A Darker Crimson

“You are one hell of a woman, Donovan.” His face went completely and deadly still. But his eyes glittered. “A very long time ago, I won my independence. I will not now tolerate being manipulated. Not even by you. I will not make another vampire.”
“Why not? Vamps go around biting people all the time.” She put her hands on his face. A slight roughness on his cheeks, but cool skin. “Despite the laws, vamps bite people all the time. Here I am, telling you no limits. No stopping point.” She had to convince him. She had to for Holly’s sake. “I’m not going to file a complaint afterward. What’s the problem? You get performance anxiety or something?”
His teeth flashed. “I resent being treated like an animal. A performing bear.”
“I don’t mean it like that.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I’ve read your file, Korzha. You hit the society pages about as often as you end up on the blotter. You got caught fang-deep in Senator Baker’s daughter. Salvatore Giamani testified you hit his Persian connection and had a drink afterward. How come I fall below your standard?”
“She was biting me, Officer, and there were seven witnesses who directly contradicted Giamani.”
“Smoke and fire, fangs. Smoke and fire. You’re a bad man.”
“And an even more dangerous fang.”
“Exactly.”
“No.”
“They want to keep my daughter here, the demons do. She’ll grow up without me, Korzha. I’m her mother. I don’t want to leave her. She’s only ten.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Who else is going to love her no matter what?”
Korzha closed his eyes and whispered, “Draga inama.”
Her breath caught and rattled on the way out. Her chest constricted until there wasn’t enough room for her lungs to expand. The force of his thoughts around her, calling to her made her sick to her stomach. “Stop that.” She bent her head, fighting the sensations. “Stop it.”
“Why, when you won’t stop torturing me?”
“Don’t you get it, Korzha? I’m going to die like all the others Aslet has made open the portal. You’re crazy if you think I’m going to leave Holly here at the mercy of these freaks. If you don’t help me, I’ll make my own damn deal, and you can stay here and rot for all I care. You’re not the only vampire in the world. I’ll tell them to bring back someone with fewer scruples than you.”
He had only one hand on the wall now. The other swung free. He leaned in closer, pressing her against the wall. His clothes rustled, but she didn’t hear any breath sounds from him. “You have no idea what you’re asking.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“My little vampire-hater.” He put a cool palm to her cheek. “Making a vampire isn’t just a matter of a bite or two. I’ll feed from you until you’re weak and can’t resist even if you want to. Except you’ll want me. You’ll want what only I can give you. I’ll put my cock hard and warm with your blood inside you and make you dizzy with pleasure. And when there’s biting? When I feed, too? It feels good for humans, having sex with a vampire who knows what he’s doing. I do assure you, I know what I’m doing.”
“What the hell difference does it make what it feels like, Korzha?” She stared at the ceiling. It wasn’t safe to look at him. His eyes weren’t safe for her at all. “Give me a hundred orgasms, and I still only want my daughter back.”
“Enough to become a monster like me?”
She didn’t even hesitate. She whipped her head back to look at him. “You’re not a monster. But if it made me one, I’d still do it.”
The vampire moved, stepping in front of her to capture her chin between his forefinger and thumb. His voice sent a shiver through her. “Here in Orcus, the civility, if that’s what we want to call it, of Crimson City does not exist. It’s back to the old ways. Tradition, dear-heart.” He touched the pulse of her throat, pressing gently. “All the ancient lusts and perversions denied us at home are permitted here. Here you’re just meat. A meal.”
She looked at him and wondered why she didn’t feel threatened when, plainly, that’s what he’d meant to do. “Crimson City’s no safer.”
“Here, I can take you if I want you.”
She was breathless. “Then do it.”