Taken by the Night by Kathryn Smith

Author:Kathryn Smith [Smith, Kathryn]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-12-23T23:39:02.659000+00:00

Chapter 11

“W hy haven’t you bitten me?” Ivy ran her fingers along the line of muscle running the length of Saint’s abdomen. They were in his bed, in the quiet cavern of his apartments below Maison Rouge, and he had his arm around her shoulders, holding her against his naked warmth.

“I’ve told you why. It’s dangerous.”

“I know that was the excuse you gave me. Now I want the truth.”

Saint frowned, shooting her a suspicious glance. “You said you would never be ‘on the menu,’ remember?”

The man had a memory like a swatch of velvet—everything stuck to it. She flushed with the reminder. “It’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.”

He shook his head, obviously not finding the quip as amusing as she had hoped. “I’m not going to bite you because it will complicate our relationship.”

“Sex hasn’t already done that?”

He sighed. “If I bite you, that makes you mine. You become a part of me.”

“So?” It was obvious from her shrug that she didn’t understand. “You bite the people you feed from.”

“Only once. The more blood you take from a person the more they become a part of you.”

“And?”

“It is a very intimate thing.”

She watched him, wide-eyed and expectant.

“I don’t want to take a part of you with me when I go,” he said softly.

“Oh.” That much honesty was surprising even to her. She didn’t quite understand, but she caught the gist of what he meant. He didn’t want to get attached. “Saint, I…”

“I’m sorry.” He flashed a rueful smile. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Maybe not, but Ivy wanted to say something. She wanted to tell him not to go. She wouldn’t try to stop him, though. She would let him go because she would not be like her mother, lamenting and pining for a man who tired of her and tossed her aside. There was no future for them, she knew that. He was a vampire and she was human.

She could become a vampire. Saint could take her blood and give her his and they could be together forever. The very notion made her mentally shake her head. She didn’t believe in forever. They’d have a few years at best before one of them lost interest. That was the way these things went. And then she’d be immortal and alone.

All she had to do was think of watching her mother die—of watching everyone she loved die—and she understood just how lonely his life might be.

But the idea of watching the world change with Saint at her side? Of waking up forever with him? Maybe it was just the afterglow of delicious lovemaking talking, but she could easily imagine giving up sunlight for that.

“Do you like the taste of blood?” She asked because that was the only dark spot in her little fantasy about running off into the night with him.

“Yes.”

She wrinkled her nose. “But, it tastes like licking a penny.”

He laughed at that. “Blood doesn’t taste like that to me.”

“How does it taste, then?” She could tell he didn’t want to talk about it.

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