Page 36 of Sexual Appetites of Vampires

“My grandparents,” he said.

“I’m curious about your grandmother. How did she cope with loving a vampire?”

Looking for an answer to how you can love a vampire?

The distinct thought startled her. Was she looking for such an answer?

He held his hand out for the book, and she handed it over to him. He placed it on the table beside him. “As I mentioned my grandfather lived in turbulent and difficult times. Wars were more prevalent than peace. But there was a space of time when life had grown peaceful and farms prospered, people grew hopeful, though remained cautious.” Michael smiled. “As my grandfather likes to point out, it was around this time that he was a fine, strapping young man and all the women had an eye for him. He insists he could have had his choice of a wife, but one day changed all that.

“He was hunting in the woods and came across a beautiful woman bathing in a pond. He thought her an angel, smooth, pale skin, stark black hair, piercing dark eyes and a face so beautiful it robbed a man of his breath and his sanity. He knew then and there he would make her his wife. He waited until she finished, keeping his eyes off her, or so he claims, and followed her. He planned on finding out who she was, and then properly introducing himself to her family and seeking permission to wed her, having no doubt permission would be granted. You see my grandfather was of noble blood and being the oldest son, he would inherit the land and all on it, so he was quite a catch. Unfortunately, his dreams died in an instant when he saw that she arrived at a gypsy camp in the woods. Gypsies were not people nobles associated with or for that matter peasants didn’t associate with them either. They were pariahs in all areas of society.”

“And yet your grandfather didn’t give up.”

Michael laughed. “No, my grandfather’s expectations changed after that and he thought to have sex with the beautiful gypsy woman, never expecting love to strike him so hard, so my grandmother claims. Personally, I think love caught both by surprise. One thing they both agree on is that they had the best summer of their lives that year. They were young, falling in love, and fearless, until...”

“The gypsies found out and cursed him,” Lara said.

“No.” Michael shook his head, a hint of red sparking in his dark eyes, though fading fast.

Lara’s brow knitted in question. “What happened?”

“My grandmother told my grandfather that she was a vampire.”

CHAPTER 12

“Your grandmother was—is—always has been—a vampire?” Lara asked her brow knitting more deeply. “Did she make your grandfather a vampire? Did he want to become one?”

“Let me finish. You’ll have your answers then,” Michael said.

Lara remained silent, more eager than ever to hear the tale. She had wondered about Michael’s grandmother and what she must have gone through discovering the man she loved was a vampire, and yet now it was just the opposite. How in heavens name had his grandfather handled it?

“My grandfather didn’t believe her at first, as my grandmother tells it—he laughed. He stopped laughing as soon as she showed him her fangs.”

Lara could relate to that, though she doubted his grandfather had fainted like she had done.

“My grandfather drew his dagger on her, which my grandmother says nearly broke her heart. He didn’t run, though, which gave my grandmother hope. He questioned her and they talked. My grandmother says that she knew from first meeting him that she loved him and that he was a man of great strength and that he was endowed with a courageous nature. And thatif anyone could survive loving a vampire, he could.” Michael grinned. “My grandfather always puffs his chest out when my grandmother tells that part of it, though he does admit that she scared the hell out of him when she first showed him her fangs.”

Lara laughed. “I can relate to that.”

“My grandfather says he had first wondered if she had put a spell on him, since gypsies were notorious for casting spells and curses. When he asked her if she did, my grandmother got furious and told him to leave and never return if he believed she could do such a thing to the man she loved with all her heart. My grandmother can be very dramatic at times, and she has a temper, though it’s quick to fade. She claims it’s the gypsy in her.”

“But your grandfather couldn’t stay away,” she said, knowing how he must have felt, since the thought of leaving Michael filled her with sadness.

“No, he couldn’t stay away. He returned night after night, and then two things happened that changed everything. His father discovered that his son was involved with a gypsy woman and the gypsies discovered that my grandfather knew they were vampires. My grandfather was ordered to take part in a raid on the gypsy camp and kill the gypsy woman to break the spell his father had been convinced she had put on his son.” Michael paused a moment, his face suddenly shadowed with sorrow. “My grandmother was ordered to kill my grandfather.”

“Did they run away?” Lara asked, thinking it was their only way out of the horrible situation.

“It wasn’t a choice. My grandmother said her band of vampires would hunt him down and kill him. There was only one way—my grandmother had to make him a vampire.”

Lara gasped. “That’s when she cursed him.”

“That’s when my grandfather gave up being human for the woman he loved and as he says to this day, he has never regretted it.”

“So, she cursed him.”

“No, she cast a spell on him.”

“The book,” Lara said, pointing to it.

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