Free Passion After Dark by J.a Melville

“You…you’re…you’re…a vampire? I can’t see you properly, turn into the light. I want to see your face.”
    I saw the flash of his perfect white teeth and he reached out to take my hand and turned with me until one of the few dim light bulbs in the car park lit up his features. My god, it was him, all 6 foot plus of sheer masculine beauty. His black hair gleamed under the light and he still had that sexy facial hair and those lips, his eyes, dammit everything was so perfect.
    He smiled again and I noticed his fangs were gone which was a relief since it was easi er to pretend he wasn’t what I knew he was when I couldn’t see the fangs.
    I should be thankful actually. I ’d watched enough vampire shows and movies and they looked scary when they were feeding. Their faces would go all lumpy and bumpy and freaky but Dominick just looked like Dominick with fangs.
    Suddenly I wondered if I was going to turn into a vampire now too. I wasn ’t sure I wanted to be one. They couldn’t go out in daylight and the blood diet, damn, I hated the taste of the blood in my mouth when I got a nose bleed.
    “ Am I going to turn into a vampire?” I asked and Dominick laughed.
    No bella donna. I would have to drain you almost completely and you would have to drink from me. I can sip from you and not kill you so don ’t worry about that.”
    “ Oh good.” I breathed a sigh of relief then started laughing, my laughter building until I was buckled over and crying from laughing so hard. I was worried about not turning into a vampire? This whole situation was bizarre and whether I’d turn was my only concern?
    “ What’s wrong Allie? What’s so funny?” His lips curved up as he watched me coming apart, laughing uncontrollably.
    “ Oh just the irony of this situation Dominick. I’m worried about turning into one of your kind but the whole situation is funny and not in a good way either. We had unprotected sex. Am I going to end up pregnant with a vampire child or something?”
    Dominick burst out laughing and the sound of it was rich and smooth over me making the hairs rise on my arms in reaction. “ No bellezza. You can’t get pregnant. I’m dead remember? My sperm is dead. The blood is what keeps me alive, or in this state of the undead.”
    So that ’s why he felt so cool to the touch. Not cold, just cool and I realised he wasn’t breathing either. That’s why he hadn’t been panting like me during the incredible sex we’d just had. Oh god, the whole thing was freaking me out but it was him. The man, no vampire, he was a vampire who had plagued my thoughts for several days and who had helped break my writer’s block. I should be terrified but it was hard to feel much besides lust when I looked at him. He was such a stunning thing to see. I could stare at him all day and night.
    “ So no pregnancy, well that’s a good thing. How come you have colour? The vampires on TV are pale.”
    He grinned agai n, flashing those perfect teeth. “I’m from Italian decent Allie so becoming a vampire doesn’t change the colour of my skin and I can go out in the sun but I have to be careful I don’t spend too long in it. This.” He pointed to the tattoo on his neck. “This is my freedom. This is what allows me to walk in the daylight without dying.” He cocked his head to one side as he studied me and I melted that little bit more under the stare of those amazing eyes of his. “Just how many vampire shows have you watched il mio amore?”
    There was that thing again. He said something in another language. “ That would be Italian you idiot.” My inner voice rudely reminded me. What was he saying? I so badly wanted to ask him but I was too scared to do so.
    “ I’ve watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and True Blood. God when you vampires die, do you do it the nice little puff of ash way like in Buffy or do you go all icky and gooey like in True Blood?” I asked.
    Dominick simply raised one perfectly shaped black brow at