what?"
"Uh…"
"Holy cow, you're blushing! As much as you can."
"I am not."
"Oh, you absolutely are! Jeez, you're acting like you've never had sex as a vam—oh."
"Can you please," she asked desperately, "go take your shower?"
"Uh, sure. Won't be a minute." He was looking at her in a very curious way.
And he was right; shewas blushing. Her face actually felt warm.
"Huh. That's kind of interesting."
"Interesting," she said thinly. "Exactly the word I was thinking."
"Well, you don't have to get all weird about it. It's just sex."
"And you're just an idiot," she snapped. "Go shower."
"Okay, okay."
He kicked the rest of the way out of his jeans and went into the bathroom without another word. She struggled not to stare at his ass, and almost succeeded.
Chapter 6
" WELL!" he said cheerfully, toweling his hair ten minutes later.
Annoyingly, he hadn't put his shirt back on. At least he was wearing jeans. Tight, faded jeans that clung to his—
"That was super awkward. Oh, well. Saddle up, Andy, let's hit the trail."
"It's Andrea, and we have to… urn… stop first."
"Huh? How come?"
"I have to eat."
"What?"
"I said, I have to eat." She was, in fact, starting to feel a little desperate. Not to mention horribly embarrassed. "And soon."
"Oh. Oh! Right. Eat. Except you don't mean eat, do you?"
"Soon," she repeated.
"What's the rush?"
"Haven't you been listening?" she cried. "I'm thirstyall the time . And the longer I go without, the more… desperate… I become. It's—"
"You get stupid," he said bluntly. "That's what you don't like. You get totally obsessed with chomping and you can't think about anything else. And you fucking hate it, don't you?"
"How analytic of you," she said, calming… the worst was over. She had dreaded the telling of it more than anything else. And he was finding out all her secrets. It was alarming… but kind of comforting, too. "And you're right. I fucking hate it. And… it's been a while since my last… I mean, there wasyou , but I managed to stop myself, and…"
"Well, how much do you need?"
"I never measured," she snapped.
"Like, a pint? A half-pint? A gallon? What?"
"Daniel, what difference does it make?"
"Well." He cleared his throat. "The reason I was asking was, you could chomp on me again."
"Oh, no!" She couldn't recall ever being so shocked. And gratified. He was so kind. He had always been kind. "No, I couldn't do that to you."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not volunteering to be the horse led to slaughter—"
"Sheep."
"Not that, either. And I don't want you to, like,drain me. But you could have a little. Holy shit, what the hell happened to your mouth?"
She clapped her hands over her lips. His words had brought out her fangs; she was very much afraid she had started to drool. "Nothing," she mumbled. "Let's talk about something else."
He came closer, trying to get a better look; she backed away. "That is so cool! And scary. It's like all of a sudden you sprouted about twenty more teeth."
"Let's change the subject."
"Okay, but don't say I never gave you anything." But he sounded relieved, and she knew at once he had been secretly hoping she wouldn't take him up on it.
He wasn't afraid of her, exactly, but he was cautious. She thought it was a very healthy reaction.
"Let's get out of here," she said, still muttering around her fingers, "before I change my mind. Don't forget your dictionary."
"YOU know, if you'd told me last week that I'd be in a bar trying to help a vampire suck some poor guy's blood, I'd have said you were on drugs."
"The night is young," she said, staring into her wine.
"So, uh, how do you usually do this?"
"Iusually skulk in a dark alley until someone tries to rob or rape me. Then I assault them. Then I sulk. Then—"
"I think I get it," he said.
"But with you hovering over me like an overprotective linebacker, I'm not sure at all how this is going to work. Can't you just… wait for me in the car, or something?"
"And leave you alone? Inhere ?" He looked around, clearly appalled. It really was a dive, with dirty floors and the pervasive odors of beer, sweat, and urine.
But she could also smell blood under the rest of it, which told her this was the right place to go trolling. Violence was no stranger here.
"It's perfect."
"No way, Andy."
"Andrea," she growled, and drained the rest of her wine. "Well, then, I don't know how we—oof!"
"Shorry, little lady," the hulk behind her slurred. She craned her neck, and craned it