Free Blood Hunger (An Adult Paranormal Romance) (Deathless Night Series #1) by L.E. Wilson Page B

showing his pearly whites, not a fang in sight.
         “I’m sorry to shock you like that. I didn’t know how else to tell you without sounding like a crazy person, so I thought I’d just show you. I don’t even drink from humans,” he reassured her. “See? Harmless.”
          That got her attention.
         “You d-don’t d-drink blood? But, you said…you said…you’re a…vampire…” she stammered.
         Her focus drifted as she tried to reconcile the resurrected memories that were banging around in her skull to what she was seeing right in front of her. But they didn’t add up. Nikulas was nothing like the monsters from her nightmares.
         “Emma. Emma. Look at me.”
          Clenching her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering, she slowly raised her eyes to his.
         “Sweetheart, it’s ok. I swear,” he told her gently.
         After several minutes, and several more furtive glances at him, she managed to get out,  “W-What exactly do you drink if not blood?”
          “Oh, I do drink blood,” he clarified. “Just out of a bag, not a body.”
          “A b-bag?” She looked genuinely confused.
         “Yeah. A blood bag. I have a friend who works at a blood bank. I get my nutritional requirements from people who donate it willingly.”  He gave her a big, fang-free, smile.
         “Are there more like you? So…so…human-like?” She was almost afraid to hear the answer.
         His forehead wrinkled up briefly in confusion as he confessed, “Yes. There are a lot of us Emma. All over the place.” Then he added, “You can ask me anything you’d like. I’ll answer anything you’d like to know, and I won’t lie to you.”
          “Do they all drink from blood bags?” It was a silly question. She knew from experience that they didn’t. But, stupidly, she dared to hope. It was dashed with his honest answer.
         “No. Actually, I think I may be the only one.”
          “Why do you do it?” she asked.
         “I have my reasons.” Judging by his tone, he was not going to elaborate.
         “The others? Do they kill people?” she asked.
         “Some of them,” he said softly. “But I’m not one of those.” He opened his mouth like he was about to say more, but then changed his mind.
         After a moment of silence, he told her reverently, “I swear to you, you have nothing to fear from me.”
          Could she believe him? Emma mulled it over. Now that the shock was wearing off, and the nerves were calming down, she found she could think somewhat rationally again.
         She was sitting on her porch, in the middle of the woods, with a…vampire. There. See? She could say it without passing out. “I guess if you were going to kill me, you would’ve done it by now.”
          Amusement passed over his face at her blunt comment. “Is there anything else you’d like to know?”
          She thought it over. “Can you go out in the sunlight?”
          “No.”
          Morbid curiosity getting the better of her, she asked, “What would happen if you did?”
          Grimacing slightly, Nik told her, “I would catch on fire and burn until I was nothing but a pile of ashes.”
          “Can you change form?”
          “Like into a bat?” he laughed. “No.”
          “Is it true about the garlic and crosses? And holy water?”
          “No, although I’d rather not eat garlic and I’m not big on religious decor. The only thing that can harm me besides the sun is a debilitating injury to the heart or being beheaded. That part of the lore is true.”
          Another question popped into her head, and she opened her mouth to ask, but thought better of it and snapped it shut.
         “Is there something else you wanted to know?”
          Her face and neck were swiftly turning a bright red, giving her thoughts away. She quickly looked away in an attempt to hide