Free Business Makes Strange Bedfellows by E. E. Ottoman Page A

then there was pain. She gasped, the pleasure-induced fog burned away by the feeling of Vi's fangs sinking into her wrist. She had hoped it would hurt less than the last time, but it still felt like being stabbed by long needles, enough so it brought tears to the corners of her eyes. She fought them back and concentrated on Vi's face.
    Vi's eyes slid closed as her mouth worked at Gert's wrist. She held herself up over her body with one arm, the other holding her lower arm in place. Vi's eyes opened finally, an intense blue. She moaned against her skin, hips moving in small jerky thrusts as she swallowed. Her hand slid down Vi's body to press against her thighs, and Vi thrust against it, rubbing against the palm of her hand. She pressed up against Vi's cunt, feeling the heat and wetness even through her trousers. Vi whimpered, sucking hard enough to make Gert wince.
    "Come for me." She bent one leg up, pressing hard between Vi's legs, and Vi rutted against it. She pulled free of Gert's wrist, letting it fall to the rug, and surged forward to press her mouth against Gert's neck.
    "My God, you taste..." There was a growl tinting Vi's words but also a level of need that made heat flare inside of Gert. She should have been afraid, she thought, but she wasn't.
    Vi's fangs bit into her neck, sending hot pain down her shoulder and chest, and she held on to Vi hard enough that she was sure Vi would have marks. She pushed her thigh up against Vi's cunt with force. Vi cried out, the sound muffled against her skin, and shook all over.
    When Vi stopped shaking, she pulled away from Gert's neck, licking up the blood dripping down to her shoulder until it slowed and stopped. Vi reached for her wrist, licking away the blood there as well.
    Gert shifted against the rug, feeling sticky and sore all over. "I think I need another bath."
    Vi pushed herself onto her elbows. "Go into the bedroom and use the basin to make yourself more comfortable, and I'll arrange more water to be brought up."
    For a minute, she thought about arguing that it was the dark hours of the morning by now, but she was tired, stiff, and covered in bodily fluids. So instead, she nodded and stood, picking up the dressing gown and draping it over her shoulders before heading back to the bedroom. She was a little lightheaded, but not as much as she'd expected. Vi must have not taken that much blood after all.
    When she returned to the sitting room after a perfunctory clean at the basin, the bathtub was once more filled with steaming water. Vi reclined on the settee, eyes on the fire, and after a brief hesitation, she let the dressing down gown fall from her shoulders again and climbed into the hot water.
    "I did some research about your kind," She offered after a few minutes of silence between them. "Most of what I found was of not much use, but I did notice there was one area in which there was no information, useful or not."
    "Oh?" Vi looked over at her, and Gert let herself sink deeper into the water.
    "No one seems to have written about how vampires are made."
    Vi was silence for so long Gert began to think she was not going to answer at all, but finally, she sighed and stood. Vi walked over to a wooden cabinet and opened it, removing a cut glass decanter filled with what appeared to be brandy and pouring some into a tumbler.
    "Last time I checked, the lore made it seem as if vampires are old things," Vi said. "That they have always existed since time immemorial, but it is not true. At least not with the sort of vampire that I am. Perhaps there have always been creatures that came back from the dead to feast upon the blood of the living, yes, but what I am is exclusively a modern creation. You asked how vampires are made; the truth is they are made through science."
    Gert sat up slowly in the bath. "What?"
    "Creating a vampire is a form of reanimation, such as what you and other practitioners of galvanism are attempting to do." Vi turned back, setting the tumbler on the