As I've explained before, every copy of this book that we sell benefits Doctors Without Borders - and believe me, they both need and deserve our help. The authors, the editor and the cover artist have donated their energy, time and talent to support this cause. So I hope you'll be generous. Buy the book for yourself. You won't be disappointed. Buy a copy for your sister, your brother, your neighbor (assuming that he or she doesn't mind explicit fiction). Donate a copy to your local library! Help us get the word out!
To encourage you, I have a special offer. Anyone who buys the book can get a free copy of my short story collection Body Electric, just for asking. Just email me the receipt (saved as PDF, ideally), to contest -- at - lisabetsarai.com with the subject line "In Vein". I'll send you your free ebook by return email.
This offer is good until January 31st, 2013.
Anyway, that's enough marketing - for now! I'll be posting more information about the book, including the table of contents and excerpts from stories by other authors, later in the week. Now - on with the snog!
(And of course - after you're done with my kiss, click back to Victoria's for more lip-smacking action!)
****
“Tell me about Barbara,” she asked
finally. “The woman in the photos.” As soon as she saw his
ravaged face, she was sorry for the question.
“I was stupid, inexperienced. And we
were so much in love. When I realized what I had become, I crawled to
her on my hands and knees and begged her forgiveness. I was so
terribly sorry to have ruined our plans for a life together. Barbara,
though, had other ideas. She pointed out that, according to all
information, we could now share eternity. All I had to do was turn
her, make her into a vampire too.
“I was reluctant, but she convinced
me. She was so beautiful, I couldn’t bear the notion that she would
eventually age and die while I’d live forever.
“We planned the ritual carefully,
almost as if it were our wedding ceremony...”
“The photos–” Lara interrupted.
“Right.” Jim laughed bitterly. “I
set up the camera to record it all. The initiation of my beloved into
the realm of the undead. But it all went terribly wrong.” He choked
back a sob. Lara felt a sympathetic lump in her throat.
“What happened?”
“Everybody knows how you make a new
vampire. First you drain the victim’s blood, bringing her close to
death. Then you allow her to drink your blood. That’s what we
planned. That’s what we did. It was incredible, terrifying and
ecstatic.”
“But?”
“But she died. I couldn’t save her.
I couldn’t turn her. Since then I’ve learned the truth.”
Lara was silent, waiting.
“To create a new vampire, you must
suck the victim’s blood while you’re physically connected. While
you’re having sex.”
“You’re joking!”
“No, it’s no joke. That’s why I
ended up this way. That girl at the party—all she really wanted was
my blood. But one thing led to another, and eventually we were
fucking. I don’t think she really understood either.”
No wonder his little demonstration had
produced such an intense effect. For him, blood lust and sexual
desire were inextricably entwined. The instinctive drive to
reproduce, to bring more souls over the boundary of death into the
shadowy world that he inhabited, this was something he could not
deny, and could only imperfectly control.
Lara knew she should be frightened. She
should get out his seductive presence before she made a final,
incorrigible mistake. The risk, the pure reality of it, only made her
want him more.
He was watching her. She could feel
his eyes on her lips, on her throat, on the rise and fall of her
breasts as her breath quickened.
She glanced around the bar, filling up
now that it was after five. Donnie’s was not known as a “blood”
bar, but still, she noticed half a dozen men wearing capes and pale
make up, plus two or three women in slinky black dresses and wigs. It
was pathetic, the way they all craved a fleeting taste of inhuman
power, a brush with immortality. And here she sat, thigh to thigh
with the genuine article.
“I don’t fully understand it,”
Jim said, obviously catching her thoughts once again. “Why would
they want to be me? Power’s nice, but overall, I live a pretty
lonely and miserable existence.”
“Maybe—maybe I can make you feel
less lonely. For a little while.” Lara cradled his cheek for an
instant, then pulled his mouth to hers. His lips were soft as any
flesh, warm and muscular as they met and molded to her own lips. She
tasted the wine he had been drinking, with background flavors of iron
and salt. His tongue, too, felt human, jousting against hers,
exploring, questioning.
Her rigid nipples pressed rudely
through the stretchy fabric of her top, pleading for his attention.
Of course he knew what she wanted. Without breaking the kiss, he
cupped both breasts, tracing symmetrical circles around the tips. Her
pussy clenched. Her thighs opened involuntarily. She rocked back and
forth on the bench, rubbing her clit against the hard wood.
“Please,” she moaned against his
open mouth, and then was silent, realizing that she did not have to
say anything. He broke the kiss to throw a twenty pound note on the
table, then pulled her to his chest.
“Imagine your apartment,” he said,
close to her ear. “Think about your bedroom. And hold on tight.”
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