Free Perdition by PM Drummond

or French but beyond that, it was a mystery. I heard some names I recognized like Tibby, Marlena, and Eunice.
    I stood and stalked toward him. “That man better not hurt my mother. If he harms so much as a hair on her head, I’ll wait till daybreak and run a stake right through your heart!”
    Rune put his hand over the receiver again. “No harm will come to your mother. Griss will just get your great-aunt’s phone number and address. Your mother won’t even remember his visit.”
    “Of course she’ll remember she—wait, you’re sending a vampire over to my mother’s house?”
    Glasses and plates crashed out of a cabinet in the kitchen, and a bottle of liquor shot upward and shattered against the ceiling.
    “Griss. I’ve got to go. Call me when it’s done.”
    Rune reached out and grabbed my wrist. The phone shot from his other hand and landed on the bed.
    I felt him trying to drain my energy before I damaged anything else in the room, but I was replenishing the energy faster than he could take it away.
    The lid to the aquarium flew open. Rune stood and pulled me to him. Energy arced between our lips just before they met. I fought the kiss at first, but he held on.
    Energy shot from my body into his for the initial few seconds, leaving me dizzy. Afterward, the energy flow between us tapered off, then stopped altogether—but the kiss didn’t. He was more careful this time, so I wasn’t left weak—at least not from energy loss.
    I quit struggling, and we both deepened the kiss. Tiny sparks danced behind my eyelids, and I didn’t know if they were from energy or from my overwhelming attraction to him. At that moment, I wanted to give myself to him completely. I wanted to forget about today, Sarkis, my family, his nature. I wanted him to take me, body and soul.
    He ran one of his hands down my back and pulled my lower body into his. Evidence of his arousal pressed into my lower stomach and flashes of his thoughts filled my mind.
    In his thoughts, the two of us were nude in our embrace. I saw myself through his eyes and was shocked at how beautiful he saw me. My olive skin glowed at his touch, and when he pulled back to look into my eyes, they flashed green with hidden light. His desire for me grew to an animal lust. In this dream world, I felt his canine teeth lengthen. The sound and smell of blood of the woman I held in my arms filled my senses. My blood hunger drove me. I bent my head, nuzzled her neck, opened my mouth . . .
    I ripped myself out of his thoughts.
    My eyes flew open, and I pulled a few inches away from him. In reality, he hadn’t bent to bite me, but his pupils were dilated into cold onyx orbs, and his canine teeth stretched long and sharp.
    I started to pull away again, but he held me fast.
    “No, stay here,” he said. “You are safe here.”
    This was not the same man I’d been speaking with a few moments before. That man was still there—I felt him just beneath the surface—but a predatory veil had fallen over him. This man was dangerous. This man wasn’t entirely human.
    I tried again to put a little more space between us, but he pulled me closer.
    “No, Marlena, it would be a mistake to flee. My nature has risen, and it would see you as prey.”
    He leaned forward and placed his forehead on mine.
    “I apologize,” he said. “I have not felt such intense need for someone in a very long time. You must wait for me to calm, or I will take you. Your blood sings to me.”
    My body froze, even my breathing slowed. I now knew what deer in headlights felt right before impact. Seconds ticked by. I realized that not only did he not emit energy, he lacked a heartbeat. He didn’t breathe.
    “I can breathe,” he said, “but I must make myself do so.”
    He raised his head, took a deep breath, and blew it out slowly. His arms fell away from me, but I stood rooted to the floor.
    Rings of glowing blue now rimmed the blackness of his eyes, and a tentative smile quirked his lips. “Walk