Page 26 of Sexual Appetites of Vampires

“We do, though we don’t require as much sleep as humans.”

She nodded and hurried out of the room, thinking that he would be up wandering the house as she slept. But there was no need to worry. Vampire or not, and odd as it seemed, she trusted Michael. It was herself who she didn’t trust.

Once in her room, she slipped out of the purple robe and climbed into bed prepared to read through some of the books she had collected from the library. She didn’t think sleep would come easily to her, but reading would help, though choice of subject matter might prove to make it more difficult.

Lara lay beneath the warm quilt, staring at the ceiling with no thought of reaching for a book. Her mind ran wild with the day’s strange happenings and again she wondered if she would wake and find that it all had been nothing but a dream.

But did she want it to be? Her father had been a practical man and had taught her that there was a reasonable explanation for everything. It was a debate on the unexplainable she had won with someone online that had encouraged her to start her blog.

Now here she was Ms Reasonable-Explanation-For-Everything finding herself in a situation that had no sensible reasoning to it. And, of course, how rational was it to want to have sex with a vampire?

She moaned and her cheeks blushed pink as she recalled how Michael had made her come—twice—in the shower. She couldn’t imagine an orgasm any better than that one, yet Michael had implied that it was only the beginning.

Lara squeezed her legs closed tightly against the titillating tingle that gripped her. She was on lust overload and the only thing that would satisfy it...sex with a vampire.

“Stop,” she shouted. She had to stop thinking about Michael and sex or she’d be calling him to her. And her resolve was growing weaker by the minute and before she knew it she’d be begging him to make love to her.

“Read,” she ordered. “Yeah, right...read about vampires. That will help.”

She shook her head. She was comfortable, the quilt warm, and her eyes heavy. Sleep was not far off, so why fight it. At least it would give her a reprieve from her chaotic thoughts. She snuggled deeper beneath the quilt and soon drifted off to sleep.

Lara bolted up in bed,her eyes wide and trying desperately to adjust to the dark. The fire in the fireplace had dwindled down to a few embers and there was a decisive chill in the air. She hurried to reach over to the lamp on the nightstand and turn it on, but it didn’t work. She scrambled across the bed to the other light and turned the switch—nothing.

Had the generator gone out again? The lights had been on when she had returned to her room after supper. How long ago was that? Had she slept several hours? Was it nearing morning?

Reluctantly, she left the warm bed, glad she had slept in her socks and stumbled around the room in search of her purse. She might not be able to get a signal, but her cell phone would still show the time.

After a few bumps to the chins and ankles and a couple of ouches, she found her purse and a quick search inside produced her phone. It read, 2:00 a.m. and then went dead.

“Damn,” she muttered. She might not have a signal now, but as soon as she was able to get one she wanted the phone working.

There was no point in plugging it in this room when the electricity was unreliable. Downstairs was her best bet, since the electricity had held firm there. After locating her charger and managing to find the purple robe she had on earlier, she went to the door, opened it, and stepped out.

It was so dark that she couldn’t see a thing and a twinge of fear engulfed her.

Calm down, she silently told herself.All you have to do is turn left, hug the wall until you come to the end and proceed forward slowly until you feel the top step of the stairs. Once you make it down the curve in the stairs, you’re bound to see the light from the floor below.

Holding tightly to her courage, she stepped out of her room. Her toe caught on the edge of the hall runner, and she stumbled and fell to her knees, her cell phone and charger flying out of her hands.

Lara frantically searched around on her hands and knees and sighed with relief when she found both. She got to her feet and was about to turn left when she realized she wasn’t sure of her direction.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic. It’s a hallway. At one end is the stairs, the other Michael’s room. If you should reach his room, you only need to turn around and go the other way.

Her sensible, silent urging did not stop her heart from pounding, but it also did not stop her feet from moving. She took cautious steps until, to her relief, she touched the wall. She halted a moment and took a deep breath, knowing she’d be fine now no matter which way she went.

After a few steps, she grew more confident and picked up the pace, tightly hugging the wall as she went. Then suddenly,without warning, she encountered an empty space and fell into what she surmised was her room.

She lay on the floor for a moment, calming herself and her breathing. At least now she knew where she was and this time, she had managed to hold on to her cell phone and charger.

Pockets.She shook her head. Why hadn’t she thought of that sooner? Probably because she was too busy thinking of her cell phone as a lifeline and not wanting to let it go. She got to her feet and checked the robe and sure enough it had pockets. She slipped her cell phone in one and the charger in the other.

Lara took cautious steps to get her bearing, and her knee hit something. She reached out to touch it. It was a wooden chest with a metal lock, and it made her realize that she hadn’t fallen into her room.

Of course, there wasn’t a fraction of light anywhere and if it had been her room there would have been the glow from low embers from the fireplace. The same if this was Michael’s room, so where was she? The other bedroom she had spied on earlier. And in what direction was the door?

She reached out hoping to connect with a wall, but she connected with something that hung on the wall. And the realization of what it was, startled her...it was a set of shackles, thick iron-cuffed shackles. Further exploring along the wall, she touched something else and after examining it with her hands, she surmised it was a cat of nine tails.

She backed away from the wall, bumped into something and fell to sit on a chair and jumped up as soon as she did, having felt something prick her backside. She cautiously ran her hand over where she had sat and felt pointy steel spikes protruding up through the seat.

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