Content Warning: This story is more PG13 than some of my previous stories, reader discretion is advised.
Lucas held Cal close, her long bare back pressed against him. Relaxed and boneless after the night's activities. He laid a soft kiss on her neck, at the place the carotid artery was closest to the surface. Nothing more than a kiss, it had become a small ritual of his over the last month. One he hoped she hadn't noticed.
"You do that every time, why?"
"It's a reminder to myself, that as much as I may want to I won't feed from you without your consent."
Cal rolled over then, staring into his eyes. "You mean that, don't you? You've said it before but I never really believed you."
"If you didn't believe me why are you here with me?"
"I enjoy being with you, and gods help me, you are good in bed," she replied. "You saw that first night how that edge of fear excites me. I guess I always wonder if tonight is the night you'll try to cross that line.”
"Do you want me to?" He laced his fingers through her hair, pulling her head back to expose her throat. "I could do it right now. You couldn't stop me if I bit into your lovely neck right now, but I won't without your permission."
He swooped in, laying kiss after hungry kiss on her neck while caressing one small breast with his free hand. It wasn't fair of him, he knew, but now that the subject was breached he was going to do his best to convince her. Cal pushed him back, firmly but there was no anger in the movement. Her eyes were as hungry as his.
"I want to know what it's like first. Tell me."
That was so close to a yes. Was he finally going to get what he'd craved since their first night together?
"I can bite you anywhere but the blood flow is best from a major vein or artery." He brush another kiss over her pulse, he could feel it pounding beneath the skin. This was taking him to the limits of his self control. "When I'm hungry my fangs extend, don't ask me how I've never quite figured that out, but I have some control over it. You've seen them before."
Cal nodded. Lucas wished she would say something, denial or encouragement.
"My fangs have a venom, not toxic but it contains an anticoagulant and something else that dulls the pain and, well, it causes a high not unlike an opiate. When finished my saliva can heal the wound. With someone who wants it, who isn't clouded by mind tricks, it can be... intense."
He waited a long moment, watching the way Cal's face changed as she came to a decision.
"Wait here," she said. As Lucas watched her walk out of the room, he wasn't sure what to think but she hadn't refused or asked him to leave.
He didn't feel things the way humans did, he could remember how powerful emotions were when he was mortal and he felt little so strongly now. The hunger, of course, also lust, danger, all those things most closely tied to being a predator. Around Cal he found himself wanting more, to feel again. Would her blood make him feel something? Or banish that desire again? He didn't know which would be better.
Cal returned to her bedroom bearing a small scalpel. One of the ones he knew she kept for her spell work though he had yet to watch her perform a spell, not wise to spill blood in front of a vampire. The nature of her magic intrigued him, he knew she was skilled for her age. It took decades to master magic, yet she was still a few years shy of thirty. After their first meeting she had put up an alarm ward around the house, crossing it was like walking through a sheet of freezing rain. It was harmless and anyone without magic of their own would feel nothing at all, but it was disconcerting and a reminder that she was more than she appeared. Blood Mage.
He cocked he head slightly. "What is that for?"
"For me. It's my answer, yes and no."
"Yes and no?"
"I want to give you my blood, I trust you not to harm me. If that's what you wanted you've had plenty of chances." She paused, letting the meaning sink in. "But I won't let you bite me, I've had more than my share of narcotics that I'm not going to subject myself to anything similar if I don't have to."
"So how do you want to do this?" Lucas asked, eyeing the blade in her hand. To his surprise she handed it to him.
"It's the smallest size I have, it shouldn't make a hole much larger that a fang would. You do it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"It's going to hurt, there will be nothing to block the pain."
"I know, I do this all the time."
He'd known Cal's magic required shedding blood just he'd never thought through what that really meant. Rough play in bed was one thing, she'd shown herself to be enthusiastic about that, but the realization of just how intimate she was with pain was a shock. What they were about to so was a big step but not for the reason he’d assumed, it was the trust not the act itself.
Lucas drew Cal closer to him, back onto the bed. Her short auburn hair left her neck completely exposed. He wanted that neck but that was asking too much. Instead he reached for her hand. "If that's what you want. Just don't move."
The scalpel was the sterile disposable kind with a green plastic handle. Cal had removed it from the sealed pouch it came in but there was still a plastic cap over the blade. Lucas flicked it off, the clatter as it fell to the floor was loud in his ears but not as loud as Cal’s heartbeat. His fingers brushed over her wrist, finding just the right place. He didn't have to search hard, it was already marked with a small scar. There were many scars on her arms, an intricate lacework of spell glyphs but this wasn't one of those; she'd cut here before for spell casting. A matching scar graced her other wrist as well as one on each palm and another just below the hollow of her throat. In the short time they’d been together he’d found himself absently running his thumb over the latter as they cuddled.
Lucas pressed the scalpel to skin. Cal didn't even flinch as the blade bit into her flesh, though he heard her breath catch just a little. As the scalpel sunk deeper, a bright bead of blood welled up. Lucas felt a slight resistance as the scalpel pierced the artery, just a small nick. Blood began to flow in earnest as soon as the knife was removed.
Hot blood filled his mouth. He pressed Cal's wrist tighter to his mouth, pinning her to the bed. Warmth spread throughout his body, more than the simple transfer of heat. His vampire physiology was transforming the power inherent in all blood into whatever magic kept him alive centuries past when he should have been laid in his grave.
Even after so many year that rush of power was still overwhelming. The empty aching hunger deep inside quieted, no longer so insistent it be fed. He savored the taste, not coppery the way humans tasted it, but richer and more complex. Sweet, salty, and something spicier like cinnamon and cardamom, but under it all the taste of life. Nothing he'd ever tasted, before or after becoming what he was could compare. The animal blood he sometimes drank out of necessity was a bland substitute for this and no food compared.
She tastes different, he thought, I wonder if she knows she isn't entirely human?
Fingers twined their way into his hair, gripping close to his scalp. The hand didn’t try to pull him away. Cal pressed her body closer against him. Sated he ran his tongue over and into the wound, closing it with his saliva. There was still a scar, it couldn't heal damage that was already healed, but no trace of the cut he'd made remained.
He wasn't sure what to expect to see when he looked back to Cal's face. Being pulled into a kiss was a complete surprise. A long deep kiss, the taste of her blood on it.
"You enjoyed that... why didn't you tell me?" Lucas said when they finally broke apart.
"Would you have believed me?"
He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but it was something. Love? No, he didn’t think so. Maybe something that could become it with time though. He could be content with that.
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