Free To Honor: Vampire Assassin League #22 by Jackie Ivie Page B

through her mind. It was time for the shit to hit the fan. Pay the piper. The devil was about to get his due. No more beating about the bush. It was all so stupid. She opened her eyes. Looked right into his. And somehow got her mouth to work.
    “You had fangs, Takeshi.”
    “Did I?”
    “I saw them. You bit me. I have puncture marks. In more than one place.” She rubbed at her neck.
    “That was...uh. You must forgive me. I lost control.”
    He flushed. Damn everything . The guy was the epitome of masculine beauty. It was already difficult to talk with him. He had to go and make it harder? Christine pulled her glaze from his to a spot behind his head. That was better.
    “I don’t like games,” she told him.
    “I have never played them.”
    “You’re playing one now.”
    “Do you seek to anger me? Is that it? You wish to alter emotion to something else? It is a good ploy. And you are very good. But I do not think it will work. You are too beautiful. Much too precious. You are my mate. And I am yours. Do you understand? My heart beats with yours. Every breath you take is mine. And vice versa.”
    “Takeshi. Please? I’m trying to reach the facts here.”
    “I love you. I adore you. And I worship you. Those are facts.”
    She moved her gaze back to him. She didn’t dare connect with his eyes again, but just looking at his chin might suffice. It didn’t. She couldn’t help seeing his entire torso. He had the black silk at his back. Black leather behind that. The darkness framed him. She swallowed again. The knot in her throat shifted. Damned thing .
    “We...just met.”
    “In this lifetime, perhaps.”
    “Come on, Takeshi. Enough with the cryptic stuff. I’m not a follower of Confucius. He was much too misogynistic for me. I’m not a Buddhist. They’re too passive. I don’t believe in reincarnation, either. I’ll just stop. There’s a long list of things I don’t believe. I just want some answers. Okay?”
    “You are my mate, Christine. And a vampire only gets one.”
    Damn it. He said the ‘V’ word. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. He’d stuck the word out in the open. Now she had to deal with it. This was going to get sticky. She’d dealt with crazy people before. Her adoptive mother had been certifiably insane. She’d learned the other words for mental conditions. Delusion. Psychosis. Schizophrenia. Christine’s heart felt like a caged animal beating at its bars. It hurt. She almost winced.
    “Look. Um. Takeshi. I’ve heard of people who play...at being vampires. They dress up. Have their teeth fixed. Go to secret parties. Bite each other. Drink...blood. It isn’t real.”
    “Perhaps not. But I am not one of them. I truly am a vampire.”
    “Vampires are not real. They don’t exist.”
    “We do. We have for millennia.”
    “No way. Wait a sec. Did you just say... we ?”
    He nodded. He had spikes just starting to emerge through his lips. Two of them. Where his canines would be. A strange warmth started to permeate the cabin. Creating an almost physical presence. Sensitizing.
    She shook her head. It didn’t clear anything. If anything, the air about her appeared to have a haze filtering through it. Weird.
    “I am not the only vampire in the world, my love. I belong to a league of them.”
    “League?” Why wasn’t anything making sense?
    “Yes. I am with the Vampire Assassin League.”
    “Oh no. No. This is insane. I’m having a dream episode that keeps getting more entangled and engrossed. And it just won’t end. You’re telling me you’re...dead?”
    “Undead. Hai.”
    “What about the...um. The...oh, I’ll quit vacillating here, and just say it. What about the...sex? Well? I did not make love with a dead thing. Or maybe I should say undead. Whatever. Oh. Dear. I think I’m going to be ill.” And her voice really should be sounding more assertive. Not breathless. Anticipatory.
    “Oh, watashi no ai. I say it wrong. I am not undead. Not anymore. Finding you has changed me. I