Page 31 of Deadly Cravings
“Tobias.” His brow lifted questioningly. “What’s a blood-whore?”
“Well . . .”
“Please,” I choked out, almost desperate for an answer. Could it be why I behaved the way I had?
“A human that becomes addicted to vampire bites.”
My eyes rounded. I didn’t want to be a blood-whore, but was that what was wrong with me? I loved being bit. I ached for it, like a kink. I didn’t need it to survive, but would I eventually be there? My heart slammed against my ribcage.
“It’s an addiction stronger than any human drug you can think of. Obsession is a large mark of blood-whores. They’re willing to do anything just for a bite.”
My shoulders lowered. Fuck. This sounded just like me.
“I can’t do this anymore. I want out,” I croaked. The words came without thought and my lips felt numb.
Tobias stared at me.
“No, Catalina.” The steady way he looked at me held no hesitation. Even the vampire that other vampires believed had a moral code no longer made a show of acting like I had a say.
What had I gotten myself into?
“There are ways to combat becoming a blood-whore.” He straightened, angling his head back. I clenched my fingers so hard they dug into my palm. “Don’t allow the same vampire to feed for more than a fortnight.”
“So I can’t be a blood-whore right now?” Even as I said the words, I knew the question was useless.
“It is too soon.” My body drooped. Little did he know. The thought of losing myself to obsession soured my stomach. A mindless blood-whore at the whim of vampires was last on my list. Two weeks. They could only bite me for two weeks... but the Pale One had fed on me for much longer. If I had the potential to be a blood-whore, it would have already happened, so what’s to say that was not why my little ‘kink’ had manifested.
“Is there any other way to ‘combat it’?”
“If a vampire offers you their blood, but no vampire will willingly share blood with another. It creates a temporary bond with a slew of side effects.”
And . . . never mind.
“Oh.” The ground felt unsteady even though I was sitting. “I have to go.”
He caught my wrist. “Do not attempt to leave this city or we will have to lock you up here.”
“Why—” I blinked rapidly, wrapping my head around the situation I’d gotten myself in.
“We will know. You will be watched day and night.”
He almost seemed regretful uttering the threat. His thumb caressed the top of my hand. The little touches inflamed my need and I yanked away, shooting to my feet. I turned my back on his gray searching eyes and rushed out of there.
TWELVE
tobias
She’d addictedme and I’d only tasted her once. Drinking her blood felt like sunlight caressing my skin. I shouldn’t have been able to recall the sensation when it had been centuries since I was human.
The sweet taste spreading on my tongue, rushing through my system, like lightning sending electrical pulses through my psyche. My cock stiffened; the sensation foreign. I’d felt desire for blood and feeding, but never had a woman’s body tempted me as Catalina’s did. Having her under me as I fed on her . . . Lord forgive me, but I hungered for her.
I tapped my thigh, waiting for her run-down van to exit the drive thru.
I didn’t understand human’s obsession with caffeinated drinks, or their need to have one daily, they behaved as if they had to live off it. There was a store every other block of some chain or another hosting the same product, nonsense I couldn’t wrap my head around. The thoughts I’d heard from humans craving the substance reeked of addiction.
Catalina rolled out of the drive-through—another luxury humans took for granted. Everything was terrifyingly easy forhumankind, and they didn’t understand true suffering. The horrors of war, plagues . . .
I snapped back to the present, revving out of my parking spot to follow before she was out of sight. I followed a distance behind until she pulled into a large, wide building with red blinking lights at the front.