Page 23 of Hot Blooded

Before she sank back into her spot, Amos’s hand was on the back of her neck, pulling her in for a longer, harder kiss. He sucked gently at her bottom lip, and when her lips parted for him, the tip of his tongue touched hers. Tessa’s head spun as she clung to him, so dizzy it felt like Amos was the only thing keeping her upright.

He drew back suddenly with a soft, low snarl. “God, I’m selfish. You need to eat.”

Tessa started to object, but Amos had already released her, turning to grab up a heap of the packaged snacks. He held them out to her. “Here. You need to raise your blood sugar.”

Still dazed and flushed, Tessa grabbed a packet at random and opened it up. Only vaguely aware that she was eating some kind of nutty, chocolatey, gooey cookie-like dessert, she considered Amos.

“You didn’t taste like blood,” she said before her brain-to-mouth filter could catch the words. Instantly, her cheeks heated.

“I rinse my mouth after. Not because I was planning on kissing you.” Now Amos’s cheeks were pink, and perversely, that made Tessa’s embarrassment fade. “I just don’t want you to see your blood on my teeth while I’m talking to you.”

Tessa considered that. “Yeah, that could be…weird. Thanks.” She chewed methodically on the cookie while she contemplated. She didn’t know what it was about recovering from a feeding that made her thoughts swirl. She’d donated blood to blood banks without this feeling. Was it his venom still affecting her? A hangover from the super-long orgasm?

“Are you alright?” Amos asked.

“I’m fine.” Tessa reached for an expensive-looking bottle of pre-made iced mocha. “Can you tell me about your dam and her bloodmate?”

“I suppose that’s only fair.” Amos settled himself into the settee more comfortably. “My dam’s name is Loretta Brooks—everyone calls her Etta. She was turned when she was nineteen, and a year later, she accidentally turned me. Her bloodmate is Francine—Fran—Piotrowski. She and Etta met in the… uh… the early seventies, if I remember right.”

“Wow. So how old is Fran now?”

“She’s got to be in her seventies or eighties by now,” Amos guessed.

A faint wave of sadness washed over Tessa. “What happens when a bloodmate passes away?”

Amos frowned. “Well, luckily it doesn’t happen too often. But it’s a powerful bond and a lot of vampires—”

“Wait. What?”

Amos raised his eyebrows, confused by her confusion.

“What do you mean, ‘it doesn’t happen often’? Eventually everybody dies.”

Understanding smoothed away his frown. “You know our venom has regenerative properties.”

“Oh,” Tessa said, already sensing where this was going.

“As long as a mortal is paired with a vampire bloodmate, they don’t age. Our venom constantly heals and restores the degeneration that comes with aging.”

Tessa sat with that for a moment. “Does that mean, right now, I’m…”

“Not aging,” Amos finished for her. “You won’t as long as I’m regularly feeding from you.”

“Oh.” That felt like part of a bigger conversation she didn’t know if she was ready to have. “So, Fran will live as long as Etta does?”

“Yes,” Amos said, the single syllable heavily weighted with what was unsaid—and so could you.

They’d only just started talking about “courting” which, as far as Tessa could tell, was the vampire equivalent of dating. Lifelong commitments—no, eternal commitments—were a little more than she could handle right now.

“That has very interesting medical implications,” Tessa said, gracelessly changing the topic. “Vampire venom could be used to treat a whole range of degenerative disorders.”

The intensity faded from Amos’s gaze. He leaned back with a casual shrug. “That’s not really my area of expertise. There are a lot of vampire-funded labs working on medical research. But from what I understand, the healing property of our venom only works straight from the source, so to speak. Stored venom doesn’t have the same healing properties.”

“So there are vampire scientists?”

Amos nodded. “We don’t have the same needs as mortals, but we still have bills to pay. And time to fill. And personal callings. You’d be surprised how many vampires have advanced degrees.”

“Do you?” Tessa suddenly realized that she had no idea what Amos did when she wasn’t around. The idea of a vampire working a regular job seemed absurd. But then, Amos owned a nice house and bought food for her and wore modern clothes. The money for all that had to have come from somewhere.

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