He fully turned to me, his fangs dropping down as he did. "Careful, human." His eyes flicked up and down me in a way that made my flesh heat, even standing a foot apart like we were. He cocked his head, listening to my heart start to beat faster. He looked so strong and powerful and just plain sexy, all vamped out like that, and I couldn't help but get a little turned on watching him. Of course, the pregnancy hormones flooding through my body may have had something to do with that too. He closed his eyes and inhaled. "Oh, Emma...we really should get going."
He opened his eyes and I could clearly see the passion in them, it made my breath quicker. "Maybe you should go wait downstairs with my mom. I'm sure she'd love to make you something to eat."
I smiled at his reaction to my reaction; we were both feeding each other's desires. "Maybe I'm not hungry for food just yet. Are you?" I stepped up to him, pressing my entire body along the length of his. He sucked in a quick (and unnecessary) breath as our parts lined up.
Slowly, and with a level of seductiveness that would have made any stripper proud, I pulled down the loose neckline of my shirt. It was stretchy enough that I successfully pulled it off my shoulder. I was talented enough that I grabbed my bra strap with it. Teren eyed my bare shoulder with a passion derived from two instincts - the need to eat and the need to have sex. I lifted my shoulder to him, encouraging both.
A low growl came from deep in his chest, sending an ache straight through me. His eyes flicked to mine and he bared his teeth slightly, the edge of his lips curling into a self-assured smile. I felt the heat flood through me and I was pretty sure if he didn't put his hands on me soon, I might explode. Finally, one came around to my backside, pulling me even tighter to his oh-so-ready body. The other, came to the corner of my shirt, pulling it back farther. Then his lips lowered to my skin. Then his teeth pierced the flesh. Then he groaned deep and sucked hard, his hands pulling me against him. That was when I groaned and decided every thought in my head could wait until later...much later.
When our second tumble for the day on those sheets was finished, and I was spent and satisfied, I laid my head on his chest, hearing the echo of my still surging heartbeat through his skin. As his skin was slightly warmer after so much prolonged contact with mine, it was almost like he was alive again. I smiled as I listened to the reverberation. He sighed and stroked my hair, equally spent, but having no physical sign of exhaustion with him. I peeked up at his face, memorizing the soft, satisfied smile as he lay with his eyes closed. I rubbed a trace amount of blood off his lip, noting and immediately disregarding the slight ache in my shoulder. So worth it.
He smiled wider at my touch and kissed my fingers before they pulled away. I traced a lazy circular pattern in his chest as I debated getting up and getting ready for the day...again. I stretched in the silky sheets and debated staying in this bed...forever. Eventually he opened his eyes and stirred, seemingly torn as well.
I grinned and propped my elbows on his chest, holding him down, symbolically, if not physically. Physically, I had been no match for his strength before his changeover. Now, my gesture was as meaningless as a fly trying to hold down a horse. He stayed on his back and smiled up at me however, willing to play the role of captive, if only for me.
I cocked my head, my long hair brushing over his bare skin. "Do you feel different?"
He chuckled and tucked a piece of hair around my ear. "Yes. Now I feel tired...and very satisfied." He practically purred those last words and a shiver went through me that had nothing to do with his other hand resting on the small of my back.
I playfully smacked his shoulder. "I wasn't talking about the sex, smartass. I was talking about your conversion. Do you feel different, now that you're dead?"
He chuckled at my reaction, knowing full well what I'd been talking about all along. Biting his lip, he looked up at the ceiling, his face more serious. "Actually, I do." He lightly shook his head before bringing his eyes back to mine. "I wasn't expecting that, but, I feel..." he shrugged his shoulders, "more alive."
My face scrunched into a confused look and he chuckled again. "I know, that sounds weird. But, it's true. I feel everything around me more intensely." His eyes looked past me as he examined the world in a way I'd never really be able to. "I can differentiate every separate particle of the air. I can see colors I didn't even know existed before. I can hear sounds that have never been audible." His eyes came back to mine. "And I can taste..." he inhaled and closed his eyes, "everything." He opened them and gazed at me with a look of wonder on his face. "You wouldn't believe how beautiful the world is like this, Emma."
He looked around the room again as I stroked his chest and tried to grasp how he saw the world, how he saw me. How odd that a being no longer living in the world, would feel more connected to it. I felt a little like old technology compared to him, like how a black and white TV must feel when it's placed beside an HD flat screen, if inanimate objects had feelings, of course.
He sighed and shook his head. "It's strange. It's like the senses swap around with each other. Like I can taste sound and hear color, and touch emotion." His eyes came back to mine, wistfully. "I wish you could experience this."
I sighed and sank my chin to his chest. Sometimes I wished that too, but there was just no guaranteed way to make me a partial vampire like him, and giving up all of my humanity, and having to live in shadows and darkness, just wasn't something I was willing to do. Plus, I couldn't right now anyway. Not with two lives inside of me, depending on my still beating heart to keep them alive and nourished.
I kissed his cooling skin, feeling the hard muscle encased beneath it. Laying my cheek down on that solid chest, I smiled up at him. "I'll just have to experience you. That's enough." He smiled and kissed my forehead.
Eventually we did pick ourselves up and keep our hands off each other long enough to get all our stuff together. Hand in hand, we walked down an elaborate dual staircase, the kind of staircase that debutantes would be paraded down as they were announced to the world. The seemingly simple living vampires had a taste for the finer side of life. That made me smile, but I sort of understood it. In a way, Teren's family was kind of recluses, keeping to themselves and away from almost everyone else. If I never really left my home, I'd want it to be the best home money could buy too.
Smiling at each other, we walked into a sunny and bright with life dining room. Teren's father, Jack, was sipping his coffee at the table and reading a paper. He looked up at us when we entered the room. "Morning, kids. Just get up?"
I blushed faintly, knowing that Jack was the only one awake in the house not aware of how long Teren and I had been "up" and nodded in response. Teren chuckled and squeezed my hand, pulling out a chair for me with his other one.
Jack smiled at his son's gallantry and then went back to drinking his coffee, happily oblivious to our bedroom antics. I loved that about Jack and felt even closer to the man I considered a father figure in my life as well. He didn't look much like Teren, what with his brown but graying hair and warm brown eyes, but he was as warm and gentlemanly as his son, and Teren's manners were no great surprise after spending a little time around his role model.
Teren kissed my neck but didn't join me at the table. He usually didn't, not since he'd stopped eating. Being around food didn't bother him or anything, he just usually took the time while I was eating breakfast to visit with his mother or his grandmother, since just sitting there and watching me eat was a little boring.
I hadn't been seated for more than ten seconds before Teren's mother, Alanna, whisked out of the kitchen with a plate of food for me. She loved playing hostess and since she'd lost a human to feed when Teren died, I think she'd started making up for it by piling on the food for me. Even before she'd known I was expecting, she'd piled on the food, and now that she did know about it, that habit had gotten even worse and the plate before me was mammoth, loaded high with pancakes and a rich-looking molasses syrup. A mound of fresh fruit and about three sides of bacon made up the rest of the platter-sized plate. I knew better than to object though.
"Thank you, Al...Mom." Alanna had insisted I treat her like family from day one. It was still an odd thing to do, but I was trying. I suppose it would feel more natural once we shared a common last name.
Alanna gave me a brilliant smile, her exact same shade of blue eyes as Teren, catching a shaft of morning light and sparkling in the rays. The sun didn't bother her, too much. She could be in it for short periods of time with no adverse consequences, unlike the other women. Teren's grandmother could tolerate being in a hazy with light room, but, although she wouldn't die from direct exposure, sunlight certainly hurt her. Halina, on the other hand, would fry to a crisp. She couldn't even be in a room with rays of light and stayed holed up in her underground lair until sundown. One of the downsides of vampirism. And one that faded with each mixed generation. It made me obscenely happy that our children would get to play in the park in the afternoons, just like all the other kids. I wanted to give them as normal a life as possible. I understood Teren's need to be like everyone else, so much better now.
Alanna swished over to her son's side, locking her arm around his. Her long, black hair was free down her back except for two long strands in front that were pulled back from her face. Her black as night hair also perfectly matched her son's and as Teren smiled down at her, I could sense the deep connection they had. It was more than just a close mother/son bond. It was a species bond as well. Alanna completely understood her son, because she was exactly like him. She knew what it felt like to changeover. She understood his thirst. She shared his desire to keep their secret hidden. She saw the world in the same amazing way he did.
Their bond was so tight, I suppose it would make an ordinary wife-to-be jealous. I suppose I wasn't ordinary though. For me, it lightened my heart. I knew I wouldn't be a part of Teren's life forever, not with how long he could potentially live, and I wanted him to have strong bonds with other people, especially other people with an equally long lifespan. I didn't want him to be alone...ever.
Which meant I also had to be peacekeeper sometimes. For, as close as they were, Alanna and Teren were also a lot alike, and that meant they occasionally butted heads. Usually, it was because Alanna was trying to protect him, and he didn't feel like he needed to be. I tended to agree with Alanna; Teren could be a stubborn ass sometimes.
Looking up at him, Alanna spoke a phrase in another language. All the vampires could speak Russian, something Halina had taught them. She'd been born and raised there, having moved out here as a little girl. I guess it had pleased her to keep her native tongue alive, and she'd taught her daughter who had taught Alanna, who in turn taught Teren. Jack had told me he could pick out certain words and phrases, but foreign languages weren't as easy for him to grasp as it was for the vampires, and he'd never really felt the need to learn it. "Let them have their secret language," he'd jokingly told me once.
Not liking secrets, I was determined to be fluent in the complicated sounding language. I'd been picking up words and phrases as well, and from what I could tell, Alanna had just told her son "good morning" and then something that included the word "blood". I'd picked up that one early on, as they talked about blood a lot, for obvious reasons. He nodded at her and I figured she was just being a mom and letting him know there was food in the fridge, if he wanted some. Some things never change, regardless of species.