed for their lack of control and discipline. Vampires as a species had become practically extinct because of their lack of restraint.

The small, scattered number of vampires who had gone into hiding had learned to restrain themselves and more often than not, survive on the emotions of the humans who lived in the world with them.

As the few who survived and found compatible women who completed their Soul’s Circle, and then had the small number of offspring they could, more and more vampires managed to live and survive from emotions. Blood still was taken, but in such tiny quantities, and so rarely, that the vampire population once again grew stronger.

Vlad himself had only felt the need to take blood two or three times in his fledgling days, when his emotions and control were so unrestrained and out of his control. His mentor and Sire had taught him to control himself and feed properly from emotions.

The heat, the passion and raw energy flowing down his throat from Vicci’s neck, felt so incredibly unreal that Vlad’s knees buckle from the pleasure. He toppled slightly, pressing them both into the wall of the chamber. He could feel every gasping breath Vicci panted, the pounding pulse of her heartbeat. The blood rushing from her to him connected them as clearly as the mindlink they had indulged in earlier.

He knew she could feel his heat, his lust and passionate possession of her body, just as clearly as he could feel her erotic enjoyment of his mouth at her neck. He knew she felt completely thrown by the strength of the passion between them. She creamed for him and longed for his possession in other, far earthier ways. Her acceptance of him, her slightly feminine amusement at the desperation of his need, made him ease the hold he had on her neck.

He lifted his mouth to lick and heal the wound he had caused. Even though he no longer drank her blood, he still felt the mindlink connection to her. Vlad had assumed once the full intimacy of the situation had waned, the mindlink would begin to dissolve.

He cupped one hand around her chest to palm her breast, shocked to “feel” her feeling the sensation of the rough skin of his hand over her delicate flesh.

He knew Vicci felt his touch zing through her system.

“It’s amazing,” he half whispered, completely in awe of the link and the shared caresses they had together. His control beginning to slip, Vlad continued to string nibbling kisses along her neck.

He touched the sensitive peaks of her nipples with his hands and was affected by every touch, every stroke of his tongue as if she were doing it to him. He lifted his lips only when she started to turn around. Experiencing his own lusts and desires, as well as those of his partner, felt intimate, special and completely alien in a wonderful way.

Vlad lowered his head to capture Vicci’s mouth, simultaneously moving his hands to cradle her hips. He fit their bodies together so perfectly they truly seemed two halves of the one whole.

He ate at her mouth until he could feel dissatisfaction stirring within her mind. She wanted more, and he certainly wanted to give it to her. Pulling away slightly, he opened the glass panel and led her out. The steamy heat stopped as the computer sensor detected them leave the unit. Calling out for the voice-activated heat-dry system to come on, standing patiently for the heat to caress them dry, Vlad looked over his woman.

Her curves were trim but definitely womanly, her breasts high and round and firm. A perfect handful. Light red-brown hair fell below her shoulders in wet waves, and her expressive gray eyes devoured his body. He could sense her pleasure, her enjoyment at looking at his muscular frame. He resisted the impulse to preen for her.