Page 18 of Pucking Vamps

My jaw drops, my eyes snapping open. Yo, yo, yo. This can’t be happening. This makes no sense. My mind spins, confused and shocked and excited. But as the rest of Leander’s buddies aim glowing eyes my way, showcase sharp teeth and grow claws from their very human-like fingers, my reality is turned upside down.

“Um, Leander? Are you seriously telling me that vampires are… real?” I say as he puts me down.

A raven flies in from somewhere, perching its majestic form on the armrest of a luxurious throne-like chair. It caws once, tilts its head to the side and pins me with pine-green eyes. I stare back blankly. It caws again like it’s laughing at me. Then it warps, its feathers elongating and its body turning into goo-like substance until I’m staring at a green-eyed lithe man my age draped over the chair sideways.

Holy fucking shit. I squeeze Leander’s arm, needing the solidity of his body to anchor me. He leans in, tracing my cheek with his lips. My back is plastered to his front and among the leather and soil, I somehow realize that I can’t detect a heartbeat from him.

I go completely and utterly still, my lungs burning and my head throbbing. Vampires are real. I can’t believe this. It’s crazy. Impossible. But I also can’t explain what I saw in any other way.

“You smell confused, Hayden, but so very good,” Leander mutters, trailing kisses along the curve of my jaw. “You weren’t supposed to discover this. No one is, without an invitation. But now that you have, I’m the only thing standing between you and that altar.” He smiles against my skin, grazing his teeth along a spot on my neck.

It feels so damn good. I lick my lips. “Are you going to bite me? Suck my blood?”

He hums. “Not without permission unless I planned to kill you,” he says and traces my jugular. “Now, stay here and keep quiet until I’m done. We’ll talk after.”

Leander’s hands suddenly disappear from my body, his presence following suit. A blur of movement crosses the room in one quick second, and then he reappears again, bent over the woman’s right wrist. His lips come in contact with her skin—setting off a thrill through me because the sensation of them against my neck still lingers in me—and then his fangs sink into her flesh.

Chapter 7

Leander

I can so easily sense Hayden’s conflicted feelings. The arousal, the want, the fear, the confusion, the excitement. They flow into me and it is addictive, painting an even more irresistible picture of the man I slept with who also happens to be my student.

I should probably be concerned about that last part, but it doesn’t seem to matter that much. To me or to him. Besides, I’m not a permanent teacher at Blackmoon University; I’m only substituting for a month until Mr. Rodrigez is back.

Hayden’s eyes don’t stray from me as I feed on the willing human. We picked this one from the hospital nearby, her illness painful and terminal. We stopped her heart before we started draining her, and she was grateful for the mercy the doctors refused her, bidding us farewell with a smile on her face.

That is not to say we are kind creatures. We simply like to avoid complications, and this is the best way for that. We go after the sick and the dying when we can, we hunt the evil and the unpunished, but clearly, we should’ve been more careful. Hayden should’ve never journeyed down here, stumbling upon a secret we keep hidden from humankind since the dawn of time.

I take a big gulp of blood and refocus my attention on his face. His powerful jaw is clenched and his brilliant hazel eyes are a bit unfocused. They go so well with his dark brown hair and tanned skin, the flecks of green and blue in them popping out when the light hits them just right. Like now, or last night in my bedroom while ecstasy had hold of him and he unraveled for me in the most beautiful way.

A one-time prize, that’s what he was supposed to be. A warm body to have some fun with. Not a man I would be thinking about the entirety of today. Not a student I’d see every week for a while. Not a curious little mouse that sneaked into my lair of secrets.

I scan the chamber. The other vampire Elders of the American Council pay me or Hayden no mind, sucking and slurping the blood with no care in the world. Good. They are unaware of my little farce. I had to improvise, seeing as the pretty human would end up dead otherwise. Perhaps I shouldn’t have cared—he brought it upon himself—but then again, it would have been a waste. And not just because his strong body is as if made for my cock.

I ride out a wave of shivers, delicious and tantalizing. Yes, this can work out in my favor. In his too, if he stops trying to resist me. I always get what I want in the end; it’s in my nature.

But the shock hasn’t hit Hayden yet, I can tell. It will. A discovery of this magnitude is not something a human’s brain can accept so easily when it’s lived in ignorance all its life. Still, so far, he has taken things better than others do and, strangely, that gives me a sense of deep satisfaction. Of pride, a purring sensation stirring in my chest.

By the time I finish feeding, Hayden is sitting cross-legged on the stone floor and staring at his phone. My heightened hearing allows me to catch what he’s watching even though the volume is very low. It’s a recording of one of his lessons, business management, if I am not mistaken, which is intriguing. He must’ve gotten bored watching us and felt safe enough to study in the middle of century-old catacombs.

The smile that slides across my face surprises me. Perhaps I needn’t worry about a freakout.

“Leander, you’ve picked a strange one. He reminds me of a stray dog,” Annabel says, flicking luscious red curls off her shoulders as she stands up. She licks a stray drop of blood from her plump lips, her fern green eyes bouncing between me and Hayden. “You’ve not turned him into a thrall yet. His mind is too active.”

Annabel has the gift of mind manipulation. But she’s young like me, so her powers haven’t fully manifested yet. They are there though, for both of us, dormant and waiting until we’ve passed the threshold of 150 years in age. It’s the downside of being a pureblood, but then again, our gifts have been passed down by generations of vampires, perfected and honed. The tricks that turned vampires can do simply do not compare, even if they don’t have to wait so long to master them.

“Annabel. I fail to see how that is any of your business.” I take a final sip of blood and straighten up, raising an eyebrow at my fellow vampire.

She scrunches her face, pouting a little. I cross my arms, letting my eyes flick to Hayden for a quick heartbeat before I settle them firmly on her. She cracks a grin.

“Don’t tell me you bullshitted us earlier. Do you even know the dude?”

I wrinkle my nose, smoothing out creases from my black robe. She’s always been perceptive, able to read between the lines just by observing you. It’s practically impossible to fool her, even if you are a master of deception like me. It’s part of my gift. Just like she can affect the brain, I can affect one’s senses, make them see or feel things that aren’t there. Our powers can be on the nastier side depending on how they are used, more so than abilities pertaining to fire or soil or metal. Claudius’ gift of gravity can be just as much of a torture tool.

I let my gaze stray to our unsuspecting human intruder. He happens to look up from his phone then, those striking eyes locking on me as if on cue. With a slight tilt of his head to the side, he raises his shoulders and eyebrows, mouthing, “What now?”

“Do you fancy him?” Annabel probes, whipping her head around and shooting him a snarl that makes him avert his eyes awkwardly.

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