Upon Midnight

Excerpt:
TEASER EXCERPT
Midnight’s skin seemed as if it had grown too small for his body. It tugged against his bones and muscles, and gripped him in a delicate state of near pain as he opened his bedroom door and stepped over the threshold. He hadn’t eaten in two nights and his body told him he needed blood. His stomach was a constant knot of pain and pressure that begged to be fed, but he refused to kill again.
Impotent anger surged through him at the fact he had to kill to feed. If that was the way, he would rather starve. He wasn’t a murderer.
His skin itched as he moved into the hall. He had dressed carefully for tonight even with the uncomfortable scraping sensation of the clothes against his sensitive skin.
All Hallow’s Eve was a big event in his master’s house, or so he had been told upon rising as a vampire. And he’d be damned if he’d allow this incessant itch and the knots inside his stomach to stop him from experiencing the night, even if it was only his third night in this new life. He wasn’t excited about the party, but if he didn’t attend one of the master’s servants would round him up and drag him downstairs anyway.
He shut his bedroom door and descended the grand staircase made entirely of mahogany. The deep, dark wood glowed with high polish showing how carefully it had been cared for. The wood was everywhere, on the stairs, the banister, and even the paneling on the walls. Blood red carpet ran down the center of the stairs⎯the only thing that broke up the darkness of the wood. The lemon scent of wood polish tickled his nose and his memory, but in a flash the memory that tried to surface slipped away as if it had never been.
Midnight frowned. That happened a lot lately, memories just out of reach. He pushed the memory away and continued down the stairs irritated that he couldn’t remember.
As Midnight reached the bottom of the stairs a slim blond male holding a goblet brushed against him, pressing his body close. Midnight stiffened at the contact against his sensitive body.
“Good evening, Midnight.” The man swept his lips against Midnight’s cheek, sending electricity shooting through his body as the man passed slowly against Midnight’s side as he walked by.
A zing of awareness and excitement shot through Midnight at the man’s slow caress. Goosebumps marched over Midnight’s itching skin and his cock swelled to a hard pulsing length inside his loose fitting trousers. The tangy aroma of copper from the other man’s goblet flooded Midnight’s senses, daring him to follow in the wake of the smell. Midnight’s fangs punched through his tingling gums cutting his tongue.
Sharp pain made him wince and he pulled himself away instead of following like a lost little boy in search of his next meal.
The rich, spicy flavor of his own blood bursting inside his mouth made him moan and close his eyes as his stomach panged for a bigger taste.
Fear raced through him, he did want to feed even though he didn’t want to kill. He was lost, without a clue as to how to solve his problem.
This was all so new to him. The heightened sensitivity, the ability to smell⎯everything. He was so alive, his insides vibrated to a new rhythm he’d yet to find control over⎯an overwhelming need. The need to feed.
“Looking well this evening, Midnight,” a vampire greeted from the shadow of the hall. A bare-chested male servant was pressed between the vampire and the wall. The vampire turned back to the man and sunk his pristine white fangs deep into the man’s vein.
The man stiffened and gasped and the fangs slid deep. Midnight's steps faltered as horror washed through him. The vampire fed here? In the hall?
Midnight’s stomach twisted into a knot as a trickle of blood escaped the vampire’s lips, the smell like a coppery penny laced with exotic Indian spice that made Midnight’s body scream for sustenance.
Midnight clenched his molars together as his gums and fangs throbbed. He wanted the blood inside his mouth, coating his tongue, sliding down his throat.
He remembered his first meal⎯no, his first kill. Hot and rich, the blood had flowed down his throat, and given him a surge of electric power. The memory made his body ache with tight, hot need, which made his balls throb and his cock pulse as his heartbeat thudded inside his ears.
A gut deep hunger rolled through him and it took every ounce of will power he possessed to stay in place. Knee shaking fear had Midnight trembling. He was a killer. A vampire that fed off human life, just like the vampire in front of him.
Shame burned through Midnight.
The dual heartbeats echoing inside his ears suddenly merged and became only one. Midnight closed his eyes to shut out the scene in front of him. The man was dead.
Cattle. Humans were treated as cattle in this house, it was a disgrace. Anger burned in his veins as he opened his eyes to watch the vampire in front of him shiver as he pulled his face away from the servant’s throat.
A fine, hazy mist twined between the two bodies before glowing brightly and sinking into the vampire. The vampire stiffened before a gut deep sigh escaped his lips. Then he turned his head and smiled at Midnight.
“The soul’s the best part. All that power ripe for the taking. Yum.” He licked his blood-stained lips, his eyes twinkling as he lifted the dead weight of his victim’s body over his shoulder and strode down the hall.
Midnight stood speechless. A chill ran over his skin as the knowledge of what he’d done upon his rising as a vampire sank in. Not only had he killed, he had taken someone’s soul. Could being a vampire get any worse? He just couldn’t live like this.
Rage boiled up inside him at the sudden out of control path his life had taken. Killing the innocent? Tearing into someone’s throat again and again to drain away their life and soul made him an animal. Made him a soul eater.
No, that wasn’t him. He denied it even as the hunger gnawed at his gut and a flash of memory of hot blood filling his mouth stirred his erection. Midnight shook his head.
He turned back toward the grand ballroom with renewed determination in every step. He would find some of the blood wine in the goblets and drink. Surely it could sustain him.

CHAPTER ONE

Midnight’s eyes popped open. His body seemed as though it had been turned inside out and then backwards. Every part of him hurt. The center of the pain was a burning knot that clawed at his insides.
He tried to get his bearings. The room was dark, but he could see well enough. He was on the cold concrete floor and a large metal door sat in the wall against the slab opposite him. A sudden bright light blinded him as the door swung open and Midnight clutched his eyes and his throbbing head.
A scream ripped through the air, and pain tore through Midnight’s ears. He winced away and crouched low into the corner, waiting with held breath to see what would happen next.
“No! Please, no!” The voice came from the direction of the door right before it thudded shut, closing the screaming speaker inside with Midnight. A lock slid into place with a click, and the scream turned to a whimper. The man’s fear flared Midnight’s own alarm, his heart thudded in his chest pounding in time to the throbbing in his aching head.
A sweet, coppery scent filled his senses, and fangs ran out in his mouth as saliva pooled around his tongue and he swallowed.
Fangs?
Midnight ran his tongue over the new teeth. The teeth were foreign in his mouth, but an overwhelming urge to sink them into the neck of the other man flashed through him. Midnight was familiar with the same sex tendencies that bloomed in his chest as a full fledged yearning. Men had always attracted him. Anyway, he was too hungry to quibble over how he relieved the gnawing pain in his stomach as the other man’s heartbeat pulsed loud inside Midnight’s ears.
Every pulse seemed to be an invitation that made Midnight’s teeth ache. He needed what the man could give him. Deep down in his gut the man’s heartbeat called to him over and over again like a ringing telephone he needed to answer.
Midnight moved so quickly it was as if he’d blinked and found himself in front of the other man. Moving unnaturally fast was new. A surge of raw power flooded him. What had he become? Excitement stirred inside his veins making his blood run hot as he leaned in close to the man to smell the musky earthiness that radiated off him like perfume.
“P…please. Don’t hurt me.”
The words registered with Midnight just as he grabbed the male by the shoulders and pulled him close. The man shrieked and writhed in Midnight’s arms.
Blood streaked the man’s neck and Midnight had the urge to lick it off. The man was naked just like Midnight and the coppery smell was from the bloody cuts on the man’s body. Midnight frowned as the idea that he should use his fangs to bite the other man ran through his head.
Confusion washed over him as he tried to figure out how he knew he should use his fangs. The pain hit him again in his gut nearly pulling him in two. Midnight wanted to bite the man, he wanted hot blood rushing over his tongue. His mouth was so dry, he ran his tongue over his chapped lips.
How good would it be to have all that wet, slick blood coating his dry mouth? Liquid heat flooded him and Midnight moaned as he leaned in closer to the man and licked his throat. The spicy musk of the man’s blood exploded on his tongue and seemed to soak into his brain causing a shiver up his spine. The man tasted like a dark chocolate dessert, a delicacy just for him.
The man continued to beg, pushing at Midnight’s chest as he fought to get out of Midnight’s hold, but his heartbeat was so loud the thrumming sound nearly drowned out every other noise inside the room.
Excitement poured through Midnight, turning his cock to stone. He struck hard and fast, sinking his aching fangs into the man’s neck.
The man gasped and twisted in his hold as hot blood gushed into Midnight’s mouth. Sweet and divine, it flowed over his tongue like a delicious treat, and he sucked hard, swallowing convulsively.
More, he needed more.
The blood seemed to soak into his gut, elevating the pain, but the blood tasted so good. Midnight wanted to taste deeper.
Midnight reared back, he bit again needing a better flow as the man’s moving had almost dislodged him, but he needed more, always more. His fangs tore through the man’s neck, sinking deeper into the man’s vein.
His victim shuddered in his hold then gradually relaxed as Midnight held him. Blood spurted over Midnight’s lips and chin as he feasted, the ache in his belly lessening with each swallow.
Midnight rubbed his hard cock against the man’s taut belly, the hairs on the younger man’s skin tickling his sensitive cock. The man fell limp in his arms and a hot bright burst of energy filled Midnight.
The touch of electric coursed through him making all the hairs on his body stand on end. A surge of triumph like he’d just captured something important whirled inside his head and he dropped the pliant body to the floor.
Limp, dead body.
Midnight’s excitement died as he stared with at the body at his feet. The man was sheet white and his neck a ragged wound of bloody tissue. Midnight had eaten from the man’s throat⎯literally. Something dripped onto his chest and he wiped his hand across his face then gazed down at his fingers to find his entire hand covered in blood.
Midnight gasped. He was covered in red blood and swiped frantically at his face and chest.
He did this. He’d killed the man on the floor. Midnight’s stomach swam as if he’d swallowed half the ocean, but didn’t convulse.
He searched his memory. How had he become a vampire? The endless questions pinged inside his mind. Questions he had no answers to.