his face a blank, and his emotions and thoughts behind a wall.
Marco walked four steps in and stood behind the sofa, his hands resting on the back of it.
James and Fabio walked around the sofa and came to her. Fabio hugged her, James walked behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. She hugged Fabio back, and he pulled her in harder. “It’s going to be okay. No one was hurt.” He stepped beside her, so it was the three of them facing the other two, and it felt as if they were squared off.
She took a breath and looked to Marco. “I’m sorry you’ve had to rearrange your night, Master. Thank you for coming.”
“I apologize in advance for requesting this, but I need you to turn in Collosa’s arms so he can kiss you. It feels like there’s more of a connection with him?”
She looked at Fabio and knew his feelings were a little hurt. “James and I had hours to talk on the drive back. I’m close to both of you, but there’s been more time with him.”
“It’s fine, Cupcake. Turn and kiss him. I’ve got your back.”
She shook her head. “You mustn’t interfere with anything my Master does.”
And then she turned and looked up at James. “If you don’t want to, I’ll understand.”
Instead of answering, he lifted her into the air. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms went around his neck, and she hung on while his mouth met hers and he took her in a kiss. Her heart swelled and began to pump in time to his. Her blood pulsed through her arteries, her mouth watered for the taste of Grizzly, but she reminded herself the leopard was on the menu.
“Thank you,” Marco said from behind them. “I’ve seen enough. Let’s sit, so I can explain.”
Because she still wasn’t sure what’d gone wrong that morning, she chose to sit in a chair. Alone. Fabio and James sat on opposite ends of the sofa, and Marco sat in another chair. Eunice kept up his post by the door, but Marco didn’t reprimand him. Kelsey was quite certain it wouldn’t have done any good, which was probably why Marco didn’t say anything.
“It’s extremely rare, but there are a tiny percentage of vampires who can feed from extreme emotions. I know a vampire who feeds from the creative process.” Marco shook his head. “That’s not quite right. It can be a mechanic who’s focused solely on the engine he’s working on, or the dancer who becomes the dance. The artist who doesn’t know what’s going on around him while he paints, or the writer who types for ten hours without food or drink because she’s so involved in the world she’s creating she doesn’t even know she’s dehydrated and hungry. A vampire who feeds off of emotion can go for days without needing blood, should he or she be physically close enough to people experiencing whatever emotion they feed from. Eventually, blood is needed — this type of feeding can’t be a total substitute. A vampire with this ability will have one emotion or feeling they can feed from — examples include greed, lust, fear, despair, joy, rage...” he looked around before adding, “or sex.”
“I’m not strong enough for those powers.” Even as she said it, she was afraid he might be right.
“Collosa said your eyes were blue. Brilliant, glowing blue.”
“But I was tired. Not energized. Eunice saw it. He asked me if I needed to feed before I went down for the day.”
“I don’t doubt it. You were afraid you’d done something to them. I believe you took from them subconsciously, and then you likely gave it all back subconsciously as well. You’d fed from both men recently enough you still had their blood inside you. The sexual activity was enough to create a ceremony of three. A blood ceremony. You were the connection, and you jumped in power. You get one out-of-control freebie for a power jump, assuming no one’s hurt too badly, and now you’ve had it.”
He looked at Fabio. “You’ve been with someone who fed from you in a similar way?”
Fabio nodded. “Yes, but it felt different.”
“Explain the difference.”
“That vampire fed from the orgasm at the end, but not the sex part. Last night, I got rougher with Kelsey than I intended. Even for a vampire, looking back, I was too...” He ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly, pushing it away from his face. “I’m pretty sure I did the