Page 7 of Blood Wine

Sam stooped by the man’s head, on fire with desire. “Hello again,” he said.

The man glanced up and his eyes widened, fully surprised.

Sam smiled. “Fancy seeing you here. You led me to believe you were an innocent victim and look at you here, actively seeking vampire company.” His tone was gently teasing, but he was not sure how he felt about this man’s lifestyle at all. What a hypocrite he was. What business was it of his if a human liked to get fucked by vampires?

The man shrugged, looking unfazed at being discovered. “It passes the time.”

“I’m Sam. Your name?”

“Janos.”

“Well, Janos, may I have the immense pleasure of finishing you off?”

Janos hesitated a moment. Then he climbed up off the bench. He was tall and hard with muscle. But the hardest thing about him was his cock. It was thick and long and leaking at the tip. Sam smelled his blood, hot and irresistible and pulsing with testosterone. He fought with himself not to grab him and plunge his fangs into his throat.

“No, you may not,” Janos said to Sam’s utter disbelief and walked away.

Sam stared after him in humiliation while the other vampires tittered. The man disappeared naked into the other chamber and Sam silently fastened himself up, cramming his erection back into his trousers. What a lesson that had been. He was obviously not as irresistible to humans as he had previously thought.

???

The coffin lay in the gloomy dungeon of the castle. Ornate and finely carved, its lid was propped against the wall. The body within lay submerged in a lake of semi-congealed blood, the head separated from it, but only just.

Nerves and tendons snaked from the neck, spanning the gap. Muscle and ligaments reformed. The spinal cord was in the process of fusing together.

The vampire Raphael stood looking down. He smiled.

Soon.

Chapter Six

Stephen sat pensively in the drawing room the next night. His dark brows were drawn together and he looked anxious. He sipped at tea and the cup rattled against the saucer in his hand. “I’m not sure about Istvan’s new friend,” he said.

Sam smiled. “Hardly new. They must go back hundreds of years. You disliked Bela calling you Istvan’s pet, didn’t you?”

Stephen scowled. “What do you think? I’ve barely seen Istvan since his friend arrived. They’re probably indulging in blood orgies every night.”

“Probably,” Sam said. “You’re fond of an orgy too though, from what I can recall.” He thought of last night’s vampire-human orgy at the club and his cock throbbed at the image of Janos face down on that bench with legs spread, just waiting. For everyone, it seemed, apart from Sam.

Stephen flushed. “You’re not helping. And then there’s the business of bringing up Emil again. We don’t need reminding about that bastard.”

“I know.” Sam felt sorry for Stephen. It still troubled his gentle friend that he had been the one to strike the blow that sent Emil’s head rolling across the floor and his soul hopefully to hell. He couldn’t think why. He got up and sat next to Stephen. “He’s not coming back.”

Stephen looked at him. “Then who took him?”

Sam had no reply because since Bela had arrived yesterday, he had spared Emil’s dead body far too much time.

Stephen touched his hand. “What if there’s someone out there even worse than Emil?”

Sam stared at him with horror shrivelling his insides. “Not possible,” he said.

Sam couldn’t get last night’s rejection out of his mind. The beautiful Hungarian with the Rudolph Valentino bedroom eyes. Taking on all comers but refusing Sam. Why? More to the point, why was he so hung up on the bloke when he had his pick of any willing victim at the club? All the blood he wanted on tap and the rest of his immortal life to savour it. So why did he feel so depressed? He knew deep down what it was.

Loneliness.

He looked at Stephen and Istvan and their love and he felt rejection and burning jealousy. He wanted someone for his own. But he had to get over the idea that the Hungarian stranger was made for him in any way. He had been attracted to Sam, sure, when they had tangled on their first night, but maybe he was merely attracted to Sam’s fangs. After all, he gave himself willingly to vampires at the club, so it must have been the action of being bitten and the submission to the vampire’s will that attracted him, not Sam himself.

The idea made him feel miserable. Had Sam lost his allure? He’d always considered himself a good-looking man, but if the likes of Janos only wanted him for his bite, then he guessed he didn’t have what it took to seduce after all. He would never have the classic attraction of Bela or Istvan. He was still merely a novice and had to take what he could get.

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