CHAPTER 13
Teren stayed where he was, cuddled in bed with me. He pulled me over onto his chest and I wrapped my arms underneath his cool body. He tucked one of his hands under my aching neck, soothing me, then ran the other down my hair, calming me. As we embraced in that plush setting, I tried to forget the many uncertainties in our future and instead focused on my one constant – him.
I closed my eyes and memorised all of the markers that made him unique. Most of the ones from my human senses, I already knew - the dark hair, pale eyes, course stubble, deep voice, cool skin - but I found that my other senses could pinpoint him even more accurately. Besides the odd sensation of feeling someone’s location in your head when that person is lying directly beneath you, I could also smell the way the world danced across his skin, the different fragrances mixing, mingling, and retreating from his own masculine scent. The cologne smell I’d always associated with him was more distinct this way as well, and I could almost taste the different notes in it. It made my mouth water.
I could hear his slow, easy breath between the deep words he was telling me – words of love and devotion and encouragement. I ignored the words themselves and listened to the timbre, the feeling he inlaid into every syllable. As odd as it sounded, I could feel love, like it was some physical thing and not an intangible object. His words rumbled deep in his chest as he spoke, and the rise and fall of his lungs were a steady rhythm that I found myself matching.
Peeking my eyes open, I looked up at him. I watched the lamps in the room create a band of reflected light in his dark hair and noticed that the shade was different to me now. I could see the varying degrees of black in it - some so dark, they almost crossed into blue, others so light, they almost looked brown. It was nothing pure human eyes would even notice; to them, his hair looked one solid color. It was fascinating. I drifted over his sculpted face, clearly seeing the bone structure beneath it. He was strong, masculine, profoundly attractive and, I could easily see now, perfectly symmetrical. My eyes drifted over his watching me, as he continually spoke. The gray flecks I noticed before were still there, still clear to me, only now, I could actually see a pattern in the right one; it sort of looked like a small clover. It was beautiful and I smiled at seeing it.
His lips smiled as well as he watched me take him in. My eyes drifted down to those lips - full, perfect, one edge curled up into a small smirk, hinting at the playful attitude inside of him. I watched those lips form words and phrases, watched the tongue enunciate sounds that could have been in Russian, for all the attention I was giving it.
He swallowed naturally during a break, and my eyes flicked down at hearing the sound. I drifted over the slight stubble he kept over his jaw line, dark, but lighter than his hair, making him constantly look as if he’d spent a long weekend wrapped in soft sheets, too preoccupied with other things to worry about shaving. It was hot.
He swallowed again and I continued on down to watch his throat move with the movement. I took in his neck while he talked, the way he turned and adjusted, the way the movement of the air needed for speech crept up from his lungs, making his throat bob. I could hear the light breath on its journey and smiled again.
Then I noticed a vein at the base of his neck move. It startled me and I focused on it. It was a thick artery, full of blood that I had to imagine was as cool as his body. It popped away from his skin, the same as all large veins did on regular humans, and I was a bit dumbfounded by it all. Experimentally, I took a finger and pressed down on it. It gave way and then bounced back. The room silenced as Teren stopped speaking, maybe curious by my curiosity.
He shifted his neck and the vein shifted as well, sinking away to somewhere deeper in his skin, where I couldn’t see it. “What are you doing?” he whispered, running a hand down my hair.
I peeked up at his amused face and then back down to find that vein again. “I never noticed before, but your veins are just like mine.”
He chucked, his body lightly rumbling under mine. “No, you probably wouldn’t have noticed that. You weren’t as focused on blood before.” I peeked back up at him and he grinned. “Why are you surprised? Of course I still have veins.”
I gave him a wry grin and rolled my eyes. “I know that.” I looked back down as he shifted again and the vein reappeared. Lightly, I stroked it with my finger. Focusing my senses, I could feel the blood moving under his skin, I even imagined that I could hear it surging through his body. “It’s moving,” I muttered, mystified.
He laughed again and brought his hand to my back, pulling me into him. “Of course it is. Did you think my blood was stagnant? Just pooling at my feet? Or maybe suspended…like Jell-o?” He laughed again, and I could tell my ignorance on the subject greatly amused him.
I glared when I looked back up at him. “Well, yeah, actually.” I furrowed my brows. “You don’t have a pumping heart, how does your blood circulate?”
He smiled and ran a finger down my cheek. “I’m a vampire, Emma. Don’t try and apply the rules of human anatomy to me.” I gave him a blank look and he laughed. “I don’t know how. I haven’t exactly dissected a vampire to find out. But, something in our blood keeps it moving. We don’t need a circulatory system; our blood takes care of its own.” He cocked his head, considering. “I think that’s one of the problems with being mixed, having that kind of blood along with a heartbeat.” He looked at me and shrugged. “The two are constantly battling each other; the vampiric blood wanting to move on its own, at its own fast pace, the rest of the body wanting a slower, more relaxed rhythm.”
I grinned at the image that popped into my head. “Like an insolent teenager, battling its parents.” I stopped grinning when I realised that my body was fighting with itself now too.
He sighed as he looked over my changed expression. “Yeah, something like that.” He raised my jaw and made me look at him. “But in answer to your implied question, yes, it moves.” A thought occurred to him, and he gave me a devilish smile. “How else did you think I could still…perform?”
I blushed and laughed, smacking his chest and settling down to stare at that fascinating artery again. He laughed underneath me and held me tight.
I pictured that blood, just under the surface and thought of the blood I’d downed earlier. I wondered if Alanna would bring more with the dinner I could hear her finishing up in the kitchen. It marveled me a little that I actually wanted her to. Of course, what happened next marveled me even more.
As I watched that flowing vein under his skin, I found my lips moving towards it. Teren resumed talking, explaining other theories of vampirism that he had, but that vein commanded all of my attention. I brought my lips to his cool skin and felt the flow against my flesh. It didn’t pulse like my blood, it was just a constant stream, a river, surging under the surface. A never-ending loop of fresh, cool, refreshing blood. My tongue came out to lightly stroke his skin and he instantly stopped talking again. I think he stopped breathing too. I was too fascinated to pay close enough attention though.
I pressed down on the vein with my tongue, his skin still slightly salty to me, even dead, and the vein popped back up when I released it. I groaned a little bit at the pleasing sensation and my teeth instantly snapped back down into place. My tongue had been in the way and I poked right into it. I pulled back from his skin, wincing in pain. “Ow, damn it.”
Teren rubbed my back, but didn’t laugh at me injuring myself again. Instead he looked at me with an eyebrow raised. His eyes took in my extended fangs and he furrowed his brows.
What?” I asked cautiously, feeling a little stupid that I’d basically been thinking about snacking on him. Hadn’t I just sworn I’d never....