Free Phoenix Dead (New Adult Dark Romance) (The Vampire Years) by Ann Vremont Page A

into me.
    I rode him, drinking until the last of his climax rolled through him.
    “Stay here.” I got up and found my way to the bathroom. I rinsed my mouth out and then ran hot water over a wash cloth. Back in the bedroom, I pressed the cloth to the wound. My heart was going crazy in my chest, waiting for him to say something - anything.
    When the bleeding stopped, he took the cloth from me and tossed it on the night stand before he rolled me onto my back.
    He ran his fingertips over my temples, lightly stroking until I grew heavy lidded.
    “Lee?” He said my name so quietly, barely managing a whisper.
    “Hmmm?”
    “Is that...I mean...will you need to do that again?”
    I came fully awake at the question. I couldn't read him, not his tone, not the careful way he held his body.
    I touched my hand to his chest, held it over his heart. “Sometimes, maybe. It feels like I'm taking back some of what I lost that night.”
    He touched my chin, only a fingertip against it with just enough pressure so that I turned my face to him.
    One word, and then he kissed me.
    “Good."
     

Part Two
     
    Whether by evolutionary intent or by chance, a vampire's basic survival needs are finely tuned to the production schedule of its favorite prey - mankind. The average human body contains ten pints of blood. A loss of up to 15% in volume - a Class I Hemorrhage - typically produces no change in the victim's vital signs. Other physiological responses, however, are present. Blood vessels constrict, the skin pales and a slight anxiety may infect the victim (more so when a vampire is the cause of the Class I loss). Fluid resuscitation generally is not necessary and plasma is replaced within 24 hours. The wait is longest for replacement of the red blood cells. This usually takes four weeks - after which, a vampire may safely feed from the same victim or, in my case, lover.
    The more blood a vampire drinks beyond its basic survival requirements, the stronger it is. A newly turned or wounded vampire rapidly consumes its body's blood reserves, and a vampire low on reserves is exceptionally vulnerable to attack by other vampires on both a physical and psychological level. Unfortunately, there is no survival handbook for n00b vampires and it took time for me to learn these truths.
    While the blood I had received from Army and Oscar had been filled with memories, it hardly amounted to the how-to manual I needed. So, for over four weeks I coped, not yet knowing how much or how often I could safely drink from my lover.
    Not that I didn't have other options. Chris, despite a very uncharacteristic series of absences from school, was broadcasting his interest whenever he was present. He met me between classes, tucked notes (a lot) inside my locker and, more amazingly, came to the tutoring class with all of his work already done so that the time we spent together was purely personal.
    In addition to Chris, I had started to collect - through no efforts of my own - a following of classmates with fetishes I didn't want to know anything about. I am not sure if the details of my attack were finally getting out despite the police gag order during the ongoing investigation or if vampires are magnets for the weird.
    I suspect it's the latter, but weird is way down the list of what I want to snack on.
    Chris, on the other hand, was hard to resist. Looking at him in seventh hour, I knew that, if I had never met Danny, I could melt into Chris. He was smarter than his grades indicated, hilarious when he wanted to be, cute, protective in a way that reminded me of Danny...
    And that is where I would inevitably get lost. Even thinking about Chris felt like an infidelity. It left me confused as hell. The only sure thing I knew was that I was growing weak again - too weak to spend another Saturday dodging Danny's requests to attend Sunday Mass with him at St. Vincent's over on 51st Avenue.
    "Are you worried your family will be there, Lee?"
    We were sitting at the kitchen